Depressing Games

[holgibo]

This is a good idea for a thread.

 

Bowling: Hmm, our old bowling alley just looked like it. It was in a big cellar, the walls were wooden and it ha the smell of underground stations.

 

Berserk: Yes, I always feel lost when playing this game. One day maybe I find the way out of this maze...someday...

 

Haunted House: Back in the days i liked this game very much, and it's one of the games I even play today often. It's a game with the kind of shock moment I also like in old horror movies. But it's not depressing: You can win it and leave the game unharmed.

[JacobZu7zu7]

 

 

Also Pacman seems really depressing too.

 

Pac-man hmm... seems more stressfull and clastrophobic, then depressing. Pac-man at least has the 4 power pills

each maze to get revenge on his scary ghost villans, and he has his girlfriend somewhere in

her own video game to visit. Too bad there's no pac-man game which uses both Ms. and pac-man,

playing the mazes together (as a married couple)... or is there?

[+save2600]

Too bad there's no pac-man game which uses both Ms. and pac-man, playing the mazes together (as a married couple)... or is there?

 

 

I know the Genesis (Tengen) version of Ms. Pac-Man has head-to-head play. And IIRC, so does the NES version too, but it's been a VERY long time since I played that one.

Edited March 21, 2010 by save2600

[retrorussell]

Entombed is creepy and depressing.. just maze after maze of digging, with despairing music playing in the background. Before too long the game is too fast and you get crushed at the top of the screen. What an awful fate!

 

Venture is another. Unlike the arcade, there's no bouncy music playing while you're in mazes or fighting in the dungeons. Just this eerie tone. And when the hall monster enters the dungeon, it sounds like the world will end or something. BOOOOOM!!!!

 

Infiltrate is a tiny bit depressing to me in the sense that the monsters just keep getting faster and faster on the draw until their shots just hum as they continuously fire, waiting against an elevator for you to come down and get obliterated. No chance!

[akator]

I must be the only person on the planet who feels this way, but I find SMB depressing. For me, the entire game has always felt slow, pointless, and soulless. Every few years I pick it back up and play it for days trying to discover why so many people love it, and each time I'm left feeling as though I've been involved with something evil that has taken something away from my life -- as though something in my being was being siphoned off for use to power alien machinery. It is the only game I've ever played that leaves me in a state of dread and hopelessness.

[Cebus Capucinis]

I must be the only person on the planet who feels this way, but I find SMB depressing. For me, the entire game has always felt slow, pointless, and soulless. Every few years I pick it back up and play it for days trying to discover why so many people love it, and each time I'm left feeling as though I've been involved with something evil that has taken something away from my life -- as though something in my being was being siphoned off for use to power alien machinery. It is the only game I've ever played that leaves me in a state of dread and hopelessness.

 

Spoken like a true Atari fan. NES IS FOR CHUMPS!

[GameGirl420]

Haha...As far as NES games that are depressing....

 

 

 

Ninja Kid

Ghostbusters

Shadowgate (even the ending is depressing)

Mach Rider

Gyromite (especially trying to play it with R.O.B. ....more like P.O.S.)

Blaster Master ( all that trouble over a pet frog!?!? lol)

Donkey Kong Math

 

....and the list goes on and on lol......

Edited March 22, 2010 by lushgirl_80

[Despina83]

I can't say I ever found an Atari game to be depressing. But I'd go with Coconuts simply because it's so lousy and pointless and...not fun. I'm surprised people aren't mentioning Pacman. I have a soft spot for the game due to nostalgia, but I know what a huge dissapointment it was.

[Lonely Mountain Hermit]

Haha...As far as NES games that are depressing....

 

 

 

Ninja Kid

Ghostbusters

Shadowgate (even the ending is depressing)

Mach Rider

Gyromite (especially trying to play it with R.O.B. ....more like P.O.S.)

Blaster Master ( all that trouble over a pet frog!?!? lol)

Donkey Kong Math

 

....and the list goes on and on lol......

 

I agree with Shadowgate. It's a cool game..but grim? Hell's yeah!

[Keatah]

Back to this bowling thing. that was a great game! I didn't grow up in bowling alleys or anything like that. But nothing beats having a frozen dinner(in aluminum tray) and a soda pop in the wood-panelled basement with bowling in the slot. And one or two yet-to-be-opened games and stack of other games from last month. That rox!

[Miss 2600]

I'm surprised people aren't mentioning Pacman. I have a soft spot for the game due to nostalgia, but I know what a huge dissapointment it was.

 

Pac-Man was mentioned several times on this thread. I don't thinks it's depressing. The color scheme was dull, but it had cute little Pac-Man and the Ghosts. I like the box art with Pac-Man the way I like to think of him, in legless 2 dimensional form and not a sphere, eating a wafer. I guess it is sad that he is always hungry and never satisfied.

[Pyromaniac605]

Miner 2049er. Why? you ask because everything in it is so bland when he jumps he looks like he is having a heart attack and why does he need to use a cannon that could easily kill him if misused? That is why i come to the conclusion that Miner 2049er is suicidal.

 

-Darren-

 

PS:He kicked the bucket.

[poker_plus]

This thread is awesome. I too have thought of 2600 games as abstract art; especially the arcade ports which were often nothing more than impressions of the originals.

 

Ok, my depressing carts:

 

1. Human Cannonball - Not much to say. You die alone. Why are you even doing this senseless task? There is no one to cheer you on nor to mourn your passing.

 

2. Basic Programming - How do you like your glorious hi-tech career? Isn't it just like what's depicted on the box?

[GameGirl420]

Actually come to think....when I play Pacman it does'nt feel depressing,but the title screen,when you leave it idle and it changes colours seems kinda gloomy lol.

 

 

 

Surprised no one has mentioned Custer's Revenge yet ....Now that game IS depressing (and degrading)..... What's that one Atari porn game that has the witches shooting milk out their boobs???? That game is actually more disturbing than depressing tho lol.

[DickNixonArisen]

I've actually found most Atari games pretty depressing, even beloved classics, since they often have a muted palette and minimal music. It's easier to list games that are bright and shiny or upbeat - California games, Pitfall 2, Hero, River Raid, Return of the Jedi...

 

 

on a side note the most depressing game I can think of storywise is Centipede (If you are following the elf must kill his friends version). From the 8bit era Metroid deserves a mention for really making you feel lost in a vast, creepy alien world.

[+FujiSkunk]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Earth Dies Screaming yet. The title alone tells you all you need to know about how the game is going to end.

 

As potentially depressing, but even less abstract, is the Intellivision's Star Strike. Here you actually see the whole Earth dieing screaming.

 

I can't remember the name of it, but I remember reading a review about an Apple II game designed to teach French. The game included a French twist on Hangman, using the guillotine instead of the gallows. Make too many mistakes, and not only does the guy get his head chopped off, you get to see it plop in the basket too. They had Mortal Kombat beat by a decade!

[Markimus of K.]

Interesting thread indeed.

 

If anyone here hasn't read Lucky Wander Boy, you probably should...

[Tr3vor]

Metroid just topped my creepy list, when i got to Ridley's hideout, i felt like i walked into hell or something. and the the most annoying enemies are the ones that respawn out of the pipes over and over trying to kill you as fast as they can.

 

Earth defence force 2017 on the xbox is depressing too, so many ant-like aliens trying to shit on you. but the machine rocket launcer is cool, its sorta like the conduit glitch, thats the most annoying thing on earth.

 

 

[retrorussell]

 

 

Surprised no one has mentioned Custer's Revenge yet ....Now that game IS depressing (and degrading)..... What's that one Atari porn game that has the witches shooting milk out their boobs???? That game is actually more disturbing than depressing tho lol.

Philly Flasher. I used to laugh at the Mystique games but now I just roll my eyes.

[Lonely Mountain Hermit]

 

 

Surprised no one has mentioned Custer's Revenge yet ....Now that game IS depressing (and degrading)..... What's that one Atari porn game that has the witches shooting milk out their boobs???? That game is actually more disturbing than depressing tho lol.

Philly Flasher. I used to laugh at the Mystique games but now I just roll my eyes.

 

Porn on the 2600 is very depressing.

[Pioneer4x4]

Porn on the 2600 is very depressing.

I think most are dumb at best, but I have always got a chuckle out of Custer's Revenge.

[retrorussell]

Porn on the 2600 is very depressing.

I think most are dumb at best, but I have always got a chuckle out of Custer's Revenge.

Knight On The Town is actually halfway playable. You represent a knight, with your wang flopping around in the breeze (it wouldn't be a Mystique game without this), trying to build a bridge across a moat to get to his princess girlfriend to doggy-style her into next week. Impeding your progress is a hungry gator (who bites off your manhood and turns the moat red) and a gremlin thing that knocks you into the moat where Mr. Gator has a wiener for lunch. Certainly more playable than all the other Mystique games.

Edited March 28, 2010 by retrorussell

[DickNixonArisen]

at least it's consensual...

 

the one where you have to pee or possibly jizz on the fire until it's safe to descend low enough to cocklift the woman out of danger is actually pretty hard, I think.. Plus, i'm not sure how tough other people's genitals are, but I could not use mine in such a fashion.

[johnon]

Frankly, I always found Sweet Home for the NES kind of depressing...then again, I think it was supposed to be.

 

You have to wonder how many developers actually playtest their games before release, what with Superman for the 2600 existing and all.

[etschuetz]

Why choose a single game? When you consider many of the games that were either Atari original's or arcade ports, they all were about the end of the world. No matter how hard you fight, no matter how powerful your ship, you are all alone, and the only hope. You fight endlessly destroying the onslaught of aliens, asteroids, monsters, space ships, demons, mutants, etc, you never have back up, you never see the end. The only end you do see is when you either run out of time, or out of lives. When either of those happen, the end of the world happens. You not only die a shameful death of inevitability, but you disgrace the world to its utter destruction. Landscapes are leveled, cities ruined, people are either wiped out, mutated, turned to livestock, or made into slaves.

 

Games that follow this line?

 

Defender series

Galaga series

Phoenix

Demon Attack

Missile Command

Asteroids

Space Invaders

Astroblast

Atlantis

Cosmic Ark

and many MANY other games that are either clones, or original titles.

 

Not one of these types of games offer an ending of some sort. Oh, sure! You reached the mothership and destroyed the vial alien mastermind behind the invasion, but they are quickly replaced by a new armada of war driven aliens/monsters/mutants/etc and a new mothership directing the mayhem like a twisted conductor to this symphony of destruction.