There are times when the games we love so dearly remind us why we do– some of these occurences are the reasons we fell in love with games in the first place. Even the most peculiar of titles can have that one moment that commits itself to our memory. Maybe it was when you figured out how to pass Poo’s trial in Earthbound. Or when you first plucked the Master Sword from its pedestal in Ocarina of Time, sending you a dog’s year into the future. How about when you realized you spent the last 15 minutes trying to get to a castle that the Princess wasn’t even in? In this feature, each Infendo team member will share with you one of our own great game experiences.
Sure, it’s not a moment within a game, but I’m gonna kick this feature off with the kickoff of the new handheld generation: DS launch day. I woke up extra early on November 21st and headed to GameStop with my bud, full-paid preorder receipt in hand. Not much fanfare at the place, or other DS purchasers for that matter, but i was still stoked to get in touch with Mario (first and last pun, i swear). The only game i bought was the Mario 64 port, so i didn’t exactly tear that open with my teeth. No, the DS had other eccentricities that i needed to inspect first.
On the ride back, i tapped on the Pictochat button for the hell of it with the futile hopes of finding some other Pictochatters on my Bronx-bound 1 train with this wifi thingamajiggy. To my surprise, there were 2 people in room A – which i assumed to be bots, in all honesty. I couldn’t believe there were actually strangers in other cars of this moving, undergound train talking to me on this little handheld device. It was then that i realized the future of games was in my hands. One year later, i’ve seen just how right i was.
Yorrike
Wow, there’s a few of them…
In Wind Waker, when you decend below the waves and realise the whole ocean is set above what was formally Hyrule – this was a truly amazing moment for me. I also have fond memories of playing the first few level fo Mario World as a 12 or 13 year old – seeing Mario in such a colour-rich enivronment, with riding Yoshi being one of those moments from my past where I just sat back and thought “woo, that’s just cool!”.
Also in the world of the SNES, the first few seconds of Starwing (That’s Star Fox on the SNES for you non-austrailaians/europeans) when you’re racing down the launch passage hearing the sirens and alarms, only to be blasted into a green field/city area to blast enemies away with those unreachable mountains in the background taunting you to continue your adventure.
Anonymous
In Earthbound his name is spelled “Poo”. There’s no “h”.
Rollin
Whoops. 96 was a while ago.
InvisibleMan
The most magical moment for me must be when I first tried out the flying cap in SuperMario 64. The developers made it feel so much like what it feels to try to fly in a dream… a very subjective experience, though, I don’t know if it felt the same way for everyone else!