Your biggest "wow/omg/holy #$%^" moments in gaming, in order of when you experienced them

[nogoodnamesleft]

We have all had them. They will forever be with us. what are yours?

I remember mine very well.

1.Seeing Sonic 1 on a massive RPTV megadrive version after having only had the master system version for a long time. At first i didnt know what it was or why it looked SO much better than my sonic 1, thats when i realized, theres a new console out.

*i actually didnt really feel any wow moments in the 3d bit era. things were cool, but bad 3d was always bad 3d

2.Mario 64-at the booths at target. Holy shit. Could not believe what i was seeing. Such freedom. Incredible. First console was the atari 2600 and now this. What a time.

3.Dreamcast-holy shit, Soul calibur, in 480p PHOTO REALISTIC< how can it get better? Going from n64 to this was the biggest leap to me, beating even the jump from Snes to "3d" psx/saturn.

4.PSP-Mobile tech is already pretty strong now but back then, from the GBA to the psp and the other contender was the DS (which i know, has a much better library) But at the time the screen was incredible and i swear, that was ps2 graphics in my hand to my younger eyes. Everywhere i took this people would ask me -"wow what is THAT??" (Had an import one)

There have been wow moments since then but i have not felt anything as strong as i have for these. Sure, games look incredible now, but the wow moments like before dont happen to me anymore. VR did come close, though :)

 

[Deleted member 3183]

Ocarina of Time - Striking the killing blow on Ganon. It felt like a truly epic moment and 12-year old me was blown away.

 

[BanditoMac]

might be because i was extremely high at the time, but coming upon the end of uncharted 4

Spoiler: Final UC4 area

climbing down to the ship below, just the framing and scale of heading down to the perfectly intact ship inside some lost cave. made me think of how mindblowing that would be to see in reality

 

[James3D]

Kanto being in Pokémon Gold Version. Incredible.

PSP blew my
Mind.

Space Pirate Trainer on Vive.

 

[JJ!]

1. playing ff6 for the first time and seeing world of ruin. that shit blew me away as a kid because the bad guy WON essentially.

2. finishing the first elite 4 in pokemon silver and learning that you go back to kanto.

3. learning about the twist in mgs1

4. mgs3's ending actully made me cry, it was soooo good.

5. fast forward to 2017. bloodbornes ludwig boss fight just blew me away. one of the best souls/borne bosses imo

 

[Larrikin]

The entirety of this level but the timestamped moment in particular. I've never felt such a visceral combination of emotions all at once. Fear, worry, determination, concern... all for some blue square dude.

That song hit me like a ton of bricks in a lot of ways. Beating it was euphoric and is something I'll never forget.

 

[Wolfgav]

Looking around for the first time in PS VR Worlds.

 

[Bwooduhs]

Recently it was Superhot VR, made me understand why VR was appealing instantly

 

[Deleted member 1635]

Man... so many. The first I remember was probably playing Mario 64 at a demo station before it was released. I couldn't believe it at the time.

Other big moments (in terms of sheer graphics and technology) from the mid-to-late 90s:

- Playing QuakeGL and seeing what 3D graphics card acceleration could do for the first time.
- Playing the Final Fantasy VII demo.
- Playing Soul Calibur and later Shenmue on Dreamcast.
- Playing through Half-Life for the first time.
- Seeing that fly-through demo of Unreal for the first time.
- Getting into EverQuest back in 1999.

edit: oh wait, before Mario 64, I definitely being blown away by stuff like Myst and 7th Guest blew me away on PC. There was also King's Quest VI, which introduced me to adventure games, "multimedia games," FMVs and voice acting. It was quite a revelatory experience.

 

[Herbz]

Final Fantasy IX when the castle transformed into an angel. I was high as hell at the time but it blew me away. The music, the scenes, etc. I will never forget it.

Overwatch gives me biggest wow/holy shit moments sometimes, especially when high and when I'm pulled into it outta the real life. Seeing players doing their roles - protecting, healing, attacking, defending, etc working as a true team - dominating.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

I think I had a real holy shit moment in Dead Space. There were some really intense encounters that were really memorable for me. The sound effects and the pacing were so good.

 

[Flipyap]

Is this just about tech-related amazement? Because no graphical breakthrough will ever compare to the mindblowage that comes from booting up vanilla Dragon's Dogma for the first time.

 

[Almeister]

Spending half an hour messing around in Marin's house in Link's Awakening on the Game Boy thinking that was the entire game - it was the first game I owned - and then going outside and realising there was an entire world out there to explore.

A guard's head snapping back when I headshotted him in perfect dark.

Reaching Ironforge as a Night Elf in WoW classic.

*That* moment in the end credits of Neir Automata

Going down the lift in Arkham VR during my first VR session and putting on the cowl

Many VR moments since.

 

[Druffmaul]

1. Family got a Magnavox Odyssey when I was 3 years old. We only had it for about a month and I only got to play with it a couple of times, but it made me realize what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

2. The first time I saw a crowd of people gathered around an arcade game just so they could watch someone play it. It was a very strange sight to behold at the time, as back then arcades just weren't ever that crowded, and the most people you'd see standing in front of a game was two playing doubles, maybe a third person waiting for next game. When I pushed my way through the crowd to find out what game they were so interested in... that was the first time I laid eyes on a brand new game called Space Invaders. (Ironically, I never really enjoyed the game itself very much.)

3. Tail Gunner in the arcade. The 3D wireframe spaceship models flying right into the screen... my visual cortex could barely process it.

4. ColecoVision at my friend's house. That was the first time I thought a home console port was virtually identical to the arcade original.

5. F-Zero and Super Mario World on SNES. I lost all interest in video games shortly after hitting puberty in the early 1980s. I didn't touch any games for about 7 years. Then after I finished college I bought an SNES just as a means to establish a credit line. I intended to play with it for a couple days and then sell it or something... but F-Zero and SMW made me a gamer again and I haven't stopped since.

6. Panzer Dragoon on the Saturn. Aside from Myst on my friend's Mac, PD was my first taste of CGI FMV in a game, and there was no stigma at the time. And then the game itself, the 3D graphics, the CD quality music... going from SNES/Genesis 16-bit stuff one moment to PD the next totally fried some of my brain cells.

I've seen all kinds of awesome shit since then, but I honestly don't think anything has topped those. Diminishing returns I suppose.

 

[Gots]

Realizing Bloodborne wasnt just a run of the mill horror game about regular monsters ranks up there for me. Becoming an adult in Ocarina of Time completely blew me away as an eight year old, though

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

Spending half an hour messing around in Marin's house in Link's Awakening on the Game Boy thinking that was the entire game - it was the first game I owned - and then going outside and realising there was an entire world out there to explore.

A guard's head snapping back when I headshotted him in perfect dark.

Reaching Ironforge as a Night Elf in WoW classic.

*That* moment in the end credits of Neir Automata

Going down the lift in Arkham VR during my first VR session and putting on the cowl

Many VR moments since.

Click to shrink...

Oh god how can i forget WoW for the first time. You mean Teldrassil isnt the whole game?!?!?!?

 

[CoinReturn]

Super Mario 64 Toy 'R' Us demo stations the summer before N64 launched.

 

[Nama]

Number 1) Getting a SEGA Genesis as a kid the pack in game was Sonic 1 but it also came with a mail in voucher for Sonic 2. My tiny mind was blow away by the value "Nintendo is for idiots" I thought. 6 weeks later find Sonic 2 in the mail and a live long passion is born.

Number 2) Going over to my cousins house on the weekends and playing their NES and SNES and realizing my grave mistake "SEGA is for idiots" I thought. Chrono Trigger blew my mind and I was obsessed with it for a year even though I could only play it every other weekend.

Number 3) Going to Toys'r'us and seeing Dreamcast demos with Sonic Adventure. OH SHIT moment when it hit me that Sonic Adventure wasn't a demo version but the actual game. I sat there all day and beat all the characters stories weeks before Dreamcast even came out. "Were all idiots! Dreamcast is the future." I thought...

 

[cloudzack117]

Probably the first time I got to Kanto in Gold. Another one was the first time I saw act 4 in MGS4

 

[Khamsinvera]

1. Unlocking my Jedi in Star Wars: Galaxies (required a few hundred hours of grinding at the time)
2. Ornstein & Smough boss fight in Dark Souls

 

[Sieglinde]

Battling Red in Pokémon Silver at a time when games could still have hidden surprises finding him was such a WTF moment he then proceeded to kick my ass great times though.

 

[DanteLinkX]

Most of the "original" good old days moments have been mentioned so I will just say one of the latest.

Dmc5/re2 fucking blew my mind, that incredible graphic fidelity at native 4k/60fps (practicaly locked at that) is something truly breathtaking anf never thought this gen would get there.

 

[Deleted member 1635]

Is this just about tech-related amazement? Because no graphical breakthrough will ever compare to the mindblowage that comes from booting up vanilla Dragon's Dogma for the first time.

Click to shrink...

Oh man, I had forgotten about that song.

 

[nanskee]

1. Super Mario 64 and the game speedrun

2. Super Metroid/Metroid Prime interconnected world

3. Dark Souls interconnected world/Dark Souls 3 Cathedral of the Deep, what a fucking level

 

[Dabi3]

Can't remember the order but some include
1. Would you kindly?
2. All of The Last Guardian
3. Playing LittleBigPlanet for the first time
4. Playing through Astro Bot

 

[RochHoch]

The big twist near the end of 2-4 in Ace Attorney Justice For All. You know which one. That moment completely blew me away, even though it should have been fairly obvious in hindsight.

Also, the last few hours of Danganronpa V3. That shit is absolutely bananas, and I love it.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

I have a ton but the one that sticks with me the most was the first time seeing Ragnaros come out of his fiery pit in The Molten Core in WoW. Whew that shit was amazing.

 

[Deleted member 4367]

Just recently fighting Slave Knight Gael was a fairly jaw dropping moment for me.

 

[Ballpoint Ren]

The entirety of Operation 009 in The Wonderful 101.

If you've played it, you know what I'm talking about.

 

[Ashura T. Hedgehog]

The end of Sky Sanctuary Zone in Sonic 3 and Knuckles when Sonic runs up towards the Death Egg. This blew my mind as a kid.




This is how it looked to me back then.

 

[Rockstar]

1. Mario Bros (magic!)
2. Super Mario World (colorful!)
3. Mario 64 (freedom!)
4. RE7 on PSVR (holy shit!)

 

[Tyaren]

1. Super Mario 64, the first time I was navigating a character in three-dimensional space.
2. Zelda Ocarina of Time, the first time I got lost in a game world and story, and I realized games are more than just for little kids.
3. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, the first time I got to explore and experience an open world game.
4. Xenoblade Chronicles: I again and again was in awe of the imaginative and breathtakingly beautiful scenery. To me still one of the most beautiful games ever.
5. The Last Guardian, the first time I actually believed an AI character (Trico) was real, and not the first time I cried but the hardest I ever cried after a game.

Let's see what the next revelatory gaming experience will be. :)

 

[jonjonaug]

1. Playing Super Mario Bros 3 at a neighbor's house (my first video game back in 1993 or so)
2. My cousin showing off Star Road in Super Mario World
3. The final boss of Yoshi's Island at a friend's house
4. Nintendo's N64 promotional video
5. Getting Ramia in Dragon Warrior 3 on the GBC, then later the 2nd world twist
6. Like a dozen different things about Majora's Mask, particularly the Anju and Kafei quest and how it tied together so many NPCs
7. Watching segmented speedruns of Ocarina of Time (some of which turned out to be spliced together, but they were cool at the time)
8. Getting off the boat in Morrowind and being told "OK, do whatever", then stumbling on the Icarian Flight scroll guy a little bit later.
9. Nier NG+
10. The Four Kings fight in Dark Souls 1. I've cleared it 50 times and I'm still tense every time (I am terrified of big empty voids in video games)
11. Pretty much all of Bayonetta
12. Dragon's Dogma, everything after you beat the Dragon
13. The last level in Wonderful 101
14. Getting the flight module in Xenoblade X
15. Nier Automata ending E
16. Getting off the Great Plateau in BOTW and realizing just how ridiculously open the game is

 

[Pyro]

1. Being betrayed by Shepherd in CoD: MW2

2. Pretty much all the colossi in SotC

3. The last Codec call in MGS2: SoL

4. The Last Guardian. I was stuck (or at least thought I was) for five minutes trying to figure out how to get Trico across when he fucking jumped it and convinced me he was real and not just a dumb AI.

 

[RoninChaos]

The dark world opening up in a link to the past.

Seeing super Mario world was fucking amazing.

Mario 64. Operating Mario in 3d space blew my mind.

kefka moving the statues in FFVI.

Raiding molten core for the first time and seeing Ragnaros come out of his pit and then tanking him. I'll never forget that. Hell all of vanilla raiding just felt beyond epic. Same with wrath. Killing Arthas was AMAZING.

 

[Spenny]

Mario 64 demo blew my fucking mind.

 

[PrimeBeef]

First was seeing Warmech in F1.
Next would be gong to the moon in FF4.
Suplexing a mother fucking train in FF6.
Getting killed by the Butcher in Diablo.
Crossing the SW bridge in WoW.
Ragnaros in MC.
Everything but the bosses and shrines in BotW.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

2001-2002: Seeing Dead or Alive 2 on my brother's PS2. My idea of video games at that point was really only limited to the likes of Mario World, Mario Kart, and other simple 16-bit games (I was only like 4-5 at the time), but one summer my stepbrother brought over his PS2 with a few games, the most notable being DOA2:Hardcore, and let me tell you that game blew my fucking balls off. The sheer detail in the stages, the character animations, everything was leagues beyond what I had been accustomed to. Not bad for a basically unfinished port of a Dreamcast title.

2005-2006: Being at my grandma's house and playing Nintendogs on her DS. I had never used a touchscreen anything before then, and as far as I was concerned, this was the future.

2005-2006: Playing Ace Combat 5 for the first time and

Spoiler

encountering the twist at the end of the 2nd act. Just when you thought the game was about to be over. Everything was following the same story beats as the previous game, and then suddenly shit hits the fan, your HQ brands your squadron as traitors and you must find a new home and defeat the power that had been pulling the strings the whole time. There was still a solid 3rd of the game left.

2007: Watching the Sony E3 presser and seeing the MGS4 trailer. As a PS2/Gamecube only kid, I had yet to really see what a next-gen title could look like, and lo and behold, I was blown away by the absolutely insane animation quality and choreography of the cutscene (I believe it was the one where Raiden is breakdancing with the Geckos attached to his feet and Vamp fucks him up).

2007: Playing Wii Sports at my grandma's house. Again, this was the fucking future. I could hold the controller and swing it like an actual tennis racket. Shit was nuts.

2008: Getting a Wii with Mario Galaxy. Even though I knew the games on the 360 and PS3 were of higher fidelity, I was just in awe of the the stellar lighting quality and art design. I think the specific moment where I was officially impressed was when I encountered the Queen Bee and saw the fur shader.

2009: My first true online gaming experience. It was with Zelda Phantom Hourglass of all things in the absolutely forgotten multiplayer mode connected to a Sprint Mifi card of all things. We didn't have high speed internet at our house, so this was the best we had.

2011: Discovering stereo sound and a clean crisp composite signal. Okay, this one's a bit embarrassing. As far back as I can remember, I had been connecting my video cables for my games to a VCR with a coax cable in the back going to the TV, and I just kinda accepted it for what it was. However, one day, I was playing Skyward Sword, and for some reason I looked behind the TV and saw a few AV jacks directly on the back of the TV. As such, I figured that I could completely bypass the VCR and just connect there instead, and holy shit, the video signal looked leagues better, and I was actually hearing stereo panning effects (it was a little more obvious because that right channel had literally never been used, and every piece of audio that used the right channel was much louder).

2013: Surround Sound Gaming. The entire previous year, I had been saving up for a new TV and a surround sound system for my bedroom. So by Christmas of the previous year, I finally had everything I had been saving up for. It took me a little while to get everything set up, but I remember the first thing I played on my new system was the intro to Ace Combat 5, and holy shit, the bass rocked my socks.

2013: The MGSV E3 Trailer: I just remember sitting in front of the TV watching this and being absolutely floored at not only how good the game looked and how big the world was, but the sheer flexibility in gameplay options, the awesome (looking) story, and killer soundtrack. It had definitely become my most anticipated game at the time

2013: HD gaming. After gaming on a CRT for so long, it was so good to finally get a PS3, pop in MGS HD Collection, and Uncharted 1/2 and bask in how fucking crisp everything looked.

Various years: Multiple Smash announcements ranging from Megaman, Bayonetta (whom I had voted for), and Joker

2015: The E3 Holy Trinity. The Last Guardian, FF7R, and Shenmue 3 were all fucking real and coming eventually. It was doubly awesome to experience this in a huge movie theater with a large audience. Definitely the most hype E3 presser ever.

2017: Playing through Nier Automata. Holy shit, that was a fucking game. From the insanity that is the beginning of route C to the absolute classic marriage between gameplay and storytelling that is ending E, Nier Automata was one of those experiences that you'll never forget your first way through.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Playing Elite on the Atari ST and the scope of the game dawning on me. What's even crazier is that I didn't know that it was originally released on the BBC micro over decade earlier. To this day, that game on that platform blows my mind.

Plugging a set of headphones into the Mega Drives headphone socket and *really* hearing Yuzo Koshiro's score.

The trial scene in Chrono Trigger, specifically when they brought on witnesses that referenced things I'd done earlier in the game.

The ending of Panzer Dragoon Saga. The first time I had that strong an emotional reaction to a game's narrative. I was numb the next day.

Seeing Soul Calibur running for the first time. My jaw was on the floor, the visuals, the animation! I thought games would never look better. The step up from what I was used to was ridiculous.

Watching a promotional video for Metroid prime and realising that they'd absolutely nailed, not only the gameplay but the whole atmosphere and feel of a Metroid game in 3D. Went from being super cynical and not interested to being unbearably excited in anticipation of playing it.

Resident Evil 4. I think the precise moment it dawned on me that I was playing something special was when I met the merchant for the first time. The game I'd bought on a whim out of boredom and knew next to nothing about had hooked me.

Obligatory "leaving the sewers" comment regarding Oblivion.

And the most recent one is PS VR. The first time in a long time I felt like I was experiencing something new.

 

[Lant_War]

I never had a 7th generation console of my own and the little I played on PC was usually with the lowest settings possible, so the jump from Ratchet and Clank 3 to Uncharted 4 blew my mind. I couldn't believe what I was seeing

 

[SofNascimento]

Not a comprehensive list, but a few on the top of my head:

1. Prince of Persia. Defeating a fat guard. Not really a tech thing but it's probably one of my earliest gaming memories
2. Nemesis openning a door in RE3. I had no idea he could do it. My brain melted.
3. Max Payne left a strong impression on me. Both becuse of the bullettime effect but because characters faces looked so real.
4. Gears of War. I think it was the only game that gave a "this is next gen, this is something that wasn't possible before".
5. Mass Effect 2, Shadow Broker ship. That section taught me what atmosphere is, and how it can enhance your experience of a game.
6. The Witcher 3 is probably the most beautiful game I've ever played. Its mix of both technical prowess and artstyle is incredible.
7. Mass Effect Andromeda, the faces and deadeyes. They still haunt me.

 

[Deleted member 13015]

The Sonic Adventure demo on Emerald Coast with that amazing killer whale sequence.

 

[litebrite]

Playing MGS on my PS1 and being blown away at how cinematic it was with it's high production values.. I remember being in awe fighting bosses who were talking back in the midst of battling them or when Pyscho mantis reads your memory card or makes your controller vibrate as a show of his power

 

[scottbeowulf]

Is this just about tech-related amazement? Because no graphical breakthrough will ever compare to the mindblowage that comes from booting up vanilla Dragon's Dogma for the first time.

Click to shrink...

I love you

 

[Tonypark]

When I played all 3 danganronpa games in a row. Amazing experience.

 

[Linde]

1. Finding Kanto in Pokemon silver
2. Mario Galaxy's existence
3. When 999 clicked
4. Jumping off the plateau in botw

 

[Dary]

Realising that wasn't a backdrop.

 

[banter]

SNES: Super Metroid was my first holy shit moment(s) in gaming. It's the reason I really got into games. I played games before it but it was more of a "it's raining so I guess I'll do this" than an actual hobby.

1) Discovering Samus was female. (it was my first metroid game, granted it was right in the opening sequence, it was unexpected for me... I was 8. *shrugs*)
2) Blowing up the glass tube to get into Maridia. (I never watched the "demo footage" long enough to see it until after I'd done it myself)
3) Using the grapple beam to electrocute the Maridia boss.
4) Discovering Tourian.
5) Being attacked by the grown up Metroid "baby".
6) Mother brain's second form.
7) Being saved by the Metroid that attacked earlier.
8) Watching the Metroid die and being bestowed with the hyper beam.

Thinking about these moments now actually show a lot about things I like in gaming. Exploration and discovery are a huge deal for me, I love it. Unexpected elements that fundamentally make perfect sense to the game and/or story. The world was so organic and well put together that when you discovered new places (like Maridia and Tourian especially), you feel like you've legitimately discovered something new and get to explore this amazing new thing. And the music, oh man, the music was so fitting and atmospherically relevant. This was also when I realized that games could actually have stories, and good ones that make you feel things (granted a lot of it back then was playing out in your own imagination).

 

[Deleted member 9100]

Surprised to not see anyone posting Morrowind or GTA 3 yet. The openness of these games was absolutely insane when they first released.

Everquest also blew my mind a few years earlier. Not only was the world enormous, but everyone you saw was being controlled by a real person.

 

[kittens]

fun thread :)

1. I distinctly remember seeing a video game for the first time (Super Mario Bros.) when I was five years old and deeply fucking flabergasted that my cousin was making the little red pixel person ON THE TV run and jump. A year later I got my own NES and...

2. Zelda. I was instantly enthralled with the open fantasy world and the sheer sense of danger and adventure. I think the biggest single moment for me was finding the magic sword for the first time. Like I *knew* there would be something under one of those gravestones, but the pay off was so much better than I expected. I also remember being blown away by that wall you could walk through in the NE corner of the map.

In many ways ALTTP and Link's Awakening feel like an extension of the initial impression of adventure that the original game instilled, but each game also had its own moments of surprise for me. I really loved ALTTP's taste of what a slightly deeper game world could look like for Zelda, with LA continuing that thread with even more narrative and complexity. LA was charming as shit, I was so enamoured with that game as a kid. I got stuck in both games for probably 18 months each, so my time with them was somewhat extended and thorough lol. I was also poor so I replayed the shit out of my games.

3. Super Mario 64. I was about to turn twelve when it came out and I got it day one. I don't really have to explain how momentous that was lol

4. Goldeneye was an amazing introduction to multiplayer FPS, but Perfect Dark took it so much farther with the options and thirteen year old me got OBSESSED. But it wasn't too long till it got dethroned by number

fucking


four:


4. HALO


YOU CAN MOVE AND AIM AT THE SAME TIME?
MELEE AND GRENADES HAVE THEIR OWN BUTTONS?
THESE ENEMIES ARE ACTUALLY FUN??
WAIT THERE'S VEHICLES TOO?

damn hmm ok let's try the multiplayer...
....
..........
oh.my. god

5. dark souls