17. Jak 2: Renegade
After the overwhelming success of Crash Bandicoot (rocketing Naughty Dog from nobodies through to providing PlayStation's own mascot), they note in their 30th Anniversary art book that essentially, they were going to keep their heads down and focus on platformers. However, when GTA III came out, they - quite rightly - "Looked up". The result was taking the open-world formula of Rockstar's behemoth and applying their own masterful coding prowess to the proceedings. That resulted in a far more 'mature' Jak & Daxter, one that came with a bevy of flying cars, mid-air 'jacking' where you could steal them on the move, a heft of extremely satisfying weapons to wield - and a ton of interspersed levels that proved the team were still the kings of the platforming genre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nezrHFV3Xnc There's a mark of quality that comes with these guys as a studio, and just seeing them take a base idea and run with it in the best directions - making the first game since GTA III that truly put innovation at the forefront of the genre experience - remains a standout title simply everyone should play.