• Top 13 Scariest Video Games

  

  Written by Zeromage 36 Comments
  Last Updated:: October 10, 2008

  It’s October. The leaves are falling, pumpkins are being smashed and video game nerds are breaking out all their scary video games from the past. Which are the scariest though? In this list we will go through what video games frightened the gamer to the core of his being while trying to find their way through the game. Some games just plain nailed the spooky quality needed to make a game scary by accentuating the moody soundtrack and making the enemies horrifying to look at. Some of the choices on this list may not be obvious, but on second look the reader will understand what could make a simple game like Pac-Man for so scary, which we will start off with first.

  13. Pac-man

  Pac-man may seem like a simple game and it is. It’s the greatest simple game of all time. But let’s think about it a little bit more. You are a floating head trapped in pitch black maze with four ghosts chasing after you. Is this not the definition of hell? Spending the rest of your life as a moving mouth running away from ghosts that never tire from trying to exterminate you from existence? With this in mind, I think we now all understand how scary of a game Pac-Man was. We like playing the game, sure. But who would honestly want to live the life of Pac Man?

  12. Alone in the Dark

  Alone in the Dark was unprecedented for its time. The music was suspenseful at every turn. The voice overs were dramatic and dark. Doors would randomly close behind you, and you never knew what was behind the next corner waiting to suck your blood. This 3D adventure started a slew of games like the Resident Evil series, where you were alone in a house trying to solve mysteries and find artifacts. Playing Alone in the Dark actually in the dark would accentuate the already tense mood of being in a massive house reading Latin scripture relating to biblical demonic prose. Making this game even more scary was seeing yourself from the prospective of zombies inside the house and you drive into this nefarious manor. Alone in the Dark was the first of it’s kind and still gives spooks to those who have played it thoroughly in the past.

  11. Ghostbusters

  What could be a scarier job than busting ghosts? If you answered “nothing” then you’ll agree with us that Ghostbusters for the NES deserves a spot on this list. There’s no denying that the Ghostbusters franchise has provided Western society with some great entertainment, with the cartoons series and the Ghosbusters movie, but most people seem to forget about how great the video game was. Unlike most movie-based games, this game actually stays true to the plot of the movie it was based on, and that by itself is scary enough considering all the ghosts we see in the movie. But if battling a 20 story walking marshmallow and an ancient Mesopotamian demigod doesn’t scare you, maybe bad spelling in a video game does, as this game is filled with spelling mistakes as you can see by the ending text:

  “Conglaturation !!!
  You have completed a great game.
  And prooved the justice of our culture.
  Now go and rest our heroes !”

  10. Zombies ate my Neighbors

  The main character of Zombies ate my Neighbors may have looked like some regular old teenager, but the town he was in was one of the scariest in video game history. Everywhere you turned, Zombies were out to devour your human body. The whole town looked like the best Halloween you ever had, except you didn’t have to worry for your life in your town. Some things were odd about this game. Like why you had to save cheerleaders if everyone knew that the town was manifesting zombies at every second and why some obese guy was drinking a beer in his back pool with zombies waiting for him by the side. Regardless, running away from these zombies made you on edge. It made you not want to relive this experience in real life.

  9. Fester’s Quest

  Along with being one of the most difficult games of all time, Fester’s Quest for the Nintendo Entertainment System is also hands down one of the scariest as well. Spooky music, a scary looking main character and aliens from another world combine to make this one of the most frightening experiences of your life (assuming you played it as a kid like I did). Battling the alien invaders from the streets to the sewers, to even their own space ship armed with nothing more than a what’s basically pea shooter, this game will give you the chills. To make matters worse, the “upgrades” for your gun turn out to be downgrades, as some of them don’t even shoot straight. If you’re not scared yet, you also have to fight the game’s gigantic alien bosses in a pitch black screen. Spooky.

  8. Doom 2

  Doom 2 took the themes of Doom 1 and accentuated them to more spookier proportions. The levels were darker, the music was more tense, and cacodemons would appear out of nowhere. Lets also nto forget the sheer amount of Cyberdemons you had to face in this game. Beyond the sheer quality of engineering super-spooky levels was the final boss who represented arguably the scariest final boss in the history of video games. The Icon of Sin (which was listed in our top 10 bosses of all time) looked like the worst nightmare a human could possibly have. Having to fight him was even more of a nightmare with the bastard throwing out every enemy in the game on command. Doom 2 set the standard for 3D spookiness that would be mimicked across all platforms. This game needs to be remembered for setting that standard.

  7. Zelda 2

  Zelda 2 was always an underrated game within the Zelda series. This game was a bit too adult and strange for some gamers, but this is what made it such a great game for others. Right from the start, you were adventuring into towns with Old Wizards (Like us!) endowing Link with the best magic, and completely dark fighting scenes where you were getting hit by monsters from places you couldn’t see. Further into the game, and you were visiting deserted towns with townspeople who would turn into bats. You would be walking on water at points and fighting massive bosses with chain balls taking away half your strength with one hit. There were always some secret forests or caves where you were picking up ancient statues and letters to help you on your way. This game had a very hidden feeling to it keeping the gamer tense throughout. This was certainly the spookiest Zelda out of the whole series.

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36 Comments

1. #1 Jesus Christ says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 7:44 pm

   This is the worst list ever. If there was a list of the top worst lists ever conceived this would be #1.
2. #2 Moses says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

   I agree with Jesus. This list is terrible!
3. #3 WTF says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

   Agreed, this is should be titled “Top 13 Games that have something to do with scary things, but are not scarry at all”.
4. #4 Xbot says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:13 pm

   I started with gaming with the Atari just like you but this nostalgia fest is sickening to say the least.
5. #5 Old Boy says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pm

   Yeah… And Resident Evil or Silent Hill or Fatal Frame or Forbidden Siren aren’t scary at all, right?
   Man, even the first Tomb Raider was scary compared to the games you put in this list.
   Were you drunk maybe? Or your game experience ended with the 16-bit era?
6. #6 well says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

   I’ve seen you do these top lists before. you might want to stress that that they have an emphasis on classic games, because otherwise they are quite biased.
7. #7 Nick says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

   Where the hell is splatterhouse (3 was the scariest IMO), you need splatterhouse, or silent hill… hell, condemned: criminal origins was scarier than anything on that list.
8. #8 zman says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

   Ditto Old Boy. I don’t see how Silent Hill and RE don’t make this sorry list.
9. #9 TheMountain says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:53 pm

   Great article. Castlevania 2 def hit it with spookyness. I’m ganna break that out again
10. #10 Belialxyn says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    Hmm, yeah, classic games never ever scared me really, though if i think about it the only game that ever has is Fatal Frame..
11. #11 Chase357 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:08 am

    This list blows. Doom II deserves to be higher and most of the games on the list do not deserve a spot.
12. #12 Spreadsheet Ninja says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:31 am

    I dont want to be as harsh as some of these other guys, but this list is kinda lame. Pac-man? Scary? Are you serious?

    Your list should read something along the lines of
    Resident Evil
    Silent Hill
    Bio Shock
    Doom 2/3
    etc…etc…
13. #13 Big A2 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:54 am

    Guys, calm down. This list is obviously made out of sarcasm.
14. #14 daz says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:21 am

    scarey game’s my arse if you peed your pant’s while playing these game’s you need to take a pistol and go around the back of your house and blow out what’s left of you brain’s
15. #15 gryzor says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:29 am

    Resident Evil? Silent Hill? Scary games, yes; but lists are no fun if you just get the same crap/ what you’re expecting every time.

    I agree with a lot of these, actually. ‘Spooky’ or ‘creepy’ might be more apt, though. Maybe it’s just from being a kid at the time; but these old games do have an odd, mysterious quality that you scarcely see anymore.

    The music on Castlevania 2’s password screen used to scare the crap out of me, for one thing.
16. #16 asdf says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    My ass, another 10 reasons why i’m so noob list
17. #17 Miller Time says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:09 am

    this list was NOT what i expected, so i thank the person who crafted it.

    it’s VERY easy to make a top 10 or whatever list of the scariest games, and throw in a Siren, or Silent Hill, or Resident Evil, or Fatal Frame, etc, etc, but for an old timer like me, seeing these old games brings back a lot of memories.

    i’m not ashamed to admit that i STILL have my Friday the 13th cartridge, and it still works in my NES from back when i was 9 years old (that’d be 1988).

    fun list.

    what’s the point of rehashing the same “Top Scariest Games” that we’ve read countless times before? at least this one was unique. hell, i’m tempted to fire up the ol’ NES now…
18. #18 g says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:20 am

    jesus you thick fucks have no sense of humor what so ever
19. #19 Dav says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:50 am

    I must say, I’m not a fan of any of the lists on this site, but this is one of the more disappointing ones I have been linked to. Most of these games were not scary at the time, and are not scary now, they just have some kind of ghost or alien theme; that doesn’t necessarily make them scary.
20. #20 DM says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    Dav,

    As with most of the lists on this site, we strive to re-live our youth through the ironic eyes of our adult selves. We know these games are not the scarriest games ever, but for someone our age to pull up and relive the moment we first regretted paying allowance money to rent the horrible fester’s quest from the video shack can brighten our days. we write these lists in the same dry off-serious tone tht we use when we debate them in real life, placing grave importance on something that is absolutely UNimportaint, making us laugh and taking some of the actual importaint, scary, and depressing realities of adult life on the back burner for a minute. If you had any idea how many times Zeromage and I have face-palmed while reading some of the over-serious readers comments…lets just say i have a permanent dent in my forehead from my wedding ring.
21. #21 Karl says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    This list was scarier than the actual games.
22. #22 Benjamin says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    I do not see a single title on this list that was developed by Rareware.

    The scariest Rareware game a lot of people know is “Taboo: The Sixth Sense” is not really a game at all; and it is scary in that the nature of the game, tarot reading, was not appropriate for children.
23. #23 D.J. says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:21 am

    This was a really lame attempt to try to be funny….

    Hell why not put the Barney game in there *rolls eyes*
24. #24 Fraught says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    Even if it’s sarcasm, it sucks. This list isn’t “Top 13 Scariest Video Games”, but it’s “Top 13 Games, Which Would Be Horrible, If You Were the Characters In Those Games.”

    Not to talk about the biased viewpoint of Nintendo’s old consoles’ games. I mean, on a NES, or SNES game, never a monster jumped out literally from every crack (Doom 3), and there is no Fatal Frame, Silent Hill, Condemned or Resident Evil, which are all scary in the scary factor, and in the “I-wouldn’t-wan’t-to-be-inside-the-game-world” scariness more than any NES and SNES game ever.

    I find some lists funny on Old-Wizard.com, but this one wasn’t even funny, and the sarcasm was fail. Seriously, I really want to know what games you really think are the best, scariest etc, not just “Oooh, think about it. Pac-Man has no legs, he has to roll around, eating balls, and when he rolls around, he can’t always see around. Think about it when a ghost appears behind him, but you’re (Pac-Man) still rolling. Spooky!”

    Seriously, drop the whole Nintendo biasness. You thought you did a good joke by admitting it in the “Top 10 reasons why old-wizard.com sucks” that you’re Nintendo fanboys, but it isn’t funny, and it’s getting really, really old.
25. #25 pandora says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:49 am

    OMG! yes pacman scares the crap out of me!!!
    thank you!
    now i know that iam not alone!!!!
    
    ps, one moment in pikmen, the cutest game ever, unfortunately one of the spiders has machine guns attached to it’s butt and slaughters your pikmen.
    it should be added immediately.
    as well as pokemon battles, tetris, hello kitty rollerblade adventure, diddy kong racing, and kirby air ride. so freaking scary. omg.
26. #26 Kat says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:38 pm

    Haha, okay, I personally don’t think any of these are scarey, but its a good list none the less. I even have a few of them, and I never thought I would see Ghosts n Goblins on a top anything list.
27. #27 Thad says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    Okay first of all ghost busters? come on all you do is play tag with ghosts. and Pacman seriously the only decent game is doom2 but if I had to agree with one person it would be Jesus Christ.
28. #28 Casey says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    This list isnt really about fear. Its more about games that cause frustration, stress, or worry. I dont see how a game with such old graphics inspires fear in you at all.
29. #29 Uhhhhhhhhh,pie says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    C’mon old-wizard. At least put a Resident evil game in there. Seriously.
30. #30 Asmellysock says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:52 am

    I loved this list. It brings out the best of the old games that some may have thought couldn’t be scary at all (like pac-man) but are scary in some way or another. And Zombies ate my neighbors is a effin epic game I might add.
31. #31 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    athis should have been titled ”top 13 least scary games with monsters in them.”
32. #32 UP2IP2 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:03 pm

    well i could agree with Ft13,Doom2 and Alone in the dark but PACMAN???????????
33. #33 Anonymous says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    I am sad to say i am deeply dissappointed. While i usually agree with these lists in the end even if i don’t like the results due to sound logic, i do not in this case. I mean come on old wizard there are so much more scary video games than those on the list. F.E.A.R freaked me out, hell even the invisible guys in prince of persia were scarier. While Ft13 Alone in the dark and Doom2 were acceptable to be on the list the rest is just a bunch of bull**** that panders to the classic games despite their inability to put us in a truly horrifying environment. Plus pacman just had to eat a yellow ball-thing and the ghosts turned into lunch.
34. #34 Wolf says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    *girly scream* those are almost as scary as a bedsheet on a stick
35. #35 ash says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    You’ve totally ignored the entire survival horror genre.. Pac Man??! Pac Man is not a scary game.. You making a mockery of your lists just to stay loyal to your dangerous obsession with pre-1995 video games