-its an enemy from an older 3d mario game, somewhere between mario 64 and sunshine, but it could also be either of them
-falls in line with the 3d mario tradition of levels operating in “acts”, the same level with different states depending what star you’re going after
-this enemy exclusively existed at the last act of one level and nowhere else
-it’s a water level, the final star can only be collected by near-perfect swimming through an increasingly dark underwater maze, bringing you consistently to red on your air meter
-you collect a key, which both refills your air and causes the star to spawn at the entrance to this maze, forcing you to retrace your steps
-the second you collect this key, this MASSIVE whale locks onto mario and gives intense chase, making the trip back up even less forgiving than the trip down
-many people online say that this star and whale enemy absolutely terrified them as a kid, kept them from getting 100%, made them put the game down for months, etc
-its on a bunch of top 10 scariest things in mario games lists
-there’s a pannenkoek-style analysis of various enemy tracking AI in the game, using level hacks to demonstrate mechanics
-the whale is an enemy with AI instead of a scripted auto-scrolling deathwall with a thematic coat of paint, and apparently before you even collect that key, the second you spawn into the level the thing is tracked onto you, if it didn’t have walls around it it would just gun straight for you, the only thing that could save you is collecting the star at the end of the level
-everyone in the comments section of the video had the natural reaction of “haha wow that’s pretty creepy, no wonder this thing scared me so much”
-watch this, am also thinking that
-have been having this exact dream consistently for years
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