"Costco has hotdogs and soda. Wet dry world dont" -My brother
5 months ago
| 55
So it has often been said that Super Mario 64's Wet Dry World has a "negative emotional aura". Many point to the sort of unsettling and empty mood of the stage, set on the backdrop of an eerie skybox of an ancient town, alongside strange geometric shapes throughout the stage. Overall, it just feels very unnatural, and somewhat uncanny, causing many gamers to feel distressed as they enter and play Wet Dry World. However, another location that makes many feel distressed and uneasy as they enter, is the many Costco Wholesale warehouse retail stores throughout the world, especially in the United States of America. These Costcos are perpetually busy, beyond what is reasonable for any other retail store at any given time of the year. No matter what time you go, even a morning or afternoon of a common weekday, it will still be busier than most theme parks or tourist destinations on a long weekend. Items at Costco also come in extremely large portions and sizes, beyond what might be reasonable for one or two people to consume through the natural course of a food's lifetime. As a result, people initially feel as though they are getting a great "deal", when in reality, they often end up spending way more money at Costco than they would at a more normal sized grocery store. Another huge problem with Costco that gives me an overwhelming sense of dread and negative emotional aura, is what I will call the "spatial oxymoron" in their stores. Their stores are gargantuan in scale, yet, they are always so busy, that you feel claustrophobically cramped, with it being impossible to traverse the store smoothly. You can never get up to "cruising speed" in the store. For example, if you have to visit one corner of the store for an item, then the opposite side of the store for another item, you cannot, under any circumstances, travel across the store at a brisk, walking pace. You will always have to stop and slow down, navigate unpredictable fellow shoppers (whom in this case I will hesitate to call NPCs), and weave your cart in and out of traffic to travel through the store. This results in having to make thousands of "micro-decisions" in how to navigate all the traffic, rather than smoothly and freely wheeling from place to place, with an open and calm mind. So, while Wet Dry World certainly has a negative emotional aura, and this has been discussed online for years at this point, I personally believe Costco has an even more overwhelmingly negative emotional aura. I truly wish to never return, yet, I know, that at some point, as a man of just flesh and blood, I will be sucked back in to the by Costco's "black hole" of an emotional aura for "one or two" items, and end up spending hundreds of dollars more than planned, and feel as though I have battled chthonic horrors that not even the greatest video games of our time could simulate, by the time I have departed. What are your thoughts?
5 months ago (edited) | 32
I found WDW so cozy as a kid. Especially in the town. Almost like a secret hideout no one else knows about.
5 months ago
| 14
I have no idea why but the SM64 iceberg is by far the best video game iceburg out there. It's just so meme-able.
5 months ago | 0
I worked at Costco for a while. The amount of old women that came up to me in tears because they couldn't find something we carried 6 months ago was crazy. So I gotta say Costco
5 months ago
| 3
The part that freaks me out about Costco is the line-up to leave the store. It's such an uncanny feeling having someone waiting for you at the exit to check your receipt when you literally just went through a checkout. If the idea is to prevent theft then wouldn't those employees be better utilized monitoring the self checkouts where the theft is going to happen in the first place? Why can't I just leave? I already waited in line to pay and now I need to wait for the dozen or so 60+ year olds in front of me to remember where they put their receipt? What does that even accomplish?
5 months ago | 5
Theory: it has to do with music and the water in the level. If JRB and DDD played the more eerie HMC music like WDW, people would claim those levels have negative auras as well. Instead, they get music that I would describe as majestic. The first time I played a SM64 randomizer, when it sent me to DDD when I wasn't expecting it, it was playing different music (can't remember what) and it just drops you into the water from above. It was like a jump scare lol
5 months ago | 2
Wet Dry World fills me with an existential dread, but going to Costco forces me to face that dread in person 🤣
5 months ago | 0
For some reason, I associate 'The Blood', an acoustic driven song with flutes, by The Cure with Wet Dry World. Think it is the song referencing the blood of Christ, in relation to that old ancient town in the skybox. Not sure why.
5 months ago
| 4
Wet Dry world always felt interesting because of the water level mechanics and a few things to keep you on your toes. If you suddenly took away the purpose of finding stars it would become a kind of listless purgatory with the high lonely places and the desolate town.
5 months ago | 1
Don't judge until you've been to Costco with the Low Price Crystal activated.
5 months ago | 0
Wet dry world has always been one of my favorite levels. Then again i have been fucked up since i was a kid so... Yeah. 😆
5 months ago | 2
The broken dreams from all the wagies alone is enough to send anyone into a spiraling depression upon entering Costco.
5 months ago | 1
Wet dry world is perfectly fine a few bad guys yeah sure but 10 ⭐ stars what's not to love
5 months ago | 1
I don't go to Costco often, so I don't quite get the negative emotional aura there since I am more distracted by the samples and "Oh shit I can get a giant thing of the food I like" to let anything sink in.
5 months ago | 0
Goose's Gamer Folklore
Which place has a more negative emotional aura?
5 months ago | [YT] | 91