Even back in its first game, Super Smash Bros had some rather unnerving qualities to it, some of them completely unrelated to the comic violence. Although SSB64 is E-rated, it's clear that the game was still trying to find its footing in terms of tone, leading to an unusual kind of uncanny ambience. In particular, the idea of Nintendo characters beating each other senseless was something very new and unheard of at the time, requiring a lot of the hitting sound effects to be changed to bowling ball-like noises to prevent the game from receiving a T for Teen rating.
- The announcer
is quite energetic but robotic-sounding at the same time, which can make you feel rather uneasy at times because of how unnatural it sounds next to the hammier and more human-sounding announcers from the later games. Especially when it suddenly changes to a creepily deep, low tone when you get a Game Over, fail a Bonus Stage, or run out of time. - One of the most haunting original BGMs to ever come from the franchise is the Lonely Piano Piece which plays right after defeating Master Hand in 1P Mode. The so-called "Game Clear" music is indeed a lonely piano piece... but a horribly demented and off-key one. It essentially sounds like Pyrrhic Victory in musical form, with Master Hand now defeated and your character turning back into a lifeless toy doll.
- The Continue and Game Over screens. After losing your last life, the doll representing your character falls lifeless onto a table with a spotlight shining on them — in the bedroom from the intro cutscene, now shrouded in darkness — with the announcer asking the player if they want to continue, with an ominous tune. If "Yes" is selected, the doll comes back to life and strikes an Ass Kicking Pose with a hopeful note. Select "No", however, and the screen fades to black with the announcer saying "Game Over" in a deep distorted voice, a despair-laden music cue playing before you're sent back to the title screen.
- For later players more used to the grand and bombastic main menus of the later Smash Bros. games, the menu from the first installment has more quiet and sinister music — consisting mostly of distant echoing drums, bells and discordant piano notes, interspersed with long silent periods — and dark line art-covered backgrounds◊ that can evoke a real, unwelcoming sense of vague dread by comparison. The music is especially unnerving on the Backup Clear menu, which just has a lonely black screen with your options◊, and the prompts that appear prior to deleting each save file lack the comical alarm and relative humor of later games.note
