Line #39 VideoGame/EspRaDe


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ESP_Ra_De_Tallbanner_4628.JPG]]
2
3	-> ''"The power of ESP: one who has the power is destined for tragedy. What are we fighting for? We cannot even find the answer, but we keep on running... because of this ability we have."''
4	--> --'''Stage complete text'''
5
6	''ESP Ra.De'' is a BulletHell ShootEmUp by Creator/{{CAVE}} and published by Creator/{{Atlus}} with artwork by "Joker" Creator/JunyaInoue. [[BigBad Garra Ono]], a powerful psychic woman who leads the organization known as Yaksa, is using her resources to take over the world. This ends up drawing attention from the three psychic heroes, each of whom has their own reason for opposing her:
7	* Yusuke Sagami: This high schooler had latent abilities since he was seven years old and had been hiding them for a while. Then the Yaksa came in, dragged one of his friends out onto the roof of his school, and slit his throat to make a point. Yusuke got so angry that he unleashed his full psychic potential.
8	* J-B 5th: Also known as the "Black Peter Pan," this Russian assassin was raised from an early age to develop his psychic powers. He is now tasked with assassinating Ms. Garra and will do whatever it takes to complete the mission.
9	* Irori Mimasaka: She was an orphan who was barely aware of her abilities when the Yaksa decided to launch a barrage of missiles at her orphanage. She was able to shield another person from one of the missiles, and set off to find out what was going on.
10
11	One gameplay mechanic, the theme of superpowered people flying around and blasting stuff with PsychicPowers, and the Alice Clones were carried over to the ''VideoGame/{{Espgaluda}}'' series.
12
13	In 2019, 21 years after the game's arcade release, it finally got a port, ''ESP Ra.De Ψ''[[note]]"Psi"[[/note]], released as part of the ''Creator/{{M2}} [=ShotTriggers=]'' series of ports on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in Japan. It adds a variety of new features, such as a rebalanced "Arcade Plus" mode, new voice tracks, multiple practice modes, and an arranged soundtrack. The Switch version in particular marks the first time that a CAVE game has been ported to a Nintendo platform.[[note]]The only prior CAVE game on a Nintendo system is ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}} Death Label'', which was released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS in 2008. However it is a spinoff of ''Ketsui'' rather than being a proper port.[[/note]]
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15	!!''ESP Ra.De'' contains examples of:
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17	* OneUp: By default, [[EveryTenThousandPoints you get one at 4,000,000 points and another at 8,000,000 points]]. Additionally, on Stage 4 there's also a 1-up token on an oncoming express train, and you can destroy it by mistake if you fire your Guard Barrier at it.
18	* AdaptationExpansion: The ''Psi'' UpdatedRerelease has Arcade Plus mode, which among other things features a complete overhaul of the game's voiced dialogue, adding more lines.
19	* AliceAllusion: The Alice Clones. One piece of artwork has the line of text, "Alice in Fear land."
20	* AllThereInTheManual: Has a surprisingly deep backstory and characterizations, for an arcade shooter. You can catch some glimpses of it from the newspaper clippings that fly by.
21	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The original game has a problem where [[HitboxDissonance the hitbox does not alway line up up with the sprite's center, with the character's sprite often shifting around causing the hitbox to be on either shoulder instead]]. ''Psi'' adds a visible hitbox display that can be toggled on in all modes and which ''does not'' disqualify scores from the online leaderboards.
22	* AntiGrinding:
23	** During the Stage 5 midboss, an endless wave of assault vehicles show up to [[FlunkyBoss support the boss's firepower]], however they award ''no'' points.
24	** In the Arcade Plus mode in ''Psi'' during boss fights, Power Shot will only award points if the explosions land on two or more targets/parts of the boss, and boss timers are shorter (but still allow the average player to defeat the boss).
25	* AntiHero: J-B 5th introduces himself by crashing a press conference, stomping a table, killing an important person, and wrecking a shopping mall.
26	* ArrangeMode:
27	** Irori's Room in ''Psi'' has a few variants of the main game, which do things like give you extra stats based on your pet levels, make your Power Shot cancel enemy bullets, or lock the multiplier at x16.
28	** Like in previous ''M2 [=ShotTriggers=]'' releases, ''Psi'' has Custom mode, which allows you to fine-tune the game's various mechanics to your liking (such as auto-bomb, the amount of chips needed to activate Energy Up mode and the increase in chip quota for subsequent activations, shot power, etc.)
29	** ''Psi'' also has Arcade Plus, which is mostly the same game as before, but with redone voice lines, changes to scoring mechanics and boss timers to {{Nerf}} milking bosses for points, and [[spoiler:a new FinalBoss after Ms. Garra, Alice Master.]]
30	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:In the ending of Yusuke's storyline, the spirit of Yusuke's murdered friend flies to heaven since his death was avenged (by Yusuke killing the person responsible for killing said friend, and the person responsible for ordering the attack that led to Yusuke's friend being murdered)]].
31	* AnAsskickingChristmas: The games take place on Christmas 2018, as evidenced by the Christmas trees in J-B's intro. If you enable the stage progress M2 Gadget in the [=PS4=] and Switch ports, you can see that the game starts on December 24, and after completing the Shopping Mall stage the rest of the game takes place on Christmas Day itself.
32	* ArcSymbol: The open-palm silhouette is a recurring symbol throughout the game; the game logo is backed by it and the humanoid enemies often attack with palm-shaped bullets.
33	* BadassAdorable: Irori is the youngest of the playable characters and by far the sweetest (her intro has her defending an innocent bystander from an incoming missile!), yet like the other three playable characters she's a [[OneManArmy One-Girl Army]].
34	* BarrierWarrior: In Irori's storyline, she protects her friend in an orphanage from a missile barrage by using her psychic powers to shield them both. At the same time, the guard barrier mechanic allows all three playable characters to shield themselves before launching a super attack.
35	* BattleThemeMusic: The game has "Raging Deicide", a track that plays for every boss, even the FinalBoss. The UpdatedRerelease, ''ESP Ra.De. Psi'', has a remix soundtrack that, among other things, gives every boss a unique remix of "Raging Deicide", with the new FinalBoss Alice Master getting an entirely new theme that progresses as the player moves from one phase of her fight to the next.
36	* BigDamnHeroes: Irori's intro has missiles descending on her orphanage, with her friend tripping and curling into a fetal position as a bomb drops directly on her... then the dust clears to show Irori shielding her, then taking off to fight.
37	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: J-B 5th's ending shows that he will never be free of the police trying to capture him, and thus he will have to blow them up for the rest of his life. In Yusuke's ending, he's gotten his revenge, but his friend is still dead.]] Then there's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhCj-nA8A7s&feature=related hidden ending]] for Irori, where [[spoiler:she dies due to the bystander (who otherwise saves her if the player does not make any button input during the ending) ignoring her.]] [[spoiler:Only [[SecretCharacter Alice Master]] has an unambiguously happy ending.]]
38	* BlackEyesOfEvil: The Alice Clones. On the other hand, considering what the original Alice [[EyeScream did to herself]], it may be that they don't even ''have'' eyes, and those black blanks are just ''empty cauterized sockets''.
39	* BonusFeatureFailure:
40	** ''Psi'' features the Irori's Room mode, where you can decorate the rooms of and [[VirtualPaperDoll dress up]] the three [=ESPers=], as well as take part in bite-size missions involving playing the game itself. Unfortunately, going into Irori's Room will force landscape orientation if you were using portrait orientation in the other modes, meaning that if you were playing the other modes in portrait, you'll have to turn your TV back for this mode. Furthermore, going into this room ''resets your screen configuration for the other modes'', forcing you to set them again when you go back into those modes.
41	** ''Psi''[='=]s Arcade Osarai mode has you practicing sections you recently died at (similar to ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}} Deathtiny''[='=]s Bonds of Growth mode). However, it only applies to deaths incurred in Arcade mode; deaths in Arcade Plus mode (with the rebalanced scoring and the new FinalBoss) are not used in this mode.
42	* BossBonanza: ''Psi'' makes you fight ''three'' bosses in a row at the end: The head of the Ares statue, Ms. Garra, (the first two are also in the original) and Alice Master.
43	* BulletHell: What this game is.
44	* ChargeAttack: The guard barrier can be charged for great effect. It will continue protecting the user for as long as the button is held down, and the longer the charge the more powerful the beam.
45	* CodeName: JB-5th's alias is "Black Peter Pan".
46	* CreepyChild: The Alice Clones. They have blank, black eyes and appear to do nothing but eat, wear dresses, and shoot at the player characters with their PsychicPowers. They make truly horrifying noises when killed.
47	* DefeatMeansPlayable: ''Psi'' and its new Arcade+, Super Easy, and Custom modes give you the Alice Master as a new FinalBoss. Beating her for the first time makes her playable as a fourth character. You can unlock her in Irori's Room as well by beating her Story segment, however you still have to 1CC the game on any of the other modes to unlock her for them.
48	* DidIMentionItsChristmas: The game takes place around Christmas as evidenced by the Christmas trees in the Shopping Mall stage (and you only see them if you play as J-B 5th or Alice Master) and the stage progress M2 Gadget in the ''Psi'' UpdatedRerelease confirms that the game takes place on December 24-25. However Christmas never really factors into the original release. That said, one of the promotional artwork for ''Psi'' features the protagonists gathering around to open Christmas presents, and the Irori's Room mode in Psi features a holiday-themed medley of the game's music as well as many decorations for the characters' rooms, including Christmas decorations.
49	* DifficultyLevels: In addition to the standard difficulty levels that adjust bullet speed and density, the story challenges in Irori's Room have four difficulty modes: [[EasierThanEasy Super Easy]] (enemies have very weak attacks, you automatically fire your Guard Barrier if hit), Pet Support (you gain stat buffs based on your pet levels, and you again have Auto Barrier), No Pet Support (normal play), and No Barrier (same as previous, but Guard Barrier is disabled).
50	* DoWellButNotPerfect: If you play through the entire game without ever firing your [[SmartBomb Guard Barrier]], you'll get a slightly reduced end-of-game chip bonus since you start with a chip capacity of 200 and you have to activate the Energy Up mode (by firing your Barrier when you have a full chip stock) to increase the capacity (by 100 every time, up to 500). Thus to get the maximum chip bonus you have to use your Barrier at least three times.
51	* TheDragon: Satoru Oumi, who also has dragon wings and wears armor meant to look like a dragon.
52	* DrivenToSuicide: [[http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/esprade/gallery/gall04.html The original Alice]], some time before Yaksa ends up on the loose.
53	* DudeLooksLikeALady: J-B 5th, who is slender and more feminine compared to Yusuke's and his outfit would be something a girl would wear. He also wears eyeliner.
54	* EveryTenThousandPoints: You earn an extra life at 4 million points and again at 8 million.
55	* EyeScream: The original Alice, implied to be another product of the same project that made J-B an esper, apparently did this ''to herself'' before Garra took her in.
56	* FinalBoss: Ms. Garra in the original version of the game. ''Psi'' adds a new boss after her, Alice Master. A harder, TrueFinalBoss version of her can be fought if certain conditions are met.
57	* {{Flight}}: Presumably the three playable characters are capable of levitating themselves with PsychicPowers. How else are they able to fly around and shoot things?
58	* GuideDangIt: In Irori's ending, the girl herself had collapsed into the snow while a bystander passes by. [[spoiler:To ensure she, at least, is given a happy ending (and survive) a button prompt is needed while said bystander is observing her]]. The game doesn't tell you how.
59	* HalfHumanHybrid: The Alice clones are hybrid mice. They squeak when they die, and it is ''[[NightmareFuel not cute at all]]''.
60	* HeroWithBadPublicity: Seems a bit of a stretch to call JB-5th a "hero" since he's an assassin, but he's dedicated to stopping Ms. Garra as much as the other two playable characters are. [[spoiler:His assassination of an important figure secretly connected to Ms. Garra attracts the police, and while he's able to stop Ms. Garra and her Yaksa organization, he is forced to go on the run for the rest of his life]].
61	* HighPressureBlood: All psychic enemies let out a lot of blood when killed, especially Satoru Oumi and Ms. Garra. Averted with the regular soldiers where they only let out a small amount of blood and their body is left intact when killed.
62	* HitboxDissonance: While this game does have the series-standard "hitbox is a small area on your sprite" trope, your character tends to shift around a bit relative to your hitbox when moving, which can cause some unexpected deaths here and there. Thankfully, ''Psi'' has the option to enable a visible hitbox display.
63	* HumongousMecha: Pleiades, the boss of stage 4.
64	* InUniverseGameClock: The ''[=M2STG=]'' ports feature one as part of the optional M2 Gadgets, showing the location, date and time, and the weather conditions. However, this is [[FlavorText strictly cosmetic]]; it serves no gameplay purpose.
65	* KidHero: None of the three protagonists (four in ''Psi'') are adults by most countries' legal definition of the word. The oldest is Yusuke at 17 and the youngest is Irori at 11.
66	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: J-B 5th was brainwashed and had memories erased so that he would be a cold, efficient killing machine.
67	* LastLousyPoint: In ''Psi'', for each character, it's the Gold Medal for the All Stage Play challenge. Gold Medals in each challenge require completing the segment without getting hit. Yes, for All Stage Play that means ''play the entire game without getting hit at all''. And you have to do this ''three times'', one for each character[[note]]Thankfully you don't have to do this for Alice Master, as Arcade Challenge uses vanilla ''ESP Ra.De.'' as a base and Alice isn't available in that version[[/note]], if you want a [[HundredPercentCompletion full Gold collection]]. Good luck!
68	* LimitBreak: When you collect a set number of yen cubes, your cube counter starts to decrease and while it does, enemies will drop Energy Up items instead of the usual cubes, allowing you to recharge your SmartBomb. Once you run out of cubes, item drops go back to normal and the next threshold for activating this is increased by 100 (so if you collected 200 cubes to activate this mode, now you need to collect 300 more, etc).
69	* LittleMissBadass: Irori, the youngest of the three playable characters, is a powerful psychic capable of laying waste to every single enemy onscreen.
70	* MagicalGirl: Irori Mimasaka, complete with upbeat theme song.
71	* MasculineFeminineAndrogyneTrio: The (initial) three protagonists, Yusuke, Irori and JB respectively.
72	* MechaMooks: Alongside flesh and blood psychics and regular soldiers, and manned vehicles. Smaller drones, both air and ground variants, are deployed by Yaksa.
73	* MeaningfulName: "Yaksa" are quasi-demonic entities from Hindu lore (not as bad as rakshasi, but still not fun to be around when they're mad), better known in Japan as [[Manga/InuYasha yasha]]. Garra convened this lot to take vengeance on the world that would not judge the espers who killed her husband.
74	* MightyGlacier: In ''Psi'', the unlockable player character Alice has the highest damage output of the four, but she also has the slowest movement speed.
75	* MirrorMatch: The FinalBoss of the ''Psi''-exclusive modes is Alice Master, even if you're already playing as her.
76	* MonumentalDamage: No real monuments are involved, but Ms. Garra does pull up the head of a gigantic Artemis statue that fills up most of the screen. To use as a ''warm-up'' weapon while she relaxes.
77	* NeckSnap: Yusuke's intro consists of him running into a school roof only for Yaksa cronies to snap his classmate's neck, killing him.
78	* {{Nerf}}: Boss milking strategies got cut down in the Arcade Plus mode in ''Psi''. [[TimeLimitBoss Boss timers]] are shorter and now you can only get points off of power shots if they hit two or more targets at once.
79	* NextSundayAD: This 1998 game takes place in 2018, and the only real indication that it could be the future is the presence of the Yaksa war machines. However, as of the ''M2 [=ShotTriggers=]'' ports, which were released in 2019, it's now TwentyMinutesIntoThePast.
80	* NoSell: The TrueFinalBoss version of Alice Master puts up a shield if you fire your Guard Barrier.
81	* NotDrawnToScale: When destroying a hoverbike, the soldier riding it will plummet down to its doom and on to the concrete. However, the rider's corpse is smaller than the on-foot soldiers. This is most noticeable in "Bay Area" where both the soldiers and the hoverbikes are encountered at the same time.
82	* OddNameOut: In the original version, J-B 5th is the only human character with a non-Japanese name (the others being Yusuke Sagami, Irori Mimasaka, Satoru Oumi, and Garra Ono); this is explained in that he's Russian rather than Japanese. Averted in ''Psi'', which features another character with a non-Japanese name, Alice Master.
83	* ParentalAbandonment: Yusuke's parents died shortly after the awakening of his psychic powers when he was seven. Irori's parents were killed by Garra.
84	* PlayingWithFire: Yusuke shoots at his enemies with continuous beams of fire.
85	* PsychicPowers: Both the three (four in the remaster) player characters and the enemies have psychic powers.
86	* RecursiveReality: A special holiday edition box art for ''Psi'' features the four protagonists gathered around and looking at components of the limited edition of the game, with Yusuke playing the game on a TV behind them. In Irori's Room mode, an ''ESP Ra.De.'' cabinet is among the many decorations you can get from the gacha.
87	* ReplicantSnatching: Ms. Garra's plan is to replace everyone with Alice Clones.
88	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Yusuke's storyline can be basically summed up as this trope, given that it all started when one of Ms. Garra's men was responsible for his friend's death. When he sees the man responsible (Satoru Oumi) doing the deed, Yusuke's PsychicPowers fully awaken and he proceeds to destroy everything in sight.
89	--> '''Yusuke:''' Satoru! ''(One of the Yaksa goons kills Yusuke's classmate with a NeckSnap)'' What the hell are you doing?!
90	* RPGElements: In ''Psi'', the version-exclusive Irori's Room has a "Pet Support" mechanic available in some challenges. Pet Support gives your character stat boosts based on the levels of their pets, which can be increased by feeding those pets.
91	* ScoreMultiplier: Activated by firing your Power Shot at an enemy, which creates little explosions that linger for about a second, and then destroying the enemy with your main shot while those explosions still persist. The multiplier can go up to x16 depending on how many of these explosions are on the enemy when it's destroyed, and once the multiplier starts it will wear off after a few seconds, although it can be extended by collecting "円" chips.
92	* SlouchOfVillainy: Ms. Garra spends most of her time casually lounging while watching the heroes battle her minions and weapons.
93	* SmartBomb: This game features a bomb ''meter'', rather than a more conventional discrete stock. Called "Guard Barrier" in this game, firing it causes a shield to form around your character, turning bullets into powerup tokens (or yen cubes if you are at max power) before launching a quartet of beams up the screen. Holding down the Barrier button will [[ChargedAttack charge up the laser]] and continue to convert bullets into items as long as the button is held, at the expense of using more of the Barrier meter.
94	* SnowMeansDeath: In the final boss battle with Ms. Garra, it's snowing, and Ms. Garra is defeated and killed by the player character. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, all three of the playable characters' endings have snow falling, and every time, someone dies. Yusuke's ending has him carrying Ms. Garra's body and gently laying her on the ground, while his murdered friend's spirit ascends to heaven. JB-5th's ending has him murdering a group of police officers who were chasing him for his crime of assassinating an important person. It's narrowly averted in Irori's normal ending where a bystander saves her from freezing to death, but it's played straight with the hidden ending, with Irori collapsing from her battle with Ms. Garra and freezing to death while [[BystanderSyndrome the same bystander ignores her]]]].
95	* SoundtrackDissonance:
96	** In ''Psi'', the Drive Waves 2019 version of the soundtrack has a happy hardcore arrangement of the boss theme, which plays when fighting Satoru in the Houoh High School stage. Yes, it plays even if you're playing as Yusuke, whose best friend had been killed by Satoru at the start of the stage.
97	** Alice Master has a pretty soothing, wintery theme for her fight...at first. Once you get to phase 2, the music evolves into a much more intense piece.
98	* SpiderTank: Miyabi, the mid-boss of the high school stage, is the biggest one. And there are a number of smaller ones as well.
99	* SpreadShot:
100	** J-B 5th fires his shots in a three-way spread that expands to five directions by the time he's fully powered.
101	** Alice Master in ''Psi'' initially fires her shots straight ahead, and gradually spreads out her firing pattern until it's even wider than J-B's. Firing her Power Shot will reset the spread of her main shot.
102	* StationaryBoss: The Stage 5 midboss is a pair of Yaksa members who raise a barrier that you have to destroy, flanked by two turrets providing support fire, and [[FlunkyBoss backed up by waves upon waves of mooks]].
103	* StormingTheCastle: Stage 5B has you entering the Yaksa headquarters and destroying Ms. Garra's last line of defense before exiting out the back terrace to [[FinalBoss take on the woman herself]].
104	* StoryBranching: The first stage is determined by which character you pick; Yusuke starts at Houou High School, J-B 5th starts at Shopping Mall at Night, and Irori starts at Bay Area. After the first stage, you go through the remaining two of those stages, with the order decided by which button you use to pick your character; shot randomly picks between the two, power shot gives you "Route B", and Guard Barrier gives you "Route C". Also, the difficulty of the stages and bosses is based on when you encounter them; for example, since Yusuke goes through the High School first, he has the easiest variant of it with Satoru having 3 lifebars, while the other two non-secret versions will play harder versions, with the hardest variant featuring a 5-lifebar Satoru being used if the player saves it for the last of the initial three stages. Alice Master in ''Psi'' can freely pick the order of all three stages. The stage order also dictates when the stages take place; the game takes place on December 24 until you play through the Shopping Mall, and after that stage the calendar rolls over to December 25.
105	* StoryBreadcrumbs: The newspaper headlines that flash by between levels.
106	* TakeOverTheWorld: Ms. Garra's goal.
107	* TankGoodness: Izuna, the boss of the shopping mall stage, is the biggest one. And there are many smaller tanks that can also be seen in various places.
108	* TraintopBattle: Stage 4, the Wangan Subway. You fly through a subway tunnel and some of the enemies attack from on top of train cars, or ''are'' trains.
109	* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: Yusuke's power had already awoken when he was seven, but he kept it hidden. It wasn't until seeing his best friend be murdered by Satoru Oumi in front of him that his power manifested fully.
110	* TrueFinalBoss: Averted in the original game; regardless of performacne Ms. Garra is the FinalBoss. In ''Psi'', a special version of Alice Master can be fought if you clear the game with 2 deaths or less, enhancing all of her attacks and giving her an [[NoSell anti-bomb shield]].
111	* TwistedChristmas: The game takes place on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day. Over the course of these two days, Yusuke's friend is killed in front of him and should the player unlock the hidden ending for Irori, [[spoiler:she dies in the snow after her fight with Ms. Garra]].
112	* {{Tykebomb}}: JB-5th had to go through brainwashing and memory-wiping in order to become an assassin for the Russian government at a young age.
113	* UpdatedReRelease: ''ESP:Ra.De. Psi'', a remastered version of the same game by M2. Added a VersionExclusiveContent in a form of VirtualPaperDoll and AnInteriorDesignerIsYou called “Irori’s Room” （いろりの部屋）, where players can customize rooms and costumes for Irori, Yuusuke and JB, which they can get more furniture items by accomplishing certain missions to get in-game currency to buy them. This version has an exclusive mode, Arcade Plus, which is largely the same but with redone voice acting and [[AdaptationExpansion considerably more lines]], as well as a new FinalBoss, Alice Master. Finally it features a couple of practice modes: Arcade Challenge has you completing sections with as few deaths as possible, putting you into a training mode every time you get killed, and Arcade Osarai ("osarai" meaning "review"), where you replay parts of Arcade Mode you recently died in and try to redo them without the same mistake.
114	* WickedCultured: Ms. Garra is very well-dressed and has a nice mansion.
115	* YoungerThanTheyLook: '''''Ms. Garra'''''. She looks like she's in her 60s, but she's actually in her ''early 40s''. This is because she's been ''horribly'' overexerting her body with [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique far more constant psionic activity than can hope to be good]].
116	* ZergRush: A ''massive'' horde of Alice clones appear in the second half of Stage 5. A single one isn't a major threat by herself, but here you're greeted with a screenful of them, making it an extremely dangerous part of the game.
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118	[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSyX1ujF8U "Protect the world, even if the future of the world is uncertain."]]

Context VideoGame / EspRaDe