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[ravuya]

Shadowrun on the Genesis had a pretty good intro too. I remember it being rather atmospheric for the environment.

[Alevice]

And that reminds me...

Shadowrun on the SNES starts with you waking up on a slab in the morgue with no idea how you got there.  Such an attention grabbing way to start a story.



Every game should start like this.  It would never get old.

Planescape: Torment does this as well.

[spellcaster]

Intros I remember vividly:
Karateka and the first Summer Games on the C64.
I also liked the roof top landing in elevator action

They were short, did set the mood and allowed me to start playing directly.

[crukid]

"I don't think you should drink that...it looks bad for you."



God, I loved Day of the Tentacle.

[VideogameBiscuit]

Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the scene in Kakariko Village, where the trolls (or whatever they are) on the boars storm the village and kidnap one of the kids.

[jaredbloom]

The intro to the new XBOX 360/Playstation 3 game The Darkness blew me away. I won't give away what it is, but I recommend downloading the demo.

[ravuya]

The intro to the new XBOX 360/Playstation 3 game The Darkness blew me away. I won't give away what it is, but I recommend downloading the demo.

I agree, that was a fantastic initial level.

[portabello]

Indigo Prophecy had a really neat intro sequence.  You gain control of the character right after he finishes murdering someone in the bathroom of a diner and you have to clean it up and escape before the cops come.

[jaredbloom]

Indigo Prophecy had a really neat intro sequence.  You gain control of the character right after he finishes murdering someone in the bathroom of a diner and you have to clean it up and escape before the cops come.

I'm not sure I liked that one. It was good in theory, but much like the later sequence where the cop is knocking on your door and you have two minutes to hide all of the murder evidence, the whole thing ended up being more trial and error.

[Farmergnome]

I know its cheesy, but ff7 was beautiful.  The whole camera pan around the (once) state of the art cg graphics of Midgar, and the train sequence merging to gameplay, too cool.  Then straight up you get to blow reactors up.  Infact now that I think of it, most final fantasy's start on a pretty epic note.

[jaredbloom]

Bioshock. 

[Melly]

And that reminds me...

Shadowrun on the SNES starts with you waking up on a slab in the morgue with no idea how you got there.  Such an attention grabbing way to start a story.



Every game should start like this.  It would never get old.

Planescape: Torment does this as well.

Damnit you beat me to it!

Still, yes, waking up in a morgue slab is awesome to kick-start an adventure. In Torment you woke up in a Mortuary slab. Surrounded by zombie workers. Being approached by a floating talking skull named Morte who hits on braindead female zombies.

That's the most awesome floating skull of gaming.

[ChevyRay]

I liked how Super Mario RPG started with the typical whole "Peach being abducted by Bowser" theme, and you went through Bowser's castle to his chamber to rescue her leading you to believe this was just like any other Mario game. The fact that the graphics were so different and intriguing for Mario, you fought RPG battles, suddenly a new villain is introduced, and as seven stars get scattered and you're separated from the castle you realize that there is going to be a whole lot more to this game, pretty much had me glued to the screen to the end.

[vanillagamer]

Four pages and not one mention of Metal Gear Solid? The intro scene for that game totally set the tone for the rest of the game.
Another of my favorites is Super Metroid. Between the title scene and the first in-game scene, it really pulls you into the game. Ugh. I've got to play this game again.

[rey-o]

actually, i mentioned mgs. and yeah its pretty awesome, from that point on games started to adopt more and more of a cinematic approach (for better or for worse)

[Xander]

Bioshock I guess will be in here too soon enough. I don't think many games before have opened with you surrounded by nothing by ocean, fire and debris.

There's also something simple I really liked about the opening to ZoE 2. It's really a small thing, but before you get to pilot the awesome Jehuty, you spend a little time using a completely different mecha, with the mobility of a toilet. Going from that into the starring mecha gives the player a much bigger sensation of the power they've just attained when compared to simply being given it off the bat. That's something I didn't like in the Darkness, when you first have the powers unleash themselves and you think 'My god! I've become a monster!'. And then you find out that actually, the only power you just gained was a shield, some underlings and a stealth power. I would've preffered another offensive technique then to really feel powerful, or if we'd been able to control the character and the gunfire whilst the darkness did it's thing and tore the world apart. Then, the player hasn't been spoilt for power, but they can really get a feel of suddenly becoming something much different to what they were previously.

[vanillagamer]

actually, i mentioned mgs. and yeah its pretty awesome, from that point on games started to adopt more and more of a cinematic approach (for better or for worse)

Must've missed that. Was trying to catch up on this thread rather quickly.
Anywhooo.... Metroid Prime had a very well done intro scene as well. Retro Studios did a fantastic job of brining the badassery of Samus into 3D, but you knew that already.

[frosty]

I don't like most intro movies, but I always loved the intro to Rogue Spear: Urban Ops.  Mainly because of the music, which was a "middle east" remix of the  Rainbow Six theme by Bill Brown.  The movie itself used in-game footage effectively for the time, with terrorists yelling at panicking hostages and team Rainbow charging in.  It just always got me pumped up.   

I also think it worked well because it was mainly just a montage, and not really a setup for a plot or anything like that.

[Tanner]

I know it was already mentioned, but Super Metroid has my vote. When you first see Ridley, you're like ZOMGWTFBBQGRASS IT'S RIDLEY! Then you fight him and... SWOOSH!
Self Destruct Sequence Initiated.
MP2 was pretty great, too, with those hanging bodies and whatnot.

[Radnom]

Holy crap, found it on Indygamer so you probably already know, but this demo has an awesome intro:
http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/09/serious-sam-i-am.html

I am Sam...
Sam I am...
Do you like green eggs and ham?

I liked green eggs and ham, it's true,
Which was my weakness, soon it proved,
I've suffered through this damned ordeal,
All for this, this greenish meal.