Got a new computer in my house, replacing a Tandy 1000 to Win 98. A couple of weeks later, my friend lent me his Half Life bootleg copy he bought in some Asian market in Toronto.
I heard about the game but nothing too much about it. I knew journalists were talking about it and saying it was amazing but that's about it. I had no expectations.
Anyways, installed the game on a Friday, started to play it and by Sunday night I was in the last level. Beccause of no expectations, I was totally thrown into that game. It was just amazing. A game has never hit me that hard after that.
Metal Gear Solid 4, never played a game with so much emotion so many unforgettable moments the microwave hall Solids and Liquids final fight the epilogue and Snakes journey as a whole.
I really have to put them in categories because the experiences are different and it becomes hard to pick just one.
For the Nes I'd have to say Mario was phenomenal. I was hooked on that game for too long a time.
Snes Street Fighter 2/Zelda AlttP : SF2 woke the competitive gamer in me, and A link to the past just dominated my life.
PSX: Final Fantasy 7 made me a hardcore gamer. I was all over this game when I was in high school. MGS was amazing as well because I had not experienced a cinematic game like that before. Not to mention Snake was and still is the baddest mofo ever.
N64: Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Passed the transition to 3d with AAAs and set the bar for the rest.
To be honest the combination of FF7, MGS and OoT made me a VG maniac.
PS2: Final Fantasy X. Everything about this game screamed polish. Top Tier ending to boot.
Xbox: Halo. God damned Halo. 'nuff said.
360/PS3 era...MGS4 hands down. After so many years of experiencing phenomenal stories, gameplay, music, inmersion etc. you kind of get used to games being good, great and/or near epic. MGS4 took me by storm. I knew the game was going to rock, but not this much. Everything was just right.
FF7 and Zelda: AlttP were bought for me by accident as well. Gotta love those accidents and how the dice rolled....could have always ended up playing ShaqFu.
I'll join the club then. One of my favourite video games of all time didn't stay on my HDD for more than 10 minutes the first time because I sucked at English back then, and it also was the first of its genre to me. I thought it was complete shit and uninstalled it. The story would have ended there if a friend of mine wouldn't have brought it to my place a few weeks later without even knowing that I have tried it out before and didn't like it. He taught me how to play it properly, and the rest is history.
You can't escape fate, I guess.
__________________ And from the ashes he rose, like a black cloud. The Sin of one became the Sin of many.