Super Mario World
Nintendo, 1991

They don't put games in the systems anymore when they're released and they don't even make games this good close to the system launch anymore. Super Mario World came with the SNES and it pushed it to the limits right out of the box. Gorgeous graphics in an amazing array of bright, vibrant colors, wonderful music, a huge number of levels, a ton of new abilities, spot-on play control, and a Japanese dinosaur that eats things when you punch him in the back of the head, this game had it all. Truely, Mario's finest hour.

Final Fantasy III
Squaresoft, 1994

Today, even non-gamers know what Final Fantasy is, and it's all because of this puppy here. The first RPG to pull in a non-RPG playing audience, this game is not only historically significant, but it's also the best in the Final Fantasy series. With the most memorable characters, an engrossing, world-spanning epic storyline, and the most surprising music ever to come out of the SNES, FFIII stands head and shoulders above its modern-day counterparts.

Super Metroid
Nintendo, 1994

Super Metroid has only one equal: Castlevania Symphony of the Night, which would not come out until 1997 on the Sony PlayStation. While most games need to rely on story-telling sequences to tell the story, Super Metroid was the story. Every pixel is absolutely drenched in atmosphere-- from the quiet isolation of the abandoned Mother Brain lair, to the scorching flames of Norfair, to the way the Space Pirates emulsify, to one of the (literally) biggest boss battles of all time, to the freaking status screen, Super Metroid made you feel like you really were Samus Aran. You know, except for the boobs.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Nintendo, 1992

Link's only 16-bit adventure is arguably his greatest. Though the plot is somewhat lacking compared to the similar themes of Final Fantasy III, Link to the Past took the classic Zelda game play and made it even better. Aside from the two mirror worlds stacked end to end with distinct dungeons, battles, and items, Link to the Past had countless caves to explore and secrets to find. With beautiful graphics and design, and the system's best music, Link to the Past is a true masterpiece that still sits as the high water mark for adventure gaming.

Contra III: The Alien Wars
Konami, 1992

The last truly notable game in the great Contra action series, Alien Wars took the "two men against the odds" formula to new heights... literally. One of the most memorable sequences features your soldier leaping from mid-air cruise missile to mid-air cruise missile in the nick of time as they explode harmlessly against the hull of the alien ship as you barrage its weak point with your machine gun while dodging its anti-missile defenses. Nuff said!

Unplugged in New York
Nirvana - 1994

Rock still lives in Nirvana's shadow. Nirvana rocked harder, louder, with more raw emotion and energy than any of their contemporaries or clones. But what made Nirvana special was the delicate, haunted pain of Kurt Cobain. Here, stripped of the safety of Nirvana's new-wave punk sound, we can hear the heaviest band of the 1990s in all their fragile beauty.

Achtung Baby!
U2 - 1992

New Year's Eve 1989, U2-- the band of the 80s -- said they were leaving to dream it all up again. They disappeared to Berlin of all places to muse on the dark sides of love and almost break up. When they emerged in '92 they brought Achtung! -- a post-modern masterpiece, as much about alienation and confusion in a changing world as the 90s themselves were.

Exile in Guyville
Liz Phair - 1993

Phair recorded this song-for-song reply to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street on a four track tape player in her Chicago apartment. The DIY feel only adds to the album's ambience. If U2 painted a picture of life in the 90s in broad, expressionistic strokes, Phair does it with subtle, witty, tragic observations.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space
Spiritualized - 1997

This album was originally released packaged like a prescription drug: even the packaging was in on what makes this trance album so entrancing. Drug use and rock have always been married, but no one has ever made the two seem so much like the same thing as Spiritalized. The aural equivalent of a heroin trip, when Jason Pierce's endless refrain of "All I want's a little bit of love to take the pain away" lilts you into pure white noise, you can almost feel the needle in your arm.

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Sarah McLachlan - 1993

To paraphrase my friend Blake Rome, "just listen to it." McLachlan's breakthrough album is one of the most brilliantly arranged, recorded, sung, and produced albums ever to come out of Canada or anywhere else. Simply dripping with emotion, McLachlan's soundscape proves that girls can delve into the heart of darkness too.