Editing Dark

|latest_appearance=''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns HD]]'' ([[List of games by date#2025|2025]])

Unlike later games, the levels themselves are not darker than expected, aside from exclusively having black backgrounds in the original version.

In ''[[Super Mario World]]'', the final room of [[Bowser's Castle]] before the battle with [[Bowser]] is dimly lit. A spotlight<ref>{{cite|date=August 1991|title=Nintendo ''[[Mario Mania]]'' Player's Guide|page=147|publisher=Nintendo of America|language=en-us}}</ref> below the [[Item storage|Item Stock]] casts a beam of light down across the center of the screen, rocking back and forth. The dark room is accessed directly though the [[Back Door]], with slight alterations from the [[Front Door]] layout.

 

 

A subdued version of darkness appears in ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'', where it affects [[Delfino Plaza]] due to the fleeing of the [[Shine Sprite]]s. Rather than blackness, it appears as a haze preventing the sunlight from getting through aside from around the [[Shine Gate]]. The more Shine Sprites are recovered, the further out the lit area grows until it eventually covers the whole plaza.

[[Glow Block]]s increase the holder's range of vision. They appear in [[World 2-5 (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)|World 2-5]], {{world link|5|ghosthouse|World 5-Ghost House (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)}}, [[World 6-6 (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)|World 6-6]], and [[World 8-4 (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)|World 8-4]].

In ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', [[Flash Black Galaxy]] is pitch-black; a flash of light illuminates the course every eight beats of the background music. Entities that are not part of the terrain proper, such as player characters, items, enemies, and [[Empty Block]]s, are always shown at full brightness. Parts of the background are also dimly lit, which can provide contrast with the pitch-black terrain. However, the back wall of the tower makes this less effective. The [[Boo Moon Galaxy#Ghost Maze Planet|Ghost Maze Planet]] in [[Boo Moon Galaxy]] is shrouded in darkness. While on this planet, the player's character illuminates a small portion of the surroundings.

There are two types of darkness in ''[[Super Mario Bros. Wonder]]'': the first and most common renders all elements as silhouettes, causing objects on the same plane to blend into one another and obscure most identifying details with some exceptions, such as characters' eyes or [[Piranha Plant]]s' teeth, similar to ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]''. An area can appear this way by default, or darkness may be turned on or off by a [[Wonder Flower]] or [[ON/OFF Switch]]. The second type obscures the entire level in darkness except for the player. Elements such as fire and electricity can light the way; enemies that walk through electric currents become light sources themselves. In [[Pull, Turn, Burn]] and [[High-Voltage Gauntlet]], their respective [[Wonder Effects]] can grant the player a fiery shield or the [[Metal Mario]] transformation (allowing them to conduct electricity) to light the way.

===''Donkey Kong Country'' series===

====''Donkey Kong Country''====

In ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'', darkness occurs in a few stages. [[Blackout Basement]] has the lights flicker on and off every few moments, with the stage and enemies disappearing completely when the lights are out. [[Torchlight Trouble]] and [[Loopy Lights]] feature a more subdued darkness that can be lit with [[Squawks]] in the former and [[On & Off Barrel]]s in the latter.

 

 

In ''[[Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!]]'', darkness appears in [[Murky Mill]], where it must be used to keep [[Ellie]] from seeing [[Sneek]]s under the lights as she is afraid of them. Later, in [[Floodlit Fish]], [[Enguarde]] can temporarily brighten the dark reef by defeating a [[Gleamin' Bream]].

 

A different kind of darkness occurs in ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' and its [[Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D|Nintendo 3DS]] and [[Donkey Kong Country Returns HD|Nintendo Switch]] ports, where it instead causes everything to appear in black silhouette against a brightly lit background, with only a few objects such as the red in [[Donkey Kong]]'s tie remaining colored. This appears in [[Sunset Shore]], [[Foggy Fumes]], and [[Smokey Peak]].

 

In ''[[Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze]]'', the type of darkness from ''Donkey Kong Country Returns'' reappears in the stages [[Busted Bayou]], [[Amiss Abyss]], and [[Cliffside Slide]]. Of these, the middle one is the most ambiently dark, being otherwise only lit by bioluminescent deep-sea creatures in the foreground and background, such as {{wp|pyrosome}}s, {{wp|brittle star}}s, and {{wp|leafy seadragon}}s.

 

 

Blackout Basement DKC screen 2.png|''Donkey Kong Country''

Glimmer's Galleon DKL2.png|''[[Donkey Kong Land 2]]''

Floodlit Fish.png|''Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!''

MP1 PedalPower.png|''[[Mario Party]]''

Castle of Priscilla the Peckish.png|''[[Yoshi's Island DS]]''

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