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[Gamer79]

I am not talking about story plots but something or an experience you had that made you say WOW or DAMN! Something that was extraordinary and caught you by surprise in that inner child type of way?

A few of mine:

1. Playing the Nes. I was a poor kid but my rich neighbor friend was one of the first to get a Nintendo Entertainment System. He even had that Robbie the robot attachment. When I first played Super Mario Bros on the Nes and It was almost the same as at my local arcade, it blew my mind! Mike Tysons Punchout FTW!
2. Super Mario Bros 3! This game was so huge there was a move released for it called, THE WIZARD! An amazing game that simply was on a whole different level than anything else at the time.
3. Zelda A Link To The Past: The first game I ever really cared about the story. It was so amazing from anything I ever played. My friend kept calling the Nintendo hotline for help and racked up a $300 phone bill that the little asshole blamed me for.
4. Seeing Live Action Video in a game for the first time. I got this hockey game for my Saturn and the coach was yelling at me using full motion video. I was amazed.
5. The Dreamcast was a massive evolution in games. I still remember I watched the 6th sense to wait for the midnight launch of my Sega Dreamcast. Back then I was too poor to afford a Pc (they were pricey back then) so all I had to rely on was game magazines on how the dreamcast games looked. Jumping from my N64 this totally blew me away. The graphics were a huge leap from the previous generation and I picked up 4 launch games and each was amazing. I played my first online game with Chu Chu Rocket and Nfl2k1 on this and my first web experience because of the built in web browser. Free internet over Phone line. (Slow now lol but for the time mind boggling. Crazy Taxi FTW!
6. The Xbox with Xbox live blew me away. Playing Halo 2 online, Star Wars Battle Front, Battlefield 2, Burnout Revenge were amazing experiences with friends. Back then there was no party system (I think Parties ruined online games) so you had to meet new people. Great Times
7. The Xbox 360 and Fallout 3: I got this game for Christmas and I was instantly hooked. So many fun games and the golden era of xbox live. Minus the Uno dick videos the experience was awesome!
8. PS4 and Infamous Second Son: I couldnt stop staring at the road becaue it looked real. This really was a Jaw dropping experience.
9. Switch Oled: I waited for awhile to get a switch and started with a lite and then got the Oled. Playing all of those great Nintendo games in HD is awesome. Depsite it's lack of Firepower some can compete in the Graphics Department. Mario Wonder/Metroid Dread and others are up there with the best looking games period. Playing Dread on the Oled with the inky blacks the poppy colors in my had is really slick!
10. Quest 2/3: Vr was out of reach until the Quest 2 came out. I got a Quest 2 for Christmas back in 2020 and it blew me away. At times you do lose yourself and feel like you are in the VR world. Outside the vidoegames, the exercise programs, the travel, the media watching, it is amazing! Quest 3 is on a whole nother level with thoise pancacke lenses! Quest 3 is simliar but going from Sd on the Quest 2 to HD on the Quest 3. Batman on Quest 3 should really be experienced by every gamer. It is so fun!
11. PS5: Playing Ratchet and Clank:. This is the first time I said to myself we have finally exceeded those "toy story graphics" This game is an amazing piece of art and moves really fluid. This game just kept dropping my Draw time and time again.
12, Cyberpunk 2077 with Ray Tracing: Built my first PC during Xmas and able to play Cyberpunk with Path Ray Tracintg at 1440p with DLSS Quality: This in my opinion is far in the away the graphics king. Just driving downtown and seeing all the lights, people walkking, croweded roads, the city feels alive. Walking into Clubs or certatin environments is just breathtaking. Razor Sharp visuals. Just Sitting on a rooftop and watching the smoke bellow out exhaust from the roof is amazing. This game is just a pure Eye Sex Orgasm!

 

[adamsapple]

RE4 village fight.

This ain't your grandpa's RE anymore.

 

[Punished Miku]

Uncharted 4 jeep chase.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

First time playing Mario 64. You just had to be there in that moment in time. It was incredible.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

As silly as it sounds something that really stands out to me is getting my first blue drop in The Barrens while playing World of Warcraft hours after the servers going live, felt like I hit the lottery or some shit

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Uncharted 4 jeep chase.

Uncharted 2 train sequence.

 

[VulcanRaven]

The opening cutscene of Metal Gear Solid 2 is amazing.

The beginning of Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy).

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

MG Solid 3

I received a codec telling me to take a rest and touch grass.

 

[Imtjnotu]

The uncharted 2 helicopter building scene in Nepal.

The first play through on chronicles of Riddick back on my Xbox.

The first time playing online in gears of war.

Metal gear gear solid 2 opening

Aeriths death during Ff7 and breeding my first golden chocobo.

Fighting the fake ass power Rangers in Mario rpg

Every part of NFS underground 2

God of War 2018s dragon battle

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

The beginning of Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy).

That’s a good one. I would add that
the character committing self-deletion if too depressed

 

[VulcanRaven]

0:30

 

[Mr Hyde]

When the Riddler taunts me for using the internet in order to solve one of his riddles in Arkham Asylum. Because I was in fact using internet for help so I wasn't prepared for a fourth wall breaking scolding like that.

 

[ReBurn]

The Mode 7 effects in Contra III on SNES were pretty amazing.

 

[Giles]

The moment in TESIV: Oblivion when you exit the sewers and enter the world of Cyrodiil.

 

[DoubleClutch]

I’ve been gaming for a long, long time.

Biggest wow moments for me to date have been:

1. Going online for the first time on Socom 2 with a headset and playing my first match. I was the last one left in a round and was terrible at the game and died, only to have a 12 year old kid tell me I fucking sucked and should get off the game. I immediately knew I was a part of greatness. This was only exceeded by Halo 2 later on.

2. Getting a 360 on the day Gears of War released. The generational jump was insane and unlike anything before.

Nothing has lived up to those days yet.

 

[Azelover]

When you leave Kokiri Town in Zelda Ocarina of Time..

 

[Markio128]

Too many to mention, but the first had to be Pong on ye olde Atari. It was the first time I’d been able to manipulate an object on a TV with a controller and it was friggin’ mind blowing at the time.

The last time my mind was blown was when I first walked into the tavern area in Chainscape in Horizon FW. It was something about the atmosphere of the place that made it feel like I was in a high quality animated fantasy movie. It also made me realise that I’d love it if GG made a LOTRs game.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Mode 7 in F-Zero
Playing Doom for the first time
Running Quake in 3DFX
Leaving the vault in Fallout 3

 

[Aion002]

Playing for the first time with a ps2 and the first game was MGS2.

 

[CJ_75]

Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid making my controller vibrate on the table and reveal what Konami games I have been playing.
Never tried on the PC, too scared of him revealing my internet history.

 

[amigastar]

First time shooting a Scientist in the head in Half Life back in 1998.

 

[SJRB]

Okay so imagine this: I'm pretty young, sitting in my parents' living room. The family is sleeping but I'm on the floor, PS2 controller in my hand. It's after midnight, it's dark, I'm playing this crazy game with amazing gameplay but an incredible story and I feel that it is ramping up to a finale so I keep pressing on.

There's plot twists left and right and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the game starts glitching. Things get weird, it seems to get buggy. I have no idea what is going on, my adrenaline is spiking. Then, a conversation starts. The person my character has been talking to this whole game reveals that he is not actually a person but in fact is an AI and is going haywire because of a virus I myself uploaded. I get the most profound monologue about humanity, AI, government control, freedom of choice I have ever heard in my whole life. It is like 10 minutes of the most insane meta-commentary about western society as a whole I have ever heard.

Then the person talking starts directly addressing me, the player. He says it's 1am (which it basically is), and it's time to shut down the console. It's for the best. So I do. I turn off the PS2 and I'm sitting there in the dark in the middle of the night having my whole world rocked.

That was by far the most insane videogame experience I have ever had and nothing has ever come close since. The game was Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

 

[Loke]

11 year old me playing Half-Life for the first time in 1998. The hype was unbelievable.

 

[Danjin44]

Encountering first Colossus in SotC for the first time on PS2.

I kinda felt unreal I was about fight this giant Colossus.

 

[bundylove]

Night trap
Mortal kombat arcade wow
Daytona Usa arcade
Snk games arcade

 

[El Muerto]

Basically getting new consoles up to the PS360 era. After that games didnt have such an amazing jump in terms of gameplay or graphics.

 

[balls of snow]

Recently, flying through NYC like a heroin adict sugar glider in Spiderman 2 at 60 fps on the ps5 pro.

 

[MikeM]

Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid making my controller vibrate on the table and reveal what Konami games I have been playing.
Never tried on the PC, too scared of him revealing my internet history.

Also:

- going from NES to playing PS1 as a kid was wild in general. Tekken 2, Gran Turismo- everything was just leaps.

- FEAR. The AI, atmosphere and scares were all fantastic.

- First online experience with COD and Halo. Just fantastic, simple fun compared today’s COD.

 

[PeteBull]

8. PS4 and Infamous Second Son: I couldnt stop staring at the road becaue it looked real. This really was a Jaw dropping experience.

I can attest to it, played I:SS at launch which was end of march and early april 2014 and that prologue before u actually reach seattle, which was pretty much corridor, was so packed and trully next gen af:

U saw it, u could play it real time, and u knew- next gen fuckin arrived, right there

 

[simpatico]

Almost every time I crested a hilltop to see the first overview of a new area in Elden Ring. Especially going down the elevator for the first time unspoiled. It really doesn't get much better than that for me.

 

[Idleyes]

Flowey deleting my save files.

 

[Badlucktroll]

nothing will ever compare to that christmas day when i was very young when we opened a snes with super mario world and f-zero

 

[Nankatsu]

 

[Neo_Barrad]

Flying in Just Cause 2


Walking through apocalyptic NewYork in Tom Clancy's The Division


Running on rooftops of Paris in Assasins Creed Unity

+MANY moments OF DISCOVERY from Uncharted series

 

[EverydayBeast]

Survival series mode on METAL GEAR ONLINE 2 folks who played that know how teams behaved, the tips from vets, and the added DLC from Konami over time.

 

[DirtInUrEye]

The Vault of Glass.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

Helldivers 2. It is the most cinematic game I have ever played. Every session I play feels like I could cut a trailer

GTA 3. For 11 year old me, it transformed what I thought games could be. PS2 era was full of games like that. So much experimentation

 

[Shaki12345]

Very cool OP, too bad nobody gives the dude a like. Show him some love.

There are lots of moments for me, but recently I replayed GTA 5 Story Mode on PS5 and I was blown away (again) how incredibly good the open world is. Everything feels so alive. Compared to any game, really, this is still the king even though fast travel (I know, taxi) isn't really a thing. Just driving around is so fun and my God the radio DJ's are something else. So many unique interactions and fun details no other developers would even think about and the game is 12 years old. The voice acting and some of the characters in that game are just unbelievably well written. Rockstar worlds feel lived in and although I really like Cyberpunk, only Witcher 3 and RDR2 came close to GTA5 levels. I mean, even GTA4 has moments where my jaw still drops.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Uncharted 4 jeep chase.

First time playing that I was smiling and laughing nonstop. I love these kind of bombastic scenes. Shame we get them so rarely nowadays.

 

[Fess]

Starting with some recent ones:

Ending of Astro Bot with the fake credits rolling. Really shows that the devs has had so much fun making that game!

Start of Indiana Jones and the recreation of Lost Ark start. Pure awesomeness!
I also liked Shanghai with the general wrecked city design and bombers.

Minishoot Adventures, the whole game and the mix of genres. Superb!

Stellar Blade, the character design!


Older ones:

Soul Calibur on Dreamcast, having to finish a shooter on the VMU to 100% the game.

Super Mario Galaxy, the planet levels absolutely blew me away, still do.


VR:

Trying Quest 2 for the first time.

Skyrim VR with HIGGS mod.

 

[Ozzie666]

First time hearing game music from the Amiga I can't even recall the game, but it didn't matter. Going from NES/C64 8 bit music to that, was absolutely insane.

 

[Kacho]

Frog slicing open the mountain in Chrono Trigger blew my mind when I was a kid. First time a game gave me goosebumps.

 

[BlackTron]

Standing in KB toys slack jawed staring at a demo kiosk as Latiku circled around Peach's castle for the first time. This was really probably the most impressive moment I experienced in all of gaming.

 

[ShakenG]

Killzone2
Have shit memory but one i can recall is landing in the dropship type vehicle. All the explosions and fighting going on. The unique lense flare that mirrored lights in the distance. Was an incredible experience.

 

[Pimpollo818]

the "twist" in Sekiro's Guerilla Ape fight

 

[Sooner]

 

[Raven117]

The princess is in another castle….

Blew my mind as a 6 year old

 

[Corian33]

The moment in TESIV: Oblivion when you exit the sewers and enter the world of Cyrodiil.

I’ll always remember how you could rattle the chains around the jail and pick up random stuff. Next level at the time.


Mario 64 was absolutely mind blowing. I remember the demo machine at Toys R Us and people gathered around just marveling at it.

Playing my first proper MMO, Asheron’s Call. It’s so strange how MMO’s gradually become anti-social to the point you could play without ever talking to anyone. Back in the day you would actually get to know the other players on your server, bump into them in different towns and dungeons, hang out in town showing off cool gear you found, etc. Just a different time.

 

[Trilobit]

Jedi: Survivor

When you team up with the hot woman and you basically fly around on the desert level. It was the most exhilarating gaming experience in a long time, my heart was pumping so hard. I was wearing the jedi robe then so it was even more immersive.

 

[reinking]

Early days of EverQuest. I started as an Erudite necro and wanted to make my way to Freeport. Got to level 7(?) to get gather shadows. I made my way to Qeynos sewers by getting off the boat and standing on the edge of the dock to cast gather shadows and made a run for it. It took me hours of very careful travel and I made it all the way though most of Commonlands before being bashed by a giant. So close. No, I did not retrieve my body. I spent a lot of time in Qeynos sewers leveling up. I killed that poor shark so many times. I remember being in awe of how big the game felt (loading zones and all).