History NightmareFuel / SuperMarioBros

* Due to the color limitations of the NES, Bowsers Castle -- rather than it appearing as the chateau-castle it's meant to be -- looks more like an EldritchAbomination that is [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02.png made of pink flesh.]] ready to swallow Mario up. The four giant mushrooms within the citadel walls might also add to the otherworldly feel. This was "corrected" in the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02_1.png updated remake]], ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' thanks to the enchanced color palette allowing it to appear as an actual castle, with a likeness of Bowser's skull built atop.
* The laser-shooting Bowser statues in his castle. They look nothing more than typical castle decorations, until you approach them and they suddenly start firing lasers at you. Worse yet, there are no visual differences between the laser-shooting statues and the harmless ones, so you can easily be caught off-guard.

* Due to the color limitations of the NES, Bowsers Castle -- rather than it appearing as the chateau-castle it's meant to be -- looks more like an EldritchAbomination that is [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02.png made of pink flesh.]] ready to swallow Mario up. This was "corrected" in the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02_1.png updated remake]], ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' thanks to the enchanced color palette allowing it to appear as an actual castle, with a likeness of Bowser's skull built atop.

* Due to the color limitations of the NES, Bowsers Castle -- rather than it appearing as the chateau-castle it's meant to be -- looks more like an EldritchAbomination [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02.png made of pink flesh.]] ready to swallow Mario up. This was "corrected" in the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02_1.png updated remake]], ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' thanks to the enchanced color palette allowing it to appear as an actual castle, with a likeness of Bowser's skull built atop.

* Due to the color limitations of the NES, Bowsers Castle -- rather than it appearing as the chateau-castle it's meant to be -- looks more like an EldritchAbomination [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02.png made of pink flesh.]] ready to swallow Mario up. This was "corrected" in [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_02_1.png updated remake]], ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' thanks to the enchanced color palette, makes it appears as an actual castle with a likeness of Bowser's skull built atop.

* Koopa's TransformationRay that can de-evolve his prisoners into their evolutionary ancestors or worse, especially in the [[https://youtu.be/M1kzWq20a9I?t=136 deleted scene]] where a technician gets devolved into primordial slime and sloshes out of the chair and onto the floor. As Koopa puts it, "it's [[FateWorseThanDeath more than just dead]]--it's being...undone."
** The reason Koopa had the guy devolved: '''''he sneezed'''''. We get that Koopa is a germaphobe, but it kinda makes you wonder how many people he had slaughtered for even the slightest "infraction".

** The reason Koopa had the guy devolved? '''''he sneezed'''''. We get that Koopa is a germaphobe, but it kinda makes you wonder how many people he had slaughtered for even the slightest "infraction".

* Worlds 4-4 and 7-4. If you don't catch on that you have to take the correct forks to keep going, [[UnnaturallyLoopingLocation you might think you're trapped in a fortress that just goes on forever with Bowser and the end-of-castle axe nowhere in sight]]. All while the menacing and frantic fortress theme plays until you inevitably run out of time and die. Downplayed in the ''Deluxe'' and ''All-Stars'' versions, which play a chime if you take the right path and a buzz if you take the wrong one.

* Worlds 4-4 and 7-4. If you don't catch on that you have to take the correct forks to keep going, [[UnnaturallyLoopingLocation you might think you're trapped in a fortress that just goes on forever with Bowser and the end-of-castle axe nowhere in sight]]. All while the menacing and frantic fortress theme plays until you inevitably run out of time. Downplayed in the ''Deluxe'' and ''All-Stars'' versions, which play a chime if you take the right path and a buzz if you take the wrong one.

* Worlds 4-4 and 7-4. If you don't catch on that you have to take the correct forks to keep going, [[UnnaturallyLoopingLocation you might think you're trapped in a fortress that just goes on forever]]. All while the menacing and frantic fortress theme plays until you inevitably run out of time. Downplayed in the ''Deluxe'' and ''All-Stars'' versions, which play a chime if you take the right path and a buzz if you take the wrong one.

[[folder:''Super Mario Bros.'' (1993 movie)]]

[[folder:Other]]

!! ''Super Mario Bros. The Movie''

* Koopa's TransformationRay that can de-evolve his prisoners into their evolutionary ancestors or worse, especially in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgmABs0_JYI deleted scene]] where a guy gets devolved into primordial slime and sloshes out of the chair and onto the floor. As Koopa puts it, it's worse than death--it's being undone.

* After retrieving the meteorite at the night club, Lena 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 not made any better when you realise it's a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheFly1958''.

!! Other

* The German Club Nintendo comic ''Super Mario in Die Nacht des Grauens'' [[labelnote:(ENG)]]Super Mario in The Night of Horror[[/labelnote]] features a [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:DNDG_CN4.jpg zombie Princess Peach]] with creepy black eyes and a pale, cracked face.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OLn99Ua5EE mini-fortress theme]]. Whereas the original ''SMB''[='=]s theme gets its spookiness from how frenetic it is and its use of DroneOfDread, this one [[NothingIsScarier relies more on minmalism]], spreading out short bursts of notes with distinct periods of silence.

* After completing World 7, you'd maybe expect a letter from Peach thanking you for saving the seven kingdoms. But nope, the letter is from ''Bowser'' this time, who has revealed that he's kidnapped her! And instead of a dreamy jingle playing with the letter, [[ScareChord you get the first few notes of the boss theme]].

* World 7's first mini-fortress is [[NothingIsScarier completely abandoned]], save for the Boom-Boom at the end. There's one room where you can see enemy-related infrastructure, such as the center posts for the Rotodiscs and the lanerns for the Hot Feet, but the enemies themselves are missing. Also the exit is non-obvious, and someone who doesn't think to use Raccoon or Tanuki form to fly up to the Warp Pipe may get stuck and die of time over all alone.

* ''NightmareFuel/CaptainToadTreasureTracker''

* You know how in ''[=SMB1=]'', when you defeat the fake Bowser at the end of a castle, you then go to the hallway in the back and a Toad tells you that "Your princess is in another castle"? ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' does a pretty cruel twist on it. You defeat the boss in World 1-3, 2-3, or 3-3, go into the hallway behind them, and as sappy music plays you see what appears to be Daisy at first...[[JumpScare only for her to reveal that she's actually an enemy monster in disguise]] while the music changes to a much more sinister jingle.

* You know how in ''[=SMB1=]'', when you defeat the fake Bowser at the end of a castle, you then go to the hallway in the back and a Toad tells you that "Your princess is in another castle"? ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' does a pretty cruel twist on it. You defeat the boss in World 1-3, 2-3, or 3-3, go into the hallway behind them, and as sappy music plays you see what appears to be Daisy at first...[[JumpScare only for "her" to reveal that she's actually an enemy monster in disguise]] while the music changes to a much more sinister jingle.

* You know how in ''[=SMB1=]'', when you defeat the fake Bowser at the end of a castle, you then go to the hallway in the back and a Toad tells you that "Your princess is in another castle"? This game does a pretty cruel twist on it. You defeat the boss in World 1-3, 2-3, or 3-3, go into the hallway behind them, and as sappy music plays you see what appears to be Daisy at first...[[JumpScare only for "her" to reveal that she's actually an enemy monster in disguise]] while the music changes to a much more sinister jingle.

** ''NightmareFuel/SuperPaperMario''

* Shiverburn Galaxy appears to take place in some kind of canyon, as the level is surrounded by two enormous rock structures that tower over it. If you change the camera to first-person mode and look toward the cliffs above you, you can see three shadowy alien figures (pictured above), watching you. No matter where you are in the galaxy, [[ParanoiaFuel they will always be there, and they will always be watching.]] [[NothingIsScarier Not once is their existence so much as hinted to in the game itself, and even to this day, absolutely no official reference has ever been made to the figures or their presence.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWhqKaV1Yhg The eerily tranquil music used for the galaxy really doesn't help matters either.]]
** The figures are frightening enough on their own, but the file names for Shiverburn Galaxy's textures somehow make them ten times worse. The file names? ''[=BeyondHellValley=]'' is where they reside, and ''[=HellValleySkyTree=]'' is the name of the texture featuring the figures themselves; the ominousness of the "trees" was already enough, but ''those names'' make them worse. The skybox implies that the cliff background is very far away, suggesting that these figures are somewhere between the size of a ''large hill to mountain-sized.''

Even Mario has run into his share of frights, as these examples will attest to.

** The game's main ghost-themed galaxies continue to make use of the [[LifeStream ominous background featuring ghostly faces floating towards a light]] used in much of Galaxy 1's, but now they also include [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXu_N5HZVUU a very menacing remix]] of ''Super Mario World's'' already creepy Ghost House theme, which sounds even more oppressive with the higher quality instruments than it did on the SNES.

* Shiverburn Galaxy appears to take place in some kind of canyon, as the level is surrounded by two enormous rock structures that tower over it. If you change the camera to first-person mode and look toward the cliffs above you, you can see three shadowy alien figures (pictured above), watching you. No matter where you are in the Galaxy, [[ParanoiaFuel they will always be there, and they will always be watching.]] [[NothingIsScarier Not once is their existence so much as hinted to in the game itself, and even to this day, absolutely no official reference has ever been made to the figures or their presence.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWhqKaV1Yhg The eerily tranquil music used for the galaxy really doesn't help matters either.]]