History VideoGame / TheBlackHeart

%%* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Most of the game. Averted by Shar-Makai and Final, who have [[PurpleIsPowerful purple]] or [[RealMenWearPink pink]]) skin and red gums, and Hashi, who, as a PlantPerson, has brown bark and wears green clothes.

** Final engineered the circumstances of Animus's birth in order to create a vessel strong enough to contain the Heart, but all the pain Animus endured had long since driven him mad. The only thing Animus cares about is finding a way to die, and if that means fighting against Final's plan, so be it.

[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top: [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Noroko]], [[BigCreepyCrawlies Shar-Makai]], [[CombatSadomasochist Animus]], [[SpidersAreScary Ananzi]], [[GaiasVengeance Hashi]], and [[CreepyChild Peketo]]. Not pictured: [[FinalBoss Final]] and [[GreaterScopeVillain Janos]].]]

* PerfectPlayAI: Final, like any SNKBoss worth their [[JustForPun salt]].

On October 22th, 2020, a remastered version of the game was released on Steam, featuring a new game engine, improved graphics and a new unlockable character. You can view the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9YQvx1Ej3Y here]] and the Steam page [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1431780/The_Black_Heart/ here]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top: [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Noroko]], [[BigCreepyCrawlies Shar-Makai]], [[CombatSadomasochist Animus]], [[SpidersAreScary Ananzi]], [[GaiasVengeance Hashi]], and [[CreepyChild Peketo]]. Not pictured: [[FinalBoss Final]].]]

* ChildProdigy: Peketo has shades of this, since he succesfuly learned a lot from his father's books on the occult and even managed to discover something he missed... in a ''book written in Arabic''.

*** Peketo's entire character is based upon various Main/Creepypasta stories that had surfaced around the time his character was being made. His appearance in particular is clearly modeled after [[https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Eyeless_Jack Eyeless Jack]].

* ChildProdigy: Peketo has shades of this, since he succesfuly learned a lot from his father's books on the occult and even managed to discover something he missed... in a ''book written in arabic''.

** Noroko doesn't seem that old herself.

* {{Gainaxing}}: Ananzi has it in a few animations.

** Between the [[UnlimitedWardrobe many possible dresses]] of her victory pose, Ananzi could show off dressed as [[spoiler:''[[StreetFighter Chun-Li]]'']]. If you use [[DevelopersForesight her char in a common MUGEN game and put her against P.O.T.S.'s Morrigan]], she'll start the fight dressed as Morrigan, and Morrigan will be dressed as Ananzi!

* FreudianExcuse:
** Animus and Noroko are lashing out after hundreds of years of suffering. In Animus's case he's also mostly fighting against worse evils than himself.
** Played with in Peketo's case. He killed his abusive father and half a dozen others, but nobody in the game seems to think the abuse he suffered justified his becoming a murderer... Including Peketo, who doesn't bother trying to excuse his actions, since he doesn't think there's anything wrong with what he's done in the first place. This, however, is somewhat understandable, since it's clear that the kid was barely even raised beyond just sorta being kept alive. It doesn't seem likely that teaching his son the wrong from the right was anywhere even close to his father's priorities, so it's not surprising that Peketo would wind up with a serious case of BlueAndOrangeMorality.

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Hashi is the murderous GrumpyBear of the nature spirits, but he's the only one of them that can fight, so they're forced to rely on him when it comes to retrieving the Heart.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Final may be [[spoiler: willing to give a seed to exterminate humanity to Hashi]] and use his own immortal son as a pawn against Janos, locking him in an iron maiden to suffer for centuries, but even he is disgusted by Peketo's entitlement to have the black heart without a good reason.

* {{Foil}}: Peketo and Noroko. Both are violent ghosts with pale skin, are dressed in red outfits, and want the power of the heart. However, while Noroko [[spoiler: was used as a sacrifice against her will and wants to use her heart to tame her perpetual anger and go to the afterlife, earning Final’s sympathy and using a small piece of the heart to redeem herself to rest in peace]], Peketo was murdered by one of the relatives of his victims, refuses to improve as a person and his entitlement to have the black heart [[spoiler:leds him to not only be denied to have the black heart by a disgusted Final, but forced into a neverending battle against his abusive father]]

* GenderBender. Animus -- not only does his sprite constantly alternate between male and female forms, but if he defeats his opponent using his Iron Virgin super, he'll briefly transform ''them'' into a female form before impaling them. Likely as a ShoutOut to [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Midnight Bliss]], but with the twist that if you use it on either Noroko and Ananzi, who are both female, they turn into their male counterparts: Noroko is transformed into a samurai, while Ananzi becomes a handsome prince.

* LethalJokeCharacter: [[spoiler: The hidden character Gustavo is terribly slow, can barely jump at all and his normal attacks are predictable and weak. However, he can release toxic gasses at any point in the battle which are unblockable, would fill the entire screen, and can deal a fair amount of damage, especially the big toxic clouds.]]

* GenderBender. Animus -- not only does his sprite constantly alternate between male and female forms, but if he defeats his opponent using his Iron Virgin super, he'll briefly transform ''them'' into a female form before impaling them. Likely as a ShoutOut to [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Midnight Bliss]], since similarly, if you use it on a female character, they remain female but get more fanservice-y: Noroko gets dressed up as a geisha, while [[MsFanservice Ananzi]] loses all her clothes.

* GenderBender. Animus -- not only does his sprite constantly alternate between male and female forms, but if he defeats his opponent using his Iron Virgin super, he'll briefly transform ''them'' into a female form before impaling them. Likely as a ShoutOut to [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Midnight Bliss]], since similarly, if you use it on a female character, they remain female but get more fanservice-y: Noroko gets dressed up as a geisha, while [[MsFanservice Ananzi]] [[UpToEleven loses all her clothes]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Final may be [[spoiler willing to give a seed to exterminate humanity to Hashi]] and use his own immortal son as a pawn against Janos, locking him in an iron maiden to suffer for centuries, but even he is disgusted by Peketo's entitlement to have the black heart without a good reason.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Final may be willing to give a seed to exterminate humanity and use his own immortal son as a pawn against Janos, locking him in an iron maiden to suffer for centuries, but even he is disgusted by Peketo's entitlement to have the black heart without a good reason.

* NiceHat: Hashi wears a round-brimmed green hat.

* KnifeNut: Peketo, and how. Just the one little knife, but he certainly puts it to [[BladeSpam good use.]]

On October 8th, 2020, a remastered version of the game was announced to [[MilestoneCelebration celebrate the game's 10th anniversary]], set to be released on Steam on October 22nd. You can view the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9YQvx1Ej3Y here]] and the Steam page [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1431780/The_Black_Heart/ here]].