Nightmare Fuel / Five Nights at Wario's

Spoilers Off applies to all Nightmare Fuel pages, so all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

"LONG LIVE THE KING."

Because this game is based off of Five Nights at Freddy's, this was bound to happen.

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General

• The simple idea of Wario and the rest of his friends being sadistic, violent ghosts can be unnerving, especially for anyone who grew up with Mario.
• Luigi throughout the series occasionally floats on the cameras. The reason why he does this? It's because he died from being brutally hung by the neck.
• The 2.0 and 5.0 updates. To breathe new life into the games, WwwWario gave the Five Nights at Wario's series two fresh coats of paint, and lets say that the updates bring their own frightening content in unique ways, as proven in the many folders below when mentioned.
• The VIRUS. The sheer idea of a demon disguising itself as your friends and twisting their appearance to resemble an other-worldly abomination to bring you suffering is scary in of itself. Not to mention the appearance of the forms. Dear god, the forms...
  • VIRUS Wario has longer limbs, its bottom jaw is elongated to inhumane proportions, and its eyes are a glowing milky white.
  • VIRUS Luigi's nose is stretched out more, and its limbs are elongated to ridiculously warped proportions, like a heavily distorted 3D-model.
  • VIRUS Waluigi has milky white glowing eyes (including a third eye on its forehead), multiple limbs, has a black hole for a mouth, and black lines all over its head.
  • VIRUS Mario's head looks like a computer virus disfigured it, and its chest and wrists are nothing but bone. Those eyes staring back at you with pure malice, and a mouth that looks like it was ripped open. Its redesign in Five Shows makes it much more glitched and hard to describe outright.
  • VIRUS Peach wears a white dress, has hazelnut hair, glowing red eyes, and a wide smile with human teeth.
  • VIRUS Ashley's proportions resemble an adult, looks burnt with charred marks, has red dots for eyes, and a wide grin with multiple eyes hidden inside.
  • VIRUS Yoshi is bisected, its eyes are shadowed out, and its smile is wider than VIRUS Peach's, with human teeth as well.
  • VIRUS Toad has multiple eyes on its cap, has a partially bitten off head on its left, and a cap growth on its right. It's hard to describe outright.
  • VIRUS Bowser has bright white eyes, a more muscular build and a missing jaw.
  • VIRUS Daisy is missing half its body and has a pretty big Slasher Smile.
• EMMA. The demon responsible for every tragedy in the Five Nights at Wario's universe. An Eldritch Abomination that views people being hurt as entertainment and is willing to go to any length to make that happen. It's whole character is wrapped in an enigma, and even if you try to find out what it really is, you might not get far.
  • It's also worth noting its sprite. It's one of the vandalized faces from the Game Boy Camera.
• Wario and his friends throughout the series in every game are able to just disappear from the building through the night and reappear at will, as a nod to how they're ghosts and not your typical animatronics/monsters. However for a lot of newer gamers and those used to dealing with animatronics, they're gonna have a lot of Paranoia Fuel, wondering where the hell the ghosts are when they pull this.

Five Nights at Wario's 1

While not as scary as the future installments, and may have some Narm depending on who you are, this one can still pack a punch in the scare factor.

• The atmosphere feels pretty oppressive right from the get-go. The office feels surprisingly cramped and the rooms seen on the cameras feel very cold and unwelcoming, which isn't helped by the increasingly creepy poses of the ghosts. The worst part, however, has to be the incredibly creepy sounds that play at random. Doors often creek for unnatural amounts of time, and Mario (once he becomes active) plays a creepy music box rendition of the main Super Mario Bros. theme as he gradually gets closer. Possibly even more disturbing is when Waluigi is in the bathroom, all you can hear is what sounds like haunting laughter or crying, with the voice clearly being recognizable as him.
• Due to how he was killed, Mario doesn't have a head. Instead, his hat, eyes, and mustache just hover above his overalls.
• Wario-Man in the bathroom. It's the only instance where the bathroom is visible in the camera, but you're treated to seeing Wario-Man with milky white eyes, and loud static playing. It WILL catch you off-guard considering its status as an Easter egg.
• In the game over screen, Wario and Waluigi are walking down a hallway carrying your severed head. Just the mere sight of that is off-putting.
• Hell, Princess Peach can easily qualify for this. Her face is constantly stuck as a Ghostly Gape, and in certain cameras, she even looks like she's calling out for someone or screaming.

Five Nights at Wario's 2

Some would agree that the second game is where the scare factor ramps up.

• The title screen in the 2.0 update. Instead of reusing the first game's title screen, it displays the Tool Storage. Seeing that room can invoke a feeling of unease, especially when you remember what that room's purpose is.
• When Wario is just one room outside your office, he twists his head 180 degrees in camera view.
• Toad and the closet in the Tool Storage is Paranoia Fuel incarnate. You have to wait for the lightning to strike, and that's your only indicator if he's running to your office. When he's gone, there is a creepy series of sounds effect like he's breaking stuff or loudly opening several doors on his way. It's this suspension and fear he might be running for you that makes it scary.
  • Unlike other characters with similar mechanics (like the Beaver from One Night at Flumpty's or Foxy himself from Five Nights at Freddy's), if you fail to keep periodically checking Toad, he won't do the same noisy run to your office like usual. No, he will completely sneak into your room, quiet as a mouse and eventually kill you. You could be busy dealing with and managing the other ghosts and suddenly get jumpscared by Toad out of nowhere... Although, his goofy jumpscare admittedly makes this less frightening.
  • Hell, the 5.0 update adds animation of him making a mad dash to your office if you see him in the garden. While it can make a better indicator than a sound cue crescendo, seeing Toad animated will put you in a state of panic.
  • It also really doesn't help that there's now an animation of him peeking into the Backroom with one terrifying Slasher Smile on his face as if he knows where you really are.
  • The update on top of this also changes Toad's Bitch Slap jumpscare into a scary Deadly Lunge.
• Being left in the dark after failing to keep the power on is another example of Paranoia Fuel, as you can end up getting killed out of nowhere as you're desperately recharging it.
  • And for anyone who thinks you're still safe if you hide in the backroom, no. If you hide while the power is out, they'll eventually find and kill you.
• Bowser. Even if he only appears in the second game, his looks make up for everything. He's covered in blood, has orange, almost human eyes, and on closer inspection, a metal bar is impaled through his chest.
  • You think his first appearance was unsettling? The 2.0 update makes him brickshittingly horrifying. See that main picture? That's what he looks like. The eyebrows are gone, his eyes are of a black sclera and glowing pupils, and his mouth... you know what a sea lamprey's mouth looks like? Think of his mouth like THAT.
• The 2.0 update provides a counter-measure for staying in the backroom too long. How? Well, after Night 3, if you stay in the backroom for too long, Mario will automatically jumpscare you regardless of his status.
• Richard McRoy's secret phone call if you die. It's an Easter egg, but imagine playing the game, dying, then discovering that your 'Phone Guy' is a homicidal vessel with pure malice oozing out of every word he speaks.
  Richard McRoy: Hello, hello? Are you there or not? [snickering] Good.
  • In fact, the Phone Guy's whole behavior is nightmare fuel. He initially comes off as friendly and helpful, however as the nights continue, he very slowly and steadily becomes more untrustworthy and less sane. This culminates in him eventually just losing it, and trapping Thomas Taylor into the building on night 6 and 7, and leaving him at the mercy of the ghosts.
  • The reason why Richard McRoy is acting this way? Turns out, it's because Luigi is possessing him!
• The game over screen is just as unsettling as the first game. It shows Wario with blood in his mouth, likely indicating that Thomas Taylor died in a horrific fashion.

Five Nights at Wario's 3

Seeing that 3 is a Surprisingly Improved Sequel by many, it's no wonder that this one tops the other two in terms of bringing the scares.

• The ambiance sounds in this game are much more eerie and creepier than the previous games.
• Apart from the pupilless eyes and extra jaw, Wario isn't too scary in the first two games. In the third game, however, the skin from his face has melted off (due to Bowser breathing fire in his face), revealing his skull. One of his arms is like his face too.
• The Kitchen in Night 2 is an exercise in Paranoia Fuel. It's completely dark, and the only way to ward off Luigi and Wario is with an old oven. While you can use it as a light source, if no one is in the kitchen, then hold your breath and pray that they don't find you.
  • It got worse in an update. That creaking sound indicated someone is with you. In the update? It can be used as a fake-out, and when it sounds, Luigi or Wario might not even be in the kitchen. Best watch the cameras.
• One of the rooms you can hide in on Night 3 is the Staircase, where you have to watch Wario on the cameras when he's about to enter the staircase. If you fail to deter him, you'll be greeted to the sight of Wario making a mad dash up the stairs before killing you.
  • Heck, just the Staircase in general. You're essentially at your most vulnerable here, and your only method of defense against the spirits is to cover your eyes.
• What happened to Ashley in the updates. In 1.0, she was unchanged from the original model apart from the large, empty white eyes and her wide smile. But in the updates? She looks very malformed and demonic, with a broken jaw, and in some specific places, her proportions are altered and she's much taller too. If you're playing the Bathroom in Night 2 and that version is the updated version, prepare for a shocker.
• This game sees the return of the phone guy from the previous game in the night 4 call of any of the rooms, except here, he doesn't even bother trying to be polite and he repeatedly threatens to kill you.
  • In Night 5, he visits Max, the phone guy of this game, while he's talking to you and kills him before saying he's on his way to end you. He makes good on his promise in the bad ending.
• The good ending ends on a horrific note, as the police corner and shoot Richard McRoy to death. And keep in mind, Richard was an innocent man who was possessed and forced to commit these crimes against his will.

Five Nights at Wario's: Origins

• The free-roaming mechanic. It's an awesome mechanic, but the very fact that you can roam Wario's with spirits marching on the premises is a scary thought to hold.
• In later nights as you're playing, you can occasionally hear one of the spirits (presumably Wario) start exclaiming WE'RE COMING out of nowhere, followed by what sounds to be marching.
• At 5am in Night 5, you can hear what sounds like evil laughing erupt out of nowhere.
• In the Origins 2.0 update, Wario, Luigi, Waluigi, Mario, and Peach in 2018 mode are replaced by very malformed versions of them. Wario has much longer limbs as well as an enlarged bottom jaw, Luigi has much longer limbs and a longer nose, Waluigi has multiple arms and three eyes, as well as his teeth being missing, Mario has his head intact, however, his eyes are now glowing blue as well as missing skin around his arms and chest, and Peach has a white dress, red eyes, and realistic teeth with a devilish grin, which is particularly detailed in her jumpscare. In the extras menu, it's revealed that these are disguises of a being known as VIRUS.

Five Nights at Wario's 4

• This time around, we're playing as Richard McRoy who's trapped in a nightmare where he's stuck staring at a television as the entities appear and attack from there.
• In the phone calls, it's made pretty clear that it's not just you who's stuck in this position, everyone in the world is also in the same predicament. And as the nights go on and on, you hear about the casualties going in the world. Wario and his friends are actually out and killing innocent people.
• The Downer Ending, where despite your best efforts, McRoy still succumbs to the spirits haunting his nightmares.
  • Becomes much scarier when you put two and two together. When does 4 take place in the timeline? Between 1 and 2. Who's the Phone Guy in 2, the night guard in 1 and the main character in 4? Richard McRoy. It's a Foregone Conclusion. You're playing a game where you are slowly seeing a man descend to possession despite his best efforts. No matter what you do, Luigi still possesses him, leading to the events of 2.
• When starting Night 3, things seemingly go normal as usual, however on the News channel Luigi's head suddenly appears and crashes the game. Upon restarting the game the "New Game" button breaks and when Wario stops moving his head, a lot of "Hide" suddenly appears on the screen mixed with footsteps, ending with a close up of Wario with a loud screech before claiming "You can't hide forever".
• Later on in the game, a version of Wario known as Nightmare/Demon Wario will appear. In the first version of the game, it was just Wario with his head missing similar to Mario but in the 2.0 update it was redesigned, while still missing a head, it now has multiple rows of teeth, an altered proportion, 3 extra Ws on its hat and altered colours. Its jumpscare is also just a still image of it instead of flying out of the TV like the other characters. It's also an alternate form for EMMA.

Cross-Game Quest

An update to Five Nights at Wario's 4 introduces this quest, which involves going back to other games, and it has its fair share of tense moments.

• The initial objective is to assemble a key by gathering 4 parts from the previous games up to this point. Of note are the pieces from the first and second games. The piece in 1 can only be obtained when Peach is at your office door, requiring you to let her come to you. The one in 2? It's in the Tool Storage. Specifically, while Toad has left that room and making a beeline for you. Getting both is an exercise in risk and staring death in the face.
• Once you have the key, you, as Edward Coleman, enter a security building to find the dead body of a guard. Already foreboding, but after using the key on the door near the back of the room, someone contacts you, telling you that you need to leave immediately. Then you hear someone else enter the building, leading to a night where you are forced to fend off VIRUS Wario in classic FNAF style. There are only 4 cameras he can go through, which creates a sense of urgency, given how he could make it to you very quickly, making for what is probably the tensest part of the quest. And the worst part? Wario jumps you at the end, killing Edward. At least you get a password for the next part for your troubles, but still...
• Near the end of the quest, you play as a man named James, who just finished releasing his games based on the events of the series as a warning to his past self. After the initial cutscene, one thing you can find in the room is a note from James's friend Christopher, which is prefaced with a warning about its contents. Should you decide to read it, you are treated to all manner of surreal and frightening imagery, culminating in a shot of James with blank white eyes. These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know indeed. And the worst part? We never find out what any of that was, beyond Christopher arriving after the boss battle and telling James not to worry about it if you choose not to read it, stating some things are better left unknown.
• The quest concludes with a boss battle against EMMA, which is primarily Deadly Dodging while hitting buttons to damage it. But the real scary part is when the Fridge Horror kicks in. EMMA now knows what James was doing, meaning it's now a race against the clock for his past self. Even with Christopher arriving afterward and reassuring James, it's a pretty tense Cliffhanger to leave things on.

Five Shows at Wario's

• Ashley, Toad, Yoshi, and Bowser now have VIRUS forms. Toad's is the most disturbing, however, with multiple eyes over its heads and an eye in its mouth in its jumpscare.
  • Mario's VIRUS form has changed into a mess of something hard to describe. Not helped by its Jumpscare being an ominous still image with a glitched version of the jumpscare sound.
  • VIRUS Ashley's jump scare also deserves mention. It consists of her ''tearing her own head off'' and chucking at the player, likely to chew their face off.
• The concept of this game is terrifying as well. You're playing as the soul Bruno Gate after the events of Five Nights at Wario's 3, having been dragged down into some type of purgatory where you're then forced to compete in a theater of several shows, while trying to avoid getting killed by the aforementioned VIRUS entities.
  • Think you're fine if you survive the Theater? Nope! As soon as you make it out of the theater, you end up finding yourself trapped in a house in the middle of an endless forest, and your goal here is to do everything in your power to fend off those VIRUS entities and prevent them from breaching the home. Should you fail to keep them out, you die.
• The shows themselves are each rather frightening in their own ways:
  • First off is The Cellar. This is a Timed Mission where you have 5 minutes to complete a series of tasks, and failing to do so will cause VIRUS Wario to reach and kill you. Already tense enough, but on the higher difficulties, VIRUS Peach will also be present. She approaches from the dark hallway in front of you, requiring you to flash it to check if she's there, driving her off in the process if she is. The whole area you're in is very dark and ominous, and it keeps you on constant edge.
  • Then there's Cooking With Emma. This game has you putting ingredients into a bowl as instructed. The scary part? If you make too much noise, you'll alert VIRUS Waluigi, forcing you to hide under the table to avoid death. Each ingredient is put in the bowl by means of a sort of microgame where failing, such as dropping the egg, or touching the cabinet while reaching for the carrot, will make sound. Oh, and on higher difficulties, don't think you're safe once VIRUS Waluigi is gone, because once you peek back out, there's a chance VIRUS Ashley will be there, forcing you to hide again. And like The Cellar, this is a Timed Mission where you need to finish before Emma's patience runs out, or she'll kill you herself.
  • Playing With Power is an exercise in Paranoia Fuel. You must survive to 6 AM per series standard, but instead of cameras, your computer has a series of games to play that let you collect batteries to power your computer, and a room scanner. What's the room scanner for? To check how close VIRUS Luigi is to you. If the scanner doesn't detect him, that means one of two things: either he's outside the building, or in the room with you, requiring you to shock him to fend him off, which itself requires some of your computer power. This game requires you to keep tabs on everything at all times, as the slightest mess-up could spell death for you.
  • Safety Terror earns its name well, using a free roaming mechanic like Origins. You must reach a set of rooms, with the catch that several entities are in the building with you. Your only means of defense are the doors, and a limited amount of different room scans. If you don't manage your resources very carefully, it could easily end up a Luck-Based Mission.
  • Finally, A True Lie. This is a game of Knights and Knaves, where you must deduce which Peach is the real one and not a VIRUS Peach. Nothing too bad... until you decide to play the hardest difficulty, where you then discover that the game has been completely changed from its original premise. This time, you have to charge a generator to full while using the doors to keep VIRUS Wario away, making what was once something of a Breather Level into something absolutely panic-inducing.
• Bowser's VIRUS form was disturbing enough so of course the Director's Cut DLC gives us something even worse. Meet Entity 01. A twisted form of Bowser with big red/orange eyes and an elongated smile similar to VIRUS Wario. It's also this universe's version of Satan with a love of playing with who ever is unfortunate enough to cross it. As for its endgame? Reach Paradise which is this universe's version of Heaven.
• Whenever you see THE [location] HAS BEEN BREACHED during The Exit. All you can do is hide and pray it’s almost 6PM.
  • It gets better: If you want to get all achievements in the game, you have to let them breach and just wait until 6PM. No really.
• As if the concept of Emma wasn't already terrifying, the Director's Cut updated her jumpscare so that when she lunges at you, teeth now grow out of her head to chomp down on you.

End-Game Quest

• VIRUS Daisy has joined the battle and it may be the most terrifying one yet. VIRUS Daisy looks like it’s been ripped in half with a horrific Slasher Smile on its face and three rows of teeth!
• How the quest begins: Entity 01 coaxes Bruno into making one final deal with him in that if Bruno reads the ancient book which will free him, then he’ll make his daughter healthy. Bruno sells his soul and reads the book and Entity 01 is released. While it was shown that Entity 01 kept his word, Bruno’s reaction shows he’s already regretting this.
  • Oh but it gets worse because the first thing Entity 01 does is build a corrupted version of the Theater and throw people in it which includes Richard McRoy. While he escapes, it’s not clear if everyone else subjected to the trials did escape. In fact, the level description seems to imply that a lot of people had gotten killed.
• Relating to the above, the Corrupted Theater gives 5 new show trials even more horrifying than the last set:
  • First off is The Catacombs, an exercise in Paranoia Fuel with how tense it is, despite its simple premise. VIRUS Bowser is making its way to you, and you must flash it when it is directly in front of you. The problem? You only get one shot. You must charge room scans to track it, making the whole game a frighteningly tense instance of grabbing the bull by the horns.
  • Devil's Kitchen is practically designed to be panic inducing. VIRUS Ashley is right in front of you the whole time, and you must follow her instructions to put ingredients in the bowl, while using the cabinet behind you to restock ingredients you already used. The issue is the Panic Meter, which slowly rises as you go. You can take a pill from the cabinet to lower it, but doing so costs 5 ingredients, and if it fills all the way, well... It's effectively the equivalent of having a gun pointed at your head, and all the fear it induces.
  • Computer Infection features the debut of the aforementioned VIRUS Daisy, and her function is to slowly corrupt your computer, requiring you to use the Anti-Corruption if it starts to get too bad. However, there's a chance that she'll be right by you when you look up from the computer, forcing you to immediately look back to the screen to fend her off. Oh, and she's accompanied by VIRUS Luigi and his ads, which have now turned more threatening. All this while keeping your computer charged. Not helping is the music, which is a slowed down and reverbed version of the jingle that played on the instruction screen for the minigames in Playing With Power, turning it surprisingly ominous and dread-inducing.
  • Behind Doors takes the playstyle of Safety Terror and makes it absolutely dread-inducing, by putting you in complete darkness with only a flashlight with limited battery. This time, instead of reaching certain rooms, you're looking for Spirit Crystals to fill your gauge to full to clear the night. You are not told where they spawn, however, forcing you to check every room for one. Oh, and VIRUS Toad and VIRUS Bowser are in the dark with you. Shine your light on them at your own peril.
  • Finally, Illusion, which, like A True Lie, isn't too bad compared to the others. That said, it's a spot the difference game where you must observe the example and deduce which of the possible answers is correct... and these differences are pretty subtle, so you may find yourself second-guessing.
• At one point during the End Game Quest, you must collect the generator from FNAW 2, however shortly after collecting it, some unknown Mario entity will appear with a new form, which itself is rather freaky, with multiple legs, multiple M symbols on its hat and its mustache distorted to resemble a creepy Slasher Smile. It also makes the office red and distorted, before slowly making its way to the office indicated by the loud distorted audio it makes.
• After getting both parts, you head to the factory to install them... and then the floor under you gives out, dropping you into a series of caves. It's pitch black down there, and the whole trek through it is filled with dread that something will jump out at you. And towards the end, you hear cackling as the game tells you to run for it. The whole level comes out of nowhere and isn't mentioned again, which just adds to the offputting nature of it all.

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