I know it's a bit cliche to say this, but it has to be Final Fantasy 7 for me. I remember the day it was released. I had put in a small down payment at KBToystore (back then things like pre-order were still considered as layaway or just down payments). But to my young mind back in 1997, I had completely forgotten it. That day I was picked up by my Mother who asked me if I had forgotten anything today. Lo and behold, I was searching through my backpack when I looked up to see in her hand the most beautiful plastic container that I would ever see in my entire life. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will ever beat the sight of that PS1 game. I played it for hours on end. I know the "in" thing is to complete a game in record breaking time, but I had no desire whatsoever to rush my experiences. I loved it, all 4 months of it. I laughed and cried as the story took me on a ride I had not been on nor had been able to appreciate as much as Final Fantasy 6 (3 for SNES) and had yet to be for future and past titles. Other games that crafted me into a tried and true gamer of my time were the SNES Donkey Kong games, Sonic series, EVERY Mario and Zelda game I could get my hands on (except for Mario Teaches Typing. Just, just no. No.) Every Pokemon game, every JRPG that was roughly translated, every Open World game, every Dungeon game... Wow... as I write this, It dawns on me the immense mountain of games that exist. And just how many of those are a part of the vast library of games that shaped me into the High Score Junkie I am now. Not even a fraction though, not even a fraction of that mountain... Well, I'm gonna go downstairs now and look at the Final Fantasy 7 Cloud Tshirt I got with the game, which was a special promotional item that came from KBToystore for purchase of the game. I think if I ever have kids, I'll give it to them only if they play and complete Final Fantasy 7. And I think they will, if not for the shirt, then for the experience.
