First game to ever scare you?

[Flashback2012]

Haunted House on the 2600 I think had to be one of the first games to scare me.

The 7th Guest on PC had a scene that had me jump out of my seat. I was playing it at a friend's house at 6am and blurted out a "JESUS!" at one part that I woke up his entire family.

The infamous hallway in RE1 had me jump when I played a demo of it at a game store. My friend who was working there got a good laugh.

I remember playing Revelations: Persona and being unnerved by the loading screen and some of the fights.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Sometimes I think video games are not designed for children under 8, well the older ones anyway. These spoiled post-1995 birth kids don't have to deal with scary logos on their consoles/games!

On a side note, imagine a 5 year old goes to plug up their Atari Jaguar and gets this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9VtZVvJHvU

Yeah, the Jag red screen of death... terrorized a few unlucky tykes!

[JSoup]

Sometimes I think video games are not designed for children under 8, well the older ones anyway. These spoiled post-1995 birth kids don't have to deal with scary logos on their consoles/games!

I don't know, I always found the nearly blank screen and echoing air blowing sound effect in the PS2 loader to be rather unsettling. That counts I guess.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I don't know, I always found the nearly blank screen and echoing air blowing sound effect in the PS2 loader to be rather unsettling. That counts I guess.

Well if that's all they have to worry about, they're pretty lucky in my book! At least they don't get those old Midway logos that, combined with living in a trailer with a dark green decor, can almost give a little six year old boy a nightmare :P

[Steven]

It's strange, I remember reading about it when it was still new and it sounded horrifying. I watched a friend play it a few weeks later and I found it less horrifying and more amusing, although I can't remember specifically why.

It works best if you play it in the middle of the night with no lights on, home alone.

I first played CT in 2010 and yes, it is genuinely frightening. Never thought I'd ever say that about an SNES game!

[JSoup]

Oh, here's a good one. Remember Disney's Aladdin on the Genesis? Damn awesome game, right? Try losing all your lives. Screen goes black, cute animation and then:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bCqvgCm5w

Now, as off putting as that is, I played this game when it was new on a much older TV, which scaled up everything, including sound. So that face was full fucking screen, eyes taking up a large portion of the center, with a high pitch laugh in the background.



I worked hard to get better at that game so I wouldn't ever have to see that screen again.

[Wraith Storm]

No game has ever "truly" scared me, but the closest would be Enemy Zero. The first-person shooter parts get really intense.

I FREAKING LOVE Enemy Zero (and just about every Warp game)!!! It was a VERY intense experience.

I remember the first time I played it and everything was going smooth and then I heard "PING"! My heart skipped a beat. "PING PING" My hands started sweating. "PING PING PING" My heart was racing and I started to run away but got disoriented and lost in a maze of crates, boxes, shelves and the like.

The save/load and weapons system as well as the enemies only being detectable by audio made for a very scary game.

But the first game to ever make me jump would be D. Imagine that... another Warp game. My buddy bought it new with his Saturn and along with me and another friend, we crammed in front of the TV. The lights were off and we were the only ones home. Then we opened the door on the staircase (Yeah... that door) and all 3 of us jumped and shouted.

[369WIERDO369]

Oddly enough, the games that scared me most as a kid were..

Castlevania 64 (had nightmares every time I played that game)
Rampage World Tour (for some reason that scientist lady freaked me out)
Glover N64 (the 'main overworld' at the beginning of the play session was kinda freaky)

[megasdkirby]

The first game to ever scare me was Halloween for thr 2600. Even though I tried my best to prepare myself, the game turned out totally different and I ended up being extremely terrified of the game. I was around 10 or so at the time. Ironicalle, I ended up liking the game alot and getting a very high score that even surpassed that of what was listed in the 2600 Connedtion.

The second game to trully terrify me was "Uninvited" for the NES. I was 14 at the time and I recall my parents left me home alone that day (during the night). I was extremely terrified, not only because of the game, but because the house we used to live in was very spooky and always felt there was something bad in the house. Putting those two together freaked me out so bad that night that I as literally paralized in my living room, with only one light working while the rest of the house was pitch black.

And the scary, red skull in the game didn't help matters either.

[starchildskiss78]

I was going to say Police Quest VGA for the PC when the bikers beat you up and you get the skull on the game over screen, but I remembered an earlier gem: Friday the 13th for NES.

I remember OWNING that "wonderful" game *looks over his shoulder* and it would scare the hell out of me every time Jason popped up out of nowhere. The end screen is pretty harsh: "You and your friends are dead. Game over." Lovely, huh?

Resident Evil 1 did a good job of scaring me later on. Now I stick to games featuring Barbie and fluffy kittens. Much safer that way.

[Graham Mitchell]

Hospital deaths depicted in mid-90s games disturbed me so bad I'd just reset the game rather than watch a person croak.

This was a big problem with Microcosm because I couldn't get passwords, so I had to learn to play it through in one sitting. Fast forward to 2011 when I'm playing the amiga cd-32 version at age 32. I inadvertently died enough times to kill Korsby and that scene popped up again. I couldn't take it, I hit reset. Lol!

F-22 interceptor on the Genesis had a similar scene which freaked the hell out of me. Rather inappropriate for a flight sim.

[Robocop2]

That's an easy one, Splatterhouse on the TG16. Now don't get me wrong Stage 1-4 were not anything to terrifying to me but Demon Jen and Hell Chaos (final boss) for some reason scared the ever loving crap out of me as a kid. I had nightmares of both of them and yet I loved the game and kept playing it.

[Lerxstnj]

ET on the 2600. I couldn't believe Atari let this thing come out on their system. I was "scared" that video games were ruined forever!

[kafa111]

banjo kazooie.
scariest game out there, no trollin. That witch makes my heart pound, and most of the levels

[shawnbo42]

While there were several creepy games prior to this, the first game that actually made me call a friend to come over for backup was Fatal Frame. Playing that game at home alone, at night, with a thunderstorm going on was most definitely a "what was THAT?" experience. Also the sound effects tend to build the creepiness as you play, and it never really lets go.

[Patney]

The first PSX Clock Tower game. I remember hiding in the closet in that office and then BAM the murderer finds you. And that cabin with that guy watching TV, and you go closer to examine... Oh god, that game was a nightmare for a child.

While there were several creepy games prior to this, the first game that actually made me call a friend to come over for backup was Fatal Frame. Playing that game at home alone, at night, with a thunderstorm going on was most definitely a "what was THAT?" experience. Also the sound effects tend to build the creepiness as you play, and it never really lets go.

Haha, I remember playing this in broad daylight with a friend by my side, and I promptly shut off the PS2 when I saw the first ghost. It even was a harmless ghost, the kind you see walking past you in the hallway and you're supposed to take a picture of it for points. Glad I'm not that big of a wuss anymore.

[Darko]

I'd probably have to say Silent Hill (and Silent Hill 2 did the same thing years later). I'm not scared easily but playing either of those at 3am with no lights on by yourself is quite an experience.

[Flack]

The last time we did this topic, I mentioned Friday the 13th. And here is a review of the game I wrote, although the screen shots seem to be missing.

Most of my forum involvement lately just involves adding links to the last time we had all these conversations.

[Robocop2]

Flack: the past master?

[alec006]

I don't know, I always found the nearly blank screen and echoing air blowing sound effect in the PS2 loader to be rather unsettling. That counts I guess.

That's actually a nice sound, especially in surround sound, it's like your on the beach.

Ask for a game that scared me, well trying having the surround volume really high up on WWF Smackdown - Just Bring It and having that damn memory card voice...ATTENTION! CAUTION! CAUTION! I swear they put that damn voice in there on purpose.