Mario games are known for their colorful aesthetic and bouncy, cartoony atmosphere. But imagine if this wasn't the case. What if Mario games were creepy and Deliberately Monochrome, with ambient music in the background? This is that kind of game. Eyeless is a bizarre, horror-themed Super Mario World ROM Hack centered around blindness. In it, Mario has lost his eyes for a reason that's never explained. Mario is then instructed to "Get [his] eyes back" by an unknown force. Thus, Mario decides to look for them in a bizarre, Deliberately Monochrome Eldritch Location filled with all sorts of strange enemies. Unlike the official Mario games, Eyeless is more centered around puzzles than platforming and has a much darker, almost eldritch tone.
Get your tropes back:
- All for Nothing: Mario never finds his eyes, even after all those puzzles and platforming sections.
- Big Boo's Haunt: The game's only level follows several similar design philosophies to the haunted house levels in mainline Mario games. Though it's much, much creepier.
- Darker and Edgier: Much creepier than any official Mario game.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The only thing in the game that isn't black and white is Mario. And by black and white, we don't mean grayscale. We mean black and white only.
- Downer Ending: Mario jumps into a pipe, only for a voice to explain that "Eyes cannot be retrieved". After that, Mario enters a door leading to complete nothingness.
- Eldritch Location: The location Mario walks through is a bizarre, Deliberately Monochrome hellscape filled with creepy variants of common enemies. Though it's implied that Mario only sees it like this due to his blindness.
- Excuse Plot: Mario has lost his eyes and he needs to get them back. Though he never does.
- Eyeless Face: Mario lacks his eyes in this game. It's never explained how he lost them.
- Eye Scream: Mario has lost his eyes somewhere before this game. Though it's never explained how.
- Game Mod: It's a ROM hack of Super Mario World. Though it's much creepier than it's parent.
- Minimalist Cast: Mario is the only character in the game, outside of (possibly) the narrator and the various enemies you encounter.
- Mooks, but no Bosses: There are many enemies in the game, but the game simply ends with Mario learning that his eyes cannot be retrieved, and then walking through a door into nothingness.
- No Antagonist: The game lacks any form of Big Bad, with the Mooks you encounter being of unknown origin.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The game lacks any form of jumpscare, but makes up for that with the creepy atmosphere and ambient music. The ending also has Mario enter a door, which leads you to a blank screen with some creepy ambient sound effects playing.
- Puzzle Platformer: The game mixes platformer physics with mind-bending puzzles.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The soundtrack is the Cave of the Past theme from Earthbound 1994.
- Shout-Out: The game ends with Mario entering a door, only to be met with a blank screen. This is a reference to the infamous ending of the MARIO by M A R I O ROM Hack.
- Unending End Card: A particularly scary example. At the end, Mario enters a door which leads to a blank screen. It stays like that until you quit the game.
