Link's Awakening... upon completing the adventure, I just felt so... sad. The music and overall aestetics of the game has since haunted me, in a very good way.
Now that you mentioned it, I felt terribly sad and didn't want to accept that it was all just a dream. Or was it...
I think I've owned up to it before but for solidarity's sake I'll say it again. Links Awakening was the first video game that ever made me cry.
But the game that's inspired me the most has to be Super Mario Bros. That game kicked my gaming fanaticism into overdrive. Coming over from Atari the Graphics. Seemed. So. Real.
My best friend and I would draw our own level designs on paper and discuss them at lunch and on the bus all the time.
I remember one time some other kids found some of our designs and oh man. They picked on me to no end about it. "Ha you think you're going to get a job somewhere drawing crappy levels on paper!? What a loser!"
Well, besides Mario Maker, I never did go on to make levels for Nintendo.
That said, I have in fact done quite alright for myself getting paid to draw, design, and build software and data centers for some pretty big names in the tech industry.
My software and computer hardware skills have mostly come from college. But almost everything I know about raw electronics has been independent learning inspired by my passion for bringing old systems back to life.
Probably no surprise I bought the WiiU the second Mario Maker was revealed.