The Mushroom Kingdom Isn't Always Cheerful
Mario games are packed with bright colors and goofy enemies, so much so that almost anything seems harmless. Note that we said almost. Nintendo has slipped some genuinely disturbing material into this franchise over the years, and we’re here to talk about the 20 darkest things that have actually happened in the Super Mario universe.
1. Bowser Turned Mushroom People Into Bricks
The original 1985 Super Mario Bros. manual gives Bowser's invasion a much nastier backstory than the game ever explains. It says the peaceful Mushroom People were transformed through Koopa black magic into stones, bricks, and even plants after their kingdom was conquered. Okay, so that doesn't mean every brick Mario smashes has a trapped Toad, but we’re still on high alert.
2. The Shroobs Literally Harvest Toad Life Force
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time doesn't settle for simple aliens conquering the Mushroom Kingdom. Oh, no—the Shroobs strap captured Toads to altered trees and slowly drain a substance called "vim," which is explicitly described as their life force. And where does all that extracted energy go? It’s used to help power the Shroobs' machinery.
3. Toadiko Gets Drained in Front of Mario
One of the worst examples of Shroob cruelty is when Mario's group discovers Toadiko trapped inside one of the trees. She can’t even warn them about Peach before the plant drains what’s left of her vim, leaving the heroes unable to save her. The Shroobs then turn what's left into a mushroom-like form that can be used as fuel. And here we thought this was just a cute game.
4. The Shroobs Brainwash Their Own Guards
Make no mistake: the Toads aren't the only victims. Two Hammer Bros. guarding the facility have antennas pinned to their helmets, allowing the Shroobs to control their minds. Luckily, you can restore their personalities by destroying the devices.
5. Tatanga Enslaves an Entire Kingdom
Forget the graphics, people. The plot of 1989's Super Mario Land gets pretty sinister once you dig a little deeper. Tatanga takes control of Sarasaland by hypnotizing its inhabitants, then uses them to defend the kingdoms he's conquered. Oh, and he’s holding Princess Daisy prisoner.
6. Rosalina Lost Her Mother as a Child
When it comes to adorable characters, we often don’t stop to think about their backstory. Well, we wish we didn’t with Rosalina, whose optional storybook has one of the saddest stories in the franchise. Long story short: she leaves home as a girl while still grieving her mother's death, eventually realizing that she isn’t coming back. Her loss is only reflected when she later becomes a maternal figure for the Lumas.
7. Thousands of Lumas Sacrifice Themselves
The ending of Super Mario Galaxy is…upsetting. Bowser's defeat forms a massive black hole, and Baby Luma willingly throws himself into it—followed by thousands of other Lumas. Their sacrifice allows everyone another chance in the reborn universe, but darn it all if we didn’t shed a few tears.
8. The Ruined Kingdom
Super Mario Odyssey briefly drops Mario into Crumbleden, a place that looks nothing like the kingdoms surrounding it. Nintendo's own in-game material describes it as a land long past its glory days, which is more than evident when you go. Nobody even explains what happened, leaving us to explore the remains before moving on.
9. Mario Watches an Entire World Get Erased
Few Mario scenes are as bleak as the destruction of Sammer's Kingdom (thanks a lot, Super Paper Mario). Mario's party races to escape while the Void consumes the dimension, only to discover a blank space called the World of Nothing. The buildings, inhabitants, and King Sammer himself are gone. That is, until the damage is reversed at the end.
10. Count Bleck Wiped Out His Own People
Count Bleck isn't just another villain trying to knock down Peach's castle. After losing Timpani, Blumiere takes the Dark Prognosticus, becomes Count Bleck, kills his dad, and murks the world inhabited by the Tribe of Darkness. It was a lot to handle all in one go, but here we are.
11. Timpani Was Cursed to Wander
Let’s not forget that what sets Count Bleck down that path is equally disturbing. Blumiere's father refuses to accept his son's relationship with Timpani, so he just banishes and curses her to wander between dimensions until she dies. Take it easy, Tywin Lannister.
12. Mario Has Visited the Literal Afterlife
Chapter 7 of Super Paper Mario takes Mario into the Underwhere, an actual afterlife where beings from different worlds go after dying. Meanwhile, the more virtuous can reach the Overthere. Mario even swims through the River Twygz while ghostly hands reach out and try to grab him!
13. Mimi Runs a Terrible Operation
The scene is this: Mario and Peach break a vase inside Merlee's Mansion, only for Mimi to declare that she’s owed one million Rubees. Since they can't pay, she forces them into labor alongside other prisoners who have become trapped in the same system. The game's own description goes so far as to call Mimi's operation a "sweatshop."
14. Cragnons Are Kidnapped and Brainwashed
Another chapter of Super Paper Mario revolves around an ugly conflict between the Cragnons and Floro Sapiens. After pollution damages the Floro Sapiens' water supply, they retaliate by abducting Cragnons and forcing them to mine jewels. Mario can even fight them, despite the game making it clear that they have no control over what they're doing.
15. An Ancient Demon Possesses Peach
The finale of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door abandons the typical Bowser kidnapping formula entirely. Say hello to the Shadow Queen, an ancient demon responsible for destroying the civilization that once stood where Rogueport now exists. She’s also been released and takes over Princess Peach as a vessel. You’re then forced to attack a possessed Peach while the demon tries to plunge the world back into darkness.
16. Hooktail Has Been Eating People For Years
Though she looks like it, Hooktail isn't just some dragon waiting for a fight. The residents of Petalburg know that she has eaten people. Even Koops grows up believing his father was killed after disappearing inside her castle. Don’t worry, though; Koopley kickin’ it in Hooktail's stomach by hiding in his shell.
17. Bobby Deliberately Blows Himself Up
We never expected Super Mario to give us an adorable Bob-omb companion—we also never expected the franchise to rip him away. When Olivia becomes trapped, Bobby recovers a fuse belonging to his late friend, lights it himself, and explodes so that she can escape. What’s worse is that she doesn’t even understand where he's gone, forcing Mario to break the news.
18. Hole Punch Steals Forty Toads' Faces
We’ll never look at office supplies the same way again. Hole Punch has punched the faces out of 40 Toads, leaving some of them wandering around in a zombie-like state while their missing faces remain trapped inside the boss. Defeating Hole Punch allows those faces to burst free and return to their owners, but that doesn't make seeing a bunch of faceless Toads any less creepy.
19. Scissors Targets Bowser Jr.
Oh, you thought Hole Punch was bad? We hate to break it to you, but Scissors might be the most brutal stationery in Nintendo. It slices Bowser Jr. into separate pieces, chops apart Bowser's other minions, and then attaches some of their faces to a Paper Macho Buzzy Beetle. Mario then has to fight that thing.
20. King Olly Turns Characters Into Soldiers
Weirdly enough, the Folded Soldiers aren't a new species, but that only makes them creepier. Essentially, they're Bowser's captured minions forcibly folded into origami, stapled so they can't unfold, and turned into servants. Olivia openly admits that fighting them feels cruel, and she’s not wrong.
