Greatest Gaming Moments

[Narcolepsy]

I've been in full blown grandpa-in-a-squeaky-rocking-chair mode lately, reinstalling all of these old games, and waxing nostalgic over the great memories I had with them. So in a surprising twist, I made this thread. (Interestingly, when I typed this, I hadn't posted the thread yet. This calls the previous sentence into question. Not the previous sentence before the previous one, but the one before that.)

*ahem*

MY GREATEST GAMING MOMENTS

Experiencing Black and White.
My first real PC game... played it on an old P2 with an ATI Rage Pro. Going from Mario and friends to a god game complete with a fully controllable camera view and a brilliant interface woven into the fabric of the game, it was a revolution in my mind. It hardly mattered that the gameplay wasn't perfect. Damn it, those worshippers needed food and I was going to give it to them. Or make Monkey do it.

Mario 64 - Playing it for the first time
So apparently PC Gamers had gotten used to this whole 3D thing, but it blew my mind. And prepared me for all kind of 3D games on the N64, PC, and beyond.

Half-Life 2 - Me talking to the NPCs
So it was getting pretty intense, and I verbally thanked an NPC for a medpack. Does that make me crazy?

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Unwrapping the Box
I waited so long, and the crinkly plastic fell from the shiny special edition box like a veil from the face of the most beautiful of middle eastern women... or something. And the game was even better!

Battlefield 2 Demo - HL2.net Antics
Storming the Gulf of Omen under the command of the valiant Mr. Redundant was bar none, the most exhilarating and intense gaming experience I've ever had.

Now give me yours!

[Lucid]

The first time I started up my N64 with Super Mario 64...

Awe inspiring.

[TCfromBN]

Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Every second of it.

[Ren.182]

Oh, I'm so going to love this thread! I'll post a few now, more later...

I don't really remember much before the Playstation. I had lots of fun on consoles before the Playstation/N64 days but I was too young for me to remember. Anyway...

Playing the Playstation for the first time
I was amazed. 3D graphics! :O
The first 3D game I played was Destruction Derby. And oh how it was fun! I could smash cars up, race with like 30 other cars and just cause carnage. loved it.

First time playing the N64
Again, this blew me away!
I think my first game was Pilot Wings 64. The next day I got Lylat Wars (Starfox 64) and was again blown away by the fact that the controller rumbled when I got hit! :O

Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Just WOW!
I was anticipating this game for so long. I was young and I kept reading about it in magazines. I remember the Official Nintendo Magazine a month before christmas had a huge preview/review on it. I read it through at least 20 times. I was just amazed at how great this game sounded.
I remember opening the present on xmas morning. Oh what a feeling! When I finally got to play it I swear I was bouncing in my chair. The whole game was amazing.


More to come :)

[theotherguy]

Ocirana of Time
We waited in line for a few hours to buy it in November, but my mom told me I had to wait until Christmas to open it. I remember staring at the box in anticipation. When I finally got to play it I was so happy. It was amazing.
Inadvertently discovering Half-life
I was at the library looking for good books to read over the summer, and I stumbled into the software section. They had a box of Half-life sitting there to rent. I thought it looked cool, so I picked it up out of sheer curiosity. I remember playing it thinking, "alright, just some casual fun here, another FPS, another Goldeneye"...and as I played...I was amazed. It was the most amazing game I had ever played.
Inadvertantly discovering Total Annihilation
I was looking for Age of Empires II at a used game store, but they didn't have any copies. I looked through the bargain bin for games to quell my boredom, and discovered this cheap-looking jewel case with Total Annihilation in it. It was the first RTS I saw in the bin, so I decided to try it out. I then got home and played it for 6 hours straight. Another jewel.
Black and White
My second PC game, got it right after Half-life. It was incredible in my opinion. It seemed truly revolutionary at the time. I just loved going around looking at graphics which at that time I deemed "beautiful". I remember taking a bunch of screenshots and showing them to my friends and they were all like, "woah...that game looks AWESOME!"...it's funny because I played it the other day and the graphics were terrible, lol.

[Destron]

Half-Life 2 - Me talking to the NPCs
So it was getting pretty intense, and I verbally thanked an NPC for a medpack. Does that make me crazy?

Only if your girlfriend was watching. :naughty:

[Letters]

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, doing final boss fight against Ganon over at my neighbors' house in their basement with a pretty big audience (Friday and Saturday nights were like neighborhood get-together nights; I was pretty young). Epic! I also liked to play Super Mario World over there.

Sim City 2000... finally realizing how to get stuff to actually build out of the zones.

Super Smash Bros. + Goldeneye... Rented both of these and played the hell out of them in multiplayer. I remember laughing so hard... bought both of them later.

Starcraft, playing the demo (after downloading the 30 MB file ALL DAY) online for the first time... was the first online game I'd played. THAT'S A REAL PERSON MOVING THOSE OTHER GUYS!

Playing TFC for the first time... first online shooter, and TFC is just awesome. Was rock2 map.

Diablo II... seeing those unique items drop!

Baldur's Gate II... killin' those bigass dragons.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow... finding it amazing that you could actually play like a spy against other people (2 spies vs. 2 'mercenaries'). Then later, just plain messing with mercenaries who were obviously new to the game.

World of Warcraft... playing the open beta with some people from these forums. Wow, I was such a noob. (I still play it some today.)



There's probably more, too. :P

[Combine Hybrid]

playing baldur's gate PC version for first time

playing starcraft 2, I love every seconds of it

when I took down strider with a crowbar

[Baratos]

Point Insertion for Half-Life 2. I have never felt so much atmosphere from a game level--not even from the other levels in the same game. It lost its touch after the first time through, but it was really awesome while it lasted.

[Jintor]

Just randomly deciding to blow shit up in Vice City - Ah, Vice City, how I loved you when I just snapped and wasted all my ammo blowing ***t up. And the story wasn't bad, either. And you could use the army chopper and fly around and listen to the radio.

Playing Psychonauts - Srsly, BEST GAME EVER.

More to come.

[Javert]

Tram ride in Half-Life and Super Mario 64.

[BHC]

Pulling the sword from the pedestal in the temple of time, Zelda: Ocarina of Time

sent shivers down my spine.

Fighting Ninja in Metal Gear Solid "HURT ME MOOOOOORE"

[_Z_Ryuken]

game (year played)- transcript

Super Mario World (1992)- What the ****? There's something better than Nintendo? It's hard to explain the feeling of loss having my NES mysteriously sold, only to be replaced by a SNES and great joy on my 10th B day. Discovered "graphics".

Secret of Mana (1993)- Calling Flammie for the first time, and then after the continent rises. Discovered "RPGs". Epic 1993.

Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior (1993)- Finally defeating that bitch Bison (Vega) after 100 or so rounds. Finally allowed myself to unleash the Game Genie.

Chrono Trigger (1995)- I walked 2 miles through the snow to get this for $75 the day it was released. Defeated it after 70 hours. Bought the prima guide ($15) after I discovered there were multiple endings. (!)

Descent 2 (1996)- Discovered both true 3D space and FMV in a game. Didn't think it could get any better if they fixed the pixelation.

Starfox 64 (1997)- Defeating Andross for the first time and getting ready to go out in the blaze with him, then James McCloud pops out of nowhere "Don't ever give up my son" Sent chills up my spine. :D

Goldeneye 007 (1997)- Discovered true multiplayer. Nothing has ever been this fun. I shoot a guys hand and his gun flies out of it. Wow. Dual controller control. Holy shit.

Ocarina of Time (1997)- Turning it on. Beautiful. I called my mom down just to watch me turn on the game. She doesn't care for them but she thought it was neat. :/

Unreal (1999)- I can't remember how many times I watched that Nali castle spin around. It was too cool. Voodoo 2 powered life altering goodness. Discovered online multiplayer shortly after. I now knew that I wanted to run around the internets shooting people.

Unreal Tournnament (2000)- Discovered mods and Unreal Ed. Sweet mercy. Razorback (razor-ub) possibly one of the greatest tracks of all time. Thank you UnrealAmp.

Nothing since. Nothing surprises me anymore. Nothing is challenging. Nothign is new. Things are nice, but the age of discovery is over. :(

[Vegeta897]

Ryuken that was a great post.

[VirusType2]

There are so many for me, so I'll just list a few.


Archon - finally beating the seemingly flawless and asshole-ishly evily programmed computer controlled AI.

Zelda [1] - a one player game, after school I would go to my friends house and we would take turns trying to find and beat one of the labyrinths.
(that was 20 years ago, but I still remember it very clearly)

Half-Life2 - In one of the first shootout sequences in the game where the industrial breakbeat soundtrack kicks in, I ran to the staircase above the train tracks to escape and there were a couple of sentries there to try and stop me. Shooting at them through glass windows and the other guys on the stairs, they would fly back with the ragdoll physics in a way that I won't soon forget. Pinned to the wall with the force of several bullets, leaving blood stains and smears on the walls, then tumbling down the stairs lifelessly.

Also, throwing the soda can at the guard who told me to throw it away. He chased me down and hit me with the stun gun. lol

Street Fighter II(etc.) especially playing Capcom Vs. SNK 2 on Xbox Live, fighting my way to the best ranked in the world was an incredible experience. If you have seen videos of world ranked matches, you know you have seen some amazing players.

Waverace 64 - This game series rules.

Super Mario World (SNES) - Just goes to show that no matter how hard a game can get, it only makes you step up your game to that level. I couldn't believe I was able to navigate some of the last levels in this game. It was like running and jumping across tightropes while dodging things.

Resident Evil (PS1) Absolutely amazing game at the time.

Metroid (NES) finding those secret areas with the power-ups.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (NES) KNocking out Soda-pop, and some of the other tougher guys. My friend could beat Mike Tyson in this game.

Dungeon Master - figuring out some of the puzzles, and barely defeating some of the enemies in a brutal near death experiences.

Goldeneye with the split screen with my friends.

Phantasy Star Online - everything

Max Payne - ...

[ailevation]

I think it was the opening for Chrono Cross, where the main character gets washed up onto the shore.

[BHC]

I was going to mention Chrono Cross, one of my all time favorite RPGs :)

[_Z_Ryuken]

Ryuken that was a great post.

Glad you think so. :D

Virus reminded me I should put Zelda 1 in here.

My older brother and my father both played Zelda when I was a little kid. I understood what to do but I had almost zero gaming experience so I was unable to play such a difficult game.

TLoZ:TAoL (1987)- My dad caught me spitting out and hiding my green Flintstones vitamins in my bathrobe pocket. He grounded me to my room. He went back to his Nintendo which was conveniently placed by the rear sliding door, which was adjacent to my window. Being 4 years old, I climbed up onto my window sill, and propped my self up, struggling just to watch the adventure of link. :D
That's when I discovered I love games.

--
I was going to say Crono Cross as well, but while awesome, there just wasn't a point in it where I thought "wow, this is the greatest moment of my life".

[ailevation]

I was going to mention Chrono Cross, one of my all time favorite RPGs :)

I think I lost my copy! All this nostalgia is going to make me break down, I want to play it! I miss this game the most for some odd reason.

[_Z_Ryuken]

I miss it too and want to play it, but I recently discovered my PSOne power adapter is missing. I am not sure if I tried to use an emulator, but I don't think I did, so my discs must also be missing. :(

[leib10]

C&C: Red Alert- Intro movie, not really an amazing moment in the game but it had an awesome atmosphere and mood to it. The first video game I got really into.

Goldeneye- First mission at the dam where Bond jumps into the abyss, lots of good memories playing multiplayer. The jungle level was pretty cool too.

Half Life- the tram ride, the test chamber, and of course Nihilanth's chamber.

Rainbow Six- the final level at the biosphere was pretty cool. The sound of doors opening and closing still stays with me years after I've played it. Planning your mission before executing it was more fun than the usual barge-in-and-shoot-it-out.

(dare I say it?) Pokemon Red/Blue- Indigo Plateau and the Elite Four, as well as the final battle with Gary.

Perfect Dark- fighting in the Skedars' Battle Shrine. Again lots of multiplayer fun, with bots and humans both.

Max Payne- Bullet Time. Good story and graphics for its day. THE FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELS...

And of course, HL2- impossible to name all the wonderful moments I had playing this game. Nearly everything was amazing the first time I played it. Point Insertion, entering Nova Prospekt, fighting in the rubble in Follow Freeman that harkened back to Stalingrad, the Citadel tour, Episode One's core, tunnel fighting, and train ride out, etc. Having for the first time NPC's that you actually thought were people rather than computer-simulated versions of people (I talked to them too, especially Alyx). Having burning gas barrels thrown at you. Watching a Combine soldier get pinned to the wall by a crossbow bolt. Getting the Gravity Gun and playing fetch with Dog. Your trek through Ravenholm, and the frightening howling of fast zombies. Knocking down your first Gunship and Strider. The elevator ride down into the Citadel's teleport chamber, prepared to "do your worst". The list goes on and on.

All of the games have captivated me on some level, but obviously none compares to HL2. Anything will be hard-pressed to do so.

[DEATHMASTER]

i got a mysterious and large skull in one quest in Gunz, there's a 6% chance of getting either and i got'm both (.36% chance!)

[craig12321]

my very first game i played was sonic the hedgehog for sega but the first game i played on pc was toy story lol

[Samon]

Firing up Deus ex for the first time. I'd only heard about it before hand and I was completely spoiler free. I had no idea what to expect. I was hooked. It was amazing.

Vice City. Wow. I'd been waiting for the game for a long-ass time and the hype was immense. So I start it up, hop into a car to the strains of Billy Jean and cruise on down Ocean Drive. Wow.

Episode 1 opening. Simply the most well written and animated sequence in the history of gaming.

[Mikael Grizzly]

Fallout.

Completing Operation Flashpoint (OFPR & OFPCWC)

Finishing Tiberian Dawn as Nod.

Recreational level of System Shock 2 and meeting the rumbler for the first time.

Fighting the Queen in Aliens vs. Predator 2 as a Marine.

Half-Life's Surface Tension chapter, one of the most intense experiences in gaming (except for the minefields)

Half-Life 2's Highway 17 and beginning of Sandtraps. I wished for a casette player in the buggy with Deep Purple's Highway Star.

[Warbie]

Mario 64 - Playing it for the first time
So apparently PC Gamers had gotten used to this whole 3D thing, but it blew my mind. And prepared me for all kind of 3D games on the N64, PC, and beyond.

Completely agree. I'd been gaming since the first 3d games came out btw, and nothing came close to capturing the 3rd dimension anything like Mario 64 did. It completely blew me away.

The only other game to have a similar impact on me was Street Fighter 2 when it first came out in the arcades. Compared to anything released before, SF2 was such a MASSIVE leap in every way. Gameplay, animation, graphics, sound. I simply didn't believe games could get this good.

[-Psy-]

Goldeneye - Holy shit. This game had the best cinematics in any game of it's time. The first mission where you had to jump off the dam has left a lot of vivid memories in my mind. Oh, and the multiplayer was fecking awesome too. :D

Q3:A - I remember playing this for the first time in 2001. I joined an online game and I was really amazed at how good some people were at playing the game. They were flying around, jumping at incredibly high speeds and headshotting everyone. D:

HL2 - Installing the game might of taken forever but it was well worth the wait. The scene with G-Man was amazing. I had never seen such a life-like character with such detailed facial expressions.

[Evo]

HL/HL2/Ep1 intros - all amazing as hell :D

Red Alert 2 inro - seeing the rise of Mother Russia...:D

Tiberian Sun - Witnessing the return of Kane :D :D :D

FF8 intro - introduced me to the world of FMV's

BF2 - fighting with my clan mates, so much fun :E

[Shift]

Goldeneye 64 - First started playing this as a young lad, and i never stopped playing until EVERY single level was completed on ALL difficulties, genious.

Perfect Dark - I dont recall having as much fun on a multiplayer than on this, me and my mates would be on it for hours and hours and hours.

Shenmue 1+2 - Progressing the story and solving the clues, and the QTE and free-roam fights were just, AMAZING.

Operation Flashpoint - Forget NPC development, forget sequenced events, this was just war with authenticity yet to be matched.

Half-Life 2 - I never knew I could be so immersed within a game. The greatest ever made.

Gears of War - The most intense, most violent, action game I have ever played, the greatest co-operative game ever made, loved every second of it.

[Beerdude26]

Dune 2 - First game I ever played, awesomeness that cannot be described.

Doom 1&2 - I was ****ing scared. 'Nuff said.

Slipstream 5000 - "IT'S 3D! AND YOU CAN FLY! AND IT'S GOT CANNONS! HOLY SHIT I'M FLYING BETWEEN PYRAMIDS AND IN NEW YORK! :D :D :D :D"

Another World - I was even more ****ing scared D:

Half-Life, Demo - The whole demo had a creepy feeling to it, and I fell down my chair when I saw the vortigaunts D:

Max Payne - Epic in every way possible.

Max Payne 2 - More epic in every way possible. Finished this game about 17 times with various mods. Can't. Get. Enough.

Half-Life 2 - Ignoring the stuttering and the bugs, the first time through was AWESOME.

Arcanum - AWESOME RPG from Troika Games (the one below here aswell)

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines - Best ****ing RPG EVER. EVER. EVER. So ****ing perfect it's ridiculous.

[Unfocused]

Super Mario World - got a SNES for my first communion and it was SOOO AWESOME to play this game!

Fallout 2 - Played this one before Fallout 1; I used to talk with friends about it all the time, comparing how we were playing through the game, sharing tips etc.; when I completed it I wrote down the date and time

Half-Life 2 - playing in DX7 and it was kinda stuttering for the first time, but man I was HYPED so it was a memorable experience

Battlefield 2 - lots of epic moments mostly with clanmembers (hi there, Evo), but I also remember playing with shakermaker and jimbo before that with some cool moments as well :thumbs:

Battlefield 2 Project Reality mod - many great teamwork moments (although usually with random people, using voip however)

Random list really, I also remember the amazing atmosphere of Doom 2, lots of fun playing Destruction Derby 2 with a friend, wrecking cars in the Arena, the great Tomb Raider (I was a noob and couldn't finish most of the levels getting lost in them, so I used to cheat and skip levels only to get to the cutscenes). Spent lots of time playing Duke Nukem 3D (mostly on cheats and being proud of myself when I completed the first episode lol). Unreal was the first FPS where I used a mouse to aim ("wtf, that feels awkward"). Deus Ex was a great game, totally unexpected - it was added to a game magazine so I thought I'll give it a try and got hooked. And that's not all...

[StardogChampion]

HL1 - tram ride on my bro's 3dfx card. Sexy. Best HL game by miles.

[AJ Rimmer]

All of Mafia - One of my earlier full-blown gaming experiences and quite frankly, still one of my absolute best.

The hill level in Vietcong - Rainy, chaotic and awesome. The whole game was great but that level in particular gave me chills.

The Beast's introduction in Homeworld: Cataclysm - Orgasmic. Voice acting and the direction in that scene is awesome.

[Solaris]

Crawling through the woods in Operation Flashpoint Stranded mission, my heart was beating sooo fast and my palms were sooo sweaty.

[theotherguy]

All of Mafia - One of my earlier full-blown gaming experiences and quite frankly, still one of my absolute best.

The hill level in Vietcong - Rainy, chaotic and awesome. The whole game was great but that level in particular gave me chills.

The Beast's introduction in Homeworld: Cataclysm - Orgasmic. Voice acting and the direction in that scene is awesome.

Hell yeah! I forgot about Homeworld. I remember getting it for my birthday one year and playing it at my mom's workplace on her computer (because we didn't have one at home at the time). I too, remember the Beast's introduction in Cataclysm. Also, anyone remember the Garden of Kadesh? Jesus, that was a hard level.

[AJ Rimmer]

Hell yeah! I forgot about Homeworld. I remember getting it for my birthday one year and playing it at my mom's workplace on her computer (because we didn't have one at home at the time). I too, remember the Beast's introduction in Cataclysm. Also, anyone remember the Garden of Kadesh? Jesus, that was a hard level.

Oh god yes! The time I spent on that one the first time around... And yet I was disappointed that Homeworld 2 was so easy when the first one and Cataclysm were really quite hard, even on easy.

[99.vikram]

Playing the whole of Doom 95 Episode 1 at a stretch. My first PC game.

Playing Quake 2 MP, and finally getting the hang of deathmatch.

Deciding to install Half-Life Uplink. Changed my life. I spent many nights dreaming of the Lambda Reactor Complex in those days..

Playing Delta Force, and pretending to be good at it.

Getting Splinter Cell, and finally understanding what the fuss was all about.

Buying Half-life 2 and going "Wow!" during that opening sequence with the Gman. Drooling over the visuals in the trainstation.

Getting hyped up for Portal...

[ríomhaire]

The intros to/start of:
Half-Life (Just awesome)
Half-Life 2 (Just because it was Half-Life 2)
Episode One (Awesome)
Red Alert 2 (Mega-awesome)

Destroying the hunter-chopper in HL2.
HL2EP1, the core...OMG.

Advance Wars 2. First time I'd played an AW game, brilliant.

Kane's Nod campaign intro in Tiberian Dawn and Tiberian Sun.
Firing up the Scrin campaign in C&C3 (And to my delight, discovering that the game had some good FMVs)

Chases/dogfights in GTA, GTA3, GTAVC and GTASA.

Fighting (and beating) some of the bosses in FFs; it felt like a real achievment sometimes.

Edit: Pinning people on the other side of the world to walls in HL2DM

Some great moments playing C&C Generals with my friends.

[Jintor]

E-B-A! E-B-A! E-B-A! E-B-A! YEAH! (Duh duh... duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duhduh)

Or Ou-en-dan! Ou-en-dan! Ou-en-dan! GO!)

Props if you know what I'm talkin' bout.

[Hazar]

any bigass battle in supcom

the first time I loaded up hl2 - it's like you were in the unbelievable movies you had seen for the last year

playing The Specialists - especially pulling off the really awesome kills like diving in bullet time and throwing a knife into someone's face

hl2dm - pinning people to the wall with the crossbow :D

playing gw with friends :) (SIMMO, WHERE ARE JOO!!!)

flatout 2 - totally wrecking someone else's car and escaping mostly unharmed

[ríomhaire]

E-B-A! E-B-A! E-B-A! E-B-A! YEAH! (Duh duh... duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duhduh)

Or Ou-en-dan! Ou-en-dan! Ou-en-dan! GO!)

Props if you know what I'm talkin' bout.
What makes those games better than all the other rythm games anyway?

[TheAntipop]

Right.

Final Fantasy 7 - Midgar. Enough said. Actually, I'm going to go on; I loved that place. Seriously, I still look back on it today and think of how good a location and environment that city was. The intro, seeing the train speeding through the city to that intense, epic build before it pulled in slowly to the Reactor station just as the really hell-yeah pumping music kicked in to introduce the characters as they disembarked the trains roof. But then the Reactors themselves... **** me, such grand and monstrous behemoths of buildings. I was in awe at the sheer size of the location I was moving through, and all that time the music was pounding at a heart racing rate. The eptimone of intense, right there.

But then Midgar itself, the slums and sections... christ on a bike. I think what I loved most about Midgar was the railways that ran from the slum, along the inner city and around the higher plates. The journey to the second Reactor, where you're detected on the train, is up there with the attack on the first Reactor as a freightning and harrowing expierence. And scaling the pillar as the members of Avalance lay wounded at each stairway really seriously encourged you to fight with no mercy at the spew of enemies that ascended down towards you. For such simple models, the characters in FF7 were something special.

The Legend of Zelda - Majoras Mask - OoT was amazing, natch, but underrated as it may be, I adored every second of MM. The best part of the game for me was how deep the side-quests were with the chracters in the game. Clock Town just had so much to do in it. Everyone, no matter how important to the game, had so much personality and importance to their own matter. But aside from all that, the locations were just mind blowing. A favourite was Icana Canyon (I think it was called that?). The fact that it was a dry, desolate and quiet mountain location was so atmospheric, and amongst it the bright and somewhat out of place Music Box. And then the scaling of the rock tower to get to the temple was, to be blunt, an epic climb. I'll never forget that location.

I'll write some more later, as I'm tired now, but I've got plenty more.

[Jintor]

What makes those games better than all the other rythm games anyway?

Sense of humour. Plus, you know, DS.

I can't enjoy myself staring at a screen full of arrows, but with dancing cheerleaders/secret agents? w00t.

[ríomhaire]

Dungeon Keeper: Possising high level Warlocks/Wizards/Vampires/Avatar.

[Max_Payne]

Well im not sure if guys ever heard of this game..

But ever since i was four i was fascinated by the story of the titanic.. and everything that went with it.

Back in 97, their was a game called... Titanic: Challange of Discovery. This game blew me away... not only cold you control the infamous deep sea sub Alvin... but you could explore some of the most historic wrecks of our time. The remains of the isis.. the massive german destroyer bismarck.. then you went onto the titanic!

I have never played a game with such excitement! You controlled every aspect of the expiditions... and the graphics were intense.

PEACE

Mikey:laugh:

[Vigilante]

The opening scenes of Freedom Fighters...they were awe inspiring.

[AHA-Lambda]

1) The first time I played a video game - sonic the hedgehog 2. It was then that I fell in love with video games.

2) The first time play a PS1 - my introduction to the realm of 3d.

3) The opening to FFVIII - the only time ever an opening to a game has convinced me to buy the game. It was my first FF game and my favourite FF game and one of my favourite games of all time *holds up flameshield against FF7 fanboys*

4) The first time I played HL1 - my introduction to PC gaming and to the HL series nuff said :P

[Ren.182]

Shenmue
I was SO hyped for this game before its release on the Dreamcast. Loved every bit of it! The realism, the people, the story, the environments, the fighting, the QTE events (think the interactive cut scenes in RE4 when you push button) and just everything about it. Easily in my top 5 best games ever, if not at number 1.

Shenmue 2
Again, mega hype!
This time it was in Hong Kong, whole new environment which was much bigger than the first game. Continued the story, epic fights. Beautiful scenary and wind down the last part of the game.

Castlevania 64
You'll probably think this is a really random addition, but I had so much fun with this game. I used to play it with a friend mostly, and most of the time we were screaming running away from monsters in the game. It was awesome! :D

More to come..

[Shift]

Shenmue 2
Again, mega hype!
This time it was in Hong Kong, whole new environment which was much bigger than the first game. Continued the story, epic fights. Beautiful scenary and wind down the last part of the game.

Did you ever play that final disc, which mainly consists of you finding some girl, following her down this endless path for 1 hour, then finding cave, only for something random to happen before ending?

They should have ended it with that last fight with the big bloke on top of the skyscraper (loved the progression up that skyscraper).

[Warbie]

The first 2 chapters of HL2 deserve a mention. Simply awesome. The intial train ride in HL and virtually every thing else after that (before Xen of course ;)) was also staggering.

A few other stand out moments for me - 10 person Wii Bowling tournament, completing Secret of Mana from start to finish in 3 player co-op over a single weekend, not thinking Nintendo could best smb3 and then playing smw.

[nokori3byo]

A big one for me was first crossing over to Staunton Island in GTA 3. I knew very little about the game and hadn't seen the map. Then, when I saw that there was more too it than Portland Island (which, back then, seemed huge) it kind of blew my mind. Then, jacking a Yakuza Stinger nad peeling away...well, that was about the time I decided it was the best game I'd ever played up to that point in my life.

The raid on the Nova Prospekt exterior in Sand Traps had roughly the same effect.

*edited for spelling

[Ren.182]

Did you ever play that final disc, which mainly consists of you finding some girl, following her down this endless path for 1 hour, then finding cave, only for something random to happen before ending?

They should have ended it with that last fight with the big bloke on top of the skyscraper (loved the progression up that skyscraper).

Yeah I played it. I kinda enjoyed it, finally got to learn who that girl was after seeing her through the two games. I just love Shenmue :P

[Shift]

lol yeah, they REALLY need to release a third and final Shenmue, since the story was left unfinished as the Dreamcast went bust.

[Ren.182]

lol yeah, they REALLY need to release a third and final Shenmue, since the story was left unfinished as the Dreamcast went bust.

I know, but it doubt it will happen to be honest :( As much as I want it to happen.

I think they've also cancelled Shenmue Online, so the future is looking pretty bad for Shenmue!

Conkers: Bad Fur Day
I LOVE this game. So much awesome in one game. I was laughing all the way through it.

[BHC]

1) The first time I played a video game - sonic the hedgehog 2. It was then that I fell in love with video games.

2) The first time play a PS1 - my introduction to the realm of 3d.

3) The opening to FFVIII - the only time ever an opening to a game has convinced me to buy the game. It was my first FF game and my favourite FF game and one of my favourite games of all time *holds up flameshield against FF7 fanboys*

4) The first time I played HL1 - my introduction to PC gaming and to the HL series nuff said :P

FFVIII is my all time favorite too, by far, I love it in every way. And yes it has an amazing intro!

[Narcolepsy]

Great responses so far. A lot of your greatest memories are mine too.

It's funny how so many greatest moments are just experiencing a massively hyped game for the first time. I can remember...

the first three chapters of half-life 2 (still the most magnificent achievement in gaming, in my opinion)

nervously trying wii tennis for the first time, and being blown away that it actually worked

the heavenly music on spiral mountain in banjo-kazooie

starting up warcraft 3 (the menu was a sight to behold)

super smash brothers melee being everything I wanted and more

exiting the sewers in Oblivion (it was a glorious sunset)


And then there were the computer upgrades that cast my favorite games in a new light...

seeing black and white as it was meant to be seen (at more than 5 fps)


And here are a few more random ones...

downloading the much hyped UT2003 demo expecting a mindless gorefest, and being blown away by the great gameplay

seeing the future in Chrono Trigger

seeing Zeal in Chrono Trigger

everything in Chrono Trigger

the fate of Aeris in FF7


yeah, I'm not feeling the punctuation today



EDIT: Good lord, what a long post.

[CyberPitz]

Final Fantasy/ - Spending all the hours playing and leveling up, to finally beat the last boss with one character left at 10 HP...so satisfying. I liter rally jumped up and down, ran outside, screamed, etc. Great feeling having beat that game finally.

Chrono Trigger - My mother rented it for me when it was first released. I always got to the part of you fighting Yakra for the first time. I remember waking up in the morning to play, and I was almost done with him, and I was about late...had to get on the bus...I finally beat him, didn't bother saving, just ran outside to the bus. It was such a great day.

Duke Nukem 3D - Playing this when I was still in Middle School, I would enjoy the slick one liners, the boobs, and of course, the blood everywhere. I would always ask to play this game when I visited my fathers house. Great fun....multiplayer on the one map where it had the middle of the map a spinning disk, and the outside/inside had lots of weapons on it.

Final Fantasy 7 - At the time, those were the most realistic characters I had ever seen in an FMV. It actually made me feel some sort of personal attachment to them. It is one of the reasons I got so hooked on that game, and so emotionally involved. When Aeris died, I was upset. I WAS ACTUALLY UPSET! I remember throwing my strategy guide at the wall when it happened..*Of course, I wish I hadn't done that now, those books sell for 100 bucks....*

Half-Life - The first time I saw commercials for this game, I thought it was just some hack job shitty FPS that would just try to make some cheap money. I remember looking at my dad and saying, "Oh boy, ANOTHER one...". But one morning, I woke up and saw him playing Half-Life multiplayer *back in the day when getting fake CD keys still worked!* and he was playing Bootcamp on our 56K. He turned a corner, and got some guy in the head with the crossbow. At that moment, that game was perfect to me, and I wanted it. So we went out and bought it, and it was the best purchase I've ever had.

Heretic - Playing this game was intense. Having the wide range of weaponry and magic spells/items to use made the game replayable over and over. Probably the best part of the game for me was when I got the Crossbow, and used the magic book to increase the powers of the weapon, and seeing it shoot so many bolts out, and how bad it killed the enemies...was just mind boggling to my child brain.

Rise Of The Triad - When I first played this game, I was just AMAZED at the names of the people *Specifically Ian Paul Freely*. Then when I find out the models in the game were essentially people of the staff...just was amazing. At the time in video games, that was unheard of!

StarCraft - Playing this game, hearing the voices of the units, getting tangled up in the story line...was great. Hearing the emotion in Jim Raynors voice when Kerrigan got over run by the Zerg...it put the last nail in the coffin for me. I knew this game was perfect. Then playing the multiplayer was just great. Perfect balance was great.

Half-Life 2 - Coming from the award winning game, to this...I already had my hopes way high, and I KNEW it was going to be a great game...regardless of the delays. When getting on that train, and hearing the sadness in the other passengers voice...that just glued me in. Then going through, and seeing what the Combine have done to the poor planet...just got me even MORE immersed.

Battlefield 2 - Charging flag after flag with the HL2.netters and just all in all kicking ass...great feeling. Having a team there that is there FOR the team, not for the frags...never had that feeling in a game before OR after that.

I think I should stop now, before I keep going :O

[Kahonee]

E-B-A! E-B-A! E-B-A! E-B-A! YEAH! (Duh duh... duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duhduh)

Or Ou-en-dan! Ou-en-dan! Ou-en-dan! GO!)

Props if you know what I'm talkin' bout.

Oh, hell YES!!! Those games are still the best of the BEST!!!

Other than THOSE :cool: :

Gears of War - The awesomeness of the graphics and the gameplay along with the fights (and the dialogue - "Hell yeah man, it's a f**kin' party down here!") just fits perfectly together.

God of War I and II- Wow. Wow. Ok, how can anyone say that this game wasn't one of the greatest ever!?!? When I played the first I was completely spoiler free (like EBA) and I was just wowed. Big time. As for the second one, I had spoilers, but it was still better than the first. I know that Chains of Olympus will be the single-best game for the PSP. EVER.

F.E.A.R. - Like GoW I, I was completely free of spoilers and it was one hell of a ride! Great fusion of gameplay, graphics, and (music). lol.

Metroid Prime - When I first saw my friend play this game over at his house I was just amazed: The game had beautiful graphics, great vastness in its areas, and the combat was top-notch.

Metal Slug 3 - Also another I played at my friend's house, except this time he let me play! In one sitting (which is the game's only fault) we got to the end mission. This level is as hard as $*&#*%&#*$$&% and only I made it through! What an amazing day that was!!!

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysey - I remember one day many years ago, my dad came home late from work and I was asleep. He was late because he was given a copy of Abe's Oddysey and this air simulator game for free (he worked in Sony). Anyways, this game was hard (I was but a tot back then) but I remember it being so good though. I re-bought it later though and I still enjoy it a lot.

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath - This game was awe-inspiring, it had it all. What was most shocking was when

SPOILERS







Stranger was found out to be actually a Steef!






END SPOILERS



I think that is it for now...

[TheAntipop]

Yeah, Gears of War is another for me. Mindless and 2D as it may be in characters and story, I think that's what I loved about it most: how gung-ho and over the top it was. Kind of like watching Starship Troopers without caring for the military satire and shit. I just... gah, the first 3 levels were just really something. The locations, the gore, the action, the characters and their dialogue, again the locations and the environment... man, I'm so playing it tonight.

[nokori3byo]

I remember first laying my hands on the BFG during the "Tricks and Traps" level of Doom 2 (the first FPS I played). Not many video gaming moments have stuck in my head like that.