Time to properly resurrect this hobby. I need some recommendations

[Terex4]

I've been itching to get back into gaming. Now that I have all the time in the world, I want to check out some games that I've missed. Problem is, my good PC is still at my office and I don't have any consoles. I can do SNES/Genesis/everything before that and easy-to-run pc games with no problem. I recently picked up a controller so that I can do platformers and such as well. So, what are your favorite games from this era that I need to try?

I have played every main series Final Fantasy and Mystic Quest to death (currently wrapping up my 2nd playthrough of the Brave New World mod).

Other games that I've played over and over:
-Illusion of Gaia
-Secret of Mana
-New Horizons: Uncharted Waters
-Genghis Khan II
-A Link to the Past
-Civilization I
-Alpha Centauri
-Mario...all of them
-More that aren't springing to mind

What are the best games that I've missed? Are there any mods to spice up the ones I've already played? Once I have a healthy list, I'll probably hit the backlog challenge. I just need a backlog first ;)

[Solid Snake]

Wow, old school!
If you haven't played Chrono Trigger and/or Super Mario RPG yet, that's where I'd start if I were you. Both are the seminal RPGs of that era (I'd argue they're both better than FFVI, but I'm in the minority there.)

[Terex4]

Chrono Trigger is definitely a contender against VI. Mari RPG is fun and I actually snagged it earlier. Going to wait on it a bit though since I've played it a few times, just not recently.

[MuMu]

I won't name any classics because I trust the rest of NPF to do it but my favorite SNES game that never gets mentioned is Terraenigma. It begins with a simplistic plot but quickly grows into something notable as time goes on and actually gets pretty moving, specially the last few hours.

[Flarecobra]

Actraiser. Great music, and it rather pulls off city-building and platformer genres fairly well.

[BB]

*Lightning strikes BB's crystal tower; in the distance, laughter*

Someone calls for SNES games...

Okay yes the SNES is my favourite console of all, so here's a list of stuff you might like. No accounting for taste, I don't know what kinda game you enjoy!

You can pick pretty much any nintendo flagship and find it's SNES version and you'll have a good time, so here's some lesser-known faves:

Pilotwings
SimCity
Tiny Toons- Buster Breaks Loose (surprisingly great konami-made platformer)
Axelay
Cannon Fodder
All the Donkey Kong Country games, but 2 is the best one
Earthworm Jim
Goof Troop (if you have someone to play with, this is co-op at it's finest)
King Arthur's World (very tricky strategy kinda dealy)
About 5 million Kirby games
Lost Vikings and LV2
Lufia and 2
Magical Quest with Mickey Mouse (capcom made, really nice platformer)
About five million megamans
Plok
Pocky and Rocky + sequel, again if you can co-op
Rock and Roll Racing
Sim Ant if you like learning about ants and also are not afraid of spiders
Sparkster
About 5 million Castlevanias
UN Squadron
Uniracers
Tetris Attack (it's not actually tetris at all, they used that name for branding only!)

Take a look through and see if any grab you!

[pochercoaster]

Recently I've been getting into the original Age of Empires. Note: it's not available to buy digitally, but you can get it on Amazon with its expansion packs for $10. Also, if you have windows 7 or 10 you have to fiddle with somethingorother settings in order to run it because it's old as shit (1997 I believe). I forget what exactly you have to do though (so helpful, I know).

RTS games are just easy to lose yourself in. Maybe even the later AoE games are better and easier to obtain and/or run on newer OS's (I never played the later ones so IDK.)

Also, I second the Lost Vikings.

Also also snes Harvest Moon.

Also since we're mentioning sim games... Sim Copter was kind of a shit game that was incredibly amusing to me, because instead of actually rescuing people it was better to just cause wanton destruction. Dunno if that's something you're interested in. It'd be more for laughing at how shit it is than actually enjoying it.

Oh, what about old Lucas Arts games? Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, etc.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

If you can get a half decent rig. I suggest Stardew Valley

[Menarker]

I second some of the above mentioned like Lufia (2 in particular) and Terraenigma.
There is also Tales of Phantasia, and Romancing Saga 3 (Hard to find one decently translated).

If you wanna go for something a touch different, there are also RPG-Maker games of some decent quality you can get for free like Exit Fate (Similar to Suikoden) and Last Scenario (Similar a bit to Final Fantasy).
(I'm more of a fan of Last Scenario since Exit Fate kinda copies music from some of the other SNES games and the effect is jarring to me, but a friend of mine likes the game.)

[Terex4]

Alright, I have most of those (I avoided co-op and hard-to-find translations for now). I'll be snatching up AoE and a few others once I have my desktop back at home and I reestablish my income.

SNES and PS2 are my favorite eras for gaming so this should do me just fine for now. If you haven't played it, New Horizons: Uncharted Waters is my favorite game ever.

[phil_]

Umihara Kawase. You don't need a translation to play surreal fishing pole Spiderman. And there's no real win state, so you don't have to be stressed out by how impossibly hard it gets.

Edit: oh yeah, kinda forgot where this free time came from. Umihara might not be great, since the controls for advanced maneuvers are a bit rubbing your tummy while patting your head, except with your thumbs.