10 Video Games Way Freakier Than You Thought

There's no denying that Super Mario 64 is one of the most important, influential, and downright brilliant video games of all time, but it's also one which, both upon release and today, betrays its harmless Nintendo aesthetic through its pervasively off-kilter tone.

Its technical innovations naturally mean that it's a far cry from anything the Mario series had produced prior, though at this point game console development wasn't sufficiently advanced enough that Mario could adequately emote and express himself.

As was fantastically argued in a piece by games developer Kyle Labriola, Mario 64 has a uniquely nightmarish quality to it, feeling detached from the traditions of Mario games both before and after.

This is in part due to the lack of NPCs in the world per the N64's limitations, making its otherwise expansive locales feel stark and isolating.

The game's mood is generally far eerier than most Mario games, defined by a litany of nightmare fuel-inducing enemies, most memorably that damn haunted piano and Unagi the Eel, the latter seeming like it'd be far more at home in one of the Silent Hill games.