Gaming Moments You'll Never Be Able To Erase From Your Memory

The release of Super Mario Bros. was an industry-defining event. More than a game, it set the pace for the future of Nintendo and every single platformer that followed. It was also the impetus for an entire generation's love of the medium. Running through the game world, stomping Goombas, and chasing Bowser through his many castles still brings back fond memories for just about every person that ever touched an NES. But one moment in particular stands above the rest: the moment you first discovered the World 1-2 warp zone.

It's one of those instances where either you saw someone do it while visiting their house after school, or somehow uncovered it thanks to messing up a jump at the right time. We were so conditioned to believe that the top and bottom of the game screen were impenetrable that we never thought to consider we could explore those areas. Not only that, but we could explore them to find cheats to later areas in Super Mario Bros.

Before zombies overran Capcom's Resident Evil franchise in its more action-centric entries, they were the centerpiece of a perfectly paced survival-horror game. The first Resident Evil didn't have an actual zombies present for a lengthy part of the opening chapter. Sure, you probably already knew the game was about zombies thanks to advertising or gaming magazines, but the expectation of waiting to encounter your first walking corpse kept you on your toes.

After exploring a bit of the mansions with Chris and Jill and coming up empty, we're finally greeted with the moment we've been waiting for. A seemingly harmless man hunched over the body of another human, making some strange noises, and not answering our calls for attention finally turns to reveal a decaying face with hollowed eyes and a bloody mouth. We've met our first zombie, and Jill's and Chris's lives would never be the same.

The tension building to that moment more than makes up for the lack of encounters prior to this lone zombie. It was the first time we were truly surprised by our first meeting with a zombie in a Resident Evil game, and it was all anyone who got the game that weekend could talk about at school on Monday.

The Call of Duty franchise always had at least a few remarkable sequences. But Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare stories were something else all together. Redefining the franchise to take place in the current timeline rather than based on previous historical events, Modern Warfare crafted a clever narrative about a new Russian plot to overthrow America. And while the first Modern Warfare was a great game in its own right, Modern Warfare 2 built a brilliant story on top of the foundation laid just one game prior.

Modern Warfare 2 wasn't without its intense firefights, which has been a hallmark of the Call of Duty brand since its inception. But what set this game apart from its predecessors was its willingness to push first-person shooter narratives in new directions. Arguably the most divisive and controversial moment came during the "No Russian" mission, where you played as the terrorists you would otherwise be hunting.

The mission put you in the role of an undercover operative in the terrorist organization, with no choice but to gun down as many innocent lives at an airport as you could in order to keep your cover. It was disturbing on a number of levels, but as part of one of the most successful games of all time, it's a moment that's seared into the brains of millions of players.

Prior to the release of The Last of Us, Naughty Dog was better known for lighter platforming fare like Crash Bandicoot, adventure games like Jak and Daxter, and the action blockbusters in the Uncharted series. The Last of Us was a departure of sorts. Though the game stayed firmly in the third-person action genre of Uncharted, The Last of Us was decidedly more somber, more mature, and much, much more serious.

The tone was set almost immediately. The Last of Us begins at the onset of a viral outbreak that has the world in a panic. We're transported to a day in the life of normal dad Joel and his daughter Sarah. It takes a turn for the dramatic amid all the chaos in their rural town. Along with Joel's brother, the trio attempt to evacuate, but they're too late to make a good run. The military is already setting up blockades, and sneaking past is the only option.

With the world in a tizzy, even the normally collected soldiers aren't quite as even-keeled as they should be in a national crisis. An indecisive soldier shoots Joel's daughter Sarah, killing her almost immediately. As she dies in Joel's arms, players are tipped that The Last of Us isn't going to be a jolly escapade with a roguish lead. Instead, Joel is a tortured father figure with a cynical take on the new world order, and players are left stunned that such a thing could ever happen in a Naughty Dog game.

Metal Gear Solid has always been known for its over-the-top bosses: case in point, Solid Snake's encounter with the mind-bending Psycho Mantis.

At first, Snake's fight against Mantis is one of the most frustrating battles in video game history. Nothing you do seemingly works, and Mantis is able to best you at every turn. Then you discover that Mantis knows what you're up to because he can "read" the PlayStation controller you're using in the Player 1 slot. By plugging in a second controller, you take away Mantis's ability to sense Snake's attack strategy, and can finally put the creepy telepath down.

As more friends picked up Metal Gear Solid, the battle against Psycho Mantis became a point of rallying. No game had ever tested gamers like that before, and few games have done anything like that since.

Back when couch co-op was the only way to play together, few games brought friends together on a Saturday afternoon like Madden NFL. Before it became the juggernaut it is today, Madden NFL was still a very good football game. It definitely had a bit more personality than it does now, though, as the National Football League wasn't always quite as demanding with what you could and couldn't get away with in a video game.

In the entries prior to Madden NFL 2001, there was one moment in particular that still stands out. Seeing that little ambulance come onto the field to cart an injured player off was just so comical and ridiculous, it was hard not to enjoy it, regardless of whether or not your player was the one getting wheeled to the hospital. Yes a man was hurt, but look at that little ambulance.

Since the NFL began cracking down on glorifying injuries and making light of the brutal nature of the sport, such antics are never seen these days. It's probably for the best, but we'll never forget that little virtual EMT team and all the hard work they accomplished.

The early NES games weren't always keen on telling impressive stories. While they often had narratives to explore, the limitations of the platforms left much to the imagination. That didn't stop some games, like Metroid, from taking a chance or two along the way to deliver unexpected revelations.

After battling Metroids left and right, players threw down with Mother Brain and Ridley, all in the name of saving the universe. Though the heroic Samus had a gender-neutral name, the expectation that the game's hero was male wasn't crazy. There were very few leading roles for women in video games in that era, with today's games only now barely picking up decades' worth of slack. Still, Samus's gender barely played any part in the game or story at the time, as the main goal was just to be the hero that saves everyone else.

It isn't until the credits roll players discover Samus has actually been a woman the whole time. As one of the first female gaming heroes, Samus goes on to have quite the career and fanbase. And it all started by subverting expectations way back in '80s, before most gamers even had expectations to subvert.

Based on the comic of the same name, Starbreeze's The Darkness was a wonderfully crafted game that combined some fantastic writing with excellent new twists on familiar first-person shooter elements. The writing was really a standout though, as Starbreeze tapped comic writer Paul Jenkins to help bring some depth to Jackie Estacado, his girlfriend Jenny Romano, and their mafia family.

Early in the game, Starbreeze spends time developing Jackie and Jenny's relationship, giving players even more attachment to this couple. Relationships like that aren't the focus of first-person shooters, and just having the two of them able to sit and watch a movie together (in its entirety) was something different and small enough to go a long way in bringing this pair's loving partnership to life.

But Jackie and Jenny were not to be the happy couple that overcomes all odds to find happiness. Soon after getting his Darkness powers, Jackie's own uncle kidnaps Jenny and murders her while Jackie is unable to stop him. It's a harrowing moment, and one that doesn't quite escape the concept of "fridging," but the pacing and unexpectedness of the move has stuck with anyone that played The Darkness to this day.