Line #96 VideoGame/Otomedius


1	[[quoteright:294:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/OtomeArtbook_5612.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:294:[[Literature/WheresWaldo Can you find]] [[TheOneGuy the man in this cast?]]]]
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4	Konami's combination of its own ''VideoGame/{{Parodius}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' series. A lighthearted SelfParody, ''Otomedius'' is a [[CuteEmUp Boob Shooter]] with its own standalone plot. It pulls elements from several of Konami's other properties, including ''VideoGame/GanbareGoemon'', ''Toys/BusouShinki'', ''Xexex'', ''VideoGame/TwinBee'', ''Series/ChouSeiShinSeries'', ''Parodius'' and, of course, ''Gradius'' itself.
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6	Anoa Aoba, a second year high school student, is approached by a mysterious organization and offered a chance to pilot Vic Viper. While you might expect a CoolPlane, this one is less a plane and more a [[RuleOfCool flying motorcycle]]. She's also introduced to the other "Angels" who form up the FiveManBand.
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8	What follows is adventure. [[HeyItsThatPlace Across the world]], [[InSpace across space]], [[AnotherDimension across dimensions]], [[BulletHell involving a lot of bullets]], [[MechaMooks a lot of enemy robots]], and ''a lot'' of penguins.
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10	If there isn't an Everything Is Better With Boobs trope, there should be, because this series ''lives in it''. How about Refuge in Cleavage?
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12	The series saw two console releases, both for Platform/Xbox360: ''Otomedius Gorgeous'', a port of the original arcade game, and ''Otomedius Excellent'', a console-only sequel. Konami announced a North American release of ''Otomedius Excellent'' for 19 July 2011, but it got delayed for quite a while until, ultimately, it came out at 3 November 2011.
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14	Now has its own [[Characters/{{Otomedius}} Character page]] (Under Construction)
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16	!!This game provides examples of:
17	* ActionGirl - [[WorldOfActionGirls The entire cast]]. Emon counts as an Action Guy.
18	** DesignatedGirlFight - Not really, but the basic core of the trope is manufactured here by turning many male or genderless villains into female versions or making them TheUnfought.
19	* AllThereInTheManual - A lot of information about the characters and setting can only be found on Konami's website, in the game booklet, and in the manga. Hope you can read Japanese!
20	** More of the world of Otomedius is revealed through the DLC. Also, the relationship between Earth and Gradius - Esmeralda complains about Earth's military in her intro.
21	* AmazonBrigade - [[spoiler:with Emon gone, it really is an all-girl squad.]]
22	* AnotherDimension - A lot of missions send the Angels to alternate dimensions of Earth. One notable example is a WhatIf Ancient Egypt progressed into the Space Age, complete with floating sarcophagus gun platforms and mummified penguin robots.
23	** The manga series is also called ''Otomedius: Another Dimension''.
24	* ArtEvolution - The character designs have all changed in varying degrees between ''Gorgeous'' and ''Excellent''.
25	** Of particular note, the uniforms are now more like uniforms, with cuffs sporting the "G" Organization logo on each sleeve.
26	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace - Fan theories abound, but there's no current official explanation for why the characters have no trouble breathing in space, or don't get cold in Antarctica, despite the fact they are HumanAliens.
27	* BulletHell - In higher loops, there are enough bullets and enemies on the screen to cause slowdown on an ''Xbox 360''.
28	** Titi XIV's Scarab Core, on ''any'' difficulty, is this.
29	* CallingYourAttacks - Indirectly. Each time one of the girls activates a weapon on their powerup bar, there's a chance they'll call it out after Operetta announces it. Invokes RuleOfCute on more than one occasion.
30	-->'''Operetta:''' "Homing Missile!"
31	-->'''Poini Kune:''' "Misso~"
32	-->-
33	-->'''Operetta:''' "Aqualaser, Level Two!"
34	-->'''Tita Nium:''' "Waku waku(Exciting).Power Up!"
35	** Also seen when a character performs her P-Burst or D-Burst attacks.
36	* CastOfSnowflakes - Despite having an ''immense'' cast for a ShootEmUp, they're quite well written and unique without being one-dimensional.
37	* ChildProdigy - The ''Otomedius Excellent'' trailer shows the entire cast in their school uniforms. Colored ribbons are used to differentiate between classes. Poini wears the same colors as Esmeralda and Diol, marking her as an upperclassmen to the rest of the cast despite her apparent age of 10.
38	** By contrast, Madoka is also a genius, but still a first-year student. Madoka's know-how seems to be limited to engineering while Poini is more versatile.
39	* ContinuitySnarl - The series isn't entirely clear on whether ''Otomedius'' takes place concurrently to the primary ''Gradius'' timeline (explained as Earth's calendar being roughly 6000 years behind Gradius's, eg. AD 2000 is ~Year 8000 by Gradian reckoning), several thousand years in its past (in which the AD years and Gradian Years match up), or in an AlternateContinuity (probably the most likely explanation).
40	* CoolPlane - Well, [[CoolBike cool flying bike]] based on a plane.
41	* CustomUniform - Most of the Angels wear some variation of the same outfit, usually color-coded to match their Ride Viper.
42	** Averted with Madoka, who wears her school uniform instead. A rare case where a short pleated skirt is the ''less'' revealing choice.
43	*** Madoka has changed her outfit. It's still not the default G look, but it's not her school outfit either.
44	** Even their school uniforms are somewhat customized, decorated with colored ribbons according to their class. Green ribbons are First-Year, Red ribbons are Second-Year, and Yellow ribbons are Third-Year.
45	* CuteEmUp - With enough TokusatsuTropes to stand on its own. The series is also a self-parody to many Tokusatsu series, even including Konami's own ''Series/ChouSeiShinSeries''!
46	* DownloadableContent - The only way to get Stage 4, Esmeralda, and Poini Kune in the first game. All of the character-specific soundtracks are also DLC.
47	** In ''Excellent'', Kokoro Belmont and Strarf are DLC, as are the character soundtracks and a lot of extra stages and costumes.
48	* DoItYourselfThemeTune - The opening theme of ''Otomedius Excellent'', titled "Fly", is sung by Aoba Anoa, Arnval, Strarf, Gesshi Hanafuuma, and Kokoro Belmont, while the ending theme, titled "Otometic", is sung by Erul Tron and Madoka.
49	* EnergyWeapon - A common weapon in the game, always leads to BeamSpam.
50	* EnfantTerrible: Dark Force's larval form is that of a young girl in black-and-white.
51	* ExcusePlot: Yes, there ''is'' a plot. Yes, it ''can'' be interesting. But you don't need to know it to enjoy the [[{{Fanservice}} premise]].
52	* FunbagAirbag - Poini ''intentionally'' uses Esmeralda's chest this way in the ''Otomedius Excellent'' trailer. Doubles as a FreezeFrameBonus. Esmeralda's reaction is predictable.
53	* GratuitousEnglish - Poini Kune's voice actress is well-known in Japan for English dialogue. As a result, Poini has a lot of English dialogue as well as Japanese. It's also used to reflect her ChildProdigy status. It's also [[RuleOfCute freakin' adorable.]]
54	-->'''Operetta:''' "Homing Missile, level two!"
55	-->'''Poini Kune:''' "Level two~."
56	-->-
57	-->'''Poini Kune:''' "Drive system switched to normal mode."
58	-->-
59	-->'''Poini Kune:''' "Ryoukai! Select your route~!"
60	-->-
61	-->'''Poini Kune:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJpPCldc0I "Crush all of them!"]]
62	** If some of Poini's quotes sound familiar, that's because she [[MythologyGag loves to quote]] [[ShoutOut Gradius Gaiden's announcer]].
63	*** And sometimes, the actual names of stages. When entering Easter Island, Poini occasionally declares "Ruins of Silence~!" She also does this in the jungle ruins stage of ''Excellent''.
64	* HitboxDissonance - The player characters all have hitboxes smaller than their graphics. Without this, you would die a ''lot'' more often. BulletHell and all.
65	* HumanAliens - Esmeralda, Erul Tron, and Poini Kune are all Gradians, but look exactly like humans. Madoka is also an alien, from planet Mel. Emon Five is from Ebisuboshi. R.B. and L.B. Gofer, Meta Lium, Tita Nium, T.B. Rika, and Dark Force are all Bacterians and are also very human-like in appearance. In Dark Force's case, she actually transforms from humanoid to monster and back, filling in a plot hole: every other Bacterian before them has been a giant, pulsating brain and [[EyeScream destroyable free-floating eyes]], so it can be assumed now that the others may be able to transform as well (even if they prefer to pilot robots).
66	* KaizoTrap - [[FinalBoss Odin Core]] features a nostalgic attack pattern where it shoots out huge laser beams, then reflects small lasers off them. If Odin Core is defeated during this phase, it will continue to fire the huge laser beams while it collapses inward in its death animation, sweeping the screen and guaranteeing player death.
67	* LetsPlay - Tons, usually by shows that focus on bargain-bin games, such as LetsPlay/SuperPlayify.
68	* LevelInBossClothing - The final stages in ''Excellent'' and ''Gorgeous'' are both extremely hard. In true Gradius tradition, ''Excellent's'' ends with an AntiClimaxBoss, though ''Gorgeous'' follows its LevelInBossClothing with a BossRush and then the TrueFinalBoss.
69	* LongLostRelative: Both Erul and Kokoro are the long-lost little sisters of characters from the series that inspired them.
70	* MoreDakka - As with most shooters. Scarab Core approaches ''enough dakka'' in higher loops.
71	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands - In ''Otomedius'', it was suggested that Platonic power is why the characters can breathe in space. In ''Excellent'', if this is the case, Platonic power's purview expands to include protection against atmospheric re-entry.
72	* NonuniformUniform: All the Angels have slight variations on their uniforms. Madoka and Arnval wear outright completely different outfits because they're existing characters ported from different series.
73	* {{Portmanteau}} - Otomedius is a combination of Otome (meaning Maiden) and ''Gradius''.
74	* ReflectingLaser - Happens all over the place in the Antarctic stage and versus Snowflake Core. Also one of several attack combinations performed by R.B. and L.B. Gofers' tandem fighters, Hugin and Munin.
75	** ''Excellent's'' Red Hot Mine stage includes a branch filled with laser-refracting crystals, and there's an enemy type which reflects lasers back at the player as their only form of attack.
76	* ReplacementGoldfish - [[spoiler:Gesshi and Kokoro join the team to [[PutOnABus replace Emon]]. His sister finds it callous, despite it being necessary.]]
77	* RuleThirtyFour - It didn't take long for artists to notice that Diol Twee has tentacles.
78	* SchizoTech - The game is set in what appears to be 21st-century, modern Earth, although it's the 6000s in the AlternativeCalendar used by Planet Gradius. But then you have the Riding Vipers, which are flying motorbikes with lasers and missiles. ''Excellent'' introduces a massive space fleet and casual TimeTravel abilities. It's explained that the really advanced technology was introduced to Earth via the "G" organization, an anti-Bacterion alliance of which Earth is a part (and Planet Gradius being one of the founding members).
79	* ShootEmUp - While also a Cute Em Up, ''Otomedius'' has enough of a plot to stand on its own rather than hiding in audacity and cultural in-jokes.
80	%%* ShoutOut - The series is built on Konami references.
81	* SpellMyNameWithAnS - The English release of ''Excellent'' changes the spellings for some of the character names. ''Belmondo'' to ''Belmont'' has a [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} precedent]], but ''Gofer'' to ''Gofa'' and ''Emon'' to ''Eamon'', not so much.
82	* SuperMovePortraitAttack - The playable characters can initiate special moves termed P-Burst and D-Burst. After [[CallingYourAttacks Shouting it out]] over their portrait, the character burns a P-Burst charge to clear the screen. A D-Burst, by contrast, is a character-specific super attack with a charge time, and is generally a GameBreaker when used on bosses.
83	-->'''Poini Kune:''' "Blast Orb..!"
84	** In ''Excellent'', the portraits only cut in during the Bomb-type ''Platonic Burst'', which clears the screen of enemies and bullets. The super attack styled ''Platonic Break'' has no portraits, but also doesn't consume a Burst Capsule and can be spammed (cooldown permitting).
85	* SuperpowerLottery - According to official art, Poini can generate gravity wells ''on her own''. The graphic is identical to her Ride Viper's [[GameBreaker Gravity Bullet]] weapon, balanced on her fingertip.
86	** Similarly, official art shows Esmeralda mimicking Jade Knight's Ring Laser weapon with only her hands. Gradians have a terrible power, it seems. [[spoiler: In Excellent's art gallery, Esmeralda is shown using a Ring Laser shot like a ]]''[[spoiler:hula hoop.]]'' [[HumanAliens Erul]], being from the Wreek alien race, has telepathy and can interface with compatible machines that way, Diol can turn her hair into CombatTentacles, and Kokoro's bloodline abilities manifest with her Platonic Break taking the form of a Grand Cross, but Poini and Esmeralda are on another level.
87	* TheOneGuy - Emon Five. {{Lampshaded}}, as the other Angels don't seem to like him or even know why he's on the team. In the cast photo at the top, he's in the very back and center, holding the long pipe.
88	-->'''Diol Twee:''' "'Big Sis'...? What a rude guy he is!"
89	-->'''Emon Five:''' "This is ''bullshit''! I'm just doin' my job and I'm ''already'' in bad air!"
90	-->'''Madoka:''' "Why is there a man among us, ''any''way?"
91	* TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse - The first mission that takes place on Anoa's version of Earth takes place in Tokyo.
92	* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Dark Force has white hair and is the BigBad in ''Excellent''.
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Context VideoGame / Otomedius