It would have to be the first PlayStation for me which I got at the end of '95 at the ripe old age of 21. I know implicitly how Nintendo single-handedly brought gaming back from the brink and have huge amounts of respect for them. But PlayStation brought it home for me. It was-aside from the wreckage that was Sega Saturn-the first fully-3D gaming system that ran on dedicated CD-ROMs instead of cartridges and a CD-ROM add-on. Game series that I enjoyed from the NES and SNES took on a completely new life with their PlayStation sequels. New series unlike anything that came before arrived like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. I signed up for PlayStation Underground and instead of a monthly magazine, I received two-disc packages full of demos, interviews, previews, etc. Sony also sent me dozens upon dozens of demo discs like MediEvil, Legend of Legaia, Crash Team Racing and so many more.
My top 20 games? Here goes with a brief "why I loved it" and in no particular order.
1) Crash Bandicoot (series): The first non-Nintendo/Sega Platform series that made realize others can make great platformers.
2) Spyro (series): Another great platformer that made me question Nintendo's dominance in the genre
3) Resident Evil: What more can be said? The birth of the survival horror's dominance & the zombie sub-genre.
4) Silent Hill: While Resident Evil was gory horror, Silent Hill was true psychological horror.
5) Tomb Raider: Exploring 3D "tombs" was born here.
6) Metal Gear Solid: I loved the NES stealth and this game cemented the genre and this series place in history.
7) Final Fantasy VII: What more can be said? It is the most beloved Final Fantasy and the one JRPG that everyone has heard of.
Gran Turismo: The first true, console sim racer. Nothing like it existed before it and it is still relevant today.
9) Twisted Metal: Vehicular combat with a backstory about psychopaths.
10) Ape Escape: The first console game to make use of dual-analog controllers. It was a pretty good platformer too!
11) Soul Blade: The beginning of the single best weapons-based fighter in existence.
12) Tekken (series): On par with Street Fighter for fighting games. King of Iron Fist Tournament indeed!
13) Fear Effect 1 & 2: Truly creepy, adult-themed games with live-motion backgrounds. Still love these to this very day.
14) Rayman: One of the most vibrant, gorgeous platforming series was born here.
15) Lunar & Lunar 2 Eternal Blue: RPG's made even more perfect with the most awesome packaging & extras ever conceived.
16) Grand Theft Auto: Who knew this fun top-down game would spawn a juggernaut franchise?
17) Parappa the Rapper: Kick, punch! It's all in the mind! A fun game that Sony took one big gamble on.
18) Oddworld-Abe's Oddysee: With a funny but sad story, tight controls and a loveable character. A true classic.
19) Colony Wars: A fantastic space-shooter. May not be considered "AAA" but I loved it nonetheless.
20) Everything else Squaresoft and later, Square-Enix released was pure GOLD on the original PlayStation.