Nightmare Fuel / Pikmin 4

Not so Ugly Cute now, are they?

• The number of ships crashing into the planet has increased precipitously since Pikmin 3, stranding all kinds of spacefarers from TV crews to stylists to school field trips. Most (if not all) of these people probably intended to visit the planet for its resources and/or research opportunities, but still. It could be just their ships not being built for Earth's gravity, but given the ominous implication at the end of Pikmin 3 that there may be some unknown force that makes people keep crashing on this planet... is it?
• Through your adventures, you'll find plenty of castaways passed out in caves. Later on, you discover that they arguably lucked out - compared to the castaways that became Pikmin-like beings called Leaflings. They all have a fanatic obsession with Dandori, to the point where they'll flat out refuse to be saved if you can't prove you possess it to them. The red one you repeatedly encounter (who is, in fact, Olimar himself) will even hold other Leaflings hostage until you defeat him in Dandori Battles. Makes you wonder just what goes through a Pikmin's mind...
  • The implication that the Pikmin themselves are a parasitic species that can assimilate other beings, further added to by the Bulbmin from Pikmin 2. Sure, they're friendly and benevolent, but still, the thought of them being infectious and turning other species into Pikmin too and in the process altering them to the point they no longer remember who they are may be more than a bit unsettling.
  • Plus it's implied that they may even be doing this on purpose because they need a permanent leader. That's right, the cute little critters who have been helping you for three games now may now be trying to force you to stay... But given how the Pikmin population seems to go from thriving to nearly extinct every time their captain leaves the planet, could they really have no other choice? ^note The ending does remedy this problem by having Moss become the new captain with the Ancient Sirehound tagging along, ensuring the Pikmin’s survival this time.
• Night Expeditions allow you to explore PNF-404 after dark for the first time in the series. Here, any pretense of this planet not being a Death World for Pikmin and castaways alike is swiftly torn away as all the planets' predators come out to hunt with glowing red eyes. This is the only time enemies are ferocious enough to attack the Pikmin's nests directly, forcing you to defend the Glow Pikmin's Lumiknolls from wave after wave of hungry beasts. Even predators such as the Dessicated Skitter Leaf (which usually prefers to lie in wait to take advantage of its camoflauge) and the Water Dumple (which seldom goes far from the water) abandon their usual tactics and just frenzy across the surface to eat anything they can. No wonder the Onion refuses to come with you...
  • To make matters worse, the soundtrack is usually eerily quiet throughout the duration. But the ambience turns more and more haunting as enemies approach, until it turns into full on Scare Chords as the predators assail the Luminkolls.
• Mitites are back, and their tendency to crawl out of the ground in massive swarms when you least expect it can easily get under your skin. Every time you smash a shaking jar, hoping to find Pikmin or Candypop Buds, you might just find a swarm of these creepy-crawlies instead. They're just as terrifying In-Universe, as even Oatchi and purple Pikmin (which were previously immune) will be sent into a massive panic at the sight of these things.
• Four words for any Pikmin fan to dread: The Waterwraith is back. And it has the same Stalked by the Bell strategy it had before. Be quick or be crushed.
  • As a small bit of Nightmare Retardant, though, Purple Pikmin are now more easily accessible, making the Waterwraith far less of a threat than in the Submerged Castle where you're forced to only use blues. And the Ice Pikmin can freeze these enemies and paralyze them, allowing you to more easily bring them down.
    • However, on Engulfed Castle's first visit, you do not have the means to bring those other Pikmin, in which still has that threat and this is the earliest cave where you can get the Purple Pikmin.
  • Just discovering the Waterwraith's cave: So, you're headed into Pikmin 4, not knowing what to expect, and combing around the Serene Shores for more castaways and treasures. Then you find a secluded little cave submerged in water in a corner of the map, and any fan of Pikmin 2 will feel all hope leave their body as they see its name: Engulfed Castle.
  • Much like the Mind Screw-ey nature of the Submerged Castle before it, Olimar's notes on the Engulfed Castle indicate he only has vague, horrible recollections of the place, like it was a terrible nightmare he forgot about after waking up. The image accompanying his notes? The Waterwraith's rollers, crashing down from the sky onto the cave floor.
  • The sign that the Waterwraith is close to appearing on a sublevel? The Submerged Castle's eerie, ghastly theme overriding the cave's more subdued background music, growing more and more incessant the longer you stay on a floor. Never before has a song in a Nintendo game invoked such utter dread - it makes it feel like the music itself is calling the Waterwraith back, straight out of your worst memories. Chime... chime, chime... chime...
  • In 2, the Waterwraith had a warbling, ghostly voice, which, while still creepy, at least took some of the edge off by reminding you that it was a big gelatin creature and not just a sleep paralysis demon from hell. Here, you don't even get that courtesy - the Waterwraith is now a guttural, growling, roaring monster, and it will mow down you and any of your Pikmin it finds while quietly rasping all the while.
  • The Waterwraith's chase theme is not only back (with some eerie echoes from Formidable Oak's theme added), but like any other boss, it own fight theme with what sounds to be some ominous deep chanting to imply this creature truly meant to be feared and potentially demonic which really questions on what this being really is.
• Another four words for Pikmin fans to dread: The Man-at-Legs is back, and it's just as dangerous as ever. Oatchi might be able to run circles around it with his speed upgrade while carrying the party, but a single mistake while circle-strafing means a mass Pikmin extinction is likely.
• And five more words: The Smoky Progg is back. Not only is it as creepy as ever, this time it's a mandatory fight. Not even White Pikmin are immune to its instant-killing toxins. Yes, you heard that right, its toxins are so potent and deadly that even the Pikmin specially evolved to take care of it are utterly powerless against it. That's not even getting into the fact that the Smoky Progg now has gained an energy ball attack that has the same insta-kill properties of its toxins, and then there's the almost supernatural roars these cursed Mamuta larvae make. There's even some night missions where, if you don't smash the eggs before they hatch, will pit you against two of these monsters. Run away!
  • A small note about the Progg. Its damage type gets a name from one of the loading screens: Gloom. While most likely just an Easter Egg to another team's work, the sheer concept of the Progg being associated with the essence of what is probably Nintendo's most infamous Demon King has some... very disturbing implications to say the least. It doesn't help that one of its attacks in this game is a slow-moving fireball of the stuff — a dead ringer for an attack Ganondorf uses that can permanently delete Link's Heart Containers if he's hit. After beating Tears of the Kingdom, you're never going to look at a Progg the same way again.
• Speaking of returning enemies, the Puffstool is back too, and although it has been nerfed to no longer turn your Pikmin evil (instead just brainwashing them into boogie around with the giant mushroom), it also brought its far more nasty cousin for the reunion, the Toxstool. Its spores will actively kill non-White Pikmin that are exposed to them, as well as turn any dwarf grub-dog and Slooch in its territory into Moldy Dwarf Bulborbs and Slooches, which are explicitly stated by Olimar to be undead in nature. No, that's not an Ass Pull made by him. These Slooches and Dwarf Bulborbs are straight-up fungus-infested zombies reminiscent of the cordyceps fungus, as if their healthy counterparts weren't dangerous enough already! And on top of that, it can endlessly REVIVE them if they're within range of its spore attack.
• The Groovy Long Legs may seem silly at first glance, being a disco ball Arachnorb that stomps to the music beat. However, it's a lot more of a threat than it would seem, as it exudes a hypnotic cloud of fumes that forces the Pikmin to start dancing and leaving the captain unable to command them. And then it enters its red phase, where it starts stomping around randomly and rapidly, and the dim lighting in the cave makes it very hard to dodge its feet or steer your Pikmin away from it...
• The Gildemander may be cute, but it can call Pikmin out of the Onion from long range and scatter them all over the surface. Even if it's not acting intentionally, it's unnerving to know that not even their nests are safe anymore. And just imagine what would happen to the Pikmin if this thing showed up right before nightfall.
• You've reached the final floor of the Frozen Inferno, but no boss is in sight. As you step into the center to light the fires, a haunting melody followed by a creepy giggle suddenly sounds throughout the arena, and you turn around just in time to see the Snowfake Fluttertail descend from the ceiling. It's pretty, but also a good reminder of how creepy butterflies can look up close with its big solid black eyes and long, Pikmin-grabbing proboscis.
• The Ancient Sirehound, the final boss of the game, is this. Between its freakishly huge size and menacing appearance, it's bound to give anybody nightmares when you first encounter it. Though at the very least, it does become good after defeat, seemingly watching over the Pikmin alongside Moss in the game's ending. Nonetheless, the sheer power possessed by the Ancient Sirehound (including the use of the same fog that makes the Smoky Progg such a danger) should not be overlooked.
  • Even worse, its defeat cutscene shows this behemoth is normally docile... but it's such a menace because it's actively being controlled by Louie.
  • Louie in this game is at his most unhinged and actively malicious. In the previous games, he often accidentally got Olimar and others in trouble because of his insatiable hunger and greed. But this time, he seems to take it much, much further: he is perfectly willing to leave the Rescue Corps, Oatchi, and Olimar to die, and actively sics the Sirehound on them when they try to go after him and stop him. While it was left ambiguous in Pikmin 2 if he was in control of the Titan Dweevil (at most, he's just one of the "treasures" it collected), here, he is unambiguously in control of this frighteningly powerful creature that's normally a Gentle Giant. Louie is in charge, he has the power to control other, deadlier creatures...and he actively wants you dead.
  • Right before the final boss, Louie does his infamous "bug-eyed" stare at the player. Unlike the second game, where it was weird, but comical, here, it's absolutely terrifying. There is absolutely nothing amusing or comical about it here; Louie is actively giving a death glare at the player while actively threatening them before turning around and attempting to kill them. It gives the stare all the way back in the second game a whole new meaning.
  Louie: GO HOME!
  • Later, when you get to talk to Louie again, he says that he wants to stay on PNF-404 forever. On a planet where he can't even breathe and creatures are always trying to eat him. Given he first appears wandering the planet and finding Moss, how long has he been stranded on the planet? And how far has his Sanity Slippage gone in the meantime as a result?
  • Alternately, the original timeline implied Louie had a miserable upbringing back home, and that working for the President isn't exactly pleasant, either. While this is no excuse, how awful must his life be that staying on a (G-rated) Death World is better than leaving?
• Throughout the game, you get access to Olimar's log entries. Almost all of them are just a way to teach you how the game mechanics work, a brief hint of the cave you're about to enter, or talking about his family back home. But #73 is untitled, and all it says is "I am so very tired..."
  • This line in particular is actually from a voyage log entry in the first game that went unused in the English translation, meant for when Olimar fails to repair his ship in time. The fact that that same line is finally being used in English decades later brings back some very disturbing implications...
  • This entry comes across as so jarring compared to the rest of the logs, but the log right before that was Olimar having another nightmare, this one of the Pikmin bringing him to their Onion after dying. It makes you wonder if the situation he's in and that nightmare stressed him so much that he couldn't sleep. This is especially so since Olimar is fully aware that he doesn't fully grasp the Pikmin's nature or why they are so willing to help him and not just attack him outright like other creatures, and while he is absolutely grateful for their help, he likely has a hidden fear of them turning on him for whatever reason, which that nightmare didn't help with.
  • Pikmin 2 also has hints of this: One of Olimar's treasure notes indicates he gets freaked out by the Pikmin staring at him all the time, and he was completely surprised when the Pikmin attempted to carry him back to their Onion when he used the Napsack upgrade. Coupled with his nightmares about the Pikmin, it paints the rather disturbing picture that the seemingly-fearless Olimar is legitimately creeped out by the adorable and helpful Pikmin that have always lent a hand when he needed it.
• Regardless of how you complete Olimar's Shipwrecked Tale, Olimar's life support gives out; in the good ending, this is due to him turning back to save Moss' life. During the game, you can find his ship embedded in the ground, meaning that it is quite possible he crashed out of panic from being unable to breathe or he'd already passed out from lack of air before he could land properly.
  • Building on that - Olimar's life support stopped working either in the crash or right before, and when the Pikmin are shown carrying him to the Onion to transform him into a Leafling, he's not moving. Sure, he could just be unconscious... but given he was in a spaceship crash, it seems a lot more likely that either Olimar flat-out died or was very close to it by the time he became a Leafling. The implication that the Pikmin brought him back from the dead is more than a little freaky.
• The remains of human civilization are far more complete than in previous games. In the tutorial alone, Olimar explores a house, that's fully intact, hasn't been reclaimed by nature, and even still has power… and yet, nobody's home, and there's no sign of living humans anywhere. What happened?
  • On the other side of the coin, the Primordial Thicket is the only overworld stage with no human elements. And it's all the eerier for it. The entire game, the player is in the wilds of PNF-404, but there is some novelty in the familiar sights of park benches, fireplaces, an entire house... But then the final area is pure, untouched muddy swamps, making it feel more remote and desolate. Especially with the abundance of poison hazards and the game's toughest enemies (including the Sirehound). On top of all that, the music is one of the most alien tracks in the game.