I died in Zelda 1 for the first time in 19 years a couple months back, and I replay it at least once a year.
I don’t think I’ve ever died in Super Metroid.
When MVC3 first came out one of my friends’ friends organized a pretty big tournament at his house, with money on the line, a Genesis SFII qualifying round, and everything. The final came down to me and my long time SFA3 sparring pal. With just a sliver of health left on both sides in the final round, I dizzied my friend, then taunted. The whole place went nuts as I had hoped. But having never played the game before I had no idea my friend had enough time to recover. Probably the most bad ass way to end up in second place.
I placed third in a Windjammers tournament at an arcade a couple years back. Both the dudes ahead of me were leagues better though.
In a legit Skullgirls tournament back in 2012 I made it to the semifinals without ever having played the game, including in the first two rounds since I got matched with no shows. Had I won my first real match I would have been paired with Justin Wong.