I have many of those. They're times spent playing video games, alone or with friends, when everything seemed to click perfectly in order to create a memory that still gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia that few games can replicate. A memory you often recall in times of boredom or when you want some time for yourself. Here are some of mine:

- Playing Commander Keen 5 with my cousin in his dad's office on Sundays. We were still small kids and felt so proud of ourselves when we successfully negotiated a level. In the final level we couldn't find a way to break the machine at the end, but we came up with the solution in the following morning and felt so smart!

- Max Payne during a cold winter night. At first I thought it was just a dumb shooter, but the weather outside resembled the in-game atmosphere so closely that I couldn't put it down. The cool moves and over-the-top metaphors drew me in too.

- Fallout for the umpteenth time. The music sounds awful when played in a music player. But combined with the post-apocalyptic visuals of ruin and hopelessness, it's just perfect. I loved always discovering new things during each subsequent playthrough; the game and its sequel were so rich with details it just blew my mind.

- A Tale of Two Brothers on a lazy Sunday morning with a warm beverage. The sunny atmosphere in the game, with its pastoral scenery, and the cozy atmosphere in my home really clicked together. At least until the story took a darker turn.

What are yours?

My fondest gaming memories were (and still is!)... off-line.

:)

Just a couple of days when I heard Californication via jukebox in a pub I once again remembered how I used to play Carmageddon 2 to the sound of RHCP's Californication album.
There's a lot of similar memories I have. GTA and System Shock with Jamiroquai, ODT and Eye of the beholder with Lenny Kravitz, Terminator future shock with Guns n Roses etc.

The old M&M on Sega,gave me an education too.Playing and fighting against an (inept wizard)and I said wtf does that mean?
Well I found out and used that word many times,surprising how many people do not know what it means:-)
And yeah I know it's Mega Drive...

Completing Hired Guns [1993] on the Amiga 500

This game had so many floppy discs. this game coined the term 'floppy wrist'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6LjjW_4lyI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmi2GXAEgik

Certainly playing games while my sister and mother were watching, like Zelda on the SNES, or the Might and Magic series on my computer. They were always of good advice about what to do next if I was suddenly in a dead end. You could imagine that such an audience would get on the nerves of a player, but in my case, no, not at all, on the contrary.

Completing Mirror's Edge and Alan Wake were also strangely fulfilling and I still remember them vividly.

Last but not least, when I first sat foot in the Shire at night in The Lords of The Rings Online, it was strangely "right" and I strangely felt "at home". I still play it, and I still do.

- I remember that Sunday morning where I finished Turrican 3 for the first time on my Amiga 600

- Playing Jill of the Jungle, Rastan and some other EGA game at my dad's work on his 486 \o/

- The day I got a Geforce 4 MX440 and was like WOW at the Pixel Shader effect on Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2's cars.

- Playing Stonekeep with my dad beside me and 25-30 pages of printed walkthrough where I had to go :D


.....Good times, I miss them.

Myst, finally figuring out the combination to the white books door and getting in. It had taken me more then a week with the help of my little brother to finally get the combination to that. +1
All my fondest memories are of playing games offline. The closest to online play I normally get is playing co-op on consoles with friends or family.

Pong :D (or something like that with weird moving pixels)

+1 So very much this

The ending for the Legacy of Kain series.
Such a long journey, and they left it a bit open but still, seeing Kain and Raziel in the end made it all worth it!

Maybe beating everyone in the arcade for many hours in fighters, playing tag-team with my friend on 1 credit.

We did that a lot. The crowds and trash talk were pretty well.

Freeze guys with subzero, extending fatalities for 5 minutes, then finish with another, or just low kick.

Huge crowds and lots of "OOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!!s".... It was the only good thing about arcades.

Fondest gaming memory...

Fondest gaming memory...

Let's see...

Good gosh, there are so many. I can honestly say this:
If I can remember a title of a game (and there were many!), and if the game was popular, I can definitely remember when I saw it, where I saw the game, what I was doing at the time, how I reacted when I saw the game, what song was playing (always carried around a Walkman at the time).


Y'know, someone mentioned Stonekeep... I have never finished Stonekeep, no matter how many times, I re-started the game...? I almost always get down to the ice caverns, manage to defeat the Ice Queen... then get stuck.

Everytime!

:)

too many, so they just pop out from time to time, recent one would be playing skyrim whole night and taking the train to write an hard ass exam, and on the way seeing the mist rise from the frozen lake, mixing with the clouds which looked like huge mountains similar to that of the skyrim, damn was the feeling awesome and hell the exam went awesome too

My fondest gaming memory was getting my first computer from my uncle, the first game he introduced me to was Jazz Jackrabbit. I will never forget that one. :) Hurry up and bring it here already, GOG!