Topic: Favorite Gaming Moments

What are your most memorable and favorite moments in video games? By this I mean, any moment of any specific game which has stuck with you.

BIG SPOILERS

The first cinematic in Metroid Other M where Mother Brain killed the baby Metroid. It was a moment of sadness (The music was saddening, the scene) and then, shifted to being epic. The screen zoomed in within Samus's arm canon (The animations and the graphics were AWESOME) and she released a hyper beam blast which was nifty.

END OF SPOILERS

Fire Emblem: Awakening had tons of memorable moments for me.
-Memorable characters that had different personality's.
-Light hearted conversations to keep the mood cherry.
-Great music.
-And the ending.
That's all of them I can name on the top of my head.

I have fond memories of playing New Super Mario Bros on my original electric blue Nintendo DS. I had bought the DS used from Gamestop for $70, and it was my first gaming system. Because I was around 7 at the time, I couldn't afford any other games, and so I played NSMB for hours upon hours, collecting all the Star Coins, and even filling up that useless point counter on the bottom screen all the way. I no longer have the game or the system, but it was good fun.

There have been so many over the years. Just recently though..

• being dropped into the world of Skyrim, and then redropping into it with mods.
• the opening scenes of Bioshock Infinite (the lighthouse and church)
• maxing out Crysis 3 on my PC
• being involved in a 40v40v40 fight in GW2 WvW.
• the opening to The Last of Us (I imagine the ending as well, I'm just not there yet)
• that moment I boxed up my Wii so it wouldn't take valuable space away from my entertainment center

Kind of kidding about the last one (not entirely) but the others have definitely been some of my recent favorites.

Here's one in honor of @Big-Luigi--

In Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, I really enjoyed the boss battles that required you to turn your DS on the side. I hadn't seen that mechanic used previously and I thought it was pretty fun and innovative. I've since seen it used for certain puzzles in the Professor Layton series to good effect as well.

Playing super smash bros melee with my friends.

Never finishing a galactic conquest against my best friend in battlefront2.

Beating kinghts of the old republic 2 before my best friend, (he beat number 1 before me)

Playing Zelda Orcerena of time.

In halo 3 before it sucked, I went out and got a overkill alone with a magnum with my Shealds being completely down the moment I started shooting.

Fire Emblem: Every time your teammate almost dies, but luckily didn't because of their evasiveness, or their friendly companion.
Professor Layton: Getting enough Picarats for anime cutscenes
Virtue's Last Reward: Everytime you head into the Ambidex Room
Animal Crossing: You just paid off your debt and you think you don't have to work for Nook anymore.

Pretty recent, I was playing Battlefield 3 in Capture the flag mode. Both of the teams were tied, there was 40 some seconds left to go, when I plopped down my 240B to cover some guys getting the flag in a last ditch attempt to win the game. The guy I'm covering gets the flag, and all of the sudden, there comes a scout helicopter to pick him up! The enemies are firing all of their anti-air power right on it, and that chopper was just going full speed towards our goal. He was able to score with 1 second (really, 1 second, maybe a half) left in the game and we won. I sat for a minute just cheering, it was pure awesome.

Wow, That was awsome.

Recently? Watching my brother-in-law play through Final Fantasy VII for the very first time. He's gone all these years entirely unspoiled too. I was a little envious when he beat Disc One and was entirely shocked.

@8BitSamurai: LOL. That sounds pretty nifty, man.

The ending of Professor Layton and the Lost Future.

@Banker-Style and @Kyloctopus, totally agreed. The Layton games are filled with lots of great gaming moments. I've only played the first three but all have had excellent and surprising, and very memorable, endings.

My greatest gaming moment had to be when I completed Metroid Prime Hunters in 1 hour 38 minutes at 100% completion. It was the final run in a series of 100% runs I had been doing to try and break the 1 hour 40 minute mark. After I got that time, I decided to let off the gas a bit in Hunters and have since enjoyed more casual speed runs. I have not seen a time for Metroid Prime Hunters done at 100% that is faster.

Ocarina of Time - Gannon appearing, puts chills down my spine every time.
Monster Hunter Tri - Encountering deviljho for the first time, gave me the same effect as Gannon, lol.
Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate - Getting my butt kicked by Duramboros for the first time. xD
Metroid Prime 3 - Meta Ridley battle, everyone who played should know why.
EarthBound - (since it was just released)
spoilers...probably
Gonna be safe here, since the game wasn't popular back then and many people may be playing it for the first time. Love the moment when you defeat Ness's Nightmare and you get some massive stat boost.

The ending to 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors was the most perfect ending to any piece of entertainment in any medium I have ever encountered. Just flawless, in my mind.
To pick a single moment in Halo: Combat Evolved is hard for me, just because there's so many moments in its campaign that just shine. If I had to pick just one thing, though, it'd be the LAN parties. There's just nothing like surrounding yourself with 15 other guys, huddled around 4 XBOXs and 4 CRT TVs while playing capture the flag on Blood Gulch, all while the aroma of Doritos and slight body odor fill the air (in any other circumstance, it'd be repulsive, but it just adds to the enjoyment in this case).
That moment in Final Fantasy VII. You know which one. I was able to get to it without the internet spoiling it to me, and I can tell you that it had an impact on me.

• Playing Super Mario World for the first time as a 10 year old is my all time favorite gaming moment.
  More recently:
• Experiencing Gaming in HD for the first time with Metal Gear Solid 4.
• Playing my favorite Franchise Metroid in a entirely new way with Metroid Prime 3.
• Currently playing the masterpiece that is Xenoblade Chronicles which has got me interested in RPG's again.

I was playing Call of Duty Black Ops I I got MVP, killed lots of people only died 4 times and won the game. One of the coolest moments of my gaming life!

• Beating Bowser in Super Mario World (the first game I'd ever beaten)
• Realizing Nintendo owned Pokémon (I was into the show & card collecting before I even knew the games existed)
• Ansem's surprise reveal in Kingdom Hearts (the first time I encountered the plot device of a villain playing everyone behind the scenes)
• The emotional conclusion to Final Fantasy X.
• Encountering the magic of the Wii for the first time at a Wal-Mart kiosk.
• Playing online multiplayer in Call of Duty: World at War on the Wii, for the first time (I don't care that the connection dropped off after every 3rd match, it was online & awesome darnit, lol)
• Playing Battlefield 1943. It took the online fun I was having with the CoD games, and turned it on it's head, with more players, entire islands to battle on, with loads of vehicles to use (I'd always rush to the nearest plane).
• experiencing the magic of 3D for the first time, during the initial setup of the 3DS.