9. Meat Sloughing Off Bones Like A Well-Cooked Turkey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONxKm8uApSc The Metroid series is a fine example of Nintendo walking the line between keeping things family-friendly and making them more mature. It takes inspiration from the adult-rated Alien movies, but presents it in such a way that gamers of any age can enjoy the proceedings without much in the way of mental scarring. Well, mostly. Case in point: Super Metroid's Crocomire battle, a sumo-esque fight in which the creature in question tries to use its impenetrable hide to squash Samus Aran against a wall of spikes. Fortunately, while Crocomire can't be harmed externally, internal damage is another matter, and Samus can fire her weapons into the creature's maw to push it further and further back until the very ground beneath it collapses. This plunges the beast into the burning acidic fluid that runs throughout Norfair, revealing that at a high enough temperature, even its hardy skin can melt right from its bones. A surprisingly gruesome sight, all told, as its flesh, its many eyes, and just everything drips away while it screams in pain and terror. What's crazier still, however, is that the Crocomire isn't dead yet. Following its defeat, you can still see air bubbles emerging from down below, moving left across the screen. These are from the Cromomire, making one last bid to eliminate its killer, bursting through the very wall it tried to pin her to with its final breath. Unfortunately for it, the creature has nothing left to give and collapses in a pile of bones before Samus, inadvertently having made it possible for the hunter to continue her journey. That, or the creature has some strange sense of honor, and having been defeated, makes it possible for its worthy adversary to proceed with her mission. Either way, getting there is a jarring sight the first time around. However, if you think that was something of a surprise in Super Metroid, just think: They did the same thing to kid-friendly Mario's popular nemesis, Bowser, a little over a decade later:
In New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, the battle to close out the first world is a recreation of the classic "fight Bowser on a bridge over some lava" bit from the original Super Mario Bros. Hit a switch, into the hot drink he goes. Nothing new there. But as you can see above, there's a twist this time around. Bowser roars and struggles, much like Crocomire, and while not depicted in as gruesome a manner, you can see that the Koopa King and his flesh are soon parted, leaving behind a skeletal form and a blackened shell. For a Mario game, this turn of events was still surprisingly intense, and it's amazing that Nintendo ran with it. Bowser does get restored by the end of the game, however, thanks to his son and some black magic. Despite that, this turn of events nonetheless gave rise to Dry Bowser, an alter-ego of Bowser who is now a regularly recurring character (who Bowser claims is his relative) not only in sports games and the like, but in regular Mario titles such as New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario 3D Land, too.