Darkest Nintendo games and concepts?

[warriorman222]

Nintendo games are supposed to be kid-friendly. happy, colorful, friendly. But not all of them are. LIke Pikmin, where you are a white man in a spacesuit, with a month to live before you would die of oxygen poisoning, forced to enslave a race of creatures, for them to use their breeding machines, and occasionally render them extinct, just to slaughter poor creatures much larger than you with your army of slaves, to collect part of your broken ship to abandon the planet before your Life support runs out.

Or Kirby, an insatiable violent beast that thrives on the blood of mass murder. Until you realize that instead of killing you he sticks you into an endless pocket of reality in his stomach, where he finally ends your suffering and absorbs your powers(You can hold a sword? Kirby is now the universes strongest swordsman who can slice well beyond the speed of light.) by entering his stomach world.

What do you think are the most unnerving concepts and creations of Nintendo?

 

[SomewhatMystia]

Is it cheating if I say Eternal Darkness?

I'd honestly have to say that Kirby's fairly dark even if you don't take Kirby to a horrifying extreme. You've got this cute, happy little universe always being plagued by some unspeakable horror (Dark Matter, Zero-Two, Marx, etc) as well as the fact that Shiver Star from Kirby 64 is pretty much a post-extinction Earth.

Pikmin's definitely one of the dark ones, though, when you think about it. Outside of Pikmin 2, the games are all about the survival of you (and in P3's case, your entire planet). If you screw up, someone or something just straight up dies. Also there's the creepy factor of hauling your enemies' carcasses back to the onion every kill...

 

[Spak]

In the original Super Mario Bros., the instruction manual said that Bowser cursed the land by turning all of the Toads into bricks. That means for every brick Mario breaks, he is killing a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom.

 

[finalark]

I haven't played any of them myself, but I hear a few of the Japan-exclusive FE games get pretty heavy. Apparently Genealogy of the Holy War in particular is supposedly pretty dark.

Although that's just what I've heard. Take it with a grain of salt.

 

[warriorman222]

In the original Super Mario Bros., the instruction manual said that Bowser cursed the land by turning all of the Toads into bricks. That means for every brick Mario breaks, he is killing a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom.

He also murders innocent Goombas in various ways:
Crushing them to death
Burning them
Running over them in a shell.
Crushing their skull with a punch to the face.

The list goes on.

Also Majora's Mask is the apocalypse, with things like a girl being sedated with milk to ease her suffering during the end, everyone freaking out over their last 3 days, and such.

Sonic'06 is the devil. Literally. I'll explain later. I don't even care that it doesn't count.

 

[Spak]

Also, the Spacies don't have metal boots, they have amputated legs.

 

[warriorman222]

Also, the Spacies don't have metal boots, they have amputated legs.

Yeah yeah, going that fast makes the blood go down to their feet. That isn't that dark, it just shows how devoted they are.

 

[Big Homie]

what about pokemon i mean you capture an animal and force it to fight other animals to capture them and use them for entrainment purposes and you also make them fight until they are fatigued

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I feel like these are just things that are better off left a mystery.

The Zelda and Metroid franchises may be one of the darkest, considering that they both have an antagonist that kills without any remorse.

Eternal Darkness comes up next, but I guess that's no big surprise for an M-rated game.

Still, it's odd how even in a fictional world, PETA can often complain about the cruelty that the Nintendo enemies tend to suffer from. Of course, in Ice Climber, Topis were changed to be fictional yeti-like creatures.

 

[dimensionsword64]

what about pokemon i mean you capture an animal and force it to fight other animals to capture them and use them for entrainment purposes and you also make them fight until they are fatigued

Actually, it's said that the Pokemon enjoy pokemon battles. Also, love and friendship and compassion for your pokemon is a big theme throughout the games.

Although, Pokemon X and Y got pretty dark for a different reason.

Spoiler

Team Flare literally tries to kill everyone who isn't in Team Flare. Also, a kid mentions something among the lines of "I'll have my <insert very large amount of money> saved up soon, so I can join Team Flare."

So basically, Team Flare is killing anyone who a) isn't in Team Flare, or b) can't afford to be in Team Flare.

 

[Spak]

Also, shown by the Zangoose and Seviper hoard battles, they fight in the wild anyways.

 

[warriorman222]

Also, shown by the Zangoose and Seviper hoard battles, they fight in the wild anyways.

It's like 2 different animal species fighting. It's not as bad as Team Flare being the Nazis.

 

[Spak]

I was talking about the Pokemon battles and how they would be fighting regardless of if trainers were there, not Team Flare. Sorry if I caused any confusion.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

In the original Super Mario Bros., the instruction manual said that Bowser cursed the land by turning all of the Toads into bricks. That means for every brick Mario breaks, he is killing a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom.

If I recall,it's stated somewhere that Mario is freeing them from the bricks by breaking them...they're just...invisible?

 

[Spak]

Just for reference, here's the original text.

I don't remember Nintendo ever saying that, but I may be wrong.

 

[Substitution]

Better yet, why not just Mario in general?
This is a game where a plumber destroys a tyranny by crushing, burning, freezing, and God knows what else to Bowser's minions.
And on top of that, what about multiplayer? You can pick up your friends, toss them in lava, and none of the characters feel remorse or sadness.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I think the ironic part about the Mario games is that the enemies that Mario faces may not be sentiment beings at all, and were actually created by Bowser's dark magic. That can explain why enemies like the Goombas and Koopa Troopas will leave behind coins upon being defeated in some of the 3D platformer titles.

Anyway, one should still consider that when Mario stomps on a Goomba, it may simply just faint, much like how a Pokemon faints after being KO'd.

 

[finalark]

I know a lot of people like to point to the way that Koopas and Goombas are presented as a sentient race in the RPGs for evidence of how messed up Mario is but I'd like to think that those games are a separate continuity from the main series. I'm gonna have to side with the "created by magic" interpretation Mario_and_Sonic_Guy talked about.

(PS I still have no idea how to tag people in posts).

 

[Shog]

I think the ironic part about the Mario games is that the enemies that Mario faces may not be sentiment beings at all, and were actually created by Bowser's dark magic. That can explain why enemies like the Goombas and Koopa Troopas will leave behind coins upon being defeated in some of the 3D platformer titles.

This makes so much sense it isn't even funny.
Considering that we get coins out of blocks
and that blocks are Toads
and defeated enemies gives coins...

Everything makes sense!

 

[Substitution]

Anyway, one should still consider that when Mario stomps on a Goomba, it may simply just faint, much like how a Pokemon faints after being KO'd.

I don't know about that. If they really do "faint", then where do they go when stomped? Or when they explode into coins?

 

[Spak]

I know a lot of people like to point to the way that Koopas and Goombas are presented as a sentient race in the RPGs for evidence of how messed up Mario is but I'd like to think that those games are a separate continuity from the main series. I'm gonna have to side with the "created by magic" interpretation Mario_and_Sonic_Guy talked about.

(PS I still have no idea how to tag people in posts).

You just put an @ before it like this: @ finalark

 

[Chinaux]

How has nobody mentioned Earthbound yet?
This video basically sums it all up.

 

[the8thark]

If you are talking every developer and not just 1st party games then I'd list these games as dark in their own ways:

• Monster Party (NES) - Someone has a screen of this game as their signature on this forum.
• Gargoyle's Quest 2 (NES)
• Batman (NES)
• Demon's Crest (SNES)
• Shadowman (N64)
• Majora's Mask (N64)
• Eternal Darkness (GC)
• Super Paper Mario (Wii)

 

[ToxicWolf1132]

The final battle with Earthbound's Gigyas is basically Ness performing an abortion on a weird alien God-like creature before it grows up to destroy the earth. Also, anyone remember in Pikmin 2, there is a huge enemy bulborb with babies following it. If you kill their mother, they will follow you and fight for you. Then they get left behind in hhe cave you found them in. So in essence, you murder thier mother, then leave them for dead. Finally, in A Link between Worlds, Yuga turns people into paintings. But before anyone knows this, you see some people scrubbing paintings of Knights off the castle walls. That's a pretty brutal way to go, I'd say

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Pretty much the Mother Series in general >_>

 

[Pega-pony Princess]

I would have to say Pokemon Colosseum and XD. Pokemon that attack you because their hearts are full of darkness? Not escatly a cheery concept

 

[Pallex]

The Fire Emblem series may be high fantasy with bright, colorful graphics, but it's also filled with war, murder, racism, genocide, r*pe and incest, especially the Jugdral series. The only reason that these games have never been rated higher than T is that it's never shown, just spoken about and implied. There's a reason the first few games didn't make it out of Japan. It must be noted that only the SNES and Game Boy Advance titles, and Mystery Of The Emblem are particularly bright and colourful; save for the obligatory use of You Gotta Have Blue Hair, every other title in the series is much more subdued and realistic in colouring, bordering on Real Is Brown at times.
The Mario series:

Yeah what was that about Nintendo being "colorful" and "lighthearted"? I couldn't hear you over your lack of exposure to Nintendo's franchises.

 

[Selenite]

Sonic'06 is the devil. Literally. I'll explain later. I don't even care that it doesn't count.

Death is a mature subject that Third-Party Franchises such as Metal Gear, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man aren't afraid to touch. If they count then the characters' death of

Spoiler

Iris, E-102 Gamma, and The Boss

really stands out to some fans.

 

[warriorman222]

Death is a mature subject that Third-Party Franchises such as Metal Gear, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man aren't afraid to touch. If they count then the characters' death of

Spoiler

Iris, E-102 Gamma, and The Boss

really stands out to some fans.

I'm not talking about death.

Although the comments section itself is 666* worse than the game.

 

[Flakk]

Mother 3 has a pretty sad storyline although it still has a lot of humour to make up for it. After you fight the Porkybots though the game gets 100% serious but that's the last 10-20 min of the game.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 has stuff like good characters getting killed off, executions and an attempt to trick the main character into killing himself which is quite weird as the game is really lighthearted before you go into the future.

 

[ImaClubYou]

The Paper Mario series as a whole is pretty dark.

Don't know about Sticker Star though. Would never touch that disgusting game

 

[JayTheUnseen]

The Paper Mario series as a whole is pretty dark.

Don't know about Sticker Star though. Would never touch that disgusting game

No it isn't really.
Super Paper Mario probably comes out on top for the series.

 

[Spak]

No it isn't really.
Super Paper Mario probably comes out on top for the series.

Some parts of Thousand Year Door (the ghost on the train, Twilight Town in general, and Princess Peach being possessed at the end of the game) were dark, but some of the stuff like Prince Mush's death and Bobbery's wife's letter are more sad than dark... I can't think of any dark parts in the original Paper Mario right now (the game was generally lighthearted and fun), but I agree that parts of Super Paper Mario was dark. Sticker Star lacked any emotion whatsoever and I felt nothing while completing the game, so I didn't see any dark parts in that.

 

[TheDarkKnightNoivern]

In Omega ruby and alpha sapphire it's largely hinted that Zinnia had a child that died and she treats her whimsur like it's that kid, then she tries to sacrifice herself to save the world. Also she seems to be kinda mentally unstable which is shown in her battle animations and if this was true that would make sense.

 

[ImaClubYou]

Some parts of Thousand Year Door (the ghost on the train, Twilight Town in general, and Princess Peach being possessed at the end of the game) were dark, but some of the stuff like Prince Mush's death and Bobbery's wife's letter are more sad than dark... I can't think of any dark parts in the original Paper Mario right now (the game was generally lighthearted and fun), but I agree that parts of Super Paper Mario was dark. Sticker Star lacked any emotion whatsoever and I felt nothing while completing the game, so I didn't see any dark parts in that.

The first Paper Mario was just me finding a reason to put it somewhere.

However, yes, TTYD was dark in a setting that wasn't suppose to be dark.

Chapter 1, village of turtles being tormented by a dragon for who knows how long? Within the castle you find brave warriors corpses littered on the floor.

Chapter 2 is meh. Though if it wasn't for the music the chapter would've been super gloomy(this is my least favorite chapter).

Chapter 3. This is especially dark since the whole thing is about the manager of the Glitzpit is the one that's killing his own fighters for his own greed all the while we are suspicious of the champ Rawk Hawk. Finally, Jolene was a spy since the beginning. Pretty dark, imo.

Chapter 4. Well... A doppleganger changing townsfolk into pigs for his own prankster mindset reasons. When the bell rings, you don't know who has turned into a pig until you find him. All kinds of black magic, spells, and hexes.

Chapter 5. Shipwreck.. whatever. Not really dark in anyway besides ghosts and stuff. Boss was badass.

Chapter 6. Ghost in the cabin whose been tormented to stay in his room forever until he gets his diary back. Not to mention he KILLS you if you read it. Oh and the entire time you're on this voyage you're a potential victim of a BOMB threat.

Chapter 7. Secret base on the moon. Sir Grodus nasty plan that whether or not Lord Crump wins or loses he wins. Betrayal.

Chapter 8. The entire chapter is just pure evil. Dark themes, treasures coming from the shadows, possible spacial involvement with the keys in the pedestals, etc. All that and the Shadow Sirens were the actual villians since the beginning. Oh and Shadow Queen, lol.

SPMs whole intention was to be dark so yeah.

 

[LIQUID12A]

Jumping on the Mario bandwagon.

NOBODY brought this up?

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Jumping on the Mario bandwagon.

NOBODY brought this up?

Except Earthbound and Mother 3 beginning and ending tho

 

[LIQUID12A]

Except Earthbound and Mother 3 beginning and ending tho

Personally, I have no attachment to Mother. It really doesn't faze me.

This storybook, on the other hand...aside from the dark concept it hides, on a more personal level, it's one of two Nintendo moments to successfully break me, and of the four games that have managed that, it broke me the hardest.

 

[Heroine of Winds]

For a game involving cute colorful aliens, Pikmin sure has a lot of dark concepts in it. In the first game, you'll only have 30 days before your oxygen goes out while in Pikmin 3, there's the whole shortage of food. If you don't make it in 30 days or not have any food left, you'll die. Oh, and there's the Pikmin dying in various ways.

 

[Z25]

In Omega ruby and alpha sapphire it's largely hinted that Zinnia had a child that died and she treats her whimsur like it's that kid, then she tries to sacrifice herself to save the world. Also she seems to be kinda mentally unstable which is shown in her battle animations and if this was true that would make sense.

Um, i am going to say this is quite flawed no offense. She is cleary around the players age, it's highly unlikely she had a child. I think what happened was she had another whismur that was named aster and got sick and died because she couldn't heal it. She seems to be from another dimension or future where they are not as technologly advanced as the player's was. She also didn't really sacrifice herself. She wouldn't have died and still lived. Her people were abe to save the world through praying to rayquazza and that's essentially what she did, but she couldn't handle it's power and wasn't deemed worthy.