William

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES, specifically the water level with the bombs you had to diffuse. Scared the living hell out of me, even when I came back with a Game Genie. And then I found out you had to do it a second time later on.

Another high adrenaline moment was with Descent: Freespace on the "Playing Judas" mission. I was playing that mission for the first time at 3am and when the Lucifer jumped in, I could barely keep my hand steady on the joystick to scan it.

Tom Morello's solo in the Audioslave song "Be Yourself". I'm always strumming along with it when I hear it on the radio.

I think the best moments are after the last boss in almost any Metroid game, after you have just barely taken them down, learning that you then have to escape because of the self-destruct/planet instability that then occurs. There is then a heart-pounding race to get the hell out of dodge because you don't want to have to beat the boss all over again. Those moments always left me on the edge of my seat as I rushed for the ship to escape, and only after seeing Samus Aran leave the planet, do you get the chance to exhale and enjoy your victory.