I will probably expand on this in the future, and split it over several different pages.
I grew up with the Sega Mega Drive and never really took well to the transition to 3D games. The 3D games I tend to like are arcade games, especially in genres where the 2D predecessors tried imitating a 3D environment (the clearest example being racing games).
Castlevania series
The Castlevania series holds a special place in my heart, especially the non-linear titles featuring Ayami Kojima's dark gouache portraits.
Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin for Nintendo DS regrettably ditched Kojima's unique art style in favour of a bland contemporary anime style. Fortunately, there are fans who worked hard to create patches with new artwork based on Kojima's work. You can find these on Romhacking.net
Pokémon series
During my childhood, I played the first three generations of Pokémon. Of these, it was the second generation (Gold, Silver & Crystal) that I liked the most. Instead of the more modern and urban Kanto, the Johto region was lived in and had a history. Its themes of the clash between tradition and modernity resonated with me.
The move to the Game Boy Advance in the third generation brought many new features, but much from the second generation was also lost. The complete lack of interconnectivity with the previous games was also unfortunate. I'm not too fond of the changing art style either. Still, Hoenn was a pleasantly diverse region to explore. I lost interest in the series at the dawn of the fourth generation.
For me, the Polished Crystal romhack provides the definitive Pokémon experience. It polishes some rough edges, adds new content and brings over impressively reconstructed features from the newer games, while still preserving the timeless charm of the original game.