This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
Puyo Puyo is the
last place you'd expect to be scared, but look deep enough, and even the most endearing worlds have some horrifying things buried beneath the surface.
- For starters, Yu and Rei, to the point they were previously the page image... Yeah, they're pretty far from evil, even by this franchise's standards, but that doesn't change the fact that they're a pair of Undead Children, floating around Primp Town with no memory of their past lives or how they died. There's also the fact that while Rei is rather solemn and quiet regarding his current state, Yu is not only perfectly happy to be a ghost, but wants others to know the same joy. She wants to make just about anyone she meets into a ghost, basically offering to murder the other characters, in a game for all ages...
- Quest doesn't help matters, as Yu mentions visting their own grave. So apparently, somebody, or even the twins themselves, set up a grave for them. What makes this unnerving is that they have no parents or family to speak of. They have no memories of their life, aside from Rei feeling like he's forgetting something, and Yu was said to be unhappy with her life, which is why she enjoys being a ghost so much. So you have to wonder, where did their family go? Why isn't there any concerned parent or sibling or anyone around Primp Town missing two twins? How did the two die, and why isn't there anything or anyone around to remind them of their lives?
- In 20th, the two's story mode is basically Yu offering to make all the other characters ghosts, but what really stands out is her conversation with Maguro, where she outright says she wants to kill him via electrocution.
- Yu and Rei's defeat sprite is pretty disquieting too, as you're treated to their ghost costumes lying empty on the ground, sometimes with halos above them. Whether the idea of these two being exorcized from the world of the living is a good thing or not is subjective, but you'd forgiven for being a bit unsettled upon seeing it for the first time. Later games since 15th makes it worse by having them become briefly transparent, as if they're fading from the realm of the living...
- The (partial) reveal of their backstory in the Drama CD track Yu and Rei’s Lingering Regrets mixes this with a hearty helping of Tear Jerker. Rei wonders about what he and Yu’s lives were like when they were alive, so he goes to Feli and asks her to use her divination to find out. She ends up witnessing what is presumably the day they died, including their actual deaths and their first moments as ghosts, with Rei freaking out when he realises he’s dead. The experience is so traumatising to Feli that she lies to the twins and says her divination failed so as not to scar them with the truth. Feli was horrified by something. And judging by the fact that we never hear their deaths...yeah.
- And you know why they’re ghosts? In life, they made a promise to stay together forever, and Yu was so obsessed with keeping that promise that she inadvertently doomed herself and Rei to an eternity as earthbound spirits. No wonder Rei’s so depressed.
- A notable detail that's easy to miss in their design is they have Empty Eyes. No reflection like the other characters. Once you notice it, you can't look away.
- Popoi, Accord's cat-puppet, is hardly anything close to terrifying, but then at the end of Puyo Pop Fever's stories, Amitie and Raffina are faced with the cat...and he's now enormous, covered in shadow, with evil yellow eyes, and a sinister grin. This is Evil Popoi, also called the Prince of Darkness, and while he may not do anything evil outside of fighting the girls, he certainly gives off a creepy vibe, especially considering his sudden appearance is never explained.
- Additionally, when Amitie confronts Popoi, what transpired borders on being a Jumpscare. It plays immediately after Amitie's fight with Arle, shifting to a scene of Amitie walking into a dark room, and not a second later than the scene starts, she's stopped in her tracks by a giant pair of yellow, evil eyes, each eye about the size of her head. Though she recollects herself pretty quickly, Amitie is understandably shocked, and the encounter start is the page image for that reason. It's an awfully spooky situation to be in when you're just looking for a lost cane.
- It really doesn't help at all that when his eyes shine in the dark room, Popoi's looking at you rather than Amitie.
- Though Raffina calls Accord out on the whole lost cane farce, she doesn't get off the hook. She defeats Popoi (or Carbuncle, depending if you meet certain conditions), then Accord shows up (again) to congratulate her. Raffina expects an award for "finding" Accord's flying cane, so Accord has Raffina close her eyes. As Raffina closes her eyes, the player gets to see what that reward is: a mallet straight to Raffina's head, knocking her out and pounding the memories of Popoi's surprise heel-turn out of her mind. As Raffina falls unconscious, Accord gets surprisingly crass, echoing Raffina's catchphrase before saying she doesn't want the other kids learning about Popoi. In Japanese, she punctuates it with a not-so-innocent giggle and apology instead. The game ends with Raffina waking up with a head-bump and no memories of what happened. She joins Accord and the other students as they head back to school. The end. Roll credits.
- Evil Popoi's sprites are pretty deranged compared to every other character in the game, his face contorting in exaggerated expressions, many of which are looking at the player. His comeback in Quest especially makes him look more like a giant snake with arms than a puppet. What is this guy!?
- Accord in general has a rather eerie aura to her, especially with this ending in mind. In just about every game she's in, she's a kind, caring, slightly trollish teacher, with a gentle voice and welcoming face, but also a whole lot of secrets she has yet to reveal, and she even covers up both Amitie's odd hat and Popoi's true nature. Whether she's evil, teaching the world's most unnatural lessons, or is just being a dick to everyone is up to debate, but you'd be forgiven for being a bit paranoid anytime she shows up.
- In 15th Anniversary, she keeps her wish a secret, and not even Popoi knows what she wished for. So apparently, she's keeping secrets that even the Prince of Darkness is out of the loop to...
- Quest doesn't make it much better, as Popoi has an alternate form called Big Popoi
◊. Yes, by all accounts, it just looks like Accord in a Popoi costume, but the description and his/her/their dialogue insists that it's Popoi and not Accord. It's an exception to both Accord and Popoi, which would imply that it's both of or either of them. Either Popoi is capable of taking on a humanoid form (Albiet one dressed as him), or Accord has a weird sense of humor. Or maybe...
- And if that doesn't really bother you, here's a line from Evil Popoi himself. Make of it what you will.
- And if you were wondering, no, his tiny puppet form doesn't alleivate things. The description of his 4* card is all you need to know something's wrong with this thing.
- Possessed Klug is, like Doppelganger Arle, half of someone, in this case a demon that's Sig's ancestor. Klug summons the Demon, who promptly takes over his body, and then tries to take Sig's body by force. Oh, and a notable part of his design is that he always has that book with him, which has Klug's soul popping out of it, clearly panicking and aware.
- Really, after learning that that little demon that pops out of Klug's book is actually Evil All Along, it gets a little unsettling seeing it pop out all the time, as if it's waiting for another opportunity...
- Even better, like Doppelganger Arle before him, he returns in Puyo Puyo Quest. He also came back in Puyo Puyo 7, 20th Anniversary, and Tetris 2, giving the impression that he's gone and possessed Klug again. His appearance in 7 is especially discomforting as he appears as Klug's adult form, further implying that the poor kid's doomed to lose his body in the future...
- The other way around, Possessed Klug's own fate is quite horrifying as well. According to the writings of the person who sealed him, he was just a hermit demon who, while feared by the population of the kingdom of Alca, never actually approached people or otherwise bothered anyone. People simply feared him for his power and appearance and wanted the bragging rights of being the ones to slay him. When the writer obtained the Tome of Sealing, they and their friends tricked the demon into opening the book, sealing one part of his soul inside it and turning the other half and his body into a human child, who also happened to be a Blank Slate. What's more, the writer straight-up admits that, after retrieving the Tome, they and their friends just left said child in the castle to die, and went back home. Finally, the cherry on top: There is an item in Fever 2 called the "Memory of Chu", which forces everyone it is used on to relive their sweetest, happiest memories, in order to break their concentration. When it is used on Possessed Klug, he will yell at the player, asking them how they dare reminding him of his life before he was sealed - strongly implying that this person had a happy life and maybe even loved ones before the whole ordeal.
- Sig's demon side, called Dark Sig, gets his own story in "Sig's Secret", where the usually passive and quiet Sig gets affected by a potion that makes his demon side take over. He then proceeds to go berserk on Lemres, sounding less like Sig and more in line with Possessed Klug. There's even an illustration◊ on one page where Sig gives a hostile look to Amitie that just looks wrong coming from him.
- In the book "Everyone's Dreams, Coming True?", we're treated to a Lotus-Eater Machine that makes character's dreams come true. While for the most part, the only horror comes from what would happen if the dreams aren't stopped, the final dream Amitie and the others go through is a bit unsettling, it's the Puyo's dream. It starts off like a Puyo Battle, but they Puyo's keep coming, and coming, and coming. They trap Arle and Carbuncle, rain down from the sky like meteors with eyes, fuse together to form enormous Puyo's, and not even Schezo's Dark Sword can stop them, as cutting them in half only makes more of them. It turns out that the Puyo's just find battles fun, but upon a first reading, it's easy to think they dream of taking revenge on everyone...
- Otomo's situation. His misery is often played for laughs, but think about it. Prince Salde is a rebellious kid, probably younger than Sig or Amitie even, running around trying to evade his future as king. The idea of a kid running around in a strange world unattended is probably enough to justify Otomo's worries, and it doesn't help that Salde is constantly the butt of death jokes, getting Eaten Alive twice and Stripped to the Bone if he loses a Puyo Battle. Suddenly, Otomo's constant concern feels quite justified...
- In most games, upon defeat, Ocean Prince will appear Stripped to the Bone, and he's still smiling. Even in the cutesy artstyle, it can be pretty jarring, regardless of how many times he shows up no worse for wear afterwards.
- Also in 20th, Lemres goes delirious from lack of sugar due to personal training, and runs into Feli. What does Feli think of this situation? She's uncomfortably happy with it, now that she can do whatever she wants with him. Lemres is understandably horrified.
- Feli in general is pretty eerie, a goth girl with a VERY unnatural fixation on Lemres, to the point of threatening anyone if they do so much as breathe in the same room as him. Also, she has a giant hell-hound in the form of Baldanders. Thankfully, Baldanders is a lot friendlier than he looks.
- That being said, Baldanders, especially in his comeback in Quest, walks a fine line between endearingly creepy and offputting, being a giant beast that's considerably larger than most characters, his face covered by armor with only his yellow eyes and sometimes a huge maw of large, sharp teeth. In Quest, his 6* card◊ has him approaching the screen, teeth sharper than ever. Raffina, despite not being a fan of dogs herself, is forgiven for being very scared of him.
- He also had a chain animation where he rushed at the screen, giving you a good look at his chompers from the front. It makes him look more like a shark with armor than a dog.
- Akuma is a demonic teddy bear and curator of Primp Town's museum, and a bit of a Mood-Swinger, going from calm and collected to screaming at the top of his lungs with sharp teeth and angry eyes forming the most disturbing Nightmare Face his art-style allows. Of course, it wasn't too disturbing then, until Quest brought him back, with the updated shading making him look more menacing◊, further resembling a possessed toy.
- Ecolo's original design◊ is a bit unsettling with his big round eyes and creepy smile, all against a pitch-black shadow. It doesn't help that he tried to bury the world in Puyo's in his first appearance. His redesign is more comedic than creepy, but he's still doing destructive, chaotic things with that big goofy grin.
- After nearly a whole game of hilarious, adorable, slightly dark stories, 20th Anniversary has a rather eerie moment at the end of Dark Prince's storyline. He confronts Ecolo, who, after getting entertained with some Puyo, whispers something to him. The music cuts out all the while, as Dark Prince smiles ominously even chuckling a bit. Say hello to Puyo's Big Bad Duumvirate, everyone. Then we later watch Dark Prince get possessed by Ecolo...
- Rafisol trying to take over Ally's body in Chronicle. The whole thing borders on Mind Rape, with Ally detailing in rather unnerving detail how she can feel all the love leaving her heart.
Ally: "Scared...I'm scared..."
- And assuming you can still sleep after that, it's followed shortly after by Rafisol giving an eerie little speech, and Ally talks in sync with her!
Rafisol: "You cannot stop me."
Ally: "At this rate, everything..."
- On that note, Rafisol herself is a very unnerving villain, making herself known late into "Chronicle", and things take a significantly grim turn once she shows up. She's the antithesis to Ally, and since Ally loves everyone, Rafisol becomes an Omnicidal Maniac without even understanding why. Usually when there's something as powerful as the amulet she was born from, Tropers will wonder how bad it would be in more dangerous hands. Rafisol is exactly that, a dangerous force born from a relic being in the worst possible hands.
- And like Popoi, Akuma, Otomo, and many other characters mentioned on this page before her, "Quest" adds a new layer of horror to her character, namely through her lines, some of which make her sound like a full-blown Apocalypse Maiden.
Rafisol: "I don't have love...I don't believe in...anything like that...!
Aha...AHAHAHAHA!"
- Puyo Puyo has a lot of different backgrounds for battles, including arenas, forests, towns, and a desolate wasteland, complete with tattered flags and a dusty sky. What the hell happened there is never explained, but don't worry, you can make it even creepier by playing cheery music over it in a fight.
- The merging process of the Puyo and Tetris worlds in "Puyo Puyo Tetris", on top of threatening to end both worlds, manages to somehow brainwash Rulue, Raffina, and Feli to try and stop the heroes, reducing the three to mindless drones trying to help get the apocalypse underway.
- Consider Ex. The goofy father of Ess who waves his arms around wildly when making combos and also trying his best to make others happy and to help solve problems. Then look at his circumstances. He was alone for years in a place where he has nothing to do except to listen to reports that Tee makes and sends through O. Then you see how nobody remembers him, and Ex's disappearance causes his own daughter to repress her memories of him from the trauma of him leaving her. The only one who remembers him clearly never mentions him, the only one with vague memories of him struggles to remember anything more while being clearly distressed. It gets even more horrifying when you take into account the real life impacts of being alone. Fridge Horror kicks in when you realize that one of the effects of such extreme lonliness is a weakened immune system. Ex may not be able to leave his post because he would get very sick without the immense power he holds and would most likely have a horrible time trying to fight off any illness in the future. Small wonder why he was too depressed to repair a tear in space-time.
- Tee says that nobody on the Tetra has anywhere to go except staying on the starship. Now remember that Ex leaving was enough to traumatize Ess to the point of repressing her memories and her freak outs if Tee and O go missing in any way. Who knows what kind of life ANYONE on the tetra had before being taken aboard. It also makes Tee's The Stoic tendencies a lot more terrifying to think about. Is he repressing his emotions from some traumatic incident? Keep in mind, before Ex left, Tee seemed almost as Hot-Blooded as Ess.
- In Puyo Puyo Tetris, while he doesn't go through with it, and it's generally left vague what he meant, it's heavily implied that Schezo was planning on cutting off Sig's arm to get it's power.
- Squares in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, basically a guy created by Marle to be her friend, but her duties made it difficult to be with him all the time. What he developed into could best be described as a Knight Templar with the mentality of an infant, who wants to bring order to the worlds of Puyo Puyo and Tetris, by merging them together, which could end them both.
- He also brainwashes Marle to carry out his plan, and the way she acts under his influence is creepy. The way she talks about "fun", and sounds like she's constantly in pain or fighting his control, is rather jarring when you compare her to the rest of the chipper, jovial voices in the game.
- Quest also gives us quite a lot of original characters as well, including the Accursed Knights, a group of warriors wielding cursed weapons that grant amazing power with side-effects that range from annoying to actually horrifying.
- Hilda, who was previously The Stoic, is forced to laugh uncontrollably, and one of her sprites even shows her laughing with tears in her eyes...
- Wacht is cursed to hear buzzing noises whenever he falls asleep, forcing him awake. The poor man is stuck as an insomniac Nervous Wreck! Then there's his creepier Pitch-black version where he transcends normal insomnia and gains some dark sorcery that isn't truly elaborated upon...The worst part is that he seems to actually want this.
Pitch-Black Wacht: "Every bit of this is exactly like I dreamed it would be..."
- Remember that aforementioned wish Akuma made about keeping demons out of Primp Town? Well Quest actually shows us more demons, such as the Devil and Hellspawn series. The Hellspawn series sticks out with some creepy details. Some stand-out examples include...
- Julia, a Perverse Puppet with a little teddy bear keepsake. As her cards transform, the teddy bear looks progressively less cuddly, and is even manipulating the marionette connected to Julia. She even has a Creepy Monotone voice when she speaks... and can scream in your face if she's angry.
- Claude, a fancy thief with a creepy shadow that's implied to be his true form. That wouldn't be much of an issue if that shadow didn't look so out-of-place compared to the other characters, making you wonder what the hell he really looks like...
- Bernard certainly doesn't look scary, but from his second transformation onward, his suitcase springs to life, with More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
- Then there's the final one, Salome, a princess from Hell, and an actual infant. She's accompanied and carried around by her faithful Tsukibito, a sentient, bat-shaped cradle with a grinning face that looks like Ecolo fused with the Snatcher. It looks pretty offputting, especially when it adds its own◊ Game Face to contrast Salome's considerably less frightening expression, looking like a jack-o-lantern with wings. She says she's come from Hell for the purpose of scouting. What for is anyone's guess.
- Then there's Quest's returning characters, which can give longtime fans cause for alarm. Demiserf is back, still has a grudge against Rulue, and aims to Take Over the World. No sympathetic motive or good intention, he's nothing short of a legit force of evil running around the Puyo Puyo world, which sticks out in the cast compared to the likes of the Dark Prince, Accord and Popoi, Strange Klug, Ecolo, and even Squares and Rafisol. Yeah, Madou had plenty of villains like that, like Dark Matter, Phantom God, Runelord, Fudoushi, Yog Swartus, and even Demiserf's old boss, the Count, but what makes Demiserf stand out from them? He came back...
- As mentioned above, Doppelganger Arle, Evil Popoi, Possessed Klug are back, and while Popoi's motives are as vague as ever, the idea of Doppel and Possessed Klug being able to carry out whatever they're planning is unsettling at the very least.
- A familiar, but new face is also present in the form of Poison Ringo, a secretive girl with an uncanny resemblance to Ringo, but like Big Popoi, the description simply says she resembles her rather than them being the same person. Based on her dialogue, her schtick is offering apples to people, which are all but outright said to be poisoned. She also speaks off neutralizing poison with poison, making it sound like she extorts people with the stuff. What's worse, while Big Popoi is an exception to Popoi's character, despite looking like Accord, Poison Ringo is an exception to Ringo herself...
- Another notable group in Quest is the "Altered Satan" group, which features Lidelle, Draco, and Satan, and none of them are acting like themselves... but since the real Lidelle, Satan, and Draco show up as well (the latter in her "Charmy" outfit), they're most likely clones. Satan acts tender and friendly, Lidelle has turned into an impish prankster, and Draco seems to have become an ambitious Cold Ham. What makes this actually unnerving is that it's made very clear that Ecolo is the one behind these changes... Strangely however, both Altered Satan and Lidelle disappear in the same event they debut in, with only Altered Draco surviving the whole incident... only to be dragged off alongside her normal counterpart by Valen-Captain Aegis for them to eat some food.
