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If my memory serves me megadrive mortal kombat blood code!
If my memory serves me megadrive mortal kombat blood code!
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What a great thread:
1. Beating an asian player in arcade stage initial D in Thailand - my heart felt like it was going to explode it was so close!
2. Comboing an entire cone challenge in a race on PGR2
3. Finally finishing Radiant Silvergun on one credit after about a month solid training.
4. Playing Shenmue for the first time.
5. Realising there was a whole 2nd disc in Grandia (the original)
6. The tower battles in Panzer Dragoon saga (actually the whole last area was mesmerising)
7. Getting to the Sphinx on Tomb Raider 1 - called the whole family in and they were all wowing at the graphics
8. Playing sonic adventures first stage after waiting aaages for shipping on an import DC - was soooooooooo worth it!
9. Playing a seven player match on Death Tank Zwei - was soo impressed with the multicoloured tank
10. *Spoilers*
ICO
SotC
Heres hoping for many more!Comment
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-Being pulled back into the hobby of videogames after playing Wipeout 2097. The sense of speed, the presentation, that was just awesome.
-The T-Rex making it's appearance in Tomb Raider, as well as seeing the Sphinx.
-Stepping out into Hyrule field in OoT, coupled with riding around on Epona. Not a big Zelda fan, but that was memorable.
-Playing GTA3 and discovering Liberty City. That city felt so real, and it's still my favourite be in.Comment
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Playing 4-player split screen in Goldeneye 007 and Mariokart 64 for the first time.
Connecting to Xbox Live and playing Halo 2 online.
Those are probably the 2 of the most important moments to me, moments which have defined which console I bought and what I did with my spare time.Comment
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Ocarina of Time - I'd had bit of a Gaming hiatus from 1992 to 1996. I didn't really enjoy many of the games I'd played until I came across Ocarina of Time. The first game I loved and wanted to finish. Beautiful game.
Shenmue - Everything about this game had me in Awe. A beautifully realised experience and game. The attention to detail was breathtaking.
Afterburner, Out Run and Powerdrift - Can't mess with that Sega magic.
Smash TV - First non Sega arcade game I fell in love with.
Can't think of anything else...Comment
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- Playing Space Invaders and Asteroids in any arcade/pub/hotel/service station/seaside I ever went to as a kid.
- Playing Adventure and Space Invaders on my Atari!
- Playing anything that came my way on my Dad's ZX81, spectrum, and then Amiga.
- Typing in code listings with my dad, and playing our own Space Invaders clone.
- Playing the SF2 series in the arcades - beating people I didn't know and being the first person I knew to complete Super Turbo, complete with on-looking crowd.
- Playing Hard Drivin' 2 while learning to drive in real life.
- Playing Archon with a friend on the Amiga, over and over again.
- Playing Xenon 2 on Amiga - it was the coolest thing of all time.
- Playing through Zelda and Super Mario World, Mario Kart on the SNES.
- Reading Mean Machines/C+VG, and feeling part of something cool.
- The Sunday that the Ridge Racer machine got set to 6 credits for ?1, the skin was falling off of our hands we played it so much that day.
- Playing Quake, then Quake 3 at lunch at work over the LAN.
- Seeing games I'd written reviewed by magazines I loved, and getting good scores!
- Playing a pre-release demo of Gran Turismo at a conference. Playing the PS2 demo of Gran Turismo 3.
- Owning a SF2CE JAMMA cab, which lived in my kitchen for 6 months or so.
- Wiring up a JAMMA PCB of Final Fight to my TV, turning it on and... it working!!
- Playing through GC Super Monkey Ball on Expert with my mate.
- Playing through Gears of War co-op in one sitting.
- Playing in a Street Fighter tournament this year. And then finding people nearby to practice with, (much needed, as I got destroyed).
- My 3 year old son doing fireballs in SF using my Hori RAP, aaaaah
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- Playing Space Invaders and Asteroids in any arcade/pub/hotel/service station/seaside I ever went to as a kid.
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My big moment was putting on SF2 Champion edition on my brand new Megadrive. It was a very spiritual experience.
Then I realised you had to hit Start to change from punch to kick.Comment
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There have been plenty of defining moments like Jet Set Willy, Another World, Monkey Island, Space Quest III etc etc. though I'm only going to mention those from 1996 and beyond as they're the ones which are really etched into my memory. There have been similar threads before so I'm going to just paste in what I've said (and add a couple more games I haven't previously) as there's no point echoing myself. I already do a spectacular job of that in the here and now. :P
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Super Mario 64 - I remember seeing the first import videos and what at the time appeared a revolutionary control mechanism. In fact, everything about this game felt revolutionary, and the buzz surrounding the N64 during 1996/97 was probably one of the most exciting moments in my videogaming history... Before I began pseudo-importing, I remember me and a bunch of friends hogging one of the machine pods at a supermarket for what seemed like hours. I can still vividly recall one person spending quite literally a whole hour to themselves in the castle gardens while we all watched on enviously.
Moment: Castle grounds. Learning the controls and jumping into a painting for the first time knowing nothing of what it would do.
Final Fantasy VII - This is one of the big ones for me, probably only topped by ICO in terms of the sheer impact it had at the time. Again, one of my neighbours had bought a Playstation, and brought it over to show me this hyped game called 'Final Fantasy' all the magazines had been raving about. Even though I owned an N64 by that point in time, I was still very much an Amiga/PC gamer, so naviely assumed it was going to be a fluffy RPG-lite experience... When the game first kicked up, we sat there watching the credit sequence for five minutes asking ourselves: is this it? When the intro for the game finally started we were indeed wowed by the fantastic FMV, but this was almost spoilt by what I at first thought to be awfully animated blocky characters. The further FFVII got played during our initial try, the more I dismissed it... After we'd got out of the Mako reactor and into the slums, my friend was already talking about returning the game for Time Crisis... I didn't say anything... The next day, despite writing FFVII off, something kept bugging me at the back of my mind... What was going to happen next? The question kept knawing at me, so I called up my friend and asked him to bring the Playstation around again, and also not to trade in FFVII quite so soon. This pattern continued for the next few days... And I remember being gutted when there were parts I'd missed that he'd played at home... Eventually, we were just getting ready to leave Midgar when he traded in the game for Time Crisis... For several weeks I was left anxiously wondering how the narrative was going to unfold, and if the hints of a whole world to explore outside of this mysterious city were going to prove correct... Eventually, I persuaded myself into picking up a Playstation for this one game, and played up to where we'd left off by myself, and became totally enthralled and amazed as both an epic scale and atmosphere ramped up notch by notch the more I dived in. For the duration I played that game, I lived, breathed and ate FFVII's world. For many years to come, I couldn't remember a more compelling title that had quite sucked me in like that. Oh, and it's music is never going to leave my head, especially One Winged Angel...
Moment: Cloud explaining his past to the team in the Nibelheim flashback.
Metal Gear Solid - This was hyped up something rotten in the press, and after a six month wait (I still had a PAL machine at that point), I remember picking it up and just shutting myself away over the weekend. At first I wasn't expecting much... I'd played the Japanese language/English subtitle demo of MGS that got bundled with the first European PS version of ISS and didn't think all that much of it... But as soon as I got past the DARPA chief I found myself hooked into a world of espionage and intrigue... MGS ended up being another one of those games that had me living it's world from beginning to end.
Moment/s: Gray Fox's Metal Gear standoff, the fight on the roof and the mad bad jeep chase. (
Silent Hill - Less than a year later, never did I think Konami would be able to replicate such a feat of immersion. I wouldn't necessarily say I was scared, (although it did have it's moments).... rather the game's atmosphere imprinted itself and I felt quite strange as I continued to play I could sense something had got under my skin, but I also felt compelled to dive in further to unravel exactly why this was. All the more amazing, this impact was achieved through both night and day during the summer. By its end, I can say Silent Hill (in hindsight) had just as much potentency as MGS, although it's effect was built on less with intrigue on it's narrative, and more as to how at the time I didn't think a game could alter the way I felt in the ways that it did.
Moment: The transformation of the school and me losing my balls.
Shenmue - I remember reading my first preview of this in Edge and Total Control, hearing things such as how changes in the weather would obscure clues, stop ships from sailing, how there would be a 24 hour clock and you'd have to eat to survive... After reading all this and looking at the exquiste screens, I was salivating. Shenmue seemed like it was going to revolutionise everything within the adventure/RPG genre... I'd only just fully got onto the net by this point... It was late '99 and I was avidly keeping tabs on the original through IGN (when it used to be okay, or rather better than it is now)... In the end, after it came out in Japan, I buckled and by April the following year I decided to import the game, even though I knew I wouldn't understand a thing... Actually, this impenetration proved to be compelling, because I ended up approaching Shenmue like a tourist flung into a land without a language book. The detail and wealth of realism at the time... The structure of the game's progression was unlike anything I'd witnessed, even though it didn't live up to media pre-release claims... Quite honestly, I felt like a stranger in a stranger's land, and the atmosphere and uniqueness of Shenmue had me gripped quite literally for months. Like all the other titles I've previously mentioned, there was that intangible quality which imprinted onto me the importance of what a first play-through can do to a person.
Moment: Walking around Dobuita getting lost and losing myself in the hypontic vibe.
ICO - I don't need to say much about this to reveal the overwhelming effect it had on me, but I suppose a quick history lesson might clear things up. Before I even heard of ICO, I had been looking forward to MGS 2 for over a year... After the PSOne prequel, this ended up being the one big game I was anticipating... I kept track of it on the net day after day... Then Konami did the unthinkable - It put in another six month European wait again, and I owned a PAL PS2... I couldn't help but stumble upon plot spoiler after plot spoiler for MGS 2 after it's US/Japanese release even though I wasn't specifically looking for them. At the time I just wanted to discuss the game with other likeminded individuals who -hadn't- played it... And so my enthusiasm wained... I felt deflated until I entered a competiton to go to the ICA and attend a media pre-release European event where it would be possible to pose some questions to Hideo Kojima... I jumped at the chance and ended up winning a place... After I got there I understood there was going to be a 'making of' documentary and when I saw it, everything about the game (all the important plot elements) got revealed... Despite being honoured in getting the chance to pose questions at Hideo Kojima in the flesh, I also felt secretly gutted that the game I'd so long been waiting for got ruined... When MGS 2 eventually came around early March of 2002, it proved to be a crushing anti-climax, and I found I didn't enjoy the gameplay or the plot... So, by that point, and after focusing on one single game for so long, I felt somewhat disillusioned with videogaming... Then later that month I heard a title I knew little of, a title that some people on the net had been whispering about, was approaching it's European debut... So I picked ICO up, not knowing what to expect, and after loading it found myself completely floored. In hindsight, and considering what ICO means to me now, I don't think my disappointment in MGS2 altered what I thought of it at the time... Even if every expectation had been fulfiled by that very game, it was evident ICO was simply in a class of it's own, wielding a certain ambience and power that felt quite unlike anything I'd experienced in any other media. To this day it's the only game that's managed to generate an emotional connection which hasn't degraded over age... From my point of view, ICO is timeless in that it's world functions in a separate state away from other fiction... To be blunt, every single time I interact with that game, even if it's just to play a small slice... I find the escapism and atmosphere overwhelmingly powerful. It only took me two nightly sessions to originally complete, but those sessions were something I'll always saviour. And the thing which gets me about ICO is that after multiple play-throughs, I've always felt the exact same way come completion. It really is magical stuff... To see media as rich as this is rare, and I believe it only happens a couple of times every generation (our generation that is), so again, I'm privledged to have been around at a time when perhaps the pinnacle of videogaming atmospherics, characterisation and emotion was first truly fleshed out to the degree to which it's potential so often aspires.
Moment: Inside a gigantic cave and pulling myself out of a huge pool of water only to see the sunlight gently but powerfully bend around a crack in the chasm and burn directly into my eyes.
Manhunt - Second only to ICO during the last generation in terms of atmopshere, it's a dark, twisted experience which leaves a pretty remarkable aftertaste. I remember playing it over the course of a day, from morning until pretty much night. The game's previously been slated for being shallow and overly violent... though a lot of the initial criticism in my opinion came from those who already had something of a beef with Rockstar way back when there was the GTA backlash within the community. Along with Silent Hill, it's one of the most disturbing and generally thought provoking 'horror' games ever released. But to narrowly categorise it is doing the game an injustice. It's a title which which manages to successfully jump from genre to genre seamlessly without falling apart - not only is crammed with popculture references ranging from Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York, Seven, The Warriors etc. but it's a game which can jump from being about stealth, bloody, frantic action, horror, thriller and adventure all in the space of a few minutes. Influences, some obscure, some not, are present from MGS, GTA, Resident Evil to Silent Hill. In other words, there's a whole range of inspirations, and it's to the game's credit that it still manages to carve out its own distinctive identity in and amongst the nods. Then there are the innovations... the change to the gameplay when you're wearing the headset and how it almost becomes a fifth wall Wii-like experience in breaking the barriers between you and the screen, the relationship and the methods in delivering Starkweather's characterisation and the way he adapts to how you choose to play, not to mention the sense of progression (in a strange way, structurally Manhunt is more 24 than 24: The Game itself is). And the end. I'll go as far as to say features the best 'end boss' (it reverses your position as stalker to being stalked) I've encountered. Something so horrible that the best way I can describe it with immediacy is that the end is like hiding from something in a nightmare. The tension is electric.
Moment: The end. Nothing more needs to be said.
Panzer Dragoon Saga - Simply magical. I first played the game in the run up to Orta's release back in 2003 but it's stayed with me ever since. From the dazzling off-key ambience in Uru, to the earthly, tribal-like maze of Zoah's Forest and the swirling vortex of the Forbidden Zone, what Saga possesses is that rarest of atmosphere. Much like ICO, it's a game that despite all the hype, the knowledge and the conversation around feels like it's only happening to you during the time you play it. There's an intimacy present which barely ever happens these days, especially not in the communication net-driven world we live in today. That's what makes it so special... it really does feel as though you're stepping into another world when you play it. It's a game which doesn't have to present a fully fleshed out worldmap to you straight from theoff. You just know it somehow all exists. That's the genius of Panzer.
Moment: Discovering Uru in twilight for the first time and melting into a puddle.
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Special mentions must also go to Orta, San Andreas, Half-Life 2, SotC, Killer7, Resident Evil 4 and Stranger's Wrath last generation too.Comment
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How come Concept always writes the best posts?
Well done Sir!Comment
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Oh yeah, and DC Rez. Picking up the last copy and getting home on a late Friday night to be encased in a cocooned 3am neonness won't ever be forgotten. There was something about playing that game which made it seem as though I was visiting the past and future at the same time.
Cheers.Originally posted by Wools View Post Most stupidly overwritten posts is a more accurate description though. 
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In some sort of chronological order (I hope):
~ Playing Defender on a little tabletop LCD version of the game. Probably my earliest gaming experience and it explains why I'm so into 2d shooters.
~ Playing Pacman for the first time on a little handheld Mini Munchman LCD game. I was about 5 and played that and Defender endlessly. I was gutted when the Mini Munchman game got lost in a house move.
~ Playing Moon Cresta on a carvan site while on holiday. My first shot of an upright and the first vertical shooter I ever played.
~ Receiving an Acorn Electron for Christmas. My bro and I played the free Dodgems game a lot.
~ Buying a secondhand Speccy 48k. My intro to home computing and a whole world of games.
~ Upgrading to a C64. So many classic games - R-Type, X-Out, Creatures, Bubble Bobble etc.
~ First shot of Alex Kidd on the Master System. Seemed a world apart from the games on the C64. OK the 64 sometimes had the edge graphically and most of the soically but the MS pad was so much better than a keyboard.
~ First visit to the local arcade. Dark, smoky, flashing attract screns and hideous decor. Great.
~ Buying a MegaDrive. So proud I had saved up enough money and so many classic titles that followed.
~ First issue of Edge. It was so good to read a decent looking and somewhat more mature games magazine.
~ Daytona USA arcade game. Awesome stuff. Racing your mates, incredible visuals and enough challenge in single player to make you feel like it was worth another 50p.
~ Seeing Total Eclipse running on the 3DO. I instantly knew I wanted one and quickly realised that 3D was the way games were headed.
~ The Big 3 Christmas when the Saturn was king of the arcade conversions.
~ Rushing home with my shiny new Orchid Righteous 3D Voodoo based video card. Fired up Quake, patched it. Played it. Guff. Made me wonder if 3d was such a good idea after all.
~ First shot of a PlayStation. Jesus the pad was awful.
~ Buying a Neo Geo AES. Now that's a controller. And NAM 1975 at home!
~ Playing Unreal iat 1024x768 on my Voodoo 2 SLI setup. Looked wonderful. Maybe this 3d stuff wasn't so bad after all.
~ The Dreamcast launch. The best launch ever. I've never spent so much money on games in one go.
~ Seeing Soul Calibur DC in action for the first time. Playing it was nearly as good.
~ Buying a PCE Duo-R. And quickly realising it must be the most over rated system ever.
~ Rez. Nuff Said.
~ Buying my first Supergun and MVS setup. All those Neo Geo classics were so much cheaper than on the AES.
~ Playing Halo for the first time. Great control and wonderful game play. Still the best FPS ever made.
~ Eating my words when I first tried the DS. It's not a gimmick after all.
~ PGR3. Wow!
~ Geometry Wars. Seminal gameplay. A genuine classic already.
~ PGR3. Not so wow now. I bought a real sports car and the virtual versions all of a sudden just lost their appeal.
~ Starting Gears Of War. My God those visuals are all in-game. Plays well too.
Hopefully many more of these defining moments to come.Comment
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Slighty OT, but seeing Nine Fingers running on the Amiga was also another wow moment. As was canning my brother on Speedball 2.Comment
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Playing Halo for the first time. The finest combat experience in gaming, IMO. I don't play many games now but I am thinking about picking up a 360 just for H3, such is the impact that the series had on me.
The same for JSR on the DC. Oh my god, the music, the coolness!!
Finishing MGS on the Playstation. It was the first game that left me slack jawed by its mature narrative.
Xbox Live! It rocked my world from 2002 to 2005. God only knows how many hours I spent on Ghost Recon, Moto GP 2 and PGR 2.Last edited by Richard.John; 22-03-2007, 23:42.Comment
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Finally meeting Dr. Janice Polito in System Shock 2. If you've played the game, you know what I mean.
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