10 Video Games That Made Boring Things TERRIFYING
6. Sonic The Hedgehog - Swimming
Drowning in games is usually not a particularly hair-raising affair. In fact, it usually becomes a painfully dull experience when you need to hurry through a level despite being slowed down immensely by the water.
You watch your breath meter slowly whittle away and then either realize you won't make it and wait for the bar to deplete before restarting, or you let out a brief sigh of frustration if you just miss reaching the surface of the water.
Sonic the Hedgehog managed to make this process completely daunting due to one thing.
That god-damn music.
When Sonic is under the water too long, an alarming countdown is triggered and get progressively faster the longer you don't grab some air. If you can't it gets impossibly fast, and jars with the colorful, fun visuals on-screen catching you off-guard.
It strikes fear into the hearts of gamers young and old. The memory of hearing the incredibly loud, pounding threat of Sonic about to croak probably still gives players Vietnam-style flashbacks whenever they get a drink of water.
All it took was the perfect soundtrack to turn such a small element into something so memorably panic-inducing.