[cheebacheeba]

I don't go quite as retro as some of you guys...though I have fond memories of playing games like the "Roland" series on something called an Amstrad?
Though where it all really started for me...

As a child of the 80's, it's hard for me to not give great props to the consoles that got me into gaming...I was always on the Sega side of things for the first real "console war", having since played a lot on (emu) that and nes, I have to say I still think that the sega master system had a better library of games across the board...that's not to say nintendo doesn't have some absolute classics, just Sega was more my style.
Psycho fox, aztek adventure (bit of a zelda clone...) psychic world, ninja gaiden (a way better version), action fighter, pitpot, phantasy star, the earlier version of sonic the hedgehog and my hero hold very dear memory as the games that gave me my first taste of console gaming...I was hooked...

The the 16 bit era came, which was just, the definitive time of my gaming life.
I can't say I've ever enjoyed an era as much...realism it had not, but bloody good quality gaming it had in spades.
While of course games of today are a far different, more interactive experience, the simplicity of these games let them down in no way.
Flashback is still to this day one of my favourite games, a blend of great gameplay, interesting setting, good challenge level, and very cool storyline. Streets of Rage is a series I can go back to time and again and it's one of the most fun 2 player co-op games there is, hands down. Faery Tale adventure - anyone catch this rpg type thing that had like the most gigantic map ever? great stuff. Shining Force - I hadn't played another top-down rpg since phantasy star that I'd actually liked this much, fucking epic game. All the sonic titles were pretty good though a special spot still goes out to the 8 bit version, and the STRIKE series (desert, jungle, urban) is in my opinion without peer as 'copter games go.
So much comes to mind...
Fucking CANNON FODDER, while I know it wasn't for 16-bit consoles originally it's hard not to give it a shoutout, such a fun game, even for those who don't usually like games of this type. Animaniacs, Lost Vikings, Midnight resistance, Crackdown, Soleil, Rolo (haha it was fun), Beyond Oasis, Earthworm Jim (who didn't love that?) The Stargate game, a version of Ghostbusters that was not only actually playable, but GOOD, the first "new" Castlevania game was awesome...not to mention the first real wave of the arcade ported "VS" games to be seen on console, and the predominately good Disney animated movie based games back before they sucked, they actually used to be quite playable, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Jungle Book were all great in my books...speaking of Disney though, Mickey Mania and the "illusion" series (bridging 8-16 bit) were pretty cool and a bit of a trip, but in my personal opinion "Quackshot" starring Donald Duck is still a solid favourite.
Movie based stuff was (usually) pretty good around this time too. Judge Dredd, and Robocop vs Terminator, Terminator 1&2, Predator 2, True Lies - Thankfully both consoles at the time got most of these, exclusivity wasn't the focus, competition was...
I could honestly go on....and on and on and on about this....but I'll end it with one I just remembered and can't believe I forgot...ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBOURS...fucking so good!

Of course, if I personally want to play these games again I'll usually use an emulator...until they start selling games for those plug n play sega genesis/megadrive consoles they sell now...

Another of my favourite things to do is play on Raine/MAME, with a couple of generic controllers plugged in...so that I can remember a time where there was these things called arcades, and they were actually fun to attend...