Ghost in the machine? Legend of the 'haunted' N64 video game cartridge

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250501-the-haunted-video-game-that-traumatised-the-web

77•fallinditch•9mo ago

Comments

pxndxx•9mo ago

Inscryption captured the "videogame creepypasta" genre in an actual, pretty good roguelike video game, if you want more of this!

joshu•9mo ago

Inscryption is a towering achievement, especially the frame story. Definitely an example of game as Art

randomtoast•9mo ago

Short Summary:

Ben Drowned is a viral internet horror story (a “creepypasta”) created in 2010 by Alex Hall, who posted under the pseudonym “Jadusable.” The tale revolves around a supposedly haunted Nintendo 64 cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The cartridge was unlabeled, and when played, exhibited disturbing behavior: reversed music, distorted graphics, and the recurring presence of a statue of Link with a petrified, menacing expression. The in-game ghost was said to be “Ben,” the spirit of a boy who drowned.

Related Wiki Article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Drowned

neuroelectron•9mo ago

Pretty creepy. Here's a direct link to the scenes in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGOJmdxdjeA&t=230s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6D2XCJUJHY&t=65s

The effects are made with N64 ROM hacking in Project64 emulator and video editing.

2OEH8eoCRo0•9mo ago

Are haunted/cursed games a common fear in children? I recall a recurring nightmare where my Sim Town game was corrupted or cursed. Having all of the game rules become inverted was terrifying for some reason.

dafelst•9mo ago

For what it's worth, I experienced the same sort of nightmares, though it typically wasn't a specific game or program, more like the computer being hacked/compromised/haunted.

gs17•9mo ago

I've always had nightmares about technology misbehaving, but I blame it on my childhood Mac being one that would sometimes start up with with the screen inverted, the "happy Mac" icon replaced with a dead sad Mac, and the sound of a car crash. The machine that usually follows specific rules randomly deciding to scare you definitely builds some anxiety.

nekoashide•9mo ago

Ghostbusters on the NES was fear inducing as an 80's kid, then came Resident Evil on the PSX.

MisterTea•9mo ago

Fear inducing through the anxious environment created on purpose by the gameplay itself or the fear that the game would do something super-natural?

MisterTea•9mo ago

As a child I only once remember fearing a machine - the local dry cleaning machine. That thing was a tubular tentacle monster to a child. I feared people a lot more and felt that machines were predictable as they were not biological therefor could not be possessed or haunted. I also have no fears of supernatural beings nor do I have religious inclination to fear a gods/demons/spirits/etc. People are the real monsters.

yazantapuz•9mo ago

Not a game, but where i live, stories of haunted smurfs toys (or clothes!) that killed their owners where pretty popular, and definitily scaried me when i was a child (we had a tiny smurf action figure and a sega genesis cartdrige of the smurfs game)

ThrowawayTestr•9mo ago

Do kids still have urban legends?

gs17•9mo ago

A lot of kids are obsessed with creepypasta-type media and indie horror games. It's not exactly "urban legends" but scary stories are still popular.

rcxdude•9mo ago

They've evolved in the internet age, but the genre seems to still be alive and well.

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