[STEAM] The best GTA moments: Cracking the vault on the first 20 entries in our explosive Top 100 list in the run-up to GTA 6

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Something about the

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dig into your brain. Whether it's the gleeful moments of parody that send up American crime classics, the freedom to go on a rampage across an open world urban sandbox, or little cinematic touches that remind you Rockstar's characters go beyond surface level, it's almost impossible to forget. And here, we're snitching on the best GTA moments, from the series' greatest heists to the pettiest robberies.

It's impressive in part because every Grand Theft Auto is huge. Even if you go back to the very first game on PS1, you'll find a sweeping, expansive ambition that remains incredibly moreish, your path through a city very much your own. And yet, so much sticks with you. As we barrel ever-closer to the launch of

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, we've cracked the window on every game in the series in order to rummage through all those shiny memories, and stashed the best of the best in our trunk for you to look at.

This Top 100 list will be updated each week with a new batch of entries, kicking off with our first twenty below. Let us know your favorites in the comments!

100-91

100. Taking Chop for a walk

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Can't wait for the new Grand Theft Auto? Join our

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hub for all the latest updates, features, and retrospectives on the series' legendary history.

Game:

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Released: 2013

Easily the strangest protagonist in GTA history – briefly controllable in single-player, and during a

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Halloween event – Chop is a rottweiler notable for his loyalty in a game full of double-crossings. In fact, the only crossing he does is over the roads near the Clinton Residence should you throw his ball too far. His companionship is welcome when the plot starts blowing up, even if he's behaving badly because you didn't bother to train him via the iFruit app.

But go the other way and you can put plenty of time into building the bond between man and best friend, making sure that Franklin shows love and care to his stalwart companion. Ditch all the crime and take a trip down to Vespucci Beach where you can go for walkies and play fetch.

While some of GTA's detractors will call the series a hedonistic sandbox that brings out the worst in players, it's hard to believe that after we've spent a good hour hanging out with our canine pal. For as sinful as your GTA life can be, it can also be quite mindful. Why not put the weapons away, dutifully park your convertible, and hit the sands with Chop while you take in some digital sun?

99. Getting a call from your cousin Roman

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Game:

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Released: 2008

"Niko! It's Roman. Let's go bowling." The phrase became notorious among Grand Theft Auto fans in the years following the fourth game's release – one of the truly enduring early game memes alongside the arrow to the knee and the cake being a lie. While writer Dan Houser later protested that those calls didn't happen nearly as often as players believed, they were new and significant – a calling card for a relationship system. An important step forward not just for this game, but for many others too. And you'd better enjoy bowling. Strike!

98. Watching an actual comedy set in Liberty City

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Game: GTA 4
Released: 2008

Ricky Gervais appears at the Split Sides comedy club in Liberty City. Not someone we'd pay to see, but back on PS3 and Xbox 360 the idea of being able to actually drive to a club and take in a proper show was novel. It's an idea Rockstar has revisited a few times, most recently in

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where you can watch full theater performances that change every week night. What will we be able to watch in GTA 6?

97. Blasting your ice cream van's jingle

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Game:

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Released: 2002

In Rockstar Games' satirical take on Miami for GTA: Vice City, even the most innocent occupation is a paper-thin veneer concealing rampant corruption and criminality. So it proves when Tommy Vercetti buys the Cherry Popper Ice Cream Company (*sigh*), and discovers a burgeoning drug distribution operation. The juxtaposition of sing-song chimes with the sight of grown adults running from the sidewalks for their favourite white-coloured, tooth-wrecking fix remains one of the most grimly comic scenes in the entire series – which really is saying something.

96. Driving past Deliver Me Timbers

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Game:

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Released: 2001

Shoot for the moon, so the saying goes. In GTA 3 if you do, you won't land among the stars as the rest of the saying claims, but it will get *******. It's a bizarre fact of life in Liberty City that presumably has dramatic knock-on tidal effects for the planet as a whole. But don't worry – snipe enough times and it'll return to its usual size. That this bizarre Easter egg was ever discovered is testament to the sheer amount of time bored teenagers spent in GTA 3, taking potshots at the scenery.

93. Taking the Pisswasser

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Game:

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Released: 2004

All it took was a fan combing files to find cut content to cause

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. On the trail of unused animations, 'hot coffee' turned out to be a cartoonish sex minigame, in which CJ has to rhythmically ****** his girlfriend to elicit maximum excitement. Chaos ensued as, though the mini-game was inaccessible to the casual player, the incomplete files had been buried on the disc rather than deleted outright. Many fingers were pointed, and Senator Hillary Clinton called for new legislation to ban the ***** of violent and ********* explicit games to American children, with a $5,000 fine for retailers in breach of the law.

86. Getting really into talk radio

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(Image credit: Rockstar Games) Game: GTA 5
Released: 2013

Most series veterans quickly realised they were playing in CJ's backyard during the Hood Safari campaign mission of GTA 5, but few noticed him riding by on his BMX with Sweet and Big Smoke. It might not make sense as a canonically sound crossover, but it's a pretty neat nod to how far the series has come since the PS2 days.

We'll be updating this list each week as we approach our number one pick as part of our Countdown to GTA 6 coverage!

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