09-15-2025, 10:12 PM
What I'm about to tell you is going to sound like a bad creepypasta, but I think it's more peculiar than scary.
I remember sometime around 2015 or so (most likely before) going to a cousin's house far away, in another town. I spent that morning playing, or rather, watching him play, on the home computer. I remember seeing him play some kind of anime-style fighting game, like Street Fighter or something, but nothing unusual outside of that.
The thing is, when he put on a Mario game, it started almost straight into the weird part. I don't remember the specific stage, but at first it was something normal, something that fit Mario, or at least didn't raise any questions. Later, I remember Mario going into the water or a tube, and then appearing in another place, which, if I'm not mistaken, was an aquatic level, or simply a level with a garish blue background. I don't know if there was anything else in that level, or if it was just a straight line to the part I remember most: the dragon.
This is when I realized that this was a fan-game, because at the end of that stage there was a giant dragon head that functioned as an entrance to another place. That dragon's head was completely out of step with Mario's style, being more like something from a SNES RPG, being a very detailed, realistic sprite, if I can use that word without losing credibility. It was still possibly a SNES sprite, but it still felt completely out of step, so I'm pretty sure it was a fan game.
What I remember happening when I entered that dragon's head is even more vague, and you might not believe me here because I'm not even sure, but when I entered, Mario appeared in front of some black background or at least in a very dark place. From then on, I don't remember anything, but I don't think anything crazy happened after that, maybe a boss fight or something.
I'm also not entirely sure if the game was actually a fan game or a ROM hack, but there are two options: either it was a PC fan game made in GameMaker or some similar program, or it was a ROM hack. While the former sounds more familiar, I can imagine the ZSNES interface at the time, and it makes perfect sense to me.
I also have another theory: it may be impossible to find this game here, but my cousin may have created that level in Super Mario Bros. X. It makes sense to me because Mario's sprite came from Super Mario All-Stars, and what I vaguely remember about the black background when entering the dragon's head could be the SMBX option to darken the level. Still, I'm more inclined to believe it's a fan game because I remember my cousin opening an executable with Mario's head as the icon, but it could also be a ROM hack.
Trying to contact my cousin isn't an option. I don't even know what's he up today, and it has been like that for years.
I'd appreciate it if anyone could help me with this. Here I leave a recreation of the most vivid image I have about this topic: https://imgur.com/a/qSaBnvr
I remember sometime around 2015 or so (most likely before) going to a cousin's house far away, in another town. I spent that morning playing, or rather, watching him play, on the home computer. I remember seeing him play some kind of anime-style fighting game, like Street Fighter or something, but nothing unusual outside of that.
The thing is, when he put on a Mario game, it started almost straight into the weird part. I don't remember the specific stage, but at first it was something normal, something that fit Mario, or at least didn't raise any questions. Later, I remember Mario going into the water or a tube, and then appearing in another place, which, if I'm not mistaken, was an aquatic level, or simply a level with a garish blue background. I don't know if there was anything else in that level, or if it was just a straight line to the part I remember most: the dragon.
This is when I realized that this was a fan-game, because at the end of that stage there was a giant dragon head that functioned as an entrance to another place. That dragon's head was completely out of step with Mario's style, being more like something from a SNES RPG, being a very detailed, realistic sprite, if I can use that word without losing credibility. It was still possibly a SNES sprite, but it still felt completely out of step, so I'm pretty sure it was a fan game.
What I remember happening when I entered that dragon's head is even more vague, and you might not believe me here because I'm not even sure, but when I entered, Mario appeared in front of some black background or at least in a very dark place. From then on, I don't remember anything, but I don't think anything crazy happened after that, maybe a boss fight or something.
I'm also not entirely sure if the game was actually a fan game or a ROM hack, but there are two options: either it was a PC fan game made in GameMaker or some similar program, or it was a ROM hack. While the former sounds more familiar, I can imagine the ZSNES interface at the time, and it makes perfect sense to me.
I also have another theory: it may be impossible to find this game here, but my cousin may have created that level in Super Mario Bros. X. It makes sense to me because Mario's sprite came from Super Mario All-Stars, and what I vaguely remember about the black background when entering the dragon's head could be the SMBX option to darken the level. Still, I'm more inclined to believe it's a fan game because I remember my cousin opening an executable with Mario's head as the icon, but it could also be a ROM hack.
Trying to contact my cousin isn't an option. I don't even know what's he up today, and it has been like that for years.
I'd appreciate it if anyone could help me with this. Here I leave a recreation of the most vivid image I have about this topic: https://imgur.com/a/qSaBnvr