Topic: Write about your "wow" games!

Hello everyone

Write about your biggest wow moment's in gaming. I know this is a tough one but take a few minutes and think about at least a couple of these moments and share them with me and/or everybody that will read this post.

Below are five of my moments:

1. Watching dad play Super Metroid and me playing while he took breaks etc, it was just too damn awesome.
2. Getting the gamecube and seeing Samus in 3D, i never imagined anything could look that realistic (and that a 3D metroid could be so great).
3. Playing Half-Life 2 on my new (at the time) computer at max graphics, i could not believe my eyes. <- This is the best moment to me.... i was extremely excited that i could play it at all being a fan of the first half life.
4. Playing Super Mario 64 at our local grocery shop. Mind blown!
5. Discovering MMORPGs/Running around in Everquest II. Oddly enough i didn't jump onto the World of Warcraft train and went with Everquest II instead. Greatest gaming experience of my life, hands down.

Well, do you have any moment's to share? I'd enjoy reading about which games that left the biggest impression on you guys!

I remember the first time i saw my friend play World of Warcraft, the concept of controlling your own character and being fully engrossed in a world filled with other players was so overwhelming, I had to make my own character. I still to this day don't know why my parents allowed me to wast a year and a half of my life playing that game, but what a great waste of time it was.

I remember putting in Skyrim and just freaking out at how beautiful the game was. I was the biggest Morrowind and Oblivion fan and having to wait a year to play this killed me!!

@MuchoMochi I'm with ya on all of those sir! My neighbour was playing world of warcraft beta and i got a chance to see a couple of minutes of him playing. Holy crap it was awesome. And indeed the wait for Skyrim was loooong but the wait for Oblivion was the worst for me. I could sit for hours and look at screenshots thinking "Ill never be able to play this, my PC will die".

The first time I saw Resident Evil on the PSOne.

Playing Super Mario 64 for the first time.

Playing WCW vs nWo World Tour for the N64.

Wolfenstein/Doom on my PC.

There were more of course, but those are the ones the jumped out at me as "Wow" moments.

My best? Doubt I could even pick one, I could spend hours (or longer) thinking of countless wow moments.

For now, I'll pick my first time trying the Wii U. It was before the system came out. It was late at night and my mom wanted to go to a store and I tagged along since it was next to a GameStop. I went over to browse only to discover they finally had a Wii U demo station. It felt like a dream as I started the Rayman Legends demo. It was so beautiful, and as I switched to Murphy, I was sold on the system. Funny how Ubisoft did a better job of selling the system than Nintendo (though playing Nintendo Land did feel just as magical).

Trying the Nintendo 3DS for the first time, and being amazed by the glasses-free 3D. I couldn't believe my eyes.

EDIT: Not really a specific game, but still...

• Spyro the Dragon was the first game I played that wasn't on an Atari 800. I tell ya, it was a huge step up. My early childhood was spent being wowed by every new level my brother or I set foot in.
• Mario Kart 64 and Super Smash Bros. immediately convinced me to beg Daddy for an N64. Four-player was ^ma_gi^ca_l.
• Sonic Unleashed HD—the first level I saw, Rooftop Run Day Act 1, blew me away. I knew I needed that game in my life, and I was right. I'm sure actually playing it first would have been more powerful, but that didn't stop the game from being glorious when I finally got the chance to play it.

My top two are:
The ending of Link's Awakening. The most emotional ending to a Zelda game yet.
The ending of A Link Between Worlds. The best video game ending ever. It left me in absolute awe.

I thought of an even bigger "wow" moment for me: Baten Kaitos. Specifically:

I was so shocked, I had to take a break from the game to process what just happened!

Also, to a lesser extent, Kid Icarus Uprising.

An honorable mention to the ending to Portal 2.

Good games, good games...

Various SNES memories - Particularly with my older brother & cousin, where we played SMW until dawn, and goofed off in SMK battle mode, messing with the physics to get a red shell to orbit Player 2. One for myself though, was beating SMW (first game I ever beat).

Getting a N64 - I was sooo excited that Christmas morning when I unwrapped it. I was so sad I couldn't play it that day though, because the adaptor wouldn't work with the TV we were going to hook it up to.

Discovering Pokémon was owned by Nintendo - Though I played games a lot as a kid, I never looked into them as I do now, so I was introduced to Pokémon when collecting the cards became popular (didn't know there were games until much later). The day I was inspecting my precious new Pikachu card and saw the ©Nintendo = Mind blown.

Super Smash Bros. - The very concept itself was just insane (and the awesome commercial sure helped).

Playing the Wii for the first time - There was a huge ice storm in December of 2007 in our area, and our power was out for a day or so, so we went driving around. In Wal-Mart they had a Wii station set up with SMG, and after skipping Nintendo for a generation, right then I knew it was calling me home (I got a Wii that Christmas).

Buying SMG - I know buying a game doesn't sound all that exciting, but when I went to Wal-Mart I was dismayed to see they were all out of copies. I was looking at the rest of the selection when I realized a single copy had fallen (or was hidden) behind a row of some other game. I quietly got the attention of a cashier, & got my prize (they even said I was lucky because they were telling people they were out all day long).

Playing DS for the first time - I know the DS's graphics are dated now (and heck, the system wasn't new when I finally got it), but seeing polygonal graphics on a portable gaming machine was stunning the first time I had seen it (and the game I was playing was Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, which was one of the most beautiful DS games I ever had).

Playing 3DS for the first time - I know others here have said this, but I had no idea what the stereoscopic 3D would look like (or how it would work), so seeing it for the first time was like viewing real magic playing out in front of you.

Those are my "wow" Nintendo moments, but I'll probably be back with "wow" moments of other companies later.

My top five:

5. Playing the original Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. The game came with my first NES as a Christmas present, and it's something I'll never forget. To this day, just smelling that plasticy smell that all the original Nintendos came with is enough to make me want to run and shout.
4. Final Fantasy 3/6. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Kefka. Ahh, the clown. The comic relief. Thank goodness we're finally at the floating continent, the Emperor's likely going to off the idiot to show off his new --WTF? He stabbed him? He's suddenly invincible? What's he — WTF!?!?!?!?!
Flash forward to just past the dramatic escape, as you zoom across the wasteland that used to be your word.
Best. Villain. EVAR.
3. Super Mario 64. I probably spent my first half an hour with this game just running and jumping and playing around the outside of Peach's castle.
2. Dreamfall, the ending. One of the few times a game has brought me to tears. Masterfully done.
1. Playing the original Thief: The Dark Project demo. It came in a random copy of PC Gamer that I had a free subscription for (even though I was an N64 aficionado at the time. The game completely blew me away with everything, from the stealth gameplay, to the amazing and dynamic lighting systems, to the intriguing story and fantastic level design. The game turned me into a PC gamer all by itself. Thief3 and Thief4 (aka the Thief reboot) have absolutely nothing on the original two games.

The 'moment' itself was just completing the demo the first time (the first of about 10 runs on the demo, if I recall. Mind was just jelly from sheer awesomeness of the experience.

Edit: For some reason my spoiler tag isn't working. Grr.

I remember the first time I played Mario 64. I thought to myself, "This is incredible. It's impossible that a video game could ever look better than this. There's simply nowhere for the graphics to go from here."

I loved the game for more than its graphics, of course, but that's what stuck out to me. It felt like a work of visual perfection.

...oh how far we've come.

Ok well I am going to break it down to childhood and adulthood Wow moments.

Childhood

Super Mario Bros I am sure everyone who grew up in the 80's is going to say this but what can I say it was. Before being introduced to SMB the only exposure to video games was an Atari 2600 that my cousin had. Well I wasn't impressed with the crudness of the Atari's graphics but the Nintendo, wow. It was like being able to control a cartoon lol. I remember when we first hooked it up to the TV my whole family was amazed.

Beating Final Fantasy III (SNES) For the First Time I remember my friend and I played this game as much as we could back in high school. He actually got the game a few weeks before me but for some reason I caught up with him in game. In fact I called him the moment I beat it to tell him I beat it and he just got to Kefka when I called. That final battle was something. Using all the characters in the game and Kefka's final form. It was the first time I ever beat a game like Final Fantasy to me at the time it was the greatest ending in gaming ever.

ADULTHOOD

Entering Orgrimmar. for the first time in World of Warcraft I never played an MMORPG as big as WoW before. My friend talked me into trying it and even gave me a free key. I remember playing my Orc Warrior for the first 10 levels or so and I ran into a few other players running about but nothing like when I stepped into Orgrimmar. I felt like a kid walking into Times Square in NYC. There were hundreds of players just doing stuff, buying stuff from vedors, having practice duals, crafting things, cooking, etc it was at that point that I finally realized how big this game was.

watching my son beat GTA V This one might seem strange but it's kinda of odd. Now my son has been playing games since he was 2 but him beating GTA V a few months ago was just great. I think it was the fact that I really didn't help him at all with that game, maybe it was the fact that it was a mature game and that him and I where able to share it on somewhat equal level. Or maybe it was at that point that I realized that my son wasn't the little boy I knew anymore.

I am sure there is more but that's all I feel like typing right now.

Watching my cousin play Super Mario Bros. (do not know the exact game) as a 2-3 year old baby

To The Moon. Play it. Try not to cry. Cry a lot.

Also Kentucky Route Zero, Pokemon (Gens 1 and 3 for me) and Age of Empires. Just the first moment I got to play any of these games - that feeling is one of the reasons why I still play games.

I think two Wow moments that stick with me most are from Super Meat Boy. The first was me beating the final boss of the light world after many retries. The second was me unlocking the Kid by beating his warp zone. They were some of the most satisfying achievements I have ever earned in a game.

I don't think I could make a top five, but I could pull out some highlights.
The first time I logged onto Guild Wars 2. It was my first MMO and I was shocked at the size and scope of it all.
The first time I played my 3DS in 3D.
When I first played Minecraft. I was totally lost and was afraid of going 5 feet away from the little shelter I made.
The first time I played Age of Empires 3 on high end graphics. They still hold up today.
When I first played the inFAMOUS 2 demo after playing the first one. The graphics were a big leap and everything felt so fluid.
EDIT:
And when I first played Portal? How could I forget that!? It blows most of that stuff right out of the water! ('cept Guild Wars 2).

Three come to mind:

When I was a kid and I got a copy of Pokemon Red for my birthday. The sheer excitement I felt was incredible, and I don't think anything will ever top that moment. Except perhaps my fond memories of playing that game over and over obsessively over the years. And then getting Pokemon Silver for my Game Boy Color and playing that over and over.

When I first played through Final Fantasy VII a year or two after it came out and realized Aeris really was dead. I think everyone who played that game, whether they liked her or not, went through a denial stage before it really sunk in that she wasn't coming back.

Fallout 3 was my first really open world game, and nothing can describe how simultaneously lost and excited I felt when I exited the vault for the first time and was greeted with a vast, open wasteland to explore.

Reading some of these answers makes me feel old

My first "wow" moment was when I gazed upon the glory of PLOK! I was just amazed by this guy and by how much better than any other SNES game it looked. I still get this feeling whenever I start the game after a long break.

The second one was probably the entirety of Odin Sphere! Never before have I seen such beautiful art and experienced it with a heartwrenching epic story to go with. Still my most beloved game today!

Then was Ar Tonelico II.

I also "wowed" at some other events (and costumes), but those weren't quite as heavy as the first one.

Also worth mentioning is everything about Xenoblade Chronicles. At some point, I couldn't sleep anymore because this game nearly broke my brain with a constant onslaught of surprises, reveals, and plot twists!

And my last "wow" moment was when Kid Icarus Uprising whipped out it's infamous Unreveal (mentioned in spoiler by @ShadJV).

Most video games by now can hardly surprise me with sheer visual impressions (unless it's VanillaWare), so I'm always looking for deep, character-driven stories to entertain me.