Childhood gaming frights! Share your stories!

[lisalover1]

I remember being really unsettled by Kiddy Kong's death cry in Donkey Kong Country 3. In fact, a lot of the stuff in the Donkey Kong Country games freaked me out as a kid. The realistic-yet-cartoony graphics, the oddly clear and ambient music, even the floaty physics of the game all made it a very surreal and unnerving experience for me.

Just recently, though, I was playing the latest game in the Phoenix Wright series late at night, when this scene came along: NO SLEEP FOR A WEEK.

[Onikage]

When I was 7 we had a Harry Potter philosopher's stone game for the PS1. There was a part where you had to sneak past a bunch of sleeping trolls, and a part where you had to race against a ghost whom I found creepy. I remember being scared of these parts. The game was really shitty though and I hate it anyway. When I was 5-6 years old I saw my older brother play games like Resident evil 2, but I was never scared by that game, I found it more exciting than scary.

[Bikeage]

As a child the only game related scares I endured were the loss of them, through punishment, or mom and dad just giving them away or tossing them out.

Now while playing Resident Evil for the first time, as a 21 year old man, in a well lit room during the day, nearly shit my pants when those dogs crashed through the window.

[The Last Horseman]

There was a game once, I don't remember what it was, but it had a scene with a man on man incest rape and it scared the shit out of me. Ever since then, I have been bothered by rape and it reinforced my dislike of city people. Yeah, because despite what movies may say, there is more incest in cities.

[Bikeage]

There was a game once, I don't remember what it was, but it had a scene with a man on man incest rape and it scared the shit out of me. Ever since then, I have been bothered by rape and it reinforced my dislike of city people. Yeah, because despite what movies may say, there is more incest in cities.

I nominate this for post of the year.

[Hobie-wan]

I had played Wolfenstein on my 386 with only the internal speaker for some time, then I played it on a machine that had an actual soundcard. The first time the guards called out at me in German surprised me.

[KillerJuan77]

I remember getting Fatal Frame on the PS2 when it was released, I was 8 years old, as soon as I heard a baby crying on a courtyard I said "This is too much!" and I swapped it for Dino Stalker . Turns out that just because a game is rated T doesn't means it's not scary.

[boltfanSD]

Something about the ghost house in Super Mario 64 always left me feeling very unsettled when I was a kid. Getting attacked by possessed pianos and books along with the twisted music that grows louder as you approach the merry-go-round in the basement were completely terrifying to my 7 year old self.

[BurningDoom]

There was nothing scary about games when I was a kid, at least not on consoles and we didn't have a PC back then. The scariest games out on console were Castlevania and Ghosts N' Goblins; which weren't scary at all because no matter how hard they tried 8-bit couldn't convey scary well enough.

[KillerJuan77]

There was a game once, I don't remember what it was, but it had a scene with a man on man incest rape and it scared the shit out of me. Ever since then, I have been bothered by rape and it reinforced my dislike of city people. Yeah, because despite what movies may say, there is more incest in cities.

What the hell were you playing?!