Nightmare Circus

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title: "Nightmare Circus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1996-video-games", "video-games-set-in-circuses", "fictional-jesters", "video-games-about-ghosts", "funcom-games", "horror-video-games", "sega-genesis-games", "sega-genesis-only-games", "sega-video-games", "platformers", "video-games-based-on-native-american-mythology", "video-games-developed-in-norway", "video-games-scored-by-andy-armer", "video-games-scored-by-kurt-harland", "video-games-set-in-amusement-parks", "video-games-set-in-arizona", "multiplayer-and-single-player-video-games", "video-games-featuring-native-american-protagonists"] description: "1996 video game" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare_Circus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1996 video game ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox video game"]

Field	Value
title	Nightmare Circus
image	Nightmare Circus Coverart.jpg
caption	South American cover art
developer	Funcom
publisher
producer	Maxwell Taylor
designer	Ricardo Pinto
artist	Lars-Petter Anfinsen
composer	Kurt Harland
Jim Hedges
Andy Armer
programmer	Johan Andersson
released
genre	Platform
modes	Single-player, multiplayer
platforms	Mega Drive/Genesis
::

::callout[type=note] the video game ::

|title = Nightmare Circus |image = Nightmare Circus Coverart.jpg |caption = South American cover art |developer = Funcom |publisher = |producer = Maxwell Taylor |designer = Ricardo Pinto |artist = Lars-Petter Anfinsen |composer = Kurt Harland Jim Hedges Andy Armer |programmer = Johan Andersson |released = |genre = Platform |modes = Single-player, multiplayer |platforms = Mega Drive/Genesis

Nightmare Circus is a platform video game developed by Funcom and published by Tec Toy for the Sega Mega Drive. The game was first released in April 1996 on the Sega Channel in North America by Sega, and physically released on cartridge in Brazil sometime that same year. It was also released on the Sega Channel in Europe the following year.

Plot

The story begins with a circus that was held out in the desert of Arizona. On opening night, the circus was burned completely to the ground by its shady and villainous operator, the Jester, who intended to cash in on an insurance policy. Afterwards, the Jester was convicted for the deaths of the fire victims. However, before he was executed, the Jester warned that the souls of his victims would be forever tormented. Many years later, a Native American named Raven, who had lost relatives in the fire, goes to investigate the location where the circus was held, and where supernatural events have been reported. Night comes, and suddenly there appears, via the psi-energy of the Jester, a ghostly apparition of the destroyed circus.

Gameplay

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Nightmare-Circus-game-screenshot.png" caption="Players can stick to the wall via [[centripetal force]], but only when the room is spinning sufficiently fast."] ::

In the game, Raven must go through multiple levels of the circus environment using various fighting moves to destroy enemies. The game has a normal one-player mode, but it also features a cooperative two-player mode, a one-on-one duel mode where a player can fight against a second player or an enemy character, and a mode where one player controls Raven and the second player controls the generation of the enemies in the game.

The game has a "Tweak" mode which allows a player to adjust numerous game variables such as the gravity, the speed of objects, and the appearance of enemies. The soundtrack was composed by Jim Hedges, Kurt Harland Larsen, and Andy Armer.

Reception

USA magazine Next Generation commented that the game had a lot more detail than many other platform games, but that its potential significance was reduced since the Sega Genesis was starting to be supplanted by other consoles. The game's intended North American release in late 1995 was indeed cancelled, though it later appeared in that region for the Sega Channel.

References

References

1. (March 30, 1996). "For Those That Play The Games It Is Simply The Best Value Around! April on SEGA Channel". [[Duluth News Tribune]].
2. Durham, Nick. (August 22, 2011). "Nightmare Circus". Sega-16.
3. (May 12, 1997). "Sega Channel May Games List". [[Shields Gazette.
4. (June 1997). "Saga Magazine".
5. (December 1995). "Nightmare Circus". [[Future Publishing]].
6. (October 15, 1995). "GAME". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]] (via [[Newspapers.com]]).
7. Gazza, Brian. (November 27, 2008). "The Sega Channel".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::