"Every moment I'm awake, I'm in agony. What reason is their to be on this planet anymore, when everything good in my life has been taken away? I am nothing but a soulless corpse, doomed to a life of meaningless nihilism. I lie awake at night, just waiting for the day to come. The day for it all to end."note
Don't be fooled by the goofy exterior, SMG4 bloopers can make you shed a tear when when the time calls for it. Some of the time it overlaps with Heartwarming.
Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
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General
Examples
- Whenever likable characters perform a Heroic Sacrifice or Killed Off for Real.
- Crossed with Heartwarming, anytime an antagonist pulls a Heel–Face Turn (As in the case of Waluigi).
Arcs
The Waluigi Arc
"I'm going to bring you home, brother."
For a first-ever SMG4 Story Arc, there's a lot of tear-jerking moments...- This exchange from "Stupid Mario Tennis Aces":Waluigi: Fork guy (Jeeves), let him (Boopkins) join...Jevees: What? Why? He lost! Why are you helping him?!Waluigi: Why...? Because I know that feeling of rejection too well...
- "BOOPKINS!"note
- Luigi getting turned by T-posing zombies in Mario and the T-Pose Virus. Mario genuinely cries out in grief over his brother being captured by the zombies and falls to the floor reaching out for him as he watches the zombies brutalize Luigi, and then proceeds to have a breakdown as he mercilessly drops Bob (who obstructed the duo from getting to safety and thus was the cause of Luigi getting turned) from the castle in revenge for Luigi's infection. This is a sequence that is decidedly not Played for Laughs like the status quo of the SMG4 universe and goes to show that despite his greedy and egocentric nature, deep down Mario really does care about his brother a great deal.
- Luigi sacrificing himself to fall in the lava and die so Mario can live in Mario SAW. Mario is crying and begging him not to, but Luigi still does so, telling his brother he loves him. Mario can only watch in horror as his brother falls to the lava. Thankfully, it was really a test, and Luigi is still alive as the "lava" was really just warm watermelon kool-aid.
- Speaking of Mario SAW, the mysterious figure offhandedly mentions that he, "wished his brother loved him that much,", after Luigi sacrifices himself for Mario, but turns out to still be ok. Once you figure out who the masked figure is, this statement takes a much sadder tone, as it's obvious that Waluigi was referring to Wario, who constantly ignored and mistreated him. The fact that the music went dead silent during this statement makes it even more worse.
- The final minutes of Mario The Scam Artist, where Wario has been down in the dumps ever since Waluigi went mad. Mario threatens a fight with Wario just to protect his brother. Wario tries to object but then remembers Waluigi, before angrily walking off. The dialog from Wario in the next scene really stings.Wario: Stupid Mario Brothers... I don't need them... I don't need anyone! I've got chicken! (is about to eat chicken) W... waluigi would have wanted this chicken... and I would've told him no, piss off. I don't need him! I don't need him!!!! I DON'T NEED HIM!
(Wario notices Waluigi's hat behind his bucket of chicken. After Wario picks up the hat, flashbacks from "The Mario Hustle", "Wild Wild Mario", and "Doki Doki Mario Club" play.. Cue Manly Tears from Wario.)- And the final line of the episode...
- Speaking of Mario The Scam Artist, the music in the episode's end card isn't the cheery Super Mario Land remix that's standard for the end card, but a soft, slowed down piano remix of said track. Does this remind you of anything?
- The Mario Convention seems like a typical Breather Episode after the past couple of episodes in the Waluigi Arc. Then Hideo Kojima pulls out a T-pose mushroom. Meggy pushes Mario out of the way of said exploding mushroom. Turns out Hideo Kojima was actually Waluigi in disguise, and suddenly Mario, Luigi, SMG4, and Fishy Boopkins are seen running out of the convention as Waluigi turns everyone into T-pose zombies, including poor Luigi.
- Even worse, the virus can't be cured thanks to Waluigi's growing power, meaning that all the poor saps who got affected may never be able to revert back.
- Mario's reaction to all of this is what makes this moment so heart-wrenching, as he is now powerless to save his best friend and his brother, and all he can do is promise that he'll be back for them.
- To a lesser extent but, seeing Master Hand get subdued easily by Waluigi and made into another one of his servants can be discomforting to watch.
- That's not even counting Tari's situation as she is now in the same vicinity of the madman who pretty much killed her best friend, with no possible escape route in sight.
- During Mario And The Waluigi Apocalypse all Meggy can do while Tari tries to talk sense into her and possibly un-T-Pose her is shed a single tear. This is also the first time we've seen Tari break down in tears.
- In War of The Fat Italians 2018 Mario, being controlled against his will by Waluigi, gives SMG4 an absolutely brutal beatdown, even with Tari's timely intervention. Then Waluigi tells him to 'finish the job'. As he's forced to walk over to where SMG4 landed, Mario tears up at the thought that he's on the verge of unwillingly killing his friend in what's supposed to be an event that's for fun.Mario: I'm so sorry SMG4...
The Rapper Bob Arc
- The ending of "The Mario Concert", where the cutie is thoroughly broken. Bob delivers a humongous Motive Rant on how his career is destroyed because of what Fishy Boopkins accidentally did and how he set up events to boost his popularity with the masses, reveals he pushed Boopkins into the well in "Mario And... The Well" and was never his friend, and caps it off by calling him a pushover, leaving him in the alleyway. All while Boopkins is left crying in denial.
- Pay attention to Bob's behavior throughout the episode. He states that he wants his "lousy" fans to come or he'll be pissed, tells the Mario Bros that he gives them permission to shoot Boopkins when they see him, and calls Boopkins an idiot on stage. When he tells Boopkins about Bobsgiving, he confesses that he tricked them into destroying his house to tell a sob story, while indirectly insulting his friends by calling them idiots and calling Meggy a klutz because of her bad (to the point of being destructive) cooking. Bob never cared about anyone, not even his "best friend" Fishy Boopkins (who looked up to him), he only exploited them for his own selfish purposes.
- Another thing is Bob isn't exactly wrong when he says you can only be an asshole or a pushover.
- Also, think about it. Bob did so much to get here. He spend 500 years alone, lied, put up with everyone's crap, spend untold amounts of money, let his house be burnt down, and was hunted by the Teletubbies during The Purge. Bob finally got his chance, and Boopkins ruined it. No wonder Bob snapped.
- "The Melancholy Of Fishy Boopkins" has Boopkins rejecting anime. He clearly took Bob's Breaking Speech hard...
- It gets worse when the cast tries to cheer him up. While most of their failures are strictly comedic, the girls' attempt to cheer him up is definitely not. Meggy, Saiko and Tari decide to cheer up Boopkins...by taking him to one of Bob's concerts. And since they weren't in "The Mario Concert" they don't know about what Bob did to Boopkins and are left confused when it doesn't work and Boopkins breaks down in tears at seeing Bob being so successful despite the awful things he admitted to doing.
- "Mario and the Diss Track" puts Bob in Jerkass Woobie territory. Yes, he did make a diss track about all his friends, and seemed like he did not care one bit about them. But by the end of the episode, he is just alone. He was so desperate to be a rap star that he turned his back on everything important to him. Even his own friends. No one cares when Bob tries to reconcile with them. Not even Boopkins.
- What makes this moment worse? At the beginning of "The Mario Purge", Fishy Boopkins is the one who opens the door for Bob, saving him from the Teletubbies, and in response Bob calls him "his best friend". At the end of "Mario and The Diss Track", after Bob loses all of his fame, he asks Boopkins if they're still friends. Boopkins shuts the door on him, leaving Bob all alone.
- Going back to Bob's diss track, Meggy seems to take it the hardest, after Bob insults her voice.
- The beginning of "SMG4 Christmas 2018: The Most Important Thing" has Bob trying to redeem himself by buying gold statues of himself and all his friends, but after what he did throughout the arc, the others pretend not to notice him and after he pesters them Mario just snaps at him. While being greeted with the words "Nobody cares" set to Beethoven's Fifth,SMG4 tells him the harsh truth why everyone is treating him this way:SMG4: Sorry Bob...we just can't trust you anymore...
- Even with it being deserved, Bob takes this hard: he leaves, goes to the garbage dump, and lays in the garbage bags, believing himself to be nothing more than the trash of the earth.
Bob: I see how it is. (drops his Santa Hat and beard) You will never hear from me again. Hopefully, that's a good enough Christmas present.- For an added layer of sadness, pay attention to the rest of the cast. Some of them clearly don't want to do this; Boopkins looks devastated, Tari's rather upset and even Meggy sounds reluctant to ask him to leave despite taking his diss of her very personally. Bob may have been a terrible friend and they're completely in the right for cutting ties with him...but he was still a friend and cutting ties with even a bad friend can leave you pretty conflicted.
- ..and that's before we get to how they look after Bob announces his true redemption. Aside from Mario, SMG4 and Bowser (who are weirded out, confused and trapped under a store sign respectively), they look like they're now regretting ditching him. Even Toad feels pretty bad about it! Compare that to what he was like at the start of the video.
The Anime Arc
And no, she doesn't survive this.
Welp, this arc is Darker and Edgier that any previous Arcs, so be expecting many examples.- Saiko having to leave the Mushroom Kingdom after the anime ban in "Mario's Illegal Operation". Whatever you may think of her, it can't be denied that she's genuinely tried to reform her character and will always help out Mario and the gang when the chips are down (though she'd never admit it). It hits harder when you remember her backstory, and how Saiko has been dealing with being rejected all of her life.
- Saiko being forced out is made even worse by the fact that unlike other times when there's a good reason why she's been ostracized, she didn't even do anything. She's not an otaku — she doesn't even watch anime. Even with her origins as a dating sim character brought to life, Saiko is by all counts just a regular human being who happens to be Japanese.
- Even SMG4, who had joined the Anime Secret Service and served as an antagonist for a majority of the video, was angry when he finds this out!
SMG4: I would never have joined the A.S.S. if I knew they were banning actual people... - "Meggy's Bootcamp" has Meggy going crazy with Splatfest training as usual with Tari, Mario, and Luigi. It's a fairly comical episode... right up until she gets aggravated by their incompetence and yells at them for not trying. One Heel Realization later leads to Mario finding her on a rooftop in the midst of a Heroic BSoD.Mario: Hey Meggy...
Meggy: Go away, Mario...
Mario: Come on Meggy... Why don't you tell Mario what's wrong?
Meggy: You remember when we first trained all those years ago Red? We sat right here on this rooftop that very day... I told you I was an "upcoming star" and we were going to own the splatfest... But it has been two years since then and I still haven't won a single Splatfest. [as she starts shedding tears] I'm...I'm just a big disappointment.
Mario: You can't disappoint Mario. I have no expectations of anything.
Meggy: The worst thing is... I've been so mean to you and the others... I feel like I'm losing sight of who I am. (starts sobbing hysterically) - Overlapping with Guards N Retards, "Mario Saves Anime" features a scene where Chris nervously runs up to a badly damaged Swagmaster following an explosion created by Luigi and Bob. Swagmaster tells Chris that he doesn't feel so good, however the only damage done is that the A.S.S. button is removed. Afterwards Chris tells Swagmaster that they're jobless once again. Sure a lot of it is pretty humorous, but for those who worry about the two guards, it could be quite heart-wrenching for what would happen next now that they have no jobs. Thankfully, they're revealed to be fine and team up with Mario & co. in "The Inkling Disappearances"!
- Axol revealing his backstory... And it isn't the best. Little Inklings act like jerkasses towards him just because of his love for anime. And it shows why he created Inkweaver; he wanted to have friends.
- The thumbnail for "The Splatfest Incident". Mario is cradling Meggy's weapon in his arms, he's covered in her ink, and there is nothing but darkness surrounding him. The message it shows is...upsetting, making it look like she died. Look closely and you can even see that Mario's crying. Of course, what actually happened isn't much better...
- One of the lockers at Splatfest has a picture dedicated to Satoru Iwata.
- Why does Desti think that Axol kidnapped Meggy? He had motive.
- The opening to "The Inkling Disappearances" is frankly just distressing, in this way and another. It's Callie, doing an Emergency Broadcast, clearly terrified of the state of Inkopolis and urging all remaining Inklings to stay indoors at all costs. Quite upsetting to see Callie this scared, especially if you're a fan of her... and then it ends with her on her knees, crying and pining for Marie. Yep, that's right, whoever got Meggy and half of Inkopolis kidnapped Marie too. Bear in mind that this is very likely taking place after Splatoon 2, so now Callie is going through the same Adult Fear that Marie did when Callie got kidnapped herself.
- The revelation in "Mario and the Experiment" that Francis was behind the Inklings' and Axol's kidnappings is bad enough, but he's also revealed to be an Ungrateful Bastard that now sees Axol as a fool. Axol fought tooth and nail to get anime unbanned, and succeeded, only to get kidnapped, mocked, and called a disappointment by someone who once idolized him, to the point of said idolizer even saying that Axol doesn't deserve his power, making this a cruel inversion of the Broken Pedestal.
- "World War Mario" has a number of these:
- Chris gets shot, which sends Swagmaster into a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Not a bad gesture, since this is Swagmaster we're talking about. Chris is fine, thankfully, but is too injured to enter the anime base.
- Desti's death. After the Ink-Zuccer is disabled and the reunited main characters defeat Francis' false Sephiroth, everyone celebrates their victory... and then Desti is suddenly stabbed in the back by another false Sephiroth. Doesn't help that it also alludes to the infamous Aerith death scene, which is already a tearjerker in itself.
- Meggy's scream of horror and despair makes the whole thing worse. She and Desti may have been rivals, but they don't want each other dead.
- Desti's final words before she collapses and the episode ends.
Desti: (smiles) You better win Splatfest for me, okay?- And to cap it off, the ending card is gray instead of the usual blue and there's no cheery music, only dead silence.
- "Final Hours", perhaps SMG4's saddest video:
- Tari begging Desti to Please Wake Up... and Meggy, trapped in the machine, is only able to shed a tear for her. The episode starts with this scene.
- Meggy almost sacrifices herself to revitalize the Ink Weaver. Mario starts desperately digging for her in the wreckage of the Ink-Zuccer, calling her name and crying while doing so.
- After Saiko personally leaves Francis to die in his own Ink-Zuccer, she walks away slowly while closing her eyes, as though saying to herself "I never wanted this." Remember, Saiko trusted the anime cartel before the Inkopolis abductions.
- When the anime island explodes, Meggy hadn't been evacuated and is thought to have been killed in the explosion. Everyone takes a moment to mourn for her - you can hear the pain and grief in Tari, Saiko and Axol's voices. Thankfully, Meggy survives, sort of.
- Desti has been Killed Off for Real, as a funeral is held for her similar to Tony and Natasha's funeral in Avengers: Endgame.
- During Desti's funeral, as the now-human Meggy lays Desti's weapon on her casket, a flashback ensues showing the first time they faced off against each other, Desti proclaiming "Cheating is a legitimate strategy" and the two tag-teaming Francis' goons. Returning to the present, Meggy starts blaming herself for Desti's death and breaks down in tears. Thankfully, the others assure her that they'll always have her back no matter what and that Desti would want her to keep fighting for what she believes in.
- The soft, slowed down piano remix of the Super Mario Land theme even returns once again...
The YouTube Arc
- "Mario's Spicy Day" ending with SMG3 continuing to be evil after SMG4 got his production studio destroyed.
- Yet another character is Killed Off for Real in "Stupid Mario Arcade", this time being Greg. Worse still, this death is used to manipulate Mario by SMG3.
- Crosses with Nightmare Fuel, the trailer for War of the Fat Italians 2020 is filled with as much dread as possible, surpassing the trailer for WOTFI 2018 in a large margin. It starts with Mario and SMG4 preparing to battle as their friends and the fans cheer. However, SMG4 and Tari start glitching, as if something went wrong, before the latter vanished seemingly from existence. This was followed by everyone else sans Mario and SMG4 disappearing before the latter, looking nervous and scared, been replaced by SMG3, with SMG3's Snitch Production crew taking over where the whole Glitch Production gang once stood. Sitting sinisterly on his throne, SMG3 then proceeds to delete Mario as well, having served his purpose of helping him stealing the YouTube Remote.
- "Deleted.", full stop. The entire episode is one huge Shout-Out to Avengers: Infinity War, involving SMG3 using the remote to allow his crew to go into the videos where each of the main characters made their debut to prevent Mario from meeting them, thus erasing them via Ret-Gone. The worst part? HE SUCCEEDS. Though, as "A Totally Normal S̷͍͖͉̙͚͎̑̃̿͑̆̇̚͠M̸͇͇̦̮̌̿Ğ̴̫̗̖͎͔̳4̶̞͇̰̎̀́̚ Episode" reveals, not for long...
- Even worse is how some of them go out; some like Luigi, Bob and Saiko are darkly comedic. Tari, Meggy and SMG4 himself? Not so much. Tari sobs from her failure and weeps that she doesn't want to go before dusting in front of a truly horrified Mario. Meggy collapses to the floor, stretching out a hand to the plumber who changed her life for the final time before she too succumbs. And finally, SMG4 solumnly mourns his teammates before vanishing himself, also in front of Mario. It ends on Mario's face, and he is BROKEN.
"I'm sorry...I couldn't save them."- Also, notice how Meggy was the only one out of the gang to GLITCH. She was not only disappearing, but also glitching at the same time. She, unlike the other two, didn't even got to say goodbye to Mario, as she only can reach out a hand as he walks away before fading. Which implies that SMG3 was going to plan something far worse for Meggy than simply being deleted, probably because he knew Meggy was Mario's best friend.
- In "A Totally Normal S̷͍͖͉̙͚͎̑̃̿͑̆̇̚͠M̸͇͇̦̮̌̿Ğ̴̫̗̖͎͔̳4̶̞͇̰̎̀́̚ Episode", we get a look at SMG3's treatment of the supporting cast during the episode he makes...and it's outright abusive. He constantly pushes them to follow the script of his episode, verbally eviscerates Whimpu when he couldn't match Saiko's personality, and OUTRIGHT TORTURES BELLE WHEN SHE CALLS HIM OUT. They must be really regretting being on his side by now...
- On top of all this, look at JubJub. He's absolutely devastated for what he did to his brother, and he's too sad to carry out the lines SMG3 gave him.
- The beginning is no slouch either: after Mario discovers the whole A Glitch in the Matrix scene (see Nightmare Fuel for more info), he learns that SMG3 was behind all this, as he cruelly tells the plumber that his friends are all erased. Cue heartbreaking images of all of Mario's smiling friends as he grieves over their deaths (or so he thinks...), from his brother, best friend and surrogate sister up to even people like Bob or Saiko. Said grief turns into fury as a rip-roaringly angry Mario lunges at SMG3, but the latter pauses him mid-air and walks to restart the episode his own way. Thankfully, he finds out they were only banished to the Internet Graveyard, but it's still a pretty bleak beginning for an episode.
- "War of the Fat Italians 2020" has a couple:
- Pictured: When the giant Wario head encounters the Mario head, the Mario head tells him that the accident which killed his mother happened 30 years prior and tells him to let her go. We then get flashbacks of Wario at his mother's deathbead as she dies. It comes back in "SMG4 Expands His Brain", when Wario reminds Waluigi of her to prevent another rejection-fueled rampage.
- SMG3 almost drops Boopkins off a cliff. JubJub, enfused with the power of the YouTube remote, is horrified. He attempts to save his brother and ends up pushing out the remote.
- SMG3, during the rap, grows tired of his minions just engaging in the rap battle instead of actually attempting to kill Team Glitch, and then aims a cheap shot at Meggy right in front of Mario. Mario tackles him, but he's too late to stop him from pressing a button, and the beam hits Meggy square on, causing her to collapse... only for her to stand back up, showing off her new English Voice full time with a beautiful melody. While this is slightly less sad than the thought of her getting irreparably Killed Off for Real, and Saiko vows to make ANYONE who dislikes the change suffer, this marks the final nail in the coffin of Meggy's former status as an Inkling.
- A Freeze-Frame Bonus at the beginning of the episode. After escaping the Internet Graveyard, SMG3's first victim of "Deleted", Frankie, is NOT with the Back from the Dead Glitch Productions and Susan. And not once during the entire WOTFI 2020 do any of them mention, realize, or care that Frankie was deleted amongst them, nor are they in any hurry to bring him back. At this point, it's safe to say Frankie's been Killed Off for Real. Sure, he was Mario's Butt-Monkey before JubJub, but it's still sad to have seen him completely forgotten about.
- Thankfully averted in "Stupid Mario 3D All Stars", where it's revealed that he survived.
Other
Examples
Is this the end of SMG4?
- "Tale of a Bob-omb" is probably the earliest example of a SMG4 video trying to tug at your heartstrings, and good lord were the emotional beats in the video just damn heart-wrenching(especially towards the end)! What happens is a Bob-omb finds his "father" (King Bob-omb), who is then killed by Mario; he cries and tries to run away. While he mourns his father's death, Mario then comes in and proceeds to kill the son. It is a harrowing example/deconstruction of the What Measure Is a Mook? trope and is definitely NOT Played for Laughs at all. The music, effects, and everything else makes it worse considering this IS pre-2018 SMG4. Probably expecting retarded, humorous adventures, huh? Nope. SMG4 has been trying to make you cry since 2013.
- Luigi's death from "Ssenmodnar 9".Dr. Mario: Game over YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
- The Boy and Gurl shorts in the Ssenmodnar series really can be heartbreaking but also hilarious at the same time.
- "The Plumber Problem" makes this funny at the same time. Seeing how Mario feels about his clogged toilet, and how he got heartbroken due to Luigi hiring a real plumber instead of him, really makes you feel bad for him.
- In "SMG3's gauntlet of gloom", The skeleton named Pete sacrifices himself for Mario and SMG4. It gets even sadder when Mario starts crying after Pete waves good bye to them. "MARIO'S CHALLENGE" reveals he's still alive, though!
- The ending of "BENDY and the SPAGHETTI MACHINE." After it turns out that Bendy is actually not evil, Mario tries to activate the Spaghetti Machine, but then breaks it, causing it to massively overproduce spaghetti that will eventually flood the entire factory. Mario and Bendy see the exit, but can't get through it because it's too high to reach. So Bendy throws him through the exit and waves goodbye before being crushed to death.Bendy: THANKS FOR PLAYING WITH ME.
- Saiko's breakdown at the end of "Doki Doki Mario Club". The unexpected Downer Ending really hits, and what’s worse is that this was Fishy Boopkins’s first real date. It has some Mood Whiplash at the end though, courtesy of Mario, but it doesn't really help much.
- After being put through a Training from Hell montage a la Pre-Hibernation Week courtesy of a overzealous Meggy in “If Mario Was In Splatoon 2”, Mario, understandably scared of the fact Meggy is currently planning on testing a nuke for training, tries to leave claiming he’s hungry. Hurt by Mario not taking this seriously, Meggy tells Mario in a tone mixed with sadness and disappointed to just not bother with her anymore before leaving to train by herself. Mario, the man who commonly doesn’t care about anyone besides himself, tears up and lies that he never wanted to be a part of her team anyway. Considering how Mario and Meggy’s relationship is noticeably nicer than Mario’s other friendships, this comes off as rather shocking and surprisingly realistic. This is lightened a bit by the fact they make up over the end with Mario taking Meggy to lunch.
- Saiko again, during the events of "Luigi's Lesson"; all she really desires is companionship, but due to going crazy and hurting anyone nearby whenever she gets upset, everyone fears her. Even Fishy Boopkins, the above date, runs away from her, leaving his Hatsune Miku pillow behind in his haste to get away. This leaves Saiko in a sad mood for most of the video, and though Luigi tries to help she walks away in a slump after repeated attempts to be kind to others, only for her attempts to be rebuked. Despite her Yandere tendencies, it's hard not to feel for her. Though by the end of the video, she helps Mario and Luigi out after the former suffers a heart attack, and they part ways as friends.
- While it is mainly Played for Laughs, the death of the clone Mario from "Stupid Mario 3D World" could be this to some. It oddly has more impact than one would expect, and it doesn't help that the auto-tuning on the Take Me Home, Country Roads "cover" makes it sound like Mario is barely holding back tears while singing.
- Meggy having trouble adjusting to her human form in "Mario Does the Chores", as well as her mind wandering to Splatfest and the promise she made to Desti.
- The ending of "Stupid Mario Maker 2" features an In Memoriam to Etika, who committed suicide on June 19, 2019.
- Meggy's breakdown in "There's Something Up With Meggy". It has been a month since the events of the Anime Arc and Meggy has started acting crazier and crazier from bottling up her grief over what happened to Desti. When Mario, Luigi, and Tari finally get her to open up, she runs back to her apartment in depression. Thankfully her friends cheer her up.
- Mango's backstory from "The Tari Abnormality".
- To some, Tari's Puppy-Dog Eyes when SMG4 takes her duck in 2019's War of the Fat Italians. However, like in "Stupid Mario 3D World" it's Played for Laughs as well.
- SMG4 considering retiremnet from making videos towards the end of "SMG4 Runs Out of Memes" and almost throwing his cap in the garbage.
- By the time Luigi, Fishy Boopkins and Shroomy have unfrozen themselves in "The Weegee Uprising", the only survivors of the Weegee Doll Invasion are Danny DeVito and New Super Duper Mario Plus Utra. That's right, the entire SMG4 gang, which has faced countless catastrophes and lived to tell the tale, have finally met their gruesome end at the hands of some fricking dolls!
- WE EVEN GET TO SEE WEEGEE DOLL SMG4! Sure, it's Played for Laughs, but still!
- Fridge Horror kicks in with Luigi. He's probably thinking about how, in the long run, it's all his fault!
- New Super Duper Mario Plus Ultra's last stand and heroic sacrifice is pretty saddening too, not only because he's giving his life to save the trio from the Weegee Dolls, but also because he's the only known survivor of this extinction event of sorts, with no other friends around for the trio. Needless to say, Luigi has lost what remains of his brother.
- In another bout of Fridge Horror, since the Evil Weegee Doll was killed and the timeline was therefore reset, New Super Mario Plus Ultra was erased along with the entire Bad Future. In short, he's not just gone, he's gone for good!
- WE EVEN GET TO SEE WEEGEE DOLL SMG4! Sure, it's Played for Laughs, but still!
- A minor example, but during "Little Penguin Lost", both Meggy and Mario share some heart to heart talk while stuck on some floating ice in the middle of a freezing lake. During their talk both of them reveal that neither had something special planned for Christmas. They both laugh it off at first, but their laughter dies off as they both look off in the distance, their words sinking in. It doesn't last long, but it's pretty sad to see them lying their, resigning themselves to their cold fate.
- Before the aforementioned scene, after he calls the pizza parlour, Mario goes to reassure Meggy that they won't starve only to see Meggy in an absolutely devastated fetal position. Poor kid...
- It's mostly Played for Laughs, but the 'Friends' scene in "SMG4 Christmas 2019: Mario Alone" is pretty saddening.
- In "The Festival Of The Year", when Meggy mentions that 2020 will be the last Splatfest, the mood temporarily becomes sadder.
- It's not just that, either. Meggy, right before this, takes a moment as the group is reflecting to remind everyone that she was permanently transformed into a human. Meggy may not really address her feelings very well, but she STILL isn't one hundred percent comfortable with her new body, and the Anime Arc has left permanent scars on her, both physically and mentally. Sure, it's a downplayed moment since Axol joined the main cast, but both this little tidbit and the aforementioned Final Splatfest is all but going to set up another arc with Meggy in the spotlight.
- "Bowser Loses Custody of His Children" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Bowser, because he's usually seen more often participating in Mario's adventures than being a good father to the Koopalings, finds out that going on a three-day fishing trip was The Last Straw, and Child Protective Services had taken his kids while he was gone. Yes he gets them back at the end of the video, but that doesn't change much...
- Mario is at his worst in this episode in terms of friendship. Not only does he seem to barely care at best (since Bowser trying to reclaim his children is getting in the way of the two going on a cooking adventure), he is actively trying to influence Bowser to be as irresponsible as possible, even repeatedly trying to kill his simulation baby. Mario's been selfish, before, but he's now actively interfering with his friend's falling apart personal life and making it worse because he thinks Bowser's parental failures are funny. Peach even calls him out on his poor behavior, not that he cares.
- Meggy's Destiny: An SMG4 Movie is full of these as you could predict.
- Meggy's insecurities over being turned into a human catching up to her.
- It turns out Inkopolis is prejudicial towards humans or at the very least doesn't offer services to humans. Meggy asks a vendor why and they answer "health concerns."
- Meggy breaking down crying after losing the second round.
- Meggy finally saying goodbye to Desti. Desti's happy she won Splatfest at last and fulfilled her promise but she knows that Meggy has to move on with her life. It's hard to say goodbye to a friend. Even when that friend is only a memory.
- Worst Part? Luke said that Desti will never comeback.
- "Mario Is Cancelled":
- One of the punishments Mario endures in the Cancelled Dimension is getting pointed and laughed at by everyone he sees, including the Freeze-Frame Bonus of every single one of his friends (except for Tari), making him totally miserable; especially hurtful is Meggy laughing at him, considering the bond the two share normally. The only comfort that can be taken is that they might all just be figments of the Cancelled Dimension created to torment Mario, unless you interpret that they got sent/invited there upon cancellation, and this is their reaction...
- Mario may have emerged triumphant in the end, but he was nearly doomed to an eternity of shame and mockery because YouTube jumped to the wrong conclusion about the "N-word" he was about to say ("Nintendo"). It serves as a sober reminder of how a person's life can be ruined over something like a simple misconception, not to mention the unfortunate reality that YouTube's awful algorithms sometimes really are that sensitive.
- While "The Totally Legit Learning Show with SMG4" is mostly hilarious, the final segment features Chris yelling at Swagmaster for all the terrible things he's done. Swagmaster says he's "carrying" Chris, but he's quick to point out that all it did was have him shot, fired at, and angry. Chris almost leaves Swagmaster, but Swagmaster brings up the "sponge cake" story in which Chris was the only person to come to his New Year's party. Chris forgives Swagmaster. It turns out to all be an act to teach viewers about love, but still.
- In "Mario VS Siren Head", while Meggy's heartbroken reaction regarding Swagmaster joining the "totally-original Woomy Fire Brigade" is funny and all that, it's very depressing in hindsight of the fact that the video being released exactly a year since Desti's death during the Anime Arc.
- While "SMG4 EXPANDS His Brain" is mostly a comedic riot, the "No Weed" segment, as pictured above, is rather depressing, as we see Bob go through a Heroic BSoD, sadly stating how he no longer sees any reason to live, since everything he loves has been taken from him, muttering that he waits for his death day every night. Of course, this is mostly mitigated when it's revealed that he's saying this because his weed delivery was late by 10 minutes.
- Bob almost refusing to help Rob in his corn delivery in "The Corn Trip", revealing he only wanted to hang out with him before Rob's Skewed Priorities took over.
- Earlier, he also mentioned that his parents didn't love him. It's also implied that he doesn't look back fondly of the events of the Rapper Bob arc.
- Later on, Rob started sobbing over his favorite food being lost forever. This maybe Played for Laughs to some fans, but it's still sad.
- In "Mario goes to subway and purchases 1 tuna sub with extra mayo", Tari, after being forced to work at Subway corporate for knowing too much about how they get their tuna, happily decorates her office, finishing it with a rubber duck. One of the Paper Marios created by Mario copying himself with the office photocopier comes through and destroys the rubber duck, causing Tari to burst into tears. Even worse: it's very possible this was the rubber duck Belle got her for Christmas.
- Despite how funny most of the episode was, "The Resurrection" has a surprisingly depressing ending, with Mario crying over Greg's dead body after the failed resurrection. Even when he's hitting Bob with Greg's body begging him to bring him back, it's still a bitter reminder that Greg and Desti are are not coming back in the foreseeable future. Like Doki Doki Mario Club, it has some Mood Whiplash at the end though, courtesy of Mario crazily hitting Bob with Greg's corpse, but it doesn't really help much.
- This episode also implied that Meggy hadn't entirely gotten over Desti's death, considering she jumped at the opportunity to resurrect someone.Meggy: I can't believe I got my hopes up.
- This episode also implied that Meggy hadn't entirely gotten over Desti's death, considering she jumped at the opportunity to resurrect someone.
- Melony crying after hitting Axol in The Melony Felony
- In Mario VS Youtubers. After Mario wins the tournament, Meggy returns home in a depressed state. She's been Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life, and none of the jobs she's taken seem right for her.
