History YMMV / NightTrap

* NightmareRetardant: Invoked. And ''boy'', did they succeed.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Younger players who try this game for the first time will probably fail to see what what the fuss was about. Like mentioned before, the "violence" is deliberately over-the-top and cartoonish, and the bathroom scene is very tame by modern standards. This is probably the reason the re-release got a T for Teen rating.

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:The GoldenEnding allowing the player to ''[[VideoGameCrueltyPotential kill]]'' Kelly]], while already quite uncalled for in the first place, became even more uncomfortable knowing that her actress died not long after the game's release.

* TheScrappy: Simms is disliked by most players since he is the character who gives most of the game-overs.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The Night Trap theme song is very epic and has a good rhythm. It's even used in the credits. Even people who don't like the game find the theme decent.

* AngstWhatAngst:
** [[spoiler:If you don't trap Jeff in the living room, then after he has strangled S.C.A.T. member Swanson and Kelly runs away, he tries to go through the secret passageway, [[TooDumbToLive only to open the bookcase door the wrong way and end up getting trapped]]. Sheila at first expresses concern, but her husband Victor tells her not to worry about Jeff, and she recovers in a few seconds before she, Victor, and Sarah go after Kelly.]]

* PolishedPort: The updated releases for the CD 32X, 3DO and home computers featured much-improved video quality over the blocky, stuttery Sega CD original version of the game.
** The 25th Anniversary Edition, released on systems with much larger storage capacity have beefy modern video hardware, give the best video quality ever, with not a scrap of artifacting.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Arguably an EnforcedTrope. As WebVideo/ScottTheWoz points out in his review of the game, finishing the game successfully requires the player to keep busy looking for the Augers instead of trying to follow the story. The ''25th Anniversary Edition'' fixes this problem by letting you unlock a mode that lets you watch the story details on their own.

** The final sequence of the game has [[spoiler:the Martins chase Kelly around the house as you trap them one by one. Strangely, almost none of them seem to mind much that their family members are being trapped and killed in front of them]].
** Before that, however, [[spoiler:if you don't trap Jeff in the living room, then after he has strangled S.C.A.T. member Swanson and Kelly runs away distraught, he tries to go through the secret passageway, [[TooDumbToLive only to open the bookcase door the wrong way and end up getting burned to death]]. Sheila at first becomes distraught at the loss of her son, but her husband Victor tells her not to worry about Jeff, and she recovers in a few seconds before she, Victor, and Sarah go after Kelly.]]

** Back during that same early-90s violent video game controversy, Creator/{{Nintendo}}, which was still adamantly enforcing a family friendly image on all of their third-party developers, took pride in the fact this game wasn't on their systems and publicly denounced Sega for licensing it. Over 25 years later, the remastered version was ported to a Nintendo system, the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. Adding to the hilarity, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co8ixwQYj3w the reveal trailer]] opens with a clip of then-chairman of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln testifying before Congress that the game would never appear on a Nintendo console. [[GilliganCut Cue a cut to the Nintendo Switch logo.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ8dE5Z5ErY Another trailer]] doesn't feature Lincoln's quote, but references it by being titled "Never Say Never".

** The [[SameContentDifferentRating Teen rating]] from the 25th anniversary remaster. This came from a game which, alongside ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', was responsible for the ESRB in the first place, and in its original form was one of the first recipients of the ESRB's Mature rating.

** The [[SameContentDifferentRating Teen rating]] from the 25th anniversary remaster. This came from a game which, alongside ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', was responsible for the ESRB in the first place.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Odds are, you're too busy looking for Augers to actually care about the story. The ''25th Anniversary Edition'' fixes this problem by letting you unlock a mode that lets you watch the story details on their own.

** The 25th Anniversary Edition, since it's on much larger discs and have beefy modern video hardware, give the best video quality ever, with not a scrap of artifacting.

*** FridgeBrilliance kicks in here. The current ESRB can tell the violence is not exactly realistic, the 'blood extraction' is laughably fake-looking, and the infamous bathroom scene is barely risque by modern standards, so its rating has dropped like a rock, while ''Mortal Kombat'' and ''Doom'' have gotten '''more''' gruesome and violent to keep its high rating. Not only that, but unlike many of its critics in 1993, they knew what was ''actually'' in the game.

* SugarWiki/{{Awesome Moment|s}}: One of the accolades has to go to Lisa. Ever the ScreamingWoman, she takes her mascara purse and fights back against the Augers attacking her before escaping through the window (and all this after you have saved her). This can also count as a DyingMomentOfAwesome if you failed to save her, as not even getting her blood extracted from her by the Augers can deter her from screaming all the way to the very end. Many civilians get their blood extracted from their necks by Augers and either faint or die quickly as a result of blood loss, but not Lisa, as she is MadeOfIron and refuses to die easily, but just keeps going. Even her Auger captors/executioners are getting annoyed by her screams while they are dragging her through the secret passageway, as if to say, "''[[WhyWontYouDie Shut up and die already!!]]''"

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: You can pull a hilarious [[spoiler: CavalryBetrayal]] in the GoldenEnding, [[spoiler:by trapping and killing Kelly on the trap. Even she doesn't see it coming.]]
-->'''Kelly''': ''<after looking back at you at the trap>'' Nah, you wouldn't. [[spoiler:''<You do>'' No! NO! No, please! I can't believe you'd do this to me after EVERYTHING we've been through! NO! ''<death trap opens>'' AAAAAAHHHH!!]]

** The [[SameContentDifferentRating Teen rating]] from the 25th anniversary remaster. This came from a game which, alongside ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', was responsible for the ESRB in the first place.

* AngstWhatAngst: The final sequence of the game has [[spoiler:the Martins chase Kelly around the house as you trap them one by one. Strangely, almost none of them seem to mind much that their family members are being trapped and killed in front of them]].

*** FridgeBrilliance kicks in here. The current ESRB can tell the violence is not exactly realistic, the 'blood extraction' is laughably fake-looking, and the infamous bathroom scene is barely risque by modern standards, so [[JustifiedTrope its rating has dropped like a rock]], while ''Mortal Kombat'' and ''Doom'' have gotten '''more''' gruesome and violent to keep its high rating. Not only that, but unlike many of its critics in 1993, they knew what was ''actually'' in the game.

* {{Woolseyism}}: The Japanese dub has traces of the changes in the lines here and there. One example in the bathroom shows Tony telling Ashley that [[YouRemindMeOfX she reminds him of "a person I knew and loved long ago..."]]; where the English version has "...but that could never be," the Japanese dub replaces it with "Kanojo da mō shinderu/かのじょだもう死んでいる" (lit. "She's already dead").

-->'''Kelly''': <after looking back at yoy at the trap> Nah, you wouldn't. [[spoiler:<You do> No! NO! No, please! I can't believe you'd do this to me after EVERYTHING we've been through! NO! <death trap opens> AAAAAAHHHH!!]]

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The tennis racket song that plays early in the game is arguably this. It's the only musical number in the game, complete with polished MTV production, blatant lip-syncing, and hokey choreography. Although the lyrics are vaguely about the events in the game, none of the characters act like they even remember it late on, and it's so out-of-place that it has earned a special infamy in gaming history. What's even more hilarious is that after Megan starts performing, the rest of the Augers' targets [[spoiler:and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Sarah]]]] gleefully join her, only to be completely surprised by everything that unfolds shortly thereafter.