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Kukoo Machines Automatic Culinary Art
Jessica
"I've been thinking that both of you could use your powers to become space cooks. That way, you could earn money to be able to buy the machines I built from scratch. With my plan we will be able to pay rent! Sure bet!"
The owner of Kukoo Machines Automatic Culinary Art. She's gotten deep in debt after selling her last machine, but she hasn't heard of any space cooks who will buy these machines (which gives her an idea). She enlists Chill-Li and Matt to do this job, with the former agreeing to her offer, selling him machines as his business grows.- Benevolent Boss: She treats her employees like family, selling them new machines and upgrades whenever they're in need of them and providing Chill-Li with the KukooGun when she hears about the scientist's army attacking him.
- Blue Is Heroic: She wears a blue necktie/apron and is Chill-Li and Matt's greatest supporter alongside the President, even arriving to fix the scientist's remote control after overhearing Matt's video call with the scientist.
- Gadgeteer Genius: You know you're this if you can make it rich by selling machines you built out of scratch!
- Honest Corporate Executive: Implied. Her company becomes very famous and she profits in avalanches, but she never abandons her kind demeanor toward her employees and customers, best demonstrated when she offers to help the scientist fix his remote control and expresses her love for both of her most prominent employees.
- Nice Girl: Slightly downplayed. Even though Jessica is a little too focused on earning money to get herself out of debt, she is still really kind to Chill-Li and Matt, helps the former when he's under attack by the scientist's army, and comes to the scientist's aid when his remote control isn't working to stop his robots. She also makes it clear with a big bear hug to Chill-Li and Matt she loves both of her employees and doesn't care who's the better cook shortly afterwards.
- Overworked Sleep: Implied. After Kukoo Machines loads, she wakes up from her sleep, apparently having worked too much.Jessica: Wow, have I been asleep all this time?
- Redheaded Heroine: She has red hair, and is one of the game's heroes.
- Token Human: The only known human working at her company, and by extension, the only prominent one in the story alongside the scientist.
- Wealthy Ever After: Jessica becomes very rich about 80% of the way into the story after the President rewards Chill-Li with a Golden Fork Award and inspires a trend of the galaxy's denizens becoming space cooks who buy tons of her machines.
- Wrench Wench: She manages to fix Matt's ship offscreen and later figures out the problem with the scientist's remote control and happily repairs it.
Chill-Li
"It's cooking time!"
Jessica's kindhearted canine employee and The Hero of the game, who goes out on an adventure to save his boss's company from being foreclosed. He becomes embroiled in a series of adventures along the way.- Chef of Iron: Whenever enemies come in, Chill-Li can break out the KukooGun to take them away from his ship, still having enough power to continue his cooking spree and serve the customers on time.
- The Determinator: No matter what he has to go through, Chill-Li will stop at nothing to make sure Jessica's spaceship is safe from repossession.
- Famous for Being First: Chill-Li starts a trend of space cooks after he gets a Golden Fork award. This earns him a TON of fame and Jessica a windstorm of cash.
- The Hero: The main protagonist of the game, on a mission to earn enough money to pay off the rent on his employer's spaceship.
- Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines: Downplayed. Though neither of them are evil, Chill-Li is still the kind and loyal canine to Jessica, while Matt is a real Jerkass to him.
- Heroic Dog: Chill-Li is an indomitable canine with a talent for cooking especially delicious stuff with telekinesis, and The Hero of the game. He won't let anything get his spirits down, not even Matt's arrogance, or a robot army, or a multitentacled monster attacking his ship.
- Mind over Matter: His telekinetic abilities are a big help in his cooking, enabling him to activate the machines at will, move food and toys all over the place, slice up kebab meat, pick fruits off the vine, make things disappear, fight Matt, and many more.
- Nice Guy: This very sweet dog takes Jessica up on her request to save their company, treating his customers with the utmost respect even when the sluggies hold him captive, being cordial to Matt even when the latter talks him down (and being worried about leaving him with the same sluggies), and later comes to the President's aid to help him and the scientist patch up their friendship.
- Punny Name: Chill-Li = chili, which fits his role as a Supreme Chef.
- Supreme Chef: His cooking skills are outstanding, earning him quite a bit of fame around the galaxy and eventually becoming a recipient of the President's Golden Fork Award and the initiator of a new trend.
- Team Chef: Of the President's forces. He's essential to winning their initial battle against the scientist by keeping the pilots in the game, and later in the two former friends signing a peace treaty by preparing his food (and protecting him and his order from the Fearful's tentacles in the process).
Matt
"We could use our powers to save the universe. Instead, you only think of saving ourselves from debt!"
An arrogant and very competitive feline working for Jessica. He wants to go out and save the universe, which leads him to cross paths with his fellow employee Chill-Li and try to best him in a competition.- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He believes he is the better cook between himself and Chill-Li, and will make sure he wins at any cost, even if it means making his rival stay with the sluggies longer.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: A variant. His tail doesn't have anything dangerous on it, but he can fire shots out of it like the KukooGun, which negates the need for that device.
- Cats Are Mean: Downplayed. He's not a bad guy and he plays a big role in saving the galaxy by teleporting Jessica into the president's ship, but this feline is still a nasty piece of work to Chill-Li and wants to best him at all costs.
- Chef of Iron: Like Chill-Li, he can fight off enemies and still get back to cooking just in time to complete his objectives, using his Prehensile Tail to shoot out the bots.
- Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines: Downplayed. Calling him "villainous" would be a stretch, but Matt is still the more overtly callous of Jessica's employees.
- It's All About Me: He is quite self-centered, wanting to be a better cook than his canine coworker even if it makes him stay with the sluggies a little longer, brushing off the latter's worries of their employer losing her spaceship, and being hellbent on getting revenge once he's beaten. He's also really furious about Chill-Li's Golden Fork Award when he watches the news. If that wasn't enough, he even believes he's The Hero of the story, which he'll make sure you'll never forget if you complete levels 1-36 without all the golden forks.Matt: [Sees "THE END" on the screen] Eh!?!?!? What is this?? THE END??? No, no no no, NO! [Appears onscreen] I am the main character of this story! What? You don't believe me? If you manage to earn the golden fork rating in every stage...a new course will appear in the map! This isn't over yet, I assure you! There are still many things to see!
- Jerkass: He treats other people (especially Chill-Li) like crap, being so wrapped up in haughtiness and delusions of his own status as a superior chef. However...
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Matt may be an insufferable Jerkass to the people around him, but he's not completely malicious. Case in point, at the beginning, he argues that he, Jessica, and Chill-Li could use their powers to save the universe at the beginning rather than saving themselves from debt, tries to hide his fury upon losing to Chill-Li, and at the end, takes Jessica up on her request to be teleported into the president's ship to help the scientist stop the pillaging robots, though not without some arguing before that.
- Mind over Matter: He also has great telekinetic abilities to help him cook. See this trope on Chill-Li's entry and Beware My Stinger Tail above.
- Power Floats: He's able to float above the ground as well as being a powerful telekinetic space cook.
- Sore Loser: He is obsessed with winning in competitions, no matter what. When he loses to Chill-Li, he takes it upon himself to go and beat him to prove he's the better cook. While he accomplishes the former at the end of the game, Jessica hugs them and delivers her word: she doesn't care who's better than the other.
- Suppressed Rage: He tries to hold back his fury upon losing the sluggy culinary ceremony to Chill-Li when he asks him about using the former's spaceship, but his rage is still busting out of his mouth, his tone contrasting with his words.Chill-Li: Sorry, Matt. I hope you don't get angry because I'm borrowing your ship.Matt: Uhh...no...no...I don't really care...I don't really care at all!!! NOT EVEN A SINGLE BIT!!
- Supreme Chef: His cooking skills are on par with those of Chill-Li, another Supreme Chef, whom he wants to win against to be seen as the best.
The scientist's army
The scientist
"YOU! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! GET OUT FROM..."
A blind scientist and the President's former friend, who wants revenge on him for supposedly sending a bad e-mail.- Big Bad: Subverted. He appears to be the main villain when he's introduced, but it turns out he was just very angry about an e-mail the President sent him and the real Big Bad rewrote to his liking.
- Big Eater: He loves food, shown when he orders a TON of food while the Fearful is attacking. He enthusiastically dances around (and devours it afterward) when you get his order right.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: He sports a pair of bushy eyebrows above those thick lenses.
- Blind Mistake: His blindness causes him to do things like shout at his coffee machine when he's making a threat and initiate the self-destruct sequence instead of activating the teleporter when he's trying to retreat to his base. Fred has to point it out for him each time.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He waged war against the President because of one e-mail that he misunderstood which Fred altered as part of his hegemonic machinations.
- Evil Former Friend: Though he's more furious about the President's message than evil, this scientist declared war with the latter and used his robot army to steal food for ammunition to beat his former friend in battle which was all part of Fred's plan for galactic domination. However, they rekindle their friendship when they sign the peace treaty.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He's right on par with Jessica in that regard, building an army of robots to steal food for him and even constructing a complicated remote control device to deliver his commands. Jessica even lampshades it when she looks at it.Jessica: Wow, I have never seen resistors and condensers so skillfully used.
- Gag Nose: A long, thin, pink, sticklike nose contrasting with the rest of his skin. Also counts as a Sinister Schnoz when he first appears, but it's revealed the "sinister" part never really applied when we learn why he started the battle.
- Heel–Face Turn: He abandons his plan and signs a peace treaty with the President after Chill-Li serves him delicious food and protects him from the Fearful, but his robot army won't stop invading the galaxy. It's because Fred sabotaged his remote control and the plan was actually the butler's, and the scientist was never really a heel to begin with.
- Interspecies Friendship: He (a human) used to be good friends with the President (a frog) before they fell out after an apparent miscommunication by e-mail. That is, until they came to a truce after Chill-Li serves the scientist a really good meal and helps save him from the Fearful.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Wears a labcoat as an essential part of his occupation.
- Mad Scientist: He's an expert at robotics, and he's obsessed with getting revenge on the President after he misread the amphibian's invitation to the mall, creating a ton of robots to help him in his quest for galactic domination or so we're led to believe at first. Someone was pulling the strings behind this.
- Never My Fault: This scientist claims that none of the war is his fault and blames the President for starting the war when he was the one who misread the e-mail and sought revenge. Then it's revealed he's Right for the Wrong Reasons. Fred was the one who planned out the battle by altering the e-mail and sabotaging his remote control so he can't stop his own army.
- No Name Given: He is only ever referred to as "the scientist" (or "that scientist guy" by Matt, or "sir" by Fred), even by the President, his former friend.
- Opaque Lenses: As thick as his glasses are, you can't see through their lenses.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: This scientist is an expert in robotics, wearing a pair of thick lenses. Justified because he's blind.
- Token Human: He and Jessica are the only two humans we see in a cast full of Funny Animals, aliens, robots, and others.
- We Used to Be Friends: He broke off his friendship with the President when he looked at his e-mail and misinterpreted it as not inviting him to meet up at the shopping mall as a result of the Big Bad's interception.
Fred (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
"Excuse...excuse me sir..."
The scientist's robotic butler, who has a dark secret. Unmarked spoilers lie ahead.- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: This robot planned to turn on his scientist master the moment he was no longer convenient, altering the e-mail and taking the batteries out of his remote control.
- Big Bad: He was the one who sabotaged his boss's friendship with the President and broke his remote control to stop the deranged robot army from responding to anyone's commands.
- Big "NO!": He yells one at the end of the bonus cutscene, when he's informed by the sluggy captain that he will have to stay for a long time until he wins the culinary ceremony.
- The Butler Did It: At first, he appears to merely be a robotic butler who points out his master's Blind Mistakes, but then it's revealed he was the one with the plan to steal scores of Edible Ammunition and dominate the galaxy. Matt even lampshades it word for word when The Reveal arrives:Matt: So the butler did it! Talk about clichéd...
- Evil Brit: British accent? Check. Mad dreams of galactic conquest? Check. Master manipulator? Check. Altering the president's e-mail and sabotaging the scientist's only means of issuing commands? Double check.
- Evil Laugh: He lets out a couple of these during The Reveal.
- Lethal Chef: So much that his growy gets an indigestion in his first attempt at the sluggy culinary ceremony. Justified because he wasn't programmed to cook.Sluggy captain: I have never seen someone losing so fast in the sluggy culinary ceremony. I didn't even know growies could get an indigestion!Fred: But I can't cook, I wasn't programmed to do so!
- The Man in Front of the Man: Behind the scientist's back, Fred was the architect of the plan to steal food as ammo and rule the galaxy unopposed.
- Manipulative Bastard: He was the one manipulating the game's events relating to the robots. He tricked the scientist into instigating a galactic-scale battle against his former friend, blocked his boss's communications with his army, and reaped the benefits of the edible ammo coming from Chill-Li's and Matt's kitchens. It took Jessica fixing the scientist's remote to stop his plans.
- Purple Is Powerful: His color scheme is primarily purple and white, and he's a very skilled manipulator.
- Robot Hair: He has two appendages built above his mouth that are designed to look like a huge, twirling mustache.
- Tom the Dark Lord: If your name is Fred and you want to take over the galaxy by sabotaging your boss's creations to run amok and endlessly steal ammo, you're definitely this.
- The Unfought: You never get to face him at any point in the game, even by cooking for him or teleporting him away with the KukooGun.
- Walking Spoiler: It's really hard to describe him beyond being the scientist's robotic butler without spoiling his role in the story.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After beating the game, he's not shown in the ending cutscene. However, if you unlock the bonus cutscene, it's revealed that the sluggies have captured him and are holding him until he's the winner of their traditional culinary ceremony. What's more, he failed surprisingly fast because his growy had difficulty digesting its food, and now he'll have to stay for possibly an eternity.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: A variation. His Black Bead Eyes are still visible, but the screen surrounding them is yellow.
The scientist's army
"YOU! YOU ARE BORDERING ON MY DOMAINS!! THIS AREA IS MY PROPERTY AND ONLY ME AND MY ROBOTIC ARMY ARE ALLOWED SO MOVE OUT!"
An army of flying robots made by the scientist to follow his every command. They sometimes show up to steal Edible Ammunition for their boss to win his war against the president.—The scientist
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The scientist can't properly order them to stop attacking the President's ship after he signs the peace treaty because Fred messed with his remote control.
- Airborne Mook: They can all fly, which gives them additional leverage to steal your goods.
- Eating Machine: Subverted. They appear to be eating food and toys (especially the big pink ones who can teleport), but they're just taking them away to the scientist's ship for their boss to use as ammo.
Others
The President of the galaxy
"Friend, your food is so good that words fail me!"
A ginormous and pudgy frog serving as the galaxy's president. He befriends Chill-Li when the dog serves him a huge order at his kitchen, later enlisting him to help him reconnect with the scientist.- Adipose Rex: He's a pretty corpulent and sizable amphibian who leads the galaxy with a very busy schedule, inaugurating shopping malls, signing peace treaties, and leading his pilots into battle (enlisting Chill-Li's help with the last two).
- Amphibian at Large: Oh yes, he is! He's a frog who stands head, shoulders, and beyond above most of the cast, with the notable exceptions of Jessica (who comes close to his height) and the Fearful.
- Big Eater: He ordered a HUGE amount of food and drinks at Chill-Li's kitchen, though not without some indecisiveness, consuming it all with gusto (as his animation shows when you get his order right). The canine acknowledges this after serving him.Chill-Li: Wow, the president sure eats a lot!
- The Ditherer: He's known for being terribly indecisive, as shown in his introductory cutscene (where he wants to grab some food but has a hard time deciding what to get, and can't seem to make up his mind about the Chancellor's proposal) and the level where you serve him. Jessica even points it out when telling you how to know what he would like to eat.President's chauffeur: Sir, remember you have a meeting with the Chancellor today.President: Yes, I still have not made up my mind about his proposal.President's chauffeur: And you have to attend that shopping mall's opening.President: I know, but let us stop first to eat something.President's chauffeur: Should I drive you to the pizza restaurant?President: No, not pizza, I want cake...no, I would rather have pizza, or maybe a hamburger? Rats, I can't make up my mind!
- Interspecies Friendship: He (a frog) and the scientist (a human) used to be friends before the latter misread a message from the former inviting him to the shopping mall as a step in Fred's machinations. He also befriends Chill-Li (a dog) during his travels.
- Large and in Charge: Befitting his role as President, he towers above most of the citizens.
- Nice Guy: He's pretty amiable with Chill-Li, even addressing him as his friend, and desperately wants to make amends with the scientist after their falling out.
- No Name Given: Only addressed by "Mr. President," "sir," "president," etc.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He encourages Chill-Li's cooking skills, providing him with updates and advice during certain boss battles, even giving him a Golden Fork award for helping him and the scientist come to a truce to end the war over the e-mail.
Jessica's landlord
"Jessica, this is the third warning! You must pay the spaceship's rent!"
The robotic landlord responsible for renting Jessica's spaceship, who gives her his third warning about the rent at the beginning and threatens to evict her if she doesn't pay it this time.- Cranky Landlord: Downplayed. We don't get to see much of his personality, but his only appearance is threatening to throw Jessica out of her spaceship if she doesn't pay the rent on time (this being the third time he warned her about it).
- Green and Mean: Really downplayed. He's primarily green in color, and he yells at Jessica for not paying the rent twice, but that's all we see of him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's the one who kickstarted the game's events by threatening to evict Jessica if she doesn't pay up, despite only appearing in a video call with her in the opening cutscene.
The President's chauffeur
"Sir, remember you have a meeting with the Chancellor today."
The President's robotic chauffeur, who reminds him of upcoming things on his schedule.- Cyber Cyclops: This robot has only one eye in the center of his head.
- The Driver: For the President. He takes him around, asking him where he'd like to stop to get something to eat.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Seems to be this, as he handles canceling meetings at his boss's request, and reminds the latter of important occasions coming up.
Sluggies
First mate: "ATTENTION! My captain has brought you here in order to make an offer that you won't refuse! We will not allow you to do it, of course."
Captain: "Canine chef, you have been selected to forcibly cook for and feed the sluggy empire."
A species of gastropods from a distant galaxy, who aspire to continue their ancestors' hunting ways and catch space monsters, their latest target being the Fearful. The captain of one ship captures Chill-Li and Matt and later Fred, refusing to let any of them leave unless they win the time-honored culinary ceremony.Captain: "Canine chef, you have been selected to forcibly cook for and feed the sluggy empire."
- Ambiguously Evil: They seem to be evil (kidnapping Chill-Li and Matt and holding them on their ship against their will), but it's kind of hard to tell, since they're mainly going after the Fearful. Plus, they pay Chill-Li for his work and permit him to leave wherever he pleases on Matt's spaceship when he wins against his opponent. They also capture Fred at the end of the game, not allowing him to leave until he wins their ceremony (and warning him about the beefed-up security since Matt's escape).
- Cyclops: They are all basically one-eyed slugs.
- The Determinator: The captain is hellbent on catching the Fearful for the Emperor, no matter how small it shrinks or how much it tries to avoid their weapons. He orders his first mate to keep pursuing the monster, even after it shrinks.Sluggy captain: Chase the Fearful! We will trap him!First mate sluggy: Now the Fearful is so tiny that it will be impossible to find!Sluggy captain: I will not show before the Emperor empty-handed, pursue the Fearful!First mate sluggy: Yes sir!
- Evil Sounds Deep: OK, the "evil" part is debatable, but the captain speaks with quite a deep voice and forbids captives to leave until they are the victors of the culinary competition.
- The Ghost: The Emperor, who wants the Fearful finally captured and drives the captain's goals to catch it, even though we don't see or know anything else about him.
- Giver of Lame Names: A mix of the "name doesn't fit the thing" and "uncreative and stating the obvious" variants. They call the Fearful (a fearsome monster) as such because it keeps evading their weapons, thereby making it "the most fearful in the galaxy."Sluggy captain: We are great hunters, but terrible at picking names...
- Green and Mean: Played with. Though it's not exactly clear if they're evil, a good number of them are green, including the first mate. They hold their prisoners against their will with no other way out than to win the ceremony, sticking to their sacred tradition.
- Hat of Authority: The captain is the only one we see wearing a hat, which easily shows his rank on his ship.
- Hunter of Monsters: They are descended from proud warriors who valiantly fought and captured their prey, intending to continue the tradition by finally capturing none other than the elusive Fearful.
- No Name Given: None of them are given names.
- Non-Mammalian Hair: Most of these mollusks have a full head of hair, with the notable exceptions of (possibly) the captain and his first mate.
- One-Way Visor: The captain's first mate wears a visor completely concealing his eye.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The captain keeps his word to let Chill-Li go after he wins the ceremony, even giving him command of Matt's ship.
Growies
"Exactly, you will have to face another cook. Each cook will only feed one of these growies to make them, well, grow. The cook that manages to make his growy get strong enough to tackle their opponent's growy will be the winner."
Alien beings who grow when fed the right food. They're used in the sluggies' culinary ceremony so the bigger one can kick the other's butt.—The sluggy captain
- Armless Biped: They don't have any arms, so their food has to be delivered to them so they can eat it with their mouths.
- Big Eater: A prerequisite if you want to win the sluggy culinary ceremony!
- Meaningful Name: They grow whenever they're fed the right order, hence their name.
- Sizeshifter: When served the right food, they have the power to grow (or occasionally shrink) in size.
The Fearful
"Niiiiii..."
"But above all, we search for the beast that is said to be the most fearful in the whole universe, the one we call...THE FEARFUL!"
An elusive tentacled monster said to be the most fearful being in the galaxy, pursued by the Sluggies for centuries, who attacks the President's ship when the latter is about to have Chill-Li cook for the scientist.—The sluggy captain
- Attack Its Weak Point: Each of its tentacles have a darker spot that the KukooGun can hit to keep the tentacles from advancing further.
- Invisible Monsters: When it first appears, it sneaks up on the President's ship undetected, which takes Chill-Li and the President by surprise when it attacks.
- Ironic Name/Meaningful Name: The Fearful is actually pretty fearsome, attacking ships out of nowehere, so that runs contrary to its name, but since it is constantly eluding the sluggies and their weapons, the name...sort of counts, then again, it's the sluggies who gave it that name, so...
- Tentacled Terror: A non-cephalopod example who's on both the giving and receiving ends of the "terror" part. It captures the President's ship at the scientist's base with all of its twelve tentacles, seven of which steal food.
Customers
- Cactus Person: Some of them resemble anthropomorphic cacti.
- Funny Animal: Many of them of them are basically anthropomorphic animals, like fish, dogs, turtles, and sluggies.
- Shout-Out: Some of them resemble Xenomorphs to fit in with the extraterrestrial theme.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Downplayed. When you unlock certain machines, they'll always order a certain item as part of their food, but it varies how it looks. Whatever else they order with it also varies.
- Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Some of them look like a weird pony/dinosaur hybrid with four legs in addition to a pair of arms.
