Pure arcade-y dopamine hit with an unrivaled flair and sensibility from start to end

Insane passion project turned into one of the most intense and mechanically deep games probably ever

Honestly just a personal pick, makes me think of home. Also my usual pick whenever I think of gaming as an educational tool, as it was my first real dive into financing/budget balancing/money manipulation/etc. on top of understanding how the game calculates the thrill and intensity of its coasters.

An antithesis to the distinct flavor of 7th gen and gaming culture at the time, endlessly brought up nowadays but an enigma that the game flourished to the point its at critically and commercially

Still need to play 2...

arguably the franchise but ive only played the original, one of the most 'GAME' games ive played with how simple yet addictive the idea is

Again, very personal but a hallmark of 'cult' games as it discretely sewed itself into culture yet snowballed into one of the biggest influences in the indie rpg scene

As a contrarian high schooler I said "well its just tetris" and it took a while to realize its tetris

Even considering some of the rougher games on this selection this might be the least accessible, but it's always the game I think about when I just think about gaming being 'fun'. Just a myriad of Sakurai flavorings from his past developments tied into this revival of a 20 year dormancy with very little gameplay intersection from the prior titles and a narrative that never slows down due to the structure of its level, how devoid of attention the story feels at point, and this discord call cast of asshole neurodivergent deities

The perfect cross between the portability and accessibility of the Gamecube, the enriching excitement of couch multiplayer (in addition to LAN capabilities), gamefeel that feels the right amount of 'chaotic', and the easy to understand, all time joy that Mario Kart is.