These are by far my favorite kind of topics
I think we all are inspired by some other videogames we played as kids, weither we like to admit it or not. Unless we came from another earth where videogames never existed, or we lived in complete isolation, devoided of all outisde influences and one day we opened our eyes and declared "let there be videogames!" lol
I started a lot of project back when I first stumbled across RM2k first and 2k3 later (wish I actually ended at least one

).
My first project was a traditional rpg, so... you can guess, Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger helped shape not only the world but also many aspects of the plot.
Also, it's not really a videogame, but the movie Akira was a big ispiration for another project I was working on (and also the reson I got into motorcycles - alongside Terminator 2 and the Ghost Rider comics - but that's another story...

)
My current project is heavily inspired by (ow, who am I kidding, it's a damn ripoff) the original Resident Evil (the first ever title of the saga)
edit: LOL the forum changed da*n into dayum by itself... that's Glorious XD