Wow moments in gaming

[JoeK]

36 minutes ago, Plissken said:

 

The sprites were more convincing actors too.

They were certainly more animated.

[Keiths_Dad]

Seeing Mario 64 on a demo pod in Toys R Us, and running around the castle grounds. It was a long wait for Christmas that year - imagine the joy when early that morning we found out you could jump into the paintings!

 

I don't think anything will come close to that again, with the magic combination of it being my first taste of 3D gaming (aside from Doom and Wolfenstein, which still used sprites), and being 10 years old.

 

In more modern times, Arkham Asylum impressed by managing to be both a great stealth game and a superb brawler. The sequels killed the formula by going open world, unfortunately. 

[Rayn]

Leaving Kakariko Forest in Ocarina of Time and seeing Hyrule Field in 3D for the first time, I seriously got chills down my spine. 

 

Leaving the vault in Fallout 3 to be blinded by daylight, then slowly let the ruined world outside fade in. 

 

FF VII, all of it. 

 

Resident Evil 7 in VR. Especially the first few hours. 

[Timmo]

14 minutes ago, Keiths_Dad said:

Seeing Mario 64 on a demo pod in Toys R Us, and running around the castle grounds. It was a long wait for Christmas that year - imagine the joy when early that morning we found out you could jump into the paintings!

 

I don't think anything will come close to that again, with the magic combination of it being my first taste of 3D gaming (aside from Doom and Wolfenstein, which still used sprites), and being 10 years old.

 

In more modern times, Arkham Asylum impressed by managing to be both a great stealth game and a superb brawler. The sequels killed the formula by going open world, unfortunately. 

 

There absolutely must be a number of kids out there who got Mario 64 but could never work out that you can jump into the paintings. Thought that the grounds and castle entrance was the whole game.

[Sumire]

Has to be VR for me. I do not think even any of my nostalgia laced memories of my import gamer days has topped seeing and experiencing it for the first time

[Mawdlin]

Yes, VR. One of the first things I experienced was sitting in that East End pub and smoking a cigar (and blowing out smoke). I felt so present in a way that I'd never felt in a game before.

 

It's been eclipsed a million times over by better VR things but that was the this is the future now moment.

[Captain Kelsten]

[Gigawatt]

A lot of mine have been covered already but I’ll add one very small one from this gen. 

 

In one of the early levels of Uncharted 4

Spoiler

the prison escape

there’s a bit where Nate jumps over a wall into dense foliage, and the way the leaves and branches smoothly moved around him as he ran through them was a big graphical wow moment for me. 

[Mr Do 71]

Always the waves in Wave Race 64, and recently the sea in Sea of Thieves.

[kensei]

Early N64, which is weird as early 3d hasn't t aged particularly well. But I remember Game having Mario 64 on a big screen before the N64 game out and being blown away, particularly when Metal Mario. 

 

I genuinely thought games couldn't look better than Lylat Wars (as twas then) when it came out. It was slike being in a Sci Fi movie. And the rumble! 

 

There's been graphics that's impressed me since, but nothing quite like that leap. 

[df0]

12 minutes ago, Doctor Shark said:

On that note, as a Tauren walking from the green pastures of Mulgore to the desert wasteland that was The Barrens without any loading interruption. That transition was fantastic and made me realise early on I was in for a hell of a ride. So much to discover and see.

 

There's more great transitions. From Ashenvale (lush purple and green trees) to the aforementioned Barrens, arriving in Orgrimmar after a dull track through brown Durotar.

I honestly think this is why I like Final Fantasy XIV so much now, it really scratches that discovery itch. Almost every zone has its unique flavour.

[carlospie]

Mgs2. That pree launch trailer Where snake jumps into the sea after Ray. So hype. Then getting the game and it looked just as incredible. 

[morcs]

My first time seeing a Super Famicom. F-Zero...I couldn’t believe the speed.

 

I see it now and can’t understand how it can be the same game, in my memory it is so much more jaw droppingly fast.

[jamesy]

Graphically for me it has to be Doom 3. I had just upgraded my pc with a new graphics card. It was the first time I had done this with a pc so the hype was high. I bought Doom 3 and got it installed. The initial cut-scene played which at the time I assumed was just an opening pre-rendered movie. When the camera changed to the in-game view I didn't realize for a few seconds what had happened. Lost my mind soon as I started moving about haha. Couldn't believe what I was seeing.

[dizogg]

Playing the GTA demo on the original PS, couldn’t believe there was a whole city where you could explore and do whatever you wanted. My mate had it on a demo disc and we took turns playing this time limited demo over and over. 

 

Then playing GTA3 for the first time on the PS2, I couldn’t believe they’d done the same thing in 3D. Awesome. 

[Steven]

Impossible Mission  C64- (animation)

 

Knightlore  Speccy - (graphics mainly)

 

Super Mario 64

 

Ocarina of Time

 

RE VII (VR) - Most jaw-dropping moments since SM64.

[Flanders]

The very beginning of Metal Gear Solid. I was thinking about this topic today and realised how extraordinary MGS was in 1998.

 

If I remember correctly, the entire opening was available as a demo that came with a magazine, which was how I first experienced it. 
 

For me it wasn’t just the graphics or the stealth gameplay that blew me away. The presentation was cinematic and very clearly authored in a way Id never seen in a video game before - right from that ‘Doo doo doo doodoo doo” sound at the Konami logo. 

 

After that came the opening cutscene of a mysterious figure ascending from the depths, accompanied by plot exposition ripped from Hollywood blockbusters and Tom Clancy novels but twisted sideways with anime weirdness. 
 

And then on to the supremely atmospheric docking bay, learning the stealth basics before ascending to the snowy helipad field - which is one of the all time great orientation levels in terms of how it teaches you to play the game.

 

I think Metal Gear Solid might be the ultimate ‘game of the future’ - I could never have imagined a videogame could be like this before it existed. The idea that this came out just three years or four years after the last SNES And Megadrive games is inexplicable. 

 

[ilpostino]

Outside of ones mentioned, I can remember looking at the water effects and ripples in Morrowind and being absolutely amazed.

[GamesGamesGames]

Of recent times it's the area transition after the Maria fight in Bloodborne's DLC. Just stunning.

 

And Noita. Just playing the damned thing.

[PK]

Installing a sound card and booting up Wing Commander 2. Instead of a variety of beeps and farts from the PC speaker there was suddenly midi music, laser blasts, explosions and giant cats actually talking.  Blew my young mind.

 

Playing Doom for the first time as well, I don't think I'd ever been so immediately immersed in a game before that. I remember thinking Oh my god, it's like I'm in a film!

[Thor]

Perhaps a fairly unique one, but the Star Wars game, and indeed Doom and Virtua Racing on the Sega 32x blew my fucking mind. 

 

A year or two later, the PlayStation came out, Ridge Racer, the arcade game ... IN MY FUCKING HOUSE! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? 

[JoeK]

1 hour ago, Gigawatt said:

A lot of mine have been covered already but I’ll add one very small one from this gen. 

 

In one of the early levels of Uncharted 4

  Hide contents

the prison escape

there’s a bit where Nate jumps over a wall into dense foliage, and the way the leaves and branches smoothly moved around him as he ran through them was a big graphical wow moment for me. 

 

To be honest, Uncharted 4 has more wows in it for me than a lot of things, but the whole chase sequence...

 

 

 

still ranks up there as one of the most astonishing things I've ever played through in a game. It's absolutely mind-blowing to me. 

[Mawdlin]

That makes me want to play it again. Looking back I don't think anything on PS4 has bettered it in terms of Hollywood-style spectacle.

[wretcherd]

The biggest wow moments for me this gen have been in Monster Hunter World.

Going head-to-toothy-head with two giant dragons*, narrowly avoiding fireballs flying, swooping claws, swinging poison-tipped tails, when suddenly a third scaley fucker turns up to pick a fight with them. Couldn't believe my eyes.

 

(*actually wyverns)

[Parappa]

Astrobot still shows that new tech can easily wow you. A lot of things in VR can (wipeout, star wars) but Astrobot is on another level and still is. 

 

Going back a bit my mate had a japanese copy of MGS on the PS1 and we didn't even care we had to play it in black and white before a cable for sourced. 

[Steven]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Perhaps a fairly unique one, but the Star Wars game, and indeed Doom and Virtua Racing on the Sega 32x blew my fucking mind. 

 

A year or two later, the PlayStation came out, Ridge Racer, the arcade game ... IN MY FUCKING HOUSE! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? 

 

Forgot about RR - that was another one.

[Rudderless]

[nakamura]

Let me think..

 

Navy Seals C64. I was blown away by the incredible intro and music. One of my earliest introductions to game music that I still remember today.  

 

Super Mario Bro Arcade. This felt incredible to play, even in the very late 80s when I first saw it, maybe even 1990. Only had ,2600 and C64 and home and this felt better than all. 

 

F-Zero SNES. This blew me away when I first played it and to be honest it still does today. A masterpiece of graphics and it just has that feeling.  

 

SF2. We all knew how special this was but playing in at home was mind-blowing when I was 12. 

 

Secret of Mana. That damn intro. Wow. 

 

Donkey Kong Country. The graphics and music were incredible. Played well too. 

 

Virtua Fighter Arcade. I always played Akira and I loved his double kick. Amazing animation. 

 

Ridge Racer Arcade. The graphics and view just felt real. I liked the theme more than the cheesy Daytona. (Daytona is amazing). 

 

Wipeout. Sold me a PS1. Wow. It was mind-blowing and had music type I loved. 

 

Gran Turismo. Massive leap forward for racing games with amazing replays and incredible handling. 

 

Shutokou Battle 2. The car models were incredible and if ran so smooth with amazing replays. 

 

Ridge Racer V. Incredible locked 60fps and high resolution. Never seen a console game so smooth and impressive. 

 

Winning Eleven 5. Incredible step up with rock solid 60fps and such bright graphics. 

 

GT3. Still looks amazing today. Has the best and most vibrant colours palette of any sim style Racer. 

 

Halo. Those textures. 

 

Forza Horizon. Unbelievable Racer with amazing lighting and never dropped a frame. 

 

PSVR. All of it. 

 

 

[MrHendo]

Spending the ‘80’s with the 2600 and then the C64 and then a mate coming round with his Megadrive and this brand new game about a blue hedgehog, my poor little brain was fried.

 

I kept looking at the screen and then the MD and expecting to start seeing smoke pour out of it.

 

Also the reveal in Bioshock. I hadn’t figured it out but just before there’s an investigation wall with names and pictures on it and I stared at it for about 15 minutes trying to figure it out before the game told me. 

[JoeK]

51 minutes ago, Mawdlin said:

That makes me want to play it again. Looking back I don't think anything on PS4 has bettered it in terms of Hollywood-style spectacle.

 

Also - first view of Libertalia...and the journey through it.

 

Man, I only played again a couple of months ago, and I want to play it again now :p .