Pain, eh? Nature's way of saying 'this'll learn ya' when you do something stupid like fall on your keys in a nettle patch made of razor wire. With salt on it. Videogame-wise, however, there's virtually no chance a game will be able to physically cause you pain.

Thankfully, there's a much more cathartic alternative - you get to inflict it instead. But where does necessity end and callousness begin? We reckon we've found the line - so here are our top 7 sadistic moments in gaming.

(Note: Due to the violent nature of sadism, you should probably stop reading if you're young, impressionable, or feel that Tom & Jerry is 'unsuitable' for you)

Well, it's a game based around the concept of making a human being suffer as much as possible, just for laughs. You load your punk/cheerleader/cow into a catupult and twang them into buildings, subway trains and old grannies, trying to hurt everyone and everything as much as possible on the way.

But our favourite method for delivering pain has to be finishing your go by getting run over by the Police – who don't even stop. Here's one we made earlier:

How sick is it? 
If it wasn't so catoonified and goreless, this would surely be number one. As it is, you'll feel pain in your sides from laughing so hard, but that's all.  

When you buy Lemmings, you go through three distinct phases. Firstly, there's the panic as your Lemmings walk blindly over cliffs or into nasty chopping devices - you'll really want to save them. Secondly, there's the careful, measured attempts at doing just that (Note: This phase lasts only as long as your attention span). And then comes the final phase...

...where you blow them all up! You see, the quit button doesn't simply quit the level, it sets a time bomb above every lemming's head, counting down from five until they explode in quick succession. Funnel your lemmings into a tight spot and you get a beautiful fireworks display of death like this one:

Above: This explosion is painful for your console too. Slowdown time!

But that's not quite our chosen moment. The most sadistic Lemmings player of all will save all of his lemmings except one, setting a time bomb ticking above his head just metres from his goal. Will he make it in time? Or will the proverbial sword of Damocles descend on his existence a mere second from safety? Let's find out...

How sick is it?
Lemmings in the game are suicidal by nature (unlike their real-life counterparts, apparently) so they probably wanted to go anyway. If we get a kick out of it by choosing the method of their demise, who's the victim? Still, the genocide of the quit button is a bit harsh.