first five SECONDS of Undertale: A cute innoccent looking flower attempts to murder you by fooling you based on its cuteness

the first five minutes of this video totally had me hooked.

I love the intro to prototype. It starts at the very end, meaning you have all your powers. It also shows you this grotesque, apocalyptic vision of new york which both creates atmosphere and the mystery of how it all happened. It certainly had me hooked for a couple of days.

The intro (cut scene) of Fallout 3 is just amazing. Absolutely sells you on the game's world itself

"Booker, are you afraid of God?" "No. I'm afraid of you." HOOKED

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance does everything right in respects to the intro. Narrative: You fight big robots with a sword. Mechanics: You fight big robots with a sword. Spectacle: RULES OF NATURE Also you fight big robots with a sword.

Its 2020 and I still get so much insight out of these vids.

Dwarf Fortress first 5 minutes are awesome. At this point you're nearly done making the list of the wikis and tutorials you need to study before trying to start playing :-)

I'm glad you all made this; I'm working on a 5-minute demo for my own game project, Thora. While I'm tangling with the mechanics (namely, a time-based battle system), I'm also working out the best way to engage those who try my demo. This provided some great tips - thanks ExtraCreditz team!

"Something so out there it defies description" *goes on to describe it*

A game that had a great intro was Epic Mickey. It was really dark (especially for Disney), mysterious, and had great effects considering it was a Wii game. And when you first started playing, there was an amazing paint/thin mechanic. It's one of my favorite non-Valve games.

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 did it REALLY well. I had always wanted a boss battle at the beginning of a game, and skating on a helicopter propeller through Station Square downtown!?

Even after 7 years, this video is still totally relevant. Watched it twice.

one of the best intros ever for me was fallout nv, the mystery of who you are, the sweeping beatuy of the landscape over new vegas. and then tiny ounce of story before your shot, and then finally waking up in doc mitchels house. One of the best intro sences ever in my opinion.

Final Fantasy 8 is the king of spectacle introduction of all games. it had the most advanced graphics at the time, the music was orchestra-level good, the characters were very unique, the fight scene was unbelievable, and the narrative was just poetic and mysterious. i know that many people hate on this game but at the time, everyone's jaw was dropping at the gorgeous intro of FF8

I really love the artstyle of this episode. Definitely going to check Miel's work :)

"What?! They have a Metal Gear, here?! Raiden, take it out!" "Stop That Blade!" "That Damn UG; It still works!?!" "Now Raiden, bring it down!" *RULES OF NA-TURRRRE!*

I remember my first introduction to Devil May Cry 3. Boy did the first level get me hooked on the character and the mechanic.

It's funny because a game that had me hooked in the intro, before I could really control my character even, was one that you made a specific video to say was an intro done wrong: Skyrim. Being a long time Elder Scrolls fan, and remembering a general lack of dragon in the setting outside of Akatosh, the attack on Helgen had me hooked immediately. I needed to find out why there were suddenly dragons and how they got there.

Finally! I was expecting an episote like this since I started watching the show!

This reminded me of the Initial Pre-Rendered Cutscene of the Witcher 3, The level of spectacle was off limits. And then, that beautiful tutorial.

We happy few hits the narrative perfectly

I think a game that interests you through the intro and then absolutely explodes is fantastic. Fallout 3, to me, is a good example. You spend half an hour in the vault, getting ever so slightly bored, and then WHOOSH! You're out in the wasteland and having to learn all the hazards with NO prier instruction on how to do so. LOVE that game :)

Lol, that sandwich in the cloak just looks hilarious

I think my favorite example of a good intro was Halo 5. they show you all these bad-ass powers of the new mjolnir armors and then quickly transition to showing you that you can actually use all of those Powers any time in game. it was awesome.

mh4u did an amazing job at an intro fighting that dahren mohran in your undies was sooo good far better than the typical intro in mh games

That's actually a rather interesting idea. I've also heard ideas of MMOs or RPGs that allow you to be as powerful as possible right at the beginning and as you progress you gradually get weaker. Over the course of the game you would have to choose which abilities you need the least and get rid of them. It would all build up to a point where you are the weakest thing at the end fighting a seemingly all-powerful enemy. The difficulty curve would be fairly consistent in this game as well.

I shat bricks when "Chaos Nightmare" came on at the end. I had heard it before and was very pleased by it showing up here.

Half Life has a great intro. It's subtle and makes players very calm about the game, making the actual game feels more badass

The first five minutes of Legacy of the void, where they're lining up their armies to take back Auir! Awesome special that made me go YEAH! LETS DO THIS!

Great episode, as always. I'd love to see you guys do an episode on Papo & Yo, and how games like it can tackle real world issues. Mechanically, the game wasn't great, but I feel the story in this game represents a significant moment in videogame storytelling. I'd love to see this!

that body building-pink tanga-screaming game box was on point XD

Conker's Bad Fur Day was a SURPRISINGLY good game, and it's intro follows the stuff in this video quite effectively. It opens up with the narative, gives you a taste of the mechanics and the shenanigans that are weaved into it, then opens up into what is still my number one favorite set-piece in a video game; the game's hub-level. It's just amazing how with a single backdrop they were able to SHOW you just how big the world you could explore was, and just how small you, as the explorer, were.

I liked the designs they used for the concept personifications.

Congrats on the animations becoming more fluid. I know this is said in the comments every video, but how are you not getting more views?

Undertale, Psychonauts, and Grim Fandango are all games that managed to sell me in the first five minutes almost exclusively with character.

Very informative, nicely compact and to-the-point. Enjoyable to watch, too, so what's NOT to like? :-) Kudos!

Best episode ever I love this show so much & I have to say I personally think God Of War 3's intro did exceptionally well at both mechanical & spectacle I was blown away by that game's opening

I'm glad you mentioned El Shaddai, because that's what I immediately thought of when you mentioned spectacle.

Kingdom Hearts (especially the first one) ROCKS the intro. I was a young child when I played KH for the first time. The opening cutscene leading to Station of Awakening blew me away. The mystery, the hint of excitement and adventure, and some really cool chanting set up an incredibly fun series perfectly!

One example of a good "intro" is actually minecraft's demo - I know, sounds strange - but here me out. It starts you out in a mystical world of blocks... you've heard of this game, but don't know exactly what to do. You find out you can kill stuff, and there's torches... as the sun goes down, you realize this is a world you want to play. There are certainly problems with not introducing the crafting mechanics due to forcing you to wiki them, but I think this demo serves as a really good "intro", at least it did to me years ago :3

This is really inspiring!

The fangirl in me was "Will they mention FF7? It hooked me!" and then happy yay when they did mention my favorite game and then the slight endearing embarrassment of acknowledgement about the dated graphics x3 I'm always happy see a new Extra Credits video on my front page and I love that we can talk about games in this manner too

I like to think I'm the kind of person who can stick with a game for logner than five minutes, regardless of how good those minutes are. But I agree, first impressions are always important.

Depending on how you do it, that sounds like something that would be absolutely gripping. If you gave us tiny hints that we might be able to change the main characters fate (whether or not that is actually true), I think it'd be many times more so.

When the ending music started to play... I CAN'T HOLD ON MUCH LOOONGER BUT I WILL NEVER LET GOOOO~

South Park: The Stick of Truth did this perfectly. First, because the humorous setting of a 90's movie intro made us laugh and say "Oh, man, this is gonna be amazing" Second, with the OMG-this-is-what-I-wanted customization. And third, because you could fart. Seriously, those three alone sold the game.

Spec Ops did have quite the cool start, i admit it. Made me instantly want to play more and more of it.

“Listen to my story, this may be our last chance"

The first Borderlands managed to draw you in with characters, and Cage the Elephant.

One intro thing that happens a lot is a ride in some vehicle where they dump a ton of exposition and worldbuilding before dropping you into the action. Related to that, something I've always wanted is a version where you're riding in some helicoptor or jeep or something that- if you do specific actions- gets hit and starts the opening shootout. However, if you just sit still, engage in the dialogue, and properly meet these characters, they actually reach the destination and fight alongside you. Mechanically, you could give the player some buddies from other vehicles so the intro is still just as difficult either way, but this effectively leaves the player in one of three different states. 1) They perform the action immediately, killing their allies and never knowing who they are in the first place. 2) They wait, grow impatient, and perform the scripted actions- maybe even have a literal button prompt saying 'get hit by missile' during the ride to sell the fact they are responsible for it- and their NPC companions die a gruesome death. 3) They waited the full time, and they are rewarded by having companions for, maybe, the entire game that they already willingly engaged with for multiple minutes.

I saw that movie so long ago when I was like 5/6. I'm 15 now, thanks. I'll have to watch it again.

The post that made the most sense on youtube to date.

I think one of the best examples of spectacle intros in games is Bayonetta 2's intro. Yeah, the actual intro is a monologue playing over gameplay you can't lose but then... That amazing introduction in New York City... (Don't read if you haven't played it). After a pretty funny and cute cutscene we're treated to fighter jets flying between buildings in New York. Then Bayonetta jumps onto one of the planes and starts fighting angels on top of the freakin' plane! After a few plane hops you fight a miniboss that chases you on a train while that same boss destroys the rails behind you. You then stop yo finish the monster off with. One of your monsters from hell. But that monster turns on you and starts attacking a tall building (I think it may have been the empire state) and you have to fight a giant dragon while flying theough the sky! It was incredible and I loved every second of it.

Metroid Prime did it too and that's how I got hooked into the game

The Iron Giant. It's animated, set in the fifties, and involves a boy becoming friends with a giant alien robot. What's good about it is that, though it's a kid's movie, it doesn't talk down to the audience at all and has characters that really stand out.

mm I was sold on the world of Dishonored as soon as I saw the water lock in the opening sequence - perfectly showed the steampuny technology and the pure functionality of a world with a lot of spare energy to use... I hadn't realised how much of my experience of that game was coloured by the 20 seconds I had admiring the water lock until I saw this video.

Dragon Age 2 i think is a good example of a narrative and gameplay hook. In the first five minutes you get vague dialogue between Varric and Cassandra-something HUGE has gone down, something your character is in the center of. Then, as Varric begins his story we get a taste of higher level class features as we mow down dark spawn before Cassandra tells him to tell the truth and the player starts for real this time at level 1

Points for mentioning El Shaddai. A criminally overlooked game.

Bayonetta seems to have all these . That fight on that crashing tower clock was a great effect.

One game I'd say introduced the characters, setting and story quite well in the intro was Bravely Default. The intro basically introduces you to Agnes, telling you something's going wrong, the world needs help, and something unknown seemingly kills her. The next few clips are a small introduction of each character, telling you what they're about, notably showing Agnes... Not in any huge danger and setting up that the Agnes earlier is, perhaps, in medias res, all this culminating in the big event that kicks off the plot, Tiz's village being destroyed.

Doom, nuff said. You start listening to an audio log and then break the monitor and walk off straight into a room full of demons and a shotgun.

I couldn't help but think that at least one of Metroid game shows each of if not more than one of these intro styles at a time. The opening to Super Metroid and Metroid Prime 3 for example.

Thank you for brining back childhood memories.

When an unfolding game drops a huge mechanic at the begging You know u gonna explore further

That inherit need to solve the mystery is a wonderful explanation to why I played Call of Duty Zombies for over 90 hours, and also why I was devastated when my time spent was all for the amusement of children...

You guys are criminally underrated.

Man I know its not in the first five minutes but as far as spectacle. That first moment when you step out into Fallout 3 was one of the only times I can remember my jaw dropping at a video game. And its funny because it still holds up as it wasn't particularly a graphic intensive scene.

I'm surprised you never mentioned new vegas's intro. That had me hooked on all three of those points and did a fair bit of in medias res.

"Let the game languish in your steam library, next to all those other titles that you... get to, some day" These guys know me too well O.o

Keep up the good work guys (and girls)! One of the best series on gaming I have ever found ;D

Okay, Legend of the Dragoon had an exceptional intro on the PS1 and it still has one today that still wows the heck out of me.

I loved the intro of BioShock infinite, they really nailed the narrative focused into. (Because he's not rowing! He's not rowing?) I played the game so many times just because of those weird, mistirious moment's

prototype has a great mechanics- and narrative-based intro. As far as the narrative goes: it starts in medias res, in a new york city that has descended into chaos roils around you, and at the end it uses your confrontation as a framing device to tell the story of how this disaster started. mechanics wise, it gives you a lot of your highest-level abilities right away. not in their strongest forms, or even all of them, but certainly enough to give you a sense of the power you'll eventually have. it also functions as a great tutorial that gives you a grounding in everything without getting bogged down. the chaos of the surroundings and the design of the level help move things along without getting bogged down. it also uses that multiple intro technique as, after the in medias res framing device, we get introduced to mercer himself after he became infected

3:54 This is the best artist in the world ever period.

I should really start playing more RPGs again, havent been blown away by an intro in a long time. I mainly play MMORPGs now.

I love learning more about making great games

Fire Emblem: Awakening had an awesome intro, but it's made /especially/ freakin' epic when you get near the end of the story and the truth about what you saw finally clicks.

Pokemon Black and White had great intros, you would choose your starter and then BAM! You're in a battle, and then you get to see all of the fancy new upgrades that Nintendo had done to the battle screen... Being a long time Pokemon fan, that was great.

i love this! it educates me,makes me think, and also gets me very creative. and i can easily interpret into multiple types of games.

-Turns on SimCity/Farcry3 "I'm ready to play!" -Excuse me, but please sign in "Way to immediately break the immersion before it started."

FFX has Mystery and Spectacle, for sure. You see what's obviously somewhat of a futuristic city, and get shown an amazing CG cutscene (which you'll see more of throughout the game), and then has you thrust into a new world for you to learn about. (+ in medias res of "This is my story")

The first Syberia has one of the most intriguing intro I've ever seen.

I laughed way too hard at the image of a sandwich wearing a cloak.

Not sure this goes for all types of games. Some people have already mentioned Heavy Rain, but most grand strategies and sim games don't, and arguably can't sell themselves in 5 minutes. The first 5 minutes of SimCity are spent figuring out the UI and watching the paint dry on your first residential zone. Europa Universalis gives you a map, some provinces in your colour, and a speedup button if you don't want the first 5 minutes to consist of watching your first army march from one side of your kingdom to the other. Dwarf Fortress... ehh... Generating the world is more than 5 minutes, but if we call that loading the game, then the first 5 minutes have you poring over a list of items and skills for your dwarves until you are thrown onto the most confusing, information dense screen in gaming history. Sure there is the wow factor of the complexity of these games, which is the main attraction for its target audience, but the first 5 minutes won't give you much of an impression about the game's mechanics or narrative and the wow factor exists only in the vague promise of grandure that might lie ahead...

*TV TROPES! YES!*

Thanks for saying this. I was once criticized ignorantly about how I could know nothing about a game in 5 mins, but if it sucks, it obviously wasn't tested. Also can be too insultingly easy to make me want to quit.

Awesome stuff, I'll check it out every now and then.

Open your heart as the outro song was no coincidence

great example of first 5 minute hook Freedom Planet. it looks like a sonic clone but it is anything but

That sandwich in the mystery cloak lol.

Squall getting his scar in the intro movie in Final Fantasy VIII, make me think what the heck was going on there!? Great game, have to play it again sometime. Also, about Castlevania Symphony of the Night, when Belmont runs towards Dracula in the first minutes of the game, there's a heavy rock music backing the action. That is also the only part I remember with rock music. Now it's more clear why they used it in the first place.

that's a good idea. I think it would be interesting to see a game that plays out like memento. The ending is played out during the intro credits and then we see how we got there, then how we got there, and so on untill the revelation come in the begining of the story.

This is why Limbo got me at the beginning... and heavily deluded me at the end. I actually was happy that it ended soon enough!

This got me comparing the games Silent Hill and Grey. Both had a similar opening where they drop you right into the scariness, but in Silent Hill, they made it so that you were under attack. That way you got to feel how vunerable you were against the monsters and it left you fearful of when you had to fight them for real. Grey on the other hand, just shoves you in a scary corridor and pushes you along. It's kind of interesting how openings can either be so cheap or total genius. :P

Me and my siblings made an In medias res intro, I guess. The player actually starts at the blank end somewhat, which is the crossing between past events and the slowly creeping future ahead. :o

It's worked before, Halo Reach starts off with a battle scared terrain and your customized Noble 6's damaged helmet in the middle of it all, then it flashes back to Noble 6 putting on the helmet before meeting the rest of the team.

Something i noticed was that in Splatterhouse the story starts like he said, right in the action. Where you see the protagonist dying in a pool of his own blood.

I love your show so much! I can't express it to its fullest extent!

Maplestory has tried to do something similar to Symphony of the Night with their newer story-based classes, showing the power they have at high levels and the backstory of the class picked, but it tends to only work the less story they have to shell out. Kid Icarus: Uprising does a fantastic job with the approach, since its actual cutscenes are few and far between. The first mission gets right to the conflict and shows all the mechanics for both sections of gameplay within 4-5 minutes.