The door open and closing sound from morrowind is in every TV show and my wife hates it when I point it out.

Even without opening I can tell it’s the common loon, because that haunted me for years, and when I heard it as an adult, twenty years later I was like “Rogan?”

A good mealtime video about why it is so prevalent: https://youtu.be/DVFBUIGfcJk

Ok but that’s just how the bird sounds in real life, that’s like saying cicada noises from Evangelion a haunting you through anime. imo a better example is the very specific and compressed bird sound in Ocarina of Time that can be heard in Glover and many other media.

I always think of the rooster call that’s used in Ocarina of time.

There’s also a laser beam noise that gets used in a couple n64 games and various other media. And a couple sounds from golden eye that I’ve heard used.

I can’t say for certain, but I think the popularity is probably due to a lot of these reused sounds being part of sound packs and compilations from the 80’s and 90’s

Doom used a lot of free licence sounds (eg for doors opening, fire igniting) that I hear from time to time from other random sources too (eg in a movie).

It’s the same sound, but the nostalgia kick is powerful (but I do replay all Dooms evey few years tho … since they came out).

For me it’s this police station chatter sound, ever since I heard it 25 years ago

https://youtu.be/dklA4-ACN4k

Bobcat growl

It’s the same as ultima online horse sound