No discussion is required unless you just want to comment. I've posted my favorite five games by year going back to 1992 before, but that was kind of a spontaneous list I made off the top of my head, so I wanted to do one that's based on a more thorough scouring of my 848-game library. I've gone back and searched through all my games, which happen to be organized by year of release anyway, to bring you a considerably revised list of my personal favorites, this time dating back to 1985. If a game on this list was released in North America, I will use its official North American name and year of release. No remakes will be included in this list. (The reason I don't have five games listed for the years 1985 and '86 is because I don't have any games from those particular years other than what you see posted there.)
You may notice that the trend here is in a progressively more story-driven and cinematic direction overall. Those are my favorite sorts of games. My standards for what constitutes a good game can be measured in four categories: theme, storytelling, atmosphere, and game structure. The weighting of each category is subjective. (I consider games, when done well, to be an art form, and accordingly use the same standards of quality that I would use for films, but with the addition of game structure that can apply only to this medium.) You may have noticed that my top preferences for each from 2011 to today are inexpensive downloadables. That's because, in my view, AAA console games reached their zenith of artistic development with the 2010 release of Final Fantasy XIII and haven't really progressed since. It's for similar reasons that the last decade in general sees an increasing number of games for portable systems creeping into my list of favorites. Developing retail games for home consoles is simply too expensive to result in much genuine innovation these days. Skyrocketing development costs ensure that developers of modern console retail games tend to avoid taking risks on a lot of new ideas and instead seek to simply make the game-world equivalent of blockbusters increasingly. I despise that and am accordingly about ready to finally turn my back on the world of console gaming once and for all. A lot of most genuinely creative and thought-provoking games these days are cheap-O downloadables because they minimize the risk to game-makers by, well, having lower development costs. Lots more room there for really clever indie games and so forth.
1985:
1) Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (Commodore 64)
2) Super Mario Bros.
1986:
Ghosts n' Goblins
1987:
1) The Great Giana Sisters (Commodore 64)
2) Guerrilla War (Commodore 64)
3) Kid Icarus (NES)
4) Metroid (NES)
5) The Legend of Zelda (NES)
1988:
1) Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
2) Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
3) Dragon Power (NES)
4) Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
5) Metal Gear (NES)
1989:
1) A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia (NES)
2) Mega Man 2 (NES)
3) Ninja Gaiden (NES)
4) Dragon Warrior (NES)
5) Godzilla: Monster of Monsters (NES)
1990:
1) Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis)
2) Crystalis (NES)
3) Dragon Warrior II (NES)
4) Final Fantasy (NES)
5) Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
1991:
1) Final Fantasy II (Super NES) *
2) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear)
3) Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
4) Sim City (Super NES)
5) Dragon Warrior III (NES)
1992:
1) Dragon Warrior IV (NES)
2) Out of This World (Super NES)
3) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
4) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
5) The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (Super NES)
1993:
1) Secret of Mana (Super NES)
2) Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
3) Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD)
4) E.V.O.: Search for Eden (Super NES)
5) Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (Super NES)
1994:
1) Final Fantasy III (Super NES) **
2) Heart of the Alien (Sega CD)
3) Illusion of Gaia (Super NES)
4) Breath of Fire (Super NES)
5) Super Godzilla (Super NES)
1995:
1) Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
2) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD)
3) Secret of Evermore (Super NES)
4) Civilization (Super NES)
5) Breath of Fire II (Super NES)
1996:
1) Wonder Project J2: Josette of the Corlo Forest (Nintendo 64)
2) NiGHTS Into Dreams (Sega Saturn)
3) Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom)
4) Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble (Super NES)
5) Tomb Raider (PlayStation)
1997:
1) Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64)
2) Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PlayStation)
4) Harvest Moon (Super NES)
5) Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64)
1998:
1) Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
3) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (PlayStation)
4) Breath of Fire III
5) Klonoa (PlayStation)
1999:
1) Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
2) Star Ocean: Second Story (PlayStation)
3) Jet Force Gemini (Nintendo 64)
4) Shadow Gate 64: Trials of the Four Towers (Nintendo 64)
5) Sonic Adventure (Sega Dreamcast)
2000:
1) Battle Ogre 64: Person of Lordly Caliber (Nintendo 64)
2) Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)
3) Jet Grind Radio (Sega Dreamcast)
4) Space Channel 5 (Sega Dreamcast)
5) Ecco: Defender of the Future (Sega Dreamcast)
2001:
1) Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
2) Red Faction (PlayStation 2)
3) Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion (Game Boy Advance)
4) Golden Sun (Game Boy Advance)
5) Sonic Adventure 2 (Sega Dreamcast)
2002:
1) Lost Kingdoms (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Red Faction II (PlayStation 2)
3) Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
4) Way of the Samurai (PlayStation 2)
5) Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 2)
2003:
1) Beyond Good and Evil (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Final Fantasy X-2 (PlayStation 2)
3) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo Game Cube)
4) Lost Kingdoms II (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Game Boy Advance)
2004:
1) Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Nintendo Game Cube)
2) Tales of Symphonia (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Siren (PlayStation 2)
4) Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance)
5) Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Game Cube)
2005:
1) Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)
2) Killer 7 (Nintendo Game Cube)
3) Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)
4) Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Game Boy Advance)
2006:
1) Okami (PlayStation 2)
2) Rule of Rose (PlayStation 2)
3) Chibi-Robo! (Game Cube)
4) Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Nintendo Game Cube)
5) Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PlayStation 2)
2007:
1) Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo DS)
2) NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii)
3) Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Nintendo DS)
4) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
5) Portal (PlayStation 3)
2008:
1) Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)
2) The World Ends With You (Nintendo DS)
3) Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (Nintendo DS)
4) Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Nintendo DS)
5) Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS)
2009:
1) Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
2) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo DS)
3) Red Faction: Guerrilla (PlayStation 3)
4) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)
5) Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (Nintendo DS)
2010:
1) Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
2) Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii)
3) Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii)
4) Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (Nintendo DS)
5) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Nintendo DS)
2011:
1) To the Moon (Windows)
2) Red Faction: Armageddon (PlayStation 3)
3) Radiant Historia (Nintendo DS)
4) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
5) Lost in Shadow (Wii)
2012:
1) Papo & Yo (PlayStation 3 downloadable)
2) Dear Esther (Windows)
3) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PlayStation 3)
4) The Last Story (Wii)
5) Assassin's Creed III: Revolution (Wii U)
2013:
1) Depression Quest (Browser)
2) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)
3) The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
4) Puppeteer (PlayStation 3)
5) Tomb Raider (PlayStation 3)
2014:
1) Child of Light (Wii U downloadable)
2) Bravely Default (Nintendo 3DS)
2) Fantasy Life (Nintendo 3DS)
4) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
5) Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)
* Objectively this is Final Fantasy IV.
** Objectively this is Final Fantasy VI.