History NightmareFuel / Kirby

[[folder:Kirby's Return to Dream Land]]

** The game's goal is essentially that of survival: quoting [=NoA=]'s twitter for this -- ''"The new villain is so powerful that he almost wipes Kirby out of existence"''. During his boss fight, he can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9dh5fhkdqE#t=4m30s devour your Kirbys alive]], with no chance of recovering them like in the regular game, meaning they don't turn into angels -- they just stay dead for good ([[UnexplainedRecovery until the ending, that is]]).

[[folder: Kirby Super Star[=/=]Ultra]]

[[folder: Kirby Planet Robobot]]

** Soul of Sectonia turns the tables on Kirby by absorbing 4 Miracle Fruit to resurrect herself, somehow holding on long enough to find them. With this, she attacks Kirby and when defeated, forcefully tears herself from the Dreamstalk and tries to finish the fight herself. After failing to take vengance on the pink puffball, she explodes violently into a shower of blue petals.
** Star Dream Soul OS though an imitation of a soul boss works just as well. With a [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver new dark colour scheme]] to match the gash in it's chest, it can still merge with the Access Ark. What really seals the deal is after it's third form is defeated. It inhales Kirby within itself to trap him before it's heart is revealed. What ensues is a reconstruction of the original Galactic Nova fight with a corrupted, twisted version of it's battle theme to set the tone. Worse still, the heart can fight back and [[DesperationAttack eventually tries to take Kirby with it.]]
** Void Soul may seen anodyne at first with it's baby blue colour scheme but it's still the dangerous Destroyer of Worlds. Fought inside the body, Void Soul can still take on a Dark Matter-like form and make different faces but can now hit harder and can even bring up water before [[ElectrifiedBathtub electrifying it with it's laser beams.]] As [[HarderThanHard Soul Melter EX]] proves, that wasn't even it's strongest form. As [[PhysicalGod Void]], it really pulls out all the stops with several of it's moves referencing various final bosses, tying it to [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamland3 Zero]], [[VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror Dark Mind]] and [[VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse Drawcia]].
** Chaos Elfilis already has a lot going for it. It manages to absorb Morpho Knight's power to become stronger and manages to pull a few new moves out for it's last battle. Upon being defeated and attacked with Kirby's Mouthful Mode, it reveals it's final form. A yellow and cyan orb with a blood red covering, turning it's previous form into several blobs that orbit it and fire lasers. The music really sets the tone: The first half reuses the disturbing ambience from the last level of Isolated Isles before losing enough HP for the tone to change. Chaos Elfilis makes it's predecessors proud by turning into a giant ball of flame and trying to kill Kirby and homaging several of their attacks. When it ''finally'' dies, you can see several of the animal souls moving in and out before disappearing for good.

[[folder: Kirby Star Allies]]
* The Jambastion are not a race or full religion, so to speak. They are a ''{{cult}}'', with all the horrors that entails.
** The leader Hyness ''himself'', when you finally see him in person. Not only is he completely insane, but he's willing to absorb the life force of the Three Mage-Sisters to replenish his own, then use their bodies as weapons, and then [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice himself and his fellow mage-sisters to unseal Void Termina]]. His unsettling theme doesn't help.
** There's also his boss fight after you knock his mask off, beginning phase 2. His face not only looks really disturbing, but he ''[[BerserkButton totally blows his lid]]'' at this point, screaming in rage after his face is revealed, then gibbering madly! The way his face is revealed is also quite the JumpScare, as if to say "Alright! Time for phase two— '''[[NightmareFace OH DEAR GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!]]'''"
** In the previous three main games in the series, the {{Big Bad}}s are all {{Tragic Villain}}s in a sense. [[VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand Magolor]] seemed to be merely controlled by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Master Crown (and turned good in subsequent games)]], [[VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe Sectonia went insane from the influence of Dark Meta Knight inside the Dimensional Mirror]], and [[VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot President Haltmann was also driven to madness from not just Star Dream's power, but also the grief of losing his daughter Susanna]]. Meanwhile, every last second Hyness is on screen, he is shown to be nothing resembling tragic (beyond his backstory of being banished by the Ancients despite having saved the universe from a certain "galactic crisis"). He is a MoodSwinger, is completely disconnected from reality, and is a full-blown OmnicidalManiac desiring to enact vengeance and destruction upon the entire universe after he was banished.
** The implications of their power get even worse when Hyness hints that they were once so powerful that they stopped a galactic crisis in its tracks, the results of which scared the all-powerful Ancients. Or more specifically, as per Hyness' MotiveRant, a "''nightmare'' of a galactic crisis". It all but states they were able to subdue and exile ''[[WorldsStrongestMan Galacta Knight]]''.
** In the Guest Star ???? mode, Hyness is doing something different — he's standing in front of a portal doing... something. Whilst it seems like he's trying to summon [[PersonOfMassDestruction Galacta Knight]], a series of tweets on the official ''Kirby'' Twitter hint that he's actually attempting to open a gateway to ''[[VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand Another Dimension]]''. Given the implied connection between Void Termina and the Master Crown, whatever he's up to can't be good.
** It's hard to catch during [[MotorMouth his rant, but Hyness describes his people as the "masters of a matter most dark" ("worshipers of the darkest matter" in Japanese)]]. Additionally, the description for Void Soul reveals that the soul is fighting with the darkness Hyness used to summon Void. Yes, one of the few connections to something other than itself that Dark Matter has is to a psychotic ''cult''.
** The Fortress of Shadows, Jambastion itself is nightmarish in its design, its exterior looking unlike anything the Kirby series has ever seen, and the interior having scenery details that wouldn't look out of place in a cosmic horror story. There's also how, mere minutes after making landfall on Planet Popstar, its impact crater looks incredibly ominous and distorted in the likeness of the Jambastion, as if a disease is being spread throughout it. And even after it's destroyed by Zan Partizanne, there's still dozens more surrounding the Jambandra Base...
* Speaking of the FinalBoss itself, it is in fact Void Termina; and is most definitely the absolute scariest villain in the '''''entire franchise''''' — and considering what else this page has, that is saying a metric ton! He is explicitly said to be an AncientEvil who knows literally nothing other than to destroy all things in sight, and he looks appropriately terrible — a gigantic humanoid creature with large arms, an eerie white mask, black feathers on his back, and 2 big black horns, as well as [[RedEyesTakeWarning big red eyes]] [[EyesDoNotBelongThere that pop across different parts of his body]]. Then, as you beat him, his mask falls off, revealing a hole that leads into [[WombLevel the fleshy insides of his body]], where you get to fight his equally fleshy heart while harmful blood drips from the ceiling. During the fight, the Joy-Con controllers' HD Rumble emits a heartbeat, as well. Then you're spat out of his body. Then comes the third phase where he turns his arms into wings with white and red crystalline feathers and takes flight, and after you beat him again, his mask falls off again, and you have to reenter his body to fight his "true essence" that was covered by his heart. But what's more unsettling about him is the [[WhamShot supposed connections to multiple things from previous games, which gives some rather unsettling implications]]:
** Said wings in the third phase looks like those of [[VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards Zero Two]].
** His third phase has him attack with a silhouette of [[VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand the Master Crown. In The Ultimate Choice's secret Soul Melter and Soul Melter EX difficulties, the colors are more accurate, making it into a full-on replica]].
** His "true essence" takes the cake here -- it looks like some spherical, pinkish blob with "holes" running along its surface... until those holes arrange themselves to look like ''Kirby's face''. Throughout the battle, the blob contorts itself into many, ''many'' more shapes, including ''Zero Two's false face'' and '''Dark Matter itself'''. It also uses one of Miracle Matter's attacks (the Needle form).
** Also compare [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kirby/images/9/9a/KSA_Void_Termina_Splash_Screen.png/revision/latest?cb=20180505004838&path-prefix=en the mask his first form wore]] to that of [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion the Angel]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/evangelion/images/5/50/Sachiel_on-screen.png/revision/latest?cb=20121216171151 Sachiel.]]
* The pause screen info for Void Termina's final phase in The Ultimate Choice implies that he's starting to become ''[[ItCanThink sentient]]'' now, and that he no longer destroys anything because that's all his mindless impulses can fathom. He's doing it because he ''wants'' to. And not only that, but during his spike attack, he ''[[LaughingMad laughs]]''. So not only is he growing sentience and consciousness, but he's already learning emotions. At the rate his mind is evolving, it would not be long before he gains full intelligence. Really think about that; he's already dangerous enough as [[AlmightyIdiot a mindless entity of destruction]], powerful enough to annihilate entire planets — so imagine what it could be capable of with the capability to learn.
* Morpho Knight, who is ''[[AmbiguousSituation possibly]]'' Galacta Knight… except ''even '''more''' powerful'', as a result of him getting ''killed'' by a mystical butterfly [[note]]which was seen in previous ''Kirby'' games' openings, possibly serving as {{Foreshadowing}}[[/note]]. Yep, the knight that is one of the most feared bosses in the entire franchise, gets ''EatenAlive by a seemingly defenseless butterfly''' without so much as a fight beforehand. When even a ''butterfly'' can casually eat one of the most deadly beings in the galaxy and absorb its prey's powers, Dream Land starts teetering from a SugarBowl to a world where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. In the Japanese version, his FlavorText mentions that the butterfly flies from "paradise" on something's day of judgment, and that it's resonating with "pleas for life" from the "Galaxy's Strongest Warrior", which turned them into "a knight from the underworld". It also mentions that it's a "dream-like" battle, one that's meant to be impossible, either because the merge was something unthought of to begin with, or because of his sheer power. The implications that come from this are... unsettling, to say the least.
* In the update that added the Wave 1 Dream Friends, they also changed the arena that Marx, Gooey, and the Animal Friends fight Zan Partizanne, Hyness, and Morpho Knight in. The background shows the Jambastion fortress in ruins, with a "gates of heaven" sort of yellow glow to it, and the ground has a blue puddle with special ripple effects for walking over it and black shapes flowing through it. [[Videogame/KirbysDreamLand3 Reminds you of a certain place now?]]
** In the Wave 2 update, it changes again, this time to [[VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards an unmistakable red murk with black barcode-like patterns streaking the sky.]]
*** Wave 2's change is even scarier because it completely replaces the Wave 1 character's backgrounds in Guest Star. You're still able to play normal Helpers or base game Dream Friends to get a different background, but the Wave 1 Friends have had their arenas completely replaced with the corruption that came with Wave 2.[[note]]The 2.0.0 background is still present, but only in The Ultimate Choice when player 1 is a Wave 1 Dream Friend.[[/note]]
*** This really does need elaboration. Wave 2 is actually just Wave 1's barring the floor changes, but the surrounding purple crystals and flowers have grown much more, and the Jambastion fortress has been even further damaged. Which means that, after Void Termina, Hyness is now pulling a far more elaborate scheme to do...''something'', and it seems to involve Zero ''and Zero-Two'' '''''at least'''''. And whatever it is, it's slowly tearing apart the very fabric of his lair ''just from making preparations for it.''
*** Wave 3 tops it all off: this time, the floor is reflecting a celestial sky with planets in the background i.e. '''Another Dimension''', which was Hyness' true goal and, if the tweets are to be believed, the place the Jamba Heart came from to begin with. And unlike the previous times, Hyness doesn't just fall off the platform, ''he sinks into the pool''!
* Two Face from the first ''Kirby's Dream Land'' [[TheBusCameBack is back]]. [[NightmareRetardant While it wasn't really scary back in its debut]] due to Game Boy graphics limitations, its return in HD shows it in its full nightmarish glory. It first starts off as a simple white mask, that you can't even attack, and once you turn your back it turns gold, gains glowing red streaks and a jagged mouth and evil, black eyes. The first time you encounter them is in Jambastion, where they act as wall ornaments, so you think they're just part of the environment at first. It's quite jarring, to say the least.
* The Soul Melter difficulty for [[BossRush The Ultimate Choice]] [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/52ElQQ6xIDQ/maxresdefault.jpg turns Kirby's face into that of]] ''[[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa Devil Kirby]]''. Anyone who's familiar with the anime probably just got a bad memory or two.
** The HarderThanHard mode, Soul Melter EX, is more subtle about it — but in several ways, it's even worse. There, [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/436/088/7bd.jpg Kirby gains Void Termina's lifeless blank eyes]] and [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou turns to stare directly at the player;]] as if the devilish look wasn't scary enough.
* Failing in the Ultimate Choice results in an animation of whoever you're playing as (and teammates, if applicable) falling over unconscious. This isn't creepy on its own, but if you fail as Gooey, his eyes become blank. It gives a feeling that Gooey isn't just down and out; he's ''dead''.
* Heroes in Another Dimension, the mode added in Wave 3, takes the nightmares from the main game and cranks them up a bit.
** All of the new Parallel bosses -- and their locations -- look absolutely terrifying. Parallel Big Kracko looks like a more dangerous version of Kracko's Revenge. Parallel Woods is fought in a dark forest that looks way more like a horror movie than they probably intend. Parallel Dedede's grey skin and [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] make him look like a zombie. Finally, Parallel Meta Knight has the steel from Meta's original armor turned gold, making him seem more powerful.
*** Worth mentioning is the backstory of the bosses: The English version doesn't delve into much (outside of noting that Parallel Twin Kracko was partially formed from the ''the scattered mists of their victims'' which counts in itself and that Parallel Dedede is the result of his original counterparts' spirit getting sent to Another Dimension alongside the Jamba Heart that possessed him), the Japanese version notes that together they are the [[EliteFour ''Otherworldly Four Kings'']] and that Parallel Kracko and Parallel Woods were created when the spirits of their various defeated counterparts ended up in Another Dimension, making them the physical embodiment of their respective owners' grudges against Kirby. Parallel Meta Knight's counterpart isn't explained as well in the English version, but given that the Jamba Heart reverted them to his ''Revenge of Meta Knight'' characterization, it's not out of the question that his Parallel counterpart acts similarly.
** The conclusion in the "Final Dimension." Upon arriving, ''another Jamba Heart emerges from the floor.'' Good news: it's quickly shattered by the spears of heart you've been collecting throughout the mode. Bad news: inside is a now Corrupt Hyness. After you beat him, the Three Mage-Sisters show up. As if the idea of fighting all three of them at once [[ThisIsGonnaSuck doesn't sound terrifying enough]], they look like they did when Hyness drained their life force earlier, only that their hair and face markings keep their original color, and their clothes are white instead of black. The Mage-Sisters rush Kirby and co. all at once in pursuit of revenge for everything that's happened to them and their master.
* With the Wave 3 Update comes the ''ultimate'' TrueFinalBoss of the game, locked behind Soul Melter EX: '''Void'''. All those hints about Hyper Zone and Dark Star? Leads up to this... thing. Much like Void Soul, Void starts out with a fight against an even further upgraded Void Termina, now titled [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Void Termina, The TRUE Destroyer of Worlds]]. As opposed to Void Soul's more LightIsNotGood colors, Void takes the DarkIsEvil aesthetic of the original boss and amplifies it to RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver levels - complete with ''[[RedEyesTakeWarning red glowing eyes]]'' in its 'head'. When you reach the fourth phase, however, the freeze-frame splash screen that introduces the boss gets the [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3 Boss Butch Hyper Zone background]] as it takes shape as a white sphere with a red "face;" the same basic design of '''Zero.''' The pause descriptions say that this as the original Void Termina the ancients wrote texts about, and it goes on to say that Void is omnipresent in all dimensions and can take many forms. It's all but outright stated that Zero, the big bad behind Dark Matter, was a result of this '''abomination''' incarnating in Kirby's home dimension, and what Hyness summoned in the main game was a much weaker version that had little time to fully incarnate. The fight against it is the hardest in the game, if not the series with the possible exception of Star Dream Soul OS, bar-none, even compared to the Three Mage Sisters, and when you finally do beat it? Instead of the look of terror that Void Termina had, it explodes with ''Kirby's smile on its face''.
** Given the implied connection the Jambastion Cult has to the Dark Matter such as the alter's pool changing into the background of Zero's arenas, not to mention the visual cues from other such Dark Matter that Void itself is taking from, it is very apparent that Void might actually be, in fact, a canonical ''Zero-Three''. 20 years into the making, and the most anticipated, dreaded enemy in all of Kirby... ''is now here,'' and this time, Zero ''is done'' playing fair and is ready to not just defeat Kirby, but to also outright ''kill'' him.
** Zero isn't the only final boss it references, though. Void Termina and Void Soul always had attacks from other bosses like the "Cutter Shooter" and the bouncing Drawcia Soul attacks, but Void introduces a whole new repertoire of attacks taken from none other than ''Dark Mind'', mirrors and reflected lasers and all. If Zero is supposed to be the incarnation of Void in Kirby's world, it seems Dark Mind is its incarnation in the Mirror World. It seems that no matter how far away Kirby goes, [[ParanoiaFuel Void will always be there.]]
** The final reward you get is unlocking the ability to swap between the modern Kirby design and the original Kirby design. Combined with the grey colour palette of Void, it might be implying that Void either grew ''from'' or ''into'' the original Kirby.
* Remember the [[LastNoteNightmare unsettling scale of notes]] that play at the "bad" ending of ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards''? Guess what plays when you don't collect the minimum of 100 Friend Hearts for the perfect ending in Heroes in Another Dimension after defeating the Three Mage-Sisters. Kirby outright leaves them after beating them [[NothingIsScarier with no indication to the Mage-Sisters's final fate as the music plays]].
* [[DarkAndTroubledPast The Mages' backstories are pretty messed up,]] as they were on death's doorstep before Hyness saved them -- Francisca nearly freezing to death in a snowstorm, Flamberge almost being burned alive by a fire, and Zan Partizanne being a poor girl who was struck by lightning while climbing a tall tower -- and granted them powers based on the respective things that nearly killed them.
* Dark Meta Knight is back. He is here as a friend this time and, while [[TokenEvilTeammate implied to be after the darkness of the Jamba Heart for his own personal gain]], at least sides with Kirby rather than Hyness and never betrays him, so a case could be made for him being more or less neutral and no longer an enemy of Kirby, and thus his presence doesn't seem any worse than that of Marx. However, anyone who heard any implications of ''Triple Deluxe'' that he is consumed with absolute vengeance against Kirby and directly corrupted both the Dimension Mirror and Queen Sectonia could be more uneasy knowing he is still around.
[[/folder]]

* In the second ghost house level -- a [[BigBoosHaunt more traditional]] HauntedHouse -- the entrance has a stained glass eye that [[ParanoiaFuel follows your every movement]]. Not to mention the entire entrance looks incredibly creepy and the design of said eye is creepily realistic.

** Later on, the Mini-Boss of said second ghost house, called King Fuwa Rover, possesses a few objects. One of said objects is a piano, which essentially turns into the infamous [[NightmareFuel/SuperMario64 Mad Piano]] of Mario fame. The kicker? It's now in higher definition, so one can see the fleshy roof of its mouth and a reflectively slimy tongue hanging out the side.

* The second half of the fight against Soul of Sectonia in the True Arena. After her first health bar is diminished, she ''rips herself out of the Dreamstalk'' (which looks painful as she struggles to get off) and fights Kirby as little more than a head and a set of wings. What follows is a hectic battle disturbingly reminiscent of Drawcia Soul, complete with TeleportSpam, breaking up into a rain of nectar, turning into a fireball and rushing Kirby from the sides of the screen, and [[LaughingMad manic giggling.]] The Pause Screen text stating that she's gone completely insane at this point does not help matters.

* Dark Meta Knight is back, despite his death in Dededetour in ''Triple Deluxe'' (though many consider Dededetour non-canon). He is here as a friend this time and, while [[TokenEvilTeammate implied to be after the darkness of the Jamba Heart for his own personal gain]], at least sides with Kirby rather than Hyness and never betrays him, so a case could be made for him being more or less neutral and no longer an enemy of Kirby, and thus his presence doesn't seem any worse than that of Marx. However, anyone who heard any implications of ''Triple Deluxe'' that he is consumed with absolute vengeance against Kirby and directly corrupted both the Dimension Mirror and Queen Sectonia could be more uneasy knowing he is still around.

** And then there's the [[PlayerDeathIsDramatic Game Over screen]], which is this and Tearjerker. It's a dark background with a spotlight, with Kirby...dead. No, not sleeping peacefully, not knocked out, just a dead, gray angel. To see Kirby, one of the most cutest and pure characters in Nintendo's history, in this state is outright horrifying. The depressingly creepy music doesn't help one bit. For the first time in a Kirby game, it feels like the game itself has lost hope.

* Scarfy is a cutesy flying creature that resembles a floating cat head, until players turn their backs to it, [[KungFuProofMook try to eat it]], or get too close to it, at which point it shows [[NightmareFace a demented mouth and a single eye]] and tries to eat them. If not killed soon, it explodes. It gets worse in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' and ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. In the former, they serve as an alternate skin for Mumbies and their transformed state comes close to UncannyValley here. In the latter, pink Scarfies are introduced and act similar to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 Phantos]] when collecting keys, sometimes forming groups, and they do this all the time in Extra Mode.

* Scarfy is a cutesy flying creature that resembles a floating cat head, until players turn their backs to it, [[KungFuProofMook try to eat it]], or get too close to it, at which point it shows a demented mouth and a single eye and tries to eat them. If not killed soon, it explodes. It gets worse in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' and ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. In the former, they serve as an alternate skin for Mumbies and their transformed state comes close to UncannyValley here. In the latter, pink Scarfies are introduced and act similar to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 Phantos]] when collecting keys, sometimes forming groups, and they do this all the time in Extra Mode.

* From "The True Arena", there's the rest area for the Final Four. As if the dead trees and the menacing coliseum in the background -- set against an overcast sky with lightning and thick fog -- and the window displaying the next boss [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver rendered in a sinister black and crimson]] against a snarling stone gargoyle face weren't freaky enough, [[HellIsThatNoise the music]] could probably be described, actually fittingly, as the "[[{{NightmareFuel/Pokemon}} Ruins of Alph radio signal]] cranked UpToEleven". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY0gm--zv6k It must be heard to be believed.]]

* Heroes in Another Dimension, the mode added in Wave 3, takes the nightmares from the main game and [[UpToEleven cranks them up a bit]].

* With the Wave 3 Update comes the ''ultimate'' TrueFinalBoss of the game, locked behind Soul Melter EX: '''Void'''. All those hints about Hyper Zone and Dark Star? Leads up to this... thing. Much like Void Soul, Void starts out with a fight against an even further upgraded Void Termina, now titled [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Void Termina, The TRUE Destroyer of Worlds]]. As opposed to Void Soul's more LightIsNotGood colors, Void takes the DarkIsEvil aesthetic of the original boss and amplifies it to RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver levels - complete with ''[[RedEyesTakeWarning red glowing eyes]]'' in its 'head'. When you reach the fourth phase, however, the freeze-frame splash screen that introduces the boss gets the [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3 Boss Butch Hyper Zone background]] as it takes shape as a white sphere with a red "face;" the same basic design of '''Zero.''' The pause descriptions say that this as the original Void Termina the ancients wrote texts about, and it goes on to say that Void is omnipresent in all dimensions and can take many forms. It's all but outright stated that Zero, the big bad behind Dark Matter, was a result of this '''abomination''' incarnating in Kirby's home dimension, and what Hyness summoned in the main game was a much weaker version that had little time to fully incarnate. The fight against it is the hardest in the game, if not the series, bar-none, even compared to the Three Mage Sisters, and when you finally do beat it? Instead of the look of terror that Void Termina had, it explodes with ''Kirby's smile on its face''.

** If you know that [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamland Lololo & Lalala]],[[VideoGame/KirbysDreamland3 Dark Matter, Zero]] and [[KirbysAdventure Nightmare]] were considered to be playable characters, Drawcia's power over the world becomes more horrifying because it implies she'd strong enough to force a being of darkness and it's creator who nearly consumed the world in darkness and a being who intended to corrupt the Fountain of Dreams to play by her world's rules.

* The Soul bosses. In each game starting from [[VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse]], the final boss is able to come back in a stronger form that has a recurring set of moves (firing cutters, turning into a ball of flame, bouncing across the battlefield and crushing the opponent beneath them, bursting into a rain of paint) which mostly homage Drawcia Soul but as it turns out originate from '''Void'''. Each of them are nightmarish in their own way:

** Void Soul may seen anodyne at first with it's baby blue colour scheme but it's still the dangerous Destroyer of Worlds. Fought inside the body, Void Soul can now hit harder and can even bring up water before [[ElectricBathtub electrifying it with it's laser beams.]] As Soul Melter EX proves, that wasn't even it's strongest form. As [[PhysicalGod Void]], it really pulls out all the stops with several of it's moves referencing various final bosses, tying it to [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamland3 Zero]], [[VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror Dark Mind]] and [[VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse Drawcia]].

** Chaos Elfilis

** Drawcia Soul
** Marx Soul
** Magolor Soul
** Soul of Sectonia
** Star Dream Soul OS
** Void Soul

* The antagonist of the game and final boss herself, Drawcia, is a paint-themed witch, who isn't all that scary (asides from the fact that she turned the entirety of Dream Land into a painting)... at least, until she goes OneWingedAngel and turns into herself a living, screaming, multi-eyed paint monster as her last line of defense. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn1Ncc7URPg#t=3m20s Mere words don't suffice.]]

* The very fact that Kirby is rendered [[AndIMustScream limbless and thus completely helpless.]] If [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters Drawcia's paintbrush]] hadn't decided to help Kirby out of its own accord, Kirby, and by extension, ''everyone'', would have been utterly doomed.

* '''Dark Matter.''' ''[[KnightOfCerebus Where do we even begin...]]'' For starters, they are a species of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] [[TheHeartless whom want to snuff out positivity to extinction]], essentially turning whatever planet they migrate to into a CrapsackWorld just by being there regardless of [[CrapsaccharineWorld how saccharine they were]] [[SugarApocalypse before they came]]. They do this by [[DemonicPossession taking over their prey's body]] [[BodyHorror and sometimes morph them into destructive monsters]], but that's all we know about them. [[NothingIsScarier The scariest part about them is that we don't know what they're truly capable of.]] One of the very few tidbits of lore we get of these monsters is that they're connected to a murderous {{Cult}} shown in ''Kirby Star Allies''. Even a Supercomputer on par with Nova was stumped on how to comprehend these things, and when it tried to retro-engineer a perfect clone from a specific specimen (a task which pushed the AI to its limit, mind you) that should be the easiest to clone, the resulting clone is still flawed. These creatures are just so ''utterly alien'' that [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm trying to truly comprehend or even explain them is practically impossible]].

* '''Dark Matter.''' For starters, they are a species of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] [[TheHeartless whom want to snuff out positivity to extinction]], essentially turning whatever planet they migrate to into a CrapsackWorld just by being there regardless of [[CrapsaccharineWorld how saccharine they were]] [[SugarApocalypse before they came]]. They do this by [[DemonicPossession taking over their prey's body]] [[BodyHorror and sometimes morph them into destructive monsters]], but that's all we know about them. [[NothingIsScarier The scariest part about them is that we don't know what they're truly capable of.]] One of the very few tidbits of lore we get of these monsters is that they're connected to a murderous {{Cult}} shown in ''Kirby Star Allies''. Even a Supercomputer on par with Nova was stumped on how to comprehend these things, and when it tried to retro-engineer a perfect clone from a specific specimen (a task which pushed the AI to its limit, mind you) that should be the easiest to clone, the resulting clone is still flawed. These creatures are just so ''utterly alien'' that [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm trying to truly comprehend or even explain them is practically impossible]].

* ''NightmareFuel/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand''

* Morpho Knight, who is ''[[AmbiguousSituation possibly]]'' Galacta Knight… except ''even '''more''' powerful'', as a result of him getting ''killed'' by a mystical butterfly [[note]]which was seen in previous ''Kirby'' games' openings, possibly serving as {{Foreshadowing}}[[/note]]. Yep, the knight that is one of the most feared bosses in the entire franchise, gets ''EatenAlive by a seemingly defenseless butterfly''' without so much as a fight in between. When even a ''butterfly'' can casually eat one of the most deadly beings in the galaxy and absorb its prey's powers, Dream Land starts teetering from a SugarBowl to a world where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. In the Japanese version, his FlavorText mentions that the butterfly flies from "paradise" on something's day of judgment, and that it's resonating with "pleas for life" from the "Galaxy's Strongest Warrior", which turned them into "a knight from the underworld". It also mentions that it's a "dream-like" battle, one that's meant to be impossible, either because the merge was something unthought of to begin with, or because of his sheer power. The implications that come from this are... unsettling, to say the least.

* Morpho Knight, who is ''[[AmbiguousSituation possibly]]'' Galacta Knight… except ''even '''more''' powerful'', as a result of him getting ''killed'' by a mystical butterfly [[note]]which was seen in previous ''Kirby'' games' openings, possibly serving as {{Foreshadowing}}[[/note]]. When even a ''butterfly'' can either empower or destroy you, Dream Land starts teetering from a SugarBowl to a world where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. In the Japanese version, his FlavorText mentions that the butterfly flies from "paradise" on something's day of judgment, and that it's resonating with "pleas for life" from the "Galaxy's Strongest Warrior", which turned them into "a knight from the underworld". It also mentions that it's a "dream-like" battle, one that's meant to be impossible, either because the merge was something unthought of to begin with, or because of his sheer power. The implications that come from this are... unsettling, to say the least.

For the anime, see [[NightmareFuel/KirbyRightBackAtYa the Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Nightmare Fuel page]].

For the light novels, see [[NightmareFuel/KirbyLightNovel the Kirby (Light Novel) Nightmare Fuel page]].

[[folder: Kirby and the Forgotten Land]]
It should say a lot that out of all the games in the past, after all of the EldritchAbomination horrors Kirby has faced in the past, ''Kirby and the Forgotten Land'' is the first game to receive a Fear warning in its PEGI rating. Needless to say, it ''earned'' that warning.
* The introduction to King Dedede's first battle is a frightening OutOfCharacter moment for the penguin king. We're treated to a [[SarcasmMode lovely]] visual of a Waddle Dee cowering in fright inside its cage while Dedede and his flunkies look on. Then a little bird comes down and takes it away to [[NothingIsScarier God knows where]]. You don't get to see his face at all through this, not until Kirby arrives on the scene and he does a rather spooky FaceRevealingTurn. If the game didn't cut away to Kirby looking shocked, it could easily have been a JumpScare!
* The second Dedede fight is even worse. This time, you get to see him struggling and groaning in pain as he tries to remove the mask from his face. Then, his eyes [[RedEyesTakeWarning glow bright red]], and he lets loose a mighty roar as we see the result: the [[FullBoarAction boar-masked]] "Forgo Dedede". When he gets down to his second health bar, he starts ''[[PrimalStance running around on all fours]]''. Sure, Dedede's been brainwashed before, but never THIS brainwashed. It's like watching an old friend go insane.
* There's something really unsettling about Sillydillo. The moment you walk through his lair, you'll notice a bunch of "Wanted" Kirby posters plastered everywhere, and right before fighting him, he lures Kirby with a dummy Elfilin. His first method of attacking is ''trapping Kirby in a cage'', which by the way ''will kill you instantly'' if you don't escape fast enough by ''smashing the cage on the floor''.
* ''Everything'' about Lab Discovera. Kirby and a few Waddle Dees flee into an elevator for safety from the Beast Pack, only for the lights to come on and a tinny [[SuddenlyVoiced human voice]] starts ''talking'', all to [[SoundtrackDissonance an unfittingly jaunty remix of the main theme]]. The announcer goes on an info-dump about a [[AliensAreBastards horrible alien]] that was captured by scientists, with the implication that they've been doing experiments on it for decades and are now using it as a ''[[ComeToGawk tourist attraction]]''. As if that isn't fucked-up enough, you also get to see a Waddle Dee in the background running on a hamster wheel... and then the camera zooms out, and keeps zooming out, until you can see [[HamsterWheelPower countless wheels propelled by countless Waddle Dees]]. That's right -- the Beast Pack abducted these cute little {{Waddling Head}}s for '''''[[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil SLAVE LABOR.]]'''''
* When Leongar is taken over by Fecto Forgo, he goes absolutely, terrifyingly ballistic, running around on all fours and lashing out indiscriminately like a wild animal. The worst part is that in this state, his roars become so harrowing that it's difficult to tell whether he's roaring in anger or ''screaming in pain''.
** Leongar's boss battle was frightening enough, but Forgo Leon, who's straight-up [[DemonicPossession possessed]] instead of {{brainwashed}}, is even worse. How bad is this battle? Well, he ''starts'' in the feral state mentioned above. Then you deplete his health bar, and a black, ghostly version of Fecto Forgo manifests from out of his body. It disappears, turning Leon's entire body purple... and then Leon roars [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou right at the camera]] with his face wreathed in black smoke and glowing white eyes shining out of the darkness. It's both [[JumpScare totally unexpected]] and [[NightmareFace completely terrifying]].
* Fecto waking up. After the battle with Leongar, the lion warrior becomes possessed by the psychic specimen, who is already very unsettling-looking as a giant embryonic monster that vaguely looks like Elfilin. What follows is a scene straight out of ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' or any other piece of sci-fi horror in which Fecto becomes Fecto Forgo, a shambling mass of green slime that immediately grabs and devours every creature in the area, assimilating them into its body to create an amalgamated horror. What follows is a boss battle that consists of just running down a hallway fighting back an advancing, amorphous wall of slime with a multitude of writhing animal faces!
* Once Fecto absorbs Elfilin and regains its true form as Fecto Elfilis, it becomes a HumanoidAbomination that looks simultaneously majestic and ''very'' unnerving. When Kirby beats it down a bit, it eventually transforms the sky into a warping mess of darkness and color, giving the impression that this thing's power is causing space itself to go haywire.
** Kirby eventually gets the upper hand and pulls Elfilin out of Fecto Elfilis, causing its body to break down. Its response is to tear open a rift in space, pull Popstar out of orbit, and ''send it on a collision course'' into the new world in a final attempt to kill Kirby - and by extension, ''everybody on both planets.''
* Fecto in general could qualify for an outright [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]. An EldritchAbomination of unknown origin described as the UltimateLifeForm with terrifyingly strong dimension-warping and psychic powers, and a desire to assimilate any life-forms or even souls it comes across. It attacked the new world in the distant past and nearly destroyed it, before being subdued by the denizens and experimented on to gain access to its SpaceMaster abilities, letting them travel through dimensions and eventually abandon the planet. However, an experiment gone wrong split the entity into two parts (Fecto Forgo and Elfilin), and the former is dead-set on regaining its full strength. Even weakened, its psychic powers were able to reach to the denizens of the new world and corrupt them through their dreams, turning them into its servants before opening vortexes to steal more slaves from other worlds, all in the hopes of assimilating Elfilin again.
** In true Lovecraftian fashion, Fecto's psychic abilities are implied to be so powerful that [[DreamWeaver its dreams are manifested as a seperate dimension]], the Forgo Dreams. According to Efilin, it's also the place that anyone assimilated by Fecto Forgo will become trapped within.
** The deepest part of Forgo Dreams, "Forgo Land", is modelled after Lab Discovera. It's little more than a short hallway leading to where Leon's soul was kept, but that hallway has [[HellIsThatNoise one of the scariest tracks in the game]]: a distorted, ambient version of the tour guide's announcement, with the announcer's cheery voice glitching up and [[MadnessMantra repeating itself over and over]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbrrgtNK9Z8 Just listen to it!]] It's worse when you realize this area was constructed from Fecto Forgo's dreams. [[AndIMustScream How long have they been inside the Eternal Capsule, forced to hear that same voice repeat itself over and over again?]] Granted, [[AssholeVictim they deserve it]], but it's rather sobering to think they cannot escape Lab Discovera ''even in their dreams''.
--> ''And here we are! AND HERE WE ARE! Ȁ̲N̮͡D̨̧͔̮́̋̌̕ ̪͈̿̋HẺ͜Ṟ̕Ȅ̻ ̬̲̝̰̈́͐͐͆̏ͅW̥̯̯̾̕̚Ë͓͕̹́͛͝ ̡̛̯̰̄̒Á̬̜̠̹̈́̀̊Ṛ̅͢͝E—And here we—WELCOME VISITORS!''
** And the above "lyrics" have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDiswlLSvHI&list=PLYtpiSW7hexC1MacyokeZn3p1E8jcksLG&index=83 a]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv6VdUkZbsQ&list=PLYtpiSW7hexC1MacyokeZn3p1E8jcksLG&index=85 wide]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VNFoFKteyw&list=PLYtpiSW7hexC1MacyokeZn3p1E8jcksLG&index=87 variety]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2S5PGcfyc&list=PLYtpiSW7hexC1MacyokeZn3p1E8jcksLG&index=86 of]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoqDjTWyVz4&list=PLYtpiSW7hexC1MacyokeZn3p1E8jcksLG&index=79 languages]] depending on the game's localization, so it's entirely possible that Elfilis is not only screaming at Kirby, but also '' [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the player]]''.
** As long as Fecto's soul exists, Fecto can't even die from having its body destroyed. After the end of the story, it survives and uses Leon's body as a vessel, ''shattering his soul'' to ensure it doesn't interfere and scattering the pieces across the Forgo Dreams, protected by hostile illusions conjured by its psychic powers. If Kirby and the others hadn't gathered up all his soul fragments, he would have been DeaderThanDead ''at best'' and subjected to AFateWorseThanDeath at worst.
** The worst part? Unlike many Kirby villains, Fecto Forgo is fully aware of what it’s doing and '''''willingly chooses to be evil'''''.
* At the end of The Ultimate Cup Z, the final boss turns out to be Fecto Elfilis again - but not quite. After being annihilated by Morpho Knight, it somehow managed to survive, assimilate a part of Morpho when it was beaten by Kirby, and create a new body for itself just to get revenge. Not only is the newly christened Chaos Elfilis even stronger than it was before, it's turned into a being born of and driven only by pure chaos.
** At the start of Chaos Elfilis' final phase, the music suddenly cuts out and turns into the same distorted track from Forgo Land, implying that Elfilis is reliving the memories of those it heard talking about it and showing it off like an attraction in the distant past, to the point of actively mimicking their voices.
** As noted above, Fecto Elfilis assimilates Morpho Knight's power. Let that sink in. This is a being that delivered a CurbstompBattle to [[WorldsStrongestMan Galacta Knight]] by ''touching'' him and is implied to be the closest thing the franchise has to a grim reaper, and Fecto Elfilis ''took that power for itself.''
[[/folder]]