Video games are undeniably popular nowadays. From humble origins, video games have grown from the quarter arcade machines of the '80s into the multimedia entertainment giants we know today. Ranging from incredibly popular apps such as "Angry Birds" or "Pokemon Go," to console favorites like "Call of Duty" or "Halo," video games have been put through a continual refining process that still occurs to this day. Some video games, however, whether intentional or not, opted for the less conventional route. From strange experiments to dark humor, some video games are strange.
1. "Who’s Your Daddy?" (2015)
Released just last year, this two player competitive game completely embraces the concept of black comedy. Arguably the first entry on the list is also the most successful, "Who’s Your Daddy?" pits a young child against his father in a competition. The objective? The baby, who looks like a terrifying version of the baby alien from "Prometheus," must do everything it can to kill itself while the father has to prevent his child from all the dangers of the household such as badly placed broken glass or the conspicuously placed open bottles of bleach. The father will need to follow his more agile son around the house doing his best to prevent his death while the other player controlling the child will do everything in their power to shed their mortal coil as quickly as possible.
2. "SeaMan" (1999)
Made and released in Japan in 1999, which is perhaps a not so subtle hinting at its strangeness, "SeaMan" was a virtual pet simulator made for the Sega Genesis. Players interacted with the SeaMan through controllers and a crude microphone feeding and caring for the pet every day, as it could potentially die through neglect. The strangest feature however, was that the fish or animal you cared for, has a human face. Japan decided that the only way to make a virtual pet simulator better was to make it look like it was inspired from the terrifying middle section out of Cronenberg's "The Fly." Evidently the SeaMan is incredibly sarcastic and insulting, so it seems like raising a bitter sibling simulator. The game was narrated by Leonard Nimoy only adding to the strange aura that pervades its development and sales aside from its already weird premise and features.
3. "Super 3D Noah’s Ark" (1994)
You can tell just by the title. Way back in 1994, Wisdom Tree released the only unofficially sanctioned game for the NES console based on the biblical account of Noah’s Ark. This bizarre game featured players as Noah flinging food at angry animals in the style of early "Wolfenstein" or "Doom." That’s right, instead of hordes of Nazis or demons, the player is assailed by hordes of goats and camels in line with Wisdom Tree’s vision of a non-violent shooter, which is probably one of the first times in the world those words have fit together. In terms of concept and intent, it is the opposite of 2015’s "Hatred," the genocide simulator, which has already received its fair share of obvious controversy. Oddly enough, the game has done quite well, seeing rather high scores across the board and positive reviews overall despite its weird premise, with a 9/10 rating on Steam.
