Well, I don't think I've ever played anything "too late." I'm not sure what that means, exactly. That you've been spoiled by modern day graphics and don't appreciate it as much?
Errmmm...I feel I'd have appreciated OoT and MM a bit more if I hadn't first played them in the Collector's Edition. I liked the Demo of WindWaker the most, and ended up getting that game and beating it first. Going from my amazing exploration adventure on the Great Sea to just running around Hyrule-where everything is within running distance of about three minutes-I just didn't enjoy it as much. Maybe if I'd played them when the N64 had come out. It wasn't even a graphics issue, I just really, really love games on the open ocean. Something in me just shouts adventure when I see a boat and open water in a game. Maybe I was once a pirate
I can think of two that I wish I'd played earlier. The .Hack series, and the Persona series.
I was over at my friend's house, looking through his PS2 games, and came across the first volume of .Hack://G.U. "Hmm...hey, can I borrow this?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure, grab the second one, too, it's right there."
"What's the story like?"
"Well, basically you're in this online game...there were games before it, but you shouldn't need to play them to get the story, there's just stuff you'd understand more if you did."
So, for 80+ hours, I played through the first two G.U. games, loved them. Surprisingly, the very next month, the third volume came out, and my friend allowed me to play through it because he was just too busy to play it himself. I still need to play the first .Hacks, though.
Same deal with Persona. "Hey, can I try this 'Persona 3'?"
"Yeah, why don't you borrow Persona 4, too. The stories are separate, so you don't need to play one before the other to understand anything."
I wish I'd played them earlier because I would have had more free time ^^' It's tough investing hours upon hours in Persona when you're balancing college and a job.
I bought Persona 1 for my PSP a few months back, and I'm not really liking it all that much. It's just so different than P3 and P4.