History VideoGame / MakaiKingdom

** Lets not forget Melee attacks. Most of the Warrior-type classes can learn special skills for use when they don't have a weapon in their hands. Most of these are ironically Multi-target skills, too. Unfortunately, no unit in the game, Generic or Unique, has the stat growth needed to rock such a style unless max Reincarnation levels are achieved; and if one can achieve max levels, then why would you be using Unarmed skills at all?

* HoYay: Quite a bit coming from Alex, but King Drake & Zetta offer up this exchange:
--> '''Zetta:''' Aren't you the one who attacked me in my sleep?
--> '''KING Drake THE THIRD:''' Only because I wanted your ''junk''.
--> '''Zetta:''' ... You sick bastard. I didn't know you swung that way.

* MoralEventHorizon: Seedle crosses this three times. He was a [[spoiler: well-off villainous samurai who tried to flirt with Salome in life. She didn't reciprocate, so he tried to rape her, only to get a knife to the gut for his troubles. Now fast forward to the near-end of Episode 9, where he wants to kill her off again out of pettiness. Alexander foils the attempt. Then, when Salome is about to be resurrected by Pram and Zetta, Seedle intervenes AGAIN by attacking Pram to disrupt the ceremony. Alexander finally has enough and presumably dispatches Seedle off-screen.]]

** VERY frequently, characters will insist "go play Phantom Brave" sometimes with "instead if this game!"

Continuing the tradition of wacky TurnBasedStrategy {{RPG}}s started by ''{{Disgaea}}'' and ''PhantomBrave'', [[NipponIchi Nippon Ichi Software]] released ''Makai Kingdom'' in 2005. It's the story of '{{Badass}} Freakin' [[DimensionLord Overlord]]' Zetta, who [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds accidentally destroys his own Netherworld]] by torching a CosmicKeystone called the Sacred Tome. In order to save himself, he seals himself inside the book before it's completely ruined. Reduced to a sentient tome with no home, no resources and no body, Zetta is forced to enlist the help of his fellow Overlords in a bid to get his netherworld back.

* BonusBoss: Like all NipponIchi games by this point, it's Baal (plus [[PhantomBrave Castille]] and the ''{{Disgaea}}'' crew). Zetta even [[BreakingTheFourthWall Breaks The Fourth Wall]] by calling him out, knowing the trend.

* MarketBasedTitle: The fully English name ''Phantom Kingdom'' got renamed to the partially GratuitousJapanese name ''Makai Kingdom'' when it was ported to Europe and North America. It was likely a marketing move to emphasise the connection to the better known DisgaeaHourOfDarkness (which it shares more thematically) over PhantomBrave (which it shares more mechanically), though it depends on ViewersAreGeniuses to catch the BilingualBonus.

* ObligatorySwearing: The champion of TheMultiverse by a long shot, even though it holds the same teen rating [[LaPucelle as]] [[{{Disgaea}} the]] [[PhantomBrave others]], the localization is riffled with: Bitch, Slut, Asshat & etc.

* TheOtherDarrin: Zetta's voice actor has been replaced twice in his later appearances in other NipponIchi games due to union issues with Creator/CrispinFreeman. RichardEpcar provided his voice in {{Disgaea 2}} and he is later replaced by PatrickSeitz in VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4| A Promise Unforgotten}}.

* XMeetsY: This game is almost ''exactly'' a fusion between ''PhantomBrave'' and ''{{Disgaea}}''.

Now has a [[UpdatedRerelease PSP port]], including an [[AnotherSideAnotherStory alternate storyline]] involving a new character, Petta. Although it has [[NoExportForYou no plans for a western release]].

* TierInducedScrappy: TEC-users are gimped by this. Post-Game bosses ad high-level Dungeon characters tend to have above-average defenses. Unless over-levelled, Support spells will usually come into play to assist. However, there are no spells for buffering the TEC stat. What doesn't help is that MakaiKingdom chose to do away with item-leveling, which makes Accessories static. Long story short, a TEC-user with 3000 TEC and three Glasses is nothing compared to a Mage with 3000 INT that's been boosted by five Magic Boost spells, turning that 3000 into 5000.

** And Lady Salome? She's [[GhostInTheShell Major Kusanagi]].[[hottip:English VA:MaryElizabethMcGlynn]]

* AnticlimaxBoss: The optional encounter with Asagi must be unlocked with a level 1000 character and a massive amount of mana. Asagi herself is level 50 and will likely go down with one hit.

* WastedSong: Devil's Descent, Valvoga's theme, only plays twice, during its introduction and as the BonusBoss music against him.

* RestartAtLevelOne: Notably subverted; Zetta may be a book, but he's still the highest-level overlord in the multiverse and retains those levels in book form... He's just not ''playable''. However, Zetta's original ''body'', formerly possessed by Baal, rejoins the party at Level 1 once you unlock it.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny - Upon recruiting King Drake, you'll see his Intelligence Aptitude is only TEN PERCENT.

* EvillyAffable: Most of the overlords except Seedle, for a certain value of 'evil'. Dryzen is probably the most prominent example.

* HowDareYouDieOnMe: A rare pre-mortem example: [[spoiler:After Zetta is cursed to die in two days, Alexander confronts Zetta with these words, furious at the prospect of losing his rival... And then tries to beat the curse to the punch.]] This comes, naturally, with a huge dose of HoYay.

* OneWingedAngel: Subverted by King Drake's... *Snicker* ''true'' form...
** Valvolga's regular form --a multi-armed demon, an angel head and a dragon skull mashed together into one being-- is intended to be evocative of this trope, which is why he's often referred to as "The Last Boss" (of other games).
* OracularUrchin: Pram and [[spoiler:Trenia]]
** But later, it turns out that [[spoiler:Pram doesn't have the power of precognition after all. She was just reading from the Sacred Tome, which recorded the entire past, present and future, the whole time. Also, the Sacred Tome, or rather spirit of it, is actually Trenia, which explains her own power of precognition]].

* PigeonholedVoiceActor: Crispin Freeman as {{Badass}} Freaking Overlord Zetta.

* RestartAtLevelOne: Notably subverted; Zetta may be a book, but he's still the highest-level overlord in the multiverse... He's just not ''playable''.
** However, Zetta's original ''body'', formerly possessed by Baal, rejoins the party at Level 1.
* RewritingReality: Literally. The Sacred Tome creates whatever is written down in it, but takes the {{mana}} of whoever wrote it down to fuel the creation. Overlord-level demons can create entire Netherworlds and just get a little tired, but the mook-level demons you control get killed by the backlash of creating anything.
** Note that, gameplay wise, this is implemented. Unless your character is leveled enough to survive the backlash of creating something, they will lose their body. However, this is a great way to get them to reincarnate if their initial item for creation didn't have any stars.

* TooDumbToLive: Zetta ''forgot'' about the book that bound together the fabric of his very universe. And then he set it on fire. He also didn't pay that much attention to how he became Overlord the first time.

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Justified. Zetta ''is'' the Book that controls the nearby reality. If he dies, the dimension collapses. In fact, if he gets hurt ''everyone'' gets hurt.
** You can actually manipulate this, too; while injuring Zetta will cause you to be unable to summon any more units, you can quickly heal or buff your entire team by tossing the appropriate spells at him, so long as you're prepared to deal with the enemies getting the same effects.

* ShoutOut: Like all good Nippon Ichi games, there's plenty -- "I didn't know we had an overlord. I thought we were an autonomous collective." springs to mind...

* HeyItsThatVoice: CrispinFreeman as Zetta, TakehitoKoyasu in the Japanese version.

* TheOtherDarrin: Zetta's voice actor has been replaced twice in his later appearances in other NipponIchi games due to union issues with CrispinFreeman. RichardEpcar provided his voice in {{Disgaea 2}} and he is later replaced by PatrickSeitz in VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4| A Promise Unforgotten}}.

* WorldOfHam: Good ''Overlords''. Even by the standards of other Nippon Ichi games, this is a hammy game. Every single one of the dub actors go completely overboard with lines, screaming out their {{Badass Boast}}s and war cries before each fight... and even when there ''isn't'' a scrap going on, everybody seems to be taking bites out of the scenery. CrispinFreeman and JamiesonPrice masticate an entire set between them.

** Many of the vehicles, like the [[MetalGear Gear Metal LEX]], or the [[MobileSuitGundam RX66 Helldam]].

* BlandNameProduct[=/=]ShoutOut: [[MetalGear Gear Metal LEX]]

* BadassBoast: Combined with WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome with Zetta's threats against the corn people.

Now has a [[UpdatedRerelease PSP port]], including an [[AnotherSideAnotherStory alternate storyline]] involving a new character, Petta. Although it has no plans for a western release.

[[caption-width-right:268:[[DimensionLord The mighty overlords]]... [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and corn]].[[hottip:*:Plus the [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Badass Freakin' Overlord's Daughter]]]]

* ArtShift: The begining and ending of the game features a different pool of sprites for the characters, they're highly detailed and proportinal to their offcial art, very different from how they appear in the main game, looking like something straight out of OdinSphere.

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