Line #21 YMMV/HotlineMiami


1	''For YMMV tropes regarding the sequel, go [[YMMV/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber here]].''
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3	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Were Jacket and the Girlfriend really in a relationship? Or was this all part of [[spoiler:his coma dream]]?
4	* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Fighting Jacket as the Biker; he runs right at you, so all you have to do is whack him with your cleaver.]]
5	%%* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/HotlineMiami The whole soundtrack]].
6	* BreatherLevel:
7	** The third segment of Chapter 11. Compared to the fairly challenging segment before it, this area is very simple with you only having to focus on one or two enemies at a time. This segment also comes just before an ambush by the third boss.
8	** "Safehouse", Biker's first playable level. Coming hot off the heels of the FinalBoss, this is a very straightforward level with a few enemies and a single floor, which is handy for getting used to Biker's playstyle given how differently he plays compared to Jacket. It's also one of the easier levels to get an A+ rank in, too.
9	* CatharsisFactor: Oh boy! Basically, the entire game revolves around this. Committing mass murders has never felt so good.
10	* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[TheDogWasTheMastermind The Janitors]] -- real names Dennis and Jonatan -- are a duo of terrorists and members of the ultranationalist group [[WesternTerrorists 50 Blessings]], who are responsible for many events [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber in]] the [[ComicBook/HotlineMiamiWildlife series]]. Attempting to make America more powerful in their own vision, the Janitors manipulate the citizens of Miami to slaughter members of [[TheMafiya the Russian Mafia]] by sending out cryptic and threatening phone calls, and either take action against those who do not comply, leave them to die at the hands of the Russians if [[YouHaveFailedMe they fail]] their mission, or simply eliminate them once [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they outlive their usefulness]]. When one of their victims, Richter, dismisses the phone calls, the Janitors torch his car and threaten to have his sickly mother murdered. The Janitors then send Richter to kill Jacket, costing the life of Jacket's girlfriend and putting Jacket into a coma. When Richter is sent to prison for his botched assassination attempt, the Janitors hire an inmate to kill Richter to tie up loose ends and orchestrate a prison riot to make sure Richter dies, causing countless deaths. [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Despite their claims]], the Janitors are simply a pair of sadistic hypocrites who are no better than the Russians they resent.]]
11	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: One of the {{Central Theme}}s of both games is the self-destructive nature of violence and the amorality of enjoying it. However, they also appear to make sure that violence looks, feels and plays very good (at least if it's not NauseaFuel to you, as explained in its entry below). Granted, the creators did say in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcgmmBEEHsk&t=1525s this interview]] that they only went for such theme so as to avoid risk of people trying to imitate the games in real life (like incidents related to other games/series like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'').
12	* FanNickname: Due to the game's use of a NamelessNarrative, fans have come up with a number of nicknames for the main characters for the sake of convenience. [[AscendedFanNickname Some of them were eventually adopted by the developers as semi-official nicknames.]]
13	** The main protagonist is known as ''[[IconicOutfit Jacket]]''. This nickname is popular enough that it is what the character is known as in his role as a GuestFighter on ''Videogame/{{PAYDAY 2}}''.
14	** The man in a motorcycle helmet is known as ''[[BadassBiker Biker]]''.
15	** The DamselInDistress is known as ''[[HookerWithAHeartOfGold The Hooker]]'', or ''[[ImpliedLoveInterest Girlfriend]]''.
16	** The hairy, bespectacled clerk is known as ''[[WildHair Beard]]'', ''[[MuggleBestFriend The Friend]]'', or ''[[spoiler:The Soldier]].''
17	** All the characters who wear masks, while officially unnamed, are generally referred to by the name of their corresponding mask, such as ''Richard the Rooster'', ''Don Juan the Horse'', ''Rasmus the Owl'', and ''Richter the Rat''.
18	* FriendlyFandoms:
19	** While it's a minor case, there are numerous fans of ''Hotline Miami'' who are also into ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', drawing characters from the latter show with masks and weapons from the games and writing crossover fanfics between the two series. Lola and Lana in particular have been portrayed as Alex and Ash (respectively, and ''always'' that way) due to the twin dynamic between both duos.
20	** To a lesser extent, with ''Franchise/JohnWick'', owing to Le Castle Vania's work in each film's soundtrack and the [[Film/JohnWickChapter4 fourth film's]] [[ShoutOut tribute]] to this game in the form of the top-down shootout with the Dragon's Breath rounds.
21	* GameBreaker:
22	** Big Balls, that is, throwing a dart at an enemy holding a gun. Kill everyone on the screen except one guy, get him to hold a gun with depleted ammo, get a dart, throw it at him repeatedly, and watch the points go up.
23	** The Tony mask turns Jacket into [[Webcomic/OnePunchMan Saitama]], but unlike the Fan of the same name in the sequel, still allows him to carry weapons in addition to having the benefit of killing punches. And the best part is that it's one of the masks Jacket starts with, making it a very potent DiskOneNuke the more you get used to it.
24	** The Carl mask gives you a drill as a starting weapon. It's a melee weapon that can't kill anyone directly, but finishing a stunned enemy off with it (by drilling into their skull) grants you a ''ton'' of bonus points. Completing the level using only the drill will guarantee a perfect rank, but best of luck if you actually plan on doing that.
25	** The Brandon mask basically turns Jacket into a FragileSpeedster; though the game runs on OneHitPointWonder, if you make good use of its movement speed and with enough perseverance, you'll be racking up the points faster than a pinball machine.
26	** Richter's mask gives you a Silenced Uzi as a starting weapon, which can be quite effective on the smaller levels in repeat playthroughs. Nevermind its nature as a silenced weapon making it ideal for surprise attacks.
27	* GoodBadBugs:
28	** Hugging a wall sometimes allows you to perform a standing execution on an enemy on the other side. Killing enemies through walls makes some rooms much easier.
29	** Whether or not it's intentional is debatable, but there's something quite amusing about standing right next to a mobster carrying a weapon and watching them unload it to little avail. Especially the mobsters with the Double Barrel Shotguns.
30	* HarsherInHindsight: Richter [[spoiler:being revealed to have also received the same phone calls as Jacket]] is one thing. ''Wrong Number'' reveals that he [[spoiler:is even more of a nice guy than Jacket is (he doesn't seem to hate anyone, even Russians), has a sick mother to take care of, and seems to have been a mere civilian before being dragged into killing people]].
31	* MemeticMutation:
32	** [[YouBastard "Do you like hurting other people?"]]
33	** More broadly, the [[AnimalMotifs concept of hired killers wearing assorted animal masks]] has become one of the StockShoutOuts in action games/movies/comics.
34	* NauseaFuel: The sheer brutality of the violence, and the executions in particular, can have this effect. The game manages to avoid [[CrossesTheLineTwice Crossing the Line Twice]], making even the most desensitized gamers slightly disturbed at what they're doing to enemies (which fits in very well with the tone of the game).
35	* NintendoHard: One knife stab, baseball bat to the face, bullet to anywhere, etc. will kill you instantly. And you frequently face multiple opponents at once, who have insane reaction times and swing/shoot faster than you can. [[spoiler:Then you play as the biker, who only has three custom throwing knives, and faces more gunners than you have knives.]] In either case, you either have to play ''very'' carefully (which nets you less points, as the game encourages recklessness), or [[LuckBasedMission rush everyone and hope a shot just grazes you.]]
36	* SelfFanservice: The characters tend to look rather strange and {{Gonk}}ish in order to fit the unsettling mood of the games, but there's a lot of fanart that cleans them up and makes them look glamorously attractive. Biker and the Girlfriend get a lot of this, and Jacket tends to look just as good as Creator/RyanGosling when he's presented without his mask.
37	* SignatureScene: Jacket carrying Girlfriend out of Fisker's mansion, as seen in the cover art and trailer. What makes this iconic is that it serves as an EstablishingCharacterMoment for Jacket, as it juxtaposes his [[AxCrazy violent nature]] with his [[PetTheDog potential for kindness]] in a single image.
38	* SpiritualAdaptation:
39	** The game owes a massive debt of influence to ''Film/Drive2011'', so much so that Creator/NicolasWindingRefn is specifically thanked in the credits. Accordingly, the two works share a retro 1980s-themed neon- and synth-heavy aesthetic (with ''Hotline'' actually being set in the 1980s); a mysterious, nameless protagonist who talks very little, if at all, and is known primarily by an [[IconicOutfit instantly recognizable jacket]]; and graphic depictions of shockingly brutal violence (one of the game's executions even resembles the film's infamous head-stomping scene).
40	** It also shares a lot of its structure and themes with ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' - specifically the shadowy organization calling up the protagonist at the beginning of each chapter to instruct them on where to go to do their next round of killing, and using these killings as a metaphor for video game violence and making fun of video game narratives in general. The main difference is that ''Hotline Miami''[='=]s tone is markedly more serious - that, the technicolor environments, and the geopolitics background story (made more prominent in the sequel) are somewhat similar to ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'' (by the same dev) instead. Both of those games also share ''Hotline Miami''[='=]s mask motif, among other shared themes. Naturally, the developers are both huge fans of each other.
41	* ThatOneAchievement:
42	** "Get A Life" requires you to get an A+ rank on all levels. [[NintendoHard This is easier said than done...]] (unless you're using the Carl mask as Jacket, that is). The achievements for getting kills using specific weapons (Guns for Show, Knives for a Pro, and Pitcher) are also a pain to get as it requires the player to remember which weapons were used, since there's no way to keep track in-game.
43	** "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Plain Luck]]" (and to a lesser extent "Two Birds With One Stone"). You need to kill (not just hit) three enemies with one thrown brick. Luckily, there is a particular spot in the fifth chapter that makes it easier, but it ''is'' still a LuckBasedMission on account of how this game's weapon spawns work and timing your throw so that it hits all three mobsters at once. Patience is a virtue, but boy is it satisfying once you finally get the achievement.
44	* ThatOneLevel: [[ThatOneLevel/HotlineMiami Has its own page.]]
45	* ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs: Often compared to being on a terrifying coke binge (which, seeing as the game is set during the big crack epidemic in the 80's, is pretty appropriate). Not helping is that the majority of the game is [[spoiler:the main character's coma dream. He got shot in the head and the police are waiting for him to wake up at the hospital, you see]].
46	* UnderusedGameMechanic: You can take a HumanShield if you're holding a one-handed gun (such as a pistol) and use the "execution" key near a knocked-down enemy. It's rather hard to do unless you're specifically trying to pull it off (especially since two-handed guns are more common than one-handed ones) and most players complete the game without doing it even once (except to get one particular achievement). This feature was eventually left out in the sequel.

Context YMMV / HotlineMiami