But it looks legitimate - these are, in fact, assets from the game, albeit modified for entertainment purposes. Marionova64 told Polygon over Discord that the video above is a collaboration between them and content creator Greenio. Marionova64 built the ROM file that places Mario in a terrifying new reality, while Greenio did the editing to put it all together.
“A lot of what you see is actually in game, and not video editing magic,” Marionova64 told Polygon, noting that it took about two days of work. Many of the content creators Polygon spoke to for this story said they learned their tools on the fly, but that amateur aspect somehow only gives everything an air of authenticity. Videos like the one above inspired other people to jump in on the trend, which might explain why there’s been such a notable resurgence of Super Mario 64 creepypasta over the last year. Some of it exists as video, but there’s also been a wave of photoshops and fan art that show ominous scenes from the game. One common image trope, for example, shows a floating Wario head terrorizing Mario across Peach’s castle. The Super Mario 64 iceberg, which lists a series of conspiracy theories. #MARIO IN ANIMATRONIC HORROR THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS FULL GAME SERIES# The farther down you go, the more outlandish and obscure they get. #MARIO IN ANIMATRONIC HORROR THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS FULL GAME SERIES#.