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Following the success of my previous "disturbing videogame" thread, here's a slightly different question: what is the most disturbing thing you or someone else has come across in a videogame or videogame series that is otherwise pretty jolly? It could be anything: an enemy, a character, music, a boss, an easter egg, or even a whole game in an otherwise happy series...

The only guideline is it has to stand out against what is otherwise a pretty nice (or at the very least non-horrific) game. No examples from horror games, therefore, as that defeats the point.

My personal contribution would be the obvious one, Giyagas from Mother 2. Mother 2 is a really cute, happy, fun and silly game, but Giyagas...Everything about him is completely and utterly disturbing. the fact that the leadup to the fight looks like a cervix, the creepy distorted sound that passes for music, the HIDEOUS face that is all we see of him, his fethed up dialogue, the fact that he is supposed to be such a pure embodiment of unfettered evil that he was driven insane by the realization and is in constant pain...And that's before we get to the horrible backstory involving the creator's childhood trauma.

Well, as far as series go, Conker's Bad Fur Day was.... well, it certainly went in a different direction than the other Conker games.

There's always the supposed Lavender Town Syndrome from the original Pokemon games...

Lavender Town Syndrome is a complete and total fabrication. It's merely internet urban legend/creepypasta. But it is definitely pretty creepy. I don't know if it really counts in the context of this thread.

Lavender Town was my first thought, lol. Culex in Super Mario RPG was pretty intense and didn't fit at all (which was the point).

Katamari Damacy? It's all very bright and cheerful as you go about rolling everything up, until you realise that you just bundled up entire nations along with their populations and slam-dunked them into a black hole!

Whilst Red Dead Redemption could hardly be called "lighthearted", it's hardly a horror game so I feel it counts here. There were a few things I thought a little disturbing. One side mission that involved finding some missing people, you would go to a certain area and find nothing more than a shoe, or bloodied piece of clothing. The third time you went there, you found a guy running away from someone, so you lasso and hogtie him, take him back to the guy chasing him. Then there's a cutscene when you find out the guy is a cannibal, and was about to eat him, and you basically just brought him his meal on a plate...

Needless to say, as soon as the cutscene ended, I blew the fether's head off with a shotgun and freed the unfortunate captive. What can I say, I'm a nice guy

Another memorable mission is one where you collect some flowers for an old guy's wife, once you have them all, you take them back to him, and he invites you inside. It turns out his wife is a corpse, and from the look of it has been for a week. Mr. Marston beats a hasty retreat from that encounter

Also Seth the graverobber was quite a disturbing character. Not one I liked much TBH.


It was a fantastic game really... All of these mildly disturbing events stack together to make a really grim picture of the area.

Oh god Lavender Town. That music made me feel physically sick.

Also, Psycho Mantis. ARGH.

 Squigsquasher wrote:


Also, Psycho Mantis. ARGH.

I'd say that Psycho Mantis should never count in a thread like this... the whole feel of MGS, and the MGS series is not "Lighthearted"

 RossDas wrote:
Katamari Damacy? It's all very bright and cheerful as you go about rolling everything up, until you realise that you just bundled up entire nations along with their populations and slam-dunked them into a black hole!

Pikmin is another similarly light feeling game that involves slaughter (if you're playing it right). Something pretty creepy about animals being swarmed and dragged down by masses of tiny mind-controlled mobile plants.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Squigsquasher wrote:


Also, Psycho Mantis. ARGH.

I'd say that Psycho Mantis should never count in a thread like this... the whole feel of MGS, and the MGS series is not "Lighthearted"

Plus that was kind of the reverse going on...Metal Gear Solid is a serious stealth game most of the time, and the whole spiel before the Psycho Mantis fight is pretty silly. "Put your controller on the floor, flat as you can!"

Kirby. Just...Kirby.

How about the Cie'th from Final Fantasy XIII? On the whole it's a relatively sanitary, non-creepy game. That is until you realise the Cie'th's arms aren't actually their original arms, and their original body's hands are round what's left of their throat. That, coupled with their shambling walk and the HORRIBLE noises they make, point out something creepy: they're constantly trying to strangle themselves. Ugh.

Tibbsy wrote:
Whilst Red Dead Redemption could hardly be called "lighthearted", it's hardly a horror game so I feel it counts here. There were a few things I thought a little disturbing. One side mission that involved finding some missing people, you would go to a certain area and find nothing more than a shoe, or bloodied piece of clothing. The third time you went there, you found a guy running away from someone, so you lasso and hogtie him, take him back to the guy chasing him. Then there's a cutscene when you find out the guy is a cannibal, and was about to eat him, and you basically just brought him his meal on a plate...

Needless to say, as soon as the cutscene ended, I blew the fether's head off with a shotgun and freed the unfortunate captive. What can I say, I'm a nice guy

Another memorable mission is one where you collect some flowers for an old guy's wife, once you have them all, you take them back to him, and he invites you inside. It turns out his wife is a corpse, and from the look of it has been for a week. Mr. Marston beats a hasty retreat from that encounter

Also Seth the graverobber was quite a disturbing character. Not one I liked much TBH.


It was a fantastic game really... All of these mildly disturbing events stack together to make a really grim picture of the area.

You finished the California quest yet? That gets weirder and sadder and eventually fairly heart breaking....but its in the nature of the game so im fairly sure RDR shouldnt be here....

The Shadow People of Hell Valley in Super Mario Galaxy 2 are really creepy. They just stare at you with no explanation for what they are or why they're there.

In Chrono Trigger, in 2300, there's the Geno Dome where people are fed along a conveyer belt and let out a scream never to be seen again. It's pretty clear "Geno" is short for genocide. A REALLY disturbing part to an otherwise cartoonish RPG.

Came up with another one: the underground tunnels in Assassin's Creed III. The rest of the game is standard fare for Assassin's Creed, a fairly serious story with a few lighthearted characters thrown in, great combat, etc. Then you hit the tunnels, and hoo boy, is the script flipped. They're dark, creepy, and sounds echo from all through the tunnels. I think I lasted half an hour before I turned the volume all the way down while I was drudging through them.

I thought the implied way you wake up the first T-Rex in Joe and Mac on SNES is kind of sad.

Luigi's Mansion. When he's answering a phone call after one of the blackouts, his shadow changes so that it looks like he's hanging. Really creepy. Apparently the Beta version of the game was much darker, but they made it lighter for the release, and I guess this is just something they missed or forgot to change.

 DarkCorsair wrote:
Luigi's Mansion. When he's answering a phone call after one of the blackouts, his shadow changes so that it looks like he's hanging. Really creepy. Apparently the Beta version of the game was much darker, but they made it lighter for the release, and I guess this is just something they missed or forgot to change.

Probably would have been a lot better if it was darker.

 CuddlySquig wrote:

 DarkCorsair wrote:
Luigi's Mansion. When he's answering a phone call after one of the blackouts, his shadow changes so that it looks like he's hanging. Really creepy. Apparently the Beta version of the game was much darker, but they made it lighter for the release, and I guess this is just something they missed or forgot to change.

Probably would have been a lot better if it was darker.

It's also a Mario game. It's supposed to be kid-appropriate. Even so, having an implied hanging Luigi is spooky.

 CuddlySquig wrote:

 DarkCorsair wrote:
Luigi's Mansion. When he's answering a phone call after one of the blackouts, his shadow changes so that it looks like he's hanging. Really creepy. Apparently the Beta version of the game was much darker, but they made it lighter for the release, and I guess this is just something they missed or forgot to change.

Probably would have been a lot better if it was darker.

I agree, as long as they didn't make it too obvious, as it IS supposed to be a kids game.

Other dimension in Star Fox on NES. To be warped to another galaxy whilst the cornelian defense force dies behind you....

That was.....truly disturbing.

That 'save and quit' scene from Banjo-Kazzooie was quite disturbing

Only thing in any game that has really disturbed, scared or creeped me out.

Granny's Garden on BBC computers in my primary school, that witch still haunts me to this day.

The ending to Klonoa.

Postal 2 and Postal 2: Apocalyptic Weekend.

Nuff said...

 Rysaer wrote:
Only thing in any game that has really disturbed, scared or creeped me out.

Granny's Garden on BBC computers in my primary school, that witch still haunts me to this day.

Spoiler:

Oh god we had Granny's Garden on our computers at school, only it was a much newer, less 4-bit version.

ARGH.

 Brother Captain Alexander wrote:
Postal 2 and Postal 2: Apocalyptic Weekend.

Nuff said...

The keyword to this thread is "lighthearted" games and series. As for disturbing stuff from Postal, I think the end of the first one takes the cake.

In the original Star Fox for the SNES, Fox and his team all had robot legs. I think it had something to do with the ships going so fast, if the blood flowed to their legs, they would pass out. So, that means to be a pilot you had to have your legs removed...

World of Warcraft would, I'd say, be a pretty lighthearted game...

http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/04/05/wow-archivist-the-karazhan-crypt/

Now this never got fully put in, but the area (without any mobs) was accessible. The scenery by itself is disturbing.