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[LittleBusters]

Wow moments for me:

Discovering Infocom & Sierra On-line games in the mid 1980s
Switching from monochrome to color monitor
Switching from internal beep to Soundblaster
Tetris
Phantasy Star 1, 2, 3
Afterburner
Golvellius
Upgrading to VGA graphics
The Longest Journey
Lifeless Planet
Playdead games

 

[RoadHazard]

Seeing Super Mario 64 running on a demo station for the first time. My mind was completely blown.

 

[anothertech]

When I was a kid I was a total graphics whore lol. I was also an arcade junkie so when the NES and SNES were released I could tell the graphics were inferior to the arcade counterparts so they never wowed me.

By the time n64 was out there was already 3d rendered arcade games at my arcade that blew it away so still wasn't impressed.

When psx released, and I watched the Tekken intro and then some gameplay later I was literally jaw dropped. Got my parents to buy one for Christmas a few weeks later.

Was quite a while before I was that impressed again. Heavenly Sword on ps3 blew my mind, then Vanquish not long after that. Then GoW3 holy shit.

E3 2015 did something similar when I learned FF7R and Last Guardian were real

 

[draw4wild]

NES Ninja turtles 2. I was playing my favorite arcade game at my house

 

[Dark Star]

Bloodborne was my first Souls game, so the "interconnectedness" of the world really blew my mind. Like finding the ladder in Forbidden Woods swamp that shortcuts you back to Iosefka's Clinic, the very beginning/start of the game. Damn, that was a really cool find.

Likewise, beating Father Gascoigne FIRST TRY on my very first playthrough was a total heart-thumping, tears of joy moment. I never beat him first try again on subsequent playthroughs unless I purposely cheesed him on staircase (glitch) for speed-running purposes lol.

Besides FromSoftware games, which are the "WOW" factor of gaming for me, personally, I thought the train sequence in Uncharted 2 was groundbreaking. Same as the graphics on Uncharted 4, MGSV and Witcher 3. I would say Naughty Dog games like TLOU made me really appreciate a good story in games too.

 

[Naked Lunch]

Its Mario 64. Will never be topped.
Going from 2d to 3d was just too big of a jump. Impossible to describe unless you lived through it - espeically if you started gaming in the 80s and leading up to that point.
Even full blown VR wont be able to compare.

Crazy that Mario 64 is still the best 3d platformer ever created. Miyamoto is the greatest of all time.

 

[Siri]

My first VGA monitor. My first sound card. My first CD ROM drive. My first GPU (Nvidia’s RIVA 128). Gsync. My first big screen OLED display. The transition to the Xbox controller. Buying my first game on Steam and never going to the store to buy software ever again - it was Far Cry 2.

 

[xPikYx]

Well, being born in 1984 I lived the majority of the gaming history. First was coming from commodore64 and seeing my uncle playing Altered Beast on Megadrive it was unbelievable (I was almost 6yo) and then getting an actual megadrive from my parents with Sonic included it was amazing.

The first time I've seen Mortal Kombat 3 at the Arcade, graphic was just unbelievable and then Killer Instinct came out with those FMV and the incredible animations and details like Sabrewolf drooling from his mouth, and the absolute incredible soundtrack.

The moment my mum bought me Donkey Kong Country 2 on SNES, it was the first of the franchise I played and I was blown away by the incredible graphic and the soundtrack, goooshhh

The first step into the Mansion of Resident Evil, the live action Intro as well as tge first encounter with a zombie, unbelievable, and even more was Resident Evil 2 which I endlessly loved.

The first time I played Winning Eleven 4,man that game was just the first perfect football simulation, loved it

The first time I've seen Mario 64 running, it was just too much, I was a Nintendo fanboy at that time and seeing that graphic and that 3d world running in real time was just incredible, as well as the first Turok, that game was brilliant, graphicwise unbelievable, and then Turok 2 having 640x480 resolution thanks to the mythical expansion pack. And least but not last Zelda OOT, seriously too much

The first time I've played the Devil May Cry demo on PS2 and Tekken tag tournament, Graphic for me was so real it looked like CGI I was blown away.

The first time I played Silent Hill 3 and then 2,such incredible graphic, beautiful story and the scariest games of all time for me

The first time I've seen Resident Evil Rebirth on Gamecube, a dream come true. It was UNBELIEVABLE, the graohic thanks to the 2d background it is still so actual, it was simply photorealistic even today, WOOOOW.

The first time I played Resident Evil 4.Graohic was incredible and the gameplay such a new thing that redefined everything after, the horde at tge beginning in the village, the chainsaw guy running after you and my first decapitation it was just wooow

I have other many great moments but my ohone battery is running out.

For the moment here it is the first part

 

[Tschumi]

I can't say, so I'll go with my first.. diablo as a 9 year old, The Butcher bellowing "Mmmm FRESH MEAT" around my computer room... Fruit in my loom? Almost

 

[VertigoOA]

Mario 64.

Followed by...

Vault of Glass

 

[chasimus]

Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Andodalf]

The first mission on the halo in CE

The twist in KotOR

The decision in Mass Effect

 

[TeKtheSanE]

I'd have to lean towards FFVII when I thought I had beat the game (midgar) the real thing was just starting. Literally blew my mind.

 

[Clear]

The two that stand out for me are seeing Doom for the first time and the MGS2 trailer reveal.

 

[mango drank]

As a kid, bringing Star Fox SNES home for the first time, and seeing it in motion. I yelled out, "Whoa, it's so smooth!" Meanwhile, it was like 15 fps.

 

[Azelover]

It's a toss between Virtua Fighter 3 (Arcade version) and Super Mario 64.

Both came out the same year.

 

[Evil Calvin]

I've been gaming for over 40 years and the only time I really had a huge emotion was after the beginning 2 hours of Mafia 3. There was a moment that was very emotional. I yelped out loud. Never happened before.

 

[wolfboy203]

Lets See...

Playing Half Life 2 at my cousins house for the 1st time..I was utterly blown away at the graphics and physics! It was soo Good!

Playing San Andreas for the 1st time and being wowed at the sheer scale of the game and the things you could do in there!

Being able to do the exact same things in Trackmania Sunrise that was shown in the trailers. I knew that this game was gonna be something special and I was right! One of the most fun racing games that I have ever played bar none both online and offline!! Being able to play on other user created tracks was a frikkin bonus!!

 

[alabtrosMyster]

I think the first one was when I found out that you can move "back" in Metroid in the NES.

Before that I assumed that they had to draw every thing at every possible place on the screen...

The time I saw adverts for the 16-bit machines in late 1989 (tg-16 & Genesis).

 

[TexMex]

Mario 64

The Dreamcast launch

 

[NoMoChokeSJ]

Command and Conquer online with a 56k modem. Had to get off the game and call friend to set up next match every time. What a pain, but was the beginning of online multiplayer.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

Playing Grand Theft Auto III for the first time on the PlayStation 2




The jump from playing GTA 2 on the Dreamcast to this new 3D era for the series was mindblowing.

 

[DonMigs85]

Playing Mario 64 and later Ocarina of Time for the first time

 

[ZZZZ]

FF VII - Cutscenes

Gta III

Shadow of the Colossus

 

[Psajdak]

Metal Gear Solid - Cyborg Ninja deflecting bullets with his sword.
Metal Gear Solid 2 - The entire Arsenal Gear part.
Metal Gear Solid 3 - The End boss fight, The Boss boss fight.

 

[Bragr]

Like many others mentioned, Mario 64 with the joystick was a surreal experience after only playing 2D games. That's certainly my number one.

GTA 3 was incredible.

Half Life and Diablo and was amazing when they released.

Doom was truly mindblowing. Second after Mario 64 for me.

Some others that stick out: running into the first big daddy in Bioshock, God of War end with Loki, Mass Effect Sovereign reveal, Half Life 2 Episode 2 ending, Portal 2 opening, first trying of Super Mario World, Final Fantasy 7 cutscenes and later final fantasy 10 cutscenes, warcraft 3 cinematics, metal gear 4 ending, fallout 3 out of the vault, fear slow-mo shooting, eternal darkness sanity effects, entering the field in zelda ocarina for the first time, starting out in metroid prime, trying tekken 3 for the first time, mass effect 3 forgetting to add an ending.

 

[93xfan]

Mario 64- especially the first time playing the water level in it

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Mario 64.

Followed by...

Vault of Glass

Yep, Bungie deserve huge kudos for raids. Brilliant.

 

[SupremeHoodie]

The final level of Halo 3 when the music starts playing while you’re driving the Warthog.

 

[diffusionx]

I agree with what many said about Super Mario 64 and Virtua Fighter 3 - those early 3D games grew in such leaps and bounds. And also Gran Turismo with its whole gameplay system revolving around real cars. Just mind-blowing stuff.

Another big one was multiplayer, playing games from Duke 3D over proprietary software to Diablo, Quake 1, Starsiege TRIBES, Ultima Online, and Unreal Tournament, it was one incredible thing after another.

And of course, the first time I used VR, it was something that felt as groundbreaking as those two things. Too bad more people aren't willing to jump in for the ride the way we all did in the late 90s for 3D and multi.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Streets of rage 2
The first 3D game i saw (Crash Bandicoot)
Being able to ride around a full city in Head-hunter for Dreamcast
AI changing it's pathfinding to trick in CTF in Unreal for Dreamcast
Chucking enemies in to space with force powers in Advent Rising (Xbox)
When you learn that sovereign isn't a ship but a robot in Mass Effect
First experience of VR (Home-made demo of a tour around the solar system)

It's been a long time since i was wowed though. I'm hoping PSVR2 can blow me away (I'm not buying a PC VR rig)

 

[BravoZero]

Metal Gear Solid 4 return to Shadow Moses
My jaw was on the floor and when "The Best Is Yet To Come" MGS1 theme played I legit started crying.
Incredible.

 

[Biff]

Playing my first ever online multiplayer match in SOCOM 1 on the PS2.

I remember buying that expensive network adapter and running a hideous blue ethernet cord all the way from my dad's computer room down the stairs to the basement. And then having to figure out how to open ports on the router so I could log in properly.

But man was the effort worth it. So much fun.

And SOCOM 2 was one of those rare sequels that was better in every regard. Only game I could ever sit and play for 12 hours straight. Never experienced anything like that again.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Kat in red dress



Every scene of MGS 2 Sons of liberty, that was my 4 game of Xbox... a real next gen game.



Yoshi island... when i was the first person in the world in find this easter egg



The last of us part 2



when actually the I.A. is who protect you 3:42

The intro of Gravity rush



The Barinade Boss of Zelda OoT... that actually is bleeding

 

[aries_71]

MS Combat Flight Simulator. When I fired a burst at a Mitsubishi A6M Zero and saw thick black smoke trailing.

Much earlier, Atic Atac in a Spectrum 16k. When I saw those graphics I couldn’t play Lego anymore.