Line #227 VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy


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12	->'''Q:''' '''APPLES DO NOT FALL UP'''\
13	'''A:''' They're more like giant cherries.
14	-->-- ''[[http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/faq.php The game's official FAQ]]''
15
16	You are The Kid. You [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin want to be The Guy]]. To do that, [[KlingonPromotion you have to kill]] [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt The Guy]].
17
18	And standing between you and The Guy are hordes of [[GoddamnedBats annoying, hard-to-kill monsters]], [[TrialAndErrorGameplay downright sadistic traps]], [[PlatformHell nigh-impossible obstacle courses]], and [[FakeDifficulty everything else]] that represents [[NintendoHard the worst parts of 8- and 16-bit platform gaming]].
19
20	All you have are a red cape, a small gun, and a DoubleJump. You also have infinite lives, and [[LogicBomb you will need every single one of them]].
21
22	Get the game [[http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/ here]], and have fun dying!
23
24	Many, ''many'' {{fan\|Sequel}}games of this have been made due to an easy-to-use engine containing the basics of the original game. A list of some more prominent ones can be found [[VideoGame/IWBTGFangames here]]. In addition, an official sequel called ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuyGaiden'' was released on July 14th, 2012.
25
26	There is a SpiritualSuccessor by the name of ''VideoGame/BattleKidFortressOfPeril'', endorsed by Kayin himself. Also, The Kid is an unlockable character in ''[[VideoGame/MeatBoy Super Meat Boy]]''[[note]]Naturally, he is the hardest character to unlock[[/note]]. The Kid is also a bonus boss in ''VideoGame/PocketRumble''.
27
28	First released on October 5, 2007, the game was made open source on December 30th, 2011, mainly to allow the community to try fixing its innumerable bugs. [[https://natsu-iw.itch.io/iwbtgr It eventually got a full, Kayin-endorsed fan-made remaster in 2020]], which fixed the aforementioned bugs, made various tweaks along the way, and updated the physics to be more similar to the fangames made in its name.
29
30	Contrast with ''VideoGame/YouHaveToBurnTheRope'' and compare ''VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld'', ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{N}}''. No intentional relation to ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'', [[http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/faq.php according to the FAQ]].
31
32	----
33	!!This game contains examples of:
34
35	* AIRoulette: Dracula takes this and turns it into something from the ninth circle of hell. His randomly picked attacks range from standard difficulty (i.e. hard) to beyond good and evil, and some combinations are pretty much unsurvivable. This makes him the [[LuckBasedMission potentially most difficult]] boss fight in the game (yes, he can be tougher than the ''FinalBoss'').
36	* AnomalousArt: Lu Bu's portrait in the gallery of The Guys somehow changes its facial expression when it's hit by the flame coming from Bowser's portrait.
37	* AppealToObscurity: Kayin tries to pass the game off as being a ROM-Hack of parts near the end of ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' in the FAQ, claiming no one has ever beaten ''Battletoads''.
38	* BackgroundBoss: Mike Tyson, the very first boss in the game, is a massive boss in the background.
39	* {{Backtracking}}: Can be kept to a minimum if you choose the right paths, but there's a few parts you have to go through twice:
40	** Two required bosses, Mother Brain and the Clown Car, both require the player to first traverse a part of the Mega Man area.
41	** There's also some overlap between the paths leading out of the Birdo and Clown Car boss fights.
42	* BadassBoast: "I have bested [[GravityIsAHarshMistress fruit,]] [[SpikesOfDoom spike]] and [[ColonyDrop moon!]]" Admittedly it would sound incredibly silly used in any other context. [[DeathWorld In this context]], though, its badass-level is somewhere between single-handedly crushing the universe into paste and ripping out someone's intestinal tract and using it as a belt.
43	* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Near the end, the Moon that has been plaguing you appears all huge, as if ready to engage in a final showdown, [[spoiler:and then gets smacked aside in about two seconds by the Mecha-Dragon from ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'']]. Especially misleading in that the Moon was high in the sky for the entire minecart ride beforehand, ''and'' the minecart section had "The Moon" from ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' playing as the background music.
44	** In fact, the Moon does the same thing much, much earlier: throughout the ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'' area, the Moon appears bigger and bigger with each screen. On the screen with a Full Moon, you head under it and the Moon falls down onto you. Instead of killing you, it just breaks the floor and drops you into the Mecha-Birdo boss fight.
45	** The ''I Wanna Be the Guy Mugen'' fangame has you fight many of the bosses from the original game. One of the bosses starts with the moon[[spoiler:, which again gets knocked aside by the ''Mega Man'' dragon]]. [[spoiler:Then the moon reappears and smashes the dragon!]]
46	* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: The FAQ calls it a [[GameMod romhack]] of ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' (and Gaiden a romhack of ''[[VideoGame/{{Action52}} Cheetahmen]]''). [[DontExplainTheJoke The joke being, of course, that]] [[NintendoHard no-one ever finished Battletoads]], so how could they disprove it?[[note]][[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evLw5uuZe4I By showing them this]].[[/note]]
47	-->'''Q: What is this game made in?'''\
48	A: It's a rom hack of battle toads.\
49	\
50	'''Q: But battle toads wasn't anything like this!'''\
51	A: It is toward the end? Have you ever got to the end of battle toads?\
52	\
53	'''Q: No but...'''\
54	A: Then shut your whore ass mouth and take my word for it. I also used a bit of Multimedia Fusion\
55	\
56	'''Q: What about Gaiden?'''\
57	A: Uuuhh... It's..... a... uhm.. Cheetahmen rom hack! Yeah, totally that!
58	** But seriously, the game is actually based off of the game ''Jinsei Owata no Daibouken'', an unfinished and [[PlatformHell equally sadistic]] platformer.
59	* BigNo: The Guy, once he's well and truly dead.
60	* BigOlEyebrows: The Guy [[spoiler:in his final form, to the point where he can angle them to ''block your bullets'' aimed at his [[WeakPoint eyes.]]]]
61	* BilingualBonus: The Japanese on the mock-''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' warning before Mecha-Birdo says "I hate [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki Dorayaki]]". Incidentally, it's also misspelled with the character for "jealousy" where it should say "fried", perhaps to match the quality of the English text.
62	* {{BFG}}: The Kid claims one as a result of triumphing over The Guy.
63	* BlackBeadEyes: The Kid's sprite features thin black lines that move up or down on his face as he jumps and falls.
64	* BloodstainedGlassWindows: A saintly image of The Kid, complete with [[HolyHalo nimbus]].
65	* BonusStageCollectables: The six bonus items that unlock the BossRush.
66	* BossWarningSiren: The game, parodying ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'', provides a warning when Mecha-Birdo is entering the room.
67	* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the remake, the infamous "YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD. YOU RETARD!" line has been replaced with "YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD, YOU DUMBASS!"
68	* BreakingOut: A room late in the Castle of the Guy has The Kid breaking some blocks by using a Delicious Fruit and a block that moves left and right with him.
69	* BrickJoke: In one screen you can clearly see the moon. Several later, it falls and tries to flatten you.
70	* BulletHell: The game tries this a few times.
71	** Dracula has an attack where he shoots a spiral pattern of flaming Delicious Fruit; it's no ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' pattern, though, as Kayin admits. Later on, the ''[[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]]'' sequence shows Dracula how it's ''really'' done.
72	** Also, the [[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Tourian]] section plays with this in the boss room. Of course, it's really more like Rinka Hell.
73	* ButtMonkey: The Kid ends up suffering an enormous amount of unexpected and humiliating deaths over the course of the game.
74	* CheckPointStarvation: Impossible mode has no {{Save Point}}s.
75	* ChestMonster: At one point, a ''save point'' attacks you. Oddly enough, it's the only save point that appears on Impossible, which should clearly tell you it's a fake.
76	* ClippedWingAngel: [[spoiler:Dracula's]] final form. [[spoiler: Which is a ''Waddle Doo''.]] It's the only enemy that can't cause you any harm in any way. You can actually walk through it without anything happening.
77	* CollisionDamage: If it's not a platform, it's safe to assume that it'll kill you on contact.
78	* ColonCancer: The full title is ''[[TitleTheAdaptation I Wanna Be The Guy: The Movie:]] The Game''. [[NeverTrustATitle There's no movie.]] This is almost certainly a [[ShoutOut reference]] to ''VideoGame/StreetFighterTheMovie: [[RecursiveAdaptation The Game]]''
79	* ColonyDrop:
80	** The moon falls out of the sky multiple times during the game. Dracula shoots it at you, complete with voice-acted "Here is TRUE POWER!" and a trail of fire.
81	** Surprisingly, the drops themselves aren't likely to kill you. Instead, the primary cause of death via moon is it chasing you. In fact, the one time it only falls directly down, it actually doesn't kill you. [[spoiler: This happens because it crushes the ground beneath you, sending you to the Mecha-Birdo battle]]
82	* CraniumRide: On 8-bit Link in one ''Zelda''-themed room. [[spoiler:Link attempts to swipe at you in the process.]]
83	* {{Cutscene}}:
84	** The bosses have intro cutscenes for them and you can skip most of them. If you don't want to go nuts from having to watch [[spoiler:Mike Tyson rise up]] every time you die, remember, the "S" key is your friend. Perhaps just as well, considering [[spoiler:Dracula can kill you with his goblet during the cutscene before the fight with him]].
85	** However, the lengthy intros to the Kraidgief and Bowser fights can't be skipped. For the former, this is actually good, as you can shoot his head for a bit once he roars, which wouldn't happen if you skipped it. For the latter, this is due to it being a three-part boss.
86	* DeadlyDodging: The Guy's third attack pattern renders him ImmuneToBullets. You gotta bounce his shots back at him. Which is not easy, because instead of obeying rules of motion or bouncing at proper angles, the shots always aim at ''you'' when they hit a wall.
87	* DeathCourse: The whole game, basically. Dying hundreds of times is almost certain on a first playthrough.
88	* DeathIsCheap: Usually. It's so common that it feels a lot worse, especially since every part of every room is a death trap. Even the things that aren't dangerous at all catch you because you're expecting something awful to happen.
89	%% * DeconstructionGame: In terms of difficulty.
90	%% * DeathWorld: A game like this can only take place in one.
91	* DepthDeception: As in tradition to PlatformHell genre, it's intentional. That cloud that's seemingly in the background? It shoots a lightning bolt to kill you. The tiny twinkling stars in the back? One of them drops down to attack. The couch that's seemingly in the background like all the other couches? Has a spring that shoots you up into the spiky ceiling.
92	* DestinationDefenestration: The Guy is sent careerning through a window -- only to return with a vengeance.
93	* DevelopersRoom: Collecting all the {{Easter Egg}}s in the remastered version lets you access a room with developer commentary. This includes Kayin mentioning how the fanbase has waited 10 years for the items to do anything.
94	* DoubleJump: The Kid can jump again mid-air.
95	* EasterEgg:
96	** There are six hidden rooms with secret collectible items. One requires going through two screens full of small and completely invisible platforms in the wrong direction. And mind you, that one is the ''easiest'' one to get. Don't even ask about some of the others...
97	** Wait long enough at the title screen. See what happens.
98	* EasyModeMockery:
99	** Few people wanted to play the game on Medium because the extra save points were marked "Wuss" and The Kid gains a cute red bow in his hair... The bow remains on the screen when you explode, too.
100	** Early versions ''did'' have a difficulty labeled "Easy"... and it killed you instantly.
101	* EnemyRollCall: The end game credits intermix the enemies with the people who helped make the game.
102	* EnergyWeapon:
103	** There's a level based on Quick Man's infamously hard stage from ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''. And frankly, it might actually be easier than the original.
104	** Just past the Teleportation Room, there is a room where the path requires you to go down a pit. There is also a [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Sniffit and Bullet Bill Launcher]]. [[GuideDangIt Guess what happens if you try to go down without killing the Sniffit]].
105	* {{Engrish}}: The scroll text near the end of the attract sequence, parodying the scroll text from the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda\| I}}''.
106	* EstablishingSeriesMoment:
107	** The third story down on the first screen. After you've learned how to avoid the huge spiked boards that shoot out of nowhere, the third shoots out from the opposite direction.
108	** The other obvious route on the first screen (upwards) leads to the iconic "falling apples" moment of the game, mentioned in the page quote.
109	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: There are maybe a few things that don't kill you. They include the floor, some water, some walls, the background, and the save points. [[spoiler: Except one.]]
110	** In the Kirby level, the floor does ''actively'' try to kill you.
111	** Even the background scores a few kills in a way. Once when [[spoiler: a star]] falls out of the sky and kills you, and again when the [[spoiler: gravestones]] crush you.
112	** At the very end of the ending, you wind up under a tree with Delicious Fruit. Take a wild guess what happens if you don't move out the way. [[KaizoTrap Yes, you can die in the ending.]]
113	** There's one room in the game where nothing can kill you except yourself. "PRESS Q TO DIE."
114	%% * EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler:The Guy to The Kid.]]
115	* ExcusePlot: You want to be the guy. That's all the motivation you need.
116	* EyeBeams: In The Guy's second phase, he shoots out bars of fire all over the room from his eyes.
117	* EyeScream: Considering that you have to shoot The Guy multiple times in the eyes in order to beat him.
118	%% * FallenHero: The Guy wears a [[spoiler:tattered cape]].
119	* FakeDifficulty: This is sort of the point of the game. You'll spend a lot of time with the trial and error twins. That being said, the examples of this trope are all spaced out by examples of very, very real difficulty, so that even returning players will have huge troubles.
120	* FakePlatform: A number of seemingly-solid platforms, including some past Birdo, and in the Guy Industries tower, flip over to deny you a place to land.
121	* FinalBoss: Your quest eventually leads you to defeating The Guy in order to defeat him and claim his title.
122	* FinalDeathMode: "Impossible", which lacks any Save Points ([[GoodBadBugs except a glitched one]]).
123	* FissionMailed:
124	** The [[spoiler:fake Windows XP error message, which drops down and squashes The Kid if you don't move him out of the way in time immediately after regaining control.]] Especially ironic since the game crashes so much that there's a decent chance of getting a real error message instead.
125	** The Kid [[spoiler:falling onto a giant bed of spikes]] at the end. As he has defeated The Guy and claimed his title, he walks out unharmed.
126	* FloatingPlatforms: Of many types, including isolated platforms that you can or can't jump up through, platforms that sink or rise in the air as you land on them, and platforms that move side-to-side or up-and-down with no visible propulsion mechanism. Some are clouds, but there are also clouds that don't act as solid platforms.
127	* GaidenGame: ''I Wanna Save The Kids'', which combines the sadistic death-traps we all know and love with a ''Lemmings''-style EscortMission. It's pretty hard. Unfortunately, [[OrphanedSeries Kayin has canceled it and moved on to other things]], like ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuyGaiden''.
128	* GoForTheEye: A number of bosses have weak points at roughly eye level or in their eyes: Mike Tyson, Mecha-Birdo's second phase, Kraidgief, Mecha-Dragon, and The Guy's second phase.
129	* GoombaStomp: Only played straight with the Bullets Bill the Snifit fires at you, which you need to bounce off to procede.
130	* GoombaSpringboard: The Bullets Bill allow the Kid to bounce off and give him his double jump as well.
131	* GottaKillEmAll: In keeping with the Metroidvania theme, you need to take out '''six''' bosses before you can enter The Guy's estate: Tyson, Bowser, Dracula, Mother Brain, Kraidgief, and Mecha-Birdo. The gateway is a shout out to ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', specifically the entrance to Tourian which is inaccessible until you remove the statue depicting the game's bosses (which won't budge until they're all beaten). Like in ''Super Metroid'', you can tackle the bosses in any order.
132	* GuideDangIt:
133	** Mecha-Birdo's third weakpoint [[spoiler:shoot at its mouth as its firing an egg]] is something you're probably not going to know about even after you do find it.
134	** One of the lefthand walls in the starting screen is fake and you can pass through it, but the only in-game clue is that your bullets pass through it instead of disappearing. And considering this is your first experience with the game's many death traps, you're probably not going to notice the clue -- you're more likely to stumble on it by complete accident, or know about it already from watching playthroughs.
135	* HarderThanHard: The difficulties start at "Medium" and go ''up'' through "Hard", "Very Hard", up to "Impossible". The actual game itself is always the same no matter what level you're on. The only difference is the frequency of save points (and the EasyModeMockery on Medium). There are ''zero real'' save points on Impossible. You're expected to win the entire game with one life. In all literal seriousness, Impossible mode ''is'' possible, but requires quite a bit of memorization and a fair degree of benevolence from the [[LuckBasedMission more random luck-requiring bosses]]. When somebody eventually beat it, after six days of trying, only taking breaks to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom, the creator's official response was [[https://iwbtg.kayin.moe/forums/index.php?topic=152.15 "holy crap your not serious are you"]].
136	* HardLevelsEasyBosses: In this case, Nearly Impossible Levels, Brutally Hard Bosses, "Brutally Hard" being the easy side of the equation.
137	* HaveANiceDeath: Attempting to collect the sword in the screen recreating the "IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS" part of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' greets you with the standard blood splatter as well as the message changing to "YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD, YOU RETARD!"
138	* HighPressureBlood: Should the Kid so much as graze an apple, enough blood to more than occupy the Kid's sprite shoots every which way.
139	* {{Homage}}: Pretty much everything in the game is a recreation of or reference to some old famous game, including ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'', ''VideoGame/MegaMan'', ''VideoGame/{{Metroid\| 1}}'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI'', ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda\| I}}'', and more. Especially the hard''er'' parts. Most of the bosses are actually taken from other games, though made much harder.
140	* HumongousMecha: Mecha-Birdo is vertically the size of the entire screen.
141	* {{Hyperaffixation}}: Every single room in the Castle Of The Guy has a placard reading "...Of The Guy."
142	* ImprovisedPlatform: In the second screen, [[spoiler:you need to shoot one of the spikes on the wall to knock it over and use it as a platform.]]
143	* IntentionalEngrishForFunny: The opening crawl.
144	-->[[AC:Many years ago "The Guy" left world and retreat to "Dungeon of Doom"]]
145	* InterfaceSpoiler: For the [[spoiler:fake error message]] in the Castle of the Guy to truly work, you need to be [[spoiler:running Windows XP (which is no longer sold or supported, let alone packaged with new computers) with the default theme and in English.]] It's kind of hard to fall for otherwise.
146	* InvisibleBlock: A number of blocks constitute a maze in the Mother Brain path, and each only become visible once the Kid touches them.
147	* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The path from the Clown Car fight to The Guy Industries involves a long vertical ascent including a screen with a very, ''very'' slow set of moving platforms you have to go up ''and'' down. The post-Mother Brain route also involves not one, but two vertical climbs. Later, the Tower of the Guy is an autoscrolling vertical level with a screen-long platform moving you upwards.
148	* ItsPersonal: Leans towards this after The Guy [[spoiler: admits to killing The Kid's grandfather to become The Guy. And he's The Kid's dad, too]].
149	* JumpPhysics: The Kid, who is about two thirds as tall as a standard block, can jump about two and a half blocks high, and also has a slightly less-powerful DoubleJump. Select surfaces also allow him to WallJump.
150	* KaizoTrap: There is one way to die after beating the game: [[spoiler:an apple tries to fall on The Kid's head after the credits.]]
151	* KidHero: Literally. His name is The Kid.
152	* KlingonPromotion: You become the new Guy by killing the current Guy.
153	* LeapOfFaith: The path out of the Tyson match involves a long fall into a pool three screens away diagonally.
154	* LongSongShortScene: There's a ton of great 8-bit music in this game. The problem is that, with death so frequent, you'll inevitably only hear the first few bars on each life.
155	* LuckBasedMission: Dracula is pretty much the only part of the game that makes heavy use of RNG. This unfortunately means that he can throw out combinations of attacks that are straight-up undodgeable.
156	* LudicrousGibs: The Franchise/{{Metroid}}s are the only hazard in the game that do not reduce the Kid to this.
157	--> J-Man: "The Kid is like a fragile piece of ''tomato''. He EXPLOD every time you die."
158	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:The Guy is The Kid's father, complete with ''Star Wars'' dialogue]].
159	* MadeOfExplodium: The Kid. He explodes into LudicrousGibs every time you die, unless it's a Metroid.
160	* MakeMyMonsterGrow: [[spoiler:The Guy]] starts out as the smallest boss in the game (but still notably bigger than The Kid). He does this to himself partway through the battle.
161	* MalevolentArchitecture: You will most likely find yourself getting killed more often by the environment than by an actual living enemy.
162	* MasochistsMeal: People ''eat'' Delicious Fruit. According to Kayin, they have to get them out of trees with sticks, in order to keep from careening around for miles and killing everyone, and then they have to boil them ''three times'' to remove all the poison. The bouncing fruity engine of death seen in the ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' section is what happens when you only boil them twice. Delicious!
163	%% {{Metroidvania}}: To a small extent.
164	* MinecartMadness: You go through a lengthy minecart ride to reach The Guy's castle. And yes, there is still platforming involved.
165	* MusicalSpoiler: Subverted! The MinecartMadness segment has "The Moon" from the ''VideoGame/{{DuckTales}}'' game playing as the background music. That, combined with the full moon high in the sky, makes you think that the boss guarding the Guy Fortress will be the Moon that has plagued you so much. [[spoiler:When it does show up, however, [[BaitAndSwitchBoss it's swatted aside by the]] ''[[BaitAndSwitchBoss real]]'' [[BaitAndSwitchBoss boss]], [[VideoGame/MegaMan2 Mecha-Dragon]]]].
166	%% NeverTrustATrailer: [[AC:(Most of this shit does not appear in the game)]]
167	* NinjaProp: Obvious parts of the background attack the Kid.
168	* NoDamageRun: Required for Impossible; there are no save points at all.
169	* NoIndoorVoice: The Kid is constantly shouting in the two cutscenes he's voice acted in.
170	* NonStandardGameOver:
171	** Falling off in a particular screen on the path to [[VideoGame/PunchOut Mike Tyson]] gets you killed by a plane while ''VideoGame/MarioPaint'' music plays.
172	** Getting killed by Mike Tyson results in the ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!]]'' "you lost" jingle.
173	** Jumping into the sword in the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' section.
174	---> "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this. '''YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD. YOU RETARD!'''"
175	** Getting grabbed by [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Kraid]][[Franchise/StreetFighter gief]] results in a '''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar HOKUTO SHINKEN]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill SPINNING PILEDRIVER!]]'''
176	* OneBulletAtATime: In most parts, you can only have four bullets on the screen at a time, making it important to get as close to the bosses as possible.
177	* OneHitPointWonder: Contact with most moving things (as well as several things that don't move) that are not platforms is instant death. If it doesn't outright kill you, it will likely bump you towards something that will.
178	* OneWingedAngel: The Guy plummets out the window after you shoot him full of holes... [[spoiler:Only to return as a giant head. ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext And then he grows a nose]]'']].
179	* PaintingTheMedium: Like everything else in the game, used to create traps, like [[spoiler:the Multimedia Fusion "error" in the Ryu Hayabusa room and the Evil Save Point]].
180	* ParanoiaFuel: After a while of dying to cleverly-hidden traps, you will not trust ''anything'' in the background. Of course, [[InvokedTrope that's kinda the point]].
181	* {{Patricide}}: Seems to be [[YouCantFightFate the norm of the Guy succession]]. Every kid kills [[ArchnemesisDad his father the former Guy]] to become the new Guy.
182	* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you don't grab the hidden item in the ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' level the first time around, you can't get it on that play file, because the ''Metroid'' level is inaccessible after [[spoiler:the Tourian System explodes]].
183	* PerpetualFrowner: The Guy is constantly angry.
184	* PerpetualSmiler: For someone who's rarely more than a few seconds away from a bloody death, The Kid always seems remarkably happy.
185	* PlatformHell: This isn't so much a game as it is a torture device. Death by all manner of dick moves is inevitable and constant.
186	* PlayerTic: Shooting at nothing while waiting for a platform or the like seems to be popular.
187	* PostDefeatExplosionChain: On Mecha Birdo's death, it sinks down while hundreds of tiny explosions go off all over it; these also occur when its eyes are destroyed.
188	* PuzzlePlatformer: In a way. A decent chunk of the game's difficulty comes less from raw execution and more from parsing out exactly how to bypass the game's mariad death traps and finding secret areas that are often mandatory for progress.
189	* PressXToDie: "This is the safest room in the game. [[SchmuckBait Only Q can kill you]]."
190	* PressXToNotDie: No warnings, obviously, but there are a few apparent cutscenes that can kill you [[spoiler:such as the start of the battle with Dracula when he throws the wineglass.]]
191	* ProperlyParanoid: Why yes, you were right in assuming that the seemingly safe patch of land you jumped onto triggers a death trap.
192	* PushyMooks: Birds mess with your jumps and could possibly redirect you into spikes.
193	* RainOfBlood: The Kid's death animation, with a little bouncing head, to add insult to injury.
194	* RealMenWearPink: In Medium difficulty, the Kid wears a pink bow in his hair. However, it still takes tons of badassitude to get through.
195	* RecurringBoss: The Moon attempts to flatten The Kid several times throughout the game.
196	* {{Retraux}}:
197	** [[http://katie-w.deviantart.com/art/I-WANNA-BE-THE-GUY-149387516 This]] box art mimics the style of NES box art released decades prior.
198	** The remaster's border window replicates the look of Windows XP, which was the most popular operating system at the time of the original game's release.
199	* RunningGag:
200	** The downward-, upward-, sideways-falling, targeted and homing [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Delicious Fruit]].
201	** The Moon repeatedly trying to kill you.
202	* SchmuckBait: The old man from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' offering you a sword.
203	-->"YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD. [[YetAnotherStupidDeath YOU RETARD!]]"
204	* SelectiveGravity: A rule of thumb is: if something can inconvenience you by falling upwards/sideways, it will do so.
205	* SequentialBoss:
206	** The [[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld Koopa Clown Car]]. Unfortunately, the first two forms are so easy, it's basically just an unskippable 2 minute cutscene every time you want to fight the much harder final form.
207	** The Guy has two major forms, both divided into three phases. While these are the only two bosses with different major parts, every other boss except Mother Brain has multiple phases. [[spoiler:Well, except for Dracula, who parodies the trope.]]
208	* ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/IWannaBeTheGuy Has its own page.]]
209	* SmokingIsCool: The Guy is chomping on an 8-bit cigarette.
210	* SoftWater: At one point, you jump from a very high area, fall about 3 screens downwards, '''''[[ComingInHot catch on fire like a meteor]]''''', and '''if''' you manage to land in the "conveniently" placed pool of water, you live.
211	* SoftGlass: The glass The Guy dislodges doesn't kill you if it hits you. Fruit yes, pictures yes, the dull bits of spikes yes, but not ''sharp'' glass. Solid glass ''does'' seem fatal though, as Dracula can still kill you with his wine glass. That, or The Kid is trying too hard to stay sober.
212	* SpikesOfDoom: So many. So very, very many. Some of them launch sideways while still pointing downward.
213	** At least one of them spits ''fruit'' at you.
214	** There's a set of them that lifts out of the ground and becomes a wall of death which also causes fruit to fire in your direction.
215	* TheSpiny: Inverted: these are the ''only'' enemies you can GoombaStomp.
216	* SpoofedWithTheirOwnWords: You eventually fight Dracula from the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series. The bombastic dialogue between him and The Kid is taken directly from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'', albeit spoken in the Kid's squeaky voice.
217	* StalactiteSpite: Most commonly done with fruits or spikes, but there are some genuine stalactites in there too. Subverted at one point with ceiling spikes that tremble when you pass underneath them, but never fall.
218	* StandInPortrait: Inverted with the Vic Viper, which ends up being very useful to The Kid.
219	* StepfordSmiler: Whether The Kid traverses through spike-covered corridors or tries to avoid gravity-defying fruit for the billionth time, he always does so with a smile.
220	* StylisticSuck: The magnified Nintendo sprites (Mike Tyson, Mecha-Birdo, Kraidgief, [[spoiler:and The Guy]]) look appropriately ridiculous.
221	* TacticalSuicideBoss: Befitting its [[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld source material]], all three phases of the Clown Car are defeated by exploiting their own attacks. Bowser goes down to his own Bob-Omb, Wart is defeated by blowing up the Banzai Bill he tries to shoot at you, and Wily will drop metal balls that deflect your bullets upward into the Clown Car.
222	* TennisBoss: In the last part The Guy's first phase, he becomes invulnerable to everything but his own bullets, which bounce off the walls in the direction of the Kid.
223	* TitleDrop:
224	--> '''The Kid:''' Former Grandfather The Guy! You killed him!\
225	'''The Guy:''' Just as you will try to kill me, or be killed yourself!\
226	'''The Kid:''' No! I WANNA BE THE GUY!
227	* TrashTheSet: How the Moon opens the way to the Zelda level and the Spike Wall opens the way to Kraidgief's hideout.
228	* TreacherousCheckpoint: There's a save point that will attempt to kill you. In Impossible difficulty, it's the ''only'' save point.
229	* TrialAndErrorGameplay: If you look hard enough, you ''might'' be able to find a room that doesn't do this. There are about four or so in the entire game that lack out-of-nowhere surprises and are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It's anything but boring. In fact, the entire game is based on this trope.
230	* TurnsRed: Clown Copter and The Guy do this metaphorically. Mecha-Birdo does it literally.
231	* UnbuiltTrope: The game was a primal inspiration for tons of PlatformHell video games, spawning many fangames and indie games with extremely difficult platforming. However, ''I Wanna Be the Guy'' is different in design from most games that followed. The game itself is quite easier than its imitators; the real challenge comes from its {{Troll}} design, which intentionally baits the players who are used to ordinary video game languages. As the creator talked in the [[https://iwbtg.kayin.moe/faq.html official FAQ]], it's "a game about subversion" and "humor driven game", while avoiding unnecessarily brutal game design to keep the player invested. By comparison, a lot of fangames try to squeezed random and incredibly hard traps as many as possible, thereby missing the point of this game somewhat. In addition, many games like ''VideoGame/MeatBoy'', ''VideoGame/OneThousandAndOneSpikes'', and ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' enjoyed even bigger critical success than this game, but while they're also occasionally light-hearted and funny, they play the platforming straight, lacking the ironic humor in ''I Wanna Be the Guy'' that criticized the unfair TrialAndErrorGameplay in retro games.
232	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' and [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]] sequences.
233	* UnexpectedShmupLevel: The Kid hops into the [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]] and must fly around avoiding bugs and bullets.
234	* TheUnfought: The Moon, despite what you may think upon reaching the first boss of The Guy's castle.
235	* UniqueEnemy: Quite a few of them show up in their own particular places, usually to punish your perfectly logical course of action with a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.
236	* UnsoundEffect: In the Clown Copter battle, when you beat the first two pilots, the Copter spins off with the cartoon explosion reading "Bomb!" from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2''.
237	* {{Unwinnable}}: This can occur at many parts of the game where if you fall down and can't back up or something of the similar sort, you can't progress. Luckily, the game has a suicide button... which does you no good on Impossible, which screws you over for trying to restart by wiping all your progress on the run. Also, the game makes no attempt to prevent you from saving in bad places, meaning that it is easy to unintentionally overwrite your save with an Unwinnable situation. Thanks Kayin for [[http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/forums/index.php?topic=3418.0 I Wanna Be The Fix]].
238	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The Castle of Guy. After defeating the six bosses and jumping down the hole, you will land on a minecart that takes you on a 10,000-kilometer journey to the Castle, with many traps along the way, including the obligatory SpikesOfDoom and tricky platforming, [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Cheep-Cheeps, Bullet Bills,]] and sideways rails that tip the minecart (making it impossible to stand on) just before the end. And when you DO reach the end of the ride, the [[VideoGame/MegaMan2 Mecha Dragon]] appears and starts chasing you. Once he's defeated, you will be teleported to the "Entrance of The Guy".
239	* ViolationOfCommonSense: The bit in the ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'' area where you have to jump ''into'' a cluster of three giant cherries to make them fall sideways; by this point in the game, you know this is normally a [[{{Pun}} plum]] crazy thing to do.
240	* WallJump: Can only be done off of special walls. Two different kinds, actually, resulting in two different kinds of WallJump.
241	* WeirdMoon: Which then ''[[ColonyDrop falls on you]]''. '''Repeatedly'''. And if it's not falling on you, [[spoiler:Dracula is flinging it at you in lieu of his fireballs.]]
242	* WorldOfBadass: This would seem to be a requirement for The Guys. Just look at the portrait gallery of Former The Guys: [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]], [[VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdomsKoei Lu]] [[VideoGame/DynastyWarriors Bu]], [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ryu Hayabusa]], [[VideoGame/FinalFight Mike Haggar]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear Big Boss]], ''[[VideoGame/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck]]'', [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]], '''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]]''', etc. If, despite all odds, you manage to beat the game, ''you'' deserve this title.
243	* WouldHurtAChild: This has apparently become routine for The Guy. "One more to add to my score!"
244	* WrongGenreSavvy: Several of the traps rely on the player being this, most (in)famously the [[spoiler:"YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD. YOU RETARD!"]] screen.
245	* WritersCannotDoMath: If the distance signs are to be believed, the mine cart travels 10,000 kilometres in 78 seconds. That's 286,786 miles per hour, or 373 times the speed of sound.
246	* YearX: 200X, parodying the ''Mega Man'' games (the game was released in 2007).
247	* YouExclamation: The Kid finally unmasking The Guy.
248	-->'''[[{{Angrish}} WHOZAWHAT]]--? YOU!'''
249	* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: Beat The Guy, and you inherit his gun. (You can't use it in subsequent playthroughs, unfortunately.)
250	* YourHeadASplode: {{Inverted\|Trope}}. Everything ''but'' your head [[LudicrousGibs asplodes in a glorious cascade of red pixels]] when you die. Only once in the entire game is this ever subverted. During the self-destruct sequence as you flee Tourian, if you take a wrong turn and end up at a dead end, you can't turn around and go back, and a Metroid shows up to eat your life away. The Kid changes color to grayscale, but you don't asplode into ludicrous gibs.
251	----
252	->'''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSXnYdgutpk GAME OVER - PRESS 'R' TO TRY AGAIN]]'''''

Context VideoGame / IWannaBeTheGuy