[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Einhander_battle.jpg]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:Let's destroy this [[GiantSpider Spider]] [[SpiderTank Tank]] with a one-handed sword!]]-]

''Glory with the Moon. Mercy on the Earth.''

A surprisingly good {{PlayStation}} 1 side-scrolling ShootEmUp from SquareSoft ([[HeAlsoDid the same ones who made]] [[RunningGag the gut-crushingly popular]] FinalFantasy series). The player takes the role of an anonymous fighter pilot sent by [[LaResistance the moon nation Selene]] against [[TheFederation Earth's forces]], raiding its only city (called [[UnfortunateImplications Sodom]] in Japanese version). Initially armed with nothing but a weak machine gun, the fighter can nevertheless grab weapons called gunpods from enemies, including [[BoringButPractical plain old cannons and missile launchers]] as well as [[AbnormalAmmo a lightning gun]] and [[LaserBlade energy sword]]. What follows is single small fighter [[OneManArmy cutting a huge swath through huge installations defended by endless numbers of aircraft and turrets.]]

Most likely, you have heard of this game because of how dissonant the game is compared to other series made by SquareSoft, since this is a rare case of SquareSoft doing something [[PlayingAgainstType other than the RPG genre]]. As a result, it became a cult classic later on due to how fun and impressive it really is.

The composer (Kenichiro Fukui) for the game would later go on to compose songs in AdventChildren, produce the theme song for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', and play as the keyboardist in The Black Mages, so you might have heard of this style before. The soundtrack from the game combines several genres (ranging from Techno to Rock) in unique ways that would be comparable to the likes of YukiKajiura. The most notable song from the game is "Shudder" (which would be the other reason you are here), [[GenreBusting which combines Fast Rap, Techno, Rock, and other genres]] [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome all for the first few bosses in the game]].
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Tropes used in ''Einhander'':
* TwoAndAHalfD: As mentioned below, one of your weapons can fire into the fore- or background, as well as enemies sometimes appearing from said locations. The game makes this clear in no uncertain terms in the opening mook force, which appears in the foreground, before spinning around and entering your 2d plane. Interestingly, the camera also spins back and forth in various angles relative to your craft, even as you stay in the same plane (so that you are looking from a rear 3/4ths view at one moment, and then from below and to the side in another moment. Several boss battles even have the camera pan before the boss uses some attack or another, not to mention many points in the levels themselves.
** You even get a short first person view point just before the first boss, but only if you didn't get Secret Bonus 3.
* [[UnderwaterBossBattle Above Water Boss Battle]]: The MiniBoss of Stage 4, [[MeaningfulName Salamander]], attacks you from the water below in its first phase.
* ActionBomb: One of the enemies in stage 5. They don't attack on their own, but if given enough time, will self-destruct. Green-lined ones will explode into a plasma SphereOfDestruction, while the more dangerous red ones will explode into a starburst of projectiles.
* AfterTheEnd: The events of game take place years after the great war, there's nothing on Earth but wasteland outside the CyberPunk city.
* AllThereInTheManual: The only real indication to explain why the Earth forces speak German (otherwise, one could easily assume they only speak German in *THAT* part of the world), and where the capital city is located is because the instruction manual barely mentions that the city was built over the ruins of an [[GermanPeculiarities autobahn]].
** It also mentions briefly that Germany (or what's left of it) set up a OneWorldOrder after the bombs fell, while the defeated eventually became Selene.
* AnimalMecha: The monkey mecha Ausf A Gestell, who is ironically not named after an animal.
* AnimalMotifs: Almost all the Earth forces are named after animals, including the bosses and {{Mini Boss}}es. The bosses and minibosses also share traits to the animal they're named after. And then there is also that [[AxCrazy deranged]] HumongousMecha [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkey]]...
* AnimalThemeNaming: Almost all the Earth Federation's units are named after animals... in German.
* ArmorPiercingAttack : The Riot weapon can pierce enemies' facial armour and hurt them directly, something which even the Flash cannot do (on certain enemies and bosses). Justified as it's an electrical weapon and fries them from the inside out.
* AttackItsWeakPoint: Most of the [[MiniBoss minibosses]] and bosses can be defeated quickly if you know where to shoot them in. The same applies to larger enemies that can be defeated by shooting them in their engines and such.
** Hint: Shoot the part that has a green glowing thing (such as a visor) on it. Nine times out of ten it's the weak point.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Mosquito gun pod, a manual-guided missile sounds cool until you find out that the missile is guided by the fighter's movement.
** The Python, although one of the most damaging weapons in the game, is shot out in a string of shots somewhat randomly controlled in opposition to the player's motion. As such, it is quite difficult to damage the enemy with it.
** The spreader, despite seeming like an awesome weapon, is outright useless due to its lack of power. Its rate of fire is determined by the number of spreader shots on the screen. So it seem to has low firerate unless you're [[DareToBeBadass willing to fly right up in your opponent's face and jam on the fire button]], then you can get a rate-of-fire comparable to your machine gun with far increased damage and five shots per trigger pull. Of course, you have to have really twitchy reflexes to make this not suicide, but it can be devastating. By the way, the spreader also only fires backwards when shifted above you. There are barely any moments in the game when you need to fire behind your character.
** The [[LaserBlade Blade]] - it does a lot of damage and looks really cool, but it requires you to get uncomfortably close to enemies and ate up its ammo rather quickly. You can extend its range, but it's still burns through ammo ridiculously fast and not really useful.
** The Flash, which shoots a cool-looking purple beam that slices through everything (bypassing armor and still going after that) but the ammo is ridiculously rare AND limited in amount. [[spoiler: Unless you unlock the secret ship that always comes with 9999 ammo with any gunpod]]
** Strangely enough, the most powerful weapons at your disposal appear to be your ship's engines (fired behind you when you change the speed of the fighter) and the manipulator arm you use to pick up weapons.
* AxCrazy: The [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys ape]] MiniBoss of Stage 5, Ausf A Gestell, attacks your char like a deranged monkey: it frequently tries to swat the player's ship, and if knocked down, throws a crate at the player (similar to [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong a certain ape]]).
** Befittingly enough, the background music when you fight it is called "Madness".
* BilingualBonus: All the enemies from stages 1-6 speak in German. If you know the language, you can understand that they're trying to kill you.
** Wouldn't have hurt them to add subtitles for the rest of us though. Some of the dialogue is incomprehensible due to sound effects and alarms that go off when they talk.
* [[spoiler: BolivianArmyEnding: And you actually [[OneManArmy win]], as shown after the credits...]]
* BoringButPractical:
** The Cannon gun pod. Pretty solid firing rate, ammo is plentiful, and its damage is reliable.
** The Grenade, to a lesser degree. It does the most damage-per-shot out of all the weapons in the game, but it has a very short range and can only be used on enemies directly above or below you. It's better used on bosses and mini-bosses more than anything else.
* BreakableWeapons: While attached to your ship, the gun pods can gradually collect damage from collisions and enemy fire and eventually be destroyed if replacements are not collected. The ship's bare manipulator arm, on the other hand, is completely indestructible.
* ChargedAttack: The Riot gun pod.
* ChickenWalker: The Star (Starling) and Panzerstar (Armored Starling) enemies, as well as the boss Sturmvogel (Thunderbird). FridgeBrilliance when you consider that they are named after birds in German.
* ClimaxBoss: Schwarzgeist, or Black Ghost, the stage 6 boss.
* CollisionDamage: Subverted. Your ship does not get destroyed when you contact a hard surface, but will if you continue pushing into it.
* CombinationAttack: The MiniBoss of Stage 3, Gecko, fires a laser at a {{Mook}}, who reflects and amplifies it into a [[WaveMotionGun huge laser]].
* CombiningMecha[=/=]MechaExpansionPack: Sturmvogel and its armor attachment.
* CoresAndTurretsBoss: Not a boss, but the turret train cars in Stage 2 qualify. To beat them, destroy their control towers and ignore the turrets.
** Or don't. You can get ''two'' secret bonuses if you shoot down enough turrets before destroying the control tower.
* ContinuingIsPainful: With the [[spoiler:Schabe]].
* DarkReprise: The track "Conflict" is one of "Dawn".
* DeadlyWalls: See the CollisionDamage example above.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Played straight. You lose the equipped gun pod at death but by choosing a starting gun pod, you can get them with increased damage in your continuation.
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by the Schabe, which can't kill anything stronger than a {{Mook}} without lot of gun pods collected. And it gets reset to level 0 each time it gets destroyed...
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: The Vulcan gun pod is weaker than the standard machine gun, though it does have MoreDakka.
* DirectContinuousLevels: For levels 1-6. Your craft is shown heading to its next destination while Hyperion directs you to your next objective.
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: SubBoss Ausf A Gestell is one [[AxCrazy GENOCIDAL]] [[ImpossiblyGracefulGiant Giant Ape]]!
* FrickinLaserBeams: MiniBoss [[SpiderTank Gecko]] loves to use this one a lot.
* GatlingGood: Your ship's basic machine gun, the Vulcan and the Juno all fit into this. Especially the latter two.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The song "Shudder" has a [[PrecisionFStrike few f-bombs]] dropped in it. In an E-rated game, of all things.
* GratuitousGerman: German becomes Earth's global language. Starting with the federation being called "Gesetz" (German for "Law")...
** The folks of Selene, meanwhile,[[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish still speak some good English]].
* GunsAkimbo: The first SubBoss, Greif.
** The Astraea fighter allows the player to wield two gunpods simultaneously.
* HeadshotsKillRobots: Played straight almost all the time- opponents have a glowing green spot that happens to be the weak-armoured cockpit, and that spot is usually the head. Destroying it will destroy the Mook/Miniboss/Boss.
** But not always, in the case of [[SpiderTank Gecko]] the weak spot is the bottom, and for Schwarzgeist it's the middle section.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: The enemy in stage 2 called "Star" (Starling in German) returns as a tougher-to-beat armored version in stage 5 called "Panzerstar" (Armoured Starling).
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: You pull this off once you find out the moon forces declare that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness you are no longer needed]] once you complete stage 6.]]
* HelpfulMook: The Accidentally Assisting type, they are your source of ammo.
* HighAltitudeBattle: Stage 6 has your ship fly near outer space in order to destroy a rocket that [[TransformingMecha transforms into the boss]].
* HomingProjectile: The Wasp weapon, which can home in on enemies '''in the background AND foreground'''!!!
** The side weapon of the Schabe when it collects a wasp will also home in on enemies, background targets and foreground targets alike.
* HumongousMecha: Earth forces just love them.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Astraea Mk.II, one of the secret fighters; it functions like default Astraea Mk.I but starts with 9999 ammo for both gun pods. Now arm it with the rare gun pods, Juno and Flash...
* ItsAWonderfulFailure: If you lose the battle against the Stratagem Spacecraft in Stage 6 by running out of time, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKn2Eyb1Tw8&feature=plcp your fighter starts to power down and you fall to the Earth, as a swarm of police fighters are heard opening fire on your ship]]. And after hearing a brief narration from your pilot, you get a creepy NonStandardGameOver screen with a shot of a pilot's helmet laying on the ground cracked, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itf3jQNwzD8 while this nightmarish music plays]].
* ItsUpToYou: Subverted. While the intro animation only shows a single fighter, Selene actually sent a team of fighters. You can assume that they're off doing their own thing while you do yours.
* KaizoTrap: The submarine that appears before the MiniBoss in Stage 4. If you "defeat" it the conventional way by destroying the body, its cockpit will detatch from its body, and fire out a ''very deadly'' spray of rapid shots.
** There's also the Miniboss of Stage 4 itself. When defeated, it will flail its arms about like a drowning guy... and these can still collide with and kill you.
* KillSat: Two of 'em. On crack. The "final" level is about stopping the first from reaching Selene. The second [[spoiler:is a KillSat fighter based off you, and all the previous Einhander pilots, meant to be Selene's ultimate weapon.]]
* LaResistance: Selene [[spoiler:really isn't this. It's revealed to be TheEmpire before the final stage.]]
* LaserBlade: The Blade weapon.
* [[LethalJokeCharacter Lethal]] JokeCharacter: Schabe, the other secret fighter has nothing but a machine gun, but picking up gun pods will upgrade it. While the Schabe might seem weaker compared to the basic Einhanders (e.g. it does not have any defenses whatsoever), it gains a different secondary fire as different gunpods are collected to level it up. If the Schabe happens to pick up a Wasp or Mosquito gunpod... hoo boy, it gains INFINITE [[MacrossMissileMassacre HOMING SHOTS]] [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom OF DOOM]]!
* MacrossMissileMassacre: You can do this by using the wasp weapon. Stage 4 boss Sturmvogel also uses this on you.
* MeaningfulName:
** Most of the [[BossFight bosses]] and [[MiniBoss sub-bosses]]:
*** Greif ([[GratuitousGerman german]] for [[GiantFlyer Griffin]]), has the top half of a robot and the lower half of a hover ship, not unlike the [[MixAndMatchCritters griffin being half a lion and half an eagle]].
*** Drache (german for [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]]) looks like a dragon without arms or wings... until its claw-like "head and neck" is destroyed.
*** Garnele (Shrimp), is best described as a cross between a shrimp/prawn/lobster and a motorbike.
*** Spinne (Spider) a [[CoolTrain train]] with [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four]] [[CognizantLimbs "arms"]] that carry a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]], [[GatlingGood a vulcan cannon]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre a homing missile launcher]] and [[MookMaker a drone dispenser]]. The other four "legs" are its train treads.
*** Gecko is a SpiderTank that [[WallCrawl crawls on the walls and ceiling]], true to its name.
*** Salamander is an amphibious submarine that [[UnderwaterBossBattle attacks you from the water]] and later on climbs out as a last-ditch attempt to destroy the player.
*** Sturmvogel (Stormbird/Thunderbird) looks vaguely like a mechanical bird. Alternatively, it looks like a large version of a robot {{Mook}} known as "Starling" in german.
*** Schwarzgeist ([[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Black Ghost]]) is a strange, eerie-looking satellite-like robot. [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience And it's black]].
** Your ship, called an Einhander (one-handed sword), has a single arm-like extension that can equip different gunpods.
* MookMaker: The military train cars in the second stage spawn lots of [[GoddamnedBats small shooting drones]] and attack vehicles.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Spinne, the train car with four weapons attached to its arms. There's a good reason why it's named "Spider" in German.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Salamander can best be described as a "Stingray submarine with arms that hangs onto monkey bars". And it has a kickass WaveMotionGun to boot.
* NonstandardGameOver: Allowing the timer to expire at the start of stage 6 causes your ship to shut down and plummet to Earth, where it is immediately set upon by German forces. The game ends here even if you have extra lives remaining.
* NoExportForYou: PSN-wise, that is. While ''Einhander'' was released to North American markets in 1998, it has yet to see a PSOne Classics rerelease on the NA [=PlayStation=] Store. Naturally, it has been available on Japan's [=PlayStation=] Store since 2008.
* OneHitPointWonder - Get hit by ''anything'', you will explode. Although [[CollisionDamage walls and floor WILL NOT kill you... instantly]]...
** Your gunpods can absorb a limited amount of damage for you before they are destroyed. If you are skilled and/or lucky enough, you can even use the bare manipulator arm to block attacks, and the arm itself is indestructible.
*** The Schwarzgeist fires a large burst of missiles at you. If your arm is empty, you can go into the top left corner, hold up and left, and block all 20-odd missiles which will hit the arm and explode but not do any actual damage do you.
* OneManArmy - By the end of the game, you've single-handedly ended the war by shooting down anything that can fight. [[spoiler:On BOTH sides. And lived.]]
* OutrunTheFireball / OutOfTheInferno - If you get a secret bonus on the right stage, you end up going up a tunnel with the explosion just behind you. Then right before the boss, the entire thing goes up and ''you'' begin the boss fight exiting a giant pillar of fire. Badass.
** There's also a rewarding detail: If you fight the regular boss, the paint job is shiny smooth. If you unlock the secret, the boss's body will be burnt and (cosmetically) damaged.
* PaletteSwap: The first boss Drache has two versions. The one you go up against depends on whether you unlock the secret bonus while fighting the Greif- he's normally green, but is blue if you got the secret bonus.
** Not exactly. When the claw part is destroyed, Drache flips over and will either shoot lasers from its weak point or a spray of orange shots from its butt. For the latter, the green version will only shoot shots forwards, but the blue version can shoot diagonally backwards as well.
* PowerEqualsRarity: The Flash, Juno, Python and Mosquito can only be obtained very few times per playthrough, although the latter two are AwesomeButImpractical due to their weird trajectory and control scheme respectively.
* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: The Japanese version includes images of two pilots; they were removed in the English version.
* RewardingVandalism: Aside from enemy {{Mook}}s, there are some containers that hold gun pods inside.
** You also get Tech Points added to your score by destroying the environment such as the neon signs in the first level, or causing a nuclear meltdown by shooting some support struts located above a reactor and letting gravity do the rest.
** Certain special weapons can be acquired by destroying certain parts of the enemy. Part of the fun in playing the game is seeing just how far you can strip the bosses naked. The Ausf A Gestell has about 20-some separate weapon and armor points you can remove before you destroy it or run out of time and move on. It just looks like a bare-bones frame when you're done. You can acquire the Flash gunpod if you allow it to kick enough boxes at you in the process.
* {{Robeast}}: Drache, the first boss seems to fit. [[AllInTheManual The background story notes that its AI emulates beasts' behaviors]]. Hence why the robot roars when you defeat it.
** Don't forget Ausf A Gestell, the [[AxCrazy mad]] [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys ape]] mecha which roars in its intro, every time it's knocked down, and upon death.
* RollerbladeGood: Ausf D Durer, the Stage 5 boss.
* SecondaryFire: The Wasp gun pod can be switched from regular rockets to guided missiles.
* ShockAndAwe: The Riot weapon.
* SpaceZone: Some levels have multi-directional scrolling, but the fighters can't turn around.
* SphereOfDestruction: The hedgehog creates miniature variants that do continuous damage to enemies unlucky enough to touch them.
* SpiderTank: The SubBoss Gecko.
* SpreadShot: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Spreader]] gunpod, of course.
* TheFederation: Gesetz
* ThemeNaming: Almost all of the Mooks (including bosses) are named after animals. In German, no less.
* TimedMission: The battle against the rocket in stage 6, failing to destroy both engines before time runs out will net you a NonStandardGameOver.
* TimeLimitBoss: All the bosses save for one will quit attacking after a certain point of time, if you "beat" them this way you will lose out on boss repulse points.
** The final boss [[spoiler:Hyperion]] can't be stalled out this way though; take too long to defeat it and instead of giving up, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFcHwmhwCwU it will fire an unavoidable blast]] of its WaveMotionGun at you.
* TimeSkip: [[spoiler: After the battle with [[ClimaxBoss Schwarzgeist]], the game's narrative skips one month later, in which the final battle with Hyperion, the EOS fighters, and Selene occurs.]]
* TitleDrop: During the game's opening narration.
-->There was a time, in the era of great chaos, when the Earth and the Moon were at war with each other. A daredevil from the moon piloted a bizarre aircraft. It was feared, and because of its shape, called...'''Einhander'''.
* WallCrawl: Gecko does this, true to its name.
* WaveMotionGun: A LOT of them. See all of them [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i55rV9lABg here.]]
** The BigBad [[spoiler:Hyperion]]
** Drache fires one of these [[{{Fartillery}} OUT OF HIS ASS!!!]]
** MiniBoss [[SpiderTank Gecko]] who does this in a CombinationAttack with a {{Mook}}.
** Salamander does this while clinging onto two overhead bars [[UnderWaterBossBattle above the water]].
** A {{Mook}} in stage 5 is able to use this.
* WeaponizedExhaust: The rocket chase sequence on stage 6. Touch the exhaust and you're fried in an instant.
** The PlayerCharacter has this too- everytime you change speed, you fire out a burst of exhaust which can actually do very decent damage to anything unlucky enough to be behind you.
* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler: Selene is revealed to be TheEmpire all along at the end of the game, and they decide to pull a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness on you.]]
* [[spoiler: YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness]]: [[spoiler: Hyperion pulls this on you at the end of Mission 6. Considering that you were actually sent on a suicide mission...]]

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