Final Fantasy VII is easilly the best RPG I have ever played, and in terms of games in general, had a design that was just literally out of this world. One of the first games developed with a multi-million dollar budget, and one of the first to make effective and *not annoying* use of pre-rendered video. It tells an engaging story that's worth revisiting multiple times and has many elements that are open to interpretation, or that aren't obvious at all until heavily thought about. I loved the materia mechanic, and the great summons. One fault is that it's really really easy once you have an even mild understanding of its mechanics. Once you can game them actively, it's an absolute breeze. Fortunately, it's easy to invent your own challenges in a game this huge.

Super Mario Kart provided me hours and hours of entertainment during my junior high days and served to introduce what was (for me anyway) a briefly fantastic series.

Super Mario World was my first SNES game and like Super Metroid, is a game that I can clearly remember seeing for the first time, in a store display, and being immediately impressed. Have played through it pretty much til I'm sick of it and never want to play it again, so that's an automatic pass into my top 25 ;) It took Mario to the next level, which after Mario 3, seemed like an impossible feat.

Another dark horse game that I thoroughly enjoy. Given we have walkthroughs now, most of the complaints about this game's cryptic nature can be dismissed. It is otherwise a very solid 2D platform adventure game, very similar to Metroid. It has reasonable difficulty and great atmosphere.

Doom II has to get into my top 25, even though I consider it nowhere near as great as the original. It added many aspects to the Doom universe which are critical such as the super shotgun and the new monsters. The only thing I've never liked and the reason it rates so much lower than the first game for me is the level design, which seems mostly lazy and disappointing. The secret levels in particular are bad and are not used to create a gameplay device like they were in the original game. Doom 64 outdid this by a mile.

For me, Super Circuit is the strongest entry in the Mario Kart series, managing to outdo the original (partially by containing the entire original aside from all its new content). Excellent control, great music and sound effects, all the right characters available. It just feels entirely right. The AI cheapness is moderated here too, whereas in later Mario Kart games it goes completely out of control. With skill you can get a real lead and keep it without getting blue shelled and lightning bolted every 5 feet along the track. This game got me through a whole year of college.

Unlike most I consider Legacy of Darkness to have gotten "3D Castlevania" right. It fixed most of the flaws in its shouldn't-have-been-released predecessor and added a ton of new content, not the least of which was the werewolf Cornell, who is not only very cool but also very powerful.

Circle of the Moon is my second favorite of the Metroidvanias. I particularly like the style of its characters, and the DSS card system with its myriad effects and powerful spells. The soundtrack is fantastic, especially given that the game is on the Game Boy Advance.

StarFox 64 is still the best entry in its own series, and another of the absolute best N64 games. I particularly love the multiple paths that can be taken through the game (an aspect totally lost from the later Assault), the medals system it introduced for high scores, and the varying gameplay created through addition of the Landmaster tank and the submarine. This game more than made up for the disappointment that the cancellation of StarFox 2 had created.

Symphony of the Night was the best of the Metroid-esque Castlevania games (and rightfully so being the first). Many see it as a "correct" implementation of what Castlevania 2 so nobly tried many years before. It's a fantastic game in all respects, and would probably rank much higher on my top 25 if there weren't just so many games I treasure slightly more. The art, soundtrack, and design are all excellent. Only fault I can find is that it's a bit too easy. The last few IGA-created Castlevania games however are much too difficult, so it's a fault I can easily forgive.