Full-cleared this game as a kid, no idea how I did it. This is a game I convinced my sister to play with me, and we would usually play the Coco stages over and over together. I developed a deep affection for the characters and overall attitude of this game.

My first Final Fantasy and perhaps the most important game for my development. I will forever carry with me Freya Crescent's fear of losing her identity through external means--through her loved ones forgetting her--and Beatrix's feelings of helplessness in the face of institutional evil. Sandwiched between the mechanical curiosity of FFVIII and the technical marvel of FFX, this game feels somewhat forgotten comparatively--never mind the long shadow FFVII casts over the series--but I deeply love this game. I cannot forget it.

I still remember the adrenaline rush of beating NKG for the first time and also how badly my hands were shaking when I beat PV for the first time. My perseverance was rewarded in a way that I had never felt before. Moving through this game and conquering its challenges pulled me back again and again; whenever I failed, got frustrated, wanted to quit, it would only be a matter of time (usually half an hour) before I wanted to throw myself at the challenge again.

When I first completed this game, I thought of my grandmother. I thought of how she had passed not long before, and that my last interaction with her was to give her some cookies I had baked. She didn't eat much in the last years of her life--usually no more than 10% of a plate--but my dad told me she ate every single one of those cookies. Every time I play this game or watch someone else play this game, I think about how it will be me on top of the mountain someday. I hope someone else will do me the kindness of leaving this life with a final chocolate chip cookie.

This was the dream game for me, a kid obsessed with both Disney and Final Fantasy. I loved seeing all of the non-original characters acting outside of any story I had seen before, or a KH-ified version of their movie stories, and loved being able to explore on foot the places I had only been able to see from afar. Later games in the series are probably better, but none captured my heart the way the first one did.

My first Zelda and the first time I remember staying up until dawn just to beat a game. Ballad of the Wind Fish is still one of my favorite pieces of video game music.

An incredible, perhaps forgotten gem of the DS. I stayed up so many nights, blankets pulled over my head, playing this game to grind for more meteos to unlock everything in the game.

An absolutely beautiful game that continues to live in the shadow of its successor despite having, I think, a more cohesive story and cathartic conclusion. I will never stop thinking about Giygas.

I was briefly top 100 in the world in this game. This was my sole focus from when it came out to when I finally left the US and was a much-needed escape from a place I had never wanted to be again.

This was a game I would always play on our giant television downstairs and I would pull one of our blue leather chairs so close to the TV that the game screen was all I could see. I played this game for such long periods of time that I would get the "whoosh" effects on the edges of my vision. I wanted to live in this beautifully sculpted world.

I will always remember letting my friend Teddy play this game and causing all sorts of glitches to occur, including a mysterious wrong warp that I have never seen since.

My introduction to Sonic. I fell for Shadow immediately and really love how replayable the stages are. I poured so many hours into the Chao Garden and still sometimes remember looking up online how to get the "Blitz Chao" in the mid-2000s. Also a game I played with my sister--and she actually won sometimes!

My partner introduced me to this game and my first ending was the Art ending. Finding every ending was an emotional experience--especially the Zending--and one I was happy to share with someone else.

I was obsessed with this game; I played it so much that, at one point, I thought I had broken my cousin's cartridge because I had triggered the infinite flying glitch in Venom II. I loved the cinematic presentation, loved the music, loved the characters...everything about this game kept me hooked, and I had aspirations of even being a high-score runner. It was also the second time I failed to beat a game due to an anxiety attack (the first time was the final boss of Yoshi's Story) and the first time I overcame that anxiety on a subsequent attempt. This game was a triumph of my childhood.

I remember being really captivated by the fact that this game was two discs on GameCube. I also extensively used GameFAQs to make sure I didn't miss anything and to get the "non-canon" ending. Mostly, though, I remember playing this on a long winter holiday from school. (Also Lloyd is voiced by the same actor that voices Robin in Teen Titans, and that was very funny to me.)