History YMMV / WildArms1

* CompleteMonster: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Alhazad]] is a MadScientist who had several inhabitants of a town abducted so he could test his parasite that [[BodyHorror horrifically mutates any living thing into a mindless monster]], then sends the mutated citizens back to their town to slaughter everyone except a young, blind girl (who was protected by [[NobleDemon Zed]]). He then threatened to unleash this parasite, which he calls the "Demon Seed", on a village almost entirely inhabited by [[WouldHurtAChild orphaned children]] unless the party hands over a MacGuffin. He also manages to infect both a young Wanderer and a puppy with the Demon Seed, forcing the party to kill them both. Finally, [[spoiler:it turns out that he's the one who turned Lady Harkan into a Demon. Not because he was ordered to, but because he had a [[VillainousCrush fondness]] for her]]. Even the [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] [[EldritchAbomination Mother]] was less vile then Alhazad in that at least she did what she did because [[BecauseDestinySaysSo she believed it was her destined role]]. Alhazad simply enjoyed experimenting on people as [[LackOfEmpathy "toys"]]. He collaborates in resurrecting Mother and is an active supporter of her plan to [[KillAllHumans destroy the human race]].

** The Opening theme: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlv8I4g7TWs&hd=1 Into the Wilderness]] is one of this troper's favorite songs of ALL TIME. So Amazing.

* ThatOneLevel: The Tri-Pillar, full stop. A dungeon that [[InvoluntaryGroupSplit splits your party]] and has the characters go up three identical, entirely uninteresting towers. The best part? The RandomEncounter table is just ripped wholesale from the previous dungeon, and thus ''spectacularly'' unsuited to a solo run. And a good chunk of those monsters are highly resistant to magic, making Cecilia's tower a LuckBasedMission. It's really telling that it's the one dungeon ''ACF'' ''entirely removed'', handing you the place's [=MacGuffin=] in a simple scene and turning the boss into a BonusBoss of a late game, different area.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: People who are familiar with the ''VideoGame/Mother1'' soundtrack may hear a bit of "Bein' Friends" in "Sense of Solidarity" in the remake.

** Van Burace sounds more badass and American than Vambrace. C'mon, "Jack Vambrace"? What kind of name is ''that'' anyways, when everybody else has either English (Cecilia Lynne Adlehyde) or American (Rudy Roughnight) sounding names? Pretty sure Van Burace was intentional, as the literal "Vambrace" translation would not have fit very well. Nobody names their kid "Vambrace". Van Burace, though, is an AwesomeMcCoolName.

** Rudy counts as well. [[spoiler: Treated as [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer an outcast for most of his life]] due to his strength and ARM abilities, watching his grandfather (the only person who loves him) die right before him, wandering the wasteland while ''still'' being treated as an outcast, losing his left arm (after a brutal [[NotSoDifferentRemark Not So Different]] speech from Ziekfried), discovering he's [[RoboticReveal made of living metal]] like the demons he's fighting, retreating into a childhood dream world where his grandfather is there to comfort him -- only to end up trapped by a dream demon succubus.]] Even the Guardians are hard on Rudy as shown when [[spoiler: Raftina and Justine outright state they don't think Rudy will be able to summon Zephyr because he's an artificial being so therefore is incapable of having hopes and dreams.]]

** The overworld theme "Lone Bird in the Shire" - made twice as cool after realizing that its also a ShoutOut to Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly (specifically, the very suitably epic "The Ecstasy of Gold" by none other than ''Music/EnnioMorricone'').

** In the remake, Rudy gets his Gatling Raid cartridge a little more than 1/3 into the game. Use with 18 bullets and every non-optional boss in the game goes down in one turn. Combine with Lock-On Active and its auto reload for pure bullet spam. Expoiting this is practically a requirement for beating the optional end-game bosses without running out of resources in every battle.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Rudy! ''VideoGame/WildArms5'' even pokes fun at this by having a sidequest where you resolve a love quadrilateral between him, Jane, Cecilia, and Mariel.

** Pretty much anything involving Mother. A fleshy pulsating thing, she's an OmnicidalManiac who wanders the cosmos consuming countless star systems (making her a proto-[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Jenova]]). By far the creepiest scene with her is when [[spoiler: Zeikfried is teleported to the destroyed Photosphere as the result of falling into a black hole. only to find the ''veiny, slug-like remnance of Mother'' that proceeds to '''''rear up and consume him'' while cooing about how much she loves him, accompanied by sickening crunching noises.''']]

** Rudy's backstory: Rejected during his entire life for his power, losing his father (the only person who loved him) and burying him in the "closest place to heaven", and living alone as a wanderer, until he meet Jack and Cecilia.
* ThatOneLevel: The Tri-Pillar, full stop. A dungeon that [[InvoluntaryGroupSplit splits your party]] and has the characters go up three identical, entirely uninteresting towers. The best part? The RandomEncounter table is just ripped wholesale from the previous dungeon, and thus ''spectacularly'' unsuited to a solo run. And a good chunk of those monsters are highly resistant to magic, making Cecilia's tower a LuckBasedMission. It's really telling that it's the one dungeon ACF ''entirely removed'', handing you the place's McGuffin in a simple scene and turning the boss into a BonusBoss of a late game, different area.

** Mariel. Makes one almost want to give her a hug when she looks out of her door at the party when they first meet her in ACF. Same goes for her portrait when she becomes a temporary party member.
** Rudy counts as well. [[spoiler: Treated as [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer an outcast for most of his life]] due to his strength and ARM abilities, watching his grandfather (the only person who loves him) die right before him, wandering the wasteland while ''still'' being treated as an outcast, losing his left arm (after a brutal [[NotSoDifferentRemark Not So Different]] speech from Ziekfried), discovering he's [[RoboticReveal made of living metal]] like the demons he's fighting, retreating into a childhood dream world where his grandfather is there to comfort him- only to end up trapped by a dream demon succubus.]] Even the Guardians are hard on Rudy as shown when [[spoiler: Raftina and Justine outright state they don't think Rudy will be able to summon Zephyr because he's an artificial being so therefore is incapable of having hopes and dreams.]]

** Rudy counts as well. [[spoiler: Treated as [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer an outcast for most of his life]] due to his strength and ARM abilities, watching his grandfather (the only person who loves him) die right before him, wandering the wasteland while ''still'' being treated as an outcast, losing his left arm (after a brutal [[NotSoDifferent Not So Different]] speech from Ziekfried), discovering he's [[RoboticReveal made of living metal]] like the demons he's fighting, retreating into a childhood dream world where his grandfather is there to comfort him- only to end up trapped by a dream demon succubus.]] Even the Guardians are hard on Rudy as shown when [[spoiler: Raftina and Justine outright state they don't think Rudy will be able to summon Zephyr because he's an artificial being so therefore is incapable of having hopes and dreams.]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The remake has too many to list, but three that stand out are "War Demon" (Boomerang's theme), "Destruction of All Creation" (Mother's theme), and "Windward Birds" ([[spoiler:Zeik Tuvai]]'s theme)

* NightmareFuel: Pretty much anything involving Mother. A fleshy pulsating thing, she's an OmnicidalManiac who wanders the cosmos consuming countless star systems (making her a proto-[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Jenova]]). By far the creepiest scene with her is when [[spoiler: Zeikfried is teleported to the destroyed Photosphere as the result of falling into a black hole. only to find the ''veiny, slug-like remnance of Mother'' that proceeds to '''''rear up and consume him'' while cooing about how much she loves him, accompanied by sickening crunching noises.''']]

* TheWoobie: Mariel. Makes one almost want to give her a hug when she looks out of her door at the party when they first meet her in ACF. Same goes for her portrait when she becomes a temporary party member.

* GameBreaker: In the remake, Rudy gets his Gatling Raid cartridge a little more than 1/3 into the game. Use with 18 bullets and every non-optional boss in the game goes down in one turn. Combine with Lock-On Active and its auto reload for pure bullet spam.
** This method is practically a requirement for beating the optional end-game bosses without running out of resources in every battle.
*** By putting Great Booster on Rudy, casting Offense Zone on the battlefield, and Fragile on the enemy, it's easily possible for Rudy to do over 100,000 damage with Lock-On (even more with Lock-On Plus). The only other one who comes close is Jack under the same conditions with Accelerator + Laser Silhouette and the most I've seen that do is 75,000. Most battles don't last long enough to set up both of those guys for that much damage.

* MoonLogicPuzzle: In the Sacred Shrine, you need to throw Hanpan at somebody in order to get them to move so you can talk to another person. This is necessary to progress the plot, and the only hint is the person saying offhand that they're afraid of rats. It [[MakesSenseInContext Makes Sense Out Of Context]], but when you're actually playing the game it just sounds like [[WelcomeToCorneria generic NPC banter]], not a puzzle hint.

* ScrappyLevel: The Tri-Pillar, full stop. A dungeon that [[InvoluntaryGroupSplit splits your party]] and has the characters go up three identical, entirely uninteresting towers. The best part? The RandomEncounter table is just ripped wholesale from the previous dungeon, and thus ''spectacularly'' unsuited to a solo run. And a good chunk of those monsters are highly resistant to magic, making Cecilia's tower a LuckBasedMission. It's really telling that it's the one dungeon ACF ''entirely removed'', handing you the place's McGuffin in a simple scene and turning the boss into a BonusBoss of a late game, different area.

* {{Woolseyism}}: "Holmcross" is just about the only translation error very few people have a problem with (it was originally "[[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Homunculus]]"), possibly because [[RuleOfCool it sounds badass]].

* CompleteMonster: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Alhazad]] is a MadScientist who had several inhabitants of a town abducted so he could test his parasite that [[BodyHorror horrifically mutates any living thing into a mindless monster]], then sends the mutated citizens back to their town to slaughter everyone except a young, blind girl (who was protected by [[NobleDemon Zed]]). He then threatened to unleash this parasite, which he calls the "Demon Seed", on a village almost entirely inhabited by [[WouldHurtAChild orphaned children]] unless the party hands over a MacGuffin. He also manages to infect both a young Wanderer and a puppy with the Demon Seed, forcing the party to kill them both. Finally, [[spoiler:it turns out that he's the one who turned Lady Harkan into a Demon. Not because he was ordered to, but because he had a [[VillainousCrush fondness]] for her]]. Even the [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] [[EldritchAbomination Mother]] was less vile then Alhazad in that at least she did what she did because [[BecauseDestinySaysSo she believed it was her destined role]]. Alhazad simply enjoyed experimenting on people as [[LackOfEmpathy "toys"]]. He collaborates in resurrecting Mother and is an active supporter of her plan to [[KillAllHumans destroy the human race]].
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The remake has too many to list, but three that stand out are "War Demon" (Boomerang's theme), "Destruction of All Creation" (Mother's theme), and "Windward Birds" ([[spoiler:Zeik Tuvai]]'s theme)

* TearJerker: The backstory of the Maxwell family that Magdalen tells in the remake.

** In the original PSX version, there's a bug that lets you very easily duplicate items. All you have to do is have your first two characters use the same expendable item (Heal Berries are easiest), then have the third character switch the location of that item with something you have one of. At the end of the turn, the game deducts two from the number of the item in that slot... which, since there was only one, takes it from 1, to 0, back around to [[UsefulNotes/PowersOfTwoMinusOne 255]]. Use it on [[RareCandy apples]] and you can effortlessly max everyone's stats, use it on Crest Graphs and you can get all the spells easily, use it on Secret Signs and Jack will only ever have to use 1 MP for any of his skills, use it on Goat Dolls and abuse the ability to re-equip your characters in battle and ''nothing will ever be able to kill you''...

* TheyJustDidntCare: Many have accused the localization of the remake to be an example.

* CompleteMonster: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Alhazad]] is a MadScientist who had several inhabitants of a town abducted so he could test his parasite that [[BodyHorror horrifically mutates any living thing into a mindless monster]], then sends the mutated citizens back to their town to slaughter everyone except a young, blind girl (who was protected by [[NobleDemon Zed]]). He then threatened to release this parasite, which he calls the "Demon Seed", on a village almost entirely inhabited by [[WouldHurtAChild orphaned children]] unless the party hands over a MacGuffin. He also manages to infect both a young Wanderer and a puppy with the Demon Seed, forcing the party to kill them both. Finally, [[spoiler:it turns out that he's the one who turned Lady Harkan into a Demon. Not because he was ordered to, but because he had a [[VillainousCrush fondness]] for her]]. Even the [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] [[EldritchAbomination Mother]] was less vile then Alhazad in that at least she did what she did because [[BecauseDestinySaysSo she believed it was her destined role]]. Alhazad simply enjoyed experimenting on people as [[LackOfEmpathy "toys"]]. He collaborates in resurrecting Mother and is an active supporter of her plan to [[KillAllHumans destroy the human race.]]

* CompleteMonster: Alhazad arranged several inhabitants of a town to be abducted so he could test his parasite that [[BodyHorror horrifically mutates any living thing into a mindless monster]] then sends the mutated citizens back to their town so they could slaughter everyone except a young, blind girl (who only survived because [[PetTheDog Zed protected her and took her under his wing]]. He then threatened to let the same parasite, which he now affectionately calls the "Demon Seed", loose on a village almost entirely inhabited by ''orphaned children'' unless the party hands over a MacGuffin. He also manages to infect both a young Wanderer and a puppy with the Demon Seed, forcing the party to kill them both. Finally, [[spoiler:it turns out that he's the one who turned Lady Harkan into a Demon. Not because he was ordered to, but because he had a [[{{Squick}} fondness]] for her]]. Even the resident [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal]] EldritchAbomination was less vile then Alhazad in that at least she did what she did because [[BecauseDestinySaysSo she believed destroying stuff was her destined role in the cosmos]]. Alhazad did all those atrocities [[ForTheEvulz for the lulz]].

* GuideDangIt: A puzzle in the Sacred Shrine requires you to throw Hanpan at somebody in order to get them to move so you can talk to another person. This is necessary to progress the plot, and the only hint is the person saying offhand that they're afraid of rats. It [[MakesSenseInContext Makes Sense Out Of Context]], but when you're actually playing the game it just sounds like [[WelcomeToCorneria generic NPC banter]], not a puzzle hint.

* TheWoobie: You have no soul if you don't want to just give Mariel a hug when she looks out of her door at the party when they first meet her in ACF.
** Same goes for her portrait when she becomes a temporary party member.