Video games have been around longer than most of GAMINGbible's readers (viewers, subscribers, followers, friends) have been alive. The first commercial arcade game, Computer Space, was introduced in 1971; and the first dedicated video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, was released in 1972. So we're about 50 years into video games being A Big Deal, aren't we. That's a lot of years, a lot of games, and a lot of memories.
In 2020, GAMINGbible put together a list of the top 100 video games of all time - our number one was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, since you asked (check out the top ten in the video below). But Nintendo's hit open-world game is light on individual moments that truly sear themselves into the memory. Sure, there's the discovery (and recovery) of the Master Sword, but that's been in so many Zelda games by now, the occasion felt rather muted in BOTW.
Certainly, it lacked the weight, the importance, of encountering a zombie for the first time in 1996's Resident Evil. That crunch, that groan, that lurch, that terror that speared your heart. It lacked the warmth, the relief, the comfort of the giraffe encounter in 2013's The Last of Us, and the respite from the horrors surrounding Joel and Ellie that it provided. It lacked the unprecedented and audacious cleverness of Metal Gear Solid's fourth-wall-smashing Psycho Mantis fight, which left players dumbstruck in 1998.
Advert
Those are three of gaming's greatest moments of all time. But we're creating a list of the top 50 greatest video gaming moments of all time, not a top three - and we need your help to do so. You readers, viewers, followers and subscribers (and friends!) - we want to hear from you. We want to hear about the gaming scenes, sequences, flashes of brilliance and breathtaking battles that will stay with you forever. Touching plot twists that dizzied your expectations and difficulty peaks that took everything you had to overcome.
What makes a great gaming moment, here? At the risk of sounding incredibly imprecise: you'll know when you know. Because you'll feel it hit differently to the regular moment-to-moment play of any given game. It's the beats that you can't look away from, and often wish you could see all over again for the very first time.
Advert
BioShock's "would you kindly" revelation. John Marston's end-of-the-line stand-off in Red Dead Redemption. The impeccably stylish, helicopter-trip title sequence to 2017's Prey (and the discovery of its truth). Conquering Ornstein and Smough on the eighteenth attempt in Dark Souls. Accepting who you are and retrieving the Blades of Chaos in 2018's God of War. Shooting a hole in the Moon (kinda, I mean, to the Moon) in Portal 2. A whole other Moon entirely crashing down on Termina in Majora's Mask. You know what we're talking about, here.
Send us your greatest gaming moments of all time by simply commenting on any relevant social post - chances are that you came to this very piece from such a post, so head back there and leave a contribution in the replies/comments. If not, you can find the relevant posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. We don't need essays! Just a brief mention of the moments that matter, to you.
Note: this isn't a vote, or a poll. It's not a popularity contest. If a few thousand people all say that the same moment is the moment, that doesn't mean it'll be right at the top of our list. What it does mean: we'll consider it, seriously. This is a collaborative venture, a shared process, but not a science. We love games, here - and we know you do, too. So consider this a putting of heads and hearts together, to create a document on GAMINGbible of the very best this medium has to offer.
Advert
We hope to have the list published in May or June - and you can be sure that we'll be shouting about it in all the usual places on social media, so you can see where your favourite moment ranked. Thanks in advance for chiming in with your cherished memories and most incredible gaming experiences - we can't wait to read them all.
Featured Image Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment, Nintendo, Rockstar GamesTopics: Xbox, Nintendo, PlayStation, PC, Retro Gaming