Right, as mentioned in different posts above, it’s a motif of Super Mario games. They are prominently used in Odyssey’s famous nod to where it all started. They are used in 3D World’s coolest moment. Its notorious final stage Champion’s Road also ends with fireworks. They can be seen in N64 Rainbow Road, in Mario Kart 8. I wonder if we’ll see fireworks in the Illumination movie?
Outside of the Mario IP, I think my most memorable gaming moments tied to fireworks have all been mentioned already, save three.
① I probably love **Dark Savior** more than any human being reasonably should. Most of the game occurs on an island turned into a prison, imaginatively named Jailers Island. You might not realize on your first playthrough that the whole socio-economic construct, rules, power dynamics and urban planning of the island is completely bonkers. There is that amazing moment at the very beginning of the game's first scenario (I think I tagged it properly below) where the warden of Jailers Island, Kurtliegen, celebrates his own birthday and allows inmates to get visits from their relatives, among many other weird events that don't make sense for a high security prison. The scene starts with fireworks commissioned by Kurtliegen to celebrate himself. It puts you into the vibe of that weird place immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXr_pBVs54o&t=725s
② Fireworks are rarely used in the background of fighting games. [Ray's stage](https://youtu.be/BDO5uA8JAvg?t=82) in Fighter's History Dynamite comes to mind (they appear in the second round). You can also make fireworks appear in [Lawrence's stage](https://youtu.be/C01nZUDOSlQ?t=1098), under specific conditions, in Fatal Fury Special. But my favorite implementation of fireworks in a fighting game is the Cihco de Mayo (_sic_) stage in **Art of Fighting 3**. You are fighting in a back alley, more or less missing the entire show, and the fireworks illuminate the walls and sky periodically. The sound direction also does a great job with the muffled sound of the parade and distant fireworks' sounds, blocked and distorted by the buildings behind you. The whole scene feels like what Michael Mann would come up with if he was tasked to design fighting game stages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5_NkNJFIc&t=141s
③ There are some firework scenes in a least a couple Final Fantasy games. Chrono Trigger, mentioned above, is another great example. But you know which legendary RPG got the most compelling and original fireworks? PC Engine's very own **Tengai Makyō II**. Yet it's not your typical nice visual scene in the background, or millenial fair about to be disrupted by evil afoot. In Tengai Makyō II, Fireworks are literally a character called "Fireworks". Well, the entire game is in Japanese and set in a fantasy version of Japan, so she is actually called Hanabi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKI_LL17m5o
Hanabi and her two sisters are some of the major secondary characters in the game. You meet them pretty early on (seen above). I don't want to spoil how they interact with the protagonists because there are some memorable beats in the adventure that will be worth discovering on your own when you get the chance. However, I can at least explain Hanabi (the blue-haired one) is the eldest of the three ninja sisters and acts as the mature, graceful leader of the band. Unfortunately, as her name foreshadows, Hanabi is extremely short-tempered and prone to lose her composure, in which case she will not hesitate to use her feudal bazooka on everything and everyone, sometimes at the player's or even her own peril.
Hanabi, Matsuri and Mikoshi bring a lot to the comedic tone throughout the game. The dubbing and visual cutscenes obviously added a lot to their personality at a time when you could barely recognize what RPG character sprites were supposed to represent, and they are really well used in the handful of scenes they appear to push the plot forward.