The scene in the Ocarina of Time where Link climbs Ganon’s tower hearing odd music which increases in volume as he goes higher. When he opens the door at the top of the stairs he sees Gannon playing his theme on a huge organ with the captive Princess Zelda in a barrier crystal hanging over him. The three pieces of the Triforce within each began to glow on their hands. Creepy. I love that the makers took the idea of boss music and played with it like that.
The scene in Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal where your character faces Ash Ketchum in the final match. Speaking of fighting yourself, the scene in Zelda 2 where Link faces the final boss, his shadow. Shadow Link in OoT was cool, but this was the origanal.
But my favorite moment ever was playing Mario 64 for the 1st time and 2nd, and 3rd, etc, etc)…That was motherfucking mind blowing amazing. There had never been anything like it; I still recall it as if it were yesterday.
The Longest Journey, especially the beginning. And the ending was just amazing. It was a beautiful game, I knew nothing about it, and it TOTALLY blew my mind. I loved it so much, I still have the directory of 200 screenshots saved on my HD.
The end of the first Metroid for the NES. Imagine a young boy who just spent the last few weeks engrosed in that game. You just pumped enough missiles into mother brain to put “shock and awe” to shame, followed by a heart stopping race back to the beggining before the self destruct timer goes off. Jumping from joy when you finally make it safely to your ship and expecting nothing more than a long string of japanese credits as a reward when all of the sudden Samus Aran, the hero of the story, and quite a kick ass fellow takes off his helmet and… its a girl!!! but… but… hes cool! he can’t be a girl! that would mean… girls can be cool too? blew this ten year old’s mind at the time i tell ya.
The first time I ever saw a NES was my neighbor playing Mike Tyson’s Punchout. I saw him fighting King Hippo, and I couldn’t believe my eyes! Especially when King Hippo’s shorts fell down! Hehe
The first time you go up against an ISD in X-Wing. Perfect lever of excitement and fear. And you have to do it in a dinky old Y-Wing too. Nothing like the roar of a TIE on your backside while the ISD’s blasts pass right over you. “I must bend like the reeds in the wind.” - Dune
Going to a friend’s house and watching him play Mario 3. When I saw him run across that straight way in the first level and suddenly fly up to get the coins, I was in awe. Mario could fly.
I was playing Super Mario World with my friend, and after many hours of searching Star Road, we finally came across the “Special” world. We were the kings of all video games. It was really really cool.
Playing Mario 64 at a friend’s house around when it first came out. I had watched a preview video of the game, and it looked cool, but playing in 3D still looked like it would be overwhelming and confusing. But actaully playing it, wow, it was so simple, and so fun.
Yumblie Shit dawg… before I even entered this thread, I already had it in my mind to post Mario 3. Hah.
It was so fucken amazing the first time I saw Mario fly in the movie The Wizard with Fred Savage. The day after I saw that, I begged my dad to blow over a hundred bucks for the import / adapter so I could be the first on my block to play it.
The second time would be the very first hour of Grand Theft Auto 3. I was in awe of the city, being the first truly living 3d city created (Shenmue doesn’t count). I remembered being scared shitless to even speed on the streets thinking I was going to get pulled over by cops.
Another Mario moment: when watching someone play Super Mario Bros. in the arcade, watching Mario wander around the first underground level (1-2), break a hole in the ceiling, then jump through the hole and walk across the top of the game screen.
Breaking the fourth wall in a video game – totally blew my mind.
When I think about it, all of the most amazing moments in video games have spawned from Nintendo games. Mario and Zelda are at the forefront, followed by Donkey Kong Country (graphics that still impress), then F-Zero and Mario Kart. Plus so many more that I can’t remember.
Super Metroid,fighting a losing battle against Mother Brain,and just when she is about to give you the finishing blast, the Metroid you saved at the end of the last game comes in and saves you by sacrificing itself,just stunning.
Final Fantasy 3(6J),basically the entire game :D.
But especially the opera scene,Magitek factory,floating continent,the battle with the Atma Weapon,and the final battle with that incredible music.
rjung Another Mario moment I forgot about… it was odd seeing someone bend the laws of videogames by doing that. Now you can do any number of strange things in the GTA games
The final battle in Super Metriod.
After running out of every weapon in my inventory, and almost dying, it felt SO good to unload a barrage of cannon shots into the Mother Brain’s face. Standing still for about thirty seconds, listening to her continuous shrieks while you pound blast after blast into her was utterly satisfying.
Old School:
Wishbringer. Once you get to the Magick Shoppe everything gets more and more odd as it becomes Dark outside, until when you leave and you’re in a twisted version of the city you started in. It was a text adventure but painted a picture as well as any FMV could have. Got me hooked on adventure games.
Middle School:
The first time I ran out into Hyrule field in Zelda: Ocarina of Time was pretty amazing. From being in this relatively small, enclosed forest village to entering this huge field with so much to explore was a great contrast.
New School:
The first time I was driving around in GTA3 and passed an intersection where two cars had just gotten in a wreck. Suddenly the city wasn’t just a backdrop for my misadventures with the law, it felt like a real city that would get along fine without me, with people going about their own buisness.
Ocarina of Time had some really good shots. All of the bosses had introduction sequences that were quite creepy; Barinade just about scared the crap out of me. But my favorite shot was when Link and Navi exit the Temple of Time in the future and see Hyrule Castle Town taken over by monsters. Then they go up to the castle and see that amazing shot of Ganon’s black citadel towering over the giant pool of lava. Link, not one to show emotion, has a marvellously shocked look on his face.
Sonic the Hedgehog is not usually an emotionally evocative saga, but the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 brought a lump to my throat.
Donkey Kong County’s snow levels.
My single favorite shot from a video game, though, is from Super Mario 64, Bowser in the Fire Sea. Facing off on that 100-meter sulphuric dais, when Bowser jumps on the platform tilting it perilously. You can zoom out and pan around the room by pressing C-right continuously. It’s really cool.
Seeing the Ultima Underworld demo running for the first time. Everything about that was cool.
Half-Life’s intro tram ride, and realizing “Holy Zeus, this is the in-game engine!” Walking into the compound (“Hey, Gordon,”) and seeing the loading screens between levels consisted of [sub]loading[/sub] appearing on-screen for about half a second. Crouching behind cover from the hostile soldiers, and having that first lobbed grenade bounce right down by me. On and on with that game (though I think it had pretty much blown its wad with taking out the chopper in “Surface Tension” but what a ride to that point–the rest was just falling action, far as I was concerned.)
Final Fantasy 7, finally taking down Sephiroth with the ordained Omnislash. It really didn’t matter what happened to the world after that.
The very very first time I was set in front of the first computer I’d ever seen in action, a Commodore Vic 20 as I recall, running that classic text adventure, Adventure. GO NORTH, and you were somewhere else. LOOK IN TREE, and you were. There was a world in there, by gumdrops! And some addict-circuit in my then high-plasticity brain slammed into place.
In an age of tinny FM synth music, the very first time a good friend of mine showed me this new game he’d picked up. “THIS is why you want to get a CDROM drive!” he explained, and started up The Seventh Guest–and honest-to-god orchestral music poured out the speakers with the intro.
I used to play Raid on Bungeling Bay on the Commodore 64. It was pretty hard to beat, but when you did, they gave you a parade! It was the first time I can remember a game having an ending.
I may be sappy, but when Kyle and Jan were reunited in Jedi Outcast I was very relieved.
