The Games that made you the Gamer you are today

[Zac]

Donkey Kong-One of my first games to play when I was like 5 and got the Atari version I remember owning my mom at it.
Metroid-The exploration and sense of Discovery just got me hooked on this type of game.
Zelda 3- This game just seemed so big at the time.
Doom-I remember downloading the shareware with Doc Holliday when we were kids and just being blown away by it.
Metal Gear Solid- I was just amazed with this game when it first came out and played through it way too many times Im sure.

[mollipen]

Phantasy Star (SMS)
Samurai Shodown 2 (NEO)
Resident Evil (PSX)
Silent Hill (PSX)
Phantasy Star Online (DC)

[Rem]

Sunset riders-This was pretty much the first side scroller I ever played and loved every minute of it.

Street fighter 3 third strike-I had sunk time into fighters before but never like this, best fighting game ever made.

In the hunt-First shooter I had ever played, I still play through it from time to time. And I have to say it has aged incredibly well, best nautical themed shooter ever.

Alien trilogy-Now obviously this isn't the greatest FPS ever made but it was the first I had ever played. I really enjoyed it at the time, it really felt like aliens to me, a movie I had wtahced countless times at this point. I should really dig this up just to see how it holds up to my memory (poorly I'll bet).

Final fantasy tactics-This more or less showed me how much I enjoy SRPGs, FFT bastard cousin FF7 conversely showed me how much I hate normal RPGs.

[Korian]

Phantasy Star (SMS)
Samurai Shodown 2 (NEO)
Resident Evil (PSX)
Silent Hill (PSX)
Phantasy Star Online (DC)

There's no cute games on that list.

[morphix]

I rented these two games so many times, ah back in the day when I could not buy what I wanted...


I love SEGA!

[kingoffighters]

Rez, Beatmania, Combat, Star Raiders, Keystone Kapers, Pitfall, Romance of the 3 Kingdoms, Dragon Warrior, Phantasy Star, Double Dribble, Blades of Steel, Civilization, Super Bomberman, etc etc etc.

[sleeve]

In the hunt-First shooter I had ever played, I still play through it from time to time. And I have to say it has aged incredibly well, best nautical themed shooter ever.

Titanic Lance wants to kick your ass for saying that.

[Tommy Tallarico]

Warcraft 2 and Doom.

[Frogacuda]

There's really too many to list, so I'll go with the most important:

1) Missile Command and Berzerk: My first games
2) Space Harrier: Absolutely blew my mind when I first saw it. That was the game that taught me the name "Sega." Probably my most played game of all time.
3) Space Quest 4: Not my first adventure game, but definitely the one that made me a hardened fan of the genre.
4) Catacomb 3-D: Introduced me to the first person shooter.

[rickrock87]

Samurai Showdown 2 -- I remember going to my local boys and girls club when I was about 12, and there was this person I hung out with every once and a while playing it. I was broke, but there was an extra credit in it. So, without asking, I press start and start playing.

Originally, the kid had no problems with me stealing his quarter. He looked at me with an expression that screams "Get ready to be pwned." I guess he was looking for some self-gratification or something.

Anyway I proceed to monkey stomp his ass, with his own quarter, 5 times in a row(charlotte is the shit, btw). All of a sudden he's like "You owe me a quarter!"

That was the day I realized I love fighting games.

DDR - I was at an arcade with my dad and brothers when I first saw this game. I was mesmerized by a person that was nailing what looked to be a damn near impossible stream of arrows like it was nothing. For some reason I had the idea that I could do that too. so I put in my tokens and played the same song he did.

Although I lost miserably, I was hooked. I played a lot of DDR after that, but after a while the challenge started fading. That's what brought me to my current love, Beatmania.

Dragon Quest VIII - No long story here...just the only JRPG I could stand to put more than 40 hrs into without being bored as hell. I started giving more JRPGS a chance after this.