Super Mario (franchise)/Nightmare Fuel: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

Luigi, however, hasn't, because [[Lovable Coward|he's too afraid.]]

Remember, this page is for describing general sources of [[Nightmare Fuel]].

----

** Some were also afraid of the flames jumping out of the lava in the World 1 mini-fortress.

* The first fortress in World 7, since the entire place is empty. No enemies whatsoever (barring the boss). Even worse is that one can see where the enemies would be, giving the feel that it was just suddenly abandoned.

=== ''Super Mario World'' ===

* The big green bubbles in the Vanilla Ghost House freaked many out a bit. They were large, invincible, and always got in the way, and if even two closed in on you you were screwed.

* The way secret keyholes grow so huge and then swallow up Mario is just plain freaky. The accompanying music only makes this worse.

** The Big Boos from ''Super Mario World'' gave some fright as a kid, but the Mega Moles... '''oh GOD'''!

* The ''graphics'' in ''Super Mario World''. Most of the time, they were gorgeous. But many of the enemy sprites were just ''wrong''. The weird, hunched-over shell-less Koopas, the odd posing and so-smooth-it's-creepy animation of the Charging Chuck, the weird stick legs on the Koopa Kids...not to mention the fact that when you die, it looks like Mario is ''[[Eye Scream|bleeding from his eyes]]!'' Accompanied by a [[Scare Chord]], no less!

* Remember those creepy looking Bowser statues in Bowser's Castle if you took one of the rooms, only to encounter a live jumping one?

=== ''New Super Mario Bros.'' ===

** Mario's next line, immediately after the whole debacle? "That'sa so nice!" What.

=== ''Super Mario Galaxy'' ===

* Speaking of ''Galaxy'', how freaking disturbing it is to see Mario's hand rise up when he sinks in sand or toxic waste, all while hearing him drown?

** Not to mention that when Mario touches dark matter, he slowly disintegrates, and his life bar isn't empty until AFTER Mario is completely gone. [[And I Must Scream|He feels the whole thing!]]

=== ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'' ===

** Not sure if this makes it better or worse, but... they don't technically hunt down the person they imitate. They mimic their movements perfectly, a few seconds after they do. You touch someone on the shoulder, they touch them seconds later. You pick something up, they mime picking it up themselves. And if you stand still, they collide with you, exploding into dark energy at point-blank range. And until you, or possibly somebody else the comet is focusing on, finishes an arbitrary task, they spawn forever. Following you everywhere. And when you think about it, aren't the other comets also [[Fridge Horror]]? Just think of what happens when, say, the Red Comet gives one arbitrary person a time limit to do one task before dying.

* In several late levels, giant lava monsters suddenly rise up from out of nowhere and engulf your platform in their mouths. The last one is particularly memorable.

** The file names? ''"BeyondHellValleySky'' is where they reside, and ''HellValleySkyTree'' is the names, the ominousness of the trees were enough, but ''those names'' make them worse.

* The swirling spirits in the background in the ghost levels.

=== ''Super Mario 3D Land'' ===

* The Thwomps from Bowser's Castle in ''[[Mario Kart 64]]'', its that disturbing [[Evil Laugh]], the green one in the cell is scarier for some reason. Luckily, they aren't scary in the Wii versions remake.

* The final stage of ''[[Panel De Pon|Tetris Attack]]'' for the SNES, where a Godzilla-sized Bowser rises out of a chasm at the end of a mountainside cave. Cue the sinister organ music.

* ''Mario Teaches Typing 2'', like ''Mario 64'', featured the floating disembodied head of Mario. Unlike the ''Mario 64'' version, this one goes back and forth between cracking jokes and being amusing, to being just plain unsettling at times.

* The GBA puzzle game ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' features a relatively realistic 3D rendering of Mario facing off against cartoony Thwomps and Shy Guys, and is brought up at this point in the page due to its ''Galaxy''-like series of disturbing death animations. The default animation (for example, stepping on spikes or touching a Shy Guy from the side) has Mario tilt briefly before he falls face-first into the floor ([[Eye Scream|or spikes!]]) and stops moving. Then there's the specialty animations for dying to a fiery or electrical attack, which don't pull any punches about how terrifyingly painful it must be for poor Mario.

** There are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAfOX4Jv9xw three different "death" tracks] in the game's BGM. The current (at the time of this writing) comment for the linked video states "Lemme guess, the first is for getting hit by an enemy or obstacle, the second is for running out of time and the third is for falling from a really high place". Which is ''partially'' true, but there's more to it. While the first two apply for "standard" deaths (the second, if I recall correctly, is used for getting burnt by lava), the third is used for the most horrifyingly painful and gruesome (for Mario standards, that is) death animations, such as getting squished by a Thwomp, falling from a high place (with Mario falling ''on his head'' as a result) and, last but not least, getting ''electrocuted to death''. In fact, you can tell the various deaths apart by listening to the different pitches of Mario's variants of his classic "Mamma mia!". The first is "standard", the second is "exhausted", and the third is "a mixture of pain and horror".

* In Super Mario Strikers, we have Bowser, who is protrayed as a giant [[Implacable Man|implacable koopa]] who wreaks major havoc on the field with shells and bombs whenever the "Bowser Attack" options is on instead of comic relief. When that occurs, his entrance would be accompanied with a short, gritty rock n' roll riff or a [[Scare Chord]]. Worse is that [[Paranoia Fuel|you don't whether when or if he will ambush anybody in his way.]] Also, one of Peach's screams when she is eletricuted sounds like a realistic interpretation (i.e. screaming bloody murder) of feeling that type of excruciating pain in contrast to some of the other screams. Think about how she and the others feel in a more realistic way after that.

=== ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' ===

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSki-BSrkR4&feature=relmfu See this video for further details (at about 10:00).]

* When you initially arrive at Seaside Town in ''Super Mario RPG'', there is definitely something off about the place. The townspeople all look identical, and display disturbing behavior, like stopping mid-sentence to quietly converse with each other, and watching you sleep. It eventually turns out that a Smithy Gang member named Yaridovich took over and impersonated the entire town.

=== ''Paper Mario'' Series ===

* The Shroobs. They are basically evil mushrooms that invade the Mushroom Kingdom because their home planet is a barren wasteland. They reduce the Mushroom Kingdom to rubble, and take it over. Then, they begin taking the population and ''turning them into FUEL FOR THEIR UFOS!?'' '''WHAT THE HELL NINTENDO!?!'''

*** Actually, I met some kids who said they came up with the shroobs, and submitted their design. I know, it sounds sketchy, but this was before Partners In Time, so I believed them.

* The theme of Shroob Castle.... God it's horrifying...

=== ''Bowser's Inside Story'' ===

** Even more fucked up: the final boss fight. {{spoiler|Fawful has transformed himself into some really freaky spider-like/bug-like thing, and is inside Bowser's body, transforming his stomach into something mutated looking. And his face...}} It's really disturbing to think about.

* The song played in Fawful's Castle from ''Bowser's Inside Story''.

==== ''Yoshi's Island'' ====

* If Yoshi is hit, Baby Mario is suddenly caught in a flying bubble, wailing desperately, as the player tries to get him back before the enemies catch him and fly away with him.

* The threat of being eaten occurs quite a bit. Not only is there a boss battle that occurs in a frog's throat, but there are a few chase scenes in which a gigantic Chain Chomp is out to eat Yoshi.

* The minigames in ''Mario Party 8'' are, in all actuality, incredibly sadistic. Seriously, think about it. Half of the minigames only have one winner, meaning the others [http://www.mariowiki.com/Treacherous_Tightrope fall into ravines], [http://www.mariowiki.com/Lava_or_Leave_%27Em get burned by Podoboos and fall into lava], [http://www.mariowiki.com/Mario_Matrix get trapped inside computers], [http://www.mariowiki.com/Eyebrawl captured by Mr I]... this game is not for those who care too deeply about what happens to the losers.

** How about [http://www.mariowiki.com/Specter_Inspector Specter Inspector]? Once one player successfully finds three of the five creatures, the room lights up and the winner stands with all five as they all wave happily at the player. And then the camera zooms back to show that they're all trapped inside a painting in a dark room, as ghosts leer at it. Remember, this is the ''winner''...

* The entire ''Mario Party'' series is accidental nightmare fuel, especially the first ones. Any of the minigames involving Boos eating the losers was creepy.

** When you think too much about it, hell yeah. There was Ghost Guess in the first ''MP'' where you had to guess which was the leader of a pack of Boos (a dozen or so) circling you. The game gives you the tip: the first one to start their dances is the leader. But then again, it's pretty hard to figure out which of them does it. And when you pick the wrong one... {{spoiler|''All the Boos converge on you and take you to God-knows-where.'' As soon as they're gone, ''so are you''.}} Shudder.