My categorisation of 'favourites' change from time to time. In general, the following are staples in the 'all time favourites list. Some of these may not be the greatest games ever, but they do fall into the categories of 'fondest memories' or 'had the most fun with':
Worms (Amiga)
Lemmings (Amiga)
Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 (Amiga)
Superfrog (Amiga)
Mortal Kombat (Amiga)
Pinball Dreams / Nightmares (Amiga)
Golden Axe (Amiga)All of the above were absolute staples on my brothers Amiga 600/1200. These were also some of the first games I ever played. So much fun was had either playing with my brothers, or sneaking shots when they were out. The Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 theme tune is permanently etched into my brain. It was essentially an Outrun ripoff and I can still remember some of the cheat codes! Although only a few of these would be considered 'classics' I can't discount the others as favourites simply due to the amount of fun I had when playing them.
Kirbys Dream Land (Gameboy)
Tetris (Gameboy)
Mortal Kombat II (Gameboy)I was too young to really appreciate a lot of games when I was that age, since - unlike the Amiga - I didn't have my brothers to help me when I got stuck. I never got too far in Super Mario Land or Links Awakening, so I never really got to appreciate them. Kirby's Dream Land and Tetris were accessible enough and I played them both a lot. Shao Kahn in MKII was a cheating bastard, but I have many good memories of playing this on the playground with a friend, including trying to link up Gameboys for the first time for local MP.
X-Men (Arcade)
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (Arcade)
Revolution X ft. Aerosmith (Arcade)
Time Crisis 2 (Arcade)Looking back, my local bowling alley had a great little arcade even though I didn't realise it at the time. It was small, but they did get some of the 'classics' in. These are a combination of great games, and some of the most fun I had playing with friends and family. Revolution X ft. Aerosmith is/was probably a subpar game, but it introduced me to Aerosmith (Get a Grip era) which was the second rock band I remember listening to after Queen. It definitely influenced me on my rock/hard/rock/metal journey
Spyro The Dragon (PS1)
Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
THPS 1+2 (PS1)
Dino Crisis 2 (PS1)
International Track & Field (PS1)
Driver (PS1)
Cool Boarders 4 (PS1)These are my all-time favourite PS1 games. It was my first proper home console that was mine and not shared. There were likely a load of rubbish games in my catalogue at the time as well, but I have really fond memories of all of the above. IT&F gets an honourable mention as I had so much button-mashing fun playing with my brother. Dino Crisis 2 was pretty scary to my young mind from what I remember, and I'm still disappointed it has never got the remake it deserves. It was my Resident Evil. Driver still has the most frustrating first and last levesl I have ever played, but my brother helped me and it's the first game I remember fully completing. Cool Boarders 4 gets a mention since I have so many memories of coming home from school, grabbing a mini bottle of Tropical Sunny D and a chocolate mousse pot and playing until dinner. I first played it on a friends PS1, and it got me hooked on extreme sports. THPS 1 & 2 (which I got later) then sealed the deal.
Splinter Cell (Xbox)
Halo 1 & 2 (Xbox)
Burnout 3 (Xbox)
Star Wars: KOTOR (Xbox)All time classics on the OG Xbox. Lots of fun had on Xbox Live. KOTOR was the first RPG I remember playing and it just sucked me in completely. So many play-throughs, and so many restarts when I discovered how best to min-max things! Honourable mentions for Top Spin Tennis and Rallisport Challenge 2 as I played those a lot with my brother at that time.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Emulated)I never had a Mega Drive, although I was always envious of one of my school friends who had one. So I never had more than a quick shot of Sonic before this point in time. Around the time we got our first family PC I discovered MD and SNES emulation (via a classmate) who gave me the S3 ROM. So many fond memories of playing this at a very non-ergonomic desk and chair. It felt like a great achievement unlocking Super Sonic after collecting all the Chaos Emeralds from the Special Stages.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Gamecube)The Wind Waker was the first Zelda game I completed. I had Links Awakening on the Gameboy but it was too hard for me at the age I had it. I loved everything about The Wind Waker, although I'm sure the sailing aspects would be frustrating if I went back and played it now.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA)Super Circuit was the first Mario Kart game I has played, and I just loved it. I remember playing it a lot after I was supposed to have gone to bed.
World of Warcraft (PC)WoW took up a lot of my gaming time from 2004 until a few years ago. Although I do regret spending as many hours as I did playing it, I have some of my fondest gaming memories associated with it. So much so I didn't really play a huge amount of other games in that period.
Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360)
Rock Band (Xbox 360)Lots of fun memories playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band at University with my flatmates. At the time both games reignited my passion for the guitar after a few years of not playing much. The first Mass Effect was a fantastic game, and the only one in the series that I enjoyed. Similar to KOTOR I spent so much time playing different character builds, different personalities. It was just fantastic.
Dragon Age: Origins (PC)Just
. Everything about it. Stories, characters, combat. Unfortunately, it coincided with my third year at University which turned out to be my worst year in terms of grades. Whether Origins had anything to do with that is up for debate
(It didn't - I was just burnt out with the course that stage)
Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One)Quite possibly my favourite racer of all time. I had no expectations going in, but I loved every minute. This may very well come in second place behind WoW in terms of hours spent playing a single game. I generally don't like open-world games, but this one hit an amazing balance.
I'm sure I've missed a fair few which I'll add in as I remember them. It's been a fun trip down memory lane thinking about all these though.
It's funny that all my biggest gaming memories are from when I was much younger - I hadn't really appreciated that before now. I would have assumed more memories would have been from the Xbox/Gamecube era as that is definitely the period of time that I spent the most time actually playing games.