Magic little touches you didn't expect.

[Alf-Life]

No, not like that.

OK, I'm going to cheat a little bit and say that after all the great little touches in GTA3, when I first got that, I have to say when I got out of my car and was running down the street pressing the 'punch' button every so often, I half expected the Rocky music to start up, and pedestrians to start following me.
Oh well.

As for a 'real' candidate for 'magic little touches', well, when I first shot my first Banshee down in and on Halo instead of exploding, it came crashing down towards me and as I moved just in time, it skidded across the ground, tipped, and fell into the river. Pretty darn class.

Oh, and maybe when one of those guards in Quake 2 struggled up during his death animation and took a shot at me.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

I think the most startling one was when I realised I could command guards to follow and fight with me in Half-Life, it was such an obvious step forward but had been lacking in every FPS up until then ( and most since, *sigh* ).

[Tom Salter]

Hyrule Field. How amazing was that when the camera panned around and showed me the massive area I was about to cross? It doesn't get better than that, kiddies!

[Firsty]

Too bad it was a boring big void eh?

I Loved the ending to Space Channel 5, right after the credits finished and you think it's all over it throws in one last "up." Of course I missed it first time, but I thought it was hilarious.

[Moodmon]

Super Tails in S3&K. Seriously. Flicky powered bad-ass that he is.

Having to draw your sword in Wind Waker. To me it makes so much of a difference. Facing off against some bad guys, you look them in the eye, then 'schink'.

[Sketcz]

Super Metroid:
I was astounded by the fact that Samus had different standing animations depending on wether she as standing left or right. Most games the player switches gun hands because they just flip the sprite, but with SM, there was reall love put into it. Its a traversty that so many sprite based games still flip the sprites, not only are they ambidextrous, but they also change clothing, and suddenly the eye patch is on a different eye!

[Ish]

The physics system in Exile on the Beeb. I spent ages on the surface just watching my character tumble round in the wind. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything like that in a game.

I'd go with Alf-Life on the shooting down of the Banshee. I'd expected it to just blow up too... but no... it nearly lands on my head!

[iangilroy]

I loved the TV shows in Max Payne 2 for their cheesy stories, relevance to the overall plot and the way that they integrated with the theme park.

They didn't have to make that much effort, but I'm glad they did.

Also, the banana-collecting credits on Monkey Ball - lovely.

[Ish]

Another one from me. This time related to game packaging. The first PC game I ever bought was Ultima 6. When I opened the box I was genuinely surprised (and quite happy about it) to find a cloth map. And a little plastic rune thing. But it was the cloth map I thought was ace.

And the ship blueprints in the original Wing Commander were another 'magic touch' too.

(both Origin games there - back when Origin were the mutts nuts)

[Ady]

Excellent thread. One of those threads where stuff leaps out of your head as soon as you hit the reply button.

For one; the use of sound in Ico, from large, echoey halls and rooms to windy outside locations. Ico is simply one of the most organic games in existence, and its use of sound is largely the reason for this.

[Pirotic]

i remember the first time i hit somebody on the head with a net in Animal Crossing, i thought nothing would happen but after a few whacks the character went physco at me, class

also the first time i shot a gun out of somebodys hand in Metal Gear Solid, then he runs off

[Moodmon]

Good old TIE Fighter.

"Hello Captain. Yes, for this mission you will be flying the new top-of-the-range TIE Defender, able to take on Star Destroyers single handedly, and beat the hell out of those dodgy A-Wings. However, due to the importance of this mission, you will not be the flight leader on this mission. I know, you've done a sterling job since your introducing into the Imperial Fleet, but I've got orders from higher up, so your callsign is Delta 5.

By the way, the flight leader is a Lord D. Vader."



[In mission] "(Heavy breathing) Destroy the rebel scum."

Oh lordy. Now that was a magical moment.

[DjSatansfury]

Deus Ex

Probably not the first FPS to have RPG elements, but it did a damn good job of it

And of course, you have the 3 excellent endings

[spagmasterswift]

Its going back some but being able to get across a level of Sonic with out touching the ground (bouncing on baddies and pegging it along the tops of trees).

Maybe that?s more than a "little touch".

How about Link's eyes looking at things of importance or the Shark in VJ spitting out a Gamecube? Wonder if that will be changed to a PS2...

[Pirotic]

it'll probably come out of his other orifice in the PS2 version :P