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5) Giga Bowser (Super Smash Bros. series)
Bowser is already a pretty fearsome foe, with claws, spikes and the ability to breathe fire. Still, that didn’t stop the minds at Nintendo from creating a twisted, gigantic evolution of Bowser: Giga Bowser.
First seen in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Giga Bowser has yet to terrorise the Mushroom Kingdom and has so far stuck to the Smash Bros. series, more recently as a Final Smash form for Bowser. Despite this, he remains a fearsome figure. Bigger, more powerful, and far harder to KO, Giga Bowser is significantly more ferocious than ordinary Bowser. In fact, while Bowser’s kidnapping of Princess Peach have become fairly harmless, who knows what would happen if Giga Bowser got his hands on her. We hope we never have to find out…
4) Poo’s Training (EarthBound)
With the re-release of EarthBound on Virtual Console, Western gamers are finally able to play this classic Nintendo game and, as a JRPG, one would expect there to be a certain amount of weirdness in the game. One particularly horrifying moment, however, comes during the trials of Prince Poo, as he is completing his trial in the art of Mu. As part of this, he has to sit and accept his fate as a spiritual ghost proceeds to dismember him, starting from his legs and working his way up to his mind itself.
The sound stopped as your ears were taken, your legs were fed to the crows and eventually there was nothing left. Worst of all, if you wanted to progress, you had to actively choose to accept all of this. This was more than a little uncomfortable and it is no wonder that the clever altering of gameplay features (like the audio) conjures up memories of Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.
3) Mask Transformations (The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask deserves a Top Ten Creepy Moments of its own, really, as there are so many moments from it that are dark and depressing.
A moment that stands out, largely because of how often it occurs, is the transformation cutscenes where Link puts on a mask. Strained eyes, cracked skin, fangs… not to mention the screaming that accompanies each transformation. A certain Nintendo employee recently clarified that Link screams due to the “boundless sorrow surrounding each mask,” and that isn’t really much of a comfort for those of us that have to keep seeing it. Nintendo doesn’t even allow us to skip it the first time we put on a new mask!
2) The Trees (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 featured a host of different galaxies that you could travel to, all of which featured colorful characters and vibrant landscapes. However, in Shiverburn Galaxy there remains a dark and unexplained mystery.
By using first-person view, players can see three figures on top of the glacier cliffs in the background. No characters ever mention them, they have no impact on the game and, by going into the game’s files, they are described only as “Tree.” Whatever they are, they seem to exist only to follow Mario throughout his time in the galaxy. They even pop up again later on the Pull Star Planet in the Grandmaster Galaxy, just to torment poor Mario.
1) Lanayru Cutscene (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
One of the creepiest moments found within a Nintendo game has to be this cut scene from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. While Majora’s Mask is well-known for its dark tone, Twilight Princess is arguably an even creepier entry in the series.
Having just filled up another Vessel of Light, Link is given a speech by the Light Spirit Lanayru about the dangers of the Fused Shadow. What follows next is beyond creepy. The grinning faces, the vacant eyes, the knife… I still get tremors watching it! Perhaps what makes this moment particularly creepy is just how different it is from the “creation of the Triforce” story that is told in all of the other games. With rumors of an HD edition of Twilight Princess on the horizon, who knows, we may even have to relieve this moment again soon.
These moments range from the slightly disturbing to the genuinely creepy, but they are no means all that can be found in Nintendo games. There are far too many to fit in one Top Ten and there were plenty of others that could fill a whole new list (the Happy Mask salesman, anyone?).
As Halloween draws near, why not let us know which moments are forever lodged in your mind and whether we brought up a few best-left-forgotten memories. Happy Halloween!
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