2600 Games that creeped you out

[Csonicgo]

Apologies in advance if this thread has been done but I've always wanted to do a thread like this, and a General thread gave me the idea.

 

Are there any games for the 2600 that scared you as a child? Aside from the games that are SUPPOSED to scare you, are there any games that unintentionally still give you the creeps?

 

As a kid, I was scared of the progressive game mode of Super breakout. i always had a fear of impending doom, and falling blocks at a steady pace really scared me more than anything. now I find it a great challenge.

 

Games that still creep me out. Ski Run by Ariola. Where do I even start? The creepy egyptian-sounding music, the creepy looking death dance, the ever-changing colors of the mountains... It's like a really bad LSD trip.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Csonicgo

[Keatah]

Missile Command. With the threat of nuclear war and shit in the 70's and 80's.. I would always pretend I was practicing to be a firing commander. We'd even built a bunker out of blankets and furniture and stuff like that.

 

Video Chess. I'd play this and watch Saturn3 and be afraid that the brain cylinder was gonna come and get me. I thought that my 2600 was alive, because it could play chess. A game which I spent the entire past 2 days learning all the rules. And here it was, right in a tiny mysterious cartridge. I didn't even know what was inside a cartridge rom, yet, more or less.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Keatah

[Deteacher]

Tunnel Runner. Hearing that music as the monsters got closer was always scary.

[Rom Hunter]

The snakes and spider in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

[cvga]

The snakes and spider in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

 

Indeed. Why did it have to be snakes?

[Rom Hunter]

Sometimes they suddenly appeared from underneath the brown bar that runs through the middle of the market screen, killing you in an instant.

 

[AtariDude]

I would not say that any particular 2600 game creeped me out but Rescue on Fractulus when the green monster jumped out in front of you scared me the first time that it happened.

[DrThielegood]

Got to agree on Missile Command. I still find that there is an uncomfortable pressure associated with that game that just creeps me out. I had an upright in my gameroom and i found that the arcade version created even more uneasy tension.

 

Still (and sorry if this is off topic) the retro game that freaked me out the most was Karateka. My experience was with the port to the Apple 2 but I assume its the same game for the 7800. The slow motion fighting, the "die and your done", the feeling of progress only to lose because of that damn bird, and the overwhelmingly lopsided health bars later in the game....damn. My parents still tell stories of a time when I had a high fever and was hallucinating about that game...which, in retrospect...is pretty awesome.

 

Anyway.....

 

Bob

Edited January 3, 2012 by DrThielegood

[AtariDude]

While I liked the game Karateka, i always thought it was stupid that you needed to bow at the end prior to rescuing the princess or she kick you in the nuts and kill you. I thought that after all that trouble to rescue her, she would be appreciative of the effort. I have no idea why they added that to the game since bow is never used anywhere else.

[Keatah]

Once in a while if I went off the grid in A2-FS1 I'd get all upset and bothered. I don't know why.

[R.O.T.S]

I agree with Raiders Of The Lost Ark,it was not just the snake but the game as a whole it was just so damn weird.

[moycon]

I don't know about creeped out, but I certainly got scared when popping into a room in Adventure and a dragon was right there waiting to take a HUGE bite of me. Eeeeep!!! Same goes for Haunted House, in the levels where you had to open doors to enter rooms and a creature was behind the door ready to GET YOU. Aaaaaahh!!!

[Pioneer4x4]

I would not say that any particular 2600 game creeped me out but Rescue on Fractulus when the green monster jumped out in front of you scared me the first time that it happened.

I agree, especially when playing late an half awake.

 

[Keatah]

I did a Missile Command radio show for art class back in the day. One would play the game. Another would be a radio announcer and the rest of the class would behave like panicked citizens.

 

At the end of the wave, I would be elevated to godhood for a moment as I saved the world. Then at the more difficult level, the nuked citizens and zombies would come after me because I failed to save the day.

[Chuck D. Head]

I remember getting the distinct feeling as I progressed into higher levels of Demon Attack that the evil bastards were real and hated me with a passion.

[Trinity]

All you 'creeped out' Missile Command players...

 

See this,

 

"Twenty years later, " Munch, Munch, Munch, One city to defend is the easiest... HA!"

 

HAHAHAHA,,,,HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[+Propane13]

I can relate to jumping when hit by an invisible snake in Raiders and entering a new room in Haunted House right into a spider.

 

For me, the first one that I recall jumping at was Star Raiders; of course, I was pretty young at the time.

 

I remember watching the count of the last 10 enemies to go. No problem-- I can take them all on!

8 to go. 6 to go. 5. Lost shields. 4. 3. 2. BOOM!

 

That explosion sequence is still implanted in my brain; I thought it was pretty loud/creepy.

[Tin_Lunchbox]

Loved the video, Trinity! I didn't get so psychologically into Missile Command that I actually felt like I was defending cities from nuclear strikes. I thought the 2600/VCS version had poor graphics EXCEPT for those little mushroom cloud animations that seemed pretty advanced. It seems like it might be possible to do an hack or homebrew of MC with all the latest technology and know-how that would be truer to the arcade or maybe even support roller ball controller.

[+FujiSkunk]

It seems like it might be possible to do an hack or homebrew of MC with all the latest technology and know-how that would be truer to the arcade...

 

You mean like this?

 

...or maybe even support roller ball controller.

 

Like this?

 

Haunted House and Yars' Revenge gave me a good scare now and then, but the game that really creeped me out? River Raid. Yes, River Raid. After watching the commercial and seeing how blowing up bridges was part of the object of the game, I started imagining what it would be like if a plane swooped into our neighborhood and started blowing up bridges and other things. I can even remember my mother asking me if I wanted the game, and me very adamantly saying, "No!" Fortunately I quickly got over it and discovered what a great game it was, bridges and all.

[Ranthulfr]

Something about the Tarzan-yell sound effect in Pitfall is a little creepy. It's as if this pixelated dude in the game is doing his best to scream in a human voice, but it comes out sounding like a digital buzzsaw.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Well, I never played Atari games as a child, but this screen freaked me out when I played Halo 2600 on my Harmony cart:

 

But the freakiest scene I've ever seen in a video game was Ledgend of Zelda: Majora's Mask when you wait around too long in the game and get to watch the moon crash into the Earth. Now that's spooky!

[dustygraves.]

music / sound fx for congo bongo! love or hate they have always creeped me out:)

that repeating sound...

[Keatah]

I was playing Slot Racers one evening, we had a power brownout. But the game kept rolling on. Every now and then, the gas/brake sound would pop up, even when just coasting.

 

Well, soon enough the game ended an I got up for a soda or something from the kitchen. Got busy doing something else. And the VCS dropped into attract mode. But it wasn't silent! The same gas/brake noise came up and freaked me out completely.

[purduecrum]

Forbidden Forest on the C= 64 gave me the creeps. I also know what Tsetse flies are thanks to Raiders of the Lost Ark on Atari.

[Master Phruby]

Smurf Rescue. The castle was creepy. Ever wait long enough next to Smurfett and she drops her top and punches you?