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What a tough question to answer, stretching all the way back to Atari 2600 for me.
I think I'll pick No Mercy/Virtual Wrestling Pro 2 on the N64. Possibly thousands of hours both solo and competitive at a friends with some incredible round robin tournaments with up to five participants. Just amazing Create A Wrestler and one of my handful of favorite gameplay mechanics ever. Also we were paying during the exciting days of pro wrestling so we had that enthusing us as well.
It's a tie between Wildermyth or Yakuza 0.
Two games that tell their stories in wildly different ways. Yet, they both got me to feel some serious emotions.
While it's hard for me to come up with an ALL TIME favorite... playing Doom 2016/eternal is one of my greatest pleasures in life. Just simple mindless hack and slash that can get MUCH more difficult if you want it to
Trials of Mana. Actually the whole Mana series were completely unique and very innovative when they first released. But the combination of story telling, party building, and combat system still hasn't been topped for me. The games are something I always have ready to emulate at all times. Fingers crossed they decide to remake the rest of the Mana series. Legend of Mana needs some love even though I remember most people weren't really keen on building their own world.
The Tales series was probably the closest before the switched from 2D to 3D. The switch, I thought, took away a lot of what made them stand out from other jrpgs in the market.
My close 2nd is Legend of Dragoon since it actually changed the combat system in a really meaningful way. Legend of Legaia also did something similar but I thought the storytelling was better in Legend of Dragoon.
Soul Sacrifice still needs some love. It's only downfall was releasing on such a niche system like the Vita. It actually moves the MH formula forward in a really interesting manner by forcing you to make really interesting choices in the story.
THPS2 and a close one is F.E.A.R.
Final Fantasy VII
I always end up going back to the first Half-Life; everything in that game is very well made.
I don't know of I could ever say a single game.
Minecraft is definitely the one I've spent most time, probably more than a couple of thousands of hours
Empire Earth is the one I go back the easiest
Streets of Rage 2. Favourite soundtrack, too.
As I've gotten older and have less time to commit to competitive gaming, cooperative gaming still lets me enjoy challenging multiplayer experiences without having to worry about ELO or keeping up with the current meta as much.
As much as I love Helldivers (and I am very excited for the sequel coming out later this year), Deep Rock Galactic is undeniably the champion of the cooperative gaming genre. You can jump into almost any lobby of random players and be rocking and stoning together instantly. Deep Rock Galactic features many game mechanics that just naturally result in cooperative play, without the need to rely on voice or text communications (though, voice and text are available and used).
Not to mention that the devs are really really amazing. Seasonal updates always come free of charge. They have a battle pass system that is 100% free that just rewards cosmetics. If you don't get battle pass cosmetics by the end of the season, you can still earn all the cosmetics at a later date. The only DLC on offer are cosmetic packs, which are really cool, but the cosmetics you can earn in-game are also really cool. There's no pressure at all to spend more outside just buying the base game. I deeply appreciate them and how they conduct business.
ICO
There’s too many to list but Zelda 2 was the first game I finished. It was a collaborative effort, using a book, but my friend Frosty and I stayed up all night (this was in junior high so this was a big deal) and finished it. Fond memories.
The Binding of Isaac.
Is it even possible to pick just one?
Several of my favorite gaming experiences are one-time, non-repeatable. Solving the Return of the Obra Dinn is up there, but it couldn't possibly be my favorite game because I can never experience it again.
Playing Dark Souls for the first time is the same thing. Discovering the world, finding the intricacies of the interconnected map, struggling with and overcoming challenging areas and bosses. The relief of unlocking shortcuts and the amazement at the maps connectivity. It was the first game of it's type I played, and it was phenomenal, but coming back to it never matches that first playthrough. And let's be honest, the bosses feel downright mundane after having played the later releases.
Disco Elysium affected me in a way no other game has. Its themes are so relevant to me that it struck me on a very personal level and it was an incredibly cathartic experience that will stay with me forever the way any great book would. I actually found it more enjoyable the second playthrough too, however, is it really even a game?
There’s too many to list but Zelda 2 was the first game I finished. It was a collaborative effort, using a book, but my friend Frosty and I stayed up all night (this was in junior high so this was a big deal) and finished it. Fond memories.
Lots of great games have been mentioned but wanted to include two recent masterpieces:
I'm pretty old so have a lot of games I feel terribly nostalgic about, but I'm going to pick a relatively recent one in Deep Rock Galactic.
It just feels like such an absolute triumph of game design in so many ways. I've always had a soft spot for Co-op PvE, and it's just done right. Having a dedicated key to rock and stone (cheer on your teammates) is an absolute genius move for promoting positivity and cutting down on toxicity. Gunplay is good and varied. The feeling of exploration is AMAZING! Probably the game that's kept me going 'wow' when I go to a new place the most consistently after hundreds of hours.
So much respect for the devs who are continuing to absolutely nail it!
Undertale still holds a special place in my heart after all these years.
It made me care about its characters in a way that no game had ever done before, and few have since. The cool and replayable story, along with a great soundtrack are other things that I like. Only criticism I really have of the game is the questionable graphics, but I've never been the type to care too much about graphics anyways.
Going all the way back to the NES for me, and I'm getting the feeling I'm quite a bit older than most of the commenters here: Super Mario Bros. 3 - best game of all time. :)
Tales of Phantasia.
It's still the only game I've ever 100%. It started my love of the Tales Of series and Dhaos is still my favorite villain of all time.
"Little Big Adventure 2", also known as "Twinsen's Odyssey" in the US, and rebranded worldwide as "Twinsen's Little Big Adventure 2" few months ago.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Skyrim
I've played a lot of games and it's hard to choose an all-time favorite, but Planescape: Torment is the one I still think about the most, 24 years after playing it.
Legend of Zelda: a link to the past.
Played the previous entries on NES and those are great game, but alttp on the SNES showed how magical these games should be. The music and visuals was just great.
Y's Book I & II on the TurboGrafx-16 system.
I really enjoyed the story and music in that game. I just played through it again a couple years ago.
Morrowind. Morrowind's world just feels alive and as someone who knows the game inside out that game just feels home
Road Rash