Phil Sandifer offers a nice description of a creepy level in a 1990 video game.
He begins with an ominous title, "The Execution Of All Things (Mega Man 3)". Then, after some text, things get disturbing:
[A]fter beating the eight Robot Masters in Mega Man 3, the player is forced to replay four of their stages. The stages exist this time in a ruined form - platforms have been blasted out of existence, it’s pitch black where it used to be day, and in every case the place has largely gone to the dogs, which is to say, become a lot harder. But what’s really notable are the bosses - eight identical junkheap looking robots (two for each level) who, when you encounter them, are inhabited by the spectral presences of the Robot Masters from Mega Man 2.
This is a fascinating idea, rerunning the level but in a sense of decay. It cuts against the cheerful superficial style of many period games.
This decrepit level also, as Sandifer concludes, is based on both memory and a sense of the game series' termination.
(link thanks to Jesse Walker); image via MegaMan wiki)
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