Every year around Halloween, people write blogs and article features about the scariest video games. And all the usuals make the list: Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, etc. It’s all games you EXPECT to be scary. But what about the games that you don’t expect to be scary; and they end up having at least one part that’s a little spooky or disturbing or startling? Well I’ve picked out a few of those games in this blog that had something in them that personally freaked me out, and I wasn’t expecting it. Get ready to be surprised!

The Adventures of Lolo

You may be thinking, “What? How can this game be scary? You’re a little blue ball with eyes who waddles around mazes pushing blocks to the tune of happy bouncy music. I mean, this was made by the same folks who later brought us Kirby, for goodness sakes!” And yeah, you’re right. The majority of the games in the Lolo series aren’t scary at all. I was really into the Lolo games on the NES as a kid. However, there was this one enemy I always HATED. In some levels, there were these stationary Medusa statues. If you passed by their line of sight, you’d be turned to stone and have to start the level over again. Puzzles with the Medusa statues involved making sure there was a block or enemy between you and the statue. But if you did get caught, the music would suddenly stop and be replaced by a loud SHOOM sound as the Medusa statue struck our hapless hero with her death gaze. No matter how often it happened, that sound would always startle me a little. Especially since I was usually lost in thought trying to figure out the puzzles. I started hating the levels that had Medusa statues in them. Even worse were the Don Medusa statues, who could actually move around! Yikes!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

There are three Zelda games that are darker and more mature than the others. Ocarina of Time was one of the first of those. There were two things that creeped me out in that game. One was the enemy called Redead. They were creepy zombie-like beings that could barely move, but if you got close to them, you’d hear a loud blood curdling scream and Link would freeze for a few seconds. If they got a hold of you, it was really hard to shake them off. When the Redeads were around, I’d try to avoid them if I could. The other scary thing to me in that game was the Great Fairies. I don’t know if it was the low polygon count on those things or their hideous faces and laughter, but they always seemed disturbing. I even had a scary dream once where a Great Fairy from that game was chasing me through a field of tall grass. She would hide in the grass and pop out in front of me with that laugh! Of course, Great Fairies in Zelda games are oftentimes kind of weird, from the fat fairy in the Dark World of Link to the Past, to the multi-armed fairies in Wind Waker.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Say what you will, but Majora’s Mask IS the darkest Zelda game ever. There are lots of obvious things you can think of about that game that are creepy. Like the impending crash of the scary-faced moon that will end the world, and how the people react to it each day. The Redeads were back and scarier than ever, especially since you played the whole game as a little kid (so they seem bigger) and there’s one scene where a Redead pops out of a closet. I’m glad they made the Redeads less scary in Wind Waker! Also, when Link puts on a mask that changes his form, he writhes in pain and screams!

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess is also a pretty dark game compared to other Zeldas. But maybe not as dark as Majora. There were a couple of dream sequences involving some of the kid characters that were rather unsettling, though. As were some of the enemies.

Kirby 64

How could a colorful happy Kirby game be scary? Well, the fights with Dark Matter in Kirby games were always a little creepier (and tougher), than the rest of the games. Those who collected all the crystal shards in Kirby 64 and fought the 0-Squared form of Dark Matter may remember and were surprised how Kirby had to fight a sphere with angel wings and one bleeding eye. But there was another creepy part. If you beat the game and didn’t get all the crystal shards, the ending shows Kirby and friends leaving the fairy planet and everyone is all happy. But then after they’re gone, the fairy leader’s glasses fog up for a second, and when you can see her eyes again, they’re all angry and red as she looks down on the fairy that enlisted your help in the first place! That scene always gave me the willies.

Super Metroid

Yay I just pushed that giant alligator thing into the lava. Ew, his skin just melted off. That’s pretty gross for a Nintendo title. Oh well, time to go left and see what goodies I get. AAAAAHHHH! The alligator’s skeleton just jumped out at me!

Mortal Kombat

The new MK game that came out about a year or so ago is supposed to be scary, but I didn’t expect one character in particular to be THIS scary! When I was watching a demo of the game once, they showed a character named Mileena. At first I was like, “Aw, neat, it’s a pretty ninja lady wearing purple stuff.” But then she took off her face mask and she had a big huge mouth with scary sharp teeth! I wanted to hide behind the couch when I saw that! I know which character I WON’T be playing as if I ever got that game. Of course, chances are I’ll never get that new MK game, so I don’t have to worry about that!

Sinistar

OK this is a true story: “Hi, I’m Little Cary and it’s the early 80’s. I love going to arcades; in fact, my mom took me to one right now! I love arcades because you can always see something new. Oh look, a sequel to Centipede called Millipede? Wow, my dad would like that. Oh neat, it’s a Ms. Pac-Man game with a speed-up button! Oh here’s a new game. Sin-is…Star? Sinistar? Never seen that before. Looks like a fast-paced Asteroids game. Well, I’ve got one more quarter, so I’ll give it a…” “BEWARE! I LIVE! RUN COWARD! RAAAAHHHHHHHRRRRR!” “Mommmmmyyyyyy! Waaaaaaaahhhhhh!”

And that’s all I feel like writing right now. You might think that I scare easily because of my choices, but that’s not really true. I’m tougher than I look or sound. Are there any games you didn’t expect to be scary, but they ending up creeping you out anyway? Let me know in the comments section!

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