Send Manifesto your games that cause pain

What? Are they serious?


Hmm... Interesting Approach...

games that cause pain huh? Nice. I'm all for a bit of game-so-frustratingly-hard-it-makes-you-punch-the-wall

Condemned: Criminal Origins is kind of like that. I don't know what it is about that game, but it makes me seriously tense and I can only play it a little bit at a time because of it.

I would say the Silent Hill games are examples of games that cause dread upon playing. There's also SH3's infamous "They look like monsters to you?" I know I can only play for small periods of time and MUST go do happy wholesome things afterward.

I could only play brief bits of Fatal Frame, I started getting so terrified.

There's also your random crap game that has poor controls and a bad camera and unfair design (the enemy can shoot through walls, but I can't shoot at him? WTF!), so there's that as well.

It's funny because when I think of games that cause me pain, both mentally and physically, I keep coming back to the Ninja Gaiden series. I had the first one when I was a kid and there are very few games that pissed me off more than the cheap shit that game would pull on me.

Gameplay basically boiled down to: walk forward 5 feet, kill enemy, get hit immediately by another enemy and knocked back 6 feet, continue forward to fight both the enemy that hit you and the respawned version of the original enemy. Lather, rinse, repeat until you've thrown your NES paddle through the TV.

Of course, since the rest of the game was so damned awesome, you kept playing until your thumbs were basically just giant blisters with nails on the end (leading to the aforementioned physical pain.) I'm pretty sure Mega Man, Ghosts and Goblins, and countless others were built with this exact same formula in mind.

I'm guessing, however, the kind of games this company is looking for are ones with emotionally disturbing story elements like Super Suicide Bomber or Shadow of the Sex Offenders. Huh, maybe I should pitch them an idea after all...

So they're taking over the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise?

how bout they just remake MDK2? That game caused me some serious pain. The final boss was so impossible, I only beat it as the doctor.

NetHack, and definately Mariokart DS...i can cramp my hands up so hard trying to snake for the win...

Celebrity Autopsy II: Digging Deeper

Including such wonderful bonus rounds as necklace of teeth, pill grabbing claw game, and find the hamster.

"I'm guessing, however, the kind of games this company is looking for are ones with emotionally disturbing story elements like Super Suicide Bomber or Shadow of the Sex Offenders."

I believe he is referring specifically to games like Super Columbine Massacre. Costikyan is a supporter of the game in the sense that he thinks games should go beyond simple entertainment.

http://www.manifestogames.com/node/3048

A big step for games as an art form is to tackle more complex emotions. For example, in film, movies like Schindler's List aren't "entertaining" in the traditional sense, but they are emotionally invoking.

However, I hope we don't see a bunch of simple SCM ripoffs where the game just takes the role of the villan and tries to rationalize their side.

Metroid Prime Hunters for physical pain.
I agree with Nethack for emotional pain.

comment 8 wins

Tony Hawk's Project 8... just the tutorial. Fuck that tutorial. It was harder than the actual game. It took me like 4 hours to complete it. Some were just too difficult, some were too vague. It caused me mental anguish and I couldn't touch the 360 controller again for days.

Also, Chibi Robo caused me emotional pain when Funky Phil died.