Line #7 VideoGame/NightmareNed


1	[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/segalo-nificent_4791.jpg]]
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3
4	->''"Adventure that turns fear into fun."''
5	--> -- {{Tagline}} to the game
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7	A [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] game released in 1997 by Disney Interactive and developed by Creative Capers Entertainment and Window Painters Ltd. It centers around a young boy, named Ned Needlemeyer, who is sent into a world of nightmares where he must face his fears to get out.
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9	For the Television show, see [[WesternAnimation/NightmareNed here]].
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12	!!Tropes featured by the whole game:
13	* AbnormalLimbRotationRange: Some of the nightmare-dwellers are capable of this.
14	* AllJustADream: ...[[spoiler:OrWasItADream]]
15	* AtTheCrossroads: The Quilt.
16	* ArcSymbol:
17	** The five Shadows are represented by five distinct symbols.
18	** The patching and the sickly green color of the Quilt usually appears whenever something bad is about to happen.
19	* BloodlessCarnage: In the game, Ned can get stabbed, decapitated, crushed, and other such fates with nary a drop of blood.
20	* BodyHorror
21	* BreakingTheFourthWall: During the use of the game's menu, Ned will talk to the player.
22	* CatsAreMean:
23	** Two black cats in Attic, Basement, and Beyond which injure Ned with shards from broken mirrors.
24	** The word-animal cats in the Chalkboard area of Alcatraz Elementary.
25	* ClosedCircle:
26	** The nightmare worlds.
27	** Subverted when exit portals are used.
28	* {{Cyclops}}:
29	** The Gum Monster from in the Mouth and Cyco (Toilet-Paper Cyclops) from the Bathroom Nightmare.
30	** As well as the Medical Shadow and Bathroom Shadow.
31	* DarkerAndEdgier: The game has lost much of the cartoonish and silly nature of the show. Even the music is eerier.
32	* DownerEnding: The first ending in which Ned is still terrified of his nightmares.
33	* EldritchAbomination: The Shadows and disembodied monster hands (pictured right) in the beginning.
34	* EldritchLocation: Much of Ned's nightmare, but primarily in The Mouth and in the Attic, Basement, and Beyond.
35	* EarnYourHappyEnding: The second ending in which Ned has conquered his nightmares.
36	* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: Everywhere.
37	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Many points during the intro.
38	* {{Homage}}:
39	** The game has the art class segment which is reminiscent of fighting games, namely Franchise/MortalKombat and the use of its phrase, "FINISH HIM!".
40	** The environment of the Graveyard Nightmare is known for bearing a strong resemblance to the works of Creator/TimBurton and Creator/EdwardGorey.
41	* HorrifyingTheHorror: [[spoiler: As the game continues and [[BodyHorror the Shadows begin to reveal]], [[NightmareFuel their expressions become increasing chilled and terrified themselves]].]]
42	* MadDoctor/ DepravedDentist:
43	** The Medical Shadow is shown to be the most insane and sadistic of the bunch.
44	-->"''I'm going to [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence rip off one of your fingers, put it in a jar]], and keep it as a ''souvenir''!''"
45	** [[spoiler: Also, in the end, ''if'' Ned can beat the Shadows and conquer his fears, the Shadows are shown to be still hiding in his closet. They contemplate what to do now that Ned has won, and the Medical Shadow suggests that [[VillainousValour "We could perform hideous, painful medical procedures on ''each other!''"]]]]
46	*** Subverted when it is shown that she was [[spoiler: actually friendly and it just the child in Ned that made him fear doctors so badly.]]
47	** Doctor Shots, who will stab Ned clean through with giant needles if he gets caught when the Mouth closes on him, one additional piece of his outfit changing from white to a tooth decay mix of browns each time. If the decay spreads to his coat, you're ejected from the level.
48	** Drive-Thru Doctors that will swipe at Ned while he's rolling on the medical gurney.
49	** The creepy nurse in Alcatraz Elementary School, though she poses no real danger to him.
50	* MediumBlending: Artwork of both the background and some of the characters mixes with technicolor, RealLife artistry, etc.
51	* {{Mooks}}:
52	** The countless Attic, Basement, and Beyond mice are this to a fire-spitting furnace who repeatedly fries them, and also the Electro-Beavers in the Bathroom Nightmare are this to the rat overlords.
53	** PlayedStraight with the Plaque Monsters from in The Mouth.
54	* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: Ned when he conquers all five nightmare worlds. [[spoiler: At least in the Good Ending.]]
55	* OurVampiresAreDifferent:
56	** There is a vampire bat on the Chalkboard stage of Alcatraz Elementary spelled out with chalk and plaque vampire bats in The Mouth.
57	** There's a straight vampire who's a milk carton sculpture labeled "Vilk" in the Art Class segment, complete with the background of a haunted house.
58	* RedHerring: A toilet labeled "[[DisgustingPublicToilet The Worst Toilet in Ned's Nightmare]]" which Ned chooses to outright avoid by leaping down into a chasm.
59	* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The mouse/ rat civilizations, and on a larger scale, an ''enormous'' realistic-looking rat[[note]]([[WildMassGuessing Which some gamers believed to be the]] [[KingOfBeasts progenitor of them all]])[[/note]] can be found in one of the cutscenes.
60	%%* {{Rule of Scary}}
61	* SecretPath: Escape portals between the Nightmare realms.
62	* SceneryPorn/ SceneryGorn: In the game. The 2D artwork and animation STILL look beautiful even years later.
63	* ShoutOut:
64	** The Attic, Basement, and Beyond stage in the game has a likely reference to Alfred Hitchcock's ''Film/TheBirds'' in which a flock of birds swarm in through a window and viciously peck at Ned. This only happens after you've knocked a fake bird out of its cage.
65	** Ned's silhouette shakes hands with none other than WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse.
66	** In the School stage, the principal makes an accidental phone call to "the happiest place on earth" when trying to reach Ned's parents.
67	%%* SuddenAnatomy
68	* ThrowTheBookAtThem: An angry librarian squishes Ned between a book in Alcatraz Elementary as does the skeleton man in the Graveyard Nightmare if Ned disturbs him. The latter had actually crushed some other poor people the same way and stuffed them into his bookshelf.
69	* TheUnfought: None of the Shadows are directly fought or confronted.
70	%%* TheUnintelligible
71	* TheUnsolvedMystery:
72	** [[spoiler: The true nature of the Attic, Basement, and Beyond Nightmare, its connection, if any, to the real world, and Sally the little girl's connection to Ned was never learned.]]
73	** [[spoiler:[[WildMassGuessing Some have speculated that the little girl Sally may actually be Mrs. Needlemeyer herself as a child]].]]
74	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: On newer systems, the Rat Ladder puzzle and [[HospitalGurneyScene Gurney arcade sequence]] can be harder to complete due to processor speed making the associated animations much faster than normal.
75	* VideoGameLives: Ned gets eight hours to conquer his nightmares, shown on a giant alarm clock each time he loses one. If all of them are lost, the clock is destroyed except for the hands, and while the game continues on, it leads to the [[DownerEnding bad ending]].
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77	!!Tropes featured in the intro/outros and cutscenes:
78	* DodgeballIsHell: The passage from Alcatraz Elementary to the Medical nightmare results in Ned getting clobbered in the head several times by this, with a bump on his head for good measure.
79	* MultipleEndings: More specifically, a good ending and a bad ending.
80	* PhoneyCall/ EvilPhone: Ned answers the phone while his parents are away, but before we find out who it is, he gets tangled in the phone cord and [[LargeHam freaks out]] [[MistakenIdentity thinking something has got him]].
81	* PsychoStrings: As the view of the hallway begins to stretch out in the intro.
82	* SpearCarrier: The enormous pair of clawed monster hands--a likely EldritchAbomination--that casts Ned into the Shadows' Nightmare World does not appear again [[spoiler: unless the player ends with the good ending to which it brings him to the final battle]]. It is also seen on the game cover, but portrayed as more slender and presented in a much less cartoonish manner.
83	* SwarmOfRats: In the Medical to Bathroom Nightmare cutscene.
84	* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: When Ned is first cast into the Nightmare World by the Shadows.
85	* VomitDiscretionShot: In the cutscene from Alcatraz Elementary to the Bathroom Nightmare.
86
87	!!Tropes featured in the Graveyard Nightmare:
88	* AnthropomorphicFood: The pumpkins, if they still count as food.
89	* BatOutOfHell: There's one in the mausoleum.
90	* DemBones: A skeleton man lounging in a reclining chair while reading a book.
91	* TheGrimReaper: The Graveyard Shadow, foremost, and another with a more standard design.
92	* KillTheCutie: The little boy wearing a party hat who helps Ned escape from the Jar gets eaten by the Jack-in-the-Box monster immediately after.
93	* MutagenicFood: Ned eats zombie girl scout cookies... ''Guess what happens?''
94	* NightmareFace: The Green Ghosts do this to each other, though none of them find it scary.
95	* OffWithHisHead: A scissor demon and GrimReaper jump out of the background and cut Ned's head off only for it to reappear seconds later.
96	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The silly Green Ghosts who don't want to scare Ned, just each other. One of them just wants to play her accordion, oblivious to another trying to saw off the branch she's sitting on.
97	* OurGhoulsAreCreepier: One that is essentially a beating heart, needle-clawed hands, and cadaver-Esque head attached to a long spine. When beaten, it explodes, leaving a deflated heart hanging from its spine.
98	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: A zombie girl scout, zombie dad, and Ned's zombie parents.
99	* PaperThinDisguise:
100	** Trick-or-Treater carrying a [[StealthPun paper bag holding a cat]] wearing a mask disguised as a dog.
101	** [[MindScrew Later, he's holding a cat in a zippered-bodysuit disguised as a dog wearing a mask disguised as a cat.]]
102	* PrimalFear: A little girl who's [[IronicFear afraid of the dark had her nightlight stolen by a bat]].
103	* RealityChangingMiniature: One puzzle in the Graveyard Nightmare shows an ant farm where multiple ants are shoveling dirt into a cave that looks like the room Ned is in. Then suddenly the real room gets filled with dirt and [[InterfaceScrew plasters Ned against the screen]], which squeaks as he moves side to side. Pushing a lever with his yo-yo removes the dirt and solves the puzzle.
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105	!!Tropes featured in the Medical Nightmare:
106	* AfraidOfNeedles: A big part of the nightmare.
107	* BenevolentArchitecture: In the Mouth stage, the dental brace can be used both as trampolines to jump over obstacles and as a sort of tightrope that Ned can use to climb across dangerous/ impassable areas. Also, [[{{Squick}} bloody veins]] can be used to climb up to secret areas.
108	* BlobMonster/ MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Gum Monster.
109	* TheElevatorFromIpanema: The pitch black waiting room where you choose which stage to visit has Muzak playing.
110	* FakeUltimateMook: The Gum monster can't move its mouth far enough to bite Ned, but he can knock his teeth out in one shot.
111	* HospitalGurneyScene: First part of the doctor level.
112	* MoodDissonance:
113	** The Uvula song being performed in a bloody, diseased [[EldritchLocation Eldritch Mouth]].
114	** [[TheElevatorFromIpanema Muzak]] being played in a dark waiting room, alongside a chair that either takes the form of a gurney with clamps or a dentist chair that ''eats'' anyone that sits in it.
115	* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: A spinning one attached to a wall, no less, and it has to be stopped at one of eight jars of organs (depending on how many were taken at the start) to free Ned.
116	* UmbrellaDrink: Rotted toothmen can be seen drinking from these during the Uvula Song.
117	* WombLevel: One-half of the medical nightmare in the video game takes place in a giant mouth.
118
119	!!Tropes featured in the Alcatraz Elementary School:
120	%%* AcademyOfEvil
121	%%* TheAlcatraz
122	* BeeAfraid: During the Chalkboard stage, big bee drawings will try and give Ned stings.
123	* TheBully: There is a minor baddie that [[StuffedIntoATrashcan tosses Ned into a trashcan]] if he gets near.
124	* CheshireCatGrin: [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110607201337/nightmarened/images/9/9e/Bager.PNG This guy]] has got some ''[[NightmareFuel serious]]'' school spirit.
125	* {{Dracula}}: One of Ned's opponents in The Locker stage, aka, [[PunnyName Vilk]].
126	* DumbMuscle: The Clayman.
127	* [[EEqualsMCHammer E = MC Hammer]]: The chalkboard stage.
128	%%* GirlPosse
129	* InsaneTrollLogic: The principal punishing Ned for clogging the bathroom toilets because he was the only one there at the time, not because of any substantial evidence.
130	%%* InstitutionalApparel
131	* KidsAreCruel: Most of the students in the school are either bullies or completely apathetic.
132	* {{Mascot}}: The school's is a wolverine.
133	* NoodlePeople: The pipe-cleaner skeleton.
134	* NotWearingPantsDream: While getting his picture taken.
135	* ParentalSubstitute/ MistakenIdentity: If Ned manages to call the right number, two unfamiliar adults scold the principal for him blaming their son Max (Ned) for clogging the toilets and proceed to lead the boy out.
136	* SadistTeacher: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0q-xfXdP8k The children were in tears that day...]]
137	* ScaryLibrarian: This old lady will try and catch Ned in her book.
138	* UngratefulBastard: Ned had let a frightened kid out of a cell he'd been trapped in only to have him disappear and leave Ned to have an embarrassing school photo of himself taken instead.
139	* [[YouAreNumberSix You Are Number 777444]]: The students at Alcatraz Elementary all have convict numbers.
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141	!!Tropes featured in the Bathroom Nightmare:
142	* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: The rats, who have chipmunk-like voices, throw electrical objects at you while singing a Villain Song about how they enjoy electrocuting people.
143	* DownTheDrain
144	* ElectrifiedBathtub: The mice throw electrical appliances into the water-filled bathtubs and try to shock Ned.
145	* FearIsTheAppropriateResponse/ RunOrDie: The Drain Snake.
146	* FelonyMisdemeanor: Three fun-house mirrors depicting Ned going through generic puberty angst, such as acne, excessive height, and body hair. Even Ned thinks it's lame, albeit slightly unsettling to him at first.
147	* GrowingUpSucks: There is a musical number about this.
148	* MightyRoar: If Ned falls into the chasm below the pivoting bathtubs, a loud monster roar will sound.
149	* MouseWorld: It's populated by intelligent, sadistic, talking mice.
150	* [[MyFutureSelfAndMe My Future Selves and Me]]: Ned sees three future versions of himself during The Puberty Song.
151	* SinisterTangoMusic: The [[https://youtu.be/3ppT2V3DkYQ Rat Tango]] is sung by the [[YouDirtyRat evil rats]] in the bathroom level, about they like to kill people by electrocuting them.
152	* SlaveMooks: The Electro-Beavers to the Rats.
153	* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Thirteen dead mice are needed to make the ladder to reach a secret area.
154	* VillainSong: The game had "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uizhgr6pZFQ The Mouse Song]]". The Rats explain in their song that their motive for tormenting you is, essentially, ForTheEvulz.
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156
157	!!Tropes featured in the Attic, Basement, and Beyond Nightmare:
158	%%* BookcasePassage
159	%%* {{Cloudcuckooland}}
160	* CoolCar:
161	** Supernatural, 70s-style car that morphs into a rocket? Hell yeah.
162	** TheAllegedCar: In addition to missing the side door, the car appears completely non-functioning, [[spoiler: that is until a key is found.]]
163	* CreepyBasement: Obviously.
164	* {{Fireballs}}: The living furnace spews out balls of flame. Rats that run by sometimes fall victim to this, as can Ned if he stands too close.
165	* LazyDragon: At one point you come across a dragon head mounted on the wall… but then you see that she's actually just sleeping, and [[http://nightmarened.wikia.com/wiki/File:Dragon.PNG the rest of her body is visible near the wall]]. Despite this grisly introduction, she's actually [[DarkIsNotEvil really friendly]]. Waking her up will prompt her to tell you poems (albeit somewhat macabre ones) with a cheerful GrannyClassic voice.
166	* TheLostWoods: The short, second setting of the Attic, Basement, and Beyond Nightmare.
167	* MindScrew:
168	** A door that when Ned enters he is spat out of the phonograph.
169	** Same thing if Ned climbs the left ladder in the starting area after scaring off its black cat with the yo-yo.
170	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: There is a female dragon's head mounted on a wall that will tell Ned three scary stories in the form of limericks.
171	* PocketDimension: [[EpilepticTrees A possibility]], for it somehow had some sort of connection to the real world, according to Sally.]]
172	* RepetitiveAudioGlitch: The phonograph that plays the same simple tune over and over.
173	* SchmuckBait:
174	** A box that reads "DANGER DON'T TOUCH".
175	** [[spoiler: Subverted when it [[RedHerring turns out to be an oversized and morbid, yet harmless, insect, or simply nothing]].]]
176	* TheWallsHaveEyes:
177	** The Dark Woods area.
178	** Subverted when they turn out to be fake.
179	* {{Wedgie}}: The wallpaper turns into a bunch of hands that grab Ned and give him a major wedgie.
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Context VideoGame / NightmareNed