For moments related to the cartoon, go to this page.
- In the final battle, Bowser is seated in a hovercraft which is 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 there's the Clown-faced hovercraft's final phase. Its eyes turn butch and angry while still smiling as small veins pop out at the side of its head, all the while trying to pound and crush you.
- Mario/Luigi's death sprite. Maybe they went red/green with shock, but to some, they just looked... odd. Mario's death animation features his face and eyes becoming red
◊, while Luigi's features his forehead becoming◊ green. Not helping is the noise that accompanies it.- Even worse for Mario, because the red visual on his face look like he's bleeding from his eyes.
- The Koopalings' defeat scenes vary. Morton, Ludwig and Roy fly around the screen and disappear but the rest meet a lava-induced fate. While Iggy and Larry vanish off-screen, the player still gets to see Lemmy and Wendy sink into the lava and burn alive. Even worse in the GBA port of the game, which adds a sound effect that sounds like they're screaming in agony as they burn to death.
- If that's not bad enough, the epilogues of Morton, Ludwig, Roy and Wendy imply that you killed them. On the other hand, they did return in later games, so the descriptions were probably added for shock value. Or they have access to the same 1-Up mushrooms you donote .
- Most of the time, the graphics are gorgeous. The weird, hunched-over shell-less Koopas◊, the odd posing and so-smooth-it's-creepy animation of the Charging Chuck, the weird stick legs on the Koopalings◊... and the aforementioned Mario death sprite.
- The intro cutscene for the GBA version, seen here, is nightmare-inducing in its own way, as it explains why Peach was kidnapped in the original SNES version — Mario and Luigi foolishly decided to leave her behind to test out some Cape Feathers, allowing Bowser to kidnap her during their distraction. When Mario and Luigi return to find that the Princess is gone, a scary Last Note Nightmare plays as Mario and Luigi frantically look around for her in panic, wondering where she had gone off to. It echoes the real-life situation of people having their loved ones disappearing because they weren't keeping a more careful watch over them. Fortunately, if players beat the game, the result more than makes up for it.
- Those creepy looking Bowser statues behind door #7 in Bowser's Castle. Especially the golden, animated ones, though they can be defeated by being lured to lava.
- Big Boo has a placeholder sprite for use before the final sprite is loaded. If seen at all, it's likely for a split second. However, it's an empty, soulless emotionless face◊. Even creepier, it's the same face Big Boo makes when Mario's facing it, just without being covered by the sprite's arms.
- The Sunken Ghost Ship. Specifically, the loooooong drop that occurs at the end of the level. What makes it freaky is that the background is pitch black, meaning you have no frame of reference aside from the coins that you drop past. Then suddenly, after the super long drop, you either land on a small platform with the goal orb, or you land in the nearby water and have to jump out before the mines above fall onto you. The fact that this level reuses the dissonant, creepy music from the various Ghost Houses doesn't help. Finally, when you complete the level and uncover Bowser's domain, there is no music when you regain control on the world map. The lack of music also happens on subsequent clears of the stage.
- Speaking of uncovering Bowser's Domain, you get to hear really ominous music as a giant rock head of Bowser slowly rises in front of you. This is notably the only instance in the game where such a cutscene occurs too.
- You're entering Wendy's Castle, and you notice that after taking out the first Dry Bones that there's a large spike from above. You then notice that seconds later that it's a skewer that can instantly kill you if you're crushed in between it (as it's treated as an object and not a sprite in the Super Nintendo version. The Gameboy Advance version averts this). Have fun getting crushed to death if you're not careful - as they're well-timed between Grinders in Wendy's Castle. The ones in Valley Fortress are just as bad, if not worse, due to how a lot of them get faster with no room for error.
