Nightmare Fuel / Super Mario Bros. Z

"Monster? I'm not a monster. I'M A GOD!!!!"

Super Mario Bros. Z manages to combine Mario, Sonic, and Dragon Ball Z together into one awesome series. It's got cool as hell moments, hilarity abound, its share of "aww" moments, and scenes that make you wanna cry. Just like with every series that's got it all however, it's rife with it's own dark times. Given that it's a crossover series of other series that already do a good job of giving you the creeps this was bound to happen, but it manages to stand out from those series anyways.

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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The Original Run

• Turbo Mecha Sonic himself is the epitome of this trope, FULL. STOP. For one, he's Metal Sonic combined with other Sonic robots. Not long after his creation, he destroys the Death Egg (Eggman's moon-sized base of operations for measure) and forces it to crash land into Mobius. The result is life becoming completely unsustainable from the impact and explosion, but wait, there's more. Mecha Sonic survives the event, even without a single Chaos Emerald. Seeing the damage he's wrought triggers a thirst for power and a lust for destruction in him and he becomes the villain of the first season. He's not done proving to the viewers how nightmarish he is, oh no. He sets out to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds and kills everyone who isn't named Sonic, Shadow, or Eggman, turning more than half the planet into a burning wasteland in the process, and nearly kills Sonic, only being stopped from doing so by Shadow showing up in the nick of time. This does nothing to deter him from chasing after the Chaos Emeralds, which end up in the Mushroom Kingdom along with the two hedgehogs. Once he makes it to the Mushroom Kingdom, he wastes no time slaughtering a Goomba simply because the poor sod didn't give a Chaos Emerald to him (and it wasn't like the Goomba could have known what it was anyways). The next time he shows up is his infamous fight with Yoshi, almost killing the poor dinosaur to get the Chaos Emerald (and says that he would have killed him anyways even if he simply handed the gemstone over). Yoshi only survives because Luigi went to warn Mario, Sonic and Shadow after seeing him fall.
• There's Sonic's nightmare sequence of him after the hedgehog's unceremonious asskicking from the Koopa Bros. Sonic, alone in a dead world in a final futile struggle against Mecha that ends with him obtaining all seven chaos emeralds and finally murdering Sonic.
• During the three way clash in #6, he shows up and quickly turns the whole damn thing into a "him vs. everyone else" brawl with his opener being wiping out all of the Koopa Bros.). He achieves a semi-perfect form by absorbing four of the Chaos Emeralds and kills the all the Axem Rangers X with no effort. He knocks Mario unconscious after blasting him at close range, with the only reason this is kept from being an Our Hero Is Dead by Luigi giving him a 1-Up he previously received from Peach before leaving, and charges up a massive energy sphere, which vaporizes Yoshi's Island, just barely failing to kill everyone else on it thanks to a well-timed Starman giving Mario and Sonic the edge. In the pipe maze, he comes knocking at Mario and Sonic's door with a vengeance, curb-stomping them hard in a rage over losing the Chaos Emeralds he had, and even when he's been severely weakened by the Minus World's unnatural makeup, he still manages to come out on top in the fight. Not many characters get a list of achievements in nightmare fuel like that - Only the worst of the worst do, and Mecha Sonic is no exception.
  • Any time Mecha gets to showcase just how strong he is it becomes clear that to the heroes he's less an enemy and more of a force of nature that wants all of them dead. Seeing him only rarely be put on the defensive means that when he claims to be a god you believe him.
  • The scenes where Mecha Sonic murders Sonic's friends and him gazing at the destroyed Yoshi's Island are both standouts to just how chilling the original run's Big Bad could be.
• The Axem Rangers' brutal deaths in Episode 6. Arguably the worst has to be Green, where Mecha Sonic decapitates him before crushing his head in his hand.
• Axem Ranger Red firing the Breaker Beam with the purple Chaos Emerald in Episode 6. It completely blows up the mountains in Yoshi's Island, and as Sonic was up there, he was hit by the impact of the explosion. Good thing Yoshi saved him though, or it could have been really nasty.
• Episode 8 has a lovely scene where the viewer is treated to a closeup of a dying Rouge. Eugh...
• Hell, any scene that has to do with the events on Mobius could qualify, since they almost always involve graphic destruction and even more graphic death.
• The end of Episode 8, made such with that damn Cliffhanger: Basilisx petrifies Luigi, Sonic and Yoshi with his stare, and then a battle ensues. At first, Mario has control over their battle, but then Basilisx uses Luigi as a human shield and hits him with his petrified body. This messes up with Mario's battle style and causes him to be unable to focus and fight properly because he's scared that he might hurt his brother and doesn't want to cause accidental friendly fire, then he ends up poisoned and too weak to keep battling because of two Poison Mushrooms thrown by Basilisx, who is about to kill him, and his brother and his friends are unable to save him because they are still petrified. And given that Episode 8 was the last episode before the series was cancelled, this is what the series ended with. In 2012, three years after Episode 8's release, two clips from what could have been Episode 9 reveal that luckily, Mario survives thanks to Luigi, who breaks free from Basilisx's petrification curse with his Tanooki Suit, smashing Basilisx away with his hammer and healing Mario with a 1-Up, but since the episode was never completed and the series was cancelled, the impact is not diminished AT ALL.
• While Alvin regards Episode 7 as the weakest episode, it has the reputation of being easily one of the creepier episodes. In a story that has been firmly simple in terms of the characters' overall morality, this episode introduced a lot of shades of gray in the history of the Mushroom Kingdom with:
  • The Minus World. Historically referred to by the simple, cold moniker of "World 36", it is revealed to be a pocket dimension from which there is no escape. During an ancient war between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopas, it was used as a method of execution by both sides, who would throw their prisoners down the warp pipe to starve to death; their corpses, as well as those of anyone unfortunate enough to stumble inside, litter the ground of the zone. What makes this so chilling is the fact that it's a play on how a really specific element in 8 bit processors can be turned into an eldritch horror of a location. Where the simple idea of a world that scrolls on and on forever is pretty much a hellish prison if it actually existed as a world. The fact that everyone, including Mecha Sonic cannot escape the pull of this world without the benefit of Kolorado's watch pulling a Deus ex Machina is proof of just how dangerous this place really is. The creepy atmosphere of the Pipe Maze and the backstory told by Professor Frankly only adds to the sense of dread that this place evokes.
  • The backstory of the war between the Koopas (led by Bowser's ancestor Bauzire) and Queen Pesca is also disturbing in its own right, highlighting that for all of the black and white nature of the current fights between Mario and Bowser, or Sonic and Shadow vs Mecha Sonic, that even the Mushroom Kingdom has its darker underbelly, with a past ruler being willing to commit an open act of genocide against a defeated enemy to get what she wanted.

The Reboot

• Metallix is the new form of Turbo Mecha Sonic as well as his old form's ultimate transformation, and just like the previous interation of him he shows the audience that he hasn't changed one bit in personality or actions. Mark Haynes/Alvin Earthworm also offhandedly states that Yoshi's ensuing fight against him will be even worse for the poor dinosaur. He didn't end up being wrong, and that's even with a Chaos Emerald on Yoshi's side.
• Among the villains shown in the intro is none other than King Boo, in his Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon incarnation. You know, the one that's so much stronger than any other version to the point of creating battlefields from illusions, and is completely and murderously insane. And it's implied he now has his appendages on a Chaos Emerald. Oh dear.
• The first annual Smash tournament has been drawn out to its finals, and just as Team Mario and Team Wario are about to have at it, a Bulky Bob-omb crashes the fight and blows the entire ring up. Guess who's back? Bowser. Just like in the previous series he gets his shell soundly handed to him, but it's not as if he didn't count on it happening. He had a backup plan involving ingesting a Metal 'Shroom, and it turns him into a new form of Koopa. In short order, Mario is quickly shown to be horribly outmatched by him; Bowser's faster than before, more offensive than before, and is impervious to everything Mario can possibly throw at him. Mario is left charred after the grossly one-sided battle and would have been finished by Bowser, but then Luigi comes in to protect Mario, knowing full well that he has zero chance surviving his finishing move anyways. The Koopa King was stopped only by the very fortunate timing of Sonic and Shadow's capsule landing squarely on top of him, destroying his metal form. We all knew Bowser was a badass, but this series turns him into a legitimate terror, more like how he was portrayed in a few choice Mario titles.
• Kamek shows us that he's not one bit the type of person afraid to resort to dirty tricks to gain the upper hand, threatening to permanently transform Princess Peach into a Goomba if Mario doesn't lay down his life. The music that plays when he's at it? The undeniably-creepy You Idiot, from Undertale. Again, if Sonic hadn't acted as soon as he did, Mario would have been killed by Bowser.
• Metallix Vs. Yoshi is back, and it's as brutal as a Bloodless Carnage allows it.
  • After getting a black eye halfway through the battle, Yoshi lays an egg with Metallix trapped inside, and because he's powered by a Chaos Emerald, the egg goes off in a Fantastic Nuke. Having bested the killer machine, Yoshi walks away from the flaming wreck... and slowly looks back as he hears a drone-ish sound coming from behind. In what almost looks like a shout-out to The Terminator, Metallix rises from the flaming crater with the angriest Death Glare a robot can express, and makes it known to the soon-to-be-dead Yoshi that he's not playing games anymore.
  • During the ensuing beatdown, Metallix grabs Yoshi by the tongue like with the original version and uses it to slam him against the ground, rebound the dinosaur towards himself and hurl him into the nearest mountain. You would almost think his tongue was about to snap in half or get teared off of his mouth from how much it's stretched thin.
  • Knowing he's still alive but barely moving, Metallix takes the slow, painful path and tries to strangle Yoshi to death. If Mario and co. did not make it just in time, Metallix would likely have eviscerated Yoshi's corpse long after forcing him to asphyxiate, purely as a warning to his friends or anyone else who tries to stop him: "Get in my way and you will die, horribly."
    • Metallix's speech as he chokes the life out of Yoshi is arguably even more chilling than in the original, punctuated by the poor dinosaur screaming in agony and flailing as he struggles to breathe.
      Metallix: (standing over Yoshi) You sure are a resilient little maggot. (picks Yoshi up by the throat) I stand corrected. It was the Chaos Emerald that made you stronger. I don't know how a lowly creature such as yourself managed to tap into that power, but it was ultimately a futile effort. Now if only you had cooperated earlier, I would have at least been gracious enough to grant you a quick and merciful death. (slowly tightens his grip, causing Yoshi to screech and begin suffocating) However, after your foolish attempt to oppose me, it's only fitting that I make it as slow and agonizing as possible! I will relish as I watch the life fade from your eyes!
  • Unlike in the original run, Metallix is shown communicating with the emerald he took from Yoshi. What makes this surreal is that he responds when the emerald glows in his hand, and we only hear his side of the exchange. Either the emeralds are sentient and want Metallix to recover them all, they can do nothing but beg him to stop, or they're not talking at all and he's truly lost his mind in his lust for godlike power. None of those options are good.
    • Also, elaborating a little on the above second point, pay close attention to how each fighter is empowered by their respective emeralds. Yoshi—lying down in the ditch Metallix spinballed him into and likely to be worm food in the next few seconds, finds himself empowered by the Chaos Emerald in his stomach without any (at least visible) input or effort on his end, implying that the Chaos Emerald itself did this. Metallix, on the other hand, deliberately has to tap into the power of the Chaos Emerald in his chest compartment which had done nothing to assist him until that point to tip the odds back into his favor once it was clear Yoshi could match his power with one and possibly win. The Chaos Emeralds themselves are actively trying to stop Metallix but have little power on their own to do so, especially not with someone so weak compared to Metallix as Yoshi.
  • Some Fridge Horror for you. While shows like this tend to employ Made of Iron with its characters just so they can still have crazy violence without realistic bloodshed or death, in this version Yoshi uses the Chaos Emerald's power to fight Metallix to a standstill... mostly. Before then, he was extremely outmatched. It's possible that the only reason he didn't end up dying early in the fight and becoming a green splat mark is because the Chaos Emerald in his stomach granted him super durability in addition to enhanced strength. Unfortunately it did nothing to stop the pain when Metallix went to flat out brutalizing him by the end.
  • Mark Haynes has all but confirmed on Twitter that Metallix didn't even need to use the Chaos Emerald he already had to kill Yoshi, Chaos-empowered or not. The only reason he did was because the little green dinosaur was pissing him off and he wanted to finish the job quicker.
• In the original series, Sonic's and Shadow's backstory involving Turbo Mecha Sonic was explained in about six minutes with already horrifying implications over how the metallic monstrosity killed all their friends and destroyed most of Mobius. This time around, Mark promises a full episode dedicated to that terrible event à la History of Trunks. If the brutality of Metallix's fight with Yoshi is anything to go by, this is going to be even worse.
• Think about Mario and Luigi. These two talking hedgehogs save them from being incinerated and ask them to help find some gems. It all seems like a standard treasure hunt. Then, out of nowhere, some missiles blow up a cliff edge, sending Yoshi falling into the forest, and Luigi, who was with him, runs to tell the others what mess just happen. With Luigi's warning, everyone rushes to Yoshi’s aid, only to find him beaten and severely wounded, close to death, while a robot flees the scene. Then, they discover these two strangers have something to do with the assailant. Whoever they are, they’ve brought something terrible into the Mushroom Kingdom.