Proud moments in your gaming history

[Teggy]

After almost throwing my Wiimote into my television, I have finally obtained all 120 stars in Super Mario Galaxy.  What's more I never consulted a FAQ or strategy guide the entire time.  Now, I don't think that it was as hard to get all 120 stars in Galaxy as it was it Super Mario Sunshine (but at least I was compelled to get them this time - I need to lower my score of Sunshine after playing Galaxy), there were still some really challenging moments there.  While I am sure I would still get my ass whooped by an 11 year old in Halo, it's good to know I at least have some skillz.

[Autistic Angel]

I got 100% completion in Metroid Prime 3 without consulting any sort of walk-through or guide. 

-Autistic Angel

[madpeon]

Ninja Gaiden - Master Ninja rank for all levels, highest difficulty.

Yes, I hate myself.

[Doopri]

Ninja Gaiden - Master Ninja rank for all levels, highest difficulty.

Yes, I hate myself.

wow.  just, wow

[Dimmona]

• I got in our local paper as a kid for playing Dragon's Lair in the arcade for 5 straight hours without dying (the game would loop back to the beginning once you cleared it).
• Got to play John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, Tim Willits, and the rest of the iD guys Quake 3 the night the demo for it was released, and finished first place on two of the maps.  I even have a screenshot somewhere   Of course, I'm sure the fact that John would pause periodically to ask us questions about the game/network performance had nothing to do with it...
• Beat Contra on the NES without losing a single life
• Beat Alma on Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox (the first verison of the game, not the pussified one) on my first try
• Sold my Samba Mi Amigo maracas for $300, enabling me to purchase a Gamecube

[Autistic Angel]

Beat Alma on Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox (the first verison of the game, not the pussified one) on my first try

I completed both Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden: Black on the X-Box, and I definitely found the re-release more challenging: old enemies had new attacks and better AI, and some of the new enemies (like the cat demons in the monastery) were positively brutal.  I'm curious why you would refer to it as "the pussified one."

-Autistic Angel

[KePoW]

Beat Alma on Ninja Gaiden on the original Xbox (the first verison of the game, not the pussified one) on my first try

I completed both Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden: Black on the X-Box, and I definitely found the re-release more challenging: old enemies had new attacks and better AI, and some of the new enemies (like the cat demons in the monastery) were positively brutal.  I'm curious why you would refer to it as "the pussified one."

cause it had a new easier difficulty, Ninja Dog

[kronovan]

I succesfully unlocked content in REmake by beating the game as Jill and only using a knife. And no I'll never, but never or ever try something so ridiculously difficult as that in a game again. 

[nymanium]

Beating Ruby Weapon in Final Fantasy 7, I don't remember how long it took because I actually fell asleep during the fight, but it took a few hours, give or take.

[semiconscious]

dodging 200 lightning bolts to get lulu's celestial weapon ...

[KePoW]

dodging 200 lightning bolts to get lulu's celestial weapon ...

oh god, i forgot about that

I had to do that too, lol

[Destructor]

Beating the Ninja Gaiden series on the NES.

Beating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES.

Beating Battletoads on the NES.

I know there's others, but they're not coming to mind at the moment.

[Farscry]

Beating "A Link to the Past" with no extra heart containers, only one bottle (but no fairies), and no continues in one sitting (for the 000 score). My best gaming achievement ever.

Snagging a perfect score without a guide in every single stage (regular and bonus) in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island on the SNES. Some of those were a real bitch. This is right up there with my previous achievement.

I beat Ocarina of Time with no extra heart containers or bottles used (I think you had to use one for a quest), though I think I did have to use a continue at the Ganon battle.

I got some really nice speedruns through Super Metroid back in the day, without a guide or the internet (I didn't even know there were people out there working on speedruns, it was just something fun to do).

Acquiring all the stars for Mario 64 without a guide. Reasonably challenging.

Beating Super Mario Bros 2, the Lost Levels.

Thrashing every single person soundly that I ever faced in Goldeneye back in my college days. Some great times with that game!

Finishing all the Master cups in F-Zero X.

If I ever beat Jordan or Through the Fire and Flames on expert, those will either (or both) rank up here. Beating Freebird on Expert feels like a pretty solid accomplishment though.

[metallicorphan]

finishing Kingdom hearts,i had the game for a long time and then set out to finally get it done,in which i did

and teaming up with a friend to complete Operation Thunderbolt arcade machine(the sequel to Operation Wolf,if that was around in the states)....about 1986-ish

[leo8877]

I succesfully unlocked content in REmake by beating the game as Jill and only using a knife. And no I'll never, but never or ever try something so ridiculously difficult as that in a game again. 

Holy crap!!!

[Pong]

Reaching level 3 in Project X - I was the only one of my friends who managed that....God I suck.
Been gaming for 20 years and I've never accomplished nothing, never really bothered to complete games on a more difficult level and stuff like that.

[CeeKay]

Firing up Ultima IV for the first time- after getting a copy that didn't work, then arrving minutes too late at the store to get a new copy, and then getting one but getting home to realize the salesperson had given me the Apple version instead of the C-64 one I was happy to finally step into Britannia.

[Kevin Grey]

Firing up Ultima IV for the first time- after getting a copy that didn't work, then arrving minutes too late at the store to get a new copy, and then getting one but getting home to realize the salesperson had given me the Apple version instead of the C-64 one I was happy to finally step into Britannia.

Speaking of Ultima....

One of of my proudest moments was getting U7: Serpent Isle working!  A complete PC neophyte in 1993 who didn't understand anything about config.sys or autoexec.bat, I had my first computer for all of one week and I was trying to get the game to run with sound working.  (I'm sure those of us who played it back then all remember the hellish Voodoo Memory Manager).  Finally after working on it for two days with no luck and having resolved to return it the next day, I got it running perfectly at 3am!  Boy am I glad too.  To this day it remains my favorite game of all time. 

[CeeKay]

Firing up Ultima IV for the first time- after getting a copy that didn't work, then arrving minutes too late at the store to get a new copy, and then getting one but getting home to realize the salesperson had given me the Apple version instead of the C-64 one I was happy to finally step into Britannia.

Speaking of Ultima....

One of of my proudest moments was getting U7: Serpent Isle working!  A complete PC neophyte in 1993 who didn't understand anything about config.sys or autoexec.bat, I had my first computer for all of one week and I was trying to get the game to run with sound working.  (I'm sure those of us who played it back then all remember the hellish Voodoo Memory Manager).  Finally after working on it for two days with no luck and having resolved to return it the next day, I got it running perfectly at 3am!  Boy am I glad too.  To this day it remains my favorite game of all time. 

hey, I totally repressed that memory.  put me down for that too, except it was for the Black Gate, and I had to do it twice, once the first time I got it and then tweaking stuff for when I finally got a sound card and had to get more free memory.

[rrmorton]

Nothing will ever compare to the agony and joy of beating God of War on hard.

[kronovan]

I succesfully unlocked content in REmake by beating the game as Jill and only using a knife. And no I'll never, but never or ever try something so ridiculously difficult as that in a game again. 

Holy crap!!!

In all honesty I can't take all of the credit, as I tag team played it with my nephew and his friend. That being said, even trying to achieve this by taking your turn is an exercise in torture!

My NOT so proudest moment was when the memory card holding the game save became corrupted and I don't have a backup; actually still working on restoring it. 

[unbreakable]

Beating "Bards Tale" was up there.  At the time, everyone would play that in the computer lab, but oddly enough nobody ever made maps.

Well, I got hit by a car one summer, and since my leg was broken there was nothing to do.  A friend lent me an Apple IIc compatible (Laser 128!!!) and I played the heck out of the game, made maps, etc., and eventually beat it.

Back in my day, using game guides wasnt even an option, and we didn't have no fancy-schmacy "internets" to give us information!

A friend and I were also racing to see who would be the first to beat "Bards Tale 3".  That was pretty fun too (especially since I won )

[mikeg]

Beating both the light and the dark side of Enclave on the Xbox.  With no checkpoints those missions were brutally long with no room for error.  After beating the light side I played completely through the dark and beat it.  Loved that game for some sick reason.

But those of you actually beating Ninja Gaiden on Master difficulty get my vote for the biggest masochists of all time.  Wow!

[The Grue]

Back in my day, using game guides wasnt even an option, and we didn't have no fancy-schmacy "internets" to give us information!

I think about this from time to time and so I guess I can say one of my big achievements was beating a ton of Infocom text adventure games without any hints or help whatsoever.  I remember being stuck at a spot in a game, giving up on it for a month, and then coming back and finally figuring it out.  There is no way I would be stuck at a spot for a month in today's age of Internet.  Hell, these days I give it maybe 15 minutes of being stuck at the most before flying off to GameFAQS.

[Caine]

beating blaster master on the nes back in the day.  that game had some vicious moments later on which always seemed to be the end of our game. 

i beat sm2 with every character

two friends and i played secret of mana all the way through in one sitting, no saves or reloads.  that was a long night. 

during the last map of the british campaign in soldiers: heroes of ww2, i had the luckiest shot and nailed the pilot as he was taking off, just before he escaped.  he had somehow avoided every bit of debris i had strewn across the runway.  almost lucky bastage.

during one of the early missions in homeworld, against the advance enemy fleet, i managed to capture and drag back their carrier.  this was much earlier than you get the ability to make your own, so i was very intent on getting this one.  he had fled to the limits of the map and had an uncanny knack for destroying my tugs after they had latched on, so i had to keep a regular stream of units coming to replace the ones he killed.  it took about an hour of slowly dragging him back, but it was worth it.

completing star control 2 and star flight without use of any hints or strategy guides.  two of the best space exploration experiences of all time.

[Soulchilde]

Beating Mike Tyson on my first try in Mike Tyson-Super Punchout on the NES-

That's the only one I can think of

[semiconscious]

Back in my day, using game guides wasnt even an option, and we didn't have no fancy-schmacy "internets" to give us information!

I think about this from time to time and so I guess I can say one of my big achievements was beating a ton of Infocom text adventure games without any hints or help whatsoever.  I remember being stuck at a spot in a game, giving up on it for a month, and then coming back and finally figuring it out.  There is no way I would be stuck at a spot for a month in today's age of Internet.  Hell, these days I give it maybe 15 minutes of being stuck at the most before flying off to GameFAQS.

oh, yeah - got the babel fish in hhgttg ...

thanks to infocom, the good old days actually were pretty damn good...

[Pong]

Back in my day, using game guides wasnt even an option, and we didn't have no fancy-schmacy "internets" to give us information!

I remember going to the library looking through all their gaming mags to find cheats and walkthroughs for whatever game I was playing.

[MrDuck]

I can think of quite a few, recent and past, but frankly, I feel like only mentioning two that I feel are a kick to remember:

First: defeated Frankenstein's Monster and Igor in the original NES Castlevania when I was a little kid (about 8 - 9 years old). I remember I had the thoughest time beating those two mean SoBs, when it hit me that Igor was the real trouble, to which I tried to keep away from as much as possible. I later defeated the game itself, obviously having trouble with Death and Dracula, but not as much trouble as that terrible pair (I nearly wet myself when Dracula showed his true form). Great times.

Second: still as a young kid, but a bit older (in the two-digits age), a trip to the US to Pinetop (place in Arizona me and my family used to go often to sky after X-Mas, near a town called Showlow, if memory serves) in a bowling alley arcade I was playing Mortal Kombat II for shits and giggles when a teenager boy older than me grunted and stuck two quarters in, looking down at me like a small shrimp to beat up, laugh and play solo. I've never been an expert in fighting games, but I still laugh to this day when I remember about this fight. I picked Liu Kang, I don't recall whom he picked, but I do recall what happened: 2 flawless victories ending with a fatality from my part. The poor bastard must have felt quite sore for being beaten so badly by a kid that a not-so-surpressed "FUCK" escaped his lips . Alas, we were going back to the cabin we were staying at, so I had to leave the game. Fun day that was.

Memorieeeeeesss...wooowoooo...

[CeeKay]

Back in my day, using game guides wasnt even an option, and we didn't have no fancy-schmacy "internets" to give us information!

but there were some really well written hint books, and don't forget Infocoms Invisiclues!

[Glycerine]

The only game I've really ever obsessed over was Soul Calibur.  On Dreamcast I finished the game on Ultra-Hard, 3 battles, with Edge Master, and didn't lose a single round.  I also got 100% completion on Soul Calibur 2 for both Xbox and GameCube versions.

glyc

[unbreakable]

Oh yeah... beating "Ghosts n Goblins" on the NES, only to get their bullshit "our princess is in another castle" not-ending.

I literally turned the game off and threw the cartridge across the room after that.  No way I was doing all that again.


[edit] and now I can witness the actual ending, in all it's Engrish-filled glory.

A winner is you!

[Dreamshadow]

Trying for 100% on Metroid III in under three hours.  I finally did it...and then had no camera to record the event.  Ahh well.  I know I did it.

[TheMissingLink]

I went to my girlfriend's parents' beach house with them for the weekend and brought along Guitar Hero.  They were really enjoying themselves (as was my girlfriend's brother and his friend).  I finally grab an axe, put on "Freya" and show them how it's done on hard.  And I ROCKED.

At the end of the song, I raise my guitar in awesomeness...and I strike a lighting fixture above me.  Glass rains down on me.

It was really embarrassing.  And I got cut on my hand.  But it was awesome, and I'm proud of it.  I wish I would have seen it in 3rd-person, though

[CeeKay]

At the end of the song, I raise my guitar in awesomeness...and I strike a lighting fixture above me.  Glass rains down on me.

you have to be careful with that star power......

[Farscry]

Trying for 100% on Metroid III in under three hours.  I finally did it...and then had no camera to record the event.  Ahh well.  I know I did it.

Hey, I'm impressed! Most of my attempts to beat it fast were based on the minimum stuff needed to win. I wish I could remember what my best time ever was.

[CeeKay]

Trying for 100% on Metroid III in under three hours.  I finally did it...and then had no camera to record the event.  Ahh well.  I know I did it.

Hey, I'm impressed! Most of my attempts to beat it fast were based on the minimum stuff needed to win. I wish I could remember what my best time ever was.

wait, the whole game can be beat in 3 hours? 

[Farscry]

Trying for 100% on Metroid III in under three hours.  I finally did it...and then had no camera to record the event.  Ahh well.  I know I did it.

Hey, I'm impressed! Most of my attempts to beat it fast were based on the minimum stuff needed to win. I wish I could remember what my best time ever was.

wait, the whole game can be beat in 3 hours? 

Less, actually. I know my best time was well under two hours, but can't remember my best ever time. For some reason ":58" seems etched in my mind, but I really don't remember well enough to say for sure. That was NOT a 100% completion though.

Looking around online, I see one of the best any% runs is a 32 minute run, so maybe my memory of ~1 hour isn't such a stretch. I played the hell out of this game back in the day.

[Dreamshadow]

Trying for 100% on Metroid III in under three hours.  I finally did it...and then had no camera to record the event.  Ahh well.  I know I did it.

Hey, I'm impressed! Most of my attempts to beat it fast were based on the minimum stuff needed to win. I wish I could remember what my best time ever was.

wait, the whole game can be beat in 3 hours? 

Less, actually. I know my best time was well under two hours, but can't remember my best ever time. For some reason ":58" seems etched in my mind, but I really don't remember well enough to say for sure. That was NOT a 100% completion though.

Looking around online, I see one of the best any% runs is a 32 minute run, so maybe my memory of ~1 hour isn't such a stretch. I played the hell out of this game back in the day.

Agreed,  I still have the Nintendo power mag I used as it had a complete map of Metroid III in it.  Very handy for keeping me focused on the goal.  I knew it could be done 'faster' but I liked the 100% completion more than I wanted to do the whole game in 2 hours.

[CeeKay]

Trying for 100% on Metroid III in under three hours.  I finally did it...and then had no camera to record the event.  Ahh well.  I know I did it.

Hey, I'm impressed! Most of my attempts to beat it fast were based on the minimum stuff needed to win. I wish I could remember what my best time ever was.

wait, the whole game can be beat in 3 hours? 

Less, actually. I know my best time was well under two hours, but can't remember my best ever time. For some reason ":58" seems etched in my mind, but I really don't remember well enough to say for sure. That was NOT a 100% completion though.

Looking around online, I see one of the best any% runs is a 32 minute run, so maybe my memory of ~1 hour isn't such a stretch. I played the hell out of this game back in the day.

Agreed,  I still have the Nintendo power mag I used as it had a complete map of Metroid III in it.  Very handy for keeping me focused on the goal.  I knew it could be done 'faster' but I liked the 100% completion more than I wanted to do the whole game in 2 hours.

   for some reason I was thinking Metroid Prime 3...