Nintendo Nightmare is a fangame by Supmaster004 that can be downloaded for free here
. It is made in the style of Super Mario 64... Sort of. The game is available in both English and French, included in the same download.
The story begins with an unexplained Alien Invasion, with Princess Peach being (of course) kidnapped. After escaping the initial onslaught, Mario discovers that it was not Bowser behind the attack, but Microsoft. Mario is then told that, to put a stop to Microsoft's schemes, he needs to obtain documents containing data on classic Nintendo games.
The below contains far too many spoilers and so you are at your own risk when reading this. Furthermore, as the creator uses a Parallel Universe-esque version of himself within the game, it is understood that 'The Programmer' refers to said character and /not/ the actual creator of the work. Any other terms such as 'game developer' that aren't explicitly talking about the storyline are referring to the actual creator of the work.
Nintendo Nightmare provides examples of:
- Ability Required to Proceed: Link's half of the game is exactly what you'd expect from The Legend of Zelda; you collect an item from one dungeon and use it to defeat the respective boss and enter the next dungeon. In particular, you need bombs to progress through Luigi's Mansion and Gyrog's Tower, the hookshot to enter the Volcano Temple, the hammer to enter World -1, the Pokeball to capture a Machamp guarding the Space Station (where you enter the Death Egg from), the jetpack to enter the Temple of Sand, and finally the hourglass to progress through the Temple of Sand. These restrictions also mean that Mario can't access any of the dungeons himself, since he can't acquire any of Link's items.note
- Alien Invasion: The Shroobs are back and are deadlier than ever.
- Artificial Intelligence: Every single character, except for their creator, Supmaster004 and the occasional reference to users on various Game Maker forums.
- Author Avatar: SupMaster004 appears as the creator of the world, and the Big Bad.
- Big Bad: Bill Gates, until you meet The Man Behind the Man.
- Book Ends: The beginning of the game shows Mario reacting in shock to the Shroob invasion and going down a warp pipe. In the true ending, where you are still in control of Link, a "reset" takes you back to the opening invasion, but this time you prevent the events of the game from happening by killing Mario before he reaches the pipe.
- The Chessmaster: Eggman and Supmaster004.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mario comments in the first court case how he would have a reason to be on trial for killing the Shroob king if was aware during their battle that a glitch allowed him to shoot without carrying a gun. If you actually exploit the 'glitch' and kill the leader, a secret scene is shown where the (invisible) original killer hurls you off the battlefield (which has the same result as when you normally lose in the fight).
- Creating Life Is Bad: SupMaster004, the creator of the world, is the Big Bad.
- Crisis Crossover: The game serves as one between Nintendo and non-Nintendo franchises.
- Decoy Protagonist: Mario dies approximately halfway through the game after being shot by a worm from Worms, and Link takes over as protagonist for the rest of it.
- Diabolus ex Machina: If you win against the Shroob Leader, the assassin meant to kill him pops up out of nowhere and kills you for messing up the plan.
- Disguised Hostage Gambit: The Shroobs enslaved by Eggman and forced to fight after the death of their leader.
- Disk-One Final Boss: Darth Vador (A Shout-Out to Star Wars), AKA Luigi is the last boss you fight during the first part as Mario, right before his death.
- Foreshadowing: The spaceship serving as the base of operations for Darth Vador is the Death Egg, not the Death Star. Sure enough, Dr. Eggman is revealed later in the game to be The Man Behind the Man.
- God Is Evil: Supmaster004 is the creator of their world, and also the villain of the entire game.
- Golden Ending: The player can access an alternate ending by completing all of the missions.
- Guide Dang It!: Both of Mario's trials, an Unexpected Gameplay Change to a Visual Novel similar to the cases in the Ace Attorney series. You are not warned in advance that these are coming, nor are there in-game hints leading you to the correct answers, so chances are you will keep failing the trials until either you look up a walkthrough or you get a lucky guess.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The initial battle with the Shroob leader. Even if you manage to win, the assassin meant to kill him pops up out of nowhere and kills you for messing up the plan.
- Idiot Ball: A recurring theme throughout the game, sometimes resulting in success for the characters involved, but for the most part backfiring and causing utter hilarity.
- The Shroob leader is stupid enough to think that blackmailing The Programmer with a little bit of tax evasion would somehow work.
- A Bob-omb Buddy in Bob-omb Battlefield tells Mario to go 'kill the black guys', referring to the Black Bob-ombs they are at war with, and mistakenly appears racist.
- Subverted by the fact that it was revealed by the developer to just flat out be bad wording, and completely unintentional.
- Darth Vador is called into court and presented the supposed weapon used in a murder. He promptly says the weapon was not the murder weapon furthermore going on to say his own lightsaber was the weapon. Said court also believes that a shotgun could somehow chop someone's head off.
- Egadd mistakenly believes he is The Hero of Time at one point, and actually says so in front of Link, The Hero of Time.
- Pretty much the entire resistance for never questioning what was really going on after Eggman does his big reveal.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: When Darth Vador (a Shout-Out to Star Wars) is called into court during the second court case and shown the shotgun, Phoenix Wright says it has Vador's fingerprints on it. Vador then says that that's irrelevant, since it wasn't the weapon used in the murder. Nevermind the fact that Vader hadn't been told how the murder had been committed. He even goes on to say that his own lightsaber was used to commit the murder.
- La Résistance: The player wages one against Microsoft.
- Recursive Reality: The computer simulation created by Supmaster004 is a reality contained within another. I.E. the simulation contained in something very very close to the real world.
- The Reveal: used multiple times in the game's complex plot.
- Supmaster004 confessing in court to killing the Shroob Leader.
- Eggman in the second-to-last bossfight when he reveals that Bill Gates wasn't involved in the events of the game.
- Supmaster004's reveal of being the true villain and creator of their world.
- Mario arriving at the very end to reveal that he was never dead.
- Rule of Three: Most bosses, particularly the ones who are fought by Link, must have their weaknesses exploited three times in order to defeat them.
- Sequential Boss:
- In the Lost Woods, you fight a giant green mushroom by tricking it into breaking the floor on the arena. Once you collect the backup, the mushroom manages to transform you into a red Pikmin, and after a brief interlude of working and producing more red Pikmin, you have to fight off an invading blue Onion. What veers it into this trope is that you're not allowed to go back to Hyrule Field while you're still transformed, forcing you to fight both the mushroom and the Onion in one go.
- The two Gyrogs of the eponymous Gyrog's Tower are fought back to back. You first cripple the blue Gyrog by striking its eyes, then grapple onto the red Gyrog and do the same thing while the blue Gyrog continues to attack you.
- Supmaster004's battle in the Temple of Sand involves three Pokemon being sent out at you, one at a time. In order, these are Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard (who itself has the same moveset and weakness as the Fire Spirit in the Volcano Temple).
- Standard Evil Empire Hierarchy: Microsoft has one of these in the way the various villains work for them.
- The Emperor: You assume it is Bill Gates at the beginning, but after finding out Microsoft was not involved, it turns out to actually be Eggman.
- The Man Behind the Man: Supmaster004 AKA The Programmer was the one giving the orders to Eggman. It's fairly easy to notice once you consider that Microsoft was a lie.
- Suddenly Voiced: A number of Heroic Mime characters (and a few inanimate objects) jabber a lot in this game. This includes the warp pipe.
- Tomato in the Mirror: At the end Mario pops out of nowhere and reveals the truth about the events of the game. It's not virus sent by Bill Gates or even Nintendo. They are actually part of an elaborate computer simulation created by the true villain of the game: Supmaster004.
- Tomato Surprise: At the end Mario pops out of nowhere and Reveals that the story of this game is not what you think it is.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Corporal Shroob (the alien leader) is an example of this as he foolishly attempts to blackmail Supmaster004 with something as stupid as tax evasion.
