Game development can be demoralizing. The game could succeed beyond the developers’ wildest dreams or end up in the proverbial toilet. Either way, they’ll still get one player or another complaining that the female lead doesn’t look ‘feminine’ enough, that it’s too much like another game, that their obvious hint wasn’t obvious enough, etc.
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So, sometimes they like to get their own back. They could throw in some weird Easter egg that messes with players’ expectations, give them a long task to annoy them, or straight-up tell them exactly what they think of them. Whatever the method, thesegamesfound a way totroll the players hard.
8Ghosts N’Goblins
Tokuro Fujiwara didn’t set out from the start to torment players with his medieval arcade platformer, but the result did that anyway.Ghosts N’Goblinsand its subsequentGhouls N’Ghostssequelsinvolved Arthur, a knight in shining armor chucking lances, torches, knives, and more against all manner of monsters to save Princess Prin-Prin.
The game was difficult enough already, being a 1980s arcade game that wanted as many quarters as possible. But even if players made it to the end, they’d discover they hadn’t actually completed the game. They’d have to beat it all over again from the beginning to get the ‘real’ ending. This would become the series’ defining gimmick, and a joy only to hardcore gamers and masochists.
7Undertale
Toby Fox’s RPG was inescapable in the late 2010s with its quirky characters, and unique gameplay. But depending on how players went through it, they could be in for a bad time. If they killed a few enemies or a boss, they’d get an average to bad ending at best. Players could reload a save to get a better outcome. But the villain Flowey and other characters willstill know what they did. Still, it doesn’t lock them out from getting the best or ‘Pacifist’ ending.
If the player snapped and decided to kill everything in the game (the ‘Genocide’ run), then they’d leave the game a wasteland with no options to play again without some begging. Even then, their new runs would be tainted by the secret villain Chara. The only way to wash the digital blood off of their hands would be to delve into the game’s files directly, where Fox left taunting messages for them if they do.
6Drakengard
Cavia’s dragon-based action game is deliberately edgy and aggravating. The controls were somewhat wonky for their time, the graphics average, and its world map is literally Europe upside down. While the main party include mute psychopath Caim, his much too loving sister Furiae, and cannibal elf Arioch. There are multiple endings, but its most infamous ending involves getting every weapon, item, path, etc., in the game, which is a difficult and time-consuming feat in itself.
Related:Nier Automata- Things Only Drakengard Fans Will Notice
It results in Caim and his dragon warping to modern Tokyo to beat the boss, the Queen Beast, in a rhythm game. There’s no other boss fight like this, so experience won’t help. The music is a mess, and the camera often obscures the boss' attacks. If the player wins, the Beast dies…and the Japanese Air Force blast Caim out of the sky. That’s the end. Thanks for playing. Still, it could be worse…
5Nier
The originalNieractually follows on fromDrakengard’s troll ending, as those events lead to its post-apocalyptic world. The game is easier on the player by comparison, though it still has some edginess to it. The player has to get each of the game’s endings to fully understand the story inside and out. This includes the 5th ending, which is possibly a worse trolling thanDrakengard.
The player has to 100% the game again (which the NPCs will mockNierfor attempting) to access it. Then they have to completely wipe their save data. Item by item, weapon by weapon, section by section. Hours and hours of gameplay all gone in a few moments. The only proof the player got 100% afterwards would be a flower on the title screen. Cavia fooled their audience once withDrakengard, so they only have themselves to blame withNier.
4Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Speaking of sending players on a hunt for nothing,Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildhas all sorts of quests for Link to complete. One of them involves getting Korok Seeds for Hestu to get extra inventory space for his Weapons, Shields, and Bow. Link only needs 441 to fully upgrade all of them.
But there are 900 seeds in the entire game. What happens if he gets all of them? Well, he impresses Hestu enough to give Link his ‘gift of friendship’: a gold, squishy, smelly lump of dung. All it does is let Link visit Hestu at any time to watch him dance. So, for exploring every corner of Hyrule for some tiny seeds, Link gets a pile of poop and a dancing tree. Great.
3Eternal Darkness
Silicon Knights aren’t so fondly remembered these days. But their survival horror gameEternal Darknessis still belovedfor its Lovecraftian themes and interesting gameplay. Inspired by the Psycho Mantis fight inMetal Gear Solid(which they’d help remake with Konami inThe Twin Snakes), it had a Sanity Meter that, if empty, would give the player weird effects.
Related:Things Most Players Missed in Eternal Darkness
Sometimes they would be quite benign, like leaving the player’s character headless, shrink or grow them, or make them explode. Or it could suddenly reveal the game was a demo all along! Or switch the console off! Or shut the TV off instead! Empty the inventory! Wipe the game’s save data! Then the player will cry out and things will go back to normal. At least until they enter the next room without fixing their sanity first.
2Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
Nearly all theMetal Geargames troll the player to one degree or another (“You didn’t think you made it this far by yourself, did you?”). ButMetal Gear Solid 2has the series' most notorious example. Its trailers suggested players would be back in control of Solid Snake as he faced off against Mr X, Fortune, and the other baddies. But once the full game came out, they realized he was only playable for about 1/3rd of it.
The rest was spent as Raiden, a rookie agent who unknowingly puts up with the Patriots’ convoluted scenario because he wants to be Solid Snake. Just as how players deal with Hideo Kojima and Konami’s bugnuts plots becausetheywant to be Solid Snake. They can even put their name and DOB on a dog tag for their new protagonist, just so Raiden can throw it away at the end, vowing to be his own man instead of someone else’s proxy. Players hated the blonde pretty boy at the time, it was fair enough because he didn’t like them either.
1Takeshi’s Challenge
‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano is famous in Japan for many things. He tells jokes,hosts crazy game shows, acts, produces and directs films, paints pictures, and helped make a video game. Except he hates video games and most electronics in general. As such, Taito’s Famicom gameTakeshi’s Challengewas based largely on Kitano’s ideas on how to screw with players. Like letting them select ‘Punch’ on the start screen, and giving them a game over if they do.
They also have to sing into the second controller’s microphone for 5 minutes to get a treasure map. Mess up once and the player has to start again. Even then, the map can take an hour to develop, burn to ash instantly, or shut the TV off to a test pattern for 3-4 hours depending on the option. All that and more, and the player gets nothing but a simple congratulations screen at the end. No cutscene or fanfare. Just Kitano’s 8-bit face saying ‘Good’…then 5 minutes later taunting the player for finishing the game.
