Top 3 Cinemas

[Serega81]

Hands down, the cinemas in Ys I and II are the most memorable to me.  Quick on its heels are Cosmic Fantasy (bathing scenes!), Ys IV, Gotzendiener, cute and funny Magicoal, and Final Zone II (so bad they're good + a nice bitch slap).

For technically impressive ones, it's hard to beat those in 3x3 Eyes, Gulliver Boy, and Xanadu.

I have to second Necromancer on Final Zone II, it's one of those its so bad its good moments, kind of like Steven Seagal movies especially the later ones.. I just finished Blood Gear for the 3rd or 4th time, I like some of the cinemas there, especially the intro, and ending sequences.  From what I recall Star Breaker had a few good cinemas as well, I liked some of the villain designs and animations.

[geise]

Yeah Star Breaker has some pretty rad cinemas.

[seieienbu]

I think the opening to Ys 4 is my favorite overall.  I loved watching the events that transpired at the close of Ys 2.  It gave me tons of nostalgic feelings when I first saw it many years ago and I feel that it aged very well and continues to look great today.

I never played all the way through the game, but the intro to 3x3 Eyes always looked great in my opinion.  Tons of fluid animation and it was the clearest example I can think of to demonstrate the potential differences between what an arcade cd game and a super cd game could do.

I guess in third place I'd put the intro to Ys 1.  I showed it to all of my friends and used it to explain why CDs were the future of video games.  There was something magical about seeing that intro when I saw it; there was nothing else comparable.

[_joshuaTurbo]

Download 2 should be mentioned as well.  Love the cutscenes at the beginning and in between stages. 

[pixeljunkie]

Louga 2

Also most Riot games had great cut scenes...the games themselves are another issue