It’s a rare feeling when a game pulls the rug from under your feet and drops your jaw in amazement. It usually happens only once per generation, and it could be anything from the graphics to a groundbreakingly real gameplay innovation to something as simple as a surprisingly human expression on a fictional 3D head.

Here’s some of the moments in my gaming past that I will never forget, the ones that gave me that sense of wonder, amazement and immersion that has kept me gaming to this day.

I will never forget the first time I saw Mario double jump his way into the third dimension. It was the launch week of the N64 and i was standing in the now-defunct GAME store on Dublin’s Grafton Street, watching the demo video over and over again. I just couldn’t believe it, it absolutely blew my mind (I was 12). When…