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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/littlekingstory.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:No pressure.]]
3
4''Little King's Story'' is a RealTimeStrategy game for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} developed by Creator/{{Cing}}. You're a young boy who [[FindersRulers found a magic crown]] and now rules a kingdom. With your "helpful" ministers at your side, you set out to dominat... er, unify a candy-colored fantasy setting under your rule. So storm the oddball kingdoms of the rest of the world with an your swarm of various troops, collect all the treasure, conquer every monster, and marry every princess.
5
6Despite the rather childish design motifs, the game is fairly deep with a huge number of optional sidequests and clever combat mechanics. Beating bosses literally expands your empire. Once you've beaten an area's guardian, you can build a strip mall over it.
7
8A remake, entitled ''New Little King's Story'', was released for the UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita, featuring a revamped art style, touch controls, and a story that isn't quite sure if it wants to be a sequel or a retelling.
9
10Not to be confused with the UsefulNotes/WiiWare title [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesMyLifeAsAKing My Life as a King]] by Square, which has a similar premise, but is a city sim game where you [[HeroOfAnotherStory simply dispatch other adventurers on escapades instead of directly controlling anything]].
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12The original game was ported to PC and released on [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/390310/ Steam]] on August 5, 2016.
13----
14!!This game provides examples of:
15* AdaptationalBadass: Any of the princesses who were retained from the original game gain a pretty big boost in badassery in ''New Little King's Story'', where they're capable of joining you in fighting on the front lines, instead of being relegated to sitting around in the Princess Manor, or wandering around back at your kingdom.
16* AliensStealCattle: Comes in two flavors; Several non-combatant [=UFOs=] steal all the animals, including cows, during Princess Shizuka's Princess Quest, while a UFO you fight as one of the game's mini-bosses can abduct your soldiers and drop headless cattle to fight you with as its only other means of attack.
17* AllInARow: A ''very'' long row with thirty followers.
18* AndYourRewardIsClothes: In an odd way. Completing Princess Ferne's Princess Quest doesn't let you edit your clothes, but lets you change the color of your scepter's gem, from prismatic Dynamond to glowing black Akumamarine.
19** Played straight in ''New Little King's Story'', where defeating certain bosses nets Corobo with different outfits.
20* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: You can only have as many soldiers as you have command badges. It maxes out at 30.
21* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: King Jumbo Champloon, easily the single biggest boss of the entire game.
22* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Happens in the opening after Corobo smashes open a giant boulder to find a crown.
23* {{Backtracking}}: Lots of it for the Princess Quests.
24* BalconySpeech: How the king calls subjects to come and join his party.
25* BigBad: [[spoiler: The Rat King serves as this in the original game while the Devil King takes up the mantle in ''New Little King's Story''.]]
26* BullfightBoss: Many of the bosses and enemies have this type of attack.
27* ButThouMust: When Skinny Ray comes to you telling you that the sky is falling and he needs help researching it, the game obviously intends for you to believe him and help, but your ministers put it to a vote and defeat the motion every time. This eventually gets pretty ridiculous, since you're in control of a ''monarchy'', and there are no other situations where they disagree with your decisions.
28** Pretty much any time there's a vote, expect the majority to go in one direction, effectively deciding what you're doing for you (though it doesn't matter for the most part...)
29* TheCaligula: King Duvroc of the Jolly Kingdom loves to guzzle booze like it's going out of style, throws parties as often as he can in the hopes that the whole world will get drunk with him, and has a very laissez-faire approach to his monarchy... but he can still put up a fight with fire and ice breath, and has a legion of Oni at his beck and call to even the odds.
30* CanonName: The main character's real name is Corobo, [[HelloInsertNameHere though you can name him however you wish]]. This canon name can be seen in the fact that one of the enemies is a scarecrow parody of you called Korobokle. This doesn't change if you use a different name for the king.
31* CatchingSomeZs: Pancho, the cow that sleeps in the throne room, has blue Zs coming from him, which stops when he wakes to drag the king from the door and leaving before talking to his 2 ministers at least once.
32* ChasingYourTail: Ogre Ergo, whom you must chase around and attack...unless he gets angry, at which point he starts chasing ''you'' instead.
33* AChildShallLeadThem: Corobo's just a little kid, but the people of Alpoko are all too willing to follow his rule.
34* CityGuards: In a fun twist, you can turn your citizens into a guard class. They'll stand around the city gates when they aren't in your team.
35* CollectionSidequest: ''Many'' of them. Every princess gives you a new one, and there's an overarching quest to find all the artworks in the game.
36* CommandAndConquerEconomy: You have to order every building to be built, and despite a profusion of farmers, lumberjacks, and miners your economy is solely based on your king picking up candy and turnips from dead enemies and random bushes. On the other hand, you can tax your citizens, which implies that they are making money at their jobs, just not giving it to you.
37* ConceptArtGallery: Most of the sidequests reward you with this, including one where what you're collecting is art from a design-an-enemy art contest.
38* ConvenientQuesting: As per the usual form; if an area is inaccessible at first, it's usually due to some obstacle or enemy that you must remove or defeat in order to open up more of the world map. However, it'll always open up whenever you're ready to open it up, meaning you can pace yourself and enter any area when you feel you're sufficiently equipped to do so.
39* CorridorCubbyholeRun: King Long Sauvage's battle is done in this style, though it's far more prevalent in ''New Little King's Story'' than it is in the original game.
40* CoolCrown: Undoubtedly, the king's signature crown and [[FridgeHorror possible mind control device]].
41* CypherLanguage: Jumbo Champloon is an odd case. His speech appears to be nonsense (Hamburger mantis toilet!), but finding bits of paper around his kingdom reveals that it's a word substitution cypher.
42* DamselInDistress: Each king you defeat nets you a princess, whom you immediately marry.
43* DarkIsNotEvil: The ghost haunting the cursed suit of armor you bought from the merchant? He's actually a pretty noble guy who volunteers to become your right-hand man and bodyguard.
44* DeathCourse: King Long Sauvage's fight consists of making your way up to the top of Mt. Sobamanjaro, which is '''very''' heavily defended, lengthy and difficult to traverse. One section is even defended with instant-kill swinging beards...
45* DegradedBoss: Several of the early area guardians show up later as regular enemies.
46** The Yvonne, a giant frog, is a weird example, because if you go to its arena before accepting the quest to kill it, you'll see tiny versions of it that you won't see again unless you accept a sidequest to defeat the Mt. Ribbit Family.
47* DemotedToExtra: Liam goes from being Alpoko's Anything Minister in the original game to having his position taken over by Azul and subsequently resigning in ''New Little King's Story''. It's brief, but can be saddening to those who liked him.
48* DoorToBefore: All the other kingdoms are arranged around yours in such a way that after you've been forced to hike all the way around the entire map to reach one, you can build a bridge or find a gate that takes you right back to your kingdom.
49* DoppelgangerSpin: [[spoiler:The Rat King, who commands three other mice to destroy your kingdom...just as you've been doing for the whole game.]]
50* DudeWheresMyRespect: Even after he's [[InsistentTerminology united]] the world, upgraded the quality of life in the kingdom to the point of luxury and helped solve as many quests as were given to him in the suggestion box, the villagers will still talk to Corobo as though he were a servant.
51* EnemyDetectingRadar: Though it's a bit odd to have it in a medieval setting, it's there for the convenience of the player. [[spoiler:Though, given the reveal at the end of the game, it makes a ''lot'' of sense.]]
52* ErmineCapeEffect: The king ''always'' wears his royal outfit, even when exploring the unknown world.
53* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Granted, you ''are'' invading everyone else's territory.
54* {{Expy}}: The blonde, pink dress-wearing Princess Apricot according to WordOfGod is based off of [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]].
55* {{Fartillery}}: [[spoiler: The Rat King isn't averse to using his own shit as a weapon against you during the final battle. The same applies to the yellow rat.]]
56* FindersRulers: How Corobo came into possession of his kingdom.
57* ForcedTransformation: The Guardian Radeeze can turn your troops into ''turnips'', which is effectively a OneHitKill and spawns additional Turniphead enemies.
58* {{Foreshadowing}}: Once you conquer the Tiptoe Kingdom, you can climb the mountain and look through the telescope, revealing a sight of your castle, [[spoiler: one of several toys hanging down from a ceiling, and what appears to be the interior of a room with a crack, with an [[RedEyesTakeWarning eerie red glow]] behind it]]. Depending on the order in which you tackle the kingdoms, you can do it as soon as you rescue your fourth princess.
59** Even earlier, you can enter the guard tower on your castle's island, and see places you won't be going for a few chapters yet.
60* FungusHumongous: The mushroom forest and its enemies, including two giant toadstool bosses; the Mush Bro and the Mush Geezer.
61* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler:You go beyond space to the giant bedroom of, and appear to be either toys or imaginary characters created by, a boy who looks just like the king. The world is ending because of rats chewing on the toy stage that is your world, and you get a running news ticker during the final boss fight ''describing areas of your world that have been wiped off the map by the fight outside!'' Oh, and the princess you chose to go with you gets swallowed by a giant rat that gets casually tossed out the window. Hope you didn't like her too much. Of course, depending on your interpretation, it was AllJustADream anyway.]]
62* GiantEnemyCrab: The Onii Crabs.
63* GrievousHarmWithABody: The little Oniis are fond of using pieces of dragons and live cows as weapons. [[spoiler:If the Rat King manages to eat some of your party, he may spit them out at you.]]
64* HarderThanHard: Beating the game unlocks Tyrant Mode, where everyone starts with just one point of health on top of the normal additions on Hard. Additionally, unlike the other difficulty levels, you cannot switch to a different difficulty at any point in the game.
65* HelloInsertNameHere: You get to name your HeroicMime, of course.
66* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: The final boss fight is against [[spoiler:rats who are destroying the game's world by eating the cardboard box diorama of which it is made.]] There are four of them and they come in different colors. The color scheme is a little off compared to the traditional description of the four horsemen, though.
67* HotterAndSexier: ''New Little King's Story'' gives everyone a fresh coat of paint...and by this, we mean the characters were redesigned to appear less chibi and more like a {{seinen}} anime.
68* HPToOne: The UFO uses this as their one and only means of attack...[[ThatOneAttack much to the eternal frustration of the player]].
69* HubCity: You build your own as you go, and it ends up taking up significant portion of the game map by the time you're done.
70* HumongousMecha: The Mechanical Onii, which serves as the replacement boss for New Island in ''New Little King's Story''.
71* ImprobableWeaponUser:
72** The onii enemies attack you with everything from pogosticks and pieces of dragons to fan-tanks and ''a live cow.''
73** You can find (and equip your troops with) weapons such as a giant ham, a squid, a squeaky mallet or a pillow.
74* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: Almost every optional quest unlocks literally hundreds of pictures that you can use to decorate your castle. Which is nice, because all the picture frames start out with a cow's face.
75* InUniverseGameClock: The game has a day/night cycle to give the player a sense of time progression, but it can get pretty aggravating when certain sidequests require that you be in certain areas at very specific times. Each in-game day lasts 30 minutes of real time, which works out to 75 real seconds to 1 in-game hour.
76* JobSystem: A very basic one. All your VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}-esque troops can be placed into numerous different job classes.
77* KidHero: Corobo himself. The kid can't be any more than eight to ten years old by the time the game begins.
78* KingMook: The Onii King, quite literally.
79* LevelAte: The Ripe Kingdom. The fight with King Shishkebaboo combines this with PinballZone as you [[PlayingTennisWithTheBoss literally play pinball]] ''[[LiteralMetaphor with]]'' [[LiteralMetaphor the boss]].
80* LethalJokeCharacter: The Culinary Chef. It doesn't really have any specialties in combat or digging, which makes it seem like they're useless. That is until you find out that they can perform a OneHitKill on [[DemonicSpiders Cockadoodledos]], a variety of enemy of which can ''only'' be killed by Chefs. (Still, at 500,000 Bol a pop, it's pretty pricey...)
81** The Gourmet Cook in the original game is only slightly less necessary, as both Cockadoodles ''and'', despite what some in-game text tells you, Concodores are able to be killed by other combat jobs... but unless you just neglected to bring one or let him die, why wouldn't you just let him deal with them?
82* MascotMook: The designers really seem to love the cute little Oniis.
83* MeaningfulName: Most of the enemies in the game. Some examples are: the Onii King, who commands the Oniis; King Omelet, who lives in a giant egg; King Shishkebaboo, who is defeated by skewering him (on a fork); and King TV Dinnah, who has a TV for a head.
84* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: [[spoiler: Very literally. Although if it hasn't become obvious by the time you've reached the Primetime Kingdom, it comes to a head once you reach [[ToyTime New Island]].]]
85* MindControl: How Corobo gets people to follow him around.
86* MsFanservice: Princess Ferne is easily the most sexually designed princess of the seven that you save. Princess Iris, who replaces Ferne in ''New Little King's Story'', also qualifies to a lesser extent.
87* MissionPackSequel / VideoGameRemake: ''New Little King's Story'' is perhaps the first game to genuinely blur the line between the two.
88* ModestyTowel: The picture for the Hidden Hot Spring Wonder Spot features Apricot in one.
89* MonsterCompendium: Princess Bouquet's Princess Quest involves recording all of the monsters you fight in a book she made for you to study them with. Any monsters discovered while the quest is active will be added to the book with the added bonus of giving you new artwork to hang up in your castle.
90* MultipleEndings: A feature unique to ''New Little King's Story'' is that you can get a different ending depending on which princess you spend the most time with during regular gameplay (and if you did their Princess Quest). [[spoiler: Unlike the original ''Little King's Story'', the game doesn't subvert expectations if you get the "Harem" ending, wherein you MarryThemAll and they all seem pretty content with this fact. Additionally, Shizuka's ending is the sole ending that has a [[TheStinger stinger]]...which throws in a ''[[WhamShot fairly shocking]]'' [[RealAfterAll implication]] into the mix.]]
91* NonHumanHead: King TV Dinnah looks like an ordinary man in a suit... except for his head, which is an old-fashioned television, with the screen displaying [[FacelessEye a large eye]].
92** Jumbo Champloon's second head is a toothed rooster.
93* NonLethalKO: No matter what happens to your troops, most of them will wash up on the beach the next morning in perfect health. They seem to get over it pretty quick... as soon as you use your mind control on them. That said, [[KilledOffForReal this doesn't always happen]].
94* {{Obake}}: The most common enemy type is the Oniis, which look more like adorable muppets than ogres.
95* OneHitKill: A handful of enemy attacks and other phenomena will instantly kill any of your troops they hit. Examples include a Yvonne's tongue attack, the dragons' 360 degree tail sweep, and [[spoiler:two different attacks used by the rats in the final battle]].
96* OrganDrops: Livestock-based enemies drop meat, Oniis drop horns, Turnipheads and Radeeze drop turnips...
97* OurOgresAreHungrier: Naturally, as the most common enemies are based on Oni.
98* {{Permadeath}}:
99** Usually, when one of your villagers dies, he/she washes up on shore the next day. However, sometimes, when killed, they stay dead until you either load a save before they died or start anew (which isn't worth it, seeing as how they are easily replaced by other townsfolk).
100** During the final boss fight, [[spoiler:the Rat King swallows your Queen whole, and she doesn't come back out when you beat him. This implies that she was '''[[EatenAlive digested alive]]''' along with any of your soldiers that get hit by his swallow attack.]]
101* PermanentlyMissableContent: Possible with some one-of-kind treasures. The Legendary Bow appears at the end of the Onii Bride battle, but if your inventory is full before you reach it, it might not be there when you come back for it.
102* {{Polyamory}}: When you defeat any rival King, you rescue a Princess and are instantly married. [[spoiler:This backfires ''tremendously'' toward the end of the game; before you take off in the completed flying machine to investigate the causes of the earthquakes, you're given seven sets of divorce papers - one from each princess you've taken in, and Verde (your Records Minister) turns in her resignation letter. This leaves the player with [[SadisticChoice being able to choose only one of the girls to accompany them on the trip]]...although it can be said that the girls you '''don't''' choose can be considered lucky, given what happens near the end of the final boss...]]
103** [[spoiler: ''New Little King's Story'' can play this straight if you get the "Harem" ending. There's no sudden announcement of divorce or anything this time around; the girls are all too happy to share you with each other.]]
104* PopQuiz: The fight against King Omelet takes the form of this.
105* PrehensileHair: King Long Sauvage takes a ''lot'' of pride in the sheer length of his beard...and naturally, he utilizes it as a weapon during your trek up Mt. Sobamanjaro to confront him.
106* PublicDomainSoundtrack: Pomp and Circumstance, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the William Tell Overture... Pretty much every single song in the game is a remix of a classical composition.
107* PuzzleBoss: Numerous; King Omelet is fought by way of a quiz game, King Long Sauvage's fight is an obstacle course, and King TV Dinnah's fight is a ''geography test!'' (That said, you do also fight him when you find him each round.) And we already mentioned how King Shishekebaboo's battle is a pinball game...
108* RagsToRoyalty: In the opening cutscene, you find out that Corobo was a lonely boy with no friends and a rodent problem before accidentally finding a crown and instantly becoming the king of Alpoko.
109* RatKing: [[spoiler: The final boss is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; it's a huge black rat who commands three other colored mice to destroy your kingdom. It and its followers symbolize the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, with the Rat King itself symbolizing Death.]]
110* RegalRuff: King Omelet wears a ruff, and is much more intelligent and refined than most of the other kings in the game.
111* RememberTheNewGuy: Played straight (?) and inverted in ''New Little King's Story.'' Azul is new to this game, but everyone seems to already know him -- he's even apparently known Verde since they were kids. Meanwhile, although almost everyone from the previous game reappears with little or no re-introduction, Kampbell is introduced as though no-one has any idea who he is.
112** This also extends to the new princesses, which can be pretty jarring to those who've played the original game and were expecting Bouquet, Spumoni, Ferne and Martel to show up, only to find them replaced with completely new characters and being treated as if they've always been a part of the world.
113* RequisiteRoyalRegalia: The king wears a brilliant red cape, an expensive-looking medallion, royal boots, a "magic" scepter, and his golden crown. Said staff is replaced with a sword in ''New Little King's Story.''
114* {{Retcon}}: Remember the weird {{Gainax|Ending}} DownerEnding of ''Little King's Story''? Totally didn't really happen. Corobo ruled the world happily until a mysterious force dethroned him and imprisoned the princesses.
115* RewardingVandalism: Oh yes. Somewhat realistic in that smashing a bush gets you a sellable plant and raiding trashcans yields worthless garbage.
116* RibcageRidge: The Skull Plains are littered with giant bones for no apparent reason. There are also trees with foliage made out of bones.
117* RobotGirl: Corina, the princess saved in New Island in ''New Little King's Story'', replacing Martel from the original game.
118* SecretCharacter: The Doctor, Steel Knight, and Rainbow Magician are optional secret classes that you can get late in the game.
119* SaveTheWorld: After you defeat the other kings your quest becomes saving the world from earthquakes [[spoiler:caused by rats eating the toy stage that is your world]].
120* SelfImposedChallenge: Some players occasionally go out of their kingdom without their posse. Corobo can hurt enemies with the command action, and doing so makes taking down enemies and bosses ''far'' more difficult than if they're fought normally. For example, Duvroc ''can'' be taken down with only Corobo, but doing so turns him into a MarathonBoss thanks to his damage output being incredibly low and needing to be mindful of his attacks and minions thanks to his low health.
121* SevenDeadlySins: It doesn't seem like it at first, but all of the boss kings represent each sin in one way or another. To elaborate:
122** As the Onii King demonstrates in his boss intro, he clearly isn't the charitable type, claiming that "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine" and states that you're taking "his" territory when the kingdom of Alpoko was clearly claimed by you before he issued his challenge. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for him to be the representation of {{Greed}}.
123** What King Duvroc wants is nothing more than a good drink, a great party and an undying hope that the world will stop fighting or doing anything just to get wasted and relax their days away; his position as the representative as the sin of [[LazyBum Sloth]] fits like a glove.
124** King Shishkebaboo's sin is a no-brainer. He [[BigEater gorges himself on numerous sweets and food]] and thinks almost of nothing else (not even Spumoni, whom he's got trapped in a vase). Being a creature of over-indulgence, it's only natural for his sin to be [[VillainousGlutton Gluttony]].
125** Contrary to what many might think, King Omelet, eternal worrywart that he is, represents [[UnstoppableRage Wrath]]. Saint Thomas Aquinas said that wrath can be characterized by either misplaced anger, hasty anger or complete passivity. Omelet's approach to battle and everything around him therefore makes his position as the representative of the sin of Wrath actually makes a lot of sense.
126** A hotshot television reporter who enjoys being the center of attention as the premier information network of the world, confident that his geography test will trip you up and humiliate you all on national television... Yep, King TV Dinnah has the representation of {{Pride}} down pat.
127** King Long Sauvage represents the sin of {{Lust}}...which might raise some eyebrows at first, especially since there's almost no hints as to why he's represents this particular sin. ...Until one realizes a few things; ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' makes reference to those who are lustful being on top of the mountain in Purgatory, the fact that Sauvage takes great pride in being incredibly tall and having a monstrously long beard, which visually invokes CombatTentacles (and by extension, possibly NaughtyTentacles), and there's his name, which could be something...[[DoubleEntendre much more racy]] if one replaces the "v" in his name with an "s". Sobamanjaro's [[DeathCourse heavily defended state]] indicates a serious lust for power...and then there's the fact that he's the king who's holding [[MsFanservice Princess Ferne]] captive, hinting at a [[DirtyOldMan potentially perverse side]], so all the subtle hints ultimately add up and give Long Sauvage's position as the representative of Lust much more weight. ''New Little King's Story'' makes the connection ''embarrassingly'' obvious, however.
128** King Jumbo Champloon might seem to be a hard one to point out...until you remember that his island has only recently been built and he's new on the scene in the grand scheme of kingdom ruling. Then he sees you rising to the top as a better constructed and far more powerful kingdom than his own, and issues a challenge just to claim his kingdom superior to yours. [[GreenEyedMonster Envy]] is a powerful emotion indeed, and describes Jumbo Champloon, TalkativeLoon that he is, quite well.
129** [[spoiler: The Rat King [[SubvertedTrope appears to break the chain]] as it doesn't appear to embody any other sin that hasn't already been covered by the other bosses...[[DoubleSubversion except]] as the '''eighth''' boss, it actually embodies the forgotten sin of ''[[DespairEventHorizon Despair]]''. This actually makes perfect sense; being the representation of Death of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, its attempts to destroy your kingdom by tearing apart the toy stage containing your world and its successful attempt in swallowing the princess you chose to accompany you on the trip to the real world - in addition to any soldiers who die during the final battle - helps represent the feelings of loss and despair very well...both the despair Corobo must be feeling and the despair the player themselves [[PlayerPunch is likely going through.]]]]
130* ShoutOut: A ''lot'' of them. Someone on the development team must've been a huge pop culture nerd.
131** Howser is an old knight with grandiose ambitions who has a cow named Pancho; [[Literature/DonQuixote was an old man who traveled for many years with a companion named Sancho]].
132** The person who sends the "Cow Bones in the Graveyard" quest is named Music/CaptainBeefheart.
133** Near the Worrywart Kingdom there is a cube with question marks on the sides. [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Break it, and a red mushroom comes out]].
134** You can get far too many villagers with the names of Franchise/TouhouProject characters for it not to be a ShoutOut.
135** Princess Apricot is clearly meant to be a send-up of [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]]; WordOfGod even outright says she's supposed to be an {{Expy}}.
136** One of your grunt soldiers calls your army the [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya SOS Brigade]].
137** One of the plants you can find out in the world is UsefulNotes/{{Neil deGrass|eTyson}}.
138** There are several to the [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]:
139*** TV Dinnah's travel show during his boss battle is called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the World".
140*** The Animal Book says that the dog found "...the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything!"
141*** The Tunesmith Book, when talking about the song "Brave New World", about the universe, it mentions "...the restaurant at the end of it!" This refers to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the second book in the series, which is about the character's journey to a restaurant that is built to be frozen in time when the universe was ending.
142*** According to Princess Spumoni, Shizuka has a weird laptop with the words "DON'T PANIC" written on it. This is an actual Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which, in the books, is an encyclopedia with information on the galaxy and all of its creatures (along with some stuff on towels!)
143** Playing with the "random" button when naming the king makes the names "Cheech" and "Chong" appear.
144** Verde mentions [[Creator/MarvelComics Galactus]] during one debate.
145** According to the Gourmet Book, the White Tangerine "{{Tastes|LikePurple}} [[Music/{{Nirvana}} like teen spirit]]."
146** As per the ending, [[spoiler:a little hero leading an army of toys against invading rats [[Theatre/TheNutcracker isn't exactly unheard of...]]]]
147* SmoochOfVictory: You can get one from each princess after rescuing them.
148* SpeakingSimlish: The spoken dialogue is actually gibberish composed from multiple languages. This is mysteriously absent in ''New Little King's Story'', where the dialogue spoken in-game is perfect English.
149* SpoonyBard: The Doctor and Rainbow Magician classes can stun enemies, but by the time they use their impressive stun attacks your soldiers would have already beaten it.
150* StatusEffects: Your troops can be [[UniversalPoison poisoned]], paralyzed, confused, [[KillItWithFire immolated]], or turned into snowmen.
151* SuckingInLines: King Jumbo Champloon's chicken head can fire a laser that charges up with this effect. The Vacuum Onii on New Island can also do likewise.
152* SuddenlyVoiced: After you beat the game for the first time and unlock Tyrant Mode; amongst other features, Pancho, Howser's faithful companion who was previously believed to speak solely in moos, talks to you casually in English.
153--> "Moo moo moo. What's up, Corobo. I'm Pancho. How ya doing? Sorry I kept it a secret from you all this time. I can actually talk, but I kept quiet about it. Now that you're trying out the Tyrant Mode, I thought that I should greet you formally. I'm so glad you made it to the ending. It may be a bit late but congratulations. Now then, welcome to Tyrant Mode. It's gonna get hard, so be prepared."
154* TakeOverTheWorld: The goal for 90% of the game.
155* TalkativeLoon: King Jumbo Champloon. He's not the only one; New Island in general seems to be made of complete crazies.
156* ThemeNaming: All the princesses have plant-related names, though some are a bit of a stretch.
157* TokenMiniMoe: Martel qualifies in appearance and mannerism ([[OlderThanTheyLook if not age]]) in the original game, while Amabile and Corina take up the mantle in ''New Little King's Story''.
158* ToyTime:
159** The New Island area is this combined with arts and crafts in a MacroZone.
160** [[spoiler:The entire game turns out to be set inside a toy stage.]]
161* UnexpectedShmupLevel: Not totally unexpected, since you spend half the game building a flying machine. Not exactly a Shmup either, since you have no weapons. It ''is'' a level though.
162* ValleyGirl: Kokomo Pine, which isn't uncalled for, given her high profile and fame, even among the other princesses.
163* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: You know you've reached the finale when [[spoiler: you've exited reality and find yourself on the bedroom floor of the real little boy who imagined up this world.]]
164* VictoryPose: Corobo will do a little salute with his scepter when you complete a mission. With guardians, he often jumps up on their corpse for his victory pose.
165* VideoGameCaringPotential: Your regular troops usually wash up on the beach if they die (yes, even if they get [[FridgeLogic swallowed by a giant frog]]), but sometimes they [[KilledOffForReal don't come back]]. In that case, any villagers that were close to them dress in black for the day, and you can attend their funeral at the church. Which makes it all the more horrifying when [[spoiler:you see reports of the apocalyptic calamities happening to them during the final boss fight.]]
166* VisibleSilence: After the first two buildings are built in the original, Howswer has this when he can't come up with a plan:
167--> '''Howswer:''' Good morning, my king.\
168[Player cheers]\
169I've searched for the true king for 35 years, and wanted to come up with something to impress you, but...\
170I cannot seem to conceive of a plan to get us out of this crisis. I feel so...inadequate...\
171...\
172Hahaha! I guess I'll just leave it to others!
173%%* WarForFunAndProfit
174* WhamShot: Shizuka's ending in ''New Little King's Story'' is the only one with a [[TheStinger stinger]]...[[spoiler:one where you wake up in what is implied to be '''''the real world''''' after you and her got married, followed by the line Shizuka says after your vision clears up...]]
175--> [[spoiler:'''Shizuka''': [[WhamLine We meet again]], '''[[RealAfterAll Your Majesty]]'''.]]
176* WhereItAllBegan:
177** [[spoiler:The area in which you fight the Devil King in ''New Little King's Story'' is located at Corobo's castle...the same one you escaped from in the beginning of the game.]]
178** This is the clue for the final Wonder Spot: [[spoiler:It's the area where you fought the Onii King, and therefore rescued Apricot, who gave you the sidequest in the first place.]]

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