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[veterangamerUK]

Mine will always be this. Owning a ZX Spectrum at the time, I went into my local computer shop and they had an Amiga on, running the Newtek Demo Reel 1.

Having been used to only 8 possible colours on screen , with colour clash, and dire sounds, this was a jaw-dropping moment. I was looking at images in the Amiga's 4096 colour HAM mode, listening to fantastic sampled sound and multi-tasking windows.

Buying one and taking it home , I had a whole new environment with the windows/icons and mouse interface. This ended up being my machine for the pinnacle of 2D gaming and it still holds up today. The Paula sound chip especially.

I have never had such a generational leap since.

 

[Kagey K]

Mario 64 vs everything that came before it on consoles.

FF7 for the cutscenes.

Halo after you escape the Pillar of Autumn.

Prey (2005) when you get kidnapped in the bar.

Bioshock and the plane crash opening.

Off the top of my head.

 

[Type_Raver]

Mario 64, fully realised 3d graphics and 360 degree movement.

That 4min Breath of the Wild trailer leading up to its release.

 

[LarknThe4th]

Playing Super Mario Bros. For the first time, the intro to Streets of Rage, stepping out into the world map for the first time in Final Fantasy VII, the rain falling on Snake in MGS 2, Buoy Base in Mario Galaxy just a stunning level, landing on the Halo ring, realising I had a whole new 2nd Sceneario to play in Resident Evil 2, the village in Resident Evil 4 best opening level ever

Too many moments Honestly, I still regularly get blown away by what videogames are, and where they are going

 

[sephiroth7x]

Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars - although not the first point and click by any means, the amount of depth and the quality of the story and acting blew me away when I first played it at 11 years old.

MGS2 Trailer - Not the game itself but the trailer that was released at E3 in 2000.

Bioshock plane crash was incredible.

FFVIII - The introduction FMV was the most incredible thing I had ever seen at the time.

 

[royox]

The whole Virgil conversation in Mass Effect 1 is still one of the most "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?" moments I remember in any media.

If we are talking about graphics there's only 1 winner no doubt:

 

[yunkaiza]

Beating Gascoigne in Bloodborne in my first playthrough. It was when the game "clicked" for me and its now my favourite game of all time.

 

[MrS]

Playing TLOZ on NES. Magical experience as a young kid. Seminal game.

 

[nkarafo]

 

[pachura]

Amiga, tunnel sections in Stardust:

 

[Orta]

Been a few, notably older stuff as I'm pretty jaded.....

1. Seeing Sonic the Hedgehog running on my tv for the first time. My jaw well and truly dropped.

2. Streets of Rage 1, a videogame shouldn't sound like this, surely?

3. Cobra Command on my Mega CD. This is the future of gaming!

4. Playing my first PC games (Doom & Quake) after being brought up exclusively on consoles. Graphical difference was night and day.

5. Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast, stunning set pieces.

6. Hyrule panning out before Link at the start of BOTW in Switch handheld mode. Fuck me, how is this possible!

7. Astrobot, just wow.

 

[Low Moral Fibre]

While it looks rough today leaving the vault in Fallout 3 was an amazing moment.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

• MUDS
• EGA/VGA graphics
• C64/Amiga
• NES super mario bros
• light guns at home
• Wolf3D/DOOM + mods
• DOOM/Quake LAN parties
• SNES e.g. mario kart/world, SFII, 4 player multitap bomberman
• Mario64/N64 analogue stick & Mario Party
• N64 4 player splitscreen
• Halo CE + splitscreen multi or LAN
• Halo 2 + Xbox Live & LAN parties

 

[yurinka]

-Final Fight (arcade): back then these huge sprites and voices were so spectacular and stunning
-Speedball 2 (Amiga): visuals and music of the intro, ambient noise of the stadium with a guy selling ice cream
-It came from the desert (Amiga): its visuals were like PS7 back then
-God of War 3 intro: at launch it felt like a playable action movie, it was so spectacular
-Uncharted 2: several set pieces, like the train one or the chopper chasing you and destroying that building

 

[GymWolf]

When my father thought that a sega saturn was a better christmas present than 2 snes games...

 

[CityHunter1981]

Here are my milestones:
1. Playing the first time a game (boxing) on an Amstrad CPC.
2. Playing the first time super mario bros at my cousins home. I got the NES at my next birthday.
3. Playing Super Mario World at my SNES (also a Christmas present)
4. Trying out Doom at my uncles house.
5. Trying the demo kiosk for Mario 64 before the N64 was officially released. Perhaps this is my number 1 wow moment.
6. Playing Zelda Ocarina of Time (nearly the same feeling I had with Mario 64, I couldn't believe this was real),

 

[keraj37]

 

[turtlepowa]

Super Mario World
Duke 3D
WOW (The game)
Astro Bot

 

[DonJorginho]

The first planet to planet traversal in Super Mario Galaxy.

Escaping the Pillar of Autumn in Halo CE.

The first time being unleashed into the open world in MGSV.

Taking on the first Colossus in SOTC.

The opening of Uncharted 2.

My first time playing HL Alyx.

GOW PS4 Reveal.

Experiencing my first massive Horde in Days Gone.

 

[OutRun88]

BF2 demo; Specifically seeing all the players sitting on the aircraft carrier, and then a group of us boarding into a Blackhawk to fly into enemy territory. It was one of the first games I played on my original PC build and will always have a special place in my heart.

 

[Bankai]

One that comes to mind the the freedom of choice and consequence when playing Deus EX for the first time. It ACTUALLY mattered what I did and choose throughout the game (!)

 

[Neo_Barrad]

Uncharted 1 Submarine level swimming and waterfall was awe-inspiring

 

[Cockles & Whelks]

Ocean tape loader music on Hyper Sports - Commodore 64

A tape failing to load was never so pleasurable.



And bonus background reading.

The sound of SID: 35 years of chiptune’s influence on electronic music

From niche player to chart hit, the characteristic sound of videogames has had a considerable influence on music.

theconversation.com

The History of Ocean Software: Amazon.co.uk: Chris Wilkins: Books

Buy The History of Ocean Software 1 by Chris Wilkins (ISBN: ) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Mario 64. Blew me away at that time.

 

[kuncol02]

First time playing NFS2SE, GTA3 and opening map in witcher 3 after finishing White Orchard. Last one was more like "Holly fuck, they have to be joking" than "wow", but still counts.
Also getting out of UMS Vortex Rikers in Unreal.

 

[kuncol02]

edit:
For some reason my post was send twice instead of being modified.

 

[DJR]

Stepping out into the vast expanse of Hyrule Field for the first time in The Ocarina of Time. Well, after getting through the annoying Owl text first....

 

[GametimeUK]

I have had a few wow moments.

Playing online for the first time was a wow moment. Quite possibly the biggest of my life. Growing up with local multiplayer and now finally being able to face off with people all over the world was great.

The first time I used HDMI on the 360 and saw Gears of War. Everything looked so crisp.

Getting a gaming PC for the first time and running everything at 60fps. Glorious.

 

[Lloyd22]

seeng yharnam for the first time in bloodborne + the whole god of war 2018 was wow for me.

 

[CeeJay]

Playing Elite for the first time on Acorn Electron
Unboxing our brand new Commodore Amiga and experiencing that new computer aroma for the first time
Walking out onto Hyrule Field for the first time in OOT
Seeing the new Microsoft Flight Simulator in action

 

[LOLCats]

that sweet voodoo 2 video card.

 

[peetfeet]

Seeing Mario’s face for the first time when booting up Super Mario 64 on N64 launch day.

 

[TheStam]

Getting a new PC in like 1999, jaw dropping at the graphics of games like Half-Life 1 and Quake 2.. And playing multiplayer LAN for the first time in my dorm. Blew my mind.

 

[RJMacready73]

gotta be the leap from Amiga/Snes era to the PS1, seeing Tombraider's T-Rex or the Dogs jumping thorugh the window in Resident Evil where truly mindblowing to witness, man the hours id simply sink into the quiet exploration of TombRaider, shitting myself wandering the mansion in Resident Evil or coming back from a club with your mates, all winged out and sticking on Wipeout with the music cranked was some craic

 

[TonyK]

Wipeout 1 in PSX. I left video gaming in SNES era due to 2D scrolling games saturation. And then I saw Wipeout in my cousin's home... I recovered my passion for videogames thanks to Wipeout. Ah, and discovered The Prodigy, Chemicals Brothers, Orbital...!!!

 

[Pug]

Playing Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast with players from Japan. Sega at console level were before their time with the Dreamcast and this game. And walking onto the Halo ring for the first time.

 

[notseqi]

SM64
Nothing came close.

 

[NikuNashi]

1.Robocop Arcade when a giant ED209 came stomping into the screen.

2. Final Fight arcade, it was the coolest thing imaginable to a 10 year old me.


3. Walking into a seafront arcade and seeing Street fighter 2 on a big screen. It was mind blowing how good the sprites were.

4. Mario 64. Toys R Us after college, 360 movement, analogue stick, incredible.

5. Halo 1. Landing on the beach looking out of the back of the drop ship seeing a battle raging. Amazing.

 

[FunkMiller]

Lift down to Firelink Shrine.

 

[UnNamed]

Nintendo + Silicon Graphics = Project Reality.

 

[Vow of Silence]

Bioshock

Spoiler

The would you kindly reveal, having control taken away to beat Andrew Ryan to death with a golf club, and then left afterward to run around with my mind absolutely blown.

 

[Type_Raver]

Oh I just remembered, I loved the Half Life 2 reveal, including the tech demonstration which was amazing at the time! The physics and those glossy embossed textures were wow!

 

[SirTerry-T]

I was ten years old and flying a fucking X-Wing.

 

[Aion002]

It was too much for my high school brain to process, I was like: unbelievable, I need to play this right now!

This Kojima dude, he is amazing eh?

 

[Kev Kev]

first and foremost: the first time i experienced VR. hands down the best, most mind blowing game experience for me. its redefined what gaming can be, for me personally.

next, seeing rapture in bioshock for the first time, same with columbia in infinite. im sure many more but those are the first to come to mind.

 

[Kokoloko85]

First playing Kung Fu on Nes... I thought I was Bruce Lee

Finally having Sonic and a Megadrive after only being able play a few minutes of my aunties console.

MGS e3 trailer on Playstation 1. I was blown away, got to record it on my VHS and took it to my friends house To watch.
It was on a program called, Movies, TV and Video games

Finishing Grandia and realising I love JRPG’s

Mario 64

Shen Mue 1 trailer and playing it

Phantasy Star Online - First online experience

MGS 2 Trailer

DMC demo when you bought Onimusha - Those sweet air combos and guns with swords....

Okami ending

Star Wars KOTOR... Planet hopping, light sabre battles, and choices blew me away

Finishing the Last of US and Dark Souls

 

[Kokoloko85]

Playing Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast with players from Japan. Sega at console level were before their time with the Dreamcast and this game. And walking onto the Halo ring for the first time.

O yes. My first online experience. After 3 hours I got on the phone with the friends I played with and we spoke about it for another 2 hours lol

 

[Ogbert]

A standard answer, but Mario 64.

And playing through OoT for the first time.

 

[Malakhov]

EverQuest first months, it was pure crack and a whole new world of gaming just opened

 

[DeceptiveAlarm]

There is so many. My first big one that sticks out is playing medal of honor on ps1. It seemed so realistic. Before that I only had NES then a Snes.

Also the first time I played tribes. There was this 50 player shifter server ran by a clan. It was always packed and the clan members would be on. I never imagined playing a game online with this many people and Admin powers seemed so crazy back then. I never heard of things like running your own server and mods.