I ran across a cool article which documents the graphical progress of video games over the past twenty years. I rest assured that all of my self-proclaimed geeky friends will find this as riveting as I did.
As you can see by my comment I was surprised that Donkey Kong didn't make the list. I feel that the SNES, and Donkey Kong in particular were huge steps in the graphical expectations for video games, and possibly the last great left-to-right platformer. I also felt like Goldeneye was a bit snubbed. I think this guy is coming from a somewhat biased pc / playstation perspective. Notice the comment above mine who's child was born on the 19th. Rule! Best Birthday in the world.