Greatest Video Game Moments Ever. (Spoilers)

[mauldooku]

Doomsday Zone in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. That set the standard for final boss fights in the Sonic games.

Ah, FUCK! How could I forget that one? S&K was my first Sonic game, and the second video game I ever owned. Death Egg Zone itself was a memorable event to me, the final boss was...epic, I guess, to my 8 year old mind. It still is...the combination of the time spent+background setting+intensity always brings me back.

And then I discovered what happens after the fight when you have all the Super/Hyper Emeralds

[JediToren]

MegaMan X2:
1) The return of Zero. Up until that point Zero has been dead since the end of the previous game, and its cool to see the fake Zero try to protect itself as the REAL Zero rips it to pieces.
2) Zero blowing a whole in the ground so you can go fight Sigma. The music in that scene is just awesome and really pumps you up just before the final battle.

Half-Life:
1) Blast-pit, especially when you first hear the clanging without knowing what it is, and when you fry that fucker.
2) Seeing G-Man for the first time and thinking "What the fuck is this doing here?"
3) The first moments after the experiment goes wrong.
4) The ending.

FreeSpace 2:
1) The first appearance of the Sathanas. Its unsettling when you see these enourmous beam cannon glows appear in the nebula.
2) The appearance of the second Sathanas-class ship ("Sathanas configuration! REPEAT SATHANAS CONFIGURATION!")
3) Feeling good that the Knossos has been destroyed, thus protecting Terran-Vasudan space from the Shivan threat, only to see the Sathanas emerge from sub-space moments later.
3) The ending.
4) "DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT!!"
5) The third and final mission during your first tour with SOC.
Rebel NTF Scum: "Show 'em what you think of Beta-Acquila, pilot!"
Me: "Yes, sir!"
*Alpha 1 destroys the nearest NTF fighter.*

Super Metroid:
1) The ending, when the last surviving metroid shows up and you get to be uber-Samus and waste the Mother Brain.
2) Walking through Old Tourian after first arriving at Zebes.

Final Fantasy VIII:
1) The missile base exploding. When I saw that for the first time it was gut-wrenching. I thought those characters were really dead.
2) Balamb garden transforming. Discovering that the "secret" of Balamb garden is that it flies was damn cool.
3) Adel awakens. That shot of her red eyes opening and the evil smile coming across her face was awesome.
4) The Ragnorok storming Lunatic Pandora. The shot of it ripping through its shields and firing its weapons is just plain awesome.
5) The ending.

[Master of Ossus]

My friend and I were playing the original Jedi Knight a LONG time ago. We were in the slow-motion mode, affixed a rail detonator to a wall behind a civilian, and backed up away from the blast. The civilian, arms and legs flailing, flew all the way across an outdoor hallway, impacting against the other side about five meters above the ground, still flailing their arms and legs. I really can't describe how incredible, funny, and cool that was.

[mauldooku]

Starcraft wise:


I once played this one game with a buddy of mine, Poor_Lil_Newb. I was terran, he was zerg. I was bored, so I opened with a marine rush, even though he's at 12 on Lost Temple and I'm at 6, and he has lings guarding his ramp. At this point, I thought 'Oh, shit'.

Then he runs his lings down the ramp and off to the side as I run up the ramp. Hilariously, he then tries to re-take the high ground he just gave up, losing all of his lings.

So what then? He has a sunken colony in the middle of his base, no way am I taking that down with the 4 weakened marines I have left. So I run the marines around the back of his minerals, literally just out of range of his sunken colony. After a massive string of curses, he conceded the game. The legend of the 'Traitorous Sunken Colony' began

[wautd]

C&C cutscene where Kane blows Seth's head off

[Stark]

Getting parasited in Alien Swarm and hearing the medic say 'I don't think there's any permanent damage' while you convulse in pain.

[Companion Cube]

From the Half-Life campaign USS Darkstar: When the teleporter malfunctions and... play it and find out. Seriously, it's something that can't be spoiled.

That scene was genius.

[Mayabird]

The game Septerra Core very nearly had an awesome moment in it (had the next scene not ruined it). At the very end of the game just after you beat the final boss, in a last ditch effort the guy slashes your main character and she falls over with a flash of angel's wings. I thought, "What? They killed Maya just after I won? Holy crap, this game might not have been a waste of my time and ten bucks." Sadly for the shock value of the ending, she survived it, and the angel wings was just to show that she was the true chosen one, the spiritual descendant if not the physical one, blah blah blah, which was blatantly obvious within a few hours of playing the game. *sigh* I only bought that game because I saw that her name was Maya.

All the other scenes I can think of have been mentioned by somebody else already.

[Chris OFarrell]

C&C cutscene where Kane blows Seth's head off

The lost art of FMV. Sigh.

I LOVED that.

Seth: "Kain has been loath to attack America, but you see, power changes quickly in the Brotherhood"

*Seth hears something behind him and looks around, nothing there, decides he heard nothing. Presses button and Pentagon picture appears in mini screen*

Seth: "This is the Pentagon. The center of all US military operations. A full scale attack with your-"

*hand with a nickle plated colt suddenly enters frame pointed at Seths head*

Seth: "-strongest forces should render their military completly-"

**BANG!**

*Hand pushes Seths corpes onto the floor and Kain comes into view, sitting down on his chair*

Kain: "Yes...power does change quickly in the Brotherhood, quicker then some people think. I am Kain"

*Kain gives mission*

Kain: "Oh and congratulations on your promotion!"

The guy who played Kain (who was actualy Westwoods FMV director) was briliant!

[wautd]

C&C cutscene where Kane blows Seth's head off

The lost art of FMV. Sigh.

I LOVED that.

Seth: "Kain has been loath to attack America, but you see, power changes quickly in the Brotherhood"

*Seth hears something behind him and looks around, nothing there, decides he heard nothing. Presses button and Pentagon picture appears in mini screen*

Seth: "This is the Pentagon. The center of all US military operations. A full scale attack with your-"

*hand with a nickle plated colt suddenly enters frame pointed at Seths head*

Seth: "-strongest forces should render their military completly-"

**BANG!**

*Hand pushes Seths corpes onto the floor and Kain comes into view, sitting down on his chair*

Kain: "Yes...power does change quickly in the Brotherhood, quicker then some people think. I am Kain"

*Kain gives mission*

Kain: "Oh and congratulations on your promotion!"

The guy who played Kain (who was actualy Westwoods FMV director) was briliant!

thats it!

/me goes reinstall C&C

[RogueIce]

Doomsday Zone in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. That set the standard for final boss fights in the Sonic games.

Dear God that was sweet...

I was also a major fan of Kyle killing Jan in JK when you fell to the Dark Side.

Another JK moment: Yun sacrificing himself to save you on Light Side.

And finally, the Dark Side ending...Emperor Katarn.

[Stofsk]

I have seen some downright amazing Starcraft replays; seriously, the best ones are like watching a tennis match - constant back and forthing, with one side getting tired and steadily losing another inch of space.

In terms of actually experiencing a 'Starcraft moment', I had the pleasure of whipping a certain somebody by dropping a strike force into his base, while he was attacking mine. Humourously he prolonged the game by hiding his last remaining building in my base. Literally, in plain view. Such a humbling victory.