Darkest Nintendo games and concepts?

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Jumping on the Mario bandwagon.

NOBODY brought this up?

This was brought up at the Rosalina sub-forum at one point. It has been strongly implied that Rosalina lost her parents before encountering the lost Luma, but all that we really know is that Rosalina's mother was deceased, with no explanation of her death.

Rosalina's Storybook was made to be more of a children's story, but even your average children's fairy tale has its dark moments.

 

[LIQUID12A]

This was brought up at the Rosalina sub-forum at one point. It has been strongly implied that Rosalina lost her parents before encountering the lost Luma, but all that we really know is that Rosalina's mother was deceased, with no explanation of her death.

Rosalina's Storybook was made to be more of a children's story, but even your average children's fairy tale has its dark moments.

Unrelated: I saw my unwatched threads, this at the top, with your name on it. I totally guessed right on expecting that to be quoted given your position.

Related: Whatever the theory, it all boils down to unexplained orphanage. And you really don't need much beyond that since it's enough to emotionally break most, imo, and consider that's from the perspective of a child, hence the "sleeping under the tree on the hill." metaphor. And when I think about that line, I get the idea that there's where her parents were buried, but I dunno. Still sad.

 

[ChikoLad]

Rosalina's Storybook, and the character in general, is definitely up there, which is why I like her so much:

Spoiler

A lot of people think the storybook is just about Rosalina getting a bit homesick and realising she can never see her family again due to being so far away from her original home, with them possibly having passed away. However, that's completely incorrect. It's vaguely implied throughout the story that Rosalina's family has been dead since long before she left her home planet with Luma, but she completely confirms it when she starts reliving bottled up memories of her family. All of these memories relate to "the tree on top of the hill", each one leading to the next. Once she starts remembering her mother, though, she begins weeping, screaming that she can never "find" her mother up in space because "she's sleeping beneath the tree on top of the hill!".

That line is crucial, because how could she know about where her mother is buried if she didn't witness the burial herself (heck, maybe she buried her - but that part is speculation)? She couldn't have witnessed this burial if the mother just passed away while she was out in space with Luma. Plus, the time between when Rosalina meets Luma and leaves her home planet is actually stated to be "years", yet we see no sign of her parents or her brother (yet visible ageing on Rosalina - she gets taller and gets slightly more noticeable curves as the story continues).

The only conclusion we can draw is that they were dead before she even met Luma, hence, it was only the two of them on the planet (it couldn't have happened between when she met Luma and when she left the planet either, as it isn't brought up at all by either of them, and Luma only finds out about her family being deceased when she breaks down).

In fact, it's incredibly valid to say Rosalina might have PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), or at least, did over the course of the Storybook. Though she still show signs of it - she's always described as a "sad" and "lonely" character in official bios that were released around the time of Galaxy's release - odd, since she is surrounded by company and even seems quite content, often being portrayed with a sweet smile (though her eyes do look sad and monotone, which is supposed to be the hint). And the fact that she feels the need to revisit her planet every one hundred years means she never did fully get over her loss.

Perhaps the darkest element of this, is if you consider what Rosalina's story would do to someone who just lost loved ones themselves - they play Super Mario Galaxy, expecting it to be a fun escape from the trauma they are dealing with, only to stumble upon the story book. They assume the story book is a cute little extra in the game (since it's starts off innocent and happy). Then it progresses to depict Rosalina missing her family, which would probably tickle this person's heartstrings. But then they get to Chapter 7, and well...I could easily see someone in that situation breaking down at seeing Rosalina's own breakdown, because the situation may feel all too familiar to them. I mean, the way in which Rosalina deals with the loss of her family is actually very realistic - she tries to escape that reality. She actually forgets about them to an extent. I know people who have lost parents, and they have told me that they often forget their deceased parent ever existed, despite loving them so dearly. That's pretty much what happens with Rosalina, and it's probably part of what makes the loss greater to her.

As a little side thing, the 120 Star Ending of Galaxy is incredibly poignant. While everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom celebrates the festivities of the Star Festival after Rosalina resets the universe, Rosalina herself...finally gets to do the one thing she wanted in the first place, and that is visiting her original home. While everyone else celebrates, she just does that one humble, but also depressing thing she wanted to do, and should have been able to do already, at the start of the game, only Bowser started causing trouble and she had to sort that out.

Honestly I could go on for ages about Rosalina and the storybook in this manner but I'll stop now.

Also, Super Paper Mario, Pikmin, and Majora's Mask are also pretty dark.

 

[EZdelFresco]

Majoras Mask....

 

[Twewy]

The Paper Mario series as a whole is pretty dark.

Super Paper Mario and a small bit of Thousand Year Door is not a whole. That's like 35% of a series.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

This was brought up at the Rosalina sub-forum at one point. It has been strongly implied that Rosalina lost her parents before encountering the lost Luma, but all that we really know is that Rosalina's mother was deceased, with no explanation of her death.

Rosalina's Storybook was made to be more of a children's story, but even your average children's fairy tale has its dark moments.

True.Like Little Red Riding Hood?Chopping a wolf's stomach open to save the old lady inside?How was even alive?And she'd be covered in blood and spit and acids.
One version I read even said the wood-cutter saw the old lady moving around inside the dead wolf before he cut her out.Ugh.
If this were visualized,it would not be for children.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

True.Like Little Red Riding Hood?Chopping a wolf's stomach open to save the old lady inside?How was even alive?And she'd be covered in blood and spit and acids.
One version I read even said the wood-cutter saw the old lady moving around inside the dead wolf before he cut her out.Ugh.
If this were visualized,it would not be for children.

Thanks, now I'm scarred after reading this.

 

[warriorman222]

True.Like Little Red Riding Hood?Chopping a wolf's stomach open to save the old lady inside?How was even alive?And she'd be covered in blood and spit and acids.
One version I read even said the wood-cutter saw the old lady moving around inside the dead wolf before he cut her out.Ugh.
If this were visualized,it would not be for children.

There's a Family Guy episode on it. luckily they only show the shadows of the ripping-open part, but show the dead wolf Brian and the old lady inside. Yeah, definitely for kids.

 

[ImaClubYou]

Super Paper Mario and a small bit of Thousand Year Door is not a whole. That's like 35% of a series.

Thanks for the unnecessary tip. Correct me a little earlier next time bro.

 

[Twewy]

Thanks for the unnecessary tip. Correct me a little earlier next time bro.

No problem. My late corrections are what I live for.

 

[ImaClubYou]

No problem. My late corrections are what I live for.

Guess we all learned something today.

 

[I_hate_usernames]

Majora's mask gave me nightmares as a child, so I think that's number 1 on my list. OoT has some dark implementations too.


Super Mario 64 gets honorable mention - that f**king piano!

 

[Tweezer Salad]

Spoiler

"Daddy screamed REEEALL good before he died!"

"I think I'll torture you for a while"

Never realized how morbid these lines actually were until recently. Such good villains.

 

[JayTheUnseen]

'I'm gonna bust you up REAL good!"

Original Pigma was best Pigma...

 

[Omegascizor456]

I would honestly have to say either Majoras Mask (Or Majoras Mask 3D) or Earthbound! They are both a new high for darkness in nintendo game!

 

[L9999]

Mother 2: Creepy imagery, creepy dialogue, abusive police officers, Klu Klux Klan and Giygas.
Mother 3: Family gets killed a lot.
Majoras Mask: The Moon
Genealogy of the Holy War: Every single thing in this game.

 

[Dastardly Ridleylash]

Ridley's pretty dark for a Nintendo character, honestly; the dude takes pleasure in killing for the fun of it, has no sense of mercy and is absurdly hard to kill; the dude only truly died to a planet-destroying explosion that atomized him.
He's arguably one of the most sinister Nintendo villains in that way; while Ganon and Bowser are just looking for power, Ridley's doing what he does because he loves it, and no matter how hard Samus tries to end him, the guy keeps coming back in some form or another.

Hell, his method of breaking Samus' will is to tell her that he ate her mother's flesh. The dude's pretty obviously a psycopath.

 

[L9999]

Ridley's pretty dark for a Nintendo character, honestly; the dude takes pleasure in killing for the fun of it, has no sense of mercy and is absurdly hard to kill; the dude only truly died to a planet-destroying explosion that atomized him.
He's arguably one of the most sinister Nintendo villains in that way; while Ganon and Bowser are just looking for power, Ridley's doing what he does because he loves it, and no matter how hard Samus tries to end him, the guy keeps coming back in some form or another.

Hell, his method of breaking Samus' will is to tell her that he ate her mother's flesh. The dude's pretty obviously a psycopath.

So he is the Joker in dragon? Awesome.

 

[I_hate_usernames]

True.Like Little Red Riding Hood?Chopping a wolf's stomach open to save the old lady inside?How was even alive?And she'd be covered in blood and spit and acids.
One version I read even said the wood-cutter saw the old lady moving around inside the dead wolf before he cut her out.Ugh.
If this were visualized,it would not be for children.

You know the story of Peter Pan? and his band of merry children who never aged?

They did age, he just kills them off when they reach 16...

 

[L9999]

You know the story of Peter Pan? and his band of merry children who never aged?

They did age, he just kills them off when they reach 16...

WTF??!! That's dark!!

 

[Soupy]

The Legend of Zelda series as a whole is pretty dark most of the time.

A few examples:

Majoras Mask: A giant apocalypse, aristocracy killing for nothing but assumed reasons (Deku kingdom,) people essentially stealing children (Gerudo and Zoras,) history of murder in a kingdom (Ikana,) constant thievery (Sakon)

Twilight Princess: The assumed genocide of a race (Gerudo, which I still don't believe but it's a possibility,) execution for treason (Ganondorf,) overthrowing Kingdoms (Zant,) if I remember correctly, Queen Rutela was murdered???

Wind Waker: Flooding an entire kingdom and changing the world into a giant ocean to keep evil at bay, essentially kidnapping children, the extinction of a few races (though I guess you could consider it evolution but they're more like ancestors,) Ganondorf only wanting Hyrule because it's all he has left (IMO WW's Ganondorf was the best because his plans were completely built on good intentions and the survival of his own tribe. But instead, a 12 year old stabs him.)

Link Between Worlds: Envy, and the ruin of an entire kingdom because of it

Ocarina of Time: Lots of assumed murder (and actual murder, AKA the deku tree,) combating the evil inside of yourself (shadow link,) the whole dang shadow temple in general.

Etc, etc, etc. I could probably go on. These are just off of the top of my head.

 

[KoE]

Obligatory post for Majora's Mask. That one is pretty obvious. Definitely Pikmin as well, you're pretty much playing god in that game.

From what Ihear, Earthbound has a lot of moments where the game is really dark. Something with Pu meditating? And in his mind, his eyes are ripped out, limbs ripped off, can no longer talk or something like that, and then he's fine a few moments later? Really should just play the game and find out.

 

[ShinyRegice]

The moment you enter the Kaptain K. Rool final boss level in Donkey Kong Country 2 for the first time, there's an intro where he outright tortures Donkey Kong. It doesn't look gore or anything, but still. I wasn't expecting to see that in a such game.

(For those who don't see what I mean, watch the first seven seconds of this video)

 

[AZ_Spellbound]

My vote for nintendo's darkest game is either LoZ MM, or Earthbound.

 

[finalark]

or Earthbound.

I'd argue that only the last stretch of Earthbound is dark in any sort of way. 90% of the game is what would happen if you had a cartoonist make an RPG. I guess you could say it has some dark elements beneath it all, but that's only if you really dig for it.

Although on the VC release it got pumped up to a Teen rating, so that says something.

 

[MintChipper]

I just beat Mother 3 today and NO PERSON IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL THIS MUCH SADNESS WHEN PLAYING A VIDEO GAME.

 

[L9999]

I just beat Mother 3 today and NO PERSON IS SUPPOSED TO FEEL THIS MUCH SADNESS WHEN PLAYING A VIDEO GAME.

I felt sad because I needed to do excessive grinding to beat the FIRST boss of the game.

 

[Moydow]

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War deserves another mention.
Among the "Jugdral Chronology" from the start of the game is this:

"452: The Sorrow of Miletos
Several children burned to death as a sacrifice to the Dark God"

And that's only the start of it.
There are reasons why IS barely even acknowledge the game's existence these days (unfortunately, as it's one of the better FE games).

 

[L9999]

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War deserves another mention.
Among the "Jugdral Chronology" from the start of the game is this:

"452: The Sorrow of Miletos
Several children burned to death as a sacrifice to the Dark God"

And that's only the start of it.
There are reasons why IS barely even acknowledge the game's existence these days (unfortunately, as it's one of the better FE games).

Yeah, Awakening and most of the other FEs are child's play compared to Genealogy of War.

 

[Octavium]

Metroid Prime 2 made me fell as vulnerable as a horror game, the setting of the game is pretty uncomfortable, I'd say its some pretty dark and terrifying stuff.

Majora's Mask, pretty sure I don't need to explain why, there's some messed up stuff in that game.

Earthbound, for its deep and mature content masked with a cartoon-ish filther, the soundtrack, the difficulty and especially that last boss is some pretty uneasy stuff.

 

[FE_Hector]

Here's my opinions on the 5 darkest Nintendo games.

1.) Majora's Mask... for all of you out there who have actually played the entirety of the game, just pause for a minute to THINK about it. The mask itself was made by an unknown Shadow Tribe (I believe they're referred to as), and it basically turns the Moon into a nuke that will go off in 3 days (let your time run out to see this). I have no idea if you've seen the infamous ZeldaDungeons post about the Stone Tower Temple, but it was a shrine to that mask. When it goes onto somebody, it completely takes them over and gives them dark powers. When threatened... just look up Majora's Wrath, I don't feel like scarring little kids with that image.

2.) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes... That game is straight-up dark. The bosses, the weaponry, the themes, the lore, the everything. It's more of a feeling, so I can hardly describe it.

3.) Twilight Princess... The Dark Link scene alone right after you defeat the third temples' boss gets this on my list. Puppet Zelda and the Shadow Beasts, along with the Realm of the Twili itself don't help this situation at all.

4.) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance & Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn... Technically, these are two separate games, but in my mind they are a coherent whole. I won't go on too long of a rant about this, but come ON. Regularly in Fire Emblem, brigands attack small towns and burn them down. In this game, that is the theme of the first chapter is preventing houses from being utterly destroyed by brigands. You don't even have the chance to stop one of them from being destroyed. Then, before the 8th chapter, you see a very detailed, emotional cutscene in which Ike's father is killed by the Black Knight (see my profile pic ). Soon, you learn about the Beorc, and humans, and the Laguz, referred to as sub-humans. Ike finds that the Laguz are great despite all the prejudice about them, they're just like people, so he decides to go to war against Daein with Laguz at his side. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that Daein violently murdered all but the Princess of the Crimean Royal Family within 5 chapters and then attacked you at your base, which is why you had to flee. Skip forwards to the end of the game, and you find that the mount of the Mad King Ashnard was actually the lover of one of the two Dragons you can get as an ally, but he STILL gets killed. Quick look at Radiant Dawn, where the "Dark God" is actually the good guy and you get screwed over left and right by the Goddess Ashera. Plot twist, anybody? The game has a scene where somebody who you're close to is about to be hanged, and another where they show the war. You see the Laguz General Skrimir get nearly killed by the General Zelgius, and watch the devastating effects of the Blood Pact on the newly liberated Daein. Daein and Dae-out, as my brother would say, there is murder, espionage, treason, racism, suggested sexual themes... the list goes on and on.

5.) Final Fantasy VI. Kefka Palazzo, I rest my case.

Honorable mentions include Pikmin, EarthBound, and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. I can't say that I've played through the pre-Rekka No Ken FE games, so I can't pass judgment on them, and Awakening was childs play. Honestly, my least favorite FE to date was Awakening.

 

[Mega Bidoof]

I just want to point out how many post-apocalyptic games Nintendo has made.

Pikmin (duh)
Splatoon (some of the sunken scrolls)
Mother 3 (spoilers)
Xenoblade X (seen in all the trailers)
Kirby (64 had that one level that looks like a frozen Earth)

 

[Opossum]

No one's pointed out Link's Awakening? Sure, in Majora's Mask, you save the world from being crushed by the moon. But here...

Spoiler

Link is solely responsible for the destruction of that world inside the Wind Fish's dream. All those people he met, obliterated once the Wind Fish woke. He at least saves the doomed world in MM. Here, they didn't even know they were doomed, and then all died.

Also obligatory AZ from Pokemon.

 

[FE_Hector]

No one's pointed out Link's Awakening? Sure, in Majora's Mask, you save the world from being crushed by the moon. But here...

Spoiler

Link is solely responsible for the destruction of that world inside the Wind Fish's dream. All those people he met, obliterated once the Wind Fish woke. He at least saves the doomed world in MM. Here, they didn't even know they were doomed, and then all died.

Also obligatory AZ from Pokemon.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play Links Awakening yet, so... It's on my to do list, though

 

[LF2K]

My sister has always thought Yoshi's Island has had some dark undertones. In her words, you find a lost baby but discover his twin brother is being held captive by a creeper. Said creeper stalks you the entire time you spend on your journey, waiting for you to mess up so his goons can sweep in and take Baby Mario away.

 

[Infinite901]

Earthbound and Mother 3. Earthbound sort of gives the feel of Grimms story tales, or Adventure Time, or Courage the Cowardly Dog, or old Disney movies, where it seems very lighthearted and cheery at first but then you later notice all these incredibly dark aspects of it. It creates a very warped atmosphere. Mother 3 on the other hand is straight up DARK and it lets you know from the first chapter.

Also, the first two entries in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Red and Blue Rescue Team had some unexpected stuff, but Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky was where it really stood out.

Spoiler

-It visualizes a future in which tme stands still. The sun never rises, the entire world is grey and devoid, destroyed, and Primal Dialga has all control
-There is a straight up execution scene (think beginning of Twilight Princess) where the 3 main characters are meant to be CLAWED TO DEATH BY SOME SABLEYE.
-The main character - YOU - dies. (you come back to life but w/e)
-Azurill is trapped in a permanent nightmare, and it is hinted that if he was not woken up then he would have died.
-Drowzee confirmed as a child kidnapper.
-Darkrai tries to convince you and your partner to KILL YOURSELVES - your partner considers it.
-If Primal Dialga's roar doesn't scare you I don't know what does.
-The Zero Isles.

Incidentally these are also some of my favorite games of all time.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

Pokémon's Lavender Town. Not the city itself (every alive thing dies), but the histories that the song of this city brought...

 

[LancerStaff]

Kid Icarus deserves some mention.

Spoiler

Chapter 10 ends with Pit killing the wish seed's guardian. Said guardian was the only thing keeping the nations of the world from going to war over it, and it's a fake wish. It's a sick parody of the Triforce, put there for much the same reasons.

Oh, and then somebody drops a nuke on probably the biggest war the world has seen and kills just about everybody.

Then there's the Chaos Kin arc. The thing possesses Palutena and put's Pit's soul in a ring, then it commands Palutena's army (and upgrades 'em from the slackers from the first game to boot) to terrorize humans for three whole years before Pit escapes from the ring. Pit's body has been going around just killing for the sake of killing all this time too, along with the Underworld army still doing what it does best.

 

[ChikoLad]

The only thing about Uprising is that most of it's dark elements were merely informed, and you didn't really get to see how it effected characters and people all that much.

Hades was great for dark humour though.

 

[Meta-Kraid]

Kid Icarus deserves some mention.

Spoiler

Chapter 10 ends with Pit killing the wish seed's guardian. Said guardian was the only thing keeping the nations of the world from going to war over it, and it's a fake wish. It's a sick parody of the Triforce, put there for much the same reasons.

Oh, and then somebody drops a nuke on probably the biggest war the world has seen and kills just about everybody.

Then there's the Chaos Kin arc. The thing possesses Palutena and put's Pit's soul in a ring, then it commands Palutena's army (and upgrades 'em from the slackers from the first game to boot) to terrorize humans for three whole years before Pit escapes from the ring. Pit's body has been going around just killing for the sake of killing all this time too, along with the Underworld army still doing what it does best.

Spoiler

Hades also starts a world war in order to grow his army. He turns the souls into monsters before they move on into the afterlife. It may be implied that these souls move on when the monsters are killed, but Hades EATS souls himself! A beast that eats souls releases them when it is attacked a killed, but do all souls survive? Hades mentions he wanted to be standing on a mountain of bodies when Pit confronted him (or something like that).

To be fair, any game with a villain is bound to be dark. As previously pointed even the Yoshi's Island series is dark.

Edit: Don't forget the [ /spoiler] at the end of your post or somebody who quotes it will have their post spoilered too.