• Super Mario Bros 3 - A friend came over just as I was about to defeat the final boss and he saw me defeat him  
  

• Castlevania - I had always died fighting the Grim Reaper (boss of lvl 5, there's 6 lvls) and when he starts to throw the third thing that follows me around it's normally gameover. I had always played in a very technical way and never went allout spamming attacks. So when the Reaper throwed the third thing I thought it was hopeless and just spammed crosses (had the 3x bonus so could have 3 crosses away simultanously) and just as I jumped and was going to die from landing at one of his damn projectiles HE DIED!!!   I was shocked!   I had finally defeated the Grim Reaper!!!

• Heroes of Might & Magic 2 - The first thing I come to think of when I think about Heroes 2 is the high fantasy atmosphere. It was in a campaign map standing on the grass (so the grasstheme played) and the Ogre and his axe guarding a mine moved a little as did the Orc Chieftain with his crossbow guarding another mine. You have to hear the theme and see some wandering monsters to understand what I mean. Another great memory of this game was in Archibalds campaign mission 7 I guess where you have to destroy a peasant rebellion. The wandering monsters are LEGIONS of PEASANTS(!) (Ph34r th3m!!). I (of course) choosed Necromancer as starting bonus and Corlagon (the lvl 5 hero you start with) started collecting Skeletons. In the big battle against 10 Titans and some other Wizard creatures I had over 3000 Skeletons (heeheehee ). The Titans went first and the Wizard casted Mirror Image on them (Mirrorimaged units do the same damage as the original but dies of anything. 100 Skeletons died when the Titans throwed lightning at me. Then it was the mirrorimaged units turn. Another 100 Skeletons died. Still had over 3000 though                                  Used my vampires to kill the mirrorimaged Titans and casted Haste on the Skeletons so they would cross the battlefield in 2 turns. I don't remember what the Titans fired at but it doesn't matter, it was my turn again (with 29xx Skeletons left) and I knew that one swipe from my Skeleton legion would destroy 50.000 gold and 20 gems worth of Titans!   I took some deep breaths while laughing gleefully a bit for myself.

....Warmed up my fingers and slowly put my hand on the mouse again. Checked where the borders of target on the Titans went and put the cursor on its chest. Laughed a bit for myself, took another deep breath and clicked the button. The hasted Skeletons quickly went up to the Titans and hit them with the sword doing around 8000 damage. The Titans AAARRRGGHed and fell into dust on the battlefield. The enemy Wizard shook his head (heroes do that when they lose a powerful stack). The map was won at this point. Just had to mop up some. When I captured the Wizard town they had like 15 Titans waiting to be recruited(!)

http://www.mobygames.com/game/playroom/cover-art/gameCoverId,141912/

Shut up!

Well, I tried to play Hegemonia ...

I returned to gaming as an older guy, Civilization I was the last game I had played. Then, I got back in. Skipping right on to my most nostalgic memory ...

It was a dark and stormy night, I mean really it was, when I sat down to play the demo of the first Dungeon Siege. Every stage of that wonderful demo I remember. Was there really no other way to Stonebridge than thru a crypt! Oh noes! And then you met the gal down in the crypt and after further adventures you finally got to Stonebridge. The game itself, to me, never lived up to the demo.

Bard's Tale - the original from the mid 80's. Countless hours on that game. Most of it was mapping out the dungeons. And there was a real sense of dread as I approached the final wizard's domain. Will never forget that one.

Infiltrator - 1986. Had the worst possible time operating and successfully landing the helicopter. But I kept playing because it was so much fun. Don't think I ever got past the first helicopter mission.

X-wing/Tie-fighter - hours and hours and hours. Probably played through all the missions 3 or 4 times.

1. Doom II - Last map
Oh man, it was horrible. Like the whole hell went mad, and what's even worse: How the hell I am supposed to find the exit!? Oh, and one more thing: the sound that the bad-ass goat-like diehards make when they see ya; insta pants crapping.

2. Duke Nuk'em 3D
Music, "dancers", kick. 'nuf said.

3. Final Fantasy VII
Weapon fights, music, Aeris death, Cloud plot, Chocobo sound... Everything. This game wa...IS a masterpiece.

Wait, I forgot one: 
Ultima IV. Getting to the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. I was a kid, and it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I felt like I grew up while playing that game.

I would define Nostalgia as a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place, time, events, situations or company, and as such it makes sense that in a thread asking for such things we cite memories from our childhood, or teenage years. I can't very well be nostalgic about Dragon Age: Origins - depsite the fact killing the Ogre atop the tower at Ostagard was epic, and the cinematic finisher took it far beyond where I thought games like DA:O could go!

Final Fantasy VII, with its lovely 24-poly game characters.  I was so pissed off when Aeris died.

And, of course, the final boss battle with Sephiroth was epic.  Although I personally had more trouble with Hojo than him (beat him first try).

Then there are the various music themes, such as Cosmo Canyon.

Not to mention the storyline, which was amazing even though it only made sense up to the end of disk 1, since for whatever reason it was possible to miss key plot elements - which I did.  (Seriously... you should have no choice but to find out that those people in Nihelim were paid actors... it's too confusing if you miss that sort of thing.)

Boulder Dash on the N64.

Battle Isle II

Heroes of Might and Magic II

Those were the days!