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Max_Hydrogen

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10 Great Moments In My Gaming Experience

Here is a list of ten moments in my video gaming experience that have imparted a deep, significant impression on me. This list is not compiled in any order of precedent whereby each entry is superior to it's predecessor; it is merely an enumeration. I haven't played many current generation games and in fact I own no current generation console so I do not included any contemporary works.

My next list will be an honorable mentions of game moments that were cool but not as profound as the belowmentioned.

List items

  • Super Mario World: First time playing. It must have been in the final months of 1991, I'm not quite sure, whilst being segregated from the adults during a dinner party, I turned on a machine I had never seen before... The Super Nintendo and the cartridge top loaded therein was Super Mario World. As soon as I pushed the Power Switch forward, I was treated to digital magic. It was absolutely stunning; I was amazed at the graphics and gameplay; it was a revelation and I knew I needed this system. Of course, the hyperbolic reaction I'm recounting is mostly the reverence of a child but never the less, even at that age, I could discern the importance of the advancement heralded by what my young eyes were contemplating: the ability to spin jump and drill through blocks (and enemies), stored items, a flight enabling cape, secret key holes etc, and I was rather impressed when first encountering a giant Bullet Bill. There was, also, a green dinosaur who's name I mispronounced as "yashi" and who could swallow the opposition whole, even as they were about to burrow through the surface of the soil. I rode my egg-born companion to the finish line and was thrilled to find a rising goal post I could jump at for stars and all in fantastic sharpness and color. Such was the dawn of arguably the best era of gaming and I was hooked.

  • God of War: Kratos' complexion. Playing through this Spartan epic, I obviously noticed that my brutal protagonist displayed a different skin tone in the expository cut-scenes than that which he sported in the rest of the game. Knowing Kratos had pledged a pact with the God of War and being addressed disdainfully as "ghost of Sparta", I assumed that his pale appearance was caused by some sort of lethal magic or divine spell. Little did I know that his alabaster complexion was much more ashen in nature than I had reason to suspect... As is now well known, Kratos was cursed to absorb into his skin the very cinders of his slaughtered family's chard remains; and is family, of course, was inadvertently butchered by his own hand for such is the price of vainglory and the thirst for blind conquest... And the makers of the game showed skill in setting up this particular plot twist: MINDFUCK, MINDFUCK, MINDFUCK!" (etc.) is all I the reaction I could muster as the enigma was finally answered: "Oh my god...!" It may seem a bit melodramatic, but that's how engaging the moment was as I needed to pause the game in order to deal with the ironic horror (worthy of a Twilight Zone episode). The origin of Kratos' albino flesh proves yet again that good old fashion story telling can be as compelling and impactful as graphics and gameplay.

  • Metal Gear Solid 3: The Ending. No, not the sniper showdown with The End, which is incontestably one of the best boss fights ever, I'm referring to the game's stellar dénoument. From the last fight with the Boss to the obligatory post-credit Ocelot phone conversation, Kojima and team crafted the end-point of a character arch on par with any screenplay and novel published. After defeating your former mentor and soul-mate, the game forces you to finish her off with one final shot; a death-blow unavoidable as the game simply cannot continue until you pull the trigger. This moment in time, as a field of lilies (the flower of death) swirls in a white haze around you, is truly poignant as you finally concede that you must fulfill your duty and shoot... And the lilies turn red... That alone is gripping enough, but the game takes off as you ride an emotional crescendo to the revelation that explains why Big Boss became the man he was. I still get teary-eyed whenever I watch the scene where he can barely force himself to shake the President's hand as he is congratulated for killing his surrogate mother and walks away in disgust, coldly ignoring everyone, even those who helped him in his mission, to place a lily on her anonymous grave; heart-breaking. The song played during the credits is perfect for expressing the feelings of manipulation that must have pushed Jack over the edge and lead him to found Outer Heaven. His rage must have only been inflamed further once he learned that the Patriots used him yet again whilst in a coma for the Les Enfants Terribles project, thus prompting him to try and kill Solid Snake. MGS3 provides one of the best endings in gaming.

  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Simply Ganon. One of the best games of all time, Ocarina offers many a memorable moment, and one that sticks out in my mind comes right at the very end. The game establishes a pattern right out of the gate with the first boss fight and breaks it in the last. Cursing the Great Deku Tree is the "Parasitic Armored Arachnid" Queen Gohma, a character from an earlier Zelda game. Here, it is learnt that the dungeon and temple bosses are named and are even announced with their own kenning: Infernal Dinosaur – King Dodongo. Bioelectric Anemone – Barinade. Evil Spirit from Beyond – Phantom Ganon. Subterranean Lava Dragon – Volvagia. Giant Aquatic Amoeba – Morpha. Shadow Beast of Yore – Bongo Bongo. Twin Hags – Koume and Kotake/Twinrova. King of Evil – Ganondorf. These titles are written in smaller font above the boss' name. But after defeating Ganondorf and escaping his infernal tower's collapse, a new enemy rises from the rubble. It has no appellation; no description accompanying its name. All you get is one word in big, intimidating letters...: GANON (!). No explanation needed. He is clearly a thirty foot porcine monster with swords bigger than a surfboard; nuff said. The way the pattern is stuck to right up to the end leaves one open for a blindside-shot when this unexpected enemy appears and reveals that there is a Ganon in the game after all. The size of the font is as impressive as the size of the antagonist you must face in this apocalyptic battle where you can't even use the Master Sword (the roar of thunder that cracked through the night sky outside my window as I defeated Ganondorf was also a heftily felt.) The slow build up to this brief moment pays off in spades as Simply Ganon is etched in my memory and if it was all done on purpose, then EVEN BETTER!

  • Shadow of the Colossus: Losing my horse. In this unique game, the player spends the entire time alone. Yes, there are other human characters but one is unconscious and the others never meet the protagonist. A pervasive sense of alienation and loneliness inhabits that lifeless wasteland, nothing hostile, just coldly indifferent, like taking a cellphone picture of Hugo Tale-Yax before walking away. Throughout this isolation, you are accompanied by a strong black steed named Agro. Not only is this horse the only ally you find throughout that harsh land but it is also your chief mode of transportation as you ride from battle to battle, slaying infernal monsters. So I would be remiss if I did not have a strong emotional reaction when unexpectedly, my horse should appear to fall to its doom on route to the final colossus. The shock occurs at the crossing of a stone bridge suspiciously spanning a ravine. In true video game fashion, the bridge starts to collapse as you cross it spurring a hasty gallop towards the other side. As Agro vaults off the last piece of falling stone, nothing atypical for such situations is foreshadowed, i.e. the bridge has been cleared; move on the next obstacle. But a sudden cut-scene sounds the alarm that all is not well. Just as we make it to the other side, Agro slips off the ledge and plummets to the bottom of the chasm. This had never happened to me before: Epona never died, Chocobo's never accelerated to terminal velocity on their way to oblivion, oh sure, Yoshi could be sacrificed for a bigger jump but those were planned; the surprise was hard to deal with. For a second I was frozen and then I yelled: “My horse...! My horse...! You killed my horse! You MOTHER FUCKERS! You killed my horse! I'm gonna fucking KILL you!” And preceded with high motivation to the epic last fight of the game. I'm a fan of protagonist death in my content because it adds a level of drama and gravitas that is courageous enough to be realistic (as long as it doesn't take 10 minutes of lamentation; I'm looking at you Matrix Revolutions), that is, as long as the character actually stays dead and like so many books, movies, T.V. shows and other video games, SoC makes the mistake of bringing the ostensibly deceased back from the assumed grave (granted it was just once: if my horse had been Optimus Prime...). But at least it happens in the ending cinematic so that the effect of believing your horse deceased had still sunk in. With all that said: characters who die should stay dead because like this particular instance, it leaves quite an impression.

  • Street Fighter II: The music. Street Fighter II is one of the defining characteristics of my childhood. I don't want to get all hippy and say: “it's a part of me” but that game has certainly left its indelible mark. I'll probably turn into a pathetic middle aged man, wearing that Vega (Claws) t-shirt he saw in the Nintendo Power catalog, spiraling into a 16 bit midlife crisis as the world passes him by. But what can I say, SFII has its place in my personal culture (oh god I should have kept the poster that came with the game!!!). And with the game came the music. I was struck by its unique sound and quality, especially that heroic melancholy which distinguishes Japanese theme music. I couldn't get it out of my head, luckily I could listen to it in the option screen and at that time, for me anyhow, that was the only way to enjoy the music without recording the tracks on a now archaically bulky tape-deck. SFII really highlighted my appreciation of game music and I still prefer it to anything else audible. With the Internet, I was finally able to acquire the game music I had so longed for. I don't know how many hundreds of hours I've spent listing to Final Fantasy music (and I don't even play the three FF games I actually own, that's how good it is!) and, obviously, Koji Kondo's compositions, even his pre-Mario work. But that SFII music... I love it to this day and I have scoured the net (including some shadier torrent sites) to compile as big a collection of Alph Lyra music my ears can handle. The Street Fighter Tribute Album released in 2003 is the best arranged version of the tracks (except for Ryu's theme). The first time I listened attentively to that game's soundtrack was a great moment indeed.

  • Metal Gear Solid: Fight against Mantis. Here's an oft sited moment. The fourth-wall breaking gameplay of Hideo Kojima's masterpiece Metal Gear Solid series is regularly lauded in all kinds of game lists. And since this particular entry is well known, I'll be brief. The first time I played MGS was on the Gamecube with the superb Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes remake so I was already aware of the telepathic abilities of my emaciated, claire-voyant opponent. But it was still memorable, as Psycho Mantis told me I enjoy playing Silicon Knights' games (how could he know that?!) and that I was reckless for not saving often in Wind Waker (who could have told him...?). I didn't, however, know that he would, like a digital Yuri Geller, move my controller... WITH HIS FUCKING MIND!! Sure, it was simple and neat, nothing to get choked up about, but the harmless self-awareness was quaint and kind of brave as many other developers wouldn't have risked messing with the serious tone of the game. And that's what is satisfying: how Kojima isn't afraid to interact directly with the audience, e.g. when Mantis tells you to put down the controller, Snake looks right at the player and nods letting the gamer know that everything is cool. It's that kind of trust in his audience that takes Kojima games to a higher level, not just the gimmicks in themselves, like using the vibrating controller to massage Snake's/your tortured flesh, but rather the fact that it's in the game in the first place. Incorporating the hardware into the gameplay (switching controllers on Mantis, finding the codec frequency on the back of the box etc.) for no other reason then to entertain the gamer leaves one knowing that one is playing a noteworthy game.

  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Fight against the Sorrow. Without a doubt, one of the most confusing, trippy, psychedelic mindfucks I've ever play through. Probably the only boss fight where no boss-fighting transpires, this trudge through a river of death surrounded by burning trees had me wondering from start to finish. It took me a few attempts before figuring it out. But not having bothered to read the weapons description of the suicide pill of course, I slipped from faked death to very real death as a disembodied Roy Campbell admonished me for causing a time paradox. Later I read that the phantoms attacking me in the river where in fact the suffering souls of those I had killed and they even bore the wounds of their demise (decapitation, immolation, crotch shot, etc.). This certainly spelt out the message loud and clear: the hunter is haunted by his prey. Going to such lengths for a bit of character development and to present it in such an artistic way places this “boss fight” on my list.

  • Ōkami: Celestial Brush. Ōkami is probably my favorite game, or at least, I feel it's the best-made game I have played. And considering that Clover Studio was allowed to proceed far enough to produce Ōkami, God Hand and the Viewful Joe series before being shut down by Capcom, may make it, for lack of bad games, the best studio in gaming history. I can not express how much I love this game so I won't try (no seriously, I could go on and on about this game but I'll save you the reading). Trying out the celestial brush, realizing how innovating and awesome the concept was and that many more techniques and applications were yet to be found was a wondrous moment; there is truly nothing else like it.

  • Super Mario 64: First time seeing it. I was subscribed to Nintendo Power magazine (the Pravda of video games) from issue 75 (the Chicago Bulls mascot cover) to about issue 120 or something. Unfortunately, I had to discard my proud collection (along with most of my stuff) as it made moving cumbersome during my years of impoverished nomadism. I even remember the special issue (I think it was a new years edition) where they unveiled the N64 so I was anticipating the next step in Nintendo's home consoles with excrement and, in my opinion, the jump from the 4 to the 5 generation of games is the most significant thus far as it took games into the 3D realm in a definite manner, although, regrettably, the N64 heralded the painfully slow decline of a once great corporation. Needless to say, I was anxious to catch a glimpse of the future. It happened in a dingy, low-class video rental joint, the kind that was around before the professional mega-chains like Blockbuster (when it was good) and were owned by assholes from the neighborhood. And this one was indeed run by a fat, ugly swindling asshole. He once screwed me on a SNES that had a faulty AC but at least it didn't turn yellow (small solace though) and he overcharged my on used games (there being no dedicated stores near where I lived at the time). The corpulent scumbag was showing off Super Mario 64 on a T.V. that one could pay to play on. Whilst there I serendipitously stumbled up it. I was so transfixed that I wasn't even bothered that the person playing was a former friend who had by then turned into my mortal enemy; we had traded blows on more than one occasion but I didn't care because I was witnessing what at the time was astonishing. Like my childhood memory of playing SMW, seeing this 3D, polygonal Mario floored me. My nemesis was playing the winter level and something as mundane today as zooming all the way out was admirable. Moving the camera around and running through such a big environment confirmed NP's party line. It was so much of a technological leap that I doubt anything as significant will happen in gaming for quite a while yet. I couldn't wait to rent it. Of course, the cheating, bloated bastard didn't have an RF switch adapter for the N64 so he rented out a VCR into which one could plug the console as a justification to charge people more. But I didn't care, I was so impressed by the game that it was worth it; Super Mario 64 is a pivotal game.
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