Support NeoGAF

[AniHawk]

1. Ocarina of Time. Damn near all of it. From holding the box in my hands to seeing the title screen until I finally beat it two weeks later. The coolest moment, and I remember my joy clearly, was the first time Link got a sword, and the animation of opening a chest. It was amazing. I didn't finish my homework that night. I got a D for it (pre-Algebra in 7th grade).

2. The ending to The Wind Waker. Beautiful. Caught me completely offguard too.

3. The ending to Metal Gear Solid 3.

4. The birth of the Tree-Chopping Mafia.

5. The ending to Link's Awakening. It was my very first Zelda game, and it really felt like a huge quest was coming to an end. I had played it for over a year on and off again before I beat it.

6. Buying an NES + SMB + SMB3 in 1997. The very first time I was able to play those games in my house.

7. Watching Super Mario 64 in the store for the first time. I had only seen Donkey Kong Country up until that point (as far as "3D" games went), and it blew me away. I had a hard time controlling the in-store demo.

8. The plot twist in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

9. Playing sports games with my dad.

10. Getting to rent GoldenEye 007 for a day before I had to leave it to go to my grandparents for the weekend. When I came back, it was about 10 minutes before I had to return it. My dad surprised me with buying the game while we were away plus Banjo-Kazooie on a whim. My mom bought my sister two rumble paks. It was the strangest thing, because neither one know much about games.

 

[speedpop]

Fuck.. where do I begin?

1. Playing Breath of Fire II when I was 12 or 13 till 2am on a Friday night. That was a huge deal for me back then I think.

2. Beating the end boss for BoFII on sub-40 levels for all my characters. My highest was 39 with Ryu and I didn't even have Bleu. Took me 3 goes but I did it.

4. Playing every RPG I could find for a PAL SNES. Secret of Mana 2-player was one of the best experiences of my life.

5. Getting a N64 and blasting my way through Super Mario 64. One of the biggest highlights was finally getting that 120th star, knowing already I would get to meet a shitty Yoshi intro/goodbye in 2 mins but the knowledge of fully completing of the game meant everything.

6. Someone said it before, but I'll say it again.. the complete Opening/Bombing Reactor intro to FFVII. Had been waiting YEARS for it and finally was able to touch it.

7. Too many certain moments from Final Fantasy games. As much backlash as they get for their cumbersome ways from certain gamers, there is no denying that there are moments of pure joy in their games that make them one of the better RPG series out there atm.

8. The very latest is the entire 1-2 hour ending sequences to MGS3. It dedicated a place in my heart that says "Kojima is the best".

 

[nitewulf]

space harrier:
the whole game.

sonic:
the loop de loops. wow.

hang-on:
the night city stage.

out of this world:
the intro.

prince of persia:
the animation.

phantasy star 4:
when three heroes combined their techniques to unleash "triforce", just randomly. turns out different combinations of sequenced spells combine for huge power spells. i didnt know that.

mortal kombat:
sub-zero's fatality. that was brutal stuff.

tomb raider:
the underground caves had me speechless.

metal gear solid:
snapping the neck of the first guard. yeah that was solid, cool shit.

ff7:
bahamut zero. to this day, i play FFs for the summons, and will continue to play them for that sole reason if for nothing else.

panzer dragoon saga:
azel's "rage". she says '"ne-rai" and her dragon unleashes a torrent of laser rays, perforating your dragon. painful.

skies of arcadia:
whole game. nasr, horteka, the dungeons, the music.

dmc:
whole game.

then this gen took a nosedive for me. aside from a few games, but nothing really wow-ed me. till ridge racer psp.

 

[Mobius_1]

Getting Xenogears. Traded my old Gameboy, some crappy games and Moto-GP PSX at trianglevideogames.com. Winter of 1998 (the biggest snow storm in Canada), I went down to my local post office to pick up the game. The entire thing was really memorable. I loved Xenogears, really awesome game.

Getting Metal Gear Solid: I was so hyped about this game, the day it came out I went to the local game rental store and rented MGS during my lunch break. Read the manual during the classes and when I got home I told my mom and sis to buzz off. I played the game from 7 PM - 4 AM that day and got to the Raven ice storage boss fight. I had to turn the game off at 4 cause my dad was getting mad and I couldn't save because I didn't have a memory card at the time.

Getting PSX and Final Fantasy VIII was also very memorable

 

[Duck of Death]

Fallout - I have two favorite moments from this game. The first was my very first rampage when I destroyed Shady Sands after acquiring a rifle. Seriously, just being able to destroy an entire town at the beginning experience levels was amazing. The second moment was the game's ending, which was fantastic.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - The forest temple is forever burned into my mind. What a beautiful area.

Planescape: Torment - The puzzle where the Namless One

Spoiler

must die 4 times

and the witty criticism of Morte of a philosopher in the Civic Festhall.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - One of my favorite games. The most memorable parts are probably the boss fight with The End and the last 3 hours.

Resident Evil 4 - Another favorite game. The minecart sequence was godly.

Pac-Man - GETTING THE FUCKING PRETZEL FOR THE FIRST TIME!! FUCK YEAH!!!

Super Mario Bros. - The first game I ever played, and I remember it all.

 

[Arwen]

1. Ocarina of Time. Damn near all of it. From holding the box in my hands to seeing the title screen until I finally beat it two weeks later. The coolest moment, and I remember my joy clearly, was the first time Link got a sword, and the animation of opening a chest. It was amazing. I didn't finish my homework that night. I got a D for it (pre-Algebra in 7th grade).

2. The ending to The Wind Waker. Beautiful. Caught me completely offguard too.

I totally agree--

I was ridiculously obsessed with OoT. My little brother and I used to have gaming competitions against each other to see who could finish the game the fastest, with the most items and secrets discovered, without using any sort of cheats or hints.

Well, the obsession got to me and I would sneak into the basement to play after my family had fallen asleep, but one night, my oldest brother came home late and totally caught me and banned me for three days from playing it.

But I still ended up beating my younger brother, so yes--victory had never been sweeter...especially since he had thouroughly shamed me by completely beating Mario 64 before me.

For some reason I couldn't get all of the stupid coins in Tick Tock Tower for the 100 coin star, and the one time I came close (I had 99 stupid coins) I had let the last coin I needed fall off an edge, (even though my brother told me to grab it) confident I would find another...I didn't and since that day I swore never to play that level again.

 

[gstaff]

Hmm, either making my grandma fall back out of her rocking chair went i jumped up after getting the original LoZ on my birthday or the adrenline of beating Contra III on my last guy not realizing the boss had an extra part of hard difficulty...what a rush.

 

[Wario64]

Rez - Area 4 boss

Phantasy Star Online - battling the Cave boss for the first time online, having the entire party struggle but worked together for a satisfying fight

Metal Gear Solid 3 - Escaping Groznyj Grad to the ending

Resident Evil 4 - The entire game

Sonic Adventure - First level

Metal Gear Solid - "Make me feel alive again!!"

Zone of the Enders 2 - Darkness fight, air battle, "Dynasty Warriors" battle

Super Mario 64 - Any of the Bowser stages

 

[lordmrw]

Hmm, either making my grandma fall back out of her rocking chair went i jumped up after getting the original LoZ on my birthday or the adrenline of beating Contra III on my last guy not realizing the boss had an extra part of hard difficulty...what a rush.

Just reading about it makes me want to play Contra 3 again. Its like Konami took an action movie and made it a videogame.

 

[The Faceless Master]

finding out what Fatal Steps did in River City Ransom

Silent Hill - Piano Puzzle

Facility - 00 Agent

PSO - Hitting Lv100 with my HUnewearl

 

[Gorgie]

When I finally figured out how to free Epona by jumping out of the ranch in OoT. Just a great moment.

Also, in Halo 2, when I figured out to jump onto the Scarab and take out the Covenant with my rocket launcher. Really, the game climaxed for me there. Too bad no more moments of that kick assedness came after.

 

[Truelize]

I love these types of threads. There always seems to be so many things that people say I wouldn't have thought about that make me feel all nostalgic.

My moments.:
#1. When the zombie dogs jumped through the windows in Resident Evil. That moment changed my entire view on gaming. It was the first time that a game could make me feel scared. Totally awesome. I still rank that as my number one moment in gaming cause it brought me back to gaming. I had taken a couple of years off after high school.

#2. Getting Shenmue for Christmas. I was so worried that it would be sold out and that my wife would forget to get me a copy. It was the first game of this current generation that I was super hyped for. And for me the game did not disappoint at all.

#3. Playing Halo for the first time. I had had my xbox for over a year and hadn't really cared for FPS ever before. But I kept reading that Halo was a good game so a buddy and I picked up a copy and booted it up for some co-op action. 15 hours later we turned it off and called it a night. Well, kinda. I showered and went to work. That was a super long day. All I could do was think about playing some more Halo.

#4. Playing Halo multiplayer for the first time. A friend invited me over for "Guys night Out". I had no clue what to expect and when I got there I was greeted to 3 projectors set up and one 61" tv. It was truly insane!! Smallest screen in the house was the 61" tv. I didn't grow up playing online games on the PC and was never a big fan of FPS and that first night not only made me love the FPS genre but I also fell in love with multiplayer gaming.

#5 Beating Wellie in Madden season 3 after losing very badly three games in a row. I didn't hadn't scored an offensive touchdown in 2 games. I believe he shut me out in one game too. But the hammer dropped and Truelize left with the first big win of his short Madden career.

 

[DJ Sl4m]

1. Walking out of the mens room in Silent hill 1 and realizing I was in a new dimension.

2. When Halo 1 unfolded with a 3rd race (the Flood) being thrown into the mix, I fell in love with the plot twist and the way the story was being told.

 

[djtiesto]

More Moments:

Entering the Dark World and turning into a rabbit cuz you didn't have the Moon Pearl (LTTP)

Area 4 boss, when all the blocks form a running man and the guitar in the song kicks in (Rez)

Aircraft Carrier (Sin and Punishment)

Seeing the Dice Maze for the first time and just picking up and chucking the dice for an hour (Gunstar Heroes)

Battle with Neifirst and Nei's death (Phantasy Star 2)

Seeing the Earthmen at the end (Phantasy Star 2)

Watching my friend's older brother beat all of Baya Malay, beat Lassic, and then go and destroy DarkFalz... Also watching the spaceship travel to different planets. (Phantasy Star 1)

Soylent Green is made of... people! (Xenogears)

Seeing Neo Bahamut for the first time on a PlayStation Underground demo I got when preordering it (FF7)

Mother Brain and the now fully grown Metroid you saved, coming back to help you out (Super Metroid)

Reaching Zeal for the first time (Chrono Trigger)

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Mine would be getting #196 in the world in Burnout 3 when only playing the game 5 days out of every 14. I probably would've been number one easily if I played every day.

 

[Loki]

Playing the original Legend of Zelda and Mario 64 for the first time. Amazing. Indescribable bliss.

 

[DDayton]

Two moments strike me... both fairly recent, though...

* Entering submerged, timeless Hyrule in LoZ:WW

* Eternal Darkness's shareware registration screen

I'm sure I have tons of classic gaming memories, but at the moment I can't recall them. Drat.

 

[TheDuce22]

The first time I played Ultima Online is another one. It was an amazing experience.

 

[Speevy]

1) First playing the toy stage in Little Nemo: The Dream Master

 

[Matt_09]

The first time i played Ocarnia of Time... This was the first Zelda game that I played and, probably the first game I really invested time in, and i loved every second. There are too many standout moments to mention so Ill just say the whole Ocarina experience.

Also:
- Half Life 2 - The entire game is just jaw-dropping.

- First Goldeneye64 multiplayer.
- Metroid (Cube) - i played it for about 2 mins and hated the controls, so i sent it back to my friend complaining like a bitch. Thankfully he made me play it for more than 2 mins and once i was used to the control system (not a fan of console FPS) i absolutley loved it.
- Playing Rogue Squadron 64 at the time I was really getting into Star Wars was pretty awsome.

Not really a huge gamer but I've had quite a few "whoa" neo moments.

 

[Tiktaalik]

So many people have brought up things I wanted to say. I think it's neat that alot of us have been impacted the same way by the same games.

The big one for me seems to be on everyone's list: Playing Mario64 for the first time. It was in a Toys R' Us. I remember they had a Saturn set up with Nights too, and I played both. Nights was really good, but next to Mario64... well it was no Mario64.

I would say that pretty much everytime I am able to do something in a game that I've never been able to do before it's always a favourite moment.

Killing first guard in MGS3 and seeing blood spray everywhere.

Driving a burning car off a ramp and into the river in GTA:Vice City but jumping out just in time to see all the cop cars chase after it into the river.

The prologue village scene in Resident Evil 4 where you first see the chainsaw man

 

[Amir0x]

1. Earthbound -

Spoiler

When you finally get all eight melodies, Ness has a vision. He wanders up a long hill to his home. As he glances inside the home, he sees a crib and his mother is standing over it. She says some endearing words and gives him his trademark cap. It is at once beautiful and genuinely moving, in a game that never takes itself too seriously. And yet, it felt just right. It inspires the sort of nostalgia that can at once take you back home with a thought ... even if you're far away. */sappy*

2. Playing StarTropics with my mother - She never was really into games, but back in the day she would like to play games with us. Sort of a way to spend time with us kids. Anyway, I still remember the time she's like "Check that shadow!" and I'm like "Ma, that's nothing... it's just a stupid shadow." And then I check it... a voila, a new room. Distant memories.

3. Metal Gear Solid 3 -

Spoiler

Battle in the field of flowers and ending. In a game that was all around superb, its climax was just perfect. I honestly believe it is among the best videogame climaxes/endings of all time, if not the best. It's just that good. No matter what you think of the series, it proves games can go to that next level.

4. The first time I played Mario 64. Completely redefined my expectations for games. It was that big.

 

[happyfunball]

Return of the Jedi for Atari 2600

When you break through the outer ring towards the deathstar and R2D2 lets out his little beeps. GOD DAMN that shit hooked me for life, so fuckin cool for back then!

 

[Do The Mario]

1. Playing Baldur's gate 1 & 2
2. Super Mario world
3. Finishing Zelda ALTTP
4. Mario 64