The 2007 hit Super Paper Mario is much darker than anyone anticipated. At least one grim detail seems to have slipped between the cracks.
In the"Underwhere" level, players must traverse an Underworld-style realm. At first this level is no different from battling enemies in a much darker environment, but looking closer in the background reveals a dark message.
The Underwhere is Paper Mario’s version of the infamous Underworld, with it tying directly with the Greek mythology and even Hades himself. Don’t let the humorous play on words fool you. The bosses’ names are tied within Greek mythology as well, such as Queen Jaydes who is a corruption of Hades, and Shayde who is Shade.
Why does all of this matter in the first place? Well if the player decides to stop and look at the background of the level they will see something that reflects this. There are family trees all over the level that continuously appear. The catch to this is that all of them are ending. This is supposed to represent all of the people who got “game over.”
Most players will not notice this in their initial play through. Often times people pay no mind to video game backgrounds, but this is one of the darkest Nintendo has brought.
Many consider this being one of the darkest levels in any Nintendo game. The entire theme behind the level adds extremely mature tones. Not only in seeing families come to an end, but all the workings behind it. The Shayde even tells Mario about the Underwhere and tells him to go to Queen Jaydes to, “weigh his sins.”
If one wants to delve deeper into this they can look even closer at the boss Bonechill. Bonechill is a minor villain who is supposed to represent a fallen Nimbi, or angel, this is clear by the fact that he has wings on his back. Another feature is that he has six wings and is imprisoned deep below the Underwhere. This is paralleled to the story “The Divine Comedy.” Where the final circle of Hell is ice and has the six-winged fallen angel Lucifer imprisoned.
