[[{{SonicTheHedgehog}} http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SonicCDNightmareFuel.jpg]]
[[caption-width:240:Sonic CD has a secret for kids who look hard enough...]]

Some computer and video games are supposed to be scary, but that's okay because we as player characters have the power to destroy TheLegionsOfHell. These examples, however, [[NightmareFuel leave us wondering what the hell the script writers were thinking]].

This can often occur while braving BigBoosHaunt during the NightOfTheLivingMooks. Also, while not quite the same thing, many DemonicSpiders can lead to nightmares.

'''Before editing this page, know that NightmareFuel is ONLY for games intended for children. If you've got a horror story about a game for adults or teens, go to HighOctaneNightmareFuel.'''
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'''Examples:'''

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Kirby Games]]
* All of the games in the Kirby series has something in the final bosses that makes them spooky, despite the rest of the games being cute and colorful.
* An enemy named Scarfy is a cute happy flying creature that resembles Kirby, until you turn your back to it, try to eat it, or get too close to it, in which it shows a demented mouth and a single eye and attempts to attack you with a forceful bite.
** In Kirby Super Star Ultra's subgame Revenge of the King, all the enemies are given different sprites. Scarfy is replaced with a green apple that turns into a red Jack o' lantern-like apple.
*** You just saw a Jack-o'-lantern? To me it looked more like a grinning skull, or a laughing corpse-face with empty eye sockets. It helps that it goes from being stationary to moving really fast very suddenly.
*** That's how it looks in Squeak Squad. Even worse, when you unlock the Ghost ability and use that to fight Scarfy and trick it into the water, its eye bulges in the most eerie way before it bites the dust.
* Kirby's Dream Land features Mt. Dedede as the final level. In this stage, you need to fight through remade versions of the levels, and at the end, you find.... a clone of Kirby pacing back and forth? You need to pop this to open the door, I am dead serious...
* Kirby's Dream Land 2 features Dark Matter, the black eye that possesses things. He possesses Dedede as the fake final boss. If you [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju9ErWj9gAY&feature=related don't get the good ending]], Dark Matter is listed as "!?" and Kine is acting rather odd...
** When fighting [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tVFKOUf9dM Dark Matter]], he first appears as a samurai, and shoots energy swords and throws an orb. After defeating the samurai, he turns into his eye form and attacks with black lightning from his pupil.
** In later games, a possessed King Dedede will ''open his stomach forming a mouth with part of his clothes becoming teeth''.
*** It's not just a mouth, either. It also is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXTCIzwjmnY an eye at times]]. An eye that shoots out blobs of darkness. Even though this troper knew in advance her favorite character was going to end up with these same [[BodyHorror lovely additions]] in Kirby 64, this was one of the biggest "do not want" moments she had playing the Kirby games.
* Kirby's Adventure (And the updated version "Nightmare in Dreamland") features the Nightmare who attempts to take over Dreamland to rid it of any and all dreams. At first you fight Nightmare as an orb which attacks similar to another boss in the series (Kaboola/Kabula) only, this fight is timed. If you take too long, The orb escapes, and Kirby crashes into the planet. The music played in the NES version is downright [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9eURcKetVo creepy as well]].
* Kirby's Dream Land 3 features the [[MultipleEndings bad end]] showing Dark Matter as "!?" and this time, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVlu7Lxs34 you not only fight Dark Matter, you also fight 0 (Zero)]] who is a white eye who attacks by cutting slashes across its eye and shooting blood. After depleting his health bar the first time, his pupil bursts out of the body in a fountain of blood and begins chasing Kirby.
* Kirby Super Star features the minigame "Revenge of Meta Knight" In which Meta Knight attempts to take over Dreamland. After defeating Meta Knight, you have a time limit to get off the ship while Meta Knight is chasing you, going apparently insane as he angrily hurls swords at you. He enters this segment by shouting "[[UnstoppableRage YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!!]]"
** Seriously? It's not insane. He's just mad that you beat him in a duel and destroyed his ship.
*** In Kirby Super Star Ultra, they toned down Meta Knight's fury.
* Kirby Super Star's subgame "Milky Way Wishes" features the final boss: Marx, who is at first a cute guy bouncing on a ball. Once Kirby awakes Nova to wish for the Sun and Moon to stop fighting, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_oWKu-dyUs Marx transforms]] into a [[OneWingedAngel relatively demonic form]] and attempts to take over the planet. However, he isn't as bad as Kirby Super Star Ultra's final boss...
** The beginning of [[SuperSmashBros Brawl's]] remix of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLOnXceBI5g Marx's theme]] also sounds both creepy and sad at the same time, not unlike the themes for the first part of Subspace and the themes for both Melee and Brawl's versions of Final Destination.
* Kirby 64 features 02 (Zero Two) who is similar to 0, and mimics the blood shot attack, and the floating white eye design, only he is an angel now. Also, his concept art shows his eye bleeding.
** Not only that, WordOfGod confirmed it's ''the vengeful spirit of 0.''
** His stage is made out of an hexagonal, cell-like structure. And the place where you fight him has inexplicable bar codes in the background... Not to mention that, after you destroy its halo, a green root-like spike with thorns around it that "bleeds" poisonous gas will come out from below it.
* Kirby 64 also has a factory stage on Shiver Star featuring evil machines with demented smiles, animal parts in test tubes, and one segment where you fight a bird on fire in a lava pit.
** It's even worse when you take into consideration that when you take a closer look at the planet, it looks suspiciously like Earth.
*** [[{{Gizbit99}} This Troper's]] cousin always thought it was a post-apocalyptic Earth, when all humanity has been wiped out. It was not until recently that I realized how creepy that is...
* Dark Mind's second form in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror first mimics Nightmare, but then attacks as a flaming version of 0 (holy crap!)
* Kirby and the Amazing Mirror also features Dark Meta Knight who attempts to kill Kirby, splits him into four, seals the regular Meta Knight in Dark Mind's realm, and then challenges, and is defeated by Kirby. The creepiest thing about him, is when he dies, he shatters like a piece of glass.
* Once again in Amazing Mirror is a gray-colored Kirby, who occasionally appears with a creepy musical entrance. Hitting him yields an item.
** Not so creepy if you played the whole game, as [[spoiler:it turns out that he's just Mirror Kirby, who is trying to save HIS world. That's why he drops the items.]]
* Kirby Super Star Ultra features Kracko's Revenge and Kracko Jr's Revenge. Both of these are well-known bosses in the series with an updated attack pattern, however, looking close, Kracko's Revenge's eye resembles 0 (Zero) yet again.
** Well, duh. They're both eyes. There's bound to be a resemblance.
* The final boss of The True Arena, [[spoiler:Marx Soul]] is an updated version of Marx, who looks more demented and insane than regular Marx, and attacks in a similar attack pattern as Drawcia from Canvas Curse (Reusing her Paint Barrage and Big Bang attacks). He splits in half to use these attacks, and when you defeat him, he lets out a horrible, ear-raping scream as he splits in half, and each half explodes.
** You can watch yourself [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaEoJvlNfpc]]. The death cry is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaEoJvlNfpc#t=3m10s at 3:10]]. That death animation/scream will stay with me until the day I die.
*** Actually the Marx death scream is in the sound test. Check 347 in the sounds if you dare!
**** Yes, check 347 to hear a banshee screaming.
* Also from The True Arena, the rest area for the Final Four. As if the overcast sky with lightning and menacing coliseum in the background weren't freaky enough, the music could probably be described as "[[{{Pokemon}} Ruins of Alph radio signal]] cranked UpToEleven".
** Super Star Ultra's Masked Dedede who attacks with a huge menacing mask that looks like the headgear from the original {{Saw}}, a large mechanical hammer, and an electric caged arena.
*** YourMileageMayVary apparently, since this Troper thought it was a [[CrowningMomentofAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Dedede.
** Wham Bam Jewel, who appears in the background and attacks after defeating Wham Bam Rock in Helper to Hero (unlike in The True Arena, where you fight him right off the bat). His face is living rather than made of stone, and every time you hit him, his face goes to a distressed look before going to an evil look.
** Galacta Knight. He is the series badass like Meta Knight, but NOVA's description of him said "He was sealed away because of his great power"; you are fighting a godlike being! After defeating him, he flies around as if having a seizure before blowing up...
* Kirby Squeak Squad features Dark Nebula, which is an evil black star that possesses Daroach. After defeating Daroach, he attacks for real after you catch him. Also, his Japan name is ''Dark Zero''.
* In ''Canvas Curse'', the final boss, Drawcia, is a paint-themed witch. Not so scary, [[spoiler:until she goes OneWingedAngel and turns into a living, '''screaming''', multi-eyed paint monster.]] Every time she shrieks, [[FyreNWater this troper]] shivers uncontrollably. You'll have to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn1Ncc7URPg#t=3m20s see it for yourself]] to really get it.
* For {{Midna}}, this would be the "death" sequence as Kirby in ''{{Kirby}} 64: The Crystal Shards'' (if you run out of health). The scenery fades to black and Kirby stumbles around, then falls down [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzdI7qYJar0 a loud, slow version of the regulation Kirby death music appears out of nowhere]]. Just thinking about it gives me the heebie-jeebies.
** Try losing on the boss rush. There's something terrible about a red-tinted screen showing Kirby and his allies looking depressed.
* The bad ending in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, which is made incredibly creepy [[LastNoteNightmare by the last couple of notes that play near the end as the fairy queen turns to look at Ribbon...]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:FinalFantasy Games]]
* Note that because most Final Fantasy games are intended for adults, the mainline series and some of it's spinoffs have [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel/FinalFantasy it's own High Octane page]]. However, there are a few spinoffs for kids...
* This troper remembers his sister nearing the end of ''FinalFantasyMysticQuest''. She said she was about to beat it. Shortly thereafter, she came running out of the bedroom, scared. At that point, she was deathly afraid of spiders, which is the final form of the final boss. Seeing the transformation resulted in her ''deleting her save file'' so she didn't have to see it again.
* Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles has a major one in the form of Tida; a village that was destroyed because their caravan failed. In other words, it's quite clearly pointing out that this is exactly what will happen to your village if you fail, even more so because Tida looks so much like Tipa (the name of your village). The entire place is covered in an eerie gray light, which adds to the creepy irony of seeing the sign at the entrance which reads "Welcome to Tida, the Sunniest Village Anywhere!" It gets worse the farther you go in, especially as most enemies here (that aren't worms twice the size of your character) are highly humanoid undead. Take a wild guess what that implies.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:{{Psychonauts}}]]
* ''Psychonauts'' is mostly fun and humorous, but some things in it are quite disturbing. The most egregious example, of course, would be the horrible Meat Circus level, but there is definitely more than that. For instance, the chest in Milla's mind that contains a "fiery" cage, surrounded by nightmare figures whispering sinister accusations about Milla not saving them in the voices of children (granted this place is supposed to /literally/ be a nightmare room); the two peppy "cheerleader" campers casually discussing their various suicide attempts; and the entire ascent to Dr. Loboto's office, what with the kamikaze rats, gloomy atmosphere, and Sheegor constantly peeking out from corners and staring at you, just to name a few.
** Even having watched a playthrough before, Loboto scared the bejeesus out of me. However, I actually found Sheegor endearing, because I wasn't alone. The rats, though, nearly killed me "vanishing in a puff of annoying".
** Some of the "memory vaults" in the game, found while traversing the mental landscapes are very disturbing.
*** This troper thinks this is intentional, and that it's a great tool for providing atmosphere. Considering part of a psychonaut's job is going into people's heads, they're bound to run into some [[{{Squick}} Squicktastic]] stuff once in a while (more often if they're unlucky).
** The entire game runs on Nightmare Fuel, quite literally in a number of places. Every in-brain level is, in spirit if not in body, a WombLevel. Brains are yanked from children's heads by a strait-jacketed dentist with a metal claw and a shower cap. It gets so traumatic that they [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade on it]] in the last level--if you ask for advice, Raz will calmly sum up the rabbit enemies as "hellish nightmare bunnies spawning from meat grinders", and Cruller will respond with "Well, at this point you might as well just whack 'em", equally unruffled.
*** Inexplicable is this example, as it takes place in the real world. Later in the game when talking to the suicidal duo (who like to talk about how powerful they will be after they die, creepy in itself) they'll comment on how beautiful the sun is. If you go to "visual mode" and turn the screen to look up at the sun; you'll see it looks like a human skull. ''Gah''. There's no reason for this.
**** This Troper has not done this, as he was wise enough to believe the opposite of everything those two creeps believed by that point. Nonetheless, the image kept him awake at night for three days, before he remembered that he sucked at visualizing skulls. He then started imagining more and more {{Narm}}-tastic skulls, culminating in the perfectly spherical KingdomOfLoathing skull. He ain't scared no more.
*** Another real-world example - the clouds right on the horizon in the outside area of the asylum at night appear to be in the shape of human faces. Based on their expressions, this troper could only interpret them as ''screaming in terror''.
**** This troper just replayed and can confirm they're deliberate human faces with clearly distinguishable features. Almost photorealistic, in fact, which is quite jarring compared to the outlandish cartoonishness of the game style. However, to this troper, they appear to be laughing derisively at the player. Perhaps Psychonauts wiggles deeper into her particular paranoias than even she guessed.
** ThisTroper finds the sobbing of the Emotional Baggage disturbing, especially if said baggage is off-screen, and it takes a while to reach it, with the sobbing in the background all the while...
*** This troper finds the Emotional Baggage cute, in a [[TheWoobie Woobieish]] way. However, she is unreasonably disturbed by the strange pieces of meat in the Brain Tumbler Experiment level that start to quiver and give off green "gas" when you punch them. They're just... deeply unsettling.
*** Listen to the background music in Milla's "Dance Rave" mindscape. Eventually, you'll realize that what sounds like laughing...is ''crying.'' The music is trying to drone it out.
*** Then you find the secret room and find out why this is. That was just horrible.
* While it's one of the funniest levels in the game, The Milkman Conspiracy has its dark underbelly. It's not just the falsely bright and physics-defying overworld wearing on the nerves, the hinge-jawed watchers, sword-swallowing hedge trimmers, and getting pulled not once, but twice into a nightmare world to fight with dark, gas-masked figures that vomit chunks of their former victims, then turn to glass and shatter. While silly at first, the paranoia permeating the level eventually warps the player's thoughts just a little bit towards Boyd's mindset. When you start looking over your shoulder for walking mailboxes, it's a good idea to turn off the console and have a little lie-down.
** You know what else is scary about that level? A GIRL SCOUT EXPLODES A SUICIDE BOMB. Seriously. She's only a thought, and is [[GirlScoutsAreEvil evil]], but still...
** This troper was creeped out when he realized this is how Boyd sees a regular neighborhood. It was especially disturbing when he used Telekinesis on a girl scout (being in the habit of using it on everything) and she said something to the effect of, "Put me down or I'll scream for the police!"
*** Oh yeah, and they're some of the few human [=NPCs=] that your Pyrokinesis will actually ignite.
**** Which gets even better/worse when you realize that Boyd's particular 'last straw' was ''burning down the mall that fired him with makeshift Molotov cocktails''. He later burns down the asylum as part of his mental programming.
** The Lungfish boss fight combines gamer-based fear with psychological terrors. It takes place at the bottom of a dark lake, in a bubble of air that the boss can contract from "almost comfortable" to "unbearably claustrophobic" in a matter of seconds. Since the main character and his family have all been cursed to die in water, a pair of glowing green hands hover at the edge of the bubble, following the player's movements and grabbing them the second they stumble across the barrier. At three or four intervals, the boss swims off, dragging the bubble with it and forcing the player to run through a series of harrowing obstacle courses before the water closes in. The Lungfish itself is a hulking mutant, but the truly troubling part regarding it comes after the fight, when it's revealed [[spoiler: that she's actually a very kind, intelligent lady lungfish named Linda who was mutated and enslaved against her will, and you've been ''feeding her boxes of nails''.]] There are also crabs and sucker fish falling from the edges of the bubble constantly, but the latter are actually NightmareRetardant, as they'll latch onto the top of Raz's head and wobble back and forth with an expression that can only be described as "8B".
* The final boss. Dear lord, the final boss. Even if you ignore that getting there involves such gems as MixAndMatchCritters coming out of meat grinders, freaky ghost-things appearing on the walls and wailing Raz's name, a race against rising water which, if you get anywhere near it, ''drags you in'', and all the rest of the sadistic-platforming horror that is [[ScrappyLevel the Meat Circus]], it's a giant, evil, Frankensteinian abomination that comes out of a meat grinder after the already-upsetting shades of two people's ParentalIssues get thrown in. [[{{Understatement}} Not nice]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:SuperSmashBros]]
* Think about the original SuperSmashBros. You fight constantly against your fellow creations, killing them all, ultimately annihilating your creator, who had been sadistically forcing you to fight for his own dark amusement. All this knowing that he was the only thing giving you life, turning the whole thing into an extended quest to die... which is exactly what happens. Only a fleeting memory of some past life comforts you as you slip into insensible death. And this is the game's plot.
* Brawl's Link has an alternate costume that turns him into Dark Link, with black clothes, gray skin, and red eyes. He's pretty standard fare. However, the game also has "Toon Link", which is the cutesy, SD Link from a couple of the more recent games. He has his own "Dark" costume, which is much freakier-looking, and has been described as looking like a cursed marionette.
** In the Subspace Emissary game, Brawl's "Adventure" mode, there is a room in the Halberd Interior level in which your character passes through a room with nothing in it bar unreachable glass cages that appear above and below you. Within these cages are various enemies that you encounter throughout the game... except [[http://super-smash-bros.wikia.com/wiki/Mizzo one]]. On the bottom row of cages, second to the right, is an enemy that appears nowhere else in the game. It appears as a little ball with tiny arms and legs that is suspended in mid-air by a sticky mucus that extends from the ceiling and floor of the cage. It flails its arms and legs around and appears to be screaming in agony. It doesn't help that you can't hear ANYTHING in this room bar the humming of the lights.
** Speaking of creepy enemies, there's also the Armights, which fly out of the background with a creepy "[[EvilLaugh MWAH HA HA]]!" laugh when they appear. An Armight appears to be some sort of mutated, blue-skinned, dismembered head with two pointy tentacles and a Roman helmet. This troper had the crap scared out of her when she first found one of these enemies. It doesn't help that actually fighting them is [[GoddamnedBats freaking annoying]].
*** [[{{Gizbit99}} This Troper]] used to think the same way. [[NightmareRetardant Then he noticed the bigass musttaches they have.]]
** This particular editor found Floows to be even ''more'' disturbing. Picture a floating, shadowy, wraith-like creature with beady, red eyes that follows you everywhere and regenerates as fast as you can damage it. Sound creepy enough? It gets worse; its main attack is to stand in place and let out a ghastly, tortured shriek as hundreds of smaller ghosts fly out of its body. The bio on its Trophy adds additional layers of Nightmare Fuel, stating that it harbours "pent-up resentment" and "one part sadness, one part madness"..
** Puppits... oh dear God, Puppits! These corpse-like things with really long claws, that just sort of hang lifelessly from a string... Until, they come across the poor unsuspecting character in their way, then they start attacking like crazy.
*** It doesn't help that their trophy description points out that ''nobody knows what's on the other end of the string''. Somehow that spooked this troper something fierce.
** Captain Falcon's Final Smash knocks a couple of characters near him onto an F-Zero track, where they look up to see Captain Falcon racing towards them in his Blue Falcon... which crashes into them and sends them flying. Anyone sensitive to real-life car accidents are better off not thinking about that one too much.
** Mr. Game & Watch's Final Smash frightens this troper. It's bad enough that he turns into a [[EldritchAbomination giant octopus]] that hovers around with its undulating tentacles, but there's a constant ominous and unnatural humming sound throughout the whole thing.
*** This Troper's gaming group has a rule: Whenever a Mr. Game & Watch player performs a Final Smash, we must all shout "[[NaughtyTentacles Tentacle Rape!]]"
**** Good to see I'm not the only one.
** On the topic of Final Smashes, this troper was more than a little disturbed to find out (via the trophy) that, when Pit summons Palutena's Army, the Centurions *DIE* after striking the enemy.
*** Their deaths are ''not'' in vain.
* While she's never played any of the [[EarthBound Mother]]/[[{{Mother3}} EarthBound]] series, this troper found the boss battle against Porky to be incredibly terrifying. Even if the freakish spider-mech hadn't done it for her, the fact that there was a little boy trapped inside of it that seems to be crying and screaming with terror would have pushed her over the edge.
** Since you haven't played the series, you may want to know the little boy in question is evil, biologically thousands of years old due to time travel and is operating the spider-mech trying to kill you. Not that that helps very much, though. Now we have a PsychopathicManchild that's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld trying to kill you for making him a SealedEvilInACan.
*** In fact, the entire Ruined Zoo level seemed to be slight-to-extreme Nightmare Fuel, not a small part because it was so jarring from the usual bright and happy Smash Bros. world.
**** It doesn't help that the level starts with Lucas, who's basically a frightened little boy, being pursued by the [[ImplacableMan completely unstoppable]] Pig King statue (which is prime Nightmare Fuel itself). After a brief level of keeping ahead of the (mercifully slow) Pig King, Lucas trips on a root and stares up at the approaching golem with a look of abject terror on his face. It's a relief when [[spoiler:Ness shows up and one-shots the thing into a million pieces]].
**** On that subject, isn't the whole Wario-chasing-Lucas scene a little... You know... Creepy?
***** Oh yeah, and when you enter The Ruined Zoo after it's been integrated into Subspace, it has the Snowman theme play. It's mostly the intro of the song combined with the setting that makes it unnerving.
* This troper was terrified by the fight between [[spoiler:King Dedede and Bowser]] in the Subspace Emissary. Not because of the actual fight, but because [[spoiler: Master Hand is lying in the background, apparently bleeding to death.]]
* Playing in stamina mode always tends to creep this troper out a little; instead of knocking fighters off the stage, you just beat them down until their HP drops to 0. Simple enough -- except for when the HP ''does'' get worn down, the final hit is rendered in slow motion with the loser crying out in defeat... and then their lifeless bodies just lie there on the field.
** Which is one of the reasons why [[KingSonnDeeDoo This Troper]] kicks them off the stage, after they 'die'. That, and to give them a 'proper burial'.
* This troper finds the hands creepy. Fighting Master Hand is not entirely unlike one's action figures trying to kill one's hand. Of course, Crazy Hand is creepier, since it idles spastically, has a few oddly creepy attacks, and is a tough boss, since it almost always brings Master Hand along.
** "Action figures trying to kill one's hand," nothing - this editor found Master Hand itself pretty darn scary. Maybe that's just because she had a nightmare involving a giant disembodied hand... the night before she first saw Master Hand. Retroactive nightmare fuel!
** Master Hand is creepy as hell begining with its laugh. Not to mention the first time you got to it, your favorite character was very probably going to be killed by a monstrous HAND. It doesn't help the game over screen has them lying lifeless, which is even made worse if you choose not to continue.
* For some strange reason, [[HarpieSiren this troper]] was kind of disturbed by the characters turning into trophies.
** This troper just thought of it as a really sucky game of freeze tag.
* Ooh, ooh! We haven't mentioned [[DimensionLord Tabuu]] yet! It's not because that he's a floating digital ghost. It's not the fact that he's a borderline SNKBoss with highly damaging attacks, including his signature, which can kill you in one hit on standard difficulty. It's not even because ''during'' said signature attack, he looks like some CyberPunk version on an evil angel. It's because he [[spoiler:used Master Hand to trick Ganondorf and Bowser in an attempt to draw the world into Subspace]]... ''using chains that he implanted under the latter's skin to make him dance like a marionette''. Is there any wonder why Ganondorf suddenly realized why [[spoiler:going along with Tabuu's plan from that moment on]] was a ''bad idea''?
** You know, that scene is even worse when you go by the original idea of Master Hand being a child who owns all those toys. Now imagine Tabuu being in ''your'' head, messing with ''your'' imagination, and doing all that to '''''YOUR'' HAND'''.
*** This troper prefers think of Master Hand as a game designer/programmer, Crazy Hand as his more devious side, and Tabuu as a CorruptCorporateExecutive abusing Mr. Hand for his own good.
* This troper found the scene near the end where the heroes have finally fought their way to the heart of Subspace, with [[BadAss Mario]] leading them, ready for the final battle...[[spoiler:and then Tabuu "kills" them all at once before they can do anything]] to be very... unsettling. [[spoiler:The slow motion shots of them with looks of shock and horror on their faces as they were hit... and then all the lifeless trophies scattered everywhere...]] *shivers*
* Giga Bowser's introduction in Melee. Just after getting to the end of Adventure Mode and beating Bowser, you think it's finally over, when Bowser's trophy suddenly lurches back on stage with a loud thud, and then mutates into this colossal, far more vicious-looking Bowser that more than likely proceeds to completely destroy you while a more unsettling version of the Final Destination theme plays in the background. Especially creepy if you didn't know it was coming.
** Said "more unsettling version of the Final Destination theme" also makes an appearance for Bowser and King Dedede's battle in the Subspace Emissary. Bowser even uses the music for when you watch the Character Roll Call after beating the game with him (rather than a song from his own series like all the other characters).
* The fiction for the Smash Bros. Brawl world is freaking disturbing as well. Apparently, all the main characters ''are trophies that exist to fight. Nothing else.'' They don't stop and wonder "Hang on, why am I beating up this guy? I don't even know who he is!" They just fight. No regrets. That, and the fact there are crowds in stadiums that watch them fight. It's a new low for these guys, story wise.
** That particular element is probably one of the scariest (if not ''the'' scariest) plot points in the Subspace Emissary.
*** Wanna know what's scarier? Imagine if they weren't trophies and were all life-sized, including the backdrops. Good luck trying to sleep for a while.
* At the beginning, the arena gets nuked with a Subspace Bomb, which basically pulls that part of the world into another dimension for Tabuu to do whatever he wants with. The characters flee before it is bombed, and the arena reappears later in the Subspace Maze for a boss fight... but nobody seems to care about rescuing the audience; just defeat the boss and grab the "trophified" playable characters and you're good.
** This was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5OYrVfMrhA&feature=PlayList&p=AFD3EAFBA6F947D4&index=0&playnext=1 The DubSpace Emissary]]:
--->'''Zelda:''' Wait... what about the audience?\\
'''[[strike:Kirby]] Notorious K.R.B.:''' Who gives a shit?
* Giant. Purple. Yellow-eyed. Diddy Kong.
** Not enough? Giant Dark Diddy is also right up there with Tabuu as one of, if not /the/ hardest boss on the higher levels. Even Tabuu's most deadly attack gives you a heads up and a moment to ready yourself, Dark Diddy can attack just as any other character except his great size gives him huge reach and enough knock back to one hit KO with smashes. There was even one time when he grabbed a Star Rod... from half way across the stage I fired at him with Samus and he sliced though the fully charged blast and instantly took her out in one swing.
*** I kinda found evil, purple, yellow-eyed Zelda to be freakish too. She isn't giant, but still...
** Shaydas. First off, it has two heads. Two heads, each with glowing red eyes, not to mention the glowing pink thing in its chest. It has blades for hands. And it's made of Shadow Bugs, which make up Mr. Game and Watch. Just a bit disturbing.
* This editor was deeply upset by the scene titled "Ganondorf Takes Command". [[spoiler:All the R.O.B.'s turn on the Ancient Minister, then --set him on fire-- while sad music plays. :(]]
** Of course, the [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome unadulterated awesome]] that follows immediately afterward as the Ancient Minister proceeds to shoot down a number of the annoying flying enemies, [[IncendiaryExponent while on fire]], then reveals his true form by [[OutOfTheInferno erupting from the fire]], to the tune of the games rousing [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYSzh9tgoj8 Battlefield]] sort of mitigates this.
*** Then it goes to {{Tearjerker}} when the unveiled Ancient Minister turns to his fellow robots and they shake their heads sadly to say they can't turn off the bombs they are now stuck to, and he just lowers his head and closes his eyes in sorrow.
* Donkey Kong CRUSHES A KOOPA'S SPINE at one point. And then you see pieces of the shell flying all over. Come on.
** Actually, that's something you need to take in context with the series. Koopas are like hermit crabs, not actual turtles--the shell isn't connected to the body. If Mario jumps on one in Super Mario World, it flies out of its shell, dressed in an undershirt, and wanders around unhurt. It can even wriggle back in if you don't steal the shell or stomp on it. So it's really only a small inconvenience...which is good, because the player will shoot off ''dozens'' of shells as weapons in any given Mario Kart game, and they explode with a meaty ''crunch'' on impact. Without the aforementioned logic, now ''that'' would be Nightmare Fuel.
* It made me sad when Pikachu was stuffed into a jar and electrocuted. It's Pikachu. How could they do that?
** It seemed more like Pikachu was stuffed into that jar and used as a source of electricity. Still kinda nightmarish.
*** I found that disturbing because Pikachu looks like he's SMILING when the electrocution stops.
**** That could be because the folks in charge of character design didn't understand how to animate Pikachu's lips to express relief or agony. Thus, every time Pikachu gives an angry look and you zoom in on it, what you get instead makes it look like it has less... wholesome intentions.
* This troper finds Bombeds really, really disturbing. They ''decapitate'' themselves to attack, and then they run around like a beheaded chicken until they grow a new head and repeat everything all over again. The fact that they look like emo kids doesn't help, either.
*** ''It hurls its own bomb head at you--at least it's kind enough to reveal the bomb fuse, which will light up when hit with a fire attack like Mario's fireball. Then..BOOM! This is an easy way to take it out. It's this weakness that sometimes makes them sad that, regrettably, they were born with bomb heads.''
* Some theories as to just how [[spoiler:Tabuu managed to extract the Shadow Bugs from Mr. Game and Watch also fit this trope. One theory is that the Shadow Bugs weren't just "there", but were formed by liquid Subspace being injected into G&W's veins (or whatever organs serve that purpose), and the method of extraction was ''forcing him to cut himself open''.]] Creepy.
* Maybe this troper is just a wuss, but Luigi's Final Smash freaks her out.
* Samus getting [[TheWorfEffect worfed]] by Ridley. It is the most ''unbearably painful looking attack,'' and fairly striking in its sheer brutality.
** It's worth to note that in the trailer for the upcoming ''Metroid: Other M'', Ridley uses the same grab-and-scrape-against-wall attack that he used on Samus in the scene mentioned above.
* Appearenly, according to the [[AllThereInTheManual SSBB Website]], R.O.B's homeland was unable to be restored like the rest of the world, and R.O.B. is now the LastOfHisKind. Something about that is ''deeply'' disturbing
** Just remember, R.O.B. is a robot. He can analyze the tech and build more or something equally convenient for a R.O.B. army vs. Subspace RTS.
*** And that will [[ReplacementGoldfish totally be able replace the valuable friends that R.O.B. lost in the explosion. Right?]]
* Back to the freaky-ass enemies in the Subspace Emissary, why has no one mentioned [[http://super-smash-bros.wikia.com/wiki/Bytan Bytan]] yet? Looks like a mutant Pokéball with a sharp-toothed grin, and ''reproduces'' by popping another Bytan out of its ''eyeball''. '''[[{{Squick}} Eugh!]]''' They form huge, terrible swarms. The giant ones are even worse. The nastiest part, though, would have to be the MookMaker portals near the end of the game that produce Bytan after Bytan, all the while the Bytans themselves are multiplying on their own, until you're drowning in a candy-colored, beady-eyed, razor-toothed flood of pure terror.
** Mutant Pokéball, nothing. They resemble how the [[StephenKing Langoliers]] are described in the book of the same name. This troper, playing through the SSE for the first time after reading said book, nearly screamed.
* And don't even get me ''started'' on the [[http://super-smash-bros.wikia.com/wiki/Bucculus Bucculus!]] Hides in the ground so you can't get at it until it attacks and often won't notice it until it ambushes you, and drains the life out of you with giant spiky lips, which wouldn't be so bad if ThisTroper didn't have personal space issues. To make it worse, it also falls into a very special category of GrotesqueCute. The worst part is the first Bucculus of the game... Suddenly, this THING pops out of the ground and latches onto you! Get it off me! ''Get it off me!''
* Moveset swapping. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZDgjjDnWLM Just]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmoY1RmoZFA Moveset]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuLHui7omLQ Swapping]].
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ_sr8qvgTQ&fmt=18 save points]] in the Great Maze. Take a look at the background. It's desolate, and the sky is ''ripping apart'' to reveal the eerie darkness that is Subspace. Then, listen to the music. It sounds like you're in a ''Super Smash Bros.'' version of Hell, with a slow, unsettling rearrangement of the opening theme on top of it.
* {{Game Mod}}ding for ''Brawl'' has lead us to lotsa skins for every characters in case you get bored of the regular costumes. But none of them are as disturbing as [[http://stacksmash.cultnet.net/?p=3991 this bastardization of Mickey Mouse]]. He might as well be Mickey's '''second''' [[KingdomHearts Heartless]] after the swearing, sadistic Mickey in that ''SouthPark'' Jonas Brothers episode.
* The Electroplankton stage makes me feel... Uneasy, especially when it's paused, not to mention that the characters are 2D (I am aware of the Game and Watch stage, but that's less nightmarish), You can't even swim in the water (Therefore, it is likely to ''drown'' while falling), back to when it's paused, when it's paused, there is ''no'' music playing, just a popping sound, that gets creepy, and the background is just an abyss, a ''stark green abyss''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Metroid}}]]
* '''''{{Metroid}}'' series''': the source of many alien-based Nightmare Fuel examples.
* Let's start this off right. "Skree. Skreek. Skree. SKREEEE!!!" The sound of a Metroid itself is pure, unholy terror.
* The SA-X of ''{{Metroid}} Fusion''. Whether [[HopelessBossFight before]] or [[TransformationTrauma after]] the [[OneWingedAngel true form appears]], you pick.
** The door opens. Everything goes quiet - or almost. Save for some very indistinct, creepy background music. The only audible sound effect is a steady tap... tap... tap... tap... tap... tap... When you consider that the source of those footsteps is usually inches away from discovering you, it can get pretty freaky. And then... it spots you. What do you do? Run? Try to freeze and then run? Unless you're in one of the few situations where you can get away, you are DOOMED. The chill running up your spine assures you of this shortly before Samus is frozen to death.
** And what about the aptly named Nightmare boss in Fusion? Its face...
*** ...starts off with huge pupiless black eyes and a mouth that looks inexpertly sewn shut. But that's just a mask. Its real face is green and almost liquid with wide eyes, randomly placed teeth, and is always screaming. As it takes damage it turns red and starts ''melting'', with pieces eventually falling off with a horribly plopping sound. Aptly named indeed.
**** For ThisTroper, Nightmare wasn't quite as scary as the ''music'' it played in the background. ThisTroper decided to first play the game on a ROM, and when the Nightmare battle came, she thought that there was something wrong with her ROM causing it to run slowly and play the music sketchily. Imagine her reaction when she plays a retail copy and gets ''the same sounding music complete with slowness''
** The second-to-last room in ''Metroid Prime'' was not only full of Metroids, but was also equal parts lava [[WombLevel and internal organs. And full of big cancerous spikes.]]
*** If that weren’t bad enough when you enter the last room you find [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/metroid/images/d/d2/Slumbering_mp.jpg this staring at you]].
**** To be honest, the "face" that Prime makes in the above image is rather NightmareRetardant.
*** And when you finally reach ''Phaaze''...well, it's an entire ''living, sentient planet'', like a vast, unnatural neon-blue and black WombLevel. And it ''preys on other planets'', sending out its "children" to corrupt them via Phazon. It's essentially one of the closest things to an EldritchAbomination in the Metroid universe.
** ''Metroid Prime 2'' kicked off with dead bodies hanging from the ceiling, some of which turned into zombies. And then there was the profoundly upsetting security tape in which the Ing made their first appearance. And once the Hunter Ing - essentially gnarled black hearts with tentacles - started showing up, well...
*** This troper felt a wrench of unbearable pity and terror upon reading the log of a fallen trooper in Metroid Prime 2. While the other trooper logs are relatively professional or at least person, Haley's says, "I hear. Them. Everywhere. They'll eat me. Eat."
**** This troper found Milligan and Denys's logs fairly disturbing as well.
** That damned water on Dark Aether. Even with the Light suit, this troper has to sit for about 10 minutes to work up the courage, and then there is the War Wasps, and the Bloggs, and the Shredders, and the entirety of Torvus Bog.
*** This troper's first encounter with the Blogg came when he missed a jump and fell a large distance into a pool of water on Dark Aether that had not been checked for enemies yet, and guessed that when he turned around, a giant fish monster would bite his face off. This troper hates being right.
** Amorbis. Oh god, Amorbis. This troper could not come back to the game for a week after seeing that unholy worm trio.
** ''Metroid Prime 3'' continues the tradition with creepy monsters ambushing you as you fall down a shaft. One of them is a giant mouth with arms that drags you closer and closer while you shoot frantically. It's not much of a threat, but it looks creepy even for the game's standards and is completely unexpected the first time. The game also features Metroids that latch onto your visor. As if the places where the Metroids show up weren't creepy enough on their own...
*** There's this one place in the GFS Valhalla where you can look out the window...
** How about the cut scene that plays when you defeat [[spoiler: Gandrayda? She swaps through multiple forms due to loss of control and she finally changes into Samus lying on the ground with her arm stretched out to the real Samus, all while screaming in pain. Samus turns her head away and closes her eyes.]] Now if that ain't freaky enough...
** Honestly, this troper was deeply unnerved by being forced to [[spoiler: kill any of your corrupted friends, witnessing their deaths, and seeing them absorbed by Dark Samus. Rundas' battle theme especially didn't help and made me want to cry.]]
** And don't forget the living Phazon puddles that move disturbingly fast along walls and ceilings. This troper nearly broke his television when he first saw one in the walled-off section of the Norion Marine Base, which was creepy enough in that you know it was walled off for a reason but all you're told beforehand is that there's "spent Phazon", which leads to expectations of hazards, not... moving goo.
** Would the NonstandardGameOver of Corruption count as well? Some people would freak out from seeing TheVirus taking over their character because they took on a little too much Phazon.
*** Who needs nonstandard? This troper was traumatized by the ''standard'' game overs of Prime and Echoes. Oops, you died. For your failure, you must watch poor Samus breathe her last.
**** This troper can't decide which was worse: the shattered visor or the entirely too realistic depiction of cardiac arrest. ''From the stopping heart's point of view.''
***** Phazon corruption in general is full of nightmare fuel. Try turning on your scan visor on Phaaze and look reeeeal close at Samus's reflection. ''She's barely recognizable as human anymore.''
** While we're at it, the [[EldritchAbomination Cosmic Horror]] that is Phaaze. Pure Phazon, producer of Leviathan Seeds, ''sentient'' and filled with horrifying life forms, ''HALF OF WHICH THE SCAN VISOR DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE'', and so chock full of Phazon that Samus isn't even on the surface for ''fifteen seconds'' and gets corrupted to the point that she's basically 97% Phazon.
*** Normally, ScreamsLikeALittleGirl is played for comedy, but this troper found Samus' death wail to be ''deeply unsettling'' in how unfitting it was. If the sheer pain of it can make the galaxy's most seasoned BadAss cry like she did in grade school... Brrr.
** ''Super Metroid'' has either the ghastly battle with Phantoon, or the FamilyUnfriendlyDeath of Crocomire.
*** Spelling out the latter, when you finally defeat Crocomire, [[spoiler: its flesh melts off its body (along with, presumably, any internal organs), leaving the bones. The only way to proceed is back toward the spikes, and when you reach that part of the room... the skeleton appears from the other side, knocking away the spikes, and the boss music starts up again, possibly fooling you into thinking you'll have to fight it! But then it [[TheUnfought promptly collapses]]. Of course, the melting flesh part is probably the worse of the two parts of its defeat.]]
*** And the Wrecked Ship, before you defeat Phantoon. With the power out and the ship interior in darkness, nothing that uses electricity (even save points) works, and ghosts randomly pop up to terrify and impede.
** This troper is disturbed by the meaty-looking spikes in several areas, Venus flytrap-like creatures in Brinstar, and one room that has both of these...on the floor ''and'' the ceiling.
** The hideous abomination that was Draygon!
*** The art for Draygon in the instruction manual didn't make it look that imposing, but when that gargantuan thing came out at Samus in the game it made ThisTroper almost crap a brick. It didn't help the matter much when you defeat Draygon [[spoiler:by violently electrocuting it.]]
** It starts sooner that all that for ThisTroper. "Oh, good, another Chozo statue. Well, these bombs should be useful. Wait, why is the door locked and what's that rumbling- ''OH GOD IT'S ALIVE!''" Haven't trusted another Chozo statue since.
* Heck, just the mere concept of the Metroids themselves is Nightmare Fuel. A protoplasmic lifeform that's a super-powerful space leech, except there's only one person in the world who can even get them off? And it takes more firepower to take out than any non-boss in the game? There are quite a few mature, skilled players who instantly degenerate into crazed BeamSpam attacks should a Metroid appear.
** It only gets more surreal in the first two Metroid Prime games, where the Metroids will actually explode if they go through a door... such as if they're attached to your face.
*** Which makes the Metroid Xenostorage on Elysia nitro-burning Nightmare Fuel - not only do you have to deal with the Metroids in there, but there's also the fact that they're contained in forcefields on your way in. Since another forcefield locks you out from the Seeker Missiles you need to complete your current mission, that means you need to ''cut the power''. Nothin' says loss of bladder control like fighting Metroids '''in the dark'''. And since they have their own unique screech, expect the same players who degenerate into Metroid-induced BeamSpam to dump ammo just from hearing one of the little bastards. Have fun!
**** And it's worth mentioning those Metroids ''phase through the walls and floor''.
***** It's just as bad if you're GenreSavvy and can guess what is going to happen the first time you see the Metroids because, well, it's a Metroid game. But you cannot do anything about it except slowly walk through base towards the inevitable. This troper debated for a good couple of minutes whether or not it was worth it to get the Seeker Missiles before letting out a defeated sigh and grabbing it.
** Traditionally, you're supposed to use an ice weapon to freeze the Metroid so you can actually hit it with missiles (otherwise they are immune/dodge.) Uh wait, Metroid Prime 3 uses Ice Missiles. [[DeathByGenreSavviness oh god it's not WORKING they just phase through it oh god oh god oh god I just wasted 50 missiles on a single Phazon Metroid oh god]]. Thank god you can trick them into not phasing.
**** Shoot the normal - at this point probably plasma - beam at them until they let out their distinctive screech which means "I am going to eat your face now !", then (quickly) shoot an ice missile and watch the ReverseShrapnel work its magic. Worked every time - annoy them, then ice them, then shatter with the plasma beam yelling "BURN YOU FUCKING SPACE JELLYFISH, BURN!"
**** It gets even easier with the X-ray visor, though you won't have it when you first see them. In any case, you probably won't know the tricks when you first fight them.
*** What creeped this troper even worse than the Metroids themselves was their victims - especially the shock value when you see your first one in Xenostorage. "Hmm, this door has what looks like a Metroid above it. Guess I'll have to be extra careful up ahead. At least I'll be able to OH JESUS FRAKKIN' CHRIST THAT WAS A DEAD SPACE PIRATE AND IT JUST TURNED TO POWDER!!!" And it only gets worse from there. GFS ''Valhalla,'' anyone?
** The first Metroid Prime was deeply marked with one particular chain of events. At one point of the game, you're raiding a Space Pirate base, until... A room-entering cutscene shows you a Metroid, locked in a glass tube with fluid. You'll think, "Thank goodness, it's locked and I don't have to fight it yet" and stares at it for a few seconds. ''And it breaks the glass and comes at you''. Some rooms later (and lots of Metroids still locked in the ''energy reinforced'' glass), you find the Thermal Visor, and ''the entire lab shuts down''. When you start walking up the floors, Metroids start breaking the glasses, and this keeps on happening until you finally exit the lab. Interestingly enough, few Metroids don't break away, standing still until you shatter the glasses yourself.
*** Who's the fucking idiot in the Space Pirate command that decided to put Metroids in all these important facilities???
**** [[MemeticMutation Science Team has vapor for brains]], but most of these important facilities are explicitly stated to be research labs, and the Metroids are the Space Pirate's number 1 project.
*** The third game has a similar sequence, except with the Cluster Missiles... And Phazon Metroids who, as noted, can fly through walls and have escaped before you returned to the area. Throughout the sequence, you see glimpses of dozens through the glass floors...
**** And after you finally get out of the building, you look up and see ''hundreds'' of Metroids floating out into the sky...
** The light blue X parasites that appear from a certain point of Metroid Fusion reproduce a similar feeling to the Metroids. They are fast. They are big. They can only be very shortly paralyzed until you grab the necessary item to dispose of their deadliness. They are coming at you at full force, in high numbers. They harm you at touch, what means you can be hurt even while they're paralyzed. And to top all that, they take a ''large'' chunk of life out of you. That's what you'll have to face in the middle of the game.
*** X parasites in general qualify from a conceptual standpoint. A single basic X parasite is not only immune to and capable of killing someone like Samus, the most badass bounty hunter in the galaxy, but is then able to become a copy of her. Which splits into multiple copies that are equally strong. These creatures were why a Nightmare Fuel creature like the Metroid would be made by a benevolent sorta-precursor.
**** Of course, once you get the Varia Suit, they become extra large health pickups.
*** What would you rather take on--Metroids, X parasites or [[{{Alien}} Xenomorphs]]?
**** I would trick them all into the same room and let the Metroid take care of both the X and the Xenomorphs. Since the Metroid are unaffected by most physical attacks and were bioengineered to hunt and eat the X, this shouldn't take too long. Then you turn off the heat or send someone in with a liquid nitrogen sprinkler.
** The GFS Valhalla. THE ENTIRE GFS VALHALLA! This troper tries to avoid the last few rooms for as long as possible to avoid the second half of it's theme.
*** The entire Valhalla is creepy as hell, but the scariest part for this troper is this one door when you open it and there is a dead marine on the other side that disappears right as the door opens. Scared this troper half to death the first time he saw it.
*** There's one door in the depressurized area that, once open, flings a dead marine right at you, right into your face. It catches on the nearby wall and remains there for all eternity. Even better, the corpse ''isn't'' a ragdoll animation - Someone ''had'' to animate the floppy-limbed corpse by hand, and it looks far more realistic that any ragdoll effect I've ever seen.
*** Especially that last room, where you unlock the [[spoiler:secret message from a captured Aurora Unit. At the end of the message, there's a very deep, distorted voice saying: "Darkness... coming..."]] As far as this troper recalls, there's nothing in that room that can actually harm you, yet it's quite possibly the single most dark and disturbing thing in the entire game. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:the final boss is that same poor Aurora Unit.]]
** In Metroid Prime, there are enemies called Chozo Ghosts. They can disappear from your normal visor, making them really hard to fight until you get a certain upgrade, they can disrupt your suit, causing you to see static, and are accompanied by deeply disturbing music. And they seem to respawn more often than other enemies.
*** And they take over certain areas, so that whenever you enter them, the lights dim, and the ghostly essences float up and take their form... At least when this starts happening, you don't have to fight if you can get to another door instead.
*** Additionally, they're immune to all but your weakest beam and missiles, meaning they're still a hassle late game.
*** On his second playthrough,this troper went for the [[spoiler:12 Artifacts hunt]] through Magmoor Caverns to the place where Flaghraa lived.He opened the door to a hallway which is just before the place and suddenly saw a chozo ghost ''right in front of him''.The ghost fled to the Flaghraa place,but this troper was scared now.
** The series' biggest BigBad, Mother Brain was creepy as hell before she turned into a death-spewing robotic tyrannosaur. And worse, thanks to the Federation, there are bunches more just like her. Watching Samus' reaction to AU 242 and 217, you could almost imagine her thinking, "[[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why did it have to be a giant disembodied brain in a jar...?]]"
** The splinter hive in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has you fighting your way through hordes of what can only be called space marine zombies. The architecture of the place is just disturbing, with polyps as long as your arm growing out of every conceivable surface, giant egg pods everywhere, and there's this one room where you open the door... and a half-dozen dead Bravo soldiers ''drop from the ceiling, hung from their necks.'' NOTHING in Echoes was quite as scary as that area.
* Prime 3 didn't creep this troper out much, but the ApocalypticLog of Bryyo is what got to me. You're looking at a civilization that once explored the stars and coexisted with the Chozo, embroiled in a civil war that ''literally broke the planet'', reducing their species to a handful of savages prowling the ruins AfterTheEnd, and ''then'' TheCorruption arrives...
* Worse than Bryyo, the ApocalypticLog of Elysia is not taken from an ancient lost civilization you have no hope of saving, but rather from a community of intelligent sentient robots who maintained a beautiful research city and who died not because of some planet-breaking disaster [[spoiler: but at the hands of the one sent to save them from it. They gradually succumbed to a sentience-destroying corruption virus, turning them into lobotomized security drones, while watching their doom come for them.]] The log is written weeks ''or even days'' before you get to the planet, and Samus can [[spoiler: unwittingly destroy the entire zombified population before ever knowing if it is possible to purge the virus.]]
* Dark Samus' laughter sends a chill down my spine....
* The fate of the Aurora Unit 313. The Space Pirates steal it from the GFS Valhalla under Dark Samus' orders, and she implants it into the core of Phaaze. It becomes corrupted by Phazon, and at the end of the game [[spoiler: Dark Samus fuses with it, and you have to fight it.]] The concept of it all sends a chill up [[{{Dark Lady Celebrian}} this troper's]] spine. To think that it was only minding its own business, and in the end of it all the only thing that could've been done for it was to [[spoiler: kill it.]]
* In the original NES Metroid, there was a couple of rooms in Norfair that looked as if they were made ''entirely out of eyeballs.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Earthbound (Mother)]]
* Giygas, the BigBad from ''{{EarthBound}}'', is by far one of the most trippy, intimidating, and Nightmare-Fuelish final battles in video game history. Face the facts: every battle in the game is trippy in and of itself, so imagine how a battle against a giant eyeball with your face on it and a swirling mass of red should be. The worst part, though may be the random lines he speaks during the battle ain't exactly ''that'' random, and are in fact quotes from a violent porn movie the game creator watched accidentally. Not making this up, really. Believe me.
** Right on all counts, except it wasn't a porn movie exactly...it was a movie called ''Kenpei and the Dismembered Beauty'' (憲兵とバラバラ死美人, Kenpei to Barabara Shibijin) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EarthBound#Giygas Or so the other Wiki told me]], and Itoi walked in during a rough lovemaking scene he thought to be a rape scene. The original point stands though: he based the dialogue from this scene on that childhood experience, and the result is disturbing as heck.
*** ThisTroper took the stilted dialogue to be Giygas ''pleading for his life,'' claiming that ''he feels happy as he is'' and telling the heroes ''it isn't right to be attacking him as he doesn't know what he's doing wrong.'' Make of that what you will...
**** Also, let's not forget, in the midst of the final battle: [[spoiler: as Paula is praying for everyone to help them, eventually, '''nobody responds'''.]] Granted, this is followed by perhaps the biggest BigDamnHeroes moment ever [[spoiler:by you, the player]], but that moment of feeling completely alone against an EldritchAbomination is unnerving.
** This troper's not sure about those quotes, but the final battle is made more creepy when you play the first Mother game, where you see Gyiyg (or Giygas, whichever you prefer) as he was before he went completely insane, and that part of the reason he went insane was because he was unable to comprehend the emotions he felt when he felt the love his "mother" had for him (this appears to be very vaguely alluded to in his Mother 2/Earthbound battle quotes). He's almost a sympathetic character, despite being the ultimate evil...
*** The BGM for the Giygas fight is very unsettling already due to its bizarre nature. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P_BvrtuxAI someone went to add Ronald McDonald to the mix.]]
* If the final battle from ''Earthbound'' freaks you out, wait till you play its sequel, ''Mother 3''. The game was made to have intensely disturbing moments that contrasted with the otherwise cartoony feel of the game. Take a look at the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubVnmeTRqhg rejected final battle background]] if you don't mind seeing massive spoilers.
*** This troper would like to point out that the video above ''isn't'' the supposed unused [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gNx8oPefQs final battle background]], but [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4EDaRnO42U unused backgrounds with unused enemies.]]
*** the above link is dead. but this one isn't. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel I'm...never...falling...asleep...again...]] -> [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubVnmeTRqhg&feature=PlayList&p=E1D985AE06CC5672 You never will, either.]]
** Entering Happy Happy town for the first time (as an adult mind you) is creepy. The music, combined with the color scheme, and the CULT are enough to fill you with dread.
** Mondo Mole and the five Guardian Diggers, period. Come on, like you'd really ''want'' to fight against a hulking giant mole with ''blood'' dripping out of its mouth? At least the latter enemies are somewhat amusing, what with their tendency to think they're the third strongest after all...
**What about when the story finally focuses on Prince Poo of Dalaam, [[spoiler:when he goes to meditate as part of his training. When you do, ignoring the messenger that tells you to stop, you are "visited" by what claims to be the (very ugly) spirit of Poo's ancient lineage, who proceeds to ''dismember'' him gradually. All sound even stops when the spirit takes his ''ears.'' Of course, it then turns out it was AllJustADream.]]
** And, of course, Threed while it's overrun by the undead. [[NulNul This troper]] nearly jumped out of his chair ''twice'', the first time was when he got lured into the zombie trap in the town's hotel (the creepy erratic tempo remix of the normal hotel music didn't help), and the second time was when he got a bit ''too'' close to the [[spoiler:living]] tent at the bottom of the town's map.
** Let's not forget Moonside, the creepy, surreal DarkWorld version of Fourside. So creepy, in fact, that ThisTroper stayed up three or four hours past her bedtime just to get ''out'' of that place so she wouldn't have nightmares.
** The mailboxes on Tanetane island in Mother 3 quickly cross into the "disturbing" spectrum of Nightmare Fuel.
--> The boy named Lucas is crying at a grave. The boy named Lucas and his dog are loitering the forest. The boy named Lucas is getting into trouble in the mountains. The boy named Lucas stole nuts from our garden. The boy named Lucas is bullying animals. The boy named Lucas learned some bad magic. The boy named Lucas... The boy named Lucas... The boy named Lucas... The boy named Lucas...
--> The mailbox let out a tremendous scream.
** And the ''"people!"''
--> Claus: "Everyone's here, Lucas. Everyone's waiting to spit on you, throw rocks at you, and make your life Hell."
--> "Who's "Everyone"?"
--> ...
--> ''"Everyone you love"''
** My personal favourite (take that as you will):
--> You opened the mailbox.
--> Nothing was in it.
--> Nothing after nothing came bursting out of the mailbox.
** Also in ''{{Mother 3}}'': the Chimera Lab. Knowing what goes on there combined with the music makes it creepy enough when [[NothingIsScarier nothing is happening]]. And then the Ultimate Chimera breaks loose...
*** And if you run into it, [[spoiler:INSTANT DEATH. No ifs, ands, buts, or BonusBoss battle, you ''go directly to the Game Over screen''.]] This troper had trouble going from one room to another.
*** [[spoiler:And the thing makes a guest appearance in the final area of the game -- in a part of the bathroom maze! You have to be quick on the controls in order to get the Awesome Ring it's guarding.]]
** This troper cannot stay in the highway cafe in ''Mother 3'' due to the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqHCEzaAgGU&fmt=6 very eerie music]], at least without using the jukebox to [[NightmareRetardant change the music]].
*** There are a lot of disturbing tracks in Mother 3, most of which are found starting with Chapter 4. Some other examples are [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUEAarB68Dc the Chapter 4+ Sunshine Forest theme]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wsNJ9K9ROw the music in the New Pork City apartment]]
**How about those...*shudder*...eerie smiles on tanetane island, they just smile...and smile...and smile...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pikmin]]
* The story of Pikmin involves Olimar getting stranded on an uncharted planet, and he resorts to using the assistance of aliens that may very well have attacked him on sight. The very idea of that is somewhat scary...
** Olimar actually mentions this in a journal entry wondering why the Pikmin never bothered to attack him.
* The Pikmin die in various ways, but the number one has to be when they get electrocuted in the sequel. They get shocked and reveal realistic skeletons!
* Many enemies method of attack is to [[JustEatHim devour]] your Pikmin.
** It's even worse when a large, dangerous enemy ''comes into view at the side of your screen'', and you hadn't noticed it there before.
* The Candypop Buds in both games are somewhat disturbing. You throw Pikmin into them, and they are mutated into the colour of the Bud.
** In the second game, this is the only way to get Purple and White Pikmin.
*** The Pikmin make their death cries as they are thrown into the damn things!
* The Emperor Bulblax from the first game. He is the largest enemy in the game by far, and can take the entire day to kill! The Emperor attacks by tongue lashing your Pikmin, jumping on them, roaring at them to startle them. When half his health is gone, he will do this gigantic jump where he flies off the screen and than slams back down!
** This troper turned away from the Emperor, and he did the jump while I wasn't looking, I whistled all my Pikmin, turned around, didn't see him, and than HE LANDED PERFECTLY ON MY ARMY FLATTENING THEM ALL! This was a horrifying situation since I had to rush back to the onions and pull out more Pikmin!
* The Titan Dweevil... Oh god the Titan Dweevil. You reach the final floor of the Dream Den, Louie is sitting on this huge pile of treasure, so you approach him to help him and collect the treasure, when this bastard rises out of the ground and begins to use those treasures as deadly weapons. His attacks include throwing electric beams, spraying water to drown Pikmin, FIRING A FLAMETHROWER, and poisoning the ground. All of these, you can rescue Pikmin from, except the electric attack.
** After defeating the Titan Dweevil, Louie drops on the ground and remains motionless. Olimar writes in the entry on the Titan Dweevil that he actually wonders if Louie was controlling him.
* Man-at-legs... His attack involves pulling out a high pitched buzzing laser and than BLASTING YOUR PIKMIN ARMY WITH A FREAKING GUN! SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL DOES IT NEED THAT FOR!?!
** Olimar mentions this in his journal entry, the Man-at-legs has no enemies, so it's firepower makes no sense. It's rumored that the gun actually controls the Man-at-legs itself.
* The Dweevils in this game attack using elements which most Pikmin are injured by, but there is one type that takes nightmare to another level: Volatile Dweevils. These bastards carry bomb rocks on their backs, and kamikaze attack anything nearby.
** Even worse, these guys love to fall out of the sky when you pick up treasure.
* The Segmented Crawbster smashes into the arena and starts stomping around furiously. Get to close to it, and the bastard will dash and roll at you at full speed.
* The god damn Waterwraith. In concept it shouldn't be weird or disturbing at all: a giant clear flubber-looking thing on stone steamroller wheels. But mainly it was the fact that it couldn't be killed. Or damaged. At all (at least not until the final level of the cave it's found in.) And if you took too long on a floor, it would suddenly drop in out of nowhere and start chasing after you. The unearthly gargling noises didn't help things, either, nor did the fact that your ship freaks out when it first appears, yelling "RUN! RUN AWAY!"
** And the music! Oh god the music! The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WPrxVOXQbU Submerged Castle]] already has spooky music, than the freaking Waterwraith SLAMS INTO THE ROOM, Makes noises, and the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flF9q2JsQkg tense chase music]] begins. Most gamers panic as soon as the music starts.
*** Don't forget that it's implied that the damn thing is just a hallucination.
* One day this troper was poking around the Forest Navel, eventually finding a large circular area with nothing in it. This troper was not yet savvy enough with video games to understand the concept of boss arenas, so he dallied right in, his army of 100 Pikmin following behind him. And then the Beady Long Legs - a giant fuzzy ball with four legs that moves like a spider - ''SLAMS INTO THE ARENA OUT OF NOWHERE,'' stomping around as heart-pounding music begins to play. To make matters worse for this troper, one of the Beady Long Legs' feet managed to land squarely on a yellow Pikmin carrying a bomb. Just as frightening for him as the giant freakin' spider dropping out of nowhere was, having paused the game in sheer fright, noticing ''one hundred ghostly Pikmin images'' drifting upwards and Olimar's health down to near zero. This troper is convinced that this incident is the direct cause of his deathly arachnophobia.
* The whole idea of slowly killing your enemies by throwing tiny ant-like things onto your foe's body until they die is some pretty bad Nightmare Fuel for anyone who's afraid of insects. Not to mention that then your corpse will be taken to their hive and used so that they can make more Pikmin to kill all your friends. Granted, most of your foes want to kill you, but still... what a horrible way to die.
* The Smoky Progg. Oh jeez the Smoky Progg. A [[ImplacableMan nearly unstoppable]] DEMON FROG made of smoke (that leaves a trail of the same noxious smoke wherever it goes), who, upon hatching, makes a beeline for your Onions and TEARS YOUR PIKMIN OUT OF THE EARTH to disembowel them. That, and it's implied to be a larva of the already creepy Mamuta which has been mutated (and apparently pissed off) by you disturbing its egg. It's anatomy is perplexing to the point of it resembling a EldritchAbomination, and upon dying, the entire thing MELTS leaving nothing but a small pearl.
* Land-based Blowhogs. They have blank, crescent-shaped eyes, and pretty much look like horrible white blobs from hell. The fact that the fire variant can easily kill Pikmin doesn't help.
* The Empress Bulblax, a huge bloated sausage of a Bulborb that constantly gives birth to these little larvae from her ''rear end,'' and when you kill it, it violently explodes, leaving just the saggy head and legs.
* The armored Cannon Beetle is a miniboss who attacks by inhaling air and than shooting a giant freaking boulder out of its mouth.
** In Pikmin 2, you encounter their larvae who are all over the freaking place, but you also encounter the Decorated Cannon Beetle. This thing has rocks that follow you around until they hit you or something else.
* Some of the treasures from Pikmin 2 are slightly odd. There are multiple every day objects such as jewels, vegetables, and container tops (Like shoe polish and Snapple jar tops), and Nintendo objects (Like a Game & Watch, a controller d-pad and a joystick) but there are also oddities like a lobster claw, action figures, and even a pair of false teeth. I do believe this is meant to suggest that the planet is actually Earth.
** This actually brings up some creepy thoughts...
** One of the treasures is called the "Silencer". It is an undead-like doll head, and it constantly blinks while being moved. In the Japanese version of the game, it is worth [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] Pokos.
* Any Metallic underground stage. The Pikmin that accidentally sail over the edge, fall into an eternal abyss, you can actually hear them cry as they fall down! Some enemies can be tricked into walking off, if they do, they disappear. If they were carrying treasure, it reappears near where it fell off.
* Two enemies, the Gatling Groink and the Spotty Bulbear, will get back up after being defeated if left alone for too long.
** The Gatling Groink is some type of goldfish that has been converted into a mobile artillery platform. It attacks by launching mortars at your Pikmin, attempting to blow them into oblivion. It also has some kind of shield on it's forehead. The Spotty Bulbear is easily one of the more vicious non-boss enemies, but there is a Challenge Mode stage with scary music that makes you fight 3 of them at the same time, with Dwarf Bulbears. As mentioned, if left dead for too long, all 3 will get right back up.
* The Challenge Mode in Pikmin 2 contains some interesting quests, and many of them are hard, but some of them are scary. The worst offenders are:
** Red Chasm, which makes you fight 5 Red Bulborbs and several Dwarf Bulborbs in a series of small passages.
** Concrete Maze, a seemingly empty maze that on the second sublevel becomes populated with Kamikaze Volatile Dweevils that drop from the sky to blow you up.
** Subterranean Lair, which contains 3 Spotty Bulbears and several Dwarf Bulbears. Even if you kill the 3 Spotty Bulbears, if you don't bring them back to the ship, they can get right back up and cause even more problems.
** Secret Testing Range, which has you fight 2 Gatling Groinks on the first sublevel, and the Man-at-legs on the second sublevel.
** Cave of Pain, which is a very narrow cave with boulders and enemies of various kinds falling from the roof.
*** The Bully Den, which is without a doubt the worst offender. When the timer hits 270, not one, but TWO WATERWRAITHS ENTER THE DUNGEON. 1 has the key, while the other has the creepy Silencer treasure.
* The Bad Ending of the original Pikmin was disturbing; [[spoiler:Olimar's life support system fails, and he perishes on the planet, so the Pikmin take him back to an Onion and Olimar is turned into a Pikmin himself]].
* The Puffstool from the first game. You're walking along in the gloomy Forest Navel, when suddenly this begger pops up. Right then, let's just attack it like any other enemy. Wait, what the-? Spores? OH GOSH, my Pikmin now have these creepy-ass mushroom caps instead of flowers, and ''they're attacking Olimar''! After that failed attempt, This Troper only took Olimar along, and slowly beat it to death with Olimar's weak punch attack. Nothing in hell would make her go through ''that'' again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:SonicTheHedgehog]]
* ''Sonic Riders'' is a game you'd think has absolutely no potential for nightmare fuel whatsoever... until you race in the Digital Dimension track, the first half of which is a hellish landscape with creepy gargoyle statues and skeleton hands that try to drag you into a pit. The hands can be avoided if you're good with tricks, however. Its potential for inducing nightmares is lampshaded in mission briefings as Storm says he's scared of the place.
** It gets stranger when a quarter of the stage is in a heavenly place after coming out of a door that led to a ''light''.
*** A harp can be heard when you enter that area.
*** And don't forget that the entrance to said place looks like the actual Gates of Hell.
** In the game, all characters can attack each other. These attacks change as the racers collect rings and level up. Sonic's Level 3 attack just so happens to be spinning into another racer and repeatedly and brutally smashing them into the ground as Sonic spins, while the sound of bones cracking is heard. Yes, even with the robots. This really made this troper wonder what the hell SEGA was thinking when they put in the attacks...
*** All this in a G-rated game, no less.
* Three words: Sonic drowning music.
** You mean [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TOkKttTkpo This]] music? Yes. I'm [[MagnificentBastard evil]].
** De...de...de...de...''de...de...de...de''..de..de..de..de..''de..de..de..de''..de-de-de-de-''de-de-de-de''-'''de- de-de-de-de-de-de-de-DE-DE-DE-DE-DE-DE-DE-DE-DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE'''. BWOP.
*** [[{{Psyonif}} This troper]], playing Labyrinth Zone on Sonic 1 at 6 years old, was frequently reduced to tears by that.
**** Likewise, if only because the whole scene was NintendoHard.
*** Guess what? It's even worse in the Sonic Adventure games! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBpWn0j8A-0 Check it]].
*** It's not just the music but the short pause between the music stopping and Sonic drowning- ohgodohgodthemusicstoppedcanireachthatbubblehowlongdoihavele---*drown*
*** This troper attended a game show panel at an anime convention, and one of the backdrops to one of the [[NintendoHard hard]] questions was a [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome "Labyrinth Zone]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ibpUL7Qv8 Dance Party"]]. Take a wild guess as to what happens if you miss the question. [[hottip:*:"And suddenly...Labyrinth Zone Water filled up. There are no air bubbles." (CUE MUSIC AND COUNTDOWN)]]
** SO THAT HORRYYING SKULL WITH "HARD QUESTION" IN HORRIFYING FONT WASNT ENOUGH!?
** The real nightmare music is in the American soundtrack of Sonic CD - Namely, the boss music and the Game Over music. Now, the boss music is creepy just right to make Robotnik sound evil, but the Game Over is UNBEARABLE. Talk about justification to not to screw up while playing!
*** On the other hand, the Sonic CD boss music is used to nightmarish effects in the game's [[DebugRoom hidden sound test]], as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuRbrscizjE two combinations of sound test codes created abominations]] that caused this troper to turn off the game for a while. The first in that video is a Japanese message (presumably the text reads "Fun from Sega Enterprises") with a creepy face on Sonic patterned in the background, Giygas-style. The second is a picture of a muscled "realistic" Batman-esque Sonic with his facial details obscured in shadow, standing in a cloudy pattern. These screens on the Japanese version are not too bad (the Japanese message screen even has some peppy sounding music) but with that US boss song playing they turn evil.
*** You mean our new page mascot? he looks more like [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic's]] [[TheHeartless Heart]][[KingdomHearts less]].
**** Hedgehogman?
**** Blackheart cosplaying as Sonic?
**** Herculesonic?
** I was more freaked out in the Chemical Plant Zone when I drowned in all that purple toxic waste or whatever it was. Also that part in Act Two where you have to go up, I got stuck on that for so long.
** [[{{MaddogGirl}} This troper]] was too scared to even play Aquatic Ruin Zone, due to the combination of potential drowning and those flying arrows, which, despite being pretty slow and regular, terrified her by their unexpected entrance screen right.
** What about the teleportation boxes in Sonic 2? Am I the only one freaked out at the music and the whole screen turning white and, well, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNi78G9IigU#t=1m10s just see for yourself.]]
** SonicAdventure2 had some levels where these sinister-looking ghosts with yellow eyes jumped out at you unexpectedly, scaring the shit out of me.
*** This troper took F-ING TWO HOURS to complete Pumpkin Hill because of them. He's traumatized by that stage, just to find out that the following two Knuckles stages had those stupid ghosts in a even worse fashion (since you still could see them in Pumpkin Hill in miniature form before they jump out and scare the crap out of you, but in Aquatic Mine the miniatures are pretty well hidden).
*** Rouge's Egg Chamber level was scary, if only because of the LOUD, FLYING, INVINCIBLE BUG ROBOT THAT FIRED A LASER AT YOU IF IT SAW YOU.
**** Three words. King Boom Boo. This troper was so freaked out the first time she fought him, she turned off the console, and didn't play the Hero story again for half a year.
* [[SonicAdventure Red Mountain]], anyone? The console versions depict it as essentially a [[{{Metroid}} Norfair]]-like U-rated hell. Lava, rocks, gravestones, etc. The PC version takes advantage of the extra processing power by lining the walls with cells containing ghosts dressed in prison uniforms. And the only way to progress is to flood the volcano. Amy's worth ''that''?
** In the same Sonic vein, there is another, seemingly overlooked nightmare. In the Genesis games 2 and 3/Knuckles, there are the few enemies that go kamikaze on you, and explode (the starfish in Metropolis and the shark missiles in Hydrocity). Now... look closely. When/if you hit these enemies normally, a little bird or something pops out and flies away (Free Bird!). If they explode on their own (starfish) or collide with you (shark) the thing just goes in a puff of smoke... WITH NO BIRD OR ANIMAL APPEARING. The implications of this can be very very... unsettling... to observant youngsters (or even older gamers).
* This picture of Sonic, from SonicUnleashed: [[http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd201/1cybermage1/sonic/50.jpg]]
** Wait, people find that picture creepy? Sonic's {{Popeye}}-esque facial expression combined with its [[MemeticMutation apparent popularity with /v/]] makes that picture pure {{Narm}} incarnate.
** ''Sonic & Knuckles'', as well as ''Sonic 3'' when it's locked on to said game, has Sandopolis Zone's Act 2, set inside a huge pyramid with a scarier version of Act 1's theme playing in the background. About a quarter of the way through, you'll land on a capsule that dispenses a crowd of ghosts, which start off small and cute but get larger and more demonic-looking as the lights dim. By the time the lights have gone out completely, the ghosts are huge, have big devil horns, and are dive-bombing you.
*** So is this troper the only one that thought they looked like evil bunny rabbits then?
* Dark Gaia from ''SonicUnleashed'' is scary enough, but when he goes OneWingedAngel on you, he transforms [[TransformationTrauma in a really disturbing manner]], and the final product is somewhere between StarfishAlien and EldritchAbomination. For his head, think a Venus flytrap filled with eyes, the whole thing enclosed in ''tongues'' with two huge ones hanging down. Its death is pretty [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath family unfriendly]], too.
* The Tails Doll is this for some, but not for me.
** You'll come around to me... Oh yes... you'll come around...
*** Can you feel the sunshine?
** The Tails Doll rumor works on some, but most dismiss it as a joke or spoof. In actuality, the Tails Doll was meant to be a mimicked version of Tails, but they decided that a Metal form wouldn't work, so they made it a doll. The designs and graphics in the game were naturally polygons, and he hasn't appeared in any other game (Even Mecha Knuckles appears in Sonic Advance) so really, he is not a big deal, so stop believing him to be evil... WORK IT OUT! WORK IT OUT! THINK ABOUT IT!
* ShadowTheHedgehog as a whole, anyone? [[{{jketchum31}} This Troper]] is a hardened horror fan and actually screamed when Shadow killed [[spoiler: Eggman]] and wept when Shadow threatened to finish off [[spoiler: Sonic]]. Then Black Doom's [[ToServeMan revelation of his master plan]] and the [[spoiler:paralytic]] gas made this troper's occasional sleep paralysis much more distressing. Oddly enough, the idea that all those [[spoiler: man-eating baby slugs died when Shadow destroyed the comet]] disturbed her more. Then there's the "gruesome image" of Maria's death. Yeah, Nightmare Fuel.
** Or all the terrorist-like activities Black Doom was instructing Shadow to do while he, on the Dark routes, ''unquestioningly obeyed''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:JamesBond games]]
* Does anyone get creeped out by the bodies that fade away in Goldeneye 007? It makes you think of the parallel world he must live in, and wonder if that could happen there. Then again, this troper had a similar contemplation with death animations in Batman for NES: imagine being at the hospital when you grandpa dies, and then having him spontaneously combust.
* The startle worthy Nightmare Fuel from Goldeneye comes in the form of "Enemy Rockets" mode. You take a corner, rush along, hear the loud banshee scream of the thing firing and witness an explosion right in your god damn face!
** Also, lets not forget the automatic turrets, which you could just slightly step into range of, and witness a flood of bullets ripping you apart. On Agent 007 mode? You won't live through those things!
* How's about the Water Cavern? The music is creepy, and there are a ton of guys in dark clothing.
* The death scene from Goldeneye in general, red blood covers the screen, as it than switchs to a bunch of different scenes of the soldiers killing bond multiple times. however, it is quickly turned into ''{{Nightmare Retardent}}'' if the enemies happen to blow themselves up.
* The Egyption, especially the 4 indestructible turrets if you mess up on the path to the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Golden Gun]].
* Also, there's a few unnerving moments in the Game Boy game, James Bond 007.
** The first of these occurs in the Sahara desert, where unless you have water to spare, you lose health upon entering each screen. On one of the screens, you'll run into a man who didn't quite make it and after giving you one of his items, he dies. If you walk off the screen and back on, his corpse changes a little more to the color of the sand. Keep doing this and he'll soon be almost completely faded away (though there's still some visible remnant to him in the end.), the idea being that the sun did this to his body. IRL, bodies can get reduced to skeletons and bleached by the sun, but this... *shivers*
** One of the early missions in the game takes you to a village in Kyrgyzstan. It's not as big of a deal now, [[spoiler: but a later mission takes you back to this same place, where you learn that the boss from before was a [[LoadBearingBoss]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero without him around]], an army invades, capturing a few villagers and killing the rest.]] When you get there, the ground is littered with the bodies of both humans and livestock, some of them already being pecked at by crows. Talking to them pulls up the response "....", rather than just doing nothing at all.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Donkey Kong Series]]
* Anybody who's played the DonkeyKongCountry games probably remembers the shockingly depressing Game Over screens. The first one shows DK and Diddy horrible beaten down with depressing music playing, the second one shows Diddy and Dixie locked up while depressing music plays and the words GAME OVER!! hover down to taunt you, and finally, the most depressing and creepy of all, the third one, shows Kiddy and Dixie in a Baby Crib, while a creepy Music Box plays really depressing music, when you exit, you hear someone slam a door.
* Also from a Donkey Kong game comes Mad Jack from DonkeyKong 64. Imagine, if you will, a giant Jack-in-the-Box. Now picture the Jack in question being a demented cyborgian crocodile with [[{{Disney}} Donald Duck's voice]] and part of its paint job chipped off, revealing a glowing red eye. If it isn't all that scary, [[ItMakesSenseInContext it ought to be.]]
** Creepy Castle in Donkey Kong 64 was just disturbing in a handful of ways-- the rotting hands you have to use as platforms with Tiny come to mind, but this troper just has to ask: is he the only one that was inexplicably but deeply terrified of the ominous, useless pillar in that level...?
** [[{{Thatonelevel}} That temple]] in Angry Aztec. It's an eerie temple with ominous music that just makes you feel uncomfortable, and once you grab the banana at the end, a voice suddenly shouts "GET OUT!!!" and aims at you with some sort of gun. You then have 25 seconds to get the hell out of there before being shot down. Also, you have to do it 5 times. ThisTroper was scared out of his mind when he first played this as a kid.
*** ThisTroper and his brother were playing it at night with the lights out, and when that happened, they screamed, turned the console off quickly, and ran out of the room as fast as possible.
* K. Rool himself from DK64. The ominous music is a bonus...
** Can't forget in ''Donkey Kong Country'' where after you "beat him,"[[spoiler: HE SUMMONS FAKE CREDITS AND GETS BACK UP TO FIGHT YOU SOME MORE.]]
** DKC2 where he is actually shown beating DK and shooting him with his gun, he also shoots wierd faces from his gun which have different control effects on your characters.
** ''Donkey Kong Land III'' - after beating the game with the normal ending (but not yet getting OneHundredPercentCompletion) attempting to enter the Lost World will result in suddenly being hit with the "You Need However Many Coins To Enter" screen, which is... a digitized render of Baron K. Roolenstein against a black background while the [[SoundtrackDissonance super-happy credits music]] plays. It's absolutely terrifying.
** [=DKC1=]'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RufKVHTJuc cave music]] can go screw itself for making troper want to get cave stages over with ASAP. Specifically, before the music hits the 1:38 mark.
*** That's nothing compared to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXXhoBa_A4U Misty Menace]]. If that doesn't scare you, the addition of the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyMoO0SesGk invincible zombie Kremlings]] will.
** Stop and Go Station. Full stop.
** There was one particular level in Donkey Kong Country 2 where you were transformed into Rambi the rhino and had to make your way through a level inside a Zingers' nest. Near the end of the level, you had to jump over a [[InvincibleMinorMinion red Zinger]] and fall down a short tunnel. The second your feet hit the ground, the music switched from the mellow "I'm in a Zinger nest" [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v2WJi6RHj4&feature=related music]] to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXv2y5vrLBI&NR=1 THIS]] and King Zing (who was a giant, currently invincible Zinger) slowly bears down on you while you have to run away. It freaked [[{{Zilo}} This Troper]] out so much at age five that she wouldn't play that level and someone else had to beat it for her.
*** Et tu troper? This troper, at 16, was playing that level just mere moments ago to collcet the bonus coin he was missing on his, what now, fifteenth 100% playthrough? He can never remember that the music changes so suddenly, let alone WHEN exactly it happens, so, he became very grateful nobody was home because he screamed something to the effect of "FSHFHSFHSFH '''FUCK!!!'''" and nearly dropped the controller. The fact that he was rushed for time to smash open the wall to get to the bonus stage, once he got to it, with the giant zinger right on his tail didn't help.
** This thorn-fearing troper, as a kid, had a lot of trouble with the bramble stages.
* DKC3 had Ripsaw Rage, a forest stage involving a Ripsaw cutting through the level with creepy music playing...
** How's about DKC3 Advance, since all the music was redone and replaced, you'll probably notice the super happy upbeat music playing in a stage where a GIANT FREAKING RIPSAW IS TRYING TO CUT YOU IN HALF!!!
* Dogadon in Fungi Forest counts, since after dealing a certain amount of damage to him, he starts making the platform sink, as the music gets faster and faster as the platform gets lower.
* Hideout Helms theme, both of them... But the first one id more suiting since you only have so much time before ''{{NonStandardGameOver}}''
* The Factory stages in DKC count, expecially Black out basement since you can barely see what you are doing.
*DKL2 Did it for this troper, Screechs sprint, they make you listen to Run! RAMBI! RUN!! for the Whole race! And the Course IS LONGER!!!
* DKC2 and DKL2 TOXIC TOWER! T-O-X-I-C T-O-W-E-R!!! The Stage is a castle with acid rising up to kill you, one mistake and you're screwed... And in DKL2, they atart you off with Squitter instead of Rattly...
* Any stage with "Hot Pursuit" playing in DKC3 may count, as everybody recognizes them as sled stages where touching anything means death.
** ROCKET RUN! DKC3! THAT IS ALL!!!
*** Nuts and Bolts, the stage of the factory may also count...
* The stage "Haunted Hall" from DKC2 as if the music wasn't enough, you have Kackle chasing you, and if you run out of time, you are greeted with probably the most terrifying laugh ever in a game...
** In the GBA remake of DKC2, Rare fans may notice that when Kloak dies, he makes the same laugh as Baron Samadi from ''{{Goldeneye}}''
* In DK64 (As well as all the GBA remakes of the DKC series), how many people have to admit that King K. Rool's enraged scream when he starts running is creepy...
* DKC Milestone Mayhem is pretty damn creepy considering it contains evil Gnawty's in giant stone wheels trying to run you over.
** The music in those stages also does it...
* Anyone encounter the glitch in the first underwater stage where you can get stuck in the wall? Allow me to explain... If you collect 3 animal tokens, you play a minigame, and than get sent to the continue barrel, but the first underwater level is one of the only stages that doesn't have one, and you become wedged in the wall, the only way out is if you've completed the level, in which you can push Start-select to exit...
* Kerozene in DKC2, you arrive in Stronghold Showdown expecting to simply walk out like the original, only to find a new boss named Kerozene, who is ''{{ThatOneBoss}}'' since he's new and you likely weren't expecting it... luckily, he's easy when you know how...
* The really bad Pirated NES DKC2 which featured the game over screen from the SNES version for an ending.
[[/folder]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: The rest... ]]

* Jesus, this troper is mentally traumatized by Pink Panther: Pasport to Peril, a point-and-click adventure game from the late 90's. The plot of the game took place at a summer camp, where the Pink Panther has been sent as an detective to investigate the unusual behavior of the campers. You spend several hours becoming aquainted with the various campers, visiting their home countries and such. Toward the end you find the reason for their odd behavior. (Not bothering with spoiler tags since its 10 years old, was played by 8-year-olds, and noone seems to have heard of it) They were all robots. After you return to the camp, it has been replaced by a nightmarish version of itself, complete with disembodied robot parts of the various campers. People's faces are falling off, arms coming loose, etc. Here's a clip. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpt4ISwGJis About 4:20 in.]]
* This troper just finished ''StarWars: The Force Unleashed''. And the level where [[spoiler:you have to go into the stomach of a Sarlacc to rescue Bail Organa freaked me out. It's not enough to be inside a creature that will painfully digest you over the course of a thousand years, there are areas where it will suck you into a hole and do SOMETHING that makes your player character, a hardened Sith apprentice, scream in pain and terror. *shudder*]]
** The [[BonusDungeon downloadable Jedi Temple mission]] features some truly chilling imagery toward the end. After completing the final Force puzzle, Galen is confronted by [[spoiler:a vision of his inner dark side, clad in the Sith armour from the bad ending.]] The ''horrible'' sound of laboured breathing that heralds his arrival is bad enough, but throughout the fight with him, he constantly makes this tortured wailing noise that's all the more terrifying because [[spoiler:it's in Galen's own voice]]. And, to top it all off, after winning the fight, [[spoiler:the Apprentice wakes from his hallucination and briefly sees his Sith self's claws projected over his own hand, and a deep, distorted voice says, "You'll never escape me..."]]
* ''YumeNikki'', a creepy little freeware game about a girl who [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind travels through her own dreams]]
** For purposes of elaboration, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJHux3Hda2c watch this.]] You can hate me later.
*** UBOAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
*** It doesn't help that Uboa's name in the coding is written with a combination of characters that [[TheUnpronounceable don't normally go together]] [[EldritchAbomination in the Japanese language]]: "ウボァ."
*** Some ____ pictured that thing...
** Another notable part is when you get to Seccom Masada-Sensei's spaceship. Masada himself is always at his piano if you leave him alone. Now, in this game, when you kill things, they let out a high-pitched scream (Nightmare Fuel in and of itself), no matter what they are. Killing Masada takes this to a whole new level, not only because he ''has no mouth'' and ''STILL SCREAMS'', but because after you kill him, ''his piano is still playing''.
***[[{{Usagi}} This troper]] always thought of Masada as a somewhat [[{{TheWoobie}} sympathetic]] character, because he's the only one that reacts ''logically'' to the knife by trying to run away.
*** Several other characters do actually avoid you when you're holding the knife (At least one of which is in water, and therefore couldn't possibly be stabbed by the player at all), but Masada is the most noticable example, since he otherwise stands still, and the player is more likely to be paying attention to him.
** ThisTroper was always scared to death of the toriningen--specifically, the ones with purple eyes that chase you around, can't be shaken off, and if they so much as touch you, they literally ''send you to Hell''. It doesn't help that most of them get this way [[NightOfTheLivingMooks after you knife them]]. Needless to say, this Troper will never kill another toriningen.
** Some events in Yume Nikki shows up fullscreen. Check the links of the infamous Lets Play showcasing.... FACE..... FACE....[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by3hojNV5Nc FACE.....]]
** And the BodyHorror Monoko...
** FOOTPRINT PASSAGE NUMBER ONE. Can't find any pics, but if you've been there, you'll know what I mean. Pitch-black background. White footprints are the only visible things... apart from a few hideous monsters in the background. Then you'll find an oddly-colored lump, which, when interacted with, makes the hideous monsters [[Squick vomit blood]] while deforming to be even more hideous. You get there by stabbing a horrible monster in a red maze often deemed "Hell" waaaay too often, or by passing through the world made of eyes, hands, and disembodied ghosts...
* ''Space Quest 4; Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers''. ThisTroper remembers playing {{Sierra}} adventure games with her parental unit. And most of the time we had fun. However one day the parental unit bought {{SQ4}} (I was 8 at the time). In first screens you're allowed to have control on the character, you could run into a zombie. We smacked right into one and we were treated to a close up of a bald, snarling, humanoid with his eyes forced open like in AClockworkOrange. Then the zombie raised its hand and ''screamed'' at ''us''. This troper recalls screaming and tearing from the computer room faster than light speed and refused to play a Space Quest game ever again.
** ThisTroper never ran into the zombie way back as a child, fortunately. It was the slime in the sewer that melts the flesh off your bones that got to him.
*** [[http://tmd.alienharmony.com/rw/sq4/page_1.htm Ding!]] You have to click on the 'screenshots' link to see it. (Unlike damned Uboa up there.) In the olden days, you'd be viewing that fullscreen rather than in a tiny window.
** [[{{sgrunt}} This troper]] was around six and watching his dad play Space Quest 5, and was greatly disturbed by [[spoiler:most of the ending sequence where [[BigBad Quirk]] is absorbed by the massive blob which ''comes alive'' as a result, getting the Eureka to suck up the blob and come very close to tearing itself apart under the strain, and ultimately escaping on the Goliath as the Eureka explodes]]. Oddly enough, it was [[spoiler:the Eureka exploding]] which haunted him afterwards. This troper has since replayed the game and wondered why he thought the whole affair was scary at the time...
* The video game ''Drakken: The Ancient Gates'' has a quite a few disturbing things in it, this troper finds certain bosses to be the most disturbing- especially the Inquistior who is a grim reaper like entity with supernatural magic powers, there's also a whole dungeon level which features skeletons in it .
** Let us not forget the boss of that level, who trails you around constantly, a Creepy Critter that has an endless supply of beautiful virgins shipped to him... so that he can skin them and wear their skins as clothing.
*** Holy crap! [[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Buffalo Bill]] lives again!
*** Holy crap! [[LegacyOfKain Melciah]] lives again!
* PC kids' game ''Nightmare Ned'' uses Nightmare Fuel as a plot point and is extremely disturbing, namely one level in where Ned in some sort of hospital about to have his organs taken out by beaver-like monsters.
* You'd think that a game like [[BanjoKazooie Banjo-Kazooie]]: Nuts and Bolts would be more than devoid of this stuff. But you'd be wrong. The seemingly innocent Banjoland level takes your childhood memories and stick them through a blender. [[spoiler:Clanker the robot shark/whale thing has been torn apart, with his teeth set in the wall, his tail thrown haphazardly out into the floor of the desert area and his head hooked up to the central heating, the snowman from Freezeezy Peak has melted into an unrecognizable blob and the hat converted into a snow machine, the Jolly Rodger from Treasure Trove Cove stripped from it's beached position and deposited casually in a pool, the giant tree from Click Clock Wood dissected and bolted to a wall]] - the list goes on. And the "employees" don't care, despite being reccuring characters pretending to be museum curators and so on.
** And then you realize [[spoiler:Clanker is by most rights a living thing, and that '''his eyes are watching you when you get close''']]
* The first trip to the Quiphloth in ''TalesOfTheAbyss'' is certainly Nightmare Fuel. Even though it's entirely a good example of NiceJobBreakingItHero, when the ground gives way under Akzeriuth and the entire place falls into a realm of creepy dark purple and red colors, caused by a poison gas, it can be quite a disturbing thing.
** Not to mention John, a little child, dying an agonizing death as he was swallowed by poisonous mud from the planet's core shortly after.
** The explanation behind Guy's gynophobia is literally Nightmare Fuel for him, but also for this troper: [[spoiler:when his family was massacred, he was buried under the corpses of his female relatives and servants for several days. DAYS.]]
* We talk about NightmareFuel in TalesOfTheAbyss and nobody mentions the fact that Jade Curtiss liked to use his fonic artes to ''torture and kill'' even the most harmless of monsters? ''For fun''. Please bear in mind that this is also the guy who [[StepfordSmiler never stops smiling]].
** The whole [[spoiler: replication of Gelda Nebilim]] flashback scene is also very creepy.
* Another point from the Tales series that can be quite disturbing, is Soulless Colette from ''TalesOfSymphonia''. Her red eyes were creepy enough, but the fact that she had become a monstrous killing machine adds to the effect.
*** Actually, Tales Of Symphonia is pretty much full of it, but it's all covered up by fun, cute and bright graphics. Examples:
*** The Desians, a Nazi-like enemy organization. Seriously, many of the things that they do are Nightmarish.
*** Exbelua. These horrific monsters were once human. Now think about that.
*** The Desians '''BREED HUMANS'''. Imagine being born into a torture of the caliber that the Desians put people through.
*** Or worse, imagine being a little kid trapped in Rodyle's undersea Human Ranch.
*** Of note, the main bad guys, [[spoiler:the Cruxis]], also do this. But their method is a tad less cruel. They arrange marriages to create people with certain qualities. [[spoiler:So that the result can be sacrificed to bring the sister of the organization's leader back to life.]] This is how Colette, the female lead of the game came to be, Zelos, her male counterpart found later in the game is involved in a scandal surrounding this [[spoiler:and his mother states that he should never have been born.]]
*** Anyone absorbed by an Exsphere faces the fate of AndIMustScream. [[spoiler:Even happens to Colette. (As it was stated that she knew what was going on when she was "soulless").]]
*** [[AirshipCanon This troper]], while also being slightly disturbed by Soulless Colette's inhuman red eyes, found her normal self's shriek of terror when [[spoiler:Yuan]] attacked her at Palmacosta after going to the inn to be a scary thing. A very scary thing.
*** The first visit to Presea's house. The house looks completely unlived in and Presea, who is obviously brainwashed, is mindlessly wandering around in there and occasionally doting on ''the sixteen year old corpse of her father that's still lying rotting in the very bed he died in''.
*** You probably don't want to read the manga adaptation then. The reader actually gets a full view of Presea's dead father after she regains her soul, and it's [[{{Squick}} none too pleasant]].
** The [[GameBreakingBug Devil Noise Glitch]] creates a horrific sound at the end of a battle that easily can be called Nightmare Fuel, oh, and it can freeze your game. Worse, no one knows exactly what causes it.
*** Speaking of AndIMustScream, when [[spoiler:Mithos briefly succeeds in putting Martel's soul into Colette's body]], it's made clear that she's been aware this entire time of what Mithos has been doing, watching her younger brother and friends fall gradually into deeper madness and torture the entire world in her name. For FOUR THOUSAND YEARS.
** The first encounters with the Zerom soldiers in ''TalesOfHearts''. Zerom are ugly little bastards that eat Spiria, essentially souls, causing a wasting disease caused Despir Sickness. The villain generates them, captures them, and fuses them to humans. From that moment, the remainder of the stage begins ''crawling'' with [[BrainwashedAndCrazy dark-colored, red-eyed, inhumanly growling armored soldiers]]. This is the state in which you fight them, all but foaming at the mouth, and they're worthy foes to boot, using soldiers' moves and some new ones as they growl for your blood. Oh, and the first time you see them, the soldiers stagger out from basically magitech coffins. *shiver*
** TalesOfHearts ''starts'' with NightmareFuel. Kohak gets shot with a beam of negative energy that causes her soul to splinter into a thousand pieces, each one severely affecting the town where they land in some way...
* How has nobody mentioned the heart blastia's in TalesOfVesperia? [[spoiler:Not to mention the fact that Raven uses the energy from his to attack during his Mystic Arte, and then mutters "I thought I was dead..." Schwann's BadassCreed [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this, since he says "Burn this life to punish my enemies!" They are ''using their own life energy as a weapon''.]]
** Possibly less nightmarish, but still very creepy is the fact that [[spoiler:there is a sidequest where you can find all of Raven's... erm... [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean "female fans"]] The man is practically a zombie. The girls are all quite young and, if their dialogue is to be believed, willing. You do the math.]]
** Also, cute little Estelle [[spoiler:screaming in pain after [[CompleteMonster Alexei]] hooks her up to the apatheia device. [[ItGotWorse And then]] she becomes BrainwashedAndCrazy.]]
** Plus, another CompleteMonster, Cumore [[spoiler:[[IncrediblyLamePun bites the dust]] when Yuri drowns him in quicksand. Sand filling your mouth, nose, ears, lungs... It is not a pretty thought.]]
* ''Heart of Darkness'' features the young male protagonist trapped in a world populated largely by hostile creatures varying from merely disturbing to outright horrifying, that can kill him in a variety of ways that are remarkably grotesque for the game's total lack of genuine gore... in a game rated E. To be fair, this editor suspects the game wasn't actually intended for children, despite its cartoony art style and goofy sense of humor during the lighter moments... but this was apparently lost on the MediaWatchdogs.
**Some of Andy's death animations may actually drain the blood from your face. You get to watch as the young boy's body is ''stretched'', ''crushed'', ''bent'', and ''broken'' in disturbingly unnatural-looking ways that it's clear the developers paid a lot of attention to getting just [[strike:right]] wrong. ''Oh God, the rock worms''. And as Heart of Darkness is NintendoHard, you'll get to see ''every'' animation many times. And hey, remember that time that totally exhausted Amigo dropped to the ground, and his shadow ran up his body like an infection, and he was mutilated, mind and body, into one of the shadow bones fliers that you've been blowing apart with your Power of Life for a while now without knowing where they come from? Heh heh heh. Good times. *sobs*
** Thanks to the magic of the You-Tubes, a categorized montage of them all is just a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyZfME5XYY click]] away.
* The Jeljel level in the PuzzleGame ''Meteos'' features disturbingly melting-looking pieces, a heat shimmer in the background, and [[IronicNurseryTune this spine-chilling, music-box-like tune]]. Clear the level, and a loud church bell rings. ''Lose''... and you hear a volcano erupting as a woman screams in horror... Compared to how light-hearted many of the other worlds are, it's even more of a contrast.
* For some reason, this editor can't get over the nightmares of any 3D game where progressing to another world meant entering what appeared to be a bottomless pit or tunnel. Then again, considering that, if it doesn't lead anywhere, such holes lead to death, it's understandable.
** Similarly, this editor is also creeped out over any {{platformer}} where you can (and sometimes have to) get eaten by a fish or other aquatic animal. The Big Bass in ''SuperMarioBros 3'' and especially ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario 64]]'', which would ''snatch you right off the surface and swallow you whole in one gulp'', is especially disturbing.
*** ''Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure'' has a particularly bad version, where the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlPf63gIBsY last level]] of episode 1 (after the Final Boss!) is a big funnel, with a giant mouth at the bottom. All you can do is grab the walls, slowing your descent. You'll still slide down slowly, closer and closer to the waiting jaws (The beginning of the second episode takes place in the stomach of the monster).
***This troper is very tolerant of [[WombLevel Womb Levels]], but Clanker from Banjo-Kazooie freaked her the bejeezus out. That "rust" looked waaaaay too much like a mass of bloody scabs and boils. Ew ew ewwww x.o
* The Zombiebots in ''Metal Arms: Glitch in the System'' scared the crap out of this editor: they are extremely fast and powerful, have to be killed twice, and the most effective weapon against them could only be used at close-range. Also, their distorted metallic screams are just awful.
**This troper was about eleven when he played the game, and cried when Hosed and Screwed, your tutorial buddies, were [[spoiler:unceremoniously blown to bits at the start of the second level.]] Imagine his pants-wetting reaction to the Zombiebots, and his relief at finding you could rescue two of them and [[HeelFaceTurn have them help you.]] Plus, he found the nappy-wearing Zombiebot King {{Nightmare Retardant}}.
**The intro to the wastelands. after killing the first enemy batch, you see two grunt corpses, heads and arms ripped off, with a huge bloodstain under them, slowly dripping... and if you shoot them they sway. Then, there is the three-fourths point in the wastelands, when there are two Zombiebots and you're high above them... I grenaded the area, and jumped down. Guess what? FIVE FEET AWAY FROM ME ARE TWO ZOMBIEBOTS.
*The "Generator Room" level in the first ''CrashBandicoot'' game is particularly Nightmare Fuel-laden. Imagine an enormous, black space with exhaust pipes pumping what appeared to be black gas into the room, metallic platforms hanging over what appeared to be an infinite, dark void, and video screens brandishing a dead-eyed version of [[BigBad Doctor Neo Cortex's]] face throughout the area.
** Lots of things in the game are Nightmare Fuel. What freaked me out were the Lab Assistant characters. It's explained in the third game that they're really [[spoiler:artificial robots with real flesh - that's Nightmare Fuel itself]], but they look human by ''Crash'' standards in the first game. Their only means of attack (apart from standing there) in one level is to run at Crash with arms outstretched, occasionally generating electricity between their hands. It doesn't help that they return in the sequel, some assimilated into Borg-like space warriors, and the only way to beat them is to push them into a fire shield - and their standard cry is eerily cut off as they evaporate.
**[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxS-nbObNWA The Mount Grimly theme]] in ''Crash: Mind over Mutant'' is extremely dark compared to the rest of the otherwise cheery and upbeat soundtrack.
*Dark Passage in the original ''SpyroTheDragon'' involved enemies that remained tame and mostly harmless in the light, but turned into vicious demonic versions of themselves in the dark. The transformation is just so sudden and ghastly (not to mention makes the enemies much more dangerous), this editor guarantees you'll be freaking out the first few times you play it.
** "Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly" has a rather spooky glitch in which every goes all Slow motion-like.
*** A lot of the bad guys you face in {{The Legend of Spyro}} series are seriously Nightmare Fuel-ish.
** In fact, the whole Dream Weavers' world was creepy - it didn't help that the world's (thankfully optional if you're not going for the 100% completion) boss was a [[spoiler:Jack-in-the-box... except he wasn't in a box...]]. What really creeped me out was Haunted Towers. That gave me nightmares when I was a kid. A large section of the enemy population are animated suits of armour which float and attack by [[spoiler: whacking Spyro with their own helmets]]. Not to mention the level being the site of an infamously difficult puzzle (easy when you know how) to reach the last dragon. Not scary itself, but due to a clipping glitch (or perhaps a subtle clue) it's possible to see part of the trapped dragon... struggling to escape the crystal. Through the ceiling.
** In ''Spyro: Year of the Dragon'', the Evening Lake world Frozen Altars has a lot of giant snowmen that Spyro must defeat with lasers- get too close to one and they grab Spyro, shake him and throw him away. That's not scary. What ''is'' scary? Their goddamn freaking smiles.
** Malefor from ''The Legend of Spyro'' trilogy is rather terrifying, along with being a CompleteMonster. The fact that he's played by MarkHamill dosen't help much either.
** This troper is not arachnophobic, so the giant spiders in ''Spyro: A Hero's Tail'' didn't bother me much. That is, until one jumped out at me from a seemingly solid wall. Having that happen enough times could turn anyone arachnophobic.
* The music that plays (appropriately) during most of the nightmare levels in ''Alundra'' gave this editor nightmares. It's difficult to describe, but it keeps shifting between various themes and instruments, with a heart beat-like bass drum in the background, occasional cuts to music-box style music, and some screams thrown in for good measure. Part of it makes me picture ''melting angels''. Of course, the creepiness was probably intentional here, but not to that extent.
** For that matter, some of the nightmare levels were damn creepy.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcrtYipIChU&fmt=18 This song]] to be exact.
* This troper always had a problem with any WombLevel in a video game, or any realistic portrayal of anatomy and being inside someone's body, in any medium. Worst of all was ''Joe and Mac''. ''Joe and Mac'' is a cartoony game involving cavemen and dinosaurs, with bright colorful graphics and much silliness, so the last thing this troper expected was a level which takes place inside the body of a ''T-rex''. The level features moving villi, large red blood cells visible in the background, and worst of all, a giant beating heart. A ''realistic'' beating heart, ''not'' a cartoony one! Which led him to wonder, "What were they thinking?"
** Another SNES caveman game (gosh, how many did we need?), ''Congo's Caper'', goes on this exact same trope, with the added fun of swimming through the T-Rex's digestive juices. Sickly. Yellow. Digestive juices. Totally submerged in. Joe and Mac was also memorable to this troper for having bosses that ''actively decayed'' as you hit them. Some just looked cartoonishly pained, but some were nightmarish. [[http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a300/Delcat/OHGOD.gif The Mammoth, for instance, lost its tusks, then its ''trunk'', leaving a horrible gaping hole ''while it was still alive and bellowing''.]] It's really no wonder this troper has a morbid phobia of elephants in her adulthood.
** Another such level exists in ''Jet Force Gemini'' where you travel ''through'' a giant alien insect larva... thing... it's sort of sad when someone can feel ''relieved'' when coming out of an anus. Unfortunately, immediately after doing so you are assaulted by the level boss, [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Twin Cyborg Tailed Praying Mantises]] who, aside from being [[ThatOneBoss That One]] DuelBoss, are accompanied by orange rocky landscape, lava rivers, and an orange sky where the clouds travel by quickly, giving an apocalyptic atmosphere to the already nightmarishly hard fight.
*** Also, one of the [[MacGuffin spaceship parts]] is on top of the giant worms brain! How did it get there? Why do you have to walk on its brain to get ti? What the hell where the developers thinking?
** Also featured in ''Ocarina of Time,'' but to a lesser extent. (See ''Zelda''.)
* ''QuestForGlory IV'' has literal Nightmare Fuel in the form of a [[ShoutOut Cask of]] [[EdgarAllanPoe Amon Tillado]], a wine that gives the drinker dark visions of the {{Evil Overlord}} rising to destroy the world.
** Also noteworthy are the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDidcsqWres nightmares]] you have when you sleep in Erana's garden or under her staff.
** Completing the Paladin's quest in "Shadows of Darkness", the one involving the ghost chick in the river, quickly turned into nightmare fuel....[[spoiler: After killing the ghost of her murderer, you must wade into the river and kiss her. Only, by this time, she is no longer an, uh, alluring figure. She is, in fact a rotting corpse. {{Squick}} ]]
** This troper could probably write a whole ''page'' full of ''Quest For Glory'' examples..., heck, Sierra examples in general! ''Quest for Glory IV'' in paticular had alot of creepy things, although the [[LemonyNarrator snarky narrator]] helped lighten the mood a bit.
** Then there's Tanya, the little vampire girl who lives in Castle Borgov, and has eerily blank, glowing gold eyes and white skin, and just misses her mommy and daddy. God, is she creepy.
*** In the first game, the music in the magic shop. This editor could ''not'' stay in that place for very long, even as a Magic User, due to the music. Also, Night Gaunts can be a bit of a surprise the first time you try to sleep in the wilderness at night. The fact that you never see them somehow makes it so much more disturbing.
** Not just the ''Quest for Glory'' series - this editor (who is twenty) had to sleep with a light on for weeks after [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN8_cUuSaSU#t=1m51s dying in the unlit room in the Catacombs]] in ''King's Quest 6''. All you see the whole time are the dots of your character's eyes...and that makes it worse.
***''Legend of Kyrandia'' has one of these---[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8JgHGaiKDM3t=2m50s this video]]---but its not the ''protagonist's'' eyes you can see.
*** Catacombs? Heck, how about the Realm of the Dead? Creepy music, check. Nighttime, check. BodyHorror, check. A sequence describing how the Lord of the Dead slowly turned from a human being into a death lord [[AndIMustScream numb to all pain and misery for all eternity]], check.
** The point and click Sierra game ''Torin's Passage'' has a tragic AntiVillain with an oddly creepy yet touching story.
* ''KingdomOfLoathing'' has plenty, ironically enough.
** [[GiantSpider The Big Creepy Spider]], whose description informs you that "he promises not to kill you, but you're not sure you believe him."
** Spookyraven Manor in its entirety. Especially the part with the [[DemBones animal skeletons]].
** That line about how your familiar "gets creative with the fish scaler" is extremely creepy, even if it's hurting ''your enemy''.
* The recent ''Time Crisis 4'' features the "Terror Bites", several ultra-sound controlled insects that resemble to cockroaches or wasps. Their attacks consist on rushing towards the player, clinging to the monitor and ''slowly sucking your life away''. While not being strictly Nightmare Fuel, it may still disturb small children and entemophobes.
* ''Rayman: Raving Rabbids'' is creepy enough in concept: Rayman and his friends the Globoxes are kidnapped by deranged, screaming, mutant bunnies (the titular Rabbids), and Rayman must win his freedom by competing in various minigames, most of which involve abusing said Rabbids in various slapstick ways (blowing them up, shooting them with plungers, etc.). "Bunnies are Slow to React" is especially creepy, as it involves playing a marble labyrinth game ''inside a Rabbid's brain'' while creepy Muzak plays in the background, including a snippet of Rabbids singing "Ode to Joy".
** Arguably worse is the mini-game where you have to pull grinning worms out of festering cavities in the Rabbid's teeth to a backdrop of a screeching dentist's drill. Fail to grab them before they go back in, and the tooth will go brown, then explode, leaving ''wiggling root endings hanging out of the screamsonicing Rabbid's gums''. Oh, and since it only ends when you lose, seeing this is ''inevitable''. Even worse is the harder difficulty, in which the Rabbid constantly exhales bad breath at you, making the screen wobble like a 70's sitcom flashback effect. This troper is a natural pro for some reason, so when friends are over for a game, she's always tossed the controller on this level and forced to play through while listening to everyone else squirm and squeam. It was a hell of a way to really appreciate the Wii's graphics update for the first time. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXtvTzltszI In-game footage is not for the weak of stomach.]]
** How about the minigame in which you have to force a Rabbid to hit himself with a mace or screaming ''by touching his brain on particular locations'' ? Oh, and did I mention said Rabbid had to go through a trepanation for this to occur ?
* ''[[{{Rayman}} Rayman 2: The Great Escape/Rayman Revolution]]'' has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Cave of Bad Dreams]] and [[AncientTomb Tomb of the Ancients]]. The Cave of Bad Dreams is over-the-top scary until you reach the part where the cyclopic monster that guards the treasure chases you [[JawsFirstPersonPerspective with his teeth framing the screen]]. The Tomb of the Ancients has giant spiders, cackling ghosts that float out of the sewage that ambush you while you're floating on a barrel, and intense music that makes good use of the ScareChord.
**The Canopy level is nightmare fuel for arachnophobes. The very beginning of the level has Rayman ambushed by a giant spider that's almost impossible to kill without the powerup you receive later in the level, and the spider even gets its [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMw6GYhOcds&feature=related own scary music]].
**The Zombie Chickens. The name sounds silly until [[http://rayman.bonusweb.cz/pok2_wantedrayman/rayman2/pok2/postavy/zombie.jpg you actually meet them in person.]] The worst part is when you're trying to raft down a certain section in The Tomb of the Ancients and they come after you in swarms...
* This editor remembers from this old Daffy Duck game on Game Boy, when this giant bat would come out of nowhere on certain stages and the music would turn really creepy.
* Non-conventional computer game example: In the "Save the Dinosaurs" game that came with ''3D Dinosaur Adventure'', if you failed to save all of the dinosaurs in time, the meteorite would hit the Earth, the dinosaurs would cry out in fear and pain, and the guy who gave you the mission would tell you it's all your fault before pulling you back to the present. It was quite creepy.
** Another scary part of the game was that eventually, you would find your way to the various Mesozoic periods barred by giant arthropods, including mosquitoes, scorpions, fleas, and pill millipedes. If you approached one, an eerie sound that the creepy crawlie's [[RealLife real-world equivalent makes]] would fill the air. It was rather creepy, considering that [[TruthInTelevision most people don't like mosquitoes as it is]].
*** And they suck away your time when they do so. But at least you can zap them by clicking on them. Nice "laser gun" noise. BYEEOW! BYEEOW!
** This troper was more scared of the Dromaeosaurs that he would encounter if he went the wrong way down the time tunnels. At least the giant arthropods can be see before you run into them, and always block the way to the direction you're supposed to go. So they help, if unintentionally.
*** Not to mention the Dromaeosaurs were {{Card Carrying Villain}}s.
** Another creepy part of that game was a section where the player could view videos, with realistic simulations of dinosaurs. One video featured a ''Deinonychus'' killing another dinosaur in a bloody fashion. Another featured a ''Struthiomimus'' crushing another dinosaur's eggs and eating what was inside.
*** This troper remembers those videos from her childhood dinosaur-obsessed days. The one with the pack of Deinonychus killing the Struthiomimus was indeed rather disturbing. The part that really got to me was the Struthiomimus' BLOODCURDLING SCREAMS. *shudders*
**** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eQ3LDhGfpU You]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkgr2kKnmH4 mean]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mvpVmXIbjU this]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAju363IMAI documentary]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyxHX0ENZ14 here?]]
* Another non-conventional computer game example: When [[{{Demetrios}} this troper]] was younger, I played this game who's name escapes me at the moment (it was one of those kids' CD-ROM games that's made up mostly of mini-games and rarely, if ever, has an overall storyline). One of the games consisted of putting together puzzle pieces to reveal a short but funny black-&-white movie. This particular one, however, was anything but. The completed puzzle revealed a picture of a girl holding her pet cat. Pretty normal (even though, if I recall, the girl was wearing shiny black opera gloves that looked suspiciously like they were made from the skin of a crocodile). At one point, some eerie background music played, and the girl gained the eyes, ears, and whiskers of a cat, along with a sinister smile. Naturally, the pet cat freaked out and said "Oooh! Heh heh, nice kitty" and then purred nervously. Not only was this movie scary, this is probably the ''only'' ''un''attractive CatGirl in the Universe.
**That would be Math Workshop, brought to you by the folks behind Myst and Prince of Persia. No, really.
** Also the folks behind ''The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis'', if I remember correctly, which, in case you've forgotten, present you with the scenario of tiny refugees escaping a dystopia ''in an educational kid's game''! Now, that premise wasn't so bad in the first place (...though this troper has friends who say it's just him), but then there's... that puzzle. You know. The one with the beehive. The one where you can make no more than ''three mistakes'' before ''a swarm of angry bees starts chasing your Zoombinis off the screen with giant scissors, syringes, and other LARGE POINTY OBJECTS''.
* The children's educational game ''Sim Ant'' was creepy enough for featuring colonies of ants. The victory condition was ''eating'' the opposing colony's queen. This is further exacerbated by potential deaths such as being squished flat, being eaten by a GiantSpider, or mowed down by a lawnmower (it helps that the first time this one happens, the most that'll be going through your head is "What IS that loud whirring noise?").
** Think that's scary? Play Sim Copter. It's a good enough game, with [[strike: great]] music and fun gamplay, until you see the graphics close up. From people whose poorly rendered faces that wrap all the way around, to animals who are actually skeleton like wireframes that only appear to be normal from a distance, ThisTroper never went to the ground level if he could avoid it, preferring to do everything from the air.
* The PlayStation game ''Gex: Enter the Gecko'' had the titular character exploring levels based on movie genres. The series of levels based on horror movies contained blood-soaked walls and floors, eerie ghosts that could hurt you unless you stood under a dim lantern, and quiet, creepy music. It only got worse as the game progressed. This editor played it when she was younger, and very much preferred the kung-fu movie levels.
** This troper agrees wholeheartedly, even though he played the N64 version. (In fact, thanks to this, he wants to go boot up his emulator-- because he always rented the game). In addition, the level based on Titanic surprisingly managed to avoid causing panic attacks due to his fear of water... but swimming to the very top of the level and having Gex's head above the water, there being only a (if I remember) stark blue abyss, ''scared the ever-loving shit out of him''.
* Aside from being the king of FamilyUnfriendlyDeath, ''MetalSlug'' has another nightmarish little element. Normally, you have a gun and grenades. When your character is turned into a zombie, however, that changes to a gun and '''vomiting blood'''. In a wide, long stream.
** This troper always saw that as being CursedWithAwesome. Also, the character select screens in most of the games, especially 2,X, and 3 are pretty freaky.
* Andross in ''[[StarFox Star Fox 64]]''. Seriously that... thing. He's a huge face and hands, that has an attack that involves him '''eating''' your Arwing. Yes. He eats it.
** This troper thought it was terrifying when you fight the fake Andross: once you deal enough damage to him, his face just falls off, revealing a freakish mechanical structure that only somewhat resembles Andross. And then it charges straight at the screen, just to freak you out.
*** Do you know what's even more terrifying? Fighting the final form of the ''real'' Andross. His face melts away, leaving behind a brain, a pair of eyes, and these... tentacle... things... hanging out from under the brain. He'd actually stalk your Arwing all over the arena, catching you in his tentacles if you get too close. Of course, this troper ''is'' [[{{Squick}} Squicked]] out by the sight of brains, but still... brr...
**** Surprisingly, the beginning was the most horrifying part for this troper. When he got to the end, he saw nothing but a shadowy thing...then out pops this grotesque monstrosity of a disembodied head. He was so thrown off he lost the first round with him.
***** What about Sector X? You're supposed to be attacking an enemy base to destroy a secret weapon. When you reach the base, however, it's already destroyed. Debris is floating everywhere and eventually robotic arms float past you, with Falco commenting "What the heck is THAT?!" The creepy music of the level just adds to the suspense. At the end of the level, Falco screams "FOX! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" and the secret weapon itself, who was the one that destroyed the base and to who the various floating robotic arms belonged to, appears, speaking in a creepy robotic voice: "Destroy....Destroy..." Eeeeeeeeesh!
** Pigma: "Daddy screamed REAL good before he '''died!'''"
**For this troper, it was in ''[[StarFox Starfox Assault]]''. The team is tracking Pigma around the system and ends up in an abandonned station in an asteroid belt. The boss of the stage? [[spoiler:It's Pigma, who got assimilated and mutated by the Aparoid artifact,[[BodyHorror now fused with a large ship that grows tentacles and his face is the core]], always screaming creepy assimilation stuff.]] This troper stopped playing for a few days before being able to continue the game.
** Oh no...Pigma and Andross pale in comparison to the true horror that lies within StarFoxAdventures. No, it's not General scales, no it's not Andross...it's that shopkeeper. S/he seriously creeps me the hell out. That voice has given this torper the name "Evil Gypsy Shopkeeper" to it because seriously...that shopkeeper is ''evil''!! Somewhere in the galaxy, s/he is lurking. Waiting. Waiting for the perfect moment to attack the federation and say "You pay ''THIS'' much!" and if it's too low, she'll just say "How about a little ''gaaaaaaaaaaame'' and trap them into an eternal field of torture and pain and HighOctaneNightmareFuel. It is ''this'' that is pretty much the tropenamer for the evil shopkeeper...
* [[http://kotaku.com/5325198/this-looks-like-art-from-warren-spectors-steampunk-disney-game This is concept art]] from a steampunk-style Disney game that Warren Spector is apparently working on. The twisted, blasted landscapes and run-down Disneyland landmarks are one thing, [[http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/07/steamgoof.jpg but THIS]] is quite another. Note the elephant-bot (which looks like it came right out of 'Pink elephants on parade') with hooks for hands, soulless dead eyes and a skeletal, spindly torso which barely even resembles an elephant, and the equally horrifying no-eyed-one-armed Goofy-bot on the right. Good night, children.
** [[http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3579/3769500853_d4f52bded4_o.jpg This thing which seems to be a mix of Disney characters]] is pretty damn creepy, look at the Crocodile, its got an {{Aliens}} thing going on.
** This troper really likes the idea of a steampunk-type Disney game, but seeing the artwork of a post-apocalyptic Disneyworld nevertheless gives her the heebie-jeebies.
** This is Disney in Hell. The game is only known so far as "EpicMickey", something about older characters attempting to kill our favorite mouse, but this is far more extreme than I ever expected to see from a Disney franchise. The [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel half-mechanized]] [[EldritchAbomination monstrosities]] are horrific enough, but somehow adding Mousketeer ears pushes this into a different dimension altogether. This Troper spent the first five minutes of looking at the photos in horrified silence, not at the fact that the game is being made, but that anything like this could happen to Disneyland/Disney World. It's not supposed to ''exist''. I'm scared witless - but I'll ''have'' to play it. (This is even more traumatic considering this Troper just got home from an eight-month-long stint in Walt Disney World, so seeing the broken, rotted Epcot geosphere is like having a piece of her heart ripped out.)
** This troper's thought process on clicking the Goofy link went something like this: "Oh, it's a Disney ''game'', and not [[NightmareFuel/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts]], how bad can it b--''AUGH! Those things shouldn't '''be'''!'' For a moment the "Sea Transport" one actually seemed funny, as it looks like a reject from "Waterworld", until I realized: if I'm not mistaken, that's Monstro from ''{{Pinocchio}}'', terrifying in his own right. Only as a [[UncannyValley decaying automaton]] big enough to carry ''all of Disney World'', with a giant horn for good measure.
** This troper has a severe elephant phobia, partially thanks to Disney and its pink elephants/elephant graveyard. ''Literally. Can't. Stop. Shaking.''
** Well, this is the [[http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8427/7558epicmickey2d00cover.jpg latest artwork]] from the cover of Game Informer. It is a bit different from that earlier art, but somehow, I'm not sure this is much better.
*** Oh, trust me, the Phantom Blot can be made ''much'' scarier, just ''[[http://www.wiitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/phantom-blot-epic-mickey-disney-videogame-wii.jpg look at this]]''
** Also, they're going to put the song "It's a Small World" in it... Played ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzh8TuYDIcI backwards]]''.
** And if all of this makes you think it belongs on HighOctaneNightmareFuel instead... well maybe there's some truth to that. But while the game's going to be freaky to players of all ages, Warren Spector has made it quite clear that he wants this game to be played by, and ''scare the crap out of'', kids.
--> '''Warren Spector:''' I really want to scare kids. I want to go to Disneyland and see a 10 year old kid crying: "Oh mommy, the clock tower's going to come to life and eat me!" That's my fondest dream. [[NightmareFuelDisney Disney scared the pants off me when I was a little kid]]. Disney needs to scare kids!
* The Old Sorceress's Mansion in ''Lost Odyssey'' was pretty damn creepy, not necessarily even because of the creatures you wind up fighting or the old, run-down look of the place, not even because every door you open lets out a ghoulish face or a dark tendril. No, it's because of the profound solitude of the place when you're not in a fight (a theme heavily emphasized by this game), the ghost of the main character's dead child running around laughing, and the extremely creepy piano music that induces yet more of the feeling of being all alone in the world, that makes the entire experience quite nightmarish. This editor shudders whenever he hears that particular piece of piano music.
* This troper's best friend has a fear of bananas thanks to the banana bomb weapon from ''{{Worms}}''.

* This Troper was always freaked out by C&C's Tiberium as a child. In particular, the Visceroids, which are giant amoebas made of mutated human flesh.

* This troper, oddly enough, was frightened while playing what should have been a harmless game of ''Super Black Bass'' on SNES. While slowly reeling the line back in, searching for fish, out of nowhere a fish the size of a ''whale'' appeared. Coupled with the water surrounding it appearing dirtier than anywhere else...
* One thing notable about the first BanjoKazooie game is that it made you feel really, really crummy for losing by actually showing the cutscene of Gruntilda succeeding and Banjo's sister Tooty being turned into a FrankensteinsMonster. Worse is her line: [[YouBastard "Banjo, your sister wants as word with you......NOW!]] Even worse? You get this cutscene even if you use the "Save and Quit" feature.
** Worse than that, is in the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, where at the very end of the epilogue, after Grunty swears revenge, it inexplicably says GAME OVER instead of the original THE END. Let's hope that's not also the case with ''Banjo-Tooie''... and if that had a game over scene, it'd be even more depressing. Grunty and sisters would fully drain the whole island with Grunty restoring her body, leaving the island with a zombie apocalypse.
** This troper's younger sister fully blames her paralyzing fear of sharks on Snacker, the [[InvincibleMinorMinion almost-invicincble]] baddie who stalks the waters of Treasure Trove Cove. Even if you smack him senseless with eggs, he's one of the few enemies in the original game that periodically respawns, meaning you always have to watch your back... And keep your ears open for strains of TheJimmyHeartVersion of the ''{{Jaws}}'' theme...
*** Rooreelooo's {{Lets Play}} of the game turns it into Nightmare Fuel Squared by playing the aforementioned Sonic drowning music when he shows up.
** This troper can't be the only one that's scared to death of Rusty Bucket Bay in the first game. The troper being the one up there in the Mario folder who became quite literally traumatized by the eel in Super Mario 64, the level is not a happy place for him (but oddly, Clanker's Cavern does nothin' for him, nor Jolly Roger's Bay in the next game, so... it's odd I guess). Even trying to get into the damn place, what with the tall flooded chamber, is HORROR INCARNATE to him. To say nothing of the water in the actual level, which depletes your air at normal rate even when your head is above the water and doubly fast when it's under... and the return of that ''fucking shark'', even in a small area, DOES NOT HELP.
*** Those things that hide in the walls and pop out trying to eat you (their design varies from level to level) don't go over well with this troper.
** From ''Banjo-Tooie'', the huge dinosaur foot that keeps coming down to stomp you, letting out a huge roar each time.
*** Jolly Roger's Lagoon. Anenomes and octopi and fucking EELS! And don't get me started on the living algae and that fragging fish in that one area. Or Lord Foo Wak Wak.
** The "Here Comes Trouble..." music is the stuff nightmares are made from.
** Let's not forget the trash compactor in Grunty Industries. That thing had me afraid of trash compactors. For years.
* Ivor Beggar's transformation into [[spoiler:Ivor Bargain]] in VivaPinata. He ''turns his head upside down, using a different mouth and nose that were formerly his hat''.
* ''PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' has the infamous stare of Damon Gant, which can make many gamers uneasy when they see it. Not to mention that Gant's stare isn't nearly as creepy the first time you see it. The problem is, every time he does it, the stare goes on for even longer, and there's NO MUSIC PLAYING. By the time you [[spoiler:sneak into his office and he caatches you]], he stares at you for so long in utter silence that it feels like HE'S LOOKING DIRECTLY AT YOU! In Case 5 of ''Trials and Tribulations'', we witness [[spoiler:Dahlia getting exorcised out of Maya's body, ''letting out a scream'', and in her final on-screen moments takes the form of a very creepy ghost before turning into a flame and vanishing, while flashbacks to her crimes go off.]] And then in ''Apollo Justice'', perceiving [[spoiler:Kristoph Gavin]] is scary enough, but when you see his nervous habit--namely, [[spoiler:his hand tensing and a combination of his finger bones and the scar on his hand forming a demonic face]], you ''will'' shit bricks.
*** Also, his [[spoiler:black Psyche-Locks. Just what the FUCK is he hiding that warrants not only five Psyche-Locks, but BLACK ones instead of the usual red ones?!]]
** In case you wanted to see it, here it is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sD2knxwy6c]]. Took me a while to find it.
** This troper is terrified of perceiving in general. The creepy slower-than-usual music, the swirling background and the flickering eyeball at the bottom is usually enough to scare her off playing the game entirely.
** Two words: Jean Armstrong.
** Depending on how sensitive you are to NightmareFuel, many witnesses can start to become this as they get more and more upset.
* ''pop'n music'' has the "Chara-Pop" option, which replaces the standard note skin with that of your character. Sometimes the notes will change to something not-nightmarish (i.e. powerup icons for [[{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]]), but sometimes they'll change to things like your character's head. This troper was doing a battle match with a friend, and he could see on his friend's screen a bunch of his character's heads scrolling down, which was part of an attack that he inflicted on his friend's screen. It had a rather creepy effect, and it doesn't help that they explode when you hit them (which you are supposed to do).
* ''LittleBigPlanet'''s third world (The Wedding) seems rife with Nightmare Fuel...if you aren't just impressed by the exellent Day of the Dead decor. {{Your Mileage May Vary}}. [[spoiler:The most nightmarish bit would have to be Skulldozer, where you get chased by an enormous bull skull on bicycle wheels that continuously screams, is surrounded by red fog, and is being piloted by an insane zombie bride who thinks she's been jilted and is running down the entirety of her wedding reception.]] Trust me, it makes more sense in context.
* Nothing about BreathOfFire 2 yet? The English translation is a bit weird, but at times it just adds to the UncannyValley horror.
** The initial scene where young Ryu and Bow follow a spiked tail through a shadowy cave, leading to a monster that may/may not have torn them to pieces.
** THE GODDAMN FACE HUGGERS IN THE WELL.
** The monster hunters who casually tell you that if they ever find the beautiful woman in the forest, they'd "sell her, of course."
*** It gets even worse when said beautiful woman actually shows up...and reveals her true colors as ThatOneBoss. Now you know why the house with the monster hunters was suddenly empty. ''She murdered them in cold blood.''
** The whole surreal sidequest with the cat chefs. If they decide you're weak, they'll slowly cook you alive on a giant grill.
** Nimufu. Just Nimufu. She collects cute boys and turns them to stone. And then there's her line when she meets the main character and learns he doesn't want to "play" with her: "...then I'll kill you first, then play with you!"
*** That being said, after you defeat her in the boss fight following that line, she becomes TheWoobie. Yes, really.
** Evrai. That is all. [[spoiler: It is a city that is believed by the majority of the world to be paradise, but in reality, it is a city that sucks out your soul and feeds it to an evil god. And you can never leave.]]
*** That place creeped out this troper to no end. One minute everyone is happy and smiling, but once you try to leave, go talk to everyone in town again. Everyone will either laugh evilly or tell you that "it's so cold...". And perhaps worst of all, the standard town music is still playing the entire time, as if absolutely nothing is wrong, which somehow makes things even creepier.
* The old-school arcade skateboarding game ''720 Degrees'': When the timer runs out and a booming voice says "SKATE OR DIE!!!", then a swarm of killer bees starts chasing you, gradually becoming faster until they are unavoidable, while also changing their formation to the shape of a hammer, a pair of scissors, a syringe, etc. Fuels nightmares of being chased, you know, where your pursuer keeps getting faster and faster.
* Has any other editor in this fallen off of a building in a [[{{ptitlexn2hm2be8nol}} Mirror's Edge]]? If just being in first person wasn't enough, there's the snapping sound. Uuuugggh...
* The old, Lovecraft-inspired graphic adventure game ''Shadow of the Comet'' is remarkably creepy, especially if one played it as a 14 year old boy, like this troper did.
* The Haunted Grounds level in ''{{Gauntlet}} Dark Legacy''. The level has an overall ominous atmosphere, combined with eerie music and the random laughter of children, which at one point, for no reason, becomes an unsettling scream. Plus it has statues of the four classic ''Gauntlet'' character classes, meeting gruesome fates. The next level, the Haunted House, is probably a bit of a relief, what with its [[SeenItAMillionTimes abundance of ghost story cliches]].
** God, yes. You'd think playing as a Jester who hurls cartoon bombs, hits things with a tiny stick, drops two ton weights and occasionally pulls a baseball bat out of hammerspace would do something to assuage this - in fact, you'd expect that was the entire damn point of being so tongue-in-cheek in the first place. But if you sat and listened and looked for 30 seconds at anything through roughly half of the areas in the game, it rapidly became clear that it ''didn't work.''
** Ditto on the bloodcurdling roars of the monsters with explosive or acidic barrels stuck to their backs. If there's anyone on this earth who doesn't spontaneously completely panic when that sound happens, I haven't met them.
* Oregon Trail II produced quite a bit of Nightmare Fuel for this troper back in 3rd grade...the [[ScareChord DUN DUN!!!!]] that played whenever a bad event happened STILL scares the hell out of this troper...so much he refuses to play it with the sound on.
** This troper had actual nightmares about the rattlesnake attack and, at 17, still jumps every time the ScareChord comes on. (The Guidebook did help a lot, though. and yes, this troper was enough of a geek to have the OregonTrail II guidebook and use it.)
* The PC game ''Abuse'' can be summed up as a platform version of ''Doom'' (''Abuse'' was made by ex-id Software members). Dark corners, creepy mutants, though not a lot violence to boot. If the atmosphere doesn't get to you, then the scream of the mutants and seeing a horde of them coming at you will. Fans of ''Tim And Eric Awesome Show: Great Job'' can hear this from their Bougar sketch.

** This troper saw a graphical glitch while opening the door where his character's hair keeps dissapearing and returning. Also, the next time he went into the Door, he found himself falling into an endless pit that came out of nowhere.


* The Witch Doctor in the original ''AdventureIsland'', aka the NES clone of WonderBoy. Everytime you defeated him, his head fell off and he would get a new, more grotesque HeadSwap, some of these, such as the cyclops form, were downright terrifying, especially when this troper was a kid.
* Several of the bosses in the Turbografx ShootEmUp ''Monster Lair'' were downright nightmare fuel-errific, for example the skull with a circle of mini-grim reapers, the fish whose skin came off to form smaller fishes, the wasp hive and queen, the baby vampire/frankenstein hybrid, the cactus jack-o-lantern(nasty buzzing noise when it snaked across the screen), and to top it off, the FinalBoss's OneWingedAngel / ClippedWingAngel form. The game's NintendoHard-ness could be nightmarish too.
* ''GuitarHero: Aerosmith''. Yes, fucking GUITAR HERO AEROSMITH. The second level's encore animation features lightning, and several creepy images of stuffed rabbits and such, and then a freaking jack-in-the-box with an outright demonic face pops up. Why they decided this would be a good idea, I'm not sure at all.
You know the poster for the Kentucky level? It's got two utterly demonic looking sheep ever! Then there's those skelletons from GuitarHero {{Metallica}} but at least that's understandable.

*''Chibi Robo'' had the Spydorz. Those things are seriously creepy.
*''SuperRobotWars Alpha 3'': "End of the Galaxy". Enjoy it--or not--[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz174h-3rEU#t=6m00s here]].
*Although ''{{NIGHTS}}: Journey of Dreams'' is a fairly bright, happy, game, there are a couple of bosses who deserve to mentioned here. First up is Donbalon, who's literally a patchwork/clown/balloon-thing, with a freaking creepy smile. Next is Cerberus, who is bad enough on it's own (being a couple of dogs with ''spiked balls'' for bodies), but combine it with the creepy cage-dome/desolate background, and the music, then Cerberus becomes [[ItGotWorse a lot worse]].
** Also in ''Journey of Dreams'', Hellen's NightmareSequence is really frightening. At first it seems like it's just a sad cutscene, but [[spoiler: after seeing something that reminds her of her mom, her mother's image appears faintly in a store window. She looks at her sadly, this suddenly turns into empty red eyes and a hideous snarl. The glass shatters, and shadow-creatures come out of it and chase Hellen.]]
* ''ChronoTrigger'' is pretty notable for doing some horrible things with the SNES sound hardware, such as the infamous Lavos cry, the genuinely startling noise many monsters make when they attack you, and the music in Magus' castle, which has a disturbing laughing/weeping noise playing throughout. To say nothing of some of the game's set pieces, like the cathedral or the PeopleJars aboard the Black Omen.
** "But...the future refused to change..." The apocalyptic imagery from the bad ending was enough to give a lot of players the heebie-jeebies.
**This troper was particularly freaked out by a certain room in the Geno dome. There's a conveyer belt with people on it. The belt brings the people into a box, where you hear a scream (Very terrifying sounding considering the SNES's sound limitations), and the people don't come out. You only see the side of conveyer belt, so you can only see the outside of the box, leaving you only able to imagine what could have happened to those people.
*In ''Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge'', one of the first boss battles opens with a cutscene of Jack arriving in a seemingly abandoned building. He sees a dark shadow on the floor, which slowly starts to grow and lift itself off the ground. No big deal, right? Well, a few seconds later it morphs into a pitch-black shadow of Oogie Boogie, with glowing yellow holes for his eyes and mouth. And as if that's not enough... ''"Jaaaaaack!"'' This troper just about had a heart attack!
* The classic Playstation gem known as Medievil and its sequel Medievil 2 are well known for being NightmareFuel. It it wasn't the violence, demonic themes and dark setting, then it would be the terrifying awesome music. As a kid, this troper wasn't afraid of anything in the game but that music. That haunting music that perfectly created an atmosphere that made your skin break into goose flesh and your hairs to stand on end, your spine chilled and teeth chatter. Yep, those game had it all (but no KillerRabbit unfortunately).
* This troper can't believe that nobody included the NES classic ''MonsterParty'' on this list in so long. It was released in 1989, back when there were no age ratings for video games back then, and the gory visuals and general weirdness of the monsters was primo NightmareFuel for many a kid back in the day, from [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOaKVoXVR3s the sudden change of scenery in level one]] to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNrEJYnx5VI the absolutely creepy ending]].
* The modification for {{Marathon}}, {{Marathon}}: Evil had the Devlins, a spinney, [[EyesOfGold yellow eyed]], hard to see menace that liked dark places. Having one jump out at you for the first time is ''not'' calming.
* The [[WombLevel Water Dragon]] in ''{{Okami}}''. Blood. ''Augh.'' [[hottip:*:A more detailed description was here at one point, but I haven't had the nerves to actually reach that level after finding out about it. Anyone care to fill it in?]]
**Sure. At one point in the level, you have to remove an orb [[spoiler: which is the device that turned the Sea King into the Water Dragon]] from the dragon's stomach webbing. To do so, you must sever the individual threads of flesh using the dragon's stomach acid. The worst part is that the stomach acid looks exactly like blood. Later on in the same level, you release a flood of bloody "acid" from a vent in the body and must make it through the next part of the level on rapidly disintegrating water lilies. Ugh.
** Just about everything in the Haunted Ship level, from the creepy dolls to the ghastly ghost versions of several of the earlier bosses to the hideous seaweed monster with the horrible seaweedy arms of doom.
*** To the point where the Sunken Ship was recently featured in a 'Top Ten Scariest Moments' section in the UK ''Official Nintendo Magazine''. Said list also contained examples from ''{{Resident Evil 4}}'', ''{{Eternal Darkness}}'', and ''[[DementiumTheWard Dementium: The Ward]]''.
** ''[[spoiler: Yami]]'', that thing does look scary in his final form, ironically though, and even before, he's still kind of creepy, he's NightmareRetardent for a few seconds, then he starts pulling out weaponry that wasn't available at the time of the era, being [[spoiler: the creator of technology]] put yourself back a hundred years mentally imagining he won, and imagine the suffering he could have caused.
* ThatOneBoss in {{Skies of Arcadia}}-- a huge, bloblike creature with a translucent belly-- in which you can see human skulls swimming around in green digestive fluid. [[{{Squick}} YUCK]]. Its entire lair is covered in blood and human skeletons, and one of its most devastating attacks involves the thing [[{{Squick}} THROWING UP ON YOU]] (and said attack can [[StandardStatusEffects poison your entire party]]). It's incredibly difficult to beat, especially on your first run though the game, as it loves to poison you with said throwing-up move. And beating it is no relief; right after you climb the ladder it was guarding, you get to fight another boss battle, followed shortly by a mini boss of sorts...
** From the same dungon, we have the "Mind Stealers", which appear to be giant beetles that are parasitizing emaciated humans by apparently ''taking over their nervous system''.
** Hell, the ENTIRITY of the Valuan Catacombs is terrible experience: Let's see, it's a ScrappyLevel of the AbsurdlySpaciousSewer type, there's GoddamnBats everywhere, and you have to experience the most disturbing sound effect in the game...
** On the subject of that sound effect (the sound of Lightning out of battle- it's worse than it "sounds") it's also heard going into the Vortex, which is the SCARIEST dungeon [[AirshipCanon this troper]] has ever encountered in an RPG.
* In Tony Hawk's Underground 2, play as The Jester that you unlock in New Orleans. Build up his special and activate "Focus Mode" (press L3). Now jump and do his special manual trick (the one where he juggles with coloured balls). Because in Focus Mode everything slows down and the music is mute, instead of his happy laugh, you get his EvilLaugh. It makes him a MonsterClown! Wise tropers can use this trick to scare young kids out of the room.
* Digimon World for the PlayStation has a creepy boss. [[spoiler: Getting your prosperity too high will make you face a overpowered greymon. Note that it stalks you until you kill it and was following you home. It doesn't help that it wants your street sign and makes you train like crazy. Beat him but he can be ParanoiaFuel.]]
** Want to know what's behind Monzaemon's zipper. It's disturbing {{squick}} that is found out through a cheat. [[spoiler: There's a Numemon. Yes I repete a Numemon, the ugly slugish crap eater is inside the happy teddy bear. To get him in the same game, bring a Numemon to the teddy bear costume and it will evolve.]] Worse part, your character doesn't seem to notice something's not right.
* I'm surprised no one has mentioned ''Zork: Nemesis'' yet. ThisTroper had played all the previous games in the ''{{Zork}}'' series, and was expecting a continuation of the familiar jovial tone. ''Zork: Nemesis'' is much darker, and while all levels have a somewhat sinister atmosphere, its most [[NightmareFuel nightmare-inducing]] aspect is a level inside an [[AbandonedHospital abandoned]] [[BedlamHouse asylum]] set in remote snow-covered mountains. The [[PsychoStrings ambient soundtrack]], featuring muffled screaming and clanging metal, is par for the course when there's the BedlamHouse trope being played up. But to max out on NightmareFuel, there is also a [[AxCrazy batshit insane]] [[MadScientist electroconvulsive therapy technician]] and a morgue, where you must [[spoiler:find a [[PeekABooCorpse naked corpse]] in a metal drawer]] (which, of course, ups the volume on the PsychoStrings)[[spoiler:, [[LosingYourHead decapitate it]], place the [[BrainInAJar severed head]] onto a machine to reanimate it and [[GuideDangIt make it say the combination to the lock a safe]]]]. So much unnecessary {{squick}}. Similarly, you must also[[spoiler:retrieve an [[BrainInAJar amputated arm and hand]] mounted in a display case]] to open an electrified keypad lock without risking yet another [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Zork-style death]]. I first played this when I was 16 years old; even now it's kinda nightmare inducing if played at night.
** Completely agreed. The whole game is nightmare-inducing, and the total emptiness (but with screaming in the background) of almost every area doesn't help. At least the torture chamber is optional, though there's a whole sequence in that same zone where you have to run around with a highly radioactive item, and there's a very short time limit before you die horribly.
* The ''TraumaCenter'' series. Forget [[BodyHorror the various strains of GUILT/Stigma]], forget the {{Squick}} inherent in half the operations (particularly to more squeamish tropers)-- what's more terrifying than anything is the scene in ''Under the Knife 2'' where [[TheIntern Adel Tulba]] [[spoiler:''goes completely batshit [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Brainwashed And]] [[AxCrazy Ax Crazy]] right in front of you, before screaming in agony and collapsing.'']]
-->'''Adel:''' [[spoiler:Dr. Stiiiiles... Do you know what else the "Healing" Touch is good for...? It's also good for... KILLING!]]
** That reminds me of Summon Night Swordcraft Story's [[TalesOfTheAbyss Tear]] {{Expy}} Ureksa which also [[spoiler: BrainwashedAndCrazy]] and shows the same look.
** You can't honestly say that the image of [[spoiler: the lifeless palette-swapped blood-splashed body of a particularly endearing [[IllGirl Ill Boy]]]] wasn't burned into your brain for at least a little while after GUILT Returns. Plus this troper [[TearJerker bawled]] once a little of the shock wore off.
* [[BubbleBobble Super Puzzle Bobble / Super Bust-A-Move]]'s American boxarts, [=SBAM1=] for the [=PS2=] and [=SBAM2=] for the SegaSaturn [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore replace Bub and other characters]] with Nightmare Fuel inducing images: [[http://www.gamespy.com/articles/489/489718p2.html a baby wearing sunglasses that show the gameplay screen while having a red bubble on his mouth, and a guy who has shoved matchsticks on his eyes to keep them open.]] Look if you dare.
** Bust-A-Move 2. The battle ship/giant {{Mecha}} that [[HijackedByGanon Drunk hides in]]. [[DrPepper42 This Troper]] still has nightmares about it.
* The bad ending to ''BubbleBobble'' (arcade, NES). Listen to the music [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea-3gX_GJSk here]]... ''if you dare...''
** Doesn't help that it's reused in ''Rainbow Islands''!
* ''{{X-COM}}'' has inspired a fair few nightmares in its time. The [[ZombieApocalypse Chryssalids]] are known to reach [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel High Octane]] levels as well as being DemonicSpiders, but this particular troper is more freaked out by the original Sectoids... mainly because they're who you first fight when you're new to the game and dealing with an unforgiving kind of tactical combat, though probably mostly because this troper finds all of TheGreys to be NightmareFuel. (by contrast, by the time I finally met the Chryssalids, they went down so easy that I wondered what all the fuss was about)
** When this troper was first playing X-COM I had the radio on in the background. The first time I ran into a Chryssalid was very early on, my first terror mission I had reached in time, and the song playing was the Wall of Voodoo cover of Ring of Fire. An awesome, but at the time scarey combination.
** It gets even worse in the sequel with Tentaculats. Oh God, the Tentaculats. Think even creepier-looking Chryssalids with ''three-dimensional movement''. Those things made [[{{Sus}} this troper]] equip every soldier with a grenade / sonic pulsar primed for immediate detonation in hand lest they wander about as zombies.
** And then there's the Deep Ones. Humans implanted with mind control devices and turned into living incubators for alien fetuses, while [[TransformationTrauma fully aware]] of what is being done to them, yet [[AndIMustScream unable to control their own body]]. Made even worse by researching the Alien Implanter, whose description [[spoiler: explicitly states that the subject remains conscious during surgery]].
**In third game, the chryssalids are now changed to brainsuckers who do exactly what its name says. It sucks the brain out of the agent and replace it with an alien organism. It doesn't spread anymore but some of the aliens have gun shooting brainsucker eggs. Take too long for a mission and you can find a colony of them. The hyperworms are quite disturbing too.
* ''Bio-Hazard Battle'' is made of this trope. Creepiness is guaranteed given that the player ship and all of the enemies are organic, but there is a memorable boss who is ''a giant maggot poking out the neck of a giant decaying human/insectoid corpse''.
** It gets creepy enough when the first level is a ruined futuristic city overrun with monsters, but the final level starts out as an industrial-scientific area, possibly hinting at the origin of the... ''things'' you have to exterminate.
* If you think Bio-Hazard Battle is creepy, try [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikx26GYrKao X-Multiply]]. It's an arcade game by the developers of {{R-Type}} where you control a microscopic fighter injected into a human infected by alien virus. The title screen itself...
*Although not as bad as the movie, the ''Coraline'' game for the Nintendo Wii has its moments. Example? In one mini-game, Coraline must race after Wybie (who is running scared) through a dark forest with only fireflies for light. Afterwards, when she finally catches up wit him, she sees him curled up on the ground, hiding his face. Coraline asks if he's okay, to which Wybie replies with "I-I-I don't...know..." and lifts his face. We then see that he now has button-eyes, ''and then'' [[spoiler: the Other Mother's arm stretches like rubber out of the well, grabs him, and pulls him, screaming, down the well.]] Thankfully, [[spoiler: it's only a nightmare.]]
* The ''{{Tetris}}'' clone ''Lockjaw'' has Rhythm 20G mode, a mode in which pieces drop instantly and [[RhythmGame lock to the beat of an eerie rendition of Korobeiniki]] (the Game Boy ''Tetris'' A-Type theme). The music gradually increases in tempo, and at about 3 minutes and 14 seconds (if you can survive for that long), [[spoiler:the music is suddenly interrupted by a voice saying, "You're better than I am, you don't really need this music anyway," and then the music suddenly turns into a creepier, dying monotone.]] If you haven't died yet at this point from speeds reminiscent of ''Tetris [=TGM2=]''[='=]s Death mode, you sure will now.
* Return Fire is supposedly a military-themed vehicular combat game, where the player commandeers helicopter, tank, an APC, or a jeep. But if your vehicle destroyed, you'll be treated of an image of a SKULL. LAUGHING. AT. YOU. FULLSCREEN.
** This troper was personally scared shitless by the submarine that attacks you when you fly out too far on the Helicopter. Doesn't help that not only is it indestructible, but it fires a homing missile that kills you instantly.
* '''[[{{Sinistar}} BEWARE, I LIVE. I HUNGER. RUN, COWARD!]]'''
** '''RRRAAAAAAWRR!!!'''
* ''Seven Minutes''. If the whole "Only seven minutes left to live" thing doesn't freak you out, then the giant three eyed head taunting you (and turning into a skull at points), the seizuretastic lighting, and the layout of the game will.
* ''EccoTheDolphin''. The game starts with everything normal and happy and peaceful in your little ocean world, but doing a high jump out of the water triggers a horrific transformation-- the screen flashes red and then black, the music is replaced with unearthly alien screeching, and all your dolphin friends and everything else in the ocean except you is sucked up into the sky. This troper had to brace herself for this sequence every time she started a new game-- it's worse because sometimes it takes a few jumps to trigger it, so you can never quite predict when it's coming.
** There's more. The final boss, where you fight [[{{EldritchAbomination}} that thing responsible]] for sucking up all the sealife. [[spoiler: A twenty-meter-high, disembodied alien head which you are required to gradually mutilate to pieces in order to win]].
** The whole ''gameplay'' could be considered Nightmare Fuel, with the tiny, minimalist background music and mile after mile of bleak, cold ocean which poor Ecco is required to quest through. The sense of crushing loneliness that starts to set in after a while is bad enough on its own... but then it gets broken in the worst possible way, by bouts of heart-busting terror as killer sharks or [[GoddamnedBats giant trilobites]] blitz onto the screen from nowhere and devour you in one bite. *shudder*
** The Mega Drive music of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO7Fvd48By8 Welcome to the Machine]].
* Some of the item placements in ''KatamariDamacy'' are just unsettling. It gets worse with every game. By the fourth game, there are giant whales carrying continents,a giant octopus attacking an oil tanker, and skeleton-men lighting stuff on fire. Yikes.
* This troper personally finds glitchy games, as the result of the game being dirty, as his own personal {{Nightmare Fuel}}. And he does take good care of his carts.
** You're not alone. Imagine what it would be like to [[AFateWorseThanDeath be permanently paralyzed everywhere, hear nothing but one note playing forever, see your very world transform into unintelligible gibberish right before your eyes, and have your very existence dictated by an external force, hoping it would erase you and put you out of your misery]]. That's basically what a video game character feels when a game hangs and glitches out.



* Pilotwings 64: Normally a cheerful flight simulator with [[WideOpenSandbox lots of options]] and [[AnimalThemeNaming bird names for all the pilots.]] Well, enter two levels in which you face a large creature made of stone, with red eyes, who attacks by hurling boulders. Freaked {{ThisTroper}} out every time.
** That would be Mecha Hawk, and ThisTroper found his goofy scream when you score a hit on him to be NightmareRetardant. On the other hand, he always found the music for the rocket belt stages strangely unsettling, as well as the fact that, like {{Myst}}, the whole friggin world (especially the Little States Island stage) is completely empty save for the sounds of the hustle and bustle of apaarently invisible city folk and a pair of apparently ghostly airplanes that circle the island.

* ''Black White'' has a ghostly voice that says "deaaaaath" every time a villager dies. Creepy. But if you register your game with your name, and you happen to have a common name that's programmed into the game, the same creepy voice says your first name in the middle of the night.
**The voice must have gotten the publisher/developer some complaints, because the first patch has the death voice's removal as a listed feature.
* ''{{Tetris}}: The Grand Master''[='=]s backgrounds are mostly biology-themed. Level 0-99 are what appear to be blood cells, which aren't too bad. Level 200-299 are what appear to be blood vessels or tentacles. From level 500 onwards though, the backgrounds start going downhill: 500-599 is a bunch of what appear to be neurons, 600-699 are [[SpikesOfDoom spiked balls of doom]], 800-899 is a ''brain'', and 900-999 is a ''fetus''. Some of these images are a little discomforting.
** ''Tetris: The Grand Master 3''[='=]s level 700-799 section has a close-up of the sun as its background. As if being [[strike:93 million miles]] 150 million kilometers from the sun wasn't bad enough (depending on what season and place), imagine being ''within roughly 10 million kilometers of it.''
* The Reaper in KidIcarus freaked out this troper. To the uninformed, when Pit gets near the reaper, its eyes suddenly bug out and it starts running back and forth while an extended version of the game over theme plays as smaller reapers descend from the sky.
* Although they didn't look very scary, the Vorticons from CommanderKeen freaked this troper out years ago. In the original game, not only did they have ninja-like jumping skills (better than Keen's, even), they also took four shots to kill. Screwing up and having to start over was a big possibility when fighting one of these guys.
** Oh, and the Arachnut, a crablike creature with two mouths and a ton of eyes that ran back and fourth trying to get a meal. You could stun him, but not kill him.
* This Troper personnaly thought they were cool but most of his friends thought the Eight Phases of Morganna and the area you fight them in on the first four {{.hack}} games were pretty creepy. Understandable since the first of the eight more or less crucifies you as one of his attacks.
* ''BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg'' is rife with this, ladies and gentlemen. You fight an army of crows powered by darkness, and some of the bosses are quite creepy.
** One must make a special mention of [[BigBad Dark Corvo's]] {{One Winged Angel}} form ([[IncrediblyLamePun or should that be 'two' wings, seeing as he's a crow...]]) - a giant smokey crow, with [[GlowingEyesOfDoom pure white eyes]], and (when sufficent damage has been done) covered in sparks. He also likes to plunge the arena into darkness, so that all that you can see of him is his eyes. Children's game, ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids my foot]]''.
* CommandAndConquer Renegade had the Visceroid. Now, anyone who played the RTS version is probably going "How is that scary?" Simple. '''YOU CAN'T SEE MULTIPLE MOUTHS AND EYES FLOATING IN A MUTANT TIBERIUM BLOB!''' Of the same type, the Initiate and Acolyte enemies are also quite freaky to look at, when you realize the former lives in constant, never ending pain, the latter has '''an exposed brain''' and various bionic augmentations, and all are horribly experimented on.
* {{Spore}}'s cell stage is quite creepy once you see the other cells in the background at first. [[GreatPikminFan This troper]] thought that they were BorderPatrol and will come up and eat you if you go to far. and if you find a ''huge'' cell, than God help you.
** If you go online, you might found some guys with twisted ideas creates "twisted" creatures... not to mention the Creepy and Cute parts pack...
* Final Boss of PhantasyStar IV, that is all.
** The zombies you find on Dezolis have perhaps the creepiest animation I have seen in ''any'' game. The fact that you first find them in an abondoned town, complete with ominous music playing in the background does ''not'' help matters.
** We're talking about PhantasyStar IV and nobody's mentioned Garuberk Tower, a ''living pillar of organs and flesh'' growing up out of the earth, which has two eyes ''randomly'' spaced within its breathing, pulsating walls that must be ambiguously interacted with to open new doors, which are actually fleshy membrane-valves covering tubelike orifices, and the whole thing is crawling with EldritchHorrors because it's an extension of Dark Force's body and a ''literal'' WombLevel, constantly pregnant with foul beings forgotten by the good people of Algo!?
** Or Seth's [[spoiler:transformation.]] It's implied that he has ''no idea'' what's happening.
* {{Elebits}} is a funny, cute game from Konami where you have to catch cute miniature critters hidden everywhere in your house or your town. Then you get to the Amusement Park. Oh, nothing scary at all... Except that the park's mascot is none other than Robbie the Rabbit. [[SilentHill Considering in what game we already met him]], it can be quite... Disturbing to wander around those statues...
* {{EarthwormJim}}. Almost all enemies. And the hero himself. That creepy snot parachute. And the falling puppies minigame. I can't believe someone could find those horrors funny.
** Bonus points for a level completely in the dark called ''Who Turned Out The Lights?'' And at the end? [[GiantEyeOfDoom Giant Eyeballs of Doom]]. Invincible, natch. Only way to win is to run away and take another exit.
* MegaManStarForce: Namely the second game. Towards the end, [[spoiler:the bad guys raise Mu into the sky, and EM bodies have been sent out to terrorize everyone.]] The music that plays on the Overworld is the typical "danger" music played for every other scenario like this. Beat the game, return to Echo Ridge in preparation for the second quest, and... [[spoiler:the people are still being terrorized by the EM bodies and Mu still floats ominously overhead, but the music is the cheery Echo Ridge tune now.]] On an unrelated note, [[{{YumeNikki}} those Grabbity viruses look familiar...]]
** Even above that is the BonusDungeon. It's a parallel-world version of the various locations in the game, except [[spoiler: there are no people. You're seeing what would have happened if the BigBad succeeded.]]
*You wouldn't expect an 8-bit game to have nightmare fuel in it. But This troper got a tad freaked out in [[LodeRunner Lode Runner]]. If you fall into one of the holes you make, it eventually fills up and you get BUILT INTO THE WALL!
** Anyone who doubts the power of 8-bit nightmare fuel obviously never played {{Shadowgate}}. This troper was so traumatized by the game's horrifying death descriptions and (in retrospect, wonderfully) creepy music that I went from a pretty fearless kid to being ''terrified'' of the dark.
*''BatenKaitos'' and its prequel haven't been mentioned yet? Really? Well, I'll take care of it, then. Both games have beautifully rendered elaborate graphics... Which makes certain dungeons (Nekton, Ancient Library, Capella, and Zaurak, to name a few) absolutely terrifying, especially when coupled with their music. The track "Deterioration" gives [[{{Timber}} this Troper]] the chills every time it pops up in her mp3 player's shuffle list... And then there are some of the monsters and bosses. Some of the monsters have quite creepy designs, but then there's the ''bosses''... Some of which are [[spoiler:humans mutated into]] extremely grotesque and monsterous things.
** Also, from the original game, the island of Mira in general. And with "Castle in the Sand" as its overworld music... *shudder*
*** Duhr was quite creepy, too.
** The ghost towns you visit in the "flashbacks" in the prequal were really creepy for ThisTroper. And then there's Wiseman. Oh sure, he's not scary to look at, but I found his voice, lines, and battle music are all terrifying. Oh, and not to mention he's responsible for said ghost towns, is something of TheHeartless , and is one of the root causes for just about EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING bad that happens in both games. He's evil, and really, REALLY creepy.
* Vambies, from Legend of Musashi. They are a mix of zombies and vampires, which basically mean they are zombies who can't survive at daylight, but if you ever went into the town while it was vambie infested at night, be prepared. Couple the creepyness with the fact this troper knew little to no english at the time, and as such wasn't even aware they would appear due to not understanding the villagers warnings.
* The logo of Bone Daddy Entertainment scared this troper to no end as a kid. One game they made (if not the only game), called Rapid Fire, had the logo between the gun holsters, and occasionally it appeared on the screen during attract mode. From what I remember, it was a skull with eyes and a mohawk. Can't find it on Google for the life of me, though.
**Wait a minute; I found a picture! Results were much easier when I added Hanaho, which also helped make the game. Click the following link, and take a look between the guns or at the lower right of the screen. The one between the guns is much clearer. http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=4908ℑ=1
* SeikenDensetsu3 - a little-known, but fantastic SNES RPG. The ghost ship sequence. {{Narm}} at first, but the sound limitations on the screams make it about a thousand times worse. The "Ghoul" enemies, which you see for the first time here, appear to be attacking you by [[BodyHorror distending their ribs and scratching you with them]]. Then there's the "captain's log", which you open only to find "DieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDie..." followed by a shriek. Ick.
* In the german-made flight sim DarkStar One, every sector of space you fly in is actually very small, and no matter how long you fly towards a distant-looking planetoid, you can never reach it. However, there's one sector of space (where the final battle takes place) in which the far-distant asteriod belt ''can'' be flown to, mined, etc. For reasons I simply don't understand, this long-distance, uneventful trip from this asteriod belt to the space's exit point ''scares the crap out of me'', to the point where I refuse to make that trip ever again.
* In the flight sim Freelancer, the space for each of the system's sectors is portrayed with simple starfields and nebulae. However, one of the hidden / easter egg sectors has a vastly different design: the sector is essentially within a giant cylinder. I've had actual nightmares about this, because it's so different and alien than anything else in the game.
* A little known educational game called "JumpStart Adventures: 4th grade" put the player on a first-person view of a Stock Halloween island...except two things were guaranteed to scare young players. For one, Repsack would appear out of NOWHERE and then say "Boo", and would give you a riddle that you had to answer or else you would lose health points. The second, Mrs. Grunkle was the witch villain who had turned your classmates into monsters and was deciding to screw with you and have a little fun before you joined them.
** And if you played a game while not on a mission...Madame Pomretta's eyes appeared and said "COME TO POMRETTA'S TO ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!"
* I have absolutely no clue why, but Dracula actually scared me in the underrated FMV game ''Dracula Unleashed''. It took a little while before I figured out you were supposed to enter holding the cross and all I could do was watch as Dracula would rip my dude's heart out and then throw it on the floor, taking the DamselInDistress as his undead bride. Or what about a few of those random deaths? Some involve a wolf running up to the player character as the screen fades black, another is when a man yells "I'm Sane I tell you! SANE! SAAAAAANE!" and then the screen goes black. Or when the maniac strangled Hellsing?
**If you wait too long to fight Dracula, you can go find your friends murdered.
* Four words: [[{{Lemmings}} Lemming]]. Tomato. Ketchup. Facility. Featuring lemmings being systematically squished into blood. That evidently becomes ketchup. And unless you solve the puzzle you can't stop it. *shudder*
** One of the types of LevelGoal looks like the head of an enormous horned demon shooting flames from its nostrils and eye sockets. You have to guide the lemmings into its mouth.
*** A ShoutOut to the most famous scene from ''{{Metropolis}}'', which does not help matters at all.
* The SNES game Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday is pretty scary thank to the combination of his [[{{Uncanny Valley}} graphic]] and atrocious primitive voice over to his cartonny's horror theme. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCGAFNN7mk8&feature=related Like we said in Quebec: we don't want to know it, we want to see it]] if you want to see it off course, muahaha
**And while in the subject of looney tunes's game on the super nintendo, Speedy Gonzales Los Gatos Bandidos's game over screen is quite......unforgiving....[[{{Unusual Euphemism}}for saying the least]].[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InDV6JP8sBo yet again a video worth a thousand word]] and yet see why i never played this game more than three time shall we **evil grin**.
* [[http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4803/snowbros2ro8.jpg The Snow Bros. 2 character select screen.]]
* {{Descent}} bosses, their engine hums and ability to teleport.
* The fifth boss in RocketKnightAdventures; a HumongousMecha piloted by the EvilCounterpart... You are on foot. All you can do is run like hell, hearing its footsteps close behind (if you see it after the opening, you're probably already dead) and having its movements shake the whole screen, [[AdvancingWallOfDoom if it touches you, you die]]. The first time This troper played this level he was young and it utterly terrified him (even knowing from a walkthrough that you get to turn the tables later), to the point where he simply couldn't play the game anymore after various attempts and sold it off despite it being SoCoolItsAwesome. He regretted it and got it back a few years later and got revenge, SoYeah... But even now hearing the mecha close behind as you frantically flee is sort of creepy.
* This Troper found the Puppet Master as he appears in Castlevania:Dawn of Sorrow, to be rather disturbing. You attack a giant, deformed, puppet head, with hideous yellow eyes and a twisted mouth full of sharp teeth. It's attack consists of using one of its four spindly arms to move a life sized voodoo doll of the main character and place it into the corresponding bloodstained Iron Maiden, where it switches places with your character, dealing massive damage.


* In ''Dance [=ManiaX=] 2nd Mix'', if your LifeMeter runs low, the background will flash a picture of a skeleton reaching his arms at you with the word "DANGER" at the top and bottom of the screen. Talk about incentive to not fail...
* In the original Spyro the Dragon, Beastmasters and Dream Casters were Nightmare Fuel... no... WORLDS of Nightmare Fuel! The worst offenders are Dark Passage, which gave me Nyctophobia, that one marsh where the little plants EAT YOU, and then there is Jacques, with monsters that all look like things half way between Starfish Alien and Eldritch Abomination. What gets special mention is Metalhead. You are trapped in a room alone with a boss who is absolutely delighted to rip you apart by throwing enemies at you. He puts disregard for allied life at whole new low levels.
* TMNT: Smash Up already seems to have this even though the game hasn't come out! You do know a Foot Soldier is in the game, right? Can't possibly be scary, right? Wrong. Look [[http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14305526/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-smash-up/images/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-smash-up-20090624040827987.html?page=mediaFull here]], just look at those inhuman looking eyes, the body looks somewhat strange too, and the head looks creepy because there are usually things that represent it, like a realistic looking chin, but this thing just doesn't have one, it looks more like a Shadow Creature than a Foot Ninja! Strangely though, I found myself making the art my desktop background, I guess the Utrominator is slightly scarier...
** ...Which I will now elaborate upon. Basically, an Utrom usually wears armor to blend in with Humanity, [[http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14305526/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-smash-up/images/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-smash-up-20090624040823346.html?page=mediaFull this]] is what happens when you let an Utrom [[{{TookALevelInBadAss}} suddenly become very trigger happy and badass]], the suit looks just plain creepy, but it's mainly just the head, and, in the trailers, the Utrom pops out and screams... And it's an ATTACK! Though he is obviously in control, it makes it seem like the machine is trying to hurt the Utrom and the opponent.
*** Something I just found out, the Utrominator is based on a scrapped design for the 2003 series, [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/terrible2z/2969643338/ right here]], what's so scary? I read the page, and it says "an enhaced and enslaved Exo suit with an zombie Oot, a version from an alternate era where the Shredder reigns supreme." That makes it slightly more unsettling, because, even though it's not a zombie you're playing as, it's still very, very creepy, imagine playing as it in this form.
** [[{{Maniette}} This troper]] would like to take the opportunity to say that whoever the original poster was is soft. Seriously, it's frickin' awesome! The anatomy is perfectly fine, if a little skinny in places. [[{{Narm}} And its face reminds me of]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070725 Voldemort]]. 'Sides, it's about time the Foot Ninja TookALevelInBadass.
* One of the kids this troper's sister babysits will probably be traumatized by one of the game overs in ''Nancy Drew: Secret of Shadow Ranch''. Near the end of the game, the player is placed inside a maze and the criminal of the game shows up, and the object is to trap him. Unfortunately she didn't escape from him in time, so he walked up and said "heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's SHORTY!" in a fashion similar to "Heeeeeeeeeeere's JOHNNY!" and then the player got a game over screen.
* Capcom's Darkstalkers series is a somewhat humorous take on fighting games, though there are some instances that are unsettling and creepy. One particular instance that is burned into this troper's mind is the last stage in Jedah's story, called "Fetus of God," which has the two fighters fighting [[WombLevel alongside a giant fetus floating in its background]]. What's worse is that, when you win, Jedah's ending involves his monologue while showing pictures of the waking fetus. Apparently, it's been vampirized as well, as the fetus opens its ''glaring red eyes and bares fangs''.
* Groove On Fight's resident {{Mad Scientist}} M.A.D. has his own personal stage, a drab laboratory with a giant breathing baby-like head hooked up to wires right in the center. It periodically makes a horrifying face and screams.
* The cutscenes in the [[CanonDiscontinuity CDi]] [[TheLegendofZelda Zelda]] games are horrifying. Everyone is sadistic,and they look disturbed. It's [[MindRape horrifying]].
** Of course, they walk the line between this and ''massive'' {{Narm}}.
* Is This Troper the only one who found Mr. Resetti from Animal Crossing remotely creepy? I mean, he jumps out at you with a pickaxe, and he screams at you for resetting. Especially in the first game, where if you reset enough times he gives you an extreme close-up of his face. He even threatens to tunnel through your house.
** Speaking of Animal Crossing, the music that plays when you delete your town can really send shivers up your spine.
** Not to mention that the animal that is with you during the main menu pretty much BEGS you not to delete your town. Justified as it will ERASE him/her and everything else from existince.
* Fighting Typhon towards the end of Rygar the Legendary Adventure: A multi-headed hydra... Did I mention they are ''[[{{KillItWithFire}} fire-breathing]] [[{{CreepyChild}} baby heads]]''. [[{{MostAnnoyingSound}} Wailing at the top of their/its/whatever's lungs]]. For the '''entire''' fight. Gah.
*In Lunar Silver Star Story, there's a cutscene where Lunar cries out "Alex!" a few times, then the screen fades to red, and her cries become distorted. The scary distorted cries then echo, as the screen goes completely red.

* King Drool, the BigBad of the ''{{Bonk}}'' series. In all three FinalBoss fights, he takes up about half the screen, amazing for the hardware of the time. I bet this guy gave a lot of young TurboGrafX players nightmares.
* One of the night stages in ''PlantsVsZombies'' takes place during a thunderstorm. The screen is pitch black, illuminated only by the occasional flash of lightning, which manages to give the normally goofy game a ''very'' creepy atmosphere.
** Some of the enemies are quite creepy as well, like the Jack-in-the-Box zombies, who look like zombified insane asylum escapees (complete with manic grin and straitjacket) carrying jack-in-the-boxes. Which are rigged to ''[[StuffBlowingUp explode]]''. There's something just not right about zombie suicide bombers, especially the zombie's shocked expression right before he gets killed by his own explosion. And then there's the gigantic Gargantuar zombies. If you don't shit bricks when you see this guy coming, you will when it ''stomps your plants flat in a single blow''.
** And then there's the GameOver sequence, which comes into play if a zombie gets past your defenses: the zombie walks into your house while a creepy musical sting plays, and there's a BigNo punctuated by a horrid "crunch" while the words "The Zombies Ate Your Brain!" appear on the screen in a creepy "horror" font. It manages to be [[GallowsHumor funny and disturbing at the same time]].
* The turn-limit death in some certain roguelikes. The one that really frightened me was Mr. Doom (the Grim Reaper thing) from Chocobo Dungeon 2, I recall freezing and reaching for the reset button as the warning message popped up. The sinister piano music didn't help, either. Much later, no longer a kid, I still get chills when "Something's stirring..." in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, since it functionally imitates what Mr. Doom did back then.
** Turn limit death? How about a bell ringing making people forget almost everything about themselves and their lives? Cid's reaction to having his memories wiped and the creepy people in town who are happy to not remember are both unnerving. especially the people.
*The original Dune game by Cryo. Upon dying you're treated to am animation of Paul Atreides decaying in the desert, his face staring back at you. Reloading your game shows this animation ''in reverse''.
* ''MissileCommand'' has the infamous [[strike:GameOver]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PNDqNBO2rQ THE END]] screen. The ''developers'' suffered nightmares about the game.
* ''StarControl 2'' - anything involving the Dynarri. [[MindControl What they did to the Ur-Quan]]. [[ToThePain How the Ur-Quan were able to resist them]]. What the Ur-Quan did ''to'' them, and [[SealedEvilInACan what would happen if it was ever undone]].
--> [[CreepyMonotone JOKE. YES. HERE. IS. A. JOKE.]]
--> WHEN. IS. A. SLAVE. NOT. A. SLAVE. WHEN. IT. IS. A. SLAVE. MASTER.
--> HA. HA. HA.
** And let us not forget, our [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu good *friends*]] the Orz. You *happy campers* are help the *party*. Hello to their *house*. Do you feel *better* yet? If you are *campers* you will enjoy *the change*, but maybe not yet.
--->"[[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow They have names, but you do not know them. They would like to find you but they are blind to your presence... unless you show yourselves.]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation The Androsynth showed themselves, and something noticed them.]] [[GhostPlanet There are no more Androsynth now.]] [[EldritchAbomination Only Orz.]]"
* Don't forget the Abominable Snow Monster from SkiFree...this Troper never, ever will.
* Then there's ''Miss World '96 Nude'', in which, while solving puzzles to uncover the [[{{Fanservice}} pictures]] underneath, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17206_p2.html the image will at completely random moments switch to some sort of zombie demon...thing...]]accompanied by a little girl's head shouting "TURNING!" before transforming into a vampire of some sort. OrSoIHeard.
* Lunar, Eternal Blue. Zophar did sort of intimidate me, but there was this one part right before you fight him that haunted this troper's dreams for a little while...
---> Lucia: AAAAH! HIRO! Run away! RUN AWAY!!!!
*Tyler Glaiel's game, Closure. Beat the game, start again, realise the storyline, and then proceed to be terrified of a) the dark and b) thinking about Closure. This actually was Nightmare Fuel for this troper. I dreamed I was in a very dark place, with only a dim torch, and I had to proceed down floors. If my conscious mind was working at the time I would have literally shat myself.
* The [[ImplacableMan implacable mummy]] in ''ScarabOfRa.'' Somehow, this first-person game being (a) turn-based, (b) black and white, and (c) largely silent only made his appearance as you rounded a corner all the more jolting.
* King's Quest VII. The ooga booga man will come out of '''NOWHERE'''.
* If you're a young kid playing ''{{Goosebumps}}: Escape From Horrorland'', don't ''ever'' enter the trash cans. Holy. Crap. You're placed in a {{Doom}}-like labyrinth crawling with crab-slug hybrids that will kill you with one touch. You have no defense against them: the best you can do is lure them into hallways and trap them behind gates... if you're lucky. These things will pursue you too, and you'll often find yourself caught in a dead end as one approaches you gnashing its ''two pairs'' of jaws. To top it all off, the music that plays in these sections is genuinely disturbing, punctuated by the cries of the beasts. Considering the rest of the game is a dark comedy, the MoodWhiplash of these labyrinths serves to increase the NightmareFuel.
* The final stage of the original ''{{Contra}}'' is an entire level that looks like it's ripped straight out of the human digestive system. What makes it even worse is that in the Japanese version, the stage ''pulsates''.
* In the Human campaign of ''Warcraft III'' there is a quest where you have to save a little kid named Timmy who has the creepiest looking face ever. This was the unintentional result of low polygon models but I was suspicious of that boy being a demonspawn waiting to betray me throughout the entire campaign.
* The PacMan ghosts from ''Wolfenstein3D''. As cartoony as they are, they're huge, unkillable horrors, that never stop moving to you. You don't want to open a door and be ''instantly'' crunched by one. It happens in downloaded maps.
* ''SpiderMan: Web of Shadows'' is based on an invasion of Venom Symbiotes in New York, so it's almost natural that sooner or later some other heroes and villains will be infected by them. See what happens to [[http://media.photobucket.com/image/%252522Web%20of%20Shadows%252522%20%252522Black%20Cat%252522/Venom225/Video%20games/download_blackcat.jpg Black Cat]] and [[http://loot-ninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/symbiotic-wolverine-spider-man-web-of-shadows-big.jpg Wolverine]]. For an added dose of {{Squick}}, infected Electro and Vulture spawn "electrolings" and "vulturelings".
* Children's adventure game ''Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House'', despite its cartoony style, has quite a bit of this. One element of the game is 'curses', which make the game temporarily act strange in several ways, including ''replacing all the audio with screams''. The way these curses are cast are even scarier than the curses themselves, as they can be not only be cast by some rather freaky looking monsters, but also by the 'good' characters if you displease them. When they curse you, they grow fangs and claws, their eyes bulge and they yell things like ' ''Now'' I've got you! Ha ha ha ha!' Even an otherwise normal child character (who has been trapped in the house against his will) is capable of performing this act. Also, if you lose, your character is forced to remain in the haunted house forever.

* [[ProfessorLayton Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box]]: Finding out the secret of the Elysian Box. It's not that it kills whoever is foolish enough to open it, [[spoiler:the box is filled with a hallucinogenic gas, causing whoever opened the box and breathed in the gas to "see whatever it is they expected to see" - which is to say, die. However, the gas doesn't go so far as to kill, just send the opener into a deep coma that APPEARS to be death. Which isn't so bad: until you realise that every other person who's previously opened the box must have been presumed dead and then [[AndIMustScream buried alive]]. Or perhaps even [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel cremated alive]].]]
* WorldOfWarcraft has numerous enemies that look like they were rejected from Nausicaa...because they were too scary. It's just a MindFuck.
** The murlocs: Land-walking, carnivorous fish, who act rather like a hive, or a nest of ants... they can apparently see everywhere at once, thanks to their eyes being on opposite sides of their heads... and the gods damned guttural "Argle-argle-argle!" as they run full tilt at you, and are apparently fond of making camp near towns, just to be close to their food. *shudder*
* ''{{RayStorm}}''[='=]s Stage 6 and 7 bosses have, for their theme music, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4fWUYA743Y&fmt=18 this song]].


* The old PlayStation game known as Future Cop LAPD had a single-player version of it's versus mode, in which you were pitted against a robotic aircraft called the "Sky Captain" which looked kind of like Jetstorm from Beast Machines. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for his dark ominous voice echoing over the level every now and then, saying things like,''"Wheeeere aaaaare yoooou?" "...Come out, come out, where-ever you are..."'' and ''"Your tiiiime is running oouuut...."''
* The Social Bunny in TheSims 2. Holy good god. It's not bad enough that it drops suddenly from the sky out of nowhere. No, it also has to be Sim-sized, have its bunny suit stained with lord only knows what, and be missing a goddamn eye. Worse yet? It won't go away until you spend some time interacting with it, nicely, in order to improve your Sim's social meter. When it finally leaves, it leaps into the air once more and vanishes, presumably back to the depths of Hell. Beating it up is mildly satisfying, but what I really wanted to do was KillItWithFire.
* Let's talk for a moment about an old Sierra adventure game, ''The Adventures of Willy Beamish''. A game starring a nine year old kid starts out as a fairly acceptable mock of both Dennis the Menace and Bart Simpson. Your biggest threat is a KarmaMeter that will send you to MilitarySchool if you're too much of a rebellious jerk. Fair enough. But then the Nightmare Fuel starts:
** Most kids will give up and leave the room after the first taste, involving a babysitter who is actually a [[BatOutOfHell giant green bat]]. Lose (and you probably will at least once, as it's also a GuideDangIt moment), and you get a sudden view of the bat coming toward the screen with a ScareChord, followed by the bat carrying poor Willy down the street to who knows where.
*** Even if you win that confrontation, future scenarios involve SoylentGreen and, according to ThatOtherWiki, another scenario's loss results in your arms broken. G'night, kids!

* Castlevania: SOTN has this one area with the green caverns. Its that creepy ass music that plays while you trek through a cavern like area that gets this troper.
** Or perhaps that woman in the confession booth in the chapel area who attacks you with weapons for some reason.
* MegamanX 4 during the first two parts of the sigma battle. The Background used.......is pretty scary looking. Doesn't help that the music is equally disturbing.
** You can't mention distrubing Mega Man music without [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKX8iJQGCAY&fmt=18 Soul Asylum ~ Crimson Palace Stage 2]]. The fact that it plays in what is essentially a ''graveyard'' for the Mavericks you've killed (which doubles as the traditional boss refight room) doesn't help.
* No mention of {{Myst}} yet? Particularly the alter on Channelwood, and of course, Achenar's bedroom cache on Mechanical...
* You can tell this wiki is populated with youngsters when there's a whole page on pokeymans and yet nobody's mentioned the the phrase FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING. ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-r5JMyyOVM#t=3m7s 3D Monster Maze]])
* The Virgin logo that appeared in games like Toonstruck and Resident Evil 1, in the form of a ''giant eye''. Always gave this troper a fucking heart attack.
* In the same vein as some [[VanityPlate Vanity Plates]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErDPlEqDnOk the intro]] to PerfectDark used to freak this troper the hell out. You have the innocent-looking N64 logo, and then it just ''morphs'' into something spiky and horrible...
* Super Bomberman 5 has a set of levels where your enemies are a bunch of wind-up dolls and clocks. It's all a lot of gaudy pink and gold and has a seemingly cheerful soundtrack, which then sort of becomes perverse as you're chased around by twirling wind-up dolls who are hell-bent on running you down, and then blowing up the music box they keep spawning out of. Worse yet, the music comes to a sort of clunky, slow halt as it winds down (much like a real music box), then prompting a scratching winding sound in it to keep it going. It makes sense, but it is fantastically unnerving as you blow up the generator and watch the doll on top of it grind to a twitchy halt.
* F-Zero X, the electronical voice that counts down on the start of every race. And the screams of the drivers when they fall down.

* Super Street Fighter II. Zangief's "defeated" portrait; specifically the [[http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6250/zangieft.png uncensored, "bloody" version.]] It looks less like he's been beaten in a fight and more like he's just gone insane with rage and chewed someone to death. Not only that, but at first glance, he appears to be MISSING AN EYE.
* In ''Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3'' / ''Shutokou Battle 01'', challenging a certain opponent in the rain would ''turn the rain into blood.''
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC5acNJgjxI bad ending]] of ''ThunderForce V'', which you get if you take too long to defeat the final boss. [[spoiler:The Guardian implores Cenes to [[HeroicSacrifice selfdestruct her ship]], or else it will cause the same destruction and chaos that Vasteel caused. But ''she can't'', because her ship is running out of power, so not only will history repeat itself, but ''she is trapped in her ship, doomed to eventually die of oxygen loss.'']]
** And speaking of the final boss, the [[BossSubtitles screen that warns you of its appearance and shows you its description]]? It [[spoiler:suddenly disappears and the entire screen is flooded with "ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! [repeat ad nauseam]", and your ship's computer malfunctions trying to describe it. Needless to say it's very unsettling.]]
* Practically every skull-headed enemy in ''Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure'' makes an eerie moan for a battle cry, some quite frequently. It was completely unexpected when it first appeared, and at least mildly disturbed this troper a bit upon first hearing it.
* ''Spectre VR'' in general had a much DarkerAndEdgier atmosphere than its predecessors, and weird, spooky, CyberPunk type background music. It quite creeped this troper out at age 12. Not to mention the Slicers from most of the games in the series, which made a creepy beeping sound that got louder and faster as they approached.
* {{Spelunky}}'s music change-down when you're running out of time on the level. The ghost itself is laughable; the panic to finish up before it comes to one-hit kill you, less so.
** Don't forget the giant piranha, or "Jaws". Jaws is a boss that you'll find in rushing water levels. I certainly wish I had read about what rushing water levels are, because I simply thought that there would be treasure at the bottom of the water, which I was already scared of going into, due to the large amount of piranha. Turns out to get the treasure, you must first defeat a giant freaking fish that appears out of nowhere. I was so scared upon first seeing it that I jumped and raced to the exit even though there was still some stuff I wanted to get. Oh, and if you do decide to fight the thing, it will slowly decay as it takes damage, revealing blood and bones, ''while it's still alive''.
* BookwormAdventures 2 has a stage called Temple Haunt. Specifically, the third enemy of the stage: the "Strangling Ghost." She's a {{StringyHairedGhostGirl}}, an {{UndeadChild}}, her face is never visable, she appears to be covered in bloodstains, ''and'' she carries a [[CreepyDoll very eerie teddy bear]]. Her attacks include strangling you (which somehow inflicts the [[StandardStatusEffects bleed status]] on you) and materializing an image of her teddy in front of you. Finally, she repeatedly comments through the battle about her hatred of light, her desire for eternal night, and the fact that she doesn't mean you harm, it's just that "Teddy wants hugging." Need I say more?
* Lego Island 2 has Ogel Island, which, thanks to the eerie music and the BodyHorror of the locals, ensured that this troper had a hard time sleeping. Closely related is the racecar course of the first Lego Island game, which doubles as a BigLippedAlligatorMoment and a [[DisneyAcidSequence Lego Acid Sequence]] thanks to the bizarreness of the track in contrast to the more normal looking rest of the game. (Giant pizza-throwing octopi, anybody?)
* ''Battle Garegga''[='=]s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7OyPCYSfLg&fmt=18 Stage 7 music]], "Marginal Consciousness", is the only music in the game that doesn't necessarily loop; it just keeps going higher in octave. And higher. ''And higher.'' It starts to get creepy after several increases. This troper used a utility for listening to music tracks from arcade [=ROMs=]; even after about 5-7 minutes, ''it never resets in octave.''
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