epic/haunting game-overs

[arcaine91]

What exactly is a game-over? Pure and simple, it's a special animation, scene, theme etc. that informs the player they've failed the game's goals and must retry. But that is just the very base definition of a game-over. A good game over shows the player the effects or outcome of their failure. A GREAT game-over does this in such a way that the player is so haunted/furious/guilty over the game's outcome that he/she/it is driven to retry, again and again until they succeed.

Game over's aren't restricted to just "Game Over" or "You Lose" screens; take for example the Metal Gear Solid series, where player death results in the player's comrades desperately trying to get a response from the dying Snake, or the Resident Evil series, where a game over usually shows the player-characters often-gruesome final moments.

This can even be extended to so-called "bad endings;" in certain games, if the player is defeated whilst facing the game's final challenge, a pseudoending is shown that showns the (typically unhappy) outcome of the player's failure. An example is the Day of Lavos ending in Chrono Trigger where, if the player party is slain during the final battle, then [spoiler]the final boss, Lavos, is shown causing Armagheddon and reducing the world to a ruin.[/spoiler]

Anyone else think of any truly haunting Game-Overs or "bad endings?"

[Dominicy]

Clive Barker's Undying.  Hell, the game over crap are the main reason I quit playing >.>  Zombie-wolf-things grabbed you by the shoulders, propped you upright as you were about to fall to the ground dead, grab your head with both hands, pull it off, and eat it.  The weird demonic naga things would burrow underground and drag you down as you lumber around, dying.  Best part of it was as they dragged you down your leg gets caught and makes this horrible, wet CRACK sound.  WORST part, on the other hand, you have to wait for as long as twenty seconds while the snake that happened to kill you excruciatingly slowly hauls itself toward you so it can do it's death animation.  That's about as far as I got before I quit.  I'm pathetic, I know.

[Prpl_Mage]

MY own in Sprite for life.
"You screwed up!
Your soul is mine now biatch!"
Playing jingle bells in the background.

Epic game over:
All the cool animations in RE4. Like getting your head sawed off, acid-death, del lago, failing action-cutscenes.

[Archem]

Banjo-Kazooie. Even if you quit from the pause menu, you still got to see that game over cutscene where Tootie got uglified. I hated it so much. I beat the game in less than 10 sittings because of that.

[Red Giant]

Banjo-Kazooie. Even if you quit from the pause menu, you still got to see that game over cutscene where Tootie got uglified. I hated it so much. I beat the game in less than 10 sittings because of that.

What are you friggen talking about man? Hawt Gruntilda! I saved and quit just to SEE that witchin' hottie.

[Archem]

It helps to remember that you lost. And that she's green and polygonal.

[fruckert]

Any death sequence in Haunting Ground

They're terrifying

Especially when the Big Dude whose name I forget kills you

Basically, when that happens, you hear this humongous dude grunting, then a large ripping sound after he screams

[Dragonium]

At some point someone's going to post Sega Rally and Total Distortion, so I'm going to seize the honour by doing it now.

Greatest Game Over in history.

Second greatest.

[Archem]

Clearly, you've put those two in the wrong order.

[Dragonium]

Well, like, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

[FFL2and3rocks]

The miracle never happen.

[Drace]

Haunting Ground, when the first enemy kills you. The camera changes to around the corner and you hear a noise like you're being eaten or raped (you're an 18 year old woman and the first enemy is a big fat retard who acts nasty to his dolls)

[Musha]

I've always liked the Viewtiful Joe Game Over, where you hear the director shouting "Cut! Cut! Cut!" (The game taks place inside a movie)

[Red Giant]

RE4 always made me laugh. "YOU ARE DEAD". Yeah thanks for that, I hadn't noticed. Just imagine what happened before they added that in. What, my head got cut off? Nah it's just a scratch. I'm ready for round two. Have at you ya big bastard.

[Archem]

In fairness, that's been around since the first game.