Topic: Favorite Gaming Moments of 2019

It's common to have threads for people to list their favorite games in any given year (in fact, we have one or two of those already), but what about gaming moments?

Whether it be a specific segment or hard earned victory in a game, to a gaming related announcement that blew your socks off, what are your favorites this year?

I hope this is different enough from the game ranking specific threads that the mods see fit to let it stand, and to get started as an example...

• Experiencing VR for the first time with PSVR - I picked up a PSVR this past spring with Astro Bot & Moss, and looking through that lens for the first time was a magical experience. I've only dug it out a few times since, but it's a totally otherworldly experience every time.
• Getting nostalgic with Final Fantasy X HD - I don't often replay games, but when the HD remaster of FFX, THE game that officially got me into JRPGs as a teen, landed on Switch earlier this year, I knew it was time to revisit it. I was worried whether or not the years had been kind to it, but I was glad to find out I still hold it in as high regards as some of my favorite modern games I played this year such as DQXI, Astral Chain, & God of War.
• Getting Crafty with Nintendo LABO - I picked up the VR kit earlier this year back when I was still really on my VR high, and while I don't revisit it much these days, I still have very fond memories of spending an entire Saturday afternoon constructing the enormous blaster that comes with the base kit. It's not the type of thing I usually do, and I'm generally not very handy, which made my flawless completion of it all the more rewarding.
• The Hero comes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - There was a lot of buzz amongst N64 kids about Banjo & Kazooie making it into Smash, but as a big fan of JRPGs (and Dragon Quest especially in recent years), the Hero's announcement had me jumping out of my seat in excitement, and now he's one of my most used fighters in the game.
• Dragon Quest XI... running on Switch - I actually kicked off the year by playing DQXI on PS4, and it remains one of my favorite games of the year (and my second favorite in the series), but when the demo dropped on Switch I just had to try it out to see how it converted, and my jaw hit the floor. I'm sure there are sacrifices behind the scenes that had to be made to get it running, but man I played through the entire demo and was shocked to see that in the moment it looks and feels just like it's PS4 twin, even more impressive considering that it's one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I've played on Sony's system.

-Banjo Kazooie being in Smash. He's not the best character when actually playing him but that literally doesn't matter. Just the fact that he's in Smash and that I got to play as Banjo in a Nintendo game in 2019 was a huge highlight. Banjo was the biggest and best game from my childhood that was a Nintendo game...until it wasn't. So it always felt wrong that Banjo was gone (and even after buying a 360 and the Banjo game Microsoft made...that's still arguably how it felt). This felt like the final puzzle piece missing from what Smash Bros is supposed to be, from the perspective of a biased guy who grew up on N64.

-Getting free games from Epic. There's many problems with the rise of the Epic Games store. But my personal experience with it has been paying but finally getting a good chunk of PC games. Also was a decent excuse to replay World of Goo, legit the best puzzle game I've ever played.

-The final two hours of YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG: This has become my most frustrating game to think about ever because of the mix of "actually flawed game" and the absurd, hyperbolic reaction to it being "worst game ever". But that being said, it ends on what I thought was incredible final bits of storytelling that were hopeful yet really pessimistic and frightening. It will stick with me for a long time.

-The final two (normal) levels of Celeste: This game blew me away, even seeing all the hype behind it. And the last two levels in particular were some of the best gameplay meets storytelling I've ever experienced. I love how they handled it.

-Certain Luigi's Mansion 3 bosses and scenarios. If you've played, you can guess. There's a lot of highlights in that game.

• February Direct: Finding out that the second half of 2019 had such a strong lineup was so fantastic, was most excited for Astral Chain and that was my GotY. A shame Fire Emblem felt off at the time but E3 twist (the 5 year timeskip) fixed that.
• Switch is becoming the new Xbox: Cuphead, Banjo (Smash), Ori, New Super Lucky's Tale all came to Switch this year. The barriers seem to be breaking down on the Xbox exclusivity front and I'm all for it.
• Halo Reach for Master Chief Collection: Halo Reach (backwards compatibility) doesn't run too well on XB1 so to have this added to MCC was absolutely fantastic. I don't care about PC gaming but it's cool that PC players get to experience most of the Halo games by the end of 2020. Would be nice if Xbox got the same treatment (i.e. A huge PC exclusive franchise like Age of Empires brought over to XB1 or Series X).
• Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition for Switch: Ever since playing XC2, I've been hoping for the rest of the Xeno games on the Switch (especially XC1 and XCX) so it's cool we've got another. Though we did recently find out Xenosaga HD isn't happening which is a shame.
• Commitment to backwards compatibility with Xbox Series X: While I doubt we'll end up with some super awesome announcement like all OG Xbox and 360 games playable on Series X, being able to play everything I can currently play on XB1 (including backwards compatibility games) is a big deal itself.
• Old Sony exclusivity comes to an end: The PS1 and PS2's strong libraries were very much built upon 3rd party exclusivity with IPs like Final Fantasy, Crash, Spyro, Kingdom Hearts, etc. but now a lot of that 3rd party exclusivity is over (started last year with Crash on the Switch and XB1 along with the September 2018 Direct Final Fantasy announcements but a lot happened this year).

I'd have to say Luigi's Mansion 3 for me. I only started it on Christmas Day, but it truly is outstanding. LM2 and LM1 remake on the 3DS never really hooked me, so I was skeptical starting LM3 but I really shouldn't have been. The lighting and graphics overall are incredible, easily the best looking Switch game in my opinion. The game retains the typical Luigi's Mansion theme but in my opinion, the structure of the hotel manages to keep my attention far longer than either of the previous two mansions.

@Matthew010
Before i buy Luigi Mansion 3, can i save the game anytime considering the prequels didn't allow us to Save during the Mission and one Mission can take more than 10 minutes ?

@Anti-Matter The game auto-saves whenever you go trough a door.

@Anti-Matter The game automatically saves throughout the missions - it'll say at the bottom of the screen 'Saving...' in green text!