I think I smell a new mystery series brewing~☕

Ok I just came to the realization that the sky box is not depicting a town underwater but a town viewed from the perspective of someone sinking in water looking up

I remember as a kid trying to so hard to jump out of the level and explore that city in the skybox. I never realized that it was supposed to be underwater.

Strangely enough, I used to feel a desire to stop playing the game when I got to Wet Dry World, but then it grew on me, and I began to find it quite a fun stage... I blame my personalized copy.

this level feels like the places i visit in dreams in fact i had nightmares of being trapped on this level alone, then drowning

So Spain is canon in the Mario Universe?

In the German Version, the Level is called Atlantis Aquaria. Well, Atlantis, the sunken town, fits the setting very well IMO. Especially when you get into the hidden Area with the houses. But the most disturbing thing is the fact that a 3rd water based Level doesn't have the relaxing music you know from JRB & DDD, but instead the creepy theme from HMC which doesn't seem fitting. A lot of uneasiness could be taken away from the player if WDW had the fitting music.

Interesting. I felt the exact opposite as a kid. I found the course to be mystical and intriguing, and I loved the sky box. I remember using the canon to shoot Mario into it, imaging him flying in and around the town...😌 and the town underneath just looked abandoned to me, or, just simply made to look like a town, though I can see how you find it unsettling...

I’m surprised no one gets unsettled by hazy maze cave, it unsettles me and creeps me out a bit more, especially when I was 7 when I first picked up the ds port. The toxic gas maze part creeped me out a lot and I’d avoid going to it unless there was a star I had to grab. Wet dry world felt boring to me, probably why everyone else feared it because it is because it is dreary in its colour scheme with all the muted browns and greys on the bricks.

I think the reason is loneliness, there’s no text in this level unlike every other level, no signs, the bomb-om is so high up that few players can be bothered to talk to it, there’s no communication, that’s why this levels so empty

The wet dry world beta music is so good yet so strange and eerie.

Here's my theory: The denizens of W-D world, escaped to the underground caverns due to a great War. They built a town and hid. Eventually, a great Flood wiped out everything and everyone in the hidden town drowned.

For me I would play the level for like 5 minutes, but after that I would just wanna stop. The level is just so bland and boring. I actually thought finding town when I first played the level was kinda cool

What happens if you have positive emotions from this level? I remember Wet Dry World being my favorite level in the entire game. I thought it was a level full of mystery, and felt a lot bigger than it actually was for me.

As a child, I only ever made it to the basement, so up until last year, I didn't even know this level existed. I got such an intrigue from the vibe of the level during a let's play that I went back and replayed the game because I wanted to get to WDW and play the level myself. For that reason, I actually quite like the level.

Another question I always had: how did the town and general city in the background become submerged? Is this a future earth? That could explain there only being water creatures and robots.

I actually played super mario 64 for the first time on an emulator when I was in my late teens and my first experience with wet-dry world was late at night. I had a podcast going in the background and everyone else in the house was asleep, and I remember feeling generally unsettled, like I didn't want to play anymore, as you mentioned in the video. Getting flung over and over by the heave-hoes without actually getting anywhere made me feel trapped, like all my efforts at progression were futile. Now that I think about it, playing late at night in general was pretty unnerving. I've always found the game, and really all games from this era, to have an empty, lonely aura surrounding them that just isn't present in modern games, and I've never seen anyone else talk about it until recently.

All the feelings you described at the beginning, I felt when I played this level when I was younger, I even stopped playing the game entirely, I always thought it was just me but it's crazy to see that this level made other people feel weird too

You know it's odd, people say that Wet-Dry World pulls off a scary vibe to players but not me. I was 5 when I played this game for the first time and I wasn't even scared for some reason the Eel from Jolly Roger Bay did give me some of the chills but it somehow wasn't frighting.... Something's off about me.....

I never knew that the higher you jump when entering the painting, the higher the water level is at the beginning! Cool! After 20 years, I still learned something new about this game.

Another point I don't think has been brought up is whether a similar negative aura can be felt with the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time. (Aside from the shared frustrations of the level's tedious design) Assets from Wet Dry World were clearly reused in that level and outside it as well. With the mysterious music, claustrophobic design, and general hopelessness felt due to feeling like you will never just finally finish and get out of the place, I think a strong parallel can be made with Wet Dry World and the Water Temple 😌

Never found this level uncomfortable, in fact it's my favourite level for some reason. When i was younger and had enough stars to reach the level id just explore it for an hour. or more till i eventually decided it was stime stop. i will admit it did feel like i couldnt leave sooner but maybe its cause i like the level too much, heck sometimes i do it till this day :p WDW just always gets me hooked to it

There are a few things of note. One being that, canonically, Bowser has taken over the castle and, kidnapped most of its' inhabitants. From there, he invaded and took over other worlds, through the paintings. Secondly, It's no secret that one of SM64's inspirations was a CRPG called "Ultima: Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds", an immersive sim that focused on story-telling in its' level design. There are quite a few similarities between one of the story pitches for SM64 and Ultima: Underworld 2's city of Anadunis, with Bowser possibly being a stand-in for the "Guardian" (one of the primary bad-guys in the Ultima series).

The city background in the wet dry world is actually the town of Shibam in Yemen and the castle thingy on the top is the mosque of Muhammad Ali in egypt

Let me tell you, everything scared the shit out of me as a kid. Dead Hand traumatized me, Powerpuff Girls had an episode that gave me nightmares, Earnest Scared Stupid was too much for me at one point but Wet Dry World never did anything for me. Despite all that, it did seem unusual to me even as a child. Not the skybox or even the town given I never found the town or noticed what the skybox was young. The music was just music to me but the build and color scheme and general layout and items were strange to me. Even for a japanese fantasy game from the 90s.

imagine that from that time mario 64 was making a warning of a catastrophe that would occur in the near future in which people would die

I always loved this level. It gives the vibe of a rainy day where you can just chill with no worries

idk why people always say that you can't leave the hidden town after entering it, because you easily can. if you didn't already know, the water level that you start off with depends on how high you jump into the painting, kinda like how the speed of the obstacles on tick tock clock changes depending on the time you enter on. if you do a side jump as close as possible into the painting, you'll enter at the top. and if you enter at the top, the water level will be higher than what's usually possible. the height is just enough to be able to enter the cage without using the cannon, and it lets you leave the cage whenever you want, even after entering the town

For some weird reason WDW is one of my favorite levels in SM64 i just kinda like the style of that level Gotta admit the town segment kinda unsettles me I actually think HMC is more unsettling

This level looks like something that belongs in a zelda game. The level mechanics are similar to those found in the water temple, and the vibe and graphics are similar to what you might find in Ocarina of Time or Majora's mask.

I dunno, when I completed SM64 for the first time back in 2018-19, I never felt any kind of negative emotions when playing this level I honestly kinda like it, despite its dull design, it's got some interesting concepts and I definitely do enjoy these theories relating to it

Unpopular opinion: Wet-Dry World is my favourite course

I like your videos and hope they get more views. I was the dummy that didn't realize I had to collect starts at first in SMB64. I literally had the game for a month or so, just fascinated with going around the world in three dimensions, that when the first star was eventually collected in Bobomb battlefield, I was blown away. I will always remember struggling to get all 120 stars when I was a kid, and the grind that took years to get there, the rumors of Yoshi, the realization that I've gotten 80/120 stars and now the grind to figure out how to get the rest will come about. Eventually I got to the point where 118 was taunting me at the start screen. I remember one of the last ones (probably the actual last one) being 100 coin Tick Tock Clock. With that and reaching the top of the castle I realized an era of my life had wrapped up, not to be revised in my life for an other 20 years or so until it was brought to light one day on youtube, down a rabbit hole of discovering speed runners of other games eventually finding super mario 64 again.

I was more creeped out by the underground lake in Hazy Maze Cave. Only because I have a terrifying fear of sea monsters.

They skybox in this level has been found to be a picture of the oldest skyscraper city located in Yemen, not Casares Spain, the biggest hint being the gold building at the very top.

I just noticed that those spider enemies are actually frowning!

I was never bothered by this level, aside from the considerable difficulty level. However, I sometimes found the entire hub world, the castle, as unsettling. I suppose it's because it's almost empty, with Peach and all the Toads being trapped in the walls, Bowser looming nearby. I even dream about the castle every now and then. Never really scary dreams, but mysterious.

Wet Dry World seems like it's based on the concept of an ancient sunken city like Atlantis

I remember i was so scared of the chain-chomp thingy. I didn't even play by myself, i watched my father and older brother play it and the world looked super vivid and sureal.

When I was a kid, I was very intrigued by the raising and lowering of the water levels and didn’t find it unsettling at all, however, now I can see definitely why some others felt uncomfortable with it

4:24 this isn't the only level this appears in it also appears in hazy maze cave,inside the pyramid

Weirdly, it was my favorite level as a kid because it had a sense of mystery. I always saw it as an abandoned underwater construction project

I had no problem with the level, until I looked at the original Super Mario 64 and seen the sky box. It makes me feel sad and scared.

This level’s skybox is awfully off putting. There seems to be some edge of the water that the town is submerged in. But now that I think about it, if you are able to control the water level, could it be you who has caused this town to submerge? All of these mystical elements, like jumping into paintings, finding a winged cap like your own, the never-ending staircase, and Bowser’s course leads me to think that not just Wet-Dry World is unsettling. Maybe this whole game is just a dream. A dream with everything Mario the plumber daydreams about in his pastime. Which also leads me to think something else. Not just Super Mario 64 is a dream. Everything is. Everything in the Mario series is just one giant dream by a plumber wearing red clothes. Here’s my dark theory behind this: Luigi and Mario run a plumbing business called The Super Mario Bros., and they help lots of people with plumbing issues. One day, they meet a pretty beautiful girl named Peach, who asks them to help her with their plumbing. The Mario Bros. gladly do so, as they didn’t want to lose her eyes. When they got back home, however, both of them started fighting over Peach. The argument got so heated that Mario stabbed Luigi in the chest with a pipe. Luigi fell down on the floor, bleeding. His last words to Mario were as the following: “Mario, this isn’t us. We wouldn’t be fighting ever in our lives. This has to be Peach’s doing. Her charm had found us. So I ask you to do one thing: never get charmed by Peach, and keep these words in your heart so you don’t forget me. Luigi is real.” And saying so, he died. Mario felt instant regret. He decided that he would build a giant castle in Luigi’s honor, with a statue with a star written with his last words. He put up many paintings for all the things Luigi liked. After many months of hard work, the castle was done, and Mario felt content. But he only kept the words “Luigi is real” in his heart. He had forgot his warning about Peach. Inviting her to the palace, they had a great time for one day. But only one day. When Mario went to bed with Peach, she got up and choked Mario in his sleep. Mario was dreaming about saving Peach from Bowser so he could have a cake with her, and that dream had never ended. Luigi had also left a mark, so in his dreams there were distorted and lonely parts. Mario had forgotten all about Luigi. But Luigi didn’t. The statue built in his honor is a message for Mario to wake up, for Mario to meet him in the clouds. But who knows when this will happen?

1:33 all of these pretty much describe a liminal space photo

I never felt anything other than curiosity and fascination when I played this level as a kid in the early 2000s. Definitely never got any bad vibes, though.

Wet dry world is one of my favorite worlds just because of all the creepy stuff around it. I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff

Oh I was always wondering why this level was so special and strange to me as a kid. Particularly the background city and the underground town. I always thought Peach lived there and that background city was something like Mario and her could go on vacation lol. I really liked the level, but still strange compared to the others worlds, nothing negative or creepy to me althou. Similar feeling with Dire Dire Docks whenever I get to that ship which is floating and has a Bowser logo, I was like WHAT HE DOES WITH THIS THING I JUST WANT TO KNOW. Anyway, many thanks for the video!

2:51 you actually can leave the underground city if you leave the water levels up on the outside of the cage at the entrance

I Didn't Actually Feel A Negative Aura While Playing Wet Dry World. I Just Felt A Fun New Gimmick Nintendo Was Trying. Its Actually One Of My Favorite Level.

Tick Tock Clock has always been my favorite SM64 level, but it's more unsettling than Wet-Dry. Looking down from your platform to see just a white empty abyss scares me, and when trying to race the mechanisms when at a fast pace was a real challenge trying not to fall.

I can describe you the feeling: feels liminal / feels like a box / feels like a puzzle / feels like you are alone / feel squared / feels small / feels like a dream

I did not feel much unease. Of course the flooded "town" if you can even call it that is really just a product of hardware and time limitations. Plus the music sounds more mysterious than creepy, at least to me. However there is indeed a melancholy and a loneliness to it. Like walking alone as the sun has just set by an old playground you used to go to with a kindergarten friend of yours you simply lost contact with and of whom you can only remember the first name and a vague image of their face.

That level was my favorite and the music also one of my favorite tracks. Never been creeped out by it, but rather fascinated by it’s nature. In fact, when I have the game in mind, it’s one of the first things that pop to mind. The freaking haunted house was creepy AF, with that crazy sentient piano and other anomalies. Also, the bay level and the ... Eel. That thing coming put of the wall. *ugh*

nearly 1k subs keep it up bro!

Oh my god. I never knew you could change the level by jumping into the painting at the top... I remember spending hours and hours as a kid exploring the level trying to find a way past that mesh..

Even years later, this course still makes a chill run down my spine.

My Opinion: The sky box is terrifying, the level is mysterious but I enjoy the design because it is MEANT to be weird. Also, I think the music is a literal bop and deserves more from people. Its basically a mysterious underground theme remix, and I love it.

It is so weird that when I have played this level for the first time, I haven't creeped out or felt anything bad, I just played it as normal people play games.

The Level is the first paintjng you encounter once you unlock the upstairs portion of the castle. By that stage, it just seems like more of the same, only with a pain-in-the-neck water-level mechanic to worry about.

It never creeped me out, but it definitely fascinated me. In 1997 I was about 8 years old, saw Titanic, and became obsessed. This level, being a water level with differing heights of water, fueled my imagination at the time. Then later on after Zelda: Wind Waker came out (spoilers) I came up with the theory that the town in Wet/Dry World was actually Kakariko Village, only just rediscovered; since the entire level seems to be an abandoned town underwater. Another theory of mine involves Paper Mario 2, and that Wet/Dry World is Rogueport right after the great cataclysm, and that Mario here is simply traveling back in time to the old village and surrounding area that was cast into the depths of the ocean.

"The Brain Mapping" would explain the city submerged, as that is the subconscious

Well i have Mario 64 on the all stars package and i certainly feel this too. The aura has haunted me.

Thank you for explaining this to me, it is very confusing and a bit scary at times

This level proobes that we are living a simulation. Imagine by a moment that we are inside a dry wet world

I have indeed felt lonely when playing this level, but I kind of liked it since i kept going in the painting just wandering around and not collecting stars, never knew why

I always thought the background was a huge abandoned city that belonged to a lost civilization, I thought the buildings were adobe brick built

When I was a child Jolly Roger Bay was the stage that creeped me out a lot, to the point that I didn't enjoy playing it.

My experience: It was just different. I can't say I ever felt uneasy playing it, as I was a really young kid when I played the franchise - never really felt dark, or scared by it, as I certainly did not expect to be creeped out (and wasn't) by a Mario game. I can't even say that I felt that something was "off", or that I thought it was different. It was a while since I was 6, but I did feel something was different with the town underground. Now that I'm an adult and look at it, something was definitely off.

I don't think any of the questions of previous life in the town are applicable since all the worlds were created within the painting, meaning they didn't exist beforehand.

1. I remember feeling anxious (and even a bit nauseous) playing this level so I find it interesting that this is a real thing. After seeing this, I recall those little spatula guys really bothering me… the catapulting and slamming into the hard ground made me feel something that I can even assign a word to. 2. I think there’s design elements that just make this level dizzying, but I wonder if they used the Ghost Frequency that makes SO many people feel this way (whether intentionally or unintentionally). It’s sometimes used in horror movies, so why not video games 🤷🏼‍♀️

I wasn’t the only one who got the creeps here. I also felt a feeling of not wanting to play anymore though I think that’s just due to the complex design of the level (gotta love water levels). I always had a feeling of being watched honestly. The backdrop in Spain I found intriguing as well though I didn’t know it was Spain back then. And yes, the flooded city also gave me the creepy vibes too. Swimming that tunnel now that I think about it gave me thoughts that Mario would drown before making it. And overall yes, this whole game is kinda lonely if you think about it.

Great video,very informational

I have always felt disturbed while playing this course because I was like there are no people here and it is a town

the skybox isnt actually spain, its a town in yemen called shibam and the red building on top is the mosque of muhammed ali which is in egypt

i think that level is the weirdest.... i love it

I always thought as a kid that the town was far away and that the map was held in the outskirts somewhere to give a feeling being close yet distant to civilization. In a sense, it gives a sense of security that Mario isnt in a completely isolated area, despite being alone in his mission. Strangely comforting to me somehow.

This is one of the few levels I remember playing when I played this game as a little kid, I never got a weird vibe from it but idk i felt like something was wrong but it was a really small subtle feeling and when i found the town i was like “why does it look so weird”

Yeah I feel like the spooky synth sound is a throwback to the flying ships in super Mario 3.

Back in the 90's the only feeling i got from this level was the frustration of being unable to reach the city, until i found the Cage, nevera feel creepy

The sunken town reminds me of a prison due to the cage surrounding it keeping it from the public.

that was the only level I wasn't scared of- but it was also kind of a drag, like it was a deadspace and you know nothing is going to happen.

even watching this video makes me feel like im inside of a bag and cannot breathe

I can't tell you how many times I tried to get in those houses in the sunken town. Repeatedly punching the doors, kicking the windows, ground pounding the roofs... until I eventually got this nightmare where I finally did get in one of the houses, and a mess of blue zombies flooded out around Mario in the doorway. Obviously I know there's no dead bodies in there now, but as a kid that nightmare freaked me out to the point I could never play that level again. I always had to have my sister play through and get the stars.

I always saw the main section of the world as a test stage, something that wasn't ever originally intended for the game but was added in, the layout of enemies, super random objects like a spire with a switch or the literal floating ring which you shoot through felt so out of place, alot more then something like the floating island in Bob omb battlefield

This is really intresting! I liked your explaining, sub is here! :D

whe i was a child (like a 10 or 8 years old more or less) this level is not cause me some fear if not, i'm intrigued , why the people are scare for the level, maybe can remenber something creppy or traumatic. when i listened of the iceberg of wet-dry world, im impacted about it lot of ,the level it become one of levels favorites of my life, what i never can forget it

I remember opening the map in the DS version and when I saw the downtown area I was like "woaw, WTH ?" and then when I finally reached it, it felt like entering the tomb of a lost civilization.

I played the crap out of SM64 back in 97, knew the game from start to finish by heart... and the odd thing is, I don't remember this level at all... I just have to replay this game for the 20th time to check why this level got erased from my memories...

The town is like a giant diorama. That's why the grass and trees look fine after being submerged, because they're fake. That's why you can't enter the buildings, they didn't have an interior in the first place. It's creepy, like looking at a chinadoll, or a mannequin. Maybe there never was any life here to begin with. This whole town hits Uncanny Valley.

When I played that level for the first time, I always had a feeling of emptiness and always wished I could go through the doors of the town to explore the buildings.

A part of me actually feels confused, I get so confused to the point I ask the story behind every level.

WDW was actually my favourite level even before I got the game myself, when I plaed it at a friend's house. But, yes, I have felt the strange ... feeling of this level. But as you say, I think it is most because of the loneliness one feel here. Not life, except for the bugs, just some mechanical, unkillable enemies.

I played Mario 64 and 100%ed wet dry world not thinking about the sky box, music, the claustrophobic feelings, or the sunken town

Fun Fact: Wet-Dry World's german name is Atlantis Aquaria, which makes sense with the buildings.

Yes when I played this level I got a really weird vibe for some reason

I think most of the feelings of weirdness and the nausea people experience is because the level is an eyesore to look at. The other levels are visually pleasing but this one just looks like a function testing baseplate. I also Don’t think the town was supposed to give off the hint that people drowned, but just that it was abandoned and the citizens just left to live in a dryer environment (e.g. the mushroom kingdom)

I think I know why people think it's lonely, there's a lack of NPCs most courses have NPCs but this one only has the pink bob omb

Wet Dry World is a test level ඩාඞඩාඞ

There are these splashing noises when heading to the sunken town Edit: and they completely go away after reaching it...