What is your favorite moment in gaming? And why?

[EBHughsThe1st]

Hm...

I loved the ending of Super Mario Galaxy, and my favorite time watching it was as Luigi after collecting all 242 stars.

That moment when Andrew Ryan blew up the sub and started talking directly to me was emotional, but awesome in a way. I feel a bit of a tug when I hear him say "Who are you?!" No due to personal issues, but just the way it was presented.

When I beat level 1-11 of BIT.TRIP Runner for the first time. That was awesome. So satisfying.

In Pokemon B/W plays that awesome music when you're nearing the end of a gym battle. I almost lost all my pokemon once, but a lucky hitch allowed me to win.

The opening of Portal 2. Funny, powerful, and surprising.

That first time I booted up my old, blue DS, a massive smile spread across my face.

When I learned how to grab Bowser's tail in SM64.

When I won my first Pokemon battle.

When I beat the Professor Layton games. The first and third's endings were unforgettable as well.

When I finally got Mewtwo in SSBM.

 

[Thespian]

That one KOTOR moment, obviously.
The Milkman Conspiracy in Psychonauts.
Taking the fight to GlaDOS in Portal. Actually, pretty much all of Portal.
The part in the Spire of Fable 2. It was pretty damn epic, actually.
Mass Effect 2 ending
Mass Effect 2 "Kill or brainwash the geth?"
Mass Effect 1 Saren outcome (any of them)

Possibly my favourite moment in any game;

Batman Arkham Asylum. Not my favourite game ever, but Scarecrow's second illusion, where you are walking down the hallway and it subtly transforms.

Sublime, perfectly done.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Halo 2, the monster free-for-all between the Elites and the Brutes at the end of Gravemind to the tune of "Blow me Away" by Breaking Benjamin.

I was co-oping Heroic with a friend of mine on release night. We reserved the university's theater for that complete with 40' projector screen and monster honking 5.1 surround sound system, one of the benefits of knowing staffers and admin and working in IT. It was, in a word, orgasmic.

 

[CleverNickname]

First time: When Shepard hugs Tali during her loyalty mission.

Every time: Saving a survivor from a Special from afar through a wall without the sniper rifle in L4D2. Makes me feel like ultimate credit to team.

 

[Devil'sAdvocate]

My fiancée watched me play through the first God of War. I picked it up for a fiver (I bought my playstation 2 very very late...) popped it in, and she happened to walk past during the Kraken boss-fight.

I got her into the Greek myths (I told her the Iliad and Odyssey during a brutally long overlap in Dubai) so she was hooked on the style. She hates games, never comes near them, but she ordered in some Tai, cracked open a bottle of wine (or two) and we played through the entire game in one sit until the end-credits rolled, way past 03.00. She actually shed a tear at the realization that Kratos was conned by Athena, and that he would never see his wife again.

A great moment, but it made dealing with the lazy narrative of the sequels even worse....

 

[xMelior]

The first stealth mission in Modern Warfare. Really great.

 

[Medimorpho]

The final battle of Ocarina of Time. The music is so EPIC!

When you go way back in time in The Sands of Time, and you get to see all the events of the game rewinding, all the way back before Azad