10 Gaming Moments That Left Us Devastated

These days it seems that most people have a pretty complex relationship with modern video games. With massive titles getting more expansive and entertaining than ever, outsiders may be forgiven for expecting that gaming is a simple, carefree pursuit. But there’s much more to it than simple escapology or enjoyment, and gaming can present a truly gruelling challenge amongst all the thrills. This competitive edge allows for an hour or two with a favourite console or device to become more fulfilling than ever, and conquering the tasks set out by a new game will give players an impressive sense of achievement. As with all challenging or competitive pursuits, however, there’s also the large potential for the opposite to become true; modern video games are hotbeds in which frustration and disappointment can flourish. With that in mind, we’ve taken a look back through some recent gaming moments that have no doubt crushed the enjoyment of even the most casual player - the moments that make gamers feel worse than experiencing the infamous Red Ring of Death. Join us as we countdown ten such devastating experiences… 10) Losing To The Champion - Pokemon Kicking off our list is the ultimate downfall of any aspiring Pokemon Master: losing to the reigning champion at the end of the Pokemon League. What makes this defeat so heartbreaking can vary dependent on the version of the game, but it’s nevertheless always tough to take. The frustration stems from the sheer volume of work it takes to get to that point, followed by the gut-punch players experience after a defeat at the hands of the champ; the game forces players back to the start, meaning all of the Elite Four have to be beaten again before a new challenge can be mounted. What can make this worse, though, is a question of just who the champion is. Perhaps most upsetting of all is when such a defeat ends the player’s challenge in Red/Blue versions, where the champion is none other than the player’s smarmy, long-time rival from Pallet Town. Losing to him at any stage of the game is frustrating, but on the grandest stage of all the loss is truly staggering. 9) Bad Jumps - Assassin’s Creed As a now established franchise, the vast majority of modern gamers will have found themselves working their way through at least one of the Assassin’s Creed’s titles. These games have found commercial success year after year as they continue to take players into richly-realized alternate histories and turn them into vast, sprawling playgrounds. Much of this series’ more difficult sequences force players to employ a calm, measure approach as they stalk enemies silently and use their assassin’s unique skill set to operate from towering vantage points. For the most part, the game’s intuitive control system facilitates this, but every so often things can go seriously awry. Bad jumps can occur at the worst of times in any Assassin’s Creed game, but none are worse than those from the series’ highest viewpoints. In these cases there’s both a safe way down, and various others that are - let’s say - not so safe. Plunging to a gruesome and undoubtedly painful death is not one of the safe ways… 8) Rogue Sims - The Sims As simulation games go, The Sims is certainly the most recognizable to the average gamer, as it introduced a generation of gamers to just how thoroughly life can be recreated in a video game. This is an impressive feat, of course, but sadly it doesn’t always play out that way in the game. Though some players simply play with the chaotic intention to cause carnage and distress for their virtual families, many will have taken pride in crafting a happy, well-rounded avatar. It’s these latter types that will have surely felt sore frustration at occasional behavioural habits their Sims have. Rogue Sim behaviour can be small and entertaining, but every so often they can - if left to their own devices for a moment - end up undoing so many hours of meticulously plotted player input. Imagine it as the frustration your parents felt when you left for university, only to return with a “top knot” haircut. 7) Instant Crashes - Angry Birds With gaming on mobile devices becoming ever more popular, the better games are starting to have a larger impact on tour lives. Whilst adding enjoyment to the life of a gamer would be the intention of mobile developers, it’s sadly true that they are also just as likely to cause crushing despair at times, too. In Angry Birds, for example, players will have undoubtedly experienced the frustration of taking painstaking care to line up the perfect slingshot, only to have a thumb slip from the edge of the device’s screen and see the loaded bird crash instantly to earth. The squawking sound these birds make is annoying at the best of times, but hearing them emit it as they’ve just been plunged harmlessly into the ground could lead one to see just how easily an iPhone might be cleaved in two. 6) Nearly Beating Dragonforce - Guitar Hero 3 As the ultimate party game, it’s difficult to imagine a social, carefree experience like Guitar Hero leading players to too much devastation, but sadly, the case is that its challenge can be enough to cause the game’s plastic guitars to be smashed in true Pete Townshend style. In Guitar Hero 3, for example, players were offered the challenge of taking on the absurdly difficult guitar track for Dragonforce’s "Through The Fire & Flames". The track runs in at almost eight minutes long, and even on the most generous difficulty setting it can be gruelling to get through. The soul-destroying sensation of managing to guide cramping fingers through the majority of its notes only to fail at the final hurdles will be the stuff of nightmares for many a gamer, and is certainly one of gaming’s harshest experiences. 5) Defeating A Shiny Pokemon - Pokemon While losing to the champion is a disappointment for any aspiring Pokemon Master, this emotion is easily eclipsed by the absolute devastation players will feel after foolishly defeating a shiny Pokemon in the wild. There may be some reading this who didn’t even know shiny variants existed in the games, which speaks to the sheer rarity of such encounters. The chances of bumping into a shiny Pokemon game is calculated to be 1 in 8192, leading to fits of joy amongst trainers once they do find one. Consider, then, the almighty fall from the euphoria of seeing a shiny to the sinking pit of despair seeing the chance slip away and the colourful little bugger disappear for good. 4) Witnessing The Ending - Mass Effect 3 As one of the greatest gaming trilogies ever, Mass Effect’s third chapter - the final one of Commander Shepard’s story - was eagerly anticipated. It was one of the greatest galaxy-hopping stories the world had seen since the original Star Wars trilogy, so what could possibly go wrong? Well, apparently, quite a lot. The pre-installed endings for players to reach at the end of their Mass Effect 3 playthrough were so heartbreakingly bad that longtime fans of the game were simply distraught. The internet is saturated with disappointed retellings of players’ experiences with this game, and the fan backlash was so intense that the EA were forced to release additional content that offered players more satisfactory endings. If only the downloads had included a memory wipe so that fans could forget the ordeal of the original endings! 3) Getting Teabagged - Halo Being defeated by another player in any online community is a bitter pill for any gamer to swallow, but in Halo, a group of immature little fiends managed to come up with a way to add an almighty insult to the injury. Before the defeated player respawns, their conquerer would stand above the rag-doll avatar’s corpse and alternate between crouching and standing, thus giving the impression that the downed player is being “teabagged” by their stronger foe. The really offensive players out their will occasionally add further insult by sending an accompanying message to suggest a similar action would be carried out at the expense of the loser’s mother, but in truth, having to stand and watch a beloved character be defiled on screen is already upsetting enough. 2) Conceding Late Goals - FIFA Admittedly, this point could be applied to near enough any sports game, but the aggressive nature of the average football fan is such that the feeling is undoubtedly multiplied for any FIFA player. Considering EA’s FIFA series likes to present itself as a staggeringly realistic representation of the raw competitiveness of football in real life, it’s certainly also appropriate that the game can stir such aggressive emotion in its fans. The sheer dread that fills any FIFA player who holds a slender lead as a game reaches its conclusion maximizes the devastation that they will go on to feel if they cannot see it through. As such, YouTube is riddled with amateur footage of consoles being smashed in these situations, proving just how upsetting a sensation this can be for a gamer. 1) The Blue Shell - Mario Kart While the origins of this series stretch farther back than modern generations of games and consoles, it’s maintained a longstanding fanbase and has found its way successfully onto many modern consoles. And so it is within the confines of Mario’s wacky race tracks that we find our most heartbreaking moment: being hit by a blue shell. The blue shell is a Mario Kart weapon that targets the leader of the race, forcing them into an almighty crash that all but guarantees they will lose said lead. In the early rounds of any race this is frustrating, but in the latter stages of a final lap it can be simply soul destroying. Having clear sight of the finish line, only to be cruelly scuppered by a player almost have the track away surely represents the most devastating moment in modern gaming.