So many to pick... But I will choose only a few...

Age of Empires 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Heroes of Might and Magic III

Civilization

Doom 2

• Ff4, 6, and 7
• Chronotrigger
• Super Metroid
• Castlevania SOTN
• Zelda a Link to the past
• Tony hawk's pro skater 1 and 2
• Any of the street fighter
• Pokemon
• Star craft + brood war
• Diablo 1 and 2

And so much more!

Top 5

Doom and Doom II

Command and Conquer: Red Alert

Super Mario World

StarCraft with Brood War expansion

Duke 3D

StarCraft

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Earthbound

and of course motherfucking Half-Life

Command and conquer, before Westwood was fucked over by EA

Hard to pick one but if I had to I'd go with Final Fantasy VII since it was the game that got me into RPGs, and I got some good memories of watching my brother play it when we were kids.

1. Quake
2. Thief
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. Half Life
5. System Shock 2

Honourable mention to Final Fantasy 7, and Zelda Ocarina of Time. They might have been great when released, but I don’t think they’ve aged well.

My favorite games as a child growing up in the 90s:

Zelda OoT

Super Mario 64

Pokemon Red

Zelda OoA/OoS

Though after later playing Final Fantasy 7 in 2003 that quickly captivated me and became really special to me. It was my first Final Fantasy I ever played and one of my most cherished games to this day.

Also, while I never played the original 90s game, I absolutely adored Black Mesa and the Half Life franchise. It was damn impressive what Valve accomplished with the original Half Life back then.

Total Annihilation... couldn't get enough of it. Even playing strategy games today I desperately miss the elaborate control and mechanics of TA.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Goldeneye

Baldur's Gate

Heroes of Might and Magic 2

Handheld it's Pokemon red/blue, no competition.

Edit: although it's actually gold/silver if that counts (released 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America)

Fallout. I'm yet to play the second part and people say it's even better. You just don't see such game design anymore, I can't say modern or old one is better, both have their advantages but playing Fallout was totally worth it

Donkey Kong Country 2

Original Unreal. Ranked #1 in the world at one point for a couple weeks. Nothing compares to that game and time for me.

Spyro

Super Mario Bros 3 is a timeless game and is my favorite side scroller although Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country give it a run for its money

Commander Keen

Age of empires 1

Pyramid: Challenge of Pharaoh's dream

Atlantis: The lost tales

Ski free

PC:

• Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis
• Day of the Tentacle
• The Monkey Island trilogy
• Sam and Max Hit The Road
• Full Throttle
• Loom
• X-Wing
• TIE-Fighter
• The Dig
• Space Quest 4 and 5
• Quest for Glory 3 and 4
• Beneath a Steel Sky
• Broken Sword 1
• Flashback
• Out of this World
• Prince of Persia 1 and 2
• Test Drive 3
• Ultima VII
• Doom and Doom 2
• Twinsen’s Adventure
• Descent
• Syndicate
• MDK
• Interstate ‘76
• Command and Conquer
• Age of Empires
• SimCity 2000
• SimTower

Console (NES/SNES):

• Mega-Man 3
• Super Contra
• Ninja Gaiden 2-3
• Dr. Mario
• Battletoads
• Little Nemo: The Dream Master
• Captain Skyhawk
• Kiwi Kraze
• Base Wars
• Batman: Return of the Joker
• A Boy and his Blob
• Whomp’Em
• Yo! Noid
• Fester’s Quest
• Bart vs. The Space Mutants
• Caveman Ugh-Lympics
• Ghostbusters 2

SNES

• Super Mario World
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
• Chrono Trigger
• Pilotwings
• Starfox
• Zelda: A link to the Past
• Donkey Kong Country
• F-Zero
• Street Fighter 2 Turbo
• ActRaiser
• Castlevania 4
• Super Mario Kart
• Secret of Mana
• Megaman X
• Final Fight
• NBA Jam
• Contra 3
• Axelay
• Super Bomberman 2
• Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose
• Prince of Persia (Mechner's favorite)
• TMNT: Turtles in Time
• Zombies Ate My Neighbors
• Star Wars trilogy
• Out of this World
• Joe & Mac
• Disney's The Lion King
• Battletoads in Battlemaniacs

N64

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Super Mario 64
• Mario Kart 64
• GoldenEye 007
• Star Fox 64
• Diddy Kong Racing
• Donkey Kong 64
• Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
• WipEout 64
• Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
• Killer Instinct Gold
• Gauntlet: Legends
• Cruis'n World

Metal gear solid was brilliant.

Then wipeout 2097.

Also, does anyone else remember the Music franchise of games on PS1?

Super Mario World

Quake 3 arena

Dune 2,

Descent,

Transport Tycoon,

Starcontrol 2,

Starcraft,

Civilization,

Commander Keen,

Jill of the Jungle

Turrican 2

Day of Tentacle

Wing Commander

Might and Magic

Ufo

In no particular order:

THPS

Super Smash Bros.

Goldeneye

Worms

Lemmings

FIFA World Cup’98

Pokémon red/blue

LoZ: Links’s Awakening

• Counter-Strike
• SiN
• Delta Force
• Baldur's Gate

Counter-Strike overtook the others by a mile in the 00s but in the 90s I probably enjoyed Delta Force more actually.

Wait I forget about consoles:

• GoldenEye 64, opened my eyes to FPS I guess
• Wave Racer 64, was the staple racer in our household

Super Metroid

Streets of Rage 2. Honourable mention to FFVII and FFVIII.

There are too many to mention, but the top five for me in no order:

• SimCity 2000
• Baldur's Gate (1&2)
• Final Fantasy VI (or III, as we called it in the States)
• Doom II
• Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

And I'd still play any of them to this day.

Final Fantasy VI (or III as it was known then). Just a masterpiece with great music, a great story, great characters, and fun gameplay.

Age of Empires 2

But only started playing it a few years back

By far:

• Leisure Suit Larry
• Prince of Persia

• Ultima series, especially Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld I & II
• Myst series
• Hexen
• Doom
• Quake
• Duke Nukem
• Postal and Postal II
• Diablo and Diablo II
• SimCity and Simcity 2000/SCURK
• Civilization series (still play!)

Diablo

Doom

Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis

Lotus

Interstate 76

Sanitarium.

Some of my favourite that bring back good memories:

• Age of Empires II
• Caesar games
• C&C Red Alert
• Diablo
• Magic & Mayhem
• Pharaoh
• Pokémon (Yellow, Blue/Red)
• Postal
• SimCity 2000
• StarCraft
• Warcraft II

Descent

It was a multi player net work game we used to play at work over lunch or occasionally on weekends.

Secret of Mana

Ace of Empires 2

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Pokemon Blue

Goldeneye

It's pretty hard to pick one but I do have favorites among different categories.

Solo RPG - Chrono Trigger

MMORPG - Ultima Online

FPS - Quake

RTS - C&C: Tiberian Sun

Man that's a tough one. The 90s covered a huge spectrum of games and consoles.

Perhaps at the time, Final Fantasy VII was my favorite. No other game absorbed me like it did. I spent so much time playing it. But it's aged badly now.

But as far as games that I would still go back and play? I'd say probably twisted metal 2. The game is just so good. The music, the characters, the vibe of the game.

I played so much X-Com, Civ 2, and Final Fantasy Tactics back in the day.