History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / Videogames

* ''BrainDead13'' is a game where the protagonist gets to die in all sorts of graphically violent ways, which has made it extremely hard to understand why this was given a K-A rating [[note]](Kids to Adults, the mid-90's equivalent to the Everyone rating)[[/note]] then. (Some could argue that "it's because it looks so silly" but many of the deaths were not exactly all that light nevertheless so in other words the fact that this game was given a K-A rating might be considered to be really... baffling to put it mildly.)

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}} 3: Hoodlum Havoc'' has all sorts of sexual innuendos, Globox getting drunk, and the swamp hag using the word "pervert".

* Some people are rather disappointed that ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' only got an E rating, despite the fact that it's {{Disney}} and y'know it stars MickeyMouse. On the other hand, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQTAxcrf9Ws it seems quite clear]] that it will be chock full of NightmareFuel in general. In fact, the game's creator, Warren Spector ([[SystemShock Yes]], ''[[VideoGame/DeusEx that]]'' Warren Spector) says that he ''wants'' kids to play this and be ''terrified''.

** On the subject of Metroid, ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' is '''full''' of this trope. You begin with the story being that Samus was ''nearly killed'' by a parasite called the X, and you're dropped right into the BSL Research Station, which is, as far as you know, completely devoid of human life thanks to the X. But we're just getting started here. Early on you have to navigate a series of eerie unlit corridors because there's been an ''explosion'' in the quarantine room. Turns out it's just a Hornoad-X, but if you explore a bit you find a room completely frozen. If you decide to continue further inside, despite the damage you take from the cold (you've been injected with Metroid DNA) you see [[spoiler: '''Ridley''' (Who was supposed to be '''dead''') frozen in a block of ice.]] Play farther into the game, go down the Main Elevator, and what appears to be [[spoiler: Samus]] bursts into the shaft. [[spoiler: Then it startlingly zooms '''right''' in on 'her' face, revealing that it's some kind of mimic.]] You later find out that this mysterious entity is called the [[spoiler: SA-X, and that '''it's tracking you.''' You also can't even hope to kill it yet. You are told to '''run''' if you encounter it.]] [[ParanoiaFuel Have fun!]] Oh, and it '''DOES''' catch up with you. '''AND IF ALL THAT WASN'T ENOUGH,''' there's a [[spoiler: boss]] called the [[spoiler: Nightmare]]. It's been flying through the background of the damaged area of the ARC Sector, startling you the first few times it happens. Then you [[spoiler: fight it]]. It has [[spoiler: a creepy mask, and when you damage it enough the mask breaks, revealing its disgusting alien face that, as you damage it further, begins '''DRIPPING.''']] ''Rated E, for everyone!''

** On the subject of Metroid, ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' is '''full''' of this trope. You begin with the story being that Samus was ''nearly killed'' by a parasite called the X, and you're dropped right into the BSL Research Station, which is, as far as you know, completely devoid of human life thanks to the X. But we're just getting started here. Early on you have to navigate a series of eerie unlit corridors because there's been an ''explosion'' in the quarantine room. Turns out it's just a Hornoad-X, but if you explore a bit you find a room completely frozen. If you decide to continue further inside, despite the damage you take from the cold (you've been injected with Metroid DNA) you see [[spoiler: '''Ridley''' (Who was supposed to be '''dead''') frozen in a block of ice.]] Play farther into the game, go down the Main Elevator, and what appears to be [[spoiler: Samus]] bursts into the shaft. [[spoiler: Then it startlingly zooms '''right''' in on 'her' face, revealing that it's some kind of mimic.]] You later find out that this mysterious entity is called the [[spoiler: SA-X, and that '''it's tracking you.''' You also can't even hope to kill it yet. You are told to '''run''' if you encounter it.]] [[ParanoiaFuel Have fun!]] Oh, and it '''DOES''' catch up with you. '''AND IF ALL THAT WASN'T ENOUGH,''' there's a [[spoiler: boss]] called the [[spoiler: Nightmare]]. It's been flying through the background of the damaged area of the ARC Sector, startling you the first few times it happens. Then you [[spoiler: fight it]]. It has [[spoiler: a creepy mask, and when you damage it enough the mask breaks, revealing its disgusting alien face that, as you damage it further, begins '''DRIPPING.''']] [[PrecisionFStrike Holy fucking shit]].

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. A crossover between Square Enix and Disney famous/infamous for one hell of a {{KudzuPlot}} that will go over kids' heads, but that's not what makes it questionable. ''What'' does is the underlying story behind the antagonists and their actions, such as how people were captured for experiments (said experiments cause their Hearts to collapse, turning them into [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] or how the main antagonist [[spoiler: is trying to instigate a second war. You know, [[ForScience For Science!]]]] Some scenes were also brutal, such as how you get to see [[spoiler: Eraqus getting killed off by Xehanort off screen, which makes it all the more horrifying]] The themes themselves are pretty depressing ([[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman What measure is a non human?]]). Best of all, they all have the E rating, E10+ at most!

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' had some [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar very questionable dialogue]], a female ghost who is completely naked (granted, [[BarbieDollAnatomy she has no nipples or vagina]], but still), Princess Peach as an InvisibleStreaker, and Hooktail chewing up Toads while they are still alive. The rating? E.

** ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' was purposefully intended for older fans. It was originally going to have a T rating, but backlash for giving Shadow his own game and intentionally making a DarkerAndEdgier installment (despite fans requesting that Shadow get his own game since SonicAdventure2[=/=]SonicHeroes and requesting for a DarkerAndEdgier installment for...a while) led to SEGA/Sonic Team censoring it to fit for the E10 rating. Arguably, this shift lead to the final product being torn between which group of fans it was trying to appeal to, succeeding at neither.

* [[http://www.100bt.com/ Polyard Network]] is a Chinese browser game developer aimed at children ages 7-14 whose games are popular but have [[FollowTheLeader familiar gamplay]]. But what went wrong? There is a cutscene in one of their games in which [[http://www.9u8u.com/uploads/allimg/120211/113341H57-2.jpg a character is throwned off a building with small amounts of blood gushed from him]]. Although predominantly Chinese, the same game has a cutscene with "WTF" in one of the NPC dialogue during a quest. And another game from the developer has [[http://img.973.com/newspic/owg/85627_0.png Satanic]] symbols around the game! [[hottip:*: It is actually common in most Asian countries to depict pagan symbols in certain works, even if it is aimed at kids.]]

* [[http://www.100bt.com/ Polyard Network]] is a Chinese browser game developer aiming at children ages 7-14 whose games are popular but have [[FollowTheLeader familiar gamplay]]. But what went wrong? There is a cutscene in one of their games in which [[http://www.9u8u.com/uploads/allimg/120211/113341H57-2.jpg a character is throwned off a building with small amounts of blood gushed from him]]. Although predominantly Chinese, the same game has a cutscene with "WTF" in one of the NPC dialogue during a quest. And another game from the developer has [[http://img.973.com/newspic/owg/85627_0.png Satanic]] symbols around the game! [[hottip:*: It is actually common in most Asian countries to depict pagan symbols in certain works, even if it is aimed at kids.]]

** Let's not forget that in the post-credits story, [[spoiler: the [[BigBad big bad]] disguises himself as a good guy, visits you in your dreams, and tells you that the world is going to end, that it's all your fault, and that ''your and your partner should kill yourselves.'']]

* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games are considered all-ages rather than strictly for kids, but still have a situation similar to some of the games here. The plots of the games can run rather dark and complicated for games meant for kids, and some hidden mechanics- [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Effort_values effort values]] and [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Individual_values individual values]], for starters- are rather complex and draw a large PeripheryDemographic to the Pokemon competitive scene. Of course, this is rather mitigated by the fact that the player can easily [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory ignore the story and hidden mechanics in favor of making the funny monsters battle each other]] for the most part.

* While ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games are sometimes accused of being children's games (though one might challenge that fact given how much they sell), it started to get considerably darker in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', with the story of [[spoiler: Cyrus attempting to awaken Dialga/Palkia and obliterate the world because it contained "flawed" constructs such as emotion, in order to create a "perfect" world where he could rule]]. But it gets turned UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', which features [[spoiler:[[AbusiveParents G]][[MoralEventHorizon/VideoGames he]][[Monster/VideoGames ts]][[NightmareFuel/VideoGames is]]]]. Click on any of those four links and Ctrl+F him just to see how frightening and "kid-friendly" his misdeeds are. Then there's all of the complex ways your team can be customized, some of which have their existence disavowed by Game Freak. Effort Values in particular.
** If one limits oneself to core games, the above statement is accurate. Throw ''Colosseum'' into the mix, and [[Monster/{{Pokemon}} C]][[WouldNotShootACivilian i]]{{p|aranoiaFuel}}[[MindRape h]][[DangerouslyGenreSavvy e]][[KnightOfCerebus r]] wrecks the kid-friendliness a generation early.

** Then there's the whole issue with Vivi the {{vampires|AreSexGods}}s and her... ''[[IncrediblyLamePun titillating]]'' appearance, [[BuxomIsBetter figures]] and MaleGaze... and one suggestive magazine in the FreezeFrameBonus that can be too suggestive for children, yet we may never understand why all of these are ''[[SarcasmMode totally safe for kids]]'' with a K-A rating! [[SarcasmMode Very subtle, ReadySoft.]]

** In the game's US commercial, it features millions of people all over the world watching (on jumbotrons) one person play ''Majora's Mask'' '''while the moon slowly descends upon the Earth'''. At the very end of the commercial, the announcer states that the game is "E for Everyone" in an incredibly dark voice.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' had some [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar very questionable dialogue]], a female ghost who is completely naked (granted, [[AnimeAnatomy she has no nipples or vagina]], but still), and Hooktail chewing up Toads while they are still alive. The rating? E.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}} 3: Hoodlum Havoc'' has all sorts of sexual innuendos, Globox getting drunk, and the swamp hag using the word "pervert".

* The first ''RatchetAndClank'' game is rated T... and is the tamest in the series.[[hottip:*:Although it would later be rerated E10+ when it was remade in HD]] After the E10+ rating was invented, subsequent games were labelled as such despite increasing rates of violence and innuendo.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' had some [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar very questionable dialogue]], a female ghost who is completely naked (granted, [[AnimeAnatomy she has no nipples or vagina]], but still), and Hooktail chewing up Toads while they are still alive. The rating? E.

** ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' was purposefully intended for older fans. It was originally going to have a T rating, but backlash for giving Shadow his own game and intentionally making a DarkerAndEdgier installment (despite fans requesting that Shadow get his own game since SonicAdventure2/SonicHeroes and requesting for a DarkerAndEdgier installment for...a while) led to SEGA/Sonic Team censoring it to fit for the E10 rating. Arguably, this shift lead to the final product being torn between which group of fans it was trying to appeal to, succeeding at neither.

* Some attribute the commercial failure of ''{{Shantae}}'' to this, among other factors. ''Shantae'''s cutesy, colorful graphics, goofy humor, and a definitely present twinge of GirlsNeedRoleModels certainly suggest it's a kid's game. The problem is, it's also strangely... [[ParentService sexy]] for something aimed at kids, and also more difficult than your average kid's game.

* ''BrainDead13'' is a game where the protagonist gets to die in all sorts of graphically violent ways, which has made it extremely hard to understand why this was given a K-A rating then. (Some could argue that "it's because it looks so silly" but many of the deaths were not exactly all that light nevertheless so in other words the fact that this game was given a K-A rating might be considered to be really... baffling to put it mildly.)

** Lampshaded by the game's US commercial, which features millions of people all over the world watching (on jumbotrons) one person play ''Majora's Mask'' '''while the moon slowly descends upon the Earth'''. At the very end of the commercial, the announcer states that the game is "E for Everyone" in an incredibly dark voice.

** The [=iPhone=] port thankfully averts this by ramping up the rating to a 12+, which could be an equivalent of either a "Teen" or an "Everyone 10+" rating.

* Some people are rather disappointed that ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' only got an E rating, despite the fact that it's {{Disney}} and y'know it stars MickeyMouse. On the other hand, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQTAxcrf9Ws it seems quite clear]] that it will be chock full of NightmareFuel in general. In fact, the game's creator, Warren Spector ([[SystemShock Yes]], ''[[VideoGame/DeusEx that]]'' WarrenSpector) says that he ''wants'' kids to play this and be ''terrified''.

* Some people are rather disappointed that ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' only got an E rating, despite the fact that it's {{Disney}} and y'know it stars MickeyMouse. On the other hand, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQTAxcrf9Ws it seems quite clear]] that it will be chock full of NightmareFuel in general. In fact, the game's creator, Warren Spector (Yes, ''[[VideoGame/DeusEx th]][[SystemShock at]]'' Warren Spector) says that he ''wants'' kids to play this and be ''terrified''.