Paragons of Game Design

[Imhotep]

I'd like to stress Majora's Mask and Black Dragon/ Tiger.

Some others:

Ninja Five-0 / Ninja Cop - one of the best, great level design and gameplay

Nam-1975 - not really perfect, but the best in the genre, dogding on reflexes is possible and fun

Rayforce - best presentation in a stg ever. To match reaching a planet's core starting from outer space with the scale ability of a new hardware is hugely brilliant, imho

Thief: Deadly Shadows - I don't know about the prequels, but this one has great tiptoe gameplay inside a fascinating world and story

[NZA]

Sin & Punishment 2 is the single best use of the Wii's unique controls.