For me it was either Super Mario 64, which I had tried at a local demo kiosk and felt like something so utterly unreal and unique, or Ocarina of Time, that since its early previews had become the subject of endless hype and speculations with my school friends.
I think Halo 2 was the biggest release for me. Waiting until midnight for the biggest release of the generation. I was told to wake my older brother up at midnight so he could go get it. When I woke up him up he walked to the mall (couldn't drive). After he left I waited home for what felt like an eternity. I rushed to him when he got back, then proceeded to watch him play for an hour before going to sleep. I didn't get to play since I was the younger brother obviously.
In the NES era there were a few game releases that, whilst young, I knew about and anticipated. Mario 3 and the Megaman games are the obvious ones I can remember.
On the Mega Drive, Sonic 2 and the whole 'Sonic Tuesday' release got me really hyped, as did Sonic 3 and Ecco.
But overall it has to be the Q4 97 - Q4 98 period for me. Eagerly anticipating games like Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo and Tekken 3 is where I discovered the real meaning of hype. Back when I had very basic internet and just devoured information in magazines over and over and replayed and replayed demo discs.
There have been quite a few memorable releases this gen and last, but obviously as I have gotten older and also had loads more information thanks to the internet, hype levels are still generally high for most games, but less than they were when I was younger.
I was around 12 or 13 and it was the time I'd just started paying attention to the gaming media, so that was the main factor and it was the game that would make me buy the PS2.
I had just finished seeing my friend go through FFIX (didn't play it) and I was excited for FFX just because of how glorious that was.
I remember telling my friends in class that the game was going to be fully voiced and they were like "NO WAY, FINAL FANTASY GAMES DONT HAVE VOICES, DON'T LIE, OH MY GOD" haha.
Then on my birthday (a couple of days after the release of X) I went to get my PS2 and my parents said that I could get the console only and no games for now, because it was so expensive. So we went in the shop and the owner cut us a deal and gave us a memory card and an extra controller and then he was like I will also let you choose a game and you can have it all for £200.
My parents agreed and then I was looking through the selection of games, I picked up Tekken Tag and then in the corner of my eye I saw FFX sitting on the shelf. I had completely forgot about it somehow even tho it was the only thing I could talk about a few weeks before. I chose that without hesitation and I could barely contain my excitement all the way home.
I then remember the opening cutscene leaving me speechless. Even my parents were amazed by it.
I think Halo 2 was the biggest release for me. Waiting until midnight for the biggest release of the generation. I was told to wake my older brother up at midnight so he could go get it. When I woke up him up he walked to the mall (couldn't drive). After he left I waited home for what felt like an eternity. I rushed to him when he got back, then proceeded to watch him play for an hour before going to sleep. I didn't get to play since I was the younger brother obviously.
Yes, mine too. It was amazing. I was still in primary schooled but was amazingly hyped. Counting days and everything. Also preordered it. I had to go to school that day and on my way to school I saw my friend on his way back that had already it which made me more hyped. My mom would go to the store to collect my preorder while I was at school. Suddenly during Physical Education (which I hated) my mom showed up said she had to take me for a doctors appointment and showed me Halo 2 Limited Edition in the car.
Has to be Sonic Adventure 2. This was back in the days when I didn't keep a keen eye on release dates. I got a call from a friend one day after school saying that the local GAME was now stocking it. Problem was, the store was closing in 10 minutes.
Like the kid I was, I ran my absolute ass off and made it with about 2 minutes to spare. Felt amazing leaving the store with the game in my hands.
1. Quake. downloaded every bit of info I could find about the game. Screenshots, stuff from .plan files etc, you name it. When Qtest hit the FTP servers, I spent hours waiting for that 9 meg of gaming bliss to download (fucking 14k modem), and once I had it running I knew the full game was going to be awesome when it came out. I also knew that I was going to have to build a new PC ready for that day, as there was no way my little DX2-66 was going to cope.
The biggest one was SF2 on the SNES for me..
After playing it for months in the arcades, then reading the announcement of it coming to the snes..saving money up for it and then getting the import version which at that time was extremely expensive but it was all worth it...it was a life changer that game.
The other for me was Zelda - Ocarina of time
Titles that came close to the same anticipation and excitement were Mortal Kombat 2, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2, Pokemon gold/silver (gb) and Mario 64
FFXI for PS2 and I don't think anything will ever top that for me.
I had been interested in MMO's for a while but had never played one before then. Between reading previews and hearing two friends at school who had the PC version talk about it, I got waaay too excited for that game. I spent months saving up lunch money and having my mom take me to EB Games so I could pad my $100 game/network adapter pre-order. The day the game came out I spent the night setting things up and downloading updates while studying for a test so I didn't get a chance to play it. The next afternoon though I remember getting home, starting it up, and just walking around for the first few minutes and having it be everything I expected.
I wasn't really hyped up for most of the great games from my childhood. I would just get them on a whim or whenever I could. So, I'd have to go with...
...this. A shame the game itself was a letdown, but those updates were addicting. I can't believe that I was up waiting for the very minute of the update for a video game, but that's exactly what happened. And no matter how disappointing some of the updates were, I always stuck with it.
MGS4 for me (yeah i know it wasn't very long ago).
I watched the trailers for it so many times, read any article i could find about it, and was so so pumped for it. Preordered it. I finished my last exam on the day it came out, so i went home, turned my PS3 on, and didn't stop playing until i had finished it. And man i loved it, i don't care what everyone else says.
All through the exam on that day i had been pretty much wishing i was home playing MGS4. I even wrote it down somewhere in the exam... if i remember right, pretty much every answer i didn't know, i wrote something about MGS in. (And yeah i did pass it...)
Oddly enough, Gold/Silver was one of the few games which lived up to all the hype I had. I remember lining up for Final Fantasy VIII and being so disappointed.
Before the first MGS, I did play games but they were more of a side-thing, something to do when I wasn't playing outside with my friends. I had played all the big releases but I never "experienced" them, you know? In my head it was always, "This is a game. This is a game." I never got immersed.
Then, Metal Gear Solid came along and changed everything. I could write an essay on how but instead I'll just say that I played it to completion every day for a month -- it was the first game I was truly immersed into.
Back then, I didn't follow gaming like I do now e.g. reading articles / magazines / websites -- hell, I didn't even have the internet, lol. One day, browsing the magazine rack at my local Software Etc., I came across "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty." And my face was all , then I saw "Release: Nov. 01" and my face was all :O , then I saw "Demo included with ZoE" and then my face was all
Well, I bought ZoE on release day, went over to my friend's house and we played the demo all night.
I think my hype for every mario game increased exponentially up until Mario 64, so I'm gonna say that.
Getting my first NES in 1987, mario was the bomb.
That first issue of Nintendo Power with the clay Mario 2 on the front, I read that thing front to back over and over. Then i got the game on my birthday and was sick. I missed an awesome field trip, but I got to stay home and play Mario 2 ALL DAY.
Mario 3 was the typical hype.
Super Mario world and the power the SNES brough, oh I wanted it.
Mario 64 was like a repeat of the SNES, although since the SNES fulfilled expectations so fully, it seemed only natural to be ridiculously hyped for Mario 64.
Gran Tourismo 5- The media leaking out at a snails pace and the long production time just made me want it more. I was 19 when the hype first hit; 24 when I finially got my hands on the game. When I finially popped it in I was in racing heaven.
...this. A shame the game itself was a letdown, but those updates were addicting. I can't believe that I was up waiting for the very minute of the update for a video game, but that's exactly what happened. And no matter how disappointing some of the updates were, I always stuck with it.
Earthbound. Saved up my allowance for roughly 3 months. Had my mother drive me to a Kay-Bee Toys about an hour from my house since they were the only ones carrying it. Had my 10 dollar off coupon.. I was set. Great times.
I went to a mid night release at my local Game. I remember seeing someone I knew there too. I also remember being in the first 15% to get in the shop, purchase and go. I'm pretty sure I was being eyed up by yobs on BMX's as I walked back to the car.
Halo 3:
Didn't pre-order it. I remember bombing it down the motorway at 11pm to a Tesco Express. I joined the line, I was around 10th in queue. The manager came out at 11:30 and said we have around 12 copies in stock and sent around 30 customers away. I got home and played the campaign for a good hour and went to bed excited for MP.
MGS2:
I said to my mum I wanted it for my birthday (Feb). I think it was pushed back to March 6th when it eventually came out in EU. I waited a whole month for my birthday present but what a present it was.
Probably FFXII. Got it on release right after school after having the limited edition game + strategy guide pre-ordered for so long. Went back home and played the hell out of it.
One of recent would have to be FF13. Took the day off from work basically to play it, which ended up being a stupid mistake.
Was walking around Lake Bresha just trying to take it all in. Place is gorgeous and among me killing some enemies suddenly I hear something crunch. Sure, enough I look out the window and some girl hit my parked car. Not sure still how she managed to do it really, my guess is texting or something of that nature.
She was fine and no one was injured but did about 3 grand of damage to my vehicle and it was a pain in the butt to deal with. I should have been furious but honestly I just wanted to go back inside and play more .. heh. I waited so long for that game to release and I swear nothing that could have happened that day would have pissed me off.
No game has matched the hype I had for when Brawl came out. Me and my friends all wanted to participate in the tournament that Gamestop was holding, so we each chose to go to a different one so we wouldn't 'knock each other out'. The day of the midnight release, a local Blockbuster put the game on it's demo station. People brought lawn chairs and there was a group of 10 of us who just kept rotating in and out.
I lost in the tourney because of the time limit. They had us go into sudden death, and a bomb killed me. When I got home I tried out the single player subspace embassy and an hour later I was asleep. I like the game, but I traded it into Amazon.com a while back.
Metal Gear Solid 2, holy fuck...
It would have been 4 if I didn't spoil myself some major story elements V_V and the fact that at the time I had an SDTV which made the game look like dogshit...
Gran Turismo 3 was pretty special. The game just blew me away graphics wise. At the time it was probably the best looking game out there. Other than that. After having played Ico and loving it, I was so excited to see what SotC would be like. Then to have it overwhelm my expectations was truly special.
Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast. I followed this game from the first announcement, I made a fan page before it came out, got some friends from a gaming message board and EverQuest buddies, and formed a "guild" (Warriors of Shadowblade lmao). I couldn't believe that there would be an online RPG for a console, and I was ready. When the game came out, I played from 6pm until 3am, and my wife at the time had a fucking fit that I was up playing some stupid game. I've been gaming since I got my first NES at age 12, and I've owned every console except the 3DO...even a Jaguar, and no game has ever lived up to my own personal hype the way that PSO did.
Honestly, I've been waiting for anything similar to it for years. A hub based, quest driven RPG with 4 player co-op. Why is that so hard to deliver?
The pre release anticipation, leaks, and announcements (especially stuff like 4 player online coop and flamethrower's inclusion being announced so close to release) created a frenzy. And the game delivered considering it still is a pretty high standard in console FPSs that many franchises still fail to reach. Reach. Reach has put this old friend to rest after being outclassed, though I'll never forget the day Halo 3 came out.
I've done some major thinking, and I've come up with a top 10 that has a very surprising number one (for me at least).
10. Super Mario 64 Nintendo 64 - My brothers saved up and imported a 64 for it, though I was a bit too young to even be "hyped" for it. They were literally jumping up and down for ten minutes when the packaged arrived. Good times.
9. Sonic Adventures Dreamcast - Saw footage of it at babagges, feel in love. My mom surprised my brother by buying a DC for him around launch, and she picked me up Sonic as well. That first level was MINDBLOWING.
8. Halo Xbox - Was so hyped for this game after seeing some pics in a magazine and reading reviews. Totally delivered when I received it for my birthday. Played it all day! Still some of the greatest AI ever imo
7. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Xbox 360 - My first game of this generation, a sequel to one of my favorite games ever. Was somewhat disappointed with the game but my hype level for this was through the roof! I watched soooo many videos for this game it was crazy.
6. Pictochat Nintendo DS - I was so hyped for the Nintendo DS that I convinced my sister and brother to buy one as well. The first thing we did was chat on Pictochat and make up cool little games we could play. I know the bulit-in software was extremely limited, but we kept coming back to it even over SM64DS and the Metroid Prime Hunters demo. It was so awesome to me, being able to have little chats in the car that no one knew about but us three!
5. Legend of Zelda: Windwaker Gamecube - Ahhhh the wait to get this for my birthday was KILLING me. I played it at Target, and was amazed at how much it looked like a REAL cartoon. I would tell everyone and everybody about it. Hell, I even bought a strategy guide for it, the first and only time I have ever done that. When I first played it that (wonderful) birthday morning, I had chills going down my back. Windwaker was really something special. It didn't hurt that it was link's birthday in the game too.
4. Super Smash Brothers Brawl Wii - I loved Melee, one of my most played games ever. When I saw the reveal trailer at E3 for Brawl with Snake... I was so excited.Reading the updates on the Dojo site was one of my fondest pre-release events in gaming ever. It made waking up in the moring super exciting. Game was fricken awesome too! Frick you haters.
3. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind Xbox - My brother was going CRAZY for this game. It looked pretty cool to me but when I pulled out that gigantic map out and watched him play through the opening and saw all you could do.... I NEEDED to play this game. I'll never forget literally waiting in line behind my two brothers and sister at my parent's house every morning during the summer just to play this game! And then talking about the adventures we took over dinner, it was amazing.
2. Wii Sports Wii - I waited in line for my Wii for 12 hours, just so I could get it for "Santa" to bring it to me a month later on Christmas Day. The wait was killing me, I was sooooo hyped! Twilight Princess was on my mind, with motion controls second. But when I opened my Wii and set-up Wii Sports on my family room TV, the WHOLE family was playing a VIDEO GAME together, even my mom and dad. We most of played all day that day, taking turns at bowling and tennis. I didn't play Twilight Princess until the next day, and while it was awesome, I will always remember that Christmas break for all the Wii Sports-playing we did.
1. Animal Crossing Gamecube - This game was THE game for me. I was so fricken hyped for this thing, I almost lost my mind when my school library had a BOOKMARK of this game. I had to buy it! I even drew pictures of what my main character and town would look like in art class! So you probably can only imagine how I felt when I found my Blockbuster was renting the game A MONTH EARLY! It was the greatest feeling ever knowing I was going to be playing THE game a month early.
I remember my brother and I lived in one town while my sister and my other brother lived in a seperate town. We had a little rivalry going on, trying to see who could have the best houses and islands. It was so awesome! It even got to a point to where we would have to hide our memory cards so people couldn't sneak into the the others' town and drop trash/step all over their flowers
That was me
. Probably my most fondest gaming moment ever lol.
Edit:
Seventy5 said:
Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast. I followed this game from the first announcement, I made a fan page before it came out, got some friends from a gaming message board and EverQuest buddies, and formed a "guild" (Warriors of Shadowblade lmao). I couldn't believe that there would be an online RPG for a console, and I was ready. When the game came out, I played from 6pm until 3am, and my wife at the time had a fucking fit that I was up playing some stupid game. I've been gaming since I got my first NES at age 12, and I've owned every console except the 3DO...even a Jaguar, and no game has ever lived up to my own personal hype the way that PSO did.
Honestly, I've been waiting for anything similar to it for years. A hub based, quest driven RPG with 4 player co-op. Why is that so hard to deliver?
OH shit, how could I of forgot about this? This game for my brother and I was such a huge gaming memory for us. This was our first online-gaming experience ever. We hyped it up so much and it lived up to every expectation we had. This has got to be somewhere in my top ten as well lol. I miss PSO
Mortal Kombat II September 1994
First preordered game, first preordered extra too.
One month after starting 7th grade at a new school.
Spent all the day making drawings on my notebook and planning which characters to play first and in which order. XD
Went after school to grab it with my parents. They ran out of posters, so they gave me a card with the MKII logo on it, that has a phone number to get tips and tricks of the game.
Pretty much the same for me. I think I was the same age at the time as well. EB Games and Gamespot didn't exist in my city yet, so I ordered the game from an independent game rental place. I practiced on the Arcade version all summer, and purchased every issue I could find of EGM and Gamepro mentioning the title.
Well it was memorable for me that I got Metal Gear Solid on day 1, and my mom wouldn't let me have it because it was M-rated. I got Spyro the Dragon instead.
That was pretty bad.
But apart from that, I do remember going to Gamestop to pick up with a couple of friends to pick up our copies of Jet Set Radio Future which we'd had preordered for like half a year. We were so fucking stoked. And you know what? It was awesome.
Well it was memorable for me that I got Metal Gear Solid on day 1, and my mom wouldn't let me have it because it was M-rated. I got Spyro the Dragon instead.
That was pretty bad.
But apart from that, I do remember going to Gamestop to pick up with a couple of friends to pick up our copies of Jet Set Radio Future which we'd had preordered for like half a year. We were so fucking stoked. And you know what? It was awesome.
OH yeah, I played JSRF at launch and bought it a month later. I'd never played a game like that before, it was so rad. The soundtrack was unforgettable.
Final Fantasy III (VI) for SNES. Because it was $80 and I had to practically beg my mom to buy it for me. I still remember picking it up from Babbage's on a school night, going home and barely getting to play it since my bedtime was like 9 pm.
RE4, not because of meaningless hype or other pre-launch nonsense, but because when I actually got the game, I literally didn't put it down until I finished it about 20 hours in.
I got an NES as a hand-me-down from my older cousins.
I remember rolling up to one of the random boutique stores that had a video game store in the back in some corner around Chinatown. They had several boxes of SNES packed up on a shelf so high up and all these NES/SNES/Gameboy game boxes lining up on the walls.
My dad didn't know what I wanted. I pointed all the way up, up, up, up to that big SNES box.
"That one!" I said with big gleaming eyes.
The Chinese guy behind the counter brought over a small 3 step ladder to gain some leverage to tip the box over from the shelf enough to bring it down.
I was the happiest 7 year old boy in the world for the next few years for sure!
)
, then I saw "Release: Nov. 01" and my face was all :O , then I saw "Demo included with ZoE" and then my face was all 
