What's your favorite main menu screen?

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Definitely Persona 4. It's all yellow and cool and shit. I have no idea how they thought it up but bright (but not too bright) yellow is the main aesthetic of the game. It's totally awesome.

I was under the impression Atlas was trying to make persona 4 like the opposite of persona 3. Since P3's main color aesthetic was dark gloomy blue, they made P4's a bright happy yellow. And it was awesome. I can't think of a lot games as colorful as P4

On topic, I've already had persona 4 and fallout 3 ninja'd from me so I'd have to say super smash brothers melee. That iconic opening line from the narrator and the epic music and the layout of the menu were perfect. Also Metro 2033 if only because the music makes you feel like you're about to start an awesome adventure

 

[JagermanXcell]

Really liked MGS2's, had a bit of atmosphere to the intro music.

Fallout 3s, Persona 4s, and Metroid Prime's, no contest of course.

 

[HellbirdIV]

I think the Halo games. Pretty background, good music (especially Halo: CE and Halo 4) and a very simple, straightforward no-nonesense menu.

 

[Deshin]

Pure nostalgia here: I love the Metal Gear Solid intro


Like I said, PURE nostalgia factor only. Even the beep of selecting items just sends a trigger right from the ear to the nostalgia nerve in my brain.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Gotta be either Halo: Combat Evolved for being so cool:

or Oblivion, for the theme and for not looking like shit *cough* Skyrim *coughcough*:

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

I tend not to spend much time in menu screens but I thought Metro 2033 was very interesting. So was Bioshock Infinite and other menu screens that kind of work with the scenery

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

Surgeon Simulator 2013

Seriously, half of the fun I had with that game was just dicking around with all the items on the desk and such in the main menu. Not to say the rest of the game wasn't fun either, it's just you know a main menu is awesome when you spend half of your play session just fiddling with crap on said main menu before actually playing the game.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

Civilization IV's amazing menu with the spinning globe and beautiful background music. The expansions even offered an option to use the default menu screen instead of the expansion's.

Starcraft I also had a pretty bad ass menu, as did Metro 2033.

 

[Kyrdra]

my absolute favourite is the menu screen of Brütal Legend. The music in combination with the use of a disk and it's hull is absolutly awesome

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Gotta be Psychonauts. I mean come on, you run around on top of a giant brain to select menu items!

I tend not to spend much time in menu screens but I thought Metro 2033 was very interesting. So was Bioshock Infinite and other menu screens that kind of work with the scenery

These are my favourite types of menu screens. I must have sat for ages just staring at Metro: Last Light's menu screen before I even started a game. I also appreciate inventive ways of presenting developer and publisher logos as well, another thing Metro: LL did really well.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I don't have a favourite (or any) example to hold up, I rarely feel anything particular about them.

However, I do LOVE it when the menu screen changes due to the player's actions within the game, or after the game's ending. Hitman: Blood Money did it, with the camera moving around 47's prone body IIRC. I think KotOR2 did something even cooler, in that if you finished it with an evil/dark side PC, they appeared on the menu screen instead of whomever was on there prior. I think there are some games (I want to say HL2?) that reflected where the player was in the game.

It's also quite cool when they show something happening like people walking and entering/exiting buildings, cars driving past camera, etc. Like Claptrap moving around in Borderlands, or some RPG I forget with a blacksmith hammering away at his anvil, wiping his brow, quenching and starting again.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I'd say Metal Gear Solid 4. Great music, memorable visuals. And epic foreshadowing.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

Gotta be Psychonauts. I mean come on, you run around on top of a giant brain to select menu items!

I tend not to spend much time in menu screens but I thought Metro 2033 was very interesting. So was Bioshock Infinite and other menu screens that kind of work with the scenery

These are my favourite types of menu screens. I must have sat for ages just staring at Metro: Last Light's menu screen before I even started a game. I also appreciate inventive ways of presenting developer and publisher logos as well, another thing Metro: LL did really well.

of course, how could I forget that! Psychonauts had an amazing menu screen. irritating at times ( once got lost for a while and couldn't find the exit option), sure, but still fun.

Uh, oh, and Brutal Legend! with the album cover presentation and everything.

 

[JayElleBee]

I'm quite fond of ME2?s menu screen. I like menus that seem to exist in a space like that, plus I liked reading the little news articles that popped up daily on the computer.

 

[Vareoth]

I will most certainly agree with the first Halo game and MGS4 having great menus.

But I think I might have to go for Alan Wake.

I like how the scenery in the background changes according to where in the game you last were and the simplicity of the menu.

Honorable mention goes to Drakengard for the PS2. But that is not really thanks to the layout in the menu but the secret trailer you get if don't press start.

 

[Daft Time]

I actually don't have a favourite menu. The ones that do anything cool do so at the expense of practicality which ends up frustrating me, or is just bland. I will give points for Mirror's Edge and it's fantastic soundtrack though. Pretty good candidate for best menu music.

Spoiler: It's already been posted, but here it is again.

I'm quite fond of ME2?s menu screen. I like menus that seem to exist in a space like that, plus I liked reading the little news articles that popped up daily on the computer.

Do you remember actually using it though? It was a slow, poorly organised menu system. If you weren't connected to the internet, it wouldn't let you do anything until it realised it could not connect to the daily news system which took quite awhile. The Mass Effect games have some of the worst menus in terms of practically.

 

[Ferdy Hoefakker]

No Baldurs Gate (1 and 2) yet? Escapist, I am disappoint

The theme that plays on the menu of Baldurs Gate 2 is just epic and really sets the mood for the epic adventure you're about to have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U88zyFLzIXQ

 

[NightmareExpress]

I've always liked Super Smash Brothers Melee. After watching that fantastic intro (if you wanted) and pressing start, you get sent to the Main Menu and can choose what you want to do from there. Nice, quick and without much hassle. For the type of game Melee is and all of the content that resides in it, I can't think of a better alternative.

The selection noises are burned into my mind and I can subconsciously hear them when listening to these tracks;
(After unlocking everything, there is a chance that this will play on the menu screens instead)

 

[wolf thing]

spec ops the line had a great menu, the music and the imagery perfectly mirrors the themes and the styles of the game. The jimi hendrx song, the flag, it nicely tells you some of the themes of the game. not to mention how it changes and the game goes on.

 

[solemnwar]

I kind of like Dragon Age: Origin's main menu. IDK why.

Spoiler

There's just something about it I like.