When Halloween approaches, the season brings rise to spirits and terrors of all kinds. Creatures throughout video games range from adorable mascots to unearthly abominations. Whether through charm or terror, spooky takes on many forms.
As Halloween spirit fills the air, these spooky creatures all come from wonderful video games. However, some will certainly fill the player with dread. In one way or another, these are among the spookiest creatures!
10 Adorable - Jack-O'-Lantern
Also known as a Pyro Jack, this member of Shin Megami Tensei's Jack family appears as a series mascot along with Jack Frost. Unlike their icy brother, however, Jack-o'-Lantern is a floating pumpkin, dressed in a wizard's garb, and utilizes fire magic. Pyro Jack was renamed Jack-o'-Lantern in Persona 5.
Jack-o'-Lantern is one of the earlier spirits players can summon throughout the Persona series. Despite their Halloween origins in a game full of powerful demons, these creatures are anything but terrifying. However, Persona titles allow them to become fused and evolve into the more powerful King Frost or the menacing Black Frost.
9 Terrifying - Redead
These zombies from The Legend of Zelda series define terror in a video game. Despite their slow movements, they utter a shrill scream to freeze Link in place in order to attack him. Originally using a stock woman's yell, the Redeads in Wind Waker evolved into uttering a terrifyingly shrill scream.
On paper, the Redead should never be threatening. In Ocarina of Time, Redeads can be frozen by playing the Sun Song. Unfortunately, their positioning makes them hard to maneuver around in tight corridors while also being immune to most ranged attacks. Becoming the victim of a Redead's scream is only as terrifying as watching it slowly approach with that dead look on its face.
8 Adorable - Rabbid
Originally airing from a Rayman party game spin-off, these mischievous lagomorphs began appearing in more games over time. Most recently, they came prominent characters in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle for Nintendo Switch. One particular world, Spooky Trails, pays tribute to Halloween in a dark, cloudy area filled with graves and pumpkins.
These bunnies love to dress up for the Halloween season. While fighting in groups, they're not typically intimidating. Though perhaps the most surprising encounter comes from the area's boss, an opera singer, who arrives with a major musical number.
7 Terrifying - Kackle
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, the players will engage in several mine-cart stages. One particular stage involves being chased around by a ghost pirate Kremling named Kackle. While he only appeared in Haunted Hall, it might be for the best that Kackle stayed confined to one stage.
Due to the on-rails nature of the stage, the player lacks total control of their movement. They had to jump over Zingers, avoid the Minus barrels, and restore the timer with Plus barrels or face the wrath of Kackle. In a race against time, this mortifying menace chased players throughout the stage, emitting an ominous laugh if he killed one of the player's Kongs.
6 Adorable - Pumpkin
This mascot character from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence could be unlocked after clearing the game. Armed with the Vampire Killer, Pumpkin's mode involved using a character that played similar to Leon Belmont albeit much smaller and a little stronger. He felt like an upgraded character from the get-go and could lay waste to the castle's horde of demons.
As with unlockable characters featured in other Castlevania titles, Pumpkin's mode does not feature a storyline. He loves candy and his arms are even made of candy. When idling, he'll hum Joachim's theme. Upon clearing his mode, Pumpkin's mode ends with pictures of his successful night of trick-or-treating. Pumpkin later appeared as one of Hector's Innocent Devil summons in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.
5 Terrifying - Legion
On the polar opposite spectrum of Castlevania's creatures, however, Legion is quite possibly the most terrifying of the lot. This gruesome creature compiles corpses together into one massive ball. When attacking the creature, Legion's corpses bleed out and fall off.
Legion takes on many forms throughout the series. While its classic form remains consistent as an amalgamation of dead bodies, in Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow, it has parasitic worm creatures that fire lasers from the core. In the latter, its grotesque appearance looks like the shape of a fetus. Harmony of Dissonance features a bone variant of legion while Curse of Darkness includes Legion as a powerful secret boss along with a new evolution called Nuculais.
4 Adorable - Boo
The Mario series' Boos initially appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3. When Mario faces it, it hides its face. Yet when he walks away, it gives chase. Nintendo's Takashi Tezuka even based the Boos on his wife.
Boos are known for their adorable cries and otherwise unintimidating appearances. Throughout the Super Mario and Luigi's Mansion series, Boos have appeared in all shapes and sizes to include the Big Boo, King Boo, Dark Boo, Boolossus, Red Boo, Atomic Boo, and more. Paper Mario also features Boo, named Bow, who joins the party.
3 Terrifying - Pyramid Head
Silent Hill's most well-known antagonist initially appeared in Silent Hill 2. This punisher of souls wears a metallic, pyramid-shaped helmet while wielding a massive cleaver. To this day, no one knows what Pyramid Head's face looks like.
Appearing without warning, Pyramid Head appears multiple times in Silent Hill 2 while stalking the player times throughout the game. The creature cannot be disposed of until the end of the game. Hearing its metal clang and drag across the ground is enough to give anyone chills.
2 Adorable - Miniblin
Debuting in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the Miniblins are another goblin-like species alongside the Moblin and Bokoblins. Unlike the standard fighters, however, Miniblins are tiny and attack in groups. They can be heard singing their song while approaching Link.
Armed with tiny pitchforks, Miniblins definitely enjoy causing mischief in the least intimidating way possible. Hilariously, their animations include being flattened when attacked by the Skull Hammer or blown away by the Deku Leaf. These otherwise harmless creatures may as well be ignored since they will keep attacking until Link leaves the area.
1 Terrifying - Regenerador
Regenerador causes anxiety like no other creature. This B.O.W. from Resident Evil 4 appears in the final area of the game. As its name implies, it can regenerate from wounds. It must be killed by shooting the right targets in its body. However, the player can only obtain the infrared scope after encountering it once.
What makes Regenerador terrifying is its dreaded appearance. It's a gangly, dull-colored zombie with glowing red eyes and massive, serrated teeth. The Regenerador can reach across a room and grab Leon which follows into a close-up of its hideous face gnashing its teeth into his flesh. But perhaps the most terrifying part is the sounds it makes. Unlike anything out there, the Regenerador's theme combines with the creature's huffed, rapid breathing noises that will send chills down the spine of any player. Even compared to the series' own Tyrant and Nemesis, nothing brings terror quite like the Regenerador.