Line #17 VideoGame/DillonsRollingWestern


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/start_screen.png]]
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3	''Dillon's Rolling Western'' is a hybrid of ActionAdventure and TowerDefense genres, developed by Vanpool (who also made ''VideoGame/FreshlyPickedTinglesRosyRupeeland'') for Nintendo and released in 2012 through the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS eShop.
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5	Things aren't looking good in TheWildWest: weird rock monsters called Grocks recently started emerging from the ground to raid the local livestock, and the current defenses are not enough to stop them. It's up to the player character, an armadillo ranger named Dillon, to protect villages with towers and hand-to-grock fighting while gathering resources to fortify the village gates, increase the livestock population, and gather money to upgrade towers and weaponry.
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7	The sequel, known as ''Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger'', was released in 2013. Another sequel, titled ''Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers'', was made available in Japan in April 2018, and was the first installment to get a physical release. It was eventually released in North America and Europe a month later, though it remained a Nintendo eShop exclusive in North America.
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9	!!This game provides examples of:
10	* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal:
11	** Otis (A lemur who sells stars to the player if they do not have enough to access a stage) from ''The Last Ranger'' only wears a bowler hat and a blue scarf. In his reappearance in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', he becomes a BarefootCartoonAnimal, instead.
12	* ActuallyFourMooks: All enemies look like a giant version of themselves on the map, but upon entering combat they become a crowd.
13	* AfterTheEnd: When selling 'treasures' to Weldon in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', he will occasionally mention a Great Destruction which may have involved nuclear missiles, while also mis-identifying their purpose. Such examples include a stack of blank [=CDs=] being a snack turned hard and brittle.
14	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Failing to protect the village will kick you back to the start of the level's three-day cycle, but the amount of starting cash you're allowed will go up and give you a better chance of winning next time.
15	* AntiPoopSocking: Occasionally after you decide to continue with the game. Though considering that one day alone can last more than half an hour, this is justified.
16	* {{Animorphism}}: In ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', this is what happens to your Mii. A barrel drops onto the Mii and traps them until the player pushes the A button multiple times. Upon successfully escaping the barrel, the Mii can transform into four of ten animals (Which animals they can be is based entirely on the Mii's face), called "Amiimals".
17	* BadassBiker:
18	** The Motogrocks, which are [[FragileSpeedster very quick on the map but nothing special in combat]]. In ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', this applies to '''every''' grock when the first Death Charge goes off.
19	** Dillon himself, in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', gives off this vibe, thanks to his leather clothing.
20	* BanditMook: The Snaggrocks in ''Rolling Western'', which pop out of the ground, steal some of your money, and try to make a break for it. Even in combat their main concern is to evade you and try to run away instead of attacking.
21	* BarefootCartoonAnimal:
22	** Some of the cast, with Russ and Sal the Arms Dealer being the most notable examples.
23	** Any [=NPC=] Amiimal in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' that is not the playable character (Though there are some exceptions. See HalfDressedCartoonAnimal below) usually wears a shirt and a pair of pants, but always goes barefoot.
24	* BattleCry: The monsters always give a collective bellow twice before starting an assault, turning the sky red in the process.
25	* BigDamnHeroes: In ''The Last Ranger'', if all three rangers' stories have been followed all the way to stage 6, [[spoiler:on stage 7, halfway through the train section, they will show up and join the fight, pretty much armoring the train so it becomes invulnerable to Grock attacks before they reach the pyramid]]. Also, should the [[spoiler:Wheelgrock]] reach the village, [[spoiler:they will pull a HeroicSacrifice by ramming the wrecked train wagon into it to let Dillon strike one last time]].
26	* BoringButPractical: Vulcans. They may be the absolutely ''weakest'' weapon, but they have a ''great'' range and attack [[DeathOfAThousandCuts so quickly]] that when they start getting damage upgrades, will have little to no trouble taking out standard enemies. Expect them to make up the most of your gunners.
27	* CallARabbitASmeerp: The livestock, called Scrogs, look very similar to pigs. The game notes that early on, however, this is a portmanteau of "scruffle hogs."
28	** CallAHitPointASmeerp: Scrogs are your town's equivalent to Hit Points; justified since scrogs are a food supply for the villagers.
29	* CastFromMoney: There are Bot Towers on certain maps in ''Dead-Heat Breakers''; due to the AI installed in the tower's turret, you cannot place an Amiimal on top, but the tower can be recharged and repaired by, you guessed it, feeding it money.
30	* ChestMonster: The Veggrock and Red Veggrock disguise themselves as scruffles, and running into them triggers a battle.
31	* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Running out of health only makes you lose time; you don't "lose" unless the Grocks raid all the village's scrogs. Even then, you're compensated with the level's cap on starting money being raised.
32	* DoesNotLikeSpam: If the player purchases dinner at the end of a day, Dillon sometimes leaves behind some food that appears to be onions.
33	* DungeonBypass: Some Grocks can get past reinforced doors without breaking them down, but the Springgrocks can also jump cliffs and go straight to villages.
34	* FemaleFelineMaleMutt: When making an Amiimal out of the default Mii designs in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', the male's default Amiimal will always be the wolf, while the female's will always be the cat.
35	* FogOfWar: You have to build watchtowers or turrets to see the monsters' position on the minimap. Averted in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', since Russ is observing from above.
36	* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal:
37	** Most of the cast, with Gallo and Nomad from ''The Last Ranger'' being the most notable examples.
38	* FurryConfusion: Further into the 1st game, Dillon is able to upgrade his gear, such as his boots. The Level 2-4 boot upgrades are implied to be made out of the hide of animals. Levels 2 and 3 are respectively called "Warthog Hide Boots" and "Buffalo Hide Boots"...Which both just so happen [[FridgeHorror to be the species of the very first two mayors in the game]].
39	* GameBreakingBug: ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' has a nasty one involving friends with pending invites, as trying to load Amiimal data for a Mii that doesn't exist on the system causes the game to crash.
40	* GenreShift: The third game moves away from a Western aesthetic to a more post-apoclyptic Mad Max style setting, notably ditching the "Rolling Western" part of the title along the way.
41	* GiantMook: They also count as [[FlunkyBoss Flunky Bosses]].
42	* TheGoomba: Weakgrocks, which take [[OneHitPointWonder one hit to die]] and are not threatening at all.
43	* GreenGators: Mayor Gates is a bluish-green alligator.
44	* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal:
45	** [[spoiler: King Ron from the first game wears a hat, a tie, and what appears to be a sleeveless coat, but wears no pants.]]
46	** ''Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers'' has quite a few of these:
47	*** The player Amiimal in ''Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers'' starts off by wearing a yellow bandana and an orange jacket (And depending on the Mii chosen, a pair of glasses and/or a hat), but never wears pants throughout the whole game. Some of the [=NPC=] Amiimals (Such as Niko[[note]]An [=NPC=] mouse Amiimal child who asks Dillon and the gang to help out at Startsen[[/note]] and [=NPC=] Amiimal villagers that act as gunners if the player has not hired any in the hotel) also wear a jacket without any pants.
48	*** Deputy Daley, a raccoon who is the (Deputy) Mayor of Splitshare, wears a green coat and a hat, but wears no pants.
49	*** Oakley, a bird that begs the player to give him clay figures won by Anton Ball, wears a short-sleeved tartan shirt, a teal scarf, and a bowler hat, but no pants.
50	* HeartsAreHealth: Dillon's health is represented by hearts, and collecting Heart Pieces from ruins increases his health by one heart for every three pieces.
51	* HeavilyArmoredMook: Maskgrocks and Helmgrocks. The first one can be attacked from behind, the second one needs a dig to get its helmet removed.
52	* HellBentForLeather: Dillon seems to have taken a page from ''Film/MadMax'' and decked himself out in full black leather for '' Dead Heat Breakers''.
53	* HeroicMime: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Dillon's assistant, who says at the beginning of the game that boulders are more talkative than him.
54	* HeroicSacrifice: In ''The Last Ranger'', should the [[spoiler:Wheelgrock]] happen to reach the village, [[spoiler:the other three rangers will push the wrecked train's wagon into it and die, though that enables Dillon to strike it one last time before it destroys the village.]] Notably, though, is the fact that [[spoiler:defeating the Wheelgrock prior it reaching the village spares the rangers from dying, though they disappear and aren't mentioned afterwards.]]
55	* HumanoidFemaleAnimal: Miss Eliza compared to Deputy Daley, both raccoons. While neither appear in the same game together, Miss Eliza from ''The Last Ranger'' is a lot more humanoid compared to the more raccoon-shaped Deputy Daley from ''Dead-Heat Breakers''.
56	* IAmNotWeasel: Russ is a squirrel, though he is often mistaken for a mouse.
57	* IncendiaryExponent: Diggrocks, Magmagrocks and Vulcangrocks. They do massive damage to wooden towers due to their fire-based nature.
58	* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: The Sheep Amiimals in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' can invoke this depending on what Miis you have in your game. They all sport an afro-like hairstyle, which completely obscures any hairstyle the Mii it's based on has. This can result in two sheep or more Sheep Amiimals have nearly or completely identical faces.
59	* ItemGet: Dillon does this whenever he finds some treasure or a heart piece/container from a treasure chest.
60	* ItsRainingMen: The grocks in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' enter battle by falling like meteorites, with a mark on the minimap projecting their landing spot. The subtitles for introducing them describe them as "Meteor's Offspring".
61	* KungFuProofMook: In later levels weaker Grocks start wearing protective masks that make normal attacks useless and must be removed or circumvented. Another enemy called a Magmagrock [[IncendiaryExponent is made of fresh magma]] and must be extinguished before it can be attacked.
62	* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Of a sort. Early game in ''Dead Heat Breakers'', Dillon and your Amiimal will probably be doing most of the work while the towers are just there to weaken enemies so Dillon and the amiimal can finish them off, ''occasionally'' scoring a few kills. However, your towers will start taking down as many as a ''third'' of the wave once you obtain the long shot and place long-range weapons in overlapping areas to assist the ever-useful Vulcans.
63	* LostTechnology: People are struggling to find adequate defense measures, but the levels are littered with ancient columns, defense walls and fast-travel catapults made by the {{Precursors}}, along with ancient ruins full of gems and [[HeartContainer Heart Pieces]].
64	* ManaDrain: Snaggrocks in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' affix themselves to your turrets' generators and suck the power out of them until they're bled completely dry.
65	* MisplacedWildlife: ''The Last Ranger'' features a squid and gorilla.
66	* MissionPackSequel: ''The Last Ranger''
67	* NoHeroDiscount: Sure, you're protecting the village, but you still have to pay for medicines and explosives!
68	* NonstandardGameOver:
69	** [[spoiler: Fail to beat the Ultimogrock when it reaches the city and the entire city gets swallowed!]]
70	** [[spoiler:Time out against the Deathgrock and it will drive into the Farsen outpost at top speed, smashing it and the Breaker you need to destroy the Command Ship.]]
71	* PinataEnemy: All enemies drop somewhat valuable loot, but the gold Grocks just walk around the map without even trying to attack anything, and their loot is worth a lot of money.
72	* PrimaryColorChampion: Dillon is the hero, and he is a yellow armadillo with a red shell and blue bandana.
73	* PunnyName: Given that the series takes place in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, most of the characters' names are based around their species.
74	** Dillon's name is a pun on the last 2 syllables of "armadillo". His Japanese name, Jiro, can literally be translated to "Dillo".
75	** Russ' name is a pun on the Japanese word for squirrel, "risu". This is more apparent in his Japanese name, "Riisu".
76	** Sal's name is literally the first syllable of "salamander".
77	** In ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', the Mii characters are referred to as "Amiimal", a portmanteau of "animal" and UsefulNotes/{{Mii}}''
78	* RockMonster: The Grocks.
79	* RollingAttack: Used as the main method of moving on the level map and the primary attack in battles, in addition to activating certain ancient devices.
80	* ShellBackpack: The leather shirt Dillon wears in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' covers only the front of his upper body, leaving the shell on his back visible.
81	* ShockwaveStomp: Boss Grocks use this to attack, as well as summon flunkies.
82	* ShoutOut:
83	** Rolling around the map is very reminescent of the Goron transformation in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''.
84	** Opening the hidden temples and the treasure chests use a SuspiciouslySimilarSong version of the "you solved a puzzle" and "you found an object" tunes from the same series. One of the treasures found in ancient ruins is even heart pieces.
85	** Hell, Dillon [[VoiceGrunting grunts]] like Link. Listen closely after a combo and it sounds like they just lifted Link's "hyah" yell and put it in the game.
86	** Then there is [[spoiler: King Ron]], who is a shout out to both ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' and ''Franchise/KingKong''.
87	* ShyShelledAnimal: Discussed when Dillon first meets Mayor Malcolm, who is an armadillo like him. Malcolm mentions his dislike for the stereotype of armadillos as cowardly animals, and he and Russ both note how Dillon is an aversion of the trope, being a capable fighter known for his RollingAttack.
88	* SideQuest:
89	** In every level of the first two games, you are given three optional requests from locals. Be sure to fulfill them if you accept them, or they'll demand a refund. Completing all three will also give you an extra star upon level completion.
90	** In ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', Otis shows up on occasion with mine defense work; you lose if the grocks breach the barricade at the main base, but they will not directly attack your turrets (see ManaDrain).
91	* SmartBomb: Bomb Crystals[[note]]In the first two games.[[/note]]/Bomb Chips[[note]]In ''Dead-Heat Breakers''.[[/note]] have Dillon throw them on the ground[[note]]In the first two games.[[/note]]/punch the ground with his rolling engine[[note]]In ''Dead-Heat Breakers''[[/note]], causing a potent seismic disturbance that blows over every Grock in the arena; weaker Grocks are [[OneHitKill pulverized]] outright.
92	* SpeakingSimlish: Unlike the first two games (Where dialogue text was completely silent), ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' has the characters speak in a manner similar to the "voice"-acting in other Nintendo games such as the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' and ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series and the original ''[[VideoGame/StarFox1 Star Fox]]''.
93	* StuddedShell: Dillon can attach metal spikes to his shell that enable him to follow up his RollingAttack with a grinding attack.
94	* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:After you destroy the Ultimogrock, it will fly into the air and self destruct as a last ditch effort to kill Dillon. However, it fails to even scratch him.]]
95	* TheTeam: Dillon is the Hero. Russ is his trusty sidekick and TheSmartGuy. Gallo is a more proper Lancer. Boone is a DumbMuscle variety BigGuy. Nomad is TheUnintelligible and TheDrifter, being a foreigner who doesn't speak the language.
96	* TimeLimitBoss:
97	** Fail to destroy a Megagrock before its timer expires and it will shoot down all your towers!
98	** [[spoiler: Each time you damage the Ultimogrock enough, it falls down for about 2 minutes. You then have that amount of time to kill its crystal inside before it gets back up again.]]
99	** In ''Dead-Heat Breakers'', the first Death Charge turns every grock on the field into a Motogrock variant, which starts charging energy as they roll; the time limit before they finish charging is shown, and they transform further when that time elapses. [[spoiler:This extends to the Deathgrock as well, which smashes the Farsen outpost and the Breaker immediately for a nonstandard game over once it finishes charging in at most seven minutes.]]
100	* VillainExitStageLeft: Defied. [[spoiler:The Grock Command Ship in ''Dead-Heat Breakers'' tries to flee once the Deathgrock is destroyed, the Breaker recharges just in time to finish it off, preventing its escape.]]
101	* TheWestern: With spades of LethalLavaLand in the second half of the game.
102	* WildWestArmadillo: The setting is largely inspired by TheWildWest, and protagonist Dillon is an armadillo in a cowboy hat, belt, and bandana.
103	* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: One of the few Nintendo [=IPs=] to feature a cast almost entirely of FunnyAnimals, along with ''Franchise/StarFox'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing''.

Context VideoGame / DillonsRollingWestern