On Nintendo

• Rhythm Heaven - The game that taught me rhythm and made me interested in music. If I never crossed paths with this series, I don't know who I'd be today. Grew up on the DS one, played Megamix to death, excited for Groove
• Luigi's Mansion - Nothing beats the first in terms of vibes and soundtrack but the sequels are pretty fun and definitely well made
• Splatoon - Again, the first game's the best IMO in terms of style, but I do like me some Salmon Run and singleplayer modes
• Paper Mario - Played both Origami King and Thousand Year Door (remake), love them both. Thousand Year Door has the better gameplay and story, but Origami King has the better soundtrack. You can get your pitchforks out now if you'd like
• Tomodachi Life / Miitopia
• Super Monkey Ball - Specifically the classics (1 and 2) on Gamecube, although Banana Rumble is VERY well made and quite fun
• Kirby - Poyo! (terminalmontage's interpretation is canon, fight me)
• Animal Crossing - Grew up on City Folk, also quite like New Horizons
• The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild, The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks
• Super Smash Bros. - Grew up on Brawl, played 3DS to death, still love Ultimate
• 3D Mario Games - Sunshine, Galaxy 1 & 2, Odyssey, 3D World
• Mariokart 8 Deluxe - did you know they used to call me the drift king back in colle-
• Metroid Dread - The only Metroidvania I've ever loved enough to get to the credits of.
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - I find the battling more fun than the mainline games and the music kinda bops
• Pikmin - Arlo got me into this franchise and now I need Pikmin 5 asap

On PC

• Minecraft Java Edition - Out of all the games on this list, likely the one that I have the most hours in, by far.
• A Hat in Time - Favorite platformer of all time, and a BANGER soundtrack. Seriously I can't get over this one.
• Cult of the Lamb - this game made me a furry don't @ me
• HELLDIVERS 2 - HOW ABOUT A NICE CUP OF LIBER-TEA?!
• Planet Coaster - i mean are you really surprised
• Spelunky 1 & 2 - The game that got me into roguelikes. It's also the game I hate the most. Derek Yu why must you torture me so
• ASTRONEER - Not a big fan of the choices the devs have made in recent years but the vibes and calm are great
• Slime Rancher 1 - happy place game
• ARC Raiders - Not a big fan of the AI voice acting but everything else is pretty cool
• Portal 1 & 2 - "Well, no matter, because I'm still holding all the cards! And guess what? They're all full houses. Never actually played cards; meaning to learn."
• Half-Life 2 - "Wake up, Dr. Freeman. Wake up and... smell the ashes."
• Balatro - (imitating theme song) do do do do, do do, do do, do. do do do do, do do, do do DO DO DOOOOOOOOOOOOO
• Pressure (Roblox) - This game makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes but it's all worth it for the Ridge and that AMAZING ending sequence with the music, oh my gosh if I ever make a game then the ending is ABSOLUTELY going to be inspired by this
• Grace (Roblox) - The lobby music is probably one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life, and that's just the lobby music
• Roblox - (audible sigh)...okay, look, most of this is nostalgia. It was my first PC game back in like 2010. I still play it on occasion for certain games on there but I DO NOT support the company nor its insane CEO
• WEBFISHING - another happy place game
• Plants Vs. Zombies - favorite tower defense next to maybe Bloons TD 5
• Another Crab's Treasure - The first few hours were really fun and also kinda hilarious. The last few hours gave me an existensial crisis about how we're all gonna die and that suffering is inevitable and capitalism is the reason. Really great time totally recommend!
• Risk of Rain 2 - And so he left, with everything but his humanity...
• PEAK, Lethal Company, R.E.P.O. - I feel bad grouping these games together but they are all really good coop experiences (that are also quite fun solo), PEAK especially is a highlight for me
• DELTARUNE / UNDERTALE - Inspired me to get into music making. Grew up with Undertale, but I think Deltarune is shaping up to knock it out of the park. Chapter 5 can't come soon enoughhhhhh!
• Team Fortress 2 - THE MEDIC IS A SPY! THE MEDIC IS A SPY! THERE'S A SPY IN OUR MIDST! SPY! MEDIC! MEDIC! MEDDDDDICCCCC!
• The Talos Principle 1 & 2 - Like Portal but instead of being rewarded with comedy you get blasted by intense philosopical dialogues on what it means to be human
• Pizza Tower - Soundtrack sold me on the game, so good I ended up P-ranking like 3 levels which I NEVER do in these kinds of games
• The Last of Us 1 - Have yet to play 2 but the first game is powerful and emotional, great story that just happens to take place in a zombie apocalypse
• ATLYSS - I'm really not beating the furry allegations, am I... IT'S FOR THE GAMEPLAY I SWEAR
• The Henry Stickmin Collection - look up henry stickman distraction dance that's all you need to know
• Star Wars JEDI: Fallen Order - The only good game to be published by EA in forever, and made me (kind of) a Star Wars fan! Whaddaya know if you make a good plot and game, you might just interest me in Star Wars! ...didn't really get into Survivor though... eh, maybe I'll give it another shot one day
• ANIMAL WELL - My favorite Metroidvania of all time, and it doesn't even have any combat. Perfect game. No notes. Billy I need another one please
• Worms Armageddon - Take cover! (proceeds to play the rawest war themed guitar song ever made)
• I AM YOUR BEAST - "Now the bodies around me, say your word's not worth shit. Call your favorite agents, Imma teach you to quit."
• The Stanley Parable - Waiting an additional 4 years for Ultra Deluxe was painful but oh so worth it
• Enter the Gungeon
• Exit Path 1 & 2 (Armor Games) - My favorite Flash games of all time with banger soundtracks and some pretty neat spedrunning-focused platforming to boot. Probably influenced my taste in electronic music.
• Battleblock Theater
• Easy Delivery Co. - delivering packages in eternal winter furry russia has never been more chill
• OneShot
• Superliminal - "Hello, my name is Dr. Glenn Pierce. Just checking in to give you a status update on where you are. ...we still don't know."
• World of Goo 1 & 2 - PEAK soundtrack. AMAZING soundtrack. Puzzle gameplay and story is also pretty good, but MAN are you playing for that music!
• Celeste - "Just breathe. Why are you so nervous?"
• Fractal Block World - if you can get past the wacky 90's era visuals there's a HUGE world in here and it's all fascinating
• Sonic Adventure 2 - Grew up with it on GameCube and I really only played it so that I could do the Chao Garden minigames, it's great
• Five Nights at Freddy's - ar ar ar ar ar, ar ar ar ar arrrrr (first 6 games are peak, things after are ok i guess but don't have the same vibe)
• Toontown Rewritten / Corporate Clash - Suprisingly holds up after all these years, who would've thunk?