Some of the bosses on Souls/Bloodborne the first time you beat them. Get obliterated many times but eventually figure out and execute a plan just barely. Proper heart-pounding, 'take that you prick' moments. There have been a few where I fell back into my chair almost exhausted afterwards, but also beaming. Finishing with a parry on BB adds even more catharsis.

They aren't all so perfectly pitched, but with the ones that are, there's nothing quite like it.

Father Gaz was a great one, and early in the game.

Slogging through Condemned.
Finding the boss impossible I restored to gamefaqs.

use your tazer to stun him

I HAVE A TAZER!?!

Sitting down to play space invaders at the local cinema. Pretty sure my mom was having a G&T (they used to have a bar!)

On holiday in Wales at a caravan park playing Star Wars arcade with the amazing stereo sound and the trench scene putting me right in the movie.

At my cousins playing Combat on the Atari. My first taste of MP. Hated the planes loved the tanks.

Mammoth sessions of the asteroids rip off on my Vectrex. Probably the coolest console of the 80's. Along with a maze/fantasy style game that I cannot remember.

Programming my Oric 1 with my own flight simulator in BASIC as it had fuck all games.

Shitting myself in Rescue on Fractulous with my Atari 800XL. And loving pole position that I mainly had to play on my black and white portable TV except on weekends when I would get the odd hour to use the main TV.

Bitmap Brothers perfection on my Atari ST. Nothing more to say.

My first foray into consoles with Sonc The Hedgehog. That opening scene and the sound seemed amazing. The plink plink plink when you collected rings.

Quickly bored of the Megadrive when I fell in love with Street Fighter on the Snes. Then discovered the US/UK divide of borders and slower gameplay. Quickly switched to a damn ugly US Snes with the amazing full speed F-Zero and mode 7. Still remember buying an import version of Super Streetfighter II Turbo edition for £60 from Comet and they kept it under the counter like some dodgy porno.

Parachuted, you were somehow miles behind everyone else so all feeds focussed on you, you overshot the landing zone by a mile, turned to come back at it and when you were parallel with the ground a lamp post hit you right in the bread basket, bending you in double around the post.

If only 'Xbox, record THAT!' was about in those days.

As for memorable gaming moments, the opening hours of GTAIII were full of awe, a sprawling playground of no holds barred that dawned on me as I carjacked for the first time.  This was echoed in Vice City but amplified by the increase in atmosphere, epitomised for me when I entered a club and the opening beat of Automatic by The Pointer Sisters kicked out.  I stood agog in the middle of the dance floor whilst the virtual revellers surrounded me.  Stand out mission was the Phnom Penh chopper assault, undertaken in on a balmy sun drenched evening in game to the sounds of another moody 80s classic.

The antics of Team Awesome first time round in Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, a rag tag band of brothers led in fine style by Major G 'Grenade' Man.

Currently writing new moments in Forza Horizon 2 with every rub and race, every Friday a new chapter.

Crash landing on Halo and seeing an absence of corridors.

Playing battlefield 2 when it first came out. I'd been playing for a few hours when my brother popped in and started watching.

"What's this? It looks shit. What are you doing sitting in that window? Why aren't there any enemies?"

"We've just captured that flag, I'm watching the bridge because I reckon the enemy are going to come from that direction."

"It looks boring." He said. 

As he spoke an enemy humvee came into view and turned toward the bridge.  I pulled out my anti tank weapon, took aim and popped off a rocket into its side.  It exploded in a huge fireball, the doors flew off and it flipped over somersaulting through the air, landing upside down a few feet in front of the building I was in.

Seconds later a transport chopped buzzed over head, flying along the road below the level of the roof tops, both door gunners spitting bullets out from the sides at unseen enemies.

I turned to look at him to see his reaction.

"Fucking hell! Can I have a go?"

superflyninja wrote:

When you "get" Mushi Futari - the feeling of switching between the A and B shot and knowing what you are doing while tap-dodging and herding those bullets. Then taking out a large enemy just in time to get a bullet cancel so you don't have to do a heroic cut-back. Just so good.

I have no clue what any of that means but it sounds....hard to do!

Shooting games have moved on a bit since Space Invaders.

What I described there isn't that hard to do which is the genius of the Cave developed games.

hylian_elf wrote:

Another shout for area 4 of Rez. So cool and awesome.

I welled up at the end of area 5.

I also welled up in Bayonetta at the "welcome to the fantasy zone" bit.

That puts videogames on parr with all other human achievement. Ancient human footprints and "this is for everyone" are pretty much the only other things that brought a tear to my eye.

Just to recall a specific moment in MGS3, in the battle with The End. Scared the shit out of me when the old codger snuck up from behind me.

Mmmm.

There's a spiffy cut scene with Frog and the Masamune. Gives me goosebumps. 

I also found the entire into to MGS1 to be outstanding. The pre-mission tapes with briefings for the mission ahead; infiltrating the docks, right up to the moment when you get to the top of the elevator and the mission proper begins. Set the tone perfectly for a phenomenal game.

Playing Halo and Gears online with my house mate whose gamertag was Kurt Russell.
Genuinely, every game someone would either friend request him, ask if he was the actual Kurt or fire Kurt related abuse at him.

From the first pick up of Guitar Hero 2 to finally finishing Free Bird on expert, that was one hell of a challenge.

The opening level of Dead Space Extraction is a cracker the first time. The way it ends seems obvious in hindsight, but I wasn't expecting it at the time. 

Actually that whole game has some amazing moments. Trying to fix a circuit on a door panel whilst the aliens are approaching, and having to juggle shooting with welding is a fraught experience. And some of the narrative moments are well-delivered.

Towards then end when you is not something games throw at you everyday.

It's a very underrated game.