History NightmareFuel / SuperMarioBros

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

* Let's start out by saying that in ''Wario Land 3'', [[NighInvulnerability nothing can kill you]]. Being hit by enemy attacks causes some kind of inconvenience, such as knockback or a status effect (being set on fire, for example, causes Wario to run uncontrollably until he touches water or until the fire envelops him, giving you a short time to walk around, invincible and able to use the fire to solve certain puzzles, at least until it reduces him to a pile of cinders. Which he walks out of completely unharmed, being indestructible). After retrieving the PlotCoupons, you return to the temple holding the being that has advised you over the course of your quest to find out that, [[spoiler:on top of simultaneously being the TreacherousAdvisor, the BigBad, and a MonsterClown, he is the only thing in the game that can kill Wario.]] Seeing the Game Over screen after a whole game without it can render some kids unable to finish the game.

* Between them, Mario and Bowser wind up destroying the universe.

* The Mad Piano in Big Boo Haunt, when invoked, it ''grows teeth and tries to eat you'' (as seen above). To make it worse, it sounds like someone angrily banging their fists on the piano keys. Much of Mario-related trauma has come from that enemy alone. And to add insult to injury, one of the red coins is located behind it.

* What happened when you ran into a door when you didn't have enough stars to open it. DAH DAH DAH DAAAAAAAH NAH! BWOAR WOAR! HAR! HAR! HAR! Bowser cruelly laughs at your misfortune.

* The flying books in BigBoosHaunt as well as the chairs, the wind thing on Tall Tall Mountain, the Bullies that pushed you into lava, and, oh yes, that GIANT FREAKIN' FREIGHT TRAIN-MONSTER that is the [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:ChainChomp64.jpg Chain Chomp]]. ShigeruMiyamoto designed Chain Chomps based on his own fears of being bitten by dogs. Thanks, Miyamoto, for making sure your own nightmares fuel other people's nightmares.

* The only truly scary parts would have to be Eyerok, the ShiftingSandLand boss. The two big-ass rock hands with eyes on the palms. The ones that try to push you off the slender platform and into a pitch black emptiness. And another mention goes to Dorrie, the creature from Hazy Maze Cave. The big blue dinosaur with the red slit mouth and tiny eyes that a nearby sign claims that will ''eat you.'' [[spoiler:He doesn't, but still.]] Thankfully turned into NightmareRetardant in ''Super Mario 64 DS'' with the addition of swim goggles, as well as making his face more Yoshi-like.

* The Mad Piano in Big Boo Haunt, when invoked, it ''grows teeth and tries to eat you'' (as seen above). To make it worse, it sounds like someone angrily banging their fists on the piano keys. Much of Mario-related trauma has come from that enemy alone. The Big Boo fights and the music were also something else to be scared of, not to mention the creepy calliope music from the carousel.
** "Ghosts...don't...DIE! Can you get out of here...alive?"

* In the final battle, Bowser is seated in a [[ClownCarBase 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 the said [[ClownCarBase 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.

* The piano in Big Boo Haunt, when invoked, it ''grows teeth and tries to eat you'' (as seen above). To make it worse, it sounds like someone angrily banging their fists on the piano keys. Much of Mario-related trauma has come from that enemy alone. The Big Boo fights and the music were also something else to be scared of, not to mention the creepy calliope music from the carousel.

* 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, for some reason, 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)

** Bowser ''planned'' on destroying the universe all along... [[AGodAmI so that he could remake it as his own glorious empire.]] ''Damn''. So much for VillainDecay.

* A fear of heights as well as death by falling makes playing ''Mario Galaxy'' and ''Mario 64'' terrifying sometimes[[hottip:*: since Galaxy had falling into an endless abyss/sucked into a black hole deaths and 64 had falling damage]].

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

*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPKlQmMpmVk Here is a video of a few of Mario's ''Galaxy'' deaths.]]

** Some were also afraid of the flames jumping out of the lava in the World 1 mini-fortress.
** There were also some creeped out by the walking candles flames in the first fortress of World 4.

* ''Super Mario 64'' has a ''piano that grows teeth and tries to eat you.'' To make it worse, it sounds like someone angrily banging their fists on the piano keys. Much of Mario-related trauma has come from that enemy alone. The Big Boo fights and the music were also something else to be scared of, not to mention the creepy calliope music from the carousel.

* Bubba Bubba, the giant fish (with TriangleShades) that eats you on Tiny-Huge Island. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUTIJxNocQ It's killable through a glitch, though.]]
* The poisonous gas maze in Hazy Maze Cave. Getting bullet spammed by the Snufit wearing A GAS MASK didn't help.

* The only truly scary parts would have to be Eyerok, the ShiftingSandLand boss. The two big-ass rock hands with eyes on the palms. The ones that try to push you off the slender platform and into a pitch black emptiness. And another mention goes to Dorrie, the plesiosaur from Hazy Maze Cave. The big blue dinosaur with the red slit mouth and tiny eyes that a nearby sign claims that will ''eat you.'' [[spoiler:He doesn't, but still.]] Thankfully turned into NightmareRetardant in ''Super Mario 64 DS'' with the addition of swim goggles, as well as making his face more Yoshi-like.

* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has Bowser fall into lava in the first world. Not much different from what happened at the end of ''every single castle'' in the original ''Super Mario Bros''... until the game proceeds to show him ''desperately flailing in the lava, yelling in agony, and emerging with all of his flesh melted off''. Totally unexpected and freaky as all get-out.

** 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. They can't be killed either which somehow makes it worse.

*** The connection between the spirit and the HellValleySkyTrees... there's also a UFO visible if you wait a minute at 1-3. What other freaky stuff has Nintendo put in these games? Are they... are they trying a secret subplot told through weird Easter eggs?

* A fear of heights as well as death by falling makes playing ''Mario Galaxy'' and ''Mario 64'' terrifying sometimes.

* Luigi's deaths in ''SMG''. Poor Luigi sobs hysterically as he falls to his death.

* The episode "Ghosts 'R' Us" in ''Adventures of Super Mario World'' where Yoshi and Oogtar must save Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach from a haunted house. Their captor, Wizenheimer, isn't exactly Mr. Nice Guy. Probably because [[MyNameIsNotDurwood they keep screwing up his name]].

* The flying books in BigBoosHaunt as well as the chairs, the wind thing on Tall Tall Mountain, the Bullies that pushed you into lava, and, oh yes, that GIANT FREAKIN' FREIGHT TRAIN-MONSTER that is the [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Chain_Chomp Chain Chomp]]. ShigeruMiyamoto designed Chain Chomps based on his own fears of being bitten by dogs. Thanks, Miyamoto, for making sure your own nightmares fuel other people's nightmares.

** In the ''Super Mario All-Stars'' remake of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', World 5's blue mini-fortress has both a lava floor ''and'' a ceiling. It's even more unsettling considering that in ''[=SMB=] 3'', lava isn't merely a harmless curtain for the top of a BottomlessPit; rather, touching it ''kills you instantly'', even if you're Super Mario.

*** Technically, [[spoiler: it's just the *hiding face* sprite without being covered by the sprite's arms]].

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' The Final Boss: When[[spoiler:Bowser absorbs the Dream Stone]] he turns into [[spoiler:Dreamy Bowser whose form shows that even someone who is empowered to become the]] embodiment of good dreams can be as terrifying as someone empowered by nightmares (like Antasma) can be (especially if the good dreams come from [[spoiler:a villain like Bowser)]]