Here's my list, I divided it to Multiplayer and Single Player:

Single Player:

1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
2. Mario 64 (N64)
3. Zelda 3 - A Link To The Past (SNES) - Still haven't played Twilight Princess for the Wii but this one will be tough to overcome.
4. Wave Race 64 (N64)
5. Blast Corps (N64) - This one is not well known, it is very original and the most challenging game i've ever played. As Quakers and serious gamers I strongly recommend picking this one up, great challenge.
6. Pilot Wings 64 (N64)
7. Super Mario Kart (SNES) - Need to check Wii's version as it's probably better.
8. Street Fighter 2 (All Platforms)
9. StarCraft (PC)
10. Punch-Out!! (Wii) - SNES version is great too.
11. Arkanoid 2: Revenge of Doh (Apple IIGS/Arcade) - Without doubt the best berakout game ever made. It has beautiful graphics, crazy powerups, awesome level designs and is insanely difficult. Maybe i should've given it a higher spot. Arkanoid 1 is almost as good. Get either IIGS version or Arcade (Mame), the rest are bad.


MultiPlayer:

1. Quakeworld (PC)
2. Starcraft (PC)
3. Super Mario Kart (SNES)- Again, need to check Wii's Version.
4. Street Fighter 2 (All Platforms)
5. Saturn Bomberman (Saturn)- This is insanely fun with 8 people.
6. NBA Hang Time (Arcade, N64, PlayStation, Mega Drive, SNES, Windows) - Basically an improved NBA Jam, which you all know.
7. Super Smash Brothers (N64) - Need to check Wii's version as it might be better.
8. Pro Evolution Soccer (All Platforms) - The new Wii version brings complete new controls and radically changes the gameplay of this game, giving you an amazing control of passing, shooting, and handling your teammates. This was always the best soccer game on any platform though, so I won't even pick a version.
9. Super Soccer (SNES) - not really known, this is actually more fun than PES/FIFA IMO.
10. Tecmo Bowl (NES)
11. Chess - Couldn't find a 10th game at first so I added this one. Then I noticed I only placed Street Fighter 2 in the Single Player list, it should definitely be here as well. Chess is a brilliant timeless game, a bit nerdy though :/



I tried not including games from the same series twice (or even the same type) and just pick the best one, the only exceptions here are Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy which are both just light years ahead and so much better than any other games I've played, so i had to.
I have not played any Playstation3 or Xbox 360 games so these lists might've been a bit different, a game like Gears Of War would probably fit in, although most of my favourite games are from the 90s anyway. Also, as you probably noticed, I am a nintendo fan and tend to like their games a lot more, I'll explain why:


Nintendo:
* Precise/Intuitive gameplay,
* Tight Controls,
* Lots of creativity and imagination in design, the games are funny and never appear too serious, although they are.
* Innovative gameplay ideas. I hate doing things i've done before, they always manage to surprise me and come up with new challenges.
* Beautiful, simple, sharp, and very colorful graphics. Never showing you more than you need to see on screen, only what matters. Admittedly, this generation, their system (Wii) is much weaker than the competition, the graphics are hardly any better than the last gen.
* Beautiful melodic music even if sometimes it's just in midi.
* The games are stragiht forward without annoying story lines (cut scenes + lots of text to read and all that shit).

In other words, Coolness


Sony, Microsoft and their 3rd parties:
* Incredibly detailed graphics with HD and all that fancy stuff in this gen (which I don't care that much for and many games are actually over detailed IMO, I like simplicity just like in QW). I can't deny though, that some games nowdays are visually mind blowing. Check out these video previews of Uncharted 2 from E3: #1 #2
* Epic story lines, cut scenes, texts, speeches. I find these extremely boring and nerdy.
* The games usually just mimic reality and lack any kind of creativity or "fun factor" in them *cough* Counter Strike. Seriously, Who wants to die after getting hit by 1 bullet or when falling from a high place? Who wants to move as slow as a human and always be bound to physics as we know them? Time to open your minds!
* Music is more about sounding good and being well produced rather than just being beautiful.
* The general feel of games (physics, character movement + controls) tends to be "floaty". you don't always feel in complete control and that everything's up to you. Many games also have scripted movements/animations, you just need to press a botton and your character will pull off crazy jumps or attacks which you have no control of, not much challenge or fun when that happens.

In other words, Ultra Nerdishness
(Yes, there are exceptions here and there...)

*** This was originally published as a forum thread. If you want to comment or send your own list please do it over there and not here! ***