History NightmareFuel / PaperMario

* The intro was originally NightmareRetardant in the original GameCube. But the remake makes it worse, with the intro being fully animated which shows details of the city crumbling and falling into the sea with sound effects.

*** [[spoiler:He can do this in ANY level, not just in the train.]]

* The FinalBoss, Super Dimentio, which Dimentio created by merging with Mr. L and the Chaos Heart, a giant monster who has a fairly disturbing face that resembles Luigi's, and is initially unable to be harmed just like Count Bleck. When he's defeated, he ends up being decapitated and still surviving for a brief period of time before his head explodes.

** The creepy and mysterious [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puRGNsRU5nU music]] heard throughout it complements the experience once the DifficultySpike takes place.

* The 'victory' music that plays at the end of a battle and your partner has been knocked out. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-Y5i_pyts Ugh...]]

* Chapter 3 as a whole slowly becomes terrifying, the moment you get sucked into a mystery about the strange things that happen in the ring, and keep receiving mysterious emails from someone simply called "X". Each successive reveal just makes things worse.
** At one point, a Koopa who befriends you called King K tells you he's retiring, and you see nothing more of him. Also, a character called Bandy Andy who tells you about the urban legends of the ring, also stops appearing. You don't pay it much thought at first, [[NothingIsScarier beyond a subtle feeling of dread]], until you're instructed to go into the storage room and find a secret staircase. When you enter the locked room at the top of the stairs and destroy the box in there, ''you find King K and Bandy Andy, lying unmoving on the floor with a fly buzzing around them.'' King K manages to weakly acknowledge Mario, and Bandy Andy tells him not to go to the ring at night. Then, they just stop responding to you. They get better after the Chapter is finished, but it's very creepy nonetheless.

* Functionally, how Twilight Town works isn't too weird in its own right. You must have a name and have it attached to you to both enter and exit... except what do you do when a supernatural opponent steals your very appearance and even manages to ''steal your name''? Now you're trapped in a world of perpetual twilight where said invincible villain can use everything you know and can even convince your allies to fight against you. Worse yet, the villain can apparently even steal entire ''letters'' right out of the alphabet, so even if you did know his name in order to be able to make him vulnerable, you'd be supernaturally unable to defeat him without realizing this detail and finding a way to speak the letter you need.
** To make it worse, think about it from Mario's perspective, this creep has just stolen his identity and the only way he can get it back is to guess his name... ''which he doesn't know and has'' (seemingly) ''no way to find out''. If it hadn't been for Vivian, Mario could have been stuck there forever.
** In the start of Chapter 4, every time the bell tolls, somebody in town gets turned into a pig. The citizens of Twilight Town live in constant fear of this fate, and there is ''absolutely nothing'' they can do about it.
* Twilight Trail is very similar to Twilight Town, except that it leads into a coniferous forest which becomes darker and darker as you venture further in. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Yg-aEyq-M music]] in this area just makes it even creepier.
* Halfway during Hooktail's BossBattle, she tries to bribe the characters into sparing her and if you refuse to accept all three of her attempts of bribes, she begins to flee. At first, [[VillainExitStageLeft you think the battle is over and she's getting away]], but then '''she lunges for the audience and eats them alive.''' Complete with the eaten audience's dying screams while the others are panicking and fleeing. The fact that [[JumpScare this happens completely out of nowhere]] doesn't help at all.
** Oh, and a few of the later bosses[[note]]namely Cortez and the Shadow Queen; Magnus von Grapple 2.0 does a variation by using the audience as ammunition.[[/note]] repeat this stunt, in case one incident of audience slaughter wasn't disturbing enough.
* Creepy Steeple is at the very end of the trail, and although small as compared to other dungeons within the Paper Mario series, it's a classic example of [[BigBoosHaunt Big Boo's Haunt]]. Add to that the dimly lit hallways and stained-glass windows, and you've got a very unsettling dungeon overall. As with Twilight Town and Trail, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWSeQ8uQGew background music]] helps in establishing the atmosphere.
** The singular Boo that [[JumpScare Jump Scares]] Mario in response to the latter promising not to hurt him or his friends. Even if you ''know'' it's coming, it's hard not to be as freaked out as Mario is in response.
* Mario's body when [[GrandTheftMe Doopliss takes it over]] becomes pretty unnerving with its facial expressions and posture not seen from Mario otherwise. His eyes become [[OpenTheIris wider]] and [[BlackEyesOfEvil hollow]], and do not blink; his body more [[LimpAndLivid hunched over]], and his voice becomes [[VoiceOfTheLegion metallic]]. When fighting against Doopliss alongside the Shadow Sirens at the Palace of Shadow, he uses this ghastly form of Mario when copying his form.

* Riddle Tower. Especially thanks to the music and the cryptic text on the signs in each room -- the middle line in all of these is unrelated to the other ones, and together these middle lines spell out a mysterious, cosmic message.

* [[BonusDungeon The Pit of 100 Trials.]] [[BackstoryHorror According to Grifty, the Shadow Queen created this dungeon and filled it with powerful monsters. She threw people she didn't like into the pit and left them to the mercy of the monsters down there. Sometime after her defeat, the pit was closed off from the public.]] However, it can be personally experienced at any time of the game. Though it starts off as easy, the pit will reveal its true nature at about floor 50 as the floors get darker, the air gets "super-dank" as Goombella puts it, and worst of all, the ''[[DemonicSpiders cryptically brutal enemies]]''. To top it all off, there are no save and heart blocks! Seriously, the DifficultySpike is truly terrifying, and ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' would return the concept ''twice''...

** It's very rare, as only a few non-[[GameBreaker Danger Marios]] are willing to return to floor 100, either because they don't want to go through [[ThatOneSidequest that hell again]] or they don't expect anything new. The thing is, if you do, there's this very unsettling [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I91fzbU2ksA ambience]][[note]]Which is reused in ''SPM'' when the player refuses to search for Luvbi and Queen Jaydes [[NonStandardGameOver kills them]].[[/note]] proving that it's ''even worse'' with Bonetail absent. No one's there anymore. Bonetail's gone and it's completely empty, devoid of any life. Only you, your partner, this track, [[NothingIsScarier and that feeling]]. So there's indeed something new: one of the absolute creepiest scenes in the series...
* [[BigSisterBully Beldam's]] abuse of Vivian is disturbingly realistic. It's not just childish insults. Some things Beldam calls her are just straight up nasty, including getting outright transphobic in certain translations of the game. That's not even getting into the fact Beldam straight up ''{{gaslight|ing}}s'' her twice! While the ending of the game does show them making up, to some, that only makes things worse because it's eerily similar to tricks abusers pull in order to lure their victim back into their grip...
* The bad ending, where Mario joins the Shadow Queen. It's implied that she brainwashes Mario and party to be her eternal servants, and then afterwards we get a [[NothingIsScarier narration text box]] [[ItsAWonderfulFailure describing how the Shadow Queen engulfed the world into eternal darkness.]] Made even worse is that in the Japanese version, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVGAp_FXlZs Mario's sprite changes into his "Doopliss impostor" sprite after the brainwash takes place]].
* Let's just say that there's a '''very''' good reason why the Rogueport citizens feel uneasy whenever they're near the Thousand-Year Door. It's fabled in legend as the door leading one to a grand legendary treasure. It's actually the gateway to the Palace of Shadow, where the Shadow Queen has remained sealed for a thousand years.
* The tune that comes with X's e-mails as well as Grubba's when he threatens you (from the ice world in ''Super Mario Bros. 3''). It doesn't help that the controller rumbles whenever you receive one of these calls, which will often jolt the player's focus. Even Mario and his partner are startled when it happens.
* The 'victory' music that plays at the end of a battle and your partner has been knocked out. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-Y5i_pyts Ugh...]]
* The abilities of the Chapter 4 boss, Doopliss. The boss himself might be NightmareRetardant, but him first turning the villagers into pigs, then performing identity theft in the most literal manner possible is definitely scary. Hits home if you try to take the pipe to Rogueport during the second bit; you can't, because that pipe requires you have something with your name written on it...and ''you no longer have a name''.
* Due to SuperDrowningSkills / BorderPatrol, there is a large chain chomp-esque pirahna/shark called Nibbles in ''every'' body of water in the game - including the park fountain in West Rogueport and the swimming pool in Poshley Heights.
* There's an odd house that's isolated from everything else in the room leading to Petal Meadows in Rogueport Sewers. Said house is completely empty other than a single star piece, and the house's owner is never seen or revealed. The fact that there is no other information about this house or why it's there raises some disturbing implications.

** To start with, she looks very unnerving due to her [[CelShading cell-shaded-esque]] appearance and downright [[UncannyValley unsettling movement animations]]. The worst example of the latter is when she's possessing Peach, since she just ''droops'' down while holding her hands in place, [[MarionetteMotion almost like a puppet]]. Even just ''hurting her'' during the final phase of the battle is enough to creep you out, due to how she shakes. All in all, she just ''[[GenreRefugee does not]]'' [[GenreRefugee look like she belongs in a]] ''Paper Mario'' game, nevermind a REGULAR ''Mario'' game, in any way whatsoever.

** To start with, she looks very unnerving due to her [[CelShading cell-shaded-esque]] appearance and downright [[UncannyValley unsettling movement animations]]. The worst example of the latter is when she's possessing Peach, since she just ''droops'' down while holding her hands in place, [[MarionetteMotion almost like a puppet]]. Even just ''hurting her'' during the final phase of the battle is enough to creep you out, due to how she shakes. All in all, she just ''[[GenreRefugee does not]]'' [[GenreRefugee look like she belongs in a Paper Mario game, nevermind a REGULAR Mario game, in any way whatsoever]].
** She's also [[VileVillainSaccharineShow among the most irredeemably villains in the entire franchise]]. In the prologue alone, she destroys an entire city by sinking it into the ground with her omnipotent powers, killing loads of people in the process. She later goes on to create three dragons and use the Pit of 100 Trials as a torture chamber to those who would oppose her. If it weren't for the four heroes, she would have probably gone on to conquer the entire world. When she's finally defeated, she curses the four heroes by locking them into black chests for a millennia. You later have to go through her palace during the final Chapter, which gets more and more disturbing the longer you go through it. Then Grodus releases her, unaware of just how horrible she is...

* [[FinalBoss The Shadow Queen]] in general is one of the scariest antagonists found in any Mario game. She's not only pure evil to the core, In the prologue, she destroys an entire city by sinking it into the ground with her omnipotent powers. She later goes on to create three dragons and use the Pit of 100 Trials as a torture chamber to those who would oppose her. If it weren't for the four heroes, she would have probably gone on to conquer the entire world. When she's finally defeated, she curses the four heroes by locking them into black chests for a millennia. You later have to go through her palace, which gets more and more disturbing the longer you go through it. Then Grodus releases her, unaware of just how horrible she is...
** And then, there's what happens when Grodus actually ''does'' release her. All of the light gets sucked out of the room as her coffin opens and her spirit emerges from the depths. Before she even does anything, her mere presence shrouds the entire world in darkness, one area at a time while the civilians look on in confusion and fear. Then, she possesses Peach's body, causing a massive earthquake in the process. And when Grodus gets too uppity with her, she blasts him with lightning, reducing him to a disembodied head in an instant before blasting him away.

** If you want some foreshadowing that something terrible happened to the passengers when you were asleep, try going to the train's shop and talk to the Toad who works there. When you enter the shop, you notice the shop toad lying on the ground. When you try to talk to him, the bubble text just says "..........". His mouth doesn't even move like normal, which could lead to some first-time viewers thinking he [[KilledOffscreen actually]] [[KilledOffForReal died]] during the night invasion. It's revealed in a later visit (on your way to the boss battle) that he was just knocked out, and he's able to sell you items (or allow you to access your storage) just before the battle, but it's still pretty disturbing.

* [[SealedEvilInACan The Shadow Queen]] is nothing less than pure evil. In the prologue, she destroys an entire city by sinking it into the ground with her omnipotent powers. She later goes on to create three dragons and use the Pit of 100 Trials as a torture chamber to those who would oppose her. If it weren't for the four heroes, she would have probably gone on to conquer the entire world. When she's finally defeated, she curses the four heroes by locking them into black chests for a millennia. You later have to go through her palace, which gets more and more disturbing the longer you go through it. Then Grodus releases her, unaware of just how horrible she is...

The ''Paper Mario'' series is filled with many quirky characters and vibrant locations. That doesn't stop it from having [[NightmareFuel its moments of terror]], ''especially'' where [[DarkerAndEdgier The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario]] are concerned.

** To make it worse, think about it from Mario's perspective, this creep has just stolen his identity and the only way he can get it back is to guess his name... ''which he doesn't know and has'' (seemingly) ''no way to find out''. If it hadn't been for Vivian, Mario could have been stuck there forever!

* Twilight Trail is very similar to Twilight Town, except that it leads into a coniferous forest which becomes darker and darker as you venture further in. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Yg-aEyq-M music]] in this area takes a level in creepiness.
* Halfway during Hooktail's BossBattle, she tries to bribe the characters into sparing her and if you refuse to accept all three of her attempts of bribes, she begins to flee. At first, [[VillainExitStageLeft you think the battle is over and she's getting away]], but then '''she lunges for the audience and eats them alive!''' Complete with the eaten audience's dying screams while the others are panicking and fleeing. It's also scary because [[JumpScare this just comes out of nowhere]].
** Oh, and a couple of later bosses[[note]]Cortez and the Shadow Queen; Magnus von Grapple 2.0 does a variation by using the audience as ammunition.[[/note]] repeat this stunt, in case one incident of audience slaughter wasn't disturbing enough.
* Creepy Steeple is at the very end of the trail, and although small as compared to other dungeons within the Paper Mario series, it's a classic example of [[BigBoosHaunt Big Boo's Haunt]]. Add to that the dimly lit hallways and stained-glass windows, and you've got a very unsettling place indeed. As with Twilight Town and Trail, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWSeQ8uQGew background music]] helps in establishing the atmosphere.

* Oh, the Smorgs! The day when the Excess Express is supposed to arrive at Poshley Heights, Mario finds the train eerily quiet with no other passenger in sight except for the shop toad who is found knocked out on the floor. Mario has a talk with the Engineer at the front of the train when a smorg appears on the windshield the Engineer and Mario not panicking before a swarm of Smorgs covers the whole windshield and the train. Mario is told to check on the other passengers only to find most of them were kidnapped by the Smorgs and he has to fight through the whole swarm of Smorgs and their combined form to save them.
** If you want some foreshadowing that something terrible happened to the passengers when you were asleep, try going to the train's shop and talk to the toad who works there. When you enter the shop, you notice the shop toad lying on the ground. When you try to talk to him, the bubble text just says ".........." His mouth doesn't even move like normal, which could lead to some first-time viewers thinking he [[KilledOffscreen actually]] [[KilledOffForReal died]] during the night invasion. Fortunately, it's revealed in a later visit (on your way to the boss battle) that he was just knocked out, and he's able to sell you items (or allow you to access your storage) just before the battle.

The ''Paper Mario'' series is filled with many quirky characters and vibrant locations. That doesn't stop it from having [[NightmareFuel its moments]].

** Then there's the Crystal King himself, who's a complete unknown mystery. He isn't just a boss variant of any other enemy in the series, nor is it known what he is or where he came from. To this day, there has [[SingleSpecimenSpecies never]] been a being that exists nor existed like the Crystal King, which adds to the whole unnerving cosmic feel of the Shiver Region.

* In the Glitz Pit, you quickly get sucked into a mystery about the strange things that happen in the ring, and keep receiving mysterious emails from someone simply called "X". At one point, a Koopa who befriends you called King K tells you he's retiring and you see nothing more of him. Also, a character called Bandy Andy who tells you about the urban legends of the ring, also stops appearing. You don't pay it much thought at first, until you're instructed to go into the storage room and find a secret staircase. When you enter the locked room at the top of the stairs and destroy the box in there, ''you find King K and Bandy Andy, lying unmoving on the floor with a fly buzzing around them.'' King K manages to weakly acknowledge Mario, and Bandy Andy tells him not to go to the ring at night. Then, they just stop responding to you. They get better after you defeat the boss, but it's seriously creepy.
** Additionally, the jingle that plays whenever X messages you sounds straight out of a horror film.

* [[BigSisterBully Beldam's]] abuse of Vivian is disturbingly realistic. It's not just childish insults. Some things Beldam calls her are just straight up nasty. That's not even getting into the fact Beldam straight up ''{{gaslight|ing}}s'' her twice! While the ending of the game does show them making up, to some, that only makes things worse because it's eerily similar to tricks abusers pull in order to lure their victim back into their grip...

[[folder:Paper Mario]]

[[folder:Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door]]

[[folder:Super Paper Mario]]

[[folder:Paper Mario: Sticker Star]]

[[folder:Paper Mario: Color Splash]]

[[folder:Paper Mario: The Origami King]]

* Halfway during Hooktail's BossBattle, she tries to bribe the characters into sparing her and if you refuse to accept all three of her attempts of bribes, she begins to leave behind. At first, [[VillainExitStageLeft you think the battle is over and she's getting away]], but then '''she lunges for the audience and eats them alive!''' Complete with the eaten audience's dying screams while the others are panicking and fleeing. It's also scary because [[JumpScare this just comes out of nowhere]].

* Scissors in a world made of paper equals absolute terror. It first appears as part of a CerebusCallback to its initial use in ''Sticker Star'': It cuts [[WouldHurtAChild Bowser Jr.]] into pieces. Pieces that, given their shuffling, ''are still aware''. It gets worse by the time you actually meet it: It's proud of [[ManOfKryptonite being (supposedly) invincible]] and rends all of Bowser's army into assorted minion confetti before turning it into a mish-mash goliath ''[[ForTheEvulz because it can]]'' and all of these pieces are sentient and screaming for help. Given that this is ''Paper Mario'' and the boss you're fighting is a pair of scissors, [[OneHitKill being on the wrong end of its blades leads to exactly what you would expect.]] Scissors also treats Mario and co. to some of its creations. Cutout Soldiers are one-dimensional black cutouts of paper in the shapes of human-proportioned figures, with the small versions linking together like creepy paper chains in battle and the larger ones looking like [[ZombieGait zombie-walking]] [[LeanAndMean skinny humans.]] Also, your companions get snatched away by an entity called the Handaconda, a coiled snake-like ribbon of paper with a cutout hand on the end. These creatures are probably the spookiest things in the game and they're the only completely original enemies to debut, making them all the more surprising. Non-scripted encounters play the Unsettling Area battle theme to top it all off.

** Oh, and a couple of later bosses[[note]]Cortez and the Shadow Queen; Magnus von Grapple 2.0 does a variation by using the audience as ammunition[[/note]] repeat this stunt, in case one incident of audience slaughter wasn't disturbing enough.

* The FinalBoss, Super Dimentio, a monster that Dimentio created by merging with Mr. L and the Chaos Heart, a giant monster who has a fairly disturbing face that resembles Luigi's, and is initially unable to be harmed just like Count Bleck. When he's defeated, he ends up being decapitated and still surviving for a brief period of time before his head explodes.

** Can we say Dimentio ''in general''? He is probably the evilest character in the entire ''Mario'' franchise. Hell, he's arguably one of the most vile and dark characters in any Nintendo game. He forces you to kill a peaceful dragon, betrays Count Bleck, turns Luigi into Mr. L, and tries to destroy all of reality, all because of a vague prophecy. His evil plan and status as a jester almost make him into a kid-friendly [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka]] (likely his inspiration). At least [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime the similarly evil Shroobs]] can be interpeted as a [[WoobieSpecies species of]] WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds for wanting to save their race from imminent extinction. Not even Dimentio has that excuse.
*** His most infamous incident— transporting the cast to the Underwhere —is this for a reason. His casual attitude while shocking your ''whole party'', AND Mr. L by throwing explosions all over his transportation would make a casual player think he's straight up slaughtered them. Luckily this isn't the case, but it made a damn good fakeout.