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The Mad piano in Super Mario 64 DS

Okay, did you know you can stand on the piano in Big Boos Haunt?  Just waits for everyone to try this.  Psyche!  This was an obvious joke, just to see who fell for it and got totally mauled by the piano when they try and attack it! Okay, being serious, I think this piano may be the most sinister enemy in any game that has ever been released, beating the redead zombies in the Legend of Zelda and practically every other enemy in the game of Mario 64/DS and any of the not scary ghosts in Luigi's Mansion.  I will now explain why I still have a deepest fear of that piano and why it is the most original enemy to ever appear in a Mario game so far.

For the first thing, this object doesn't look like much like an enemy would at far range.  The boos in the mansion are very obviously a monster easily recognisable by enemy who has played a Mario game since Super Mario Bros 3, and most other enemies look too freaky to be seen as harmless objects, like the fierce books with teeth and the giant eyeballs (known as Mr I).  But oddly, the piano just doesn't seem like a Mario game enemy, and actually look like some of the scenery there.  No weird teeth are apparent, and no other Mario style details can be seen when you enter.  It's only when you go to investigate what a giant piano is doing in the middle of a haunted house that both the piano and chair spring to life like there possessed by demons.  The chair is also good at making it look unobvious.  This is because without a chair, your suspicions may be raised as to why there's no chair in the room for Mario to use to play a piano.

It is also genuinely quite scary, when you are being chased around the room by a man-eating piano.  I mean, while the boss characters and chain chomp may seem relatively scary to a very young child, they are extremely obviously something to destroy for a star/coin etc.

I just have one mystery about the piano though.  How come it isn't actually possible to destroy it?  You can't get any Super mushrooms nearby, the metal cap does nothing and neither do any attacks Mario has at his disposal.  Apart from guarding a red coin, was there ever a star that relied on you completing a task in that room?

 

A short film showing the Mad Piano attacking Luigi in Super Mario 64 DS