Nightmare Fuel / Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

• Ghadius:
  • His loud, microphone-clipping, baritone voice in the original is downright terrifying. It definitely renders him one of the most intimidating villains in the series.
  • His appearance in the first game, due to early hardware limitations, make him look quite unnerving. His face is much more slanted and pale, and looks far less human compared to the Wii remake.
• Joka:
  • If you happen to have coulrophobia, chances are, he is NOT going to be your favorite character. First of all, there's his design, with star-shaped Black Eyes of Evil and a big Cheshire Cat Grin with More Teeth than the Osmond Family. Then there's his personality. He usually acts silly, which can be seen as either dissonant with his creepy design, or Nightmare Retardant. However, in the first game, he eventually becomes dead serious about aiding Ghadius in his Evil Plan, going so far as to murder Klonoa's grandpa in cold blood.
  • Even if you don't like Joka, his death is still very intense and disturbing. After defeating him in his boss battle, he gives an uncharacteristically calm speech about how the world will sink into darkness. He then dies in a fiery explosion, screaming in agony, calling Ghadius' name. And thanks to his Frozen Face, he's still smiling while this happens! Despite his crossing the Moral Event Horizon earlier, it's easy to feel sorry for him in this scene. It's even worse in the original version, where instead of the screen fading to white as he explodes, it actually shows him falling over dead, with that horrid smile still on his face!
• Vision 5-2 is pretty scary. It takes place in the Sun Temple, where Ghadius' dark magic is causing frequent solar eclipses. Klonoa must get to the top of the temple, all while dealing with the enemies, who undergo scary-looking transformations when it gets dark. It doesn't help that they're invincible when this happens. The scariest by far is a pink flying creature that doesn't transform from another enemy, it just suddenly appears when the sky gets dark. It has emotionless, soulless eyes, and it relentlessly pursues you (It does move slowly, though). The level also ends with a boss battle against Joka, who is plenty of Nightmare Fuel on his own.
• Nahatomb.
  • An Eldritch Abomination born from nightmares. Out of his 3 forms, the last 2 are especially scary. The first of these is a living Nightmare Face, and the second is darker and has exposed bones, making it look very zombie-like.
  • After the second phase, there are some details implying that Nahatomb's stomach exploded from the inside. Nahatomb's ribcage is exposed, and its bottom is almost completely obliterated, leaving behind only a frayed hole and the tail's bone structure. It all comes together to form a surprisingly violent sight for the series. Tellingly, Nahatomb's appearance in the third phase was toned down in Door to Phantomile's remake.
  • The background of the final phase in the original game is the usual moody clouds, surrounding a dark background that is rapidly stretching and distorting. Except it looks more like something moving behind a curtain, almost as if Nahatomb's mere existence is on the verge of beckoning reality to render itself apart internally.
  • The fact that according to Ghadius, Nahatomb has taken over Lephise's body. It's unclear whether that means Demonic Possession that transformed her body into this atrocity, or he's using her as a living battery, but either option is unpleasant.
• The slap in the face that is the Cruel Twist Ending, where it turns out Klonoa was never a native inhabitant of the world — Huepow all but wrote new memories into his head to make him think otherwise, so that the boy would be in the right place to save it all. Getting to hear Klonoa screaming his lungs out for Huepow as he's dragged out of the world to go save other dreams against his consent left a lasting impression on a lot of young gamers.
• Klonoa himself, despite being an All-Loving Hero, can be pretty scary if you somehow manage to make him mad, he normally keeps them hidden but it turns out he has More Teeth than the Osmond Family, making for a pretty unsettling snarling face. While he may not look like it, whatever kind of Cartoon Creature he is is a predator.