Hey everyone it's the grouchy retro gamer reporting in. This thread has really taken off and I've got some good recommendations to try now.
I spent yesterday playing a Ps3 at a buddies house. I hate to say it but I still don't get the modern trends. Call of Duty Madden, and GTA 4 are just prettier versions of what I was seeing on the Ps2. Now, NES and SNES are two of my favorite consoles but if you take something like the Zelda line you see how different Zelda 2 was from 1 on the NES and then how Link to the Past is a nod to the original Zelda.
Someone asked me what I liked in the older games...
NES: Marios 1-3, Castlevania, Contra, Mega Man, Zelda, Double Dragon, Batman
SNES: Turtles in Time, Zombies Ate my Neighbors, Mega Man, Contra, Castlevania
Genesis: Streets Of Rage 2, Golden Axe, The NHL series, Shinobi 1-3, X-Men 1 and 2, Rambo 3, Alien 3