History VideoGame / DistortedTravesty

** There are fair few shout outs to the Let's Player LetsPlay/{{Raocow}}, probably due to his LP's of the first two games [[ColbertBump greatly increasing people's awareness of them]].

*** One out-of-the-way NPC conversation just before a level with lots of wind namedrops raocow directly, saying he's going to fall a lot in that level. Wind is one of raocow's least favorite game mechanics, as it tends to mess up jumps. [[NonSequitur Raocow wondered what someone playing the game who had never heard of him would make of that statement.]]
** One area's [[AltText window title]] has a twofer: %Card% "[[WebVideo/YugiohTheAbridgedSeries Video games on motorcycles]], final lap. [[VideoGame/BadDudes Are you a bad enough dude to push the buttons?!]]"

** Another NPC in the second town doesn't want to think about what would happen if Great Evil Overlord were to come back, because they "simply don't have the answers!!" [[spoiler::Literally.]]

** In the second town, one of the NPCs says that the aforementioned NPC "used to ask a lot of questions". [[spoiler:''Trivia'' questions.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In gate 6, [=NPCs=] can't hear Jeremy or Chao talking, yet the first one you encounter seems to reply to Jeremy. [[spoiler:He's the EvilOverlord. And he can hear Jeremy]].

*** One of the messages when you swap Jerry in, "Jerry, let's get hairy!", was jokingly suggested as a nonsensical ramble by raocow himself after seeing the silly messages that were already in. Zephyr obliged in the following update.

* BagOfSpilling: The player characters lose EVERY ability they once had. [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing Jeremy unlocks their ability to move early on]], but everything else, including jumping and attacking, has to be earned later.

** It is not realized until Gate 4 that [[spoiler: The hero's of the respective worlds give their bodies and souls to the player characters to grant them their abilities. Whether they are actually dead or just taking up space in Jerry and Claire's somewhat sub-conscious minds is unknown at this point. Jerry doesn't take it too well]]

* ApocalypticLog: The end of every [[{{BrutalBonusLevel}} bonus gate]] brings you to a secret chamber that provides an apocalyptic message and [[{{MacGuffin}} one of eight mysterious instruments]].

* BonusBoss: All of the bosses at the end of each Nightmare Gate. Also, [[spoiler:The Abomination.]]

* BrutalBonusLevel: After completing the the normal blue gate of a given world, a new red gate will appear. Everything beyond this gate is far more difficult than that of the normal gate.

** A few of the other [[{{BonusBoss}} optional bosses]] could also qualify, such as [[spoiler:[[{{TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening}} Final Nightmare]] and Jerry's Shadow, an expy of the Shadow Link from Zelda 2.]]

* UnblockableAttack: In addition to the ones from earlier games in the series, anything that goes red can't be dashed through without taking a hit.

A short sequel, '''Distorted Travesty 2: The Sequel To The Prequel''' was released on April 7, 2011, and can be downloaded from the same site. In it, you play as [[spoiler:Claire, Jerry's ex]]. Both Jerry and Jeremy make appearances in the game as well.

A third entry in the series, '''Distorted Travesty 3: Saved Game''', was released on October 6th, 2015. This entry in the series revolves around Jerry and [[spoiler:Claire]], chronicling their [[spoiler:struggle to save the Darkness and defeat the Virus introduced at the end of Distorted Travesty 2]]. Jeremy and his sister, Chao, return to provide [[MissionControl help, guidance]] and (in Jeremy's case) [[DeadpanSnarker snarky comments]].

* HeroicSacrifice: It is not realized until Gate 4 that [[spoiler: The hero's of the respective worlds give their bodies and souls to the player characters to grant them their abilities. Whether they are actually dead or just taking up space in Jerry and Claire's somewhat sub-conscious minds is unknown at this point. Jerry doesn't take it too well]]

** [[RunningGag Another Gate 6 example]], before "fighting" the [[spoiler:Trivia Lord]], there is a hilariously Narmy bit of voice-acted dialog to serve as his introduction. It's as bad as you'd expect from an RPG game.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: In addition to each Gate changing your ability set to be based on the protagonists from the appropriate game, the boss fight of Gate 6 is a [[spoiler:PopQuiz]]

** [[spoiler:Pete]] in the Magical Castle appears, before being blasted out of the sky by a huge laser courtesy of [[spoiler:Decimator 10000, the true boss of the area.]]
* WallJump: Unlike the [=DT2=], the wall jump mechanic is exclusive to Gate 4. [[spoiler:Though it does reappear briefly much later on in the Subconscious Filter.]]

* CheckPointStarvation: You thought some rooms in the first game were bad? This game features several large, sometimes maze-like rooms that require you to go on switch hunts. If you die at any time during one of these rooms, you'll have to restart, with all your progress in the room being lost. Noteable examples include a fair amount of Nightmare Gate 2 and the Mountain Temple, to name a couple.
** [[spoiler:Gate 5, being based on Metriod]], employs it's own checkpoint system, so you don't even get a checkpoint at the start of each room. Better not forget to make use of those checkpoints often, or you'll have a LOT to redo.

*** Also in the same city, there's a not-so-subtle shoutout to Hitchcock's The Birds in the alleyway.

* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:The Warmaster]], despite the fact that he's supposedly an unbeatable fighting machine, actually comes off as rather friendly. Even after winning against him in a fight, he congratulates the heroes and says they earned their victory.

** [[RunningGag Another Gate 6 example]], before "fighting" the [[spoiler:Trivia Lord]], there is a hilariously [[''Narm'' Narmy]] bit of voice-acted dialog to serve as his introduction. It's as bad as you'd expect from an RPG game.

** [[RunningGag Another Gate 6 example]], before "fighting" the [[spoiler:Trivia Lord]], there is a hilariously [[Narm Narmy]] bit of voice-acted dialog to serve as his introduction. It's as bad as you'd expect from an RPG game.

** [[RunningGag Another Gate 6 example]], before "fighting" the [spoiler:Trivia Lord]], there is a hilariously [[Narm Narmy]] bit of voice-acted dialog to serve as his introduction. It's as bad as you'd expect from an RPG game.

** [[spoiler:Pete]] in the Magical Castle appears, before being blasted out of the sky by a huge laser courtesy of[[spoiler:Decimator 10000, the true boss of the area.]]

** [[spoiler: [[{{BonusBoss}} Darkmoar]] subverts this rule by his physical body AND his shadow doing damage, giving him extended attack range, as your attacks only hurt the main body.]]

%%* {{Metroidvania}}

* RandomEncounters: Played with in Gate 2, where walking around in the overworld invokes this, but after obtaining the bow and arrow, Jeremy figures out how to turn the random encounters off. This doesn't make avoiding battle too much easier though, but it's at least an improvement to Jerry.

** Shadow Jerry appears in Gate 2, before promptly being sent off to the Vault. [[spoiler:[[AvertedTrope:But guess who shows up in the Nightmare Vault, should you choose to go there?]]]]

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: You start the game unable to do anything except duck after [[spoiler: the Virus]] locks you out of all your abilities. Even after Jeremy gives you back your ability to move, you still need to find a power-up to be able to jump.
* YourWorstNightmare: Fittingly, [[VideoGame/LegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Final Nightmare]] uses this tactic as it gets close to death: it declares that it knows what Jerry fears most, and transforms into [[spoiler:the Shroud Lord. The player will likely echo Jerry's OhCrap reaction, given how insanely difficult this guy was to defeat in the first game, but fortunately the Nightmare version isn't even a quarter as powerful as the original.]]

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: You start the game unable to do anything except duck after [[spoiler: the Virus]] locks you out of all your abilities. Even after Jeremy gives you back your ability to move, you still need to find a power-up to be able to jump.