7 Surprisingly Distressing Moments in Mario Games

You can count on a Mario game to be friendly, family fun and not to deal you psychological harm, right? You wish. Merely consider these seven surprisingly creepy things to happen in Mario games.
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#mario

[@SethUasarune]

"Don't you think the T-Rex will be too scary?" "Hmm good point... I know, let's put a hat on it."

[@SanderEvers]

That's to stop you from capturing it.

[@SethUasarune]

@@SanderEvers Away with you, and your sensible comment based on how the game works!

[@jennasinclair7482]

It might be a sensible comment, but also, that little hat scared me more because the moment I saw it, I knew there was nothing I could do about the rampaging T-Rex about to eat my face

[@Elesario]

It's a very charming hat.

[@GinnyNReviews]

@@jennasinclair7482 Exactly. The hat made it worse.

[@makenna9201]

If it helps, canonically the only Blocks that are people are the Question Blocks! The items you get are their gifts to you

[@wes_the_mess9277]

Does that mean that the power ups are powered by spirit

[@erinmiller1433]

I KNEW IT 😅

[@jordanaureliajoy9491]

It doesn’t help! Thanks!

[@penname8441]

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[@JachAnen]

Doesn't help as that would indicate they didn't die. So they're either bound to be blocks forever or the player kills them by hitting them. Both more horrifying than what was hoped, better they died in the transformation

[@Cyrus_T_Laserpunch]

The most distressing thing in Super Paper Mario is, in my opinion, the River Twygz. It is surprisingly accurate to the description of the River Styx with its own version of Charon who will ferry you across the water for a coin. But let's say you're feeling cheap and don't want to pay Charon, just like with the River Styx of Greek mythology you can try to skip the payment and cross the river yourself. You will quickly come to regret this decision when you find yourself below the water as hands representing the souls of the River Styx will slowly reach towards you trying to pull you down to the depths, and horrible, unintelligible voices will be speaking to you with a background of extremely unsettling music. Just like with the River Styx of Greek mythology, try to cross the River Twygz on your own instead of paying Charon, and you may find yourself lost in it for all eternity. Super Paper Mario has a surprising amount of distressing moments in it, you could probably make a list video on The 7 Most Distressing Moments in Super Paper Mario if you wanted to.

[@bewilderbeestie]

Thousand Year Door has the "Holy shit, that's a _gallows"_ moment within, what, the first ten minutes?

[@robstuart8474]

Fun fact: Andy wrote the original draft of this list, but it was found to have been renamed "Seven times Andy was screwed over by absolute BS in Mario Party." You can understand how he'd feel they were "Surprisingly distressing".

[@Michael_Lindell]

Thanks, this list is sure to give me NightMarios.

[@insecdroid]

…

[@Waumboll]

awful. 10/10

[@Peter_The_Great]

Perfect! let the groans fuel and inspire you to make more puns.

[@palazzo1113]

I think these kinds of jokes can actually send you to hell.

[@Play-G_Doc]

20/10

[@cearnicus]

All I can think of when I see the bricks now is "is orphans, boss". I guess now we know which hammers the Bros are throwing.

[@aydinanuar8807]

‘Koopalings do good?’

[@l0sts0ul72]

Honestly, the vast majority of events in Super Paper Mario are pretty distressing. Off the top of my head, there's slavery, the erasure of an entire dimension, the onscreen murders of main characters, the River Twygz, the onscreen murder-suicide, (heavily implied) plannings of torture, the list goes on

[@angel-of-light-kelly1355]

I was thinking that. I was always more startled by watching a dimension getting destroyed, and then walking back into it, finding a white void with no one around, coupled with the fact that you don’t see the people from that dimension in the Underwhere, meaning they’re not just dead, they don’t exist anymore…

[@Hunted0LessShirt]

Even when seeing Mimi in the video, I'd forgotten about the whole neck-breaking-spidery bits but had immediate flashbacks to being whipped into running on a mouse wheel for petty change (maybe imagining the whipping but definitely remembering punishment for poor slave performance).

[@HiggsBoson42]

I did quite like the piano puns. Also, McGraw-Kill, Pierceson Mastering Dentistry, Houghton Molar Harcourt, and HarperCanines.

[@anomaliecosmos]

HARPER-KILLIN'S! Sharper-Collins?

[@galacticgogoat790]

I was thinking Sharper-Jawllins

[@xthetenth]

Random House? Random Mouths.

[@thecreatorofpc7929]

Here’s one (and some other freaky moments) that i’m kinda disappointed wasn’t in this list. That part in Paper Mario: The Origami King where Olly hangs up Peach’s lifeless paper corpse on his throne room’s wall like a poster. He even says this “She is at one with the castle now. Beautiful, precious, and silent” And another where Mario has to fight a Paper Maché Buzzy Beetle (It also has the name Paper Mistake in the song list, which is kinda funny) that has the faces of all of Bowser’s minions strewn on it, while their still alive. There a whole bunch of dark moments from Origami King, it would be rated M if it was in an art style other than paper. I somehow forgot about the part where your living bomb companion (Bobby) sacrifices himself in order to save your other companion (Olivia). It’s probably the saddest part in the entire game, as you’re powerless to stop it, there’s no secret way where you can prevent it. He’s just dead. And let’s not forget about the scene after that. Olivia runs away into a cave, crying, and Mario has to comfort Olivia who just realized her new friend is dead, it’s just heartbreaking, and I’m not afraid to admit that i cried when I realized Bobby’s gone

[@bellarmire]

Or when your bob-omb teammate literally dies?

[@KingOfDoma]

@@bellarmire That's the one I was going to mention! Bobbery inured us to the prospect of a Bob-omb blowing itself up, and then... oh, Bobby...

[@bellarmire]

@@KingOfDoma also horrifying if you think of the implications, considering how you later fire the bob-omb brigade out of a canon. Are they a suicide squad? Has Mario actually been killing them en masse?

[@hommefataltaemin]

Damn. That’s actually super creepy about Peach, I had totally forgot about that scene!! You’re right in that the game has sooo many creepy moments in it, that if not for the art style, would be 1000 x more terrifying

[@penname8441]

+

[@GreatFox42]

Super Paper Mario was a distressing _game._ You could do a list like this and just fill it entirely with SPM moments and _still_ have a few left over. The multi-dimensional incoming full-on _apocalypse_ that looms in the background of the game the whole time, visiting a world consumed by said apocalypse, dying for real and having to deal with the horrifying River Twigz, the backstory for the main villain being distressing in of itself; I could go on but I think the point has been made.

[@AntiVillain26845]

Not to mention there's a second main villain, who's likely the most-evil character in Mario history.

[@marbles8641]

Major correction about the Mario killing Toads/Brick thing. Yes, the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom were turned into blocks, but if you turn to page 8 of the American Booklet, it clarifies that only the blocks and plants that give items were once people. By freeing the of their transformation, they reward you with power-ups and coins. Sorry this rumor has been bugging me ever since Matt-pat claimed Mario was killing people, when the booklet states that no, he frees them and is rewarded for his effort. So there is nothing really distressing, beyond being imprisoned in brick.

[@joeycoe85]

That sounds like some retconning to me… 😂

[@DarkestNova556]

How exactly is that freeing them?

[@marbles8641]

@DarkestNova556 You're breaking them free of their prison, for which they reward you with coins and power ups. At least that's what the booklet says (i linked it) Guessing they never figured how to show the freeing/freedom beyond that due to hardware limitations or just forgetting that plot point in later games after breaking bricks became common place gameplay

[@marbles8641]

@@DarkestNova556 you have to remember, the bricks that give items dont break...just turn metallic and dull

[@Maniacman2030]

@@marbles8641 Sounds like developer oversight to me. That and it has been 30+ years, so I doubt all the same people are still working at NoA. (I say NoA because Mario's design was based on the landlord of their U.S. HQ at the time.) That said, "It's magic, I aint gotta explain sh-t," as it goes. Maybe after that particular game, the Mushroom people made blocks specifically for Mario like the ones Bowser turned them into as their thanks to help him on his way.

[@DemonRumm]

The face I made when I first heard Peach's scream, good lord. Maybe the VO heard "scream for when Peach goes into the electric fence" and thought now would be a good time to hone their skills so they can follow their dream of being in a slasher.

[@Maniacman2030]

Sounds like something that comes from a FromSoft, Capcom, Konami, or other horror themed game company. She most certainly did NOT get the memo that it had to be cartoony like the others.

[@Drjhordan]

Not gonna lie, first thing I imagined hearing her scream was "Fatality"

[@gameyfirebro9645]

​@@Maniacman2030fun Fact the voice for Peach in that game was a temporary one that only played her for that game.

[@Sylfa]

@@gameyfirebro9645 I'm sure the scream had nothing to do with her lack of rehiring. Which is totally unfair as that's on the sound director's head for not giving proper instructions, or whatever sound technician that handles the VO, I can't think of the job title right now.

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

There's another disturbing thing that happens to the Toads, in Super Mario Galaxy's Star Festival. When Bowser moves in and starts bombing the area, a lot of the Toads there don't make it out alive, they get trapped in crystals when hit by bowser. They're never freed and some game hackers actually found out that it's impossible to free them, even when the crystal gets destroyed, they shatter.

[@bezmagica]

Oh ☹️

[@lesliemoore7733]

Chomper Collins, also I'm surprised the dark forest in the original Paper Mario wasn't mentioned. The atmosphere was creepy, the eyes and giggling plants were creepy, everything about that was creepy!

[@tretretre1111]

I feel like Harper Chompins is a bit closer.

[@Holy_Waffles]

When she trailed off after "Sharper..." my brain latched onto Sharper Gnawlin's. Might only work in a handful of dialects.

[@pandoraeve9751]

That book sure was giving a HarleGRIN, eh? As it's about to eat his Morrow/Marrow? And uh. Looking at the books around me, I can't figure out like. Any puns for Little, Brown or Tor Dot Com or Nightfire so I guess that's what you're getting.

[@torgranael]

@@tretretre1111 I was so excited to think of it, only to discover someone beat me to it. Still a great pun.

[@elijahfrausto]

Fangwin random house

[@crimsonchaos7224]

A bit more creepy than distressing, but in the Super Mario Galaxy 2 level Shiverburn Galaxy, if at any point you go into first person mode and look up to the top of the towering cliff sides in the background you see some ominous figures staring back down at you. These figures are NEVER acknowledged in any way, and the only place where you can find their name is the game’s texture files, where they are called (I’m not joking) the Hell Valley Sky Trees.

[@nonspiderweb]

I was never really scared of the piano, not as much as I was scared of the FREAKING EEL!

[@robsonclark9678]

Yup, eel burned into my mind for decades after. Piano did also freak me out, but that eel was next level for young me...

[@tmatthewnielsen]

"What are those Mario bricks made of? Is it orphans? You have to tell us if it is." "Uh, it's orphans, boss."

[@Rarre4]

As a piano player I can confirm that those puns were spot on!

[@max_2da_max336]

They made the Key decision to Tune out the haters and Octave-ate Pun-master Ellen with her Sharp wit and Puns that never fall Flat. If any of these were off, feel free to make Minor adjustments, otherwise, judge them on a Scale from A to G.

[@green_dragon_knight]

Ellen’s talent to make puns that strike a chord with us has not diminished with time

[@SimuLord]

They were A minor masterpiece.

[@EntityXIII]

It's an ivory standard for wordplay.

[@TheMetalchild333]

@@green_dragon_knight And yet she missed Arthur Nommins

[@timhutchinson8485]

The hyper-realistic dinosaurs in odyssey are bad enough, but then there is the dragon.

[@AJadedLizard]

Hey, hey, guys, you know what might be really cool? What if we put a Dark Souls boss in this game? Eh? EH?

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Dunno how you missed Thousand-Year Door's bosses that feast on your audience members (Hooktail, Cortez, Shadow Queen) or Origami King's Origami Castle (full of paper-shredding fortune tellers and decorated with Folded Peach's comatose body).

[@FuManNoonan]

“Is that murder? Who knows?!” 😂 4:00

[@SunburstSenshi]

Shocked the ending of Thousand Year Door wasn’t on here! The Dark Queen possessing Peach was both incredibly distressing but also really cool!

[@kurosakikun96]

To add to that, doesn't she also eat the audience mid fight at some point?

[@papinstephen]

I think gallows in the opening shot is a pretty jarring image as well

[@roundy4717]

Or those two guys you find half dead in the Glitz Pit (I forget their names), or the Pit of 100 Trials Actually that game had a lot of weird nightmare moments lol

[@aaronmccullers384]

@@kurosakikun96 Pretty sure that was the dragon boss of the first zone.

[@Sunprism]

Just Once I'd love to see Browser start things by hitting the destroy bridge button to his right

[@Maniacman2030]

I almost expected Bowser Jr. to smack it instead before he ran off. It's like, "Dude, hit the button and slam the door shut. Bam! Dead Mario!" Kid could've gotten anything he wanted for the rest of his life if he didn't f it up like that.

[@user-tb7ue3ti5o]

7:54 As someone who plays piano, Ellen was right... all these puns were gold!

[@Viviantoga]

Seeing the first Toad with their face punched out in The Origami King is legitimately creepy. Every single one of those faceless Toads skeeves me out, even during the dance number.

[@hudsonball4702]

Luigi's Mansion and getting turning into a painting if you don't outrun King Boo. Very disturbing expressions.

[@princesspixel3151]

And for the cherry on top, King Boo turns towards the fourth wall, like he wants to turn YOU into a painting next!

[@wizwitch5318]

I personally found the King Boo jump scare in the second game worse

[@hudsonball4702]

@@wizwitch5318 Yeah but we're talking about Distressing moments and not scary moments.

[@bellarmire]

Super Paper Mario’s stuffed to the brim with distressing stuff. Like an entire world gets destroyed, or a companion NPC has to lose her identity in order to become a plot item and tearfully says goodbye to her adoptive parents. Mimi’s up there as the freakiest but damn it the rest of that game isn’t dark.

[@angel-of-light-kelly1355]

The Sammer’s Kingdom’s destruction always gets me. There is just nothing left, and you don’t see those people in the Underwhere, so they are more than just read, they don’t exist anymore. The tragedy of the lady pure heart is also sad. I don’t even want to think about how it must feel to be told “yeah, you need to give up your identity and life and become an object.”

[@TheLastArbiter]

When I was a kid, I always thought the part at the beginning of Sunshine where FLUDD is talking to you in the dark jail cell was a little scary

[@Henrimun]

There is also Fury Bowser slowly becoming active, the rain starting and the sky suddenly turning dark. If you don’t have a cat bell nearby to become Kaiju Mario it can be very scary. Also there is Origami King, which is halfway to a horror game.

[@RhogarBlythe]

The lore of the 1-up mushrooms from the Mario manga. It's basically confirms that whenever Mario dies, a new body grows with a 1-up

[@ddjsoyenby]

"what's a in there princessa" "your mutilated c0rps3s mario" "imma pretend i never heard that"

[@MercuryDragon.]

A 1-up grows from the corpse actually

[@Tickerbee]

I have cried at a video game story twice, one of them was from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door when you learn about Admiral Bobbery's late wife (Admiral Bobbery is a cartoon bomb with a mustache if you've not played it).

[@leociresi4292]

Oh, yeah the sad letter from his wife Scarlett

[@Razuki5]

Compare admiral bobbery, who can explode multiple times with no real adverse side effects, to Bobby from origami king, whose entire arc is that he can’t explode because he lost his fuse. But in order to progress in the story, you must help him find a fuse to help your friend Olivia that’s trapped under a boulder. By helping, I mean exploding the boulder, killing himself in the process. This causes emotional damage to you and to Olivia who has grown attached to her new friend.

[@user-hs1xb9tv6e]

This is why I try to never think too hard about the lore of seemingly cute games, because the more you think the scarier it becomes...

[@mathsalot8099]

That is basically Outside Xtra's whole business model. "Let's take cute things in games and make them as disturbing as possible!" And also, "Let's take distressingly horrible things and make them funny as a coping mechanism." Like dancing with the headcrabs in Half-Life Alex.

[@ggholdengo]

you sir, is matpat in making ;)

[@dany-marchocke9036]

Kirby

[@zakcourt]

One of the last videos I watched was Ellen ranking spiders. #6 makes so much more sense.

[@akaviri5]

Only 6 legs though; and as we all know : "The irrational part of your brain is immediately counting legs"

[@Mr.Snowman241]

​@Jamal I think it still had her arms at regular length. 6 long and 2 short little derpy legs

[@legoman222]

The Manta ray fight in Super Mario Sunshine was also surprisingly frightening for such a tropical fun time

[@gameyfirebro9645]

It's in the Boo level. Of course it's scary.

[@MegaHoro]

The Dry Bowser part surprised me at the time. And then in the next one [New Super Mario Bros Wii] he wade through magma unharmed

[@ellenshadbolt3665]

While I understand fully the choice of Mimi for Super Paper Mario, I would also like to point out Sammer's Kingdom- Like- Oh boy- River Twygz too honestly but that seems too obvious of a pick fdsdshsh while the Sammer Situation isn't like an outright overt big huge scare like the horrifying Mimi Spider- It's. Genuinely Harrowing. The entire world is just. Gone. And all its people with it. And once you go back, all that's left for you is an eerily silent void of nothing.

[@dexhound4920]

OMG RIGHT?????? i mean the river twygz bed music is like the go-to creepy track just on it's own like if you have watched any spooky nintendo video ever you have heard that music- and understandably so it is terrifying- but the sammer kingdom? whole different kind of terrifying- so inescapably horrifying being confronted with the fact that you failed to save this world... its just gone.. AND THIS IS IN A MARIO GAME---

[@SimuLord]

"This skinless form of Bowser" Mmm, boneless skinless lava-fried Koopa. At's-a so nice!

[@Sheldon1985]

Nice to see Partners in Time on the list, absolutely loved that game so much, but it does have a fair few terrifying moments

[@amarikristopher8409]

The scary thing about the Deep Woods to me was the fact that, when the trex got near, Mario’s animation switched from his “he’s cold” animation, to “he’s scared” animation. Cause he had the same motions when I decided to wait before fighting the desert boss (forgot his name but he’s just a head and hands ). It’s so unnerving knowing those two things scare Mario of all people.

[@jayceofspades7195]

A lot of Super Paper Mario is distressing if you look at it. The Sammer Kingdom being wiped from existence, King Croacus going berserk because of the Cragnons poisoning his water, the Underwhere and River Twygz, brainwashing and turning brother against brother, the fact your best friend Tippi leaves at the end and... yea you get a replacement from Frances in Tiptron, but that almost feels worse than if she was gone altogether.

[@zaneheaston8254]

Thank you for bringing up Partners in Time, a lot of dark stuff happens in that game

[@SethACampbellMusic]

7:54 As a piano player, I can confirm that Ellen's piano manufacturer jokes are indeed gold.

[@starcraftgem]

Kirby being disturbing... no wait, that would be a 5 hours long episode.

[@DodWilEcton]

Penguin? More like fang-guin. *pauses for applause*

[@TheRagnarokknight]

Super Paper Mario. Reentering the Samur Kingdom after it's completely wiped from existence. All while hearing the heartbeat of its world flat lining, marking the death of the entire realm. It really drives home what it is you're trying to stop the black hole from doing to all of existence, including that of the dead.

[@leociresi4292]

The battle between two beloved brothers

[@jackyshighlightvideos3481]

How about at the beginning of Mario Galaxy and you see the Toads that are trapped in the crystals? That is a surprisingly terrifying idea.

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

Some game hackers actually tried to free them and found out that it's impossible. Even if you manage to destroy the crystals they're trapped in, they shatter. So yes, Bowser basically commits genocide when bombing the Star Festival.

[@beckfenn5559]

What about when Mario can throw Yoshi to his death to get an extra boost in his jump? That was horrifying to me. 😢

[@disarisumbrus4492]

@@beckfenn5559 that's why when i get a yoshi it's ride or die, who says you HAVE to abandon them? that and i just really like yoshi

[@AngelBeatYunara]

Okay, the piano related puns were glorious.

[@nicholascross3557]

You mean, I'm sure, they were.... grand.

[@Azooi]

What about the point in the origami king where all the toads loses their faces (literally) and then even Mario (unless you are super awesome at the boss fight) or the part where your bob-omb companion explodes himself to save Olivia, revealing that at least in this version of Mario, the bob-ombs actually die when they explode (and then the following air battle where you launch bob-ombs to their death) it gave me a momentarily existential crisis at least as much as "all the blocks used to be people"

[@SirLightsOut99]

The Mario Galaxy series has a couple moments. First of all, the intro scene to the first game is essentially what would happen if Nintendo tried to adapt the opening to saving Private Ryan. It’s all peaceful until toads start getting literally murdered. Then there’s the disturbingly realistic noise Mario makes anytime he falls into goop. The sound of Mario nearly realistically suffocating was not something 9 year old me expected to hear back in 2010.

[@tdnlee6685]

HarperCollins -> Sharper: Chompins? Jowlins? Jawlines? In my defense, Joke books about teeth are usually a-bridge-d. I know it's not a perfect ten, but I think it's an o canine. Maybe I'll think of something better after lunch, around tooth hurty or so. While we should crown the best tooth joke, we'll probably never know because someone will remove its plaque.

[@Kyraktos]

One I've always thought was terrifying was the Wiggler that you fight in Mario 64. He gives up the star afterwards and you've found out they're kinda corrupting the owner of said star. Then never speak about it again, kind of more subtle but messed nonetheless.

[@MrBjergmann]

One word.... A single thing that haunted me since childhood... A thing I still fear to this day... UNAGI

[@Zenlore6499]

4:24 Given the channel’s history, I’m gonna say “Already Dead” is right! 🎩 💀

[@rockyraccoon8870]

"oh My god I think peach just died for real" is now my favorite quote

[@KestrelDC]

There’s also the Toad murder scene in the original Japanese version of Thousand Year Door (also doesn’t that game have Mario almost hanged in the intro?) And another Paper Mario game, forget which one, had worlds just…. erased. Just erased from existence and you see some of the residents in this weird limbo void space.

[@JeremiahFrye]

Legend has it, Ellen is still there trying to think of the perfect pun

[@melvinkachere8782]

Can confirm: you did a football satire Can also confirm: Peach's scream has pretty much sent me into a traumatising shock

[@nemoniemand9264]

I like to think that every bit of dust you create by destroying the bricks are tiny ghosts yelling in the silence between Mario's joyous genocide

[@CelticVictory]

It really makes you rethink smashing every block. I agree with Ellen. Nintendo really needs to read what they officially license.

[@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield]

Ah, the extended pun bit was payment for Ellen to deal with the Mimi spider bit.

[@Tabbyclaw]

Bowser has gotten dunked so many times that by now he's just accepting that that's the risk he's taking, and I'm fine with that. He's no stranger to lava; he knows the rules and so do I.

[@EinsamPibroch278]

Those were hearts coming out of Peach when shocked. She wasn't shrieking in Pain...🌚🌝

[@Maniacman2030]

Peach is into some REALLY weird sh-t. Starting to think the electricity boosted a little somethin' somethin' she already had on/in, IF you're pickin' up what I'm puttin' down. 😉

[@theyorkrose5274]

Everything about Mario is distressing tbh

[@theyorkrose5274]

(Not only are the plants and fungi they eat mostly sentient... but the ongoing systemic murder of baby Yoshi by dropping him down chasms - no wonder that dinosaur at the bottom of the big fall is super angry at Mario)

[@ryangagne5321]

I'm surprised that the Phanto Masks from SMB2 weren't in this video. Nothing says nightmare fuel better than a mask with a sinister smile following you throughout the levels they appear in.

[@DavidCowie2022]

It's probably best not to think too hard about Sniper Luigi.

[@ddjsoyenby]

luigi won't be laughed at anymore.

[@coyoteone6197]

He's seen some stuff, man. He's seen some stuff.

[@limeylimers21]

That piano terrified me as a kid.

[@Gang3rs]

That scared everyone as a kid, me included

[@scottybreuer]

The fact that no one has said "Sharper Killins" makes me weep.

[@stewartwatkins1443]

What? You're not going to mention the end of Super Mario Galaxy? Everyone and everything is being sucked into a black hole! And then you have to watch every single adorable Luma sacrifice their lives for you.

[@nikoladedic6623]

I am surprised at no Ruined Dragon from Super Mario Odyssey. Who in their right mind would ever expect a fricking dragon in a Mario game?

[@LlorDrei]

There is one truly horrifying thing in the SMB games, right from the beginning, that no one thinks about, yet which gives a realistic trope shown in a few sci-fi books and comics. Mario, an out of shape plumber, is transported to a lighter gravity planet, enabling him to jump high, crush enemies, punch bricks with his bare hands, and run the mile minute. The consequence of this being, eventually the pressure equalization between the high pressure within his body, and the low outside, will eventually cause his heart, and internal organs, to rupture, unless he can get to one of the castles between stages, which allow his body to depressurize. When you hear the sped up music, as the timer reaches it's final seconds, that is Mario's heart speeding up, ready to explode, which is why he dies when the counter reaches zero.

[@Maniacman2030]

Kinda doubt the developers thought that far ahead when they made SMB. More like they wanted to give players a sense of urgency as they played, so they threw in a timer. This whole "his heart will explode" theory sounds like somebody thinking WAY too hard.

[@flemmingpedersen567]

The hearts surrounding Peach in the first scream clip, made it seem like she might not be screaming in pain... Are we sure she doesn't just have a fetish that we didn't know about?

[@thehonorableshadow9530]

This might be a popular one, but the shadow figures watching you over a chasm in mario galaxy. I forget what level, but their pretty distressing to some people.

[@maxvel0city906]

Luke: "You know Bowser?" Me: Yes of course a water or fuel tank that's commonly fitting to trailers and used on building sites and with plant machinery etc. Oh hang on we're talking about video game Bowser aren't we. Sorry Luke.

[@captain-chunk]

I really need a new Oxtra video this afternoon to make me laugh!

[@joshuaeddleston]

Another great distressing moment is the undersea section of Noki Bay in Super Mario Sunshine, specifically the Eely-Mouth boss fight.

[@lf4227]

Aw, that eel is just a funny lil guy

[@joshuaeddleston]

@@lf4227 Yeah, but when you're not expecting it...

[@leociresi4292]

You had to clean his teeth when he yawned and sucked in water

[@joshuaeddleston]

@@leociresi4292 Yup!

[@SimonMudle]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, encountering the ghost toad on the train literally sent chills down my spine the first time I played through, it still gives me chills.

[@SBandy]

Yoshi's Island when Baby Bowser gets big. That music, that charge towards the screen. Was bloody terrifying!

[@Gapthrosnir]

I'm assuming Mario 64 drowning is in this, I showed it to my nephew and he cried for about 20 minutes.

[@h-bitgraphics3858]

Why’d you show it to him?

[@Gapthrosnir]

@@h-bitgraphics3858 He likes Mario

[@SunburstSenshi]

Mimi’s transformation is why I sold Super Paper Mario back to GameStop as a child. Several years later, I got the game back and beat that level on my first try. Still shooketh by the scene though!

[@kicksandswords]

The sunken ship in Super Mario World aka a previous ship from Super Mario 3 that you caused to crash and hence why it's full of ghost, proof being that the only question block in the game can only be found in that level. The ghost that appear randomly throughout Mario games 3d land, Captain Toad, etc. The Hell Valley Sky Tree creatures that watch you in Galaxy 2. The dead Toad chalk outline in Paper Mario. Yeah Mario games have a history of dark tones going on usually hidden. The cuter something looks the darker it normally is.

[@RoboSparkle]

"Sharper Collins" sounds like it could be some cockney rhyming slang. Fangs for the tooth puns, Ellen, we are truly indentured to you.

[@charliearblaster]

Hello people

[@shaysosick]

Ellen's puns are fucking gold!

[@VerdantRange]

Note: The people who were transformed into the first game were turned into the blocks that contain the coins and items. AKA, the indestructible blocks.

[@JonathanKvitky]

Chomper-Collins or Scarfer-Collins. Also, I love all of your terrible puns.

[@nemoniemand9264]

Harper Collins? More like Darker Goblins!

[@Terastas]

Sharper maulins' Also, for distressing Mario moments, I nominate, from Super Mario Bros. 3, World 3-3, the first appearance of Boss Bass, AKA the fast and aggressive giant fish that eats Mario for a one-hit-kill if you fall in the water.

[@joepersch6779]

Scarfer Collins is right there....but I'm loving the piano maker puns!

[@ReachForTheStars5]

My favourite part of Partners in Time is that in the final boss Mario has to win as otherwise his baby self will die, causing a time paradox of Mario never being there to stop other worldending events but to win, he has to kill the Shroob Princess, resulting in genocide of the entire shroob people and their last chance of survival :)

[@sinteleon]

Not quite total genocide... But you do finish the job in Bowser's inside story. :P

[@mistformsquirrel]

Okay so... it turns out Bowser is both a war criminal and gets his flesh melted off, then his skeletal remains are reanimated in a mockery of life that is then summarily smashed apart; and Peach is dead of electrocution, meanwhile eldritch abominations apparently run rampant, and aliens suck the life out of innocent toads. ... I didn't realize Mario Bros was set in the same universe as Warhammer 40k...

[@mildlycornfield]

Ellen is going to show up at Luke's house at three in the morning, scream a teeth-related book pun in his face, and then leave before he has a chance to question it.

[@roundy4717]

- The Origami King had the Toads with their faces hole-punched out, and the Scissors boss who just cuts Mario in half, or those shadow monster things that showed up in the late game (it’s been a while and I forget what they were called) - Sunshine had the surprisingly creepy manta ray boss that kept splitting into hundreds of tiny mantas that chased you everywhere - That bit in Bowser’s Inside Story where Luigi has to rescue Mario while stuck inside the corpse of an enemy that swallowed him whole - Not a Mario game, but the cutscene in Super Smash Bros Ultimate where you defeat Galeem and allow Dharkon to destroy the universe shows Mario silently collapsing and dying.

[@J3rs3y_G1rl]

Oxford? More like Chompsfood! And honestly, with how evil Bowser is, the monster deserves the torment.

[@CyberKnight1]

Harper Collins? More like *Chomper* Collins! Simon & Schuster? More like Simon & *Chewster* ! Random House? More like Random *Mouth* !

[@h-bitgraphics3858]

Harper Collins? More like Harper *Coffins*! (Because the books kill you?)

[@wwklnd]

On the Idle Thumbs podcast some years ago, there was brilliant discussion of an old GameFAQs post where a person asked what it is Mario says at the end of levels. Sure, it sounds like "That's-a so nice!", but I'm fond of the theories that he says "Pizza tonight!", or my favourite, "Threat neutralised!"

[@blackzero786]

Every copy of Super Mario 64 is Personalized. The Mini Chill Bullies in Snow Man Land pushing Mario around on the Ice was always amusing. 30 Star Bowser taking two hits to defeat while getting harder after the first hit was an all nighter as a child.

[@christinewebb8893]

That moment when Mimi snaps her neck while revealing her true identity from 12:04 is nightmare fuel.

[@markoyamashitach]

3:18 While we're at it... what ever happened to the "Mushroom King" anyway? We never see him again do we? (it's been AGES since I played any Mario game)... and what happened to the "Mushroom Queen?" There better not be any funny business going on here... Why is the Mario lore so dark to begin with.... (shivers)

[@kingduckie9135]

I chose to believe that the little mushroom men are still alive when they're bricks because it helps me sleep better at night :)

[@andrewcook4873]

Obviously not all the blocks in Mario are transformed toads. The ones that are disgorge the toad as a mushroom when Mario hits them which Mario can then eat to absorb the toad’s life force and power. So destroying blocks isn’t really like just destroying the kingdom’s former inhabitants, just some of them are like that.

[@wolfydawolf1296]

I always assumed dry bowser and regular bowser were distinct from each other, like dry bowser was some bowser ancestor who died a while ago and decided to get out of the grave and help his grandkid with his evil schemes or something