Your favourite videogame moments

Retr0gamer · 24-07-2025 12:57PM #1

So what is your favourite moment playing videogames? Something isn't just a cutscenes or plot twist but an experience that sticks out in your mind and something you'll never forget.

I'll start mine with the moment I knew Zelda BotW was a classic, when I decided to climb Death Mountain. It actually felt like climbing a real mountain. I remember starting off hunting the lizards around the base of the mountain so I could craft potions to survive the heat.

Once I had made enough I started my trek up the mountain. It's a long way up and as you get higher the temperature increases and suddenly your potions and equipment aren't working as well. You come across groups of miners on the way up and they help you with armour that helps reduce the effects of heat but you are often end up in areas where the armour can't cope with the heat and need to seek out more armour or other ways to cool down.

Took about 3 play sessions to get to the top of Death Mountain and it really felt like an expedition. It's in stark contrast to TotK where the trek up the mountain became trivial due to the looser more open systems of that game.

banie01 · 24-07-2025 01:17PM

Discovering Brian Plank and his goal scoring sweet spot in fifa 94, along with running away from being booked!

The absolute unadulterated sandbox freedom that came with GTA 1, comparatively at least. My 80s & 90s gaming sensibilities were built on rails, where little tricks like running along the top of the screen in Mario Bros were god mode.

The freedom, absolute chaos and fun that came with GTA 1 were groundbreaking and my 1st time ever getting a gouranga and just hours of aimless spinning around.

Another one, whilst not a specific in game moment, rather just the vibe that the game itself and the craic with friends sparked.

4 player Goldeneye, with a pile of friends in the same room. Slagging, trying to block each others view or just sneak a look for an advantage. Proper multiplayer, no LAN 😜 No survivors!

taxAHcruel · 24-07-2025 01:23PM

Finding the cult hideout and walking in on their blood ceremonies in the "Gabriel Knight sins of the Father" game really stayed with me.

I will never go back and look at it because I am sure the graphics are truly awful as they were back in the day when the graphics were there to facilitate your mind filling in the real image and story - rather than AAA games today that do all the work for you. So it is probably blocky horrible nonsense now :) and I do not want to tarnish the memory.

But at the time - it was disturbing and exciting and a real moment in my memory of computer games - and my memory of it is tinged with those emotions even today many years later. Not just the "cut scene" (which actually was a series of stills) but the entire breaking in and subsequent escape. That whole part of the game was great.

Similar moments where one pixel was enough to make your mind fill in the blanks were the comical moments in Lucasarts games (Monkey Island, Indiana Jones) where the main character partially broke the fourth wall by giving a knowing look at the player/camera and raising his eye brows up and down. Was hilarious at the time and still stands out in my favorite gaming memory moments.

With good timing and good writing games used to be able to do more with a couple of pixels than some games today can do with entire cut scenes.

Other than that the highs of getting (and the lows of later losing) the high score on the Vic20 Donkey Kong over my brother was always good. We went back and forth as family champion on that for many years. Wish I could remember who the ultimate winner/score was in the end. Haven't a notion now 40 years later :)

Trigger Happy · 24-07-2025 01:27PM

I went on holiday back in the early 80s and got a high score in some arcade on Donkey Kong. When I returned to the same place a year later my score was still there. Am still proud of that one.

TheIrishGrover · 24-07-2025 01:30PM

From a really old school POV, The Last Ninja I & II games on my friend's C64. Watching each screen build layer by layer and the music. Think I remember taping the music as it was fantastic (And still is).

The heartbreaking end of Link's Awakening on the Gameboy. All the wonderful characters gone.

Playing Uncharted 2 the first time. Really was the first time I was playing a movie and having barrels of fun during the OTT chase/run-away sequences. Cracking dialogue. Especially for a videogame (Before The Last of Us, remember) "Who are you?" "I'm last year's model".

The biggest shock for me was playing through Persona 5 Royal for the second time. Was trying to max out some character relationships that I didn't before and when you got a certain character beyond a certain point (Trying to remain vague) a whole other 20% of game opened up "Wait, how is THAT person still around?"

Good thread actually

banie01 · 24-07-2025 01:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123666019#Comment_123666019

With you on the last ninja series, I think it was my 1st time seeing and playing anything approximating 3D too, even if it was "just" isometric.

cml387 · 24-07-2025 01:43PM

That moment in Doom (the original) when you are faced with what you fear are thousands of enemies, and suddenly they all started fighting each other while you just hide in a room. The first time in any game that it suddenly seemed to have a life of its own rather than everything being dictated by you the player.

NIMAN · 24-07-2025 01:51PM

Another elder moment, but the anticipation of the next Rob Hubbard tune on the c64!

RobbingBandit · 24-07-2025 02:04PM

First time emerging in Hyrule field in Ocarina of Time on N64 still one of my favourite gaming moments and the change from night to day.

SuperBowserWorld · 24-07-2025 02:05PM

The entire starting area, the great plateau, in BOTW. Only topped by leaving it with the paraglider. Also, it was my first proper open world game, and running on a little device, so it absolutely blew my middle aged mind.

RobbingBandit · 24-07-2025 02:11PM

Breath of the Wild paragliding definitely the closest I will ever come to actually paragliding it was surreal doing it in some situations I have an intense fear of heights the game is so amazing in visual quality.

Retr0gamer · 24-07-2025 02:31PM

The climb through the security section of the original System Shock. It's just one of my all time favourite moments and levels in any game and even the remake can't match the original.

You're near the end of the game. You've just narrowly escaped Citadel Station before it's been destroyed and now you have to face SHODAN in the station's bridge after it's been jettisoned from the station. But first you have to climb through the security section.

The developers really wanted to show off the verticality of their engine, something that other games like Doom couldn't replicate. The level consists of a massive elevator column which is of course put of order. You need to climb though the security sections which are filled with the most dangerous enemies in the game. It's a gruelling climb with some very intricate level design. As you climb you will be constantly contacted by the team based on earth desperate to talk to you and help you before being cut off by SHODAN before they can be any use to you. The area is accompanied by the best music track in the game which rises in tempo and urgency as you climb thanks to the game's reactive music system.

And when you get to the top, you find the only door separated from you bay a 20 foot jump and covered by mines. Good luck getting there with your jet pack.

But it's all worthwhile, because just before you get to confront SHODAN on the bridge, you have a boss fight with cybernetically corrupted Edward Diego, a CEO slimebag whose greed lead to the deaths of everyone on the station and put the whole of earth at risk.

SuperBowserWorld · 24-07-2025 02:33PM

Running, jumping, somersaulting, swimming, climbing trees, in 3D around the exterior of the castle at the start of Super Mario 64.

Necro · 24-07-2025 03:09PM

Fight with the bloater in the school gym in TLOU. A wild, terrifying ride. I do not feel the same way about the Rat King in the second game (that's just bloody terrifying!).

It's all great but the Bloody Baron storyline and conclusion in Witcher 3 is brilliant, as is the moment you realise you've been caught trying to have your cake and eat it by both Triss and Yennefer.

Bank robberies in GTA4.

Drinking with Lenny in Red Dead Redemption 2.

Older game highlights would be..

First time playing MGS. Just unbelievable stuff.

Big Smoke's betrayal in GTA San Andreas.

Getting out of Midgar in original FF7 and seeing how vast the world was.

finally getting through Gizamaluke's Grotto in FF9.

Blitzball in FFX - was completely obsessed with it for ages to the point of ignoring the rest of the game😂

Agree with a post above about the end of Link's Awakening, took me ages to finish it and it was completely heartbreaking.

Probably have a few more those are just off the top of my head.

Retr0gamer · 24-07-2025 03:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123666318#Comment_123666318

The Metal Gear Solid demo might be the best videogames demo ever. I got so much play time out of it and it totally sold me on the game. And the use of the dual shock rumble features was incredible. I know the N64 had rumble first but the game's implementation of the rumble set it apart from anything Nintendo had done.

Conall Cernach · 24-07-2025 03:21PM

Completing Flashback in 1993 on Megadrive while my housemates cheered on. Back then we rented games by the week and played them nonstop. Other favourites were Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun and Might and Magic IV.

Despite all the hype I remember Ecco the Dolphin being incredibly boring.

Retr0gamer · 24-07-2025 03:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123666345#Comment_123666345

Ecco is pretty great, just one of those games you can get stuck on for hours and back then we couldn't check YouTube for where to go next. It was also waaaaay too tough, the master mega CD version added more checkpoints, except for the final levels which are just cruel.

cml387 · 24-07-2025 03:44PM

Some of the locations you have to crawl through in "A Plague Tale: Innocence". You can practically smell the rotting flesh.

The Bloody Baron storyline in Witcher 3. Talk about grim. Plus the Baron bears a remarkable resemblance visually and in his nature to Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones.

Uplifting: beating the first boss in Elden Ring. You know they re going to get tougher but at least you've figured what upgrades you're going to need.

Penn · 24-07-2025 03:55PM

Borrowed Metal Gear Solid from a friend. Got to the stage where I had to find Meryl's codec frequency from the back of the CD case.

"Ah..." I thought... "I know exactly where that is..."

Went to the room on the upper walkway of the tank hanger, because that room had computers in it. Nothing seemed to work. There was a blinking light on the radar in that room. Spent ages pressing every combination of buttons there. Nothing (turned out the light was actually just an enemy in the room below). Called everyone on the codec. "Look at the back of the CD case." "Look at the back of the CD case." What f*cking CD case? Went through every room. Nothing.

Handed the game back to my friend. Told him what part I got stuck on. He turned the game case around and handed it back to me, and pointed at the photo of a codec call with Meryl, with Meryl's frequency on it.

Blew my tiny f*cking mind.

Obviously Psycho Mantis and just the depth of the story of the game continued to blow my mind and were unlike anything I'd experienced in gaming before. But the bit with the frequency being on the actual case of the game itself... that stuck with me more than anything, and that game changed gaming for me. After finishing it and giving it back to my friend, ended up saving some money and buying it for myself. I even remember I had another friend who any time he'd have to delete his MGS save file from his memory card, if he wanted to play MGS again he'd give me his memory card and get me to do the two playthroughs to get him the bandana and stealth.

Hilarious to think of all the people who rented the game and ended up not having the frequency at all. In fairness, if you'd just tried every number, you'd have got it after 15 tries (140.15, still remember it clearly).

Potential-Monke · 24-07-2025 05:02PM

The voice acting in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver absolutely blew me away at the time. Nothing i had played before had such brilliant VAs that worked really well together. There may have been others before it, but this one is forever in my memories. Helped of course by the inclusion of videos showing the VAs at work. Everything else before it felt childish or amateur in comparison. The sequels kept the quality up. Helped by a story I got tucked into, and the shape-shifting world between realms blew my little mind at the time. Only Guacamelee has given the same wow experience of changing realms on the fly since.

GT7 in PSVR2 with a wheel and seat, closest to real life driving I've experienced. Even if racing games are not your thing, if you get the chance to try it, its worth trying. Feeling the curve of the Karassell on the Nurburgring... wow.

A mention to Beat Saber, even on PSVR1 it was another excellent experience, and showed that VR is a viable platform. The progression from beginner to Expert+ was tough but rewarding when you finally managed it.

Mortal Kombat (the original) stands out for the obvious and known reasons. Gave birth to my favourite video game character, Bi-Han. Even though Kain and Raziel are a very close joint second, I don't have a tattoo of them (yet!).

Im struggling to remember the really early ones, which were no doubt amazing at the time, but the last couple of decades have really progressed gaming so modern memories are more prevalent. On a simpler level, I have fond memories of going into Smyths Toys at the weekends and playing whatever N64/Xbox/PS games are on demo. Or browsing the local game rental store and picking up something based solely on the box art or if you were lucky enough to have a gaming magazine recommend on (and actually be available, usually the best ones were always rented out). Hours spent in both places just passing time and being amazed at what rich kids could have!

Recent games, God of War 2018 was perfection. Everything i could want in a game, and a fantastic continuation of Kratos' legacy. The 2 Ori games are visual feasts with excellent storytelling and gameplay. Local co-op on Rocket League (local, as in we had 3 consoles and 3 tvs in the same room all online), same for Call of Duty MW2/BlOps. Not specifically the games, but the craic. But them being peak examples of their genres didn't hinder the fun.

Oh, and special mention to my first few experiences of the DualSense. I know not everyone loves the features or shape, but its perfection to my hands and the first few times the haptics were used properly... it gave the PS5 the initial edge over the SX because aside from power and related modern feature updates, the haptics were the only "new" thing, and when used right, like Returnal, Astrobot and Rift Apart did, it really elevated the experience for me. Indeed, even using the DualSense with GT7 in PSVR2 was excellent and as realistic as one can get with a standard controller.

Im sure theres more, I may update as I remember.

Retr0gamer · 24-07-2025 05:52PM

Raiden showing how to deal with MAGA

DoctorEdgeWild · 24-07-2025 06:11PM

A game called Imogen on the BBC Micro. The feeling when you figured out the solution to a problem. It was a simple puzzle platformer but the levels were designed with imagination so you had to think about how to pass through. Great feeling when you 'got there'. At least to my feeble brain!

Rawr · 24-07-2025 06:20PM

Final Fantasy 7: Finishing the first story arc in Midgar, thinking that I had just cleared the whole game (there was loads in Midgar), only to find out that I had only just cleared essentially the first level and a huge RPG world was suddenly unlocked.

That was a fantastic surprise.

HazeDoll · 24-07-2025 07:46PM

In MDK, where Kurt runs about on the deck of a spacecraft of some sort and the floor is a very shiny reflective material that reflects the night sky. It was really just a way to cheat the graphics but it looked incredible.

banie01 · 24-07-2025 08:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123667098#Comment_123667098

MDK, there's a blast from the past! An absolutely incredible game! That sniper rifle gimmick was really well implemented and some of the boss fights were incredible.

HazeDoll · 24-07-2025 08:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123667157#Comment_123667157

Really funny in parts too. We got very excited about the Earthworm Jim easter eggs.

They were good times. Hours and hours spent playing Grand Theft Auto before it was GTA. A top-down view, and an actual paper map that came in the box.

Penn · 25-07-2025 07:11AM

Searching for the Hidden Packages in GTA3, was looking high and low for the last one. In one alleyway, there was a high wall blocking a small area off, with no clear way to get into it. Spent ages. Bringing over vehicles like the amublance, and vans, and fire engine, to try park them against the wall and jump over. Nothing worked. After numerous, numerous attempts, managed to climb onto another small wall and with a series of careful walking along the thin edge and a risky jump, finally made it into that area. Looked around for the hidden package.

Could do nothing only laugh. Absolutely done me.

Other moments from GTA3 as well. I particularly loved learning to fly the Dodo plane. Took ages to get it right and it was a temperamental aul' b*tch, any move too hard and it'd stall. Eventually managed to fly it behind Shoreside Vale and found the ghost city (where the opening scene of the game is set). Tried to land on it but it wasn't physical and I crashed into the sea, but still, was really happy I'd finally managed to get there and see it. Can't remember if/where I heard there was something there or if the tunnels in the mountain of Shoreside Vale which you couldn't enter just piqued my interest enough that I wanted to see where they led. Also managed to land the plane in the football stadium too.

Of course my favourite thing to do in GTA3 was always going to the top of the car park in Staunton Island, destroying everything below for a few minutes to really ramp up the army. Then have a fast car beside me (Banshee usually), jump off the top of the car park and see how long I could survive.

Flinty997 · 25-07-2025 08:40AM

Watershed moment was playing Wolfenstein 3D. Just knew gaming and computers had changed.

Favorite moments. Remember limping home from a mission in F15 III one engine out, half the systems shot out and playing cat and mouse with enemy fighters in the mountains to escape. Things like that.

Used to work in a startup where huge numbers played Original Doom, Half Life 1 DukeNukem and Descent every lunch time for a couple of years. Also played Quake, I never loved that as much. Place got corporate which killed the gaming and everyone started working only their hours which killed the team spirit in the place.

Online played early Delta Force with 50 players in a pitched battle. That was a game changer for multiplayer.

I stopped playing games completely for a few years and never really got back into. Just lost the interest.

Retr0gamer · 25-07-2025 09:20AM

Beating Punch Out!

Might be hard for people to see it as it's such a simple game but I recently played punch out and it one of the greatest games of all time. Simple premise but masterful execution.

I've watched a lot of punch out speedruns and always wanted to give it a go but it was "you can beat videogames" video on punch out that made me try it since with a little bit of help I thought I had a chance to beat it.

There's a bit to playing punch out, because the timing is so strict it's pretty much impossible to play on modern TV hardware. So you have to set up a NES emulator with run ahead modes to eliminate input lag entirely. Punch out starts easy but it doesn't take long before it gets really challenging. It took a couple of days to get through some of the final challenges but with a bit of help from that video series I managed to make it to the man himself, Mike Tyson. I knew this would be a brutal fight but I wasn't prepared for how brutal. It took a few days of practice until I was doing somewhat well against him. One mistake would be an almost guaranteed knock out so there's no room for many mistakes.

Then I got on a pretty unremarkable run. I managed to survive the first stage of the fight which has you avoiding near frame perfect punches that are an instant KO. It was time to do damage. The aim is to do enough damage to Tyson to get an early knock out in round 2 or even a late round 1 knockout but I just wasn't doing enough damage. Round 2 came and I got a knock out but it was too late in the round. This wasn't looking good as I didn't really have the time to get the next two knockouts over the time remaining and my point score wasn't good enough to win on points if we both remained standing by the end.

The something happened. Tyson wiggled his eyebrows which usually meant you pinched straight away to get a powered up punch and then get some damage in during a flurry of jabs. My punch was late. It caught Tyson right at the end of his eyebrow animation and he went down straight away, all his stamina gone. Id managed to get a frame perfect risky knock down move on Tyson.

However this was still late in round 2. I still didn't have the points or time to put him down again. The fight continued. Tyson showed me the eyebrows and I threw another late punch.

BAM! TKO.

I've beaten a lot of hard games in my life put nothing ever brought the satisfaction of beating this game. It really felt like I worked for it.

skallywag · 25-07-2025 09:23AM

Turning on the pron movie for the first time in the theater in Duke Nukem 3D

dominatinMC · 25-07-2025 09:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123666125#Comment_123666125

Came here to say this. I've been gaming for 30+ years and nothing has (or probably ever will) come close to that feeling of walking out into the open 3D expanses of Hyrule Field for the first time in OoT.

It truly was groundbreaking, and felt like a real paradigm shift in gaming (2D to 3D), the like of which we haven't seen since. The field, although miniscule in comparison to today's games, represented freedom, adventure, opportunity, and a step into the unknown. The sense of wonder and awe associated with this is something I miss in games nowadays. And it's one of those curel ironies with OoT - for a game so good (best every IMO), sometimes I wish I had never played it, just so I could experience it for the first time again.

Your favourite videogame moments

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