My gaming time has been cut down quite a bit as I get closer to 30 (30?, dear god!). Some of my favorites as a youngster were Double Dragon, Contra, Life Force, Super Mario Bros, Tecmo Bowl, Punch Out, Golden Axe, Road Rash, and RBI Baseball.
I never played games to escape to some weird fantasy world, I played them with friends for enjoyment and for competition. My favorite games today offer much of the same, Topspin, Splinter Cell, NFL2K5, Ninja Gaiden, Moto GP 1& 2, and Halo.
I guess I've always enjoyed head to head competition in sports or action games against friends and I love co-op still to this day. That's one reason why Xbox Live appeals to me, you get that head to head competition when you don't have friends that are easily available to play. Wife, kids, blah blah blah
Zelda, Metroid most Japanese games didn't appeal to me when I was a 5th grader and they don't appeal to me now. I guess some things never change, but I am surprised I was able to finish both Splinter Cell 1 & 2 and Ninja Gaiden. I was never much for single player games that take 20+ hours, but I was determined to finish all three of those games. I look forward to Splinter Cell 3.