I've had this post idea in my head for a bit, now, just as a sort of fun off-topic walk down memory lane.

First, CruelLEGACY's post from a few weeks ago inspired my original idea. What are your favorite moments in video games? I mean this to be a very broad question, encompassing anything from gameplay moments to cutscenes to dialogue to whatever as long as it's in a video game.

I'll start by posting a few of mine, and then discuss some things afterward.

In no particular order:

1. First Ride in Mexico, Red Dead Redemption

This is pretty commonly recognized as a great moment, and I love it. I actually don't like this video, as when it happened to me, I slowed down completely, just taking a leisurely ride. For some reason, this fellow galloping around a full speed ruins the moment. I couldn't find an appropriate walking speed video, though.

2. Burning the Marijuana Crops, Far Cry 3

Just towns of fun with a totally appropriate music choice for the moment. Had a huge grin on my face the entire time I was playing this section.

3. Sniping the Grunt from the Shade in Truth and Reconciliation, Halo

I cannot find a video of this anywhere, and it makes me wonder if not many played the same way I did (and still always do). I'll record on tomorrow when I have a second to demonstrate what I'm describing. After clearing the first area of Truth and Reconciliation, you must move off to the left and traverse a narrow path along the cliff. In the distance is a lonely grunt sitting in a Shade turret. I always stop behind a rock and snipe him out of it. At this point, there is not music playing. When I fire that sniper, the first beat of Under Cover of Night begins simultaneously, and it's always awesome.

Basically this.

4. Pretty much all of Sword & Sworcery.

It's just a fun thing to play with my Sennheisers on.

There are many more, but this is enough to illustrate my point for now.

After it was mentioned here a few days ago, I've been playing Life is Strange (Finished Ep. 4 just a bit ago). The soundtrack to this game is absolutely incredible, and a big reason of why I love this experience so much. I have a habit of using the "sit" button whenever I see it, and just listening to the music, or watching Max play her guitar. I listened to the whole song before I made Max get out of Chloe's bed in the morning, etc. I really like the downtime in this game. The part where you find Rachel's body really hit me, and a large part of that is due to Message to Bears playing over the scene. I feel like they've really used music very effectively (perfectly!) in this game. And it has turned an otherwise probably enjoyable experience into a fantastic one that will probably stand out as a favorite for some time to come.

As I thought about this this post over the last few days, I've been mentally compiling some of my favorite game moments, and I realized that my top moments are all because of the music involved. While the double Scarab battle in Halo 3 is an undeniably great and memorable moment, like Ocarina of Time's Twinrova, any moment in Portal, the VoG, or any other great gameplay moments, the ones I find truly memorably and amazing are the ones where the music is doing something really special. Even when it's something as simple as Rock Anthem for Saving the World accompanying the fight out the Cartographer.

I imagine this may be true for many people; music is undeniably a very powerful emotional driver. I know for me personally, though, music is the single most powerful art form. I would give up just about anything before I gave up music. Take my Xbox, take my PC, take my television. Leave my iPod alone!

I guess I just sort of thought it was odd that my favorite video game moments are moments that, for the most part, could have been just as effective in a movie or television show. It wasn't the "game" part that made them my favorite moments.

TL;DR: Games are awesome. Music is awesome. Combining the two is super awesome.

Funkmon top 5 game moments that I can remember right now

• The Last Array
  
  I LOVE The Last Array. The big dish opening up, all the fallen and hive attacking, the wizards and knights coming at you...it's an assault unlike anything you had seen in that game until then. Totally wild, super hard at the time, and tackling it with my buddies the first time I played through? Changed my life. Literally a life changing moment. That is when I knew I loved Destiny.
  
  
  
  
• The Maw run
  
  SPOILERS, I KNOW WE DON'T LIKE SPOILERS HERE
  
  Echo 419 going up in a blaze (more like Echo 420, amirite?) gave me a huge oh shit moment and I didn't know what would happen. Then the Rex jump did the same.
  
  
  
  Oh, no, I spoiled it.
  
  
• Would You Kindly?
  
  I have never been really blindsided by video game twists, but Bioshock absolutely floored me. It may have changed my entire outlook on games.
  
  
  
  
• The Giraffes in The Last of Us
  
  Not really sure why seeing a bunch of giraffes got to me, but it did.
  
  
  
  
• Reuniting Chloe and Max
  
  In Life Is Strange, you play Max, who returns home after years away, when she didn't talk to her BFF at home. No real story why. You reunite with her, and it culminates in a dance party in her room, broken up by a stepdad who smells weed.
  
  I'm pretty sure most of us have had a similar experience to that.
  
  Reminds me of coming back from Luxembourg, Arizona, and Florida after years away, then visiting my friend in her basement where she'd have to blow her weed smoke in a wad of toilet paper to keep her mom from noticing while jamming out to Bright Eyes. God what an awful band. I think we were caught about 1/3rd of the time we did that.
  
  Anyway, that scene made Chloe and Max me and my friend circa 2010. Therefore, the scene made me more emotionally invested in Life is Strange than any other game I've ever played. Which is dumb because it's a dumb game.
  
  

I remember the grunt snipe. It happens right here.

https://youtu.be/kKtSM-hXEzE?t=155

Under Cover of Night is a great song that really puts you back there when you listen to it, and yep. It starts right then. In fact, I think no song has a greater ability to make me recall something vividly than that, except maybe On A Pale Horse or the Halo 2 announcement trailer music.

I think you're right that music plays a huge part in the "this is awesome" moments in games. For example, blowing up Megaton in Fallout 3 is pretty cool. But listening to Butcher Pete while it's going on is not so cool. Fallout 3 had a lot of those big events that were totally boss, but the music keeps them from sticking in your head, I think. As a contrast, Borderlands' intro themes do almost nothing, don't look awesome, and don't really do much other than give you a hint of the characters. And yet, I remember almost every part of BL1, 2, and TPS intro scenes.

In fact, that music and the video going WITH the music gives the Telltale Borderlands game credit sequences some of my favourite game moments...which is weird because they're little more than cutscenes. For example, here's the most recent one. No real spoilers here.

Pretty fun. More fun if you've spent time with the characters, obviously, but that is a really cool scene, IMO. Compare to the best game overall in the genre by my reckoning, Life Is Strange, where there are moments when Max puts on her headphones to kind of achieve a similar effect. This usually happens early on in an episode, just like Tales from the Borderlands, but instead is boring.

I remember that sequence not for being cool and atmospheric, as it was likely intended, but for showing the bus pass the same buildings 3 times while I waited for something to happen. I know the games are supposed to be different, but it's just a good example of what good music and good direction can do to a game vs, you know. Whatever.

In my opinion, the music in Life is Strange is just additive. It's another layer on the game that makes it better. In the best musical moments in games, it's more than the sum of its parts, like Under Cover of Night, or even Breaking Benjamin in Halo 2, or the intros in Borderlands. Life Is Strange's music is just adequate to me.

In no particular order, my top 5.

Saving Zulf in Bastion

The combination of Zulf's betrayal, rescuing him TWICE and the begrudging respect of the 'bad guys' as you carry Zulf combined with one of the best video game songs of all time make this a top moment for me.

After Giygas in Earthbound

Every RPG that builds to a final boss should let you go back and talk to NPC's you've met through the course of the game, but then again, that only works if the characters you've met are worth re-visiting. Earthbound is arguably one of the best RPG's ever made, and after the final boss is one of my favorite nostalgia trips in entertainment!

Playing Rock Band

I've spent over $1,000 on Rock Band equipment, games and DLC. The memories I've made with roommates and friends are priceless though. Discovering bands/songs I never would have listened to without Rock Band (The Mother Hips, The Slip, etc) just because the fun of Harmonix' charting has been pretty awesome as well.

Stunt Runs and Online in Burnout Paradise

Burnout Paradise is one of my all time favorite games and one of the first I ever "100%" in Xbox achievements. The online part of the game was genius, and driving around in my mirror-paint job Hawker Solo (just like the video I found) never got old!

Anytime as the Rookie on Mombasa Streets

Just started playing through ODST again and I had forgot how lonely, fragile and awesome it feels to walk through those dark streets slinking form dark corner to dark corner. Add to that the incredible soundtrack, and that game was some near perfect Halo!

Not in any order:

Beating Lavos for the first time. (Chrono Trigger) Was also really exciting when I beat him in the Ocean Palace. Also cool to beat him with just Crono.

Meeting the Flood and 343 Guilty Spark for the first time (Halo CE). Suddenly the story changed in a way I never expected

The ending of Bioshock Infinite. Not going to spoil (and not wanting to argue about Infinite). As a fan of time travel in stories, I thought they handled this ending amazingly.

Would you kindly? I couldn't choose between this and the Bioshock Infinite ending, so they're both on here.

The entirety of the Cave Johnson section in Portal 2. Never laughed so hard during a video game, and the puzzles were (in my opinion) the best in Portal 2.

"The lab boys just informed me that I should not have mentioned the control group. They're telling me I oughtta stop making these pre-recorded messages. That gave me an idea: Make more pre-recorded messages. I pay the bills here, I can talk about the control group all damn day."

Would you Kindly was in my top 5 as well, but I did not get the Bioshock Infinite ending. Could you explain it to me like I'm a moron? There is a solid chance I am.

Would you Kindly was in my top 5 as well, but I did not get the Bioshock Infinite ending. Could you explain it to me like I'm a moron? There is a solid chance I am.

Simple explanation: There are infinite timelines. That means there are an infinite number of timelines where Booker becomes Comstock, and an infinite number where he becomes a drunk and a worthless father. The deciding moment that decides which he becomes seems to be when he decide whether or not to be baptized. So, all of the Elizabeths instead drown all of the Bookers at the baptism, preventing Comstock from ever happening. Like most time travel movies (even the good ones) it's a paradox.

This also explains why Booker can still be there at the end, because the Bookers that decided to not get baptized SHOULD still be alive. This part is up for debate however.

What about the Burial at Sea booker? And why was Elizabeth even there?

What about the Burial at Sea booker? And why was Elizabeth even there?

Because they needed to retcon Daisy Fitzroy to fix allegations of blatant racism.

Why did people think she was a racist character?

Why did people think she was a racist character?

Because the white people in the game thought black people were savages? And she actually was a savage, not far removed from the caricatures in the game? This is what happens when you let them out of the ghettos guys, ya know?

Not like the real black people who non violently won their civil rights?

I don't know if that was their intention. They probably made her black, like the oppressed minority in the game, so we would initially sympathize with her, only to feel betrayed later. Furthermore, she needed to have some reason to try and revolt.

It seems less blatant to me, and more ham handed, if anything.

What about the Burial at Sea booker? And why was Elizabeth even there?

From what I understand that was a version of Comstock that somehow "escaped," and so Elizabeth was tracking him down to kill him. It doesn't make complete sense, but when you have infinite timelines it doesn't have to.

Flawless Cowboy sequence in Halo: CE. Landing on Halo for the first time felt like a revelation. Halo seemed like a pretty but conventional corridor shooter on rails until that moment.

Coming out of the tunnel and seeing the Covenant and Flood battle it out in the snow in Two Betrayals. Rarely in a game have I felt so important, yet part of something bigger.

The Last of Us ending. No video game story rocked my world like The Last of Us did.

Title sequence for Mirror’s Edge. Still gives me chills and a bit of vertigo.

The found music in BioShock Infinite. “Tainted Love” in the bar was one freak-out moment. I mentioned my born-in-the-19th-century grandmother the other day, so I’ll elaborate a bit about how and why BioShock Infinite spoke to me personally. My grandmother was Elizabeth’s age, and learned to play piano at an early age, and learned a lot of songs her father wanted her to play that were already old when she was a young girl. I grew up hearing them. Like many people my age and younger, I knew the hits from REM, CCR, and Soft Cell like the back of my hand, and hearing them done in a different style I also knew well was surreal. That said, there probably weren’t as many gamers who knew the old songs in the game like I did. Hearing one of my favorite semi-contemporary songs, God Only Knows, was meant to be disorienting, but even the songs played when the game launched or while the game loaded worked like a time machine in my head and evoked a lot of my childhood by proxy through my grandmother’s music making. (I didn’t even mention Revenge of the Jedi. I also read The Devil in the White City, which is required reading if you want to understand where Ken Levine’s head was, and I watched a few documentaries about the Chicago World’s Fair, so I was well primed for the game.) And yes, the ending was amazing. (The DLC less so.) And Cody, that racism charge was total B.S.

The visor cracking in Halo: Reach. It was the perfect note on which to end Bungie’s stewardship of the Halo franchise. Knowing the game and its mechanics intimately, we knew what it meant. No more respawns. Play until you die. And you will die, like everyone else on this planet.

Can’t dig out video for these because I’m at work, but there you go.

I'll make this quick because I have only a couple minutes. No particular order.

1. Landing on the moon in the Destiny Beta. I got chills and had to put the controller down. I was walking on the friggin' MOON!

2. Any tower climb during Assassins Creed. I have a fear of heights, so again with the chills. While I'm on AC, the moment in the first one when you find all the markings in the animus room. Whoa. Oh, and exploring Ancient Rome.

3. Patrolling the streets of New Mombasa as Rookie. Sax-a-ma-phone.

4. The first time my son revived me in Destiny. So proud.

5. Too many moments from Halo CE to name one. I'll just concur with Funkmon that Under Cover of Night is just about perfectly designed, and I still listen to that track frequently.

I could wax rhapsodic about everyone of these, but I'll spare you. Reading these makes me wish I had more time to game!

The found music in BioShock Infinite. “Tainted Love” in the bar was one freak-out moment. I mentioned my born-in-the-19th-century grandmother the other day, so I’ll elaborate a bit about how and why BioShock Infinite spoke to me personally. My grandmother was Elizabeth’s age, and learned to play piano at an early age, and learned a lot of songs her father wanted her to play that were already old when she was a young girl. I grew up hearing them. Like many people my age and younger, I knew the hits from REM, CCR, and Soft Cell like the back of my hand, and hearing them done in a different style I also knew well was surreal. That said, there probably weren’t as many gamers who knew the old songs in the game like I did. Hearing one of my favorite semi-contemporary songs, God Only Knows, was meant to be disorienting, but even the songs played when the game launched or while the game loaded worked like a time machine in my head and evoked a lot of my childhood by proxy through my grandmother’s music making.

I think you may be surprised at how well the music still communicates to people younger than you. A good number of those old songs were recognizable to me because we sang or heard them in school (like a bunch of Joplin stuff), or they've never fallen out of popularity, like Good Night Irene, and the modern songs that were covered are well known to people of all ages like you said. It was a game rated M and it was aimed at adults.

That said, I probably didn't have the visceral reaction you had. Hearing Fortunate Son for the first time as Bob Seger's cover (recorded a decade after Vietnam, and still well before I was born) is probably not like you hearing it when it was new and we were still drafting guys, and the old music didn't stir any childhood memories of my grandparents. It was more academic, like recognizing a tune, thinking, "oh, that's Indian Love Call." And moving on.

The music didn't do much for me in Bioshock Infinite as a result, just recognizing old music. It's really cool to hear how it changed the experience for you.

5. Too many moments from Halo CE to name one. I'll just concur with Funkmon that Under Cover of Night is just about perfectly designed, and I still listen to that track frequently.

1- Getting the pistol from Captain Keys
2- Flawless Cowboy
3- Under Cover of Night
4- The Silent Cartographer
5- PRIVATE FREAKIN' JENKINS
6- The Maw.

in no particular order.

If videos count, this one goes above my Maw run. This is the video that showed me what else you can do in Halo besides play it over and over again constantly. It also has a huge musical element.

I have the audio to the Halo E3 2000 demo in my music playlist & it comes up periodically. Always brings a smile to my face when it comes on.

1- Getting the pistol from Captain Keys

Especially if you wind up equipping it after picking up two other weapons.

Dat Halo 3-weapon limit.

The found music in BioShock Infinite. “Tainted Love” in the bar was one freak-out moment. I mentioned my born-in-the-19th-century grandmother the other day, so I’ll elaborate a bit about how and why BioShock Infinite spoke to me personally. My grandmother was Elizabeth’s age, and learned to play piano at an early age, and learned a lot of songs her father wanted her to play that were already old when she was a young girl. I grew up hearing them. Like many people my age and younger, I knew the hits from REM, CCR, and Soft Cell like the back of my hand, and hearing them done in a different style I also knew well was surreal. That said, there probably weren’t as many gamers who knew the old songs in the game like I did. Hearing one of my favorite semi-contemporary songs, God Only Knows, was meant to be disorienting, but even the songs played when the game launched or while the game loaded worked like a time machine in my head and evoked a lot of my childhood by proxy through my grandmother’s music making.

I think you may be surprised at how well the music still communicates to people younger than you. A good number of those old songs were recognizable to me because we sang or heard them in school (like a bunch of Joplin stuff), or they've never fallen out of popularity, like Good Night Irene, and the modern songs that were covered are well known to people of all ages like you said. It was a game rated M and it was aimed at adults.

That said, I probably didn't have the visceral reaction you had. Hearing Fortunate Son for the first time as Bob Seger's cover (recorded a decade after Vietnam, and still well before I was born) is probably not like you hearing it when it was new and we were still drafting guys, and the old music didn't stir any childhood memories of my grandparents. It was more academic, like recognizing a tune, thinking, "oh, that's Indian Love Call." And moving on.

The music didn't do much for me in Bioshock Infinite as a result, just recognizing old music. It's really cool to hear how it changed the experience for you.

Didn't mean to pull some kind of age rank (I do that too much). It's cool that you were familiar with that stuff. A lot of my reaction was very personal. Also, realizing that my grandmother and Elizabeth were the same age was weird, and grounded the game more than it would have, I think, if I had just thought of it as some kind of steampunk alternative history where you can shoot stuff. For anyone, though, the game is much richer knowing the American history of that time period, knowing about the World's fair, the Bolsevik revolution, and so on. It becomes a much tastier stew. I loved Adam Sessler's review of it. I felt like he "got it."

P.S. I hope Irrational's demise doesn't prevent it from being backwards compatible at some point.

1) Exploring Dantooine in Knights of the Old Republic. The locale was a safe haven for the Jedi, a bastion of comfort. It was a plains environment continually at sunset. Green and yellow tall grass blew in the wind. The standard music for the planet was beautiful already, but a certain conversation with your Jedi Master, Bastilla Shan, allowed her theme to fade in. Combine the visuals and the music, along with the sense of exploration and a great piece of Star Wars fiction, and you get goosebumps... Especially at 0:50 in. You feel like Luke looking at the sunset.

2)There are many beautiful, quiet moments in Final Fantasy VII and VIII. "Anxious Heart" from VII is a track that seems to always be at the back of my mind when thinking of those games... Something about it disconnects my conscious mind from all the crap I fill it up with. Those first few chords have a breathing quality to them that gets in you and steadies your nerves. Then the main melody takes you up and down in spirits. You quickly relax or rise into a content, neutral mood. Beautiful sadness. Maybe it was during this music that I first stepped out of my brain and into another world using the video game medium, so it will always be important to me.

The next track in the game fits the conversation that's occurring perfectly and also benefits from having the last track lead into it. I think I was a longing romantic in elementary school and this song gave me something to dream about.

3)The "Vigil" track from Mass Effect. This music plays during a pretty significant part of the story and it really nailed the Blade Runner inspirations the game was channeling.

4)Assassin's Creed Brotherhood was my favorite of that series (of which I've played at least). Exploring all of Rome with no boundaries and with horses to boot. Collecting renaissance art and climbing classic architecture was just amazing for me. I was taking Art History classes at the time and I could actually remember the slides the teacher was flying through because I could say "oh hey, I climbed that!". This particular track plays out in the countryside when you're just calmly riding your horse around the fields.

At around 1:30 a violin comes in that's just startling beautiful.

5)Halo 2. "Once More, With Feeling." I'm guessing I probably don't need to describe this one here. :)

[*]The Giraffes in The Last of Us

Not really sure why seeing a bunch of giraffes got to me, but it did.

Yep, that's an amazing moment. Partly because during the build up to that, I felt like something awful was going to happen. She climbs up and runs off then yells, and I was like "Fuck, this can't be good."

In my opinion, the music in Life is Strange is just additive. It's another layer on the game that makes it better. In the best musical moments in games, it's more than the sum of its parts, like Under Cover of Night, or even Breaking Benjamin in Halo 2, or the intros in Borderlands. Life Is Strange's music is just adequate to me.

I can't really argue against that point. Mainly, I just think it's that I really dig all the songs that have appeared in Life is Strange (especially that Message to Bears song. Message to Bears in general got me through a pretty rough point a few years back, and so it obviously plays off of those feelings as well, which clicked very well with what was going on when that song played).

I would argue that the music in something like Sword & Sworcery is way more powerful and a much bigger driving factor, as that game seems to really only exist to showcase the music in it. Hell, it's even called an EP. I'm not sure I'd have given that game more that four minutes if the music hadn't been immediately amazing.

One of the big standard mentions for great game music has always been Halo, and I won't disagree. Halo's music is incredible, and the way it syncs with the gameplay was really unique a the time. It absolutely made that game even more amazing than it already was. But I feel like Halo would have been a great experience even without that music, whereas I can't say the same thing for Sword & Sworcery (or Life is Strange, for that matter).

Like most here I've played a ton of video games over the years. There are many games I enjoy, several I love and at least one or two I consider "the best game ever." I've been thinking about it since last night, and though it's exceptionally difficult to come up with my favorite moments in gaming, I think I've finally arrived at a short-list.

Arranged according to my personal game chronology.

Metroid. Mother Brain.

Metroid was the very first game I beat. I was around six or seven years old and it took me months of playing and making hand-drawn maps of the game world to finally figure out that vertical maze of weapons and power ups. Eventually though, I made it to the games final boss, Mother Brain. The fight was tough for me, and I had to attempt it a few times, but finally I hit her with that last missile. Though just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, the message flashed up on the screen: "Time Bomb, you must escape!"

I panicked and rushed through the door to find a new area I'd never seen before! But by this time I was a seasoned Space Bounty Hunter, I knew what to do: jump on the platforms to climb up.

And so jump I did. Jump and jump and jump again! Occasionally I would fall and have to retrace my leaps, but with that countdown clock ticking away I was never further away from planning my next move. The time made it's way closer to zero, and I made my way closer to the exit. Upon attaining the very last elevator I remember clutching tightly my control, unwilling to be duped into another false victory. But it turned out that my skill was finally rewarded, the "you did it!" screen came up and I discovered that I had be playing a woman the entire game!

I was shocked at this revelation. Like I imagine most did, I'd assumed that I was some strapping young man wearing that power-armor. But no, it was a lady that wore the mechanical orange and red! But really, what did it matter? I was Samus Aran, badass star warrior! And who gave a butt (six year old me, remember?) if I was a woman?! I saved the galaxy and destroyed the bad guys! It was then that I learned that you didn't have to be a dude to kick ass, and it's always been one of my cherished gaming memories.

Freespace: The Great War. Boarding the Shivan freighter.

This one was technically a cutscene. It happens roughly half-way through the campaign, and for me at least came as a bit of a shock. Freespace is a space-fighter simulator, probably my all-time favorite genre of game. As such, all of the gameplay, and a good deal of the cutscenes revolve around ships and lazers and such. Hence my surprise at a scene showing a bunch of marines boarding one of the freighters I'd blown up.

It was a cool scene that showed that I was part of a greater world. A world where, yeah I was a fighter jock and flew through space, but there were also grunts who had to do their own heavy lifting. It also showed me just how alien the Shivans truly were, with tri-lateral symmetry and apparently having evolved in a zero-g environment, and incredibly vicious to boot!

Alan Wake. Old Gods of Asgard Concert.

This one was just awesome. If you haven't played Alan Wake before, I strongly suggest you do, also minor spoilers following. The majority of this game is tense and poorly-lit. Darkness plays a huge roll not only in the gameplay, but also the plot of the story. It is also a psychologically dark tale about the pull of insanity, and how much of our waking world we take for granted. Being that literal and metaphorical darkness plays such a pivotal roll in the narrative, having this moment of balls to the walls rick-rollen goof off time really helped to cut the tension in a fun and exciting way. I felt refreshed after this moment in the game, ready to tackle the remainder of the brooding plot of evil.

Batman: Arkham Asylum. Defeating Scarecrow.

The Arkham games are some of the best... No, wait, the are THE best Batman games out there. Everything about them screams "We understand the Bat." I've loved every moment of playing these games, but you'll always remember your first love. Asylum holds a special place in my heart because everything was new, yet recognizable. We hadn't had any Batman game of that caliber up to that point, learning the mechanics of becoming the Caped Crusader was a blast that I absolutely loved.

That said, there was one particular moment in the game that really stood apart from the others. In fact it was a single line of dialog spoken after you defeated Scarecrow (in arguably the best series of encounters in the game). It was this line that spoke to me of the true other-worldy nature of Batmans will and drive for vengeance. To me it was another beautiful and subtle nod to the darker side of the Batman franchise.

(Hmm, can't seem to set it to play from the middle. Go ahead and skip to 11:27)

The Last Of Us. The End.

Some of you have already mentioned this particular moment of gaming. For me it was the icing, the cherry, and the sugar on top of what was already a masterpiece of video-game history. I know some detractors would argue that TLoU isn't deserving of the praise it's received since the game came out in June of 2013. To you I would say: *blows raspberry*

For everyone else, you may have played the game and loved it as much as I did, or you may have yet to add the title to your personal list of completed games. I cannot urge you enough to play it. It's wonderful.

That said, the ending of this game was the pivotal "make or break" segment to the whole. If they hadn't nailed it here, the game still would have been pretty damn good. But it was this progression of events that made a really good game, into a phenomenal one. I could go on and on about this scene, but I'm not going to. I'll just post the video for you to watch or not watch on your own.

If you care to know, the specific moment I'm talking about is the last bit of dialog and the very last lie of the game. That's what did it for me, that perfect bit of storytelling and the last line of sympathetic character building for the games protagonists. Absolutely perfect.

Anyway, that's what I was able to come up with. I'm sure that as soon as I hit submit I'll think of a dozen more that belong on this list. Heh, ah well, nature of the beast I suppose.

The Last Of Us. The End.

Some of you have already mentioned this particular moment of gaming. For me it was the icing, the cherry, and the sugar on top of what was already a masterpiece of video-game history. I know some detractors would argue that TLoU isn't deserving of the praise it's received since the game came out in June of 2013. To you I would say: *blows raspberry*

For everyone else, you may have played the game and loved it as much as I did, or you may have yet to add the title to your personal list of completed games. I cannot urge you enough to play it. It's wonderful.

That said, the ending of this game was the pivotal "make or break" segment to the whole. If they hadn't nailed it here, the game still would have been pretty damn good. But it was this progression of events that made a really good game, into a phenomenal one. I could go on and on about this scene, but I'm not going to. I'll just post the video for you to watch or not watch on your own.

If you care to know, the specific moment I'm talking about is the last bit of dialog and the very last lie of the game. That's what did it for me, that perfect bit of storytelling and the last line of sympathetic character building for the games protagonists. Absolutely perfect.

Completely agree.

Mike Tyson

I was 8, having broken my arm over the summer so I had a huge cast on. It took some getting used to playing with it.. Anyway, my dad was a big fan of Mike Tyson's Punch out, but I kind of pulled ahead of him in terms of progression. He hadn't ever beat the Great Tiger, and I meanwhile was on Mike Tyson. In round two, I managed to TKO Tyson, and I remember screaming "DAD! I BEAT MIKE TYSON!", and he screamed back "YOU BEAT MIKE TYSON!?" and got out of bed to come see the end. The NES was in the spare bedroom, and my mother had a headache, and heard everything. She did not appreciate that, and got very upset later.

That sounds like a great moment. I almost had one like that when my dad was on world 8 of Super Mario Brothers after blowing about an hour getting a glitched number of lives in world 3, and we just couldn't do it as a family. Me, my mom, my sister, all there cheering him on, sometimes taking turns, and never beat the game. I still drop in an try every few months for a couple hours and I still haven't beaten that stupid game.

Punch Out was hard as butts, too. Congrats on beating it, and the moment sounds amazing. One of those that was definitely a PRODUCT of the game but not BECAUSE of the game. Very groovy.

This list is likely to be different by tomorrow

1. I'm just going to have to put "Halo CTF" as one of my favorite game moments

2. I spent one new years eve playing Warcraft 1 multiplayer by modem all night
3. Starting Harvest Moon the second time

4. When I showed the Oculus Rift to my In-Laws and it BLEW THEIR MINDS
5. When Rise Of Nations released

Bonus: The opening of Bioshock Infinite before it went off the rails

Didn't have a PS3 and it came with my PS4 and I've been waiting for a good time to go through it. I think september is a great month. Really looking forward to it based on what DBO has said about it.

I'll keep things vague and brief to avoid spoilers :)

The Last of Us

* The beginning
* "Make this easy for me"
* "... then fucking walk!!!"
* "adios, little brother"
* "oh baby girl, it's ok"
* The ending

Journey

* Sliding
* The last 10 minutes

Limbo

* Seeing "her" for the first time
* The "leap"

Mass Effect 2

* The intro
* The Suicide Mission

Halo CE

* "we'll be fine"
* Storming the beach in Silent Cartographer
* The final warthog run

Halo 3

* 2 scarabs at the same time

Destiny

* Flawless Raider
* Trials of Osiris/The Lighthouse

I'm not as diverse, but here goes:

Halo CE: I bought my Xbox to play some sports games originally. I had a choice of bundles at the local store: 3 games and 1 controller, or 2 games and 2 controllers. I took the first because it had three games. After realizing that the sports games were boring and full of glitches, I started playing the games that came with the bundle. Some type of driving game that got boring quickly, then Munch's Oddworld, which was a blast but had limited replay, then some game called Halo.

I started Halo late on a Thursday night. Like, post-Letterman late. I remember forcing myself to save and quit because I had to work the next morning. My hands were trembling from adrenaline. I spent the weekend finishing it and replaying it over and over.

I remember thinking with disappointment as I was finishing AotCR as I thought the story was concluding. Then Jenkins. Holy crap, what a game! The Maw was a complete blast, even if it didn't make any sense whatsoever. The game's play, humor, and music had me hooked.

Beating CE on legendary coop: coop split screen with a buddy. Managing the rocket launcher on the bridges of Two Betrayals. That was some super cereal coordination for two drunks.

Halo 3 The Ark. What can I say? I like tanks :)

Kermit's Coop Nights: the only way I finished the Vidocs prior to Bungie locking the Halo stats. I can haz recon!!!! This was also how I beat H4 on legendary. I don't really like H4's gameplay, and wasn't looking forward to soloing legendary.

Funniest moment in gaming: During a Kermit coop night run of Spartan Ops, I died and kept respawning on Kermit. No problem except he was backed up to a ledge. Things were going a bit sideways for the team (read: Jeff Foxworthy-esqe pandallerium), and I couldn't get Kermit to move. So I respawned, threw a grenade, fell, then died. I remember Kermit even asking where that grenade was coming from. Several respawns later, he finally moved. I couldn't stop laughing. Hopefully, I muted my microphone:)

Tyrant's Mythic guides and High Speed Halo: They opened my eyes to different ways to play Halo.

HBO/DBO: I found the B-net because of HBO. And Tyrants guides, and a much better place to hang around than the B-net. No, I don't get around much. Shut up and get offa mah lawn!

Destiny: beating the raids for the first time. What an awesome feeling! Same goes for Skolas. First time I was on a team that beat Aetheon, I was dead at the end and felt like I'd let the team down. First time I survived Aetheon, I delivered the killing shot. What a rush!

Bioshock: Would you kindly?

Destiny: beating the raids for the first time. What an awesome feeling! Same goes for Skolas. First time I was on a team that beat Aetheon, I was dead at the end and felt like I'd let the team down. First time I survived Aetheon, I delivered the killing shot. What a rush!

I recall the first time I ran the Crota raid. IIRC it was with Slycrel, Cruel, Vortech, Ashes, & Pyro? Cruel explained it in a hushed whisper, I was having headset problems & couldn't hear anyone over the game audio. We tried to take down Crota for a couple hours & could never get the timing right. I'm glad we failed so hard our first time, it made the future successes that much sweeter.

6. My first VOG run. Wow. A truly unique and amazing experience.
7. Playing Boom Blox with my granddad, laying him to rest at Arlington Monday...
8. BariBariBall at my brother-in-law's bachelor party
9. Getting my Dad Gally this weekend

Over the past couple of days, I thought about this question, and tried to come up with specific favorites that could be accepted as universal (talking about a specific game, but applied to multiple other examples), in most cases I think I've done that successfully. Here we go:

5. Playing With the Language Filter Off--Bulletstorm.

I'm way too childish for my large frame, because no mature adult would find this enjoyable. These guys take swearing to a literal comic zenith. In its excess, just to begin with, is ridiculously over-the-top(which is right up my alley), but on top of that, they combine curse-words that end up not even making sense--just to get an extra gasping, oxygen-deprived cackle out of ya. (Favorites include: namby-pamby cocksucks, I will "kill your dicks", and "happy horse shit"). To this day, I can't consume anything while playing Bulletstorm, because within minutes it will go flying across the room. Damn shame that People Can Fly actually...couldn't fly, and a sequel never left the ground as hoped. But we'll always have Trishka and Gray sending your kids to bed early. REAL early. :-)

4. Perfecting the Izuna Drop For The First Time--Dead or Alive Series.

And let's be honest--unless you play this game 24/7, it'll be your ONLY time.

The Izuna Drop is a famous move from ninja lore, made even more famous by DOA alum Ryu Hayabusa. One of his signature moves, the Izuna Drop is quite possibly the hardest button combo ever in the entire series. However, it is extremely powerful, and does serious damage to an opponent's health. But again, back to the difficulty. Imagine your thumbstick in a clock position. Starting from 9, you must roll your thumbstick in a full semi-circle all the way to 3, then press your throw button(the wind-up). Ryu will launch his opponent in the air--during which--starting from 6, you have to swing up to 12(or maybe even 11 or 10), press the button again, and THEN do a full 12-12 clockwise circle while pressing throw. And all of that has to happen within 1.7 seconds.

It's frustrating having trouble with it. It's even more frustrating when it's the primary routine move for throws, and three of his six counter holds.

But when you finally nail it, and you hear his fierce scream as you spin in a fury of wind...the feeling is incredible. Go spinning off a cliff or doing it for the knockout, and your joy increases tenfold. That is why it's one of my favorite gaming moments.

(The preceding clips were done in Training Mode--staged.)

3. Theater Mode--Halo 3.

Although Bungie, and then later on, 343 Industries would screw it up in Reach and Halo 4 with their terrible 3rd person camera positions, Halo 3 was the perfect iteration of a feature that everyone wished their favorite game had. So many times across Halo's history, players were forced to describe their adventures and exploits orally and wish it could be shown instead. Since 2007, players have now been able to prove it, and chronicle their amazing moments in Halo 3, as long as they didn't turn off their Xbox. Or eject the disc. Or put in another game. Or play anything on the Xbox Live Arcade. Or play too many more recent games. Or accept your friend's invite. Or play with modded content. Or keep your FileShare current. Or save too many of anything. Or keep the file for too long. Or play the disc too much. Or lose your connection to Xbox Live. Or not buy two copies of each DLC pack.

And the Halo video scene began a Renaissance of glorious content from players around the world. Definitely one of the best things Bungie's ever come up with, and a kick-ass feature that lacks from so many other games.

2. Dear My Friend--Sonic Unleashed.

For a long time, this was number 1 on my list, but I had to switch it, as this is a one-time thing, and my number one is a near-constant. The ending to Sonic Unleashed is a long-time coming, but it's absolutely worth it after defeating the most difficult level of all time and besting a boss that's just as challenging. The cutscenes themselves are heartwarming, but the closing theme--Dear My Friend by Brent Cash--is a melter. I've listened to that song 29 times. I've cried to that song thirty-two times. Say whatever the hell you want to me, call me all kinds of names, I don't care. This ending theme has never failed to reduce me to a literal puddle of a sobbing man. It does indeed make me cry. I mean 'lose-my-dog' cry. No other song, and no other gaming moment ever touched me to that degree. Reach made me cry, sure--but I got over it very quickly. Something like this is a permanent softness in the heart, and probably the most cherished memory I could ever have been put on this earth to witness.

https://youtu.be/5Bdtv9PfPvs?t=57m16s

(Embed doesn't work with time-starts.)

1. Literally Every Time I Press 'X'--Modern Sonic Series

The reason I switched this with number 2 is because this is a feeling so exhilarating, it's something I literally wish for in real life! I've heard people complain that Sonic is "too fast" and that levels become trial and error, and that the levels are too punishing, blah blah--no. EGGMANLAND is punishing, and I nailed that, but the rest are really easy!

Just keep going. Don't give up, put that brain to work and remember you can take it slow first. THEN you hit X and go pro--like I do.

Pressing X activates boost, and when you learn the level of the layout, you quickly realize that Sonic Team re-perfected the philosophy of the one-button game instilled all the way back at Sonic's birth. Your speed gets insane. The music funnels into a tunnel of compressed whistles, to help amplify the incredible effect of running at the speed of sound itself. Combine that with strong nerves, and a decent memory, and you've got THIS.

(And you KNOW I've got loads more. And none of them have views. Show some love!!)

But those are my faves,and I feel good sharing them all with you.

- No text -

I can't believe I forgot these!

Honorable Mentions:

Swordbearing in Crota's End--Destiny

That one moment....that intense moment...everyone has to fire their Gjallarhorns in a coordinated attack, but everything rests on the shoulders of the Swordbearer. Every time someone picks up the sword, I hold my breath, and most times I don't even blink. In spite of all the activities and teamwork you must create to endure those challenges, nothing becomes so vital as to that moment.

I just recently beat Crota on Hard for the first time--and even though I was only watching--like this, it still FELT like this. In fact, it always does. But the reason this is here, is because of the MUSIC.

All I can feel when I hear that is hardened determination, extreme focus, but most importantly--HOPE. CONFIDENCE. ASSURANCE. ANXIETY. EXCITEMENT. Forget 30 Seconds of Fun. How about 30 Seconds Where Your Heart Stops?

Discovering Horror For The First Time--Halo:Combat Evolved

Still a hell of a feeling. This could be reflected in a lot of games, but Halo 1 does an awesome job. C'mon, you know I don't need to say any more.

Except for one thing--when I first started playing in 2002, I didn't know the cutscenes were utilizing in-game engines, and that each experience would be somewhat different. I guess Bungie knew this somehow, because the first time I watched, just as Jenkins fell backwards, a whole bunch of Infection forms walked right over the camera. In all the times I've played 343 Guilty Spark, I've never gotten that to happen to me again--ever. The chills I got were nerve-wracking, and I think it's incredible for them to introduce a whole new enemy to us, in the most terrifying way possible.

Discovering Horror For The First Time--Halo:Combat Evolved

Still a hell of a feeling. This could be reflected in a lot of games, but Halo 1 does an awesome job. C'mon, you know I don't need to say any more.

Except for one thing--when I first started playing in 2002, I didn't know the cutscenes were utilizing in-game engines, and that each experience would be somewhat different. I guess Bungie knew this somehow, because the first time I watched, just as Jenkins fell backwards, a whole bunch of Infection forms walked right over the camera. In all the times I've played 343 Guilty Spark, I've never gotten that to happen to me again--ever. The chills I got were nerve-wracking, and I think it's incredible for them to introduce a whole new enemy to us, in the most terrifying way possible.

The first time I encountered this sequence I was FULLY expecting a friggin' Sword Elite to charge out of the door behind me (the MC) and skewer me against the door Jenkins & team went through. Why? Because of the eerie music and those DANG SPOOKY STRINGS which were straight from the E3 demo where the marine says while turning his back to the door, "All clear, looks like nobody's homuuugghhh." and gets a sword through his back.

Video Link (because youtubefull doesn't like timestamps).

For a full year.

Goddamn Flood scared 12 years old me into stop playing my favorite game. It was that intense for me.

I actually haven't played a lot of games, so this is relatively easy.

- Halo CE: The reveal at the beginning of Two Betrayals. o_O
- The Warthog run at the end of Halo 3. I'm a sucker for that piano theme, and the nostalgia was almost too much.
- Any ridiculous victory in Worms World Party (e.g. sticking a ninja rope across the map and knocking someone into the water while you tighten the rope)
- The vehicle battle near the beginning of Uprising in Halo 2. A compact arena, playing as my favorite character.
- Being ridiculously overpowered at the end of KOTOR 2. (The lack of tuning on that game is just bizarre.)

Course, there are also infinite timelines where all the Elizabeth's don't drown all of the Booker's, because that's the nature of infinite. Arguably a futile symbolic gesture, but still one that alters an infinite number of timelines for the better.