Best Video Game Openings of all Time

Majora's Mask, Bioshock 1 and Half Life 2 are the first three that come to mind.

Out of the most recent games I have played, Metal Gear Solid 3 definitely had an epic intro. Mass Effect 2, Bioshock, and Batman: Arkham Asylum have great intros as well. I agree with your selections as well.

The first 10 minutes of Gears Of War was the first ever time my jaw dropped whilst playing a game!

i loved bioshock infinite's opening.

and mass effect 2's opening was great.  excellent way to start a game, imo.

MOH frontline - this one drew my entire household around the TV

God of War - killing that sea monster, i knew this game would be awesome

Silent Hill - the alley. oh God, the alley >_>

My favorite opening has got to be Metal Gear Solid 3.

A Link To The Past

Final Fantasy X

Resident Evil 4

Metal Gear Solid 4

Majora's Mask

Bioshock (Unfortunately the rest of the game doesnt hold up)

And many more

I am enjoying the opening half hour of Sleeping Dogs a lot as well.  The very opening gameplay segment is not amazing, but it then picks up a lot.

Mass Effect 2 had a pretty memorable opening.Cube_of_MooN

ME1's was far better.  Great opening in ME1.

FF8. Easily.

Fallout 3

Uncharted 2

Half Life 2

Bioshock

Contra. 

Dun do do do do dun- DUN! *Massive 8-bit explosion sound effect*

Took you less than a minute from when you turned the console on to full-on gameplay. The explosion told you you were about to play something awesome. :P 

How can I not mention God of War 3's violent, fun, OTT spectacle of holy shit of an opening. You're not supposed to start a game with patronzing tutorials and other boring stuff, you're supposed to start a game like that. MoH Frontline, Bioshock and Halo CE also stand out.

Super Metroid, SotN, RE4, TLoU, AlttP, Arkham Asylum,

Skyrim and Fallout 3.

Oh, and Bioshock Infinite.

TLOU and Chrono Cross are my two fav openings

Far Cry 3

TLOU

Shadow of the Colossus

The Last of Us

God of War III

Uncharted 2

Final Fantasy 8

Those are some of my favorites.

My favorite opening to a game has to be Mass Effect 2, in terms of epicness and drama there are surely very few to rival that opening? Also honourable mentions to all the God Of War games, as they also all have very epic openings. However the problem with the God Of War series is that the rest of the game never lives up to the first hour or so!

Fallout 3 (when leaving Vault 101 for the first time) was just great. Also Bioshock and Silent Hill 3.

Assassin's Creed series have some of the best intros ever, except for III. 

Prototype aswell, not the second though.

World of Warcraft, except Mists of Pandaria who isn't too great, but it ain't bad either.

Already mentioned above but:

War, war never changes - immortal opening lines

Kingdom Hearts I and II

Final Fantasy VIII