Polygon’s jack-o’-lantern pays tribute to iconic gaming monsters

It’s hard to know what to cut every year! Of course, you could just put some spooky eyes and teeth on your jack-o’-lantern and call it a day, but this year we decided to be a little more ambitious and host a themed pumpkin carving session. The prompt? “Spooky video game monsters.” Did we succeed? Please rate accordingly and be sure to read the artist statements below each listing.

Can’t get enough jack-o’-lanterns? Travel back in time to our 2020 edition (what was it like four years ago?) where we mainly paid tribute to ghosts.

Owlbear, by Alice Jonavée

For Halloween this year I tried a design inspired by one of my favorites D&D animals: the Owlbear. But since the Owlbear is pretty big, and it’s hard to scale stuff up to fit a 20 pound gourd, I basically ended up with a little beaked guy with an attitude. Imagine them saying, “Shiny clothes make me strong,” and you get the idea.

Destiny’s Festival of the Lost, by Alice Jonavée

While I didn’t participate Destination‘s Festival of the Lost event in several years, I’ve always found it endearing that the characters of Bungie’s live-service shooter share a common appreciation for the spooky season. I’m not sure if they’re still doing this, but Bungie has shared some fun stuff DestinationJack-o’-lantern stencils with a theme, with this one in particular inspired by the three-eyed Hive enemies that live on the moon.

Outer Wilds – Echoes of the Eye’s Stranger Monsters, by Chelsea Stark

I really hated the moose-owl hybrid monsters in it Outer Wilderness‘ Echoes of the eye DLC. They could lurk in the dark and seemed to lurk behind every corner. Instead of trying to carve their highly detailed faces, I went for more lurking concept with glowing eyes. This was also the first time I scraped a pumpkin to make it glow, and all the effort was worth it.

Freddy Fozbear, by Chris Grant

With apologies to readers, this is the only photo taken of this Freddy Fazbear pumpkin before it collapsed a week later. Of course, the photo was taken in a dark room, at the behest of my 6-year-old boss (pictured next to my creation), so it’s actually hard to tell that it’s a pumpkin at all… but I promise you it is!

I have found the template online, traced it with a thumbtack and spent a few hours carving it out. I used power tools – mainly drills – for the small areas, like the teeth, which helped a lot. I then used a small grater to clean up and reshape some of the gaps for maximum readability. Then fell into one of these remotely controlled lamps to get the green color just right, one more demanding request from the boss.

What cuter video game monster is there than the sweet little Metroid? Technically, this baby could kill us all.
I was initially apprehensive about cutting this out because of all the curved lines, but it ended up being quite easy. It’s based on one stencil by an artist named Longquang – many thanks to that person for helping to make this pumpkin look so cool.

Gengar (Junji Ito’s version), by Michael McWhertor

When the assignment of “ghostly video game monsters” came up, one of my first thoughts was Gengar, the life-stealing, child-chasing, shadow-dwelling, heat-absorbing Pokémon. The creepiest version of Gengar is manga artist Junji Ito’s take on the character, which I tried to capture in jack-o-lantern form by carving out a huge, Venom-like tongue. Next time I’ll think twice about cutting individual Gengar teeth from a gourd.

Majora’s Mask Moon, by Matt Patches

I am chased by the moon Majora’s mask for almost 25 years. So when I started looking for a creepy video game monster that could double as a generic creepy jack-o’-lantern, the celestial scourge of Termina was a natural choice. But to do justice to all of the moon’s grotesque features—piercing eyes, grinding teeth, flaring nostrils—I quickly realized that a simple cut wouldn’t do. Numerous YouTube videos supported my theory: I should sculpt the moon from the pumpkin’s face using wood etching tools. This took three times as long as simply stabbing the pumpkin in the face with a knife, and I paid far too much attention to the details of the teeth and the depth of the moon’s sinuses, all in the hope of some shadowy glow of the finished product. . But you know what, it kind of worked! Great job from me. (Apologies to the family I ignored to achieve this.)

Chain Chomp, by Petrana Radulovic

This little guy enjoyed my blood twice while cutting. That’s why his eyes look so messy, because by the time I got to them I was scared of them. So it’s less a cute Chain Chomp and more a possessed Chain Chomp. But! I feel completely fine now. And it’s kinda cute – and I’m not just saying that because I can hear it whispering to me in the back of my head, haha!
I? ̴̗̣̮͎͠͠W̶̡̢̡͉̜͚̲theoretical? ?? l̵̨̡̗̳̠̰̖̝̯̭̣̗̈́̐̈́̑̊̂̊̕͠͝ ̵̢̡̧̛̲̬̖̼̩̹̣̬̗̓̈̒̉̓̈́ ̓̈̒̉̓̈́ ?? f̴̭͂͗? ͂̏̈́̑̎̈́͌̚̚E̸̡̛̛̊̈́͒̎̈̽̕͜͠a̸͓̦͔? ́͋͐̊̓͒̔̿̄͂́͜S̴̙̝̜̱̊? ͋̈́̃́̈́̀͝T̴̟̃̍͗͗ ̸̧̢̨̛͍̟͚̟͇͚̄̿̀̂̃̆̕͘? Ö̶̢͔̭̬̼̠̲͔̯̖̠̹̬͔̮́̉aulter ̈́̋̑͐? Hey? ͆͂́͑͗͋̕͝ ̵͍̪́̏̀̓͆̂͝b̶͇͔̪̞̀͗? ? ̵̨̠͇̤̙̠͔̙̻̗theoretical “ ͒͂͝͠? E̴̦̖͈̬̪͎aulter ́̀̕͠͝Ẁ̵͉̞theoretical ͖̬͖̬͛̍͛̍h̷̢̗͔̙̮̣̜̻̝̻͉͈̍̐̄͌̓̈͛̑̍͜͝? ̴̥́ put

Dragon Yorgle from Atari Adventure, by Tasha Robinson

I really don’t recommend that people try pixel art for the first time in the Pumpkin medium. But if you’re going to do that, why not go as OG with your video game monsters as possible? Here we see Yorgle, the scariest of the original Atari Adventure dragons, in the actual act of swallowing a player. Notice that he roars with triumph. It’s hard to believe that there was a time when this little yellow guy chasing you through a labyrinth was actually scary.