Only 5? oh man this is hard. Okay, in no order:
1. Terranigma - Perhaps my favourite game of all time. A not-very-well-known SNES game, the story of this beats anything else I have ever played, including Beyond Good and Evil, Spec Ops: The Line, Chrono Trigger or just about anything else you care to name. The gameplay is smooth and fluid, whilst easy to get used to and even its stealth missions - albeit primitive and rarely seen - are fun at a base level. It's music is another point; as a fan of VGM music, the soundtrack of this game is so up there. But honestly, the strongest point of this game is it's story. not many games have had me in tears by the end but this was one of them. Indeed, the story behind it is said to be that one of the designers was in a depression when a man in strange clothing travelling around the world stayed with him awhile, helping him out of his depression and aspiring him to make the game. Beautiful!
2. Chrono Trigger - Yet another SNES game, one that more people know of as it's seen numerous re-releases on newer handheld consoles. It combines the core aspects of an RPG and the leveling system with a story that revolutionised the way games are made with it's new (for the time) mechanic of multiple endings. The other game that had me in tears, Chrono Trigger sets every character up perfectly for the climax and ends it perfectly. Another game with a way-above-average soundtrack.
3. Beyond Good and Evil - One of the best playstation 2 games ever, if not one of the best: it's been listed as the second best game of all time before by reputable VG companies and critics. The gameplay is simplistic and fun but also challenging, though this game really comes in to it's element via the world. Perhaps the reason the story is so great from this game is because the world is set so well. It doesn't feel like VG characters waiting for a catalyst, it feels like people going about their everyday business, trying to do the best with the hand of cards they've been played. The people have incredible depth and you can really get attached to them in a way that you can't in most other games. The stealth mechanics of this game are well-done and this game is also beautiful in the sense that its landscapes have had some thought put in to them. It's not just a cave, the inhabitants and the glowing crystals inside almost make you not want to go in there and disturb everything!
4. Final Fantasy (namely IV, V, VI and X: I haven't really played through VII even with it's world-wide awe surrounding it but i'm liking what i've seen so far. The others are still good, of course, these are just my favourites) - Final Fantasy is addictive and fun. Some prioritize story, while others prefer more gameplay-focused editions but all of them do at the very least a decent job. I am particularly fond of the aforementioned ones, mostly because they either do one or the other, or both, very very well. IV and V have outstanding gameplay and some moments of beautiful story-telling, whilst VI and X I mainly think of in regards to the storyline and how epic/deep/multi-sided it really was, depending on the game. Just generally a fantastic series that kind of stays with you for a long time after the final boss has been beaten. ^_^
5. Super smash bros. series - Of course i'd be giving credit to these games. Super smash bros. 64 was a game of my childhood and I remember hazily the days of sitting around with my brother, trying to figure out what the heck PK Thunder did or why it didn't stop at 100%... but perhaps my biggest credit goes to Super Smash Brothers Brawl, which is the game that introduced me to competitive gaming. I remember my first few games of SSBB and trying to figure out what was going on, now I can do advanced techniques with my characters (Ness as a secondary and Lucas as a main) and know the general gist of how each character works competitively and some match-ups between characters that are just plain out bad for one character, and some that are pretty even. Brawl is a wonderful game in general and the concept is unique: not even Playstation all stars battle royale could match it... taking characters we've known and loved for years and putting them in one big fighting game is just a recipe for incredible, if done well. And despite the flaws like random tripping or star KO animations, the broken 'god tier' character that is Meta Knight or even the Ice climbers who will kill you with just one grab (not an exaggeration and I can prove it), or even taking out some characters from melee, I do and always will love this game. Knowing it competitively doesn't decrease that, in fact it only makes me love it and the series more. Thankyou Masahiro Sakurai for making such a wonderful series and thankyou for giving me the one fighting game I actually love and got in to competitively.
And there are my top five!