Disturbing moments in cheerful games

[Kelvin]

Quite often the films we remember most from our childhood are the ones with scenes that really haunt us. Even though the rest of the film is bright and breezy, full of colourful characters and madcap adventure, the first things our minds go to years later are the moments that are most out of type. Things like the melting Nazis at the end of Raiders, and... Er... that's it. I can't think of anymore. Moving on.     

What are the moments in games that feel most incongruous? Obviously Nintendo are great at this stuff - I was just watching some videos of Pikmin 3, and was reminded of how genuinely horrible some of the Pikmin deaths are. Not just the predictable stuff like them getting eaten, burnt alive or drowning - all of which are horrible - but stuff like this sadist:

who spears multiple Pikmin on his retractable spike, causing them to scream out, before sucking them into his mouth. It's only a small thing, but the fact they are literally ran through and held there, lifeless, for a few moments, makes it seem much worse than other deaths.

Any moments that stand out to you?

[Kelvin]

Just to add that the moment/sequence could be intentionally or unintentionally disturbing. Stuff like that Pikmin death are obviously meant to be horrible, to make you feel guilty and want to protect them, but sometimes a sound effect, character design or piece of music can be inadvertently unsettling, especially in a jarring context.     

[C_Larence]

All the old Ratchet & Clank/Jak & Daxter/whatever that genre of games is called. Whenever you swam out of bounds in those sorts of games you'd usually get swallowed whole by a scary looking shark type creature. That would always freak me out a lot as a kid, but I'd keep doing it just to see it.

The yeti thing in that ski slope PC game is a variation on the theme.

[Sin Agog]

I always found it disquieting how in Spyro you'd flame the life out of a cute little animal to make a cute little dragonfly that was then cannibalised by one of its own kind.

[ASFTSN]

The whole idea of the animals you rescue in Sonic games being imprisoned in cybernetic shells designed to kill is pretty fucked.

[Brundle-Fly]

The whole idea of the animals you rescue in Sonic games being imprisoned in cybernetic shells designed to kill is pretty fucked.

Not forgetting Sonic gasping for oxygen in a dungeon flooded with water and watching his limp lifeless body sink to the bottom of the screen. His thousands of lives flashing before his eyes at the point of drowning.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Stretching the definition of games, but the interstitial frames on the Game Boy Camera were rather freaky.

[Pink Gregory]

The guilt Olimar must carry on those tiny shoulders...

Genuinely it's what stops me playing Pikmin

[ASFTSN]

Not even the most disturbing Lemmings death animation.

[madhair60]

[Pink Gregory]

I used to be shite scared of the puffer fish in Donkey Kong Country 2

[PlanktonSideburns]

currently to frightened to start up subnautica

everything is TOO BIG

[Kelvin]

The "Bottom of The Well" area in Ocarina of Time seems a good candidate. Yes, the game has deft tonal shifts throughout, but nothing feels as jarring or as extreme as when you first enter the well in Kakariko village. Blood literally smears the walls, chains hang from the ceiling, and there are large wooden crosses clearly made to torture people.



Plus, there's this cunt stalking you:



and a boss fight against a lump of rotten, purple flesh:



Even the creepiest areas prior to this can't even begin to compare; not just in terms of atmosphere, but also in terms of what it implies. And there's some interesting fan theories about it, too - a place used by the Sheikah to punish enemies of the royal family, and create monsters like the ReDeads to protect forbidden places. Not sure how much of that was intended by the designers, but its very clearly a place for imprisonment and torture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ZL4EpC0Ok

[Phil_A]

The nightmarish final section of Earthbound when it goes from (mostly) cheerful sunny adventures to full on cosmic horror.

The "bad trip" sequence from Mother 3 is probably one of the reasons Nintendo never localised it.