Sometimes, a game can squeak by with an E that might as well stand for "Egad, how is this for 'Everyone?'" In the list that follows, we have compiled some of the creepiest, oddest, and darkest moments that made it past the Ratings Board and into E-rated games.
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00:00Sometimes, a game can sweep by with an E that might as well stand for,
00:04E-God, how is this for everyone? These are the creepiest, oddest,
00:08and darkest moments that made it past the ratings board and into E-rated games.
00:13Splatoon and its sequel are among two of the most popular new games within the last few years.
00:18Critics and fans alike immediately responded to its cute character designs and innovative
00:23combat system. It was a successful blend of third-person shooter aesthetics with a family-
00:28friendly tone, and the lead characters became playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
00:33There's one truly eerie thing about Splatoon, though. When defeating a boss,
00:37the boss battle music drops out and players are left with the background sounds.
00:42After waiting for a bit, close listeners can hear what sounds to be wrenching metal and moaning,
00:46or even screaming voices.
00:58Adding on to how bizarre this is in a kid's game,
01:01even the game's own director said he had no idea what the deal was with the mysterious sounds.
01:06While no proper explanation has been given as of this writing, the Splatoon team seized
01:11on players' curiosities and included the sounds in the sequel in 2017.
01:16Even in this screenshot, poor Echo's all like,
01:18are you kidding me with this?
01:20While the later games in the series would go in for a more overtly science fiction tone,
01:25most of the levels in the Sega Genesis classic Echo the Dolphin game were fairly normal aquatic
01:30settings. Players guided Echo through reefs and gorgeously rendered undersea caves,
01:35mostly fighting against jellyfish and sharks and the like. The final two stages, however,
01:40are a biomechanical nightmare right out of H.R. Giger's sketchbooks. Deformed creatures come out
01:45from around every corner at top speed as Echo tries to navigate through a sickly green structure
01:50referred to only as the Machine. The real shocker is the final boss, the Vortex Queen,
01:56which somewhat resembles a xenomorph from the Alien series, somewhat because the only
02:00visible part of the Queen in the final chamber of the Machine is her head,
02:04giving the impression that she's an impossibly massive Lovecraftian nightmare.
02:08The Queen spews out her larvae at Echo and attempts to bite the heroic dolphin in half.
02:13After around 20 levels of undersea exploration and earthly enemies,
02:17the last act of the game is certainly an unnerving surprise.
02:21Activision's Spider-Man game was released in 2000 and set a new benchmark for all future Spidey
02:26games. Some of the mechanics from this entry can still be seen in Insomniac's 2018 smash hit
02:32Marvel's Spider-Man. The game is mostly a lighthearted romp, with our friendly neighborhood
02:37Spider-Man's trademark wit taking the edge off some of the darker plot elements, like an invasion
02:42of symbiotes from space. The real corker comes in the last level of the game, however, featuring the
02:47super-powered serial killer Carnage as a main enemy was already a dicey proposition for a game
02:52with an E rating. But his over-the-top personality and rivalry with Venom is mostly played for laughs.
02:58After defeating Dr. Octopus and Carnage and thwarting their plan to give the Earth's
03:02population over to the symbiote army, it sure looks like all that's left for Spidey to do
03:07is deliver the baddies to jail. All of a sudden, a blood-red, tentacled monstrosity comes bursting
03:13through the wall and roars at Spider-Man, bearing its razor-sharp fangs.
03:19The Carnage symbiote has taken control of Dr. Octopus' body, becoming a creature referred to
03:24by the game's designers as Monster Ark. In a game that has mostly valued combat over agility,
03:30the final level of the game wants you to run like heck, because one touch from Ark will kill you.
03:35Scary design aside, this moment is notable for being genuinely stressful,
03:40especially for the game's younger target audience.
03:43Rayman Origins features some kooky villains and the dark, animated look that has become a staple
03:48of the series. But the final level stands in stark contrast to the rest of the game's more
03:53playful, platforming stages. Originally featured as a location in 2003's Rayman 3,
03:58the Land of the Libid Dead is the final level of Rayman Origins, and has received a significant
04:03facelift in the years since. Gone are the green fields and partly cloudy skies, now replaced with
04:09gothic terrain that would make the corpse bride blush. Rayman must make his way through crypts and
04:14bridges made from giant coffins, battling zombies, and occasionally riding on the back of a skeletal
04:19snake that resembles a disembodied spinal column. That's not to mention that the Land of the Libid
04:24Dead is an optional stage only accessible by unlocking areas containing treasure chests,
04:29opening said chests to retrieve the Skullteeth gem inside, and then delivering those to the
04:34actual Grim Reaper. It's almost like the game is trying to hide this creepiness from the
04:38more sensitive gaming souls among us. Metroid Fusion already starts off on a darker note than
04:44the franchise's previous side-scrolling entries, with intrepid bounty hunter Samus Aran getting
04:49attacked by a space parasite and having emergency surgery that leaves parts of her armor permanently
04:54fused to her body.
04:56"...What the actual f—?"
04:58Yeah, it's grim stuff, but the real horror begins when players first lay eyes on the SA-X,
05:03a parasitic organism that is mimicking Samus' original form. The SA-X first
05:08appears as it blows a hole in the walls of the space station Samus is investigating.
05:12The game then cuts to a chilling close-up of the SA-X's blank white eyes. When Samus finally
05:17encounters the SA-X in person, her weakened state means that the player's only choice is to run or
05:23die. The SA-X has copied Samus at her most powerful, meaning it's armored up and equipped
05:28with all of Samus' old abilities and weapons. Oh, also, the SA-X eventually transforms into a
05:34snarling, drawling monstrosity that resembles something out of a David Cronenberg film.
05:39It's altogether the most frightening enemy of Samus' 16-bit career.
05:44From the tinny, high-pitched music to the locals who all seem to be in some stage or another of
05:48grief, Lavender Town is infamous among Pokemon fans as the eeriest location in the first
05:53generation of the game franchise. No part of Lavender Town is creepier than the gigantic
05:58mausoleum known as Pokemon Tower. Inside the tower, players are greeted by rows upon rows
06:03of headstones and mourning Pokemon trainers who have lost one or more of their beloved Pokemon.
06:08The higher you climb, the worse it gets. Without the aid of the game's self-scope,
06:12ghostly apparitions will appear and tell you to get out. Your own Pokemon will be too frightened
06:17to battle, and Pokeballs bounce right off of the spectres, meaning retreat is your only option.
06:22The most upsetting encounters in Pokemon Tower, however, are with the trainers known as Channelers.
06:27These poor folks have been possessed by the ghosts of the tower and will challenge you when
06:31they spot you. Their introductory dialogue is sometimes not much more than gurgling or
06:36screeching sounds, but some of them will demand your very blood. That's quite a lot for a Nintendo game.
06:41Um, can we get back to catching them all in a well-lit field, please?
06:45Die. Die. Everybody die."
06:50In 2018's entry to the Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,
06:54players were excited to explore the game's Adventure Mode, which allows for a more dramatic
06:59side to a game perhaps best known for its… fighting spirit. Nobody expected a cinematic
07:04of Ultimate to be such a jaw-dropping downer, though, seemingly taking its cues from that
07:09year's apocalyptic Avengers Infinity War.
07:12"...there was no other way."
07:20This mode of play opens with an impressively animated cutscene of all of our heroes working
07:25together to stand up to a coming invasion. The sky tears open, and thousands of Master
07:30Hands descend like a horde of grabby demons. The heroes prepare for battle, but then the
07:35hands transform into stream after stream of energy coming straight at the heroes and…
07:40they are completely disintegrated.
07:43One after another, each hero is utterly destroyed, with only Kirby escaping the carnage. This is
07:48later followed by a sequence showing Mario and the rest being cloned by the villains,
07:53leaving players with a chilling shot of dozens of red-eyed copies of our favorite Smash characters
07:58glaring into the camera.
07:59Thanks for the nightmare, viewers.
08:01We hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, be sure to leave us a like and subscribe to
08:05our channel for more videos like this one.
08:07Take your pick as to what disturbs you in this one. Majora's Mask opens with Link being
08:11transformed into an eerie-looking creature known as a Deku Scrub by the mysterious Skull
08:15Kid, and the plot follows Link's attempt to keep the moon — which, by the way, has a
08:19terrifying scowl on its face — from crashing into the Earth and killing everyone. Majora's
08:24Mask features the most gothic design elements and the most oppressive atmosphere of the
08:29entire Legend of Zelda franchise.
08:31The game's story is a bit of a mix-and-match, but it's also a bit of a mix-and-match.
08:36Even the music is more solemn and minimalistic in some areas than usual. The whole game is
08:43built upon the concept of time running out for Link and the land of Termina, so that
08:47adds a sense of hopelessness which runs throughout the game. If Link runs over his three-day
08:52time limit, you're treated to a cinematic of the end of all life.
08:56Add on to that sequences dealing with alien abductions and a groaning, zombified father
09:00who bursts from a closet and lurches toward his own child, and you have a recipe for
09:05maybe the most oddly upsetting game to ever bear an E rating.
09:12"...Ahhhhh!"