For moments from that series, go here.
- In the Mega Drive remake, because of the console's infamous handling of voice samples, many of the louder voice clips can turn into Jump Scare material, especially when Arle takes stronger hits.
- The face melting illusion scenes in Madou Monogatari I.
Not only is there copious amounts of Body Horror, some versions have either Black Eyes of Evil or worse, no eyes at all!- Oh yeah, and here’s the guy responsible◊. Fudoushi is even more horrible-looking in the PC-98 release◊.
- Oh yeah, and here’s the guy responsible
- Years of characterization have buried it, but in his first appearance, Schezo himself was the stuff of nightmares. Let's count the ways Early-Installment Weirdness rears its ugly head...
- Even before the infamous scene described below, the very concept of a young kid getting dragged to a dungeon by someone who has every intention of killing them and taking their powers is terrifying. This illustration pretty much captures the ominous feeling.◊ His backstory with Runelord makes it worse, as you have to wonder how much of this Schezo would have done of his own free will...
- Even if it was unintentional, Arle straight-up beheads Schezo in the PC-98 version of Madou Monogatari. This all happens on-screen and is about as gory as an 8-bit dungeon crawler can allow, with blood pouring down the front of his cloak. Granted Schezo is a straight-up villain in this game, but the moment still comes out of nowhere and can blindside anyone familiar with only Puyo Puyo. It serves as the page image for a reason.
- What happens next isn't any better, as Arle then has to fight Schezo's head. His decapitated, floating head. The fact that he doesn’t particularly seem to actually be affected that much, what with his decapitated head still attacking the player as if nothing happened doesn't help.
- If that's not enough, then there's this thing called "Test Body". It's a multi-armed mass of flesh with a Nightmare Face that stares right at you, and bits of its flesh seem to be stuck to the walls around it. It's also missing a good amount of flesh on one of its leg. Whatever the hell this thing is, it wasn't made through natural means, and it just crashes in out of nowhere right after you defeat Schezo.
- If you're wondering what happens to the poor victims that get drained, Arle encounters one such person in the Game Gear version, which can only be described as a gray-skinned rotting corpse◊ with no discernible features other than a gaping mouth and eye holes. Arle's rightfully scared of it not because it's a dead victim, but because she's next if she doesn't get out of here.
- Keeping all this in mind, you have to wonder if, under all the Lighter and Softer characterization, is he still ready to do that? He hunts down Arle and Sig in hopes of taking their power, and if he still does the stuff he did back then to his victims, it makes his efforts a lot scarier...
- And to top it all off, there's what Schezo's name means in-universe. It means "Handsome man who defiles the gods." Schezo has shown an intent to usurp Satan as ruler of Hell. Schezo doesn't just want to be a Dark Mage, he wants to be the Devil.
- Even before the infamous scene described below, the very concept of a young kid getting dragged to a dungeon by someone who has every intention of killing them and taking their powers is terrifying. This illustration pretty much captures the ominous feeling.
- Schezo isn't even the only enemy that can get brutally decapitated in that game. Meet Dullahan◊, who takes the headless knight depiction in a more violent and bloody direction.
- In Madou ARS, we get some insight on Schezo's backstory. At 14 years old, he finds himself on a school trip, being lured to a mirror. To make a long story short, he winds up fighting the spirit of Runelord, and manages to defeat him, gaining the Dark Sword in the process. He escapes the mirror, and sees his future self in his reflection, as a Dark Mage. Despite rejecting the idea of dark power before, Schezo now seems perfectly happy to make that future a reality, even smiling eerily at the thought of it. The whole story implies that Schezo was (and still is) a puppet to Runelord, which means that the guy who tried to kill Arle (even after losing his head), chased down Sig for his arm, and said more creepy things than one can count...may not have even done it all of his own free will!
- The implication that Schezo is Runelord's thrall actually makes the aformentioned decapitation even worse. While it could be chalked up to Early-Installment Weirdness, the fact that Schezo is centuries old, as well as perfectly able and willing to try and kill Arle even after losing his head, even possessing a fleshy abomination he had in his dungeon to do it, then shows up in later games no worse for wear, implies that Runelord won't even let Schezo die in peace.
- And it's not just Schezo stuck like this, Ragnus is the one who defeated Runelord, who killed Ragnus' girlfriend Patty. Now Ragnus is even older than Schezo, has no memories of Patty, and is cursed to de-age if he stops fighting. Runelord got the last laugh with his Dying Curse. Do the math.
- Doppelganger Arle is heavily implied to be a half of the legendary sorceress Lilith from dubiously canon Madou Monogatari Chronology and Shin Madou Monogatari novels, with Arle being the other half. According to the early plot of the Gameboy version of Puyo Puyo~n, before it's changed in the final release, the Doppel was driven mad from years of isolation, and now wants to Kill and Replace Arle, even brainwashing the Dark Prince and kidnapping Carbuncle to lure her into a trap.
- And Arle isn't the only one with an Evil Doppelgänger, as both Schezo and Witch have ones too. Witch's doppel, named Dark Witch, sticks out for her appearance in "Comet Summoner", where she has her own secondary mode, with a different ending than Witch's. What is that ending? She beats Witch, takes over her body, and possibly leaves her counterpart to rot in the Night Dimension. Oh, and the manual says she's a manifestation of Witch's future self. Let that all sink in.
- In Doppelganger Schezo's case, he's the spawn of the space-time crystal stealing Schezo's magic, giving him physical form. Unfortunately, due to lacking any semblance of reason prior, he used Schezo's personality and powers as a blueprint, developing the overwhelming desire to steal. Steal what, you ask? Life force. On top of that, due to having space-time powers, he's capable of warping the amusement park's corridors to trap his victims. Suddenly those amusement park attractions sound way more unfun...
- A lot of the enemies in the earlier games go right into the Unintentional Uncanny Valley. Fans of characters like Harpy or Suketoudara are in for a nasty surprise when they see what they used to◊ look like.◊ Many other enemies never returned and◊ for◊ good◊ reason◊.
- One of those enemies that never returned is known as the Rot, and they’re actually animated by Sarpropel Insects that drop to the ground when slain. These larva will grow in size to try and engulf Arle, who’s only six, in their gaping, faceless maw.
- Speaking of creepy enemies, this is OwlBear◊. This is him the second time he's fought.◊ This is him the third time.◊ The guy gradually gets angrier with each encounter, and in the third one he's practically after Arle's blood at this rate. And she was four years old at that time. Be thankful he was never in the PC-98 Madou 123...
- Barbegazi◊ is a short, hairy man wearing a chunk of ice. He didn't look nearly as pleasant in his PC-98 appearance.◊
- While Choppun was never more physically frightening than his later design, you would not want to know what he did to attack in his first appearance.
- Then there's the Dark Dragon◊, a huge beast that can be pretty freaky on its own, but then it gets defeated and looks like this◊. What should probably be funny looks insanely creepy.
- The protagonists don't fare much better. The earlier games had Arle, Schezo, and Rulue happily (and vacantly) staring at the player. It's...unsettling to see.
- On the subject of unintentional eeriness, Madou's graphics weren't any kinder to Carbuncle.◊
- In Madou Monogatari III, Arle encounters the Surprisingly Realistic Outcome from casting Ice magic far too often while lost in the woods: frostbite. She has it so bad, they've cracked open and bled◊. The worse part? The store she visited lacked any medicine to help her problem, and decided to fight her way through Mokemoe Labyrinth in spite of her condition just to help get the store properly restocked. Geez, Arle!
- In some of the Madou games, Arle can perform fatalities on certain enemies using the right attack. One example is setting a werewolf on fire.◊ Keep in mind that Arle was only six when she did this.
- One enemy, Garuda, also introduces itself by eating Lamia alive, complete with blood dripping from its mouth!
- Dark Matter◊, an evil mage once defeated by Witch's grandmother, Wish, is pretty damn creepy to look at, even by Madou's standards. A giant monstrous figure in dark clothing with one red eye, and two pairs of arms, one skeletal, and the other made of mummy-wrappings. Oh, and he's possesses Wish. Good luck, Schezo, you'll need it...
- If Dark Matter didn't bother you enough, here we have the Phantom God◊. Note the eerily detailed hands and eyes that seem to be bursting from the forehead. Oh, and that's not the only form it gets. It gets a nightmarish visage◊ when it Turns Red. It's almost as if the skin on its face got flayed off...
- If Dark Matter didn't bother you enough, here we have the Phantom God
- Rulue gets her own backstory in ARS, where she deals with the Count, a vampire with a taste for virgin blood. Yeesh... He even drains her blood and kidnaps her. And he can do it again in one of the bad endings in Rulue's Spring Break.
- On that note, Succubus once held Schezo hostage in her dungeon and tried to torture him into her slave. Again, yeesh...
- While later installments suggest that ''Madou Monogatari Chronology'' isn't canon anymore, the Final Ragnarok is pretty much this. Arle went to war with the Creator of the Madou world, and said war spanned across entire dimensions, and by the time it was done, everyone save for Dark Prince was dead and ceased to exist. Dark Prince then proceeded to recreate the world with replicas of everyone, with their ages set in stone, and that's how the Puyo Puyo world was born. Again, its canon is dubious at best, but at least one version of Puyo Puyo was set after an actual apocalypse! And what followed was a world made by the Dark Prince, who basically fashioned his own Lotus-Eater Machine where nobody ages or changes. Maybe that's the reason it's not canon...
