Best in Show

[Cmdr_King]

So Cap'n K made a comment, and I got to thinking "Well, what is the best DS game?"  But then I thought "wait, why stop there" and here we are.

And so we have this topic.  Here we will be discussing the Top 3 games for various systems, or at least listing them off.  Since the #1 best seemed a little limiting, while top 5 or 10 can be pretty daunting for some of the lesser systems here.  Besides, for a top 3 list people might make some commentary, which will be fun later.  I hope.

So clarification.
- NO genre specification.  Feel free to include games of all genres.
- List multi-platform games, should the need arise, under the platform you played them on, rather than having to hunt down their original platform.  So, for example, if you played FFVII on the PC, then it goes under Windows 95/98 PC.
- I'm not sure how to handle things like Steam/PSN/XBox Live releases, so just use your best judgement there.
- If you want to talk about platforms not listed, feel free.  I just didn't think most DLers played too many Atari 2800 or Saturn games.

And thus, a nice, simple copy-paste list for everyone's use!

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1.
2.
3.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1.
2.
3.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1.
2.
3.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1.
2.
3.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1.
2.
3.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1.
2.
3.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1.
2.
3.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1.
2.
3.

XBox (XBox)
1.
2.
3.

Gamecube (GCN)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1.
2.
3.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1.
2.
3.

Windows XP+ PC
1.
2.
3.

XBox 360 (360)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1.
2.
3.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1.
2.
3.

And I think that's everything.

[Ranmilia]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Super Mario Bros 3
2. The Legend of Zelda
3. Mega Man 2

No surprises here.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Doom series (Doom 1/2/final/ultimate are really all close enough to count as one game honestly, they'd be DLC category today)
2. X-Com (the first one)
3. Nethack

Doomstuff is obvious for both founding a genre and still holding up today.  X-Com 1 is similar except nothing has even come close to trying to follow it.  And Nethack... is kind of whatever, there are lots of things that could go there, it's the most polished and studied roguelike I think.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Super Metroid
2. Earthbound
3. Chrono Trigger

Again the #1 and #2 slots were clear to me but I debated a lot on #3.  Super Mario World, DKC2, or FF6 could easily go there.  SM founded a genre and holds up, Earthbound is one of those rare games with real writing and heart, and Chrono Trigger... is close enough to that and wields pure fun factor masterfully.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Sonic 3 and Knuckles
2. Shadowrun
3. Sonic 2

Genesis... meeeh.  The Sonics stand out as the best things on the platform really and I guess Shadowrun is pretty noteworthy for my tastes.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Starcraft + Brood War
2. Planescape: Torment
3. Half-Life

Kinda eyeballing the dates here. 

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics
2. Breath of Fire 4
3. Silent Hill

Again no surprises for anyone who knows me.  BoF4 kinda cheats by coming out at the end of the system's lifespan but hey.  The surprising runner-up that I put before remembering SH1 was PSX?  Madden NFL.  Yes, really, think about it.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Super Smash Brothers
2. Zelda: Majora's Mask
3. Goldeneye

These are really in no order and Ogre Battle 64 could go in there too.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
2. Pokemon RBY
3. Pokemon GSC

Oddly enough these are all really original Game Boy games.  GBA stuff... just doesn't feel as good somehow.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Silent Hill 2
2. Persona 4
3. Persona 3

This is basically "Silent Hill 2!  And... uh... uhhhh.... um.... stuff... lots of stuff... PERSONA!"  Blah blah FFX blah whatever really blah.

XBox (XBox)
1. Star Wars KOTOR
2. Star Wars KOTOR 2
3. X-Men Legends

Original X-box?  Uhhhh I played XML on it with friends in college I guess.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Super Smash Bros Melee
2. Metroid Prime
3. Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem

In continuation of thumbing my nose at 3d platformers and zeldas that are not Majora's Mask.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Castlevania Order of Ecclesia
2. Phoenix Wright
3. 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors

Don't have a DS.  Got emulation set up because of these games.  Good enough.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1.
2.
3.

Not even gonna try, never played anything on it, never emulated, nothing stands out, nothin.

Windows XP+ PC
1. Tsukihime
2. Perfect Cherry Blossom
3. Iji

Can I really defend to myself the best modern PC games being small independent niche projects?  .... Yes.  Yeah, by my standards of best, this works.

XBox 360 (360)
1.
2.
3.

Haven't really played anything on it. 

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Silent Hill Shattered Memories
2. No More Heroes
3. New Super Mario Bros Wii

Two games that actually make use of Wii control gimmicks well, and I don't even know what to say for NSMBW, it is what it is.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Catherine
2. ?
3. ?

Nothing feels really worthy of being listed except a game I haven't even played yet.  >_>

[Cmdr_King]

If it makes ya feel better Alex, I seriously considered lumping the modern stuff into the PS360 moniker, and honestly I suspect that'd be more honest for most gamers.  Whether that holds true in this audience I dunno.

And small indy games may well be what the PC is best at now, considering big name PC stuff is typically ported FROM consoles, when it's not simultaneous release.

[Nitori]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. SMB3
2. SMB2
3. SMB

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Ko
2. Ko
3. Ko

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Earthbound - Superior
2. Super Mario World - will watch a French Canadian play this everyday for 15 minutes
3. Final Fantasy VI - Edgaaaar

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. BLAST PROCESSING
2.
3.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Grim Fandango
2. you would split up PC dates would you CK too lazy
3.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics - Boilerplate eh
2. Spyro 3 - Richard has class
3. Persona 2 Innocent Sin - Eikichi best Persona character ever

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Perfect Dark - Must shoot Laggy with Farsight
2. Paper Mario
3. Snowboard Kids 2

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Mother 3 - Split PC into 3, don't split GB/GBA, CK inferiority, obv. choice
2. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga  
3. Final Fantasy V Advance

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - I'm a tree frog
2. Okami - woof woof woof
3. God Hand - I'm Alexander

XBox (XBox)
1. Psychonauts so I can put it somewhere although I played PC like awesome people do
2. Ko bludgeon tool
3. paperweight

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Super Smash Brothers Melee  
2. Custom Robo
3. Tales of Symphonia - Well I ran out of ideas

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. The World Ends With You - I gots style
2. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - I have a cravat
3. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - I'm dead, coulda done like 10 games here

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Persona 3 Portable - offend Elfboy is #1
2. Power Stone Collection - Fighting game for real men
3. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth - Actually wasn't terrible

Windows XP+ PC
1. Mass Effect 2 - I'm calibratin'
2. Perfect Cherry Blossom - I was never the same again
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum - I'm Batman

TF2 imploded on itself

XBox 360 (360)
1. Bioshock - A pony chooses
2. Tales of Vesperia - A Ko obeys
3. Blazblue: Continuum Shift

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Donkey Kong Country Returns - DKownage
2. Resident Evil 4 - Leon S. Kennedy, best version of RE4
3. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle - Reaper, reaper that's what people call me

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Bioshock 2
2. Valkyria Chronicles
3. Man I used this thing a lot didn't I

[Dunefar]

More later, just getting a few down and thinking.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Mario 3.
2. Zelda 1.
3. Final Fantasy 1.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Doom.
2. Doom.
3. Doom.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Lufia 2.
2. Breath of Fire 2.
3. Final Fantasy 4.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1.
2.
3.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1.
2.
3.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics.
2. Final Fantasy 7.
3. Fill in later.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Doom 64.
2.
3.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1.
2.
3.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1.
2.
3.

XBox (XBox)
1.
2.
3.

Gamecube (GCN)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1.
2.
3.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1.
2.
3.

Windows XP+ PC
1.
2.
3.

XBox 360 (360)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1.
2.
3.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1.
2.
3.

[Cmdr_King]

Well I was thinking about it and 'noteworthy GB games' was something like... 1. Pokeymans!  2. .. oh yeah Link's Awakening  3.  uuuuummm... yeah so I left it off, same way you don't see the Dreamcast.  Granted this does raise the question of why I put the PS3 on here but anyway.

Oh.  For the PC games I was trying to break it down by the original OSes rather than dates, since I thought that might be a little easier to work with/remember, but maybe not!  I dunno.

[Twilkitri]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Apple //e
1. Dino Eggs
2. Lode Runner
3. Taipan

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Day Of The Tentacle
2. Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy
3. Duke Nukem 1

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Mystic Quest Legend
2. Yoshi's Island
3. Kirby's Dream Course

Sega Genesis (Gen) Mega Drive
N/A

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Planescape: Torment
2. Curse Of Monkey Island
3. Abe's Exoddus

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Breath Of Fire 4
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Suikoden

Nintendo 64 (N64)
Insufficent data

Gameboy Classic/Colour (GBC)
1. Wario Land II
2. Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Ages
3. Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Classic

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Fire Emblem
2. Metroid Fusion
3. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation

Playstation 2 (PS2)
Insufficient data

XBox (XBox)
N/A

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Metroid Prime
2. Super Mario Sunshine
3. Skies Of Arcadia: Legends

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. The World Ends With You
2. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
3. Super Robot Wars W

Playstation Portable (PSP)
N/A

Windows XP+ PC
1. Mass Effect 2
2. Mass Effect
3. Sam And Max Save The World

XBox 360 (360)
N/A

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
Insufficient data

Playstation 3 (PS3)
N/A

[Grefter]

Not sure who you are really justifying the PC stuff to there CK.  As an avid PC gamer it is a pretty functional break down.  Puts it in about the same time spans as the consoles and marks the drastic shifts in the technology in the OSes (you pretty much have DOS/Win 95 Stuff/NT tech stuff).  The only real misgivings I have is that is that XP+ is a ten year period which is a bit hard to break down to 3 games.  Generally works for what you are after though.  Will work on list later.

[jsh357]

If it's not obvious I rarely play games on my PC... Also I swear I have more broad taste than this, just the top three generally end up being RPGs.  XD

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Final Fantasy 3
2. Dragon Quest 4
3. Super Mario Bros 3

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. King's Quest VI
2. Sim City
3. Sim Farm

Game Boy
1. Link's Awakening
2. Donkey Kong '94
3. Wario Land

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Earthbound
2. Final Fantasy V
3. Final Fantasy VI

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Monster World 4
2. King Colossus
3. Phantasy Star IV

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. The Sims
2. Seasons of the Sakura
3. Dilbert's Desktop Games

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics
2. Dragon Quest VII
3. Final Fantasy IX

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Majora's Mask
2. Paper Mario
3. Ocarina of Time

Gameboy Color
1. Oracle of Ages
2. Oracle of Seasons
3. Pokemon Card GB 2

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Mother 3
2. Ace Attorney III
3. Ace Attorney I

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Dragon Quest VIII
2. Shadow of the Colossus
3. Final Fantasy X

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Metroid Prime
2. Wind Waker
3. Super Smash Bros: Melee

Nintendo DS (DS) - I chose not to include ports
1. Ghost Trick
2. Hotel Dusk
3. The World Ends With You

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Tactics Ogre
2. Dissidia
3. I need to play more PSP stuff, great system.  If I had to guess, this would be Persona 3

Windows XP+ PC
1. Portal
2. Yume Miru Kusuri
3. The Sims 2

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Little King's Story
2. Wario Land: Shake It
3. Super Smash Bros Brawl

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Nier
2. Final Fantasy 13
3. Metal Gear Solid 4

[Dark Holy Elf]

One of these days I should think about categorising and rating all the PC games I've played, so I can actually put them on lists like this.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Super Mario Bros. 2
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Mega Man 3

MM2 might as well be on this list as well. Sidescrollers hardcore dominated this era.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1.
2.
3.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Super Mario Kart
2. Final Fantasy 6
3. Super Metroid

Super Metroid vs. Chrono Trigger depends on my mood. SMK is simply my favourite game of all time probably, Super Metroid is what Alex said, and those two RPGs really stand far above everything else from this system.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Phantasy Star 4
2. Ghouls 'n Ghosts
3. Sonic the Hedgehog

I really like PS4, the others are both... okay, and games I at least spent a decent amount of time playing, but clearly are not great. Yeah, I'm the weird person who thinks that Sonic 1 was better than 2 because I tend not to care for platformers which are similar to their previous entries.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1.
2.
3.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics
2. Valkyrie Profile
3. Mega Man 8

My -other- contender for favourite game of all time, another pet RPG, and one of the best all-around and underrated Mega Man games.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Goldeneye 007
2. F-Zero X
3. Don't care

Pretty sure #3 should be Waverace but right now I find myself not caring. The James Bond license really pushes Goldeneye the extra mile in terms of having what I look for in an FPS (which is mostly: not mouse-reliant, strong singleplayer campaign, limited but existant stealth elements, not a war sim, some plot). And F-Zero X is a strong second for my title of "favourite racing game of all time". On the other hand, fuck the games that GameFAQs hypes from this system.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Metroid Fusion
2. Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
3. Pokemon Emerald

Haha, I'm the opposite of Alex and think the GBA had clearly better games than the GB! Anyway, anyone who has been reading stuff I've written recently knows how much I gush over Fusion, good Fire Emblem is good Fire Emblem, and Emerald definitely feels like the best Pokemon experience to date (barring possibly B/W).

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Final Fantasy X
2. Mega Man X8
3. Wild Arms 4

All three of these games are god tier. Suikoden 3, which would be #4, is -also- god tier. Some of my favourite RPGs and what is a serious contender for my favourite platformer of all time and almost certainly my favourite since the NES. PS2 best system.

XBox (XBox)
1.
2.
3.

um. I have interest in playing more Halo I guess.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Mario Kart: Double Dash!
2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
3. Soul Calibur 2

Soul Calibur had no chance on the PS2 list, so let's sneak it in here! Very intuitive and fluid weapon fighter which I dig. Besides that, we have more quality FE and my favourite multiplayer game of all time.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. New Super Mario Bros.
2. Phoenix Wright: Justice for All
3. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Plenty of good things to say about the Ace Attorney games, of which I like 2 best even if I think 5 may be objectively the pick for that title. Regardless, both good stuff, and 1/3 aren't too far behind. New Super Mario Bros., though, breathed life into an old favourite and switched it up just enough to hold my interest, so it gets the top spot. And I remember not expecting to like it that much, either...

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Wild Arms XF
2. Mega Man Powered Up
3. Tactics Ogre

A pair of excellent SRPGs, though one certainly a higher standard of excellence/more to my biases. Mega Man Powered Up is what a remake should be, with terrific style and oodles of fanservicy additions (PLAYABLE FUCKING ELECMAN).

Windows XP+ PC
1.
2.
3.

XBox 360 (360)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. Super Mario Wii Sequel something something

It's still too early for me to decide on NSMBW vs. SMG2 for #3. They're practically the same anyway, both are a bit disappointing due to "platformer which doesn't do much its predecessor didn't" but on the other hand those predecessors rock so whatevs. Super Mario Galaxy is the first time I played a 3D platformer I thought was worth the hype, and Radiant Dawn is the absolute best game in one of my favourite series and pretty much the reason I bought the system.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1.
2.
3.

[Shale]

Well I was thinking about it and 'noteworthy GB games' was something like... 1. Pokeymans!  2. .. oh yeah Link's Awakening  3.  uuuuummm... yeah so I left it off, same way you don't see the Dreamcast.  Granted this does raise the question of why I put the PS3 on here but anyway.

Dude if you're over the age of 25 and trying to claim you didn't lose at least a month of your life playing Tetris on a pea-soup screen, I'm going to have to call you a liar and a charlatan.

[Fenrir]

Also Great Greed.
More seriously, there's Pokemon, Wario, Zelda, FFA, Kirby 2. Better than original Xbox exclusives, I guess?
Might do a full list later, but that looks long.

[VySaika]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Crystalis
2. Magic of Shaherazade
3. Final Fantasy

Which three took top honors was easy. How to place them...was not.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Quest for Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero
2. Quest for Glory 3: Wages of War
3. Quest for Glory 2: Trial By Fire

I'm sensing a theme here. Also...I'm fairly certain this is what they were for, not 95/98. Could be wrong though.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Final Fantasy 6
2. Kirby Super Star
3. Secret of Evermore

No real surprises here. SoM and Earthbound get the honorable mention nods, along with SMRPG.  

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Phantasy Star 4
2. Streets of Rage 3
3. Shining Force 2

Didn't actually have a Genesis, but played these three(and a few others) on my cousin's at least.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Diablo 2(with expansion pack, of course)
2. Baldur's Gate 2
3.

Not...entirely sure what to put for 3. Most of what I had during this period were actually games from the older PC period, so it's fuzzy.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. SaGa Frontier
2. Valkyrie Profile
3. Final Fantasy Tactics

Well, this one was easy.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Ogre Battle 64
2. Super Smash Bros
3. Aiden Chronicles

That last one is a horrible game and I cannot defend why I like it so much.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Fire Emblem 7
2. Fire Emblem 8
3. Riviera: The Promised Land

More like FEBA, amirite? Anyway, was considering a pokemon game over Riviera for spot 3, but the question of "which one" is always there. Emerald? Leaf Green? Either would prolly be better, but I foudn Riv fun enough to let it take the nod.  

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Monster Rancher 4
2. Persona 4
3. Warriors Orochi

All three of these could swap positions depending on the day for me. Thus, alphabetical order. <_<;

Honorable mention to a few others of course. FFX obviously. Dark Alliance 2(GINSU DWAAAARF!!!!). Soul Calibur 3. Star Ocean 3. The list goes on.

XBox (XBox)
1. Jade Empire
2.
3.

The original X-Box was "Kier's"(his dad used his 5 year old son as an exuse to buy a video game system he wanted), so I didn't have many games for it. Ended up buying KotoR on it, but didn't play that until Steam, so.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Fire Emblem 9
2. Pokemon XD
3. Skies of Arcadia: Legends

Gamecube didn't have many RPGs, but the ones there were solid. Honorable mention to Sol Cal 2: Link Version.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1.
2.
3.

This will require thought and going up to look over my DS collection.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Persona 3 Portable
2. Dissidia
3. Need to think on this one.

Ignoring straight ports(otherwise VP:L says hi~), but I think P3P adds enough to count. Also, yes that is Dissidia and not Duodecim. I like the new chars and all, new story mode is better then the old story mode but I miss the Duel Colliseum SO MUCH. That one mode is enough for me to find Dissidia 1 a better game overall.

Windows XP+ PC
1. Neverwinter Nights
2. Dragon Age Origins
3. Audiosurf

NWN2 is fun, but I like DAO a bit more. And didn't feel like putting three things of the same genre on there, thus Audiosurf gets spot #3.

XBox 360 (360)
1. Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2
2. Tales of Vesperia
3. Soul Calibur 4

Battle Fantasia or Samurai Warriors 2 could also take spot #3. Or maybe even spot #2. DWG2 is the only clear placing.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Fire Emblem 10
2. Rune Factory Frontier
3. Super Smash Bros Brawl

Not much to say here. Don't have many Wii games, I got the thing for FE10, Brawl and because Kier wanted it.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Dynasty Warriors 7
2. BlazBlue CS
3. Marvel vs Capcom 3

Almost want to nod CT over CS for BlazBlue, but the fact that my main got nerfed hard in CS is not enough to make me overlook the better game. <_<;

[SageAcrin]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Final Fantasy 3
2. Super Mario Brothers 3
3. uhhhhhhhhhhh. I associate the other SMBs with the remake more than I do the original(whereas I played SMB3 enough to beat it in original). I'm actually going to have to go with Bionic Commando, though Ghost Lion could have gotten this on a good day.

(I played only one of those on the actual console, and most of the notable NES games I played in better portmakes or remakes, like MM2.)

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Master of Magic
2. Sim City 2000
3. Master of Orion 2

Yes, they're all sim type games. No, I don't see anything particularly wrong with this-I first played DOS games about 15 years after most people. I'd place Angband around MoO2 but realistically the original I never played on a PC-just Mac-and the variations are decidedly more up to date in conventions, if not graphics.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Final Fantasy 6
3. Super Metroid

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Phantasy Star 4
2. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
3. uhhh let's go with Sonic 2, I'm not the hugest fan but still.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Perfect Cherry Blossom
2. Baldur's Gate 2
3. System Shock 2

(List subject to change based on the weather. Outside of PCB I don't have a set order for the top games.)

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Xenogears
2. Final Fantasy Tactics(Note: Top two change based on mood.)
3. Breath of Fire 4, I think. This kinda surprises me but I can't think of something I like more.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Paper Mario
2. Super Mario 64
3. Super Smash Brothers

Gameboy/Gameboy Color(GB[C])
1. Pokemon Crystal
2. Final Fantasy Legend 3
3. Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

List subject to change, decent amount of RPGs in the same area. (There...there weren't many action games I liked.)

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Mother 3
2. Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green
3. Super Robot Taisen Original Generation 2

Mother 3 really rates that highly for me? Huh. Well, granted, one's a good remake, the other has a better remake, and the mass of GBA tended to be solid to me and there's a bunch of things near the top, so...

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Final Fantasy X
2. Super Robot Taisen Z
3. Devil May Cry 3

First two are no shockers, but DMC3? Then I realize it's basically the action game I think of when I think of anything remotely normal for action games. Huh.

XBox (XBox)
1.
2.
3.

What is an XBox can you eat it.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Super Smash Brothers Melee
2. Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door
3. I'll go with Fire Emblem 9 for this.

There's a bunch of GC games I'll play soon, and few I have yet, list subject to change.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
2. Super Robot Taisen L
3. Phoenix Wright 1

List subject to change every single day. DS has a good high quality top end that I can't decide on and could easily beat a game that outclasses the ones on there on any time now(*Eyes Pokemon Black* No, really, any day now.).

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Gundam Battle Universe
2. Dissidia: Final Fantasy
3. Super Robot Taisen Z2-1

Huh, lot of japanese on that list. Also shows that I need to play more Ys Seven/Trails in the Sky/Dissidia 2/etc, I have been remiss in playing games lately.

Windows XP+ PC
1. Team Fortress 2
2. Tsukihime
3. Melty Blood Act Cadenza

Uhhhhhhhh most of this won't run for me. Shader 3 hates my video card and Shader 2 compatible games for the last five years are rare and special creatures. Though the list would probably end up fairly similar regardless.

XBox 360 (360)
1.
2.
3.

I played on a 360 once or twice. True story!

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Fire Emblem 10
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. Metroid Prime Trilogy

ehhh fuck it I'll just base the other two games on the two games I'm currently enjoying the hell out of when my wrist will let me. I finally start to get back to MP1 and my wrist gets hurt grabbing a bag of dog food! Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh :(

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1.
2.
3.

Uh I've technically played enough PS3 games to make a list(DMC4->MvC3->SF4) but fuck that I haven't played any of the three enough to be fair, let along a significant sample of PS3 games.

Well I was thinking about it and 'noteworthy GB games' was something like... 1. Pokeymans!  2. .. oh yeah Link's Awakening  3.  uuuuummm... yeah so I left it off, same way you don't see the Dreamcast.  Granted this does raise the question of why I put the PS3 on here but anyway.

Dude if you're over the age of 25 and trying to claim you didn't lose at least a month of your life playing Tetris on a pea-soup screen, I'm going to have to call you a liar and a charlatan.

I didn't have a GB in that period.

The month of my life was lost to a COLOR version of Tetris on my Mac. I clearly had a superior lost month.

[superaielman]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Super Mario Bros 3
2.  Megaman 2
3.  River City Ransom

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Super Mario Kart
2. Lufia 2
3. Kirby's Dream Course

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics
2. Brigandine: Grand Edition
3. Star Ocean 2

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Castlevania: Aria of sorrow
2.
3.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Front Mission 4
2. Persona 4
3. Suikoden 3  (I have other games rated higher, but this is what stuck out to me when glancing over my ratings list)

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Mario Kart Double Dash!!
2. Skies of Arcadia
3. Fire Emblem 9

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Dragon Quest 4r (Using remakes of favorite games to fill things out down here)
2. New Super Mario Bros
3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow


I'm really struggling to think of games on the DS that hooked me. Sigh.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Final Fantasy 4: Complete collection
2. Final Fantasy 1
3. Wild ARMs XF

Windows XP+ PC
1. Left 4 Dead
2. Defense Grid
3. Hearts of Iron 2

Current gen consoles

1. Valkyria Chronicles
2. New Super Mario Bros Wii
3. Tales of Vesperia

[Dark Holy Elf]

I on the other hand have no idea how one would lose a month of his or her life to Tetris. Crazies.

[metroid composite]

Yeah, Tetris was pretty meh.  I lost maybe four hours before I was like "ehh, you know, I think we're really going to need Super Mario Land as well; this is getting repetitive already."



And there you have it: Mathematicians don't like Tetris.  Clearly the game is not abstract enough!

[metroid composite]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Super Mario Bros
2. Metroid
3. Legend of Zelda

(Close and interchangeable.  I've just been gaining a lot of respect for some subtle design tricks of SMB1 lately).

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. Sim Ant
2. King's Quest 1/2/4.  Uhh...let's go with 4 I guess?  Least nostalgic, but best quality.
3. Minesweeper

(I seriously don't feel I have enough slots in this category).

(write in) Gameboy pre-pocket
1. Metroid II return of Samus
2. Kirby's Dreamland
3. Super Mario Land 2: Six golden coins

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Super Metroid
2. Wario's Woods
3. ...uhh...Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse?

(Like, seriously, I'm not even sure what to put in the third slot here.  After the big two, there's just so few SNES games that register above 6/10 for me.  I suppose Super Mario Kart is also competing for this slot purely because of battle mode).

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Phantasy Star 4
2. Columns
3. Comix Zone

(But really: Genesis; not a system I owned personally; I played Columns on the Mac, PS4 at a friend's house, and the rest on a PSP Genesis mega collection).

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Starcraft: Brood War
2. Deus Ex
3. Warcraft II

(Does WC2 even count in this category?)

(write-in)(Gameboy Pocket/Colour--so...1995+)
1. Warioland II
2. Pokemon Blue
3. ...

(Really drawing a blank on the third here; lots of games from this era I badly need to play, mind you, like Warioland 3, and Pokemon G/S/C >_>).

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Final Fantasy Tactics
2. Koudelka
3. Valkyrie Profile

(Well that was easy )

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Paper Mario
2. Mario 64
3. Super Smash Bros

(Hard to know where to put SSB; it really came at the right time for me, to the point that I probably liked it more than SM64 at the time, but would I go back and play it now over 64?  Ehh...)

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Fire Emblem
2. Warioware
3. Metroid Zero Mission

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Wild ARMs 4
2. Final Fantasy X
3. ...Umm....uhh...Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution?

(I feel like I'm probably forgetting a PS2 game here)

XBox (XBox)
1.
2.
3.

(Can I count multiplat games that I played on other systems?  Because I'm not voting for DoA or Halo...).

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Super Smash Bros Melee
2. Skies of Arcadia: Legends
3. Paper Mario: The Thousand year Door

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Advance Wars DS
2. Elite Beat Agents
3. Token Phoenix Wright Game

(This one is damn hard; lots of stuff is getting cut from the list here; Like VPDS, like Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, like Meteos, like Trauma Center.  The DS is the best system ever, though, so that's not surprising).

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Wild ARMs XF
2. Half Minute Hero
3. Uhh..........Loco Roco?

(Disclaimer: it's quite possible I've only played three PSP games; I'm not sure...).

Windows XP+ PC
1. Team Fortress 2
2. Starcraft 2
3. Tribes: Vengeance

XBox 360 (360)
1.
2.
3.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
2. Super Mario Galaxy
3. Umm.....uhh....Super Paper Mario

(This was going to be a Mario platformer sweep, I suspect.  I mean, the other competition for third I can think of is like...NSMBWii, the Wii Warioland.  SPM gets the nod for being a Metroidvania version of SMB2 with surprisingly good plot).

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1.
2.
3.

(Only got my PS3 a couple months ago, and haven't actually beaten any games yet).

[SageAcrin]

Yeah, Tetris was pretty meh.  I lost maybe four hours before I was like "ehh, you know, I think we're really going to need Super Mario Land as well; this is getting repetitive already."



And there you have it: Mathematicians don't like Tetris.  Clearly the game is not abstract enough!

Being seven, having no money, and a version of Tetris being freeware(Or...possibly pirated. My memories in that range are vague as I didn't really get the distinction for a while.) helps for me. I can't explain Shale.

[Cmdr_King]

Not sure who you are really justifying the PC stuff to there CK.  As an avid PC gamer it is a pretty functional break down.  Puts it in about the same time spans as the consoles and marks the drastic shifts in the technology in the OSes (you pretty much have DOS/Win 95 Stuff/NT tech stuff).  The only real misgivings I have is that is that XP+ is a ten year period which is a bit hard to break down to 3 games.  Generally works for what you are after though.  Will work on list later.

It seemed like Alex and Nitori were reading Win95 as 1995-2000, so I wanted to clarify.  But yeah, I was more trying to highlight the big tech shifts, and couldn't really think of a good divide for the 2000s.

[OblivionKnight]

Maaaaaaan.  Best games period?  No genre?  Crazy.  None of these are in any particular order.  Missing a few systems too (Master System, WSC, etc.), but....eh, lazy.


Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Sweet Home
2. Mega Man 3
3. River City Ransom

These kind of define the genres on the system, to me.  Sweet Home is the first Survival Horror RPG (by Capcom!) and, while only available in Japanese, is...well, emulatable!  It's wonderful on atmosphere and design, being something unique you wouldn't expect in an NES game.  MM3 is the best MM game, to me, which should speak for itself.  RCR is the epitome of beat'em-ups, and unique (in spite of, or because of) even with all the bugs.  Great games everyone should play.  Crystalis NARROWLY misses this list.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1. X-COM
2. Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
3. Master of Orion 2: Battle at Antares

If Grefter and I both agree on something, it is the word of God.  The word of God is that X-Com is badass incarnate, and everyone should play it.  While Dune II may really have jump-started RTS games, Warcraft refined that into something a bit more recognizable and still semi-playable to this day.  Note I may be off on the dates a bit, but, eh.  MoO2 is...probably my favourite 4x game.  It holds up today even.  Too bad it was the last game in the series.  Civilization 2 again NARROWLY misses this list.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Rudra no Hihou
3. Super Metroid

Not a huge surprise.  CT is one of the best RPGs period and highly unique for its time (and even now).  Rudra is again an awesome game we have to emulate that also does things uniquely.  SM is...it's been talked about by others.  Lots of runners up here, including Lufia 2 and some other awesome ones.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Contra Hard Corps
2. Phantasy Star 4
3. Sonic and Knuckles

Hard Corps is the best Contra game.  Period.  So much variety.  Phantasy Star 4 is objectively the best RPG on the system.  Sonic and Knuckles is...the best of the Sonic games.  Some other runners up, but not as close as above.  Man, I want to put Moonwalker on here, but... :_:

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1. Starcraft
2. Alpha Centauri
3. Half-Life

I was raised on PC games until about 10th grade, so it pains me to only put 3 here!  Anyway, Starcraft is Starcraft.  Alpha Centauri is Civilizationx1000000.  Half-Life is...Half-Life.  

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Lunar SSSC
2. Persona 2
3. Valkyrie Profile

Shock, PSX games I played a larger proportion of RPGs compared to other things.  Lunar is....Lunar.  I love it, it's fabulous, and got me in to RPGs on the newer systems.  P2 is P2, no more to say about that.  VP is...crazy unique and awesome.  So many runners up, so little time.

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Perfect Dark
2. Paper Mario
3. Smash Brothers

PD I find far better than Goldeneye, and more fun, especially in groups.  Paper Mario is...the best RPG on the system!  Smash Brothers started a trend, and is awesome.  Not many runners up here.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Sigma Star Saga
2. Final Fantasy 5a
3. Mother 3

Sigma Star Saga is an excellent hybrid RPG/shooter/adventure game.  FF5a...is the best FF port, and plays remarkably well.  Mother 3 is awesome, but again, Japanese game.  Other good runners up here too.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Shadow Hearts Covenant
2. Persona 4
3. Megaman X8

TOO MANY RUNNERS UP AAAAHHHHH.  All are very good games in different areas, and it's so close I can't mention the sheer number of runners up.

XBox (XBox)
1. Metal Wolf Chaos
2. X-Men Legends
3. Gladius

Some other good ones here.  XML is...remarkably good, though I think I prefer Ultimate Alliance overall?  Maybe?  MWC is MWC.  Gladius I think more people need to play - great game, different, etc.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Baten Kaitos Origins
2. Skies of Arcadia Legends
3. Evolution Worlds

lol RPGs.  BKO is much more polished than the original, so it goes here.  SoAL is overall solid.  EW is a gem that no one probably picked up ;_;

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. The World Ends With You
2. Castlevania Portrait of Ruin
3. Wizard of Oz

I feel like I'm forgetting one that should definitely be here in place of Oz.  Damn.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Wild ARMs XF
2. P3 PSP
3. P1 PSP

Again, feel like I'm forgetting something major that should replace P1 PSP.  Oh well, whole Persona series on the list FTW

Windows XP+ PC
1. Starcraft 2
2. TF 2
3. Galactic Civilizations 2

Again, damn the restrictive nature of these lists!

XBox 360 (360)
1. Dead Rising
2. Tales of Vesperia
3. Eternal Sonata

Running out of a lot to say, but ES trolling deserves a spot here

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Smash Brothers Brawl
2. FE10
3. No More Heroes

Think I might find the Wii my least interesting console here?

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Valkyria Chronicles
2. Disgaea 3
3. Batman Arkham Asylum

Despite not liking D3 as much as the other games in the series...it's still good.  Best Batman game deserves a spot on this list.

[Talaysen]

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Kickle Cubicle
2. Bubble Bobble
3. Ice Climbers

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
1.
2.
3.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Final Fantasy VI
2. Yoshi's Island
3. Super Mario RPG

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Sonic Spinball
2. Zany Golf
3. Phantasy Star 4

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
1.
2.
3.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
2. Final Fantasy Tactics
3. Breath of Fire IV

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Super Mario 64
2. Goldeneye 007
3. Mario Kart 64

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2
2. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation
3. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations
2. Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis
3. Wild Arms 4

XBox (XBox)
1.
2.
3.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
3. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Etrian Odyssey III
2. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
3. Ghost Trick

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Wild Arms XF
2. Final Fantasy: War of the Lions
3. Brave Story: New Traveler

Windows XP+ PC
1.
2.
3.

XBox 360 (360)
1. Tales of Vesperia
2. Battle Fantasia
3.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
3. Mario Kart Wii

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Cross Edge
2. Nier
3. Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice

[Captain K.]

Successful troll is successful.  



Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Blaster Master.  Hail to the king, baby.
2. The Guardian Legend.  I got your Touhou right here.
3. River City Ransom.

Plenty of other good games (and even more bad ones) on the NES.  Great system overall.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
It's pretty much always been my opinion that computer games are inferior to console ones.  The only one that captured my interest for any length of time was Angband.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Final Fantasy III (6)  I bought the system for this game, and it was well worth it.
2. Super Mario Kart.
3. Soldiers of Fortune.  Obscure game is obscure.

Even though the SNES had some standout hits, I'd say there are far more good games on the NES and Genesis.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Streets of Rage 2.  The definitive beat-em-up.
2. Sonic the Hedgehog.  Blast processing indeed.
3. Gain Ground (strictly on the quality of 2-player mode, 1-player sucks ass)

Good system with a long life (perhaps too long).

Gameboy
1. Link's Awakening.  Fuck Link to the Past, this game was the shizzle.
2. Final Fantasy Legend II.  Mr. S says you must vote for this game.
3. Pokemon Red/Blue.  Not a game, but a lifestyle.

Crap, I'm out of room?  Haven't mentioned Metroid II yet, or Tetris, or World Heroes 2 Jet or so many other good games.  Let's just say great system and move on.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
See DOS.

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Star Ocean the Second Story.  So much fun.
2. Valkyrie Profile.  tri-Ace, can I come suck your cocks now?
3. Dragon Quest VII/Breath of Fire 3/Final Fantasy Anthology/every other RPG.

The RPG system?  Yeah, RPGs really busted out this generation and became a non-obscure genre.

Nintendo 64 (N64)

Never had a 64, but Goldeneye was damned good when I played it at a friend's house, so I'll say that.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Advance Wars.  All your bases are belong to us.
2. Pokemon anything.  It's Pokemon.
3. Car Battler Joe.  Really wish I had someone to play multiplayer with on this one.

Kind of a short lifespan for the GBA.  Not a lot of standout stuff for it.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Katamari Damacy.  NA, NA NA NA NA NA NANA, NA NA NA NA NA NAAAAAA
2. Persona 3.  No, not four damn you.  THREE.
3. Star Ocean Till the End of Time.  Adray.  Fucking.  Lasbard.

It says something about the quality of games this generation when a game with Adray in it can only make third place.  High quality games being made in this time period.

XBox (XBox)
Never played.

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Metroid Prime.  Best revamp of a series ever.
2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
3. Mario Kart: Double Dash.  Okay, second-best revamp.

Only other games I can think of worth mentioning are Wind Waker and Timesplitters 2.  Not a good system.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Advance Wars Dual Strike.  Yeah, have to agree with MC here, this game is so much fun.
2. Dragon Quest IX.  Shallow it may be, but I'm still playing it 1 year later.
3. Advance Wars Days of Ruin.  More Advance Wars.  See below.

Looking through my collection, I realize that the DS has a lot of *good* games, but very few *great* games.  TWEWY, Avalon Code, Etrian Odyssey, Kingdom Hearts 358/2, Dawn of Heroes, Retro Game Challenge, Covenant of the Plume, Pokemon version XYZ, etc.  In that respect I guess Radiant Historia could be a contender for best DS game.  But that's speaking more to the lack of competition than to RH's quality.
Considering how much time I spend playing my DS, this certainly isn't a knock on the system.  Having a diverse selection of good games is a great thing for a portable system to have.  But I would like to have seen more "killer apps" for the system considering its lifespan.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
Never played, but Dissidia intrigues me greatly.

Windows XP+ PC
See DOS.

XBox 360 (360)
1. Halo 3.  Note that I don't even like FPS.
2. Star Ocean the Last Hope.  Ah tri-Ace, I was wrong to ever doubt your greatness.
3. Super Street Fighter 4.  Okay, third-best revamp.

My new baby, and I certainly am enjoying it.  I should probably mention comparing achievements with others as a game unto itself.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Wii Sports
2. Nothing
3. Nothing

What if Nintendo made the best system ever and sold a bajillion of them but nobody made any games worth playing?  That's the Wii.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
Never played.

[metroid composite]

Not sure who you are really justifying the PC stuff to there CK.  As an avid PC gamer it is a pretty functional break down.  Puts it in about the same time spans as the consoles and marks the drastic shifts in the technology in the OSes (you pretty much have DOS/Win 95 Stuff/NT tech stuff).  The only real misgivings I have is that is that XP+ is a ten year period which is a bit hard to break down to 3 games.  Generally works for what you are after though.  Will work on list later.

It seemed like Alex and Nitori were reading Win95 as , so I wanted to clarify.  But yeah, I was more trying to highlight the big tech shifts, and couldn't really think of a good divide for the 2000s.

The big tech split in the 2000s?  Windows Vista/7.  The first 64 bit OSs for PC, but more to the point DirectX 10 and lots of sensible hardware standardizations that came with it, like requiring fully programmable shaders in GPUs.

Or, if you want a transition point that people in the DL actually care about: Steam.

Either of these cut the decade roughly in half, right about when the console transition happened.  (In fact, for DX10 they're related.  Fully programmable shaders were actually Microsoft's secret sauce that gave the 360 an edge over the PS3...and then became standard in PCs within a year or two.).

[DjinnAndTonic]

Ooh, fun. Let's how many non-RPG answers I can even come up with.

Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1. Super Mario Bros 3 - Of course, this is the definition of a video game in my mind, still.
2. Kirby's Dreamland - cheating a bit since it came out right at the end of the system's life, but damn if it wasn't addictive.
3. Final Fantasy - I probably played this more than anything else on the NES, despite never owning my own copy. Playing RPGs with a friend is a tradition since the earliest times of my life, and probably the main reason why I still love this genre more than any other.

DOS/Windows 3.x PC
lol Djinn and PC gaming~

Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
1. Final Fantasy 6 - Trying not to saturate my list with RPGs, but well... FF6 is my #1 game of all time, so.
2. Mario Kart - Pretty much the only racing game that matters. And the only one I've ever enjoyed. And the only game that I've ever played with one of my brothers, so it has a special place in my heart for fraternal bonding time.
3. Super Street Fighter II Turbo - This and Mortal Kombat are the reason why I'm still hopelessly addicted to fighting games, despite not being any good at them.

Sega Genesis (Gen)
1. Phantasy Star IV - Yay! Genesis games!
2. I never played anything else worthy of being on a list like this.
3.

Windows 95/98/2000 PC
lol Djinn and PC gaming~

Sony Playstation (PS1)
1. Xenogears - Didn't actually play this until years after it came out.
2. SaGa Frontier - Didn't play this until like last year, but I've spent more time on it than I can justify, so there's something amazing there.
3. Final Fantasy 7 - I didn't get a PSX until midway through its lifecycle, and I rarely played it, but FF7 (along w/ Grandia and Lunar of all things) was enough to keep my interest in RPGs alive until I got back into them in a big way during the PS2/GC era.

Yeah... I didn't game much during the PSX era, so the only memorable things here are RPGs to me. Silent Hill/RE2 for Survival Horror or Tekken/Bloody Roar for Fighting games should probably make the list, but I've definitely spent more time on these Square RPGs, so...

Nintendo 64 (N64)
1. Super Smash Bros
2. Mario Kart 64
3. Kirby 64

I also played one of the Mortal Kombat games on 64. Never cared about Mario 64 or the Zelda games here, though. I watched my friends play, but generally just never had the time for them.

Gameboy Advance (GBA)
1. Yggdra Union - God I love this game.
2. Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow - I actually only played this fairly recently.
3. Sigma Star Saga - I really like how experimental this game is.
Damn... all RPGish again. I know I played non-RPG stuff on GBA, but I can't remember it anymore.

Playstation 2 (PS2)
1. Final Fantasy X - Got a PS2 solely for this game and played it on release night to a crowded living room full of friends. We actually liked Tidus, too. Perhaps we all just secretly hated our fathers?
2. Disgaea - The game that made me like SRPGs. Also, 4th-wall-breaking humor meant that it was another RPG that was played with a crowded living room (at least for the early bits, and then later it became a communal project to try out different level-grinding schemes on the same save - Super-Galaxy-Mage-Flonne was the most fun because she says WATA! when she smacks things with her stick.) Immediately after playing Disgaea, I ravenously played every N1 main title that came out on the day it was released until I crossed the ocean and couldn't get ahold of them in English so easily...
3. Persona 4 - This last choice was tough, with Shadow Hearts 2, a variety of Fighting games/Survival Horror/Platformers, and niche Djinnbait titles fighting for this spot. P4 gets it for being really polished and coming at a great time when I'd actually experienced what it was like to live in the Japanese countryside... and it's exactly. Like. P4. (without the murders, of course.)

XBox (XBox)
N/A

Gamecube (GCN)
1. Tales of Symphonia - Yeah yeah, it's a terrible game in so many ways, but it was so well-timed. I had been out of the gaming scene in any serious way for a loooong time until my friend bought this game and we spent hours at her house playing it (4 player ARPG fun!) together and enjoying just how hilarious the storyline was (oh how young we were, we thought the whole anviliciousness of it was INTENTIONAL back then). The anime-trope-heaviness of it was something I hadn't really been overly exposed to at that point in my gaming life (Phantasy Star 4 was the first and last anime-heavy RPG that I'd played and I was a Soppy-level anime nerd then. I didn't play Grandia and Lunar fully until AFTER ToS had got me back into JRPGs in a big weeaboo way.) Clearly, it was a big deal for other RPG fans too, as it's -still- the most well-known Tales title (in the West) and GC RPG.
2. Super Smash Melee - Really, who DIDN'T own a GC just for this?
3. Resident Evil Remake - Another one that shaped my tastes due to playing it together with a lot of friends.

Nintendo DS (DS)
1. Radiant Historia - Love and Love
2. The World Ends With You - Love Love Love
3. Phoenix Wright anything - <3 <3 <3

DS is my favorite system, but this is generally how it breaks down. For me, VPDS is pretty high up there too. Puzzle Quest, too.

Playstation Portable (PSP)
1. Valkyrie Profile Lenneth - My first VP game, played right as I was getting into the DL, so it just felt like a great time to finally try out this gem that I'd wanted to play since I fell back in love with the RPG genre.
2. Dissidia - Yay Fighting Game! Yay RPG aspects! I just don't play my PSP very often... Despite owning a metric ton of games for it that I ostensibly know I would like.
3. Half Minute Hero - Like Puzzle Quest, but less repetitive~

Windows XP+ PC
Does Emulation count?

XBox 360 (360)
1. NieR
2. Nier Gestalt
3. NieR DLC

Tales of Vesperia is a distant 4th. Play NieR.

Nintendo Wii (Wii)
1. Super Smash Bros Brawl
2. Fire Emblem 10 - Best game in the damn series and it's a good series.
3. Silent Hill Shattered Memories - Best SH writing since... since ever. Needs non-crap gameplay. Needs a goddamn sequel.

Playstation 3 (PS3)
1. Nier Replicant - This is a good game.
2. Mortal Kombat 9 - Holy crap the series got fun again.
3. Disgaea 3 - I considered stuff like BlazBlue and RE5 here, but I actually really like Dis3 and can't wait for Dis4.
Honorable mention to Catherine and Tales of Graces which I haven't played enough of in Japanese (or in English at all) yet~

So yeah... I play RPGs/Fighters/Survival Horror almost exclusively, with the odd Mario/Castlevania platformer for good measure.