With how intermixed game genres have become recently, I apologize in advance if I didn't include your favorite genre in the poll. Here is my reasoning behind each option:

Platformer: Any game where your character's abilities are more or less set in stone, and levels tend to involve lots of jumping, traversing terrain and obstacles.
E.g. Mario Bros, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, etc.

Action-Adventure: Wasn't really sure how to describe this one since so many games fall under this category. Usually involves finding upgrades and abilities for your character over the course of the game, and may or may not require backtracking to progress. I think sandbox survival games like Minecraft would also fall under this genre
e.g. Zelda, Metroid, Assassin's Creed, etc.

Shooter: pew pew shoot the guns and become #1 on the leaderboard
e.g. Battlefield, Counter-Strike, Splatoon, Team Fortress, Overwatch, etc.

JRPG: Games where your characters fight random encounters, gain experience points, and gain increases to points in various stats upon leveling up. Usually turn-based, with a dramatic, linear storyline.
e.g. Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Persona, etc.

WRPG: Your characters also gain experience points and increase their skills, but these games are far more action-oriented. Storyline is usually less linear than JRPGs
e.g. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Deus Ex, Mass Effect, etc.

Strategy: You, the commander, are in charge of a large number of units, which you have to carefully maneuver or issue commands to in order to achieve your goal. I lumped both real-time and turn based strategy together here, along with MOBAs, despite them often being wildly different games, as I feel it would otherwise be stretched too thin within this poll
e.g. Fire Emblem, Starcraft, Civilization, Final Fantasy Tactics, League of Legends, etc.

Fighting: Usually involves a 1 on 1 fight between two powerful characters, with exaggerated and over-the-top attacks
e.g. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Soulcalibur, Super Smash Bros., etc.

Sports: Simulates various sports. May be comically satirized in some cases
e.g. Madden, FIFA, Rocket League, Mario Kart, etc.

MMO: Massively Multiplayer Online games. Usually have a persistent world, with hundreds of players playing at the same time
e.g. World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Eve Online, etc.


Anyways, for my opinion: While I grew up largely playing JRPGs, Counter-Strike and Zelda, I slowly began to acquire a taste for strategy games. First I picked up Advance Wars on a whim, then later tried out Fire Emblem as they were made by the same company. Fell in love instantly. While those kinds of games can be really frustrating at times, it's just so rewarding when you finally conquer that one really tough map and can tell the computer to shove it. XCOM 2 is probably my favorite game as of the time of writing this post. And you should play it.

Honorable mention to Starcraft - the game is far too hard and stressful for me to play at any level above Silver on ladder, but it's really fun to watch. Those crazy koreans with their gosu micro amirite