Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context VideoGame / Pepsiman

Go To

1%%
2%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1661966803060361400
3%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
4%%
5[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pepsimancover1.jpg]]
6%%
7
8->''"There isn't enough Pepsi for everyone, and violence has flared up amongst those wanting Pepsi! Exhausted people are collapsing because they can't refresh themselves with Pepsi! If it continues like this, there will be a worldwide shortage of Pepsi, and we'll have a real problem!"''
9-->-- '''LargeHam Cop'''
10
11''Pepsiman'' is a 1999 LicensedGame for the Platform/PlayStation developed by KID, based on a series of Japanese TV commercials featuring Pepsi's ProductAsSuperhero mascot, Advertising/{{Pepsiman}}.
12
13The player controls Pepsiman, who runs and jumps through four 3D stages on urgent missions to deliver Pepsi to thirsty American citizens. In between stages, Mike Butters sits at home guzzling Pepsi and saying wacky slogans (in English with Japanese subtitles).
14
15Pepsiman previously appeared as a SecretCharacter in the Japanese UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn version of ''VideoGame/FightingVipers''. The surprising resemblance between this game and the first stage of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' is probably coincidental.
16
17Reviewed by WebVideo/{{the Angry Video Game Nerd}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdVP2XxV3QU here]].
18
19Compare ''VideoGame/CocaColaKid'', a game for a product from Pepsi's rival company.
20----
21!!This game contains Pepsi and examples of the following tropes:
22* OneDimensionalThinking: The first chase stage visibly has a good amount of sidewalk space on either side of you that Pepsi Man could have simply moved to, yet he can't. Justified for the rest of the chase stages, since there's little to no room on the sides.
23* OneUp: Collecting 20 Pepsi cans gives an extra life at the of the level (so all 100 in a level gives 5 lives), though on Expert Mode you only get an extra life for each 25 cans.
24* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Pepsiman's previous design is an unlockable and you can unlock [[spoiler:a wire-frame version of Pepsiman if you collect every Pepsi can in every level. Beat the game on Expert difficulty and you can make Pepsiman straight up turn {{invisib|ility}}le.]]
25* {{Bathos}}: This game does not take itself seriously at all. Between the increasingly absurd situations that require Pepsi, the slapstick situations Pepsiman can be in (such as having a trash bin over his head for part of a level), the live-action cutscenes with intentionally broken English, and other things, the game goes for a more comical approach of its mascot-based nature.
26* BeggarWithASignboard: The sidewalk beggars are holding up "Give Me PEPSI" signs.
27* TheBlank: Pepsiman lacks a face. He's still able to scream at times despite having no mouth.
28* BookEnds: The first and last "Boss" is the giant Pepsi can.
29* BottomlessPits: The stages have bottomless pits all over the place, including on city streets.
30* ChaseSceneObstacleCourse: Act 3 of each level involves Pepsiman being [[AdvancingWallOfDoom chased by something]] and Pepsiman has to navigate through obstacles to survive.
31* CheckPoint: All but the running-towards-the-camera scenes have spinning checkpoints. Each one sets the timer to a certain value when you die and restart from there.
32* CompanyCrossReferences: The man in the cutscenes can be seen eating a bag of Lays potato chips, which are made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of [=PepsiCo=].
33* TheDeterminator: Aside from stopping briefly for a Pepsi, or unless you run out of time or lives, pretty much nothing would stop Pepsiman from doing his duty.
34* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Subverted with a red truck mercilessly chasing after Pepsiman in one of the stages, which looks suspiciously like Coca-Cola's... until its logo spells out "[[BrandX Red Pizza]]" for TheReveal.
35* {{Eagleland}}: The gameplay depicts the beautiful Eagleland which Pepsiman augments, while the [=FMVs=] have the stereotypical boorish Eaglelander depicted as fat and gruffy.
36* EdibleCollectible: Pepsiman collects Pepsi cans he runs into along the way.
37* EndlessRunningGame: Likely the UrExample, as it existed long before the genre exploded on smartphones.
38* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Including countless objects [[EtTuBrute related to the very brand you're working for.]]
39* FunnyForeigner: The reason why Mike Butters was selected to play the Pepsi fan. In Butters's own words, he was trying to invoke [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Hank Hill]].
40* GratuitousEnglish: Between each stage you are treated to a slogan in broken English. Unusual in that it's an American saying them.
41-->"Pepsi for TV Game"\
42"Pepsi for Pizza"\
43"Pepsi: [[OurSloganIsTerrible Only My Choice]]"\
44etc.
45* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: The ending of the second part of Stage 2 has Pepsiman {{Roofhopping}} across a series of New York buildings, but the final building has a noticeably larger jump to make. Don't bother jumping and you fall down and lose a life. Press the jump button and Pepsiman... gets halfway across the gap and fails the jump anyway, although this still counts as clearing the level.
46* InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt: The first part of the Pepsi Factory area is entirely running along conveyor belts that run in either or neither direction while dodging things sliding along or falling onto them, as well as avoiding the inexplicably placed BottomlessPits.
47* IndyEscape: Every stage ends with Pepsiman running towards the camera away from some unstoppable object, including giant Pepsi cans and the "Cave Pizza" truck (whose logo looks suspiciously like Coca-Cola's) that chases him in one of the commercials.
48* InterfaceScrew: The sequences where Pepsiman gets a garbage can stuck on his head, which inverts the player's right and left controls.
49* IronButtmonkey: Pepsiman will always get through hilarious harm from which not even playing perfectly will save him. It's still hilarious as Pepsiman takes it all like nothing, except for a few grunts.
50* JustTrainWrong: Despite being set in America, the trains in the subway stage are clearly based on Japanese models, and run on the 1,067mm narrow gauge track commonly used in Japan.
51** The San Francisco cable cars are an exception, using the same 1,067mm track gauge as the Japanese railways, yet [[https://image.winudf.com/v2/image/YmludGFuZ3JhcG9wby5uZXdwZXBzaW1lbmNoZWF0X3NjcmVlbl84XzE1MDM3ODgyMDRfMDg3/screen-8.jpg?h=800&fakeurl=1&type=.jpg Pepsi-Man's rendition of the line]] features horrendously crooked standard-gauge track.
52* LevelGoal: Scene I of every stage ends at a Pepsi vending machine, and Scene II ends in front of a large thirsty crowd.
53* LifeMeter: The size of the Pepsi symbol near the number of cans collected indicates how many more hits Pepsiman can take.
54* MercyInvincibility: The usual flashing invincibility from colliding with anything without dying.
55* NintendoHard: The game's difficulty skyrockets as it goes on. Instant kill hazards become more frequent and good twitch reflexes are increasingly more required.
56* NoAntagonist: The conflict is Pepsiman trying to make sure the citizens get their Pepsi, and while he runs across various obstacles, none of them are sentient, but things like cars and furniture. Even the bosses are inanimate objects chasing Pepsiman for whatever reason.
57* PottyEmergency: TheStinger shows our Pepsi-chugging TV watcher finally getting up off his chair, grabbing his crotch, and running off to the bathroom. And with good reason, as the camera has also zoomed out to show exactly how much Pepsi he drank while he was watching you play through the game. Every surface in his living room is ''completely covered'' in empty cans.
58* ProductPlacement: Of course, but unlike other video games with product placement this game takes it to a ''ridiculous'' extreme; while most of the levels have a generous amount of Pepsi logos in them, such as in the form of trucks & boxes, the last few levels take place in "Pepsi City", where EVERYTHING has the Pepsi logo on it!
59* RakeTake: Except with shovels.
60* {{Roofhopping}}: Pepsiman hops across roofs in the second stage, though GameplayAndStorySegregation forces him to miss the final jump. [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose Note the player must actually try to jump to complete the stage.]]
61* SerialEscalation: The situations that require Pepsiman grows from refilling a vending machine to helping people on a burning building to helping people who were left stranded in the desert to stopping a computer problem that threatens to cause mass-rioting.
62* SeriousBusiness: Pepsi is considered ''very'' important in this world, down to having its own city. People drink the stuff enough to cause shortages of it, and then threaten to riot when they can't get it anymore.
63* SigilSpam: Pepsi is everywhere. Pepsi for Everything. Exaggerated in the final level, which is literally Pepsi City.
64* TitleScream: Memorably, shouts of "PEPSIMAN!" can be found in abundance throughout the soundtrack.
65* UnderTheTruck: Pepsiman can safely slide underneath a truck due to athleticism and the material of his amazing suit.
66* VideoGameDashing: The player can dash to run faster, plow through light obstacles and jump over the larger BottomlessPits, with a "whoosh" sound effect.
67* VideoGameSliding: Pepsiman can glide under obstacles, break through (some) walls and objects, and [[ComedicSociopathy knock other [=NPCs=] out of the way]] with a powerful slide maneuver.
68----

Top