Volume 10: Games that scared you as a kid (Part 2) From Weekly Famitsu Magazine issue #1826

Geh he he... It's the terrifying Halloween Special of Toby Fox's Secret Base! There's only one way to defeat me, and that's to read this article until the end! Are you able to endure it?!

Oh wait, Halloween is already over. (*Toby is defeated in one hit.)

I've got to pull myself together... This time we'll continue reading your responses about trauma you've received through video games. If you read all of these you'll be sure to have a scary time!

When you get wiped out in the first Dragon Quest game the text "You died" appears. I was so shocked I was traumatized by it. Whenever I see that text I'm brought back to that moment, it was terrifying!

That's some scary stuff... Even though it's text in a game it's very blunt about it.

When I was 3 the damage sound in Mario scared me so much I would shut the game off the instant I was hit.

Closing the game when you die is something everyone does. At least everyone on my team in Splatoon does it all the time! This might be my favorite response though. It doesn't say that they ever stopped doing this. I can't help but imagine that they continued to train like a martial artist since they were 3 years old thinking "if i get hit even a single time it's all over." and they can clear the whole game like that. A god gamer who can clear the whole game with their eyes shut. One day when making mario jump from a tree they go a little too high and take damage and then immediately shut down the game and never play again.

The Waterwraith from Pikmin 2 REALLY traumatized me!!!! You encounter it in a cave where you can only use Blue Pikmin but there are many traps and enemies in there that Blue Pikmin can't deal with. While I thought it was just another cave for exploration, the cutscene plays with the Waterwraith suddenly dropping from above. Suddenly it begins charging and I discover that attacking it is pointless as it ruthlessly crushing my Pikmin with its roller. From the 100 Pikmin I brought with me only 20 or so remained. It was insane. I'll say it again: it was a REALLY traumatic experience. So much so that I couldn't play the game again for a while after. The music also aided in the horrific atmosphere. It felt almost like a horror game. Oh, but the way the Waterwraith scurries away after breaking the roller with Purple Pikmin was a little cute.

I actually haven't played Pikmin but... is it not a horror game? Out of all the responses I received this time Pikmin was by far the most popular answer. From what I've heard Pikmin is a game about watching your innocent allies die in front of your eyes over and over again. You have to watch as they scream in agony and their souls fly away. As you go deeper into the unexplored areas you see enemies with rollers ready to crush your allies... Hey wait a minute isn't this Splatoon?

In Mother 2 when I saw the Violent Roach it scared me so bad I remember that I threw my controller across the room because I'm terrified of bugs.

If Ness was the player I imagine they would defeat Giygas and save the world without any emotion on their face and then suddenly panic on the way home after seeing a bug on the road. Throwing a Super Famicom controller is pretty funny but fear is irrational isn't it.

The game over screen from Yoshi's Story.

I tried to remember what the game over screen in Yoshi's Story looked like but because of the earlier response about Dragon Quest 1 I can't think of anything other than a black screen that reads "Yoshi died."

I can't express it well but when something is motionless and harmless until you get too close or other conditions are met such as the sun in Mario 3 or the skulls in Eggerland. It's not so much trauma but even now it makes my heart race. I know how to deal with them and I should be better than I was as a kid but even still...

I totally get that. It's basically the feeling of suspense right? That feeling of anxiously waiting for the moment when the protagonist is attacked... It's a basic part of most horror games. Whether it's intentional or not, even in Mario, you can find these sorts of dramatic scenes. For example when I was a kid I was really scared of the Phantos in Mario 2. When you pick up the key they suddenly pop out and chase you until you die. If at that moment the screen turned black and white and eerie music played it could be a full on horror game. It made me think, how much could you remove from horror elements in horror games before the fear was diminished? Think about a game like Ao Oni but with a cute story and graphics. What if the main character visited a mansion to take care of cute puppy dogs, and all the chasing entities were adorable doggies? What changes would make the fear suddenly drop? Is it the lighting, the chase scenes, jump scares, or the background music? This seems like something that needs a bit more exploration... (*Toby opened the door to the research lab. In the back, he caught a glimpse of hundreds of small puppy dogs.)

In Smash Brothers Melee when the "Challenger Approaching" screen's alarm sound and font used to scare me as a child. Maybe that's why even now when I get a blue screen in Windows I have a similar response.

Imagine that on that screen you see the silhouette of the Waterwraith and for some reason it doesn't advance when you hit the button. Hitting the button just makes the alarm louder and then the roller swings up and a message appears in blue text on the white screen that reads "you died" and the Mario takes damage...

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