Poes (Legend of Zelda series)

Poe

Recurring ghosts from the Zelda games, these lantern-carrying Edgar Allans come in all shapes and sizes, with several of them having distinct identities (the Composer Brothers Flat and Sharp, for example). You can collect the souls of big 'uns in bottles and sell them to the mysterious Poe Collector in Ocarina of Time's Guard House. There are far spookier things to be found in the Zelda games (the shriek of a ReDead as it freezes you on the spot and begins gnawing your head gives us nightmares to this day), but perhaps that's why we're so fond of these torch-carriers.

Phantoon (Super Metroid)

Phantoon

A giant alien ghost squid that Samus inevitably destroys in Super Metroid, Phantoon seems to require energy to survive and - surprise! - has a weak spot in his eye (will bosses never learn?). It seems that once again it is futile to 'kill' a ghost; Phantoon would return in Metroid: Other M to once again feel the burn of the bounty hunter's charge beam.

King Boo (Super Mario series)

King Boo

Completely different from the garden variety underling Boos (he's big and he's got a crown, and sometimes his eyes go purple, see?), King Boo debuted in Luigi's Mansion on GameCube and has since risen through the ranks of Mushroom Kingdom villains. He's also a heavyweight Mario Karter, enjoys a Mario Party and has even used those tiny arms to play baseball, too. A versatile villain.

Roger the Potted Ghost (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island)

Roger

A memorable boss from the Super Nintendo, Roger the Potted Ghost was created by Kamek in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island to stop Yoshi in his tracks, although the dinosaur could simply push the poor ghoul off the edge of his platform. Roger breathes blue fire but otherwise scores low on the menace scale. For one thing he's not a free-roaming apparition - he's grounded by a plant pot.

Also, he's called Roger.

Vivian (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)

Vivian

Originally one of the three Shadow Sister, Vivian defects from the dark side to fight the good fight alongside Mario in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on GameCube. She's explicitly transgender in the Japanese version, although those references were removed in the western translations. Regardless of her gender, infinitely more relevant is her status as a spectre - she's a Shadow Sister, sure, but are they ghosts?

We're going to go out on a limb and say 'probably'. If you're not convinced, feel free to sub in one of Paper Mario's undoubtedly ghostly characters such as Doopliss and the Duplighosts (great band name, there) or Ghost T., the dead train Toad. Yes, ghost toads are a thing.

Wisp (Animal Crossing series)

Wisp

This ghostly genie-like spirit typically appears at night and is notable for being one of the few non-animals in Animal Crossing. He's also appeared in Animal Crossing: City Folk and Animal Crossing: New Leaf and his abilities include ridding the entire town of weeds, giving your roof a paint job and even transforming into other villagers when you scan their amiibo cards. A friendly ghost, indeed.

Ghost data (Mario Kart series)

MK8

Finally, the most malevolent ghost of all - yourself. Well, yourself or sometimes a friend, or an online rival, or an assortment of Nintendo staff members who embedded their spectral performance in a Mario Kart game. Yes, we're including the semi-transparent 'ghosts' we've spent many an hour racing against ever since unlocking the three Staff Ghosts in Mario Kart 64. Things became much easier in later games in the series, but while recording Time Trial ghosts in MK64 it was very easy to destroy your own ghost data mid-attempt (a serious crash or even pausing the game meant you'd have to begin again, if memory serves).

Ah, but that time we pulled off the Mario Raceway shortcut perfectly three times in a row is saved as a ghost on a Memory Pak in the loft somewhere! We've mentioned that before, and you can be sure we'll mention it again - that particular ghost fills us with more nostalgia and warm fuzzies than any other on the list above and we'll be bringing that one back from the dead for years to come.


This is Halloween, this is Halloween... Obviously this is just the tiniest drop in the ectoplasmic ocean of ghosts from games on Nintendo systems. Let us know your personal paranormal preferences below (from Nintendo games or otherwise) and have a phantastic Halloween folks!