History Videogame / Tropico

** If el Presidente doesn't build enough affordable housing, the Tropicanos will build their own, undesirable shacks.

** ''Tropico 4'' is pretty much ''Tropico 3'', but with slightly better graphics, larger maps, redesigned AI, a handful of new buildings and edicts, and a redesigned campaign. Everything else is exactly the same, especially the game models. And the ''Script''! Especially the script...

** The ''Waterborne'' DLC for 5 has a final mission fighting against [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Plant]], only by harnessing the the four elements and heart(tax breaks) can you defeat him.

** The ''Waterborne'' DLC for 5 has a final mission fighting against [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Plant]], only by harnessing the [[FourElementEnsemble the four elements]] and heart(tax breaks) can you defeat him.

A series of RealTimeStrategy {{Simulation Game}}s created and originally developed by Pop Top Software (first two games) and later, Haemimont Games (third to fifth), and now by Limbic Entertainment and Calypso Media. Like a cross between ''VideoGame/SimCity'' and ''VideoGame/TheSettlers'', ''Tropico'' puts the player in the role of the newly installed dictator of a [[BananaRepublic Caribbean island nation]].

* WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon: The entire setting of the game. And you can use it to help promote your tourist industry.

* AnnouncerChatter: Tropico 3 has DJ Juanito of [[FunWithAcronyms Tropico News Today]]. Tropico 4 has your personal adviser and spokesman of the Loyalist faction Penultimo and Environmentalist representative Sunny Flowers. Tropico 5 has Lulu, the excessively peppy owner of the Jolly Roger Bar and Radio.

* ArtisticLicensePolitics: The Capitalist faction will remain happy as long as the island's economy is diverse and profitable, while ignoring the fact that the same economy is completely state-controlled all the way down to wages, pricing and hiring policy. Largely just so you don't have two separate games depending on which economic ideology you are pursuing the favor of.

* BoringButPractical: Tenements. They're relatively cheap and can pack loads of people. The only downsides are that they have low housing quality and generate crime, but some basic infrastructure can easily make both non-issues.

** In the original, random thoughts of the people include: "What this island needs is a good railroad simulation." [=PopTop=] just happened to have released [[Videogame/RailroadTycoon some]].

The player is responsible for developing the island through tourism and exports, satisfying the citizens' needs, staying in power, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick embezzling funds from the treasury.]] At the end of a typical game, the final score is determined based on the overall happiness of the islanders, the size of the island's treasury, and the size of the President's SwissBankAccount.

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: It’s fully possible for everyone on Tropico to like you- and this, of course, is a good thing, as it means you have little chance of losing unless something extraordinarily bad happens.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality

* UndyingLoyalty: This is the point of the Loyalist faction. They're...loyal. What this means is they will always support you during a revolt, they will never become a rebel, they can become members of your personal death squad, and they always vote for you during an election (though they much prefer if you don't even put it to a vote). The only thing that upsets them is you not worshipping yourself the same way they do (not building your own childhood museum/personal mausoleum, having free elections, etc) and their faction disaster is that they simply stop being Loyalists; even in their faction disaster they don't really hurt you!

* PoisonousFriend: El Presidente's main adviser (later named Penultimo), especially in the first four games. While he's not treacherous except for in Tropico III, and his advice tends to be well-meaning and informative (though it gets less so with each new game), he also tends to suggest the player take the amoral and selfish approach to problems - like ignoring the people's problems if its inconvenient, using violence against strikers and spending a mint on the palace instead of the island. If you screw up and get booted off the island in the first game, he comes with you and he steals all of your money the moment you fall asleep.

** The message behind the game is extremely cynical. It basically says that all political leaders are there to either line their own pockets or just to hold power. Whether capitalist or communist, ideology is merely a way to obtain more power. The Cold War setting heavily reinforces this notion by having Tropico essentially be a very small pawn in a much larger game betweem the US and the USSR that is the same money-making, power-grabbing scheme on a larger scale. In addition, all of the factions are completely cynical examples illustrating the worst of their particular group as a whole: [[HolierThanThou the religious faction]] is full of puritanical MoralGuardians, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the capitalists]] are greedy plutocrats, [[DirtyCommunists the communists]] want you to keep everyone equal regardless of skill or effort, [[DayOfTheJackboot the militarists]] are club-wielding {{Black Shirt}}s, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong the nationalists]] are xenophobic shut-ins, [[AnimalWrongsGroup the environmentalists]] are so knee-jerk hateful of industry that they will protest even if you've invested heavily in sustainable low-pollution operations, the intellectuals are prone to offense at [[SlobsVersusSnobs anything done to appeal to the uneducated]], and the loyalists are universally depicted as [[ProfessionalButtKisser boot-licking simpletons]] who measure a strong leader on how much he abuses his privileges, cultivates a near-religious cult of personality, and brutally oppresses the general population.

* NintendoHard: The original game is a very demanding game where logistics and construction are huge issues, which makes it hard to manage an all-pedestrian population with problems growing at a faster rate than El Presidente's ability to build and control things (building an airport takes years even if the whole island is dedicated to it) Elections are not a landslide and it is not uncommon having to struggle and invest in our own political survival instead of focusing on improving the actual economy of the island, which in turn makes the goals of a lot of scenarios very hard to reach in time. Overbuilding and a bloated welfare state can quickly bankrupt a prosperous island, and you can say goodbye to winning if a disaster strikes.

* EverythingsBetterWithLlamas: They're Tropico's national animal! You can sell cheap llama wool from ranches, as well. There are rumors of a "llama flu" though, and if you survive multiple disasters, it's called "the curse of the llama." Hmm....

** Tropico 6's the leader of the capitalists [[https://tropico.fandom.com/wiki/Mason_Belmonte Mason Belmonte]] is based on Leonardo Dicaprio's [[Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet Jordan Belfort]].

** Tropico 6's Gamescom video revelaed that the leader of this version's capitalists will be based on [[Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet Jordan Belfort]].

** Tropico 6's Gamescom video revelaed that the leader of this version's capitalists will be [[TheWolfOfWallStreet Jordan Belmonte]]

* ShownTheirWork: The loading screens in 5 are dedicated to listing the various crazy things real life dictators have done.

** The message behind the game is extremely cynical. It basically says that all political leaders are there to either line their own pockets or just to hold power. Whether capitalist or communist, ideology is merely a way to obtain more power. The Cold War setting heavily reinforces this notion by having Tropico essentially be a very small pawn in a much larger game betweem the US and the USSR that is the same money-making, power-grabbing scheme on a larger scale. In addition, all of the factions are completely cynical examples illustrating the worst of their particular group as a whole: [[HolierThanThou the religious faction]] is full of puritanical MoralGuardians, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the capitalists]] are greedy plutocrats, [[DirtyCommunists the communists]] want you to keep everyone equal regardless of skill or effort, [[DayOfTheJackboot the militarists]] are club-wielding {{Black Shirt}}s, [[MyCountryRightOrWrong the nationalists]] are xenophobic shut-ins, [[AnimalWrongsGroup the environmentalists]] are so knee-jerk hateful of industry that they will protest even if you've invested heavily in sustainable low-pollution operations, the intellectuals are prone to offense at [[SlobsVersusSnobs anything done to appeal to the uneducated]], and the loyalists are universally depicted as [[WhatAnIdiot boot-licking simpletons]] who measure a strong leader on how much he abuses his privileges, cultivates a near-religious cult of personality, and brutally oppresses the general population.

* GlobalIgnorance: Penultimo's knowledge of the world is... astonishing. He is sure there's a king and queen of Europe, that in addition to Middle East there's also an Upper and Lower East, and he [[UpToEleven freaks out when he's told he's on an island]].

** The American President in Tropico 5 takes it UpToEleven. His take on the Great Depression assignments: ''IF THERE IS ONE THING I CANNOT ABIDE, ITS MOPERY''

* NiceHat: Your avatar can choose from a number of nice hats.

** Yu Li, the Chinese ambassador, is the complete opposite. He is always overly polite. If your relationship with China is poor, he says over the radio that "the trade embargo is not a sign of hostility between us. Rather, take it as a promise that from now on, relations can only improve!"

* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: Brunhilde Van Hoof's last name is always pronounced with an exaggeration. "Van ''Hoof''."

** Despite the fact Tropico is a Caribbean island country, the Colonial Era (in ''Tropico 5'') noticably doesn't seem to contain any African slaves or at least any reference to African slavery, even though slave labor could easily boost the economy. This is seemingly {{Lampshade}}d in the description for the Cotton Plantation in ''Tropico 5''.