The most memorable game intro's

Father_Ted

You know how it is, you have just placed your new game into your PC or console and as you sit their waiting to jump straight in, the game intro begins. Most of these short clips are quickly forgotten but in the many games we play one or two stand out and are fondly remembered years after playing the game.

For me it's Mafia with it's cinematic camera showing the city in all it's glory and knowing that soon it's to be your playground, ending with your character and the police detective sitting in the restraunt. It's like Goodfella's all over again but in the 1920's.

Planescape Torment is another, with you the Nameless One being tortured in a dungeon. It set the scene perfectly for one of the best games I have ever played.

monkeyfudge

Hmmm.... Bart Versus the Space Mutants will always stand out for me as it was the first game I ran on my brand new (at the time) Amiga 500.

The intro for Magic Pockets sticks in my mind as well due to the great use of the Betty Boo track.

Another World was great too.

But these days intros seem a bit pointless as they tend to be pre-rendered, when back in the day they were a showcase for what your console or computer of choice could pull off.

More recently I love the intro to Super Smash Bros. Melee and will watch the entire intro every time I boot up the game.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Well I haven't had a lot of time to think about it, but one that jumps out at me is the intro in GTA3 (even above the other GTA games)... it gave you just enough background and set the scene well enough for you to know exactly what your motivation is from the second you're given control... it was exciting and best of all, it did this without boring the pants off someone who's eager to start playing ASAP and doesn't really care.
Which is exactly how it should be IMO.

monkeyfudge

Ha... thinking about this more the Amiga was really the golden age of great intros.

Cannon Fodder with it's war has never been so much fun track and Sensible World of Soccer with it's Goal Scoring Supersstar Hero track.

Chaos Engine had great music on it's intro too.

Then there are games that let you take part in the intro like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis with you falling through the floors of the university as your search for an artifact as the credits roll... and lets not forget the ground breaking intro for Half Life.

_CreeD_

Freespace 2

Pugsley

Mechwarrior 4 Vengence had a great intro, Dawn of War also had a damn impressive one.

madrab

Final fantasy 7 was amazing, along with company of heroes

tman

monkeyfudge wrote:

Chaos Engine had great music on it's intro too.

That was a brilliant intro, loved the music in it as well (and the entire game)

The one that I always end up watching again and again is Zelda - Wind Waker... sublime stuff:)
The music ("The Legendary Hero") fits it so perfectly

Super Metroid's title screen was one of the greatest ever imo, the chirping sounds of the Metroid along with that haunting music... mmmmm....

Ping Chow Chi

Intro to HalfLife is good - where your taken arround in that underground train thinngy

Flashman

Mechwarrior 2.

steviec

Final Fantasy VIII was stunning I thought

Another was Gran Turismo - the collage of actual in-game replay footage looked stunning at the time, and the remix of 'Everything Must Go' that went with it was fantastic. All of the GT games have continued that trend of stunning visuals and excellently chosen music to go with them.

Syndicate was another, that ominous music to go with that impressive looking animation of a huge, intimidating future city.

Oh and who could forget the Fallout intro!

uberpixie

dawn of war is one of the best intros i ever have seen a game.

crusader no remorse had a well dacent intro
as well

Gonzo

Quake 2 intro on pc - one of my favourite intro's of all time.

Streetfighter 2 Arcade - the one with Ryu modeled huge and he unleashes his fireball

Starfox SNES - where you see your ships take off into the 1st level, great music too

Half Life PC - fantastic intro using the train

Unreal PC - the amazing graphical intro of where you saw the castle spin around, first time to see proper reflection reflects and stuff like that using a 3d card.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Gonzo wrote:

Streetfighter 2 Arcade - the one with Ryu modeled huge and he unleashes his fireball

Yeah I was actually going to mention that one aswell... Super Street Fighter 2 ... I love that intro for some reason.

Rhyme

System Shock

Intimidated the Hell out of me, it just seemed so methodical and unstoppable.

johnny_ultimate

Half Life 1 and 2 - both blew me away when I played them. Especially number 2. After spending the best part of four hours trying to register the thing on Steam (lousy busy launch day) I just got to play the intro before hitting the hay. That bit where you walk up to the door, peak in, and the guard closes the shutter on you sent sent shivers down my spine.

MGS2 - Great movie style montage / trailer before the title screen. This makes the list mainly because the music is so damn cool.

Resident Evil 4 - Before you even have a chance to learn the controls, you are thrown into the most breathtaking siege situation ever committed to disc. Mind you, the opening cinematic is completely rubbish.

RobertFoster

Broken Sword 1: It starts off with a blank screen, and George Stobbart, the protagonist narrating: "Paris in the fall, the last months of the year, at the end of the millenium. The city holds many memories for me, of cafés, of music, of love, and of death."

Then the developer and publisher logos pop-up. We see a gargoyle sitting on top of a Parisian church from the perspective of a crow. The game logo appears on the screen in the centre of this. The crow then blinks and we watch it fly off and over the city while the initial credits roll.

We cut back to the crow, landing near a café on some back street. The waitress puts a coffee down infront of George who is sitting outside the café. He watches as the waitress bumps into another man in an overcoat. They head into the café.

All of a sudden, George is surrounded by balloons. He pops one and a clown appears with an accordion. The clown goes inside, swaps the accordion for the briefcase on the chair next to the guy in the overcoat, and runs back outside and down an alleyway.

We cut back to the accordion, which is slowly collapsing on itself. There's a flashing light coming from it, and it's beeping rapidly. The guy in the overcoat looks down at it, but it's too late.

An explosion rips through the café and we see it exploding through the front of the café, knocking George over and covering him in debris. He's knocked out temporarily, but survives.

"As I picked myself up all I could hear was a ceaseless drone of traffic. Life went on around me, but the explosion was to change my life forever..."

Father_Ted

steviec wrote:

Final Fantasy VIII was stunning I thought

Another was Gran Turismo - the collage of actual in-game replay footage looked stunning at the time, and the remix of 'Everything Must Go' that went with it was fantastic. All of the GT games have continued that trend of stunning visuals and excellently chosen music to go with them.

I remember playing Gran Turismo for the first time, the intro blew me away. Was that good that I would load it up just to show it off to other people. That to me at the time was truely next gen.

Retr0gamer

I always loved the Suikoden 2 credit sequence after the prologue. I shows the three main characters growing up before the war that would ruin their lives.

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=823C6UWOo6w

It's hard watch this after beating the game.

Rhyme

johnny_ultimate wrote:

MGS2 - Great movie style montage / trailer before the title screen. This makes the list mainly because the music is so damn cool.

Definitely... most of the scene setting parts were amazing, all those pre-release video's and jumping off the bridge etc. With MGS1 i watched all those little 'video' clips that take part just before the game and i went through the entire game with a greater feeling for all chaacters involved.

Retr0gamer wrote:

I always loved the Suikoden 2 credit sequence after the prologue. I shows the three main characters growing up before the war that would ruin their lives.

;_;

Retr0gamer

The intro to Vagrant story was brilliant. The music was great and many parts of it were fully playable. I'm amazed the PS1 pulled it off.

It's very long so split into 3 parts here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chO8hTZylA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYtvZ_ADUc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf87A4_VqY0

K.O.Kiki

The Attract Mode intro to Virtua Fighter 4 -- it was the moment VF became cooler than Tekken (4)! Just hearing all those whip-lashing & bone-crunching noises... FVCK YEAH LEMME AT 'EM!!

Too bad VF4:Evolution's intro sucked ass... at least VF5's intro seems to be ok.

Kristok

The intro from the c64 game last ninja 2 an amazing intro for the system and an amazing game too.

FranchisePlayer

I always liked the soulcalibur 2 intro.

Balfa

Wind Waker, and Secret of Mana, just for the music

And Half-Life.

DarkJager

How could anybody not mention possibly the greatest video game intro ever made??? Streets Of Rage....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LiSfOOJlVgs

DonkeyStyle \o/

DarkJager wrote:

How could anybody not mention possibly the greatest video game intro ever made??? Streets Of Rage....

Meh, I used to skip that intro... too much reading involved.

BloodBath

Battlefield 1942 for the music and bf2 for the intro. Have watched both a lot of times.

projectmayhem

MGS2 wins it for me. sets the tone of the game very well...

monument

RobertFoster wrote:

Broken Sword 1: It starts off with a blank screen, and George Stobbart, the protagonist narrating: "Paris in the fall, the last months of the year, at the end of the millenium. The city holds many memories for me, of cafés, of music, of love, and of death."...

After playing Rainbow Six for most of the Christmas, remembering that intro makes me want an adventure game

Think I might buy these...

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/GENBRW/3-/917970/Broken_Sword_The_Angel_Of_Death/Product.html
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/GENBRW/3-/905023/Adventure_Games_Collection/Product.html
http://play.com/Games/PC/4-/646781/-/Product.html?searchstring=Secret+Files+Tunguska&searchsource=0#jump-review

RobertFoster

BS4 is good monument. Not as good as BS1, but better than BS3 IMO. It can be a bit hit and miss with the controls sometimes, but the story is good and worth the €15 if you've followed the series.

I've heard good things about Secret Files: Tunguska and Black Mirror, bad things about The Watchmaker and nothing about Journey To The Centre Of The Earth

Runaway 2 is out in 2 months if you've played the first one.

BKtje

Intro to HalfLife is good

That was definately a very original intro to a game and it was memorable but for me, it was memorable for the wrong reasons. I always got bored just sitting there on a train

For me its probably the intro to Unreal Tournament. Was the first FPS i'd ever bought and had no idea what to expect from the game (a m8 had told me to OMG BUY THIS GAME and i did, didnt even look at the back of the box). Was about 16 at the time and the intro just had me gaping. Watched it so often that i memorised the entire voiceover,

Vyse

Has to be Sonic Adventure on the DC. I was blown away by it whne I switched it on. Another would be the Revenge of Shinobi on the Megadrive.

Canis Lupus

Kristok wrote:

The intro from the c64 game last ninja 2 an amazing intro for the system and an amazing game too.

Got there before me.

User45701

Total annihilation anyone? great intro

The Freeman

f.e.a.r.

ArphaRima

"Magic carpet" pretty much sold based on the intro alone. Saying that the very best on in recent times was of course dawn of war. Though the newest warhammer: mark of chaos one beats even that. Bloody amazing. Wish the game was any good.

Vokes

If I had to pick 3 it would have to be the aforementioned FF8, Vagrant Story and Sons of Liberty for their sheer awesomeness. The direction backed up by fantastic scores make for superb intros from all 3.

monument wrote:

After playing Rainbow Six for most of the Christmas, remembering that intro makes me want an adventure game

Think I might buy these...

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/GENBRW/3-/917970/Broken_Sword_The_Angel_Of_Death/Product.html
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/GENBRW/3-/905023/Adventure_Games_Collection/Product.html
http://play.com/Games/PC/4-/646781/-/Product.html?searchstring=Secret+Files+Tunguska&searchsource=0#jump-review

Ooooh, excellent finds.

I've recently finished Dreamfall, and have caught the adventure bug again

/ordered

Benster

I haven't seen any game intros that I'd watch again except the recent Warhammer games - "Dawn Of War" and "Mark of Chaos". They capture the genre perfectly, imo.

DoW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxS1aXYcNNc

MoC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl6v552xk4E

Enjoy...

B.

PS - What about those "intros" from the Spectrum days? As the game loaded from tape for 10 mins, an image of the game was gradually built up on screen, in a fantastic 16 colours (or was it 8? :eek: )
Favourites there were Alchemist, Dynamite Dan and Uridium.

User45701

CnC TD
CnC TS
CnC RA

where all good intros aswel as total annilation

Zillah

I think the best intros are ones that really put you in the mood to play the game. Aswell as being just plain gorgeous. And never under estimate music. My favs:

-Freespace 2.
-Total Annihilation (I usually watched this every time I played the game just because it was so good.)
-Rome Total War. (I never did manage to create a battle that captured the same feel.)

I'm sure there's loads more that I'm just not thinking of. *checks game drawer*

I can't believe I forgot Homeworld. Gorgeous, moving intro video that really sets the scene for the rest of the game. I enjoyed playing that game so much more because of what I understood about the background. And it made that incident at the start all the more heartbreaking.

I can't remember if there was a decent intro for FFVII but it definately had some great videos during the game.

Cuddlesworth

Half life- Might have been boring, but it immersed you into the game. At least while wondering through 5 hours of tunnels you have a fair idea of why you havn't hit the surface yet.

Dawn of War- So very sweet, short but sweet. Like candy. Candy to my heart.

Nalz

MGS 2, Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil

Retr0gamer

I think the intro for FFVI was excellent. Far better than the glorified music video that past for an intro for FFVIII. The mechs stomping through the snow towards the village with Terra's theme playing was beautiful and haunting.

Resident Evil 2 had an excellent intro as well. The CGI looks dated but it's well directed.

Little known RPG Koudelka had a wonderful intro. The CGI still looks excellent and the fact that koudelka is a babe certainly helps Now if only I could find an emulator or something that would let me continue onto disc 2.

Panzer Dragon Saga intro was very well made despite the CGI looking awful. It lasted nearly 20 minutes and really set the game up and provided a lot of background about the panzer dragoon world that was previously missing. It was completely done in a fictional language created specifically for the game series.

And who can forget the intro to Shadow of the Colossus. The music was wonderful and it was very haunting. Some wonderful acting and writing as well. I love it when Dormin tells wanderer that there will be consequences to his actions and he replies 'I don't care'. Sends a shiver down the spine. It was also all done in a fictional language.

weemcd

Tekken 3

Kulgan

Last Ninja 3 c64

Father_Ted

Just started playing Neverwinter Nights 2 in the last week or so and the intro battle with the Warlock is pretty special..

Cunny-Funt

Quake 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SVVKQlwTUk

Red Alert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85tMFIA6Dy0

FF7

HL1.

Funny looking at the Streets of Rage intro there, I loved that as a kid.

Retr0gamer

That Quake 2 intro was laughable when the game was released and it's even worse now. Never liked Quake 2, overrated turd with an awful single player. It might have been technically impressive but looked awful, way too much coloured lighting If the edge wasn't the best multiplayer map ever made then it would have been devoid of merit.

Manic Moran

I was going to mention Homeworld if nobody else got to it. Dawn of War has also been mentioned.

I find that "Railroads" has actually a fun intro. If you happen to like model trains, which I do. Really brings out the kid in you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgsckUP-mNQ
Actually, most of the train ones are pretty good. Railroad Tycoon 3's intro is damned good too, can't find a youtube of it though.

Pacific Storm has a good one too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X70TwDM4VoU

The games I play tend not to worry too much about an intro though.

NTM

Nietzschean

RA2,DoW,TA