There're so many... but I picked 10 more memorable things:
FaceOff! (1989?)
- To put it bluntly, me and my friends hacked this game like no other. It also featured every dirty trick hockey ever had, fistfights and the possibility to jump on the downed fighter to give some more cheap shots. My record is 11 sucker punches! I still think this is the best hockey game I have ever played. The release year is said to be '89, but somehow I have a vague memory I have already played it in '88. Who knows.
Darklands (1992)
- absolutely captivating atmosphere, unheard of realism with strong religious aspects, skill based RuneQuestish experience system, and open-ended sand box gameplay for an RPG - in 1992. It went through patch hell but the final product is something utterly memorable. Still play it.
UFO: Enemy Unknown AKA X-COM (1993)
- I've played all three, but this is the legendary tactical strategy, that made a huge impact on a teenager myself (like many others here it seems). Still play it.
Carnage Heart (1995)
- the premise of this game is to outfit your battle robots with different equipment, weapons and computers, and then create an AI for it, creating a flow diagram of various icons. Then you put the robots to the battlefield and watch idly while you either win or lose the game. All the while this absolutely dementing, but catching simplified house tune is playing in the background. I'm a person who knows nothing about programming, but it didn't stop me from doing some 12-hour coding sessions with this game. Yes, it's that good!
Persona (1996) and it's sequels
- needless to say, the American publishers were frightened to death to let console players outside japan touch any of the (Shin) Megami Tensei series. I love them all and think they beat Final Fantasies hands down. All Tensei games dwelve in dealing with different demons and occult phenomena, while urban myths and lies become reality distorting society to hellish proportions.
- I have to add one more bit to show the excellence of this series. Persona 2: Innocent Sin is a "sister title" to Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and has never been released outside Japan. In short, it's protagonists begin by killing off their high school principal, and begin a journey to prevent neo-nazis from resurrecting Hitler from hell while, unknown to them, all humans are only lab rats in an experiment conjured by Nyarlathotep and Philemon of Cthulhu mythos. Oh, and the male lead character can be a homosexual if the player wants. How could this premise not be a winner?
As Persona 4: FES should be around the corner for us Europeans, still play it (and Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Sagas in the meanwhile)
Fallout (1997) and Fallout 2 (1998)
- two legendary tactical RPGs with open-ended gameplay, simply bursting with all things cool. Kill children, bad karma! I'm definitely a skill-biased person, once again your choice in skills and attributes strongly affect how you're going to play the game. Don't even get me started on what all Bethesda went and broke with Fallout 3, here's hoping for some modders to make it playable.
Front Mission 3 (1999)
- what can I say, I'm a sucker for all things tactics, mecha and cyberpunk. This is the best Squaresoft has for offer, cool robot duels intertwined with modding your machines, and internet hacking puzzles. Two stories, played both through, the other one twice. Great story to boot.
King of Dragon Pass (1999)
- an obscure, independently produced story-telling RPG based on RuneQuest creator Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha. Mesmerizing and fantastically written, with open-ended gameplay and random events making every new game not quite like the one before. Still play it.
Vagrant Story (2000)
- here's a Squaresoft game that got really poor sales. I can't fathom why. It's kind of Diabloish in gaming mechanics, but with a lot more mature (and wonderfully written) story, awesome style, coolest stuff ever to do and an absolutely sick element/counter element system. New Game+ and a "book of heroes" letting you gain some 500 different titles based on your record-breaking attempts within game make sure you're not done in an instant.
Hammer & Sickle (2005)
- this highly obscure tactical strategy was created by Nival of the Silent Storm series fame. Largely ignored by the audience, I think it blows S2/S3 out of the water. Open-ended with three different finales, realistic WWII weapons and tactics, and multiple possibilities in the way the game is played create a great pastime. It does have a steep learning curve though. Oh yes, and the S2 engine created by Nival (who are now coding Jagged Alliance 3, btw) is something I adore to heavens. It's simply the only thing ever to even come close - and exceed - the old XCOM engine, with everything on sight destroyable.
EDIT: Silent Hunter III (2005)
- I couldn't forgive myself unless at least one Really Effin Good simulator was included on the list. Not since F-15 Strike Eagle II and LHX Attack Chopper have I sat hours upon hours at the computer, awed by the terrific atmosphere and great graphics, which even then are further taken to another dimension by unbelievably immersive, huge mods available for it. This is suspense, maritime feeling, claustrophoby of a tin jar. I thought SH4 didn't really have anything to match SH3 with, although I haven't tried any Germany mods for it. Anyway, for a thinking man, this simulator was the real deal.
Well, that's it. And I didn't even get to include the Jagged Alliances here. Or Deus Ex. Or Ring of Red. Or We <3 Katamari. Or Dynasty Tactics 2. Or Shogun: Total War which is actually the only RTS I really really enjoyed. Or the absolutely wonderful Rollcage with mechanics, which have never since been properly re-enacted. To name but a few. Oh well...
