Line #178 VideoGame/DistortedTravesty


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/distorted_travesty_2.png]]
2	''Distorted Travesty'' is a "Fast Paced Satirical Action Platformer" made in Game Maker by Dark Yoshi (aka. Zephyr Burst). It follows the story of two gamers with no clear goals in life. These two are Jerry, the most hardcore of hardcore gamers, and Jeremy, who partakes in some light hacking and playing jokes. You control Jerry, while Jeremy sits on the fourth wall and gives you aid throughout the game.
3
4	One day, when they break into the Integrated Electronics Factory to teach its CEO about the greatness of Jerry's favorite game, a mysterious entity known as The Darkness comes and steals him away to another world, one which is composed of all the games the two have played since their youth. Their only hope of returning home is to collect the Seven Magical Flavored Muffins throughout the world and use them to defeat The Darkness once and for all, lest they miss a new episode of the best series ever. The game was completed on November 5, 2010.
5
6	A short sequel, '''Distorted Travesty 2: The Sequel To The Prequel''' was released on April 7, 2011, and can be downloaded from the same site. In it, you play as Claire, Jerry's ex. Both Jerry and Jeremy make appearances in the game as well.
7
8	A third entry in the series, '''Distorted Travesty 3: Saved Game''', was released on October 6th, 2015. This entry in the series revolves around Jerry and Claire, chronicling their struggle to save the world against the threat introduced in the last game. Jeremy and his sister, Chao, return to provide [[MissionControl help, guidance]] and (in Jeremy's case) [[DeadpanSnarker snarky comments]].
9
10	A fourth game was annouced on 4/1/2023. Though little has been revealed about it, it appears to star Chao as the primary hero, going dungeon diving with a new friend. It is also reportedly going to be the most difficult game in the series.
11
12	You can download the games [[http://distortedtravesty.blogspot.com/ here]]. But be warned, they [[BulletHell ain't]] [[NintendoHard easy]].
13
14
15	----
16	!!This game provides examples of:
17
18	* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Subverted; the thirteenth set of {{Heart Container}}s gives you an extra 50 HP.
19	* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Averted. The level cap is 64, and you will likely get close to that if you're shooting for HundredPercentCompletion.
20	%%zce* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: On a train... somehow.
21	* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Two of them, both created by Hexor. The first one is in Distortion, the second in Distortion WTF.
22	** And of course the multiple advancing instakill spike walls in levels that would already qualify as PlatformHell without the extra time pressure.
23	* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:Played with. Once you figure out that The Darkness is nothing more than a video game maker, you begin to think this, but then you find out that it's only trying to protect itself. Once a greater threat appears, it actively helps you defeat it, since it would be protecting itself. It is also willing to try cooperation and co-existence, rather than conflict, if the other side offers it.]]
24	* AltText: A variation. If you're playing in Windowed Mode, the window title is used for short comments from the author about each room.
25	* AlwaysAccurateAttack: The Aero Scanner's {{hitscan}} laser will always hit you if there isn't a wall or object in the way.[[note]]As with most attacks, you can dash through it to avoid taking damage, though.[[/note]]
26	* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper[[invoked]]: Jeremy really likes to talk during segments that require a lot of concentration. Naturally lampshaded whenever Jerry gets pissed off at him for it. And whenever it happens, he's usually talking about pointless, inane things, and then sometimes keeps going just to piss off Jerry.
27	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: A couple of these were included in a later update to the game, most notably being the fact that save rooms fully restore your health and spirit AND have a healing point inside.[[note]]Prior to the update, save rooms wouldn't heal you, but would greatly increase the regen rate of your spirit, meaning the only way to heal without items would be to spam Nature's Gift until full health, at EVERY save point[[/note]]
28	* ApocalypticLog: [[spoiler:The Artist's]] notes scattered in the Black Rock Fortress seem to be this at first.
29	* ArcWords: "Distortion" and its derivatives.
30	* ArtificialBrilliance: The Sentries. Their AI is actually very simple, but they are designed to cover for each other's weaknesses, meaning that fighting a team of them is going to be very difficult.
31	* ArtificialStupidity: Meta Knight has an AI that's very easy to break. Attack, back dash, run up to him, attack, etc...
32	%%* AutobotsRockOut: One of the boss themes.
33	* AutoScrollingLevel: Very few maps are this. Two of them are in Metropolis, and another is a hidden map.
34	* AwesomeButImpractical: Kudeku, due to its pitifully short range and high cost.
35	* AwesomenessIsVolatile: The reason for why Jerry can't enter Rave mode during boss battles -- Jeremy says that if the boss can enter it too, [[BreakingTheFourthWall the game would crash]] due to an overload of awesomeness.
36	* BackTracking: Certain items in some areas become obtainable after learning a new technique improving your mobility.
37	* BaitAndSwitchBoss: In the [[spoiler:Maverick Factory]], you see [[spoiler:Zero]] standing before you in the third map. Jerry, however, doesn't want to fight him. Just then, a [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere giant robot]] comes and squishes him, so you get to fight it instead.
38	* BarrierChangeBoss: The Quick Time Distorter and the Data Collector.
39	* BigBad: The Darkness. [[spoiler:Subverted. It actually helps you defeat the real Big Bad.]]
40	* BigGood: The Artist. [[spoiler:Subverted. He's actually the Big Bad. ]]
41	* BonusDungeon: Multiple, unlocked during the game. But the most notable one is the Spire of Forgotten Souls, a 100 floor [[spoiler:but not really]] dungeon.
42	%%* BottomlessPits: Plenty of them.
43	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Plenty of times. In the tutorial level, Jeremy complains about text boxes blocking his view, for starters.
44	* BriarPatching: After The Darkness adapted to Jerry's BulletHell weakness by giving many bosses bullet hell abilities, Jeremy tries to do this.
45	* BulletHell: Many of the later bosses, as well as the Unexpected Shmup Levels. Especially the Shroud Lord once it gets down to its final life bar. [[http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t204/thehappyfungame/DistortedTravesty/980f8a6febccb5ddab11562cc8377433.png This screenshot]] speaks for itself.[[note]]The only videos on Website/YouTube of this boss being defeated are in easy mode. Let that sink in for a moment.[[/note]]
46	* CheckPointStarvation: The main source of torment in the Secured Data Segment.
47	** Also a constant source of FakeDifficulty throughout the game. Want another try at that pixel-perfect jump? Enjoy replaying the punishing minute of almost as hard jumps before it!
48	** Worse still in the bonus dungeon where you have to clear 5 screens at a time without one.
49	%%* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:The Flame Instigator.]]
50	%%* CliffHanger: Subverted and parodied.
51	* ClimaxBoss: Necrobane. After defeating him the game starts taking a turn for being more serious.
52	* CorridorCubbyHoleRun: Most rooms in the Secured Data Segment are this. There are various objects in the background which flash different colors. In order to avoid taking a very large amount of damage, you must get into a colored zone which matches the color the objects are currently flashing.
53	%%* CriticalAnnoyance: It's not too annoying though.
54	%%* CriticalExistenceFailure
55	* CrossingTheStreams: [[spoiler:When The Artist makes himself invincible, the only way to stop him is to enter Rave Mode during the boss fight. Jeremy notes that you'll only get one shot at this (not that it's hard to kill The Artist once you activate it).]]
56	* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Cripple temporarily drops the victim's defense.
57	* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Try playing the beginning of this game after playing the third game and enjoy all the damage you take from trying to defeat Mario enemies by stomping on them, something that's not possible in this game. We'll wait.
58	* DeadlyLunge: Both the Shrouds and the ordinary enemy type called "Dark Variant" do this.
59	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Both Jerry and Jeremy, though especially the latter.
60	* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: ZigZagged. In short or easy rooms, it's not a big deal, as there's a checkpoint each room and the only thing you lose is Internetz dropped by enemies. But in lengthy rooms where you're certain to die a lot, death is NOT a slap on the wrist, as it forces you to [[TrialAndErrorGameplay go through the level]] [[FakeDifficulty all over again]].
61	** The game also mocks you. Mercilessly...
62	%%* DevelopersForesight: Go on, just try and hide behind King Mech. I dare you.
63	* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:Black Rock Fortress]]. This is also where the story tends to get more serious...
64	* DisproportionateRetribution: You break into a company and cause thousands of dollars in property damage, all because its CEO said your favorite video game sucked.
65	* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler:The Darkness isn't a living being, it's a program designed to make video games.]]
66	* DoubleJump:
67	** Averted. Instead, you get an ability that creates a block for you to jump off of in order to increase your jumping height.
68	** ...Then later played straight, however, as there is a fire spell with this effect.
69	* DownInTheDumps: Not the most literal example, but [[spoiler:all the Distortion worlds are supposed to be this. They're more or less a location for worlds which don't have the Muffins in them.]]
70	* DungeonShop: There's a Yoshi that runs one in the Black Rock Fortress. Lampshaded in that his name is given as "[[PunnyName Convenient]] Store Yoshi".
71	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Jerry and Jeremy fight an uphill battle against The Darkness for pretty much the entire game.
72	* EasyModeMockery: Jerry calls easy mode "Wussy mode" after beating the boss of Dark Depths, and there's even two extra game over messages you can get if you play on easy mode, both of which mock the player for being on easy mode.
73	-->''You could always try the game on an easier difficulty... oh no, wait, you can't.''
74	* ElementalPowers: The game uses the classical four elements of [[PlayingWithFire fire]], [[MakingASplash water]], [[BlowYouAway air]], and [[DishingOutDirt earth]].
75	* ElevatorActionSequence: There is one in the Fright Train.
76	* EleventhHourSuperPower: [[spoiler:Jeremy obtains the ability to hack just about anything at the end of the game.]]
77	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:What will happen if The Artist accomplishes his goal, only so he can save face.]]
78	* EnemyScan: You can do this at any time by clicking on an enemy.
79	* EnergyWeapon: The Aero Scanners have auto-hitting ones.
80	* EpicFlail: One obstacle in the Black Rock Fortress is a ton of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' ball-and-chains tethered together into a massive cat-o-nine-tails.
81	* EscapeRope: Jerry eventually gains the ability to teleport to the world map from inside a dungeon, though at some points it doesn't work (and when the Shrouds start appearing, they can also block Jerry's ability to teleport if the Shroud Threat Level is high enough).
82	* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler:Hexor to Jeremy, who supports the final boss similarly to how Jeremy supports Jerry.]]
83	* EvilTwin: [[spoiler:The Darkness can copy the data of anything it scans and create a near-perfect replica. In particular, Hexor is a copy of Jeremy.]]
84	* FakeLongevity: Discussed. [[invoked]]
85	--> This is only to make you {{backtrack\|ing}} a few rooms and lengthen gameplay.
86	* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:Subverted with the Shroud Lord, who is set up to be the final battle and is the hardest boss in the game. However, the actual final boss (and BigBad) is The Artist.]]
87	* FinalBossPreview: [[spoiler:The Shroud Lord, who attacks you for short periods of time in Distortion WTF before flying off. You don't get to fight him for real until the end of the game, although he isn't ''the'' final battle.]]
88	* FissionMailed: At one point during Distortion Windows, the player gets a fake "Distorted Travesty has encountered an error and must close" message.
89	* FridgeLogic: The material the Metools' indestructible helmets in the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series are made of? Jeremy wonders why Dr. Wily didn't make entire robots out of this stuff. [[invoked]]
90	%%* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere
91	%%* GlobalCurrency: Internetz.
92	%%* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:The Darkness.]]
93	%%* GroundPound: Jump attacks and the Grand Slam technique.
94	* GuideDangIt:
95	** A chest in Black Rock Fortress, which requires you to use an in-game glitch to get. [[spoiler:To get it, you have to use Earth Shift to create a stone block on the floating platform next to the moving platform. After that, jump on the moving platform, and run into the block you created underneath it. Since the platform moves according to time and not variable checking, it'll move down eventually and let you get the chest.]]
96	** Also the method for dealing with the Ultimate Phalanx for the first time, if you don't pay too much attention to Jeremy's comments.
97	* HarderThanHard: Distorted mode. The game even warns you that it's completely unfair. It's so difficult that ''even Dark Yoshi himself'' had severe difficulty beating its final boss!
98	* HaveANiceDeath: The GameOver screens contain mocking one-liners. It's implied that Jeremy is actually the one who says them.
99	* HealingFactor: There are healing spells and MP regenerates, but they eat MP so take a long time to recharge. Made all the more boring when you realise checkpoints don't restore HP and MP, so you have to hang around save rooms for minutes at a time to fully heal.
100	* HeartContainer:
101	** You have to collect four of them before they do you any good, probably as a ShoutOut to how they work in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''.
102	** There are also powerups that increase your {{Mana}}, and a rare type of powerup that increases both.
103	* HeavySleeper: Sonic. He's in such a depression after his disappointing games that he just doesn't want to wake up. [[spoiler:Even when Abstracity has been practically destroyed.]]
104	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Samus or Jerry's ex. [[TheUnreveal The game doesn't tell which.]] According to the sequel, it was Claire, though [[SubvertedTrope she survived]].]]
105	* {{Hitscan}}: Aero Scanners track you with laser sights for a second or two before shooting a hitscan laser at you. Fortunately, you can hide behind walls and objects to avoid it.
106	* {{Homage}}: The games' heavy tone of sarcasm aside, it's clear that they were created as a loving tribute to the classic side-scrollers of the creator's youth. Even the overly frustrating segments are something of a reference to the fact that many of those older games had overly frustrating segments of their own, as any gamer of the 90s or older can attest to.
107	* HopelessBossFight: The first time you fight the Ultimate Phalanx, it's protected by the Muffin it's guarding. In order to progress, you have to [[spoiler:[[MindScrew kill yourself]], [[GuideDangIt return to the room's entry]], and try to leave the dungeon.]] You also cannot kill [[spoiler:the Omega Metroid]]. All you can do is run away from it.
108	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Beginner, Veteran, Hardcore, and Distorted.
109	* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Trusting The Artist with the muffins before the Shroud Lord fight, for both Jerry and especially Jeremy. Not only was he the one who gave them the idea to destroy The Darkness in the first place, but they also figured out that he was corrupt as hell. At least we got the [[BestBossEver most epic final boss ever out of it]], though.]]
110	* IKnowMortalKombat: Apparently only hardcore gamers stand a chance of stopping the Darkness, [[spoiler:probably because it's an advanced RealityWarper video game program.]]
111	* InnerMonologue: At the end of the game, Jerry has one. But then it's quickly subverted when Jeremy says he sucks at monologues.
112	* InterfaceScrew: [[spoiler:Hexor]] messes up a lot of things in the final level and boss fight to deter you.
113	** Much prior to that, [[spoiler:he screws up the Distortion Windows section, booting full-screen players into windowed mode, moving the window around on your screen, and rotating the game.]]
114	* ItMakesSenseInContext: At the beginning of the Veiled Detritus stage, Jerry asks why they stopped here, and Jeremy replies that "There is a Muffin here." He also warns you that the Darkness is looking for the Muffin as well.
115	%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Both Jerry and Jeremy, to varying degrees.
116	* KillerGameMaster: The level comments paint the creator as this, hinting at his amusement at the horrors to come.
117	%%* KiManipulation: Physical techniques like Mental Insurrection, Wave of Awesome, Kudeku, or Grand Slam.
118	%%* LampshadeHanging: Constantly, by both Jerry and Jeremy.
119	* LastChanceHitPoint: The Revenge Bead retaliates CollisionDamage, but cannot take an enemy's last HP.
120	* LastDiscMagic: Wildfire and Hurricane.
121	%%* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Jeremy's literal position.
122	* LevelGrinding: Mostly subverted: While enemies do respawn after re-entering a room, they give rather low amounts of experience compared to what is needed to level up. However, in the caves you appear inside of after you leave [[spoiler:Distortion Reckoning]], there is a slime enemy that multiplies itself, and a platform right above where it roams. Sit on this platform for a while, and these slimes will eventually duplicate themselves into game-lagging amounts, giving you tons of experience.
123	* LikeADuckTakesToWater: Jerry is an avid gamer who gets thrown into the worlds of the games he played.
124	%%* LocomotiveLevel: The Fright Train.
125	* LuckySeven: The seven Muffins. Your seventh set of {{Heart Container}}s also gives you an extra 100 HP.
126	* MacGuffin: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], as they're the 7 Magical Flavored Muffins. In reality, they are [[spoiler:the seven Data Allocation Segments, specific pieces of code that grant almost total control over the program. Why they look (and apparently smell) like muffins is anyone's guess.]]
127	%%* MalevolentArchitecture: Found especially in the Black Rock Fortress.
128	* MercyInvincibility: Getting hit, dashing, and using Grand Slam all give you invincibility. The second is essential for beating the game.
129	* MetaPowerup: Awesome points don't do anything, other than increase the EXP you gain.
130	* MissionControl: Jeremy, though he starts taking a more active role towards the end of the game. [[spoiler:He is also separated from Jerry for the first half of Distortion Reckoning.]]
131	* MissionControlIsOffItsMeds: Hexor performs a similar role to Jeremy, except he wants you dead, so he taunts and manipulates levels into death traps.
132	%%* TheMole: [[spoiler:Clone Syrus.]]
133	%%* NintendoHard
134	* NoobCave: The IEF, which also serves as the game's tutorial level.
135	* NoodleIncident: At the beginning of the game, Jerry talks about a time when Jeremy's teleportation transformed him into a girl, and Jeremy did something to him because female Jerry was hot.
136	* NoPeripheralVision: At the end of Dark Depths, The Informant and another antagonist talk, and the other antagonist initially can't see Jerry standing behind The Informant, as if the world was two-dimensional - which, given they are in a videogame, might as well be the case.
137	* NoWarpingZone: Several times in the story, you cannot warp out to the world map because the Shrouds or the Darkness blocked this function.
138	* NumericalHard: The only difference between Beginner (easy) and Veteran (normal) difficulties, at least during boss fights, is the amount of damage you take and dish out. Somewhat [[AvertedTrope averted]] for [[HarderThanHard Distorted]], though, which both increases the damage you take and adds back some content that was removed from the normal game because it was just plain unfair.
139	* ObstructiveForeground: {{Lampshaded}} with text boxes. Also a difficulty enhancer in the Shady Woods[=/=]Shady Caves.
140	* OneHitKill: The instant death spikes which start at Metropolis and appear throughout the rest of the game.
141	* OneSteveLimit: Averted, though never drawn attention to. The main characters are Jerry and Jeremy, and you ''will'' confuse the two early in the game.
142	* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: [[spoiler:The Shroud Lord. Before you fight it, The Darkness says that it's absolutely obsessed with defeating Jerry, and must be defeated before The Darkness can come to a peaceful solution with Jeremy.]]
143	* PaintingTheMedium: Due to the different coloring text boxes have, you can generally tell whether or not someone is a good guy or bad guy pretty effortlessly. Jerry even uses this fact once.
144	-->'''Jeremy''': What would he want them for? He's not even with the darkness.
145	-->'''Flame Instigator''': How would you know?
146	-->'''Jeremy''': Your text box isn't red.
147	* PaletteSwap: Parodied. One of the enemies is called a "Palette Swap Sentinel". Jeremy also expresses his hatred of palette swaps if you scan certain enemies.
148	* PeopleJars: Found in the Black Rock Fortress [[spoiler: containing, among others, VideoGame/MegaManClassic, Mario, Link, and [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]].]]
149	* PinballScoring: Awesome points, not due to attached zeroes or anything, but just because you get them on ''practically every occasion''.
150	* PlatformBattle: Ultimate Phalanx has a number of moving platforms you must remain on, in addition to its own attacks to worry about.
151	%%* PlatformHell: Plenty of the later levels.
152	* PoorCommunicationKills:
153	** The only reason you get into a fight with [[spoiler:Blazing the Bat]] is because Jerry fails to mention that he isn't allied with The Darkness.
154	** Also, [[spoiler:the only reason people are resisting The Darkness in the first place is because it doesn't mention that it just wants to preserve itself, and is not actively malicious]].
155	* PowerFist: Jerry's weapon, which is powered by gemstones.
156	%%* PowerNullifier: [[AC:[[OhCrap DASH DISABLED]]]]
157	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Jeremy tries to attribute their victory to this. Jerry will have none of it.
158	* PressXToNotDie: PlayedForLaughs and used ''word for word''; everyone drops what they're doing and rushes to stop the Quick Time Distorter once they see a single quicktime event. The quicktime events themselves are subverted (they don't really kill you; you can take as long as you want), and parodied (like being used for jumping across a small gap or climbing up stairs).
159	* PuzzleBoss: The initial fight with the Ultimate Phalanx. Jerry tells you that you should just quit the fight, [[spoiler:and he's right. You have to get yourself killed and reload to before the fight, and then try to leave the stage.]]
160	%%* RankInflation: Averted.
161	* RealityBreakingParadox: [[spoiler:How the Artist intends to destroy the Darkness: cause a divide by zero error. Jerry remarks on how strange it is that dividing by zero will ''actually'' [[MemeticMutation destroy the world]] in this case.]]
162	* RecurringBoss: The Shrouds, who will appear randomly in certain areas.
163	* RecursiveAmmo: The Shrouds' Danmaku Diamonds, as well as the fireballs of the Blazing Robot.
164	* RedSkyTakeWarning: At the end of the Black Rock Fortress.
165	* ReStabilization: You can air dash while [[{{Knockback}} flinching]].
166	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:What the Darkness is and who created it.]]
167	%%* ReverseShrapnel: Wildfire.
168	* RewardingVandalism: Slightly; destroying random objects only gives you ''tiny'' amounts of experience, counts into kill chains, and sometimes drops items.
169	* RPGElements: Levelling up skills, equipping accessories and equipment, and switching between equipped skills and spells.
170	* ScratchDamage: Played straight for you, and averted with enemies. The player always takes at least one point of damage, while the damage you deal to your enemies ''can'' be reduced to zero.
171	%%* SequelHook: [[spoiler:Subverted and lampshaded.]]
172	%%* {{Sequelitis}}: The trope itself is lampshaded InUniverse.
173	* ShoutOut:
174	** The Ribbon Bead protects you from status ailments. "[[BlatantLies Definitely not]] a reference [[LampshadeHanging to any]] [[Franchise/FinalFantasy fantasy]]."
175	** The [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Triforce]] Bead is even more blatant.
176	** At one point, Jeremy tells Jerry to believe in [[Anime/YuGiOh the heart of the cards]]... to help him make jumps onto tiny platforms in the [[spoiler:VideoGame/{{Super Mario Land}}-themed Distortion]].
177	* SkillPointReset:
178	** [[VideoGame/DemonsCrest Firebrand the demon]] does this for a small amount of money.
179	* SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom: Those spike blocks.
180	* SnowyScreenOfDeath: [[CriticalAnnoyance When your health falls below 20%]], the screen starts displaying static (accompanied by all sound effects and music becoming more low-pitched). Once you die, this is how you go out.
181	** This is also used [[spoiler:as a build-up to the WhamEpisode prior to entering Distortion Reckoning]].
182	* SomeDexterityRequired: For crippling certain enemies or casting spells in rapid sequence to master certain segments or obtain powerups. There's the three basic buttons for moving and ducking, an up button for examining and opening things, a button for jumping and dashing, a button for standard attacks, two buttons for physical and spiritual techs, two buttons for cycling between elements, a pause button, a button for cycling through the spell list for your current element and a button for activating Rave Mode. That's ''more buttons then you can map on a 360 controller.'' No annoying {{combos}}, though. Dark Yoshi has since admitted that the control system was a mistake and unnecessarily complex, and focused on simplifying combat greatly in later installments.
183	* SoundtrackDissonance: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-WXECnUVqc Rose At Twilight]], which was created as final boss music, is used as the GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere filler boss theme. The result is largely unimportant boss fights with hilariously inappropriately epic music.
184	%%* SpikesOfDoom: Multiple kinds, one of which kills you instantly.
185	%%* SpriteMirroring
186	* StalkedByTheBell: A variation of this: The chance for the Shrouds to appear increases over time, so if you run through rooms quickly with only few deaths (or if you [[SaveScumming reload instead of retrying]]), you have to deal with them less often.
187	%%* StationaryBoss: The Dragonroot and the Crystals.
188	* StatOVision: Jeremy's ability due to sitting on the FourthWall.
189	%%* SuperMode: Rave mode.
190	* SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: Lampshaded.
191	--> Because I'm nice, you can have a restore point here.
192	%%* TakeThat: Plenty of them, due to the satirical nature of the game.
193	%%* TakeThatMe: The game itself isn't immune to this.
194	* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Lampshaded heavily, parodied, and invoked in the cutscene prior to the [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Arrghus]] battle, where Jeremy purposefully keeps talking so that the boss won't attack, and also goes off on a tangent to chat about Jerry's preference in video game genres while doing so. It's also {{Deconstructed\|Trope}} for humor: Jerry, and by extension the player, keeps getting distracted by the textboxes, which of course impairs his skills, and he has to [[RunningGag repeatedly]] remind people of that fact [[HypocriticalHumor during hard platforming sections]].
195	%%* TeleporterAccident: Cause of the aforementioned NoodleIncident.
196	%%* TemporaryPlatform
197	* ThisIsTheFinalBattle: A variant said right before you fight the [[spoiler:Shroud Lord]]. So, [[spoiler:subverted]].
198	* TimedMission: Each set of floors in The Spire. Also, [[spoiler:the escape sequence at the end of the game]].
199	* TookAShortcut: The Convenient Store Yoshi that runs the DungeonShop in Black Rock Fortress "snuck in and followed you. [[LampshadeHanging Nevermind the fact that I beat you to this point]]. [[HandWave I AM a Yoshi, afterall]]."
200	* {{Trailers}}: A trailer for the first game can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAZuJjlu0K0&index=5&list=PLSQLREUw9vwmE8HYXkE0uYgR6ur64hjIQ here.]]
201	* TrippyFinaleSyndrome: The final level, to an extent. Averted by the final boss, however.
202	* TurnsRed: Although often not visible, most bosses tend to start off pretty easy. After you do enough damage their attacks get more threatening, or they gain whole new ones. Happens multiple times, in some cases.
203	* UnblockableAttack: Those red "death rings" in the last few dungeons, as well as the element surges of the colour wheels, cannot be nullified by dashing.
204	%%* UnexpectedGameplayChange: Metropolis.
205	* UnexpectedShmupLevel: Two of them. As already stated, they're of the BulletHell variety, but they're not too bad.
206	* TheUnreveal: We never did learn what happened with [[spoiler:Jerry's ex]]... Not until the next game, at least.
207	%%* VitriolicBestBuds: Jerry and Jeremy.
208	* VoodooShark: Jerry's excuse for being [[Manga/DGrayMan Allen Walker]]: He was cosplaying as him just before the events of the game. Though that doesn't explain how he can use the [[ShapeshifterWeapon Crown Clown.]]
209	* TheWallsAreClosingIn: [[spoiler:The Artist tries this to kill Jerry after he sides with The Darkness.]]
210	* WarpWhistle: You can teleport to the world map by pressing M in the pause menu, although the Darkness sometimes blocks that ability.
211	* WhamLine:
212	-->'''Jeremy (garbled):''' [[spoiler:The Darkness has tricked us all.]]
213	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:If the Syrus that Jerry and Jeremy rescued from Black Rock Fortress was a clone...what happened to the real Syrus?]] The third game reveals that [[spoiler:He was freed, much like everyone else the Darkness captured, and is now working on taking down the virus.]]
214	%%* WindIsGreen
215	* YouCantGoHomeAgain:
216	** At the beginning of the game, Jerry and Jeremy's only motivation is to get back home, though of course, they soon find that there is more to the world than that...
217	** Subverted [[spoiler:once you do reach Jerry and Jeremy's home and find that they ''can't'' go home because ''it's already been caught by The Darkness''.]]
218	----
219	!!Tropes provided in the sequel:
220
221	* AdvancingWallOfDoom: The second world, and the semifinal level. [[spoiler:Also the final level, when you're being chased by the virus.]]
222	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Almost, anyway...presumably... Claire and company still think they have a chance, at least.]]
223	* BarrierChangeBoss: The Garbage Tracker (in that its elemental weakness when it's knocked down changes each time) and the Virus Core.
224	* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:The virus pulls one of these -- it lured Jerry and Claire to the island to distract them while it launched its main attack elsewhere.]]
225	* BulletHell: Claire says she's actually good at these, in contrast to [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Jerry]].
226	* CliffHanger: The game ends with the main conflict unresolved. You'll have to play the third game to finish the fight.
227	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The title.
228	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The Virus is assaulting the entire world, Claire has lost all her abilities, and the same will soon happen to Jerry. Jeremy and Jerry are about ready to give up, until Claire encourages them to keep fighting.]]
229	%%* DualBoss: The Twin Bloom.
230	* ElementalPowers: Like Jerry, Claire has BlowYouAway, PlayingWithFire, MakingASplash, and DishingOutDirt, though her repertoire is smaller than Jerry's.
231	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Every single boss, except for the final one.
232	* HaveANiceDeath: Subverted; unlike her brother, Chao will give you encouragement instead of snarkiness.
233	* HopelessBossFight: [[spoiler:The Chaser Virus can be repelled, but not killed. Then it turns into a demon-like EldritchAbomination and takes your abilities away, one by one. Fortunately, [[BigDamnHeroes Jerry shows up and one-shots it before Claire can be killed.]]]]
234	%%* HundredPercentCompletion
235	* LighterAndSofter: The game over screens, which actually encourage you this time!
236	* MissionControl: Jeremy's sister, Chao, takes his place in this one. [[spoiler:Jeremy does, however, help out Claire for the final level as well.]]
237	* MoodWhiplash: This game is much LighterAndSofter than the first for the most part. [[spoiler:Then you encounter the Virus in the final level, and everything takes a sharp turn for the dark. Very, very dark.]]
238	%%* PlatformHell: Everything from world 3 onwards.
239	* RPGElements: Have been cut. Feeling the first game was way too complex, [=DarkYoshi=] focused on simplifying gameplay. This met with mixed reactions from the fans.
240	* SquishyWizard: Claire, compared to Jerry. She can't even use physical attacks.
241	* TheVirus: Since the world is virtual, it's an actual computer virus, trying to take down The Darkness. [[spoiler:And, judging from the ending, it is ''very'' close to succeeding.]]
242	* WallJump: Claire's special ability. You'll be using it very often.
243
244	----
245	!!Tropes provided in the third game, Saved Game:
246	* AltText: As with the first game, the window title is a variation of this. There's also a menu option that allows you to set it to display at the bottom of the screen when you enter a room, in case you're playing in full-screen mode.
247	* ApocalypticLog: The end of every Nightmare Gate brings you to a secret chamber that provides an apocalyptic message and [[{{MacGuffin}} one of eight mysterious instruments]].
248	* BagOfSpilling:
249	** The player characters lose EVERY ability they once had right at the start of the game. [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing Jeremy unlocks their ability to move early on]], but everything else, including jumping and attacking, has to be earned later.
250	** [[spoiler:Hexor once again removes all of their abilities except for the Mario-related ones during his boss fight, and while Jeremy is able to exploit a one-time loophole involving Kirby's Copy ability to get them back for the final battle, afterward they're gone for good.]]
251	* BilingualBonus: If you can decipher binary code, you'll find a few hidden messages here and there:
252	** In the trailer for the game, TheStinger has an image of [[spoiler:Hexor]] in the Vault, with a long string of binary which reads "You didn't forget about me, did you?"
253	** When Jeremy is locked out of scanning enemies, his analysis will spew binary that spells "RESTRICTED".
254	** In [[spoiler:the Vault, long strings of binary text occasionally scroll by, saying such things as "THIS WILL BE YOUR PRISON", "NO ESCAPE", and simply "DIE". They're implied to have been written by Hexor.]]
255	%%* BleakLevel: [[spoiler:The Vault]]
256	* BossInMookClothing: The "Elite" enemies, which usually attack one-on-one (very rarely two at once). They are very capable of killing the player if they don't learn how to dodge effectively.
257	* BrickJoke:
258	** In one of the {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s, you get this [[AltText window title]]:
259	---> "Our electrical bills were getting too high, so we replaced most of ther currents with spikes. We apologise for the inconvenience."
260	::: :Two screens later, there's a room with electrical currents, with this window title:
261	---> "We ran out of spikes. We apologise for the convenience."
262	** In the Construction Site, at one point a CHAOS Spiderbot attacks you... but when it tries to use its antigravity maneuver to crawl on the ceiling, it apparently forgot that ''there is no ceiling'' and [[EpicFail falls into the sky]]. The characters shrug, have a laugh, and move on. Many, many, ''many'' screens later, the Spiderbot falls from the sky in front of you at the entrance to the Magical Castle, instantly destroying itself.
263	** Way back in the first game, Jerry and Jeremy's motivation to go back home was to catch the last episode of the best show ever. Jerry brings it back during a conversation in the Mario segment, understandably upsetting Jeremy.
264	* CheckPointStarvation:
265	** You thought some rooms in the first game were bad? This game features several large, sometimes maze-like rooms that require you to go on switch hunts. If you die at any time during one of these rooms, you'll have to restart, with all your progress in the room being lost. Notable examples include a fair amount of Nightmare Gate 2 and the Mountain Temple, to name a couple.
266	** Gate 5, being based on Metroid, employs its own checkpoint system so you don't even get a checkpoint at the start of each room. Better not forget to make use of those checkpoints often, or you'll have a LOT to redo.
267	* ChekhovsGun: The key to getting the True Ending is a gun that remained unfired since ''the first game''. [[spoiler:Jeremy had been told that he had the ability to perform a one-time "undo", forcing a system reset to an unspecified point back in time. He never got around to using this ability, and in fact forgot he even had it. Performing some actions leading to him remembering he can do this allows him to "undo" the events leading to the Standard ending and crush Hex's plans once and for all.]]
268	* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:The final Nightmare Gate reveals that Claire was threatened, beaten, and even had her arm broken by an extremely abusive mother.]]
269	* DarkerAndEdgier: Previous games were pretty light-hearted for the most part, and the worst that could happen (outside of the world-ending threat at the very end of the first game) was getting "quarantined", a fate that could always be reversed. ''Saved Game'', while certainly not grimdark, has some darker themes to it, including actual and permanent character deaths and a war motivated by FantasticRacism.
270	* ADayInTheLimelight: Both Chao and Jeremy get brief sections of the game where they get to control the main action, instead of sitting on the sidelines providing support.
271	* DeathOfTheOldGods: A conversation late in the game reveals that [[spoiler:thanks to destroying the Data Allocation Segments in the first game, and the ravages of the Virus in the second and third, the Darkness is never going to reclaim control of the world. The world still functions just fine, but it's running automatically now, there's no longer a RealityWarper in charge of everything.]]
272	* DesignatedGirlFight:
273	** Between Claire and [[spoiler:the High Heels Girl]] in Gate 6. [[EnforcedTrope Enforced, even]]: Not only does Claire offer to fight her, ''Jerry can't damage her at all''.[[labelnote:*]]She's immune to every damage type except Normal. At this point in the gate, Jerry only has a Shot attack, and Claire only has a Normal attack.[[/labelnote]]
274	** The boss fight against Cackletta in Gate 1 as well, due to Jerry refusing to fight her, leaving Claire to take care of it.
275	* DevelopersRoom: One is unlocked upon clearing the True Ending. It contains a few test levels, a few joke levels, and a couple of boss ideas that never got used (such as fighting all four of Warmaster's forms at once). Said unused bosses are not properly balanced and as a result may not actually be legitimately beatable.
276	* DownerEnding: Both the Bad and Standard endings: [[spoiler:In the bad ending: TheBadGuyWins and the world is ended. In the standard, the heroes are successful in saving the world, but due to a few DiabolusExMachina events right at the end, Jeremy, Jerry, and Claire are all killed in the Warship's explosion. Chao is the only survivor, left heartbroken at the loss of her brother and best friends, and she disappears shortly afterward, wandering the world without telling anyone where she's going.]]
277	* DreamApocalypse: The Subconscious Filter's appearance is based on the minds of those within it. As a result, when one of the three people within it leaves, the world it constructed begins falling apart. Bad news for anyone still in there.
278	* EarlyGameHell: The early game is more difficult than that of its predecessors, thanks in no small part to the absence of weapons for the first few chapters of the game and the loss of the dash [[spoiler:until Gate 3]].
279	* EldritchAbomination: Quite literally with the fittingly named [[spoiler:Abomination, from the Vault.]] Some of the bosses could definitely qualify as well, with their appearance.
280	* EvilOverlord: [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} ''hilariously'' by the Trivia Lord]].
281	* FantasticRacism: The Warmaster and his army, CHAOS, claim to be creating a utopia for bots. Humans, on the other hand, can go die. It's not really stated ''why'' they don't like humans, Warmaster merely says that "humans can't be trusted".
282	* FinishingMove: Some bosses end with an on-screen prompt to "Mash Buttons!!" Doing so causes Jerry and Claire to unleash a flurry of attacks with comic-book style onomatopoeia in order to finish off the boss.
283	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A good deal of it in gate 6, although some is only obvious in retrospect:
284	** [=NPCs=] can't hear Jeremy or Chao talking, yet the first one you encounter seems to reply to Jeremy. [[spoiler:He's the EvilOverlord. And he can hear Jeremy]].
285	** In the second town, one of the [=NPCs=] says that the aforementioned NPC "used to ask a lot of questions". [[spoiler:''Trivia'' questions.]]
286	** Another NPC in the second town doesn't want to think about what would happen if Great Evil Overlord were to come back, because they "simply don't have the answers!!" [[spoiler:Literally.]]
287	* FormulaBreakingEpisode: The different Gates are based off of different games, so each Gate has a different playstyle and theme. Different gimmicks will also pop up in the Mainland as well, including some stealth segments and even Tower Defense.
288	* HaveANiceDeath:
289	** Jeremy gets his seat back in this game, and as merciless as ever.
290	** [[spoiler:Hex hijacks the death messages during his boss fight, replacing them with taunts.]]
291	** [[spoiler:In the following fight against the Warmaster, Jeremy actually encourages you.]]
292	* HeroicSacrifice:
293	** It is not realized until Gate 4 that [[spoiler: The heroes of the respective worlds give their bodies and souls to the player characters to grant them their abilities. Whether they are actually dead or just taking up space in Jerry and Claire's somewhat sub-conscious minds is unknown at this point. Jerry doesn't take it too well.]]
294	** At the end of the game, this happens with [[spoiler:not just Jeremy, but also Jerry and Claire in order to prevent the Warship from overloading and destroying the Mainland, leaving Chao as the sole survivor.]]
295	* HiddenElfVillage: The, um, Hidden Bot Village. It's a place for bots who don't want to interact with humans to live, and is almost completely inaccessible from the outside, unless one gets permission from the inhabitants to enter. It should be noted that while the bots who live there don't particularly like humans, they are not ''hostile'' to humans; they just want to be left alone. [[spoiler:Indeed, many of those bots choose to assist the heroes in battling against CHAOS, an army of bots who ''are'' hostile to humans.]]
296	* IKnowWhatYouFear: Fittingly, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Final Nightmare]] uses this tactic as it gets close to death: it declares that it knows what Jerry fears most, and transforms into [[spoiler:the Shroud Lord. Fortunately the Nightmare version [[DegradedBoss isn't even a quarter as powerful as the original.]]]]
297	* LivingShadow:
298	** Played around with in Extra Gate C. While enemy shadows are just plain shadows, Claire's shadow and the shadows of traps and switches act just like their solid counterparts, meaning even if you don't get hit by the trap itself, if a trap shadow hits your shadow, you still take damage. The flames also shift your shadow based on the angle, which is necessary for solving various puzzles.
299	** [[spoiler:Inverted with the Wall Master in map 3]], whose physical(?) body doesn't hurt you, but it's shadow does. This gets very annoying VERY FAST especially if you had trouble speeding through the previous maps out of careful timing.
300	** [[spoiler: [[OptionalBoss Darkmoor]] subverts this rule by his physical body AND his shadow doing damage, giving him extended attack range, as your attacks only hurt the main body.]]
301	** A few of the other Nightmare bosses could also qualify, such as [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Final Nightmare]] and Jerry's Shadow, an expy of the Shadow Link from Zelda 2.]]
302	* {{Metroidvania}}: More so than the previous games, as it is now very necessary to go back to previous areas with upgraded abilities to get all the items. And, naturally, the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''-themed Gate 5 throws this trope into overdrive. "Hope you're ready for some backtracking", indeed.
303	* MoodWhiplash: Chapter 9: Heading through nice green pastures, with cute enemies, flowers cuddling in the landscape, some ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'' [=NPCs=], and some simple, non-threatening platforming challenges for extra collectibles. [[spoiler:Then you get near the Vault, which is heavily distorting the area around it, and get sucked into the Vault itself, one of the bleakest, darkest levels in the game.]]
304	* MultipleEndings: The game originally had only one ending... an ending that caused a stir among the fans, to put it mildly. A later update added a "True" ending that can only be accessed by solving a rather obtuse puzzle (the game gives significant hints if you get the Standard ending), causing the endgame to go very differently.
305	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
306	** [[spoiler:As it turns out, breaking Hexor's chains was exactly what he needed to escape.]]
307	** It's discovered that [[spoiler:Jeremy was the one who originally created The Virus, which Hex managed to get a hold of from The Vault.]]
308	* NoDamageRun: Spoofed and discussed at the beginning of the game, where a virus hits Jerry when he has no way to dodge it. Chao laughs that "There goes any chance of a perfect run!", while Jeremy claims he can hack things so that hit didn't count, in case someone out there really does want to try such a run.
309	* NonStandardGameOver: Of a sort. If you fail to defeat [[spoiler:The Abomination before your first real fight with Hex, then it will appear out of nowhere and abruptly end the game, forcing you to restart and defeat it before continuing.]]
310	* NostalgiaLevel: In the True Ending: [[spoiler:the Distortion World Hexor hides out in is identical in layout to the first Distortion World in DT1]].
311	* OptionalBoss: [[spoiler:In one specific, hidden room, you can fight and kill that Sand Crawler that's been chomping you whenever you touch sand. As Zephyr lampshades, this is VERY satisfying. And once it's dead, you never have to worry about it attacking you again.]]
312	* OxygenMeter: It can be extended by finding upgrades.
313	* PlayingTennisWithTheBoss: Invoked in the TrueFinalBoss, since he's made himself invincible and only his own attacks can harm him.
314	* PlotArmor: A piece of armor actually named as such can be found after defeating [[spoiler:The Abomination.]] It decreases all damage you take, but also decreases all damage you deal.
315	* PoorCommunicationKills: Happens a couple times:
316	** If you had told [[VideoGame/BubbleBobble Bubblun]] that you were the humans that were working with the Darkness, or had mentioned Jeremy, he wouldn't have made you fight his robot.
317	** If you had told him that you needed the Program Chip to stop the Virus, the [[spoiler:Trivia Lord]] would've just given it to you, no questions asked.
318	* PopQuiz: [[spoiler:The Trivia Lord "boss fight" consists of a quiz on SNES-era games. You don't even have to get all the questions right]]. You can later take the quiz as a minigame, with new questions.
319	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Heals Jerry during the fight against [[spoiler:Sigma]].
320	* RandomEncounters: Played with in Gate 2, where walking around in the overworld invokes this, but after obtaining the bow and arrow, Jeremy figures out how to alter the random encounters to how they worked in ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''. This doesn't make avoiding battle too much easier, but it's at least an improvement to Jerry.
321	* RecurringBoss: In Gate 5, Ridley just will... not... die. He comes back again and again... rather like he does in the main series. [[spoiler:Hexor made him unkillable, but fortunately Jeremy was able to find an exploit to kill Ridley in the end.]]
322	* RPGElements: They're back, but more subdued than in the first game -- {{Skill Point}}s obtained from enemies can only be used to make specific, minor improvements, and there are fewer collectibles. Played with a bit more in [[spoiler:Gate 6, which is supposed to be a prototype game within the Darkness' program, designed as an RPG.]]
323	* RunningGag: Birds. Zephyr seemingly took up birdwatching while creating the game, and his development blog was often filled with pictures of birds. The game itself contains many non-interactive birds flying around its environments, there's a gratuitous ShoutOut to ''Film/TheBirds'', Jerry and Claire can both wear birds as hats, and updates to the game often included "More birds" among their features.
324	* ScrappyMechanic[[invoked]]: None of the characters are happy when stealth sections pop up in the game, except for Chao, who likes that kind of gameplay. Fortunately, there's only two and they're rather brief.
325	* SharedLifeMeter: Both Jerry and Claire share the same life meter.
326	* ShoutOut:
327	** In the main city of the game, two people by the names of Phil and Ned are conversing about the events of the game. [[Film/GroundhogDay Wonder if one of them is a weatherman]].
328	** Also in Central City, there's a not-so-subtle shoutout to Hitchcock's The Birds in the alleyway.
329	** There are fair few shout outs to the Let's Player LetsPlay/{{raocow}}, probably due to his [=LPs=] of the first two games [[ColbertBump greatly increasing people's awareness of them]].
330	*** One of the {{Enemy Scan}}s mentions an [=LPer=] who says 'Podobo' a lot and plays a lot of Super Mario World hacks.
331	*** One of the [[HaveANiceDeath sarcastic death screens]] asks "That was a demo, wasn't it?", which is a CatchPhrase of raocow's.
332	*** One of the messages that appears when Claire is swapped in is "Angel on the warpath!", which was one of raocow's video titles for his ''Distorted Travesty 2'' LP.
333	*** One area of the game has music taken from raocow's own romhack, ''VideoGame/ASuperMarioThing'', which surprised him greatly when he ran into it.
334	*** An update to [=DT3=] was called 'The "Ze-Fire" Edition', poking fun at how he pronounced [=ZephyrBurst=]'s name.
335	*** A secret area in Gate 3 of [=DT3=] references a RunningGag of his in its FlavorText: "Science can reward you sometimes."
336	---->'''raocow''': Can you be any more explicit?
337	*** Amusingly, a later area's FlavorText actually ''is'' more explicit, outright mentioning him by name.
338	*** One of the messages when you swap Jerry in, "Jerry, let's get hairy!", was jokingly suggested by raocow himself during a nonsensical ramble after seeing the silly messages that were already in. Zephyr obliged in the following update.
339	*** One out-of-the-way NPC conversation just before a level with lots of wind namedrops raocow directly, saying he's going to fall a lot in that level. Wind is one of raocow's least favorite game mechanics, as it tends to mess up jumps. [[NonSequitur raocow wondered what someone playing the game who had never heard of him would make of that statement.]]
340	** One area's [[AltText window title]] has a twofer: %Card% "[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Video games on motorcycles]], final lap. [[VideoGame/BadDudes Are you a bad enough dude to push the buttons?!]]"
341	** One area's [[FlavorText window title]] is "Let's play [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire a game of ice and fire]]."
342	* StylisticSuck:
343	** "The Island of Paradise" in Gate 6, which is a barely-playable hodgepodge of bad graphics and nonsensical enemies. Naturally, {{Lampshaded}} up and down by the heroes.
344	** One corridor of "The Castle of Doom" in Gate 6 is a hastily-thrown together group of obstacles with no rhyme or reason to their design. Jeremy claims that whoever made that section was either really tired or really angry.
345	** [[RunningGag Another Gate 6 example]], before "fighting" the [[spoiler:Trivia Lord]], there is a hilariously Narmy bit of voice-acted dialog (provided by the real-life Jeremy) to serve as his introduction. It's as bad as you'd expect from an RPG game.
346	* SurprisinglyCreepyMoment: The game has some moments throughout, but special mention goes to [[spoiler:the final Nightmare Gate.]]
347	* UnblockableAttack: In addition to the ones from earlier games in the series, anything outlined in red can't be dashed through without taking a hit.
348	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: In addition to each Gate changing your ability set to be based on the protagonists from the appropriate game, the boss fight of Gate 6 is a [[spoiler:PopQuiz]].
349	* UnexpectedShmupLevel: One occurs near the tail end of the game.
350	* TheUnfought: There's a few examples throughout the game.
351	** Shadow Jerry appears in Gate 2, before promptly being sent off to the Vault. [[spoiler:[[AvertedTrope But guess who shows up in the Nightmare Vault, should you choose to go there?]]]]
352	** Pete in the Magical Castle appears, before being blasted out of the sky by a huge laser courtesy of [[spoiler:Decimator 10000, the true boss of the area.]]
353	* WallJump: Unlike the [=DT2=], the wall jump mechanic is exclusive to Gate 4. Though it does reappear briefly much later on in the Subconscious Filter.
354	* YouCantThwartStageOne: Did you learn how to access the True ending before you got the Standard ending? Well, if you try, the game tells you that you aren't ready and locks you out of it anyway.

Context VideoGame / DistortedTravesty