History NightmareFuel / SuperMarioBros

[[quoteright:230:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/new_super_mario_bros_u_nightmare_fuel.jpg]]

* While most platform video games have this as a feature, Goombas can cause damage and instant death just by walking into you.

* According to Mojo Nixon, who played Toad, Dennis Hopper's performance as Koopa legitimately scared him during the scene where Toad de-evolves. Toad freaking out as he's strapped into the chair ''wasn't'' acting.

* Bob Hoskins had a '''''terrible''''' experience during filming, suffering numerous injuries from '''''being stabbed four times, being electrocuted, breaking a finger, and NEARLY DROWNING!''''' He and John Leguizamo would get drunk on set to try and forget how miserable the experience was.

* The [[https://www.mariowiki.com/Skewer_(obstacle) Skewers]]. They debuted in Super Mario World, and have increasingly become even more terrifying due to graphical improvements. Especially when there are some that are ''incredibly large'' and/or ''incredibly fast''.

** Seriously, is ''no one'' bothered by the fact that these Toads are turned into the blocks you get items from? For God's sake the most pivotal item in the entire franchise, the Super Mushroom, is a Toad turned into a block ''you just fucking decapitated in order to consume''.

* There's a short scene in the night club where a female Dinohattenite swallows a worm that she's using like a cocktail olive. Except that the worm ''pleads for mercy as she drinks and then lets out a dying scream when she swallows it''. It's a textbook BigLippedAlligatorMoment, coming out of nowhere and being ''seriously'' freaky. It's not made any better when you realise it's a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheFly1958''.

* Meta Nightmare Fuel from the fans in the form of a joke turned psychological horror. At one point an internet personality suggested in jest that the entire series was a hallucination of Luigi's brought on as a side effect of brain cancer. This idea has gained a shocking amount of traction with a variety of fan works depicting the series as the deluded fantasy of at least one of the Mario Bros including a psychological horror game made in the source engine.

!! Animation

!!! ''The Super Mario Bros Super Show''

!!! ''The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros 3''

Has [[NightmareFuel/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3 its own page.]]

!!! ''Super Mario World''

* The Koopas revealing their trap in "Send in the Clown". Several Thwomps block the exits as the cavepeople and the Marios try to escape before they are forced into a cage where some terrifying hungry dinosaurs await them.
* "Ghosts R Us", where Yoshi must save Mario, Luigi, Princess and later Oogtar from a haunted house. Their captor, Wizardheimer, isn't exactly Mr. Nice Guy. Probably because [[AccidentalMisnaming they keep screwing up his name]].
* Koopa threatening to feed Oogtar to a dinosaur in "The Night Before Cave Christmas".
* "King Scoopa Koopa": Luigi, Yoshi and the cavepeople turning into Chickadactyls was scary enough but the real nightmare fuel was when [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant King Koopa]] wanted to turn them into KFC-like food and ''eat them''! Neither Mario (who dislikes eggs, and was only eating the fries and coconut shakes) nor the princess (who doesn't trust any of the food that Koopa was making) ate the eggs, or otherwise [[TheBadGuyWins Koopa would have won!]] Koopa's line really seals the deal: "One more day and it will be too late. Your friends will go from the fried egg to the fryer. And the next stop is the frying pan!" If [[SpaceWhaleAesop this was meant to]] [[ScareEmStraight keep kids away from fast food,]] [[{{Anvilicious}} they did a good job of it!]]
* The monstrous Piranha Plant in "A Little Learning". First, it grows at an ''alarming'' rate when Oogtar feeds it fertilizer. Then, it leaps out a window and chases Koopa, snapping its jaws threateningly at him. Koopa, Hip and Hop hide behind a tree only for the Piranha Plant to find them and [[SwallowedWhole swallow them whole!]] Yoshi eating it immediately afterward doesn't exactly help matters.
** Hip's project causing the school to explode like an actual volcano.
* Luigi [[IFellForHours falling into the chasm]] in "Mama Luigi", all while [[SkywardScream screaming at Mario for help.]] Following that, his trip through the Lava Pits where two menacing-looking T-Rexes threaten to eat him and Baby Yoshi.

* Grrrols. They're one of those enemies that can't be killed by normal means, plus they have toothy grins and red eyes with black scleras. It doesn't help there is a '''giant''' version of it as well.

* There is nothing okay about the Boohemoth, the giant Boo in the ghost house in World 2 [[spoiler:and World Flower]]. It has a [[NightmareFace terrifying face]], being between it and a wall means [[OneHitKill instant death]], and it doesn't even play by Boo rules- if you stare directly at it, it will occasionally peek out from behind its ghost-hands and inch forward a bit.

* ''NightmareFuel/SuperPaperMario''

* ''NightmareFuel/NewSuperMarioBros2''
* ''NightmareFuel/NewSuperMarioBrosU''

* The Mask Gate in ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' (the one that acts as an end of level gate) scared the crap out of some in the end of World 7-2 when it ''flew off the wall and tried to chase them!''

* Corrupting SMB 2 leads to some [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV-D1ggFUj8 horrifying results.]]

** Also one of the versions you have to rescue Film/KingKong. The image you get of him is his fist wrapped around the entire EmpireStateBuilding. Something that big is too terrifying for words.
* In [[VideoGame/MarioStrikers Super Mario Strikers]], we have Bowser, who is portrayed as a giant [[ImplacableMan 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 ScareChord. Worse is that [[ParanoiaFuel you don't know whether when or if he will ambush anybody in his way.]] Even when he becomes playable in Charged, it does little to dampen the terror, considering not only does he often turn on his own teammates if he's on a winning streak, his gloves have ''blades longer than his own claws'' attached to them. Perhaps even worse is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_un7fv8JW04&t=29s the silhouette he gains when using his Mega Strike.]]

* ''NightmareFuel/NewSuperMarioBros2''
* ''NightmareFuel/NewSuperMarioBrosU''

!! ''Super Mario World''

* In the final battle, Bowser is seated in a [[ClownCar hovercraft]] which is [[MonsterClown painted like a clown's face]]. After Bowser is hit a number of times, he flies forward, so that the screen zooms in on the hovercraft. Push the pause button at the right time, and there is a screen full of clown face.
** Then said [[ClownCar Clown-faced hovercraft]] in its ''final phase'' with its eyes being butch and angry while still [[PerpetualSmiler smiling]] as small veins pop out at the side of its head, all the while trying to pound and crush you.
* Mario/Luigi's death sprite. Maybe they went [[BlueWithShock red/]][[PaletteSwap green with shock,]] but to some, they just looked... odd.
* The Koopalings' defeat scenes vary. Morton, Ludwig and Roy fly around the screen and disappear but the rest meet a [[LavaPit lava-induced fate.]] While Iggy and Larry [[NothingIsScarier vanish]] [[KilledOffScreen off-screen,]] Lemmy and Wendy ''[[KillItWithFire sink into the lava]] [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath and are burned alive!]]'' Youch!
** If that's not bad enough, [[spoiler: the epilogues of Morton, Ludwig, Roy and Wendy imply that [[HaveANiceDeath you killed them.]] On the other hand, they did return in later games, so the descriptions were probably added for shock value.]]
** Lemmy and Wendy's deaths are even worse in the GBA port of the game. Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to add a sound effect that sounds like a ''shriek of agony'' to them (along with Iggy and Larry).
* 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 GBA port makes it ''even worse'', because the music in that one has a louder bass line at the end that acts as sort of a LastNoteNightmare.
* The Big Boos from ''Super Mario World'' gave some fright as a kid, but the Monty Moles just continuously pop out and attack.
* 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 the player's death sprite, it looks like Mario is ''[[EyeScream bleeding from his eyes]]!'' Accompanied by a ScareChord, no less!
* The [[UpdatedRerelease GBA version]] starts with a {{Nightmare Fuel}}-ish intro that ends with a LastNoteNightmare, as seen [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGUjSFSgv3M here]]; however, if you beat the game, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQDKJu71pMY the result]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments makes up for it]].
* Those creepy looking Bowser statues in Bowser's Castle if you took one of the rooms, only to encounter a golden, animated one.
* Lava appears in some athletic/overworld levels. Except, due to palette differences, it's colored brown. Functions exactly the same, except, well, what is it? Mud? Melted piece of the ground? So bacteria-filled and acidic that bubbles come out?
** It's molten chocolate. That the stuff is only encountered on [[LevelAte Chocolate Island]] is something of a giveaway.
*** That may make it NightmareRetardant, but the fact that it still kills you raises a few questions. Like.. [[FridgeHorror what is in it?]]
* Big Boo in ''Super Mario World'' has a placeholder sprite for use before the final sprite is loaded. If seen at all, it's likely for a split second. However, it's an [[http://i.imgur.com/T7NFVzI.png empty, soulless emotionless face]] that for some falls right into the UncannyValley.
** Which technically, [[spoiler: just happens to be the same face Big Boo makes when facing it, just without being covered by the sprite's arms]].
* Sunken Ghost Ship, specifically, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgNdL3ffMOU&t=1m24s the loooooong drop that occurs at the end of the level.]] What makes it freaky is that the background is pitch black, meaning you have no frame of reference aside from the coins that you drop past. Then suddenly, after the super long drop, you either land on a small platform with the goal orb, or you land in the nearby water and have to jump out before the mines above fall onto you. The fact that this level reuses the dissonant, creepy music from the various Ghost Houses doesn't help. Finally, when you complete the level and uncover Bowser's domain, there is [[NothingIsScarier no music]] when you regain control on the world map. The lack of music also happens on subsequent clears of the stage.
* Wigglers, anyone? It's just so startling to see [[http://www.mariowiki.com/images/8/89/WigglerSMW.gif this adorable thing]] to turn into ''[[http://tinyurl.com/p4kzty8 this.]]'' The fact that Wigglers had no mouths in the game makes it even worse.

* The castles in the first ''Super Mario Bros.'' game for the NES are really, really terrifying. There's just something about them; the [[NothingIsScarier lifeless]] [[DarknessEqualsDeath black background,]] the pointy-looking lava that doesn't move, the revolving sticks of fire, the fireballs that come as you approach Bowser's lair, Bowser himself (especially later on when he learns how to throw hammers)... and that music. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8WfBgBEis THAT MUSIC.]] Some of the castle levels are [[GuideDangIt mazes]] that will repeat endlessly until [[TimedMission TIME RUNS OUT]] [[CriticalExistenceFailure AND YOU DIE.]] (or until you find the correct path)
** The famous [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox2Fjp9oeAI cave music]] probably creeped out more than a few kids.

!! ''New Super Mario Bros. 2''

* The Boohemoth, a massive Boo enemy, is bigger, chubbier, and his eyes don't look at all like the charming dot eyes that normal Boos have, but more into the UncannyValley. Although he only shows up in two Ghost Houses, he'll appear without warning with a ScareChord and chase you. He too stops and hides his face when Mario or Luigi looks at him, but every so often he'll peek and approach anyway. Thankfully, he only appears in two levels.
* In World 6-Castle and World Star-Castle, Mario has to make his way across a lava-filled platforming level. The kicker? He has to avoid the Koopalings' special [[{{TakenForGranite}} petrifying gaze]]. If he's not hiding behind a wall, one wrong step and he'll most likely freeze, and fall into lava.

* The Hawkmouth in ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' (the one that acts as an end of level gate) scared the crap out of some in the end of World 7-2 when it ''flew off the wall and tried to chase them!''

!! ''Super Mario Galaxy''

* To start, instead of the standard BottomlessPits, the game uses ''black holes'' at the centers of the various planetettes. [[HellIsThatNoise And the noise they make when/if you fall into them and thus are sucked in...]]
* The giant caterpillar in the Gusty Garden Galaxy of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. The way it's almost realistic in appearance in a game with an intensely cartoony art style creates an effect similar to the UncannyValley, and it makes some genuinely disconcerting high-pitched noises. The enormous nose and buck teeth do little to diminish this.
* When Mario's hand rises up when he sinks in sand or toxic waste, all while hearing him drown.
** If you fiddle with the camera angle in the right way, which usually isn't possible in-game, you'll see a pretty terrifying (or, to some, [[NightmareRetardant rather hilarious]]) shortcut the developers took with this animation. To make it so only his hand appears over the swamp, his head''shrinks to almost nothing!''
** When Mario touches dark matter, he slowly disintegrates, and his life bar isn't empty until AFTER Mario is completely gone. [[AndIMustScream He feels the whole thing!]]
** And then there's dying of electrocution, which leaves only a skeleton.
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l8G7WR5VUE Here is a video of a few of Mario's ''Galaxy'' deaths.]]
* The Gringills in the Beach Bowl Galaxy. The giant ones with googly eyes and teeth almost as long as their head.
** In a little more detail; you're swimming through a beautiful galaxy full of clear water and cute penguins, not many enemies at least not at first, but then you come to a dead end and a giant Gringill comes EXPLODING out of the darkness and flails about with another little one above it.
* The hovering, screeching Cluckbooms. There is just something vaguely disturbing about them...
* The Bonefin Galaxy, home to the giant skeletal shark known as [[DemBones Kingfin]].
* The giant jellyfish. Sure, there were only two, but each one was in an rather off-putting location: the first in the Bigmouth Galaxy, where more and more ghosts kept popping out of nowhere underwater, and the second in the Deep Dark Galaxy, where you HAD to swim RIGHT PAST IT because it took up most of a certain passage. (Oh, and both galaxies had some of the most ominous-sounding music in the game.)
** Also in the Deep Dark Galaxy is a planet accessible by a cannon, which is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfUFJLWYxfM&hd=1#t=8m32s basically a tiny version of the first planet in Gateway Galaxy]]. There's just something creepy about traversing a dark, hostile galaxy and suddenly happening upon a replica of what is possibly the least dangerous and most friendly planet in the galaxy.
*** And the background ''even changes to match that of the original planet!!''
*** If you jump on a nearby screw and spin around, ''the planet will deflate like a giant beach ball''. It even ''rewards'' you for doing this with coins!
* [[spoiler:Between them, Mario and Bowser wind up destroying the universe.]]
** Bowser planned on creating his own galaxy which would serve as the capital [[InTheirOwnImage for his glorious universe spanning empire.]] ''Damn''. So much for VillainDecay.
* The music that plays when you wake up the Dino Pirahna is very unsettling, as is the fact that you are on a small planet with the possibility of being plowed into by a gigantic, blind beast. The Dino Piranha itself is no better, especially when you get it angry. And when you defeat it, the idea of having just killed a baby doesn't sit right either.
* In one of the later areas, you come across [[spoiler:FIERY Dino Piranha.]] The guy was freaky enough the first time around, but, [[spoiler:ON FIRE?]]
* Luigi's deaths in ''SMG''. Poor Luigi sobs hysterically as he falls to his death. Dosen't help that they bring it back in Smash Bros.
** Even worse is when he falls in quicksand or the swamp goo. His scream sounds distinctly like "Help help can't swim!"
* Bouldergeist is pretty scary. Once you land on the boss arena, rocks suddenly gather into a large head, and the second phase adds ''arms''. When breaking up his stone armor, his shadowy matter can be seen leaking through, and while it's pathetic, his unprotected form is still pretty unnerving.
** Plus some of the sounds he makes, but his roar takes the cake. [[HellIsThatNoise HOLY CRAP, HIS ROAR.]]
** Also, right before Bouldergeist explodes, his uvula pulsates, his head shrinks, and his eyes triple in size... and he explodes...
* The NPC bees' [[SlasherSmile razor teeth smile]].
* The Lumas' cycle of gorging themselves, and then committing suicide by exploding into a new celestial object. They are eventually being reborn somehow, but these guys are happy that they are exploding.
* Outside of the small planet the boss Kingfin resides in, a random Toad Brigade ship. This doesn't seem scary at first, but then you realize the ship is empty and the toads are nowhere to be found, and a giant, Jaws-size skeleton fish down there has teeth that look sharp enough to rend flesh. [[OhCrap Uh]] [[FridgeHorror oh]].

* [=SMB3=] can be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CIBrncUxwg corrupted too]], as ProtonJon found out. The video is called "Super Mario Bros. 3: Nightmare Edition."

* ''NightmareFuel/SuperMarioSunshine''

* The Hammer Bros from the original game? the ones that chase you if you wait? they don't wait this time around. They come after you IMMEDIATELY.

** ''[[http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/comic142.html Brawl In The Family]]'' noted this.

In the shocking climactic battle, [[spoiler: Bowser grows GIGANTIC! He's so big that his thunderous roar pushes you back. And to top it all of, the music. Bowser wants you ass dead!]]

* A meta-example, but Mario Kart Arcade GP holds a dark secret; [[http://tcrf.net/Mario_Kart_Arcade_GP 3 test images, two of them are innocent stuff, but the third one is a photograph taken from the September 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis of all things!]]

!! ''Mario Party'' Series

* 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.
** [[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''...
** To say nothing of Bowser's Big/Bigger Blast from ''Mario Party 2'' and ''4'', and Cut From The Team from ''Mario Party 8''. The tension alone makes the heart race in fear. Who will die first? Will it be you, or your friends? You're at the mercy of Lady Luck as you slowly step forward and meet destiny...
** None of them can compare to Black Hole Boogie from ''6'', in which the loser gets sucked into, well, a freaking [[UnrealisticBlackHole black hole]]! And after the minigame, they can be seen ''[[ArtisticLicensePhysics floating across the background through the vast reaches of space]]''. If that isn't the scariest thing ever seen in a Mario game, I don't know what is!
** And now the newest ''Mario Party 10'' decides to up the ante by adding a ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-jtm3xoP8I Bowser]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5w3juLC6No Party]]'' mode, which is exactly what it says: Let's a player take control of '''''Bowser!''''' It's simple, Mario and his friends must get to the end of the board and claim the Power Star while being chased by Bowser. If Bowser catches you, he'll force you into a minigame. If he takes out all of your characters, you lose. At first, it seems like a delightful spin on the GoKartingWithBowser trope until you start to think about it from the perspective of Mario and his friends. Essentially, they are being relentlessly pursued by their ArchEnemy and if he catches them, he gets to ''torture'' them in very sadistic minigames. [[note]]I.E. smashing them with a hammer, chasing them as they climb a tower, breathing fire on them while they run helplessly, crushing them underneath him, placing them on a moving platform while he tries to hit them with fire bars, placing them on a wheel with electric amps and stopping the wheel to make them run into the amps and electrocute themselves, placing them on a literal Pinball game.[[/note]] Even in a lighthearted spinoff game, Bowser can still be a terrifying piece of work when he wants to be.
*** Also, there's the fact that Bowser can throw up to five dice that stack up to let him move a lot of spaces and should he fail the first tine, Bowser Jr. will grant him a reroll, meaning that unless you are extremely lucky enough to have put enough distance between him and you, [[YouWillNotEvadeMe more often than not, he will catch up to you and force you into a minigame]]. And worse, you may be extremely unlucky enough to land on a space that sends you a few spaces back, and most often right back into Bowser's clutches. Not to mention that the player controlling Bowser can manipulate parts of the board to trick Mario and Co., such as making them pick the wrong treasure chest or take the wrong path. All in all, when playing in Bowser Party, the odds are most decidedly stacked against you.
*** Bowser's appearances in the Classical version of Mario Party 10 are just as scary. Throughout the course of the board, rolling each side of a six-sided dice (1-6) will break a lock on Bowser's prison. Things get incredibly nerve-wracking when Bowser [[ParanoiaFuel only has one lock left]], and if YOU'RE the one who breaks that final lock, Bowser will '''''claw the screen apart''''', revealing a hellish landscape and incredibly dark and ominous music. He will "thank" the person who freed him by [[KickTheDog taking half their mini stars]], and then unleash a volley of fireballs ''that will turn into Bowser spaces.'' If Bowser gets freed, prepare for some serious pain.
* 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.
* And then there's Pedal Power, one of the games that used the infamous ScrappyMechanic of "spin your Control Stick around like there's no tomorrow". You have to pedal a stationary bike to light up a lamp behind you before the Boo gets you.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LVKfwcxvsQ The tension-inducing music does little to help matters.]]
* Running of the Bulb is a very good example. Four characters have to protect a lightbulb as they run down to the end of a dark, boo infested hallway while being chased by one large, rather frightening looking boo. Letting this particular boo catch you means you dissappear in a simmilar fassion to Ghost Guess. Going even further, the lesser boos are apparently capable of [[DemonicPossession possession]]. It's pretty creepy having Mario characters slowly chase you zombie-style while glowing with a ghostly blue aura. And if you're the one possessed, all you can do is hope that another character will take the time to [[BeatTheCurseOutOfHim knock you back to your senses]], and pray that the boo controlling you doesn't decide you to just go ahead and feed you to the big one.
* Speaking of the original, some find the Options House ''terrifying''! Mainly because of the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR9cor0HpyQ freaky background music]], but also the process that you go through to delete your save data feels like you're activating a ''nuclear missile!''
* Dark Path from "6," If you are afraid of anything Halloween, it's going to be a hell of a ride for you.