End of the Line

A failure is you.

Despite your best efforts, you failed to save the princess. The world was blown to kingdom come. You were never seen or heard from again. Yes, it's the game over screen because you fudged up. Game over screens have been a staple in gaming for as long as I can remember but some stand out more than others for various reasons. Let's have a look at some of them, shall we?

Super Mario Bros./NES

There's nothing particularly fancy about this game over screen, yet it still remains iconic. Just about everyone has played Super Mario Bros. and can identify the music right on the spot, the same goes for it's jingles and sound effects. Super Mario Bros. game over tune is often used to mark of end of a medley in live concert and orchestra performances. Not bad for a tune used to represent failure.

Silver Surfer/NES

The screen pretty much says it all, so much that it doesn't even bother with any words. Due to it's spirit-crushing difficulty, you'll be seeing it a lot.

Donkey Kong Country/SNES

This is without question one of the most depressing game over screens in the history of gaming. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are battered, bruised and to further hammer the point home, the music just screams of despair. Never have I seen video game heroes so completely and utterly defeated.

Friday the 13th/NES

Sure, the game sucks but if you remember Friday the 13th for nothing else, let it be the game over screen because it doesn't screw around. It outright tells you that you and your buddies are six feet under. Even by NES standards, that's pretty scary.

Final Fight/Arcade

When you use a continue in Final Fight, you get a view of your character tied up with TNT getting ready to explode, all the while your in-game character tries in vain to blow it out. All the more incentive to drop a quarter in the arcade machine. But if you don't have any more money (or you're just cheap)? BOOM! The bomb explodes and it's game over for real! The SNES version had limited continues so I was forced to watch Haggar and Cody meet a terrible end numerous times. OK, it doesn't show the gory bits, but you do hear the bomb go off and that alone is pretty horrific. Seriously, what sadist thought that up?

Street Fighter II/Arcade

The numerous versions of Street Fighter II give you a beat down version of your fighter's portrait while the counter ticks down. Once it reaches zero, you hear a defeated cry as the character image turns gray and you get a game over jingle telling you just how much you suck at life. Depending on the version of SFII that you're playing, some character portraits are actually worse than others. Blanka's eyes pop in and out of his head in World Warrior through Hyper Fighting, but he looks rather tame in Super and onward. Bison looks awful all across the board but it was cranked up to eleven when Super came around. You almost feel sorry for the power-hungry madman. And that scream he lets out? *Shudders*

Chrono Trigger/SNES

If you take on Lavos and lose, one of the possible endings you can get is the highly disturbing it's-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario where the big bad launches nukes all over the globe. While not a direct game over screen, it's miles ahead of the default game over screen. This one probably gave more than a few players nightmares and the text in the above image just adds fuel to the fire.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link/NES

How's this for gruesome in a Nintendo game? In order for Ganon's minions to resurrect him, they must kill Link, and pour his blood on Ganon's ashes. So that means that each time you see the game over screen, said mooks have done just that. Ganon's taunting laughter only makes things worse. And since Zelda II is easily one of the hardest games in the entire series, well, yeah.

Mega Man 3/NES

Mega Man 3's game over is pretty interesting for a number of reason. For one, the password and game over screen are exactly the same. Two, the music is also the same. The music itself? One of the most upbeat tunes you'll ever hear, which really comes off as a surprise. How can you stay depressed with such a cheerful song playing? Maybe it's the game's way of telling you to dust yourself and try again. Or the game could just be insulting you by playing happy music.

Banjo-Kazooie/N64

Save your game and call it a day or get a game over and Gruntilda wins! Stealing the looks from Tooty, she goes from your everyday wretched, old witch to a smoking-hot babe! Even Mumbo can't resist Grunty's newfound hotness. As for Tooty, well, it's only natural that if one women gets the good looks, someone's getting hit with the ugly stick. Really though, it's played up for laughs more than anything.