Uncharacteristically grim scenes

[Sotenga]

I was wondering if there are any incredibly dark or frightening moments you can recall in games that are otherwise pretty innocuous. The example that shoots to the top of my mind is the final battle against Giygas in Earthbound, which... is just effed up beyond all rational comprehension. It's hard to describe it, and I don't want to spoil anything in text, so here's a vid for those who wonder what the deuce I'm talking about: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9gbG_gzgyJI

Earthbound is generally a game that doesn't take itself too seriously, but this finale is just... well, for lack of a better word, scary. Giygas gave me the infinite creeps when I beat the game for the first time, and due to a couple of info bits I've happened across recently, he's even more disturbing to me now more than ever.

I want to know if there are any other such instances like this in games? Scenes that are far scarier than they should be; discuss!

[isufje]

R-type Delta, Last stage. Makes me wanna puck just thinking about it. Little baby fetus's going around crying out loud. This unfortunately was the only thing I didn't like about the game, and is just disgusting enough to warrant never to play again, ever.

[boatofcar]

Here's a similar thread, but not identical.

Irrational Fears of Some Games (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109040)

[InsaneDavid]

R-type Delta, Last stage. Makes me wanna puck just thinking about it. Little baby fetus's going around crying out loud. This unfortunately was the only thing I didn't like about the game, and is just disgusting enough to warrant never to play again, ever.

Just wanted to say that your avatar has always kicked ass.

Similar to your comment, the final boss at the standard end of Parasite Eve always disturbed me while I felt the rest of the game was fitting and interesting.

[rbudrick]

I was wondering if there are any incredibly dark or frightening moments you can recall in games that are otherwise pretty innocuous. The example that shoots to the top of my mind is the final battle against Giygas in Earthbound, which... is just effed up beyond all rational comprehension. It's hard to describe it, and I don't want to spoil anything in text, so here's a vid for those who wonder what the deuce I'm talking about: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9gbG_gzgyJI

Earthbound is generally a game that doesn't take itself too seriously, but this finale is just... well, for lack of a better word, scary. Giygas gave me the infinite creeps when I beat the game for the first time, and due to a couple of info bits I've happened across recently, he's even more disturbing to me now more than ever.

I want to know if there are any other such instances like this in games? Scenes that are far scarier than they should be; discuss!

So what were the info bits you discovered that made it even scarier?

-Rob

[Jorpho]

Ahh, such a good final boss, Giygas. So sublime, the way it opens up with that chiptune that segues into hard rock! It might be argued that the ultimate way to finish him off is a little nonintuitive, though.

I'm going to mention the Medusa in Final Fantasy Adventure. Downright touching, that bit.

[Sotenga]

So what were the info bits you discovered that made it even scarier?

-Rob

Glad ya asked! I'll just note a l'il SPOILER WARNING for those who haven't beaten the game. :)







Anyway, three things. One relates to historical context, another is a visual trick that makes Giygas' true state seem all the more disturbing, and the third item is part of the horrendous garbled noise that compliments the fight.

1: When Giygas is very creepily saying "It hurts it hurts," "I'm h a p p y," and all that fubar stuff... well, that was actually taken from a graphic rape scene in a film that creator Shigesato Itoi accidentally happened upon when he was about ten years old. It's known as Kenpei and the Dismembered Beauty, which sounds suitably disturbing. But seriously... the concept of a grotesque and somewhat intangible alien speaking to a 13-year old boy like he's violating him... YIKES.

2: When it gets to the point where Giygas becomes a nightmarish "Magic Eye", as I like to refer to it as (at 7:25 at the video link I posted above), he looks like a bunch of distorted faces... at first glance. However, look closer at him, and let me know if you can see the underlying image of a silhouetted fetus. This is reflective of Pokey's description of how his power took over him, and he became an "all-mighty idiot;" an infantile mind unaware of the chaos he is causing. Am I the only one who finds the concept of fighting a gigantic alien pseudo-baby really freaky?

3: When the third phase of the fight is entered and the music becomes fast and scary (at six minutes into the video above), it sounds a bit like you're hearing a really distorted voice saying "let me out of here" or something to that degree. That's like the type of disturbing voices they pick up on Ghost Hunters. These things are giving me the jibblies now that I've picked up on them, and I thought the fight was scary before! :eek:

[sidnotcrazy]

This is a great thread, and many games come to mind, but one title sticks out for me above the rest, Demon's Crest.

Demon's Crest was for me was extremely dark, and dismal. I finished the game, but I still got a really disturbing ending. Its the only Snes game I can think of that really bothered me, and was almost too dark for me. Great game though, and I am glad Capcom choose to publish it in the states.

[CosmicMonkey]

The last boss in Blazing Star is slightly.... disturbing.

All the way through the game we're on standard space shooter type enemies, until you get to the last boss, which is a giant mutating baby. In space. With guns and shit. WTF?

[exit]

Wild Arms was seemingly lighthearted at the start, until the introduction of Mother and the breaking noise heard after each of her scenes.

[Jorpho]

Wow. You're right, those are some nifty bits, Mr. Sotenga. How did you learn of them?

[Sotenga]

Wow. You're right, those are some nifty bits, Mr. Sotenga. How did you learn of them?

The first one was on the Wiki, which I realize is not the most reliable source of info... then I saw lots of agreements about it on YouTube comments, and in context, I thought it appropriate. The other two were also brought to my attention by YouTube comments, and when I focused in on them, I nearly Shatner'd my pants. O_O

Was I the only one severely creeped out by Jaquio on Ninja Gaiden? And the Masked Devil, for that matter... they scared me so badly as a young'un that I mashed the start button to bail out of the cutscene. *blush*

[diskoboy]

When I was a kid, Sinistar, Space Fury, and Wizard of Wor used to creep me out.

Sinsitar was just plain scary looking. And his real sounding voice made him even more creepy. And he spent the whole game taunting you.

Space Fury - that big creepy thing with one eye. The marquee used to terrify me in a dark arcade.

Wizard of Wor - I was 7 year old... It was that uber-mechanical voice... And the music. It's tame, now. But in 1980-83, prime stuff.

[IronBuddha]

The part on Max Payne where you have to stay on the blood trail and you hear the baby crying in the background.
I use to turn the volume off on the part and play some music.

[Soviet Conscript]

The part on Max Payne where you have to stay on the blood trail and you hear the baby crying in the background.
I use to turn the volume off on the part and play some music.

don't think this counts cause its appropriate for the game...

but Friday the 13th on the NES used to scare the hell out of me as a kid. i used to cover the cart and hide it in a corner.

[mnbren05]

The girl who turns into a monster in Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past used to give me the creeps big time.

Another fright for me was the time I stepped onto the other teleportation pad in Chrono Trigger during the one game session. Very frightening to be overwhelmed very quickly. This instance really has made me question doing anything in games. I constantly debate over whether or not to do something most likely in fear of getting stuck in a final boss battle again. Plus Lavos really had a trippy background (that my friends always said were used to steal your brainwaves and make him stronger also if you didn't play through the rest of the game you could damage your brain with the shock of the hidden images I was like 9 or ten OK!)

[James8BitStar]

Eh, I dunno, after Half-Life, fighting a giant alien baby doesn't seem so disturbing anymore (though IMO Half-Life was a particularly eerie use of it).

I remember once getting freaked out by the ending of Mega Man X. Not because of the game itself, but because of the music that plays during Sigma's "I'm gonna come back to haunt you!" taunt after the credits, and the way it has two notes that sound like someone's knocking a pipe. Let's just say... I wasn't a very smart kid, and I didn't realize those sounds were coming from the game.

EDIT: Just remembered another thing.

When I was a kid, I played Zelda II: The Adventure of Link alot, but I never really figured out what my actual goal was... I thought the only reason to go into dungeons was to get items, so I would go in, get the item, then go to the next dungeon. So, first boss I ever encountered was the fat dude with the mace (that one's easy to get to without ever seeing the dungeon item).

I dunno why, but dude gave me nightmares... I used to always have dreams that he would come out of the game and come after me.

Beware fat red dudes with maces.

[sidnotcrazy]

Sinsitar was just plain scary looking. And his real sounding voice made him even more creepy. And he spent the whole game taunting you.


Yeah, that game freaked me out a lot. I would hardly ever play it in the arcade for that reason.

[campbell828793]

For me it's the episode with the dog living on after Fry thinks he moved on.....wait a minute....Whoops, that was Futurama...

Seriously though, Chrono Trigger's ending if you lost to Lavos...."But....The Future Refused To Change"

[Push Upstairs]

If you watch "Bender's Big Score" that episode impact is altered.

Still doesn't make up for seeing the episode the first time. :puppydogeyes:

[Haoie]

I remember reading about that Earthbound tidbit of info too, about the rape scene.

Scary the stuff that can stay with you a lifetime, no?

[cyberfluxor]

Last level in Descent. The final boss is nearly 10x bigger than you, shoots 1-hit kill auto-locking mega missles, cloaks, teleports and has a mean, high sheild/armor. Not difficult on easy but any other setting and he's a beast.

Another beast is Lucifer in Painkiller. He deals a massive amount of damage and there are a few tiers you fall down, each are a painful drop so without full HP you're about dead. It took me about a dozen tries and catching onto his algorithms. There are a few other bosses that almost if not trump colosi in size. They're creepy as they creap out of the distant fog on boss levels.

[Sotenga]

I've decided to BUMP this thread with the somewhat obligatory mention of Monster Party and its first level. Halfway into the stage, everything turns from "happy fun time" to "GRODY BLOODY GROSS AND BLOOD", and the dreary music change adds a lot of impact to this brave new world that has such bloody skulls in it. Also, the password screen is a sea of blood with skeletons floating in it. Such a grim motif for what I think is a somewhat cutesy-designed game. It's like something from the mind of Jhonen Vasquez. Oh, and the ending is f'ed up. Don't wanna say too much on that premise.

The rest of the game, IMO, is pretty lighthearted and screwy... for the most part. I would like to mention a lesser known point utter jibbliness, courtesy of Chameleon Man, the sole boss of Level 6. The Chameleon Man is a bloody green face, who moves about with fake bloody green faces, in a ROOM FULL OF BLOODY GREEN FACES. It's kinda hard to describe accurately without conveying its veritable creepiness. Just look at 2:10 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOu3rcWEjZw&feature=related

[Press_Start]

Eternal Darkness. Bathroom. Bloody Bathtub. Nuff said. :(

[PsychedelicShaman]

The part on Max Payne where you have to stay on the blood trail and you hear the baby crying in the background.
I use to turn the volume off on the part and play some music.

Yes, I thought of that one and also the last boss of Revolution X. I just want to stop shooting the further I destroy the boss.

[FrakAttack]

Having to fight Luna at the end of Lunar always bummed me out, but I guess that was the point.

[Push Upstairs]

"Destroy All Humans 2" when you meet up with infected humans.

Sure they say something slightly humorous like "I see you" but their cries of "help me" are really sad.

The game is funny as hell other than that one thing.

[G-Boobie]

In Vampire Savior/Darkstalkers for the Sega Saturn, there's a stage/background with a huge sleeping 'Foetal God'. It's totally disgusting, and oddly out of sync with the rest of the game. It gets worse when the match ends, though: the foetus wakes up and starts to cry. Even though Darkstalkers is an odd blend of horror and humor, that stage in particular really caught me off guard.

The first time I fought Legion in Symphony of the Night seriously weirded me out too. A huge sentient orb made of thousands of corpses....? Huh.

And finally, we have the end of the original Diablo. Enough said I think.

[Sotenga]

Yes, I thought of that one and also the last boss of Revolution X. I just want to stop shooting the further I destroy the boss.

!!! Oh, man. I've been there before. It's like, when I killed it, I made sure that it wasn't too close to the screen while it was bouncing about in its death throes. Otherwise, I'd be like "OH GOD THE SCARY BLOODY DYING LIZARD THINGY IS GOING TO JUMP OUT OF THE SCREEN AND GIVE ME A CORONARY INFARCTION!!!!" Well... that's hyperbole, but I can sympathize with ye.

G-Boobie: I'm going to have to concur with the Foetal God. When he opens up his inhuman eyes and mouth, a chill always runs down my back. And Jedah's ending, where the thing wakes up... ooh, instant nightmares! :eek:

The Crypts (Alucard's domain) in Castlevania 3 still gives me the ever-loving jeeblies, moreso than most other CV levels. It's probably because the music, instead of being a kickass upbeat tune made to fight demons by, is an incredibly creepy dirge that fits well with the dripping drops of acid... and their sound adds a good deal to the atmosphere as well. It's even scarier in the Japanese version; instead of the general background being a slimy green, it's a blood red color that... well, it probably IS blood!

[calgon]

great thread. If anyone hasn't played mansion of the hidden souls on sega cd, should fire it up with the sound loud and the lights low. The first time I heard "But...I don't wanna be a butterfly.." I just got up and shut the game off lol.

[Jorpho]

(By the way, more cool stuff in http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109040 .)