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Editorial   

Games I Play on Halloween: A Spooktacular Round Table

The Pixlbit Staff shares some of their favorite games that go bump in the night.

Ghosts. Costumes. Dragons. Witches. Dinosaurs. Haunted Houses. Capes. Feathers. Vicious man-eating plants. Wrecked Ships. Bats. Did you guess the game yet?

Super Mario World

For me, Super Mario World is a title that represents the spirit of Halloween well. Sure, the plot is a little opposite: a grown, mustachioed man goes to houses inhabited by children and steals their eggs, but it's close enough. More relevant? Just about everything else.

Super Mario World introduced the concept of a haunted house to the Mario franchise. Spooky music, ghosts moving in strange patterns, even giant ghosts...sometimes invisible and rarely vulnerable, the shy Boos follow Mario as long as he's not looking at them. Disappearing doors fill these houses, and reaching the end doesn't always mean Mario has found the right way out. It's impossible not to think of the giant Boo boss battle that occurs when taking the shortcut to Bowser's Castle.

Let's not forget Lemmy's Fortress in the Vanilla Dome. When I was younger, I'd play that stage in terror, watching as wizards (or witches) suddenly appeared, shooting magic spells at the platforms, transforming them into enemies! Maybe the rest of the stage wasn't terrifying, but I definitely got spooked at that part.

Of course, it wouldn't be Halloween without dress-up, and aside from Mario's costume changes, who can forget the costume changes for beating Star Road? Nearly every one of Mario's enemies don funny costumes, with Koopa shells even masquerading as the popular plumber himself!

It's an odd choice, but for someone like me, who doesn't play all the supposedly scary games like Resident Evil and Dead Space, I think Super Mario World fits the spirit of Halloween well. It's what I'll be playing on Halloween this year, that's for sure.

- Jason Ross

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#Halloween  #Spooky  #Survival horror  #Trick-or-treat  #Resident evil  #Silent hill 

Comments

Jason Ross Senior Editor

10/30/2011 at 08:41 PM

For the record, I'm gonna make my game a live PlayBit tomorrow night! Spooky scary!

Anonymous

10/30/2011 at 10:41 PM

Ya'll should post each of your names for your individual picks!

Jesse Miller Staff Writer

10/30/2011 at 10:43 PM

We actually did :) It's easy to miss, but you'll see the table of contents for the piece on the right hand side that has each of our names.

Nick DiMola Director

10/30/2011 at 10:44 PM

Just to make it easier, I went ahead and ended each segment with the author's name :)

Chessa DiMola Assistant Director

10/31/2011 at 11:12 AM

All these segments are making me even more impatient to get my night of spooky gaming going. Funny enough, I'll play through video games creepy enough to give someone nightmares, but I refuse to watch horror movies. Anyone else like that?

daRth_kiLL

10/31/2011 at 02:36 PM

im surprised nobody mentioned system shock 2

Jesse Miller Staff Writer

10/31/2011 at 02:50 PM

That's a good one. Lots of games that I wanted to give love to, including Undead Nightmare and Dead Rising, but there is always next year!

Michael117

10/31/2011 at 04:09 PM

I started getting into the Halloween spirit right at the beginning of October. I did another playthrough of the original Deadspace and loved it just like I did back when it came out.

Lol, after that I started a playthrough of Deadly Premonition, I laugh even mentioning it. It's the first time I've ever played some of the game, I bought it off Amazon a few weeks ago. Instead of being creeped out I was just laughing the whole time at the dialogue, cut scenes, and music. I was turning my head to the side, confused, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on lol. It's hard to play mechanically, and incredibly time consuming, but I'm kinda fascinated by it and it makes me laugh even thinking about what I've seen in the game so far. It's so f*cking weird.

Princess Toadstool

10/31/2011 at 09:41 PM

I really enjoyed Condemned. Kudos!

Julian Titus Senior Editor

10/31/2011 at 10:13 PM

Another game that I think is perfect for Halloween is Super Metroid. That game has always instilled in me such a sense of isolation and foreboding.

Jason Ross Senior Editor

11/01/2011 at 05:52 PM

Earthbound was another game we left off the list, but it fits pretty well, given the town of Threed.

Kathrine Theidy Staff Alumnus

11/02/2011 at 10:34 PM

This is why I should check my email...

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