10. Super Mario 3 (1988)So SMB3 is my favorite Mario game. Hands down. As a kid, I had the Nintendo Power that was just a guide for this game. It had every secret, including N-Cards, 1-ups, strategies, etc. And I pretty much memorised the whole game. I can still run though every level and get all the secret power-ups (which were the best of the series). Has it ever gotten better than the racoon tail or the Hammer Bros Suit? I think not! Still run through this game every so often with my friends. Few hours for every level, or about 20 minutes if we warp. Either way it's a good time.
9. Metroid Prime (2002)Metroid. In 3-D. What was done right in this game is it feels like Metroid. The hunt for new weapons. The need to backtrack. The secret passages to hidden missles. Ridley. Everything about this game was familiar in an unfamiliar way. I was totally skeptical of this game as I do not like first person shooters normally. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The locking mechanism for aiming really helped me along in this one, and once I got through the first section of the game and I was on Tallon IV, I kinda forgot I was playing a FPS. My favorite thing about this game was the challenge. I was scared to go through that next door. Literally, my heart would race as I went through every cavern. Space Pirates were around every corner and were not very friendly. Then there were the bosses: Thardus was an a-hole, and Omega Pirate was a major problem (still never beat him on hard mode). And the last boss was pretty beastly, too. But again. It was all Metroid. Besides the lack of Screw Attack, it was everything I could have hoped for in a 3-D game that brought one of my favorite franchises to life in a big way. I'm hoping eventually for an HD sequel, but not holding my breath.
8. Chrono Trigger (1995)What used to be my #1 game has slipped in the past few years. By no fault of it's own, of course. CT is an amazing game. In fact, it's only slipped because I've overplayed it in the last twenty years. I have beaten this game all the way through probably over 50 times, every version multiple times, and it still amazes me when I do play it. My favorite things about this game are the characters and story. Every character has a fleshed out story of their own that fits into the overall storyline. The gameplay is fast paced, and still fun and challenging. And the antagonists. Who's cooler than Magus? And Lavos himself is a beast as well. Sometimes I wish that I had never played this game, just so I could experience it again for the first time. It's just that good of a game.
7. Super Metroid (1994)As was listed earlier, Metroid was one of my favorite NES games growing up. In 1994, I was walking through Toys R Us and saw the demo for this game, and was floored. What I saw when I picked up the controller to play a bit of it was a destroyed Tourain from the end of the first game. I turn a corner, and there sits an empty cage where Mother Brain once was. Then, further in, an elevator that brings me back to the beginning of the first Metroid game. This was a place I was familiar with. To the left, yup, the Morphing Ball was still there. All of this was in glorious 16-bit. Something I had never experienced up until this point at my home. I must own this game. Bought a SNES and the game not much later and the rest is history. Easily the best game in the series, and it kind of saddens me that it's not top 5. But... well...
6. Final Fantasy Anthology (1992, 1994)In 1999, two of the best RPGs ever made were re-released for the Playstation under the title Final Fantasy Anthology: the epic and awesome FF6, and the at-the-time-never-released and often overlooked FF5. While the PSX versions did not update much of anything for either game, aside from a beastiary, it did give fans of the series a second look at my favorite era of Final Fantasy, the SNES era. While, admittedly, FF4 doesn't hold my interest as much as later games, these two back-to-back classics make up for it in spades. Most everybody already knows or has heard how great FF6, so I'll focus my energy on converting people on 5. Two words: Job System. An updated version of the system from FF3 makes a return, and in a big way. Over twenty jobs are at your disposal as you make your way through this game, meaning your characters can take on any role they choose at any time, for an infinite number of combinations. When they master a job, they can take some portions of that job, even innate abilities, along with them while using other jobs. Eventually, you can make your characters pretty much unstoppable forces if you master many jobs. Until Exdeath. Exdeath will f--- you up. So take a look if you haven't yet at these two remarkably fun RPGs from the best era in gaming. Both are on PSN.