[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ninth_rock_lost_artefact.png]]
''Ninth Rock'' is a third-person {{Platformer}} created in the fall of 2011 by a team of five game design students from the University of UsefulNotes/{{Houston}} with help from [=TimeGate=] Studios (of ''VideoGame/{{Section 8}}'' fame and ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'' infamy).

Spencer, a young astronomy nerd, has just learned that Pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet status due to its small size. Since it was his favorite planet, he's more than a little upset and sets out to infiltrate MASA to give the planet a little more mass.

Has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLUZpse21xU a playthrough video]], which beats the game in 22 minutes. As of now, that video and this very page are some of the only proofs on the internet that this game has ever existed.

!! Tropes present in this game:
* BlandNameProduct / WritingAroundTrademarks: MASA, Spacebook
* CreatorCameo: The news anchor who appears in the opening sequence is in fact the lead programmer.
** AuthorAppeal / FunnyBackgroundEvent / RaptorAttack: There's a little raptor head that peeks over the edge of his desk while he's giving his report, due to said programmer being a ''big'' velociraptor fan.
* EnemyChatter: Guards will randomly mumble to themselves as they patrol.
* FailedASpotCheck: The guards often fail to notice Spencer hiding behind a waist-high partition.
* FatIdiot: The guards are portly fellows who are probably lucky to have three brain cells to share between the entire team.
* FatSlob: The guards. Part of their EnemyChatter includes finding food in their pockets.
* GoneHorriblyRight: [[spoiler:Pluto does indeed become larger - larger than Jupiter, even! A sequel was discussed in which the resultant increase in mass causes a proportionate increase in gravity and threatens to throw the whole solar system out of balance, but it never materialized.]]
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: There's a team of security guards patrolling parts of MASA (but not the public areas, apparently, even though it's technically closed at night). They are large, dim-witted, and give up chasing the player quite easily.
%%* PlatformGame
* PlutoIsExpendable: The driving force behind the plot is Pluto's expendability and making it less expendable.
* PunnyName: MASA was originally conceived as an obvious take on NASA, but becomes funny when you realize that Pluto's problem is a lack of mass(a).
* SwissCheeseSecurity: Spencer tells his mom there's a sleepover at MASA so he can get a ride to the facility, then just waltzes inside with no trouble whatsoever (the front door isn't even ''locked'').
* UnexpectedGamePlayChange: Most of the game is a light platformer consisting of running and jumping. One of the latter challenges involves using a crane to move crates to block the vision of guards, and the final task is a spherical maze which must be manipulated to collect all the energy orbs and get them inside.
* VocalDissonance: Spencer is your average prepubescent child with a fitting voice. His voice actor is a grown man who is at least 6'2" and 250 lbs., give or take.
* YouAllLookFamiliar / FacelessGoons: The guards are all identical, and apparently even share a name.
---> '''Spencer:''' [[LampshadeHanging How many Charles Bronsons work here?]]
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