10 Scariest Water Levels In Video Games

3. Jolly Roger Bay - Super Mario 64

This one’s for your childhood, as Super Mario 64’s underwater beastie Unagi absolutely terrified kids who came across it. Particularly those who weren’t used to being jump-scared in 3D.

Approach what appears to be a 2D face in a wall and boom you’ve got a toothy eel coming right at your little plumber pal. Would this scare the crap out of you now?

Well, probably not. But in the context of the time and the age most people encountered it, this was not what you would have been expecting to encounter in a kid’s game. On top of that, the only way to get in his hidey hole is to lure him out and potentially get chomped on. Any contact with the eel and Mario jumps back, reeling.

Seeing Mario’s gurgling as he suffocates and drowns while grabbing at his face, then watching his corpse begin to drift to the surface is also completely traumatizing.