The current gen is now so far beyond what many of us grew up with, were influenced by, and thought was capable that it almost does seem like a past life.
Obviously the games most influential to laying the foundation for making me the gamer I am today are the ones I grew up with. Most notably would be The Legend of Zelda. The sheer amount of time commitment and effort required hardened me to the demands of later games. This is probably the first game I drew maps for, called the Nintendo hotline over, and fought with friends over erased save files. However, the Sega Genesis and games like Phantasy Star II, Strider, Thunder Force II, Ghouls n' Ghosts, and Revenge of Shinobi rank as high as most other NES games. I would go over my buddies basements every day and we'd play Genesis games like it was our job. As a collective group, we'd own every console, even the TurboGraphx-16, which in our neighborhoods was unheard of.
In terms of arcade influences, games like Street Fighter II Champion Edition, Fatal Fury, Mortal Kombat 2, Samurai Showdown, and Killer Instinct got significant play time from me at the local pizza and hot dog joints, video stores, and the far as hell Enchanted Castle all the way out in Lombard. I fell in love with fighting games in this era. We'd bet on games even during those times.
