Traumatizing Videogame experience?
 

Did anyone, has a kid, or maybe a grown-up, had a traumatizing experience playing a certain game, such as nightmares or phobias?

I had one, during the middle years of the NES system with a game called 'DÉJÀ VU' by Kemco.
For those of you who don't remember, it was a Thriller point-and-click game where you played a Private Detective framed for the murder of someone and you had amnesia. You had to click in the direction you wanted to go to and the screen changed with a swirling and hypnotizing black screen which revealed most of the time some characters or situation that have scarred me for life.

Like this for example, which happened when you found a piece of information that may lead to your identity:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...heArtist/3.png

And the MUSIC, the music was the worst because it accentuated the nightmarish images! Forever, I will be traumatized at the game over screen with the tombstone and that horrible music playing in the background. Argh!

I'm 21 years old and even after close to 15 years, I still get scared by that game. :1zhelp:

A few NES games threw me for a whirl when I was a kid. Whenever I died in Zelda 2 and saw Ganon's freaky silhouette and his evil laugh, I would get creeped out. Gave me good incentive not to die.

Also, for some reason, at the very end of Snake's Revenge, I seem to remember a bomb being about to go off, and if the timer went off, the whole base exploded or something. That never sat well with me either.

More recently, Silent Hill 1 and 2 gave me nightmares for a days. I couldn't sleep soundly after playing those 2 titles. I cannot wait for the movie!

The only 'traumatizing' experience I've had was during my younger years when I've played through The Secret of Mana and was seriously freaked out from the music that played during the Ruins of Pandora. I think that's where the place is, but I do remember you had to fight a wall boss inside the place.

That music was so suitably creepy and disturbing that I refused to go through that part of the game without muting the sound first. Even today it still freaks me out. A similiar experience occured when you were inside the SHINra HQ in FFVII. Yes, that music was also creepy (I think it's called 'A Trail of Blood'), but that didn't freak me out as much as the one in SoM did.

*shudder*

Oi.

Mortal Kombat 1 scared the shit out of me. Goro's lair had VERY creepy music and the victory music was even worse.

I've had one traumatizing experience as well. Does anybody still remember the level "40 Fathoms" in Tomb Raider 2 and the other stuff which took place underwater? It may sounds ridiculous to you, but when I was seven or eight years old, this was creepy as hell. All those barracudas, sharks and moray eels were too much for me, especially the gigantic moray eel at the end of the level "Living Quarters". Geez, I didn't see this shit comming. :(

This affected me negatively in such a manner, that I totally mistrusted this whole Zora plot in The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask. Because of that, I've never finished the game, wasn't even able to enter the level Clanker's Cavern in Banjo & Kazooie for ages and still absolutely avoid swimming in the ocean.

I had some very traumatizing experiences too. In Jedi Knight, when you fall into a body of water with those MASSIVE red fish in it I actually almost wet myself as a kid. I still to this day am absolutely petrified of water where I can't see the bottom of it.

Also, Half-Life scared the living hell out of me repeatedly, and probably made me afraid of the dark permanently, it's just so crazy.

With all the new games out these days I'm glad I'm old enough to handle it now, because with games like F.E.A.R. and Half-Life 2 I'd be traumatized majorly as a kid!

I think that's when you had to go and rescue Dyluck, right? I was scared of the music there too, and I hated playing this part at night. And I felt the same way about the scenes and music you mentioned for FFVII.

I remember playing it at night and being freaked out. I didn't have nightmares, per se, but yanno. It's a testament to Mr. Uematsu's ability to pull you into the world and its atmosphere. Creepy, but good.

I had a lot of nightmares playing Illusion of Gaia when I was younger. Some of the music was scary, and the situations too. Man, going into Mu at 1 am in the morning is not a good way to get a good night's sleep!

Dear god those bells still haunt me. I remember being able to play the section itself just fine at the time, but the music was just so horribly disturbing and creepy. The thought that the people there were being controlled by some force like that was so terrible too, I hadn't seen subjects like that in games at the time, especially in Europe.
Awesome soundtrack and game otherwise ;_;

Forgot about this one. When the military first appears in the game. You think they're coming to help you, then when you first see a soldier and he starts SHOOTING AT YOU, I had to pause the game and settle for a few minutes. Amazing storytelling in this game, and that's my favorite example.

Yes it was. So I am not the only one who didn't like the music. That is good to hear, hahaa.

I don't think there's anymore experiences like that for me.

Drowning in Sonic 1 :( The water levels never got beaten by me, since the boss always caused me to drown.

Ha ha! I guess you're a braver chicken than I! I still get freaked out over video games with scary music. Heck, just listening to the song in the SOM soundtrack still gets to me.

OMFG my friends use to tease me because of that sound Lavos makes (the screeching gurgling LOUD & LONG one) would always leave me hiding under a pillow. :D

Holy crap. That too. I was scared as hell of the "HOLY CRAP! I'M ABOUT TO DROWN!!"

If i'm trying to remember anything... It was when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, I was playing this Bruce Lee game on the SNES. After you defeated the normal enemy, the whole screen would go black and white, except you (Bruce Lee) and this weird creepy enemy dude (I never really watched any of the Bruce Lee movies. Enlighten me with the name of this yellow tall creepy villan. [Based on how far I remember]). Only reason it got to me was that you could never hit this mofo. You threw a kick, he'd grab your leg and you wouldn't be able to hit him. >_<

I had the same experience in F.E.A.R., when you first go into the warehouse, and you see soldiers, you assume they're your men, but then they start shooting you, I just about shit myself and died the first time! That whole game is full of surprises though...

Twisted Metal Black for PS2.

Having been a huge fan of Twisted Metal 2, I got the game as a gift, and it completely shocked me with its horror-theme. There are plenty of unforgettable (in a good and bad way) moments in its excellent CG sequences, and I'll bet anyone who's played it would agree.

The game has since become one of my favorites, and no game has scared me since. Hopefully they make a Twisted Metal Black 2 for PS3.

This one time I was playing Mappyland on NES and I died. Long story short, years of therapy ensued and I was finally able to rejoin society as a semifunctional human being.

Really? I thought the whole place wasn't nice and such, but I didnn't find the music scary, I found that one track just....hurt the ears. it doesn't sound creepy, it just sounds horrible. I really really don't like it. When I'm listening to the disc it's the only track I skip. FANTASTIC stuff otherwise though, I"ll agree there.

I don't have anything I get nightmares about, but games do scare the living fuck out of me at times because I'm easily excitable. Most recently, Comdemned on the 360 did this. I've jumped and gotten all scared and shit.

Ahahaha YES, drowning in Sonic is a horrifying experience.

Sonic 2, Zone 2, Act 2. Chemical Plant Zone. There was a section right before the boss where you had to jump up through a shaft on a bunch of moving platforms as the water level rises. Oh god. When that music started, and I knew I only had a few more seconds, I would flip out. My heart rate would skyrocket and I would start sweating. Terrible experience. I never got past that part as a child, so I missed out on pretty much the entire game.

Still when I play that part I get really nervous :(

Each Resident Evil game i've played has given me a string of nightmares throughout my playing trough them. Each game has also scared me in game at least once as well. The Regenerators in RE4 were a huge one, but they will never beat the first time i met Lisa Trevor. I actually had to turn the game off and do something else for a while. And it didn't help that i was home alone, and it was 12:00.

Despite how terrifying Lisa Trevor was/is, the hugest scare i've ever recieved from a game was in Riven.



Me, my sister, two of our friends were playing through this game together, and it was about 11:00 at night when we were at the point in the spoiler. We were discussing what we had just seen, and what it could possibly mean, when all of a sudden *see above*. We all screamed and ran out of the room. I had trouble playing that game for about a month. To this day, it still scares me to go by that place.

Ahaha, THAT scared you? I remember thinking she was pretty cute.

The Riven thing? or Lisa Trevor?

Oh, sorry, I meant the Riven thing.

lol, sure thing.

Man, i will never forget how i felt that moment when i saw her standing there. I could feel the colour drain from my face, and my heart rate flew to new heights. I had that sick feeling you get from being scared shitless. lol, when i think about it, i realize that it's stupid to be afraid of, but it got me the first time, so it'll stick.

Come to think of it, when i first played through MYST as a kid, i got pretty freaked out by meeting Sirrus and Akanar in the Red and Blue books. I'm fine with them now though.

I was traumatized by a game called HALO 2.

Like Sketch, I was also raped by a Kemco game as a kid. Except it was Shadowgate. I feel the need to use italics and everything. It was also the FIRST NES game I ever played, as mine came bundled with Shadowgate, Dr. Mario and Zelda. "THIS ONE WITH THE CRAPPY DEMON ON THE COVER WILL BE GOOD!"

It started off well enough, trying to figure out why anyone would store the key to their front door in a skull. And I'd stumble around, not knowing what to do. Then my torches would start burning out, and this AWFUL horrifying music would play. Oh God it scared me half to death, I had to go fumble for the volume knob. But it wasn't just that, it was the (at the time) shocking death sequences. Even though it was pretty much just text telling you what happened. Then Mr. Grim Reaper would burst onto the scene and inform you that the game was over, with more terrible music playing.

Now a zillion years later, I've beaten the game, and it was okay. I'd like to track down Shadowgate 64 one day. I'm in no rush though, as I hear the game is basically made out of dog poo.

Kemco also published 'UNINVITED' which had the same gameplay has 'DÉJÀ VU' and 'SHADOWGATE'. It was still has terrifying but Déjà Vu was played first.

God, that female silhouette in the corridor......don't approach it!! O_O

I remember getting really freaked out in Maniac Mansion whenever I saw one of the aliens. I don't think I have played it since.

I remember trying to play Uninvited when I was little, and that particular scene gave me the biggest scare I've yet to receive.

You walk down a hall and see the woman, and if you approach her, she turns into:



Not so bad now, but when you're 6 years old playing the alone completely alone and that horrifying music plays, it's enough to leave an impression. It doesn't help that when you die, this blood-stained skull shows on screen.



I never got to find out the ending because I couldn't bring myself to finish the game. God, I'm such a wuss. :(

When that T-rex came around the corner on the original Tomb Raider, I almost wet myself I swear! Then I got eaten -_-

Not really traumatizing...but when I played Metal Gear Solid, I had a dream (twice) where Snake was trying to shoot me and I had no place to hide except under the stupid cardboard box.

TALES OF A SCREWED UP CHILDHOOD:

One of my first and only memories with my father was playing the original Super Mario Bros. Being a retard little child, I couldn't push two buttons at the same time. This, being compounded with the repeated sight of the poor 8-bit man dying over and over, and my father screaming, "MAKE MARIO JUMP OVER THE DAMN HOLE WHY DON'T YA!!!" scarred me for life.

I didn't touch a console until the... SNES.

None that I can recall. I started playing survival horror games when I was about eleven or twelve, but I didn't have nightmares or phobias because of them. I tend to become startled while actually playing a scary game, but never afterwards.

When i played the first Myst with my mom and brother I was really young. When we get to that torture chamber room it totally freaked me out. I still have images of the rooms of that area in my mind today but it scared the crap outta me back then...ah good times

When young I used to get scary at the ghost scenarios Super Mario Bros, belive it or not. I only stopped from being scared by it when I was older and was playing Mario 64.

Nowadays, a game that always scare me is Fatal Frame 2. Not only the game is scary by itself, but whenever I start to play there are these huge coincidences:
1. I'm playing at night
2. Nobody else is at home [or worse, when they are travelling and I'm alone with my cat, which keep staring at nothing (probably a ghost)]
3. While playing it and after I keep hearing strange things.
I love this game but untill today I wasn't able to finish it just by how scaried I got playing it, but eventually I'll finish it.

I remember these faintly now:

Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear - The first boss was a pair of pincers at the bottom of a 45 degree angled slope I believe? I was scared to get sucked in and I didn't know how to beat a pair of pincers submerged in the ground. Somehow I beat it but I certainly didn't want to do that again.

Sonic Chaos - I was absolutely terrified to reach the third act of the second level because the boss what a snake made out of marbles or something. I kept hitting the body which made me lose my coins, but then one day I beat it and figured that I had to bounce on the head. It was really scary to face the snake thing that kept flinging it's marble body segments at you.
After that I made it to Metal Sonic somehow, and I was scared that it was a clone of me.


I don't know if this was a glitch or something, but I was a bit scared when this happened:

World Heroes 2 for SNES - I beat the game and then I went to the 2 player mode to fool around on the survival stages with my friend just taunting with Mudman and Rasputin. I beat him and then this screen comes up saying "glass, grass" and a speech or something like that. Then it said Game Over. I was freaked out...but I figured that it was Rasputin's ending somehow.

Resident Evil 2 was probably the scariest game for me as a child.

In the first 30 minutes or so, a zombie attacks you through one of the windows. I was so scared by it that I paused the game and called my friend. He laughed when I told him a zombie was eating my face. Needless to say, I walked through the rest of the game verryyy slowly.

More recently, FEAR and Doom 3 had me pretty much on edge the whole game.

I don't ever recall me ever being traumatized by video games, but I remember my little sister did once, I believe when she was 8.

My half-sister and her boyfriend of the time were playing Castlevania 64 one the N64 in her bedroom, and me and her were watching also. I don't remember exactly what happened, but whatever it was, my little sister ended up getting so scared of the game that she slept with my parents for almost a year, and afterwards she moved to a different room of the house and slept there, because she said something about that room still bugs her.

I remember when I played Resident Evil 2 how the Lickers scared the crap out of me. Because they moved so fast in the game and crawled on the walls and ceilings, I was scared to fall asleep in my room the first night I played it. I think I actually had a dream with one of them in it and I ended up on the floor in the middle of the night... :(

Also, the Slime boss in Secret of Mana gave me nightmares for a day or so because it reminded me of a horror movie that I'd seen once. In the movie was this oil slick thing that looked just like the Slime boss! *shivers*

I remember some more traumatizing games...

There's those headcrab zombies in Half-Life 2...but I was more scared of the sounds they made than the actual zombies.

Then there's those Seahats in LoZ: Wind Waker. From far away it's fine, but when they are RIGHT IN YOUR FACE, I get the big case of the heebie jeebies. I mean seriously, look at their HIDEOUS GRINS leering at you!!

Ever played Aliens Vs. Predator 2? There's a moment in the Marine campaign where I nearly pissed my pants. It was when I was heading over to a plain ol' door when I looked behind me for absolutely no reason to see a FRICKIN' HUGE PRAETORIAN with flailing arms come speeding towards me. I ran for the door to another room, and ran to the another door that was made of steel, and the Prae's on the other side pounding it viciously while I was desperately looking for an escape route. I thought it was going to tear the door down and get me! That was a terrifying but also one of the most awesome scripted moments I've seen in a game.

And let's save the best for last. The most traumatizing moment is when I played Fading Footsteps. One of the worst.games.ever.

Diablo I. The Butcher. I used to play it at night, i was like 9-11, cant remember the age exactly. But after everyone was asleep...
"Ah.... Fresh Meat".

Playing Zelda 1 through in one run, nonstop, no saving, no dying. I got to Ganon and BEHOLD!

I HAD NO SILVER ARROWS!
/SUICIDE

Fuck, reading this thread IMMEDIATELY made me change my music on my media player. Something nice like the ARIA the ANIMATION OST please...;_;

This I think is why I WILL never play a Silent Hill or RE game. No matter how many "100% or near perfect score" reviews RE4 got, I don't think I'll play it ever alone. Seeing the trailer where you shoot this fat guy then tenticles come out is nerve-racking. And I keep hearing about these "pyramid heads" or whatever from SH or RE.

The music for the world stage in Super Mario Bros 3 was creepy to me when I was a kid..maybe 7-8 at the time.

Just today, "fighting" The Sorrow on MGS3 wasn't a pleasent experience, but it's necessary to see it once all the way through to feel remorse for those fallen, even if they're your enemies (lol whatever). It wasn't frightening, just disturbing, especially when he hits you with the blue spiral shit.

I think ICO had a few scary moments as well when you can't really tell when the shadow monsters are coming up. I was at the East Reflector (READING THE WALKTHROUGH mind you) and knew a monster was coming. When it appeared, I screamed "OH FUCK~!!!!!" and my parents were upstairs, going what the hells going on?

Also, could someone please post this "Secret of Mana" track I read earlier? MP3 please?

Silent Hill 1 was pretty traumatizing the first time I played it.

I remember when I was very little (like 3-4) I got scared shitless by Tresure Mountain, when the guy comes out of a secret opening in the wall of his castle and tries to grab you...

Sadly, I never had the pleasure of playing Uninvited or Shadowgate. I got to play a little Deja Vu back in the day, but it didn't really creep me out. I've forgotten most of the game by now, anyway.

One crazy game that really got to me was Elvira 2 from Horrorsoft. It was a sub-par adventure/RPG thing gameplay-wise, but it was full of gross close-up pictures of zombies and corpses and scary vampires and short clips of dead bodies falling out of closets and right into your face and similar freaky stuff. A lot of the art looked like manipulated photographs, and the realism was sickening for an unassuming young lad who thought he was playing a modern-day version of Dungeon Hack.

Maybe it's campy, but back then I was scared enough to put off sleep for the longest time every evening.

The Secret of Mana thing you people are talking about disturbed me in the same way Symphony of the Night's confessional did (THAT MUSIC), but I'd hardly call my experience with them traumatizing. Unusually creepy, yes.

Yeah, I had a traumatizing experience.

When I was 8 and first heard the music from Mario 64 where you try to go into a door but don't have enough stars, it scared me shitless. And Bowser's laugh at the end didn't help much either. In fact, that music STILL creeps me out and I'm almost 18 :lolsign:I had to have my friend over when I played the game when I was younger >_>

God, I forgot about the black headcrabs in Half-Life 2. They still give me the god damn creeps, especially in Ravenholm. I hated the long legged headcrabs (the ones that move really fricking fast and create those berserk zombies) like the plague, but the black ones are even more disturbing ;_;

EDIT:
Yeah, that's the song alright. However Spatula, it naturally won't have the same effect unless you see the temple and know the storyline at the point and the circumstances that made you investigate the place in the first place. All those poor people ;_;

Mine's Sonic 1, too, Marble Zone. Getting squished by those stomping thingies.

I still dream about that sometimes. ;_;

Redeads in Zelda (OoT and Wind Waker) freak the shit out of me. I mean, I've played Resident Evil and I doubt I'd have any qualms playing Silent Hill (trying to find and play SH2), and I've watched all manner of scary movies, unaffected.
But man, when those things catch me off-guard, and they scream and I can't move, that's terrifying.
Two particular moments:
In OoT, I bomb a hole I find in Kakariko Village with the rumble pak/stone of glory. I go inside. Then I see the redeads and I'm like AH SHIT REDEADS.
It loses something in the telling, because it was a long time ago and I hardly remember, but that was scary.

There's also the first Redead I saw in Wind Waker, in my private cabana's unnecessary sewer system. I thought "Whoa hey a person, I wonder what they're doing down here" and I go to talk to them, and holy damn. Screaming and I can't move and these huge red eyes and a mouth bigger than my body and eating my head and goddamn.
I think I actually shouted when that happened.

Oh yeah, I know how you feel. When I was eight years old, these monsters scared the shit out of me. I even stopped playing Ocarina of Time for some weeks just because of those redeads. But once I've pooled all my bravery and attacked one of them, there weren't scary and hazardous anymore. It's funny how I'm able to kill the regenerators without batting an eye, although I was so~ scared of those brown ugly "guys".

Wimp.

I can't say I've ever been traumatised by a game but I've certainly been frightend. And nothing ever was more frightening than Eternal fucking Darkness. The bathtub. Fuck. I just froze up. For those who'll never play the game: I mean this is a game that is chilling right thoughout but this is undisputedly the scariest.

Other games from when I was younger.
Prince of Persia. The mac version, with the better graphics and sound. Christ it was allright but then you get to level 3. The choppers, the skeleton the fuckign everything. Me and my friend were obsessed with this game. He was pro at it yet he'd always make me do the choppers, never mind that they scared the fuck out of me too.
Oh god and then level 4 with the mirror outta nowhere. And the whole level 6-7 transition. And the impossible toescape sequence of level 8. Non stop drama.

Also Super Metroid, I can't remember exactly but I found some kind of secret route and just the total absense of sound and the dark eeriy environment. Plus the knowledge that this tunnel was leading me right into the middle of an unexploredarea and I'm low on health.

Metroid Fusion too was full of tension and creepy moments. eg. every SA-X encounter. And that time you're riding the elevator and the power cuts...

Still I'm better somesome of the weak cows in this thread, becoming scared of water and refusing to play entire segments of games. What is this?

I know, but at least I'll be able to sleep well at night, and not be afraid of nurses, thanks to SH2. After taking a look at a few screenshots, I'm like, yeah, no.

Perhaps when some friends who've played RE4 are over at my house, then I'll just sit back and watch. And hug my teddy bear.

::Teddy bear turns into Pedo bear:: damn.


Oh, like when you type in buttons and then a skull pops up? I faintly remember Myst. But I found it boring, and puzzle solving isn't my niche.

" It's funny how I'm able to kill the regenerators without batting an eye, although I was so~ scared of those brown ugly "guys"."

Same thing with me. When I first fought one, and didn't have the scope, I was like crap this is kinda creepy, I hope I never have to fight two at once.
Then I got the scope and they were a fuckin' breeze. Like shooting tin cans with a shotgun.
But Christ, Redeads freak me the fuck out.

Also, I'd forgotten about the bathtub thing in ED. When I played that the first time, two friends were watching me play, and all three of us screamed really loudly.

I didn't like those redeads, the noise they made was creepy.

Doom and F.E.A.R.

I first time I played Doom, I was about.... oh say 10 years old. Anyway, the first time I saw the Pinky Demon up close, I literally shit my pants. I had to hid underneath the desk for a little bit while my cousins gave me a good laugh.

AND THE GAME STILL SOMETIMES SCARES ME. Its just that one stupid monster that pisses me off. WTF!


As for F.E.A.R, the constant popping up of images scared me pretty good. And the girl running after you, and those nightmares. OH MY!

Meh, those Redeads in WW didn't terrify me. Sure, it was terrifying the first time, but I had no problems going straight up to them afterwards and beating the crap out of them.

Am I the only one who is scared of those Seahats? Redeads may not scare me, but those Seahats are terrifying up close and personal. I always dread having to go through a Seahat infested place.

Reboot for Playstation. This game was one BIG traumatizing experience, the controls are terrible, the graphics were bad and age even worse, the gamepla-- Okay, it wasn't so much traumatizing as incredibly suckitudinous.

But being serious now, I think once I was a very creeped out by the Redead enemies in Ocarina of Time. I'm not the only one to have the found them scary I see. However, the noise they made was fear summoning, and the fact that they grappled onto you if you got close to them made me tremble. I think that was one of the few times I was actually scared by a video game, but I'm not even sure that I find them mildly frightening anymore. Since then I've managed to play much scarier games without flinching.

Honestly...

I'm 21 years old...my gf is 18...we just finished Fatal Frame 3 maybe about a week ago, but some reason I don't look at my closet the same, and my g doesn't really like the dark to much anymore either...

I think Fatal Frame 3 and Silent Hill 1 gave me my traumatizing experience, Silent Hill made me not wanna go to school for awhile...

Oh man... I'm such a bitch when it comes to certain things in games. At least I can stomach it enough to complete it all though.

The music for the Forest Temple in Zelda: OOT was just... wierd. I didn't want to mute the TV though. I don't know why really...

Redeads got to me for the same reasons as everyone else.

Silent Hill 2. In that scene where you run down the stairs and around those twisting hallways then all of a sudden BAM Pyramid Head is RIGHT ON YOUR ass. There's also the part where you're about to go up to the roof of a certain area, and yet AGAIN he pops out of nowhere and knocks you off the roof. The thing that gets to me most about PM is that GIGANTIC knife he drags around. Once you hear that sliding noise, you know many unpleasantries wait in the near future. This has to be the most terrifying enemy ever made, which leads to the most anti climactic boss fight ever made at the end. -_-

60% of the music in the first Silent Hill... nuff said...

Oh, and I actually broke a control the first time I played the first RE. The infamous dogs through the window in the hallway. I never touched that game again untill MANY years later.

Like most of the people who posted, Silent Hill 1 & 2 really traumatized me. I never played 1, but, when it first came out, I watched my friend's uncle play it. It was the creepiest thing ever. TT^TT

I also blame Silent Hill 2 for making me hyper sensitive a night time, especially when I'n walking alone (I'm like "is there going to be a fetus monster on the other side of the street...?" or "Oh shit, is this place going to go alternate?!?")

The ReDeads in OoT and MM really creeped me out, but those giant hand things (I totally forgot what they were called). I think there were two different kinds: the one that take you back to the temple entrance, and the ones that split into little baby hands.

The first one made me shake 'cause I didn't want to get to the start of the temple but...

The second ones are the ones that make me panic and button-mash and curse.

I was in the Spirit Temple one time, and I encountered on of these guys. I destroyed it, and when it split into mini-hands, I didn't kill them fast enough, and got caught. It wouldnt've been so bad, but I didn't kill another mini-hand. So, poor Link was caught between two hands (you should've seen how fast the health meter depleted!), and promtly died. I got revived by a fairy, but here's the kicker: Link got up in the same fucking place. I managed to kill them, but I was down to like 5 hearts.

Fuckin'...creepy...hand...thingies.

This sounds very stupid, but the sharks in Ecco scared the holy shit out of me when I was younger. When I was about nine or so, I was playing Ecco and had reached a level called "Ridge Water" (or something like that). Up until that point in the game, the sharks were docile. Well, I was swimming along in the water and BAM, a shark came out of nowhere with its nasty mouth wide open and tried to eat my dolphin! For some reason, that scared me very badly. I immediately shut the game off, ran into my parents room crying, changed my underwear, and didn't play it again for a couple of years.

That one experience has given me an irrational fear of all underwater levels in games. For example, going underwater in the submarine in FFVII scares me for no reason at all.

RE2 also got to me pretty badly back in the day. The first time that I got a taste of it was when my older cousin brought the game over and played it in my room all night long. Since I didn't want to seem like a wimp to my older cousin, I stuck it out and watched him play. That game gave me nightmares for a while.

I'm terribly sorry, but the story about the Ecco sharks just left me in stitches. This is just one of the reasons why I love coming to GFF.

Basically, like others have said. The 're-dead' in Zelda were scary when your a younger gamer, Also I always found the Alien Vs. Predator 2 game very scary when I was younger. At the time when I played it around 10 - 11, And my uncle had just gotten a faster computer so it was looking really nice it was scary as hell becuase of the dark atmosphere you were in.

The first video game related fear I remember experiencing was the fortress stage music in Super Mario Bros. 1. Also the game over screen of Zelda II, it scared the living hell out of me for some reason. Metroid's soundtrack in conjunction with its black background and the sense of being lost at all times was pretty creepy, although not genuinely scary.

The latest thing I remember thinking was scary was the Skulltula people in Ocarina of Time, the abominations! I didn't think redeads were scary because you could just freeze them with Sun's Song, which I guess made me feel empowered. I wonder how I would have felt as a child playing Resident Evil 4, blasting the head off a monk/villager and seeing a horrible disgusitng creature pop out of its neck.

Fatal Frame and Silent Hill were pretty eerie. It wasn't the scares that got you, it's the atmosphere of the whole thing.

Are there a lot of the "JUMP SURPRISE DID YOU SHIT UR PANTS" types of scares? Ie when you walk down a hall way then BOOM! Some crazy-ape-shit-thing comes outta know where screaming its skull at you sorta-deal. I hate those the most. ;_;

Like in FEAR where your walking down a dark hall, no one around yet you know for a fact that something is very close, then when you don't think it could be any more creepy a bloody face flashes on the screen missing half its face screaming viciously... almost had a heart attack when I first began to play that game

Herm? Kinda like when you fight the Sorrow in MGS3 you mean? Sorry, I can't come up with any other examples, but it just "pops" right out? God, now there's two games (RE/Fear) I sure am hell aint playing by myself at midnight - IN THE DARK.

7th Guest.

I am SO surprised that NOBODY has mentioned this game before now. Just so much shit going on... the maze, the coffin puzzle, the bad guy's voice popping out of nowhere ("Yes, YES! Keep going this way!" in the maze, and if you did, he'd seal off the passage and you'd be trapped). The worst part is that my parents more or less MADE ME WATCH THEM PLAY IT. I think.

When we deleted the game, I kept on repeating "I am SO GLAD we are getting rid of this" over and over.

Then we tried to install The 11th Hour, which was the sequel. Many times. On different computers. Never managing to get it to work. That's a traumatizing experience in of itself.

But F.E.A.R... wow. I will admit, the game creeped me the fuck out. But the plot was so well-done that I had to play it again.

I don't know about everyone else, but I've only mentioned games I actually [/i]like[/i]. I hated this game, but I didn't find it very terrifying though either though. There was one time a ghost glided across two doors, but other than that...

I remember playing Doom 3 on my PC a while back. Now, I'm already a teeny-bit jumpy as it is, and playing a horror-induced FPS already started to rack my nerves.

Well anyway, in the game I was walking down this hallway, minding my own fucking business when, just barely, I heard "Over here...." being whispered loudly enough to where I wasn't able to look away and continue onward. Between a large pile of boxes was a little corridor, dimly lit obviously. So I walk into it and there it goes again -- "Over here." but this time it's a little louder. Great.

I walk through the very brief, winding corridor and I'm in this pretty tiny room. At the end of the room is a plasma rifle. I think to myself "Fucking right! I could use that!" I start walking over toward it and stop. I know something's gonna happen. A fully-loaded plasma rifle just sitting there, defenseless. Not in this game.

I've even prepared for what's going to happen, but still I can't help but nearly shit myself. Imps pop up out of nowhere like feces-throwing chimps and I'm instantly surrounded. I fired at random like there was no tomorrow but I'll be damned if my heart wasn't a few seconds from exploding like David Carradine's.

Far Cry had a bit of an experience for me as well, and it still gets me every time I play it. Up until this particular moment in the game, you've only been fighting humans. Big deal right? You get sent to this forest and you're walking across catwalks that are positioned in the trees. Yeah well you look down and below and CHRIST WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! There's this thing down there that looks like it's eating enemy mercenaries. No big deal though -- I mean it was frightening yeah, but there are only a few down there, and I'm way up there.

For now.

After crossing the catwalks you end up at an entrance to a lab. This part gets me every time. Soon as you open the door and take a step inside, one of those damned mutants charges and gets right in your face with the severe expression of "Hey I want to eat you alive" on his face. Shoot him (or her) all you want to, but they move ridiculously fast and it doesn't help that they jump so high either, which is also kind of freaky to watch.

When I was probably about eight or nine I got the first Parasite Eve. My mother always told me I couldn't play games that were rated "M", but of course I didn't listen and played anyway. I was trying to secretly play the game when I came to a cutscene that I believe involves a bunch of people pretty much spontaneously combusting and running around on fire. It's been awhile, but it was something along those lines. Well, I got scared shitless and ended up telling my mom about how scary it was and she took the game away from me.

Of course, a few weeks later I got over it, found where my mom had hidden the game, and played it through.

EVERY ZELDA GAME!

When I played the Zelda gameboy game, I was just scared of the whole thing. Witches and zombies and ghosts coming out of nowhere. Going into tombs, etc.

Playing, A Link to the Past, was horrible too. It was everything I was afraid of in color.

I'm still pretty much scared of Zelda games today, the Graveyard level in Minish cap was a level to fear.

The only thing that was scarier was Tomba. The pigs were so creppy and the whole setting was erie to me. Thank you Tomba for making me fead little Piggies.

When I was about 9-10, I was playing ocarina of time for the first time. Everything was going fine up until I got the master sword. As soon as I left the temple of time I remember freaking out at what happened to Hyrule Castle Town and all the locations like the ring of fire around death mountain, the darkness when you approach Hyrule Castle town from hyrule field, the headless soldier, so on so forth. I couldn't play that game after dark for quite a while. Even now it still feels unnerving to play.

And that's the reason I never played a 3D zelda game. I'm simply too scared to pick up Twilight Princess.

My friend had an irrational fear of octabrains and the green slimes that grab your face in Duke Nukem. No problems with anything else, but just one octabrain's scream and then I just had to be the one to play through.

In retrospect, I was far too easy on him about this.

Come on man, nothing's easier to kill than a demon! Not only can you kill them from afar, but you can even just step against them and then step away quickly. They'll bite, miss, and be so busy with the biting animation they can hardly advance on you. You can punch them to death without taking a hit if you just jump in and out. Even if you get suddenly surrounded by them, as long as you have the tiniest bit of room to move you can just jiggle in and out of their bite-space. Easy. If you can't beat the simplest villains in the game, well, that's unfortunate.

I remember picking up an issue of Tips and Tricks a long time ago which had a walkthrough for Clock Tower in it. Just pictures and the concept freaked me out, and I really wanted to skip those pages every time that I picked the magazine up, because a psycho with giant scissors is pretty insane.

I watched my friend play Wolfenstein when I was young, and I dislikeds how the pixelly enemies just popped out of nowhere. Off topic: We also played Doom 2 with a Simpsons Patch (enemies are Simpsons characters), and he told me that if we played without the patch I would be terrified.

I played Bubsy 3D once. Shit, that was frightening.

Also everything in Project Zero scares me the fuck out. The house is literally alive, yet people keep going in, ropes keep appearing from the roof, and ghosts walk around. I'm never going to complete that game because I'm a total wuss.

I believe this is the opening cutscene.

This totally reminds me of the "DOLL HOUSE" theme from Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

Have a listen. Tell me if you want me to put it on yousendit for bandwidth sakes.

How could I forget about Super Mario Bros 2 (Doki Doki Panic)

The final stage... just before the final boss, you go through the bird face at the end of each stage... I picked up the Orb... and all of a sudden the bird thing LUNGES at me. I shat myself. Literally. I then proceeded to turn off the game, and I never beat it until years later.

Legend of Gaia on the SNES..went through that insanely long dungeon to get hte key at the end of it...played for 12 hours straight....and the game was glitched and I couldn't ge the key at the end.

Most traumatizing game experience is falling in love with Xenogears and Xenosaga episode 1 for their amazing stories, and then playing Xenosaga 2 >.> Nothing is worse than seeing your true love raped before your eyes while you are helpless to do anything but watch. I could only endure so much I had to turn off the Playstation and cry for days. I never did finish that game... it's too painful.
Well... Xenosaga 2 was just a bad game in general... seriously, so many of those cutscenes could've been minigames and would've made the long scene much more exciting, more enjoyable, and might've conserved enough memory to let the thing fit on one disc. It's amazing how little memory code eats up in comparison to graphics and sound.

Thanks for reminding me! I totally forgot CLOCK TOWER! I can't remember a game that made you feel like you were TRUELY in a stalker movie.

I remember that level where you were in house in the forest, near the city. You came to visit another character then he went to the kitchen or something and then BLAM! the lights went out! You were alone, in an isolated house, no one around and you're being stalked! I couldn't it play it after that... :edgartpg:

Heh, for me my traumitizing experience was playing Final Fantasy VII after it was so hyped up and expecting a good game. Boy was I let down. It nearly ruined my experience for any "Final Fantasy" game. Tactics came and I had a brief hope that Final Fantasy games would actually become good again...I was wrong. Someday maybe, but I'm definately not getting my hopes up for any of them, since nearly every game from Square since has been drek.

I'm really curious what was that picture there. Sure is a cliffhanger not having it there after all of the description.

Dude, I still walked around the house WITH the people inside, and I didn't bother playing after that. ;_;

The game that made me nearly shit my pants was an insanely quirky Dreamcast title called Illbleed. The game takes place in a demented amusement park and as such,it simply oozes with bizzarely campy horror B-movie atmosphere and black humor. Also,it's scary as fuck. O_o

I'm afraid of corners now. ;_;

There's really only one moment that stands out that hasn't really traumatized me, but irks me greatly thinking about. Legendary Wings for the NES.

A simple, harmless capcom shoot-em-up, right? I'm just flying along a nice top-view level, shooting everything, powering up. Then I come across a giant head shooting whirlwinds at me, sucking me into his mouth. And where do I end up? Inside his 8-bit guts, fighting off bugs and worms and shit while some creepy nes music plays >.> This may not sound bad, but when you're 7-8 years old, it could be pretty shocking :P

Other than that, nothing has really affected me.

i was quite traumatized by that noise in sonic right before you drown. Those long labyrinths underwater without any air bubbles for such a long time really drove me up the wall as a kid...
but i would say that I was more traumatized by gannon's laughter in Zelda II. no lies, i had several nightmares in which i'd be playing zelda, and gannon would laugh at me as i died. the laughter would echo and grow louder as i tried to turn down the volume (to no avail)... he didn't stop, it was an obscure sort of torture that i had to endure before i managed to muster the energy to force myself awake. i came across several different "losing @ zelda" scenarios like rooms packed to the ceiling with those knight guys that could only be damaged by stabbing their sides/back. and only 3/18 hearts left, no potions, etc. which resulted in more of ganon's mockery.
that woman in the hall in uninvited was also pretty creepy, i always died because i was always clumsy in navigating through the item menu.
I wasn't raised on it, but i found that Out of This World was also rather creepy. with a fear of losing and a system built around dying countless times before progressing one more screen only to be sent back to the beginning (everything in the game had it in for you) i couldn't not find it a little creepy.

now that i think about it, i really don't know when these childhood traumas of mine ended...

Phantasmagoria 2 (PC). I was a kid when i played it and there's a scene where a hand comes off from a computer monitor (SPOILER similar to the movie "The Ring") really freaked me out. There was also a brutal murder scene where one of your co-workers is killed with paper clips, scissors, cables and a lot of office's stuff...
Playing "R" games while you're a kid can traumatize you for quite long time....

There are two games that traumatized me as a child.

The first one being Zelda: Ocarina of time. I don't know about you guys but the redeads freaked the crap out of me and the worst part is usually you had to deal with them in the bottom of the well or in the shadow temple. Those atmospheres, along with the music, did not help one little bit and usually resulted in me running scared.

The second one was FFVII. The shinra corporation was definitely terrifying. I remember being like 8 or 9 and putting my television on mute just because I couldn't handle the setting and music at the same time.

It's amazing how the mind of a child works.