Targhan seems to have it for the RPG/Adventure game...
As for action games, though... Control is a lot of it. Even if your controlling an object with inertia, there should be instant visual (and perhaps audible, if applicable) feedback of you starting the manouver as soon as the joystick is moved. Sluggish controls will get a game shelved in a hurry.
Which goes to the next point. You have to actually make the game possible. For example, if a move generally takes 1.5 sec to execute, you can't expect people to be too happy when you only give them 1 sec worth of forward information before the event. Yet so many games mess this one up. Give people some time to react. In fact, give a little more time than necessary in the first few levels while people are learning the controls... In the later levels, you can tighten that up somewhat, though, to ramp up the challenge, if you choose.
You also need "breather points"... Every so often, you need a spot where you can pause for a second or two and not get slaughtered.
And, as also mentioned, throw in some bonuses and "easter eggs" for doing strange or semi-unexpected things.
