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A game that amazed you the first time you saw it?

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
AAA games are built to "amaze" you the first time, it's your fault if you aren't amazed.
 
Most recently Control with RTX. Feels like the first true taste of next-gen. More than Metro Exodus but I guess that's due to the settings and how RTX effects were used.
 

Romulus

Member
I remember playing sega Genesis at walmart and hearing some kids behind me in the pc section playing a game. First time that I saw Doom. That was mind blowing to go from basic 2d platformers to an fps. I must have been 12 or 13. I remember distinctly thinking that it was next level and the future of gaming.

The next time was probably wave race 64 then Halo CE. Sega arcade games get an honorable mention.

After that, the only adult experience that rivals my Doom revelation was using VR for the first time. I had no idea the tech was that immersion.
 

LokusAbriss

Member
Project Gotham Racing 3 (next-gen-hd-feeling)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2 release without camera fix)
Death Stranding
Burnout 3: Takedown
Need for Speed: Underground
 

Makariel

Member
page1-425px-OutRun_Arcade_JP_Flyer.pdf.jpg
 

xPikYx

Member
Donkey Kong Country
Killer Instinct (Arcade)
Turok 2 on N64 with expansion pack
Devil May Cry
Resident evil rebirth GameCube
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Xbox
Crysis
God of war 3
GTA5 with last mods on PC
RDR2
Control Ray Tracing Ultra
Probably something else I don't remember
 

zombrex

Member
Oblivion. The graphics and stratosphere completely blew me away at the time.
Walking through the cave and seeing and hearing the rats at the start of the game actually scared me. I had never before played such a game in my life.

Rogue squadron on GameCube was another. I played the demo unit at Kmart too many times to count. Thought the graphics looked amazing.
 
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CyberChulo

Member
Space Harrier on the SMS
Battle Arena Toshinden on PS1
MGS2 on PS2
God of War 1, 2 and 3
Uncharted
The Last of Us
Uncharted 4
God of War PS4
Horizon Zero Dawn
 

LordKasual

Banned
Final Fantasy 7-9, each time it just got crazier. Final Fantasy X was a big one too. I distinctly remember seeing FF7 with my family and being blown away by how it looked. I don't know how those blocky characters looked "SO REAL" to us, but it did.

Sonic Adventure running on Dreamcast. And then Sonic Adventure 2 looked so ridiculously smooth to me, and now i know it's because it ran at 60fps.

Metroid Prime was also an amazing game for the generation.


Super Smash Bros Melee was a really big one. Not only was the contrast between SSB64 and Melee massive, but the amount of STUFF in the game was just insane.

I remember being absolutely floored over how Link's hookshot behaved like an actual chain. And how you could pause and see every single slash and detail in his clothing during his jumping spin attack, it just looked so fucking cool.


Halo: Combat Evolved was another big one, i remember spending so much time looking at the walls in that game. It was one of the first games i'd seen using Bump Mapping and i just couldn't get over it.
 
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I remember thinking how I could actually be Luke Skywalker and fly a X-wing fighter the first time I saw the Star Wars arcade game from 1983.

I was also pretty blown away, watching a VHS trailer of Sonic CD in the window of what was probably an Electronics Boutique; the opening animation and quasi-3D scene of Sonic running through the loop sold me on the hardware.
 
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- I had a Sega MasterSystem and I was shocked when I saw the first stage of Strider running on the Mega Drive.

- But I almost came away BRAIN DAMAGED from the video store after seeing SUPER MARIO 64 and controlling Mario in a fully 3D and beautifully rendered castle garden.
 

Caio

Member
Virtua Fighter 2
Sega Rally Arcade
GranTurismo
Mario64
MGS2 and MGS4
Uncharted2 and 3
KillZone2
Horizon Zero Dawn
GOW
Gears 1 and 2
Forza Horizon 4 on XBox One X
 

Vandole

Member
I'm old enough that I can say Super Mario Bros. Home video games just didn't look that good. The character sprites were large and colorful. He didn't have to use your imagination to understand what they were either. Mario, at least Super Mario, looked like a dude with a mustache. you can tell that the things he was jumping on were mushrooms and turtles. And the background music was catchy as hell.

Anyway, there were more games since then. Super Castlevania IV was pretty amazing. Donkey Kong country got an audible out of me when I saw it for the first time as well. Same with NiGHtS into Dreams. I think the last game to really wow me visually was Sonic Adventure. looking at the water in that game was pretty incredible. Sega knew they did a good job with it too, and made sure to include a lot.
 

RetroAV

Member
As far as arcades go, it was pretty much anything from Sega, Mortal Kombat (when it first came out), and Killer Instinct pretty much.

For consoles:
3rd Gen: NES - Castlevania & Double Dragon. Wasn't really into gaming until I got my hands on these. It was love at first sight!

4th Gen: GENESIS - Altered Beast. Going from NES to GENESIS...It was like having an arcade at home! The sprites were so much bigger and detailed!

5th Gen: SATURN - ...I think it was Virtua Fighter 2 because I wasn't expecting it to be that close to the arcade, but it could have also been NiGHTS into dreams... just based on the fact that I didn't think the Saturn could do such beautiful and colorful 3D worlds.

6th Gen: DREAMCAST - Virtua Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, NFL 2K. Dreamcast shined so bright, so fast, it fizzled out.

7th Gen: XBOX 360 - Kameo, PDZ, PGR 3. I remember being impressed by HD and the various shaders and texture mapping techniques in these launch games.

8th Gen: XBOX ONE - Ryse: Son of Rome. Not really impressed with either launch line-ups, but Ryse was more impressive to me than Killzone: Shadow Fall which felt like a step back (artistically) from Killzone 2 & 3 (as strange as that may sound).
 
Ms Pac Man on the Atari 2600 was amazing to my young brain when it first came out. Coming after that weird Pac Man port, I thought this was about as close to an arcade perfect port as we'd ever get at home.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Here are the ones I can remember, on top of the ones many others mentioned:
StarFox - made me want a SNES over Genesis
Night Trap - yea, kind of embarrassing, I guess, but FMV really was super impressive back then
Virtua Fighter 3 - my local arcade had this game, and it was the best looking game ever to that point.
Starsiege Tribes - When I got this running on my Voodoo2, it was so sharp, with the far horizon and rolling hills, really amazing looking game at the time.
Age of Empires 3 - weird pick, I know, but I was blown away at how much better it looked at the time compared to every other 3D strategy game, in terms of shadows, character details, animations, etc.
Crysis - came out 12 years ago and it's still one of the best looking games, makes no sense.
RDR2 - I was really stunned at how amazing this game looked on Xbox One X, it's really incredible.
 
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MastAndo

Member
Super Mario 64. An electronics store in my neighborhood had it on display in the window, and I used to walk by there almost every day and press my face up against the glass in complete awe. Eventually, a Toys R Us near us had a playable demo a few weeks before release - a friend and I would trek over there just to get a few minutes of playtime.

All in all, that feeling of being a kid where all you could think about (and all that mattered) was that anticipation of getting your hands on this amazing new game and system is something I'll hold near and dear forever.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
Graphics haven't impressed me in since like 2000. Its just something I don't care about.

shogun total war impressed and shogun 2. So much attention to detail in terms of game play. I felt like I was really commanding an army
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Morrowind. You get out of the hold of the boat and hear the silt strider lowing, see the trees and the mist. Nothing has come close to how that game transports you into another world.
 

Mazojin

Neo Member
As a kid, Crash Bandicoot just because it was my first game ever.
Then I remember playing the demo for Final Fantasy 8 for the first time and being blow away by the graphics of it at the time (somehow I didn't know about FF7 back then).

Otherwise, God of War series for practically perfecting Hack and Slash, the first Kingdom Hearts for its unique gameplay and set up of blending Disney with Final Fantasy.

More recently, The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War PS4, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
 

ZZZZ

Member
Final Fantasy VII ps1, Grand Theft Auto III on ps2 and later Shadow of Colossus.
Edit: MGS as well.
 
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Sega's peak arcade games: Virtua Fighter 3, SCUD Racer, Jurassic Park, Star Wars Trilogy--all mindblowing stuff as a kid.
2D wise Metal Slug, stared more than played, mesmerizing spritework.

Ocarina of Time impressive until Shenmue. Graphics/production values/world design insane for 2000 No other game as realistically detailed from same era. Pioneer ahead of its time in every way. Cinematic action open world with npc schedules, day/night cycle, QTEs decades before everyone else. Pt 2 even crazier.

PS3 lots of ugly games but Heavenly Sword, Uncharted 2, God of War 3, TLoU, Flower and GTA V all set new bar in my mind.

Assassin's Creed Unity/Order 1886 when bought PS4 to later Horizon/Detroit/Death Standing, nearly every PS4 game has dropped my jaw.
 

Gp1

Member
Tekken 2 on ps1
Daytona
Virtus Fighter 3
Scud Race
Unreal
...
Crysis



upscaled, yeah... but this looks straight out black magic in 1996
 
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Cutty Flam

Banned
GTA Vice City.
Definitely

GTA: Vice City
Paper Mario
Super Smash Bros.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Sunshine
Mario Party 2
Halo 3
Resident Evil REMake
Sonic The Hedgehog
Animal Crossing
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Halo 2
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
 
In no particular order this games amazed me the first time i saw them :D

DooM 1993
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario 64
Perfect Dark N64
Quake
Doom 3
Gears of War
Call of Duty
Metroid Prime
Star Wars Rogue Squadron - Rogue Leader NGC
Resident Evil 4 NGC
Crysis
Bioshock
G.R.A.W.
Project Gotham Racing 4
Forza Motorsport 4
Forza Horizon 3
Killzone 2
Uncharted 2
Last of Us PS3
Unreal Tournament 3 PS3
DooM 2016
Battlefield 1
EA Battlefront 2
Halo Xbox
Titanfall


Those are the one i remember for now. :)
 

VAL0R

Banned
Mario 64: When little VALOR walked past a blockbuster window and saw Mario 64 for the first time I was spellbound. Mario outside the castle, fish in the pond, the vibrant 3D world. It was like nothing I had ever seen.

Street Fighter II: When I saw the Street Fighter II arcade cabinet at a bowling alley I got home and told my mom all about it. I thought it was incredible. Me: "And mom, there is a ninja and a guy who can stretch and breathe fire and a big Russian wrestler, and...and.." Mom: That's nice Honey.
 

Bombolone

Gold Member
Half Life 2
MGS
MGS 2
Final Fantasy X
The Bouncer
Doom 3
Tekken 4

Half Life 2 - back in the day seeing the bump in fidelity. The facial animations. The talk about syncing lips to audio. I remember TF2 in this space as well. The physics being shown off. 👌

MGS - was like a action thriller come to life. The intro at the tanker. The elevator ride up. Tactical Espionage Action

MGS 2 - I got the demo of this on a disc. Played and played and played. (Ice cubes, bags of flour, watermelons) Blew my mind. The rain, 60fps. Loved the art style the PS2 was able to give Kojima

Final Fantasy X - I first saw the Japanese version running at a mall. It looked so fantastical and crisp. FFX just hits me in the feels, I was young at that time. Zanarkand... The music.

The Bouncer - was probably the 2nd game I got for my PS2. Again, was just crisp and pretty to look at. I like beat em ups and coming from the PS1, it looked like anime come to life. Dig the art style.

Doom 3 - what can I say. I have never had a beefy PC, but the lighting and atmosphere. Kept it on my PC and would go back to it everytime I could afford and upgrade.

Tekken 4 - I played this in the arcades. Good times. Beautiful, newness. Also my boy Jin rocking a new look and moveset. Was just a fun, upbeat 🔥

Ran out of edit time, my bad.
 
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Aion002

Member
Red Dead Redemption 2. Every time I play I discover a new small detail that was really well made.

RDR2 it's so visually polished that is truly impressive for me. I cannot even imagine how GTA6 or RDR3 will look if they keep pushing those things.
 

Gamernyc78

Banned
Mario world 64
Few Neo Geo games
Street Fighter 2
Uncharted 2 on a console even fooled professional who thought it wasn't gameplay
God of War 3
Killzone 2
GTA5 amazing how alive, detailed and fun tht world was when it first released
New God of War
Infamous Second Son
Both Tlou
Uncharted 4 graphics are insane
Horizon awed me
Most recently Ghost of T its amazing we can reach open world fidelity and still have great gameplay in games like Ghost of T and Horizon.
 
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Poordevil

Member
World of Warcraft blew me away. Not the graphics especially but the entire package. The wide open world, all the different players in game. Never experienced anything like it before.

I remember seeing Ocarina of Time for the first time on my 480i TV and thinking, this is as good as graphics ever need to look.
 

Faithless83

Banned
Another World intro. I thought at that time that this was the end of graphics.



Came to post this. A lot of games were impressive the first I saw them, but this one was the first. First time I saw it, it was running on a sega genesis in 1993.
I thought it was a sega cd game.

Also this, from the wikipedia page:
Fumito Ueda cited Another World as an inspiration for his creation of Ico. Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, said it was one of the five games that influenced him the most.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Tomb Raider 1 playing it on PC.

i had never played a 3D 3rd person game before. well that is a lie, i had played Alone in the Dark. i was not impressed.

ClosedTenseCuttlefish-size_restricted.gif


but aside from that, nothing. then i play Tomb Raider. so fast. so smooth. so fun to play. what a game!

tombraider.gif
 
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