As for Arcade... Sinistar's bellows did really get me a bit

I just love how those
guys recorded his voice with Distortion. Even with low volume, the distortion
makes you feel like its screaming... and angered to a demonic level.
And at normal arcade volumes... it freaked
you out big time.
But the most psychologically impactful games that I played in my youth were both
on the C-64 computer.
1) The Last v8
Top View:
You drive a car fast as hell thru post nuclear war 'suburban' zones trying to avoid radiation waves, as well a 'soon to land' incoming missile. The music is creep cool with a
frenzied tempo. Your car is fast as hell, and needs it, cause you have only seconds
to cut thru the neighborhood streets to get to the underground shelter before
its too late. Even the most reckless, fast, precise driving skill will barely make it in time...
so your heart nearly jumps out of your chest on every curve!
As you are driving... you have a radioactive sensor that Blares out loud when you
are in a hot-zone. Scares the brown right out of you! I have to say... that
Radiation death is one of the most scary things... because its a threat that you dont
see. You simply all the sudden have flesh falling off your body.
Just like real life... you cant see the zones to know where to avoid them. You simply
have to try a certain path and hope to god its safe enough. Too much exposure, and
its game over.
I was really shocked the day I finally beat it. As there were only 2 levels. However,
the game was so brutally hard... that I recall it taking like months to get past the
first stage alone. I fired up a c64 emulator, and found out that even tho I remembered
much of the pattern... I was so rusty that I was no match for the games first level
anymore. Truly is a cool and freaky game.
This guy makes it look way too easy. Try it and see, its Robotron level difficult to drive
the way that is shown. The cars response is more analog than you would think.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBi6lboO8MA[/youtube]
2) Invaders of the Lost Tomb / Scarabaeus
This game Really messed with my head! Your a lone man who landed his ship
looking for treasure in the strange temple. You roam in a 3d FPS view,
in a maze of walls. Collecting clues to puzzles from spirits that you must run into.
If thats not freaky enough... you have these giant spiders that chase you. You have
to lure them away from their niches, so that you can solve a puzzle that is inside
there. Of course, as your busy trying to solve the darn thing... a spider could
come back and attack you at any time - scaring the crap out of you in the process.
What worse.. is that you have a heart rate meter in the game! I seemed to recall that
if you got poisoned enough, that your heart rate would increase. Thus, your real
life heart would start to increase! Strangely enough, I swear the version I had...
used an actual beating heart icon. I wonder if they had made a few versions? Or if
my memory really is that bad?
The music is really errie and captures the feelings and emotions all too well.
Very impactful, even to this day. Just watching this game in action still gives
me the willies! heh
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjXmwpUPCw[/youtube]