Scary video game music

Just a Wario Fan

Just a Wario Fan

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Since it will be Halloween soon, I wanted to make another video game music thread, one where you can share your favourite scary tunes for the most fearful time of the year.

Here are some of mine:


Most of us Wario fans already know this one, and it’s arguably one of the creepiest tracks from Wario Land games. It’s extremely simple and minimalistic, but very effective at giving you the chills.


This is to be honest one of the very few ‘’haunted house’’ tracks from the Mario series that I think is actually good. In the NSMB series, they just aren’t that scary anymore. Those creepy high notes and that uncomfortable pitch bending is what makes this one stand out, and the GBA version it sounds even better. I remember being afraid of the Ghost Houses when I was a kid, for this very reason.


The other genuinely scary haunted house theme from a Mario game. On par with the Ghost House theme from Super Mario World if you ask me. Brings back some nasty piano-related memories.


Not a horror track, but it still has the power of making me feel uneasy and giving me goosebumps. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be creepy, but it still is to me. Probably because of the stark contrast with the warm and light environment that completely changes the second you set foot in this maze of a Shantae dungeon, and after many minutes of being lost it starts do drive you mad. The sound effect channel distorting the music doesn't exactly help.

and finally:


Yeah, I think it ain’t hard to see why I included this one in the list. Imagine playing this game in pitch dark and then you’re presented with this...
I bet you’d be scared as hell too. 0:27 even sounds like it says ‘’good nightmare’’. Imscared:
 
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i know this isn't really from a spooky themed level but the music that plays during the no russian mission from modern warfare 2 makes me uneasy. It's probably even more disturbing if you know the context of the mission:
 
The ambience songs in the Luigi's Mansion series have always done well here:



And let's not forget Zelda Ocarina of Time's temple songs. Or at least, the Forest and Shadow Temple ones:





The old Fire Temple one with the chanting is pretty creepy too:



Frantic Factory in DK64 was quite unsettling:



With the boss version adding laughter into the mix:

Mad Jack Battle - Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong Country had some unsettling much too:

Donkey Kong Country OST 18 Misty Menace

Northern Hemispheres - Donkey Kong Country

And some downright 'oh crap' inducing ones:

Donkey Kong Country 2 Music: King Zing Chase

Donkey Kong Country 2 - Haunted Hall

The Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga remake turned the Joke's End song from merely annoying to creepy and annoying:

Joke's End DX - Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions

Just a few there.
 
CM30 said:
The ambience songs in the Luigi's Mansion series have always done well here:



And let's not forget Zelda Ocarina of Time's temple songs. Or at least, the Forest and Shadow Temple ones:





The old Fire Temple one with the chanting is pretty creepy too:



Frantic Factory in DK64 was quite unsettling:



With the boss version adding laughter into the mix:

Mad Jack Battle - Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong Country had some unsettling much too:

Donkey Kong Country OST 18 Misty Menace

Northern Hemispheres - Donkey Kong Country

And some downright 'oh crap' inducing ones:

Donkey Kong Country 2 Music: King Zing Chase

Donkey Kong Country 2 - Haunted Hall

The Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga remake turned the Joke's End song from merely annoying to creepy and annoying:

Joke's End DX - Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions

Just a few there.
Click to expand...


Ah, yes. I totally forgot about how scary Donkey Kong Country can be. Misty Menace in particular. It has the same ''calm but creepy'' composition style that Forest of Fear has, and now I remember the level too. Those zombie crocs from Stop & Go Station were not something I expected in a DK game.
Talking about Donkey Kong Country, let's not forget Lockjaw's Saga.
[Donkey Kong 2 OST] Lockjaw's Saga
It's creepy not in the ''disturbing''sense, but rather because of the tension that gradually builds up, starting with the water sounds, then culminating into a dramatic orchestral part.

And here's another one I forgot about, from Yoshi's Island, of all games.

Room Before Boss - Yoshi's Island
Makes you actually a bit afraid of what's about to come.
 
Lockjaw's Locker certainly gives you that feeling of dread in an underwater level.

Which also reminds me, I think the original treetops song in Donkey Kong Country 3 has a similar feeling:



And room before boss in Yoshi's Island eh? Yeah, those kind of songs certainly make you feel on edge. Same with the DK64 and Mario Galaxy equivalents:





Also a few from the Pokemon series:



A classic:



And from the same games:

Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen- Pokemon Tower

Pokemon Red Music - Silph Company

Or from a later title:

Pokemon D/P Music - Old Chateau
 

This track really caught me off guard first time I heard it. It made me wonder if that what happens to these worms after they die. Worst of all is that this was the track I heard the most (at least in World Party Remastered), because tracks can play on any background randomly. At least Worms Open Warfare's theme for "Hell" landscape is catchy.

I feel very uncomfortable with this one as well. I think it's game's soundfont, that makes this one creepy for me.
 
Might as well post more disturbing songs before halloween ends.

Richard's theme is pretty fucking disturbing


Yeah this one was pretty obvious.


Doom 64 has probably one of the most spine chilling soundtracks in gaming.


A theme that is both sad and disturbing. Two birds killed with one stone.


Pretty fitting music for shooting up a gang's underground torture chamber.


Yeet i ran out of clever things to say.
Pokemon Gold & Silver Music - Union Cave / Alph Ruins

While you may think this isn't bad at first just translate the lyrics and you'll understand why it's disturbing.
DR:AE OST Disc 2 - 01 Let's Play With Monokuma
 
CM30 said:
Which also reminds me, I think the original treetops song in Donkey Kong Country 3 has a similar feeling
Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting how you describe it as being scary and having a sense of dread to it. To me, this song has never felt scary at all, but rather very ''atmospheric'' like Stickerbrush Symphony, Aquatic Ambience, and so many others from DKC's Rare era. It also makes me feel quite sad. This is especially true for the Land version of it, which sounds more ''rough'' and less sophisticated than the Country version, because of the 8-bit sound.



MrLlort said:
I feel very uncomfortable with this one as well. I think it's game's soundfont, that makes this one creepy for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah indeed. This is basically the creepyness of the Ghost House music from Super Mario World turned up to eleven. The deep cello and fluctuating volume give this one an extra dose of scary.

Here and some others:

It has about the same unsettling vibe to it as the mine and cave themes from the DK games, and I'm pretty sure it could well have fitted into a DKC game just fine.


Paper Mario is one of the darkest Mario RPG games yet, and that's quite an achievement when you take into account that the RPG's aren't exactly as cheerful and lighthearted as the main Mario games.
 


This is truly terrifying stuff.

Nah, just kidding!
But if I had any choices, it would be most of the Sonic CD soundtrack. You see, I didn't have the original game when growing up, but I had Sonic Gems Collection when I was younger and it had Sonic CD. Note: In Europe ( where I live ) we got the Japanese soundtrack as well. But in Sonic Gems Collection, it had the American soundtrack. You can just imagine how horrified I was when I heard the boss theme and the game over theme.





Also, when I had Sonic Colors on Wii, I remembered being a bit unsettled by the game over screen, which was just a blue empty screen with the white text that said " Game over ", while the announcer said it. Idk why it did though since I am not scared of it anymore. Probably due to the music and how it kinda was paranoia fuel to me, due to it feeling like nothing was barely there.

BONUS: I have only played a small portion of Earthbound ( I like it so far ), but I have seen the ending boss and the ending music. Because of how the music is so terrifying, the backstory of the ending boss, and the theories that spawned from it, it just makes this a whole lot worse.

 
This song summarizes how nightmarish the things that Sponge goes through in Mario's Mystery Meat are quite accurately:


This song just is incredibly creepy:


This song is immensely better than the one that it is a remake of and instantly brings Norilsk to mind:


This song is every bit as weird as Snowdrake's Mother is when you meet her in Undertale:


This song sounds like the theme song of a zombie-and-werewolf-filled version of London:
 
This song plays in funny parts of the games that it plays in but is THE opposite of funny:


This song sounds like the theme song of a completely war-torn and polluted-to-death version of China/Thailand:


This song IS the theme song of a completely war-torn and polluted version of Earth itself:


This song should have been the theme song of Q in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike:


This song basically says that Hawke is even more evil than Sturm:
 
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