Game intros that will haunt you forever.

[Ed Oscuro]

Super Metroid. When I was little, I got to see this game at my local TRU (which I haven't bought a single game from) and though I missed the story scene I did get to play that first lab. Awesome.

Samurai Shodown on a 4-slot MVS. I saw this sometime around 1995; me and my brother were astounded. Sure, I wonder why Hahomaru's toe doesn't get smashed, and it's not QUITE as cool as it was back then. Unlike SS2, though, this game's intro really works. There had been some other Neo Geo games on that thing, but nothing really stuck in my mind as did the SS intro.

Honorable mentions:
Akumajo Dracula/Super Castlevania 4
Demon's Blazon/Demon's Crest

[digitalpress]

You wanna talk about "haunting"?

How about the dragon that slowly circles in from a dark, distant sky in Cosmi's "Forbidden Forest" for C64? The music swells as it draws nearer and all that's left for you to do as it cycles on is to hit the fire button, draw your bow and hope like hell that a spider doesn't eat your head.

Now that's what I call "haunting".

[Ed Oscuro]

Sounds like a game worth getting...I'll try it out.

[Dire 51]

The first time I ever saw Gradius III's opening (shortly after it's release on the SNES) is the one I can think of. I'll never forget how my jaw dropped when I saw it... it was just perfect.

[AB Positive]

Cripes, I know I forget the title, PC game, point and click adventure, I played it on a 386 back in the day when it came out. Point-n-click about being trapped inside a transylvanian country. Reminiscent of the SCUMM games, however I don't know if it was LucasArts. The intro to the game was really scary.

-AG

[Ed Oscuro]

Did it look pretty primitive? I think I ran into that one on an old shareware CD-ROM I've got somewhere. Don't think it's what you're talking about, though, since this particular take on Bram Stoker's Dracula wasn't that compelling. At all.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I always remember Kyrandia´s introduction, it´s not a great intro, but i love the game...

[AB Positive]

Found it, "Veil of Darkness". Haven't replayed it lately, but I remember when I was ten, that game was a total freakout. I seem to remember it being hellaciously fun too, if a bit hard.

-AG

[omnedon]

Robo Aleste for the SEGA CD. Great game, but the intro is hauntingly awful. Terible, nonsensical voice acting, with dialogue utterly irrelevant to the game in any way.

It still makes me shudder.

:P

[Daltone]

I'm not sure if it's 'haunting' in the normal way, but the intro to Duke Nukem: A Time To Kill seems to be burned into the very mush of my brain. The way "One I Hate" By Stabbing Westwards just kicks in is absolute quality. Shame about the rest of the game, really...
The intro to The Pandora Directive on the PC had me worried when I first saw it, but I was quite young then.
Finally, at the begining of Desert Stike, when "the evil dictator" (General Kilbaba?) lowers a man into a vat of acid (?) was kinda scary at the time.

[Starcade]

Ninja Gaiden for the NES, it's intro with the 2 ninjas running toward eachother, then finally jumping into the air, swords clashing, THAT is haunting, hauntingly corny that is.

[Jestr]

I will always be amazed by the opening music to Solstice for the NES. I was simply blown away by the richness of the sound. It was the first game I ever hooked through a stereo just to hear the music!

[petewhitley]

The first game I think of in the "haunting intro" category will always be the orginal Silent Hill. It's got this just heart-breakingly beautiful yet eerie music, and throws at you some of the most disturbing imagery, without ever resorting to the grotesque. Really effective, as it makes the storyline that follows appear far more important than it actually is.

[Half Japanese]

The most haunting intro fora game I've ever experienced is for the Playstation game "Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman." They had some country/rock song in the beginning that made me feel emberassed for the performers. If you don't believe me try to find this game, if only for the intro.


"Rising Zaaaaaaaan....Samurai Gunmaaaan!!! Rising Zaaaaaaan.....Johnny no more!!!"

[Daniel Thomas]

The best intro that I can think of right now would have to be that 5 minute movie for Panzer Dragoon. Watching that opening sequence once was all it took for me to buy a Saturn then and there. It was, and remains, something of a landmark for a computer animated short film. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

I suppose I should mention the opening for Panzer Saga, which is just about perfect from start to finish, but nothing can match the impact of seeing the CGI original.

[tyranthraxus]

The original Fallout had one slick introduction, very moody and really sets
up the game.

[salt peanuts]

The operning to Elemental Gearbolt is amazing....the music is SO good......

[junglehunter]

Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. In the intro, Cranky Kong is playing that phonograph when Donkey Kong jumps in with a boom box and raises the roof! LOL

Gotta love that...

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm not sure if it's 'haunting' in the normal way, but the intro to Duke Nukem: A Time To Kill seems to be burned into the very mush of my brain. The way "One I Hate" By Stabbing Westwards just kicks in is absolute quality. Shame about the rest of the game, really...

I remember that. Pretty cheesy today, but back then it was pretty awesome. I wish I still had that game; it was one of the ones I traded off to Funcoland (ugh!) back when I was younger and stupid :P

[deadtech]

No game intro haunts me, because I never watch them! I can't recall ever watching more than a second or two of any game intro. I want to play it, not watch it. :) :)

-deadtech

[calthaer]

If you want to talk about intros that haunt you, here's one that has haunted me for the past few y ears:

"IN A.D. 2101 WAR WAS BEGINNING"

and so on and so forth :)

But in all seriousness, some of the best intros...
For NES: Man, I loved the music from the original Wizards & Warriors.

Apple II: I adore the original Bard's Tale intro (in case you couldn't tell from my avatar, or didn't know where it was from) - that bard sitting there telling a Tolkien-esque rhyme was just plain awesome.

PC: Yes, the Fallout intro was very awesome. On the note of "haunting," though - the Guardian as he talks to you before Ultima VII. "AVATAR! Know that Britannia has entered a *new* age of enlightenment..."

The intro for Final Fantasy VI was pretty good. So was VII - I remember as it panned out of the city and threw up the title logo...first time I heard that, I was like "whoah."

I kind of like Deus Ex's intro, too. "Let it spill out into the schools and churches, let the bodies pile up in the streets!"

While I would agree that in general I'd rather play a game than watch it, I also like to have games (like Deus Ex) that provide a greater context for your actions...games where you're doing something for a reason (albeit a fictitious reason)...a world you can enter and believe in for just a bit. Without some sort of intro to set the stage, that's not really possible.

[Epicenter]

The good: Blazing Star and Mars Matrix both had awesome intros, Giga Wing's was nice, too.
The bad: Zero Wing, Low-G Man
The ugly: Wisdom Tree's 'Jesus and the Temple'.

And off to the side in the "things I did not sort because I was not in the mood at that particular point in time", Mario Bros 3's intro. It looked good, but it made no sense. Wait, nothing in the game made sense..