10/31/2014

Top 29 Creepy Music from non-horror Games



Today is Halloween and to "celebrate" that, here’s a list of Top 29 Creepy Music from non-horror games. It contains music that is just simply creepy by itself or creepy together with the moment it plays at in the game. The list is in no particular order. Without further ado, let’s begin:

Caverns of Winterns – EarthBound

This plays during many cave locations in Earthbound, often rather generic caves. This track was actually used in a popular creepypasta Sonic.exe.

Giygas’ Theme – Earthbound
One of the most well-known things in EarthBound is one of the creepiest bosses in non-horror games. Giygas is a bodyless remain of the the final boss from Mother 1. If the imagery wasn’t disturbing enough, it is accompanied with the disturbing mix of sounds and music. The backstory of the boss battle just adds up to the creepiness of the battle.

Giygas’ Theme (aka Lucas’ Nightmare) – Mother 3
This is an unused theme from Mother 3 that became known as Giygas’ Theme, however it was most likely to be used in the original final battle named by the fans Lucas’ Nightmare. This theme has a dark voice talking along with background noises/screaming. The voice can be misheard as “Lucas, help”, “Why me Lucas” or 1-2-3-5. It reality it is OJ saying “one two three five (or four?) along with crowd cheering, slowed down to this creepy level. Despite that, it is really creepy.

!SPOILER ALERT! Battle Against The Masked Man – Mother 3
This theme basically reflects what is happening in Masked Man’s head. Listening to it in various speeds makes it even creepier. For instance, the sound at 0:35 sounds like Boney whining when sped up. The battle itself isn’t that much of a battle, but rather a powerfully emotional moment.

Cave of Bad Dreams/The Chase – Rayman 2

This is more of a personal one. This level creeped me out as a kid with the creepy arms in the walls, etc. Oh yeah, and that creepy ass chase scene at the end along with a boss battle that was hard at the time as I was still used to sidescrolling NES platformers.

Tomb of the Ancients – Rayman 2
This is the theme of one of the later levels in Rayman 2 where you visit a dark, ominous place called Tomb of The Ancients, full of ghosts, deadly “water” etc. The music and the setting are creepy.

Shadow Temple – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The music itself is creepy, but you know what’s really creepy? Those damned Dead Hand monster. Seriously, as if the re-dead with their creepy screams weren’t creepy enough.

Fire Temple – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The original theme was changed as it contained Islamic chanting, but in my opinion, it was the best one as the chanting made it so much creepier. I can understand why they have removed it though.

Cave – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask
I put these two as one entry as they are very similar. They’re both barely even music and more of an ambience of creepy sounds. Both themes made the caves in N64 Zelda games so much more intimidating and scary.

World of Nothing – Super Paper Mario
Mario games are happy games, right? Well, most of the time. Super Paper Mario had the most serious story of them all and it featured a void threatening to end all the worlds. At one point in the game, one world is destroyed and once you come back there’s nothing but white background and a single flat line as ground. This track plays during your journey to the place, making the fact you’re visited an erased world even creepier.

River Twygz Bed – Super Paper Mario
Another track from Super Paper Mario can be heard once you dive into the River Twygz in the Underwhere, a “parody” of River Styx in the Greek Underworld. I don’t think there’s any need to describe why this theme is so disturbing and creepy.Oh yeah, and it sounds exactly the same in reverse

Zant at Lakebed – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
This plays after you complete the Lakebed Temple and encounter Zant. If the theme itself isn’t scary enough for you, here’s a cutscene from a short while later.
Still wanna talk about how kiddie Nintendo is?

Twilight – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
This plays while you’re in the regions of Hyrule taken over by the “Twilight”.  This music helped to make those areas feel even more unfriendly that they already are. This is one of the things that made Twilight Princess into my favorite Zelda game. There’s just so much atmosphere in that game.

Strains of Insanity – Chrono Trigger
I never really played Chrono Trigger (but probably will in the near future), but I’ve heard this song in numerous videos and well, it is scary. The really scary thing here is that voice. You can’t tell if it’s laughing or crying. You know what? SNES had some pretty awesome music for its time.

A Great Spirit Lies in the Walls – Okami
This music gives me goosebumps every time. The instrument itself makes a rather creepy sound, but the echo just makes it so much better, especially considering it plays in a big cave just before a big boss. The whole soundtrack of Okami is one of the best soundtracks ever, as well as the game itself. Sadly, it sold far less than it deserved.

Strange House – Pokémon Black & White 2
Situated outside a volcanic road in Unova there’s a place called Strange House. It’s a haunted house with spooky music and lots of creepy sound effects in the background. And before the song loops, it stops for a while just to let the sounds be louder for a while. Perfect!

N’s Room – Pokémon Black & White 2
N’s Castle is in ruin and the composer did an amazing job at portraying that with music. N’s Castle Theme only plays half of the notes and sounds as if played from an old gramophone. But that one is just atmospheric, while the theme of N’s Room takes it to another level by making it creepy by slowing down at times like a broken record. It kinda reflects N’s broken childhood as well. In fact, N’s character and the story in Gen 5 makes it the best story in the games.

Battle! Ghetsis – Pokemon Black/White and Black2/White2
This one isn’t really creepy but it again reflects the character really well. The first one is strong but calm, as Ghetsis himself is sure that he will win, while in Black2/White2 it matches with his mental breakdown and determination.

Final Hours – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
At the beginning I mentioned that some of the entries are tied to an event in the game. This is the best example of it. The song itself isn’t that creepy, it is the situation. The moon is about to crash into Termina and there’s only a few minutes left. The bells only make it feel more serious.

Ikana Valley – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
It is no secret that Majora’s Mask is a dark and scary game, at Ikana Valley is one scary area. It is the land of the dead.

Dark Hogwarts – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter was the first PC I owned (aka pre-installed on my computer) and I remember it very well. It felt really serious as a kid and the atmosphere is still great to this day. The scariest part of the game was always areas with this music. They were always the darkest places, as the name suggests.

Willow Level 2 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE. That’s the text written with bloody red letters on a wall in Hogwarts and the game reminds you of its scary presence every time you entered the corridor leading to it.

Big Boo’s Haunt – Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 is a child-friendly game. That is until they get to this level and hear this music or go near that GODDAMN PIANO. Seriously, who didn’t get scared by it the first time?

Item Room – Super Metroid
Super Metroid is a game where you’re all alone, without any outside help whatsoever. The theme that plays during item rooms along with most of the soundtrack sets the mood for the game’s theme

The Great Northern Cavern – Final Fantasy VII
This is again a track that is mostly tied to the event itself. It replaces the main overworld theme once the Meteor is hanging above the world of Gaia. Just as with Final Hours, this sets the mood for the disaster that is about to happen. But don’t worry, this depressing music is replaced as soon as you board Highwind or a chocobo.

Trial of Blood – Final Fantasy VII
This track plays during more serious and creepy parts of the game. There isn’t much I can say here. It just is kinda scary.

Dementors – HP3 GBA
Gameboy Advance had a rather crappy sound card (chip?) and this particular thing makes this part much scarier. Combined with the sound effects, it truly reflects the creepiness of the dementors.

The Haunted Mansion Ambience – Dust: An Elysian Tail
It’s really that much of a musical track, but I has music elements in it and it really damn creepy. This plays while you’re visiting one of the several mansion in The Sorrowing Meadow. It would seem that the ghosts of the people handed over into Gaius’ hand still roam these places, reminding of the awful events that happened in the past.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Music - £64,000 - £500,000
Yes! It is a TV show, but it got a game on PS1. I remember watching this as a kid as I loved the concept and the soundtrack in general in freaking awesome. The music that plays during the later questions is pretty creepy and I can just imagine how it “helps” the player to feel the fact he or she came a long way and can easily lose now. When the player reaches the 1 million dollar (or whatever currency that is in your version) most of the instruments stop and you are left with a single background sound and the heartbeat. Probably what the player’s heart itself sounds like.


And that’s it for this awfully big list. Hope you’ve enjoyed it and Happy Halloween everybody!

10/22/2014

All Pokémon generations are equally good



A very common thing in the Pokémon fan base is people constantly saying that the Pokémon in the newer generations, especially Generation 5 are terrible and that Game Freak is running out of ideas, while praising Generation 1 and saying how superior those Pokémon are. Of course, everyone can have opinions. If someone just says they don’t like them, it is fine, but most of the time people just start to point out the flaws and then you’re messing with the facts. The facts that basically all of these flaws are present in their “superior” Generation 1. This wouldn’t really be that much of a deal for me if it wasn’t for those countless posts, videos etc. about how Generation 5 sucks and how everything past the original 151 is crap. Let’s take a look at those common “flaws” and compare them to Gen 1 pokes with the same treats. And while I do call them flaws here, I actually don’t consider them as flaws myself.

Too similar to real-life animals and too simple
 
People say that Pokémon like Minccino are just basically the same as their real-life counterparts and too simple in design. Let’s look at Gen 1: Rattata is just a purple rat and Seel is literally just a seal. And speaking of “too simple” designs: Voltorb, Gastly and Electrode are just balls with eyes. Many people also complain about every generation having a Pikachu rip-off. I get that they are all electric rodents, but why is that a problem? In fact, I like all of those “Pikachu rip-offs” more than the actual Pikachu.

Based on inanimate objects

A lamp Pokémon? They’re basing Pokémon on objects now? Out of ideas!!
This is one of the biggest problems people have with Gen 5. It’s funny, because it’s also one of the easiest one to point out in Gen 1. Voltorb and Electrode are pokéballs with eyes, Weezing and Koffing are living smoke balls, Geodude is a rock with arms, Grimer and Muk are piles of sludge, Exeggcute is/are eggs.

Uncreative designs        

One of the most hated Pokémon is Vanillite and its evolutions, an ice-cream like Pokémon. Personally, I kinda like it because it’s cute. People say that it’s uncreative and running out of ideas. First of all, who are you to decide whether someone’s creation is creative of not? And if you really think all of those designs aren’t creative, you obviously just looked at the designs and never read the actual descriptions, because most of the pokemon have a clear reasoning behind them not to mention that many of the designs that some people call lack of imagination are actually based on different mythical creatures from different cultures. In fact, generation 5 takes many new inspirations. And according to your definition of uncreative design so are tons of Generation 1 Pokemon such as previously mentioned spherical Pokemon, sludge Pokemon and even ditto who is just a random slime shape with a face.


Dumb evolutions

Not much to say here. Dugtrio and Magneton. Nothing else needs to be said here. Just please explain how those two are more creative than two ice-creams and two swords. And I didn’t even mention eggs evolving into a palm tree.

Garbodor
This one isn’t about comparing, but rather to defend one of the most hated Pokémon. People who are bashing Garbodor probably didn’t read Trubbish’s flavor text.
The combination of garbage bags and industrial waste caused the chemical reaction that created this Pokémon.”
Trubbish and Garbodor are Pokémon created because of the waste humans caused and it’s obviously not gonna be pretty. Calling Garbodor a non-creative idea isn’t right, because it is obvious what the inspiration is; that humans’ waste created mutations like this.

Too many legendaries
While I do understand why people say that there’s too many legendaries in newer generations (they might feel less special), there’s no reason to not have many of them. There are countless different legends in real-life and most of Pokémon legends have a good legend behind them.
And also, most people don’t know that there’s legendary and mythical Pokémon. Mythical are super-rare Pokémon rather than Pokémon of legends.
What I don’t like is how people say that Mewtwo is the “best legendary”, because to be honest… Can it even be counted as a legendary? It is not a Pokémon from legends. It is a human-made clone of a legendary Pokémon Mew, so technically it is just a very strong Pokémon…

Hated just because they’re not Gen 1
There’re actually many Pokemon that are commonly disliked for no reason whatsoever. Genwunners just take a look at them and say that they suck. This was a very common thing when Gen 5 pokemon were being revealed. I can’t even find any Gen 1 counterparts as I don’t get what people’s problem is with them. Seriously, this category is more of less every other Gen 5 creature that isn’t in the categories above. This attitude in my opinion just shows how nostalgia blinded some people are. They simply consider Gen 1 the only good one because that’s what they grew up with and ignore the fact that the new ones aren’t much different.

Conclusion:
Game Freak are not running out of ideas as many people say. Most accusations people make about newer gens were present in the highly praised Generation 1. I am not saying that you should like all the generations, but you should at least take off your nostalgia goggles and accept the newer things and respect Game Freak for all those amazing creations and games.  Will this convince any genwunners? Of course not, they’re going to keep saying their crap and I’m going to keep seeing them as not “true fans”. It’s just fun to find all those similarities between all those generations.