Creepy Things We Found In Mario Games

Mario, in all his 8-bit glory, was more or less the original family-friendly game. Jumping on Goombas couldn't exactly be called violent in this candy-colored, bloodless world of blocks and pipes. The scariest thing it featured was chomping piranha plants, especially if you have PTSD from Little Shop of Horrors. Nintendo succeeded in making a character that was pretty much beyond reproach and a franchise that was appealing to kids without making mom mad. 

And yet ... there is some seriously questionable content in the world of Mario. It's not too difficult to find some not-so-PG moments in the Mushroom Kingdom. You thought Luigi's Mansion was spooky? Just wait until we dig into some of the hauntingly unwholesome things that have managed to make it into the otherwise pure offerings from Nintendo. The world's favorite plumber has a dark side, and we're about to explore the creepiest secrets that Nintendo wishes we'd forget about.

A level called Big Boo's Haunt ought to yield some scares, and it sure does in the most unexpected of ways. In Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS, there is an old-school jump scare waiting in Boo's big haunted castle. All haunted castles seem to be required to contain at least one grand piano, maybe just for aesthetics or perhaps to play a haunting tune. The Mad Piano on this level doesn't play a single note, however. Rather, it hungers for flesh. 

In an otherwise empty room, there is a big grand piano, underneath which awaits a red coin. This is a trap, of course, because getting close to the piano spells certain doom for unprepared players. The Mad Piano comes to life, the lid lined with fangs as it opens and closes. This enemy is undefeatable, meaning the only strategy is to run and run fast. Forget about tickling the ivories when this creepy thing wants to eat your intestines.

Okay, we'll be the first to say that the entire premise behind the beloved Luigi's Mansion games is questionable at best. The presence of ghosts suggests that someone died, leaving behind a wrathful spirit with unfinished business that Luigi hoovers up with a souped-up vacuum cleaner. That doesn't exactly sound respectful of the dead, does it? 

What's worse is that not all of them are the cartoonish, Boo-esque sort. Rather, the first few bosses of the original Luigi's Mansion tell a tragic tale. The first ghost is Neville, a father found in his private library. Then there's the vain mother Lydia who has to be torn away from her mirror. Finally, and most disturbingly, Luigi takes on their infant son Chauncy. Chauncy's profile says that he was "born a ghost," but there are some images in his nursery of a human child, suggesting that he had lived a short life before becoming a boss to battle.

In Super Mario Bros., the Minus World glitch may have actually been a scary experience for those who first stumbled upon its existence. The Minus World isn't the Upside Down a la Stranger Things. Instead, it is a glitch level that can be accessed through some strange maneuvering on World 1-2. Mario will go straight through a wall and into a room with several pipes, the first of which is a portal to this so-called Minus World, which displays as "World -1." The level is set up exactly like the World 7-2 underwater level, but the Minus World is inescapable. Getting to the end goal only restarts the level. Players are left in this previously untouched kind of purgatory, forced to either play again and again or settle for a game over. If this wasn't a confirmed, well-documented fact, then the tale of the Mario's Minus World would sound like a creepypasta.

8-bit enemies mean that there's not a whole lot of detail in their design. But sometimes a simple look is all the more scary. Super Mario Bros. 2 didn't need guts, gore, or ultra-realistic creatures to make for some creepy encounters. Namely, the enemies guarding keys in the game, ghostly masks known as Phantos, are somehow terrifying despite having a, dare we say, cliche design. 

One half of the mask is red, the other white, painted with a wide smile and blank, sinister eyes as the disembodied mob flies at players. The moment anyone picks up a key, these things will dog after players until their dying breath. Undefeatable, Phantos are probably the scariest things in the whole of the otherwise chill game. That's a face you don't want to run into in a dark room, and if you do, get ready to run. Because unless you're willing to give up your objective, there is no escape.

Okay, here's the million coin question: who is the mother to Bowser's kid? Bowser would have us believe that Princess Peach is his mother and that Mario is nothing but the scoundrel who continually steals her away from her Koopa family. That's what he told his son, Bowser Jr., in Super Mario Sunshine, and that's why his young protege kidnapped Peach and impersonated Mario in the game. When he tells this to Peach and Mario, Peach doesn't deny being his "mama." Peach just seems confused about the whole situation. 

The mastermind behind Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, is also confused. He says that he has no idea who Bowser Jr.'s real mother is. Even at the end of Sunshine, when Bowser fesses up that Peach isn't actually his mother, he doesn't give any indication as to who is. We don't know what's worse: the fact that Bowser is so in love with Peach that he lied to his own son, or the fact that he seems to have covered up any connection to Bowser Jr.'s real mother. Or that Peach seemed almost willing to believe that she had mothered a spiky-shelled Koopaling at some point.

So we know to expect some PG-rated scares from the Luigi's Mansion games. They're about busting ghosts, after all. Before the first game was released, however, Nintendo hadn't yet seemed to have mastered the fine line between kooky and creepy. Surprisingly, it wasn't the ghosts that were too scary: Luigi was. 

At 2001's E3, audiences were treated to their very first look at the otherwise mysterious Luigi's Mansion. The trailer was dark and ominous; it almost looked as if Luigi had been dropped into a Resident Evil game. Luigi tip-toed through the mansion, shivering and shining his flashlight. This didn't look like a game for the faint of heart, and the final flash of the trailer seemed to prove it. Luigi stood outside of the mansion, looking for all the world like a zombie himself. We're pretty glad that Nintendo decided to scrap that and instead embraced a more slapstick tone for the game.

Boos are a thing, and we're okay with that. The round little ghosts are downright cute. When they're attacking, tongue out and stubby arms flailing? Cute. When they're floating away, covering their blushing faces? Cute. They might be "ghosts" in some sense, but their design strips them of any sort of creep factor. 

The face that appears at the end of World 4-4 in Super Mario Land 3D is not a Boo. It's not even a Peepa, which has a more traditional cartoon-ghost look. Rather, at the very end of the level, past the victory flagpole, is a dark space in the woods that will slowly become occupied by the vision of a specter. We're talking a thin, almost human figure with a cadaverously white face and wide, staring black eyes. Seeing this thing requires patience and nerves of steel. It will slowly fade into view and then suddenly open its mouth wide with a flash, before disappearing back into the darkness of the background. While this sounds like an internet urban legend, you can watch this ghost manifest for yourself ... if you dare.