Oooh, i shouldnt forget the first time i became super sonic in the megadrive games (cant remember which one was the first). That was amazing, that was a proper reward for completing the game and getting all the chaos jewels.

finishing super mario 64 for the first time. the music at the end is the best music from any game ever.

Like I mentioned once in these forums: Riding my bike back home with a new GOLDEN cartridge of Zelda II in my pocket, just wanting to play....anticipation at its finest.

The first time casting cure on a zombie in Final Fantasy and KO it which would have taken more firepower otherwise. That was great discovery.

I tried to do that in every RPG that followed but some of them don't work as such, and was quite a let down.

OK ok I finally came up with mine.

The winners:

Coming home from school to find my dad hooking up a Super Nintendo with Super Mario world, and then my brain immediately exploding as I discovered "Holy ass he can ride a dinosaur that eats everything and lays eggs!"

Being the only kid at my high school that could unlock the Invincibility cheat on GoldenEye, so everybody would loan me their cartridge and pay me (in money, food, and M-80s) to unlock it for them.  I was on top of the world.

 

Close runners-up (all tied I guess):

(Worded carefully to avoid spoilers for losers who haven't played this yet:) When the "shit went down" after I beat the Atma Weapon on the Floating Continent in Final Fantasy 6.

Beating Mike Tyson in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for the first time.  I immediately popped in regular Punch-Out!! (yes I have one of each) and beat that game too to make sure they were exactly the same.  Even though he looks different, it's the exact same fighting pattern.  And what's even funnier is that when you see his picture before you fight, they left in the old Tyson picture and just painted it white.  So I beat both Punch-Out!! games in a row and it was amazing.

Beating NES Tetris on B-mode level 9-5 for the first time to see all the Nintendo characters jamming out together.

Beating Link's Awakening.  Possibly my favorite plot in any game I've ever played.

The first five minutes with Katamari Damacy!  I can still hear the music.

Rubang B, you stud, i could never get the invincibility cheat, i got pretty much every other cheat on it (in fact i think that was the only one i didnt get) but geez, that target was hard. Easiest one was the Golden pp7 on the cradle level, but man i liked that gun, i preferred it to the Golden Gun.

There were 2 or 3 people at my school that could get everything but Invincibility. They hated me so bad, but eventually they gave in and gave me some cash and/or food.

The first time it took me over 2 hours of playing Facility over and over and I almost lost my mind. Then it happened and it felt magical. Now I can do it again, but it still relies heavily on chance. If Dr. Doak isn't in the right room, then it's not even possible. Let's say he has a 20% chance of being in the right spot and I have a 20% chance of not dying, then I have a 4% chance of unlocking the cheat. It's really horrible.

yeah i played facility for like 3 hours straight one time and unlocked the cheat... definitely *not* one of my favorite gaming moments.

turning cecil from a dark knight into a paladin in final fantasy 4
the music in the last room in the palace on the moon in final fantasy 4

pretty much all of final fantasy 6...

the ocean palace in chrono trigger

getting flammie in secret of mana

Rubang B said: There were 2 or 3 people at my school that could get everything but Invincibility. They hated me so bad, but eventually they gave in and gave me some cash and/or food. The first time it took me over 2 hours of playing Facility over and over and I almost lost my mind. Then it happened and it felt magical. Now I can do it again, but it still relies heavily on chance. If Dr. Doak isn't in the right room, then it's not even possible. Let's say he has a 20% chance of being in the right spot and I have a 20% chance of not dying, then I have a 4% chance of unlocking the cheat. It's really horrible.

 

Agreed, without Dr Doak there, it was impossible to do it, he was just a big pain in the ass.
Ive just remember another of my favourite moments. When i first evolved a magikarp into a Gyarados and realised the patheticly weak pokemon i had was now ridiculously strong. That was a surreal moment. Or the first time i realised that when shooting scientists twice on any difficulty higher than agent led them to pull out guns and start shooting at you, on Goldeneye that is hehe, not on pokemon.

Someone earlier mentioned Homeworld. I had forgotten about that. That game was really good. You got so caught up in your fleet, that you actually got, a little attached to certain squadrons and groups. When you would hear that one of your battlegroups was destroyed, it would evoke a tinge of sadness at times. BUT, my favorite gaming moment ever was with time down to one second my friend had scored the go ahead field goal in Tecmo Bowl. I ran the kickoff all the way back for the winning TD. WHOOO HOO still gives me goose bumps. AHAHAHA