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Games you probably shouldn't have played as a kid

S

SweetJohnnyCage

Member
I didn't play it, but I like sharing the story.

I really wanted Doom on SNES as a kid. I remember Saturday coming and checking the mail while my mom was asleep. Nintendo Power had come, so I opened it up to a pretty big spread on Doom. I was never really shocked by violence before, or grossed out or anything, but something told me that I shouldn't have the game and that it was too grown up for me (I was a weird 6 year old).

When my mom woke up, she asked if I still wanted to go to Toys R Us to get Doom, and I showed her the pictures in the magazine. She said I could get a different game if I wanted. So we went to Toys R Us, and I wound up getting Illusion of Gaia because it came with a shirt and it looked a bit like A Link to the Past.

Illusion of Gaia is in my Top 3 SNES games and Top 10 of all time, and all because I though Doom was too violent for me. It got me interested in exploring the world and traveling. Angkor Wat is on my bucket list for travel destinations because of this game.
 
J

jackal27

Banned
When I was very young I had a teenage friend in the neighborhood who I thought was super cool. He secretly installed Doom on my PC and taught me how to boot it without my mom finding out. I always found it very scary though and it gave me a lot of nightmares. I probably shouldn't have been playing it.
 
noomi

noomi

Member
Duke Nukem, Redneck Rampage, GTA1 (yes the original top down version of the game).

I was probably 8-10 years old when playing these games, I would never let my son these types of games at that age.
 
L

Light Hobo

Neo Member
Definitely had some Kindertrauma playing Resident Evil 2 (chest burst scene), DOOM (bunny head and house of pain), and Silent Hill (Lisa transforms)

I treasure these memories
 
P

PtM

Banned
Rellik said:
I've been playing Grand Theft Auto from the first one since I was a kid. Didn't do me much harm. It taught me some great life lessons like how to save money with prostitutes.
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Mind to share?
Fix-It Felix said:
Conker's Bad Fur Day when I was seven. My mom hated the game, but my dad was okay with it and figured most of the jokes were going over my head.. which they were.
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Shit was still scary or gory at times.
 
D

disappeared

Banned
Tons. My parents gave zero fucks.

I was twelve when Conker released on the N64. The cashier rightfully told me I needed my mom to be there for the purchase. She just chuckled and gave the man the ok.
 
brickarts295

brickarts295

Member
GTA San Andreas OG edition
Oh boy was hot coffee a o_O experience. Thankfully I had a big brother to explain it to me, years before my parents sat me down to tell about the birds and the bees XD
In all honesty I should have just stuck with GTA 3 a little longer.
 
S

SomeRandomWeirdGuy

Member
Some of my earliest memories are watching my dad play Doom 2, and then later Quake II. It was probably my first exposure to videogames in general too. Though I might've played some genesis with my cousin or something.

My dad always had a sorta "oh you shouldn't be playing/watching this game" thing going on, but he's also the reason I got into Halo and he bought us Gears of War when I was in Jr. High. He liked shooters back when he still played games.

As a result I love Doom though, I can't remember it scaring me too much (besides when we rented Doom 64 one time). Love the universe to bits because of that early exposure.
 
L

lord_of_flood

Member
I don't think there were any games like that for me. The first M-rated title I had played was Geist when I was 13, and the game was pretty tame for its M-rating.
 
eso76

eso76

Member
petran79 said:
But the game that had the most impact was this:

arcade03_0165_0001.png


NSWF

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/arcade/03/165.htm

Had also Pocket Gal and Lady Killer

Pocket_Gal_arcade-gameplay-screenshot-3.png
Click to expand...

Not the first time i noticed our backgrounds have a lot in common. Same area maybe ?

Yeah, Poker Ladies interactive cutscenes were so weird. I remember most of them i think, i was so young most felt like some kind of dirty joke that you didn't quite get, but even then they appeared hilariously creepy.

Pocket Gals, i still play it in MAME (i didn't in the arcades, that and Poker Ladies were older guys' stuff) but its music and SFX have the power to take me back like nothing else
 
M

Myriadis

Member
Oscar said:
Heart of Darkness on PS1.

My dad let me buy it after not letting me get Resident Evil 2 due to the crazy zombie face cover. In comparison, HoD had a pretty tame cover with just a kid and his dog.

The death animations in that game are pretty brutal and actually gave me nightmares. I kept going back tho, trying to power through the game.

Good times.
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Yup. Rated E for Everyone, but it has deaths like a huge worm breaking the boys' back before pulling it into its cave completely. It helped that there was no blood and a rather cartoon-like artstyle.

I personally never played stuff like that when I was a kid, the closest was Tomb Raider 3 I think, and that one is rather tame.
 
A

AlexFlame116

Member
I was using MAME after my dad downloaded a pack of basically every single game on the computer when I came across this little "gem".
cast.JPG

Koi Koi Shimasho: Super Real Hanafuda 2

I had no idea what the heck Mahjong was. I honestly thought it was some sort of homework help game or even a hang out with friends and play "Mahjong" kind of game. So I tried it and somehow managed to beat one of the girls even though it was all in Japanese and I had no previous Mahjong skills.

Yeah it wasn't either of those at all.

I think I subconsciously got attached to anime after that.
 
B

bonesmccoy

Banned
Leisure Larry 3.

I was really young - like 8? And came across this in a box of old PC games my uncle had given my dad. I installed it, fired it up and made it through the age-determining questionnaire at the start with almost a 'perfect' score. I didn't understand what was really going on until I looked through the binoculars, and then walked down to the beach.

I eventually got busted when, redoing the questionnaire, I was stumped and went and asked my parents if they knew the answer to "In the eyes of men, how much foreplay is too much foreplay?"

And so ended my time with LL3, and the privilege of having a computer in my room.
 
U

Ultimodragon64

Neo Member
hqdefault.jpg


Police Quest 5. I got the entire collection in a discount box when I was 9 and it was definitely some mature stuff. The part where you find the dead kid in the dumpster definitely stuck with me.
 
petran79

petran79

Banned
eso76 said:
Not the first time i noticed our backgrounds have a lot in common. Same area maybe ?
Click to expand...

I was in Greece, so arcades played a great part of our entertainment during summer.

Even violent arcades back then were seen like a ghost ride in fun fare parks. So no problem for kids to play and see. As for kinky arcades, you could even watch porn magazine covers at kiosks so parents with kids just turned the other way if there was such filth hanging around.

Now such things are forbidden and TV is full of beeps whenever those kinky 80s movies are broadcasted

We had no morals compared to the new generation it seems.
 
G

greekappi

Member
mike6467 said:
So one of my best friends just showed me an invitation her 7 y/o son received for a birthday party. It's a Five Night's at Freddy's themed party and the invitation had the creepy bear on it. She was wondering about the game, and if she should be concerned that it's a huge thing in his class and something he's absolutely dying to play.

I hadn't actually played FNAF, but I knew it looked sketchy, so I went on Steam, saw it was $4.99 and picked it up. I mean:

51U7wTxJI1L._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


Plus jump scares. Jesus, I think I had an easier time with RE7, but that might be because animatronics have always been nightmare fuel for me. Still, the fact that this is all the rage in a 2nd grade classroom seemed...off. Apparently she talked to the Mom who sent the invitations and she had no idea it was a horror game (strong conservative christian who won't even let their kids watch Harry Potter lol).

It seems to me that on a scale of things I wouldn't want a young kid to see it goes nudity < sex < violence <<<< psychological horror.

This got me to thinking about games I played when I was younger that were probably too much. I was born in '84, and I can't think of anything this intense. Mortal Kombat was probably the worst, and that level of violence did mess with me at the time.

Of course, games have progressed from that, and the portrayal of "bad things" has gotten more explicit and detailed. On top of that, you're looking at shit like Jontron, fucked up porn and an infinite number of other things....All easily accessible to highly impressionable minds. I really wonder how parents today deal with this.

Anyways back on topic, what disturbing games did GAF play at a young age? Do you think it was a bad idea looking back? For those with kids, what are your limits as far as content goes?
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Ok so since you said it was $5 I went and picked it up too. I have no idea what the hell is going on.
I'm in a room with cameras and I'm looking for these things? Then one jumps out and it's game over.
What am I doing?
 
Gabbelgak

Gabbelgak

Member
If I was forced to choose one, I would say Duke Nukem or Leisure Suit Larry.

I played online games though and did chat rooms and crap in the early 90's which opened you up to much worse from the people you encountered. I'm of the opinion no media is too much - simply another way to broaden your perspective about the world.
 
R

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
zephry said:
It would have to be Duke Nukem 3D for me. Strippers, porno movie theater, etc was just mindblowing for a game when it was released.
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Yup. I don't regret it at all, as it's one of my favorite games ever, but I was 6 when I tried the demo for the first time. I had no idea what a red light district was, nor what those dancers were doing after Duke paid them. Maybe it wasn't the most educational game for someone who was just starting the first grade.

I still love the game, and am glad that my dad downloaded that demo!
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Splatterhouse 3 fucked my shit up as a little kid on the Sega Genesis. My parents probably shouldn't have let me rent that game, gave me nightmares and I actually stopped playing it because I was so scared. It was also gory as Hell and had all kinds of disturbing visuals like monsters heads falling off and limbs erupting from the open wound.
 
dcx4610

dcx4610

Member
Mortal Kombat (original). My parents (specifically my dad) didn't seem to care and just thought it was funny. I think they knew I was smart enough to realize it was a video game and didn't anticipate me uppercutting kids heads off on the playground.
 
P

PtM

Banned
Myriadis said:
Yup. Rated E for Everyone, but it has deaths like a huge worm breaking the boys' back before pulling it into its cave completely. It helped that there was no blood and a rather cartoon-like artstyle.

I personally never played stuff like that when I was a kid, the closest was Tomb Raider 3 I think, and that one is rather tame.
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Reminds me of the animated movie Watership Down; it got a German age rating of 6.
dcx4610 said:
Mortal Kombat (original). My parents (specifically my dad) didn't seem to care and just thought it was funny. I think they knew I was smart enough to realize it was a video game and didn't anticipate me uppercutting kids heads off on the playground.
Click to expand...
Har har.
 
M

mike6467

Member
greekappi said:
Ok so since you said it was $5 I went and picked it up too. I have no idea what the hell is going on.
I'm in a room with cameras and I'm looking for these things? Then one jumps out and it's game over.
What am I doing?
Click to expand...

Lol, I'm not entirely sure where the game ends up going, but initially it seems you're just supposed to stay alive until the next day. You've got limited power and whatnot and you have to use the cameras to judge where to use the tools you've got to keep relevant doors shut, lights on, etc. so that the creepy animatronics don't come and murder you.

Since posting this I also learned there's a bunch of merchandise sold at retail (including Toys R Us) for the game. Stuff like playsets, plushies and whatnot. I guess it's shock value and relatively tame horror (as in, no blood, gore etc) for younger kids? Maybe the Goosebumps books that were controversial when I was young are the analogue I'm looking for, and I'm just old and out of touch for thinking these games are more explicit/disturbing.

Edit: Also, despite the $4.99 price tag, I am not endorsing people buy this. It doesn't seem like a particularly engaging or clever game.
 
C

Conor_Fool

Banned
I hold true to my idea of graphics/realism, so I'd say no game. When I would play the GTA games as a kid, sure I'd kill some people here and there, but 95% of the time I would just go around looking for a motorcycle and hit up some sick nasty ramps. I don't think the GTA games or Mortal Kombat on Sega had any ill effects on me.

As I play through GTA V though, it horrifies me a bit to think of kids playing it. It's just so much more realistic and, in turn, graphic.

It was a wide array of movies that I shouldn't have seen.
 
P

PhantomZone

Member
womp said:
I was really good at Strip Poker on my Commodore 64 when I was 11.

Thanks to Las Vegas Blackjack being the pack-in game included with the Intellivision years before,I ended up being quite the card shark by then.
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Hollywood Strip Poker Pro II on Commodore Amiga my jam when I was 10. Became quite the poker player then!

Played Leisure Suit Larry when I was 7. They didn't think I would get the trivia questions correct :D. Took a few years to finish it properly.

I was allowed to play Doom when I was 11. But my parents were pretty tame. I was allowed to watch Rambo, Terminator, Robocop, Toxic Avenger etc when I was 4.
 
N

Nosgotham

Junior Member
Bionic commando
Tecmos deception

Those are the two big ones that made me think ...hmm if my mom saw this I would get in trouble
 
BigBeauford

BigBeauford

Member
I played buck rogers countdown to doomsday on the sega genesis, and these was an early cutseen of someone dying in a hallway to an alien that gave me nightmares.
 
K

Ketch

Member
mike6467 said:
Since posting this I also learned there's a bunch of merchandise sold at retail (including Toys R Us) for the game. Stuff like playsets, plushies and whatnot. I guess it's shock value and relatively tame horror (as in, no blood, gore etc) for younger kids? Maybe the Goosebumps books that were controversial when I was young are the analogue I'm looking for, and I'm just old and out of touch for thinking these games are more explicit/disturbing.

Edit: Also, despite the $4.99 price tag, I am not endorsing people buy this. It doesn't seem like a particularly engaging or clever game.
Click to expand...

Yea i've noticed FNAF shirts and bags and stuff are in popular culture as well, and it never really made sense to me because the game seemed like cliche crap.
 
B

Brhoom

Banned
Alone in the dark (1992) 5 or 6 years old

Silent Hill. 7 or 8 years old

Resident Evil 3. 7 or 8 years old

Silent Hill gave me nightmares as a kid...
 
R

Renekton

Member
Randy Monk said:
http://www.sierraclassicgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/lsl1_hooker.png

I was 12 and the only definition of hooker I knew was a Rugby position.
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I thought LSL wasn't tooo bad. You learn about STDs from unprotected sex, dangers of seedy places, being a creep to girls usually has embarassing or deadly consequences, and that the final reward is usually a letdown.
 
M

Metalmarc

Member
Mortal Kombat when i was 11/12, but i don't really know maybe i was fine playing it.

Edit- Forgot to add it just seemed like a normal fighting game the first time i played it, until I discovered the blood cheatcode in a magazine a few months later hooboy, that changed m world.


Also started my love for the series until i stopped gaming pretty much, for a while back during the ps2 era (yeah i know shocking, i was 18 during the ps2 era and got into drinking, girls, etc so didnt game during that time much)
 
Z

zephry

Member
Does anyone remember Drahkkan on SNES? I think I was sixth grade at that time and that game literally gave me nightmares. Music and sound effects and that scary thing that come out randomly and kill your party was too distressing for a young mind. Now that I am much older I can definitely appreciate the what the game is about now.
 
eso76

eso76

Member
petran79 said:
I was in Greece, so arcades played a great part of our entertainment during summer.
Click to expand...

Figured it would be the old continent.
Italy here. Arcades were huge and you'd find at least one coin op in every bar or beach resort. Seems like we were getting the same games.

Well, arcades did say people under 14 were not allowed but no one cared. Games were not a concern anyway, it was more about guys skipping school to go there and smoke cigarettes. My parents were (still are) overprotective in many ways, but they knew I just went there for videogames and they didn't believe those could have ill effects on me. Besides, it's the eighties we're talking about and it was just a bunch of pixels.
They didn't know stuff like Custard Revenge existed, but neither did I.
 
K

Kain-Nosgoth

Member
I would said leisure suit larry 7, when i was like 9 years old!

Played a lot of horror games, but it was fine, like resident evil, silent hill at 8-9 years old, and the very first GTA on ps1 too
 
S

SuperBlank

Member
I played GTA and Conker probably before I should've... but I don't really think they had a huge impact. Though they weren't my most played games...
That said I do remember playing some pretty questionable flash games when I was just getting a hang of the internet.

And not that I shouldn't have played it but I remember the piano in Mario 64 scaring me a lot, haha.
 
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