Everything Scary About Super Mario 64

Mario wasn't alone. Lakitu, the camera guy, followed him around the whole time.

"Mario 64 seems like a dream" Damn that actually got me

It's weird that half the gaming channels on YouTube suddenly became convinced Mario 64 is a creepy game, all seemingly at the same time. Did you guys have a meeting, or what? I must have played a thousand hours of this game over the years and I don't get it.

Back when I was a child, I used to have this surreal dream about the wet-dry level underground town and I was there walking around feeling empty and creeped out

The interesting thing is that I never was really creeped out that much playing this game even at a young age. But I definitely remember always having that feeling of uneasiness or eeriness especially in levels like big boo's mansion, hazy maze cave, shifting sand lands, and the bowser levels.

This video just confirms everything I felt about this game all these years. It does have and ominous and eerie feel to it. One of the reasons why I love it yet feel unsettled by it at the same time.

2:47 I personally love the feel of the water levels. I never found them creepy when I played the game recently for the first time. I think it’s either the fact that I would always vacation by an ocean with my extended family (I would also play Mario games with my cousins so I associate the ocean with good memories) and that I SCUBA dive, so I know what to expect in water.

The only thing that just rubs me wrong is the endless stairs. It's literally unexplainable

you know? wet-dry world is one of my favorite levels in the game, not only for it's atmosphere, but because everything seems like you could do anything there

I couldn’t have been the only one to have wondered what was beyond the giant mountains/hills boarding each stage. I think I must have spent hours continuously climbing up only to slide back down trying to figure that out.

The most scary thing I remember was the ghost mission when The piano starts to attack out of nowhere. This got me almost a heart attack and I was scared even after a bit. MAN crazy childhood

Strange, i played the hell out of this game, never felt scared… i do remember getting somewhat startled by the Eel that came out of the wall the first time, and that was just about it.

The staircase makes use of an effect known as rising Shepard tone (which is also canonically Bill Cipher's favorite 'song' to listen to) that makes it sound like the tone keeps getting higher when in reality it keeps looping.

I'm a little surprised you didn't include the giant fish from Tiny Huge Island in this video. That thing terrified me to the point I wouldn't go upstairs for fear of accidentally entering that painting. On a lesser note, the hellish, laughing fireball painting for Lethal Lava Land was just as scary to me when I was younger. On one more note, Wet Dry World does strike an eerie chord with me, too. Half in part of the bizarre, depressing tone of the level, but also because of a horrific dream I had from being in the town. My nightmare was that everytime you raised the water, people who were locked in the houses would drown, break down the front door, and swim after you as zombies.

What scared me the most was when my beloved cousin was shot and killed, he beat a lot of levels for me before his death. When he died, I inserted my game into the N64 and all of my progress was gone. I never really wanted to beat the game again after that. Not only was I hurt but I was frightened.

Pixels After Dark, Wow, this made my day brighter! Thank you!

I have reoccurring dreams/nightmares about this game. They usually involve encountering Bowser at random moments in the castle. I'm pretty sure it stems from the feelings this game's emptiness gave me as a kid, which you explained perfectly.

Someone is there with you, Lakitu documents everything that happens in Super Mario 64 as he is the camera.

Incredible video brother. I always felt this way about this game and never had anyone to talk this over with! Thank you for helping me find "closure". Respect

I think the emptiness effect is only unsettling to those who grew up in cities or similar. I grew up where empty spaces are normal.