I've been playing LocoRoco Remastered off and on for the last few weeks, and it's great for what it is. It's charming, cheerful, gorgeous to look at and has the catchiest soundtrack this side of Katamari Damacy. It's a great game to turn on and bounce through a few levels as a default when I don't know what I want to play. I've even had a couple "Wake and Play" sessions where I wake up, immediately grab a controller and rip through a few levels before getting ready for work, and it puts me in a great mood for the day with its cheerful charm and fun, laid back, game play.

Well, unless a Moja manages to take a chunk out of my big round butt. Then I feel guilty, angry, and vulnerable.

The world of LocoRoco is colorful and smiley, with grinning creatures and bright colorful backgrounds backed by happy nonsense music. Enter the Moja. They themselves are also smiley creatures, looking like little black whirlpools with a face not unlike that of a LocoRoco, but with jagged teeth revealing that this is not just another friendly denizen of your world, it is a predator and it is hungry for only one thing. You. Your flesh. Your body. Your self.

The first you hear about the Moja is in the intro to the game where you're informed that they've invaded what used to be your paradise and are eating all the LocoRoco. They are the impetus behind your journey across these colorful landscapes to your safe little LocoRoco house where you can have a moment's respite. In a way the entire game of LocoRoco is about bright, friendly, creatures being hunted and consumed by a relentless horde of hungry Moja. Kind of puts a different spin on things.

Your first actual encounter with the Moja is preceded by your LocoRoco squealing in distress. "Moja Moja" they scream, their usual nonsense replaced by a clear cry of fear. "Moja Moja."

"Moja Moja" replies the Moja. It's deep, ravenous, voice a counterpoint to the scared squeal of your LocoRoco, like a perverse game of Marco Polo. Then, if you're like me, the Moja appears on screen, flies up to you, and bites a chunk off your LocoRoco, chewing and swallowing. Then it comes back for another.

So you run. You flee and the Moja pursues for a bit before giving up. And from then on you're playing a different game. You're not the top of the food chain rolling through a picture book. You're a lower link. And you need to behave accordingly. Even after you figure out how to kill Moja, they're still out there hunting you.

Of course a lot of games have enemies that hunt or pursue you, and even monsters that eat you or tear you apart. Last year's Doom had post death animations of a gruesome nature, with limbs being pulled off your body and imps feasting on your entrails. But those games are about combat, and when I see a bad guy in Doom I know I have the tools to kill him. LocoRoco is about traversal, and the controls are intentionally loose and slippery. You actually tilt and flick the world rather than the LocoRoco, and movement is imprecise. That means that even after you figure out how to kill the Moja you need to be careful and pick your spots. And if you miss you just hang there in the air for a moment, a tasty snack for the pursuing Moja.

In addition, in LocoRoco your main LocoRoco is made up of a bunch of separate LocoRoco merged together into one, and you can split them apart. That means that the individual LocoRoco are independently intelligent (they smile and laugh and sing) so it's not just like the Moja is pulling a piece of you off and eating you. It is eating one of your party members, a thinking, feeling being. And it is your fault. Feels bad man.

The combination of the colorful friendly atmosphere, the loose controls and limited defenses, and the brutal nature of what the Moja do makes them scary even though they're not really a huge threat after you get the timing on the jump attack down. Every time I hear my LocoRoco start chanting "Moja Moja" I tense up and if I've split apart or am otherwise defenseless at that moment it's even tenser. I get myself together and steel myself for battle.

The Moja are not the only enemies in LocoRoco of course. There are all kinds of creatures that want to eat your LocoRoco or otherwise impede its progress. There are plenty of other enemies in the game and some of them are, at least in theory, more dangerous than the Moja. There are also spike traps that can cost you more then one individual LocoRoco at a time and there are little mole guys who try to eat you. But the Moja are the headline enemies, the first you encounter, and the only ones that make me feel uncomfortable.

The Moja are an example of how context matters in games. In most games the Moja would be adorable little critters, beloved as non-threatening enemies like the Shyguys and goombas in Mario are. But in LocoRoco, a game with a cotton candy aesthetic and where you have limited control to begin with, they come off as something more sinister. Most of the time playing LocoRoco you're completely relaxed and smiling, and the intrusion of danger into that leaves you feeling vulnerable and afraid. They join classic enemies like SiniStar and the Spelunky Ghost as video game bad guys who make me feel stressed out and want to get away from them as quickly as possible. But unlike those creatures the Moja's consumption of sentient beings for food also makes me feel a little sick and guilty when I fail. They're bad news, and one of the worst enemies I've ever encountered in video games.