Greatest Moments In Gaming History

[SpiritCorsair]

1977 or so = Seeing the arcade game "Gun Fight." I saw one pixel cowboy get shot, and fall dead with a "Got Me" over him. I was instantly hooked on games.

Christmas, early 1980s: My brothers and I were envious of the neighbors' Atari 2600. Dad did a little Christmas shopping and got us... the Atari 400. Yeah, the little membrane keyboarded computer. Complete with Centipede cartridge. We were stoked.

December 26 that year = My older brother blew his gift cash on a Pac-Man cartridge. Dad chewed us out for sinking that much money on a plaything, saying the computer was not just a game box. And no more purchases for it without clearing it with him first.

December 26, that evening = Hearing Dad curse when Blinky killed his first life.

1982 = Seeing the arcade game "Dragon's Lair." I was in awe, and was sure this was the future of gaming.

1987 = Seeing the arcade game "Narc." Still an all-time favorite.

1991 = Finishing "Narc" on one quarter. Yeah, I did it.

Christmas 1999 = Finally breaking down and getting the PlayStation 1 because the price had gone down, and I had enough cash for it at last. I also figured the earth would explode in the wake of Y2K, so why not have fun first?

2000 = The Sims. It was the biggest factor in why my first computer was a PC, and not a Mac.

Those are MY moments, anyway. Probably dated myself a bit, but what the freep.

 

[haruvister]

The moment which had me hooked on gaming was the intro to The Secret of Monkey Island - you know, when the music swells and the clouds roll over Melee Island. But that's personal, hardly the greatest moment in gaming history.

The most impactful moment in gaming as a whole I can recall was the release of Doom. It presented a level of intensity, atmosphere and immersion never seen before.

 

[Whitenail]

Ooh, let's see now. I'll put these in spoilers for fear that they might be detrimental to the plot of certain games (and the fact that I might trail off a bit). There's:

Spoiler: Minecraft

Surviving my first night, I had a small hideout dug into the side of a mountain and when the sun rose I walked into the sunlight and watched zombies burn all over the mountain. It actually looked quite pretty, like a Christmas tree of burning undead flesh.

Spoiler: Red Dead Redemption

First time in Mexico, galloping across the gorgeous desert hills while this song played:

Spoiler: Bioshock

Looking into the expanse of the city, coming into the docking bay and then instantly being attacked by a splicer and coming to the realization that this paradise has become purgatory.

Spoiler: Halo

Making it through the final level. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how long it took to finally do that.

Spoiler: Limbo

The ending, crashing through that glass in slow-motion then finding your sister, having her slowly look up...then after the credits going back to the title screen, and you finally realize what the background is.

 

[Frotality]

stumbling upon missingo in pokemon red completely by accident without knowing about it ahead of time. this seriously freaked me out, but in a good way. from the battle with a hieroglyph-block of static mess, to catching it, to seeing it turn into a flashing npc sprite in the menus... this was just pure awesome, though it did get me interested in all those ridiculously complicated, difficult, and fake descriptions for amazing unlockables that people made about all kinds of games.so many wasted hours in pokemon snap trying to get mewtwo and mew to fight...