Great Moments in Gaming

Greg

I'm sure any gamer has had a point in their history of button-pushing where they were simply astounded by something in a game be it plot, graphics, gameplay or whatever. Here's a thread for a collection of memories that took gamers' breath away!

I don't mean something you thought was really cool, because those moments are a dime a dozen. I mean those moments where you really feel, "Wow, all of gaming has led up to this moment."

I'll start with one.

Resident Evil 2 overall. You either hate or love the series but few fonder memories linger as clearly as RE2. At the time the CG cut-scenes were drop-dead jaw-dropping, the textures were amazing on the PS, the storyline was really interesting (and has unfortunately gone down the toilet since) the two-sided story was an AWESOME concept that I have yet to see implemented again successfully and the monsters. Who can forget the one-shot kill croc, the first encounter with 'Baby' or Birkin's seemingly endless and badass forms not to mention the amazing encounters with 'Mr. X'.

I think RE2 is most impressive because all of that came on the heels of RE1 which in comparison offered so very little. It was like jumping from NES Mario Bros to Mario 64. A truly amazing sequel that has only been justifiably met with competition from the recent 4. An amazing experience all-around and one of the best sequels I can think of.

igalsfy

i can't find a way to disagree with you. re2 was kickass. a lot of people said it was short and easy, but hell, that was sooo fun! i never got tired of it.

at the end, i was able able to finish the game in 1h30 completely drunk without even being touched by any zombie XD

i even finished the hunk and tofu missions. did you?

damn i only finished the tofu mission once, that was a tough one.

Ms. Suave Debonair

Playing Silent Hill with my mates and just going "What the FUCK?!" the whole way through.

I have great memories about quite a few Resident Evil game. Going round my friend's house every day after school to play RE 1. Asking my Grandma if she could buy me RE3 because I was farid to do it myself (really I was too young at the time to buy it) then for about a month being too scared to go through this one door because I knew the Nemesis was waiting for me.
Also, playing RE:0 nearly non-stop over the course of two days with two of my friends.

I also remember the first time I played an N64 and becoming a nintendo fanboy over night.

Anime Master

All your bases are belonging to us.

igalsfy

RE3: bought it, played it, finished it 3 hours later, sold it. man that was boring…

my best moment in gaming will always be secret of mana. god, playing that game with my brother was awesome!

followed by ff7. the game i've spent the most hours on. i'd say 4 or 500 but i can't determine it, as the timer is blocked at 99H59 since so many years ago.

Battle Franky

Secret Garden climb in Shadow of the Colossus.

igalsfy

@Battle:

Secret Garden climb in Shadow of the Colossus.

i know SotC will be awesome but it'll be out at spring in europe…

ahhhh and we aren't even sure if DQ8 will be published in europe... maybe i'll hack my ps2 and start dling games, after all...

Battle Franky

@igalsfy:

ahhhh and we aren't even sure if DQ8 will be published in europe… maybe i'll hack my ps2 and start dling games, after all...

Damn! Square gave trash like Unlimited Saga the royal treament in PAL land. Yet, they're unsure of releasing DQ8!?

COR BLIMEY! >=(

Local-chan

The Luca Blight fight in Suikoden 2

The Zelda games all have awesome moments, (except the CD-I ones)

Smash Bros is itself a marvel of genious.

The Mistress' screams in Dungeon Keeper is hot, thus its pwnsome.

Getting to explore Princess Peach's castle in Mario 64 was cool.

PoPoLoCrois has many pwnsome moments.

All of Disgaea, nuff said.

Mr. All Sunday

Whne I first got Metroid Prime as a CHristmas present along with my Gamecube…Chozo Ghosts. Chozo Ghosts scared the bejesus out of me. Those things are freaky. Another greatest moment for me was when I first played Ocarina of Time, it got me hooked on gaming and is still my favorite game.

normyk

When everything started hitting the fan in Half Life. That game had a lot of great moments like that. Great use of scripting in a shooter.

In Doom there is a spot where there is a keycard and when you grab it the lights go out and a wall opens up and a mess of imps start attacking you. Playing this in the dark surrounded by friends was cool as hell. We had never seen anything like it before and it remains one of the high points of gaming for me. And the Cyberdemon. That was just one of those OMG moments.

All of Sam & Max Hit the Road. Genius.

Local-chan

@Mr.:

Whne I first got Metroid Prime as a CHristmas present along with my Gamecube…Chozo Ghosts. Chozo Ghosts scared the bejesus out of me. Those things are freaky. Another greatest moment for me was when I first played Ocarina of Time, it got me hooked on gaming and is still my favorite game.

Metroid Prime was pretty scary I admit, more scary than most of the Resident Evil games, I think it was because you don't expect it to be very scary lol

Mr. All Sunday

Yeup. Things falling off the ceiling…like Shadow Pirates. And then there were the hanging corpses from Echoes, that was pretty strange.

Local-chan

@Battle:

Damn! Square gave trash like Unlimited Saga the royal treament in PAL land. Yet, they're unsure of releasing DQ8!?

COR BLIMEY! >=(

Unlimited Saga was pretty good, if you give it a chance, little to no replayability tho lol

Greg

The Luca Blight fight in Suikoden 2

That was pretty good!! I got my ass kicked.

But for me a truly great RPG moment would be Legend of Legaia. The moves, upgrading attacks, changing armors and of course the morphing things (whatever they were) was amazing to me. Sure FF7 had changing weapons, but in Legaia, EVERYTHING changed. That was amazing to me.

Of and of course there were the bosses. I dunno if I just sucked at RPG's back then but if memory serves me right, I have yet to play a game with such difficult and challenging boss encounters.

Local-chan

yea! I remember Legend of Legia, that was awesome, though I remember playing through it pretty quickly.

The second one was very good though

Captain Kuro

Well, back when I got my Saturn (I didn't get a Playstation until much later) I was amazed at Guardian Heroes. There were so many characters on the screen and the action was intense.

Sandai Mera

Getting my first SNES which was bundled with Super Mario World & getting Sonic The Hedgehog 2 for christmas.

captain sogeking

playing legend of zelda:majora's mask for the first time but I never beat it sadly

dragon quest 8 and RE4 and RE2 were great 3 was good but 2 is what got me into the survival and horror genre and led me to playing Metal gear solid 2 and 3

Ms. Suave Debonair

I also remember the first time I stepped out into Hyrule field in
Legend of Zelda : OOT
man, that was a great moment for me.

Cap'n Carter

Luca Blight was especially memeorable as it took three 6 man teams to take him down. I got my ass kicked a lot, but… damn, that was cool.

Hmmm... let me think...

When I first played Super Mario RPG, it was the first RPG I ever played. Somehow, I fell in love with the gameplay and it let me to a new dimension of gaming.

Chrono Trigger amazed me when I first played it a few years ago.

Katamari Damacy was great because it gave a fun new twist to gaming. I still play it.

And lately.. Dragon Quest VIII. Not only are the graphics amazing, but it's great to see the classic RPG gameplay in all its glory, in an age where retarded RPG companies try to change as much as possible. I think it's funny how they packaged a sample of crappy new age RPG innovation with DQ8.

Zio

Let's see here…

-Legend of Legaia. What a great idea to have the battles in the game involve using combos ala Saban from FF6 or your everyday fighting game. That was a good RPG. I wish I could find the game.

-Phantasy Star IV. This was the game that made me get really into video games. The first game was ahead of it's time. But IV was outstanding. Good story, decent graphics, vehicles, the use of Macros to save time, and you could combine up to 4 party members's skills or magic spells to create combo attacks. This was a year before Chrono Trigger came out.

-Katamari Damacy. It's something new, fresh and oh-so replayable. We love the Katamari.

RE2: 'Nuff said.

Call of Cthulhu:Dark Corners of the Earth: No HUD whatsever, healing wounds takes a few seconds and your injuries will kill you if you don't treat them aside from a broken leg slowing you down or you can't aim with a gash above the eye. You don't even get a gun until 30% of the game.

Ubiq

Here's a few:

NES
Super Mario 3- flying for the first time, the first airship, and Bowser's tank brigade.
Friday The 13th- does being astounded by how truly awful a game is count?

Sega Master System
Double Dragons- finding that trick where you could skip pretty much the entire stage by climbing up the canyon wall. Especially amusing in two player mode.
Shinobi- using Eight Hands Magic for the first time.

SNES
A Link to The Past- the storm early in the game.
Final Fantasy III/VI- the opera

taboo

One would have to be the ending fight of Super Metroid. The metroid dies and the last few seconds of the fight is Samus just blasting the living crap out of the Mother Brain.

Mario RPG was also a good game overall.

Sandai Mera

Okay here's a few more

Viewtiful Joe

Hearing Joe say "Henshin to the Go Go Baby" For the first time
Playing As Dante
Fighting Another Joe

Devil May Cry 3

Hearing Vergil's voice for the first time

Prince Of Persia Warrior Within

Getting chased by Dahaka for the first time

Prince Of Persia The Two Thrones

Playing as the Dark Prince

Madden 2005

Finishing a season with no losses (even with using easy play & penalties turned off this wasn't easy)

DragonQuest VIII

Finally beating the living crap out of Dhoulmagus
Finally beating the B,A, & S ranks in the Monster Arena
Finding Out the Hero's origin
Getting the Godbird's Soulstone (I just could not put the controller down)
Prince Charmles finally being put in his place by his father

Sonic & Knuckles

Beating the game with Knuckles
Finding out years later that there were extra stages if you continued to play the game with Sonic & Collected all emeralds

Wrestlemania 2000

Owning all my ex-friends in Royal Rumble like 3 or 4 times

NBA Street Vol 2

Maxing & Tricking out my created player & dominating every person I played against.

Final Fantasy X2

Owning that cheap bastard Trema & The Paragon

Greg

Plugging in Final Fight on my sparkling new SNES on Christmas morning should have been declared an illegal act given my young and tender age at the time. Playing something at home that actually looked close to what it was at the arcade was amazing. That's not to say Super Mario World wasn't remarkable because it was, but actually feeling the arcade experience at home (something which Genesis simply had shown no signs of at the time) was amazing.

Captain Kuro

Some more for me:

Snatcher for Sega CD.

Lots of parts in FFVI/III for SNES.

Playing Gunstar Heroes on my Sega Nomad and trying to beat the last boss with low batteries.

Greg

Also, even more than the Opera Scene, I think the MUSIC alone in FF6 brought me to a new level of videogame appreciation.

I'm always the one to say, "We shouldn't say something is impossible." However, I dare say it would be impossible for any game….ever.....to top 6's soundtrack. How can there ever be another game where EVERY track is perfection, not to mention the main theme, arguably the most beautiful meoldy in any game ever made. 6's sound was perfection and it makes me cringe listening to the latest offerings which seem more inspired by sales than coming from the heart.

Solar Knight

Let's see…

The beginning area of Metroid Prime. Sure it was lame to lose most of the equipment, but it was just so different from other thing's I had played before.

Picking up after a 2+ year hiatus of Breath of Fire III (I had borrowed it from a friend that I don't talk to anymore, and I spent such a long time trying to find it).

The purification sequence for Black Dainn in Boktai 2. It was pretty cloudy too (for those who don't know, boktai requires sunlight during parts of the game, this being one of them. the purification sequence is when I drag the boss of a dungeon to an area called the Pile Driver. over time during the sequence, the boss' HP depletes, and it goes faster with stronger sunlight hitting the sensor. the boss still tries to fight so they can escape, which some can be quite tricky). The exact moment Dainn's HP goes to zero, the sun starts shining brightly. I got a kick out of that.

As for the first Boktai, I fought against the final boss, Hel (the purification sequence was much trickier that time though, since she doesn't lose HP over time, I just use it for a strong attack with another character that I won't reveal… you have to destroy her hands before you can get a hit though). That time it was during sunset, and I actually started to head over towhere the sun was brighter, but it was at one bar (the lowest one can get with the sunlight). It was a pain, but I managed to beat her.

Carly

Chrono Trigger. Specifically, pretty much the entire Zeal arrival/disaster.

I know by today's standards and graphics that's probably a pretty cheesy thing to pick, but as someone who DID grow up on the NES/SNES… that was just breathtaking to see. There hadn't been anyplace like that in a video game before, the music was totally breathtaking and to me, Crono's death shocked me a hell of a lot more than Aeris' a year later (mostly 'cause I wanted her to die anyway, but… :laugh:) and it was just ooooh man. Nothing is ever gonna top that in gaming for me.

Except maybe winning the all-northwest Samurai Shodown league, but that's not technically in the game. XD

Greg

Yeah, if there was ever a 'scene' that took my breath away on SNES, it was the courtroom of CT. faints

Cap'n Carter

I was pretty surprised Crono died too. I think that's the first time I've seen a main character killed off in a game (well, technically second. My babysitter played his PSX over at my house so I saw Rudy die in Wild Arms).

One CT scene that I just LOVED was when you reached Magus in his castle. The blue flames igniting as you walked in, the creepy, yet high paced and "you're life is in danger so you better start kicking ass" music. Man, that was an awesome fight. I also liked the courtroom and Frog cleaving the mountain in two. And Robo getting beat up by those other robots… damn, CT was a great game. And let's not forget the greatest moment of the game ever: Ozzie's Fort.

Captain Kuro

For me, I like the graphics in games like Final Fantasy VI/III and Chrono Trigger a lot more than recent games. I'm not saying they have better graphics, just that they have always been more appealing to me. I have just always loved the detailed little sprites.

As far as game storylines go…so far, Snatcher (Sega CD) is still my favorite. The game had a great Blade Runner atmosphere - and I was actually kind of scared a few times. The english voice-acting was excellent too.

normyk

@Zio:

Call of Cthulhu:Dark Corners of the Earth: No HUD whatsever, healing wounds takes a few seconds and your injuries will kill you if you don't treat them aside from a broken leg slowing you down or you can't aim with a gash above the eye. You don't even get a gun until 30% of the game.

I have a feeling that when I finally break down and play the game (old Cthulhu mythos fan so I'm afraid it's going to disappoint) I'm going to find a lot of those amazing gaming moments, especially in the insanity effects.

Zio

@normyk:

I have a feeling that when I finally break down and play the game (old Cthulhu mythos fan so I'm afraid it's going to disappoint) I'm going to find a lot of those amazing gaming moments, especially in the insanity effects.

Let me put it this way, the third level is a great take on "A Shadow over Innsmouth" and while I haven't seen any real memorable sanity effects, Jack's vision has blurred when he sees freaky stuff, and if I keep seeing more freaky things, his heartbeat will quicken (which is replicated in the vibration of the controller) and his teeth start chattering. I haven't seen it myself, but if he loses so much sanity, he will kill himself with his bare hands or with his weapon.

It's like 40 bucks and can be played on the Xbox 360. Not a bad deal.

Nurlock

Silent Hill 2: The only Silent Hill I have ever played due to a friend pointing it out. Pyramid Head is one of my favorite things ever to exist in a video game. Especially those early scenes when you first come across him.. those are deeply engraved in my brain, even if I can't remember much else.

Ninja Gaiden (NES): Playing this with my friend late into the night is one of my fondest memories. We ended up with names for each type of enemy which were completely irrelevant (like Steve for the helmeted guys with bats and Kevin for the jet-pack-hang-glidin' ninjas), but made the game so much more entertaining when you die for the third time at the hands of a faster-than-normal Kevin.

Final Fantasy IV: Cecil becoming a Paladin. That's all I need to say about it.

Earthbound: My favorite RPG, the entire game is a great moment to me. Once again, I don't have much more to say about it.

Metal Gear Solid 2: The moment of craziness near the end with the Colonel saying those "Turn off the game now, Raiden" lines and all of the general freaky shit going down.

Hobo-Ou

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne- The entire game was monumental and great, but some of the greater moments were defeating Kagutsuchi and Lucifer.

Shin Megami Tensei 2- Confronting YVWH at Eden.

Valkyrie Profile- Watching Loki kill Lucian, and then destroy Asgard. But later kick his ass and reclaim the throne.

Tales of Eternia- Defeating that bastard god of destruction Nereid Shizel.

Buuhan1

'

I was 10 when I rented and played this game and it just blew my mind, I was addictied to it so much and it was so fun. I haven't played it sense but I still say its probably funnier then the newer games.

Also Spiderman 2 the game, the web swinging and being able to go everywhere was just so damned intense for me, I loved it. But sadly the game got boring fast.

Kingdom Hearts was just a fun ass game, but I don't see it as a "Great Moments in Gaming" game.

But I still have to go with Megaman Legends. I haven't played it for 5 years and I still remember it as if I played it today, nuff said. Damn…I wanna play it now, bet my old psone memory card is gone anyways.

DarkShinobi

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, after I went out of the Temple of Time (after Link became an adult) and saw all the changes Hyrule had gone through the past 7 years. Death Mountain's fiery cloud and all the Redeads in the castle town were the things that amazed me the most at the time.

When I finally beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (after 6 years of trying), the little sequence at the end with Tails seeing the Death Egg explode and catching Sonic in the Tornado made it all worth it for me.

The Dude

Earthbound/Mother 2 - My favorite game of all time. Every moment I had playing this game for the first time was a joy and a surprise.

Final Fantasy III/VI - I was blown away by everything. Especially the fact that everybody had their own story! One of the biggest moments for me was Gerneral Leo's death, and when Kefka pushes Getahl off of the FLoating Continent.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - I'll never forget the moment where we first see Ganondorf on his horse, looking menacing. Years later I go back and play it though, and it doesn't really look that menacing.

Shadow of the Colossus - This game really took my breath away. Especially the mere thought that the ps2 could handle the graphics. Epic is a good word for it.

ooshi78

metroid: samus is a girl!

dragon quest 5: papas dies…

ooshi78

Daz

Don't laugh: Managing to jump the first stinkin' Goompa in SM1 for the GB. Aside from tetris, it was my first ever game. And I kept dying on that first damn enemy…

Rayman was the game that got me interested in a psx, and Making progress through that game filled me with pride and joy, as well as finding all those damn cages. It just has a special feel...

Crash Bandicoot: The first game I actually got for my psx, and the first ever 3d game I tried. Also the first ever game I finished; Beating Cortex out of the sky had me staring panting and dumbfounded at the screen. What to do now?

Klonoa: The first game with a "serious" storyline that I came across. I confess: I cried at the end.

Hearing Specters voice in Ape Escape.

Winning your first battle in Tekken!!!!...And working your ass off in order to win your second. Oh, and, in time, performing cheap wins with Devil on friends.

Aaaand....FF VII. The first ever RPG I played, meaning Basically any scene in the game invokes nostalgia. I simply can't blow up the first reactor, without squealing with delight.
FFIV Is especially memorable to me, since it was the first "old" FF I played.
FF IX is propably my favourite in the series though, and the Airship chase still takes my breath away...
I'll just keep it down here, as this series has too many memorable moments for me to list.

Meeting Pecker in Jak II, and every scene with Nefarious in Ratchet 3.

Beating the Hydra in God of War.

Watching the ZOE 2 intro.

Greg

Beating the Hydra in God of War.

I'll second that. What an amazing battle that was. Granted compared to the later difficulty in the game it isn't much, but going back and playing that again and again is just remarkable.

Here's another, playing FF7 after its release and after many long hours of play, hearing the booming of One-Winged Angel as Sephiroth approached. EGM wrote in their review how remarkable the end boss music was and boy were they right. Square (or SE) has yet to replicate such a sound and overall feeling of awe and dread in a last boss battle since.

rice-a-roni

My favorite moment was in God Of War when your in that temple place trying to get pandoras box, and you found out about Kratos's past. I dont think Ive ever been so touched by a video game. And that was the only time Ive ever cried because of a video game story.

daRk26

@Nurlock:

Metal Gear Solid 2: The moment of craziness near the end with the Colonel saying those "Turn off the game now, Raiden" lines and all of the general freaky shit going down.

LOL! I remember this one! That was crazy. I actually turned off the console, that was stupid, lol, and a girl kept appearing at the right hand corner of the screen. Not to mention Raiden was naked. XD

Also in MGS3, during one "boss battle" Snake was supposed to die and the player has to revive him with a pill, I did not know how to do it, so I was like WTF the whole time and kept restarting the whole thing.

Ms. Suave Debonair

@daRk26:

Also in MGS3, during one "boss battle" Snake was supposed to die and the player has to revive him with a pill, I did not know how to do it, so I was like WTF the whole time and kept restarting the whole thing.

That scared the hell out of me, especially when that soldier runs towards you, luckily i wasn't alone at the time. :laugh:

daRk26

@Bad-Beat:

That scared the hell out of me, especially when that soldier runs towards you, luckily i wasn't alone at the time. :laugh:

It scared me too XD What made it worse was that I killed so many of them, so it took so fricking long.

Oh yah another great moment for me was the battle with the Sniper guy. It took me an hour (Easy level ) but I don't care cause it was awesome.

Lee

Phantasy Star IV : the death of Alys (I found this scene sadder than the death of Aeris in FF7) and the battle against Zio.

Seiken Densetsu 2 : the battle against Demo Mana

Chrono Trigger : the battle against Magus, the death of Crono and the final fight against Lavos.

Xenogears : all the game

Chrono Cross : all the game too ^^ (but especially the first meeting with Lynx and all the events in Chronopolis and Terra Tower).

Tales of Symphonia : when we understand that Mithos is in fact Yggdrasill.

Local-chan

wait, there were people who were actually suprised about Mithos being Yggdrasil? I thought it was a bit obvious what with them looking the same and all.

igalsfy

great moments in gaming (imo):

-FF7, end of disc 1, sephiroth kills aerith. i felt like: "wtf? she's the pretty main female character! but she really bothers me and i prefer tifa bwahahahaha!"

-sonic & knuckles bonus stage, with super sonic flying in space. kickass level (as the whole game), kickass music, kickass action.

-FF7, finally having a golden chocobo: "HOLY SHIT I SPENT 3 DAYS FEEDING THESE DAMN BLACK CHOCOBOS I'M SO HAPPY IT FINALLY ENDED!!!"

-MGS3: the motocycle pursuit. damn, that was an amazing packed-action moment.

-Resident Evil: when you finally get the magnum: "come, hunters, i'll kick your asses!!!"

-Tomb Raider 2 (really personal feeling): after spending 2 weeks running in circles in that damn boat at the bottom of the see and discovering you can close the doors behind you. "holy shit, i suck!" feeling.