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submitted 3 weeks ago by tal@olio.cafe to c/askgaming@piefed.social

Video game openings help set the stage for the game itself. What are your favorite video game openings? Could be the title screen, or the first bit in-game before the play starts. Could be that you like the music, or that they have a clever twist, or that they're technically impressive. Bonus points if you can link to a PeerTube or YouTube clip of them to let other people here who haven't yet seen them watch them!

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[-] copymyjalopy@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 weeks ago

Borderlands 1. Fun, over the top, and great song to go with it.

[-] tal@olio.cafe 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqbgncFCO0M

EDIT: I'd add that the later games in the series also thematically followed the first game's opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEXYTKV4YjY

[-] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago
[-] call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Especially because of how the ending completely recontextualizes it.

(spoiler)Oh shit, I brought down that plane...

[-] Rinzler@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Prey, hands down. It would be a disservice to just watch it just go play the first bit.

Edit: I was talking about Prey from 2017, but based on the comment both may be good to play.

[-] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago
[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 3 weeks ago

I assume the immersive sim one. It's genuinely great.

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The original one's opening is also great. Every time I hear "Don't fear the reaper" I have to think about it.

[-] ElanoidesWahl@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

This game made me fell so bored in the first few minutes and then BAM! "Don't Fear the Reaper" starts blaring out of the jukebox. Great opening to a mind bending game!

[-] asret@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago

That jukebox scene is about the only bit I still remember. The Prey from 2017 was much more my style and has an amazing opening sequence as well.

[-] Jumbie@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago

The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver intro is top-notch writing and direction. Everything from the intro cinematic feeds into the feel of the game and builds excitement that never lets up until the game is over.

If this is your first time seeing this masterpiece, I envy you.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 3 weeks ago

I think it's hard for modern audiences to imagine just how hard Amy Hennig and her team knocked it out of the park with that one.

[-] Jumbie@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago

It’s even deeper than this. This was the first time a game disc or cartridge included actual dialogue at this scale like in a movie. Other games like Metal Gear used smart workarounds to seem this way but Soul Reaver changed it all.

There’s a really cool podcast that delved into this. It’s a fascinating listen.

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[-] ThunderComplex@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago

This intro cinematic goes so hard it’s still not been dethroned and no one has the balls to do it

[-] Jumbie@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

This was on the original PlayStation. They stretched that system to its limits.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago

Once in game, no "loading" screens, you could traverse from one end to another without downtime. That was a masterful feat with the PS1

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[-] rei@piefed.social 9 points 3 weeks ago

The opening to the original Final Fantasy VII blew my mind and changed my life when I was kid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CORYpK6_W8

[-] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 8 points 3 weeks ago

The first quest of Oblivion was pretty cool imo.

[-] cloudless@piefed.social 8 points 3 weeks ago

Final Fantasy 6 with the amazing music and mode 7 effect.

[-] hpx9140@fedia.io 7 points 3 weeks ago

War. War never changes.

Fallout 1 was absolutely seminal.

And…

L..L…L…look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone.

System Shock 1 and 2 were some of the most incredible experiences in the 90s/early 2000s.

[-] Grimtuck@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Most of the Uncharted games but especially Uncharted 2 where he starts out on the train on a snowy mountain. This game forever changed my expectations for video games. I just wish they would re-release then on PC so that I could now easily enjoy them again.

https://youtu.be/dncEvJYIzZg

[-] simple@piefed.social 3 points 3 weeks ago

Still mad that they ported uncharted 4 to pc but not the original trilogy. Why did they think pc players would want to start at the final entry?

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[-] Klear@quokk.au 6 points 3 weeks ago

Witcher 2. Amazing production quality. Every shot is perfectly framed. There's a ton of small details, like the archer missing his shot because the ship cracks at the bad time, and Letho briefly holding the arrow in his gaze as it passes by...

Here it is

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[-] essell@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

Homeworld.

Beautiful, moving, elegant.

A story, a tutorial, a punch in the gut

Love it.

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[-] Protoknuckles@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

I used to put Wild Arms and Duke Nukem into my PS1 just to watch the intros. Things were quaint before cell phones.

[-] tal@olio.cafe 5 points 3 weeks ago
[-] Protoknuckles@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thank you! I was otherwise occupied, so I didn't have an opportunity to pull up links.

And then the transition to the Wild Arms title screen music. Here's one with that is there, too: https://youtu.be/wg2Lo-6aisY

[-] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
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[-] Davel23@fedia.io 5 points 3 weeks ago

Outpost, while a mediocre game had an opening cinematic set to "Mars" from Holst's The Planets which sounded AWESOME on my Roland MT-32/SCC-1 (I don't remember which I had at the time.)

Here is the intro with standard Sound Blaster music, and here is just the music played on a Roland SC-55 which sounds pretty much the same as an SCC-1.

[-] call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago

"now it is time to leave the cradle...

or die in the attempt."

[-] tal@olio.cafe 2 points 3 weeks ago

I'm assuming, based on the YouTube channel name ("MT-32 Theater"), that this was rendered with a Roland MT-32:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWCrp31xL3c

[-] Davel23@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yup, that definitely sounds like an MT-32. I've updated my comment with an SCC-1 version (or close enough).

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[-] Triumph@fedia.io 4 points 3 weeks ago

For music, there is nothing better than coin-op SpyHunter.

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[-] LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago

Nier Automata's true opening is placed after 20 hours in the game, but it is truly devastating.

[-] Godort@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

Coming from NES and SNES onto my first PC, the idea that you could have an intro movie that had actual actors was jaw dropping

The intro movie to Stonekeep is so cheesy now, but when I was 8, this was the most impressive video game I'd ever seen.

[-] SurfinBird@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

The first bit of Grandia 2 when Ryudo was being a dick to everyone was a fun change of pace.

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[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago

As an angsty preteen, I loved Final Fantasy 8's opening cinematic. Because of that game I went to watch the Final Fantasy movie with high hopes, but even my childish brain found that a complete letdown and waste of time.

[-] NelDel 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Xenoblade Chronicles 1 has an amazing opening, with the Bionis & Mechonis fighting it out. Then freezing in place & cutting to thousands of years into the future, where sudeenly you realize those giant gods in rhe intro are the game world that you're going to be exploring.

Spoilers for XC1What's even better is how almost every sentence in this intro is proven to be wrong. And the opening foreshadows the real conflict of the game for those watching closely.

Xenoblade 1 Opening

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

I always like Fallout 4 opening, right until you surface from the vault. It have the feeling of dread and it's lengthy enough to make you hate Kellogg and whatever this new entity are.

New Vegas for the polar opposite of it. It's extremely short and sweet, and push you out the gate so quick you will be exploring in just a few minute, yet it doesn't do much to make you hate Benny.

Bioshock is extremely well done, it give you that famous "would you kindly" quote as early as the opening cutscene, set the stage of what Rapture stand for with that famous banner once you enter the lighthouse, and then let you take a glimpse on Rapture, and then immediately give you the "what goes wrong" with the whole city. It's damn great.

Breath of the Wild for just "Link, wake up and fuck off", and then you run out naked(because you missed the chest with clothing) and smell the wild.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 3 weeks ago

Wait, there was a chest with clothes?

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

Right? I just walk past the two chest and off i go, link is naked all the way to kakariko. I only noticed it when i go back for something. It's inside the shrine of resurrection.

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[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 3 points 3 weeks ago

Gothic 1: https://youtu.be/PVal5HLgIys

Not necessarily all the exposition. But especially "Welcome to the colony". This simple scene perfectly shows that you are not the great destined hero but just a wuss who is weaker than everyone else in the beginning.

[-] Nemo@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

I've never seen better than River City Girls

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[-] zorb@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

The intro music to Mega Man 2 has always been a personal favorite.

https://youtu.be/ZT9DST_M_g8

When I first played Duke Nukem 2, it completely blew my mind! https://youtu.be/_JQpxpR7XCk

[-] LazyPotato@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Metaphor Refantazio intro, the one with battle music because it slaps

Also the walking in school in headphones bit in Life is Strange, just after 1st Jefferson class. Nice cosy vibes (poor Max didn't know what she was getting herself into)

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[-] rozodru@piefed.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

Omega Boost:
The music, the FMV, it was just silly and oozed attitude. And it was god damn confusing. Some dudes go back in time to get the very first AI and you have to go back in time to stop them. The Pilot of the Omega Boost (I think he was even played by Steve Blum) is such a bad ass and he KNOWS he's hot shit. you get in the mecha and the mechanics all start cheering as you walk off to launch. And then there's the Jamacian mechanic who is like the pilots best friend and they're bantering and you have no idea what the hell they're saying because the damn awesome song is blaring away. It's awesome, it's epic.

Street Fighter x Tekken: yeah an odd one but the opening track and cinematic for the game are awesome.

Colony Wars: Vengeance: It lays out the setting completely. tells you what's going on, why you're fighting, and all the sides involved.

Xenogears:
It's confusing, it's weird, and it's an opening you won't understand until you're well into the game.

Starsiege: It's narrated by a child with a twisted poem to start. It feels like Warhammer 40k with mechs. Honestly Earthsiege/Starsiege/Tribes is one of those universes that really needs to be revisited and fleshed out.

Quake 3 Arena: Again just another opening that hypes you up to play. And the opening Animation with Sarge was pretty jaw dropping at the time. It was a VERY simple arena shooter but man was it a blast to play.

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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
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