History NightmareFuel / EarthBoundBeginnings

* While not nearly as famous as the one in [[VideoGame/EarthBound the sequel]], the final battle against Giygas is actually pretty terrifying when placed into an appropriate context. If you were playing as a child in 1989, this was probably the very first video game battle you'd experience where everything you thought you knew about playing games [[OutsideTheBoxTactic doesn't help you]]. You can try and try with all your might, using all the amazing powers you'd earned during your adventure, but no matter how hard you try, he will just continue mocking your ineptitude, telling you your only options are to give up or die. Coupled with the white-on-black contrast of his sprite, the ear-bleeding eeriness of his "music", and the fact that there's a good chance you're in a dark room, for the NES, that was some pretty unnerving stuff.

* The quest to find Pippi - To start, Pippi runs off somewhere and disappears for a long time, which greatly distresses her mother. When Ninten finds her, she is hiding in a coffin in a cemetery that is occupied by zombies (not to mention, there are three other coffins containing zombies inside them, so first time players will just have to pray that they picked the correct one), and she's totally unprotected. There is an unused sprite titled "Gang Zombie" that resembles Pippi's clay model, implying that if Ninten hadn't found her in time, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she would've been found and turned into a zombie]]. Then there's the fact that [[DisappearedDad she has no father to speak of]], which gives off some more horrible implications as to why she ran off in the first place...

** The worst part about Youngtown? With the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is [[EverythingTryingToKillYou infested with monsters and other hostile creatures]], it is completely '''isolated''' from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown [[BrokenBridge being broken]]. There a a few [=NPCs=] in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost '''NO ONE''' knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world.

* A small one, but the quest to find Pippi is chock-full of AdultFear. To start, Pippi runs off somewhere and disappears for a long time, which greatly distresses her mother. When Ninten finds her, she is hiding in a coffin in a cemetery that is occupied by zombies (not to mention, there are three other coffins containing zombies inside them, so first time players will just have to pray that they picked the correct one), and she's totally unprotected. There is an unused sprite titled "Gang Zombie" that resembles Pippi's clay model, implying that if Ninten hadn't found her in time, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she would've been found and turned into a zombie]]. Then there's the fact that [[DisappearedDad she has no father to speak of]], which gives off some more horrible implications as to why she ran off in the first place...

* Once you arrive in Youngtown, the place Ana's mother and many other people in [[EagleLand America]] were supposedly last seen in, you'll notice that, with a few exceptions, all of the adults in the town have disappeared [[AlienAbduction apparently abducted by aliens]], [[OnlyFatalToAdults leaving only children in the town]]. The fact that there are mostly only kids, who seem to be younger than Ninten, Ana and Lloyd, in the town is a bomb of AdultFear on it's own.

*** ButWaitTheresMore If you speak to the town's children, they're all confused and clearly want their parents back, with some of them asking Ninten and co. to play with them. This does nothing but expand the already thick layers of AdultFear the connotations given in Youngtown already have. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqpz10P7xa0 The music that plays while in the town]] clearly reflects the desperate situation these kids are going through.
** The worst part about Youngtown? With the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is [[EverythingTryingToKillYou infested with monsters and other hostile creatures]], it is completely '''isolated''' from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown [[BrokenBridge being broken]]. There a a few [=NPCs=] in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost '''NO ONE''' knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world. The AdultFear is taken UpToEleven.

*** ButWaitTheresMore If you speak to the town's children, they're all confused and clearly want their parents back, with some of them asking Ninten and co. to play with them. This does nothing but expand the already thick layers of AdultFear the connotations given in Youngtown already have. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQqipQvtz7w The music that plays while in the town]] clearly reflects the desperate situation these kids are going through.

* The whole reason Ninten's family got involved with PSI and the aliens in the first place is because his great-grandparents, George and Maria, suddenly [[AbductedByAliens disappeared without a trace]]. Then, two years(!) later, George suddenly reappeared and became obsessed with studying PSI, while [[TheLostLenore Maria was never seen again]]. Near the end of the game, Queen Mary of Magicant [[TomatoInTheMirror is revealed to be Maria]] once she remembers the Eight Melodies and her relationship to Giygas; she then disappears to join George in Heaven, causing all of Magicant to disappear as well [[FridgeHorror (which is another type of scary)]]. The real scary part of all this is that while we know the basic details of George and Maria's story, [[NothingIsScarier we never find out what exactly happened]] that caused George to flee with the knowledge of PSI...or what happened to Maria, and how Magicant came to be.

** The worst part about Youngtown? with the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is [[EverythingTryingToKillYou infested with monsters and other hostile creatures]], it is completely '''isolated''' from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown [[BrokenBridge being broken]]. There a a few [=NPCs=] in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost '''NO ONE''' knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world. The AdultFear is taken UpToEleven.

* The first playable minutes of the game have an oddly sinister feel to them: you're a child sitting in the middle of a sparsely decorated room (with a background track halfway between familiar and nostalgic), when suddenly a lamp tries to kill you, and you must save your sisters (who also have weirdly minimalistic rooms) from another lamp and a CreepyDoll.

** Speaking about the voice telling Ninten and co. to go back, given the [[SarcasmMode beautiful messages]] it's been spreading to '''the kids''' [[ParanoiaFuel you'd expect for something creepy to jump at you in the next room you enter]], or even worse, right before reaching the piano with the fourth melody (and while the RandomEncounters could give this impression the player should be used to them by now), but no, [[NothingIsScarier the voice is all bark and no bite]] (well, unless you count the enemies inside the mansion).

*** ButWaitTheresMore If you speak to the town's children, they're all confused and clearly want their parents back, with some of them asking Ninten and co. to play with them. This does nothing but expand the already thick layers of AdultFear the connotations given in Youngtown already have. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiLzpEgjC-4&t=44s The music that plays while in the town]] clearly reflects the desperate situation these kids are going through.
** The worst part about Youngtown? with the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is [[EverythingTryingToKillYou infested with monsters and other hostile creatures]], it is completely '''isolated''' from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown [[BrokenBridge being broken]]. There a a few NPCS in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost '''NO ONE''' knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world. The AdultFear is taken UpToEleven.

** The worst part about Youngtown? with the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is [[EverythingTryingToKillYou infested with monsters and other hostile creatures]], it is completely '''isolated''' from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown [[BrokenBridge being broken]]. There a a few NPCS in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost '''NO ONE''' knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world. The AdultFear is taken UpToEleven.

** The worst part about Youngtown? with the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is [[EverythingTryingToKillYou infested with monsters and other hostile creatures]], it is completely '''isolated''' from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown [[BrokenBridge being broken]]. There a a few NPCs in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost '''NO ONE''' knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world. The AdultFear is taken UpToEleven.

* A small one, but the quest to find Pippi is chock-full of AdultFear. To start, Pippi runs off somewhere and disappears for a long time, which greatly distresses her mother. When Ninten finds her, she is hiding in a coffin in a cemetery that is occupied by zombies, and she's totally unprotected. There is an unused sprite titled "Gang Zombie" that resembles Pippi's clay model, implying that if Ninten hadn't found her in time, she would've been found and turned into a zombie. Then there's the fact that she has no father to speak of, which gives off some more horrible implications as to why she ran off in the first place...
* The Rosemary's Mansion is an enormous haunted house that manages to be [[NothingIsScarier dark to the point of almost complete blackness]] in spite of the numerous torches hanging from the wall. Thanks to the borderline maze-like architecture, you'll probably end up spending a while there as you look for the [[spoiler: haunted piano that teaches you the fourth melody]], fighting off all kinds of undead mooks on the way and occasionally hearing laughter and even death threats from thin air. The spooky cave music doesn't help, either.

* A small one, but the quest to find Pippi is chock-full of AdultFear. To start, Pippi runs off somewhere and disappears for a long time, which greatly distresses her mother. When Ninten finds her, she is hiding in a coffin in a cemetery that is occupied by zombies, and she's totally unprotected. There is an unused sprite titled "Gang Zombie" that resembles Pippi's clay model, implying that if Ninten hadn't found her in time, she would've been found and turned into a zombie. Then there's the fact that she has no father to speak of, which gives off some more horrible implications as to why she ran off in the first place...

* A small one, but the quest to find Pippi is chock-full of AdultFear. To start, Pippi runs off somewhere and disappears for a long time, which greatly distresses her mother. When Ninten finds her, she is hiding in a coffin in a cemetery that is occupied by zombies, and she's totally unprotected. There is an unused sprite titled "Gang Zombie" that resembles Pippi's clay model, implying that she was brainwashed and in the slow process of turning into a zombie, which makes it even worse. Then there's the fact that she has no father, which gives off some more horrible implications...

* While not nearly as famous as the one in [[VideoGame/EarthBound the sequel]], the final battle against Giygas is actually pretty terrifying when placed into an appropriate context. If you were playing as a child in 1989, this was probably the very first video game battle you'd experience where everything you thought you knew about playing games [[OutsideTheBoxTactic doesn't help you]]. You can try and try with all your might, using all the amazing powers you'd earned during your adventure, but no matter how hard you try, he will just continue mocking your ineptitude, telling you your only options are to give up or die. Coupled with the white-on-black contrast of his sprite, the ear-bleeding eeriness of his "music", and the fact that there's a good chance you're in a dark room, for the NES, that was some pretty unnerving stuff.