Are there any games that play with your phobias?

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Random topic I know, but it just came to me while thinking of Shadow of The Colossus.

I just remembered how the very murky water that you fight one of them in had my aquaphobia(not to be confused with hydrophobia, which is not actually fear of water) kicking it into high gear.

Any seemingly innocent game scenario screw around with your heads?

[yangfeili]

Part of the reason my brother loves zombie games/movies is because he's genuinely afraid of zombies. :|

[MajLink]

F.E.A.R. nuff said.

[Zephyr]

Odd as it may sound, Endless Ocean, most of it was absolutely fine (I do not have a morbid fear of cuddly dolphins) but when told to go into the "deep" I refused. I hate deep, unknown water things. I had a lot of trouble forcing myself to beat that colossus aswell, it was creepy.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Odd as it may sound, Endless Ocean, most of it was absolutely fine (I do not have a morbid fear of cuddly dolphins) but when told to go into the "deep" I refused. I hate deep, unknown water things. I had a lot of trouble forcing myself to beat that colossus aswell, it was creepy.

This is exactly what it was.

[DarkeSword]

Not really playing on my phobias, but I have to say that zombies/undead in shooters bother me; the Ravenholme sequence in HL2 is not something I should have played at 11:30PM right before going to bed.

[Mustin]

I genuinely hate the game because I thought it was a shitty game, but the thing that I hated most in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the "swimming across the lake" section, where the music faded out and it was just sound and you couldn't see the bottom.

Can't. Stand. Water.

[JCvgluvr]

Haha, funny. I'm gonna post about something Zelda-related next!

In Majora's Mask, when you need to retrieve the 3 zora eggs in Pinnacle Rock, I was developing real vertigo diving down into the bottom of the rock. But then...the real shocker came.

IN THE FORM OF A GIANT EEL LUNGING FORTH IN AN EFFORT TO CONSUME MY FISHY FLESH!!!!!!!!!!

Why Nintendo...why?

[TheSnowStorm]

I dunno why, but Mortal Kombat 3 used to scare me because of the gruesome fatalities. I was afraid that somebody would rip my head off or burn me alive as a child.

[friendlyHunter]

The only thing in Zelda:OOT that I really found scary was the multitude of invisible things at the bottom of the well (especially the invisible holes in the floor that lead into a pit of redeads and green mush with hands sticking out of it!!) If I recall, the wall/ceiling-masters were invisible too :| I mean that game had some really messed up stuff, but the invisible hazards and enemies plus creepy music was something not very many games had (and at that time, certainly not many 3D games!)
And some of those low-res textures really creeped me out for some inexplicable reason. Mostly those crazy like-likes (the shield-eating... sponge things), and the mysterious brown heaps of who-knows-what on the floors of dark corners and jail cells. Gaaah, the pixels!!

I also had to turn the brightness up at one point in System Shock 2, because in some parts I simply couldn't see a thing. :oops:
And boy did THAT game have some creepy low-res textured organic matter spreading across the walls and floor! I can't even remember if that stuff damaged you in the game, but I always stayed the hell away from it.

And on the topic of phobias, SS2 has a mod/patch that removes all those spider creatures, for players with arachnophobia.

[Edit]
And the freaking eggs, those were the worst!

[Moseph]

And on the topic of phobias, SS2 has a mod/patch that removes all those spider creatures, for players with arachnophobia.
Potential lulz: if the mod said it removed all the spiders but left just one near the end of the game.

[friendlyHunter]

Potential lulz: if the mod said it removed all the spiders but left just one hundred near the end of the game.

Fixed. That would cause incredible awesomeness and/or lawsuits. And without spoiling the story: that would fit sooo perfectly with the story.

[Linkjing Donuts]

his partner is dead

mr. grimm eats his partner

wears skull as a mask

[SLyGeN]

The closest I can come to that is having dreams where I am playing a video game, and for example, I will fall, and I, myself, will feel the weightlessness of falling and feel afraid.

That said, I wish there were a game that could evoke a genuine fear out of me, rather than just "uh oh something is going to go boo". I would think Mustin's experience would be exhilarating.

[friendlyHunter]

That said, I wish there were a game that could evoke a genuine fear out of me, rather than just "uh oh something is going to go boo". I would think Mustin's experience would be exhilarating.
I am assuming you haven't played System Shock 2 then? =P I think that's why I liked the game so much.

[Tables]

I swear, I could barley play the first level or two of Donkey Kong 64 because of those GOD DAMNED BEES

Once you got the guns and instruments, it was okay. But at the beginning, there was like no way to kill the bastards. Except for the oranges but who uses those anyway?



I feel really dumb

[Schwaltzvald]

I swear, I could barely play the first level or two of Donkey Kong 64 because of those GOD DAMNED BEES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ-5Mg_12zo

:lol:

While I don't have a phobia persay, I do hate it thet whenever I kill something, it has a bad habit of coming back at me much angrier and viciously. This mainly applies to those damn regenerators in RE4; however I've always found it funny to simply use the flash nades against them to kill them.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

The closest I can come to that is having dreams where I am playing a video game, and for example, I will fall, and I, myself, will feel the weightlessness of falling and feel afraid.

That said, I wish there were a game that could evoke a genuine fear out of me, rather than just "uh oh something is going to go boo". I would think Mustin's experience would be exhilarating.

On the subject of dreams, I think the freakiest game dream I ever had was wandering through an empty school that had clutter all around it like the school in Silent Hill. It even had the same creepy lighting.

So I eventually get to the second floor and turn into a big hall. It's empty save for a door at the left end of the hall that presumably leads to an auditorium. I get closer and I start hearing that overused laughtrack(you know, the one at the N64 logo of Diddy Kong Racing). I start walking closer, and I hear a shrill scream not unlike something out of The Phantom of The Opera, then I hear a loud slam of some kind, then a baby starts crying.

Then I wake up all covered in sweat. Damn it scared the shit out of me.

[Vivi22]

Silent Hill always freaked me out (especially the third) but not because they play on any real fear or phobia, it's mainly just because they create some of the most surreal and distrubing environments and creatures I've ever seen in games.

As for actual phobias, the giant spiders in the Gamecube remake of RE always bothered me a bit because they looked much more real than in previous games. I was never that bothered in the PSX games, or even Code Veronica, but giant hairy tarantulas apparently make my skin crawl. I never got super scared or anything like I would if I saw said creature (or even a normal sized tarantula) in real life, but they did bother me a bit.

[Schwaltzvald]

The giant spiders in the Gamecube remake of RE always bothered me a bit because they looked much more real than in previous games. I was never that bothered in the PSX games, or even Code Veronica, but giant hairy tarantulas apparently make my skin crawl. I never got super scared or anything like I would if I saw said creature (or even a normal sized tarantula) in real life, but they did bother me a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0peFCNLNHg

Is it as bad as this..?

[Nohbody]

how is it physically possible for humans to hate water? I have always loved water, its like my natural habitat. My favorite parts of videogames are the water temples, that one level of pokemon snap where you went down the rapids, stuff like that.

water + vertigo = bliss

for me, space is just unnatural. playing space levels has always made me uncomforable, and here I speak specifically of the crazy gadget level in sonic adventure 2.

[Thalzon]

When I was younger, 4 levels would freak me right out in Mario 64: Tiny-Huge Island, Dire Dire Docks, Jolly Roger Bay, and Ghost House.

In the first, it was that giant fucking fish that would eat you if you got close. In the docks, it was that big black hole that threatened to suck you in (and then it turns out you don't even die, you just get sent to the lake outside the castle!). Jolly Roger Bay had that huge creepy eel, and the Ghost House was just unsettling, with its music and the ghosts coming through the walls.

And yes, Endless Ocean scared me, too. In the Abyss, I once turned around and came face-to-face with one of the shark species there. I jumped a foot off the floor and felt very tense until I finally left behind that creepy place. Too bad I had to return a half-dozen times to find that freakin' whale (and I never did find out what lay beyond the geysers in the whale graveyard).

[Schwaltzvald]

how is it physically possible for humans to hate water? I have always loved water, its like my natural habitat. My favorite parts of videogames are the water temples, that one level of pokemon snap where you went down the rapids, stuff like that.

water + vertigo = bliss

for me, space is just unnatural. playing space levels has always made me uncomforable, and here I speak specifically of the crazy gadget level in sonic adventure 2.

In the case of water - Humans can't physically hate water, mentally though... It goes into the fears of drowning, having constricted movement in water to a degree, not to mention rational/irrational fears of undersea creatures attacking humans. Also the great uknowns of the sea always brings up terror for those already predisposed to it...

Space actually shares some similarities with the fear of water; exceptions of course being things space related...

[reelmojo]

Resident Evil 2 in the sewers. One of the giant spiders used it's "run straight at you with my front legs in the air" attack while it was on a wall... it missed Claire and came straight at the camera. I had to stop playing. I didn't even save. Yeah, they were overall creepier in REmake, but that one moment is definitely the most scared a game has ever made me.

Also, a friend of mine has the aforementioned aquaphobia and for some reason really wanted to play Ecco on Dreamcast back when it was new. When he swam down into a giant hole and found an oversized (putting it lightly) octopus he threw the controller across the room at me, covered his eyes and said "you're playing!" One of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[Drack]

Super Mario 64, at Tiny-Huge Island. The fish that tries to eat you when you're tiny.

I don't know why, but that really got to me.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

how is it physically possible for humans to hate water? I have always loved water, its like my natural habitat. My favorite parts of videogames are the water temples, that one level of pokemon snap where you went down the rapids, stuff like that.

water + vertigo = bliss

Concurred.

Only game I've played that genuinely scared me was Zelda: OoT. And I loved that about it! I thought the bottom of the well was utterly terrifying (though strangely the shadow temple never really bothered me).

For the longest time, even though I was a pretty obsessive completionist in these types of games, when I got to the well it was get in, get the lense, get the fuck out, and fuck whatever else was in there. I've only recently (like, since I graduated highschool) been able to go back and really do a thorough search of the well.

[glasfen]

Eternal Darkness: It wouldn't be so bad except that your health starts decaying once your sanity is depleted. And that cut scene in the bathroom... geez.

Ocarina of Time: Redeads and that corpse miniboss (Lens of Truth room)

Resident Evil: Anything that will not stop chasing you (redheaded zombies) is freaky.

[nohero]

Maybe not quite what you're going for, but this fucked with me nonetheless.

I had a mild panic attack when visiting my family once during my little sister's party. They were playing Guitar Hero and one of the little dipshits got the whammy bar stuck so that "When You Were Young" was being played on one guitar an entire half step down the whole song. I found this shit so unnerving that, combined with being yelled at and trying to talk on the phone at the same time with a bunch of loud ass 16 year old girls in the background, I started to freak the fuck out.

[Nohbody]

In the case of water - Humans can't physically hate water, mentally though... It goes into the fears of drowning, having constricted movement in water to a degree, not to mention rational/irrational fears of undersea creatures attacking humans. Also the great uknowns of the sea always brings up terror for those already predisposed to it...

Space actually shares some similarities with the fear of water; exceptions of course being things space related...
Drowning I can understand, but anyone with sense can realize that regardless of currents, if you swim straight up there will be air. And water allows for more freedom of movement-- try doing a triple backflip on ground.

You know I met somebody who swore that he would get a fungal infection if he submerged his head in water? I wanted to smack him.

In space theres just this awful abyss, total lack of control, no safetey anywhere, though if I died in space it would be pretty awesome, I mean talk about a fitting view for your own death. If I could die calmly in space while staring into NGC6357 (http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/NGC6357MPS.html) with a great understanding of it all then it would be the perfect ending to my life no emo.

For emphasis, here: http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Nebulas.html

[Wintermute]

Super Mario 64, at Tiny-Huge Island. The fish that tries to eat you when you're tiny.


In the first, it was that giant fucking fish that would eat you if you got close.


I take it you are too young to have played Super Mario Brothers 3, which is why you don't know A) the name of that fish and B) how much more frightening he was in that game.

So young.... so innocent...

[Elex Synn]

Friday the 13th on the NES scared me half the death. The creepy music when you are in the house made you really feel isolated, keeping in mind I am not a fan of being in a dark house by myself. The game caused me and my cousin playing to damn near flip the table over the TV was on during a mad scramble to get the hell out of my room when Jason suddenly appeared up out of nowhere. This game only reinforced these fears back when I was a kid.>_<

[Nohbody]

I take it you are too young to have played Super Mario Brothers 3, which is why you don't know A) the name of that fish and B) how much more frightening he was in that game.

So young.... so innocent...
Gahh cant remember... tell me its killing me please.

There was a spiky one in Mario Bros for snes, but it was just annoying. Too many happy dolphins for fear to exist in that level

[Xenon Odyssey]

Not necessarily a phobia, but sometimes the music of game can really get to me...back when Banjo-Kazooie came out and I was in elementary school, Cheato's music made me flip. I managed to get through it cuz I wanted 100%, but damn if I enjoyed it. There were some other but they don't come to mind at the moment.

Also Big Bertha both scares/pisses me off.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

...In space theres just this awful abyss, total lack of control, no safetey anywhere...

Thank you for describing the mid-Atlantic ridge as well as any deep body of water.

[Thalzon]

I take it you are too young to have played Super Mario Brothers 3, which is why you don't know A) the name of that fish and B) how much more frightening he was in that game.

So young.... so innocent...

Young? Feh, I'm 22. This was back when I was 10 or 11.

But I think the fish in SMB3 was named Gumper... And I raged when he would jump out and eat me. It just didn't have the same kind of fear attached to it, though.

[Nohbody]

Thank you for describing the mid-Atlantic ridge as well as any deep body of water.
Pools are cool and so are water temples. nobody hangs out at the mid-atlantic ridge anyway.

[Triad Orion]

I have mild arachnophobia. It's not severe in that I don't run away or tense up around any spiders, but if it's large? Yeah. Kinda freaks me right out.

So needless to say, any of the games that have *GIANT BLOODY SPIDERS* kinda play on my fear a bit. And of course, every goddamned high fantasy game has giant spiders. It's like, a rule, and I hate it. LoZ: Twilight Princess freaked me out *right good* with its more realistic looking Skulltulas. The ones in OoT were funny looking and didn't bother me, but these were huge realistic looking spiders that somehow *knew how to block sword swings*. The first time I encountered one, I flipped out and swung my Wii Remote like a madman until it died.

Though the fear of those particular spiders is gone now, especially considering I've discovered how fun it is to mess with them by making *them* flip out by hitting them in the face with a slingshot bullet or with the gale boomerang. That was fun.

Though sometimes the spiders aren't bad, but usually conceptualizing the situation into a more realistic picture in the mind can unnerve me.

A good example is in Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. There are monsters that would be conceptually very scary in reality, like gorgons and zombies. But it's the goddamn giant spiders that are the worst, and it's especially bad when the chapter you first see one involves you rescuing a family from an approaching spider that's threatening to eat them all alive.

Again, not scary with in-game graphics, but far worse in your head.

[Salluz]

Any thing with too much blood, especially traces of old blood.

[Gollgagh]

I take it you are too young to have played Super Mario Brothers 3, which is why you don't know A) the name of that fish and B) how much more frightening he was in that game.

So young.... so innocent...


that thing had nothing on this mofo:

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4479/sinefishjb2.png

[Zephyr]

The spiders in the old Twilight Princess trailers (one that wrapped you up and tried to eat you, and a huge one in a tunnel) probably would have creeped me out a little, but they never actually made it in the game.

OoT shadow temple was pretty creepy, but I think the well was worse... especially since you have to be a kid and there's invisible pits and enemies everywhere.
I have OoT Master's Quest for Gamecube and I'd say the shadow temple is much scarier in that version. The evil ship and especially the evil (invisible?) thing that lives underground with huge arms sticking up that will grab you and slowly bring you to a huge gnashing head freaked me right out.

The Chozo Ghosts in MP bothered me as a younger kid but I don't think it would get to me now.

[Salluz]

^Oh God, Gollgagh!

[Drayzon]

As with a lot of the people on here, the well in LoZ: OoT freaked me out.

Another game that freaked me out was Glover, a more obscure N64 title that had a horror level, with Frankenstein as a boss. The main hub world also came on with this really lame laugh everytime you entered it that scared the %&$! out of me as a kid.

Lastly, in Banjo-Kazooie, one Jiggy that had you escaping a pyramid in Gobi's Desert gave me a nightmare as a little kid. Very odd.

Coincidentally, the nightmare was actually a sweet dream right until the end.

[Sam I Am]

Hoo boy, you guys made me remember a good one---

Playing Super Metroid when I was younger, I was just getting around to beating Mother Brain in all her jarred-specimen glory...when her second form came up. Ran out of the room promptly.

[Tables]

Another thing comes to mind, the Metroids in Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime was my first Metroid game (besides Fusion, which didn't really have Metroids...).

So it's like, CRACK! SCREE! OH GOD THEY'RE ON MY FACE, X BUTTON A BUTTON A BUTTON A BUTTON A BUTTON A BUTTON A BUTTON AHHH SHIT

[The Xyco]

MGS2: Colonel Campbell in Arsenal Gear.

In fact, just about all of Arsenal Gear. Just about everything emphasizes the total loss of control, awareness, and connection between reality and the game.

[Monobrow]

All the Silent Hill games play off MANY natural fears people have:

being alone
abandoned buildings
little children coming after you (*with knives (and laughing))
what is behind occupied bathroom stalls (try knocking)
being watched/followed/stalked/chased
fear of closets and closed spaces
fear of being trapped, locked in said spaces
fear of drowning (lots of reference to this in SH2)
fear of what you can't see underwater, fear of wells
fear of burning to death
fear of persecution while innocent
fear of religion, god, deities, ancient, creepy folklore, creepy sacred places
fear of cemeteries, your own grave (buried alive)
fear of falling
fear of dark places, especially holes, especially since you have to jump in them
fear of mechanical noises, white noise, hums
fear of insects, like roaches and moths, dogs, cats
fear of fans, things that rotate
fear of basements
fear of places like sewers, boiler rooms, warehouses, places with narrow tunnels, subways and trains, being run over
fear of sharp jutting objects, metal grating, rust, needles, electrical shock, blood, etc. etc.
fear of hospitals (ahhhhh), and hotels, of staff areas, of malls after hours
fear of sticking your hand places you can't see, fear of toilets and sinks
fear of your home not being as safe as you thought
fear of carnivals, fear of ummm... carnival mascots, haunted houses
fear of nightmares and bad dreams, premonitions
fear of answering unknown calls
fear of strange unexplained noises
fear of rape, sexual molestation, sex with a stranger
fear of disease
fear of one thing being out of place, messy, out of order, uncleanliness
fear of mirrors
fear of serial killers
fear of torture
fear of addiction
fear of food, frozen meat, opened cans, things going bad, unused
fear of stereotye (lots of monsters play on this - such as fat and lazy)
fear of losing your mind, mental hospitals, straight jackets, and all that comes with it



Yeah play these games!

[Nohbody]

All the Silent Hill games play off MANY natural fears people have:

being alone
abandoned buildings
little children coming after you (*with knives (and laughing))
what is behind occupied bathroom stalls (try knocking)
being watched/followed/stalked/chased
fear of closets and closed spaces
fear of being trapped, locked in said spaces
fear of drowning (lots of reference to this in SH2)
fear of what you can't see underwater, fear of wells
fear of burning to death
fear of persecution while innocent
fear of religion, god, deities, ancient, creepy folklore, creepy sacred places
fear of cemeteries, your own grave (buried alive)
fear of falling
fear of dark places, especially holes, especially since you have to jump in them
fear of mechanical noises, white noise, hums
fear of insects, like roaches and moths, dogs, cats
fear of fans, things that rotate
fear of basements
fear of places like sewers, boiler rooms, warehouses, places with narrow tunnels, subways and trains, being run over
fear of sharp jutting objects, metal grating, rust, needles, electrical shock, blood, etc. etc.
fear of hospitals (ahhhhh), and hotels, of staff areas, of malls after hours
fear of sticking your hand places you can't see, fear of toilets and sinks
fear of your home not being as safe as you thought
fear of carnivals, fear of ummm... carnival mascots, haunted houses
fear of nightmares and bad dreams, premonitions
fear of answering unknown calls
fear of strange unexplained noises
fear of rape, sexual molestation, sex with a stranger
fear of disease
fear of one thing being out of place, messy, out of order, uncleanliness
fear of mirrors
fear of serial killers
fear of torture
fear of addiction
fear of food, frozen meat, opened cans, things going bad, unused
fear of stereotye (lots of monsters play on this - such as fat and lazy)
fear of losing your mind, mental hospitals, straight jackets, and all that comes with it



Yeah play these games!
Ive got to play this game

[friendlyHunter]

Nice list :nicework:



OoT shadow temple was pretty creepy, but I think the well was worse...
Heh, I think anyone can agree on that. For me, Jabu-Jabu's insides was pretty unnerving my first time around - all that pixelated organic shit, hard-as-shit puzzles with that not-entirely-un-creepy fish girl who's too spoiled to walk anywhere (except for INTO A BIG BLOODY RED HOLE IN THE FLOOR!!), giant pulsating invincible tentacles that swing at your face, big cube sponges thrashing around for no apparent reason... and on top of all that, everything you attack either bleeds or electrocutes you. Epic boss though, felt so good to conquer that place =D

Oh yes, and I've always had a slight phobia of jellyfish (or at least the idea of touching one or stepping on one, even swimming near them *shudder* DAMN THOSE STINGING BEASTS!), so that didn't help at all =/ Ironically, I've yet to be actually frightened by jellyfish in a videogame (Metroids included). The movie "The Sphere" is a whole other story 8O

Oh wait I forgot, the SMB3 jellyfish. That game was just a horror-fest, wasn't it =p


And on the topic of Super Metroid:
The first time I got to Ridley's Lair (the boiling fiery place with the trademark drum/choir-filled theme and all those beige-ish bird statues), I got a terrible fever which only got worse after I stopped playing. Now every time I play that place I feel a little ill... ugh just thinking about it..... Super Metroid is so awesome. In fact many areas in that game have some ingrained childhood memory associated with it - some of which take place in entirely different seasons for some reason... it didn't take me THAT long to beat, did it??

Haha, I just remembered another one:
When I was a little kid, I played Metroid (I mean this is one of the first NES games I ever rented)... all I remember is that it was an epic giant-ass maze, and that the music in the item rooms scared me right back out the door... it made me think there was going to be some giant boss that would suddenly appear!

[Tables]

'Nohbody', you reminded me of another moment that creeped me out. 3 guesses what and the first two don't count.

[benprunty]

A lot of things in King's Quest VI creeped me out, like the genie who kept showing up trying to get you to inadvertently kill yourself. He could always be identified by his glittering eyes. The zombies in the land of the dead were freaky too. If you touched them you would disintegrate, but because you had a goddamn adventure game point-and-click interface, it was impossible to guarantee that you wouldn't brush against them. So every move was nerve-wracking.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

For me, Jabu-Jabu's insides was pretty unnerving my first time around - all that pixelated organic shit, hard-as-shit puzzles with that not-entirely-un-creepy fish girl who's too spoiled to walk anywhere (except for INTO A BIG BLOODY RED HOLE IN THE FLOOR!!), giant pulsating invincible tentacles that swing at your face, big cube sponges thrashing around for no apparent reason... and on top of all that, everything you attack either bleeds or electrocutes you. Epic boss though, felt so good to conquer that place =D
Actually, I liked Jabu-Jabu, but that was mainly because I had a major hard-on for Ruto.

Shut up. I was 11.


ANYWAY, Metroid Prime 3 was the first metroid game I played, and the metroids really creeped me out until I got used to them. And that was just last year.

[Gollgagh]

A lot of things in King's Quest VI creeped me out, like the genie who kept showing up trying to get you to inadvertently kill yourself. He could always be identified by his glittering eyes. The zombies in the land of the dead were freaky too. If you touched them you would disintegrate, but because you had a goddamn adventure game point-and-click interface, it was impossible to guarantee that you wouldn't brush against them. So every move was nerve-wracking.

Speaking of Sierra adventure games, all the people dying in Laura Bow II creeped me right the fuck out when I was, what, 4?

especially the methods that they had been killed

[friendlyHunter]

'Nohbody', you reminded me of another moment that creeped me out. 3 guesses what and the first two don't count.
Can I guess??? =D


A lot of things in Zelda:OOT creeped me out, like the owl who kept showing up trying to get you to inadvertently adventure. He could always be identified by his spinning head. The zombies in the land of the future were freaky too. If you touched them they would hump you, but because you had a goddamn N64 game 3rd person camera, it was impossible to guarantee that you wouldn't brush against them.

Fiiiiixed.


And anyone who's scared of Metroids needs to play Metroid Zero Mission on hard mode. Those babies stay frozen for about one second, and they almost always come in groups. I simply love the low-item runs where missing once can get you killed ^__^

Also I need to acquire Silent Hill.

[Bleck]

Any game that involves me going under water.

[LuckyXIII]

I take it you are too young to have played Super Mario Brothers 3, which is why you don't know A) the name of that fish and B) how much more frightening he was in that game.

So young.... so innocent...

HOLY COW!! Yeah, in world 3...3-3? With the level going up and down, and then the Big Berthas would leap out and EAT you... From then on I would always warp past world 3 altogether because Big Bertha froke me the eff out.

[Bleck]

From then on I would always warp past world 3 altogether

this right here, same deal for me

[friendlyHunter]

From then on I would always warp past world 3 altogether because Big Bertah froke me the eff out.

Can... can I sig this?? :puppyeyes:

[Overflow]

An older game by Epic Megagames...Makers of Jazz Jackrabbit and I believe the Unreal games.

It was a point-and-click game about a boy's dreams called Dare to Dream. The game starts out with the standard lullaby theme, then shows the title:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/DareToDream_titlescreen_episode1.png
That monster face scared me when I was about 7 or 8.
Anyways, the game takes place inside the dreams of this messed up kid, and there's two things in particular that freaked me out: Near the end of the first episode there is a panoramic view of hundreds of impaled people on large stakes in a blue field. The stakes and people are silhouetted, but there are bright red stains at the base of each.
The other is that throughout the game, everyone is telling you to wake up quickly or else "the monster will get you." Mind you I played this during the time that I still had nightmares about monsters under the bed. When you finally wake up from the dream, you see the kid sit up in bed and a pair of red eyes under the bed. WHat made it worse though is that that night, my little sister made a pair of cut out, glow in the dark eyes and put them under my bed, then jokingly told me to check before I went to sleep. I flipped. Big time.

More info on the game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_to_Dream

[Zephyr]

I'd already played the other metroid games and I'd never really been scared of metroids, but I jumped when one came screaming through the walls at me in Prime 3. It was a little creepy when you let them out by taking the power-cell and they're all zooming around underneath you...

[friendlyHunter]

IMO that was the weakest metroid encounter ever for me; it all seemed so scripted. The darkness didn't mean a thing because everything there was glow-in-the-dark for some reason, and the metroids themselves were extremely dumb and not at all aggressive. When they DID attack, they drained about 2 damage per second... You'd think metroids that can temporarily phase out of existence would be nightmare fuel, not another boring "wait & shoot" pattern. On top of that it was all like "arrr this is supposed to be scary!!" The melty guy in the first doorway gave me a jump though.

And I will admit that [spoilers] I had a slight "holy sh**" moment when the metroids started flying out into the sky, but I soon remembered "the script of this entire game sucks, and those metroids will probably never be seen or mentioned again".


But holy cow Overflow.... wow

[LuckyXIII]

Can... can I sig this?? :puppyeyes:

Sure. I've never had a quote sigged before...I also edited the original post b/c apparently I can't properly spell a word if I use it more than once in the same post...

[Bleck]

MP3 didn't freak me out as much as MP2, especially MP2's dark world. There was just something unsettling about being in a place where the air hurts you - add onto that the fact that you've also got horrible mutated creatures attacking you from places that, a lot of the time, you can't even see and yeah. It gets pretty frantic.

[DjSammyG]

so the dopefish gave me nightmares.


*burp*

[reelmojo]

I am utterly amazed at how many people are terrified by Zelda 64.

[Gollgagh]

so the dopefish gave me nightmares.


*burp*

once more for posterity

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4479/sinefishjb2.png

[Amayirot Akago]

A lot of things in King's Quest VI creeped me out, like the genie who kept showing up trying to get you to inadvertently kill yourself. He could always be identified by his glittering eyes. The zombies in the land of the dead were freaky too. If you touched them you would disintegrate, but because you had a goddamn adventure game point-and-click interface, it was impossible to guarantee that you wouldn't brush against them. So every move was nerve-wracking.No mention of the Lord of the Dead's Non-Standard Game Over? None at all? Oh, the HORROR.

I also regularly avoid playing any first person games with any manner of face-clinging creatures. Duke 3D, Blood 2, AvP... Thank God Half-Life hasn't done this... yet.

[friendlyHunter]

I also regularly avoid playing any first person games with any manner of face-clinging creatures. Duke 3D, Blood 2, AvP... Thank God Half-Life hasn't done this... yet.

A game that's about crabs that cling to people's faces doesn't have any creatures that cling to your face? I haven't played more than the HL2 demo (and I'm awaiting fixing that), but this strikes me as odd for some reason. =/

Haha, we just have to wait for the 3D-glasses version of HL2, where they'll program Stalkers to stick their legs at your face and shoot debris into your face.

[Zephyr]

Just started HL2 today... headcrabs... ugh...

I think what scares me more than headcrabs though are those weird things on the ceiling with long tongues. They're ALWAYS in dark places, out of sight, with their little tongues hanging down to get you! AH!

[Siamey]

Not really a phobia, but to this day I can't play through Act 2 of Sandopolis Zone without breaking into a cold sweat and having goosebumps and just being fucking on edge the whole time.

More often than not I will end up turning off the genesis before I get to the end of the zone. Something about the music plus those ghosts that follow you and get bigger and Bigger and BIGGER and you can't find the lightswitch and you're trapped in a hole that is filling up with sand and you have to get out of there, and the lever that you just pushed to open this door 50 yards away is making this continuous pounding noise like some sort of monster from the deep and it all comes together to FREAK ME OUT.

Getting to Lava Reef would always mean putting down the controller and taking some deep breaths and just thanking the powers that be.

Also,

Just started HL2 today... headcrabs... ugh...

I think what scares me more than headcrabs though are those weird things on the ceiling with long tongues. They're ALWAYS in dark places, out of sight, with their little tongues hanging down to get you! AH!

HAHAHAHAHAHA have fun with Ravenholm. Hey I cut that zombie in half with a fan, sweet. HOLY SHIT THE TOP HALF IS CRAWLING AFTER ME.

[SLyGeN]

On the subject of dreams, I think the freakiest game dream I ever had was wandering through an empty school that had clutter all around it like the school in Silent Hill. It even had the same creepy lighting.

My dreams often have low lighting. One can't easily control the lighting of their dreams. Because of this, if you find a lightswitch, you can figure out if your dreams are lucid or not.

I don't know if it's a phobia, but I kinda tweak out a little when appliances start acting up. When I BSOD or get a virus warning, I get a shot of adrenaline and a chill down my back, just because of the fact that something I use often is malfuntioning. And, back to the topic of lighting, sometimes I have nightmares about not being able to use lightswitches, and they do not become lucid for me. Lightswitch malfuntioning-- the only source of respite in a dark hallway. Freaky shit.

I am assuming you haven't played System Shock 2 then? =P I think that's why I liked the game so much.

You would be correct. What system is it for? What about a System Shock 1?

[I-n-j-i-n]

Concurred.

Only game I've played that genuinely scared me was Zelda: OoT. And I loved that about it! I thought the bottom of the well was utterly terrifying (though strangely the shadow temple never really bothered me).

For the longest time, even though I was a pretty obsessive completionist in these types of games, when I got to the well it was get in, get the lense, get the fuck out, and fuck whatever else was in there. I've only recently (like, since I graduated highschool) been able to go back and really do a thorough search of the well.

You should see the ocean depths in the Dreamcast Ecco game. Those waters were just frightening and not simply because of the typically insanely-difficult Ecco difficulty. There's the ocean shelf and it suddenly drops off into nothingness and all you get are swift ocean currents near it. I love water personally, but the bottom of the ocean sea giving away into the abyss was pretty scary to watch.

[friendlyHunter]

You would be correct. What system is it for? What about a System Shock 1?

It's for PC, legal to download - and if I recall it comes with a patch that fixes some gameplay issues involving too many enemies spawning...?

About System Shock 1... I tried to play it but I couldn't handle the difficult controls and gave up... so I can't exactly recommend it =p


Light switches not working is a recurring thing in my dreams, but I can't recall it happening ever in nightmares (nightmares are very rare for me, and usually only turn nightmarish at the very end). I was gonna go off on a tangent about the lighting in my dreams (and the sunlight from my window shining into my eyes and being visible inside my dream!), but my last three nightmares are much more interesting and relevant to the thread:

The first one (months ago), there was a bee hovering around the floor of a bus shelter and I thought "ok that thing better not try to sting me" and sure enough it starts harassing my face, and I wake up.

The second one (weeks ago) is freaking messed up; you might not want to read this at night: So I'm in my room (the room where I'm sleeping) and I get up to go to the bathroom, and I see in a mirror, the reflection of a baby's head and it scares the shit out of me, though there's nothing scary about it aside from the fact that there SHOULD NOT BE the reflection of a baby's head in my mirror! And then everywhere I look that baby's head is reflected in every reflective surface in the room, always at the same angle and orientation (profile facing to the right, slightly towards me), looking still and lifeless like a doll, but as real as a living baby, except perhaps inhumanly too large. I think I remember opening the door to leave my room and then I wake up, and the lighting in my room is the same as it was in the dream... fun times =\

Third nightmare (days ago): I'm in my back yard, all is well (except my next-door neighbours have a new fence right across the middle of their back yard for some reason involving the neighbours behind them), but I digress... a bee is stinging my mom in the neck so I start to panic, and this 1.5-inch wide circle of what looks like yellow pollen appears on her around the sting, and I try to knock the bumblebee off but its butt is stuck there quite firmly. A few more more vigorous tries and the bee's free, but of course it starts to attack me. I'm feeling pretty defenseless, and the bee starts going at my right leg, trying to get through my jeans (or trying to get its stinger through at least). I don't know WHY or IF I lifted up the leg of my jeans, but then it was stinging my leg - again the yellow circle of powder appears around the bee, little particles of dust clinging to my leg hairs, the big fat (well, AVERAGE fat) bumblebee's stinger stuck way the F into my leg, and then I wake up. Yet bees in videogames don't bother me one bit for some reason =/ Actually that nightmarish scenario was the ending to a rather epic dream involving an OOT-type game. Holy shit I just realized that dream is insanely relevant to this thread, and worth describing:

So I'm in this game that could really be any 3D Zelda game... I'm in this place that would take a very long time to describe, but I'm in some part of a building I'm not supposed to be, and this security guy is pointing a silenced pistol at me (keep in mind everything else is a least somewhat Zelda-themed), so I go back to area where the public is allowed. So this building leads out to a beach, and I start some kind of side-quest involving watching talking fish, and then I think they turned into Zoras or some other fish-people (and no, I was NOT attracted to them!!) and it was some kind of counting or music or memory minigame that I can't quite remember (HA!). All I remember is that there were 4 or so groups of three of them, and for whatever reason I was counting them (I'm as confused as you are). I don't remember getting any item from it either so I guess I didn't win, but I start to swim around the body of water (I'd call it a lake, though it's not nearly as deep as lake Hylia, and was more like a beach, actually like a mini version of the one in Majora's Mask), and then I'm swimming around and leaping like Zora link... feels pretty damn liberating (though I still prefer flying dreams and super-jumping-power dreams!)

You know how 3D open-world games like Zelda often have gigantic sheer walls of vaguely forest-looking textured stuff at the edges of the map to keep the player from escaping? Well both sides of this big lake had this; thinking about it now it's kind of funny ^_^ So anyway, swimming across the entire lake was fun and not at all frightening, although I distinctly recall there was some villain or creature after me (Ganon? Nazgul? Sharks?)... in any case, at the other end of the lake were some islands that had an awesome song that I can no longer remember, and some friendly minigame-hosting NPC folks. So I traveled back and forth to different islands interacting with NPCs and searching for stuff a bunch of times... How I got to my back yard for the finale; I have no idea.


Haha sorry for the wall of text :oops: I thought the bee stuff was relevant to the widespread fear of bees and wasps in this thread, but everything else... well, my apologies XD

[DuskyFerret]

Yeah OOT made me jump many times as a young kid, but it was the forest areas that got me the worst.

Like going back to the Sacred Forest Meadow as an adult and walking right through expecting those Deku Shrubs to still be there and getting mauled by some giant beast with a spear. Man they scared the shit outa me.

And the wolves and their piercing howl, and not to mention the bgm for the entire Forest Temple.

[I-n-j-i-n]

I was startled more by the horrible sound quality of OoT sound effects than anything. It sounded so garbled, everything just sounded a bit creepy to me. I never liked voicing in games that didn't use a CD to do it. Always horribly garbled and creepy.

[Muskweeto]

The sewer level in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for N64 scared me the most, I start to have panic attacks when I try to go in the water then I freak out when I see one of those monsters swimming around. It's been many years but I remember finally getting up the nerve to get through most of the level then it got to a point where the room I was in started filling up with sewer water and that's when I quickly paused the game then turned it off... haven't played since.

I also have a strange fear of loud banging noises. In Majoras Mask a feeling of pure fear runs down my spine whenever I walk past the part of Clock Town where the construction sounds are.

And I'm a huge fan of Silent Hill but they still sometimes scare me to the point I'm not having fun anymore.

[Ray Falling]

Metroid Prime did with its Chozo Spirits. I HATE anything supernatural and entering rooms with said ghosts always freaked me out. The icey screams, the music...*gasp*

I have to call my support group everytime I play that game ;)

[Azure Prower]

First game to scare me when I was younger and what was most memorable was ironically one of my favourite games: "Descent"

First time playing it when I was still in my single digit ages. The first level was nerve wracking. Going down a dark tunnel and then a screech along with a glowing ball of fire rushes towards you. Can tell you I back piloted to the starting point firing like crazy many times. Some times hoping the bad robot would go away.

But that... was... nothing! Compared to the fourth level with its scary fast paced midi music. Then a certain enemy that would be silent until it was in your face:

http://www.descent2.com/goodies/3dmodels/thinman/previews/3d_002.jpg

The sound of nails scrapping down a black board couldn't be more terrifying.

Eventually I faced my fears of the dark and unknown. Blowing them all to kingdom come on Pluto.

[Schwaltzvald]

I'm a huge fan of Silent Hill but they still sometimes scare me to the point I'm not having fun anymore.


Yeah.. better stay away from Silent Hill 1 & 3, especially 3 as I recall there was a section in some underground corridor/sewers where the audio intentionally had this loud banging gradually get louder and louder the longer you stayed within it. I don't remember if it meant some horrible creature of death was coming or it was just psychological. Either way I was playing on hard mode so I got the fuck out of there when that came on.

also... FUCKING GOD DAMN CHEAP ASS HAUNTED HOUSE! >:L

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

[B]The sewer level in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for N64 scared me the most, I start to have panic attacks when I try to go in the water then I freak out when I see one of those monsters swimming around. It's been many years but I remember finally getting up the nerve to get through most of the level then it got to a point where the room I was in started filling up with sewer water and that's when I quickly paused the game then turned it off... haven't played since.

This. This right here. I had to calm myself down while playing through this level.

Good god I hate murky water.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Like going back to the Sacred Forest Meadow as an adult and walking right through expecting those Deku Shrubs to still be there and getting mauled by some giant beast with a spear. Man they scared the shit outa me.

Man, that part of the game would have been AWESOME if it weren't for the fact that you can one-hit those guys with the hook shot. Completely ruined what could have been an awesomely difficult and scary section of the game. It is completely possible to get past them without use of the hookshot (ever since I realized this, I have refused to use the hookshot at all when I play through this section).

[Scufo]

Oh man, like so many others in this thread OOT freaked me the hell out when I was younger. What got me the worst was the very end of the game, climbing the tower to go settle things with Ganondorf. And as you climb higher the creepy organ music gets louder and louder. By the time I reached the top I was shaking all over and had to shut the game off.

And then when I finally built up the courage to fight him, I couldn't figure out that I actually had to HIT him when he fell to the ground after getting light arrowed. I kept wondering why I had emptied my quiver on him and he still wasn't dead.

Also, I'm surprised at the amount of people freaked out by water in this thread. I mean, Jolly Roger Bay? I loved that level. It was so calming, with the peaceful music and all. And the fish in SMB3? Yeah I remember being pissed off that he kept eating me, but c'mon, the thing would almost be cuddly if it wasn't so damn annoying.

[Muskweeto]

also... FUCKING GOD DAMN CHEAP ASS HAUNTED HOUSE! >:L

I assume you're talking about the red light of death. I hated the fact that I was able to predict what was going to happen, like the spike roof for example, but it still made me jump a mile high.

[Cecilff2]

Metroid 2 for the gameboy. Mainly cause I was young when I played it. If I suspected a metroid was in a room I'd edge slowly through it(They didn't attack until they were in full view). If there was one I turned around and went somewhere else. They just freaked me out too much. Needless to say, I didn't beat it until quite a few years later.

[Schwaltzvald]

spoilers.

Awww you weren't suppose to spoil it now man! I loved going to "haunted" buildings when I was a kid. Mainly because I enjoyed finding answers to them, like rodents making everything behind the walls go apeshit. When I got to that mansion/house in SH3, I was rather entertained and enjoyed my time there until it happened. First time ever I just cursed out madly, mainly because I didn't save when I had the chance and royally fucked up.

Also I wanted to see what was beyond the light...

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Man, this thread is going to make me have to go back and play OoT again.

[Cerrax]

When I was a kid:

I had nightmares about the Wallmasters from Zelda-LttP. By the time I played Oot, I had gotten over the fear of them :P

I couldn't play Super Metroid in the dark. Fucking creepy game.

Super Mario 64, the eel was pretty scary looking.

Now:
I have an incredibly powerful fear of bugs and buglike creatures. The worst was probably Shadow of the Colossus. That damn bug one that crawls up the walls was seriously freaking me out. I hated that level. Even the music from that level creeps me out.

Oblivion was pretty damn scary when I went through the first gate at Kvatch. The atmosphere, the pacing, everything was just goddamn creepy.

[Bleck]

The worst was probably Shadow of the Colossus. That damn bug one that crawls up the walls was seriously freaking me out. I hated that level. Even the music from that level creeps me out.


dude that colossus is a gecko

[Cerrax]

dude that colossus is a gecko

Then you can see how incredibly irrational my fear is. I thought it was a bug and it was freaking me out

[Zephyr]

I thought I missed a colossus or something I was all "what bug?"

The wall master's were pretty scary on OoT too, but on master's quest you have to dodge wall masters, AND invisible guillotines (and yes, they are terrifying) while walking on invisible ground.

Also, those dragons that hide under the panels in the forest level in TP scared me the first time it popped out, after that they were fine though.

[Triad Orion]

Someone mentioned the Shadows of the Empire Sewers. Yeah, I can get behind that. The dianogas in the water were creepy, and their growling and snarling didn't help matters. Also the boss? A GIANT DIANOGA?! Yeah, that was unsettling to say the least.

[Strike911]

Ocarina of Time, Forest Temple... those damned hands that just came out of nowhere.

In retrospect, while terrifying, it's one of my fondest moments of the game... I'm going to have to go back and play through Ocarina of Time now too, because now I really want to play it! All those memories of the dungeons that I've forgotten after 10 years. Haha.

Yeah, the Forest Temple and Crazy Colonel from MGS2. Occurred right in the middle of the night while I was playing the game... really cool, but pretty jarring when you first experience it. Love it.

I wish I could get that feeling more in games, but it just isn't really happening anymore. I got a feeling of awe from Shadow of the Colossus, nothing terrifying though... just by the presentation of everything.



... now that I think about it, for me, the common thing that ties these two situations are the fact that something is following me and I didn't realize it. The impending sense of urgency after seeing that shadow over you in OOT, having the Colonel commenting on my movements in MGS2... that's the scary stuff. If something follows me and watches me... and is just quiety observing a time to do something that I have not control of.... that's when I start to get freaked out I think. I wish this feeling was in more games. It's really compelling and a wonderful experience since it's not real. :)

[I-n-j-i-n]

Nintendo has a hand fetish. The Master Hand, the Crazy Hand, the hand from hell in Super Mario Bros 3.

[Strike911]

Nintendo has a hand fetish. The Master Hand, the Crazy Hand, the hand from hell in Super Mario Bros 3.

You might be on to something there.

[friendlyHunter]

Let's not forget that whole "touching is good" campaign, the Power Glove, and of course the most freakish Nintendo monster of all time, the "Dead Hand".... not to mention the second-most freakish, Bongo Bongo. And oh yeah, and wall/floor/ceiling masters. Darn right he's on to something!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/5/10317587_3401f8d528.jpg?v=0

[Zephyr]

Majora's mask, hand in the toilet... that's just creepy.

[Lunarfall]

When I was younger, I too hated those damn wall masters because they would come out of no where. Floor masters were no problem though.

[friendlyHunter]

OMG I just realized... you play videogames... with your HANDS!! And what did Nintendo start out as? A card game company? Hand of cards, eh, EH??? Pokemon cards?? A lot of Pokemon have... HANDS!!?! Bah forget it....

[PlastikBag]

I too, have aquaphobia. Deep sea aquaphobia. Vast, empty waters scare me. Ecco the Dolphin used to scare the crap out of me when I was young, not so much anymore though.

Recently I was playing Crysis, thinking that I had pretty much mastered my fear of deep waters, I went pretty far out. Unknowingly, I got attacked by a very realistic looking shark and then I proceeded to never do that again.

[Weirdboyscott]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/5c0tt/MajorasMaskMoon.jpg