(IMHO) The most disturbing video game boss EVER

[Crossroads Inc.]

So last night I found myself surfing YouTube for video game music in the current "outstanding video game music" thread.
As often happens, I found myself 'drifting' though Youtube links. First from Video game music, then to Boss music, then I found myself in various "Top-tens" of video game bosses. Top-ten hardest, easiest, silliest, and then, Top-ten most "disturbing" bosses.

Well I thought, that should prove amusing. And for the most part 10 through 2 were basically rather freaky, or creepy, or just plain "gross" bosses. To be fair the list was called "Top Ten Most Disturbing Bosses in Non-Horror Video Games" So I cut it some slack.... Riiiiight up until the #1 one spot:






((Note, the really creepy music starts at around 1:20 in the video))



I don't know exactly what it is, but the more I look at that, thing, the more disturbing it becomes. It is from the game "Earthbound And it is the second form (of 4) of the final boss "Giygas"
There is evidently a LOT of rumor and speculation about this game and the final boss that makes it even more creepy. One is that the bosses final form ""is partially based on a traumatic event in designer Shigesato Itoi's childhood, where Itoi witnessed an intense murder scene at a movie theater which he, along with many others, misinterpreted as a rape scene."" That in itself is rather disturbing, but there is another more in-game rumor floated that makes this boss creepy.

In order to defeat "Giygas" the heros travel back in time to when it was just an infant and less powerful, one of the games badguys "Porkey" taunts you into attacking him and "Giygas" which is sealed inside a huge machine. After attacking him for a while Porkey releases Giygas from the machine and emerges as a twisted and broken form. The rumor is that the Giygas inside the machine is NOT evil, but simply an infant, it has no sense of good or evil. When you are taunted into attacking it, it simply defends itself against unknown attackers. The act of attacking the infant Giygas drives it insane, and when it emerges it continues to mentally and physically deteriorate, occasionally babbling about seeking friends or finding happiness... The latter is more rumor then the first one, but put into the context of the over all game fits in, and is indeed a creepy thought.

And, for those who feel they have a strong heart, the following links goto the FULL battle against Giygas, posted in two parts.

PART ONE
PART TWO

[Fire Fly]

The music may be creepy because of the low frequency sound that is used, which can actually induce fear, disorientation, nausea, and anxiety.

[Crossroads Inc.]

The music may be creepy because of the low frequency sound that is used, which can actually induce fear, disorientation, nausea, and anxiety.

Wow, I was rather surprised reading that article, a 19 Hz frequency is apparently the cause of many ghost sightings. Something that is the natural frequency for the Human eye might do that.

I doubt if the music from the game had sounds that low, but the nature of the music defiantly added to the creepiness of it. I don't know if you listened through the whole thing Fire Fly, but I'm curious what you thought of the "music" past the 3min mark.

[Ypoknons]

When I hear sounds at 20kHz, I'm just really happy because I'm satisfied with my headphone's sub-bass response. A lot of audio equipment can't go that low, or are very rolled off by then.

[Tanasinn]

Giygas is pretty well-known for being an utterly bizarre boss, and yeah, the rumor that you and your party are actually killing an innocent infant is quite prevalent, with the whole "cannot grasp the true form of Giygas's attack" bit being explained as the party not realizing that Giygas is just defending itself in between trying to get you to stop. Another common fan theory I've heard is that Giygas's displayed form is supposed to resemble an sonogram of a fetus (with the stage leading immediately up to the battle being a womb). IIRC the creator denies the sonogram theory.

[Admiral Valdemar]

The fœtus idea has apparently been debunked numerous times by the creator. It's merely a coincidence brought about by our brain's neural net ability to see patterns in otherwise chaotic imagery.

[Crossroads Inc.]

The fœtus idea has apparently been debunked numerous times by the creator. It's merely a coincidence brought about by our brain's neural net ability to see patterns in otherwise chaotic imagery.

It is one of the rare times where both are a bit true. If you put the video past 3min, you will indeed see something that LOOKS very VERY much like a Fetus. But if you know what you are really looking at, multiple distorted images of Giygas, then you do realize it is a coincidence.

That said, the more I found out about the boss the more surprised I am just how evidently "famous" this boss is. Its made the top ten of several peoples lists of top ten disturbing videos. I really have to wonder about the poor kids that played the game when it came out. Imagine being 10 or 12 and playing though that boss fight while listening to that "music".

[WesFox13]

Hey Crossroads, I'm sort of a fan of the Earthbound series and I can tell you more about Giygas.

Basically Giygas is an Alien that tried to invade the earth in Mother (The prequel to Earthbound that wasn't released in the US and Earthbound is called MOTHER 2 in Japan) but when he was defeated, Giygas looked for a way to increase his own PSI abilities, but in so doing, changed him from the typical "gray"-ish Alien to basically the equivalent of a Great Old One and drove him completely and irreversibly insane. The whole, "You can not grasp the true form of Giygas' attack" is because his attacks are so random and beyond human understanding that the hero characters can't interpret them correctly.

[SirNitram]

Yea. You can't grasp it in the same way Lovecraftian entities can hurt you bad without being within your understanding of the universe.

The dialogue is the worst bit. Ugh. I LOVE Earthbound, but that fight makes me uncomfortable.

[Shinova]

The red thing on the screen is supposed to be what's left of Giygas after his transformation, and the swirly thing is his lower jaw swirling round and around.