IT’S HALLOWEEN!!! This is my favorite time of the year. Spooks are afoot. I myself watch spooky movies and play spooky games. I just love this time. Just put on Andrew Gold’s Spooky Scary Skeletons and let the creeps begin. What? Spooky Scary Skeletons isn’t scary? Do you want spooky tracks? And from video games no less? Well okay. I will give you my personal top ten spookiest tracks in games. So with that said, let’s get our spook on!!
#10. Ancient Machine(Halo 2)
Ok, so those who played Halo know of a certain “twist” in the series that changes the atmosphere and style of the gameplay a bit. When the flood first was introduced it threw players a curveball. The enemy didn’t work as methodically as the covenant did. Instead of tactically trying to kill the player like the alien menace these parasites used brute force by swarming the player head-on. Not only did this mix up the gameplay, it changes the atmosphere from a one man army slaughtering aliens to a guy in a green suit trying to survive a horde of parasites and zombies. The game’s level design complemented this and of course so did the music. The music became more in line to something from a horror game. And it was in Halo 2 when the ancient evil reared its ugly head that I really started to get nervous when ancient machine played. Its haunting wails complemented the Flood perfectly in the dark corridors of the Forerunner installations and actually made me feel quite nervous.
#9. Forest Temple(The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)
Zelda has had its fair share of creepy songs. A lot of the stuff in Twilight Princess for example. And the Shadow Temple in Ocarina Of Time still unnerves me to this day. But it’s the Forest Temple from Ocarina Of Time that edges it out for a few reasons. First off, the Shadow Temple is supposed to be creepy but there is something unsettling about this temple. When you think forest you think trees, leafs and forest wildlife. Instead what you find deep in the woods is this abandoned mansion. It’s dark and has a weird layout. It’s where you have this crazy hallway that changes shape and it’s also the first dungeon where you meet the terrifying Floormasters. And aside from that, the main gimmick in this dungeon is ghosts that haunt paintings. And the entire time you run around in this dungeon this music plays. It’s not the ambient sounds but the supposed chanting that’s going on that makes this such a stressful dungeon. The da-dum da-dum da-dum sounds that plays and gets louder certainly doesn’t help either.
#8. Witch theme(Left 4 Dead)
I played a lot of Left 4 Dead with friends. It’s a blast. Every time we heard the crying of a Witch we all just shushed each other and listened in fear wondering where the sound came from. Witches are infected that just sit on the ground and cry. If you leave them alone you are safe. If someone manages to piss one off, all hell broke loose. When you get closer to a Witch the music intensifies…and so do we. It was always nerve-wracking to hear that music. It was even scarier if you saw on your screen that you angered the Witch without knowing what you did, or where she was. The only thing you could do then was run and pray.
#7. Lavender Town(Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow)
Ok, now we are getting into the real spook territory. Get ready to change pants after listening to every song after this ’cause they’re going to be soiled. I know it’s kind of beating a dead horse but that doesn’t mean that dead horse isn’t scary as hell. Putting all the goofy myths and creepypastas aside, when I was a kid and I arrived in Lavender Town I got really unnerved. The music was so beautiful yet so scary to me. Lavender Town is unique in that it has a burial tower for all the dead Pokemon. Most of the time in these kinds of games you rather not think about such morbid stuff. But not only did Lavender Town confront you with the idea of dead Pokemon but also ghosts and people mourning the loss of their beloved pets and friends. To this day this song has a grasp over me. It creeps me out but is also one of my favorite tracks in a game ever.
#6. The Tomb Of The Ancients(Rayman 2).
Alright, now we get in some weird personal ones. Rayman 2 was what I considered the first “real” game I played. I love the game, it’s amazing. The soundtrack was also great, with a lot of out-of-this-world whimsical tracks. However, when I got to The Tomb Of The Ancients it freaked me the f*ck out. Like I was scared beyond belief of this track. So much so that when I had to play on this level I had to mute the audio. The track hits all the horror clichés. The piano is very similar to another game you will see on this list. it has haunting yawns and the violin scratching all over the place. It’s spooky enough to fit in the original Resident Evil. When I was little and I returned to the level I wanted to turn down the audio when I entered the level because I forgot. I then proceeded to accidentally turn the audio way up instead of down and freaked myself out so much that I never touched the game after that.
#5. The Mansion Basement(Resident Evil Director’s Cut)
So we all know this is just a joke post. For those of you who don’t know, Resident Evil had some great and haunting tracks. The Mansion’s Basement was a great example of this. When Resident Evil Director’s Cut was released they changed the layout and the music of the game. Now while the original’s soundtrack is respected as a spooky solid soundtrack more people know this soundtrack for how horrifyingly bad it is. I could have added almost any other song but the Mansion’s Basement song still manages to make me crack up super hard. So yeah, we had our laughs with this, let’s move on right? Well, I propose you this, the real horror of this debacle. The man who wrote this also wrote the original soundtrack and he’s deaf. They called him the Japanese Mozart. Now it turns out that not only was he not deaf but he had a ghost writer writing all his music. Can you imagine someone going trough such lengths for fame and making quite a bit of money of this scam? The true horror is someone scamming everyone so hard. And for him, the true horror became reality when he got exposed.
#4. Haunted House(Super Mario 64)
Man, this track sounds like something you would find out of Evil Dead or something. Super Mario 64 is such a happy-go-lucky game and then there is this creepy mansion… In order to get to that mansion you need to kill a Boo in the garden of the castle and inside the Boo is a cage with a small mansion in it. Once you jump in it Mario shrinks and is now in the mansion. the mansion has so much creepy stuff. Like the shed where there is just a floating eyeball. And then, of course, there is the dreaded piano. Damn that thing to hell. The music kind of fits the setting but the setting was way too creepy for the game.
#3. Ludiwg’s Thump Castle Hotel 1(Hotel Mario)
Another Mario game and another very personal pick. I’m not really proud to admit it but Hotel Mario is the first game I ever played (that’s why I said 2 is my first real game). And Ludwig’s Thump Castle Hotel gave me nightmares as a kid. Its spooky sounds and organ really freaked me the frick out. I still can’t handle listening to the track without feeling really spooked. The second variation, while a bit more extreme, is still very frightening to me. I remember having nightmares of Ludwig eating me. It might seem silly but if you see him in action if you were a four-year-old you probably would have been scared just as much.
#2. Final Boss(Sonic CD US version)
Ok, I literally can’t handle this one. It sends tingles across my spine. This track is exclusive to Sonic CD in the US while the PAL and Japanese versions got a wacky, goofy almost Jet Set Radio sound Sega USA was like “Nah man. If our game doesn’t give little kids nightmares, we are doing it wrong.” Instead of the goofy laughs we get this distorted and mortifying version. The song also appears on a rather disturbing anti-piracy screen players can get by inputting a cheat code. The text on the screen reads “Fun is infinite with Sega Enterprises” but it’s signed by Majin meaning Devil in Japan. Yeah, that’s probably the spookiest track I have ever heard. In fact, while typing all this I listen to the tracks that I’m typing about. But not this time. I just listened to the goofy Japanese version instead.
#1. River Twygz Bed(Super Paper Mario)
Yeah, another Mario one. This one is genuinely in the wrong game. It is freaking me out right now as I’m listening to it. WHY, WHY IS THIS IN A MARIO GAME? Why is this in any game? It’s just creepy sounds with extremely mumbled speech thrown into it. This track frightens me to no end. In Super Paper Mario you will go to the Mario equivalent of the underworld where you need to cross the river Twygz. Jumping off the boat and into the water will make you sink into the bed with nothing but darkness and creepy hands trying to grab you. Once you are down there is stuff to do but do you really care what’s there? I don’t. I just wanted to get topside as fast as I could. F*ck that place and F*ck this track.
And that’s it. Are ya poopin ya pants with fright? No? Well, horror is very subjective, and as I said these are the tracks that make me nervous when I hear them. Do you have any personal tracks that freak you out? Let me know in the comments. Happy Halloween everyone!!!
If you are interested in any of these games you can check out our reviews for the following games:
