Some might argue that the Mortal Kombat games should be exempt from this list, given how the violence therein is so absurd that it enters the realm of the cartoonish. While that is true, it does still manage to shock from time to time; the real problem is finding a moment to choose from. After all, Sub Zero's spine-rip and the various crotch-related fatalities are all capable of bringing a tear to the eye, but there's one that I recall genuinely shocking me when I first played it, again as a wee nipper way too young to be doing so. For me, Sheeva's fatality in Mortal Kombat 3 really takes the cake here; in one slick move, she rips the skin from her opponent's body, leaving it in a crumpled, dodgily-rendered pile on the floor, while we're greeted with the sight of a somehow still-upright skeleton that lets out a blood-curdling (if slightly hilarious) scream. Vile.