Edit: Oh god first post on new page, how embarassing
best game per platform huh. Why not, though I'll cheat and pick two cause I have a hard time picking THE BEST.
WALL OF TEXT WARNING
Consoles
NES: Final Fantasy/Metal Storm
The original FF has always scratched a bit of an itch with me, despite tons of people labeling it the most obsolete cause it was the first. I think it's waaaaay better than the original Dragon Quest, gives you tons of creative liberty in how to tackle the game (including the party arrangement at the beginning), and even sets itself up for some pretty damn good challenge runs.
This is Metal Storm. It's fast, it's super smooth, the music's great and it did VVVVV's gravity shift mechanic before it was cool. (It's also pretty hard, but you'll find that to be a running theme with me.)
SNES: Mega Man X / Tie between the two Mario platformers
It's Mega Man X. Plenty of people gush about it already, I don't think I need to repeat why. The first one retained the best balance between difficulty and ease of play, where X2 and X3 tend to veer off in either direction too often.
I can't pick between World and Yoshi's Island because I love them both to death. While it's easier for me to pick up and play World, it's hard to deny how good Island is as well. So I say FUCK THE SYSTEM and pick both.
TG-16: This is technically cheating cause I never actually played on it and the only thing I've played is Ys Book 1&2, but whatever, Ys Book 1&2 were rockin'.
N64: Star Fox 64 / Banjo Tooie
I can still pop in Stat Fox and do a whole run without getting tired of it cause of all the choices you have in how to play through the game, it's a game ahead of it's time and my only wish is that the N64 controller wasn't awful.
Most people tend to prefer Kazooie over Tooie, but I played Tooie first so going back to the first one felt weird for me due to the lack of stuff you could do in comparison. While not without it's faults (CANARY MARY GO FUCK YOURSELF) I still remember the game being really good without going completely overboard on the collectathon aspect like DK64 did. I haven't played this one in years though, so it may be the lovely rose-tinted glasses speaking.
PS1: Brave Fencer Musashi
There's a few PS1 games that fight for my love but Musashi always comes out victorious. Favorite game over, GOTY all years, etc etc. I can't sum up how much I love this game in one short paragraph so I'll just say if you haven't played it you should and SE lose points every year for not putting it up on PSN.
PS2: Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
The flinch in your eyes calls your bluff
Feel free to die when you've had enough
Useless cause is breaking your back
Your life will end when you attack
Make your move
Make your stand
Make the win
Like you can
See the war
See me rule
See the mirror
You'll see a fool
(da best action game)
GCN: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Probably the most baby mode difficulty game I actually like, there's yet to be a Zelda that matches the scale of WW for me to love. Skyward Sword looked to fulfill that but it was just full of broken dreams and shattered promises. Sailing forever.
(I don't actually have that many favorite in the GCN library, I like a few but none that pop out and go PICK ME PICK ME.)
Xbox: (for all of 2 months that I owned one) Ninja Gaiden
Wii: Trauma Team
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Trauma series, I've played all the games but always come out overall disliking them due to the inevitable bullshit scenarios they like to toss at the player. Trauma Team is the first in the series that I genuinely loved, and it's probably one of the few games on the Wii I'll miss when I sell it.
PS3: Demon's Souls
I've played a looooooooooot of PS3 games, but Demon's Souls will always continue to be my jam. Every time Atlus announce a deadline for the servers closing is another excuse for me to dust it off and do at least two full runs through the game, helping others occasionally or just being a jerk and invading.
Handhelds
Game Boy/Color: THE POKEMON MACHINE (i don't really have a favorite here)
Game Boy Advance: Final Fantasy V Advance / Fire Emblem 7
The definitive version of FF5 that SE will continue to not make easily accessible. A moment of silence for the best FF that will continue to be snubbed like the red-headed stepchild.
FE7 is the best Fire Emblem, no iffs or butts about it. The Ike saga reaches the same highs as it at times, but it's nowhere near as perfectly balanced with nothing overlooked or out of place in it. Plus Ike has nothing on HECTOR.
PSP: Dissidia 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy
I've dumped waaaaaaaaaay too much time into both Dissidias to not say that they're my favorite PSP games, as hilariously unbalanced as they can be at times. My only regret in this earth is that SE will never graces us peons with an HD version with reliable online play.
DS:Rune Waifu Factory 3
This series is my dirty guilty pleasure and I have no need to explain myself, HMMPH.
3DS: lol
PS Vita: Gravity Rush / LittleBigPlanet Vita / Dokuro
The only 3 way tie, but they're all worthwhile and I'd have a hard time picking between the three since they all do different things really well.
Other
PSN: (I own over 100 games on PSN and you want me to pick one aefkwfssfd) Guacamelee!
A relative newcomer, Guacamelee! bodies most of the stuff on PSN free. After beating it on normal and then on hard and then getting 100% and doing a speedrun for the hell of it I wanted a sequel yesterday.
WiiWare: BIT. TRIP BEAT
The day I can play the whole BIT. TRIP saga outside a Nintendo system I can die happy. Some of my favorite rhythm games ever made, though none never quite managed to top BEAT for me, even though FLUX is the same but reversed, technically speaking.
PC: 東方地霊殿 ~ Subterranean Animism
SURPRISE BITCHES I used to play the games with shooting girls in frilly hats. I don't keep up with them as of late but I liked this one the best and this is why.
Schala didn't write up a tome about this so of course I had to pick up the slack.
best game per platform huh. Why not, though I'll cheat and pick two cause I have a hard time picking THE BEST.
WALL OF TEXT WARNING
Consoles
NES: Final Fantasy/Metal Storm
The original FF has always scratched a bit of an itch with me, despite tons of people labeling it the most obsolete cause it was the first. I think it's waaaaay better than the original Dragon Quest, gives you tons of creative liberty in how to tackle the game (including the party arrangement at the beginning), and even sets itself up for some pretty damn good challenge runs.
This is Metal Storm. It's fast, it's super smooth, the music's great and it did VVVVV's gravity shift mechanic before it was cool. (It's also pretty hard, but you'll find that to be a running theme with me.)
SNES: Mega Man X / Tie between the two Mario platformers
It's Mega Man X. Plenty of people gush about it already, I don't think I need to repeat why. The first one retained the best balance between difficulty and ease of play, where X2 and X3 tend to veer off in either direction too often.
I can't pick between World and Yoshi's Island because I love them both to death. While it's easier for me to pick up and play World, it's hard to deny how good Island is as well. So I say FUCK THE SYSTEM and pick both.
TG-16: This is technically cheating cause I never actually played on it and the only thing I've played is Ys Book 1&2, but whatever, Ys Book 1&2 were rockin'.
N64: Star Fox 64 / Banjo Tooie
I can still pop in Stat Fox and do a whole run without getting tired of it cause of all the choices you have in how to play through the game, it's a game ahead of it's time and my only wish is that the N64 controller wasn't awful.
Most people tend to prefer Kazooie over Tooie, but I played Tooie first so going back to the first one felt weird for me due to the lack of stuff you could do in comparison. While not without it's faults (CANARY MARY GO FUCK YOURSELF) I still remember the game being really good without going completely overboard on the collectathon aspect like DK64 did. I haven't played this one in years though, so it may be the lovely rose-tinted glasses speaking.
PS1: Brave Fencer Musashi
There's a few PS1 games that fight for my love but Musashi always comes out victorious. Favorite game over, GOTY all years, etc etc. I can't sum up how much I love this game in one short paragraph so I'll just say if you haven't played it you should and SE lose points every year for not putting it up on PSN.
PS2: Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
The flinch in your eyes calls your bluff
Feel free to die when you've had enough
Useless cause is breaking your back
Your life will end when you attack
Make your move
Make your stand
Make the win
Like you can
See the war
See me rule
See the mirror
You'll see a fool
(da best action game)
GCN: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Probably the most baby mode difficulty game I actually like, there's yet to be a Zelda that matches the scale of WW for me to love. Skyward Sword looked to fulfill that but it was just full of broken dreams and shattered promises. Sailing forever.
(I don't actually have that many favorite in the GCN library, I like a few but none that pop out and go PICK ME PICK ME.)
Xbox: (for all of 2 months that I owned one) Ninja Gaiden
Wii: Trauma Team
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Trauma series, I've played all the games but always come out overall disliking them due to the inevitable bullshit scenarios they like to toss at the player. Trauma Team is the first in the series that I genuinely loved, and it's probably one of the few games on the Wii I'll miss when I sell it.
PS3: Demon's Souls
I've played a looooooooooot of PS3 games, but Demon's Souls will always continue to be my jam. Every time Atlus announce a deadline for the servers closing is another excuse for me to dust it off and do at least two full runs through the game, helping others occasionally or just being a jerk and invading.
Handhelds
Game Boy/Color: THE POKEMON MACHINE (i don't really have a favorite here)
Game Boy Advance: Final Fantasy V Advance / Fire Emblem 7
The definitive version of FF5 that SE will continue to not make easily accessible. A moment of silence for the best FF that will continue to be snubbed like the red-headed stepchild.
FE7 is the best Fire Emblem, no iffs or butts about it. The Ike saga reaches the same highs as it at times, but it's nowhere near as perfectly balanced with nothing overlooked or out of place in it. Plus Ike has nothing on HECTOR.
PSP: Dissidia 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy
I've dumped waaaaaaaaaay too much time into both Dissidias to not say that they're my favorite PSP games, as hilariously unbalanced as they can be at times. My only regret in this earth is that SE will never graces us peons with an HD version with reliable online play.
DS:
This series is my dirty guilty pleasure and I have no need to explain myself, HMMPH.
3DS: lol
PS Vita: Gravity Rush / LittleBigPlanet Vita / Dokuro
The only 3 way tie, but they're all worthwhile and I'd have a hard time picking between the three since they all do different things really well.
Other
PSN: (I own over 100 games on PSN and you want me to pick one aefkwfssfd) Guacamelee!
A relative newcomer, Guacamelee! bodies most of the stuff on PSN free. After beating it on normal and then on hard and then getting 100% and doing a speedrun for the hell of it I wanted a sequel yesterday.
WiiWare: BIT. TRIP BEAT
The day I can play the whole BIT. TRIP saga outside a Nintendo system I can die happy. Some of my favorite rhythm games ever made, though none never quite managed to top BEAT for me, even though FLUX is the same but reversed, technically speaking.
PC: 東方地霊殿 ~ Subterranean Animism
SURPRISE BITCHES I used to play the games with shooting girls in frilly hats. I don't keep up with them as of late but I liked this one the best and this is why.
Schala didn't write up a tome about this so of course I had to pick up the slack.