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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harmoknight_key_art.png]]
2''[=HarmoKnight=]'', known as ''Rhythm Hunter: [=HarmoKnight=]'' in Japan, is a Rhythm/Platformer created by Creator/GameFreak and their first non-''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game since ''VideoGame/DrillDozer''. The story follows a warrior-in-training named [[TheHero Tempo]] as he adventures through the musical realm of [[BandLand Melodia]].
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4 A meteor has crash landed on Melodia, causing its creatures to go berserk. Along with it, aliens called Noizoids begin to arrive, wreaking havoc on the planet. Led by their leader [[BigBad Gargan]], the Noizoids take over various parts of Melodia, spreading their noise wherever they go.
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6 Tempo, having found a magical staff [[ItMakesSenseInContext in the belly of a beast]], must bring it to Symphony City to give to a [=HarmoKnight=] who could put an end to Gargan and his crones. Along the way he meets Lyra, a sharpshooting archer, and Tyko and Cymbi, who use drums and cymbals to take down their foes. Together, they reach Symphony City, only to find out that Gargan had captured its princess, [[DistressedDamsel Ariana]], putting everyone within the city into a deep slumber afterwards. With no one else to stop him, it's up to Tempo and his friends to find Gargan and defeat him themselves.
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8!!This game shows the following tropes:
9* AngryGuardDog: Growlord, the first boss of the game.
10* AsideGlance: All three playable characters do this a lot by flashing a smile at the player either midway through or at the end of a level.
11* AutoScrollingLevel: The entire game uses this. Tempo runs along automatically with the screen-edge at his back.
12* BeeBeeGun: Buzzooka, who shoots bee missiles from his abdomen.
13* BadassAdorable: Tempo, and the other playable characters to a lesser extent
14* BandLand: Melodia is a band ''planet.''
15* BeeAfraid: Buzzooka, who is the second boss in the game.
16* BigBad: Gargan, the leader of the Noizoids who intends to take over Melodia.
17* BigDamnHeroes: During the final battle with Gargan, Tempo leaps into the air in an attempt to attack him and nearly falls into the lava... until he's rescued by the same cantabill he met earlier in the level who becomes a steed for Tempo to ride.
18* BilingualDialogue: The English narration at the beginning of the story is this for most versions.
19* BonusStage: ''Pokémon''-themed bonus stages can be unlocked after beating a world's boss. [[spoiler: There's also a bonus world that can be reached if the player collects all five birds in the game.]]
20* BookEnds: The world map theme from Woodwin Village is the same one used for the theme for [[spoiler: Sky Roost]].
21* BreakingTheFourthWall:
22** Master Woodwin in the demo says that certain parts of the game won't be revealed until purchasing the full version. Understandably, Tappy and Tempo are confused.
23** At the end of [[spoiler:Sky Roost]], Master Woodwin tells the player to make sure they've gotten OneHundredPercentCompletion in the game before moving on to another one.
24* BrickJoke: At the beginning of the Discordred boss battle, one of the Poinks that attack Tempo get flung into the air. It falls back down into the water at the end of the battle.
25* BringIt: Gargan does this in the final battle.
26* BrutalBonusLevel: In the aptly named "Final Trial" stage, the player has to run through a LethalLavaLand with narrow platforms and rings of fire, populated by swarms of enemies that appear at very short notice, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking all while at an awkward camera position]].
27* ChargedAttack: Tempo can do this with his staff to gain an extra note when he hits an enemy or Percussiplant.
28* CheckPointStarvation: It saves when you complete stages, but there's no means of saving within stages themselves, so if you get killed just meters from the finish post, you have to go back and start over. Given that the game already has Tappy standing with a sign in parts of the game, it wouldn't have been hard to use those for a checkpoint if they'd been implemented.
29%%* ClockTower: Present in a few locations.
30%%* CoolBoat: Discordred.
31* {{Cutscene}}: Usually character chatter, but they do occur prior to boss battles as well.
32* DisconnectedSideArea: A certain level in Sleighbell Slopes can not be accessed until the Royal Note from Gargan's stage has been obtained.
33%%* DistressedDamsel: Princess Ariana.
34* DoWellButNotPerfect: Most levels don't require a perfect run to get the highest rank of "Great". The only ones that do require perfect performance are the boss levels.
35* EventObscuringCamera: [[invoked]] The player's vision will occasionally be obscured by blizzards, smoke, foreground objects, and camera angle changes. Particularly egregious in some levels with jump drums.
36* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: After Tempo reflects Gargan's final attack, the Noizoid leader is sent flying into the volcano with the meteor on it. The volcano erupts, sending both the meteor and Gargan into space. The last shot of Gargan we see is his ''horribly burned body'' as he flies back up. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids And this is supposed to be a kids game again?]]
37* GlassCannon: The Noizoid bosses all appear to be this. While their projectile attacks are powerful, the moment Tempo actually reflects one back at them, they get [[OneHitKO knocked away to their deaths in one hit]], even Gargan. Even Growlord, who never gets hit with his own attacks, is defeated after Tempo directly smacks him only thrice.
38* GottaCatchThemAll: In order to advance through the plot, Tempo has to collect enough Royal Notes to destroy parts of the Noizoid meteor in his way.
39* HeroicMime: Almost everyone in the game but Tempo speaks.
40* HitboxDissonance: If you don't hit things at just the right timing, your hits don't gain you a note, or in some cases don't even register, frustratingly. (This can also apply to jump drums, of all things.)
41* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Pretty much every boss battle in the game. [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig zagged]] in at least one battle where the reflected attacks create more obstacles for Tempo to avoid.
42%%* HornyVikings: Tyko.
43* [[InstrumentofMurder Instrument of Murder]]: Lyra's trusty bow also doubles as a harp.
44** Tyko and Cymbi also qualify, with Tyko using his drumsticks as clubs and Cymbi squashing foes with his cymbals.
45* InterfaceScrew: Occasionally the screen will be obscured by the environment, such a snowstorm in the ice world, smoke in the volcano world. In addition, the camera angle changes sporadically in a lot of the later stages.
46* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The "Scaling the Tower" level at Baroque Volcano.
47* JetPack: Gargan uses jet boots to fly.
48* KaizoTrap: Final Trial seems to end after you land the last jump onto solid ground. You are then met with a fire column out of nowhere a split second afterward. It is the only hazard in ANY level that appears after the level music has ended.
49* KnightOfCerebus: The story gets more serious when Gargan appears. Particularly when its revealed he plans to turn Princess Ariana into a Noizoid.
50* LedgeBats: During Baroque Volcano [[spoiler:and the Final Trial]]. Have fun trying to jump and hit at the same time.
51%%* LevelsTakeFlight: Buzzooka's level, as well as Gargan's.
52* MarathonBoss: Gargan's boss fight goes on for four minutes.
53%%* MickeyMousing: The Game.
54%%* MinecartMadness: The Cymbi-Cart levels.
55%%* MusicalAssassin: The heroes.
56* NonHumanSidekick: [[BunniesForCuteness Tappy]] is this to Tempo, as is [[CymbalBangingMonkey Cymbi]] to Tyko.
57%%* OldMaster: Master Woodwin.
58* OminousPipeOrgan: The seventh and final world, Baroque Volcano, is a mix of this trope and LethalLavaLand. The levels look like your standard lava level, but organ pipes are partially submerged in the lava and the MiniBoss comes out of a giant organ (and is knocked back into it after the rematch). Additionally, the map screen's VariableMix and the MiniBoss theme use pipe organ as their main instrument.
59* PunnyName: Almost every character and enemy's name is a pun on a musical term or instrument.
60* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: Gargan's body is colored purple and black.
61* PlatformHell: [[spoiler:Sky Roost's levels fit this to varying degrees with [[FakeDifficulty Clockwork Trial]] being on par with Final Trial for brutal level design.]]
62* RecurringRiff: The riff from the map screen shows up at least once in almost every song in the game, including its startup jingle on the 3DS home menu.
63%%* RhythmGame
64* SavageWolves: Winterwulf, who is a bizarre combination of an Arctic Wolf and a snowmobile.
65* SecondHandStorytelling: Half way through Revisiting the Shore, Tappy humorously alludes to an encounter between him and the monster on the beach.
66* ShouldersOfDoom: Gargan has loudspeakers on his shoulders. And they are not just for show.
67* SigilSpam: The music note motif can be found everywhere from the shape of the animals, to the shape of the main character's head, to the shape of the planet itself.
68* SlasherSmile: Gargan's default expression.
69* SomeDexterityRequired: Oh so much. Particularly in later boss battles and [[spoiler:all of Sky Roost.]]
70* StealthPun: Tempo's weapon is a musical ''staff''.
71** The trees in the woods are made of ''woodwind'' instruments.
72* ThreateningShark: Discordred's front is modeled after a shark, and its cannons can shoot shark-shaped projectiles.
73* TrialAndErrorGameplay: Lots of enemies swoop in on you from off-screen with little or no musical foreshadowing.
74* UndergroundLevel: Surprisingly rare in this game.
75* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can make Tappy lose his balance and drop his sign by swinging your staff as you run past him.
76* VillainousBreakdown: Gargan has a nonverbal one during the final battle with him. At the outset of the fight, he's as cocky and arrogant as ever, but as the fight wears on and Tempo powers through his attacks, Gargan's smile turns into a frown and his attacks become more frantic.
77* VileVillainSaccharineShow: You have an AdorablyPrecociousChild as the hero, a [[CivilizedAnimal talking bunny]] as his sidekick, and a PluckyGirl and a {{Badbutt}} as tritagonists. Then you have Gargan, a HumanoidAbomination PlanetaryParasite who plans on taking over Melodia. At first, he seems like your everyday run-of-the-mill villain, kidnapping the princess and such. Then you discover that he's [[CerebusSyndrome slowly brainwashing her to turn her into one of his kind.]] ''And he nearly succeeds.''
78* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The game never adequately explains exactly how [[spoiler: Otamama managed to swallow Woodwin's staff after he admits to being its previous owner and having lost it in the woods]].

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