History WebVideo / CatastropheCrow

* LethalLavaLand: the lava level.

* {{Deuteragonist}}: In some videos, Mr. Crow is seen using a mirror in the forest level to swap to a secondary crow character who's smaller and doesn't have a bandaged wing, thus gaining the ability to glide by flapping its wings. A conversation with the elder crow in "Let's Play Catastrophe Crow! 64 – Ep1" implies that this second crow is based on Manfred's other child, a son named Nils.

* Deuteragonist: In some videos, Mr. Crow is seen using a mirror in the forest level to swap to a secondary crow character who's smaller and doesn't have a bandaged wing, thus gaining the ability to glide by flapping its wings. A conversation with the elder crow in "Let's Play Catastrophe Crow! 64 – Ep1" implies that this second crow is based on Manfred's other child, a son named Nils.

** The player spinning the camera around to reveal Mr. Crow's house has always been [[BehindTheBlack behind the starting point]].

* WhamShot: Mr. Crow falling down the stairs.

* AllForNothing: What the game's development amounted to; it's all but stated that Manfred Lorenz made the game with his daughter in mind, and later cryptically told a developer, "[[UnusualEuphemism the player is gone]]" as a response to. Even when bankrupt and without staff, he continued to work on the game... right as the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube was released, signalling the end of the Nintendo 64 era.

* AllForNothing: What the game's development amounted to; it's all but stated that Manfred Lorenz made the game with his daughter in mind, and later cryptically told a developer, "[[UnusualEuphemism the player is gone]]". Even when bankrupt and without staff, he continued to work on the game... right as the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube was released, signalling the end of the Nintendo 64 era.

* AmbiguousGender: Mr. Crow is apparently male, going by his name, but is believed to represent Thea. Not helping matters is that two of the scans simply give his name as "Crow" and one of the scans refers to him as "they."

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The smaller of the two monsters that stalk Mr. Crow. It's implied be the ghost of Brother Crow, and represent Nils Lorenz.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The smaller of the two monsters that stalk Mr. Crow. It's implied to represent Nils/Mr.Crow's brother.

* ScaryScarecrows: The taller of the two monsters that stalk Mr. Crow. It's implied to represent Marta/Mr. Crow's mom.

* WrittenForMyKids:[[invoked]] ''Catastrophe Crow'''s main character came from a drawing by Manfred's daughter, and it's implied that the game was developed by him with her in mind. It's also implied that she died during development, causing/contributing to Manfred's breakdown.

* RefugeInAudacity: Lampshaded. It's pretty clear that all members of the Crow family uses the same eye sprites as Mario from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''. Even Manfred was concerned about this when he sent the character design to Nintendo for approval. However, in the e-mail included with the game's development documents, the design was approved, and while Nintendo noticed the eye sprites, they let the issue slide and pass it off as mere coincidence. But players also found out that the main HUB area also uses the same skybox as Shifting Sand Land, only with the desert being recolored to make it look like a grassy field. It's unclear if Nintendo gave Opus some assets from ''Super Mario 64'' or if Manfred stole them from Nintendo.

''Catastrophe Crow'', or ''Crow 64'', is an AlternateRealityGame centering around the eponymous unfinished game for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64.

The first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irEb9TS9yEk video]] initially presents itself as a documentary of Catastrophe Crow, a game by the notorious perfectionist Manfred Lorenz. As the video goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that the game is no ordinary piece of software. The ARG is continued through a multiple videos on various channels.

** In Catastrophe Crow N64, the hallway the computer in has the same dead end at both ends once Mr. Crow enters it.

* AnachronicOrder: An unusual example. Multiple videos were posted before WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64, but went unnoticed until the "original video" was posted and gave them context. In addition, the order these videos were made is unclear.
* DeathOfAChild: Thea apparently died during development.

* DrivenToSuicide: Apparently Manfred, but it's quickly revealed that HesJustHiding
* DummiedOut: In-universe example, the ice and lava levels appear only in the previews and briefly in Video, but do not appear to be currently accessible.

** In WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64 when Mr. Crow falls down the stairs, all the textures briefly changed to that of a brain scan.

** In Catastrophe Crow N64 the family photo on the desk changes to a photo of two crows and the two monsters that approach Mr. Crow after he falls down the stairs.

* HauntedTechnology: Implied, but nowhere near confirmed to be the case with Catastrophe Crow.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The video entitled Video shows various levels briefly as the player falls, including one of the few instances of the purple monsters.
* MindScrew: Even the previews show that even before Catastrophe Crow entered DevelopmentHell, things were weird.
* OminousVisualGlitch: Towards the end of WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64, and again in many of the other videos.

* SubvertedKidsShow: Catastrophe Crow initially seems like a dark but otherwise kid-oriented game, but when gameplay is shown it quickly becomes obvious that it is something else.

* WhamShot: Mr. Crow falling down the stairs.

''Catastrophe Crow'', or ''Crow 64'', is an AlternateRealityGame centering around the eponymous unfinished game for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo64}}.

* AmbiguousGender: Mr. Crow is apparently male, going by his name, but is believed to represent Thea.

* DecoyProtagonist: Despite Adam Butcher being the presenter of the original video, he isn't mentioned in any of the other videos, and even falls quiet a few minutes before the end of the original video.
* DisappearedDad: Manfred Lorenz faked his death, leaving Nils without a father.
* DontGoInTheWoods: The Forest Level.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Many elements that appear in the other videos first appear in the scans briefly shown in WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64.

** Zig-Zagged with Nils Lorenz, who is not mentioned once in WHAT HAPPENED TO CATASTROPHE CROW but becomes a major character afterwards.

''Catastrophe Crow'', or ''Crow 64'', is an AlternateRealityGame centering around the eponymous unfinished UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo64}}.

''Catastrophe Crow'', or ''Crow 64'', is an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) centering around the eponymous unfinished UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo64}}.

** In WHAT HAPPENED TO CATASTROPHE CROW when Mr. Crow falls down the stairs, all the textures briefly changed to that of a brain scan.

* OminousVisualGlitch: Towards the end of WHAT HAPPENED TO CATASTROPHE CROW, and again in many of the other videos.

** Zig-Zagged with Nils Lorenz, who is not mentioned once in WHAT HAPPENED TO CATASTROPHE but becomes a major character afterwards.

!!Catastrophe Crow shows examples of the following tropes: