The most fun you ever had in a video game

[Erttheking]

Think back. Think back real hard. Try to come up with the most fun experience that you've ever had with a video game, the one experience that sticks with you to this very day and you still think back on with fond memories.

For me, I think it'd have to be that time when I was a kid playing Super Mario RPG, Legend of the Seven Stars. I don't know why, but my memories of playing that game have just stuck with me through most of my life. Speaking of which "SQUARE ENIX! LET SOMEONE USE GENO IN A GAME AGAIN!" But enough about that. It was just a fun, memorable, and at times rather funny, game. Not particularly hard but as someone else put it, you didn't really play it for the challenge, you played it for the experience.

So what about you? What's the most fun experience you've ever had with a game?

 

[StormShaun]

Snip

I'll tell you what, I'll show you my favorite series ... in which all of the twists and turns have stayed with me ever since my young self picked up the first game for his PS2.

Spoiler: My favorite series.

This is the best action adventure game series I have ever played.
To me this series blasts everything Naughty Dog has ever done out of the park (Sorry Crash), especially The Last of Us!
But enough of my bias, this came gave me a bright colourful world in the beginning with characters that were funny and I could easily be attached to. The plot was easy and had twists, and most of all the 'quests' were damn fun and usually lead to many fun situations.

It was and still is, my best love to gaming.

Then Jak 2 came along, not only did they do something awesome to the protagonist, but they completely changed the setting and made the plot much more darker. This was a big surprise, but still made the game, ever so awesome. The platforming was still there, but the fighting/gameplay got weapons, flying hover vehicles and dark powers.

And the masterpiece and last game of the series, Jak 3. This pretty much gave the plot an epic climax and made everything about the second game better while adding so much more.

This is still my favorite series in gaming history, the only other thing coming close is Fallout 3 and the Saints Row series.

Sure Jak X was a damn fine racing game, but the original series could never be beaten by anything.
And we never, EVER talk about the totally non-cannon "The Lost Frontier" ... no ... just no.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

There are three, that I would weigh equally for different reasons.

Okami is my most favorite game overall ever, I loved every second of it, I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the aesthetic, I loved how everything starts out dull and lifeless in the cursed zones and explodes with color and awesomeness when you use bloom on guardian saplings, I love the gameplay and the celestial brush, I love how the NPCs freak out when you do something godly near them, I love the Ninetails battle and how you need to beat her to the brush techniques. I. LOVE. OKAMI.

Borderlands was the most fun I've ever had with a friend, the game is barren without friends, but add other vault hunters and it gets full of "oh shit!" moments. Admittedly, I'm a greedy bastard who hates split screen, so I can only play it online with my buddies, but what an experience it is!

Final Fantasy 6 was the first JRPG I've ever played, It was left over from my brother when he moved out, I was to young to read or really know what I was doing, but it was a simple kind of fun just running around the world map and the towns exploring and killing things.

---
Okay I lied, here's more...

I have very fond memories Super Mario 3 and the original Rayman, those were the only two games I ever played with my sister, who isn't into video games. The original Rayman also gets credit for the most traumatizing stage (curse you Bandland!)

Jak and Daxter was my first PS2 game, the first game of my very favorite generation. When I told my parents I wanted a PS2, they just chose that game because they knew me well enough to know what I was interested in. I hadn't told them I wanted that game, so when I opened it on Christmas morning it was a "How did you know!" moment. I know this one doesn't really count since it's the moment surrounding the game, not the game it's self, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

Most recently Pokemon Y, I've collected so many friend codes from this particular community, when I was in the battle with Yveltal and struggling to catch the thing, I sent out a shout "Need Catch Power!" and my game exploded with people giving me catch power and I was able to catch Yveltal. That was pretty awesome.

 

[Erttheking]

Jak and Daxter was my first PS2 game, the first game of my very favorite generation. When I told my parents I wanted a PS2, they just chose that game because they knew me well enough to know what I was interested in. I hadn't told them I wanted that game, so when I opened it on Christmas morning it was a "How did you know!" moment. I know this one doesn't really count since it's the moment surrounding the game, not the game it's self, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

That comment just jarred another rather pleasant memory. I have trouble remembering some Christmases, but I can very clearly remember the one where I got Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door. I don't remember if I ever asked my grandmother for it, but she got it for me. And dear GOD was that a good game. It was a good fun Mario game but it could also be rather touching, especially towards the end. And the Bomb-Omb sailors back story, JESUS CHRIST THAT WAS SAD!

 

[lacktheknack]

There are two.

One: Had had an epic moment in Dwarf Fortress. I managed to build the perfect defense system, complete with retracting drawbridge about halfway down a gorge. Building it was just uberfun, as is most of the rest of the game.

Two: Levels 6 and 8 from Mirror's Edge. Just. So. Fun.

 

[Rewdalf]

Playing GTA III for the first time, as a young child.
Before then, I had never experienced a sandbox game like it.
Though, to be honest... GTA II was equally as fun, even though it was 2D instead of 3D...
I mean, honestly, my entire GTA experience falls under this category.
I received GTA II as a birthday gift, and played it exclusively for almost a year without growing tired.
GTA III brought everything into 3D, Vice City was when I started modding and cheating, San Andreas was when I got interested in storyline and campaign, and IV was the first GTA I bought on my own, with my own money.
And recently, GTA V was the first collectors edition I've ever purchased, and it was definitely worth it.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Too hard to even think of my most fun gaming moment. I probably get an amazing, memorable experience at least once a month these days.

For one of my more recent times of fun-ness, it would be playing Zelda: Link Between Worlds for the first time. Everything felt so fun, I loved exploring, collecting items, fighting enemies all with no real purpose. I was playing just for the sake of playing which is something I've rarely done since I was a little kid.

 

[Atmos Duality]

That's a difficult call, given the 25 years of video games...

SNES: Secret of Mana produced some of my most precious memories, along with A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.
(a lot of Squaresoft titles, honestly, though that's definitely not all I played)

PS1: Armored Core 1 was a game I immediately fell in love with, along with Final Fantasy Tactics
(also, Twisted Metal 2)

PC: Baldur's Gate 1&2, Unreal Tournament 99' (modded thoroughly), Deus Ex 1, System Shock 2, Age of Empires 2, Diablo 1&2, Warcraft III, Tribes 2, UT2004...

PS2: GTA3 + Vice City, Armored Core 2 -> Silent Line, Twisted Metal: Black, Timesplitters
"Gamecube": Smash Bros Melee (before "pros" ruined playing for fun), Metroid Prime 1&2, Tales of Symphonia

GBA: Advance Wars 1 & 2...I think I need to cut myself off here or this is never going to end.

Good grief. If I had to thin all of that out....
Probably between Secret of Mana, UT99', and Final Fantasy Tactics.

All for different reasons, but I cannot recall having a more joyous time in my life than playing Secret of Mana with my childhood sweetheart and best friend.

UT99' was just a flat out funhouse of mods, mutators, maps and models based on damn good gameplay to begin with. (well, until Halo and its legion of clones ultimately killed this model of shooter for good. Turns out, they couldn't co-exist for long. And yeah, I'm still bitter.)

Final Fantasy Tactics: There are just so many class blends, enemies, and maps it's crazy.
That, and I rather liked the story, and how it's presented. It's rare to see a political story work in a game, let alone be attempted. Even more rarely with so many characters (lots of them dying at that, admittedly).

 

[Auron225]

I had a lot of fun playing No More Heroes It was just the simple kind of glee only offered by mindlessly slicing up baddies with a lightsaber of all things. It shamelessly ripped off anything it wanted to and gladly took the piss out of story-telling conventions. I loved it Sadly replaying it doesn't offer the same level of euphoria. The second game was good too though!

Oh, and Super Smash Bros (the first one) seemed like one of the most fun games of all time when I first played it way back when with my cousins Maybe it had something to do with finally beating my brother at a game - I was Yoshi, he was DK, and since we were both playing it for the first time I had no shame in spamming the same strategy to kick his ass (ie put him in eggs while he was in mid-air and let him fall off the stage) XD

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

It was one time when I played Just Cause II on a friend's steam account for a while.

I remember trekking up this huge mountainside(after I tried to pull off a few aerodynamic manoeuvres to dodge a bridge, and failed to do so) for about 20 mins, then, at the very peak, I was greeted by this amazing sunset.

I do not have the screenshot with me, but that one moment was so damn beautiful I had to pause what I was doing, and just take a look at how amazing it looked.

As for other, more standard definitions of fun, well:

-Assassin's Creed: succesfully evading the guards after the first assassination(when I first played it) the music was intense, my situation desperate, and the thrill of the chase was amazing.

-Shogun 2: Total War: defeating an overwhelming force of two enemy armies, one of which was positioned right behind me, and the other was closing in fast, through (I suppose) micro-ing, I managed to survive and defeat my enemy to hear this sweet music playing in the background as I scanned the battlefield:


-KoTOR II: just beating the damn game, sans patches, was pretty amazing, it was a journey and a half.

-Saints Row Iv: on a friend's console, I did the first few missions with a constant grin on my face.

-Call of Duty 4: finishing the single player and playing that epilogue mission, which was a bit meh, but I liked the music and the fact that you were against the clock on it, it was a nice little burst of action to an already excellent campaign.

-Portal: just, all of it, the excellent ending, neat writing, brilliant level desing, the entire game was just a whale of a time.

-Assassin's Creed II: improved on I in almost every way, the environments were gorgeous, the protagonist: Miles better than Altair, better setting, less annoying future segments, it was fun as hell experience.

-Mass Effect 2: one of the finest RPGs I have ever played, the finale of which was excellently designed and had me on the edge of my seat with tension, after which, I was both relieved, stressed out, and eagerly awaiting the next game in this epic saga.

-The Banner Saga: so good, and such an amazing ending, that was not only an emotional workout, but a mental one too(the final boss is goddamn hard).

-Bastion: excellent everything, and finishing the game left me with a sense of satsifaction.

-Planetside 2: The first few hours of the stable release were amazing, it felt a lot like Battlefield, except it was miles better, hell of a time.

To be honest, it is hard to gauge how I had fun, usually it is by how compelled I was with a game, in which case, Star Wars Battlefront II takes the prize, as I have spent many, many hours in my childhood playing it, even in solo skirmishes.

 

[Rad Party God]

To be honest, too many times to count, I just love me some vidja gaems.

Just recently, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Metal Gear Rising. Yup, I'm a bit late on these two, as it tends to be the case with PC ports, but I absolutely loved both of these, Castlevania for it's wonderful aesthetics and cathartic (and hard) gameplay and Metal Gear Rising is just the perfect state of catharsis, even if it's very short, I was already looking forward to my next playthrough by the time the credits rolled.

 

[Avalanche91]

In terms of multiplayer Mario Kart, SSBM and Team Fortress 2.

In terms of singleplayer Persona 4 for the story and Mario Galaxy 2 for sheer joy. I caught myself smiling like a fucking child during the yoshi levels.

 

[KorLeonis]

Head-to-head drunken Smash Brothers, 100-life "Champion of all Time" title fight, against my best friend. Took nearly an hour. Samus vs Roy. Almost perfectly even fight the whole way. 99 kills apiece, last life for each of us. 150%+ damage to both. My girl Samus - charge shot, into homing missile, dash towards, last second evade, into shoulder charge for the win. Epic match, epic victory!

 

[The Wykydtron]

Persona 4. As in all 50 hours of it. Baist gaem evar and all that.

[sub][sub]Wonder if I should start to keep a tally on how many times I mention Persona 4 per month here...[/sub][/sub]

[sub][sub][sub][sub]Personapersonapersonapersonapersona...SocialinkssociallinksSOCIALLINKSSOCIALLINKS[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

I really like Metal Gear Rising, the combat is freaking amazing and the boss fights are exactly what a boss fight should be. They ramp up in difficulty massively too, didn't learn how to parry yet? Better learn right the fuck now because MONSOON BABY! WOOOOOO!

I have plenty of fond memories of UMVC3 games but who doesn't because UMVC3 is custom designed to cater to ridiculous comebacks. Still mine are always special because when you make a comeback with Phoenix "Worst in Game" Wright, shit gets real. Some of the fucking pure rage he inspired was awesome.

Also the Attack on Titan tribute game is REALLY fun. It's the whole freeform swinging stuff that people went on about in Spiderman 2 but with one hit kill walking death machines walking about that you have to kill with tiny swords. It's a good team game if you have friends for it too.

 

[StormDragonZ]

Going to a GameStop and having enough money for only one of two games to be able to purchase. It took me nearly 20 minutes to decide between them, but in the end, I decided to pick up some game that had recently come out called Tales of Symphonia. I knew nothing about the Tales series, let alone there was a Tales series. Nearly 80+ hours plugged into a game that never stopped being fantastic with action, dialogue and plot twists like no tomorrow. The fact that I could do a NewGame+ and still had things yet uncovered or completed screamed replay value for years to come.

To go six hours a day into a game and then realize it was 2am when I got done with what I had done, the euphoria was beyond anything I've felt before since Mega Man X, Super Mario RPG and Pokemon Crystal Version.

Our story does not end here, though. What was that one game I didn't get over Tales of Symphonia? It was another game I never knew about, but had already come out on another system I never even considered buying. That other games was Skies of Arcadia: Legends.

Don't worry, I did get that game. However, the euphoria gained from that is another story...

 

[krazykidd]

I have to agree with wykyd. Many a fun times has been played playing UMVC3. So many characters, so many combinations, so much crazyness, the possibilities are endless. It's my most played game on the 360.

Other than that. It's probably back when square-enix was squaresoft. I was always excited when i heard a new final fantasy game was coming out. Oh how times have changes. How the mighty has fallen.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I'd say the first time I ever picked up and played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I had already played many platformers before then, but the experience of playing The Sands of Time still managed to blow my mind, and I still can barley believe how much I enjoyed it. Overall, the entire Sands of Time Trilogy was probably the most fun I've ever had in gaming. The platforming remained solid throughout, and the combat managed to be incredible by Warrior Within, and addition of a stealth system in The Two Thrones pretty much perfected the formula. Not to mention, the puzzles throughout the series were always a good challenge.

 

[aozgolo]

I honestly think it's either Earthbound or Morrowind

Earthbound when I first played it, I rented it from a video store, not sure how long I had it out but was long enough to get all the way to the end (which I never actually beat) but I had a blast, I can't even put my finger on why, but everything about that game was just pure win.

Morrowind gave me my first real taste of freedom in a game. I recall right out the gate when I began the first thing I did was go to the nearest mountain and try to climb over it, and was so shocked that I actually could! After playing so many games with impassable terrain barriers, Morrowind was a breath of fresh air, not only could I go in any direction I choose but I had the freedom to put the story aside and actually play in this world outside the confines of the story. I must have put 100 hours into that game before I ever even really touched the main quest.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Probably the combination of good company, alcohol and wario-ware.