Three of my favorite franchises are Mario Kart, Mr. Driller, and Touhou Project. Some of my favorite genres are platformers, danmaku shooters, and fighting games (huge Super Smash Bros. player).
I've been dying to make a game of my own for many years, but lacked the tools to do so. After seeing the success of the indie boom with games such as Minecraft, I realized it was possible to make a quality game.