I can't stick to just three games because so many games have had a large impact on time periods in my life. Here's what I thought of though when you asked me to tell my video game journey. I went a little further than just early adulthood.
Early years: Donkey Kong on my father's Intellivision, and Super Mario Bros. on NES. Dying repeatedly in TMNT and Spy Hunter...
Grade school: Oh, those were the days! Final Fantasy 1 & 2 on NES. Secret of Mana on SNES. Street Fighter II on SNES.
High school: The glory days of Final Fantasy. Metal Gear Solid. The first video game to make me cry. Twisted Metal with my best friend. Golden Eye. Couch co-op glory! In between suicidal thoughts I try to enjoy playing video games. I drop out of school multiple times. Too depressed to play video games...
Gap year: Metal Gear Solid 2. One of the shittiest years of my life, but I had a copy of the subsistence version of the game with VR challenges. I beat the game many times, but never got that final VR mission. Fuck!
College: Mario Party with my best buds and girlfriend. I really enjoyed spending time with them. It's too bad we couldn't learn to be adults and get along instead of breaking up our friendship over stupid shit. You know, we live minutes away from eachother and we don't even talk. Yay, welcome to being an adult! It's just like being a child only you should know better...
After graduation: Too busy trying to survive and pay bills. I literally was too stressed out of my mind until years after to play any games.
Years after: Finally have my head above water. Awesome girlfriend buys me a PS3! I go crazy and play EVERYTHING. I mean, nothing really stands out. I'm just like a kid in a candy store snatching up twenty dollar games left and right...
Dark Souls: Yes, it deserves it's own listing. It blows my mind. I finally get over the crippling anxiety I used to feel playing stressful video games.
Now: Battlefield 4. Okay, stick with me here. For years, I convinced myself that the only people who play multiplayer first person shooters are fourteen year olds, and the kinds of bros who do bicep curls because it's the only muscle they can name...
I'm very sorry for stereotyping you all. This shit is a blast to play, and even though I've only been playing for a few days...