@argh: The Howie scream almost sounds like the fast headcrab zombies from HL2. At least, that's how I remember them sounding.

Actaeus

@PatMan33: Which is why I find the huge praise given to Silent Hill's 'sound design' utterly bizarre. It uses more canned sounds than nearly any other franchise out there.

frostcircus

Aaaaaahahhh !!

Viper

Canned sounds are one of the biggest offenders when it comes to breaking the immersion of a game.

PatMan33

@tmanflys: Its like the arrow in the FedEx sign, you can never not see it if you've seen it once...: [kebawe.com]

tmanflys

Maybe...

Once you truly hear it, you can never not hear it again....ITS EEEEVIL!

tmanflys

Aaauuuaaauuuaaaagh!

tmanflys

oh the wilhelm....

demonknightinuyasha

These comments look like something that would come in stone age internet. CAVE MAN GO AAAAAAAUUUAUUAUUAAAA!

Weasel3689

I learned something new today, thanks to Kotaku.

DigiMish

I know Okratronners have used it in various games we've designed or mixed. It's in a lot of the anime that goes through our offices too, hehe.

kidko

And that's one of the only reasons why I am glad most of those films were dubbed when I saw them. Using an 'arrow in the rears' scream when throwing a trooper into an infinite pit? (the pit loops around the star, I'm certain!)

Ua'aaaahoo! Damned QUERTY has no phonetic keys!

EloraHRanma

AAAH-ULGH!!!

lenandude

@OhSoDelish: There's this screaming monster sound, kind of, that I remember Gyarados making in Pokemon Snap that I hear everywhere... I kind of thought I was hearing things the first time around, but I know for certain that sound is being reused... The thing is, it probably wasn't first used in Pokemon Snap...

It's detective time!
@I Think We're Property: I think he wins the contest XD

Zerbrechen

The scream that gets used in starcraft when you click on an academy (terran), its also at the end of the themesong for 'Ah! Real Monsters'
i really hate that scream

SmokeFemur

It best onomatopoeic spelling is easily: Oohaaaaahgh!

MydLyfeCrysis

YeaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaagh! Now where's my booby?

MeanMF

A very large amount of the games in that list do not feature the Wilhelm scream - but the gaming world is plagued with overused sound libraries, so when people hear the same scream over and over, they assume that's the Wilhelm. It rarely is.

For my part, I can confirm 11 and 12. On the other hand, I will stake my reputation on the sound not appearing in 4, 5, 10, 14, 27 and 47.

frostcircus

That video makes me want to uhhaaaaAAAaaahhh!

DariusEnigma

Sound effects is a funny business. I once heard the original Doom door sound in a Sci-Fi Channel movie one night-- I'm pretty sure iut was near the end of Screamers (1995). I've also heard grunts from Mission Impossible 64, and one of the foot soldier death screams from the Command & Conquer, but I forget what I was watching.

And I swear that during the Red Sox / Rockies world series special segment about one of Boston's Japanese pitchers, they played Charlotte's re-arranged theme from Samurai Shodown 4. But it might have been "Sakura Sakura" and I might have hallucinated.

OhSoDelish

@argh:

I hate that scream. I cringe every time I hear it.

romBox

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAU

Shiryu

@argh: sweeet, thats one of the screams I just talked about. Love it :o)

Zenrick

Haha, I always wondered where that famous scream was sampled from.
There are a couple of other screams that I always hear, well one of them is more prominent, and is most recently heard in the new Ninja Gaiden 2 commercial, as soon as you see Ryu start running the scream is heard. It was also the death on your character in Dark Forces and many more instances.
The other scream was used in Rambo: First Blood I believe, well thats the earliest I've ever heard it, but it was also used in Golden Axe when you kill enemies. It sounds like: "OH GAAAAIIIEEEAAD!"

Zenrick

Owen, the Y is silent. It's spelled 'yahweh'.

That's right. The Wilhelm scream is a divine invention.

wild homes is weathering cephalopod trouble!

+ Watch video

Here we go.

Love the second one.

/spam

argh

I'm definitely feeling some 'r' in there.

uhAARRRHHOU!

I have to say, though, that I've been getting more and more sick of this god damn scream for every movie I've heard it in, and I always recognize it instantly. What makes it worse is how often the sound designers pick inappropriate places to put it, making it stick out like a sore thumb even more.

And apparently, this was originally logged in the studio stock audio bank as "man being eaten by crocodile".

I Think We're Property

Really, that is the cheesiest scream ever.

skaldicpoet9

Hah! I'm not crazy, I mentioned the scream on the ad for DMC4 that was in one of the yahtzee vids

Houseboy23

+ Watch video

Lame, it works on youtube.com

it's called:
Hollywood Edge - PE 13 - Human Sounds 1 - 44 - Man Screams #3- Gut-Wrenching With Fall

argh

great Owen- now all the comments are going to have nothing but a variation on OOOAAHHWAAAH in them!

...I do feel the need to use this though. Somewhere...

JGab

Yeah, I first heard about it when I was reading about its use in Kill Bill...

Any idea why it's still so prominently featured? Is it all one huge inside joke?

Zerbrechen

AHHWEAHA even though I am very tempted to put a Q in there...
But really that video? FULL of win.

Koolsen

@argh: This video is no longer available? :(

Saprol

This is my favorite cliched scream:

+ Watch video

You've all definitely heard this one.

argh

*ouiAAAAHHuhhu!*

SmokeFemur

UAAWAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAA

damatman

@Raziel Dune: same here!

warxsnake

Aw man, that video just screams amazing...

<_< sorry.

MetaKz

AaauugggaaahHHHH!

lol

argh

i started noticing that scream in star wars ever since then i pay attention and go THERES THAT SCREAM AGAIN!

Raziel Dune

UHAAAAAAAHOW

TychoCelchuuu

They really should come up with a better scream.

Yuki

haha that is so funny, no idea about that scream hehe

valhum

OWOOOAHA

Sentientv2

OWOOOAAAAHA

Sentientv2

@Pentex: Alright, i went and found a video lol

+ Watch video

The sound i'm referring to appears at 2m29s.

The guy playing is terrible, though. He should've selected automatic if he didn't know how to shift gears and then doesn't know how to flip the car back lol.

Pentex

@Pentex: The same happens to me with Myst sounds, specially the Mechanical Age elevator door. But it could be the cause of a mental disease, because I hear it in trains, in elevators, in the faces of every boy and girl...

EloraHRanma

Slow news day?

DXY!

I already knew about this sound effect and how it was present in many movies in games but there's another in particular that i always notice in movies because it was engraved in my mind after playing a game that featured it.

The game is Rally Cross for PS1 which was a very fun racer, although not extraordinary. The physics was what made it fun, since the cars would jump all over the track, but to accompany that, the cars had suspensions that squeaked all the time and when the car bumped something it would produce a sound effet of metal clanking.

Ever since, i've heard that in loads of movies and such and i've nicknamed it the Rally Cross sound effect.

Pentex

The other one I often here is used in timesplitters 2, when a female character is caught on fire, they'll do 3 shrieks, and I seem to hear it whenever a woman is suffering in any film.

Coin Operated Boy

It's like the Totaka's song of movies, without all that idle staring at the same menu for 3 and a half minutes.

@Yuki: Indeed, perhaps Howard Dean's scream - I can't think of a single film that wouldn't improve.

Kyattsuai

That is ridiculously funny.

I was always bored and annoyed by the constant use of the scream in modern media, but after seeing it comprised like that, why...it just made my day.

Mesren_Makai

AUGHYAAA!

Chewbenator

UHHHH OWWWW

Coors Light is God

Aaauuhuwo!

TwinkyC

Sound effects are good old fashioned fun. Ben Burtt has demonstrated how he made the many Star Wars sounds in a bunch of cool videos, and he is actually relevant at the moment as he did a lot of the sound in WALL-E.

A vast majority of people on the internet have known about the wilhelm for years, which is directly responsible for it being in so many games now. Even though the UUAAAAAAAAGH scream doesn't have a proper title and isn't respected as much, it is a more typical example of sounds we typically recognize without necessarily having read an article about it.

Even when it's something like a music clip, hearing it enough can just drastically affect you. When Star Wars Galaxies was in beta and on through a little ways into release, there was a single song that played whenever you went into battle mode. Because all of us in beta had heard it so much, whenever we went back and watched Episode 2 it scared the crap out of us when the exact edit of that musical cue started playing when Obi Wan fights Jango on Kamino.

Unless you have a pro like Burtt, chances are you are using recycled sounds. Sometimes that works for the better though, as in the case of Half Life 2. A scream as innately otherworldly as the UUUAAAAAGH is only made more discomforting when you have a lifetime of terrifying association pre-deposited into your subconscious. As far as I'm concerned, ever since my first playthrough I have taken Eli's advice and skip right over Ravenholm.

Bobby McPresscott

I recall another, rather overused scream that I first heard in Army of Darkness, I think about the time the eye appears on Ash's shoulder...I have heard that in numerous cartoons and shows it seems.

relic1980

@DXY!: Don't be a dick.

InsidiousTuna

aAAAAAUOugh

InsidiousTuna

Owww!

MEoowgghh!

SNOOWEGHH!

Eoughhh!

EAYOWH!

COWWW!

Arsenicberyllium

Man, I love the Wilhelm scream. I love how it just seems to blend in, but once you notice it as what it is, it seems so fake and out of place.

Platypus Man

LOL good times. i can never get tired of that sound. Didn't they use that same sound in the Ninja Gaiden 2 TV Ad's?

MURDERFACE

speaking of screams and noises, did anyone notice a trailer for Hell Boy 2 using a demon moan from the original Doom... or was it just me.

Kayin

Uaowh!

Dragon_Warrior

AAAOUUUUHHHUH!

armchairnixon sees you doing that thing there...

EAAAAAAAAAYOWAHHHHHHHHHH

theblur3419

Now that i think about it, i remember another one. Anyone who has played the Resident Evil games will recall the sounds of the doors opening, especially the metal gates. I've heard it in some movies too.

Pentex

call me crazy, but I think I've heard it in gta IV.

SteveIsRad

There's also the door noise in Doom, I've heard that in several films and games. That one is the one I recognize the most.

chiablo

@Pentex: Haha yeah, that one. It's in Half-Life 2 pretty prominently. Very strange selection here, it doesn't quite suit, but it doesn't entirely not suit.

frostcircus

Whenever I hear that scream I just think "not again."
Also - UUUUAAAAAAAHUGH

Wizzard

lol, I never knew about this! I should've. It makes sense now. sorta like that 'ga-ga' baby sound thats been used so many times or the 'paging dr. hamilton' hospital P.A. clip you always hear.

My first thought after hearing that scream so many times in the video made me wonder about Halo 3. anyone who has died enough or intentially committed suicide in Halo 3 multiplayer will understand.
sure enough, it's on the list.

thats so awesome.

here's the spelling

oooouuuurraaa-ahhh!

AryzonaBay

So that's what it's called!

Atheist Jew

I love the Wilhelm Scream. A nice running joke and far less obnoxious than the "roaring cat sound" used in some explosions and shots of bridges collapsing, etc. I don't know if it's a lion or a tiger or a freaking cougar, but it's stupid as hell. If one more leopard meows during the next plane crash I'll make yet another empty threat!

Erwin

@Bobby McPresscott: I'm nowhere near Burtt's calibre, but I make a point not to use library sounds at all - and when I do have to resort to using something someone else has recorded, I twist the waveform until it's unrecognisable. It's so easy to do, and it boggles my mind that people won't even do that.

And honestly, screams! Everybody can scream. You can't claim that the sounds were too obscure to record. My brother has long been convinced that he and I should create and release a huge scream library. It'd be more part of the problem than the solution, but at least the problem wouldn't be quite so obvious. The Wilhelm is a different kettle of fish altogether though, because it is awesome.

Oh, and as for the various Doom and Resident Evil sounds people have recognised - it goes beyond the few examples given so far. It's no exaggeration to say that every single sound from both games can be heard in every product ever released by anybody, ever.

I have to admit I find library music more jarring than library sound, though*. A major scene in an episode of Buffy was completely castrated by its use of a cue I'd heard in Raven Shield. Nearly every episode of the show also used that slow horror/tension cue we all know from the Half-Life (and other) games, too. It's just so undermining.

hurrrr. Pet peeves lead to tangents.

*unless I'm watching Ren and Stimpy

frostcircus

Man, seeing that Batman Returns clip makes me miss Michael Keaton as Batman.. not that Christian Bale isn't awesome, but those Tim Burton Batmans were always so interesting and fun to watch... and then Schumacher took over.

fearing

It showed Howard the Duck.

I'm satisfied.

Torokun

oooAaaUHUaaaAH~k.!?

tehflyingwombat

hahaha aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwhooooooooooo!

fatez

Someone needs to work this into a Caramelldansen remix.

Uu-uu-uuaaah-uuaaah-aauhh!
Uu-uu-uuaaah-uuaaah-aauhh!

Reilaos~

A-AW-HA!

Murgatron

I've found my new ringtone.

Kenofthedead

@argh: Yeah, that's what I thought the Wilhelm scream was previously. I love th Broken Arrow best.

KM91

Oh, my onomatopoeic translation:
Man getting eaten by alligator!!!
(If games can use "BOMB!" why can't I use the description? too)

Erwin

AahHh-hugh!

Hazaa54

Cowabunga!

salaminizer

Another badly overused stock sound effect is the "kids giggling" sound from windows 95. This laugh has been in more commercials than I can count. It's at 1:30 in this clip.

+ Watch video

And then there's the infamous "Castle Thunder" sound, used in virtually every horror movie and/or dark-and-stormy-night scene.

[www.hollywoodlostandfound.net]

Contrapulator

Hey, that's my grandpa James Whitmore in Them! I've seen that movie a bunch of times, and never heard the Wilhelm Scream in that scene. I must be tone deaf.

Thorax

@argh: That second scream I believe is from the 1979 movie called "The Ninth Configuration" comes in at the end of the most epic bar fight ever.

muchanagel

@Erwin: 5 stars to whoever can provide a sample of this sound. It is the ultimate in cheese. Used for explosions, rocket engines, all types of stuff.

Eyerox

whoWAAAAooo.

Someone probably did have the onomatopoeic spelling on it long ago but some sound guys were probably like: "Hey, get me that ouha... I mean yahweh. No that's not right. Uhahhroo? Just get me the damn scream that guy makes when the alligator eats him! I mean crocodile!"

e1salvador

@argh: I hear that scream all the time, but there's a third one I also hear. Because I have no idea how to start looking for it, I can only spell it out.

It sounds like this: NYAH NYAAAAAHHH.
Usually associated with someone burning or being eaten or something.

@Pentex: I've also heard that before too. Good find.

Bluecell

Oh shit, I forgot, the latest NIN album uses the SIMPSONS CAT sound! It comes out of nowhere and is completely inexplicable, I love it.

CLIP

(the sound's in lots of other stuff too, but Simpsons definitely use it the most)

Also, since this article is probably the closest thing I'll ever have to an excuse for pointing this out: for some bizarre reason, the Red Alert 2 and Unlimited Saga soundtracks both sample the exact same obscure 50s sci-fi movie.

CLIP

Maybe I should make a Youtube account, I notice this sort of stuff all the time. I am cursed

frostcircus

Heres my best spelling of the scream

CLICHE SCCRRRREEEAMMMM!!!!!!(whilce being thrown into the air!)

ChiliC

Scream Spelling Contest Entry :-P

Wilh-augh!

hopelesshindu

Ouh-wAAugh!

Gomerboy

I've noticed the Wilhelm Scream in the original Star Wars when I was a kid.

DigitalHero

@argh: I though that the second clip (terran academy) was the famous Wilhem Scream. Good to know wich is one.
One of the sounds that I hear always in sci-fi movies is the "menu option selected" from starcraft, that "burp" is very easy to hear.

rdcarvallo

Every time I hear the yell, I feel warm and fuzzy inside.

artofwar420

aAaa!

famousmortimer78

ugh, I'm sick of hearing the Wilhelm scream in everything!

they reeeeeeeally need a new one

chaos_isnt_here

I've heard it in so many movies... but it's even MORE painful all put together like that...

Its kinda like the sounds from Doom... Explosions, monster screams, even some of the door opening sounds... Used in SO many films... And every time I hear them, I go back to all those hours and hours I wasted playing Doom...

2NinjasTapedTogether

besides this scream and Doom door sfx, the red alert tesla coil sfx is used a lot too. Everytime there's a fire/fireball (especially of mystical origin), they always use the same damn sfx.

cyhborg

+ Watch video

Go to 1:00

Bergerac

Damn it, I thought this was that OTHER famous scream, the woman's scream that you hear in Resident Evil 2, I think, and various other things. Even on music albums.

Bergerac

This is surely gonna ruin Indy IV for me .. forget the action, listen out for the aaaghh!

akif24

i don't have sound at work. Does it go something like this:
"Aaarrraaghhhh FFS!" ?

Asaron

guuuuuuuaaaaanoooo!

Nukkus

@Contrapulator:
Im not crazy! I've heard the windows 95 kid gigling in so many movie!!

ragespot

Nothing kills my immersion faster.

gains

You want onomatopoeia? I got your onomatopoeia right here.

CRaaaaaaaaaa-aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

JackiJinx

How do you not love the Wilhelm scream...it's classic.

"It's been in every Star Wars..."

Could it perhaps also be unleashed in another Star Wars title? :-D

Arklop

Sounds like a "uuaahh!" to me.

Shiroi Kaze

The Parasite Eve games had the Generic Rusty Gate Noise that I've noticed over and over and over again in movies. I mean, they can't ALL sound the same. Also, I remember playing to the end and taking the disc out and switching it or trying to play it as an audio CD after the credits, and it played EVERY sound effect in a row!

Human Bomb

That video was positively mind-numbing. I love it.

supercrap

@Zerbrechen:
Ben Burtt uses it as his signature in every movie he does sound design/editing for. He even slipped it into an episode of the Young Indiana Jones series.

However, one odd bit of the history is that the name comes from the _second_ known use of this scream, not the original.

My favorite reused scream, however, is from an early episode of Futurama where Amy slips and falls. They had the voice actress record new screams every time the script would call for it, but they never told her that they were always just going back and reusing her first scream.

Purple Dave

oooAAAoou!

xoforoct

I was wondering when someone besides myself would notice this. But apparently everyone did.

NEzraF

OOHAAAGH?

Godot

Sounds like AAAAAAAAAAAAOUUUUUUHHHH

screenfan