5 Video Games From The '90s That Were Way Too Dark For Kids

The '90s were a pivotal decade for the video game industry, not just in terms of advancing technology or popularity, but the types of storytelling and experiences available to gamers. This occasionally involved titles pushing the boundaries of what was considered acceptable for the medium, which resulted in some controversial retro games being pulled from stores. But even games that weren't necessarily targeting mature audiences saw their own fair share of questionable content for younger players. These games contained either crude and suggestive humor or surprisingly macabre or violent content, even in games lacking a stronger content rating.

We're highlighting video games released throughout the 1990s that are better left to preteens and older, rather than more impressionable players. We're not including titles that were designed with mature gamers in mind or games that pushed violence too far. Instead, these are games that didn't carry an M-rating, yet still contained content that might have raised a few eyebrows upon their release. Given their respective subject matter, these five video games from the '90s were way too dark for kids to play.

The 1990 light gun arcade game "Mad Dog McCree" utilized live-action footage of actors on sets to create its Wild West shoot-'em-up. The game has an unnamed gunslinger arrive in a 19th century frontier town terrorized by outlaw Mad Dog McCree. After the town's sheriff is murdered by Mad Dog's small army of gunmen, it falls to the player character to save the town and rescue the mayor and his daughter. Gunfights in the various levels unfold with players only given a brief window to shoot enemies on-screen, while avoiding non-combatants in the vicinity.

Apart from the use of live-action actors pantomiming being shot on-screen, "Mad Dog McCree" has a particularly eerie "game over" sequence. Every time the player loses a life, they are taunted by the town's undertaker and, given how unforgiving the reaction times need to be, he's seen a lot. The undertaker also appears whenever an innocent bystander is shot, seen burying the victim that the player character killed while remarking that they were a good person. There is a cheesy quality to this, as with much of "Mad Dog McCree," but definitely also macabre overtones that may creep out younger gamers.

The "Earthworm Jim" titles really do feel like video games from the '90s that would never be made today. The titular hero is a worm powered up by wearing an experimental super-suit and armed with a futuristic pistol as he battles all sorts of twisted enemies. Jim traverses across a number of strange worlds to reach Princess What's-Her-Name, only to fight enemies like Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Psy-Crow, and Major Mucus. The gameplay features a mix of gun-and-run and platforming elements, usually involving Jim's wormy head, with some light puzzle-solving to advance.

Like many '90s cartoons, 1994's "Earthworm Jim" revolves heavily around scatological humor, including a backside-inspired level named Buttville. In addition to its dated comedy, the game features odd moments of slapstick, usually at the expense of innocent animals. The game's 1995 sequel doubled down on these sensibilities, including a level where Jim takes on the form of a cave salamander and explores a living intestinal tract. Full of period-popular gross-out gags, "Earthworm Jim" definitely should be avoided by younger, more impressionable gamers.

The original PlayStation had its own bizarre platforming property with "Oddworld," which began with the 1997 title "Abe's Oddysee." The game takes place in an industrial dystopia where the once proud Mudokons have been subjugated by corporate entities run by the greedy Glukkons. Abe is a humble Mudokon relegated to cleaning floors at a soulless meatpacking company before learning they plan to use Mudokons to create their latest meat product. After making this shocking discovery, Abe moves to not only escape his cruel corporate overseers but free his fellow Mudokons.

For whatever reason, animal cruelty was a recurring trope in '90s media geared towards children, with the animals usually on the receiving end of a slapstick joke or disgusting punchline. "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee" is no different, with the added disturbing implication that the Glukkons are turning to virtual cannibalism to maintain their corporate profits. Underscoring these themes, there are a number of gruesome deaths that Abe can endure to remind players of the stakes. Starting an entire franchise for PlayStation, "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee" is a great game — but not for the kiddies.

The 1998 Nintendo 64 title "Space Station Silicon Valley" is a game that became a cult classic over time. Players control Evo, a sentient microchip that survived their spaceship crashing into the titular space station, which hosts a variety of animals across its distinct ecosystems. Evo takes control of the animals' bodies as they progress through the space station, using each animals' unique abilities to platform and solve puzzles to advance. Using this wide array of fauna, Evo tries to stop the space station from colliding with Earth in a race against time.

In order for Evo to control an animal's body, the creature in question technically needs to be dead. This distinction is made abundantly clear through a dark joke in the game's opening, as Evo claims the body of a fallen dog before attacking the canine's sheep companion. At the game's conclusion, when the station does inevitably crash on Earth, Evo needs to exterminate all the rampaging animals on the loose throughout New York City. The wholesale animal slaughter undercut by jokes about it is something that really puts a sour taste in "Space Station Silicon Valley."

Rare made many of the best Nintendo games of the '90s, including the underrated N64 shooter "Jet Force Gemini." A third-person sci-fi action game, the 1999 game has three playable characters in siblings Juno and Vela, along with their cybernetically enhanced dog Lupus, each with their own special abilities. The trio travel the cosmos fighting the insectoid army of the interplanetary tyrant Mizar, who have attacked a peaceful race known as the Tribals. The team must ensure the Tribals on every planet are rescued before facing Mizar in an intense final showdown.

With only rated T by the ESRB, the on-screen violence in "Jet Force Gemini" is surprisingly graphic, even more than Rare's previous N64 shooter, "GoldenEye 007." The bug enemies can have body parts shot off them, including their heads, all with gratuitous amounts of green blood splattered everywhere. Even the Tribals aren't safe from being visibly brutalized, with great globs of crimson blood seen whenever they're mercilessly gunned down. "Jet Force Gemini" is an overlooked game in the Nintendo 64 library, to be sure, but more violent than its cartoonishly designed characters suggest.