[[quoteright:273:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slai_5_5328.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:273:The Sport of the Future is Here]]
A somewhat rare [=PS2=] game, SLAI Steel Lancer Arena International, is a sequel to the Xbox game, VideoGame/PhantomCrash. It keeps many of the same features, such as the trademark Stealth-capable MiniMecha, although they underwent a name change. Set in 2071 (a few decades after the original), the sport of "Rumbling" (same as Phantom Crash: Mecha blowing each other and their surroundings up in semi-gladatorial deathmatches in urban settings) has underwent a boom in popularity, although, it's significantly safer (thanks to Remote-control technology) than it was back in the days of Club Wired... it's also, notably an international phenomenon now, with Rumbling arenas across the globe.
As the player, you start of as a new Rumbler with intent to making it to be the #1 Ranker... initially, that's all that matters: Win games, become an online-superstar, earn cash... then things take [[PlotTwist interesting turns]]. Not unlike the original, you come across a wide array of characters, including the enigmatic [[ShoutOut God Mode Team]], and many, many, many pop-culture references.

It used to have online [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]], but the servers were taken down a long time ago.

This game gives examples of:
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* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler: JOL manages to break the 3 laws of robotics somehow and goes full-on KillerRobot.]]
* AMechByAnyOtherName: [=SVs=]: '''S'''coot '''V'''ehicles. (The used to be called Scoobees, but that name lost popularity, but they're the same mecha).
* AttackDrone: Dusters return from the last game, but now there's Sweepers, which are slightly stronger, and carry missile launchers.
* ArbitraryGunPower: Basic assault rifles suck, no matter what you do with them. Chain guns on the other hand...
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Hartman's Daisy bell cannons- at +99, they are instant kill slugs that are horribly hard to aim, but rest assured, with [[NoKillLikeOverkill over 250000 damage a hit]], no matter what you hit is dead, if you ever land it-- you only get 1 shot... at -99 they blow up half the map in a glorious, practically nuclear blast... that does pitiful damage (But you get 11 shots.) . The midground for these guns is... a basic grenade.
** [[EnergyWeapon Lasers]]: They destroy armor like none other, but protect shields deny them so often, they don't do much.
*** Pulse Lasers (such as the Hartman's Thunderbird) deal massive damage, but have limited ammo and a massive cooldown between shots.
** The Boss Mechs: They look cool, but can't really be customized, and... aren't really that good.
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Jack O Lantern: A chip who's out on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, with a fierce vendetta against the God Mode Team... because [[ManipulativeBastard Lynx]], and his pals [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Sin]], Skeln and the rest of the team, except Embryo, caused his former owner, Micheal, to commit suicide.]]
* {{BFG}}: [[NukeEm Daisybell]], [[EnergyWeapon Thunderbird]], [[MacrossMissileMassacre Hedgehog]], 105mm Recoiless Cannon... Really, most Hartman weapons. There's plenty more big guns out there, but, the Hartman takes the cake for just having lots of big guns.
* BossRush: Master Rank battles, which are high-level rumbles that only Rankers (and DD) can enter... Considering the EasyLevelsHardBosses nature of the game... these are notably NintendoHard.
* BraggingRightsReward: Ardito, Elint, Molynia.
* ChekhovsGun: The opening cutscene mentions The First Ranker battle took place on New York Field. And that's exactly where the final boss fight takes place. [[spoiler: Pay no attention to the fact that someone hacked their way to a muscle-relaxant formula from a pharmaceutical lab... that can't have anything to do with the Rumbling... OhWait.]]
* ChainsawGood: The KNT's melee weapon is normal chainsaw... The Proton's combines this with KatanasAreJustBetter for a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Chainsaw Katana]].
* CherryTapping: You can beat high-end rankers in a Sweeper. Or take down [[spoiler: JOL]] in an uncustomized Carro, like the one you do your first rumble in.
* DeflectorShields: Protect Shields, which are semi-rare occurances that completely nullified all incoming damage for brief moments of time. Outside of increasing your Chip's level, there exist items that increased the chance of activating them. Like in VideoGame/PhantomCrash, it appears as a rainbow-colored ball.
* DestroyableItems: Same as in VideoGame/PhantomCrash, the powerups can be destroyed, but only by direct fire. A Daisybell shot landing near the cubes won't kill them.
* DualWielding: You can dual-wield any two arm or shoulder weapons. In some cases it's actually viable to quad-wield certain weapons, up to, and including the {{BFG}}s, provided you can manage the weight. And yes, you can dual wield the previously mentioned Chainsaw Katana.
* DieChairDie: Destructible terrain from VideoGame/PhantomCrash is still here, and still worth extra money when shot.
* EasyLevelsHardBosses: Even a D-ranker appearing is a massive difficulty spike.
* EliteTweak: You have to sit down and modify every single part of your SV, and the game offers exactly 199 power levels (incrementing from -99 up to +99) ''per part,'' and an SV has up to six major parts (two arm weapons, two shoulder weapons, main chassis, legs). You can spend hours in the garage nudging the values around to get just the right combination of speed, armor, weight, and power for each part.
* EnergyWeapon: Laser weapons come in two types: Continuous lasers and Plasma Cannons. The Continuous Lasers deal massive damage over time, and rip thru armor like nothing. The Plasma Cannons deal huge amounts of damage but only get 2 or 3 shots before the weapon overheats and has to cooldown before it can be fired again. [[ShownTheirWork As a note, the actual lasers... are lasers, as-in the beams cannot be dodged once fired (Because the rounds travel at light speed)]]... and the Plasma Cannon shots are the fastest projectiles in the game.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: This game is a mecha arena fighter. Nothing else.
* ExplodingBarrels: Any destructible terrain when shot... explodes. Although it never does damage to nearby enemies.
* FeaturelessProtagonist: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]: Considering the game is "psuedo-online", every character in the game isn't quite what he/she looks like, because everyone is technically this, but has an online "Persona".
* FinalBoss: A very intimidating SV with a shark-mouth paint job. [[spoiler: The boss character is also splutteringly insane, and... that paint job is the only thing that differentiates his SV from the other 3 Elint models you could've fought by now. (And the one you can obtain after beating him.)]]
* GatlingGood: Diavolo and it's Boss-only Cousin Vampiro.
* GunsAkimbo: See DualWielding.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Lynx locks himself in his own SV, which is an old VideoGame/PhantomCrash model instead of a remote control modern SV to avoid being arrested. This, ironically, serves to get him killed by JOL, after you wreck him.]]
* [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity +1 Mech]]: The three Boss [=SVs=], one of which is the Final Boss's mech from VideoGame/PhantomCrash (It's also [[spoiler: Lynx, the Second Ranker's]]), and another is the final boss's mech from this game. Sadly, they're AwesomeButImpractical.
* KillerRobot: [[spoiler: JOL]]
* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler: Lynx, the Second Ranker]]
* MacrossMissileMassacre: There's plenty of ways to do this. The Hedgehog weapon is the most notable example: It fire 8 missiles at once. You can dual wield these. Another example is dualing the 6-shot missle launchers on the Ardito or Molyina.
* MiniMecha: The [=SVs=] are pretty damn small. However, they are not manned... except [[spoiler: Molyina, which is, withholding it's armament, [[FinalBoss Charga]], from ''VideoGame/PhantomCrash''.
* MoreDakka: The previously mentioned Gatling guns, and the numerous chain guns... there's many, many ways to just spam bullets at your foes. And it's [[BoringButPractical surprisingly effective]].
* NightmareFuel: In-universe Example: Pumpkins to a certain member of the God Mode team makes him seriously freak out. On the other hand... the way "Jack" kills his victims: [[spoiler: with a powerful muscle-relaxant that stops your heart and lungs.]]
* PowerEqualsRarity: Good luck finding a part like the [=XPPC-Thunderbird=]... until you've earned 25 Ranks and unlocked the Black Market parts shop, Wild-Machine... the Boss [=SVs=] can also only be bought at Wild Machine on a specific day on a specific server (and only in the post-game).
* PowerUp: Cubes.
* RealMenWearPink: Or have mecha that look like [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva-01]] with some extra white-- several of the paint jobs in this game are surprisingly girly.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: JOL is on one, and he's out for the blood of the God Mode Team, who made his best friend and previous owner, commit suicide. His method of murder is actually horrifying.]]
* RogueProtagonist: Kirin, the player character from VideoGame/PhantomCrash returns in the post game to take his title of First Ranker back... this naturally makes you his enemy.
* SceneryGorn: Continued from ''VideoGame/PhantomCrash''- the arenas are still semi Post-Apocalyptic, and make extensive use of the [[RealIsBrown color gray]]. Except Vegas.
* SchematizedProp: Like the ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' series, the parts in this game have a LOT of statistics. And then you can mess with the parts...
* ShoulderCannon: Shoulder weapons.
* ShoutOut: '''Tons''' of them. Mostly to internet culture, Sci-fi, CyberPunk, and a few other notable things. Some Examples Include:
** Data Mnemonic-- the spot where you save your game... is run by an AI by the name of [[JohnnyMnemonic Johnny]].
** "Calibrated by [[KonamiCode NNSSEWEW]]"
** The mooks of New York's A-Rank are [[Franchise/StarWars Dark V. (And his chip Executor), Dark S., Dark T... and so on...]]
** It's [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Muad-Dib]] (the A-Ranker in Cairo).
** The Intelligent Chip store is called [[Creator/IsaacAsimov "Difference EnGine"]] (Chips are later stated to follow the ThreeLawsOfRobotics)
** One of your opponents has a chip partner called Ganon. [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda It belongs to the Pig class]].
* ShortRangeShotgun: Averted. The Shotguns have a pretty big spread at range.... but they can kill at a very long distance. At close range, they're game-breakers if customized right.
* SniperPistol: All of the guns in the game can practically shoot all the way across the map. The Sniper Rifles on the other hand just have a LOT of firepower and are great weapon breakers.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Considering the music in this game is...all over the place and you can have it play whatever it is that you want out of a massive selection of Licensed and Original (or from VideoGame/PhantomCrash) music for combat.. it's bound to happen. (Never mind listening to some overly happy J-Pop while fighting the FinalBoss.)
* StandardFPSGuns: Spread out across the various makers as before in ''VideoGame/PhantomCrash.'' The pistol type weapon called the SMG, and the SMG type weapon called the Assault Rifle, but other than that things are fairly self explanatory, with Heavy Machine Guns, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Gatling Guns, Missile Launchers, Grenade Launchers, and a handful of energy weapons (which manage to avert SlowLaser). The Melee weapons are more esoteric and unusual, including drills, piledrivers, chainsaws, and katanas that are also chainsaws. Perhaps the most distinctive weapon is the game's BFG equivalent, a ''miniature nuclear warhead launcher.''
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Try listening to DD's theme "Sweetheart Woman" and Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride and Joy" in sequence.
* SwordAndGun: Why, hello there, Chainsaw Katana... Hello there Assault Rifle.
* ThisIsADrill: The Hartman's Melee Weapon.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Averted. The player is well-recognized and even gets a fan-club. (Said fan-club is crazy. And they're the mooks and boss for one of the ranks.)
* ThreeLawsCompliant: Chips are robots built with the three laws.
** [[spoiler: JOL breaks the 3 laws. So after you stop his RoaringRampageOfRevenge and trap him... he's promptly destroyed.]]
* TronLines: Seen in the Menus. And Vegas. (But that's Vegas.)
* UniversalAmmunition: Ammo Cubes reload ANY weapon... Randomly.
* VirtualCelebrity: Mona-Lisa returns from VideoGame/PhantomCrash, with new songs.
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