What’s the last time a game dropped that was so good that you can remember everything about that day like it was a defining moment in your life?

[TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I just want to hear some fun stories from the forum! For me, it might be the launch day of Metroid Prime: Remastered. I loved seeing that game come back and it was just fun to see discussion go back up around that game. I recall being at work that day for eight hours, so I was balancing doing my job with listening to Trav Guy stream the game the moment it dropped.

The other most recent memory I have is from the launch day of Metroid Dread. I remembered “oh yeah, that drops today” and I asked my family if we could head to GameStop to get it. I got the last copy they had on launch day, as well as the amiibo, AS WELL as the Ridley amiibo. Then I went home and played what has since become my favorite Nintendo game of all time. Good day, that one.

 

[bjork]

Had some good times with some games, but defining moment in my life would be a gigantic stretch for basically any of them, heh.

 

[DandaDan]

That was one of those moments I felt really good: Pokemon Y & X and Diablo IV.
Pokemon: The innovative changes in the gameplay, the environment ... I was in college when the game came out, and it just so happened that a bunch of my classmates were playing too... Back then, I was 23 and still hooked on Pokémon. Man, how cool was that whole thing about training IVs and EVs, hatching eggs to get the perfect Pokémon, chatting with friends, doing online trades. Anyway, it was awesome.
More recently, it was with Diablo IV—getting a Discord group together with some work buddies, helping each other farm and level up... It was sick!

 

[ZombieFish]

Silent Hill 2 launch day. Skipped school to wait outside EB before they opened. Got the first copy, went straight home, blacked out my windows, cranked up my headphones, and didn’t move from my beanbag chair for 12 hours. Didn’t eat. Didn’t drink. Didn’t pee. Barely blinked. I was not the same person the next day.

 

[Stingy Perry]

I don’t about defining moments in life in relation to gaming but it’s sure felt like a dream when I first played FF IX.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

My memory sucks so

 

[Tonberry]

When I played Jet Set Radio for the first time in 2015.
That game literally changed my life with its art, music and creativity. It made e want to start discover new genres and made me inquisitive for art and culture again in general, after spending my entire teenage years listening to hard rock and playing the same handful of game series.

 

[Antilocal123]

When I played Jet Set Radio for the first time in 2015.
That game literally changed my life with its art, music and creativity. It made e want to start discover new genres and made me inquisitive for art and culture again in general, after spending my entire teenage years listening to hard rock and playing the same handful of game series.

LMAO, Jet Set Radio did the same for me, I thought it was a stereotype that JSR was baby’s first hip-hop/funk/electro.

 

[Tonberry]

LMAO, Jet Set Radio did the same for me, I thought it was a stereotype that JSR was baby’s first hip-hop/funk/electro.

It’s crazy really. It’s a game so shock full of personality that it genuinely felt like it ”expanded my mind” to put it in corny stoner terms. But it was more than just the music. It made me realize that a game can be fantastic regardless of jank, if the developer’s intentions are genuine and they love the product they’re making. It’s SO expressive and wonderful.
It’s also really janky and cumbersome as hell to play, but it makes up for it just by being the way it is. It’s almost too abstract to describe, but I love it to death. It’s one of my top 3 GOATs.

 

[Antilocal123]

It’s crazy really. It’s a game so shock full of personality that it genuinely felt like it ”expanded my mind” to put it in corny stoner terms. But it was more than just the music. It made me realize that a game can be fantastic regardless of jank, if the developer’s intentions are genuine and they love the product they’re making. It’s SO expressive and wonderful.
It’s also really janky and cumbersome as hell to play, but it makes up for it just by being the way it is. It’s almost too abstract to describe, but I love it to death. It’s one of my top 3 GOATs.

Agreed, it’s atmosphere and sense of style is something you still see replicated, it even got me into skateboarding.

And don't mind the “expanding mind” line, I've heard FAR worse in smoke seshs lol

 

[Octopus]

I have two that come to mind; Dead Space and the OG Modern Warfare 2. For Dead Space I was horribly sick that day so stayed home from school, heard that was some new game like RE4 so I convinced my dad to stop by the store and get it for me as he came home from work and I gave him the money for it (I was working part time in a burger place at this point, as all teenagers do). Got scared shitless that night, had to take a break at 1am to make some kraft dinner; I was still terribly sick though so it didn't stay down unfortunately. Left the KD in the pot overnight, got in shit for it the next morning but I didn't care, I was playing Dead Space.

Modern Warfare 2 was obviously a hype as hell launch after CoD4 entirely redefined multiplayer shooters. Me and my buddies got into the car of my one friend who could drive at that point during the class period before lunch (I skipped, I was such a rebel) to get it, then went and got poutines as we are duty bound to do so whenever we leave the house in a group of 3 or more being Canadian. We all got home as soon as possible to play it, and this was also the same day when the 360 avatar update dropped. The avatar system was awesome, but at the time I was pissed since you had to set it up before you could do anything else and it was taking up Modern Warfare 2 time. Everyone got on eventually, and of course it was amazing. The very first game, literally 5 minutes in, my friend called a care package in that crushed me to death. I've never seen that once since then.

 

[albrown267]

For me, it was actually the NBA Street series. More specifically the second one, since its held in much regard.

Though, the third volume was really fun, since between loving the soundtrack and finding out the Gamecube version could play the Mario based characters on there.

 

[UnDubious]

I've literally never bought a game on launch day, or played one all that close to launching. When I was a kid we played current-ish games, but we rented them when they became available, and it took a while before we get whatever the new gen systems were. As an adult, I'm always playing older stuff. The closest is probably a fan-translation that I hit up within a short time of it dropping. I'd like to experience that once, getting an anticipated game on launch day and getting into it right away, but there are risks to doing so nowadays - bug or broken parts that get patched later, etc.

 

[J.F.C]

I don't like the game myself so it's kind of cheating but i still remember Skyrim's launch to this very day.
The only games i've seen to this day that were as hyped as Skyrim was were games from Rockstar and Cyberpunk 2077.

 

[Prism_Red]

The original Persona 4 on PS2, nothing particularly special, just that everything went right.
It was Friday, I went to school and talked to friends about recent games, we had 2 periods free because the teachers called in sick, then after school for no reason mum brought us to the mall and we ate Mickey D's, I stopped by the local game shop and there it is, well I been saving up anyway so I bought it, we went home and it was about 4pm, the traffic is oddly clear. Right after got home I fired it up immediately, played 'till 2 next morning.
That day I didn't even have to use my AK.

Also another vivid, bittersweet memory? Not a game but rather a console, PS3.
I had enough money to buy PS3, although I didn't have any TV with HDMI input, but the timing was just perfect 'cause dad wanted a new TV, we went next Sunday to get 'em both.
First stop, bought my PS3, nothing out of ordinary.
Next stop, the TV, we went to the electronic shop and bought one, there was a free lottery promo for each electronic we buy so we got 1 free pull, couldn't hurt to try right? It's free anyway.
So dad pull the lottery, guess what?
We won free PS3.
Now we had 2 PS3s.

 

[RageBurner]

I'll be that guy and say it's not my usual M.O to get games on launch day. Same goes for consoles.
While I don't let "professional" reviews influence my opinion on games, hardware is a very different story and launches can often vary between middling to nuclear meltdown levels of disastrous.

 

[J.F.C]

I'll be that guy and say it's not my usual M.O to get games on launch day. Same goes for consoles.
While I don't let "professional" reviews influence my opinion on games, hardware is a very different story and launches can often vary between middling to nuclear meltdown levels of disastrous.

Don't even remind me of console launch days. When i got the red ring of death on my launch day Xbox 360 when i was 11 i unironically cried.

 

[RageBurner]

Don't even remind me of console launch days. When i got the red ring of death on my launch day Xbox 360 when i was 11 i unironically cried.

It must have been horrible. If I could go back to the past I'd give kid you a hug, even though that wouldn't replace the joy of throwing the console at a MS rep on the premises, I'm sure.

 

[J.F.C]

It must have been horrible. If I could go back to the past I'd give kid you a hug, even though that wouldn't replace the joy of throwing the console at a MS rep on the premises, I'm sure.

Microsoft did at least give me another console so i can't complain too much about it.

 

[RageBurner]

Microsoft did at least give me another console so i can't complain too much about it.

That's true. They needed to keep that brand rep up, but even besides that, they were pretty upstanding that time.

 

[albrown267]

Don't even remind me of console launch days. When i got the red ring of death on my launch day Xbox 360 when i was 11 i unironically cried.

I only managed to get that once in my life. It's about as bad as getting the red screen of death by the PS2 when a disc would not play. With that, it was a Codebreaker disc that I bought from eBay many years ago.

 

[J.F.C]

I only managed to get that once in my life. It's about as bad as getting the red screen of death by the PS2 when a disc would not play. With that, it was a Codebreaker disc that I bought from eBay many years ago.

I only ever got the PS2's Red Screen when playing burned discs thank god. I can only imagine the pain of paying big bucks for a game (or in your case a program) and it not working on the damn console.

 

[Nidoking's iconNidoking]

I've never really associated things in that way. I remember several times when a game was shockingly good and left a fantastic impression, but if anything I'd be so engrossed with it I'd be less like to remember my surroundings.

 

[Dyne]

I remember when Chrono Cross came out. The first Saturday I had it, I woke up early and played it all day. I distinctly remember looking at the clock and realizing that I had been playing for 14 hours. At the time, this was the longest gaming session I had ever done, by far. (that has since been shattered by a lot LOL)

The day Halo 3 came out, my buddies and I waited in line to get a copy at midnight.
We took it home and LAN'd that thing all the way through the story campaign all night. It was bittersweet because I had just signed up to join the Army and I was leaving home forever in a few days. The last time we'd ever all play together in person.

 

[hazys]

I think it has less to do with the quality of the game and more with the amount of hype surrounding it.

When Kingdom Hearts II came out my friends and I were all desperate to play it and find out where the story went. We were also insanely hype for the Lion King and Steamboat Willy worlds. But mostly we wanted to know about Riku, Organization XIII, etc. This was before the internet made spoilers immediately available. I also remember the huge uproar over IGN's 7/10 review, and the deluge of fanart/fanfiction that followed the game.

When Super Smash Bros Brawl came out everyone was beyond hype for it. It was the first new Smash since Melee and we'd spent over a year getting bits of news on Sakurai's website (the famous "Japan Time"), staying up til 2 a.m. for updates. When the final unannounced characters started leaking online it was bewildering, too. It strikes a sharp contrast with the release of Smash 4, which no one had because it was a WiiU exclusive (I did have the 3DS version).

The last "hype release" I remember was Pokémon X/Y. The lead-up to their release was insane, with the announcement of Mega evolutions, a new type, and a clear "gen 1 returns" angle for the older fans. All my friends at the time bought 3DSes and we played through the games simultaneously. It didn't last us very long, but the first day when we all skipped class to play together was pretty magical.

In the end, none of these games turned out to be 10/10 or anything, but the experience of anticipating and playing them with friends was the unforgettable part.