Which games created for children contain levels too scary/inappropriate for children?

Alternatively, which games you played as a kid - and were meant for your age category - messed you up as a child because it had scary or content inappropriate for a children's game?

When I was young I used to play an educational game called Forestia which was meant for children of 7 to 9, and which generally taught you about ecology in European forests. It had talking trees and a bunch of talking animals but it also had one level where you'd go into a dark alternative timeline/dreamlike sequence which had imagery such as this one:

Let me just say, I was an anxious eight year old - and an equally anxious adult - and this level was one of my worst nightmares.

Another example of things that messed with me - and which is now very laughable to me - were the ghosts in Freddi Fish 2.

I don't think this counts as a children's game, but I remember being terrified of the skeleton lady in Uninvited. I cried and couldn't sleep for a week because of it,

I don't know what age group it was intended for, but I would easily say Link's Awakening fucks up a kid that is starting to get their advanced thinking/comprehension skills.

The game spends it's whole time teaching you about friendship and family as these people have taken an unconscious and adrift Link and nurture him back to health, the game piles on strange levels of serentiy and harmony between the dungeon delving, especially involving Marin.

Then you get towards the end and BAM, the whole fucking thing is all in your mind? Nobody except Link is real, all the people and the island doesn't matter, and during the end scene you see it piece by piece as it fades into nothingness and Link wakes up on some driftwood.

I think I beat this when I was like 5 or 6, and holy shit it fucked me up.

Probably not every game in the series but I was in elementary school when Ocarina of Time came out and I didn't play it 'cause it was scary to me.

I played Wolfenstein 3d when i was like.. 3. But i guess that's not targeted to children ^_^

@liquiddragon: You just reminded me of the only game I played (some of) as a kid that didn't exactly scare me, but I did find really disturbing: Majora's Mask. I know that moon is what everyone talks about, but it was Link's screams of pain as he transformed that were too much for me.

This game is not actually inappropriate for children, but to show you how soft I was as a kid I remember this game legitimately scaring me. After this intro you wander around the island in a first person adventure game of the time style and sometimes ghosts and things pop up at you. I played it sometime before I was actually in 4th grade but still.

A lot of games used to scare me as a kid. Horror games I really couldn't play, even ones that are so cheesy now in hindsight.

Even a game like Deus Ex was kind of scary for me to play because I never wanted to be spotted and the first person perspective made it worrying. I remember spending a lot of time near the end of vents where you can hear enemies but not quite see them.

@artisanbreads: I was afraid of Deus Ex as well. Had a hard time leaving the docks, because that was a relatively 'safe and well lighted' environment. I would just try to leash enemies towards the docks so that my buddies could kill the terrorists while i cowered in fear near the boat :D

I also remember thinking that Thief was really scary. And the demo of Traitors Gate

Can't think of any that messed me up (Wolf 3D gave me nightmares... not exactly age-appropriate, though), but this reminds me of the game Boppin', which definitely hides some nastiness under its cute, colorful puzzle gaming surface. Don't know if it was actually intended for kids, but 99% of the game is perfectly family friendly.

It's a weird example as later releases hid the violent stuff away behind a code, but at least one version of the game starts with the developer splash screen (Accursed Toys) depicting a teddy bear with a knife in its chest and blood pouring out. On top of that, the playable characters, upon failing a level, would graphically commit suicide.

Again, everything else in the game? Entirely acceptable for any age. It was such an odd thing.

@artisanbreads: This video triggered a level of nostalgia in me I didn't know was possible, holy shit. I haven't thought about those Jump Start games in possibly decades!

Other people brought up Ocarina of Time, and the ReDeads (especially that damn scream) still mess me up. I'm still a very easily scared person, but I honestly can't think of any game I started playing, and then stopped because it was too scary. I was pretty particular about my games.

@epidehl: It's the same watching it for me. Haven't looked at those games, but I played all of them and I think of them every so often. I think it's kind of lame that kind of educational software kind of went away. Really a lot of it is just on websites but I think those were cool games.

Most of those games aren't even on Giant Bomb. Should probably fix that.

@onemanarmyy: I remember doing similar things haha. I couldn't get through the whole game when it came out but did really like it. Later I played it all and it's my favorite game.

I never played Traitors Gate, but any first person adventure could scare me. One old one I loved was Spaceship Warlock, which in parts was really scary.

Pokemon Y/R/B - Lavander town always scared me when I was a kid. You have to go through a scary cave to even get there, and when you do you have to fight ghosts. And have you heard this music?!

All of the good ones.

Shameful note, when I was a kid I personally found World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to be very unsettling.

It's shameful because by the time it seems to have come out, December 1992, I was old enough that I probably shouldn't have been quite so unsettled by it, especially since there wasn't anything really all that unsettling about it, not sure what it was that bothered me. And hell I woulda seen quite a few rated R movies that are most definitely not for kids at that point and had no issues with them, and liked reading goosebumps which also came out around that time, but for whatever reason that game made me quite uncomfortable.

I made a point of beating the game when I found my old genesis and bought some new cables to hook it up a few years back.

Ocarina of Time forest temple. When I was a kid I always stopped then restarted after Link becomes an adult because it was too scary. I was like "it's G8+ and I'm only 7 so I won't be scared when I'm 8!" Nope.

Everything about after Link becomes an adult. The zombies in the town, the lack of music, those creepy hands that drop from the ceiling, the witches in the paintings, the Ganon painting! Too spooky 4 me. I did end up finishing it when I was 9ish though so hooray I'm a big boy now.

Twinrova best boss fight of all time. Need to play Ocarina now.

Ocarina of Time. The first time I saw the remains of Hyrule Castle Town with all the walking dead... The game had moments that were pretty dark. I wish the later games had been as daring.