The Creepiest Things In Your Favorite Childhood Video Games

Earthbound is a surreal romp through space and time that tries for the most part to be a fun a cute adventure. That is until players get to the end boss, Giygas, an eldritch abomination with a demonic visage and even more terrifying dialogue. He moans out to let you know he feels good hurting the party, calls out Ness's name repeatedly, then screams "It's not right... not right... not right." 

The whole thing is a nightmare experience that comes at the end of an otherwise charming game. It's even worse for players of Mother, the prequel to Earthbound, which explains Giygas is an alien that fell into madness after being adopted by a human mother. Torn between his allegiance to his race and his family he flew into a rage that lasted an eternity.

Absolutely everything about Majora's Mask rings with a subtle tone of creepy. From the introductory scene in The Lost Woods to the entirety of The Happy Mask Salesman's spiel - that man's creepy smile and furious rage still plays a heavy role in many nightmares - the whole affiair feels purposely designed to upset players, nevermind the E rating. 

In particular, the transformation mechanic seems to take a heavy physical and emotional toll on Link. He cries in anguish as the Zora Mask takes over his body, forcing his bones and flesh to rearrange into a new, unnatural, shape. Then there's the moon, with its orange eyes, malignant grin, and intense desire to destroy the world. Terrifying.

Ocarina of Time features an intensely creepy undercurrent that runs through the whole game. There are the skeletons that chase Link at night, the ruins of Castle Town Market, and of course the house of spider people. While unarguably freaky, nothing compares to the Shadow Temple and it's miniboss - a zombielike creature with a cavernous mouth and long, spindly hands that resides at the bottom of a well. 

Worse still is the Shadow Temple's lore, hidden deep within The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia. According to the book, The Shadow Temple was once a blacksite used by the Sheikah at the behest of the Royal Family of Hyrule. This explains the blood, the grisly interrogation equipment, and maybe even the mass of zombies trapped within its walls.

It sure was an interesting choice to market the anti-capitalist nightmare fuel Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee to children, but that was back when most adults couldn't wrap their heads around video games not being exclusively for children. 

The game has players fill the role of Abe, a humanoid creature born enslaved who has his mouth sewn shut to prevent him from crying out. He is forced to work at the biggest meat processing plant in the franchise's universe, RuptureFarms. Early on, Abe learns the new meat being processed is secretly harvested from the race of enslaved Mudokans that he happens to be a member of. This Soylent Green style moment is terrifying enough on its own, but it's punctuated by scenes of blacksite dealings and dismemberment throughout the whole game.

T for Teen sure meant something different in 1997.

Maniac Mansion is a point and click adventure, and for the most part it's pretty tame. After all, it first came out on NES, so it had to meet Nintendo's decency standards. The story's light-hearted and jokey atmosphere meant most players felt safe going through the majority of it, even though it's set in the old horror genre standby, a mad scientist's mansion.

The game only crosses the line into the truly gruesome once, but boy howdy does it ever. While playing as a specific character, the player can distract Weird Ed, steal his hamster, bring it to the kitchen, and microwave it - watching its innards spray across the inside of the appliance. For some reason, the player can even take the remains to Weird Ed, who understandably flies into a rage and exacts his revenge on the character.

While almost certainly intended as a macabre joke, it ends up being the most terrifying moment of an otherwise goofy romp. 

To be fair, Luigi's Mansion is actually meant to be spooky. Even so, creators pushed things way farther than they necessarily had to, and the end result often feels more like The Haunting of Hill House than Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. 

Luigi is forced to wander through a haunted house with nothing but a vacuum to keep him safe. At any point in the game, the player can press A to have him (futilely) call out for Mario's health. As Luigi's HP declines his cries get increasingly desperate until he's letting out nothing more than a terrified whimper. At the end of the game, King Boo gives a monologue that conveys utter contempt for Luigi. However, even that doesn't compare to the long-running myth that Luigi can be found hanging by the astute viewer.