A personal collection of games that, while not necessarily the best examples of the medium, deserve mention for their profound effect on my curious childhood, awkward adolescence, and approaching adulthood.  As a matter of fairness, only games that I have played through completely are eligible.
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Please Note: This list is under construction.
More than just a great game, Mario's third 3D adventure fixed everything I've ever felt was wrong with platform games. It also reignited my passion for video games, after having it reach a perilous low. There's a perfect synthesis of creativity and confidence on display, that could only have come about from a studio comprised of several lifetimes of game design mastery, all spearheaded by the magnanimous Shigeru Miyamoto. Moreover, this feels like the Mario game that wanted to exist from the start. The galactic theme provides the stage for some of the most impressive feats in level design ever, being free from the shackles of ordinary Earth physics. 242 stars later, I can safely state that I love video games again, and it's all Nintendo's fault.
A lousy shooter straddled with poor AI, intrusive loading times, mostly blase weaponry, a muddled storyline, overly-long vehicle sequences, and a dastardly cliffhanger ending, Half-Life 2 is still a masterclass in immersion and atmosphere. It bypassed the safe distance all other video games occupy and engaged me to the point of delusion. This probably was due to the late hours I would find myself playing this game, but surely that is a testament to how finely tuned the whole production is.
It's the freedom of movement - the effortless swings and pullies, glides and dropkicks - that makes the combat in Arkham Asylum so alluring. True, its modest roots help excuse some amateurish errors in repetition, pacing, and boss-enemy designs, but no other game allows you to step into the shoes of the Dark Knight, with all the glory and horror they carry.
The genius of Portal 2 is that it affronts the cinematic vs. interactive debate by seamlessly merging the two ideals into a palpable, warm-blooded thriller. Nearly ever aspect of this roller-coaster brain-teaser works efficiently, intelligently, and unexpectedly, succeeding effortlessly in ways other games - even ones deliberately set on evoking specific emotions - fail time and time again. The middle chapters do drag, and not every joke sticks, but it's its lack of perfection that makes Portal 2 such a human work of art, and of craft.
I still think the original control scheme spoils the experience on the GameCube, PS2 , and PC, but the Wii version of the fourth Resident Evil is clearly the one worth getting. It remains among the most artistically and technically beautiful games ever made, with a grasp of atmosphere and tone only matched by the likes of BioShock, STALKER, and Half-Life 2.
The game's overall design is one smart choice after another, from the intuitive briefcase inventory, to the dynamic reactions each enemy has to bullets, to the flawless integration of quick-time events. It also has one of the most powerful, yet understated, soundtracks of any game.
It's the original Mass Effect, and not its thoroughly superior sequel, to make my list simply by virtue of ambition. There really has never been a game that tried so much - an intelligent story, highly customizable combat and weaponry, dynamic conversation, open-exploration across the Milky Way Galaxy - and got so much right. The successes of Mass Effect 2, while triumphant, seem far more calculated and derivative, and it's the overarching narrative of Mass Effect (complete with one of the best plot-twists in all of gaming) that convinced me of the artistic qualities video games can possess.
