#21 - The only fighting game that ever got me - Soul Calibur 2. I (briefly) held a high score on the arcade cabinet on a local college campus, & I tore through the adventure mode on Gamecube multiple times. Didn't know what I was doing, but I could mash with the "good enough" (but lost to the best).
#20 - Talking about this one just made me resurrect a 15 year old account - West of Loathing. I played KoL for a few years between college and starting my career. Still holds a special place in my heart, but I think I like the spinoff better.
#19 - Probably one of my favorite turn-based RPGs, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I've rung in at least one new year playing this one. An excellent game.
#18 - One of the newer ones on my top games list - Squirrel With a Gun. I was following this one online for a long time before it came out, and it was everything I'd hoped for and more.
#17 - I love a good escape room style game, and these are some of the best - Rusty Lake Hotel. These games mess with you, man. You never know what exactly is going to happen with each step and can't stop on the path to finding out.
#16 - There's only one game/series I can pick for my buddy @halfcoordinated.bsky.social - Earth Defense Force 2017. The game that came out of nowhere while I worked at GameStop and blew the entire staff away. We'd never heard of it until we opened the box, and then we couldn't keep it in stock. EDF!
#15 - It's a little weird, but it sends my collectathon heart soaring - Katamari Damacy. One of my first games for my first non-Nintendo system. I'm not usually a fan of time trial based games, but I will play every single Katamari game I possible can. Even the CowBear levels.
#14 - Speaking of fishing - Dredge. I'm a sucker for a good fishing minigame, and even moreso for a fishing minigame game. I'm also a fan of the kind of horror where things are just a little wrong.
#13 - Another game that started an obsession - Stardew Valley. Never played a sim before. Now I have a dozen of them waiting for me to play and a few more half done. I'm not actually much a fan of the farming. I'm here for the social elements, the dungeon diving, and the fishing.
#12 - The game I've got the most hours in - Terraria. I've never been much for the building aspects and typically do simple houses, but when it comes to exploring, there's nothing that scratches the itch quite like it for me. Just let me run wild and dig dig dig.
#11 - Didn't expect to like this one and now I'm hooked on a whole genre - Vampire Survivors. Just one more run...
#10 - Huh, I started off with a bunch of Nintendo games but not the Big Boy himself, so my favorite Mario - Super Mario 64. None of the newer ones have quite felt as wonderfully balanced as 64 does for me. I love the freedom to pick and choose stages and stars. I do them all anyway.
#9 - Okay, so I'm not actually done with this one, but I'm hooked - Paradise Killer. My current game-in-progress. I'm five hours in and only just got to the location murder scene. Been too busy exploring literally everywhere else. Haven't even seen the murder yet. But it's there. Waiting.
#8 - An entry in my Guilty Pleasure genre - A Castle Full of Cats. I am addicted to Hidden Cat games, and the devs of Castle, Devcats, are major supporters of cat charities for buying their games. I buy them all.
#7 - Let's get a bit spooky with my favorite horror game - Yuppie Psycho. I very rarely do "challenge runs" for achievements, but this one is so good, I did the "play the whole game without saving" run. The atmosphere is incredible.
#6 - Dragon's Dogma. I honestly couldn't tell you what it is about this game that I love so much. The setting is fairly standard, as is the story. The characters are typical fantasy NPCs. It doesn't jump out graphically. It just WORKS for me.
#5 - Breaking away from the pack now - Timespinner. I enjoy a good search action, and this one blew me away when I played it. Some of the best controls in the genre, great characters and settings, and a grand time-spanning adventure.
#4 - The Nintendos continue - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Whether it's the HD or the original, there's just something about sailing the seas in your little Dad Boat, exploring the islands, fishing up treasure, and photographing everything that works for me.
#3 - It wasn't the one that started it but it sure was one to solidify it - Pokemon Yellow. I finally didn't have to choose between Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur; I could get them all! And have a little buddy following me!
#2 - Everyone's favorite pink puffball's 8-way adventure - Kirby Super Star. I picked this one up on vacation as a rental because nothing else the tiny rental section of the grocery store had caught my eye. Kirby and Waddledee now decorate my house. The love started here.
#1 - The top bird, the big bear, my all time favorite - Banjo-Kazooie. I really couldn't tell you exactly why I love this game so much. Some of it's nostalgia. Some of it's collectathon addiction. I just really love it.
Folks seem to be doing a bunch of "get to know me" style of interaction posts to introduce themselves to the Bluesky community.
Let's do this.
My mom brought a whole bag of homegrown tomatoes when she visited this week. Tonight, we enjoyed French bread pizzas with homemade roasted pizza sauce. Heck yeah.
I have a rotating background on fantasy landscapes and cute animals, but this is what was up when I saw the question