History VideoGame / NoStraightRoads

** While every boss fight has hybrid rock and EDM versions of the themes that mix depending on how you're doing in the stage, these, along with unique remixes, are unlocked when you beat stages and available to be used as the stage's theme on their own on any replay. However, there are also completely unique and much more complex drum (Zuke) and guitar (Mayday) tracks, which are only played when using the transform action. They're in sync with whichever song is playing, and they're fully-fledged tracks, but since transforming an object takes less than 5 seconds, you'd have to intentionally hold the button down longer to hear more. The same applies for certain bosses, such as 1010, who have voicelines or sound effects that play in sync with the tracks, but aren't included in any of the actual songs.

** While every boss fight has hybrid rock and EDM versions of the themes that mix depending on how you're doing in the stage, these, along with unique remixes, are unlocked when you beat stages and available to be used as the stage's theme on their own on any replay. However, there are also completely unique and much more complex drum and guitar tracks, which are only played when using the transform action. They're in sync with whichever song is playing, so it's safe to assume that they're fully-fledged tracks, but since transforming takes 5 seconds max, you'd have to intentionally hold the button down longer to hear more. Same goes for certain bosses, such as 1010, who have voicelines that play in sync with the tracks, but aren't included in any of the actual songs.

* FlashyProtagonistsBlandExtras: Many of the major castmembers have very distinctive designs and silhouettes, from Bunk Bed Junction to the Megastars, with quite a few [=NPCs=] having identifiable designs as well, while crowd shots tend to favor silhouetted or gray individuals.

* Showstoppers are preceded with cut-ins of the characters' eyes, which look very similar to the cut-ins from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' that appear when a party member gets a critical hit or strikes an enemy's weakness.

*** One of the interviews has Mayday mention her glove is fingerless because [[spoiler:the full glove messed with her fret work.]] Tatiana also has FingerlessGloves, which seems to just be a fashion choice at first glance [[spoiler:but might be Tatiana subconsciously falling back into old habits from when she was a guitar player.]]

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: On one hand, NSR not only put a ban on all rock music, stifling any creativity, individuality, and self-expression, but they also made it so that only their elites get backup power during any city-wide blackouts. On the other hand, Bunk Bed Junction instigates their 'musical revolution' by hijacking other artists' concerts and beating them up, as well as venting their personal grievances against EDM. [[spoiler:Not only do Tatiana and Mayday bring these points up before their fight, but Tatiana also regards how hundreds of NSR employees will be put out of work after the revolution and that [[AndThenWhat Mayday has no plan on what to do afterwards]], not to mention all their revolution will do is alienate all the people who genuinely love EDM. However, Mayday also calls Tatiana out on how she banned rock music [[ThatManIsDead just to make her Kul Fyra persona that much easier to forget]].]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Bunk Bed Junction comes off as this in many instances throughout the game, the worst offenders being [[spoiler:Yinu and 1010]]:
** [[spoiler:Imagine just crashing a little girl's piano recital, booing at her while she is playing & fight her mom. Even worse when you get into the end of the last phase where the fight almost makes Yinu fall to her death, break her piano (which is heavily implied to be her deceased father's), and walk away silently.]] Luckily, [[spoiler:When you give back the Natura district to Yinu, the piano has been repaired somehow, and Yinu herself thanks you for it]].
** [[spoiler:Triggering Neon J's war flashbacks by taking out 1010, and just leaving him to wallow in his misery was not the best idea. But to be fair, most players did not know about Neon J's backstory beforehand.]]

** While every boss fight has hybrid rock and EDM versions of the themes that mix depending on how you're doing in the stage, these, along with unique remixes, are unlocked when you beat stages and available to be used as the stage's theme on their own on any replay. However, there are also completely unique and much more complex drum and guitar tracks, which are only played when using the transform action. They're in sync with whichever song is playing, so it's safe to assume that they're fully-fledged tracks. Same goes for certain bosses, such as 1010, who have voicelines that play in sync with the tracks but aren't any of the actual songs.

* LongSongShortScene: Yinu's final phase has its own unique remix of her battle theme, not included on the soundtrack either as part of her full theme or by itself. It's about a minute long, but the phase it plays during is only about thirty seconds, and due to the fact that running towards the goal is done automatically during that phase, there's no way to wait around to let it play for longer.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: The soundtrack goes from a 4 at its lowest ("Four Plus") to a hard 7 ("vs. Yinu") at its highest.

* MusicIsPolitics: The message of the game is that the music industry is harsh and brutal to the unprepared, naive artist. While it doesn't ''have'' to become something evil or exploitative, it ''will'' become so if left unchecked, especially if it takes hold of people who don't have it in their minds that stardom isn't all it's cracked up to be. None of the game's bosses are truly evil people, but their respective reputations have become so large that it has corrupted and taken hold of their egos (like DJ Subatomic Supernova), their inner demons (Eve), their artistic integrity (Sayu's creative team) or even their familial bonds (Yinu and her mother);

* RuleOfSymbolism: There are so much in the boss fight against Yinu. During the portions when Mayday and Zuke have to fight, Yinu's piano is suspended over them by strings via [[StageMom Yinu's mother]]. When the battle escalates, the mother's dubstep theme overshadows Yinu's classic piano music, as the former takes over for the latter. [[spoiler: Finally, there's the size of Yinu's mother. Throughout the fight, she's a looming giantess who hardly pays any attention to her own daughter's pleas. After the fight, when her daughter's sad piano music calms her down, the mother shrinks down to the size of a normal woman and starts playing. This signifies she's now humbled and has decided to play alongside her daughter as an equal and a mother.]]
* SeriousBusiness: Music is this due to it literally powering the setting via devices that absorb sound vibrations called Qwasas and it's implied most of the characters powers come from their musical talent as well (as well as Eve's artistic talent). [[spoiler:The BigBlackout is revealed to have been the unintentional result of Tatiana limiting the music that can be played to EDM due to her personal bias against rock.]]
** [[spoiler:Kliff takes this UpToEleven in a completely different direction, when it's revealed that [[NotInThisForYourRevolution he never cared about the energy crisis]]; he just wanted to prove that rock was better than EDM and kicking out both it and Tatiana due to her change of career and music choice, going so far as to [[ColonyDrop drop NSR's satellite on their tower]] to re-establish rock's dominance over Vinyl City. It's this act that makes Mayday realize that [[FullCircleRevolution they've become the very thing they stood against]], and it ends with NSR being saved and reworked by Tatiana and her megastars as to not only allow EDM, but all kinds of music, which finally ends the blackouts]].

** Zuke keeps his cool at the beginning of the 1010 fight up until Mayday [[DistractedByTheSexy starts crushing on them]], at which point he freaks out and demands to know what 1010 did to her. Later, when Neon J's factory malfunctions and blows 1010's faces off, Mayday is upset that they're "no longer handsome and sexy and gentlemanly", to which Zuke just says, "Good."

* ShoutOut:

** Neon J. lets you know after his boss fight that [[Music/TheKillers "he's got soul, and he's a soldier"]]

** Azma laments his love life and asks May and Zuke, "What is love, anyway?" which leaves Bunk Bed Junction WaxingLyrical.

* VariableMix: As indicated by a tuner at the top center of the HUD, the boss music will switch between a Rock and EDM variant depending on the player's performance and other factors. The intensity of the music also increases with each phase.
** The Rock mix also emphasizes the guitar or drums based on what character is being controlled at the moment.

* WhosOnFirst: When Neon J's factory craft is shot down, he starts screaming, "Mayday! Mayday!" Mayday wonders why he's calling for her, before getting it.

** Exemplified by [[spoiler: Kliff. He was a gigantic fan of Kul Fyra and rock back in the day, pouring his heart and soul into supporting her, and was crushed when her band broke up and she became Tatiana and turned to EDM instead. His support of B2J was all to knock Tatiana off her perch and prove that rock is superior, and when she still won't give him the time of day, he triggers the aforementioned [[ColonyDrop satellite drop]].]]
* MadeOfIron: Everyone. The aftermath cutscenes of the various bosses tends to show them as well as the player characters beat up, bruised, and even cut all over, and DJ Subatomic Supernova is hit so hard that he's launched into orbit while at one point Mayday and Zuke crash onto the ground after what seems like a 300-foot fall. Yet all that damage just leaves them annoyed or frustrated more than anything if that much, no hospital visits or even rest stops needed afterwards. This includes Yinu, a nine-year old, who's just distressed about her broken piano instead of the bruises on her face. Neon J gets his cyborg face monitor broken but it's quickly shown that his death throes is just him being purposefully melodramatic after he cuts the act to get mad at Bunk Bed Junction. The closest thing to a lasting injury that the victim actually cares about is Kliff getting a broken nose which persists later on, and even that's all he got after landing on his head from a hit that sent him flying. Physical damage seems to be only a minor annoyance in the game's world [[spoiler:although an orbital satellite crashing down on everyone probably exceeds that tolerance]].

It released for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 [=PlayStation 4=]]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne Xbox One]], [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Nintendo Switch]], and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames PC]] via Epic Games Store (as a timed exclusive) on August 25th, 2020. On the first anniversary of the game's initial release, it was announced that the game would receive a release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} as ''No Straight Roads: Encore Edition''.

** Retdex's pose in his dialogue artwork is taken straight from the ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQx_KMoCgJU Torture Dance]].

* AnAesop: The message of the game is that the music industry is harsh and brutal to the unprepared, naive artist. While it doesn't ''have'' to become something evil or exploitative, it ''will'' become so if left unchecked, especially if it takes hold of people who don't have it in their minds that stardom isn't all it's cracked up to be. None of the game's bosses are truly evil people, but their respective reputations have become so large that it has corrupted and taken hold of their egos (like DJ Subatomic Supernova), their inner demons (Eve), their artistic integrity (Sayu's creative team) or even their familial bonds (Yinu and her mother);

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Rock and EDM are revealed to be this in regards to the power they wield. After spending most of the game convinced that rock is superior, Mayday finds out to her shock that the energy they produced during their fight against Tatiana is the exact same amount that Tatiana made. It's the first clue to the game's true [[AnAesop message]] of music]].

* WhamLine: Throughout the game, we're led to believe that rock was in fact superior to EDM, but when Zuke checks how much juice they produced during the fight against Tatiana, [[spoiler:he says [[NotSoDifferent 47%]], the exact amount as Tatiana made.]]

Vinyl City. A groovy, colorful, rocking place for music and artists everywhere literally ''powered'' by music, where you are free to express yourself however you wish--until NSR came, taking over the city with their vast financial resources and influence, doing everything it can to restrict and crush all other forms of music except for their artists and EDM.

It released for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 [=PlayStation 4=]]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne Xbox One]], [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Nintendo Switch]], and [[UsefulNotes/WindowsGames PC]] via Epic Games Store (as a timed exclusive) on August 25th, 2020.

Enter Bunk Bed Junction, an indie rock-duo comprised of guitarist/singer "Mayday" and drummer "Zuke." Outraged and frustrated by NSR's predatory practices, they vow to crash their megastars' concerts and performances and defeat them, take down their CEO, Tatiana, and free their city and its people with ThePowerOfRock!

* BilingualDialogue: Any cutscene with DK West is this, since he mostly speaks Malay when he isn't rapping, with occasional bits of English peppered in. The other characters have no trouble understanding him, so they continue to speak English while West speaks Malay.

** And then later on, at the very end of the game, for the final district returned to the megastars:

** When Kliff briefs Bunk Bed Junction about Tatiana, he tells them that her weakness is [[spoiler:her past.]] Considering that Kliff ''had'' met [[spoiler:Tatiana (or more accurately, Kul Fyra) personally before unlike Mayday and Zuke, it can't be any more accurate.]]

*** One of the interviews has Mayday mention her glove is fingerless because the full glove messed with her fret work. Tatiana also has FingerlessGloves, which seems to just be a fashion choice at first glance [[spoiler:but might be Tatiana subconsciously falling back into old habits from when she was a guitar player.]]

* LoonyFan: As you claim more districts from NSR and provide more power to areas that need it, more and more fans will join your cause by defacing NSR-owned territories in the name of ThePowerOfRock. [[spoiler:That's not a good thing, as it foreshadows how far the rock fans are willing to go to bring down NSR and their EDM empire, even if it means getting in the way of the only means of stopping a satellite from crashing into the city.]]

* BigBlackout: One happens after the tutorial, just as Zuke says that [[TemptingFate NSR is doing a good job governing the city]]. The reserve energy being used for only for the megastars only inspires Mayday and Zuke to fight back. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the blackout was going to happen anyway, but Tatiana's bias against rock only made things worse.]]

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: On one hand, NSR not only put a ban on all rock music, stifling any creativity, individuality, and self-expression, but they also made it so that only their elites get backup power during any city-wide blackouts. On the other hand, Bunk Bed Junction instigates their 'musical revolution' by hijacking other artists' concerts and beating them up, as well as venting their personal grievances against EDM. [[spoiler:Not only do Tatiana and Mayday bring these points up before their fight, but Tatiana also regards how hundreds of NSR employees will be put out of work after the revolution, not to mention all their revolution will do is alienate all the people who genuinely love EDM. However, Mayday also calls Tatiana out on how she banned rock music [[ThatManIsDead just to make her Kul Fyra persona that much easier to forget]].]]

* FullCircleRevolution: [[spoiler:No matter how you slice it, Mayday's impulsive crusade against NSR by pushing out its megastars mirrors how NSR rejected Bunk Bed Junction's performance in the first place. Titania also points out that their actions will set a bad example for the residents of Vinyl City: opposing parties that don't get their way will simply resort to violence to solve the problem instead of diplomacy. [[HeelRealization She realizes]] how dangerously close Bunk Bed Junction was to becoming the new NSR when [[LoonyFan Kliff]] has NSR's satellite [[ColonyDrop fall on NSR's tower]] in order to establish rock's dominance over Vinyl City.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Bunk Bed Junction comes off as this in many instances throughout the game, the worst offenders being [[spoiler:Yinu and 1010]]

* AerithAndBob: You'll find names all over the place, from Barbara to Tatiana to [=GiGi=] to Zed to Zuke to Mayday.

* CharacterSelectForcing: The fight with Eve greatly encourages the player to use Zuke for the majority of the fight and Mayday only when necessary. There are fewer attacks on his side and the timing is less aggressive. Zuke's transformations would be more useful as the decoys help redirect attacks compared to Mayday's Turrets which would most likely miss given how Eve will move sides if you linger. [[spoiler: Given how the two have a history together, it would make sense he'd be the one to get more involved in the fight]]

** As her HP drops, the murals of the NSR artists fall down and [[spoiler:the music becomes more and more rock-like. When her HP drops to a low level, the background becomes a rock stage with "The Ghoolings" printed on its monitor and during her final phase, she becomes coated in magma in a way similar to Kul Fyra's poster.]]

* ShipTease: When confronting Sayu and stating she isn't real, Sayu claims to be as real "as [their] love for each other" to Bunk Bed Junction's shock. When Sayu insists she can tell their feelings and encourages Zuke to embrace his, Zuke starts rambling about "many factors to consider" before Mayday changes the subject. While it should be noted Sayu's a self-admitted LoveFreak, Zuke doesn't outright deny Sayu's claim either.

* BothOrderAndChaosAreDangerous: Absolute Order corrupts absolutely, as NSR has cracked down on freedom of individuality (especially Rock music) in favor of mass-produced crap, [[FascistButInefficient it has had constant infrastructure problems that have lasted for years]], and its leaders vomit out content while [[TroubledProduction ignoring their growing mental baggage and how it negatively affects their fans]]. But at the end of the game, Bunk Bed Junction's unrestricted chaos [[spoiler:allows the {{Loony Fan}}s to riot en-masse and nearly tear down the city by destroying its infrastructure because it happens to be made by a megacorporation - in this case, one angry Kliff decides to take his revenge with a ''ColonyDrop'', [[DidNotThinkThisThrough ignoring the collateral damage in Vinyl City itself]]. Mayday and Titiana both acknowledge this at the end and find a middle ground.]].

* BothOrderAndChaosAreDangerous: Absolute Order corrupts absolutely, as NSR has cracked down on freedom of individuality (especially Rock music) in favor of mass-produced crap, [[FascistButInefficient it has had constant infrastructure problems that have lasted for years]], and its leaders vomit out content while [[TroubledProduction ignoring their growing mental baggage and how it negatively affects their fans]]. But at the end of the game, Bunk Bed Junction's unrestricted chaos [[spoiler:allows the {{Loony Fan}}s to riot en-masse and nearly tear down the city by destroying its infrastructure because it happens to be made by a megacorporation - in this case, one angry Kliff decides to take his revenge with a ''ColonyDrop'', [[DidNotThinkThisThrough ignoring the collateral damage in Vinyl City itself]]. Matday and Titiana both acknowledge this at the end and find a middle ground.]].

* MortonsFork: [[spoiler:The entire conflict comes down to this: Bunk Bed Junction's actions cause chaos and [[WhatTheHellHero has terrible results]] including riots...but at the same time, had nothing happened, Titiana's fixation with order and refusal to allow freedom of creativity was both an unhealthy system, ignored the mental problems of her Megastars, and made the system ''far'' more inefficient than it needed to be to the point of causing infrastructure problems that just kept growing. So while Bunk Bed Junction's actions were poorly thought out and wrong, the established system was unsustainable and ''also'' would've had bad consequences down the line. Both Mayday and Tatiana acknowledge this in the end, coming to a middle ground that better serves everyone.]]

* BothOrderAndChaosAreDangerous: Absolute Order corrupts absolutely, as NSR has cracked down on freedom of individuality (especially Rock music) in favor of mass-produced crap, [[FascistButInefficient it has had constant infrastructure problems that have lasted for years]], and its leaders vomit out content while [[TroubledProduction ignoring their growing mental baggage and how it negatively affects their fans]]. But at the end of the game, Bunk Bed Junction's unrestricted chaos [[spoiler:allows the {{Loony Fan}}s to riot en-masse and nearly tear down the city by destroying its infrastructure because it happens to be made by a megacorporation - in this case, one angry Kliff decides to take his revenge with a ''ColonyDrop'', [[DidNotThinkThisThrough ignoring the collateral damage in Vinyl City itself]]]].

* ThePowerOfRock: Literally, one of the early cutscenes indicates that part of the reason music is such SeriousBusiness in Vinyl City is because they use devices called "Qwasas" that convert sound vibrations into electricity. One of Mayday's first clues there was something wrong at the audition was that they were disqualified despite powering the Qwasa to almost full capacity. [[spoiler:It turns out that it was because of Tatiana's personal bias against rock that she disqualified them. Unlike most examples of this trope, it also turns out that rock and EDM are actually completely equal in power output rather that rock being a superior form of power.]]

* SeriousBusiness: Music is this due to it literally powering the setting via devices that absorb sound vibrations called Qwasas. [[spoiler:The BigBlackout is revealed to have been the unintentional result of Tatiana limiting the music that can be played to EDM due to her personal bias against rock.]]