What games blew your mind the first time you saw/played them?

I played my first game around '86, so mine's probably really old school.

Contra
Secret of Mana (Still my favorite RPG despite being dated, mostly cause of nostalgia)
Wolf3D (played it when it first came out)
SimCity 2000
King's Quest 6 (first one in the series I played, eventually played 1-7)
Doom/Doom 2 (deathmatch over a 9600 bps modem!)
Raptor (computer vertical shooter)
Virtual Fighter
StarCraft
Final Fantasy VIII/X (the graphics update from previous titles were major at the time)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (second tactical game I've ever played, first being a Tenchi game on the SNES, which was very fun at the time)

And less honorable mentions:
I guess Revolution X the arcade, but that probably was the least mindblowing for me in the list.

Bioshock wasn't a mindblowing title for me, but it was an awesome game. Oblivion wasn't that mindblowing to me, and I still haven't tried out the Fallout 3 I bought 2 weeks ago.
 
[quote name='Mr Dude65']Dude, go try Fallout 3 NOWWW! Don't even respond to this. You'll thank me in 40 hours or so.[/QUOTE]

lol it's 2:39 AM, and I've been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance with my gf when I am playing anything, cause she hasn't played any game with me since Lego Indiana Jones. And I just bought MUA and Infamous yesterday, both of which come before Fallout 3 ;)
 
When I upgraded from a NES to a Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis bundle. Probably like most people I kept hitting reset to here "sega" over and over again.
 
No. You're wrong. End of Discussion. Dude, you'll realize why I'm telling you this once you play it. But, if you're content with letting your girlfriend take away any chance you have of playing the best game ever, that's your choice. Seriously though, what has she done for you?
 
Quake blew my mind when I first played it, having played shooters (even at my young age) since Wolfenstein.

Super mario world was THE first console game I ever played. My dad's a software engineer, and had a million pc games but would never invest in a videogame console, so at the age of around 8-9 I saved up $30 and bought the SNES redesign right as it was leaving retail shelves. Brought it home and played SMW and was BLOWN AWAY.

Viewwtiful Joe on gamecube cuz I had never seen anything with such a cool design, the whole japanese themed, old-movie-style scratchy video and audio, side-scrolling thing hooked me completely. I must've played that demo disc level 100 times.

Super Mario 64 ds. As I mentioned before, I never owned the older consoles, and believe it or not, even by age 14 (when I first saw SSM64ds) I had never seen or played the game before. I know, pretty sad, but that trailer had me completely freaking out. I thought it was gonna be me and 3 friends running around in an open world seeing who could collect the most stars (that's what I imagined from the short video). Ah, to be a child again :rofl:

And most recently Gears of War, my first 360 game. Booted that baby up and I was tripping hard over the graphics. As it is, played the wheels off that game's multiplayer for a year and a half. Good times :applause:
 
I'd say Mario 64 - there a lot of other games prior to that going all the way to the 2600, but this one really stepped up the bar for free roaming 3d gaming and control. On the PC side, Doom.
 
Battlefield 2 & 2142
Call of Duty 4
Castlevania SOTN
Castlevania DOS
Devil May Cry 4
Duke Nukem II
Duke Nukem 3D
Quake II
Half-Life 2
Counter-Strike Source
Final Fantasy VIII
The King of Fighters series
Fatal Fury series
Metal Slug series
Spider-Man the game, the movie game, Web of Shadows
Super Mario 64 DS
New Super Mario Bros.
Sonic Adventure 1 & 2
Super Smash Bros.
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

All this and many more I can't think of at the moment.
 
Sonic Adventure. The scene that was always shown with the whale chasing him blew me away. And then one day I finally got to play it and it...blew me away.

More recently though, a game that blew me off the planet was MGS4. Experiencing that game for the first time was amazing.
 
Oh yeah, how could I forgot Shenmue. I was working part-time at a video game store and we imported one copy of the Japanese version. We were all amazed and the customers coming in watching us play were also shocked. I think that's the last time I had an awe-struck feeling for a video game.
 
Thought of another one in the PC vein:

Civilization. I was 6 when this came out and I remember sitting at the computer for hours playing it with my dad. 18 years later and we both still play the series religiously. That's some staying power right there.
 
Starfox, DKC, and Mario RPG. Those were some big ones.

Also, Axelay, for sure. And I remember the intro to R-Type III, even though it was only a couple seconds long, was amazing.
 
the opening scene in Final Fantasy 2 (FFIV) on SNES. with the airships. i was so amazed, and that ended up being my favorite final fantasy for years. until 8 and 10.
 
Gears of War - 360
Resident Evil 4 - GC
Super Mario 64/Goldeneye - N64
Halo - Xbox
Resident Evil/Final Fantasy VII - PSX
Sonic Adventure/Power Stone - DC
Grand Theft Auto III - PS2
 
Maniac Mansion... just the amount of stuff you could do was insane to me compared to most games. I later realized it was largely due to the limited graphics, but man...

Super Mario World... the sprites were just so crisp compared to Mario Bros.

Halo to Halo 2 to Halo 3. They just kept getting better.

The THQ/AKI 64 WCW and WWF titles. Controller wise, move wise and then customize wise, they blew my mind.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland for the 360. Great graphics, great controls, great storyline, great soundtrack. Just a great game all around. As a THPS fan, it was a cream dream.

Kameo for the 360. One of the first games I played for it. Awesome, colorful graphics and just a great control setup, imo.

Forza 2. Insane graphics and awesome controls.

Left 4 Dead for the 360. I bought it blind after two friends insisted I get it. Probably the best blind purchase I've ever made.
 
Donkey Kong- Atari 2600
Super Mario Bros.- NES
Super Mario Bros. 3- NES
Street Fighter II- Arcade
Sonic- Genesis
Street Fighter II- SNES
Donkey Kong Country- SNES
Star Wars: Shadow Of The Empire- N64
COD2- XBOX 360
Street Fighter IV- PC
 
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Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse for the Genesis.

mickey_mouse-castle_of_illusion.jpg


Seriously. I had a NES at the time and my buddy got a Genesis and this game and I couldn't believe how awesome it looked - independently scrolling backgrounds!! OMG!!!
 
NBA Live 08. It was the first game I popped in my ps3 when I got it on Christmas. It was also the first game I played when I got my HDTV last summer.
 
I'll post one at a time.

Super Mario Bros - NES. I didn't know what the hell this was the first time I played it but I was shocked how different it was from other games at the time. Something about it just clicked and it was full or surprises and depth. Everything about it seemed fresh and innovative for its time and was presented flawlessly.
 
Legend of Zelda NES
River City Ransom NES
Street Fighter II arcade
Final Fantasy VI
Resident Evil PS
Wolf 3D
Doom
Fallout
Half-life series
Call of Duty
Unreal Tournament
Goldeneye N64
Legend of Zelda Orcania of Time
FF 7 PS
Metal Gear Solid PS
SSX PS2(since it was the first game I got at launch)
GTA 3 ps2(I was the only person to buy it at my local game store at launch guy owner was really cool so we cracked it open and started playing.) Soon several people came in and were like WTF is this?!!? You can steal cars and beat up people and blow shit up AWESOME!
GTA Vice City ps2
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic PC(Wow best star wars game of all time!)
Dead Rising 360(my first taste of next gen and I like it! Zombie apocalypse!)
Gears of War 360 (awesome!)
Bioshock 360 (WOAH holy shit!)
Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction (Now this is HD)
GTA IV (finally one of my favorite series on next gen looks AWESOME!)
Fallout 3 (Amazing!)
Uncharted Drakes Fortune PS3 (DAMN!!!! most beautiful game I have ever seen)
MGS 4 (Wow! tied with Uncharted)
 
[quote name='DuelLadyS']
Mine are Virtua Fighter and the Holosseum in the arcade- oh, and Final Fantasy 7. I remember opening cinema-> first battles-> first boss -> timed escape -> my total freakout-> explosion -> Me thinking 'that was AWESOME!'[/QUOTE]

I had the same experience with Final Fantasy 7. Coming from SNES seeing the intro was amazing.
 
Two stand out in particular:

1) Super Mario 64. I remember we (my family and I) played this game during holiday break. We were transfixed to the point where I would forget to use the facilities and have to run off before it was too late. Even my dad, who wasn't a huge video game fan, watched the entire game and loved giving advice. It was awesome.

2) Ico. My GF and I played this game and were amazed. It really captured the "magic" of games and was such a peaceful journey. Except for those smoke monsters.
 
Halo 1 - The whole reason I bought an Xbox, the big world was amazing and the FPS action at the best (well back then)
Final Fantasy 8 - The way it went from in game polygons to FMV so seamlessly, it was amazing.
 
Final Fantasy VIII. It was the first RPJ I played and one of the first games I played on PS1. The graphics were jaw dropping to me, and the game actually had characters that weren't marsupials or plumbers.
 
Four words: Double Dribble slam dunks!!!

The first time I saw that slow motion dunk, I was floored...can't believe no one has mentioned this yet.
 
My first was Empire Strikes Back on the 2600. As a kid, anything Star Wars blew my mind and that game ate a ton of my early years. More recently, it would have to be Super Mario World - that game is still one of the prettiest in my book.
 
[quote name='kroman81']Four words: Double Dribble slam dunks!!!

The first time I saw that slow motion dunk, I was floored...can't believe no one has mentioned this yet.[/QUOTE]

Haha! I love the sound when you shoot the ball wooooooooooooo KABOOM!
 
There are many but one just sprang to mind...

In the fall of 1997, Capcom released the import-only Sega Saturn port of X-men vs. Streetfighter. Up to that point, my experience with CD-based fighting games had been a bit lackluster. As good as the Saturn port of Street Fighter Zero/Alpha 2 was, it was still obviously missing some frames of animation and the load times were annoying. The Saturn port of KOF 95 was great but it wasn't a game that I was a huge fan of. When Capcom dropped their 4 MB RAM cart and X-men/SF, things changed. The game was like playing the arcade machine with Saturn pads. I played it non-fucking-stop for months. For over two years, my best friend in Virginia would come to my house every monday night, watch wrestling and proceed to play X-men/SF against me until 2 or 3 in the morning. It never got boring, it was always impressive. One time we videotaped ourselves playing the game and then watched the videotape immediately afterwards. I have been floored by games since but I will never forget what it was like to play X-men/SF at home.
 
[quote name='Halo05']There are many but one just sprang to mind...

In the fall of 1997, Capcom released the import-only Sega Saturn port of X-men vs. Streetfighter. Up to that point, my experience with CD-based fighting games had been a bit lackluster. As good as the Saturn port of Street Fighter Zero/Alpha 2 was, it was still obviously missing some frames of animation and the load times were annoying. The Saturn port of KOF 95 was great but it wasn't a game that I was a huge fan of. When Capcom dropped their 4 MB RAM cart and X-men/SF, things changed. The game was like playing the arcade machine with Saturn pads. I played it non-fucking-stop for months. For over two years, my best friend in Virginia would come to my house every monday night, watch wrestling and proceed to play X-men/SF against me until 2 or 3 in the morning. It never got boring, it was always impressive. One time we videotaped ourselves playing the game and then watched the videotape immediately afterwards. I have been floored by games since but I will never forget what it was like to play X-men/SF at home.[/QUOTE]
Great story. Hearing people's stories are the best part imo.
 
Oblivion. this was the first game i bought with my 360 and the reason i bought it. it is one of the best games ever
 
There have been several games that made a strong positive impression upon me the first time I played, but the one that stands out the most is ActRaiser. The music, graphics, and game-play were all jaw dropping for the time.
 
[quote name='Halo05']There are many but one just sprang to mind...

In the fall of 1997, Capcom released the import-only Sega Saturn port of X-men vs. Streetfighter. Up to that point, my experience with CD-based fighting games had been a bit lackluster. As good as the Saturn port of Street Fighter Zero/Alpha 2 was, it was still obviously missing some frames of animation and the load times were annoying. The Saturn port of KOF 95 was great but it wasn't a game that I was a huge fan of. When Capcom dropped their 4 MB RAM cart and X-men/SF, things changed. The game was like playing the arcade machine with Saturn pads. I played it non-fucking-stop for months. For over two years, my best friend in Virginia would come to my house every monday night, watch wrestling and proceed to play X-men/SF against me until 2 or 3 in the morning. It never got boring, it was always impressive. One time we videotaped ourselves playing the game and then watched the videotape immediately afterwards. I have been floored by games since but I will never forget what it was like to play X-men/SF at home.[/QUOTE]

Best post in thread
 
Mario 64 , Golden Eye N64
KOTOR Xbox
RE4 Gamecube

oh yeah PS3 Oblivion and UT3 online play! I had Assassins and Uncharted unopened in the wrapper for 10 months (no joke) cause of Oblivion and Unreal Tournament.
 
Mario 64 - the jump from the snes/genesis to the saturn/ps1 wasn't really that amazing to me... lots of pseudo-3D, FMV and tricks that we had seen before, only done a bit better. When I saw(and eventually played) Mario, we finally had a true 3D game on our hands, it was amazing to be able to go anywhere on the map, and I still can't get over how much of an impression the game has left on me.

Halo/Resident Evil 4 - These were games that I looked at pics of, and could instantly tell how it was going to be. It's hard to describe, but just by looking at the pics I could already tell what the game would be like, how the characters would move, how it would play, everything. I'll admit I sorta missed the mark in my mistaken assumption that you were able to explore the entire Halo sandbox style, but when I eventually got to play it, it felt so natural because it was like I already knew what to do just by looking at pics of the game.

GTA San Andreas - I'd like to think I kept good tabs on video games back in the day, but this one really snuck up on me. One day I read a snippet about GTA SA, and how you can ride a bike and have 3 other gang members hop in a car with you. "Pssh, okay that's cool I guess". A month later the game is out, and it's amazing! I had hardly heard anything about it, and what I did hear was just tiny little blurbs that made the game sound like a minor upgrade, but instead we got one of the greatest games ever! On a side note, I do like what Rockstar did with GTA IV too... some folks might not like being able to see a game in action so they can make an informed decision on it, but I thought it was so cool not being able to see any in-game footage or pics(aside from the cutscenes and stuff they used in commercials) until I actually played the game on launch.
 
Gorf!

Four different games in one arcade cabinet! It was in a dark part of the arcade and the sound was cranked up. Had a ball.

Hmm, I may be showing my age here....
 
NCAA for the super nintendo I tell you what, it was like being INSIDE the game! It was better than selling a million grills in one day, WITH the extended warranty!
 
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Phantasy Star, when I bought it at launch in 1988.

Wolfenstein (PC) - spring 1992.

Sega GT, back when it was the free pack-in with the first XBOX - 2002?

Rez on the Dreamcast.

Okami and Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii

Wipeout HD on the PS3
 
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