What was your happiest gaming memory?

[Son Goku]

Getting ratchet and clank 3 for Christmas whenever it came out

I LOVED going commando but holy hell that still might be my favorite game ever. So the hype of the follow up to one of my favorite games ever and then the 5 levels and the awesome guns and the nefarious and oh my gosh it was just so damn fun! Also budokai 1 which was bonkers awesome back in the day getting to blast people for real

 

[Deleted member 8468]

Just childhood really. Getting my SNES (first console) for Christmas and playing Super Mario World until my eyes watered. Playing Street Fighter 2 with my mom, who was no good at it but played because I liked it and wanted to be involved. More nostalgia and simpler times than anything.

 

[Fularu]

Going with my mother to some random parisian apartment to pick up an Amiga 500, a 1084S monitor and tons of games.

Then going to an Amiga store and buy the 512k memory extansion and fire up some games (my first ever Amiga game was Hybris, talk about starting with a bang)

The second one was inserting Phenomena's Enigma disc, turning off the lights, cranking up the volume and watching my first ever Amiga demo

 

[TheBeardedOne]

Getting Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country 2 and playing them a ton.
Atari with my mom.
Sleepovers playing video games.
N64 and SNES memories.

 

[Overflow]

Happiest? Hmm...

Maybe finally Beating Zico on WipEout Omega Collection, then in the same afternoon going back and finally Platinum'ing WipEout HD with the same challenge.

 

[El-Suave]

Getting the original Civilisation for Christmas.
Playing Lucasarts adventure games pre internet.
Setting up a 3-4 player LAN party in our living room to play Jagged Alliance, Rise of the Triad etc. with friends. Seemed like witchcraft back then.

 

[Dantendo]

3 player splitscreen multiplayer with my younger brothers. Specifically Mario Kart 64, Golden Eye, Mario Party and Halo.

 

[gagewood]

• Waking up early on Saturday mornings to play some Civilization
• Staying up all night at a friend's house waiting for the Duke Nukem 3D shareware to download on his painfully slow dial-up connection, then finally installing and playing it
• Also staying up all night at a different friend's house working our way through Phantasmagoria
• The first moments I experienced Wolfenstein 3D (& Spear of Destiny), Doom, and Heretic
• Renting Super Return of the Jedi and beating it in one evening
• NHL '93 and '95 on Sega Genesis - a ridiculous amount of hours playing those

There are countless more. I just miss that experience of hanging out with friends, huddling around a PC or tv, and being glued to something for a couple hours, whether it was trying to figure out puzzles in King's Quest 6 or playing Street Fighter II. You'd discover new games through your friends or introduce them to your favorites. People didn't own hundreds or thousands of games like we do now with the ease of building digital libraries, so sometimes you just played the hell out of what you had.

Overall I think I was just happiest when I was seeing something I didn't really imagine possible before that, like VGA graphics! :p

 

[Overture]

So many happy memories, man. Coming home from school on winter days and turning on the SNES to play Harvest Moon, that game was so incredibly cozy.

Discovering PC gaming with my best friend back in 97/98, going through dozens of PC demos (and have his older brother pissed at us because his PC was full of crap), playing Future Cop in coop, playing so much Mega Drive that the power supply just couldn't take it and the console turned off, we would put the power supply on a window outside to cool it and then proceed to play again... so many happy memories.

And playing Terranigma, a game that defines my childhood and probably the first game that made me legit fucking sad... still, it's one of the happiest memories if that makes sense, every day spent playing that game was absolutely amazing.

 

[Detail]

I have really enjoyed reading all these responses, it's amazing how much I can relate, all the old PC games, hanging out with friends playing old consoles etc.

Just really brings a smile to my face knowing so many of you had such great memories, after all, these great memories with gaming are probably what brings us here to discuss games, it's like being around our friends again and sharing things that we love.

Thanks for all the great replies.

 

[Speely]

So many, so I will choose one that isn't too old like opening my NES xmas present then playing my first hard-but-amazing game ever (Kid Icarus) in my Spiderman pjs, or a super modern take like rediscovering that same sense of glee and discovery when BotW released on my birthday and made me realize games could still make me feel like that kid.

I will land squarely in the middle and choose my time with PSO on the Dreamcast. It was my first real introduction to online gaming, and I met people there I still know to this day. It took what I loved about games (because it was amazing) and added a whole other social aspect that gave me a whole new sense of wonder about what console gaming could be.

I had never experienced the anticipation of getting home to log on and see friends with whom I would then share hours of fun with in a game we all loved playing.

 

[Castor Archer]

Breath of the Wild, my first time through is the greatest gaming experience I've ever had. My (ex) girlfriend was playing along with me and we were sharing different secrets and locations we visited, things we've found. I've been revisiting the game and it still just fills me with so much joy.

Doing forest ganking in Dark Souls with a former friend. He's an asshole and we had a huge falling out, but those times we co-oped in Dark Souls were some of my favorite multiplayer moments ever.

Oh also, Dead Space 2. I had just had foot surgery, and it was snowing, so all I could do was sit inside, and I had just gotten Dead Space 2. Played the whole thing in 2 days, and it was just...awesome.

 

[Wein Cruz]

 

[BringBackSonics]

Running disblo bounties with my son

 

[BriGuy]

When I got a Super Nintendo on Christmas, 1993. Same day we got a labrador puppy. Super Mario and Super Doggo is a hard combination to beat. I just wish I could go back and revisit my time with her like I can with Mario World.

 

[Overture]

When I got a Super Nintendo on Christmas, 1993. Same day we got a labrador puppy. Super Mario and Super Doggo is a hard combination to beat. I just wish I could go back and revisit my time with her like I can with Mario World.

Click to shrink...

Wouldn't that be the best...

That must have been a great fucking Christmas.

 

[wihio]

Getting to world 2 level 2 (the first level underwater) in Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo. The sun was rising and my brother and I had sneaked out to play our brand new Nintendo that we got a day before, on Christmas morning. That moment and the music of the level will never leave me. This sparked my imagination and set me on the path as someone who will enjoy video games the rest of my days, and always brings a smile to my face.

 

[Son of Liberty]

I have so many precious memories but one that sticks out in my mind was playing World of Warcraft for the first time. I heard so much about it from people on the internet and TV (remember G4?) however I never had a good enough computer to play it, yet I was so intrigued by everything about the game. Eventually by 2006 I got a decent laptop as a present that was able to run Half-Life 2 at med/high settings and even Battlefield 2 at medium sometimes. So of course I download the trial for World of Warcraft and it was amazing. I never played an MMO before so the whole concept was new to me and I loved every second of it. I haven't touched WoW in years but I can remember all the starting areas and music so fondly.

 

[Ramako]

For me it was being in the Great Deku Tree and realizing that I could burn the spiderwebs blocking my path by igniting a deku stick using a nearby torch. Blew my mind that they could create such an intuitive world. I don't think any game can ever capture that moment for me again.

 

[Robin]

I have a couple, my first is playing Super Mario Allstars on my SNES on christmas morning.

Another would be beating Metal Gear Solid 2 during a family vacation, this is a touch cringey but it was one of the first games I had ever played that was that cinematic that I had actually gone through until the end, I was about 12 years old. I remember the ending was quite long and my family was supposed to be heading out somewhere to eat right as I had wrapped the game up. I remember watching those ending cutscenes while they were in the driveway of the cabin honking the horn, and then just sitting in the back of the car totally blown away by the end of it.

 

[Nome]

My best friend in 6th grade had a Playstation (I had an N64) and I'd go over to his place and watch him play Crash Bandicoot.
I'd always spot the secrets and point them out, and he was always super grateful for it.
His family got a threatening letter in the mail one day and they moved away without warning... never heard from him again.

 

[The Albatross]

My strongest gaming memories are usually bittersweet. Moments in GTA: San Andreas and Vice City stand out to me. Also moments in Red Dead Redemption 1, but particularly when I replayed the game last year in anticipation of RDR2.

Playing San Andreas and RDR1 instantly bring me back to where I was, ~15 years ago with San Andreas and 10 years ago with RDR, when I was playing those games. It's usually a weird bittersweet nostalgia.

Like, sure I have a lot of great videogaming memories that are happy, but my strongest memories are the ones that make me nostalgic, and those are always tinged with a sad feeling of longing. Buzzing through the San Andreas dessert areas blasting KDST, 'Running Down a Dream,' or what have you, really hits me hard, because I'm transported back to Summer of ~2004 or 2005, doing that same thing, like flying from the Boneyard airport over Las Venturas and climbing over the Los Santos / Vinewood hills, with the classic rock station on.

There have also been moments in RDR2 that really hit me, particularly the end game and 2nd epilogue.

I also have other strong videogame memories, but they're sad. I remember the Oklahoma City Bombing terrorist attack because I was playing Sonic & Knuckles at the time, in the sand zone. I had a small TV that the Genesis was hooked up to, it was April vacation, and my sister was watching Price is Right on the TV that had cable, and it cut out to cover the bombing. I was 10 or 11, so I didn't care about the news, but I still remember it happening and strongly remember playing Sonic & Knuckles on that day.

 

[kungfuian]

Playing the hell out of Rastan Arcade until I was able to beat it without dying. Such a great feeling! Walked around with a smile for at least a few weeks.

Did the same thing with Magician Lord, Blaster Master, and Strider and felt similar (and yes I know Stider is much easier but it's still a great feeling).

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Being young playing Final Fantasy VIII in a cold winter. It was dark outside. My parents recently moved to a new apartment and the only things in my room were a small CRT TV, a playstation 1, Final Fantasy VIII, blanket, pillow, me, and a warm cup of cocoa. It was pure bliss and magic.

Click to shrink...

FFVII isn't as special to me as it is to so many people, but it did give me an incredibly strong memory where I started playing for the first time one night and got hooked because the narrative comes at you pretty thick and fast at the start of the game. I eventually got to a point where I decided to call it a night. I saved it, powered down the Playstation then was amazed to see sunlight streaming through the window. I've never played a game since that has made me lose track of time like that.

There are countless more. I just miss that experience of hanging out with friends, huddling around a PC or tv, and being glued to something for a couple hours, whether it was trying to figure out puzzles in King's Quest 6 or playing Street Fighter II. You'd discover new games through your friends or introduce them to your favorites. People didn't own hundreds or thousands of games like we do now with the ease of building digital libraries, so sometimes you just played the hell out of what you had.

Overall I think I was just happiest when I was seeing something I didn't really imagine possible before that, like VGA graphics! :p

Click to shrink...

I can totally relate to this.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

I had a few ideas floating around for this one. Beating Lorian and Lothric (my favorite Souls boss)? Exiting the Census House in Morrowind and discovering true freedom? First dragon fight in Skyrim? Going 39-0 in a COD MW4 TDM game? Halo CE's first level? The 13th colossus in Shadow of the Colossus? Finding Danielle Sho in Prey? Lady Boyle's Last Party?

No - I'm going to go with the feeling Jonathan Blow describes as an "A-HA! moment" in The Witness. It hits everyone at a different time in that game, but anyone who beat the game would have experienced it a few times. Pure joy and a sense of accomplishment.

 

[WhtR88t]

Meeting my friend in my parents driveway as a kid and him saying "guess what I got?" while pulling out the glorious yellow Super Mario 3 box and me preceding to freak out and then rushing inside to play it.

 

[Mechaplum]

Love reading this thread! As for mine I can share but it'll probably be obsolete in a week.

 

[Trieu]

FFVII isn't as special to me as it is to so many people, but it did give me an incredibly strong memory where I started playing for the first time one night and got hooked because the narrative comes at you pretty thick and fast at the start of the game. I eventually got to a point where I decided to call it a night. I saved it, powered down the Playstation then was amazed to see sunlight streaming through the window. I've never played a game since that has made me lose track of time like that.

Click to shrink...

Losing track of time and completely immersing into a game is a very beautiful thing. Sadly as I got older it doesn't seem to happen anymore (or very rarely). It was so easy for me to imagine I was being Squall living in Balamb Garden when I was young

 

[Vic Damone Jr.]

Right now, playing MW2 with my friends. Everyone has scattered and doing their own thing and don't get on or barely do:/

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Playing through Gauntlet together with my mom on the C64 back in 1987.

 

[megashock5]

Opening our Colecovision for Christmas of 1982, especially since they were sold out everywhere.

The whole family played Donkey Kong for hours.

 

[Mexen]

As a child, I have a few standouts.

1. Beating World 1-1 for the first time.
2. When my late mum bought me my first console
3. The moment I realized I was unbeatable at MK Trilogy on N64. Everything just clicked and I became the guy to beat in my neighbourhood (this happened until University when I dropped fighting games)
4. Playing Smash 64 for the very first time. I actually remember that day. I was maybe 10 and surprisingly home alone for a while. The weather was perfect that day and I had the most amazing time of my life.

Edit: 4 player Golden Eye was fun times. I lost a lot though. LOL

If I am to pick my absolute favourite, happiest moment of my gaming life, it will have to be number 2 (no shit, pun unintended).

As an adult.

1. The look on my girlfriend's face when I bought her a Switch late last year

 

[Wackamole]

Most fun i had was with Terrorist Hunt in Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 and 2. I laughed so hard so many times. And often with complete strangers.

But happiest was gaming with me girlfiend and son playing Nintendo games (mariokart, mario, luigis mansion, pikmin, zelda, etc), Lego games and Battlefront 1 and 2.

 

[jml]

/

 

[plié]

Getting back together with my high school buddies to play Sea Of Thieves during the alpha/beta. Never have I had so much fun with a video game, we still just get together and just treat it as a pirate themed chatroom and goof around.

Playing LOTR: ROTK on PS2 with my brother in co-op. That game was awesome, one of the best movie license games.

 

[Svejk]

Knowing I had Strider and Shadow Dancer under the tree.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Going to add some adult memories because nostalgia is bunk.

Playing overcooked with my twin brother, while my small 6 month old nephew slept in the crook of his arm. Even us screaming with the rat stole a burning onion didn't wake the little guy up.

Co-op with the GF, arcade with the GF beating up in an old mortal combat game when she would insist on doing the same move all match.

Sports friends for the PS4. Unbelievable shit.

Beating the final final boss in Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus and getting to do a victory lap (yes, if you beat a certain boss you can replay the game from level one with your winning build as a victory lap)

There are more but I'll stop for now.

If we just got joy from playing games as children, then none of us should be playing games if we aren't making new memories to look back on.

 

[Fall Damage]

My rich friend and I were dropped off at the mall by his mom and she gave each of us a $20 bill to spend in the arcade which was probably $17 more than I ever had before. We blew a large chunk of it completing Final Fight since we were terrible, but it was amazing.

Super Nintendo for Christmas is up there.

My uncle giving me (a broke freshman in H.S. at the time) his old gaming PC after he upgraded.

More recently using my Oculus Rift for the first time which was my first VR experience. This one was special since I was aware of, and could appreciate how big a deal it was for me in the moment.

 

[bionic77]

Hard to narrow it down to one thing.

If I had to pick one I guess I will go with when my parents surprised me and my sisters with an NES. I was previously a huge Atari fanboy and was initially pretty resistant to Nintendo until I played Super Mario Bros at a friends house. That shit was the next thing to Mario 64 in 1985. I was dying to get one but my parents initially were not down with the idea thinking that it was too expensive. Then one day my dad came home on a Friday night with with a big ass NES Deluxe box (or whatever it was called) and we couldn't believe we were getting it at the time.

 

[AmirMoosavi]

Day I got my Dreamcast

Day I bought Shenmue (the reason I wanted a Dreamcast in the first place)

Day I finished Shenmue II

Night I had a friend over for a sleepover and played through half of the Medal of Honour: Allied Assault campaign

Playing Virtua Tennis 2 in student halls with mates

Hanging out with Yu Suzuki for a weekend in Monaco

Getting an Oculus Rift and playing Rez Infinite straight away (the reason I had finally bought a Rift)

 

[oberjin]

Christmas 1991, playing Sonic on my brand new Megadrive.

 

[Hydetsu]

Playing Crash Team Racing with my brother and cousin, good old times

 

[Onikage]

When i got my Dreamcast.

So futuristic, the controller, internet connection, the graphics.
And so many amazing and out of this world games!

Street Fighter III, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Power Stone, Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure, Shennmue, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Capcom vs SNK, Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur, Fur Fighters, Skies of Arcadia, San Francisco Rush 2049, Virtual On, are you kidding?

 

[bionic77]

Also recently playing through Mario Odyssey with my 6 year old twins. That was their first 'big' video game and their enjoyment and surprise increased my enjoyment of that game immeasurably.

It helps that that game is happiness converted into a digital format.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Getting an SNES for X-Mas

Taking a day off from school to get to pick up my Dreamcast on Launch Day

 

[honestrade]

My grandma had an NES and a few games in her house. She lived far away, but every time we visited I would play Mega Man. At first I could barely make any progress (I couldn't get past the first platforming sequence in Gutsmans stage for example). But as I got older I would get farther and farther, up until I could reliably get to Yellow Devil where my run would end (unfortunately using the elec beam and pausing was not well known).

 

[Rckstar]

In WoW WotLK ( ca 2009) i met two random guys doing World PvP.
I joined them and after like 2 hours they invited me into their TS.
At one point that night we just sat around a bonfire outside of Undercity and talked about random stuff.
And i still game with these two till this day.

That evening/night was just so wholesome.

 

[Infernostew]

Probably getting my PS2 Christmas morning and playing Tekken Tag Tournament and NHL with my brother.

 

[Onikage]

I'm glad to see that there many Dreamcast references in this thread.

 

[Witness]

I love these threads. The ones that stand out the most.

Christmas 1991: Getting a Sega Genesis with Sonic. I'll always remember seeing that box wrapped under the tree and staring at it knowing what it was.

Christmas 1992: Super Nintendo w/Super Mario World. This one Santa got me so it was a huge surprise. I'll always remember me and my dad playing it that morning. Actually, me and my dad playing that game for years and discovering all the secrets is one of my fondest memories of my childhood...

Ocarina of Time launch: I waited so impatiently on launch day for my dad to get home and bring me to Toys R Us that night to pick up my gold cartridge copy. It was the first game I ever preordered. The next day my cousin came over for thanksgiving weekend and we played it all weekend.

Metal Gear Solid demo: Same weekend as above with Ocarino. We played that damn MGS demo all night one of those nights. Just experimenting with the game to see what we could do. It was so revolutionary.

Super Smash Bros : Melee - The ultimate dorm room game. At the beginning of the fall 02 semester I had my brand new GameCube with a full set of controllers and Smash. Me and all these new kids who I just met huddled around my tiny 13" TV on those hot August and September days with no A/C playing this for hours hollering and having fun.

Vice City - Same fall 02 Semester. Got this thing day 1 since I was working at Subway part time and got paid that same day. I walked across the mall food court and went into EB Games where it was a madhouse. We had played that game the rest of that year constantly. What I loved was that EVERYONE would want to play and had fun. It didn't matter if it was people who had no interest in games prior. They had to try it. My favorite thing was my and my roommate would keep doing the long jump at the airport. We would keep trying to find different vehicles and techniques to see who could jump the farthest.