I never got this. Every time an ice themed area appears in an RPG, it seems like it's a dreary or depressing place compared to the somewhat more 'upbeat' themes of the mainstream Mario games.
Paper Mario's ice areas seem to be an exception (albeit with a more calm theme than the usual Mario ice area), but then look at Fahr Outpost from Thousand Year Door and its more bleak, Cold War esque Russia themes.
And then every one from the Mario & Luigi games is miserable or somewhat depressing. Joke's End is an almost endless labyrinth with the same short piece of music repeating over and over again. Hollijolli Village was blown apart by an alien invasion as Mario and co arrive, the Airway in Bowser's Inside Story is a sombre area with the Dark Star/Dark Bowser trying to clone Bowser's DNA. And then the one part of Mount Pajamaja with ice is a very bleak area that leads to an even more bleak dream world (that you can't initially escape from).
Did the people behind these games really hate cold areas and winter or something?
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Fahr Outpost is not sad, if you can associate only to russia and not the Cold War, you associate it with the cold war, I only as a kid associated that place with Russia. And I really don´t know how to answer the other twoaspects
Ice areas are depressing in general, actually. At least according to Nintendo. Shiverpeak Mountains from Twilight Princess, Sector 5 ARC from Fusion, Phendrana Drifts from Metroid Prime, that cave in Ocarina of Time, whatever that snow place in Majora's Mask was, ect. If you think about it, cold places are usually calm and isolated. Lava places are more lively and action packed. A calm and isolated place is just about perfect for depressing worlds!
But not as depressing as the dark, creepy worlds... definitely...
Would rather go to Waffle Kingdom than this Mushroom crap.
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How about FreezeFlame Galaxy? The background music, especially. So it's not confined to the MaRPGs. I don't think Nintendo is against icy places anyway, but I think the atmosphere in ice locations just tend to be more desolate than other places.
The only ice area I found particularly depressing is Joke's End and (even more so) Mount Brrr in Paper Jam. the ice music in Paper Jam just has this lonely, hollow, "empty" feel to it somehow.
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Diddy Kong Racing did it right with the cheery holiday music.
Donkey Kong Country did both. Slip Slide Ride had wonderful music that was very upbeat and beautiful, but the other snow levels that happened in the blizzard were bleak and depressing.
I guess snow areas just have those quiet, more ambient themes that tend to be more depressing.