Everything Scary About Super Mario 64 

Mario wasn't alone. Lakitu, the camera guy, followed him around the whole time.

"Mario 64 seems like a dream" Damn that actually got me

It's weird that half the gaming channels on RU-vid suddenly became convinced Mario 64 is a creepy game, all seemingly at the same time. Did you guys have a meeting, or what? I must have played a thousand hours of this game over the years and I don't get it.

Back when I was a child, I used to have this surreal dream about the wet-dry level underground town and I was there walking around feeling empty and creeped out

you know? wet-dry world is one of my favorite levels in the game, not only for it's atmosphere, but because everything seems like you could do anything there

The interesting thing is that I never was really creeped out that much playing this game even at a young age. But I definitely remember always having that feeling of uneasiness or eeriness especially in levels like big boo's mansion, hazy maze cave, shifting sand lands, and the bowser levels.

The only thing that just rubs me wrong is the endless stairs. It's literally unexplainable

The most scary thing I remember was the ghost mission when The piano starts to attack out of nowhere. This got me almost a heart attack and I was scared even after a bit. MAN crazy childhood

I couldn’t have been the only one to have wondered what was beyond the giant mountains/hills boarding each stage. I think I must have spent hours continuously climbing up only to slide back down trying to figure that out.

This video just confirms everything I felt about this game all these years. It does have and ominous and eerie feel to it. One of the reasons why I love it yet feel unsettled by it at the same time.

2:47 I personally love the feel of the water levels. I never found them creepy when I played the game recently for the first time. I think it’s either the fact that I would always vacation by an ocean with my extended family (I would also play Mario games with my cousins so I associate the ocean with good memories) and that I SCUBA dive, so I know what to expect in water.

Strange, i played the hell out of this game, never felt scared… i do remember getting somewhat startled by the Eel that came out of the wall the first time, and that was just about it.

The staircase makes use of an effect known as rising Shepard tone (which is also canonically Bill Cipher's favorite 'song' to listen to) that makes it sound like the tone keeps getting higher when in reality it keeps looping.

Someone is there with you, Lakitu documents everything that happens in Super Mario 64 as he is the camera.

What scared me the most was when my beloved cousin was shot and killed, he beat a lot of levels for me before his death. When he died, I inserted my game into the N64 and all of my progress was gone. I never really wanted to beat the game again after that. Not only was I hurt but I was frightened.

I still remember the only 2 stages that literally traumatized me as a kid were the haunted mansion, and that hell/lava like dimension. Not to mention the music...

I'm a little surprised you didn't include the giant fish from Tiny Huge Island in this video. That thing terrified me to the point I wouldn't go upstairs for fear of accidentally entering that painting. On a lesser note, the hellish, laughing fireball painting for Lethal Lava Land was just as scary to me when I was younger. On one more note, Wet Dry World does strike an eerie chord with me, too. Half in part of the bizarre, depressing tone of the level, but also because of a horrific dream I had from being in the town. My nightmare was that everytime you raised the water, people who were locked in the houses would drown, break down the front door, and swim after you as zombies.

I have reoccurring dreams/nightmares about this game. They usually involve encountering Bowser at random moments in the castle. I'm pretty sure it stems from the feelings this game's emptiness gave me as a kid, which you explained perfectly.

I remember as a kid by the time I got to Dorrie I was so spooked and used to everything trying to kill me I couldn't believe Dorrie was actually "Friendly" as the sign said. And then the instructions to pound its back to get it to lower its head, every step of the way of getting that star using Dorrie I kept expecting it to suddenly start attacking me somehow. From the moment I saw it, to when I got close, to when I got on its back, to when I stood on its head. I felt if I stood on its head too long eventually it'd at least shake me off but no... It's kinda like when you're expecting a jump scare in a horror game and it just doesn't come in the place you expect it, thats my experience with Dorrie as a kid

Incredible video brother. I always felt this way about this game and never had anyone to talk this over with! Thank you for helping me find "closure". Respect

I was like 7 when I played this game for the very first time. Growing up I always wondered why this game felt so unsettling and kinda does to an extent to this day. This definitely explains a lot.

its funny how in the giga leak luigi was confirmed to be planned to be in the game. the leak happened 24 years and 1 month after the game came out.

I think the emptiness effect is only unsettling to those who grew up in cities or similar. I grew up where empty spaces are normal.

You pretty much nailed it dude. SM64 to this day is a masterpiece of liminal space and kenopsia. Great video.

When I was younger, nothing really scared me, I enjoyed this game, not even the chain chomp got me, it was that piano that really scared me for a while.

You should have talked about the fact that it was confirmed 24 YEARS AND 01 MONTH (2401) later that Luigi was supposed to be playable

Another thing's probably only weird to me is how, the castle seems to lack any "living spaces" or rooms that people would actually live in, like a kitchen or a bedroom for Peach. (I can definitely accept that as a video game back then it doesn't NEED those things, but still.)

the castle is vivid but empty, we don't know what happened or why it's so empty and gives ominous and a eerie feel and vibe to it.

2:13 I just realized why Saints of Virtue was always so friggin creepy. All those echoing footsteps in empty areas is so unsettling, nevermind the giant floating laser heads.

Mario 64 actually has 4 water levels. Jolly roger bay, dire dire docks, wet-dry world and the secret aquarium.

Pixels After Dark, Wow, this made my day brighter! Thank you!

when i remember this game or see any footage, it makes me feel unsettled. i could point the finger on the water levels and something about them (and the fear of drowning in them) making me be scared of swimming sequences in video games until now, but never why the game as a whole made me feel unsettled. this feeling makes me want to play it again just to see if it was because i was young, but it genuinely felt eerie despite being so colorful. thanks for making this video and pinpointing why.

I think it’s eerie because you’re alone In this huge world with only the music. I was always weirded out by Wet-Dry World for that reason.

This deserves much more views than it has right now

I love how such a fun and non scary game can give you these type of moments

Bro you did an amazing job! I actually was getting creeped out. Awesome!!

OK! I'm glad I'm not the only one who was creeped tf out by this game as a kid LOL

Mario 64 is where I discovered my fear not just of deep water but aquatic predators in video games. Still to this day I feel it. (Far cry 3 was a nightmare with the sharks and the completionist in me needing all collectibles.) also wet dry world I like to think of as Hyrule in the wind waker time line when it’s flooded. The abandoned town’s windows, doors and buildings are reminiscent of hyrules buildings style.. but that’s just me and how I headcanon it.

4:06 Around 2016 was the 1st time I got scared by a bowser painting, that time was the 1st time I saw a BLJ ever. It scared me because it was done at the endless staircase and the painting at the top made it scary Even though it scared me in 2016 It didn’t haunt me until mid 2019, it was so bad I had to stop playing the game and speedrunning, just because of that painting To this day it still haunts my dreams But way way less than before

I loved how the in-game Underground theme changed slightly when you approached something scary. (e.g. the swimming dinosaur or the empty city)

Dorrie isn't unsettling, just adorable.

Pixels I can’t explain in words how much I LOVE your videos. Not only these are some of my favorite Nintendo games but I love the hidden messages/pictures that you reveal in your videos, and yes I liked and subscribed.Keep up the good work!

This game and it's spooky vibes have a special place in my heart.

Great analysis on a niche topic… gimme more!

When I was a kid, there were 2 games that made me uncomfortable, one of them is GTA SA, specifically the Jefferson Motel, and the second was Super Mario 64. The atmosphere on some levels is just... geez

1:46 toad just broke the forth wall

For some reason, the secret mountain slide always scared me, specially because for the most of the course there were happy moons and stars, but that one part of the skull always scared me as a kid that I would always tell my sister to beat it

The scariest thing in this game was the "Bowsers Message"sound and the laugh. It scared me as child.

0:58 Factor 1- Emptiness Is like the back rooms you feel alone but you arent

What about the laughing Bowser after you failed a mission or 'died' ...I hated that as a kid

I loved the vid man, great job!

2:53 HELP MY THALASOPHOBIA IS RISING NOOOOOOOOOOOO

The background city in wet-dry world is a real city called Casares EDIT: There's a debate on whether it is Casares Spain or Shibham Yemen

One time I was just chilling by the painting of cool cool mountain, and then I heard the koopa the quick stopwatch, and that made my heart stop.

I got the game around 24.5 years ago (I paused and went "what the fuck" out loud right now) at the age of 6. I love it with all my heart, from the first time I got 120 Stars to the subsequent playthroughs throughout the 2000s, it's of my all-time favorites. This might sound strange but the more foreboding/creepy elements are my favorite part of the atmosphere. I love the idea of the unknown and creepy:from the interior slide room in Tall, Tall Mountain, and permanently warping to places like the volcano and the pyramid, to things like the entirety of Big Boo's Haunt which honestly is terrific atmosphere-wise, I can honestly thank the developers. Wet-Dry World is incredible and my favorite world in the game; I've always wanted to go there to the point of playing around it for hours as a kid. And then there were things in the game that made me thankful they were there. The Secret Aquarium was one of my favorite places as a kid. Beautiful and mysterious, the atmosphere really helped capture the idea of Mario being in this world he wasn't familiar with. And then there were things like the snowman blowing of Mario's cap, or Klepto taking it. Obviously these things have no basis on Mario's capabilities but I always avoided them at all costs. It was a good balance between loving different things and panicking whenever things like that were close.

2:36 piano mimic

Hazy maze cave was probably the most unsettling, so empty and... Dark

Honestly when i was a kid the only thing that frightened me was water levels especially the eel in jolly roger. When i found it swimming outside the boat the first time! Also the nessy like monster in the lake in the cave however later i liked him because he was helpful and not harmeful. Strangely unlike many testimonies i find on the internet, i never felt anxious about wet dry world since there were no fish or see monsters there. And thanks. Now i found that i have Thalassophobia ! :D

As a kid, swimming down to get that eel to come out was always so unsettling for me. Had never really played a 3D game quite like it and going that deep and with how dark it is down there. I always kinda wanted to just get out as soon as possible lol.

As a child, the walls around Dories' lake always reminded me of human skin, stretched long so it was covering the walls of the cave. And may I remember you all, there were supposed to be people in the cave; workers? The eleveators are cleraly named "work elavator"? WHere are they gone? attached to the walls beneath?

The carnival music in the mansion TERRIFIED me when i was replaying the game some months ago, carnivals are one of my biggest fears, principally the music

The empty room concept is a reason why portal 1 unsettles me slightly….i mean like, turn off the captions, mute all audio but sound effects like walking and gun sounds and boom. Scariest thing you’ll ever play

That thumbnail kept me up at night for a good amount of time 😅

When I was a kid, I never noticed this game was creepy. Back then there were no other 3D games to compare it to. But now that there is a generation of games to compare it to, it does seem creepy looking back. Probably because of the blockiness and emptiness.

Great video! I’d love to see more of that!

I will admit it took me years to complete Super Mario 64 because of Hazy Maze Cave. I was literally terrified of that toxic maze specifically the sniffit enemies lurking down there. Sure they appeared in Super Mario Bros 2 alongside Shy Guys but these enemies have a more unsettling appearance. Their faces look like gas masks from the World War which is probably why they can survive down there. Not only that but they're also in a Boo Guy form meaning these enemies may have passed away and were revived by Bowser's dark magic to forever wander around the Toxic Maze to shoot down any trespassers.

This video really captures the feelings this game gives me, I never liked playing it, I like the game it is a good game but something just feels really off about it. Peach's castle always made feel uneasy despite being such a pretty place and there's something about the water levels that makes that emptiness feel somehow tragic, for some reason. It's weird that for someone who adores horror games, this is the game that "scares" me

Maybe there is a bigger force/villain that we never found out about. Maybe this bowser is just a illusion of some kind along with the other enemies. Created by the unknown force. Maybe this entity is actually controlling bowser and using his minions to guard the world's that were created. Once bowser was defeated and the star power recovered the entity backs off without ever revealing itself. Except maybe after the end credits in the picture with the cake.....

Is it just me? I remember playing hazy maze cave level as a kid and went to the area of the blue sea dragon. And i remember i was swimming infront of it and it ate mario (like the cheap cheaps would do in the tiny huge world) i remember the dragon lowering its long neck fast and eating mario and mario gets kicked out the level like he usually does when he dies

Great video man! so sad to see such a low amount of likes and subs for such a investing video.

I played this when I was seven years old, but what creeped me out the most was the cake ending scene, where if you look behind the star, you can start to see a face looking right back at you. And oh boy, that made me not want to sleep.

the fact that the camera is actually a cloud and a turtle is a very nice touch that some 3rd person game view should add like using a drone or something you can interact and destroy leading you to a 1st person view till you find a replace

I Think The Most Scary thing in This is The Graphics

Good job, you nailed it.

This is exactly how I felt about this game when I was a kid. The thing is that I really liked that creepy unsettling feeling. This is an amazing video😱🤯🙌

I never felt the “negative emotional aura” of WDW but understand the feeling. The level is a strange environment, but I enjoyed it. Every star has you head in a different direction. I played this game for the first time at age 8, and the eel, the giant fish, and the BitDW trap door scared me as a kid.

So is everyone just gonna ignore this fact?: The L is real while the sign is just a reused texture from Zelda, but Luigi's textures were found in old files.

I remember i was in the bob bomb battlefield,i was doing the red coin star and then,the chain chomp glitched and was able to go on the whole map.the worst was that when he was running to me,he was sooooooo fast there was nothing i could do.i never played this Evdr since

Great topic man, I myself have been trough this (and) other fillings ! 🎮 🕹

I loved this video ❤️ thanks for talking about my childhood most precious game

This creeps me out 0:27

If I played this game when I was a kid I would get trauma for the rest of my life.

I think, that the feeling of emptyness comes from the bright colours mixed with the realistic textures and the liveless eyes of the enemies

Man, whenever I see an Eel in any game creeping around it terrifies TF out of me and reminds me of this one. So does the water level where you drop in and has the whirlpool current Or when you find the stairs that never end Or when you see the ghost run away in the basement Or the merry go round wheel in the haunted house I could go on forever

low poly games give me an eerie vibe- idk why it's just a weird feeling i get when i play or watch someone play them

Til this day I'm still terrified of the eel and spider thingie

Really relates to me keep up the good work

I like the "Mario 3 was actually a stage play the whole time" better

My question is why is there an underground village with no way out in wet-dry world?

I always thought that the lack of characters in this game was what made it unique. But I've come to realize that the maps and worlds are the characters

My favorite game of all time and all these years later, I’m still learning new things about it. And now why to be afraid of it.

One major thing about Wet Dry World that is kind of unsettling is the fact that it has the Music of Hazy Maze Cave while the other two Water Levels at least share the same relaxing music. It just feels wrong entering a Level in which the category and theme don't fit. 🤔

0:49 vine boom

This game scared the shit out of me sometimes

It make sense now. When I first played alien isolation the fear that the alien was anywhere in some of the empty areas did have me jumping at shadows

This was great! Thank you

Subnautica moment at 3:31

5:01 That's literaly a video i was about to watch, thanks for not making give that man even 1 view.

Nostalgia. Just nostalgia. I was lucky enough to play this as a kid and i loved it

Yeah it creeped me out as a kid too, the castle and game in general feels empty and abandoned even though that wasn’t the intention