Welcome to a brand new edition of Horror Gaming and I have a double-header as we check out the old MaRIo and MaRIo II stories. For the last several months, I always brought up these two stories to illustrate some parts of other CPs that tried using cheap scare tactics. The stories got written around 2011 when Creepypastas started gaining popularity. Even these writers started taking gaming and making plots out of made up haunted experiences gone wrong. However, during the early days, gaming CPs were horribly written and only a few of them are left to find. In a sea of terrible gaming Creepypastas, Mario CPs are among the worst ones written and there is no exception to both creepy tales. MaRIo (literally that's how it's spelled) is about an adult male cleaning out his father's attic after he died. He manages to find a box of games and inside is two odd cartridges of Super Mario Bros 1 and 2. So will this guy discover a couple of old classics from his father or something horrible his dad left him? Let's find out... The first story started out the way most of them did back then but this time the main character finds it in his attic. During the early 2010s, this was the same reused plot many of its kind often used to start the story. It was either this or the character wanted to experience their childhood but got a horrible experience. The guy plays these games and remarks about nothing being out of the ordinary until the guy reaches World 7-4. The next part I'm going to admit was really decent as once he beat the fake Kooper, the toad says something weird. Instead of the usual dialogue, he would say "Your only one step closer to becoming one of us." That was a decent buildup for the first story as it leads to something not being right with the game. I also have to comment on his father's sick humor which actually wasn't a problem at all. I mean there are plenty of ROM hacks out there that give grotesque humor. However, this leads us to a few strikes and where the story turns into crap because of over using clichés. The first strike goes to the enemies already being smashed as if something got to them first. The next strike comes from the environments being described as freaky from World 8-1 to 8-3. The guy explains it was just one shade of random colors representing the environments. How the hell does that make the leading moments up to the climax chilling? The third strike goes to the part where the plot resorts to gore as the man reached the end of World 8-4. Bowser rips Mario's head off and replaces it with that of a Toad. The Koopa King takes Mario's body and places him next to Peach and Luigi's own who also had toad heads with blood all over them. That's the most stupidest and lackluster climax I have ever come across in a CP. It's what the writers in their gaming Creepypastas always used to make this scary in the early 2010s. For the writer to use this trope shows me he or she had no creative process in writing a scary arc. Like I always say you can't expect to use gore and then it makes the plot terrifying for the kiddies. The last part brings us to the fourth strike as the scene of the man shutting the game off leads to a ridiculous moment. After throwing the cartridge at a wall and it shattered to pieces, a small paper came out. Inside the remains was a note from his father saying he was coming to get him soon. The story continues to become complete nonsense as how can the father come after him if the man explained his dad died. So his father is a deranged killer all of sudden? What undead killer goes through all this trouble to make a ROM hack only to scare someone? According to most tales in fiction and reality, almost none go out of their way to kill someone in this way. I also love the way the NES cartridge simply shatters as if the original writer never owned these. We all know how durable Nintendo's cartridge format is that throwing one against the wall weren't even crack one let alone shatter the plastic. It ends with the guy looking inside the box only to find MaRIo II as the Plumber had a Toad's head and holding Birdo's own on the cover. The sequel starts out with a different person who’s the older sibling to the previous character. He or she basically explains the recent events of their younger brother committing suicide after handing down his father's collection of classic games. Well, there's strike one already and now the author expects me to believe the younger brother committed suicide over someone coming after him? The problem with the last story is how he claimed the father was coming after this guy's brother. However, nothing is ever explained in the original about how the father supposedly was coming after him. I don't know why the younger brother thought he came back from the dead when it's never mentioned ever again. That leads us to the second strike as he/she puts in the game only to get a different dialogue. The introduction claimed how Mario wanted revenge from anger and that whoever crossed his path he would kill them. Of course, the guy acts like a moron and brushes it off considering this was the running theme for these early gaming CPs. I also love how Moron came to a single conclusion that this weird part got changed because his/her brother was a computer nerd. I can tell the father must have named this person Moron because just like the brother the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Let's name this person Moron #83 because idiocy run through the family. Moron #83 immediately starts without the character selection screen as Mario has a Toad head. He/she describes the level as having a black sky as a bunch of angry Toads was scattered through the stage. Of course, #83 felt unease by the game and started feeling scared. There's goes strike three as Moron felt afraid because of this ROM hack having some strangeness to it. I can't understand what goes through these characters' minds like #83. Not only was the level scaring them, but #83 would become fearful when they turned into skeletons from touching them. It's like this doesn't stop as now we are on strike 4. The CP starts moving in the most ridiculous way possible that makes me wonder who thought of such crap. The author felt this was a great idea to insert supernatural elements and gore into the plot for the sake of it. First the game plays itself as Mario kills Birdo who was already beaten to death. Mario proceeds to kill her by jumping several times on top of Birdo until the dino's head rolls off. He rips the Toad head off and replaces it with Birdo's own. How does this make the story frightening? The story continues to go full stupid as next a realistic woman screaming begins to sound from the TV as dialogue claims Mario will pay for his betrayer. The plot only gets worse as now it speaks about an empire rising with demonic laughter playing in the background. Then to make this cheap the author had the guy pass out from fear where Moron dreamed Mario killed them as he did with Birdo. Of course, since we are scraping the bottom, supernatural elements are used for this scene. A face of Mario got engraved by a knife on his/her arm from whatever force caused it. For once Moron #83 did the smartest thing so far by taken the cartridge out and places the thing into the street. The protagonist uses a car and quickly runs over the Rom hack without a second thought. MaRIo II definitely broke the record for a staging eight strikes, the most I have given to a CP. Honestly, trying to picture the imagery in my mind is giving me a headache. Nothing in the climax made any sense about why things happened and who the Empire really is in the theme. The CP ends with #83 questioning whether his brother or someone else programmed this hack. Moron also stated that he/she might have made a mistake in destroying the game—Why this character considers this a mistake is anyone's guess by now. That was MaRIo and MaRIo II and they are by far the worst of the worst in many aspects. The title its self should've been clear because spelling the game as MaRIo doesn't make it weird or creepy at all. The author was obviously being lazy with the title and should've developed a name that made sense to help this sound terrifying. That was a trend back then for gaming CPs as these writers would just call the story by the title's original name. I will admit the build up to World 8 in the first story was decent as it gave hints of the possible outcome at the end. The parts where he stomps on a goomba and it make a weird grunt sound of pain was written decently. The way the Toad also said Mario will be one of them soon in World 7-4 was also a decent build up. However, by World 8-1 this is where the CP starts to fall apart as gore and freaky environments replaces the original World 8 stages. After reading some of this, I just kept rolling my eyes at the obvious scenes. The only thing missing that these writers' usual put in was "ultra-realistic" blood. The ending was complete crap as Bowser killing Mario by taking his head off and putting a Toad's head on sounded so stupid. How does Mario's head being ripped off with having Toad's own makes this disturbing? It doesn't, and that is a poor attempt at creeping the audience out with resorting to gore. The next one perplexes me as the father tells the son with a sticky note that he will be next. So now his father is the killer coming back from the dead to get him? These CPs suck as the final part relies on gore and cheap scare tactics to attempt to creep readers out. Now, MaRIo II came off worse than the original in every way as clichés and gore were often used to set the plot up. There is literally no build up what so ever as everything goes wrong right away something the original didn't do. The way the game starts out creepy came off stupid as the intro claimed Mario wanted revenge. Then as soon as the game started, this is when the author goes cliché crazy. Between no music playing, Toads turning into skeletons when touched and the black sky in the background, I couldn’t help but face palm. It’s like the author ran out of ideas and relied on horror tropes to create something new for the sequel. The climax is the worst part as the game plays its self with Mario attacking Birdo who was already beaten. To make this terrifying they throw gore in by making Mario replace his Toad head with Birdo’s after killing her. I also hated the way the author used supernatural elements that felt like they got thrown in at the last-minute. What is this new Empire about anyway? Nothing ever gets explained as to what, who or where this Empire is as its left for the readers to assume it's the angry Toads. The only decent thing was the fact Moron #83 destroyed the cartridge. I find it really stupid for the character to think he/she made a mistake when really Moron didn’t with destroying the cartridge. That’s literally how bad they are and fortunately there isn’t a third MaRIo story which probably is the best part. MaRIo Rating: 4.2/10 Terrible MaRIo II Rating: 3.1/10 Awful Sources MaRIo Story: Geosheas-lost-episodes.fandom.com. MaRIo. SupremeKai4. https://geosheas-lost-episodes.fandom.com/wiki/MaRIo?so=search MaRIo II Story: Geosheas-lost-episodes.fandom.com. MaRIo II. SupremeKai4. https://geosheas-lost-episodes.fandom.com/wiki/MaRIo_II?so=search Credit to SupremeKai4 (The original author of the two stories)
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RETRO GAMER
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