Save the Mushroom Kingdom one last time.
Another Princess is in Our Castle is a fan made Mario horror game by CM9 Animation which started development in 2023. You can download a demo here
You play as Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, who is visiting Peach's Castle a few years after the princess' untimely death, but something is wrong. You quickly discover that Peach's ghost is haunting the castle grounds, and she has become monstrous after her demise. Mario now must avoid Peach and collect the "souls" of Super Mario 64 characters to go deeper into the abandoned halls, and hopefully unravel the mystery of Peach's Castle...
This game contains examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: Peach is normally docile and sweet, but after her death, she's willing to kill Mario on sight. Same goes for the normally friendly and cheerful Toads.
- Ambiguous Situation: How has the Mushroom Kingdom been doing since Peach's death? How did Peach die? Why are Peach and the Toads suddenly hostile to Mario?
- Anti-Frustration Features: The castle is the one from Super Mario 64, but a few new doorways have been added so you don't get cornered easily.
- Boss Battle: The demo as of 0.3.0 adds a boss battle that begins upon acquiring all the "souls" on the ground floor, where Mario has to interact with Peach while she's praying in the middle of the foyer, while avoiding the hordes of Toads she summons to attack him, and then fleeing before she gives chase. Doing this enough times will defeat her and cause her to relinquish the Toad soul, allowing access to the star door with the key to the basement.
- Came Back Wrong: What happened to Princess Peach and the Toads.
- Cliffhanger: The demo as of 0.3.0 ends with Mario temporarily defeating Peach, allowing him access to the star room that normally has the trap door to "Bowser In The Dark World" (instead having just the key to the basement), with the painting instead changing to a more demonic-looking Peach, implying she was somehow corrupted. Mario then heads into the castle's basement, finding Luigi poking around, Poltergust 3000 in tow. Though it seems to be implied that he's been trapped inside, as while he still recognizes his brother, his eyes look really weary to where they look blank. Previously, it was an abrupt, unavoidable Jump Scare from Princess Peach.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: There are 6 difficulty levels, affecting the number of enemies and the skill of the enemies as well.
- Incurable Cough of Death: The logs imply that Peach (and possibly her attendants) died from an unspecified illness that left her bedridden and coughing regularly.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: There are now chests scattered over the castle, you use them as hiding spots.
- Nightmare Face: All the enemies gain this upon seeing you.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: All the enemies gain this whenever they're chasing you.
- Even when Peach is in her normal ghostly form, her eyes are still red.
- Support Party Member: There are ghost Toads patrolling the castle too. While they can't kill you, they will latch onto your face and you have to mash "E" to shake them off, and Peach will likely be drawn towards your location as well, forcing you to hide immediately. They become this even more explicitly during the boss fight, as Peach summons six Toads at a time to try and stop you from purifying her while she's getting ready to attack.
