most distinctive moments in videogames

[Tatsujin]

what are your most distinctive moments in videogames (momentary situations, screen shots). here are some of mine:

1.

couldn't sleep without nightmares for a while, after met him the first time!

2.

the first picture of start point, is one of my most liked stills!

3.

legendary

4.

same as for daimakaimura

5.

one of the most impressive enemy

6.

chops on the ground

7.

first level bionic-boss. how i loved him!

8.

this boss was a tough guy back then. also very distinctive the glimmering metalic style of ship and enemies. i believe, it was the first appearance like that in a video game.

9.

best prologe ever

10.

eat concrete, big bastard. one of the most funny boss fight in history

of course there're a lot more, i will post later

[nodtveidt]

The first time I completed Vasteel was one of the most memorable video game experiences I've ever had. I was playing as Stefan, and lost to Fallial (sp?) in the final battle. My fiancee at the time was sitting next to me, watching me play, and the ending freaked us both out (it was late at night and we were both tired so that had an effect).

The Alys death scene in Phantasy Star IV was pretty memorable, as was the Pottle death scene in Vay. The Aeris death scene in FFVII was likewise memorable. It seems death scenes in RPGs stay with me for some reason.

I also remember, after six months of playing the damn game, FINALLY beating Sinistron. Man, I felt like a seasoned veteran after that. Also, discovering the Titan Boss "freeze" trick in Keith Courage long before the internet existed was likewise a very distinctive moment.

[Joe Redifer]

Great thread!  I can think of a few right off the bat:

1.

Strider - Genesis - The awesome sword slash as the lightning sparks always looked awesome, and I saw it here first.

2.

Strider - Arcade - Same thing at the arcade.  I've only ever seen Strider in the arcade once.

3.

Katamary Damacy - PS2 - This crazy panda admires his own ejaculation puddle as a GIANT MARIJUANA LEAF hovers above him!  This game is MESSED UP!

4, 5, and 6.

Phantasy Star - Sega Master System - The awesome smooth 3D dungeons blew me away.  Better animation than most 16-bit 3D dungeons!




The graphics were just too good for an 8-bit game.  They almost looked like paintings to me at the time.  This game made a HUGE impression on me.

More to come later.

[termis]

Some great memories here - awesome thread. 

Tatsujin, what game is #10?  It looks pretty familiar, but I can't quite peg it in my memory.

I agree with the Phantasy Star I.  I can still remember being in awe of the 3D dungeon and the fighting scenes.  I was mighty impressed.  And the comment about Xevious.  I also recall thinking, "Wow, look at that cool shiny-reflective properties of metal - that's really cool".

As for a some ones that are burned in my memory...

Pitfall - I still remember this game really wowing me.  I believe it was the first game where I really felt I was part of some adventure.


Kung Fu.  I loved this game in the arcade (though it was Kung Fu _Master_), and when I saw this game had come out with the launch of the NES, I soooo wanted the system.  When my mom agreed to buy it for me (thanks mom!) I recall going to Toys R Us and seeing this cover on display.  It's kind of a shitty port now that I think about it, but hell - it was great at that time!   


Defender of the Crown (Amiga) - this was my first glance at the Amiga back in sometime like 87 or so.  I couldn't believe how good this looked, when all I could get at the time was my NES (and I thought the NES looked pretty good).  I walked away from the guy's house very very jealous.


Phantsy Star II - the mind-blowing dungeons.  Some hated the ceiling pipes, but I thought it was kinda neat.  The story is something that I still can't forget to this day.  And I just about forgotten ALL the RPG storylines I've played back in those days.  Especially the Neifirst and the ending scenes.  Brilliant.


Sonic the Hedgehog - special stage.  I was blown away.  It looked way better than some blocky mode-7 graphics.


SF2 (SNES) - this is when I knew that SNES was going to win out the 16-bit wars over my beloved Genesis.  It wasn't a perfect port, but damn good enough.


Thunder Force IV - I care not what the haters say (Keranu!) - the parallex of this game was awesome.

[Joe Redifer]

OK I've thought of some more moments in videogames that stood out to me.  Sorry, no pictures this time, only witty stories.

Phantasy Star II - Genesis - Nei dies.  Nothing like that ever happened to me in a videogame before.  Sure, these days it wouldn't be considered emotional or even abnormal, but back in 1989... wow.  I must admit that my eyes did swell up, as I really liked the Nei character.  Then she had to go and die on me.  Bitch.

Ys Book 1 and 2 - TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM - Intro.  My friend defied his parents' wishes in 1990 and spent $400 on the CD-ROM add on for the TurboGrafx-16.  He also spent $120 more to get Valis 2 and Ys Book 1 and 2.  His parents were not allowed to find out about this new thing, so we came back to my house to try it all out for the first time.  I had never played a CD-OM game before this.  Booting up Ys and listening to the opening narration was awesome.  The music when Feena appears on the title screen reminded me of a big-budget IMAX feature at the time.  It was amazing.  I still love that intro as it continues to take me to the next level unlike any other add on ever did.  Oh, I still have my friend's CD-ROM box (it's huge) since he left it with me to hide his purchase from his parents.  So I have 2 TG-CD boxes that I refuse to throw away!

Gate of Thunder - Duo - A different friend of mine purchased a DuoGrafx-16 when it first came out and brought it over.  It came with friggin' Gate of Thunder!  I was blown away by the scaling intros on the boot screens and whatnot.  I was also blown away by how fast the game loaded.  I figured they must have added some extra hidden power over the TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM other than the extra memory.  There was next to no loading time at all!  I was blown away again when my Super System Card finally came with the Gate of Thunder 3-in-1 disc and the performance was exactly the same as the Duo.  I wondered why all games weren't programmed that well.

Mega CD - VHS - Some dude who worked down at the local game store purchased a Japanese Mega CD when it was released.  I barely knew the guy at all, but when I learned of this I took him a blank VHS tape and asked him to videotape it so I could watch.  He agreed.  A week later he had it finished (I don't think he ever even knew my name).  I asked him to let the boot-up screen scale and rotate for awhile before showing me the games.  It was awesome for the time.  Much better music than would be in the US Sega CD BIOS.  Then the games he showed were Sol Feces, Earnest Evans and Woodstock Funky Horror Band.  The best part of the whole tape?  The Mega CD BIOS.  The guy clearly left the volume slider on the Genesis all the way down, as Genesis-made sounds could barely be heard while music and PCM were loud and clear.  Recorded in EP and in mono, and I still have the tape.

Sega Saturn release - Electronics Boutique - One day in May 1995 a friend called me up and said he saw the Saturn in the store FOR SALE at Babbages or Software Etc or one of those during his lunch break.  "It's out?  OMG OMFG OMG!!!" I squealed.  Fortunately I happened to have $500+ cash just sitting around, so I bolted my ass down to EB and purchased the Saturn, Daytona USA and Panzer Dragoon.  Expensive?  Yeah, but I was way too stoked to care.  I got home and I freakin' LOVED Daytona (still do) as well as Panzer Dragoon.  Sure, the graphics haven't aged well, but I still get that special feeling when I play them.  I still have all three of those items, direct from the surprise launch day!  I still have the receipt with the exact date, but I am too lazy to look at it.

Sega Dreamcast release - Electronics Boutique - I did not reserve a Dreamcast, but I was told that they would go on sale at 12:01am on September 9, 1999.  So I went down to EB about 11:30pm or so and got in line... and it was a loooooong line.  No reservation at all, but by 12:20-ish I was walking out of the mall with my brand new DC and a handful of games.  Nowadays you have to wait in line to even reserve a game or system, and you're lucky to get a reservation at all if there are more that 10 or 15 people in line.  Nowadays sucks ass!

Halo 2 release - Target - I did not reserve Halo 2, either.  It was mid afternoon on the day of its release, maybe around 2:30 or 3:00pm or so.  I decided "what the hell" and decided I wanted Halo 2.  I drove down to the mall where EB was and entered the doors.  I saw a giant line coming out of the store and going down the mall.  I immediately turned around and left.  I then went to the Super Target right across the street where nobody was.  I picked up Halo 2 with no waiting at all.  The experience kicked ass.  Too bad the game sucks ass. 

[Tatsujin]

Tatsujin, what game is #10?  It looks pretty familiar, but I can't quite peg it in my memory.

sorry, didn't mention eachs name :oops: it's IREMs daiku no gensan aka hammerin' harry. a great jumper which unfortunatelly never had a accurate port to our homes

[elnino]

Here are some of my favourite moments which come to my mind atm.

M*****feckin' Ganon, the first time I faced him without having upgraded the arrows, but he pushed me into the hole pretty quickly anyway. In the end, he didn't stand a chance against elnino-sama!


Final boss of GoT, my heart was beating like crazy!


FFVI, final fight against Kefka, very impressive, he was way too easy though.


FFV, hardest feckin' boss I've ever seen in any game I've ever played! The first time, I walked through the last maze for about an hour just to get slashed down by this ass within minutes. When I finally thought I had beaten him, he transformed into NeoExDeath and sent 23456456 Meteo spells at my party within one turn! Of course I was going down again. It took me like 15 tries to beat him, I think I really learnt cussing thanks to him.


Gunhed bubble level, beautiful graphics!


Daimakaimura, probably my most favourite game, there was a time when I played it through twice a day for months! Loki's just great, like all the bosses in this game, if you stand on his foot and jump when he lifts it, you get very close to his face and are able to shoot him down easily. If you wonder what his penis looks like, there is none, lol. This screenshot seems to be fake, the wizard sends you back to the start of the level if you try to enter the final battle with a weapon other than the psycho cannon. It would be stupid anyway since the cannon is far the most powerful weapon in the game.



Maybe the best moment in game history, your ship is being chased by a brain! Hilarious!!

[Tatsujin]

loki is just great. indeed!! but why you put the stinky loki from the mega drive in here? you and i know!

[Joe Redifer]

The Loki screenshot isn't fake due to the level select code.  Still looks good on the Mega Drive/Genesis, though.  I'm amazed they put that much effort into the final boss which requires two playthroughs.  Maybe that's why they put in the level select, so more people could see their handiwork.

[elnino]

but why you put the stinky loki from the mega drive in here?

Because I was too lazy to continue searching for an SGFX screenshot while Google is offering me one of the MD version on the first page... :oops:
But I will gladly replace it if you give me a better one from the SGFX version. Although this would probably interfere with my remark about his snidel...

[Tatsujin]

Although this would probably interfere with my remark about his snidel...

you're such right at that point. so just let it be as it is! :snidel:

[FM-77]

Cool thread! I will totally contribute!

The first game I ever played. I had watched my brother play Commodore 64 game many times prior to this, but this was the first game that I actually played myself. I had no interest in games until I tried this one. I still wasn't hooked, but it was kinda fun.



This is the game that did it all. Turned me into a video game maniac. I've played this game so much over the years, I can't even stand to watch it anymore.



This game made me very emotional. It was my favorite game for the longest time. I absolutely loved it and I was coming up with my own Star Tropics-related stories almost every day. I could never stop thinking about it until...



...I saw this box. I was amazed by this game. The atmosphere and the story was absolutely amazing. Unlike a lot of folks though, I actually disliked the music (it took me many years to appreciate it, and now I think this one has the finest soundtrack in the entire series- primarily because I'm a real sucker for Master System music). Not only was the game really exciting, but it was scary too (not sure why I thought it was, but I was a kid). It was my favorite game for many many many years and it started an extreme Ys fandom in me, that has been very strong until recently- it is finally fading away. This game had a huge impact on me, obviously.



I was never impressed by graphics in video games until I got my SNES and this game. Lagoon. A truly shitty game, but I was young and when you're young, any video game is fun, and thanks to nostalgia, I still find great fun in playing this one. I liked this one a lot for many reasons. 1. It reminded me of Ys. 2. The graphics were AWESOME! 3. The music was incredibly amazing, the drum samples in particular. Even my brother (who is a professional musician and sound engineer) thought the sound was quite impressive.



Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle was my first Sega Mega Drive game. I bought it because I had Alex Kidd in Miracle World on my Master System, which I enjoyed quite a lot. This game was a bit of a disappointment, but I still enjoyed it a lot. It was pretty much the only game I played on my Mega Drive, until...




...I got this one. Phantasy Star III. My first RPG. Holy crap I took this game seriously. I drew map, made tons of notes and really enjoyed the adventure fully. It felt as if I was in the game myself. I had a whole notebook dedicated to this game. I loved everything about it, except the music which I found disappointing, because I had heard so much about music being so great in RPGs. (But as with the Ys music, I learned to like it many years later.) I enjoyed Phantasy Star II as well, but not until years later. I still haven't played the fourth game (I've been meaning to buy it for about  ten years now, but it has yet to happen), and I never liked the first one.




And let's fast forward a little. I played many more games in the 16-bit era, but none of those games really stood out (okay, some of them did, but I am too lazy to write stuff about them. Maybe later). In 1999, I borrowed a Nintendo 64. I had never played (or even seen) a 3D game in my life, so needless to say, I was quite excited about the whole thing. I had two games: Super Mario 64 and Zelda Ocarina of Time. Having absolutely loved Zelda 1-3, of course I chose to play Ocarina of Time first. To be honest, my first impression with this game wasn't all that great, but I guess that had to do with the additional dimension. I had trouble playing it, the controls were awkward and the game just looked weird. Disappointed, I started playing Super Mario 64 instead, and BOY what a game that was! Anyway, some weeks later, when I was bored with Mario, I put in the OOT cart again and gave it a fair chance. I'm glad I did, because now that I was used to playing 3D games (thanks to Mario 64), and the fact that the controls were actually quite good in this one after all (something that can not be said about Mario 64), I had such undescribable fun with this one. EASILY the best game I had ever played, and I was even more immensed than when I played Phantasy Star III years earlier. DAMN this game rocked. When I was about halfway through the game, I had to return the console. I almost cried. I bought my own N64 later on, and played through this game again and again and again and....



Again with the fast forwarding.



WROOM WROOM WROOM! HOLY SHIT!!

Good night.

[Michael Helgeson]

I have been playing games since I was 4 and a half. 1980-81 on up. I'm not going to post pics of games up,because alot of them,they wont be nearly as amazing to the eye now as they were when I was a kid. I will give  a run down of my most memorable moments however.

Being able to play the Sears VCS when I was almost 4 living in California. Totally amazing,nearly better then riding in my big wheel or playing with a book of matches and burning toy cars wheels with them.

Moving to Arkansas and stepping off the bus into the bus station. Pac Man arcade game was there waiting to greet me in their arcade. In Cali I never once saw a actual arcade game. Sadly enough the Grey Hound station in NLR,Ar. was more advanced then anywhere I had lived in California.

Everyone I knew had a VCS. Every gas station had arcade games. It was totally new to me,so many games to play.

At age 6 I was introduced to  a full fledged arcade. I got to play Star Wars for the first time along with many other arcade games of that period. I also made weekly trips to the sake rink,not to skate,but to play arcade games.

Eventually I only played arcade games,no more VCS. I had wanted more.

Nes and Master System came out. I played it alot and VS systems in arcades. I also played tons of Ikari Warriors and Rastan when I seen them at stores. I got a Nes in Dec 87.
Got Raid on Sucky Bay by Bordercrud and Gotcha on Nes. I liked Gotcha. On the other game I had no clue what to do.
I rented alot of games. Eventually I owned or borrowed Mario 2,Ninja Gaiden,and a few others like Karnov which I beat. I still played tons of arcade games,esp at the arcade at Wild River Country. Lifeforce on NES got many hours of my life.
 I ignored the Genesis and TG 16 when they came out,until 91-92.

I worshiped the Neo Geo.
I worshiped Capcom CPS1 titles.
I worshiped NEC.
I almost worshiped Sega just as much.
I never really likes Nintendo,as a company they stayed in my shit list with THQ but I did get a Snes.
I got a 32x. I liked it alot and everything released for it.
i discovered Time Killers,I worshiped it.
CPS 2 games were popping up everywhere. They were fun,but I did not like Capcoms new soft looking graphics approach. I was glad SNK was around making games.
1995-2001
PS,Saturn,DC,they all came out along with Jag and 3DO already being there at a lower price finally. I loved every system except the Play Station.

I got my first Neo AES in November 98. I got my first MVS 1-slot in early 99.
I never did like the X-Box or PS2. I have still as of yet to like a Sony system or Microsoft system.
I miss Sega hardware design.

Return to Castle Wolfenstien came out for pc and I became sold on PC 3d gaming completely for high end graphics.
I own Time Killers arcade game now.
I miss 3DFX.
I own alot of my fav arcade games released.
This includes Ikari Warriors.
The only new systems I have liked are the GameCube and the Wii.
If I need better hardware then that to run games,I have a pc. I dont need a 360 or PS3.

[TR0N]

Pac-Man-who didn't stand in line for this the times i went to, TimeOut! When it had it's release there was.

Discs of Tron-sure the frist tron arcade game was good but i like the theme for discs more.
http://www.klov.com/images/11/1181242103132.png
Gauntlet II-Another game i put alot of quarters into. While one was a start i like how 2 gave you ,the option who you could play as beside.. it was fun when 4p play it


Btw still like these quotes from what the game had:Wizard is about to die! and Elf needs food badly!
Super Mario Bros-when i played this in the arcades i was hooked on it.. then i found out you could play it home on the NES. Afther that i had to get one not to mention, SMB lay the foundation down for action platformers to follow.

The Legend of Zelda-my frist arpg wich was frist for many i'm sure of it.With, it's puzzle music and gameplay i go back to it from time to time.

Contra-While i play this in the arcades the, NES version still stands out for being more complete and longer gameplay.

Ys 1&2-what can i say while my frist turbocd experince was ValisII&Monster Lair, Ys 1&2 story telling it's music to it's cut scenes.. and how it played blew me away back in the early 90's. It was some thing to show your friends when they had a SNES or Genesis.


Samurai Showdown-While SFII helped make fighters popular SNK set the bar with it's frist weapon fighter even while it's been out done by the likes of, SS2. I still sit down and play for SS1 fun.


MetalSlug-Man this serise came at the right time for me when konami contra serise was hitting it's all time low with contra low ugg.MS gave me that run'n'gun fix sure it wasn't high speed like contra, but with it's animation it's use of weapons and with a "whole lot of action going on the screen... it gave me what i wanted.



That's all i can think for now i'd list a shmup but there's so many i like.

Btw i don't need to list.. a castlevania every body here has done that all ready 

[RCduck7]

As for modern gaming: The death of Aeris in Final Fantasy 7 and otherwise the birth of 3D wowed me (certainly on playstation)

As for retro: i had to think harder for this one as there are so many, but i choose Spellcaster for the sms, the tension it gave me!!