The 25 Most Spine-Tingling NES Horror Games

[@renthegigglefox]

Friday the 13th is the only NES game to ever genuinely scare me. No NES moment (for me) was ever as terrifying as having Jason suddenly jump out at you while you're both unprepared and not expecting it. The musical stab that accompanies it added volumes the the scare factor, too.

[@Gatorade69]

The music was kind of unsettling. Monster Party was also kind of freaky. Especially when that first level changes.

[@mikecash1221]

Very true 👍

[@haggard1378]

Dude the only scary thing about that game is the fucking difficulty

[@ophidianmind333]

A nice list with many great games. Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei II, Sweet Home, Metroid, Simon's Quest, Faxanadu, Shadowgate, Uninvited, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti, Getsu Fuuma Den, Contra, and Maniac Mansion are all 8-bit classics. That ghost woman turning around to reveal her skeletal face in Uninvited fascinated me as a kid and I had dreams with a similar theme for years after first seeing it.

[@BitsBeats]

I'll never tire of repeating it, I'm quite lucky to have people like you commenting on the videos.

[@ophidianmind333]

@@BitsBeats Thank you very much for the kind words.

[@sc0tticus]

I wish I could describe just how fun Monster in my Pocket was, and it was so much better with 2 player. My cousin and I played the living hell out of that game (although we never thought it was scary). I think Metroid scared me the most JUST because of the music on some levels.

[@DigiEggz]

Just yesterday I searched for a video of NES horror games and then today this drops. Excellent timing and great list!

[@BitsBeats]

Very happy to have provided you with useful content!

[@kurumidisk3142]

A nightmare on Elm street have great BGM (I like cemetery, Freddy's house and junkyard stage music). Is not a bad game, deserves a second chance.

There's no second chance if you see rainbow of death: LJN

[@metamorphicblood]

I don’t know why so many people hate A Nightmare on Elm Street, unless it’s because they never realized you push select for the dream powers and you’re better off just avoiding the coffees and radios. Dark atmosphere, weird enemies, and yes, awesomely creepy music.

[@seerus1351]

Got some really good ones in here. A few were surprising choices as well. Fun as always.

[@officegossip]

Good to see megami tensei on here. The first two titles on the NES have tons of creepy satanic imagery, bold story and good atmosphere. The remake of both for the SNES is a good way to play it as well.

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

First thing that came to mind: I was hoping Monster Party would be here! The list certainly delivered. It's such a creepy, oddball classic with a surprisingly disturbing ending.

[@jjenk911]

I rented this game in my youth. I don't think I owned it. Fun nostalgia trip.

[@Gatorade69]

@@jjenk911 I bought it from a Rental place when they started liquidating their NES games.

[@dimelo8826]

Monster Party is on this list!

[@michealclark928]

ANOES and F13 may not have been great games but for those who were always watching the original tapes for both series back in the 80’s and 90’s we have nothing but fond memories of the games. F13 was hard as hell for me because of the crazy map system lol but it’s still a fond memory none the less.

[@avalond1193]

Alot people found them to be really solid fun games. And after playing a while the map in Friday 13th wasn't that complicated like many haters like to make it out to be. I think it's because of people like avgn and satire that alot these games get a bad rap granted avgn did point out some legit stinkers alot of his videos are just satire and not to be taken serious like the gospels

[@RappingNinja]

Really enjoyed the video, even if the claim about Friday the 13th being “one of the best horror games of all time” is the wildest hot take I’ve seen since I saw someone call Sonic 06 “excellent.”

[@Joe_334]

I remember having nightmares as a kid, from playing A Nightmare on Elm Street. The melancholic music really sets the nightmare inducing mood. The sheer difference of ANOES and Ft:13th, It's always night and Freddy only comes when the character stays sleep too long, while Jason can come at you like some annoying internet ad, coming out of friggin' no where at anytime... I have played A nightmare on Elm street, and after freddy attacks, I always assumed he would jump back on screen as some different hideous creature.

[@soulreaver1983]

Awesome as always thanks dude 👍 👌

[@BitsBeats]

Many thanks Mark!

[@soulreaver1983]

@@BitsBeats No problem dude thanks for another awesome video!😎👍

[@zeXma20XD6]

The irony of seeing Metroid categorized as a Metroidvania xD

[@sleepbox2]

Impeccable taste on display. I love this channel

[@BitsBeats]

Many thanks!!

[@nintendocove]

Some of the greatest gaming music ever created all in one awesome video ❤️❤️❤️

[@John-q4p9h]

I don't know how a lot of these made the list and Ghostbusters 2 and Deja Vu weren't even mentioned. Both of those games scared me as a kid.

[@gurratheman949]

8:30...get the knife!

[@ArttuTheCat]

Awesome collection of the old NES games 😺👍🕹️. I had FRIDAY THE 13TH on my Commodore 64 as a disk version in one of the Prism Leisure compilations. I have seen the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies, but never played a played - although i always wanted to look for it on my Commodore 64. I had GHOSTS 'N GOBLINS on my Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 - it is hard and frustrating 😾, but still legendary 😺👍🕹️. I believe, i still have UNINVITED on my Amiga 500 - one of the greatest horror adventure games, i have ever played. I still want to look for SHADOWGATE to my Commodore 64 and Amiga 500. Thank you 😺👍🕹️.

[@Project_Rebel]

I have had Bram Stoker's Dracula on the pirated Famicom clone. This game literally gave me nightmares

[@wobblingpixels3921]

Your thumbnails are art to me! ❤

[@BitsBeats]

Many thanks mate ;) (Although my partner, who is very good at designing, helps me with this).

[@sonic_genesis]

What about The Addams Family: Festers quest? i thought that was pretty creepy especially the giant spider

[@scarymcclary]

Zombie Nation is the disembodied head of Carl from Aqua Teen getting his revenge.

[@bthellam]

I think the first Wizards & Warriors deserved to be on the list ahead of a couple of the games that made it.

[@elijahvincent985]

I think the Monster in my Pocket boss is a little too Goofy looking to be seriously intimidating! LOL! I can't helped but hear "Durrh!" when I see that dorky face! 😂🤣

[@RPGs]

I remember Maniac Mansion was also a TV show after the game released. it had a few seasons too

[@billyskittles1036]

Monster Party is my favorite NES game.

[@ChristenSmith604]

What an awesome list! Makes me want to bust out an emulator later and try some of these out.

[@albertoizquierdo9963]

Oh wow!! I never expected to see "Monster in my Pocket" stuff again!! I had a card album when I was a kid. Totally loved its illustrations😍😍

[@destho4308]

Creepy list. A shoutout to The Immortal, Gargoyle's Quest II, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

[@MechaGod]

Heh, yeah. I wasn't expecting you to shoot anything when showing off Chiller

[@maxjalife7852]

Strange that ninja gaiden is not there, was creepy asf

[@avalond1193]

Great list of horror games for nes perfect for Halloween week to play

[@elhazthorn918]

When you REALLY get into 8-bit horror it can be good, I think because you’ve suspended your disbelief, and have started filling in the blanks, and interpreting what vague pixels might represent in disturbing ways.

[@GetLostGames1]

What a great list! Other games that freaked me out as a kid with creepy monsters were Astyanax and Ikari Warriors 2 Victory Road’.

[@gus750]

Excellent work bro

[@joshlayman7217]

The gameplay sound in Swamp Thing is the same as Bart vs The Space Mutants.

[@maxjalife7852]

Monster party is close to my heart

[@ChrolliForever]

Sad that we didnt get one of the terrifying bosses from Faxanadu

[@f.k.b.16]

I wouldn't have called some horror but now that you point them out... I guess I was wrong! Thanks for these!

[@commentresurrection1841]

I couldn't even play Friday the 13th alone as a kid. The only other video game to actually scare me was the original Resident Evil.

[@HolyFlare484]

is it just me or does Werewolf: The Last Warrior feel like a mix of Castlevania and Altered Beast?

[@evilblader7]

Espera? Que? Ese es Sagat? 1:53 jajajajajajajajajaja... Ahora puedo decir que Street fighter se metió en el género de horror xDDDD Ok. ya en serio... Que lista tan genial, no conocía varios de estos, el horror no es mi género más prominente jejejejejejejejeje... Veo que varios intentaron replicar la fórmula del exitoso Castlevania y con la misma temática del horror. Ese shot em up de la cabeza, zombie nation, me dió una sensación como la que describes rareza y "repulsión" demasiado extraño D: ni enterada de su existencia. Pensé que ibas a poner Mother (earthbound 1) porque pese a su aspecto "infantil" tiene sus cosas creepys, pero eso creo que sería otro tema, verdad? Si. Eso es lo que amaré toda la vida de Metroid, es la franquicia más seria que tiene Nintendo, todo lo que hace sentir Metroid es perfecto, la "asfixia" la soledad y el peligro sin necesidad de ser un título de horror propiamente dicho. Otro vídeo genial... Cambiaste de horario? Yo lo esperaba en la mañana, pero bueno lo importante es que tenemos vídeo 😉😉😉😉👌

[@BitsBeats]

Intentaré sacar videos los lunes y jueves. Más largos (veo que os gustan más) y con una mayor producción. Ayer me atrasé un poco en la publicación (21 hora española!)

[@evilblader7]

@@BitsBeats anotado 👌

[@dash2thefuture859]

Nice list, but how could you forget Fester's Quest? lol

[@Twistedrated]

What about faith:the unholy trinity? Even though it was released at like 2017 (atleast for chapter 1), the game was trying to mimic the 8-bit era of gaming.

[@thepolacek]

Friday the 13th was the only one that scared me as a kid. I was probably 8 when I played it.

[@jeancarlosdossantossilva8516]

I really don't know why people hate so much the 13th Friday game... It's kinda confusing, but it's playable... I rented this game only once and barely played because i always turned the game off when Jason appears.

[@Gatorade69]

Agreed. It wasn't a bad game.

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

​@@Gatorade69at least atlus got the memo about Jason being a guy wearing a hockey mask, the home computer game released three years prior didn't even get that right.

[@Gatorade69]

@@GAMEPRODELTA I mean to be fair Jason didn't don the hockey mask until the third film. When did the home computer games come out ?

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

@@Gatorade69 1985 and 1986, aka the point where Jason wearing the hockey mask had been well established by then.

[@jeffcox6539]

I'd say you should have included Swords and Serpents. Some of its monsters were gory.

[@BitsBeats]

I haven't played that one yet. I will try it this weekend. thanks for the recommendation!

[@jeffcox6539]

@@BitsBeats it's a dungeon crawler that's based a little too much on RNG. I also swear the images had a 3D look to them.

[@FluffyThieves]

There's just something about calling Friday the 13th one of the best horror games of all time that just tickles the heck out of me.

[@Gatorade69]

People say It's a bad game... but It's not.

[@FluffyThieves]

@@Gatorade69 I totally disagree, but more power to you if you enjoy it!

[@aliceinmansonland448]

When you were asking about scary NES games I just laughed. Spooky in a Scooby Doo kind of way, yes. Scary? No! At least you showed two of my favorite games I had as a kid. Werewolf and Castlevania 2 were definitely the best in my collection.

[@captainernest95]

The last level of contra is where i cant beat this game as a kid because of alien organics freaks me

[@juancarlossalazar2280]

Para mi lo más aterrador fue Friday the 13th!! La música te pone los pelos de gallina!!

[@davidv4018]

Another night without sleeping.

[@f.k.b.16]

4:43 Can anyone guess what game I think Getsu Fuuma Den's music briefly sounds like!?? If you guessed Legend of Kage... You win!

[@shiroumxm2052]

imagine this but presented in a CRT tv!!

[@SupraZelda666]

friday 13th nes game had a big potential and a truth remake of this with more place seem a good ideas.

[@Psycho-Thinker]

Frankenstein is amazing

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

Not to nitpick at 0:39, but Friday the 13th was developed by Atlus, not Pack In Video.

[@BitsBeats]

Many thanks and sorry for the mistake!!

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

​@@BitsBeatsit happens, doesn't help that LJN didn't leave much of a paper trail for the companies they hired to make games during the nes era.

[@AnotherCamilo]

6:03 "Metroid is the closest franchise Nintendo has to a horror series" I was about to mention Eternal Darkness until i remember Nintendo doesn't even want to acknolege that it's their own property.

[@Chernobog2]

at least they put Alex Roivas in Smash as a spirit.

[@G4System]

Bram Stoker's Dracula 🧛‍♂️ A Nightmare on Elm Street Monster In My Pocket Zombie Nation Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Games like me mentioned above have been played So honestly I'm not so with horror games in this era of 8 bits.

[@wehappyducks8554]

8bit music is scary lol BUT I LUV IT🤗

[@luisreyes1963]

Konami creates the best in horror games. Not to be overlooked are Metroid, Ghosts N' Goblins & a couple of Japan-only titles (Getsuu Fumaden, Sweet Home & Splatterhouse WG). 👻

[@Birimbeto]

That Frankenstein, I hated when trying to jump the water plataforms, in de first or second stage, I was 10 years old, don't expect me to remember precisely, and when miss the jump, fall into the water and everytime had to fight some creepy like fish mini boss. Annoying. But the atmosphere of horror of the game was realy good.

[@EdrickII]

Habían varios que me sorprendieron :)

[@thewolfgabe3656]

8:47 Ladies and Gentlemen the Gaming in the Clinton Years Theme

[@Ryuujin1078]

Why we using the term “Metroid-vania” with these NES games?! It was never a thing till Symphony of the Night came about years later. The proper genre types is Action Adventure games.

[@kidferocious]

A shame that we didn’t get some of these in America.

[@FindingsOfAnArmouredMind]

It misses Super C/Contra II :(

[@zkitty11]

8:47 Gaming in the Clinton Years?????

[@bombeiromascaradooficial]

Where Ninja Gaiden and yours horrors cutscenes

[@jjvega6364]

How about that BOO, HAUNTED HOUSE?

[@williammason3229]

Anyone remember Darkman? Not sure if Vice Project Doom would count though.

[@jarredkrum9894]

I remember both those

[@gaminggoddess85]

This is kind of just a repeat of the Goriest NES Games episode. The Friday the 13th review is sarcastic, right? The Uninvited scared me a lot as a little kid (around 6 or 7). Also took anyone in my family 10 years to figure out how to beat it. Stupid dancing thing give me your keyyyyy Monster In My Pocket has some good animation for NES. Faxanadu did scare me once when I got a secondhand copy and used a "mantra" (aka password) someone had written in the game's manual and warped to a town that was totally taken over by demons and they killed me. But I wouldn't call it really creepy besides that.

[@owlbelieveit6811]

Castlevania II is a good game but the final boss is a real let down. The flame wall you get at the beginning of the game can kill him without them getting a hit on you

[@lyhuewynegar7312]

No Phantom Fighter?

[@greensun1334]

Friday the 13th a metroidvania?

[@BitsBeats]

I could defend that it has some elements of the genre... but I have really been clumsy with the copypaste in the edition. apologies 😁

[@greensun1334]

@@BitsBeats It's hard to define, a weird mix between sidescroller and first person - maybe RPG? Weird game!

[@Hello-hz7gj]

Cool

[@ajcastelar5173]

What's the name of the outro song?

[@BitsBeats]

Aries Beats "Synthwave Dreams 2020"

[@necrosadotor]

lucky for us sweet home is better known nowadays

[@thepaper888]

3:29 Pokémon

[@maddestmike5791]

Chiller is one of the most genuinely evil games out there. And AVGN would heartily disagree with you on the quality of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street NES games. Apparently they were both terrible.

[@sir_jerhyn]

Uh... Metroid is a horror game? I always thought it was an action adventure.

[@aaronman2817]

Many of these are just not horror driven games. Sure, some of them retain certain elements found in traditional horror video games, but something like Metroid or Maniac Mansion do not fall under the category of horror.

[@always-steelers]

Shadow gate should be number 1

[@Dorelaxen]

Ok, you lost me saying that Friday the 13th was a great adaptation of the films. I don't hate the game like many do, but come on.

[@necrosadotor]

u forgot robodemons!

[@NobodyAtAll420]

Don't like Fester's quest? 🙁

[@BitsBeats]

🙏🙏

[@airic21]

100% Monster party

[@RSK412]

Jeez, that werewolf game was such a ripoff. Impossible to beat the first miniboss.

[@StevenMichaelCunningham]

Paper Boy....

[@jackb7647]

I really wish we could go back to NES, or possibly GeneSNES and stay there Too much creativity didn't survive the 21st century

[@m123oficial7]

First

[@joechill9964]

Freddy throwing gang signs?

[@MURD3RWAVE]

Freddy.tm is coming! New Line Cinema just had to make sure everyone knew they owned the Freddy trademark. Also that F13 music to this day is one of my fav nes scores. GAME OVER. You and all your friends are dead.