I am a veteran in gaming, just like many people here, have played many different types of games for many years and I believe I am able to judge whether some game is good/creative/original! :)
A necessary requirement for a game to be in the list is the gameplay...
(Also, I was lucky I almost completely missed the "fighting games era" hehehe j/k)

Anyway, I had gone through one by one all the games and will give some recommendations. Nobody forces you to try them, different people like different game types, but I promise I won't disappoint you! :)

To avoid misunderstandings, I do not intend to list very famous games such as Pac Man, Crazy Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Mr Do!, Tron, Moon Patrol, Phoenix, Frogger, Bubble Bobble, Scramble, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Galaga, Defender, Kung Fu Master, Dig-Dug, Bomb Jack, Nibbler, Outrun etc etc etc. These games are already famous for a very good reason! :)
Moreover, light gun style and fighter games are also omitted for similarity reasons! :)

And please note:
1) It's my opinion, but I have a long history playing a variety of creative and "excellent gameplay" games.
2) I still may have missed some games, as the list is humongous!!! LOL (please let me know if I missed something)
3) I may have not placed some games from the newest MAME versions
(missing roms etc which I am not in a hurry to get - unless it's "tank" or TWC related LOL)
4) I avoid to mention well known games or games which are of the same style (e.g. fighter games).

Select one of the greek letters below to take you to a small list. Have fun, and I hope you enjoy those games as much as I had and still do! :)