Nightmare Fuel / Pikmin 2

• The Titan Dweevil... Oh God, the Titan Dweevil. You reach the final floor of the Dream Den, Louie is sitting on this huge pile of treasure, so you approach him to help him and collect the treasure, when this bastard rises out of the ground and begins to use those treasures as deadly weapons. His attacks include throwing electric beams, spraying water to drown Pikmin, firing a flamethrower, and poisoning the ground. All of these you can rescue Pikmin from, except the electric attack. But that's not all: after defeating the Dweevil, Louie drops on the ground and remains motionless, and Olimar writes in the entry on the Titan Dweevil that he actually wonders if Louie was controlling him.
  • It gets even worse when you think more into it. Dweevils only replicate that which is latched onto them. So, let us ignore all of the firepower for a moment — no, seriously. Because really, most of those tools aren't seriously even meant to be weapons in the first place, and even if they were, they would still be useless to a nonsapient organism that only mimics living things... ...But then you add Louie. You add a human-like mind to it all. Now, you have one of the most massive creatures in the series not only armed so effectively that it can give even something as dangerous and terrifying as the Waterwraith a run for its money, but has the sapience to use the tools to their full potential. Jesus, how badly would the surrounding ecosystem be thrown out of whack if this living war machine ever escaped the Dream Den?!
  • Louie's connections to it are messed up on a few levels. Some of these Levels Include: He enslaved another living creature to his will to some end, knows he prefers Titan Dweevil raw, He turned it on Olimar/President/Pikmin for no reason yet addressed. This is of course before we discuss the sharp downturn Louie has been on since...
• The Man-At-Legs. At first, it appears to be a subspecies of Arachnorb- spherical central body, long legs, check. But then you notice the fact that well over half of it is mechanical parts meshed with tissue. Already unnerving, but then you also notice that it can't crush your Pikmin- its legs and feet are far too spindly. So what is its trick? It stops scuttling around, stands dead still, and then its underside folds away. It briefly projects a laser, aiming at your Pikmin, and then opens fire with an honest to god machinegun. Absolutely NOTHING else in the game attacks this way (minus perhaps the Gatling Groink), and what's more, it's extremely accurate; if you don't take cover behind some of the terrain in its boss arena, you and your Pikmin are absolutely dead. The thing is just nightmarishly strange for a game largely filled with wildlife as enemies; who created the damn thing, for what reason, and why is it buried underground in a time-stopped cave waiting for something to disturb it so it can shoot them? There are just so many disturbing questions associated with the thing.
  • Olimar's notes on the beast suggest a rather horrifying answer to some of those questions. The Man-at-Legs is a natural creature that fuses with machine parts as it grows up. Unfortunately, it isn't actually in control of the machinery it's fused to, and is actually a Gentle Giant fused to some very trigger happy parts. And considering it doesn't actually have natural enemies, it's suggested its robot parts took control of it, not the other way around.
• The Dweevils in this game attack using elements which most Pikmin are injured by, but there is one type that takes the nightmare to another level: Volatile Dweevils. They carry bomb rocks on their backs, and kamikaze attack anything nearby. Even worse, these guys love to fall out of the sky when you pick up treasure.
• The Segmented Crawbster smashes into the arena and starts stomping around furiously. Get to close to it, and the beast will dash and roll at you at full speed.
  • Speaking of, the beast also has probably the most disturbing and graphic death in the whole game, if not the series. It lays on its back, writhing and wailing in pain while its soft underbelly steams, inflates, and RUPTURES VIOLENTLY before the poor thing dies in a Troubled Fetal Position. Wow, what a glorious way to die.
• The God damn Waterwraith. In concept, it shouldn't be weird or disturbing at all: a giant clear flubber-looking thing on stone steamroller wheels. But mainly it was the fact that it couldn't be killed. Or damaged. At all (at least not until the final level of the cave it's found in). And if you took too long on a floor, it would suddenly drop in out of nowhere and start chasing after you. The unearthly gargling noises didn't help things, either, nor did the fact that your ship freaks out when it first appears, yelling "RUN! RUN AWAY!"
  • And the music! Oh God the music! The Submerged Castle already has spooky music, than the freaking Waterwraith SLAMS INTO THE ROOM, makes noises, and the tense chase music begins is when all hell breaks loose. Most gamers panic as soon as the music starts. Correction: Gamers tend to panic once they hear the loud whistle of the Waterwraith's wheels randomly falling from the sky and smashing to the ground with an audible *SMASH* and then along comes the creature itself on top with another *SMASH*. Then the terrifying music starts.
  • Even worse, the Waterwraith has really good enemy A.I. It will attack wherever it can deal the most damage and it never stops chasing you. The thing is like the Pikmin version of Michael Myers. Don't forget that it's implied that the damn thing is just a hallucination.
  • Also, while most boss characters will leave you be if you leave their arena on the final floor, the Waterwraith will be like "haha, NO!" and chases you OUTSIDE THE ARENA. There is no escape. This creature is full of nope.
  • Though as an amusing bit of Nightmare Retardant, once the Waterwraith loses its stone rollers it pretty much just panics and runs around like a headless chicken, then curling up into a terrified little blob as the Pikmin whale away on it. If you've lost most of your crew to the damned thing, seeing the final beatdown can be hilariously satisfying.
• The Empress Bulblax, a huge bloated sausage of a Bulborb (resembling a termite queen) that constantly gives birth to these little larvae from her rear end, and when you kill it, it violently explodes, leaving just the saggy head and legs.
  • The best way to kill the swarms of larvae that she produces? Have her roll on top and crush her own children to death.
  • The death animation for when the larvae get flattened (either by the Empress or by a Purple Pikmin) is rather disturbing as well, as it screams in terror as its body slowly melts away into a yellow puddle of slime.
  • In the cave you first find her, you can see, right in the middle of your starting position of the final floor, what appears to be the remains of something. Either it was killed long before you got here or was it the old skin of the Empress Bulblax?
• Some of the treasures are slightly odd. There are multiple everyday objects such as jewels, vegetables, and container tops (like shoe polish and Snapple jar tops), and Nintendo objects (like a Game & Watch, a controller's directional pad, and a Famicom Disk System game) but there are also oddities like a lobster claw, action figures, and even a pair of false teeth. It points to the game taking place on Earth... with all of humanity gone, and not a clue as to how they disappeared.
  • One of the treasures is called the "Silencer". It is an undead-like doll head, and it constantly blinks while being moved. In the Japanese version of the game, it is worth 666 Pokos.
• Any Metallic underground stage. The Pikmin that accidentally sail over the edge, fall into an eternal abyss, you can actually hear them cry as they fall down! Some enemies can be tricked into walking off, and if they do, they disappear. If they were carrying treasure, it reappears near where it fell off.
• Two enemies, the Gatling Groink and the Spotty Bulbear, will get back up after being defeated if left alone for too long.
  • The Gatling Groink is some type of goldfish that has been converted into a mobile artillery platform. It attacks by launching mortars at your Pikmin, attempting to blow them into oblivion. It also has some kind of shield on its forehead. The Spotty Bulbear is easily one of the more vicious non-boss enemies, but there is a Challenge Mode stage with scary music that makes you fight 3 of them at the same time, with Dwarf Bulbears. As mentioned, if left dead for too long, all 3 will get right back up.
  • More horrifying, the only way to stop these creatures for good is to take them back to an Onion. Whatever it is that Onions do to turn dead enemies into Pikmin, these enemies are STILL ALIVE when it happens. If you are in a dungeon when fighting a Gatling Groink or Spotty Bulbear, you need to take them to the ship instead. It's never explained how the ship deals with this, so one can only imagine what it would need to do to keep them from getting up.
• Challenge Mode contains some interesting quests, but some of them are scary. The worst offenders are:
  • Red Chasm, which makes you fight 5 Red Bulborbs and several Dwarf Bulborbs in a series of small passages.
  • Concrete Maze, a seemingly empty maze that on the second sublevel becomes populated with Kamikaze Volatile Dweevils that drop from the sky to blow you up.
  • Subterranean Lair, which contains 3 Spotty Bulbears and several Dwarf Bulbears. Even if you kill the 3 Spotty Bulbears, if you don't bring them back to the ship, they can get right back up and cause even more problems.
  • Secret Testing Range, which has you fight 2 Gatling Groinks on the first sublevel, and the Man-at-legs on the second sublevel.
  • Cave of Pain, which is a very narrow cave with boulders and enemies of various kinds falling from the roof.
  • The Bully Den, which is without a doubt the worst offender. When the timer hits 270, not one, but TWO WATERWRAITHS ENTER THE DUNGEON. 1 has the key, while the other has the creepy Silencer treasure.
• The European box art, of all things, can be this. Harmless at first, but one can make out a gigantic Bulborb in the background - which can be startling the first time you see it.
• Once the debt is repaid, Louie gets left behind on an alien world filled with hostile critters. A world whose air he can't even breathe, and he doesn't even have a ship to take refuge in. He's found at the lowest level of a dungeon, riding an enormous armed monster. Once retrieved, Louie is one of the treasures, labeled King of Bugs. Unlike most items, he moves, but just to rock back and forth.
• The Glutton's Kitchen seems bright and cheerful at first, but it raises a lot of questions... how did an entire playroom get buried beneath the planet's surface? Furthermore, it becomes somewhat unsettling without the Solar System upgrade, as the entire cavern is dark (except for the last floor) and may also have a Spotty Bulbear hunting you down...
• The Bulbmin. First, you kill their mother right in front of them. Next — hmm, you're a little low on Pikmin — you use your whistle to make them do whatever you want. And guess what? Most of the enemies they will fight are other Bulborbs. THEIR OWN FAMILY. Finally, after everything you put them through, you leave them behind to die, since they can't leave the dungeon you find them in.
  • Not to mention, the Bulbmin (technically Pikmin) are willing to eat other Pikmin and Bulbmin...
  • Chuggaaconroy actually lampshades this — "Olimar, you're a dick!"
  • That's not even getting into their nature. Those who haven't seen them may be thinking they are some oddly colored Pikmin. No. They are Bulborbs with Pikmin sprouts. Those sprouts come from Pikmin who have become parasitic and buried into the beasts. Not only that, but young ones are as aimless as Pikmin, adults are like Bulborbs. That implies that the Pikmin control them when they are young, but as they grow, their brain matures normally while still being controlled, effectively suppressing childhood and forcing them to grow up by taking orders, and very confusing to tell if the parasite is in control the whole time or if they slowly give up control of the higher brain functions of mature bodies.
• There is one type of Bulborb that is called the Fiery Bulblax, which is a giant Bulborb that is on fire and is half melted from its own heat. However, some players consider its derpy expression to be Nightmare Retardant...
• There is something rather disturbing about Louie's notes being all recipes for the various creatures they encounter, with gross-out entries describing how he favors the eyeballs of Bulborb Larvae as a delicacy. He has a recipe on Bulbmin. Yes, the very own Pikmin that he commands and has helped him out a lot actually ends up in his own novelty dishes! Why would Olimar or the ship allow this predator of a coworker to be anywhere near the Pikmin unsupervised?
• The Ranging Bloyster can be creepy. Its eyes glow red or blue, and it makes that weird Bloyster noise when it attacks. Even worse, there's a glitch where the Bloyster's glow remains indefinitely after its death, even after carrying its remains to the ship, making it seem like it's undead, or could come back at any moment.
• The Creeping Chrysanthemum. Any of those sunflowers could be one of these monsters in disguise. And when you approach too closely, they'll pounce right at you! Sadly, there's no way to make a preemptive attack on them, or burn them permanently.
• After day thirty, stepping just a little bit in front of the Perplexing Pool's spawn area will cause the Beady Long Legs to drop down and attack. Sure, it's one of the easier bosses in the game, but the sheer unexpectedness of having a boss right outside a normally safe location is shocking the first time around.
• The shadow overlay texture for the Valley of Repose◊. It's not creepy in the sense of "giant monster that wants to eat you", rather, it gives off a sense of unease or bleakness. The telephone pole in particular, considering the whole "humanity is extinct" setting of the series, reinforces just how alone you are.
• The President's emails start out funny as he realizes how much of a hole of debt he is in but past the halfway mark they start to get a little sad with him having to run from debt collectors, having to be forced to live under a bridge, and then kicked out of that. Then there seems to be a brief Hope Spot where it seems the President manages to avoid the collectors for good. Only for his emails to turn extremely dire as he explains that the collectors found him and plan to drown him in the swamp if he doesn't immediately pay up. He then starts getting really angry at Olimar for being so slow but then starts pleading with him to come save him. If one looks into the game's files via hacking, there exists data for GAME OVER splash text. It's very likely that this email would have marked the final day you could be on PNF-404 before the President is killed and Olimar and Louie lose their jobs.
  The President: "I wonder how many days have gone by since I was captured by the debt collectors. Olimar... Louie... I'm almost done for... Repay...debt! P...l...e...a...s...e..."
• Ravenous Whiskerpillars are rather disturbing, as they are the only enemy that do not truly die when their health is depleted (as indicated by the lack of a ghost), yet do not have the ability to revive like Spotty Bulbears or Gatling Groinks. Instructing your Pikmin to carry them reveals they are very much still alive, as they will struggle and hiss the whole time, yet will go completely still and silent as soon as they are released. Once brought to the Onion, they begin rapidly and violently hissing, futilely attempting to escape before being pulled in and turned into Pikmin. Yes, you're essentially dragging them in to their doom and turning them into Pikmin while they're still alive, and the poor creatures try their absolute hardest to escape, to no avail. No other enemy before or since has this behavior, made all the more strange by the fact that it's from an otherwise forgettable and harmless enemy that doesn't even attack you or your Pikmin in any way.

---