| 1 | %% |
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| 3 | %% Individual character-related tropes go in the Character sheet. |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %% References to other works go in ShoutOut/Skullgirls. |
| 6 | %% |
| 7 | %% YMMV and Trivia entries go in the YMMV and Trivia tabs. |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:336:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skullgirls_2nd_encore.jpg]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:336: Ladies and gentlemen([[ImprobablyFemaleCast ?]]) it's...'''''SHOWTIME!''''']] |
| 13 | ->''"Legend tells of an artifact that can grant a woman's wish...The Skull Heart. However, if she is impure of heart, her wish will be corrupted and she will be turned into an immensely powerful, twisted being of destruction...The Skullgirl.\ |
| 14 | A new Skullgirl has risen: who will defeat her and claim the Skull Heart?"'' |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ''[[http://skullgirls.com/ Skullgirls]]'' is a frenetic 2D FightingGame putting players in control of an (almost) all-female cast à la ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart''. The game combines {{Animesque}} character designs with a stylized [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood Golden Age]] film {{motif}}, employing "Dark Deco" stage backgrounds and a cinematic presentation. (The look and the name both derive from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.) |
| 17 | |
| 18 | The game was developed by Reverge Labs, published by Autumn Games and formerly Creator/{{Konami}} as well as by Creator/ArcSystemWorks in Japan. It was maintained by Creator/LabZeroGames until its closure in 2020. The game is currently in the hands of three teams: Autumn Games continues to act as the publisher, while active development is handled by Future Club, a studio formed by some of Lab Zero's former developers, and Hidden Variable Studios, who both work on the main game and act as the primary dev team for the mobile version. ''Skullgirls'' features work from an all-star development crew: [[PromotedFanboy fighting game veteran]] Mike "Mike Z" Zaimont (he of [[VideoGame/BlazBlue REAL SOVIET DAMAGE]] fame) led the project, Creator/CristinaValenzuela directed the voice acting, Alex Ahad (whose prior work credits include ''Lava Punch'', Studio UDON's Tribute books, and promotional art for ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'') created artwork for the game, and Music/MichiruYamane provided the music. The result is an eclectic and delightfully quirky cast and setting. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | In the Canopy Kingdom, female combatants fight in an attempt to control the enigmatic Skull Heart, a mysterious MacGuffin with the power to bestow wishes -- but not without a substantial price. Should the victor possess an impure soul, the Skull Heart corrupts both her wish and her physical body into a living nightmare that haunts humanity: a monstrous entity known only as the Skullgirl. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | In the middle of a war with two other nations, the Canopy Kingdom's queen won the Skull Heart and wished for peace. In a way, she got her wish: after transforming into the most powerful and dangerous Skullgirl in history, all three countries agreed to stop fighting each other in order to save themselves from the Skullgirl. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | When the game's story begins, the now-ended war remains fresh in everyone's minds, and rumors say a new Skullgirl has risen… |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ''Skullgirls''[='=] gameplay carries the feel of old-school arcade fighters while providing a high-definition twist. It features a "ratio system" that allows each player to choose to fight with one character or a team of up to three characters, resulting in different combinations for a particular match. The game also features a special combo detection system: if a player begins an infinite combo, the damage strikes change color, and the game will allow the opponent to "burst" out of the infinite and knock the offensive player away. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | The default cast of playable characters includes [[{{Shotoclone}} Filia]], [[GrappleMove Cerebella]], [[LongRangeFighter Peacock]], [[ChargedAttack Parasoul]], [[PuppetFighter Ms. Fortune]], [[FlyingBrick Painwheel]], [[LightningBruiser Valentine]], and [[DittoFighter Double]]. Check the [[Characters/{{Skullgirls}} Character sheet]] for more information on all of them. Six DLC characters are currently in the game. The first, [[StanceSystem Squigly]], was included with the beta and final releases of the PC version and was later released for the console versions, having been funded thanks to a crowdfunding drive. [[MightyGlacier Big Band]] became the second DLC character, and [[TheOneGuy first male character]] in the roster. The third and fourth (fan-voted characters from the crowdfunding drive) are [[StanceSystem Eliza]] and [[MoraleMechanic Beowulf]]. The fifth is [[LongRangeFighter Robo-Fortune]]: started off as a meta joke, then became an alternate voice pack, before becoming a full blown character thanks to the crowdfunding drive becoming a massive success (see below for details). The sixth is [[MovesetClone Fukua]], who was originally conceived as an AprilFoolsDay joke and subsequently turned into an actual character after fan input. The team at Lab Zero confirmed 25-28 possible future DLC characters (all of which could be SavedForTheSequel). |
| 29 | |
| 30 | Both the Platform/PlaystationNetwork and Platform/XboxLiveArcade carry the game in the US, Europe, and Australia, and the game's available to PC gamers through Steam. A version of the game with translated text was published by Cyber Front on the Japanese PSN in February 2013; despite Japan's general mild distaste for downloadable games, ''Skullgirls'' became a smash hit. (There are currently no plans for a Japanese XBLA version.) Due to legal issues surrounding the developers' rocky relationship with Konami (see below), the original PSN and XBLA releases of ''Skullgirls'' were delisted at the end of 2013; Lab Zero later republished the game on both services in Febuary 2014 on PSN and Steam, and in April 2014 on XBLA as ''Skullgirls Encore'' (due to specific platform differences, PSN's version of ''Encore'' comes as an entirely new standalone release, while XBLA's version patches the original ''Skullgirls'' release). |
| 31 | |
| 32 | The game was notably in an aftermarket DevelopmentHell, due to a serious case of prolonged TroubledProduction. Most of the post-release content, including the first patch and the first [=DLC=] character, was delayed because the ''Skullgirls'' team members were laid off from Reverge Labs (the original studio). This was due to Konami's and Autumn Games' (the publisher and owner of the ''Skullgirls'' franchise) being hit with an unrelated lawsuit[[note]]According to [[https://twitter.com/LabZeroGames/status/299030684591325184 official sources]], [[http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/05/23/konami-autumn-games-sued-def-jam-rapstar-credit-line#.UVOgw1dEK-U it involves]] ''[[VideoGame/DefJamSeries DefJam Rapstar]]''[[/note]] which tied up financial assets intended for the developers. Thankfully, Autumn Games helped them back up by supporting their new independent company, Lab Zero Games, as reflected on the newly-patched intro screen of the game. Lab Zero then started a [[http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keep-skullgirls-growing fan fundraising project]] to get new content out, which became ''much'' more successful than anyone expected it to be. Originally set to fund just one character[[note]]who was one-third done before the TroubledProduction and the fundraiser began[[/note]], the fundraiser raised enough to fund a total of ''five'' [=DLC=] characters fully, each of them with their own [=DLC=] stage and story mode! (And two more stages were added thanks to {{Contest Winner Cameo}}s.) |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Additionally, as part of one of the final stretch goals of the crowdfunding, Lab Zero allowed the [[VideoGame/MyLittlePonyFightingIsMagic Mane6 team]] to use the engine behind ''Skullgirls'' as part of their title which replaced ''Fighting Is Magic'' after they received a cease-and-desist from Hasbro. ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'' was the result. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | A port entitled ''Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'' was released on July 7th, 2015 for the [[Platform/PlayStation4 Playstation 4]] and [[Platform/PlaystationVita Playstation Vita]]. ''Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'' has exclusive content and provides, most significantly, full voice-acting in all the character story modes. Similarly, Creator/ArcSystemWorks published ''2nd Encore'' in Japan, complete with a full Japanese voice cast and in ''arcades'' no less. The additional gameplay features and voiced story cutscenes have been added to the Steam edition as DLC. In November 2016, a limited-edition physical copy of ''2nd Encore'' was available on Limited Run Games for [=PS4=] and Vita with the soundtrack and a book as bonuses, and were to be delivered in January 2017. They sold over 10,000 copies to get the money needed to buy the Japanese dub of the game from Creator/ArcSystemWorks for the English version of the game and will put them in the PC and [=PS4=] versions. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | In 2018, ''Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'' was confirmed for a release on the Platform/NintendoSwitch, marking the franchise's very first appearance on a Creator/{{Nintendo}} system. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Hidden Variable Studios released the Android and iOS port, ''Skullgirls Mobile'', in May 2017. It serves as a {{Prequel}} to the main game, taking place in the same year, but before Marie had made herself known as the Skullgirl. The game is split off into chapters for story mode and coupled with daily missions and gauntlets. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | In August 2020, a brand new character was revealed for the series in the form of Annie, five years after the last character was revealed. She was added to the mobile game later in the year and was added to ''2nd Encore'' in July 2021 (excluding the Switch version, where the Season Pass and Annie will release later), with another three new characters (Umbrella, Black Dahlia, and [[PromotedToPlayable Marie]]) on the way after her as part of the game's first season pass. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | In addition, after multiple appearances at various events, an official online North American [[MediaNotes/FightingGameCommunity esports]] series, the [[https://www.skullgirlschampionship.com/ Skullgirls Championship Series]], was launched in Spring of 2021, with the first of three seasonal majors- or "Blockbusters", as they're referred to- happening in April. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | A weekly Platform/{{Webtoon}} [[Webcomic/{{Skullgirls}} series]] written by Mike Exner III and illustrated by Wiirdo and Leigha launched on November 19th, 2022. |
| 47 | ---- |
| 48 | !Make it flashy, guys... action! ''Skullgirls'' proudly presents the following tropes: |
| 49 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 50 | |
| 51 | [[folder:A-M]] |
| 52 | * ActionGirl: This being the kind of game it is, the entire playable cast certainly qualifies. |
| 53 | ** So far, the only exceptions are the male DLC characters Big Band and Beowulf unless you count the parasites some of the characters have, all of whom are either male or genderless with the exception of Sekhmet, Eliza's skeleton-Parasite. |
| 54 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 55 | ** In the case of the Japanese dub voice of Parasoul, [[VideoGame/Persona3 this isn't the first time]] Creator/RieTanaka [[VideoGame/Persona3 voiced a red-headed leader who spouts]] GratuitousFrench [[VideoGame/Persona3 and fights with a weapon like a rapier]]. At the same time, her Mitsuru Kirijo skin become double case of Actor Allusion and a case of HilariousInHindsight. |
| 56 | ** In the same way, it's not the first time Creator/DaisukeOno voiced [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV a wrestler]]. |
| 57 | ** Creator/KanaHanazawa (Miss Fortune and Robo-Fortune) already voiced girls [[Literature/{{Oreimo}} related]] with [[Anime/DogDays cats]]. |
| 58 | ** Back to the original English version, Peacock's GagDub voice pack is that of an OccidentalOtaku rather than the Golden Age of Cartoons, and her voice actress Sarah Anne Williams (and plenty others in the cast) have had some experience dubbing anime. |
| 59 | * AerithAndBob: Well, we've got characters with names like Filia, Parasoul, Cerebella, and Umbrella, alongside others with names like Adam, Patricia, [[spoiler:Carol]], and Nadia. Sort of [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]], though, since there are a lot more Bobs than Aeriths. |
| 60 | * AffectionateParody: [[spoiler:If, by some miracle, you defeat [[{{Superboss}} Marie 300%]] in Squigly's joke "story mode" (which consists of ''just'' that boss fight), you get a parody of anime episode previews narrated by Filia and Samson, complete with Japanese title cards and excessively lengthy episode names.]] |
| 61 | * AIBreaker: Filia's boss form in Fukua's Story mode has inflated stats and an AI stuck on Nightmare difficulty. However, she has issues dealing with Fukua's Inevitable Snuggle special throw. Fukua has considerable start-up super armor on said move which the AI Filia repeatedly fails to break with jabs rather than moves that can actually get through it. While slow, timing it just as Filia gets up from one is a reliable way of beating an otherwise difficult endboss. |
| 62 | * AmbidextrousSprite: When Peacock, Parasoul, Valentine, Eliza and Beowulf turn around, their respective weapons swap hands. |
| 63 | ** When Squigly turns around, Leviathan comes out of the other side of her head. |
| 64 | * AmbiguousTimePeriod: The exact time frame the game is ''very'' vague. For starters, while the Canopy Kingdom is filled with many things that could be found in the 1940s, it also has access to some pretty advanced technology. |
| 65 | * AndTheAdventureContinues: Unlike the {{Downer Ending}}s of other characters [[spoiler: Big Band's ending has him watch the sunset while knowing that the battle isn't over.]] |
| 66 | * {{Animesque}}: Made by Americans, but Japanese enough in feel to get backing by Konami. |
| 67 | * AnnouncerChatter: The announcer not only calls out character selections, but has a wide variety of battle start and battle end quotes. There are also three variant announcers which each have approiximately as many lines. |
| 68 | ** There's even one scenario where the announcer will speak in the middle of battle, if Beowulf pulls off a Blockbuster at Hype 3 in the NMO Arena. |
| 69 | * AntagonistTitle: Even though there's only one. However, there have been many Skullgirls in the past. Marie is simply the latest one. |
| 70 | * AntiRegeneration: |
| 71 | ** Miss Fortune swallowed the Life Gem, which lets her typically survive lethal attacks by [[PullingThemselvesTogether reattaching severed body parts]]. In Cerebella's story mode, Vice-Versa crushes Miss Fortune into a new Life Gem--which has a cat's face, so she might ''technically'' still be alive. In Eliza's story, she is immobilized by her body parts being stored in separate containers. |
| 72 | ** Eliza has a HealingFactor that depends on blood. In Black Dahlia's story mode, Black Dahlia has her stage designed to drain all blood away to prevent Eliza from healing before sending her henchbunnies to incinerate her. |
| 73 | ** In ''Mobile'', the Reverse Polarity modifier reverses all healing. |
| 74 | * AprilFoolsDay: |
| 75 | ** For 2014, a new character called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXN5yr4dGIc Fukua]] was added to the game, a {{Palette Swap}}ped MovesetClone of Filia who appears to have been made without spending a single cent, and ''might'' be a jab towards [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV another fighting game's]] latest character. |
| 76 | ** For 2021, ''all'' of Annie's voice lines were replaced with her jumping heavy punch voice line of "ROLLING!" The official patch notes for this marked it as "[[{{Troll}} a more pleasant gameplay experience]]". |
| 77 | * ArtEvolution: Not in the game itself, but Alex Ahad's drawing skills have increased big time, from the rough, unpolished first concepts of 2005-2006 to the professional spreads of 2012. |
| 78 | ** It begins to show in the game itself. The [=DLCs=] are a step up from the artwork of the original campaigns. |
| 79 | ** While not technically ''Art'' Evolution (Presentation Evolution?), the story mode paths of the DLC characters have much higher production values than those of the default roster, featuring longer cutscenes and more artwork. Earlier characters' storylines can feel very light in comparison. |
| 80 | ** Even the artstyle used years after Alex left the game's production team is shown to be much smoother than the base story mode artwork. |
| 81 | * ArtifactOfDoom: The Skull Heart. If there's even the least taint of corruption within the person who uses it, the Heart will mutate her into the next Skullgirl. Even worse, [[spoiler: one of the characters' endings reveals that the Skull Heart is ''sentient'', and actually ''[[JackassGenie wants]]'' to create more Skullgirls.]] |
| 82 | * ArtificialStupidity: Even on the harder modes, the [=AI=] doesn't seem to know what to do when the player is in the air (except Marie, who does [[SNKBoss what she always does]]). Normally this doesn't amount to much, because most jumps are very short, but repeated jumping and Painwheel's Flight mode can leave the computer uselessly futzing around for extensive periods of time (ironically making Painwheel a good counter for [=CPU=] Peacock). |
| 83 | * ArtShift: In the story modes of Squigly and Big Band, the story segments that aren't simply a character portrait or two against a stage background are of a more painterly style than the artwork used in the main game. Fukua's story mode segments are all in a much less detailed style than anything else in the entire game. |
| 84 | * ArtStyleDissonance: See CrapsackWorld below. |
| 85 | -->'''Alex Ahad''': ''The personality is kind of my own thing -- I like making things that are ridiculous and over-the-top, but are also serious and tinged with a [[BlackComedy dark sense of humor]]. And a lot of my characters are cute, but I always end up putting [[GrotesqueCute something off-putting or violent about them]].'' |
| 86 | * AscendedExtra: |
| 87 | ** Most of the potential DLC characters are background characters in the vanilla game. |
| 88 | ** A non-character example with the Glass Canopy stage. It was first seen solely as a background in a panel of Parasoul's story mode. |
| 89 | * AscendedMeme: |
| 90 | ** Robo-Fortune, is a fully fleshed-out character, thanks to the fund-drive. |
| 91 | ** Fukua, who became a playable character on a mere whim of Lab Zero's. |
| 92 | ** As well as a few of the [[GagDub Gag Dubs]] mentioned below. |
| 93 | ** In Squigly's tentative story mode included in the game's extra menu, Marie asks when her real story mode is going to come out. Squigly's response? [[spoiler: "Two weeks!"]] Marie is ''not pleased.'' |
| 94 | --->'''Marie 300%''': I'll teach you to troll me! |
| 95 | * AsLongAsThereIsEvil: The Skull Heart can never truly be destroyed; it always returns every seven years to turn those with dark desires into Skullgirls. [[spoiler:(That is, unless The Trinity has any indication)]].[[spoiler: Black Dahlia's story also indicates that it will disappear if it successfully grants a non-corrupted wish- harder than it looks, since it considers even the most benevolent of wishes to be inherently corrupt because you're using an outside force to obtain your goal- though such wishes result in a delayed Skullgirl transformation. The trick, it seems, is to make a wish that doesn't benefit or harm ''anyone'', such as Dahlia's wish to live in a world of eternal conflict, which isn't harmful because it only affects her and isn't beneficial because of its nihilistic nature.]] |
| 96 | * AsideGlance: One of the things Peacock can drop on her opponent is a ''fully grown live elephant'', which not only survives the fall unharmed, but gives one of these glances at the player. |
| 97 | ** Cerebella takes several looks at the player at [[FreezeFrameBonus blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments]] during several of her attacks. Possibly justified, as she ''is'' a performer at heart. |
| 98 | * BackbenchhittingAttack: |
| 99 | ** The Neuromancer variant of Painwheel has a signature ability of damaging her opponent's teammates with a percentage of her Blockbuster damage. |
| 100 | ** The Trigger Happy variant of Black Dahlia signature abilities focus on her shots being able to damage her opponent's teammates and gaining Enrage buffs when said teammates take damage. |
| 101 | ** The Bio-Exorcist variant of Squigly has an inverted example where her signature ability will drain a certain percentage of health from her teammates should she suffer a fatal hit while having at least one Dragon Charge. |
| 102 | * BallroomBlitz: The fourth DLC stage, Glass Canopy, is a massive ballroom first seen in a background in Parasoul's story mode. |
| 103 | * BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: Both Painwheel and Fukua's story modes have one of these - Painwheel's against a palette swap as she resists Brain Drain's control, and Fukua's as she fights Filia, Fukua's case having a twist in that she herself is the opposing force in Filia's mind, being a figment of her nightmare and all. |
| 104 | * BeatingADeadPlayer: Continuing a combo on a defeated opponent would originally allow you to build meter, but after a patch, this was changed so that only the defeated player would (encouraging players to not be jerks about it). |
| 105 | * BeatStillMyHeart: The Skull Heart is [[spoiler:both a skull and a heart, with glowing blue blood vessels that spread out and provide the platform for the final stage]]. |
| 106 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Skull Heart can grant any wish, but if one's heart is even the slightest bit impure, or the wish even slightly selfish, they will turn into a Skullgirl, and their wish will be perverted. The queen of the Canopy Kingdom wanted to end a global war. She got her wish, but only after becoming so dangerous a Skullgirl that the warring nations set aside their differences to stop her. |
| 107 | * BigBadEnsemble: While [[NinjaMaid Marie]] is the current [[TranshumanAbomination Skullgirl]] who threatens the Canopy Kingdom, she isn't the only one who is extremely dangerous. With the other big bads being [[MadScientist Brain Drain]], [[TheDon Lorenzo]], [[EvilDiva Eliza]], [[EldritchAbomination Double]], and [[GodIsEvil the Trinity]]. |
| 108 | * BigDamnHeroes: |
| 109 | ** Filia and Squigly pull of one of these at the end of Eliza's Story Mode. [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins It doesn't work very well.]]]] |
| 110 | ** Annie performs one in Beowulf's story mode, with more positive results. |
| 111 | * BilingualBonus: The achievement for completing the tutorial is "Sküllgirls". That would be pronounced [[spoiler:Schoolgirls]]. |
| 112 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Almost every character]] ending. |
| 113 | ** [[spoiler:The closest one to a completely happy ending is Ms. Fortune's, but even in that one Minette gets kidnapped, [[AndTheAdventureContinues leaving Nadia and her friends to search for her]]. Peacock's would be relatively happy, if not for Dr. Avian and most of the Anti-Skullgirls Labs being destroyed]]. |
| 114 | *** [[spoiler: However, Valentine is the one who invaded Lab 8 in Peacock's story, and it's possible that she uses her medical techniques to make the scientists only look dead to please Double and Marie. The support for this is in Beowulf's story, where Avian is alive in the ending despite what Big Band says after fighting Beowulf.]] |
| 115 | ** [[spoiler: It would seem that Beowulf has finally broken the cycle and experienced a story with an unambiguously happy ending and no strings attached, although even then [[EarnYourHappyEnding he had to work for it]].]] |
| 116 | ** [[spoiler: Big Band's ending is actually relatively good, despite his rather pessimistic outlook: Dr Avian has been killed but the Skull Heart has been destroyed, Painwheel has been rescued and has a chance at a normal life, and the gang that used to control the city has been badly weakened]]. |
| 117 | ** [[spoiler:Black Dahlia's ending is simultaneously one of the worst for the characters due to how many she kills during her rampage, and one of the most hopeful for the world as the Medici family is done for, Dahlia herself is gone, and the Skull Heart disappears due to successfully granting her wish.]] |
| 118 | ** [[spoiler:Marie's ending is actually a happy one as not only is she finally free from the Skull Heart's influence and reconciled with her friend Peacock, but she also finally avenged every previous Skullgirl that was used by the Trinity for their own plans. However, everyone that was killed during her attack on the Medici is gone like The Last Hope and Lab 8 and Double is still alive and on the run. The Post Credits scene them reveals that Brain Drain now knows what Theonite actually is thanks to Valentine's report and has created the "Chrome Heart" as a way to take down the Trinity.]] |
| 119 | * BloodlessCarnage: The characters are stabbed, shot, crushed, blown up, and God only knows what else in-game, yet there's far less actual bloodshed involved than you would expect. [[{{Gorn}} There are a few exceptions]]... but see the character sheet for more details. |
| 120 | * BloodyHorror: Invoked in Ms. Fortune's backstory. She got her abilities when she swallowed a stolen gem with immortality-granting properties, and was promptly butchered alive by a mafia assassin. She woke up later on the seafloor, finding her body in pieces and surrounded by the chopped-up carcasses of her friends. |
| 121 | * BloodyHilarious: Ms. Fortune's DetachmentCombat. She doesn't appear to be in any pain when making weaponized use out of her limbs and is cracking {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s constantly while doing it, further adding to the hilarity. |
| 122 | * BodyHorror: One of the defining elements amongst the characters. Many of the girls have some kind of terrible, weaponized bodily gimmick, and many of them are fully explained. Squigly, Filia (and by extension, Fukua) and Eliza have Parasites assisting them. Double is an EldritchAbomination, Peacock, Painwheel and Big Band are walking weapons, and Ms. Fortune is a zombie catgirl who detaches her limbs on a normal basis. The only exceptions to the rule are Cerebella, Parasoul (both use living weapons alongside their own skills), Valentine (who's a trained ninja/soldier nurse) and Beowulf (a professional wrestler with an old opponent's arm). |
| 123 | * BossOnlyLevel: Squigly's Joke "story mode". |
| 124 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: When Peacock's getting ready in the morning, Andy asks Avery if she even took a bath and if she brushes her teeth with metal polish. Avery's response is that a bath and her usual morning routine were implied, but not something the audience needs to see. |
| 125 | ** In Robo-Fortune's Story Mode, she asks Marie if she just gave away an important plot point. Marie responds that [[CanonDiscontinuity no-one will think any of this is canon]]. |
| 126 | ** Beowulf's into animation involves him literally tearing his way through the background onto the stage, prompting employees of Lab Zero (that is, the game's developers, not the in-universe laboratory) to patch the tear back up. |
| 127 | * BullyingADragon: Pretty much ''everybody'' in Eliza's story mode. Once Eliza gets bored of playing around, the list of characters begins to shorten drastically. |
| 128 | * ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes: Downplayed example. Though the game rarely actually reaches complete darkness, there are some places where the characters are in shaded or low-light conditions. In these cases, the sprites are darkened or shaded accordingly except for their eyes, which remain whatever colors they'd normally be in under bright light. Averted with Peacock, whose arm-eyes are shaded with the rest of her body. |
| 129 | * TheCameo: As of a recent patch, Yuzuriha from VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth can be spotted hanging out at the River King Casino. |
| 130 | ** The Under The Bridge stage may include an appearance of [[VideoGame/WakuWaku7 Bonus-kun]]. |
| 131 | ** [[WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay Matt and Woollie]] can randomly appear in the background of the River King Casino. |
| 132 | ** [[VideoGame/ShadysPoopong Shady]], a character from a line of indie games, is occasionally seen in the Glass Canopy. |
| 133 | * CapcomSequelStagnation: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the codename of the first patch: "Skullgirls: Slightly Different Edition". |
| 134 | ** The second major patch continues the trend, being named "Skullgirls: More Different Edition". |
| 135 | ** Due to a bit of legal trouble involving Konami, the team also unintentionally played the trope straight by releasing ''Skullgirls Encore'' as a way to replace the console versions that were de-listed. It has its own "edition" names for its major patches: "Unfinished Business Edition" for the patch that introduced Big Band, and "Are You Ready For? Edition" for the patch that made Fukua an AscendedMeme. |
| 136 | * CasanovaWannabe: Riccardo, a thug working for Vitale Medici who feels up Filia in her storyline and hits on [[spoiler: and later helps abduct]] Minette in Ms. Fortune's storyline. |
| 137 | * CastOfSnowflakes: Good luck finding two background [=NPCs=], let alone player characters, who look even remotely alike. Well, aside from the [[BadassArmy Egrets]], but [[GasMaskMooks they're a special case.]] |
| 138 | * CatFight: Since the majority of the roster are women, expect this to happen a lot. |
| 139 | ** There's even a cat woman who often meows when attacking or being hit and a lot of her attacks are scratches. |
| 140 | * ChargeInputSpecial: |
| 141 | ** Parasoul is one of two fighters in the game that uses charge inputs. Her projectile, "Napalm Shot", travels a long distance and will create an explosive trap wherever it lands. And her anti-air, "Napalm Pillar", is invincible and launches opponents, with the added function of detonating Napalm Shots. She also has a set of three other charge specials that utilize her soldiers, the Black Egrets. "Egret Call" which resets Parasoul to a neutral position, "Egret Dive" where a soldier jumps in front of her and blocks incoming attacks, and "Egret Charge" where a soldier on a motorcycle comes and slams the opponent into the wall to start a combo. |
| 142 | ** Big Band is a [[TheJuggernaut Juggernaut]]-style fighter who's SignatureAttack, "[[PunnyName Brass Knuckles]]", unleashes a devastating punch that powers through other attacks thanks to his super armor. He has another charge special called "Take the 'A' Train" which is a GrappleMove using the same windup animation as his punch, allowing for mix-ups. Both of this attacks can be used also as anti-air moves. |
| 143 | * ChekhovsGunman: |
| 144 | ** [[spoiler: The Trinity in the {{Cliffhanger}} ending upon clearing Double's Story Path.]] |
| 145 | ** Big Band (the first male DLC) can be seen in the Lab 8 stage. |
| 146 | ** Quite a few characters that appear in the background or as assistants to the main cast were either intended to be playable, but cut from the roster, or are planned for DLC / a possible sequel. |
| 147 | * ChromosomeCasting: All-female cast of characters. |
| 148 | ** Averted once DLC came out, bringing Big Band and Beowulf, two unambiguously male characters. |
| 149 | *** Big Band is more band than man, however. |
| 150 | * {{Cliffhanger}}: Double's Story Mode path ends with [[spoiler: two girls playing the game and mentioning the existence of "other routes." According to the devs, it's essentially a fancy and long-winded way of saying that none of the storylines are {{Canon}}, but that there will be a single unifying canon storyline sometime in the future.]] |
| 151 | * CloakAndDagger: The Anti-Skullgirl Laboratories, founded as a military R & D group by the leaders of the Canopy Kingdom. In the aftermath of the last war, the King disbanded the agency -- but instead of going their separate ways, [[RogueAgent the ENTIRE organization went rogue]], and without government oversight [[PlayingWithSyringes their methods became ever more questionable]] (ex. Painwheel and Peacock). |
| 152 | * CoDragons: Valentine and Double in Story Mode. [[spoiler: Subverted in Valentine's case, as she's TheMole.]] |
| 153 | * ColourCodedForYourConvenience: |
| 154 | ** The color of a floor bounce determines whether or not a character can ground tech. |
| 155 | *** Red: Cannot tech immediately. |
| 156 | *** Blue: Can tech immediately. |
| 157 | *** Green: Can still tech immediately, but the opponent can still deal damage if they are quick. |
| 158 | ** Likewise, Valentine has poisons that can be loaded into a syringe mid-battle and each color poison has a different effect on the opponent. |
| 159 | *** Purple: Causes DamageOverTime. |
| 160 | *** Green: Victims stagger for longer when hit. |
| 161 | *** Orange: Causes [[InterfaceScrew delay to button inputs]]. |
| 162 | * TheColoredCross: Valentine, the game's resident DeadlyDoctor and HospitalHottie, previously had red crosses in her character design. For legal reasons, these were later recolored magenta, then eventually replaced with a shuriken-like shape. |
| 163 | * ComboBreaker: |
| 164 | ** Tied in to the game's "Infinite Prevention System." You can only burst out of a combo when the IPS detects an infinite combo. |
| 165 | ** A new mechanic in Squigly's patch update introduced a different kind of combo breaker, where instead of bursting out of a combo when an infinite is detected, you can burst out of a combo when the opponent uses too many non-super moves in a combo. This is referred to as "undizzying", based on the mechanic in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2''; this was introduced as an alternate escape method after clued-in players began deliberately using infinites to ''bait'' their opponents into bursting in order to take advantage of the (extremely) short cooldown period and combo them again. |
| 166 | * {{Combos}}: Naturally, though the game takes several unique stances on the subject. While infinite combos are possible, the Infinite Prevention System makes it so that they are impossible to do after more than one rep. Similarly, the "Drama" bar forces combos to end after a certain point, as they will automatically drop if the opponent lands OTG once the bar is filled and can allow the opponent to burst out if they haven't been OTG'd. Finally, the "Combo Stage" mechanic makes sure that infinite combos will be detected extremely fast due to the game remembering each stage of a combo. Once a combo has reached the fifth stage (usually once a player has caused the opponent to bounce OTG once), any additional chaining will cause the IPS to be set off. What this all means is that ''Skullgirls'' forces combos to end after a certain period, allowing the comboed player some breathing room and giving them the opportunity to get out of the combo. But this leads to... |
| 167 | ** The game's secondary combo mechanic known as "resets". By purposely dropping your combo and throwing out a mixup, the game's combo scaling and all the mechanics listed above get ''reset back to zero'', meaning damage begins all over again. Thus, the game's meta for comboing relies around balancing between longer "true" combos to build meter and condition opponents, and occasional "fake" reset combos to throw them off guard and go for big damage at the cost of allowing your opponent to block the mixup and thus allowing them to combo ''you'' instead. |
| 168 | * CommonHTTPStatusCode: There are plenty of lines for combo ratings. 403 has "Forbidden" and 404 has "Not Found". |
| 169 | * ConservationOfNinjutsu: Used as a game mechanic. The more characters you have on your side, the weaker each individual character is. |
| 170 | * CopyProtection: A pirated version of this game is fully playable, but with the odd addition that finishing story mode would display a message box asking "What is the square root of a fish? Now I'm sad." The intention was to confuse pirates into asking the developers what the message meant, which would expose them as pirates. [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-10-peculiar-skullgirls-message-confuses-catches-those-who-pirate-the-game It worked on at least one player]]. |
| 171 | * CorruptChurch: Many of the story mode's paths reveals that the Trinity are the source of the MineralMacGuffin's power. Even the cathedral architecture and sculptures suggest one of the characters as quite representative of the church's true nature. |
| 172 | * CosmicHorrorStory: As Double's ending reveals, [[spoiler:the world's controlled by the Trinity, a trio of goddesses who live in a completely separate plane of existence from the regular world and manipulate the characters and fate of the story with an arcade stick that lets them play the titular game itself, and that none of the current storylines are {{Canon}}.]] Furthermore, their end goal is to destroy the world and they're the ones who created the Skull Heart so they can turn the females into Skullgirls and have said Skullgirls destroy the world for them. [[spoiler:Marie's story mode also reveals that they are trying to escape from their prison in case their plan for the Skullgirl fails.]] |
| 173 | * CrapsackWorld: Powerful {{Police State}}s constantly on the border of [[WarIsHell expensive and bloody conflict?]] Check. [[TheSyndicate Organized crime getting its tendrils into everything?]] Check. [[ForScience Science run amok with no regard for ethics?]] Check. {{Eldritch Abomination}}s loose in the world? Check. {{Dark And Troubled Past}}s for almost ''every'' character whose name we know? Check. '''''Skullgirls'' qualifies.''' |
| 174 | * CreatorCameo: One of the bullies hanging out in Maplecrest -- the guy with the black star on the back of his jacket -- is designed to look like one of the game's animators. Several of the developers' dogs can be seen in the same stage. |
| 175 | ** The optional Real Soviet Announcer was originally voiced by Mike Z. Later versions of the game removed his version following all of the controversy surrounding him and replaced him with Gary Schwartz who voiced Heavy Weapons Guy from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. |
| 176 | ** Lab Zero employees can be seen in Beowulf's intro. |
| 177 | * CreatorInjoke: The random cat that has a .02% chance of appearing when Cerebella hits you with her Lock & Load move (seen [[http://youtu.be/0jaXiSmQ7jY?t=11m43s here]]). One of the animators doodled a cat in one frame and forgot to take it out, and Mike Z then insisted that the cat be put into the game as an EasterEgg. Everyone agreed -- [[StylisticSuck on the condition that Mike Z animate it himself]]. |
| 178 | ** Peacock's TV drop sometimes has Filia dressed as [[Literature/TheRing Sadako]] crawling out of the TV. This references [[http://oh8.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Skullgirls-Halloween-42479267 a bit of Halloween artwork]] Alex Ahad did, which had the same reference. |
| 179 | * CuteMonsterGirl: A whole lot of cute monster girls and not so cute in the case of Double. |
| 180 | * DarkReprise: ''The Lives We Left Behind'', the stage music for Maplecrest, gets two. First is [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind Nightmare Crest]]'s ''The Dreams We Left Behind'', while the second, ''The Lives We Tried to Reclaim'', plays [[spoiler:at the end of Painwheel's story and during the credits]]. |
| 181 | * {{Deconstruction}}: To the endings of fighting games. Ever wondered why the endings of the various characters appear to be off-tangent and isolated from each other? As it turns out, ''none'' of what's happening is even canon, and instead the whole world's nothing more than a plaything for The Trinity as they're playing the game itself and trying out "other routes". Puts a whole new level of cosmic insignificance. |
| 182 | * DefectorFromDecadence: Why Lab 8 went rogue; to prove they could help humanity in ways besides building weapons. |
| 183 | * DevelopersForesight: Just about every minor feature Mike Z has added. |
| 184 | ** The Infinite Prevention System - The game knows when you're trying to pull off a proper infinite combo (a.k.a. a loop) and allows the player being hit to [[ComboBreaker burst]] out of it. At the same time, the system is lenient enough that players can rack up huge extended combos ''as long as they don't start repeating themselves''. |
| 185 | ** Unblockable prevention - The game knows when you've been put in a true unblockable situation, where blocking one attack means getting hit by another, and requires you to only block one (whichever hits first, or either one if they would hit at the same time). At the same time, the game allows for "hard-to-blockables" -- where it seems that you're faced with a true unblockable situation, but you can actually block both attacks if you time it right. |
| 186 | ** The game requires you to hold Start for a couple seconds to pause the game in any form of PVP environment. This is necessary to prevent the players accidentally pausing the game in the middle of a tournament match, which is frequently grounds for disqualification, though it's just as appreciated by [[ButtonMashing Button Mashers]]. |
| 187 | ** 360 detection - The game recognizes when you are inputting a 360 motion, which usually ends with an up direction. This can end with the character jumping and attacking instead of performing a special throw (as the motion usually requires) if you're not fast enough. So instead, the game keeps you on the ground as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-GG4SUWeA&t=2m10s here]], to make intended 360s easier to perform. Furthermore, Fukua's 360 detection only activates when her team's super meter is at maximum, as her 360 move is her rarely used level 5 Blockbuster and part of her gameplay revolves around quickly throwing air fireballs, which can be problematic if she can't jump. |
| 188 | *** Which may be a bit of a waste, as only three moves currently require it; Cerebella's Ultimate Showstopper, Fukua's Head Over Heels and Beowulf's Wulfamania. |
| 189 | ** The game prides itself on the high count of animation frames. When you switch in a character and not all of its animation loads in time, your character's hitboxes show instead as an error handler, just so that there's ''something'' there. It doesn't last for more than a split-second and it's fairly rare. |
| 190 | *** As of the first major patch, this is replaced with the characters appearing as de-rezzed versions of their usual art. "Looking all 8-bit", in the words of the creator. |
| 191 | ** The game actually uses a shading layer and depth map for its sprites. Not only does this speed up the art process, it also allows for some amazing lighting not usually seen in 2D games. |
| 192 | ** How about turning on hitboxes during Practice? How many other fighting games do that? |
| 193 | ** The first major patch added savestates to the training mode, for repeatably testing out different scenarios. Savestates are cleared by holding down select. They can also be cleared by pressing LP+LK+select, because somebody alerted the developers that some types of dual-modded[[note]]Modified by hardware hackers to be compatible with both 360 and [=PS3=][[/note]] arcade sticks can't register "holding down select." |
| 194 | ** There's an icon in the HUD that indicates who is leading in total health so as to make it easy to tell who will win if time runs out. |
| 195 | ** The patch also introduces a mechanic based on ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'' where hitting both the point character and assist character with a snapback attack leaves the assist character open for combos. Because it's impossible for the IPS to trigger on an assist character, the assist is trapped in a potential infinite loop resulting in a KO. As compensation, whenever a double-snapback occurs, the game detects it and ''automatically regenerates the meter of the player being comboed'', so as to prevent the attacker from having too much of an advantage. |
| 196 | ** One of the stages a fight may have Anti-Skullgirl Lab 8, where Big Band can be seen watching the ensuing fight. If Big Band is one of the characters in the match, he will not appear in the background. |
| 197 | *** The same is true for the Glass Canopy stage and Parasoul. |
| 198 | ** Most of the time, Beowulf's "Hype" mechanic is represented by an audience cheering after the proper moves that build it. If he's fighting Black Dahlia in her nightclub, however, the audience will boo at him instead. |
| 199 | * DieselPunk: The game's setting is a weird amalgam of 1930's-'40's United States and Europe, with superscience technology housed in Art Deco architecture. |
| 200 | * DirtyCop: Big Band's origins. Ben Birdland was a cop whose entire squad was on the take, and they gave him a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown and left him for dead. The Anti-Skullgirl Labs decided WeCanRebuildHim and turned him into the saxophone-cyborg he is today. |
| 201 | * DittoFighter: Double briefly transforms into other characters to fight for nearly all of her moves. Her specials are unique in that, while they mimic other characters, the moves themselves come from the older builds of Skullgirls. For example, Cilia Slide and Hornet Bomber mimic Filia and Cerebella respectively, but neither can use the move themselves. |
| 202 | * {{Dominatrix}}: Mrs. Victoria has an alter-ego in one — who is a dominatrix ''[[NinjaPirateZombieRobot superhero]]''. She was one of the DLC candidates. |
| 203 | * DoubleMeaning: Peacock usually says "Poke!" during her crouching light punch, not just referring to how she's literally poking the enemy, but to how using light attacks to keep an opponent at bay is called "Poking". |
| 204 | * DoubleJump: Cerebella, Peacock, Ms. Fortune, Valentine, Double, Squigly, Big Band, Robo-Fortune and Fukua. Lampshaded in the tutorials: |
| 205 | -->'''Tutorial''': No one knows how they do it, but some characters can perform a rather mysterious feat: jumping a second time in mid-air! |
| 206 | * DownerEnding: A fair few. For example: |
| 207 | ** [[spoiler:Filia: Deciding that her regaining her memories wasn't as important as ensuring Carol (Painwheel) had a chance at happiness, Filia wishes for Carol to have a normal childhood. The Skull Heart grants the wish, but because the wish was to a small extent self-serving, it was impure. As a result, she would become the next Skullgirl. The transformation would be slow, though, and the Skull Heart advises Filia to use her remaining time well.]] |
| 208 | ** [[spoiler:Peacock: The Skullgirl, Bloody Marie, turns out to be a childhood friend of Peacock. Peacock kills Marie to free her from the Skull Heart's control, then destroys the Skull Heart. Afterwards, she vows to continue Marie's work: destroying the Medici family, the ones who injured Peacock and forced Marie to find the Skull Heart...]] |
| 209 | ** [[spoiler:Parasoul: To save her younger sister Umbrella from becoming the next Skullgirl (and because shooting the Skull Heart would set off an explosion that would kill Umbrella), Parasoul wishes for Umbrella to not become the Skullgirl. The wish is granted, but Parasoul would eventually become the Skullgirl in Umbrella's place. Like Filia, though, her transformation would be slow, so she begins Umbrella's combat training shortly thereafter, knowing that once she transforms, Umbrella would have to kill her...]] |
| 210 | ** [[spoiler:Painwheel: After destroying the Skull Heart, Painwheel returns to her home in Maplecrest. Her parents reject her, however, because of her grotesque appearance. With nowhere else to go, she returns to Lab Zero and begins to plot her revenge against Brain Drain and the Anti-Skullgirl Labs. With the implication that she is somehow going to be the next Skullgirl...]] |
| 211 | ** [[spoiler:Cerebella: WordOfGod is that she's the only one with a pure enough heart to make a wish without turning into a Skullgirl. Her affection for [[TheMafia Vitale]], however, means that she never gets the chance; instead she's forced to murder Ms. Fortune both to protect him and to recover the {{MacGuffin}} he sent her to retrieve, leaving her [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone broken and confused]].]] |
| 212 | ** [[spoiler: Valentine: We discover that she was in fact TheMole and possibly a StealthMentor to Painwheel, to whom she seems to harbor remorse for turning her into what she is. She kills Marie, and at first considers using the Skull Heart to resurrect the other members of Last Hope, but knows the Heart is a JerkassGenie and will [[CameBackWrong likely corrupt that wish]]. So she instead wishes flat out to become the next Skullgirl, with the implication that she wants Painwheel to hunt her down and kill her to atone for what she had done to her.]] |
| 213 | ** [[spoiler:Squigly: Double reveals she was behind the events that exterminated Squigly's family. With Filia's help, Squigly defeats Double and destroys the Skull Heart. Unfortunately, Squigly's exsistence is still tied to the Heart and she passes away again. Her only comfort is that Leviathan swears to stay with her until her next awakening. At the end of the credits, we see Filia visiting Squigly's new grave.]] |
| 214 | ** [[spoiler: Surprisingly averted in Big Band's story. There's about one whole sad moment: Dr. Avian's death, but it's not as emphasized as it is in Peacock's story. Heck, Peacock fighting her best friend Marie isn't emphasized either. Big Band's story is pretty easy going, although he does acknowledge that despite destroying the Skullheart, another one will pop up, and that "I'm smart enough to know that this isn't a happy ending" (paraphrased), but it's still much more optimistic than other stories.]] |
| 215 | ** [[spoiler: Fukua's story mode has our VillainProtagonist pull a GrandTheftMe on Filia.]] |
| 216 | ** [[spoiler: Eliza. TheBadGuyWins... and she takes out nearly half the cast along the way leaving only a NotQuiteDead Marie to fend her off.]] |
| 217 | ** [[spoiler: Robo-Fortune's story: Robo-Fortune controls several giant robots, prompting a last stand from several [=NPCs=]. Well, it was a good ending for [[GodIsEvil Aeon and Venus]], at least...]] |
| 218 | * DownloadableContent: Squigly was released in August 2013. Big Band was the first male character added, released in April 2014, and Fukua arrived in May, and Eliza in late 2014, Beowulf was in April 2015, Robo-Fortune in June 2015, and Annie in early 2021. See also GagDub below. |
| 219 | * DualBoss: The penultimate stage in most of the characters' storylines has the player fighting against [[CoDragons Valentine and Double]]. |
| 220 | ** This is actually ''inverted'' in Squigly's story mode, [[spoiler:where you fight as both Squigly and Filia against her FinalBoss, Double.]] |
| 221 | ** [[spoiler: Eliza never fights the Valentine-Double team; her final match is against Squigly and Filia.]] |
| 222 | ** Also an inverted case in Big Band's story; [[spoiler: His final battle with Marie has him teamed up with Peacock.]] |
| 223 | * DynamicLoading: On the console versions, character animations are streamed in and out of memory as they are needed. The occasional failure to load fast enough results in the unloaded sprites looking heavily pixellated. This was introduced in a patch in order to make the characters actually appear somewhat normal before the streaming is complete; beforehand, the artwork was completely replaced by the character's hitboxes. |
| 224 | * EasierThanEasy: The "Sleepwalk" Difficulty. |
| 225 | * EasterEgg: |
| 226 | ** If Peacock is hit at the right time when she fries an ant in her crouching Mid Kick move, you can save it and then watch it run across to the other side of the stage. You can also spare said ant if you play as Peacock by immediately cancelling the move into a special. You can do this in rapid succession to get multiple ants skittering along the stage. |
| 227 | ** When Cerebella connects with her Lock n' Load attack, there's a .02% chance of a random, poorly-drawn cat skittering across the stage. As detailed on the main page, an animator sketched a cat in one frame but forgot to take it out, and Mike Z said he wanted to keep it in as part of an Easter egg. The rest of the dev team agreed, but only if [[StylisticSuck Mike animated it himself]]. |
| 228 | * EldritchAbomination: Double, who serves a trinity of higher-level abominations: Venus, Aeon, and the Mother. She's a shapeshifting monstrosity who turns herself inside-out to reveal her true form - a being made almost solely of undulating flesh. |
| 229 | * EldritchLocation: The Nightmare Crest stage. The background is entirely grayscale, with the normal [=NPCs=] replaced with black figures with glowing white eyes, and black leaves frozen mid-fall - but the swirling red-and-purple sky overhead moves much faster than reality. This is the setting for the main BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind stages. |
| 230 | * ElevatorActionSequence: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgxFTyk_lJs Medici Tower]] stage. |
| 231 | * EnigmaticInstitute: Nine Anti-Skullgirls Labs were created, with only two existing in the present, Lab 8 and Lab 0. Lab 0 is the secretive one that researched Skullgirl blood and have conducted more amoral/immoral research than the other labs. |
| 232 | * EvilVersusEvil: Many of the villains have been known to go up against each other in the series. With the most notable example being the Medic Mafia against the Skullgirl. |
| 233 | * EvilVersusOblivion: While Lab 0 and Brain Drain specifically are shown to be evil due to his many people they experimented on, they are still trying to save the world from the threat of the Skullgirl. [[spoiler:This also extends to The Trinity that created the Skull Heart in the first place as Brain Drain specifically creates the "Chrome Heart" in the post credits scene for Marie's ending specifically to help take them down.]] |
| 234 | * ExcusePlot: One of the few fighting games to actually [[AvertedTrope avert]] it. Much care has been given to the character's personalities and the game's lore, with a very detailed world tying together the game's plot. However, aside from the opening sequence explaining the purpose of the Skull Heart, the game still just throws you into everything, and the story and game world aren't really fleshed out until you've played through multiple character's storylines. |
| 235 | * ExoticEyeDesigns: |
| 236 | ** Whoever becomes the Skullgirl gains red pupils that are shaped like half of a skull. |
| 237 | ** Valentine has medical crosses in her eyes. [[spoiler: And in her ending, she retains those crosses along with the aforementioned Skullgirl eyes.]] |
| 238 | ** Subverted with Peacock. Those BlackBeadEyes are actually [[EyeScream eye sockets]]. |
| 239 | * {{Expy}}: |
| 240 | ** Parasoul bears a resemblance to [[{{VideoGame/Persona3}} Mitsuru Kirijo]], to the point of even having a PaletteSwap based on said character. |
| 241 | ** Squigly tends to resemble Emily from ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', right down to the patch of exposed ribs and parasite in her head. She actually dresses up as CB in a Halloween fancy dress shot, and ''also'' has an alternate palette based on the character. |
| 242 | ** There is a drawing of Umbrella dated 2001(!) which puts her before [[{{Manga/Bleach}} Yachiru]]. Skullgirls is not just ReferenceOverdosed, it makes {{Shout Out}}s to the future. |
| 243 | ** The series has another brush with ''Persona'' due to Beowulf, a wrestler who fights with a folding chair. The character was around some time before Ms. Fortune's design changed, but most people heard of ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' first. |
| 244 | *** Amusingly, in the list of characters and games that inspired Beowulf, one of the items is "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Not Kanji]]". |
| 245 | * FanDisservice: While there's an underlying theme of playful fanservice running through a lot of the characters, there's an equal amount who totally turn it on its head. Sure there's busty gals in {{Form Fitting Wardrobe}}s like Valentine and Cerebella, but then there's: |
| 246 | ** Ms. Fortune, a CatGirl in revealing clothes, who fights by [[BodyHorror dismembering herself, wrapping her opponents in her muscles and tendons, spurting blood everywhere, and THROWING HER HEAD AT PEOPLE]]. |
| 247 | ** Peacock, a [[TokenMiniMoe cute little kid]], who also happens to be a [[CreepyChild playfully bloodthirsty cyborg]] who looks like she sprang out of a demented [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon. And her cartoonish PieEyes? They are actually empty sockets. She demonstrates this in one of her victory animations where she takes a puff of her cigar and spits it through one of her eyes. |
| 248 | ** Painwheel, a BrokenBird in a revealing UsefulNotes/{{Qipao}}, who was experimented on and brainwashed into being a berserk warrior that attacks with her extended spinal cord and spikes that pop out of her skin, usually while roaring in agony. |
| 249 | ** Venus Lovelace is a goddess wearing nothing but lingerie and a pair of glasses. She also has ''a monstrous Parasite inside her that comes out of multiple mouth-shaped holes in her stomach''. |
| 250 | ** Marie, another cute little kid, who has segments of her flesh missing showing some of the bones of her body. Her final form and defeated story sprites are even worse. |
| 251 | ** Filia, [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule a cute schoolgirl in a Catholic-style uniform]], who has a sentient face with a male voice and personality in the back of her head. It is violent, has big teeth and spits bones with their level three Blockbuster. |
| 252 | ** Squigly is... well, [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies a zombie]]. She's definitely a CuteMonsterGirl but she has a MouthStitchedShut and parts of her body are rotting. |
| 253 | ** Eliza is a lounge singer in a revealing dress that shows off SideBoob. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent She feeds off the blood of others]] and has a Parasite for a skeleton. Her skin sometimes rips away to reveal it. |
| 254 | ** Even the fully human characters who seem to be designed for fanservice have this: |
| 255 | *** Cerebella has disturbing shades of an Electra complex with a very cruel and manipulative man. |
| 256 | *** Parasoul is a gorgeous redhead with long legs and a short skirt. However, despite being a [[TheGoodQueen good person]], she has a lot of [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi imagery]] associated with her. |
| 257 | *** Valentine seems to be pure fanservice. Then there is all the gore, MedicalHorror and the creepy story sprite. |
| 258 | * {{Fanservice}}: It's a fighting game with an (almost) all-female cast, and one that presents them in a very revealing titillating manner with {{panty shots}}s and extreme JigglePhysics a plenty. |
| 259 | ** Beowulf, with his muscular physique and hunkish looks, provides some male fanservice for a change. [[note]]In fact, if you pay attention to a lower area it even looks like hints of jiggle physics on him as well, although it may be unintended.[[/note]] |
| 260 | * FantasticRacism: |
| 261 | ** WordOfGod is that there's a bit of a social stigma against people who have [[TheSymbiote parasites]]. This is the reason both Filia and Squigly hide Samson and Leviathan until they get in a fight. |
| 262 | ** [[LittleBitBeastly Ferals]]. This is best seen with [[CatGirl Ms. Fortune's]] opening, where Riccardo and Lawrence hit on Minette by saying she's "[[YouAreACreditToYourRace Not bad, for a gill-girl]]", and then call Ms. Fortune a "flea-bitten furball" the second she walks in. |
| 263 | * FemaleGaze: The crotch area on Beowulf's pants is tight and moves rather ''[[JigglePhysics bouncily]]''. |
| 264 | * FilmPosters: The opening movie shows movie posters for each of the game's fighters (except for Double and Squigly). |
| 265 | * FishPeople: The Dagonian race. As an added bonus, many of them inhabit a district known as [[Creator/HPLovecraft Little Innsmouth]]. |
| 266 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: Certain strong attacks such as Double's Megalith Array move (in midair) or Peacock's fully charged Shadow of Impending Doom can cause certain background events to happen. These vary from Ms. Victoria in Class Notes covering her mouth in shock to the pigeon on Meridian Area Rapid Transit falling off the side of the train. |
| 267 | * FunnyXRay: Valentine's [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/steamtradingcards/images/b/b9/Skullgirls_Artwork_07.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150201090800 Steam Trading Card]] shows some X-Rays of Valentine's body, one of showing her cracked heart, Filia and [[BodyHorror Samson]]'s head, and Peacock's hand. |
| 268 | * GagDub: The voice actors have recorded videos of themselves playing the game and doing gag dubs for their own characters. For a charity donation drive they even did this for playthroughs of the story mode (see the [[Funny/{{Skullgirls}} Funny Moments page]] for more details). This culminated in Gag Dub [[SillinessSwitch voice packs]] being announced and funded for the Indiegogo campaign, they are, as follows: |
| 269 | ** [[StrawmanPolitical Republican]] Double, to be voiced by Creator/KaijiTang. |
| 270 | ** [[LadySwearsALot Salty Sailor]] Parasoul. |
| 271 | ** [[{{Otaku}} Anime]] Peacock. |
| 272 | ** ValleyGirl Painwheel. |
| 273 | ** [[BlaxploitationParody Saxploitation]] Big Band. |
| 274 | ** [[FaceHeelTurn Skullgirl]] Umbrella. |
| 275 | ** [[GrannyClassic Good Granny]] Black Dahlia. |
| 276 | ** Real Soviet [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Announcer]], to be voiced by [[CreatorCameo Mike Z]]. |
| 277 | ** [[TheAlcoholic Drunk]] Announcer, to be voiced by an ''actually drunk'' Tomamoto. |
| 278 | ** [[DistaffCounterpart Female]] Announcer (Creator/CristinaValenzuela has expressed interest in voicing this one). |
| 279 | * TheGhost: King Franz and Queen Nancy Renoir, the previous monarchs before the crown princesses. Queen Nancy is briefly seen in Skullgirl form at the start of Parasoul's story but only indistinctly. [[spoiler: They both get a proper appearance in Parasoul's origins and Umbrella's story mode.]] |
| 280 | ** The other Labs 1 to 7 and any beyond 8, which are only inferred (although Stanley's bio says that he used to work for Lab 4). |
| 281 | ** Delilah, Samson's previous host. Apparently he was quite fond of her, although ultimately [[spoiler: Eliza lead to her eventual death]]. |
| 282 | ** At the start of Parasoul's story, the newsreader comments that 'Frank has the night off'. Who is Frank? We don't know. But we do know that he's the news anchor, and that this is his night off. |
| 283 | * GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The previous Skullgirl, who was the former queen of Canopy Kingdom (though it's implied that she was a [[TheHighQueen nice ruler]] until the Skull Heart corrupted her). |
| 284 | * {{Gorn}}: The game's rated "T," but it can ''really'' push the limits at times. The best example is probably the "Gehenna" stage. |
| 285 | * GreaterScopeVillain: There are ''several''. |
| 286 | ** [[GodIsEvil The Trinity]] are the primary examples as they are the ones that created the [[ArtifactOfDoom Skullheart]] and want to use it to destroy the world. |
| 287 | ** The Trinity's agent, [[EldritchAbomination Double]], is this even more so then her superiors due to how good she is at [[ManipulativeBitch manipulating others]]. [[spoiler:To be exact, she is the true master for every Skullgirl, has been manipulating the course of history in the Canopy Kingdom for ''decades'', and top it all off, she seems to be to be the remnants of the late [[TopGod Queen Lamia]].]] |
| 288 | ** The [[TheMafia Medici Mafia]] in general are responsible for a lot of the corruption and crime that plagues New Meridian. But the biggest contenders have to be the three main leaders, [[TheDon Lorenzo]], [[ManipulativeBastard Vitale]], and [[NeverMessWithGranny Black Dahlia]]. Lorenzo being the head of the Medicis is responsible for the misery inflicted upon Peacock and Marie and spearheaded the Contiello's massacre. Vitale is very manipulative as he persuades Cerbella to hunt down Ms. Fortune, and indirectly made Filia become what she is today. Black Dahlia is the Medici's top enforcer who usually does their dirty work, and does so with great pleasure, which includes not only the murder of Squigly, but also the Fishbone Gang. She even bailed out some of her henchbunnies when they were about to be arrested by Ben Birdland. |
| 289 | ** [[MadScientist Brain Drain]] is a rogue ASG Director who is responsible for turning Carol into Painwheel, created both [[EvilDoppelganger Fukua]] and [[KillerRobot Robo-Fortune]], and is [[NoxiousNurse Valentine's]] boss. [[spoiler: Heck, he is even responsible for making Black Dahlia what she is today.]] |
| 290 | ** [[spoiler: [[EvilDiva Eliza]] in ancient times lead a rebellion against the Trinity, and overthrew Queen Lamia. However, it came at a gargantuan price of the destruction of her kingdom, the deaths of Aeon and Venus, and the prejudice against [[TheSymbiote Theonkind]] which is still in effect as of the present day. Her actions are so insidious that Leviathan, Samson, and even ''Double'' hate her for it.]] |
| 291 | * GrotesqueCute: Most of the young cast members, in one form or another. |
| 292 | * GuestStarPartyMember: Most character story modes have you play only as that character but in some you join up with another character for one or two battles. |
| 293 | ** In Squigly's story, [[spoiler:Filia helps you for the FinalBoss fight against Double]]. |
| 294 | ** In Big Band's story, [[spoiler:Peacock helps you for the FinalBoss fight against Marie]]. |
| 295 | ** In Eliza's story, Cerebella helps you for the first two fights against Squigly and Ms. Fortune. |
| 296 | ** In Umbrella's story, [[spoiler: Parasoul helps you for the FinalBoss against Marie]]. |
| 297 | ** In Annie's story, [[spoiler: Squigly and Big Band help in a battle against Painwheel]]. |
| 298 | * GuideDangIt: When the initial release hit, there were no in-game move lists. Players had to go to the game's website to obtain the characters' move lists in PDF format. Now, moveset lists can be accessed in the pause menu, complete with a feature that shows only the movesets of the characters(s) the player is currently using. |
| 299 | ** The achievement titles and descriptions are puzzling at best and rarely helpful. Most of the achievements have many ways they could be interpreted, and the requirement usually has to be met a large unspecified amount of times, but the player has no way to know whether or not he or she is meeting the requirement. |
| 300 | *** One references medicine and surgery but requires the player to use a defibrillator in a certain way. |
| 301 | *** Another suggests the player to throw stuff but actually only requires the player to drop stuff. |
| 302 | *** The one that says to let the weight off your shoulders requires the player to play as Ms. Fortune and leave her head off for an hour in total. |
| 303 | *** The character-specific achievements, however, have their requirements outlined at the beginning of each character's tutorial, which can be easily missed. For example, the tutorial says that the player has truly mastered Cerebella once he's/she's thrown an opponent 100 times. |
| 304 | * HarderThanHard: The "Ridiculous" and "Nightmare" difficulties. |
| 305 | * HartmanHips: Almost all of the girls. |
| 306 | * HeartOfTheMatter: The Skull Heart, an ArtifactOfDoom the corrupts its user into a murderous, undead necromancer bent on causing the destruction of the world. |
| 307 | * HitboxDissonance: The game does its best to avert this with [[http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Skullgirls/Hit_Box_Ref some of the most detailed hit boxes]] seen in a modern fighter. |
| 308 | ** The game also has more than just hit and hurt boxes allowing for all manner of different effects. |
| 309 | ** Surprisingly, some dissonance [[EnforcedTrope had to be intentionally added in patches]], because making the hit boxes ''too'' accurate caused problems like combos dropping when they shouldn't. |
| 310 | ** Fukua's standing hitbox arrangement is exactly the same as Filia's, even though she stands in a different pose. This is because the creators believe that any combo that works on Filia should also work on Fukua. |
| 311 | * HolyPipeOrgan: Anytime the characters are in the Grand Cathedral, whether it's in a cutscene or a fight takes place in it, organs will be playing in the background in some way. |
| 312 | * HomeStage: Several characters have stages with strong narrative and thematic ties to them. A few have ''two'' stages. And some characters even share the same home stage! |
| 313 | ** Filia: Maplecrest |
| 314 | ** Cerebella: Medici Tower and River King Casino |
| 315 | ** Peacock: Lab 8 and Hilgard's Castle |
| 316 | ** Parasoul: Glass Canopy |
| 317 | ** Ms. Fortune: Little Innsmouth |
| 318 | ** Painwheel: Maplecrest |
| 319 | ** Valentine: No Man's Land |
| 320 | ** Double: Grand Cathedral and Gehenna |
| 321 | ** Squigly: New Meridian Rooftops |
| 322 | ** Big Band: Under the Bridge |
| 323 | ** Fukua: Nightmare Crest |
| 324 | ** Eliza: Bath of Tefnut |
| 325 | ** Beowulf: NMO Arena |
| 326 | ** Annie: Sound Stage 15 |
| 327 | ** Umbrella: Boardwalk |
| 328 | ** Black Dahlia: The Bunny Burrow |
| 329 | ** Marie: Final Atrium and Hilgard's Castle |
| 330 | * HonestyIsTheBestPolicy: Toward the end of Beowulf's Story Mode, Beowulf informs [[spoiler:the cheering audience at the [=NMO=] Arena]] that [[spoiler:his legendary match with Grendel having been rigged without either combatant's knowledge makes a ''huge'' amount of sense in hindsight, and is most likely true. [[HonourBeforeReason All while he's trying to stage a career comeback]]]]. His earnestness works out for him, as [[spoiler:his subsequent reaffirmed vow to make it up to both his country and his rival by defeating the Skullgirl is met with another round of cheering]]. |
| 331 | * HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: The Renoir's {{Living Weapon}}s are all named after the Horsemen of Apocalypse but in German. Krieg means War, Hungern means Famine, Eroberung means Conquest, and Todd means Death. |
| 332 | * HumanoidAbomination: Double, Eliza, the Skullgirls, and the Trinity. They look human, but they are most cerainly ''not''. |
| 333 | * IdiosyncraticComboLevels: It was mentioned that there are at least 250 different lines for combo ratings. Several of them are meant as obvious jokes: [[LuckyNumberSeven 7 hits is "Lucky"]], [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13]] is [[Literature/ASeriesofUnfortunateEvents "Unfortunate"]], 18 is "Barely Legal", [[TheRulesOfTheInternet 34]] is [[RuleThirtyFour "Crass"]], 37 is [[Film/{{Clerks}} "In A Row"]], 42 is [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy "Meaningful"]], 65 is "Jurassic", 66 is "Devilish" ([[NumberOfTheBeast with 616 -- if you ever get that far -- being "Infernal" and 666 "Diabolical"]]), 121 is "[[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Gigawatt]]", [[MouthfulOfPi 314 is "Algebraic"]], 403 and 404 are "Forbidden" and "Not Found"... |
| 334 | ** And then some are just intentionally bizarre, the most cited example being 32 hits -- "Anatiferous"[[note]]Literally "producing ducks", after the belief that geese and ducks spontaneously generated from barnacles[[/note]]. |
| 335 | ** The entire list is available over at [[http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/comment/6838166/#Comment_6838166 Shoryuken]]. And yes, it goes [[{{Cap}} all the way to 999]][[note]](999 hits being "[[OverlyLongGag You Can Stop Now]]")[[/note]]. |
| 336 | * ImpossibleHourglassFigure: Most of the characters, due to the art style. Aeon's midsection is a ''literal'' hourglass. |
| 337 | * ImprobablyFemaleCast: Up until Big Band was added as the first male character, all the playable characters were female (If you can even consider [[EldritchAbomination Double]] female...) |
| 338 | ** WordOfGod is that Alex Ahad wanted to completely flip the usual gender ratio of fighting games. |
| 339 | * InterfaceScrew: Valentine's Orange Syringe can cause delay to button inputs. |
| 340 | ** Squigly is able to pull the camera towards her, dragging her opponent and the stage boundaries with it. |
| 341 | ** One of Isaac's conceptual super moves would temporarily speed up the round timer, making it easier to win via time-over. |
| 342 | * JackassGenie: The Skull Heart, given the ludicrously strict requirements of IncorruptiblePurePureness that it demands in order ''not'' to turn someone into a Skullgirl. |
| 343 | * JettisonJetpackAttack: Using a jetpack stolen from the Black Egrets, Black Dahlia in the beginning of her story mode flies towards Skullgirl Marie and then lets go of the jetpack to hit the Skullgirl. |
| 344 | * {{Karakasa}}: The Renoir's {{Living Weapon}}s all seem to be inspired by the karaskasa as they are living umbrellas with eyes. In fact, there is even some [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/skullgirls/images/b/b2/Parasoul_concept_2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140806115331 concept art of Krieg turning into a robotic Kasa-Obake]]. |
| 345 | * LadiesAndGerms: As the announcer says "Ladies and Gentlemen," a question mark briefly flashes next to "gentlemen" as a reference to the absence[[note]]before [[TheOneGuy Big Band]], at least[[/note]] of male characters to choose from. |
| 346 | * ALighterShadeOfGrey: Anti-Skullgirl Lab 8 is this to Lab Zero. Both produce super-powered child soldiers to fight the threat of the Skullgirl. But whereas Lab 8 takes in war victims and, with their blessing, gives them upgrades, Lab Zero's only known subject, Painwheel, was an innocent girl kidnapped off the streets and brainwashed into a fighting monstrosity. |
| 347 | * LiteralMinded: A snapback is a specific type of move in tag fighters such as this game. When used, they force the opponent to tag out. In ''Skullgirls'', they're called "Outtakes" - as in, literally taking the opponent out of the fight. |
| 348 | * LittleBitBeastly: FishPeople and [[{{Catgirl}} Cat People]] exist in the game's world, and the various stages show there are more, such as bears and tigers mingling with each other at a high class party. |
| 349 | * LivingWeapon: Erm...[[ShapedLikeItself Living Weapons]]. WordOfGod has stated that unlike Parasites, Living Weapons are not sapient; they are conscious when in use, but strictly subsentient, more or less in the manner of intelligent animals. They also don't bond with the user the way [[TheSymbiote Parasites]] do. |
| 350 | * LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: More common, among other bugs, in the Pre-Patch Version on the Platform/Xbox360. This was rectified after the patch. |
| 351 | * LovecraftLite: Double and Marie are [[EldritchAbomination cosmic horrors]], the time period is similar to that of Creator/HPLovecraft, and the setting even has a city called [[Creator/HPLovecraft Little Innsmouth.]] |
| 352 | * LyricalDissonance: The end credits theme, [[http://skullgirls.wikia.com/wiki/In_a_Moment%27s_Time In a Moment's Time]], is a soft jazz song. The lyrics initially seem to just be about love, but it becomes increasingly clear that it's ''actually'' the [[JackassGenie Skull Heart's]] VillainSong about how whoever it's singing to [[ResistanceIsFutile is bound to make a wish and become the next Skullgirl]]. |
| 353 | * MacGuffin: The Skull Heart. When Peacock finds it she [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall calls this trope out by name.]] |
| 354 | * TheMafia: The entire Cirque de Cartes works for them, whether they want to or not. |
| 355 | * MeaningfulFuneral: Squigly's funeral, paid for by Lorenzo. [[spoiler:Subverted though, since the Continello family were murdered on his orders. In the end of her storyline, Squigly is re-interred by Filia, away from the city.]] |
| 356 | * MindScrew: Double's story-mode ending. Expecially if you aren't familiar enough with the game's story to know about The Trinity. |
| 357 | * MinimalistCast: Up until ''Encore'' there were only 9 characters (8 playable, 1 unplayable), as of the release 13 characters will be playable, that is until the number was bumped up to 15 by means of the inclusion of Fukua and Annie. |
| 358 | * MonsterAndTheMaiden: |
| 359 | ** [[MafiaPrincess Filia]] is currently a host to a sentient parasite named [[DarkIsNotEvil Samson]]. Samson is attached to the back of her head, which makes him look like [[PrehensileHair her hair]], with which he can grab and hit opponents with. Filia isn't that good of a fighter, so it's mostly Samson doing all the legwork for her, in exchange for Filia's body supporting his own. |
| 360 | *** Samson also formed this kind of a duo with his old host, a woman named Delilah. |
| 361 | ** [[LadyOfWar Squigly]] and her parasite [[{{Dracolich}} Leviathan]] are a more sophisticated and harmonious equivalent. Leviathan is devoted to Squigly, especially since his old host was actually Squigly's father. Their moves are more like a dance, compared to Samson's more dominant and brutal fighting style, where Filia is mostly dragged around by him. |
| 362 | ** To a lesser extent than Filia and Squigly, we have [[CuteAndPsycho Peacock]] and her parasite, the tiny bird-like [[TheNapoleon Avery]]. Unlike Filia and Squigly, whose bodies are literally merged with their respective parasites, Avery's body is separate from Peacock's, and he functions more like an AssistCharacter that appears in some of her attacks. [[AnvilOnHead Andy Anvil]], another one of Peacock's assists, also qualifies. |
| 363 | * MoveAlongNothingToSeeHere: The Announcer, after a particularly drawn-out match. "All right, all right, show's over." |
| 364 | * MultipleEndings: There is a {{canon}}ical true ending, as yet unrevealed, but the endings in the game's initial Story Mode are all "Threads of Fate" for each individual character's triumph over all the others, in which will all have a single common point where they converge. |
| 365 | * MythologyGag: In Robo-Fortune's ending, [[spoiler:the only hope for defeating her in the RobotWar is the other DLC characters from the Indiegogo fundraiser who didn't make the cut. Robo-Fortune detects in them high levels of sodium chloride, or in layman's terms, ''mad salt''.]] |
| 366 | * MythPrologue: The game opens with a narration describing the legend of the Skull Heart, a mysterious artifact that grants a woman's wish at the cost of transforming her into the titular Skullgirl. |
| 367 | [[/folder]] |
| 368 | |
| 369 | [[folder:N-Z]] |
| 370 | * NighthawksShot: The first scene of Filia's story mode is a blatant shout out. It takes place at a cafe that strongly resembles ''Nighthawks''. |
| 371 | * NoEnding: Or rather, no ''true'' ending. WordOfGod outright confirmed that the story's true ending is literally ''impossible'' without Marie, Black Dahlia and Umbrella becoming playable. None of them had their Indiegogo fundings reached. Do the math. However, with the game's revived development confirming Umbrella as a new part of the roster and later confirming Black Dahlia for a 2022 release, it seems making this an AvertedTrope is the goal. And Marie is playable as of 2023... |
| 372 | * NoFairCheating: The PC version is coded to instantly kill anyone who plays as [[SNKBoss Marie]] or a character they do not own online, and playing as Marie online is planned to zero out a players win count and [=TrueSkill=].[[note]][=TrueSkill=] is a value used to match people of equal skill in online matches. Even the worst of players cannot get zero [=TrueSkill=], so Marie players would only be able to play against other Marie players.[[/note]] |
| 373 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: [[BigBad Marie]] usually makes these when she is fighting someone that she deems to be similar to her. |
| 374 | ** She remarks that Ms. Fortune's wishes are similar to hers; to destroy the mafia and all affiliated crime organizations as revenge for their friends. |
| 375 | ---> '''Ms. Fortune''': Look, I'm gonna have to stop you before you get to the 'We're a lot alike, you and I' bit. |
| 376 | ** Both she and Squigly lost their lives and their families to Medicis and were able to come back to life thanks to the Skull Heart. If she loses to Squigly, she'll occasionally mutter "But... we're... the same..." |
| 377 | * ObviousRulePatch: While the Infinite Prevention System is useful, people were still able to find ways to pull off insanely damaging, even lethal, combos without triggering it. This lead to the addition of "Drama", which puts a hard limit on how long a combo can be when the player can't get out of it. |
| 378 | * OneWomanWail: The main theme music -- a remix of Marie's stage theme, which also fits the trope. |
| 379 | * OnTheNext: [[spoiler: Parodied in Squigly's Joke Story Mode ending.]] |
| 380 | * OnlyOneName: ZigZagged. The full names of a little over half the playable cast - Parasoul (Renoir), Squigly (Siena Contiello), Big Band (Ben Birdland), Peacock (Patricia Watson), and Ms. (Nadia) Fortune - as well as the Medicis, Squigly's family, Parasoul's family, Marie (Korbel, according to WordOfGod), Adam (Kapowski, also as of WordOfGod) and Stanley (Whitefin), have been revealed. Every other character, including every DLC candidate besides Stanley, Marie, and Adam, have no revealed full name. Dr. Avian is unique in that we only know his last name. |
| 381 | ** Filia at least has the excuse of simply forgetting her last name. (It's almost certainly [[spoiler: Medici]], though.) |
| 382 | * OurGiantsAreBigger: Gigans have their own nation with a violent history with the Canopy Kingdom, a reputation as berserkers hungry for battle, and are interfertile with other races. Scythana is part-Gigan, and Beowulf wrestled against a Gigan named Grendel in his backstory. |
| 383 | * PantyFighter: Might be some AuthorAppeal in it all, given how frequent and almost intentional it seems (the end of Cerebella's grapple super has her do a handstand, revealing her thighs and then some). The game isn't overtly sexual but no doubt that it tries to be cheeky. |
| 384 | ** [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uJNGrKJDNKw/T0zjdFFl-dI/AAAAAAAAA8U/CQRyXgqAPao/s1600/skullgirls_actonshot_double_copy.jpg Even Double is not immune to this]]. Although in her case, it heavily vaults over the line into FanDisservice. |
| 385 | * PowerCreepPowerSeep: The characters' strength is adjusted depending on whether or not they're fighting in a team or alone. |
| 386 | ** Also used in regards to a character's power in the story. After all, the rest of the cast would have zero chance against Eliza or Double if they used the same level of strength they're shown as capable of using outside of fights. |
| 387 | * PremiumCurrency: In the mobile game, the 2 currencies are Canopy Coins and Theonite. The former can be earned through regular playing while the latter can be purchased with real money or earned through achievements and missions. |
| 388 | * ProductPlacement: Billboards for real-world sponsors of the game, such as [=EightySixed=] and Sanshee, can be seen in the background of some stages. In addition, the developer build of the game is streamed on the [=EightySixed=] Twitch.tv channel. |
| 389 | * PunchKickLayout: The game is a six-button fighter, having three different punches and kicks for every character. You can also combo freely between a punch and kick of similar strength, contributing to the game's extensive and bonkers combo structure. |
| 390 | * PunnyName: ''Almost the entirety of the playable cast''. Many other examples as well - check the characters page for the full list. |
| 391 | ** Cerebella is a pun on "cerebellum", a region of the brain. Cerebella's primary weapon when fighting is a hat. |
| 392 | ** Double [[DittoFighter "doubles" the other characters]]. |
| 393 | ** Parasoul [[ParasolOfPain uses an umbrella for a weapon]], and, as the ruler of the Canopy Kingdom, is the heart and "soul" of her kingdom, as well as her wielding of a LivingWeapon and her symbol being the same as that of the main in-universe religion. |
| 394 | ** Painwheel's most distinguishing feature is the giant metal pinwheel sticking out of her back. |
| 395 | ** Ms. Fortune's name is a pun on the word "misfortune", which makes a bit of sense considering since she's the resident pun lover and a kind of a zombie. |
| 396 | ** Bloody Marie's name is a pun on "Bloody Mary". |
| 397 | ** Valentine's name is [[spoiler:a pun on her real name, Valerie]]. It also ties into the Last Hope's ThemeNaming after holidays. |
| 398 | ** A non-character example in two stages: Under the Bridge literally takes place under a bridge, and Glass Canopy is a massive ballroom with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a glass canopy]] for a roof. The name of the country the game takes place in is the Canopy Kingdom. |
| 399 | * PuttingOnTheReich: Parasoul's Black Egrets mixes this with BadassInANiceSuit. Combining grey-green pinstripe pants and a dark red dress shirt and tie with a grey-green military style button down jacket. They also wear a red and white armband with an umbrella logo and vaguely German-looking helmets with a spike on top. Parasoul uses a Luger and the Black Egrets are seen to use MP 40's, Sturmgewehrs, MG 42's, and travel on BMW R12 motorcycles. |
| 400 | * RaincoatOfHorror: Umbrella wears an outfit with a yellow rainhat, raincoat, and rainboots, all going along with the fact that she weilds a morphing EldritchAbomination umbrella as her weapon. |
| 401 | * RecurringRiff: Those first nine notes you hear in the opening? They play ''a lot'' throughout the course of the game, mostly in the cutscene music for the story modes. |
| 402 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Quite a lot of characters have them. They either have parasites implanted in their body, or have a connection with the Skullgirl. |
| 403 | * ReferenceOverdosed: ''Boy howdy.'' See Shout Out page below! |
| 404 | * ReformulatedGame: The original version and the mobile version, due to having inherently completely different control schemes (buttons vs. touch screen), required the mobile version be rebuilt from the ground up. The story is also different, involving battle prototype (non-sentient) clones from the Canopy Kingdom deployed to fight the Medici Family, who have created their own similar clones. It's currently unknown if the mobile version's story takes place at the same time, before, or instead of the original version's. |
| 405 | * ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: There are a lot of characters in the game who have been named after the many heroes, deities, and monsters from various mythologies. |
| 406 | ** The most notable example being [[TheSymbiote the Parasites]] with some examples including [[Literature/TheBible Samson, Leviathan, Abaddon,]] [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Khronos, Muse,]] and [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Sekhmet]]. [[spoiler: The deity naming makes sense considering they used to be known as [[MeaningfulName Theons]] and were worshipped as Gods in ancient times.]] |
| 407 | *** The synthetic parasites are an interesting case as while they still keep the mythical name theme, they now have more modern suffixs added to show they are robotic and artificial. Some examples include: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Argus]] System, [[Literature/ArsGoetia Buer]] Drive, [[Myth/CelticMythology Taranis]] Generator, [[{{Beelzebub}} Beelze]] Bomb, and [[FierySalamander Salamander]] Shell. The only exception to this rule is [[Myth/CelticMythology Gae Bolga]]. |
| 408 | ** Along with the Parasites, some {{Living Weapon}}s also get their names from certain myths with the Renoir umbrellas being named after the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, the Cloak of Damocles is clearly a spoof of the SwordOfDamocles, and D. Violet's whip being named [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Pazuzu]]. |
| 409 | ** Even a few of the regular characters are named after some mythical figures with Fukua likely being short for [[{{Youkai}} Futakuchi-onna]] and Beowulf and Grendel originating from [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} that old epic tale]]. |
| 410 | *** In a flashback from Parasoul's origin, we learn the king of the Gigans is named [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh]]. |
| 411 | *** In Eliza's story mode, Samson reveals that one of his first hosts called herself Delilah. Literature/SamsonAndDelilah anybody? |
| 412 | *** [[CrystalDragonJesus The Trinity]] themselves are all named after figures who appeared in Myth/ClassicalMythology. |
| 413 | * RenegadeSplinterFaction: The Anti-Skullgirl Labs. |
| 414 | * {{Retcon}}: Juju. Due to legal issues with her concept, Mike Z has removed her from the story and the game itself. |
| 415 | ** Although, her character seems to have been reworked as Junko who makes a cameo appearance in the Glass Canopy. |
| 416 | * TheRoaring20s: While the [[AmbiguousTimePeriod exact time period the game takes place in is very vague]] it does have a lot references to the 1920s: Jazz music, Art-Deco-style buildings, detectives, just to name a few. |
| 417 | * RooftopConfrontation: The stages New Meridian Rooftops and Rooftops Assault. |
| 418 | * SecretAIMoves: Sometimes, computer assist Peacock will use her charged up Shadow of Impending Doom (item drop move). You cannot have your own Peacock assist do this. You also can't do Painwheel's charged up attacks as assists, something the computer player also periodically uses. |
| 419 | ** Patches have since added the ability to set charged Shadow of Impending Doom as an assist, but [[GuideDangIt good luck finding out how.]][[labelnote:*]]QCB LP+MP for light, QCB MP+HP for medium, QCB LP+HP for heavy.[[/labelnote]] |
| 420 | * SequelHook: Double's (the final story mode's) ending. [[spoiler:For that matter, it's technically a True Story Mode hook]]. |
| 421 | * SetSwordsToStun: Despite ''most'' cast members carrying some sort of lethal weapon of some sort, none of them are actually killed as a result. [[spoiler: Cerebella's death in Eliza's story mode doesn't count, because that was in a cutscene rather than as a direct result of their fight.]] |
| 422 | * ShapedLikeItself: In Squigly's Joke story mode ending the preview says that "a mysterious rival mysteriously appears! How Mysterious!". |
| 423 | * ShoutOut: Check [[ShoutOut/SkullGirls the page]]. |
| 424 | * ShowWithinAShow: There's a show called ''Annie: Girl of the Stars''. Peacock and Parasoul (secretly) are known fans of it, but ironically not Umbrella. [[spoiler:Then in Beowulf's story mode, it turns out Annie is ''real'' (she was playing herself-as-a-character on the TV show), and she plays an important role in Beowulf's storyline.]] |
| 425 | %% |
| 426 | %% Fan reactions and what "some people" think go on a YMMV tab and appropriate AudienceReaction, not here |
| 427 | %% |
| 428 | * SNKBoss: Bloody Marie. She was notorious for being exceedingly aggravating to beat with most characters (save for Peacock, fittingly enough) before the game was patched. Even after the patch, which added hitstun and more visibility on her attacks, she remains a difficult boss. |
| 429 | ** Exaggerated with Marie 300%, who has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin triple her normal health]] and is locked to the hardest difficulty. |
| 430 | ** Fukua's story mode has a special boss version of Filia that also has 300% HP, starts with 5 bars of meter and always has its AI set to the hardest difficulty setting no matter what you set it to at the start. |
| 431 | * SomeDexterityRequired: Averted, which is a a big deal for a tourney-level traditional fighter. The most complex joystick motion is a single full circle forward, which only three characters even use, and even then, only for supers (a level one in Cerebella's case, a level 5 for Fukua and a level 3 for Beowulf).[[note]]The game also has a 360-detection system that prevents you from accidentally jumping when trying to do this.[[/note]] Stringing lengthy combos together takes a bit of practice, but pulling off the moves individually is no sweat. |
| 432 | ** The only exceptions to this are taunt inputs. Taunts in this game are complex inputs similar to the super inputs in the ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' series and/or Akuma's famous "Raging Demon" input. This does have a purpose, though--since the taunts are complicated to perform, you can't perform them accidentally, and you can't accidentally press start and pause the game like you might if the taunt was attached to the select button. |
| 433 | ** Big Band is also an exception because his taunt actually powers up two of his super moves. |
| 434 | * SoundtrackDissonance: Eliza's ending shows her [[spoiler: turning into a gigantic monster using all the blood she took from Gehenna and declaring war on the Medici.]] All while soothing jazz music plays. |
| 435 | * TheStinger: Squigly's, Fukua's, Eliza's, Robo-Fortune's, Umbrella's, Black Dahlia's and Marie's endings have an extra scene after the credits. Special mention goes to Marie's post credits scene where [[spoiler:Valentine gives her report to Brain Drain about what Theonite actually is and that he has created the "Chrome Heart" in order to get rid of The Trinity once and for all.]] |
| 436 | * StoryDifficultySetting: "Brain Drain Mode", which can be toggled on or off at any time during a fight. When it's turned on, the AI will take over for the player. It can still succumb to ArtificialStupidity, however, and requires the player to sometimes turn it off and assume direct control, which was a deliberate decision. Canonically, Brain Drain himself is mind-controlling the player characters, but WordOfGod is that Brain Drain Mode exists so people who aren't used to the high speed, twitch-based style fighting games have can still enjoy the story. |
| 437 | * SuperMovePortraitAttack: A patch gave Blockbuster attacks character portrait cut-ins at the same time as the super flash. They also cause the screen to go sepia-tone for that split-second. |
| 438 | * SuperSoldier: The projects from the Anti-Skullgirls Labs. Peacock and Painwheel are two of them. Concept art of Panzerfaust shows him to be a very literal interpretation, being a hulk of a uniformed soldier with a [[PunnyName tank for a hand]]. |
| 439 | * SurprisinglyHappyEnding: Umbrella's story. [[spoiler:Not only does she manage to free Painwheel of Brain Drain's control completely and reunite her with Filia at the end, She and her sister ''succeed'' in [[ScrewDestiny banishing the Skull Heart without Umbrella becoming the next Skullgirl]]!.]] For a fighting game known for it's [[BittersweetEnding Bittersweet Endings]] and [[DownerEnding Downer Endings]], This was a welcome change of pace to many fans. |
| 440 | * TheSymbiote: [[NonIndicativeName Parasites]]. |
| 441 | ** Standard Parasites attach themselves to the user's body and display sapient-level intelligence and speech. WordOfGod says that after the Parasite is attached, the Parasite and its user [[CantLiveWithoutYou will die if separated]] (though it's possible to transfer a Parasite from one user to another without killing the Parasite). |
| 442 | ** Remote Parasites are not directly attached to the user's body. However, [[PowerAtAPrice the user must give up some body part to use the Remote Parasite]]. |
| 443 | ** Finally, Synthetic Parasites are artificially created and implanted into the user's body. However, they do not display speech or intelligence and in fact may not be truly alive. |
| 444 | * TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed: Even disregarding all of the [[EldritchAbomination cosmic horrors interfering in the daily lives of the characters]], the mere existence of the Skull Heart practically ensures this; wishing on the Skull Heart [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie turns you]] into [[OmnicidalManiac a creature not only powerful enough to destroy the world, but outright DRIVEN to do so]], destroying it [[ShaggyDogStory just causes it to reform within seven years]], and WordOfGod confirms that just leaving it alone after killing the current Skullgirl will simply cause said Skullgirl to regenerate and begin her destruction anew. The previous Skullgirl prior to the events of the game nearly succeeded in ending the world only ''seven years'' ago, which even by the standards of a human lifespan is a relatively short period of time. So... [[CrapsackWorld yeah.]] |
| 445 | * SymbolMotifClothing: Skull shapes. They're visible on the outfits of quite a few characters, such as Marie's hairpins and Squigly's corset. If you look close, Filia has skull-shaped ''cufflinks.'' |
| 446 | ** There's also Cerebella's thing with diamonds; all the members of the Cirque des Cartes have card-related motifs. |
| 447 | ** Beowulf has a lot of wolf imagery, probably as part of professional wrestling gimmick. |
| 448 | * TagTeam: If there's a two- or three-(wo)man team involved. |
| 449 | * TakeThat: |
| 450 | ** The list of changes on the v1.01 patch includes the note "Prettied up that billboard on the Medici Tower stage." [[spoiler:By "prettied up", they mean "ditched the Reverge logo and replaced it with the Lab Zero logo".]] |
| 451 | ** For AprilFools 2014, a preview video was released for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXN5yr4dGIc Fukua]], a palette-swap of Filia. This was created to poke fun at ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Ultra Street Fighter IV]]'' 's highly-anticipated final roster member being a clone of Cammy. |
| 452 | ** The "Republican Double" voice makes fun of the Republican Party with such battlecries as "'''DEPORT 'EM ALL!'''", "'''IF YOU CAN'T PAY TAXES, YOU'RE BETTER OFF ''DEAD''!'''", and "'''IT'S ADAM AND EVE, NOT ADAM AND ''CHAIR''!'''" |
| 453 | * ThemeNaming: All the members of Last Hope are named after a different holiday. |
| 454 | ** Valentine: Valentine's Day |
| 455 | ** Patty: St. Patrick's Day |
| 456 | ** Easter: self-explanatory |
| 457 | ** Hallow: Halloween |
| 458 | ** Christmas: self-explanatory |
| 459 | * TitleConfusion: People seem to think that [[IAmNotShazam the title refers to the seemingly all-girl cast]], but it refers to the game's central plot and antagonist. The demo, where the only two playable characters are Filia and Cerebella, seems to give people the idea that all the girls [[UseYourHead fight with their head/headgear.]] And to add to the confusion even further there's only one actual full-blown Skullgirl in the game (and she's not even playable); the rest only appear in flashbacks or implied transformations in the endings. |
| 460 | * TrainingStage: This game has the "[[http://skullgirls.wikia.com/wiki/Class_Notes Class Notes]]", a special stage which is a blank training stage as a school classroom with tables, chairs and a blackboard. Used only as a training stage and as part of [[HotTeacher Mrs. Victoria]]'s tutorial, can be unlocked for multiplayer and versus by completing the tutorial or buying the DownloadableContent with all stages. |
| 461 | * TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Peacock smokes cigars, fights, kills, swears, and, according to WordOfGod, drinks. A lot. She's thirteen. |
| 462 | * TwelveBarBlues: The chord progression for the Under The Bridge stage music. Fittingly, said stage happens to be Big Band's. |
| 463 | * TheTwelvePrinciplesOfAnimation: PlayedWith, for many characters have some kind of transforming weapon or body part that are designed to facilitate squash/stretch and exaggeration, such as Filia's hair, Peacock's robot arms, or Ms. Fortune's segmented limbs. This enables them to employ those principles in their movements while having animations that -- when analyzed frame by frame -- still look proportionally consistent. |
| 464 | * UnexpectedGameplayChange: The SillinessSwitch EasterEgg in ''Skullgirls Encore'' turns the game from a fighting game to an [[EdutainmentGame Edutational typing game]]. |
| 465 | * UnflinchingWalk: Peacock does this when she blows up her opponent in her "Goodfellows" Blockbuster move. Her Steam Trading Card even mocks this with "Cool people don't look at explosions!" |
| 466 | * UpdatedRerelease: ''Skullgirls Encore'', following the game's loss of support from Konami. |
| 467 | ** The [=PS4=] and PS Vita versions are similarly being retitled ''Skullgirls 2nd Encore''. |
| 468 | * VanityLicensePlate: Eliza's car, as seen in her Story Mode, has the license plate '[=CAR2CHE=]', short for 'cartouche', an Egyptian royal signature. Which the plate is [[ShapedLikeItself shaped like]]. |
| 469 | * VideoGameDemake: [[http://skullgirls.com/2012/04/skullgals-coming-to-handheldgaming-systems-in-early-2013/ An April Fools joke from the official site]] shows the initial game redone in the style of [[Platform/NeoGeoPocket Neo Geo Pocket Color]] fighting games (most notably ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcomMatchOfTheMillennium''), complete with 3-color super deformed character sprites, eye candy backgrounds and even mockups with the actual handheld console. |
| 470 | * VillainProtagonist: Double, Eliza, and Black Dahila in their respective Story Modes. {{Downplayed}} by Cerebella since she's more of an AntiVillain. Robo-Fortune and Fukua also count, but their [[LooseCanon relevance in the series is questionable]]. [[spoiler:Valentine subverts this due to secretly being a double agent, and Marie subverts it as well thanks to Peacock shattering the Skull Heart.]] |
| 471 | * VillainSong: The credits theme, "In A Moment's Time", is sung from the perspective of the [[LiteralGenie Skull Heart]] attempting to seduce people into making a wish. |
| 472 | * VisualPun: The Glass Canopy stage takes place in a ballroom with a, well, glass canopy for a roof. As mentioned above, the country the game takes place is the Canopy Kingdsom. |
| 473 | ** Brain Drain has a [[https://twitter.com/o___8/status/580199906993786880 self-styled]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE Gundam Age]] plastic model on his desk. When you put it together, you get [[YourHeadAsplode Braindam AGE]]. |
| 474 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The Skull Heart grants both to the Skullgirl. |
| 475 | * WhamEpisode: Squigly's Story Mode. [[spoiler: It starts by revealing Squigly's mother was the Skullgirl before Queen Nancy. It gets progressively more shocking from there.]] |
| 476 | ** And Eliza's storymode somehow manages to kick the shock factor up even higher. [[spoiler: She pretty much eliminates half the cast, is revealed to have killed Aeon and Venus in the past, and is pretty much the sole reason the Skullgirls world is as messed up as it is. And that's not even bringing up the kaiju-sized blood construct she creates.]] |
| 477 | ** Double's ending, for the original 8 stories: [[spoiler: Double kills Marie to await a better host for the Skull Heart, and begins to consume the rest of the cast...only for the goddesses Aeon and Venus to basically say that [[NoEnding none of the story modes are canon]].]] |
| 478 | ** Umbrella's story mode stinger is [[spoiler: a still alive but headless King Franz.]] |
| 479 | * WhamLine: In Eliza's Story Mode, Double reveals something shocking about her. |
| 480 | -->'''Double''': [[spoiler: It was you...you murdered them...! Aeon...Venus...You killed...my daughters...! You...destroyed my kingdom...!]] |
| 481 | * WhamShot: [[spoiler: Marie]] appearing in TheStinger of Eliza's Story. |
| 482 | * WombLevel: |
| 483 | ** Final Atrium, the area where the final boss is fought, is made of demonic blood vessels that glow blue. Why is this? [[spoiler: Because they're a part of the [[BeatStillMyHeart Skull Heart]].]] |
| 484 | ** Gehenna, seen in Eliza's story mode, is a more conventional take on this -- red and meaty, with eye-tumor things and sparse music. |
| 485 | * WorldOfActionGirls: Naturally, given the almost all-female cast, but even non-playable women have a disproportionate tendency to be badass. |
| 486 | * WouldHurtAChild: The very presence of the Skullgirl means that the GodzillaThreshold has long been crossed and that she need to be stopped by any means possible. The current Skullgirl is a 13 year-old girl named Marie. Even if she's still a child, she doesn't act like she still has any innocence left. As such, every character in the game ends up killing her because there's literally no other way to stop her. The only character who shows any reservations about harming Marie is [[spoiler:Peacock, who's also 13 years old and was a close friend of Marie before she turned]]. |
| 487 | * YouFightLikeACow: Using a tech will often prompt the opponents to briefly exchange insults with each other, usually with the one who recovered expressing pain and the attacker mocking them. For example: |
| 488 | -->'''Parasoul''': Cheap shot!\ |
| 489 | '''Valentine''': [[SarcasmMode Want a bandage?]] |
| 490 | * YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Happens in Eliza's story mode - three times. [[spoiler: First, just as Eliza is about to claim the Skull Heart, she's attacked by Double. Afterward, it looks like the ending begins...but then Filia and Squigly barge in and the player has to fight them. Then the true ending plays..which leads to TheStinger where Marie [[UnexplainedRecovery suddenly reappears]] to oppose Eliza.]] |
| 491 | [[/folder]] |
| 492 | ---- |
| 493 | '''''THAT'S A WRAP!''''' |
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