Ok, that settled, let's dig in.
If you're into video games (Lord knows the Lion-Man is), you'll notice that the top three games on my list are big giant robot games of various types. If you're kind of into video games and didn't notice this, you know now. Incidentally, Xenogears is the best roleplaying game ever made, if you don't mind story breaks in excess of 45 minutes (reading quickly, mind you) breaking up your game every now and then (actually, quite frequently). Ahh, giant robots. What would I do without them?
Also, you might note the lack of sports games up on my list. This is because it is my belief that if you want to play a sport, go outside and play it if you can. Since I can, when I want to, I do. I don't drop down fifty bucks to get something to help me pretend.
But I can't just run off and jump in a giant robot. Thus Xenogears, which I mentioned above. I can't say enough about it, so just do me a favor and buy it.
If I'm feeling more like action, I play Armored Core (any ol' AC will do). Of course, when I play, I spend 90% of my time swapping parts in and our of my AC (since every single part is interchangable and has at least eight and upwards of fifty alternate parts that could take its place) to tweak its performance. It's an action game anyway, though, and the meat and gravy (if not potato side dish) of the game is two player versus mode, where you see both who has the better machine and who is the better pilot.
Starsiege isn't nearly as customizable as Armored Core, but it has a broader playing style. There are always more than two pilots out and about, even in the single player game, where you have two or three companions at all times. Also, multiplayer via the internet supports up to 63 (I think) other HERC or tank pilots in either team-based combat or free-for-all melees. Lots of fun.
I can't just go out and fly spaceships all the time either, thus: Colony Wars. It's essentially an unliscenced Star Wars series. Spaceships, explosions, names like Valdemar and Mertins, hours and hours of a synthesized voice reading you pages and pages of text on every single aspect of the first game... What's not to like? Plays like butta, too. Mmm, smooth.
Wipeout is just high-speed racing with little spaceship cars (not to be confused with Jimmy James Troll's airplane car). They shoot at each other and race around really fast. Tight controls, pretty graphics, kickass techno (Prodigy and Future Sound of London are a couple of the big names on the soundtrack), and a peanut butter center. Well, ok, so there's no peanut butter center. So what?
Suikoden, as an RPG series, is ugly and mildly fractured in its story. But it beats the competition with the "strength in numbers" tactic, as this (so far) 2-game series totals, like, a bunch of recruitable characters (108 per game, as opposed to 10 or 12). And it has more battle systems than most other games, too, all of which are really entertaining.
Castelvania: Symphony of the Night is nothing more than a Metriod ripoff with lots of swords and better music. It has flawless cell animation, superior platforming, excruciatingly bad (and thus highly entertaining) voice acting, and a whole big buttload of secrets, just like Metriod (except for the voice acting, which Metroid didn't have). But hey, there's no 32-bit Metriod (nor a 64-bit, neither), so this is the king of side scrolling platforming games in its league. And the music is probably the best in video game history.
Phantasy Star Online once stole my soul. It's beautiful. It's fun. It's simple, yet elegant in its control scheme. It's pseudo-social. But it's pretty empty now. Want to make it fun again? Buy it if you have a Dreamcast. Buy it with a Dreamcast if you don't. And tell me, I'll play with you.
Powerslave is what happens when the people at PIE buy the early form of the Duke Nukem 3D engine, listen to too much Iron Maiden, and play too much Tomb Raider. It's easily the best first-person shooter on the Saturn, and on the PC, it's one of the best of its generation. The translation to the Playstation sucks eggs, though, so don't try it there. And if you beat it, turn it off before the ending. Believe me, once you see how terrible the writing there is, you may never touch the game again. Or, you may be like me, and you may beat it over and over again just to laugh heartily at the fact that I'm so much better than they are, and you're like me, not them.
Then there are the Legend of Zelda games. Arguably the best action/RPG of all time, and it would be a really really easy arguement. It invented the action/RPG genre entirely, and has consistently set the standard for it as well, raising the bar a little higher with each new game. Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of the Zelda and Mario games and all around creative mastermind) has been referred to as the Shakespeare of video games, and that's not far from the truth. On multiple occasions, his games have pulled Nintendo back from the edge through increased system sales to individuals buying Nintendo systems just to play one of his games. N64, for example, was on the verge of abandonment before the release of Zelda 64, which increased system sales by nearly 60% by some estimates. Any game with the Zelda name on it (barring the three CDi games that were not made by Miyamoto) is worth its weight in gold, and no video game player should be without a copy of at least one of these beautifully crafted and alarmingly artful adventures (gush gush).
If you have an Xbox, chances are, you have Halo. If not, buy it. It's the best first-person shooter I've ever played. Single-player, multi-player, whatever. Best. Period.
You should also get a copy of Jet Set Radio Future for your Xbox. Because it's beautifully rendered, has huge levels to explore, has great music, is ridiculous, and because it's fun and I said so and I know you do everything I say (especially after I stop gushing).
Now go forth, my minions, and game!