From Across Time and Space, Assemblenote
These are the characters that appear in the game Live A Live, arranged with the scenarios they appear in.
To see the Seven Heroes, as well as the characters from the Middle Ages chapter and other Walking Spoilers, see below:
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Party Members and Minor Characters
Prehistory Chapter - The First
Gori
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto
Pogo's sidekick, a gorilla. He has a bad habit of screwing around with Pogo, but he's loyal nonetheless (and usually gets as much crap as he gives).- Babies Ever After: With the entire group of female gorillas he saved.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: 3 of them, unusually enough.
- The Big Guy: While his moveset is more limited and he can't wear most equipment, he is physically stronger than Pogo. His basic attack deals almost twice the damage of Pogo's.
- Butt-Monkey: Gori is a 'Butt Gorilla' (having a Fartillery attack notwithstanding), because he gets beaten up by Pogo for comedy whenever the mood is light. Though when the tables are turned and Pogo gets into a comedic misfortune without him being at fault, Gori sniggers at him back.
- Crutch Character: At the start of the chapter, he's stronger than Pogo and will usually be the one doing most of the heavy lifting in combat. Eventually Pogo will be on par with him and even become one of the strongest of the protagonists.
- Dung Fu: He can throw his poo to deal Area of Effect damage and spread poison tiles.
- Fartillery: Like Pogo, he can weaponize his flatulence.
- Fearless Fool: What does he do when Odo eats the chief of the Kuu tribe and spits out his crown? He kicks it right back at the big dinosaur! Bonus points in that he does it without even flinching, unlike Pogo, Beru, and Zaki, who are terrified out of their wits.
- Gag Censor: In the remake, him upending himself to fart on the enemies covers his nethers with a smiley face.
- Game-Over Man: Most of the endings where Pogo is defeated has Gori laugh at him.
- Gonk: Just look at that character artwork. He looks almost nothing like a real ape.
- Kavorka Man: In spite of being a weirdly-shaped ape with a very ugly mug who throws feces and farts around on a casual basis, he still manages to score an entire harem of female gorillas whom he had saved earlier, all of which have his children by the epilogue.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Despite being an animal, Gori is treated no different than the other cavemen in the chapter. The tribe he lives with considers him as much of a person as Pogo, as Gori has his own bed in the cave rather than having to sleep outside.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": His name is a truncation of "gorilla". The female gorillas he gets as a harem are referred to as "Female Gori" in the credits.
- Non-Human Sidekick: As a gorilla, he is this to Pogo.
- Out of Focus: In the story. The amount of moments Gori does anything to change the course of the plot can be counted on one hand, as otherwise he serves as somebody for Pogo to exchange slapstick with and a status-effect-focused fighter in battles.
- Primal Chest-Pound: His Chest Pound attack, in which he beats his chest so forcefully that it damages enemies in a targeted area.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Being Pogo's friend doesn't stop him from snickering whenever Pogo gets in trouble, and Pogo regularly punches Gori across the room any time he's being a nuisance. Despite everything, they always stick together.
Beru
Voiced by: Natsumi Takamori
A cavewoman meant to be a Human Sacrifice to Odo. She escapes and makes it to Pogo's tribe. Their love story forms the basis of the chapter as Pogo fights to keep her safe.- Babies Ever After: With Pogo in the Golden Ending.
- Badass Adorable: A cute cavewoman whose most powerful spell can kill a Tyrannosaur with love.
- Big Eater: She can pack quite a lot of food away, though not to the same extent as Hong.
- Damsel in Distress: She was kidnapped and prepared to be Tyrannosaur food. Thankfully she avoids that fate.
- The Dog Bites Back: If you grind her to Level 7 (level 6 in the remake), she learns her ultimate spell, Sing Hurt, which is essentially Odo's weakness, meaning that she can make quick work of the dinosaur that wanted to eat her in one shot.
- Easter Egg: While Pogo goes to get food for her, giving her the accessory Venus Figurine (SFC)/Fertility Charm (HD 2 D) instead of Haunches of Meat will instead cause her to flash Pogo, giving him a nosebleed. In the remake, she instead pulls Pogo into the haystack she's hiding in, leaving him a blushing mess but not elaborating any more than that.
- Fur Bikini: She wears a variant that combines fur with seashells.
- Gilded Cage: Implied for as much as one can get in Prehistoric times. Using the Smell skill in the Kuu tribe grounds can have Beru's scent lead to a bedroom with a stone-age en-suite bathroom, implying that this was her room before she was set up to be sacrificed.
- Girly Run: Her sprinting animation in the remake.
- Glass Cannon: When given the Wildheart Sack, her offensive ability even puts Pogo to shame… but she's much squishier than him or Gori. This is best exemplified with her ultimate skill, Sing Hurt, being the strongest attack in the entire chapter.
- Human Sacrifice: She's meant to be this, but manages to get out and find Pogo.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Hides behind Pogo when Odo gobbles up the Kuu Chief offscreen.
- Magikarp Power: Of the four party members in the Prehistory chapter, Beru starts out the weakest in both damage and defenses, forcing her to hang back and let Pogo and Gori fight. However, she becomes the strongest by far with a bit of effort; giving her the craftable Wildheart Sack weapon rockets her attack to absurd levels and makes her a Glass Cannon, and leveling her up a few times lets her learn Sing Heal (the only healing spell in the chapter) and Sing Hurt (an attack that hits ten times in a wide range). She's only around for a brief time and can't fight the Mammoth King as a result, but she does rejoin in time for the Odo battle, letting her lay waste to the tyrannosaur with Sing Hurt.
- Magic Music: Sing Heal and Sing Hurt are magic spells that use song.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's skimpily dressed in seashells, and even flashes Pogo in the SFC version if she is given a Venus Figurine/Fertility Charm.
- Musical Assassin: Her ultimate move, Sing Hurt, manifests as music notes that attack the enemy. It's the strongest attack in the chapter.
- Nubile Savage: She's quite good-looking for a cavewoman. Her animations never depict her in an ugly or unflattering way, whereas Pogo looks very gonkish when his face is given detailing.
- Overrated and Underleveled: Beru is a downplayed example. She does have the potential to be a great party member, but has the problem of only being in the party for a short amount of time before being kidnapped for most of the last part of the chapter. If the player only does a beeline through the plot, it's very likely that she will be extremely underleveled for the chapter's boss fight, and very likely to be one hit killed by the boss' attacks as a result.
- The Power of Love: Her Sing Hurt spell is basically this, representing her bond with Pogo. And given that it's strong enough to rip through a Tyrannosaur…
- Rescue Romance: By the end of the story, Pogo's efforts to free her from being a sacrifice causes her to return his affection.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair and is a kind and caring healer.
- Rule of Symbolism: The fact that her Sing Hurt spell, which represents love, is only unlocked by her reaching Level 7/6. Love isn't an instantaneous thing; it takes time for two people to develop feelings for one another. So by spending time with Pogo — and by extension grinding her to get to this point — she eventually grows to love him back and learn a spell that represents their feelings for one another. Its Japanese name, Laa Laa, can represent her trying to state her feelings for Pogo, Love.
- Seashell Bra: She wears a seashell bra and seashell panties.
- Spell My Name With An S: Previous fan translations spelled her name as "Bel" before the Switch remake settled on "Beru", the more literal translation of her Japanese name.
- Squishy Wizard: She is a very useful healer with Sing Heal and her ultimate Sing Hurt hits like a nuclear warhead. However, she also folds like a wet paper towel if hit by an enemy.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Visibly taller than Pogo is.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Out of the playable females — despite never meeting — she's the White Mage Girly Girl to Lei's tomboy Action Girl.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Haunches of Meat, which Pogo has to hunt for so she can eat.
- White Magician Girl: She's the healer of the party with a kind and gentle personality.
Zaki
Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa
The Rival to Pogo, a warrior of the Kuu Tribe sent out to retrieve Beru after her escape. Tends to flip his hair and wears a lizard on his crotch. Following the chief's death, he aids Pogo and allies against Odo, becomes the Kuu Tribe chief himself, and makes peace with Pogo's tribe.- 11th-Hour Ranger: For the scenario, literally only properly joining the heroes at the very end.
- Alas, Poor Villain: When Odo spits out the Kuu Chief's headpiece, Zaki seems to be briefly distraught at the sight of his leader's death, and initially reluctant to fight the dinosaur. After the fight, he stops for a moment, stands over the headpiece, and lowers his head in mourning.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: He's set up as the Final Boss of the Prehistory chapter, but after Pogo brawls him for a few turns, the screen shakes and the text box reads "???", leading to Odo knocking apart the altar with its rampaging and causing everyone to fall into its pit.
- Bishie Sparkle: Gets small cartoony stars whenever he does his hair flip.
- Character Tic: He's quite fond of flipping his hair to assert himself.
- The Dragon: He serves the Kuu tribe chief by leading the cavemen hunting for Beru.
- Duel Boss: The second and interrupted third bouts against him are one-on-one fights between him and Pogo.
- Evil Redhead: He has wild red hair to emphasize his ferocity, though he undergoes a Heel–Face Turn eventually.
- Gag Censor: Zaki can send his crotch lizard out to attack Pogo, and a smile-face emoji covers his junk until it returns. In the original game, this was done via pixelation.
- Godiva Hair: Made longer in the remake to cover his backside. In the original, his loincloth lizard's tail didn't manage to cover the whole thing.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a large, bright red scar through his right eye, although his eye remains intact, and is Pogo's enemy throughout the chapter trying to take back Beru.
- Guest-Star Party Member: He becomes playable solely for the Final Boss of Pogo's chapter, making him the only party member in the whole game who isn't around long enough to have his equipment altered.
- Hair Flip: Frequently does an animation where he fabulously flips his hair, complete with sparkle.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: He wears a green lizard in place of any other lower-body clothing; this doesn't stop him from throwing the lizard as an attack and exposing himself.
- Heel–Face Turn: Very last minute (getting eaten by a T. rex is low on his list of priorities, it seems), but it looks genuine in the aftermath. He was Just Following Orders, after all, and the rest of the Kuu tribe happily join him with making peace with Pogo's clan in the aftermath after the chieftain is dead.
- The Heavy: While not the Big Bad, he's the main antagonist for most of Pogo's chapter, as he's the one in charge of Beru's recapture.
- Large Ham: Even though there's no dialogue in his chapter, he manages to be this through his dramatic body language. He even does a hammy laugh alongside his fellow Kuu tribesmen at one point.
- Mr. Fanservice: What can you say about a caveman who only wears a lizard over his crotch, exposing his abs and muscles, and flips his hair a lot?
- Recurring Boss: Fought three times across the chapter: once against the whole trio, once as a Duel Boss against Pogo, and again against Pogo at the very end (which gets interrupted by the arrival of a bigger threat).
Elder
Voiced by: Yohei Tadano
Pogo's tribe chief. A scraggly old man with very long white hair who initiates Pogo's rite of passage by showing him how to use his sense of smell to hunt wildlife for food.- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": As the chapter has no dialogue, he has no known name, and the cast roll in the remake's true ending credits lists his name as "Elder".
- Expy: His long white hair and beard brings Fusoya to mind.
- Persona Non Grata: Kicks Pogo, Gori, and Beru out of the tribe's land after the Kuu tribe invades, since they'll come back as long as Beru is there. He lets them come back home once Zaki takes over the Kuu tribe and declares peace.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: The giant dinosaur skeleton in the tribe's backyard? He singlehandedly killed it when he was younger and left it there as a trophy for his tribesmen to admire and aspire to become powerful like he was.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He kicks Pogo out of the tribe, but it's largely to keep said tribe safe, since the Kuu tribe is after Beru and Pogo refused to take no for an answer when the elder tried to kick her out. Once Odo is dealt with and Zaki takes over the Kuu tribe and buries the hatchet with his tribe, the Elder is perfectly fine with letting Pogo back into the tribe with no issue.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: His tribe's rite of passage once someone reaches the age to do so.
Kuu Chief
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda
Leader of the antagonist Kuu Tribe, he's the one who orders Zaki and his underlings to capture Beru as a sacrifice to Odo.- 0% Approval Rating: There's no single character that actually liked him; Zaki and the Kuu tribe were mostly Just Following Orders, and it's implied that if they disobeyed, they'd be fed to Odo after Beru. It was his influence alone that kept Pogo's tribe at war with the Kuu tribe, so once he died, the tribe was quick to make peace under Zaki's new leadership to survive the prehistoric age further; if he was still alive, he would most likely keep piling up human sacrifices to be fed to Odo, possibly even driving humanity extinct before it could develop intelligence. And lastly to twist the knife even further, Odo (or Odio himself when we look at the broader story as a whole) naturally doesn't appreciate his worship; for it, he's just another meal.
- Apocalypse Cult: Generally, his worship with Odo looks like a case of this recycled in the Stone Age, with him as the 'mad cult leader'. What does this 'cult' do? Threaten whoever does not fall in line to be devoured by Odo, controlling his Kuu tribe with worship and fear and keep doing all of this ad nauseam until humanity eventually goes extinct before true sapience and complex tool use could emerge. For a time where human intelligence hasn't been developed well, it almost worked. His death can be seen as a delusional priest overjoyed that his deity has come to bless him, only for said 'deity' to eat him alive as a "blessing".
- Arc Villain: He could be considered the Prehistory chapter's main villain; Odo might be the Final Boss and one of Odio's incarnations, and Zaki the most recurrent antagonist, but in the end, he's the plot's main driving force, since it's him who's offering human sacrifices to Odo and the one who orders Beru to be recaptured, while Odo's very late appearance would make it a Greater-Scope Villain and it's obvious that Zaki is only following his chief's orders and even pulls a Heel–Face Turn and helps the heroes to take down Odo towards the end.
- Asshole Victim: He ends up being devoured by Odo, but given how he's ruthlessly commanding his people to offer up people to a dinosaur and needs Zaki to fight his battles against Pogo (a child), then no one really feels sorry that he was eaten.
- Dirty Coward: Implied. Despite his considerable age (and possibly size, it's a bit hard to tell when all the sprites are the same size) advantage over Pogo, he hides behind a pole while Zaki does all the fighting for him.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Zaki genuinely cares for him, and is horrified when he's devoured. It's implied that Zaki is his son (as he takes over the Kuu tribe afterwards).
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": As the chapter has no dialogue and he's never fought, he has no known name, and the cast roll in the remake's true ending credits lists his name as "Kuu Chief".
- Evil Counterpart: To Pogo's Elder. He even shared the same Voice Grunting as the elder in the original game. Both were also terrorised by dinosaurs, but while Elder managed to kill one and earned his tribe's freedom without fear, the Kuu tribe were continuously terrorised by Odo and the Kuu Chief decided to feed others to it rather than try to take things into his own hands.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Disturbingly, promo art shows that he has a hole in his loincloth that exposes his genitals. Mercifully, the remake gives him a bit more modesty.
- Just Desserts: He's eaten as a snack by Odo.
- Sound-Only Death: The last we hear of him is a scream before Odo spits out his headdress.
- The Unfought: Runs off from the protagonists before being apparently killed offscreen by Odo.
- Unwitting Pawn: In reality, he's just a pawn for Oersted to take his rage and hatred out on humanity in an attempt to prove that Humans Are Bastards.
Imperial China Chapter - The Successor
The Villagers
Yun's Grandmother
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her child and their spouse — Yun's parents died when her grandson was younger, and he can kick the bucket too if he isn't chosen as the Earthen Heart Master.
Hoi Restaurateur
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), David Cui Cui (English)
- Berserk Button: Never steal from him or his customers. Hong nearly got the wrong end of the knife for it.
Sun Tzu Wang (Tiger King)
Voiced by: Hayato Horiuchi (Japanese), Mark Lee (English)
A minor character in the scenario. He's a bandit that bullies the weak and forces Yun to steal, only to be driven away by the Earthen Heart Shifu. The next time he's encountered, he has learned the Indomitable Fist Kung Fu, but still fails to defeat the Shifu. However, it is this second defeat that facilitates the chapter's biggest tragedy caused by the Big Bad.- Flunky Boss: He's always assisted by two Hot-Headed Lackeys in his fights.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the remake's Golden Ending, he and his goons abandon their thieving ways and join the Earthen Heart kung fu school ran by the Shifu's inheritor (doubly so if Yun ends up being the inheritor, showing that they were able to make peace with each other in spite of their past history).
- Ironic Name: In the remake, the first two words of his name add together to form the name of the legendary Chinese strategist Sun Tzu. This guy, however, is a musclebound brute with no strategic inclinations.
- Karma Houdini: While he does leave with his pride wounded, his actions are what caused the deaths of two disciples, and he's never seen after that (at least in the game's original version; the remake does give him closure).
- Recurring Boss: He's fought twice.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks that he's a mighty man who can do whatever he pleases, but the moment he finds out who the Earthen Heart Shifu is, he panics and pleads forgiveness before running away. Even after learning new skills from the Indomitable Fist, he's still exactly the same.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His second fight — which interrupted the Earthen Heart Shifu's final lesson on self-defense — is what caused two of his disciples to die.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He runs off after his second defeat and is never seen again in the game's original version. In the remake, however, he and his goons were shown in the game's Golden Ending to be attending the Earthen Heart kung fu school, ran by the Shifu's inheritor, showing that he abandoned his brutish views.
Indomitable Fist Elite
Voiced by:
Yi Xi: Ousuke (Japanese), Mark Lee (English)
Er Xi: Satoshi Moritaka (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)
Tong Cha: Takahiro Kageyama (Japanese), Andrew Lee (English)
Nan Cha: Kohei Mitoma (Japanese), Ming Lo (English)
Chan: Asako Sato (Japanese), Triya Leung (English)
Lin: Ayako Uemura (Japanese), Emi Lo (English)
Shan/Xian: Rinko Hayashi (Japanese), Jennie Kwan (English)
Yi Pei Kou: Ben Takada (Japanese), Dai Tabuchi (English)
Ou Di Wan Lee's strongest students. The Shifu and his surviving disciple must take on all of them before facing Ou Di Wan Lee himself.- Boss Bonanza: Six fights with Lee as the seventh.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Each one is given a unique set of lines in the remake.
- The Dragon: Functionally, Yi Pei Kou is this, being the last fight before the Chapter Boss and the only enemy to have a "Boss Death" animation in the original. The Zu brothers would be Co-Dragons but are not faced by the player.
- Dual Boss: The Xi and Cha brothers come at you in groups of two.
- Dual Wielding: Xian/Shan carries a pair of maces, while Lin wields two scimitars.
- Evil Counterpart: The Indomitable Fist Elite count as this for the Earthen Heart Master and three disciples:
- Yi Pei Kou is this to the Shifu, both being the Old Master and most experienced of their groups. In the remake, Ou Di Wan Lee even considers Yi Pei Kou to be an even match to the Shifu.
- The Cha brothers to Hong/Sammo Hakka, being The Big Guy to their group.
- The three sisters Chan, Lin, and Shan/Xian to Lei Kugo, being the only known females to the Indomitable Fist and Earthen Heart kung-fu respectively. The three sisters all fight with weapons, similar to Lei who comes with a billhook when she joins.
- Played with when comparing the Xi brothers to Yun Jou. While there are no obvious similarities, the Xi brothers are the most frail defensively like Yun. Alternatively, the Zu brothers can be this to Yun Jou too, where the three of them can be The Unfought if Lei and Hong were chosen as the disciple. If Yun was chosen as the disciple, this can still be applied to an extent, as Yun is the only disciple who is only fought if chosen to be trained, where Hong can be optionally fought and Lei is a mandatory fight.
- Expy: Lin, Xian/Shan, and Chan are the Three Magus Sisters… replace Magus with Kung Fu.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three sisters; Shan/Xian is the Fighter, since her speed is low but is sturdy and her maces pack a punch, Chan is the Mage since all her moves involve shooting fire, and Lin is the Thief, being a Fragile Speedster that can hit pretty hard.
- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Yi Pei Kou is resistant to almost all the physical damage types. The only attack the Shifu has that isn't resisted is Wise Fox's Grace. Yun can compensate with his elemental attacks, but Lei and Hong might have a rough time. Not helping is that his Demonkiller's Ambition inflicts Broken Arm, which disables Wise Fox's Grace.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: They have the courtesy to introduce themselves on their first turns of battle.
- Palette Swap: The Xi and Cha brothers are only individualised by color palette.
- Playing with Fire: All of Chan's attacks involve launching flames.
- The Starscream: Ou Di Wan Lee sees the Zu brothers being this as a good thing, as he believes the threat of people potentially backstabbing you is a perfect incentive to always keep yourself in top form.
- The Unfought: The Zu brothers are fought concurrently by the Shifu while the player, now solely controlling the Earthen Heart Successor, fights Ou Di Wan Lee.
Twilight of Edo Japan Chapter - The Infiltrator
Hayate
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Mark Lee (English)
A senior Enma Ninja and Oboromaru's master. At first, he only appears briefly to brief Oboromaru for his mission and share his Shadowed Self technique, but should Oboromaru try to desert and manage to repel his assassins, Hayate is the one to strike him down.- Et Tu, Brute?: In the remake, he shows some remorse for having to kill his most promising student if Oboromaru abandons the mission.Hayate: It should have never come to this. ...How could you?
- Mirror Boss: As he is Oboromaru's master, all the attacks he can perform are the same the player can use.
- No Body Left Behind: He uses explosives to kill Oboromaru as a last resort; both are completely gone when the smoke clears.
- Palette Swap: Hayate's battle sprite is shared with the generic ninjas found in the chapter, being a red and purple colored version. However, Hayate's overworld sprite averts this, as it is unique to the other characters in the chapter.
- Suicide Attack: He kills both himself and Oboro by blowing themselves up, should the latter succeed in fatally injuring him.
- Taking You with Me: Win the fight against him? He kills Oboro regardless.
- Too Awesome to Use: In-story example; he's so good at what he does that the leader of the Enma refuses to risk sending him on the mission to Ode Castle, fearing what would become of the Enma if he failed and even saying he'd sooner go himself, prompting the latter to suggest Oboromaru instead. If you end up fighting him, you'll see why, as he's as tough as the chapter's Superbosses.
- You Have Failed Me: If Oboro abandons his mission, he won't take it kindly, to say the least.
Mimic Mammet (O-Robo/Karakurimaru)
Voiced by: Ousuke
A karakuri activated by Oboromaru and possessing his look. Possesses different skills than Oboro; can't handle overly high falls, long exposure in water, or mice.- Action Bomb: If you manage to take it all the way through the palace up to the monk guards without it breaking, Mimic Mammet freaks out when a mouse wanders by, then runs into the monks and blows up. This is the only way to bypass these guards "non-lethally".
- Anachronism Stew: A karakuri is a real-life object whose gimmick is that the complex inner workings are hidden by a normal puppet exterior. Despite this, there's no way one would be as advanced to mimic Oboromaru's appearance and skills, especially in Feudal Japan. Adding in the fact that the game treats it like a robot...
- Cyber Ninja: "Cyber" is a bit of a stretch, but by all means, it's a robot through and through.
- Glamour Failure: When damaged enough, its true, puppet-like form begins to take over its human disguise.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Explicitly cannot be taken to the end of the chapter; either it dies from falling/water in an earlier part of the castle or it blows itself up after being scared by a mouse on the way to Ode's quarters.
- Heel–Face Turn: Originally one of Gennai's creations, it allies itself with Oboro when he activates it.
- Loophole Abuse: Why it's necessary for a pacifist run. If it manages to get all the way to the guards protecting Ode Iou's chamber, it blows up after freaking out at a mouse. This technically isn't Oboromaru's doing, so he's in the clear.
- Moveset Clone: Downplayed. Mimic Mammet has some original skills, but it mostly copies Oboromaru's moveset.
- Palette Swap: Strangely enough, a heroic variation. It's a palette swap of Oboromaru, with only a few unique sprites. Justified, as it's implied that Oboromaru somehow imprinted himself onto it when he activated it.
- Sdrawkcab Name: His SFC fan translation name is the first five letters of Oboromaru's name, spelled backwards and hyphenated. Also, he's a robot.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Mimic Mammet is a party member that shows up late into the chapter, disappears shortly after it joins your party (unless you do some backtracking), and isn't even featured in the remake's trailer for the chapter, but finding it is necessary for completing the chapter while spilling no blood.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: The only party member in the whole game to not be featured in the remake's chapter trailers, as it's just a Palette Swap of Oboro and is around for an extremely short time without backtracking.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Staying in water for too long or taking a hard impact from falling breaks Mimic Mammet and removes it from the party permanently, destroying any gear equipped on it.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Terrified of mice and will go berserk if encountered with one.
The Prisoner
"A True Patriot Who Dreams of a Japan Reborn"
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), Martin Sarreal (English)
"Did you honestly think I'd let you keep me locked up in your dungeon forever?"
The legendary swordsman said to be able to stabilize the country. Ode Iou's men imprisoned him to perpetuate war, and Oboromaru is sent to rescue him.
- Accent Adaptation: His Tosa dialect is translated into a working class English accent for the English version.
- Big Damn Heroes: If he's not rescued by the time Oboromaru reaches Ode Iou, he'll break out himself and drop in just in time to save Oboro from the eight guards surrounding him, and breaks Ode's gun for good measure. This is required for a full Pacifist Run, as it will prevent Oboromaru from having to add 8 people to his kill count.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Is pretty jolly and not exactly the one you would expect as the 'very important man', but he's important for a reason, not just in-game but in real life as well.
- Historical Domain Character: After Ode Iou is slain, the Prisoner reveals that he's actually the Sakamoto Ryōma.
- Historical In-Joke: If Oboromaru joins him, he thwarts an assassination attempt against him in the credits, which is implied to be the same one that killed him in real life.
- The Musketeer: Carries a revolver alongside his sword.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Escapes and catches up to Oboro by himself if ignored and implied to have slain Amakusa Shiro in the process.
- The Power of Trust: He believes in uniting the land with this trope, which is why he became a threat to Ode.
- Reforged into a Minion: Ode Iou had this planned for him, where his insides would be replaced by a karakuri puppet wearing his skin, presumably to control and end his political plans.
- Samurai Ponytail: Sports one in both of his designs.
- Simple, yet Awesome: His fighting style might be Boring, but Practical at first, but his true potential shines with his gun-based attacks. Wolf's Fang provides debuffs to the enemy and his Warning Shot is guaranteed to disrupt any attack the enemy is charging. Warning Shot is especially helpful against the bosses found throughout the chapter. His North Star attack is no slouch either, dealing a decent amount of damage. It also helps that his sword, the Mutsunokami, is the second-best weapon Oboro can obtain if he does not kill any humans.
Miyamoto Musashi
Voiced by: Hidekatsu Shibata (Japanese), Mark Ota (English)
The greatest swordsman that ever lived in the world. He's since long dead, but the demonic power of Ode Iou brought him back as a servant.- Dual Wielding: Shown to wield two katanas in battle once Oboromaru engages him in battle.
- Historical Domain Character: He's an undead version of Miyamoto Musashi, of course.
- Noble Demon: He's the least evil of the bosses; all he wanted is just seeing how much of a good fighter Oboromaru is rather than inflicting suffering onto others.
- Skippable Boss: In the original game, it's possible to lure Musashi's ghost away from the door and use Oboromaru's high speed to just skip fighting him altogether. This appears to have been an oversight, as in the remake the door is locked until you defeat him.
Amakusa Shiro Tokisada
Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Eric Yang (English)
Christian rebel who fought for the freedom of Japanese Christians persecuted by the Tokugawa, and executed for it. He's resurrected by Ode Iou based on the grudge he bore against the Shogunate.- Auto-Revive: Can absorb Lost Souls to revive himself. Killing them all beforehand will render him vulnerable.
- Historical Domain Character: The (arguably) most famous Japanese Christian, here depicted in his typical format: A Fallen Hero with a grudge to settle against the world.
- Killed Offscreen: Implied to be slain by Ryoma if Oboromaru ignores him.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Rivals in beauty with his fellow Ode follower Yodogimi.
- Skippable Boss: Can be ignored. Doing so is essential for the zero-kill route, since saving the Prisoner (which happens upon fighting this boss) prevents him from saving Oboromaru from a forced fight later on.
Relentless Maid (Okame-No-Kata)
An old woman found sleeping in one of the rooms. If woken up, she will persistently chase Oboromaru throughout the temple. Drops the Flowing Silk Sash accessory in the remake if killed off for good.
- Determinator: Even if you kill her, she comes back in the very next room you go into, and she keeps coming until you have killed her 14 times.
- Dirty Old Woman: If the names of her attacks are anything to go by, what she want to do to Oboromaru is… less than pleasant. It's toned down in the remake, however.
- Gonk: Her battle sprite is very horrendous to look at.
- Historical Ugliness Update: Downplayed. While she shares the name with a concubine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, she might not be related to him, and was only just a demonic-looking wench.
Yodogimi
Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Jennie Kwan (English)
A demoness with a taste for souls. While she shares the name with the concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the final obstacle of the Tokugawa Shogunate to establish themselves, it's not clear if this is the same person. Summoned by Ode Iou, she's highly loyal to him.- Cute Ghost Girl: She's not a person but a ghost or youkai summoned by Ode Iou. Once Oboromaru realizes this, he immediately subtracts her from his kill count, and her "death" doesn't count against the bonus of getting the Lacquered Medicine Box if he hadn't killed any women.
- Dead All Along: By her second fight (if "killed" in her human disguise) or if the Prisoner outs her trickery, she reveals herself to be a spirit. As such, Oboromaru removes her from his kill tally and the bonus for killing no human women still applies if she was killed earlier.
- Decoy Damsel: She first shows up under the guise of a helpless princess being attacked by some shinobi. If the player chooses to rescue her, she'll try to take his soul.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her youkai form is a beautiful, tall woman who wears a red-and-green robe that barely hides her impressive cleavage.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: If Oboromaru is tricked by her offer, she kills him this way, and she planned to do the same to Ryoma. Ironically, if Ryoma is in the party, he stops Oboro from making the wrong decision.
Puppetmaster Gennai (Karakuri Gennai)
Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Dai Tabuchi (English)
A karakuri ningyo Cyborg. Acts as Ode Iou's engineer and built all of the traps and machines in the palace. His role was to kill the Prisoner and put his skin on a karakuri puppet for Ode Iou to control. Possibly meant to be Hiraga Gennai
, an inventor of the Edo period who created an electrostatic generator.- Body Horror: In addition to most of his limbs and organs being replaced with wooden machinery, his brain is fully out in the open.
- Clock Punk: Karakuri ningyo are a surprisingly old Japanese craft, but none in real life are as advanced as his creations and himself.
- Dub Name Change: In Japanese, he has the title "Karakuri" after the puppets he controls, while the localization uses the term "Puppetmaster" instead.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese script, he peppers his speech with English words.
- I Lied: If Oboromaru decides to sit down on the trapped tile after Gennai claims he disabled it, he'll say this as he activates the trapdoor.
- Load-Bearing Boss: When killed, all of his technology ceases functioning, barring the karakuri that becomes Mimic Mammet.
- My Brain Is Big: For whatever reason, he's missing the top half of his skull, leaving his brain exposed. It's more apparent in his character art than in his sprites (due to the colors of his skin and brain looking so similar).
- Perverse Puppet: Stretching it pretty far, but he's converted himself into a karakuri ningyo, builds simpler, more puppet-looking karakuri, and serves Ode Iou.
- Self-Disposing Villain: If defeated, his body malfunctions and explodes, which doesn't constitute as one of Oboromaru's kills.
- The Smart Guy: You know all the traps and tech throughout the castle? Gennai did all of that.
- Trap Master: His specialty is traps.
Wild West Chapter - The Wanderer
Mad Dog
"A Bounty Hunter with a Hunger for Glory"
Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Mike Romo (English)
"How many times we done danced this dance now?"
A Bounty Hunter after the price on Sundown's head. He has no choice but to team up with Sundown to face the Crazy Bunch. Following that, it's up to the player whether he survives.
- Bounty Hunter: Starts the chapter coming after Sundown for the money, and if he lives, promises to keep doing it.
- Butt-Monkey: Downplayed. He's not usually the butt of the joke, but whenever his horse and Sundown are involved, expect the latter to shoot at the former and scare it off. Not even the O. Dio horse, a reincarnation of the dark lord Odio, is safe.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: If a majority of the Crazy Bunch makes it into Success unscathed and Sundown expresses doubt that he can beat them, Mad Dog will run off and leave Sundown to die, with the sheriff attempting to take his place in the showdown. However, he'll come back just in time, saying (possibly as an excuse) that he wouldn't want the Crazy Bunch to get Sundown's bounty for themselves.
- Character Tics: Often pokes the brim of his hat with the tip of his gun. In fact, such gesture was even included in the promotional art of the remake◊. If Sundown is the main character of the final chapter, he copies the gesture while talking to Oersted.
- The Comically Serious: Mad Dog is one of the most confident and no-nonsense characters in the game (even Sundown can crack a joke when he wants to), which makes the moments where he does lose his composure, such as his anguish at getting knocked off his horses by Sundown or witnessing the corpse of O. Dio turn into a horse, all the funnier.
- Cool Horse: If you spared Mad Dog in the final battle, he'll tame the O. Dio horse that had ran off earlier... only to lose it again when Sundown shoots his reins like last time. In the remake's Golden Ending, he finds and retames it, riding on it side-by-side with Sundown.
- Enemy Mine: He only came to Success to hunt Sundown, but decides to put it off long enough to fight off the Crazy Bunch.
- Everyone Has Standards: If you refuse to attack him during the Post-Final Boss duel, he'll intentionally miss his shot, as despite wanting Sundown's bounty, he refuses to kill someone who can't or won't fight back. He'll also willingly put his hunt on hold if he can stop the deaths of innocents first.
- Foe Romance Subtext: Lampshaded; he points out that he and the Sundown Kid have been confronting each other for so long and so often that it almost makes them look like lovers.Mad Dog: It's almost like saying goodbye to a lover.
- Foil: It seems like he was designed to be the completely opposite of Sundown in almost every way. He's young and energetic, while Sundown is older and weary. He's clean shaved, while Sundown has a beard. He wears fine, high quality clothes while Sundown wears old, worn down clothes. He's jovial and talkative, while Sundown is quiet and a Terse Talker.
- Friendly Enemy: He's always nice to Sundown even when he's trying to kill him. The only time he drops his jovial attitude and gets really mad is during the Running Gag of Sundown spooking his horse into running away by shooting at its hooves.
- Gratuitous Spanish: He'll sometimes cheerfully say "¡Adios!" after killing an enemy.
- Irony:
- He constantly pursues Sundown for his bounty. Turns out at the end that Sundown put the bounty on himself, so Mad Dog is essentially trying to kill his own employer.
- While he openly slanders Sundown in public, his entire relationship with him is revealed later to be eerily similar to what Streibough did to Oersted, except the former kept it under a wicked facade. While Streibough gets slain for ruining his friend's life in a split-second decision, Mad Dog actually has the healthier relationship and can potentially become true friends with Sundown.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Right before the Western chapter's Timed Mission portion starts, Mad Dog makes a not-so-subtle remark about saving your progress.Mad Dog: Reckon it might be a good idea to save now, don't you think?
- The remake tries to make this a little more subtle, though this trope still applies.Mad Dog: Word of advice? Remember this moment. "Save" it, if you catch my drift.
- Right before the Western chapter's Timed Mission portion starts, Mad Dog makes a not-so-subtle remark about saving your progress.
- More Dakka: Mad Dog's Texas Jitterbug attack has him spin while spraying bullets in all directions, hosing all enemies in a large area.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Somehow manages to tame O. Dio offscreen.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: His relationship to the Sundown Kid. He starts off with newer, better equipment than Sundown and is only a level lower than him.
- Post-Final Boss: Mad Dog and Sundown rematch each other after the O. Dio battle, marking the only time in the first seven chapters where someone else is fought after the chapter boss. However, whether he's killed there or spared and fought later, he's very difficult to lose against.
- Privileged Rival: Subtly implied if one comapres his equipment to Sundown's; Mad Dog's equipment flavor text describes it as new, tailor made, and very expensive, while Sundown's equipment is described as old, dirty, and extremely worn out.
- Recurring Boss: Fought at the start of the Western chapter and again at the end after defeating O. Dio. If Sundown chooses to run from the second fight, they'll have one more showdown after Sundown departs from Success.
- The Rival: To the Sundown Kid. He lampshades that they've been doing this far too many times for him to remember.
- Rivals Team Up: He allies with the Sundown Kid to fight the Crazy Bunch.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Wears a three-piece suit and matching hat. The Flavor Text for both pieces of equipment indicate that they were custom-tailored for him.
Success Residents
Applies to all
- The Dog Bites Back: After years of being constantly terrorized by the Crazy Bunch, the arrival of Sundown Kid and Mad Dog, as well as the fact that they proved themselves to be more than capable of fighting back against the Crazy Bunch members, gave them enough courage to finally fight back against the outlaws.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: They all constantly lived in fear due to the Crazy Bunch terrorizing them on regular basis, but the Sundown Kid and Mad Dog successfully (pun not intended) taught them how to fight back against the outlaws, having them set up the traps to get rid of the Crazy Bunch members.
Sheriff of Success
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Cyrus Roda (English)
Not named, but he's Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Even so, he shows considerable fear towards the Crazy Bunch and doesn't do a thing about them, until Sundown comes and inspires him (that and being called out by his son Billy).- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: His son Billy takes his badge and gives it to Sundown out of anger of him not doing anything to Pike and Sundown taking him down first. Sundown offers it back after the chapter's events, but the sheriff lets him keep it.
- Properly Paranoid: Despite being branded a coward by Annie and his own son Billy for not standing up against the Crazy Bunch, his fears are not without reasons. The Crazy Bunch have the Success Town residents outgunned and outnumbered, and even Annie and Billy, the only residents with backbone, have a hard time pushing Pike out of the bar. Had it not been for Sundown and Mad Dog, the gang would have easily run the town to the ground on even the slightest provocation.
Billy
Voiced by: Naomi Ozora (Japanese), Alexzandra Sarmiento (English)
The son of the Sheriff of Success. He's not pleased that his father fears the Crazy Bunch and latches onto Sundown, idolizing him and not believing that he's got a bounty on his head. He's also pretty good with a slingshot.- Brats with Slingshots: Gives Sundown a slingshot, hoping that it could be used as a trap. You have to give it back to him, since he's the only one who can set it.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Billy constantly calls out his father, the sheriff, on refusing to do anything about the situation with the Crazy Bunch, decrying him as a coward, which eventually culminates in him taking away the sheriff's badge and giving it to the Sundown Kid, believing him to be a much worthier wearer of it.
- Foreshadowing: His idolization of Sundown despite the bounty on his head is very similar to that one boy who believed in Oersted after his life was ruined in a similar situation.
- Named After Someone Famous: Billy the Kid.
Annie
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Brittany Lauda (English)
"Every last man in this town is a coward!"
A brave girl from Success who doesn't really take crap from anyone, not even the Crazy Bunch. She apparently handles frying pans pretty well.
- Advertised Extra: In the original art◊ and on the remake's website, she's depicted alongside Sundown and Mad Dog, but doesn't join the party in the game.
- Frying Pan of Doom: She's the only one who can set the Frying Pan trap.
- Named After Someone Famous: Annie Oakley.
- Only Sane Woman: Is one of the first to stand up to the Crazy Bunch and sides with Sundown to defend Success.
The Barman
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Joseph Balderrama (English)
Annie's older brother, the bartender of the Crystal Bar. Mild-mannered, but is secretly a pervert, collecting posters of hot models.- Covert Pervert: Though he doesn't look the part, he's secretly a pervert who likes to collect posters of hot models.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's only called "The Barman" and his role is of a bartender.
Wayne & Dallas, Clint, James (Gene), and Cesar (Gibson)
Left to right: James, Clint, Wayne, Cesar, Dallas.
Voiced by:
Wayne: Takahiro Kageyama (Japanese), Marcus Montgomery (English)
Dallas: Rinko Hayashi (Japanese), Alexzandra Sarmiento (English)
Clint: Satoshi Moritaka (Japanese), Dustin Rubin (English)
Gene/James: Kohei Mitoma (Japanese), Joseph Balderrama (English)
Gibson/Cesar: Ousuke (Japanese), Marcus Montgomery (English)
The other citizens of Success, who all help to set the traps across town.- Named After Someone Famous: John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Gene Autry, and Mel Gibson. The untranslated original/remake references Jesse James and Cesar Romero.
- Named by the Adaptation: Dallas' name was unknown in the original.
- Nervous Wreck: Cesar. Often shuddering when talked to, and in the remake, he proceeds to huddle when Sundown and Mad Dog duel.
- Palette Swap: The men are differentiated by color palette in-game, although the guidebook art makes them more unique in appearance.
- You All Look Familiar: Cesar used the same sprites as his chapter's Watanabe in the original game. In the remake, they still share a color palette, and Cesar has an unused sprite of crying like Watanabe does.
Delos, Sancho and Pancho
Center: Delos. Left and Right: Sancho and Pancho.
Voiced by:
Delos: Ben Takada (Japanese), Joseph Balderrama (English)
Sancho: Takashi Tokita (Japanese), Ben Balmaceda (English)
Pancho: Hayato Horiuchi (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
A trio of Mexican brothers in Success.- Gratuitous Mariachi Band: While Sundown and Mad Dog organize the trap-setting, the trio can be see happily playing instruments (specifically guitars and maracas) to the side. The remake even changes their voiced dialogue to Spanish with translated text, which implies that Sundown is fluent in it.
- Source Music: They're playing the music you hear in the bar. If you send one of them out to set traps, his instrument is removed from the mix until he returns.
Pike
Voiced by: Koichi Sakaguchi (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
A member of O. Dio's Crazy Bunch terrorizing Success. Sundown standing up to him is what prompts the Bunch to wage a full-on attack.- Boisterous Weakling: He harasses anybody and everybody in Success who so much as looks at him strangely, but you pretty much can't lose to him when he decides to draw his gun on the Sundown Kid.
- Condescending Compassion: When he meets the Sundown Kid, he treats him in a somewhat polite and courteous manner, but he clearly shows that he views the cowboy as his inferior, best shown by the fact that he offers to buy him a drink to smooth things over, ordering a milk from a barkeep, showing that he views him as a childish man who drinks milk instead of alcohol.
- Jerkass: Manages to antagonize pretty much everybody he interacts with.
- Lactose over Liquor: Invoked by him "graciously" buying a glass of milk for Sundown Kid. When Sundown refuses it before answering his Your Mom insult in equal grace, they get into a fight, which leads to the chapter's main plot in turn.
- Paper Tiger: He talks a mean talk, but in battle, the best he can hope is to hit you with his Winchester once before going down.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Storms out of the bar after being beaten, presumably to go tell his boss. It's unclear if he's among O. Dio's henchmen you fight in the chapter's final battle.
- Would Hurt a Child: He has no qualms with threatening to harm Billy, who's just a child, and he even throws him across the room when the kid tries to oppose him.
- Zero-Effort Boss: The battle with him gets a couple minutes of buildup, but it's practically impossible to lose to him. He packs a decent punch with his Winchester if he does manage to hit you, but he'll go down in one hit from pretty much anything, including your automatic counterattack.
Present Day Chapter - The Strongest
The Challengers in General
- The Ace: All the challengers are considered the best in their respective sport and martial art. This status is the reason why Masaru wants to challenge them in the first place.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Downplayed but still very much present. They are all confident in their abilities and eager to fight Masaru and even gloat about their strength and abilities when they win. When they lose, they gracefully admit defeat (with the exception of the Heel The Great Aja).
- Graceful Loser: No matter how abrasive some of them get in the pre-match banter, they all accept their loss at Masaru's hands should he prove victorious. The only exception is Great Aja because he's a Heel, he's not supposed to be graceful.
- Killed Off for Real: Odie O'Bright informs Masaru before their fight that he killed all six of Masaru's previous opponents, and that Masaru himself is next.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: They are all based on real life martial artists and wrestlers.
- Pro Wrestling Is Real: Three of the challengers are pro wrestlers who are still just as, if not more, dangerous than the others.
- Signature Move: Each of them have two unique moves that Masaru can learn and add to his repertoire. They also have generic attacks that Masaru cannot learn which they may occasionally use.
Namkiat
Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), James Phoon (English)
"You must be tired, having come all the way from Japan. Don't worry, I'll end it quick. You won't even have a chance to lay a finger on me."
Muay Thai master who's obsessed with his beauty and claims that nobody could touch his face. Masaru proves him wrong. He specializes in the ashiwaza high kick and is nicknamed "God's right foot" in the original Japanese script.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original script and the unofficial English script, his narcissism about his beautiful face is a lot more pronounced where he only speaks of how Masaru damaged his face after his defeat. In both remake scripts, he is slightly more polite, and when defeated, after lamenting how his beautiful face was ruined, he congratulates Masaru on his victory against him.
- Beef Gate: Namkiat hits like a dump truck. If you haven't defeated someone with a long-range attack that can hopefully distract him (Moribe Seishi and his Fleetfoot) or disable his feet (Tula Han's Cross Heel Hold), challenging him as the first boss will get Masaru's ass kicked, as Masaru's two default attacks is either quite low in power (Gale Strike) or resisted by Namkiat (Rolling Wheel Kick). To make matters worse, Namkiat is likely to be chosen first by the player, as the fighter select screen defaults onto him when loaded.
- Composite Character: Of multiple Street Fighter characters:
- He's both very arrogant and a master of Muay Thai, like both Sagat and Adon.
- He keeps his hair in a bun and mainly uses kick attacks, much like Chun-Li (who has two buns).
- Lastly, he's The Fighting Narcissist who absolutely hates being hit in the face, like Vega.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: It's very easy to think that Namkiat is a she from the neck up...
- The Fighting Narcissist: He's very proud of his looks.
- Logical Weakness: Namkiat's weakness to grappling moves fits well, as Muay Thai only allows striking, with all ground game techniques, such as submissions and grappling, being prohibited.
- Mr. Fanservice: A shirtless Pretty Boy kickboxer.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of real life Muay Thai fighter Napa Kiatwanchai.
- Not in the Face!: He laments the visible bruising his face has taken once he loses to Masaru.
The Great Aja (Great Asia)
Voiced by: Koichi Sakaguchi (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)
"Well, if it isn't the mother*** himself! Masaru Takahara! Wanna learn a trick or two? Aight — I'll teach you how it feels to get your ass beat by the best!"
A Japanese wrestler who fights in the style of a heel luchador named 'El Rudo'. His brutality granted him the nickname 'Dark Angel' ('Angel of Death' in the remake). Oh, and he likes biting heads off like Blanka.
- Achilles' Heel: Great Aja is weak to Agile and Foot-based attacks, and hitting him with Agile attacks inflicts the "Terror" status condition on him, which causes him to stay away from Masaru on the field. However, this status infliction is only favorable when defeating him, as that will prevent the player from learning his attacks.
- Bullying a Dragon: Watanabe's dad really should know better to throw a soda can on the head of a Heel that's too into his role. Note that this requires specific conditions, thus Great Aja can potentially spare Watanabe's dad... provided that he's not getting a soda can on his head.
- Death or Glory Attack: All of his learnable skills (Frankensteiner and Tornado Press) will deal a significant amount of damage if they hits, but will damage their user if they miss. If Great Aja misses the attack, it will take a big chunk of his HP, making him easier to defeat. The damage after missing will still be retained if Masaru uses them, but this isn't a problem in the Dominion of Hate chapter due to Masaru’s impressive HP growth.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He'll brutally beat up Watanabe's dad simply for insulting and throwing a soda can at him.
- Easter Egg: If he's facing upwards and uses Bite on Masaru, a cutscene occurs where Watanabe's dad throws a soda can at him, only for Great Aja to jump out of the ring and beat the crap out of him, then resumes the fight.note
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Great Aja may be a bigass Heel willing to bite and attack audience members, but he still won't outright murder other people. In the remake, this is shown with how there is only a bloodless Big Ball of Violence during his mauling and Great Aja jumps back to the ring after little Watanabe yells at him to leave his dad alone. This makes his murder by Odie O'Bright a lot more ironic and tragic that Odie inflicted the things beyond his standards against him.
- Speaking of said Bite, it's quite notable that this is the only move that Masaru can't learn from him. Perhaps the Great Aja doesn't want Masaru to learn such a dirty tactic.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Heavily implied. He's a Japanese wrestler who styles himself after a Luchador, and he also has the Mexican flag plastered all over the ring you fight him in the original release. The remake replaces this with a skull painted with the muted colours of the Mexican flag (see the main page for the explanation).
- Glass Cannon: Great Aja hits very hard with his attacks, but has low defense and the second lowest HP at 240. Even Masaru's starting attack Rolling Wheel Kick is more than enough to take Great Aja down. His low defense and his two Death Or Glory Attacks makes Great Aja a very fragile opponent.
- Heel: If his pre-fight text and (in the remake) fight banter are anything to go by, he's not particularly pleasant.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: He is a true Jerkass and Heel, but he also has several hidden positive qualities and standards that Masaru respects. However, Great Aja prefers to be seen as the ultimate Heel, so he keeps up his unpleasant Heel personality even until his defeat.
- Incoming Ham: More than the other challengers, his first line to Masaru being "Well, if it isn't the motherfucker himself!" indicates that he revels in being a heel.
- Jerkass: Great Aja takes his Heel status a little bit too seriously. Besides belittling Masaru as his pre-fight taunt, he's also the only fighter who can possibly maul an innocent (Watanabe's dad) and, in the original game, spams his Bite so much that you'll have a hard time learning his moves, as if he doesn't want his moves to be inherited. He's also the only challenger who doesn't congratulate Masaru upon being defeated, only lamenting at his defeat. However, his death against Odie is still rather tragic.
- Man Bites Man: He has a very strong habit of biting his opponents. Watanabe's dad would actually call him out on this (and pay for it dearly) if he's too close to the gate with his back turned. Most notably, this is the only move that Masaru is incapable of learning from him.
- Masked Luchador: He wears a white skull mask.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Keiji Mutoh, specifically of his Great Muta masked persona.
- Precision F-Strike: His introduction alone with a mighty "fucker" forced the game to censor itself, even though it says every other swear word both before and since fully uncensored.
- Poisonous Person: His Bite attack can inflict poison.
- Spell My Name with a "The": As the only fighter using a stage name, he has a "The" in his title.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: His introduction literally has him calling Masaru a motherfucker (which gets censored).
- [Verb] This!: His response to Watanabe saying he sucks is "Oh yeah!? Suck on this!".
Tula Han
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), Nicholas Corda (English)
"Fools and children fight with their fists. Come. I'll show you how civilized warriors make their opponents submit."
Russian army guy and master of close quarter combat, which includes bone-breaking skills and overall CQC-like skills.
- Death by Irony: His speciality is pinning limbs and potentially breaking them. In the English fan translation, Odie told Masaru that he killed him by twisting his limbs apart.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Odie remarks that he "twisted Tula's limbs in such ways he couldn't have even imagined" in the fan translation.
- Genius Bruiser: Tula Han is well known for using his brain and strategy in combat to defeat his opponent and he will make sure Masaru knows it.
- Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Hails from Russia and is a skilled fighter in his own right. Too bad this doesn't spare him from Odie's wrath.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: To the Russian real life MMA fighter Volk Han per his name and fighting style. Also a bit of Guile, which is referenced in the remake.
- The Grappler: His specialty. He'll use an arm lock and a cross heel hold, both of which Masaru can copy from him.
- The Stoic: One of the most calm and collected of all the challengers, his composure barely slips after Masaru beats him.
- Warmup Boss: Tula Han can be considered an ideal start for the Present Day chapter. The two attacks Masaru learns from Tula Han can easily be used against him to disable his arms and legs while his two generic attacks do only moderate damage. Even if Masaru is hit and disabled by Arm Lock or Cross Heel Hold, they both do only mediocre damage and can easily be healed with Focus/Battle Cry.
Seishi Moribe
Voiced by: Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese), Mark Ota (English)
"You seek to become the strongest. And so the path you walk has led you to me. There are many arts, but there is only one Koppo. Defeat me, and we will speak of its secrets."
Old Japanese martial artist with a knack for barehanded killing. He damages the enemy from within with his fists and his attacks (especially Celestial Palm) can decrease stats.
- Glass Cannon: His attacks can easily down Masaru in two or three hits, and he tends to evade attacks easily to boot. However, one or two good attacks will defeat him in turn. Stat-wise, Moribe has the highest IQ at 99 and is even at level 13 (the rest of the fighters are at around levels 1-3 while Odie O'Bright himself is level 4), but his HP is a paltry 120. However, all of these in-game stats are only found in the game's data.
- Graceful Loser: Once he's beaten by Masaru, he takes the loss in stride, even making a complimenting comment about his technique.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of the legendary Japanese martial artist Horibe Seishi.
- Old Master: He's an old man, but he's a master of the deadly arts Fleetfoot and Celestial Palm, which are vital skills to handle some of the toughest opponents.
Max Morgan
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese), Dustin Rubin (English)
"Okay, brother, let's do this! Max Morgan's gonna take you for a ride on the pain train — first class!"
American wrestler turned Hollywood star who is bored with the competition and always looking for a good fight. Any resemblance to Hulk Hogan is probably coincidental.
- Alliterative Name: Max Morgan.
- Beef Gate: Max is extremely powerful and can stunlock Masaru to death. If he hasn't learned the necessary skills to distract him, Max isn't the ideal early opponent.
- Berserk Button: Hitting Max with a punch attack makes him visibly start steaming. He'll usually retaliate with a German Suplex.
- Close-Range Combatant: Every one of Max's skills, learnable or not, requires him to get close to his target. One of the tactics against him is to simply kite him with long range attacks, but that defeats the purpose of trying to learn his skills.
- Eagleland: Type 1 with shades of Type 2. While cocky and boisterous, he isn't that demeaning to Masaru and compliments Masaru if he's beaten.
- Flipping the Bird: Official artwork of his depicts him doing this.
- Graceful Loser: Once Masaru beats him, Max Morgan more than enthusiastically declares him the Number One. In the remake he declares Masaru's performance as good as one of Max's, possibly better.
- Gratuitous English: In the Japanese voice dub, Max Morgan likes to use a lot of English that would rival Terry Bogard.Max Morgan: OKAY! COME ON, BOY! MAX MORGAN, ICHIBANnote !
- Hoax Hogan: It's made obvious enough that he's based on Hulk Hogan with these traits:
- He has a blond moustache, and his outfit evokes American patriotism: wearing tights covered with the Stars and Stripes as well as a red bandanna.
- His surname is phonetically similar: 'Morgan' and 'Hogan'.
- He enthusiastically declares himself "NUMBER ONE" ("ICHIBAN" in the Japanese voiceover). The phrase was Hulk Hogan's Catchphrase when he wrestled in Japan.
- In the remake, he calls Masaru "brother" — just as Hogan would call his opponents. His quote about doing it "for the people" is also an alternative to Hogan's quote about doing it "for the Hulkamaniacs".
- His signature move "Max Bomber" takes its name from the "Axe Bomber", a move that Hulk used as a signature when wrestling in Japan.
- Suplex Finisher: The German Suplex that Masaru inherits is one of his Signature Move.
- Written Sound Effect: His German Suplex move has "CRUSH!", and Max Bomber has "BWHOOOOOOOM!!" in a circle around the user.
Jackie Iaukea
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Brent Mukai (English)
"Looking for a fight? Hah, bring it on! I've never lost to a man of Japan! And if you think sumo's all brawn and no finesse, you're in for a wake-up call!"
Hawaiian sumo wrestler who went to Japan to prove his skills and failed... and instead now tries to challenge the international ring.
- Beef Gate: For players wanting to unlock all of the attacks, Jackie is not someone you would want to fight first. Jackie has the highest HP of the mini-bosses fought in the chapter, hits hard with Seize which not only takes out more than half of Masaru's health but also inflicts status effects and disables attacks that use the arms. Jackie is hard enough to learn Worldbreaker's Wrath from, even with all the attacks learned by the other bosses, but attempting to get him to use the attack as the first boss is almost impossible to do.
- Berserk Button: One of two ways to make him use Worldbreaker's Wrath, which is normally Masaru's ultimate technique he learns at level 16 (I.E.: well after you've completed this chapter), is to disable his limbs via status ailments. He does not take it well.Jackie, seconds before giving you a Game Over: "You're gonna get it now!!"
- Blow You Away: His Aloha Slap creates mini tornadoes around the target.
- Expy: A sumo wrestler who wanted to reach yokozuna level but decides to fight in mixed martial arts because he wasn't able to reach that coveted rank? You think he and Edmund Honda could've been drinking buddies or something.note
- Funny Foreigner: An American/Hawaiian trying to learn the Japanese arts of Sumo is going to be this. Shown in the Japanese version as well: Just like his venture with Captain Square, Tomokazu Sugita gives Jackie an extremely thick American accent befitting of someone 'going native' (just lacking Gratuitous English).
- Hidden Depths: As mentioned above, he knows Worldbreaker's Wrath, which is normally the last move Masaru learns. It takes some coaxing to get him to use it, though.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!; Jackie's lifelong goal was to reach the rank of yokozuna in sumo, but he was never able to cut it and now competes in mixed martial arts. He doesn't openly let it get him down and suggest to Masaru that he could easily make the role himself if he had the weight, but Odie mocks him for "still dreaming of a squandered youth".
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of wrestler King Curtis Iaukea.
- No Indoor Voice: In the remake's English dub:Jackie, using Mano Toss: "I'M STRONGER THAN AN OGRE!"
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction if you inflict the "Broken Arm" Status on him:Jackie: "What'd you just do!?"
- Secret Art: He has a secret move that Masaru can learn called "Worldbreaker's Wrath", which requires an obscure set of conditions mixed with luck for him to perform (specifically, you have to immobilize his limbs through status ailments, a hint that is shown in the loading screens).
- Stout Strength: Comes with the territory of being a sumo wrestler and all. His Secret Art in particular can and will decimate you if you provoke him into using it.
Masaru's First Challenger
"It's you, isn't it? The greatest warrior... which means that when I've beaten you, I'll be the best of the best!"
After defeating the current strongest fighter, Masaru is suddenly greeted by a man who acknowledges him as the current greatest, to which they initiate a fight offscreen.- The Faceless: We only see him from the back.
- Pet the Dog: After Masaru had just defeated the murderer of his fellow combatants, he calls him the current champion and Masaru returns with a smile.
- The Unfought: Is never faced in gameplay, as the chapter ends right before Masaru agrees to his challenge. After returning back home after literally vanishing in front of him, it's implied that Masaru resumed the fight and won.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: In one of the endings where Masaru can never return home alongside the other protagonists, this presumably happens to the Challenger, who just saw Masaru literally vanish in front of him and could just claim to others that he won without him to say otherwise.
Near Future Chapter - The Outsider
Lawless aka Matsu (Muhoumatsu)
Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa (Japanese), Andrew Lee (English)
"Who am I? Isn't it obvious? I'm a local businessman!"
A biker gang leader who defected from the Crusaders and became Akira's best friend and brother figure. He fends off the Crusaders' rabble and runs the park's taiyaki stand, and eventually assists Akira in unwinding an ongoing conspiracy. Real name: Kenichi Matsui.
- Anime Hair: He clearly uses a lot of hairspray to keep his towering spiky green hair up.
- The Atoner: After killing Akira's father, he's done his best to be a better role model for his orphaned son. His last words even note how men have to make amends of their actions, regardless of the consequences.
- Badass Biker: Rides around on a red-hot motorcycle, and he's even introduced as the trope name in the remake.
- Big Damn Heroes: Several times, he comes in the nick of time to haul Akira's ass to safety.
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair of sunglasses to go with his biker image.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Has nothing but his own two fists, but is a Crutch Character for the actually superpowered Akira.
- Crutch Character: Lawless starts out at Level 8 and has high stats for the time he joins. However, he gains zero stat increases when levelled up except for HP, Accuracy, and Evasion, and even so, they only increase in small amounts.
- Deathbed Confession: After succumbing to Matango overdose, he barely holds on for Akira to read his mind where he confesses that he killed Akira's father.
- Drunken Master: He can't pilot Steel Titan because he lacks psychic prowess... until he gets absolutely hammered on the mind-altering Matango drug to the point where he dies after suffering from a mental overload when the Crusaders attack Steel Titan.
- Dub Name Change: Zig-zagged. In the original Japanese version, he's just called Matsu to match with how he is referred by the gang moniker "Muhoumatsu". In the remake, this is changed to "Lawless", which becomes his in-game name, but people close to him like Akira, Kaori, and Taeko still call him "Matsu" or "Kenichi". However, some other people like Tadashi (before his death) and Yamazaki refer to him as "Matsui", thus changing his actual full name into "Kenichi Matsui".
- Empowered Badass Normal: His moveset pretty much revolves around beating the crap out of others with just his arms and legs as opposed to Akira's preference on psychic illusions mixed with street fighting. He gains psychic powers after a hefty overdose of Matango.
- Foil: As Akira is to Oersted, Lawless is this to Streibough. Like Streibough, he did something truly awful to the chapter's protagonist that altered the course of their life drastically. But while Streibough denies he did anything wrong even as a spirit that can't pass on due to his own actions, Lawless owned up to what he did, and spent the rest of his life trying to atone for his mistake.
- Friend to All Children: He's a big brother figure to the kids at the orphanage.
- Game-Over Man: If Akira dies while piloting Steel Titan, his spirit will call out his failure.
- Good Counterpart: Of Streibough. Streibough manipulated Oersted to kill the King of Lucrece and refuses to make amends for what he's done. Matsu killed Akira's father (albeit in self-defense) and spends the rest of his life trying to be a big brother mentor to Akira.
- Hot-Blooded: Much more subdued than Akira, but when push comes to shove, he's just as hot-blooded as Ryoma Nagare, going as far as overdosing himself just to pilot Steel Titan.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: While Matsu remains powerful in encounters, he eventually falls behind in usefulness as many of the encounters in the Near Future chapter are populated with weak but numerous enemies. Matsu's attacks, while powerful, lack range and can only target a single enemy at a time aside from Fists of Rage within a small 3x3 area, while Akira eventually learns many psychic attacks that can hit every enemy on the screen.
- Morality Chain: There's a lot of implications that Lawless was the only thing that kept Akira from going down a more dangerous path while growing up. He's the one who manages to calm Akira down and keep him from going on a potentially murderous Roaring Rampage of Revenge when he finds out what Livingstill and his co-conspirators are up to, and it's very possible he could have ended up like Oersted himself had Lawless not been "the single person" in Akira's life.
- Mr. Fanservice: A muscular, shirtless biker partially modelled after a movie actor (see below).
- Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: Ex-gangster as Lawless used to be a Crusader. He still keeps up the biker image with his leather jacket, shades, and styled hair, but otherwise spends his days selling taiyaki and fighting off troublemaking Crusaders and even corrupt businessmen.
- Noble Demon: It's not known how much honor the Crusaders had during Lawless's tenure with them, but even he knew the government was up to no good and continued to oppose them, eventually clashing with Tadashi. It's even stated that the Crusaders became vastly more violent and started working for the corrupt government they were fighting against after his departure as their leader, since he was singlehandedly preventing them from being scumbags.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The creators said that he was partially modelled after the late Yusaku Matsuda.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: He introduces himself as "a local businessman" (or "taiyaki guy" in the Aeon translation) before he kicks the asses of some Crusader thugs.
- Real Men Cook: Owner of the park's taiyaki stand, and his cooking is loved by the stand's customers, and the residents of the orphanage.
- Red Baron: Goes by the moniker of "Muho Matsu"/"Muhoumatsu", meaning "wild" or "lawless", in the Japanese version. This was localized as just "Lawless".
- Secret Relationship: Possibly with Taeko based on her thoughts and her heavily mourning his death. Matsu even kisses her in the manga.
- Shoo the Dog: In the manga adaptation, he punches Akira away so the latter doesn't endanger himself following him to Tsukuba. He didn't expect him to heal the wound almost instantly and Taroimo transforming into a bike.
- "X" Marks the Hero: Sports a giant X-shaped scar on his chest.
Taroimo
Voiced by: Nobuo (Japanese), Tim Faulkner (English)
"Big punch!"
Akira's Robot Buddy created by Doc Tobei. Made from liquefying Tarokichi, Kaori's dying pet turtle, and putting him in a robot shell.
- Abnormal Ammo: Most of his additional weapons range from standard lasers to his most powerful shooting goldfish and chicks at targets.
- The Big Guy: Of Akira's two party members, he is the most physically imposing of them. This is emphasized in the remake where he is much bulkier and bigger than Lawless.
- Cute Machines: He's quite adorable for a turtle bot.
- Dumb Muscle: Is a bit slow on the uptake at times, and has to be physically dragged by others often.
- Emergency Transformation: He was a turtle turned into a robot to save his life.
- Extendable Arms: Can extend his arms and legs for his basic attacks, which attack at long-range.
- I Owe You My Life: This is pretty much the main reason he follows you in the chapter. He was an ordinary turtle on the verge of dying before being turned into a robot to save his life thanks to both Akira and Tobei. Reading his mind before he joins shows he's immensely grateful.
- Meaningful Rename: Tarokichi is first called Taroimo as an Accidental Misnaming from Tobei, but it becomes his go-to name once he's converted into a robot. Only Kaori remarks on the change.
- Non-Standard Skill Learning: Like Cube, he doesn't level-up traditionally like the other protagonists through EXP, instead through Robotic Enhancements picked up after battle to raise his HP. He also "learns" moves by equipping Robot Weapons as Accessories.
- Transforming Mecha: In the manga, he transforms into a motorcycle for Akira to chase after the Crusaders after they kidnap Watanabe.
- Uplifted Animal: After being turned into a robot, his mental capabilities became much closer to that of a human, allowing him to think coherent thoughts in human-like sentences. Though, he's still not the brightest bulb.
Doc Tobei
Voiced by: Chō (Japanese), Dai Tabuchi (English)
"Sorry I'm late, trouble with the matter transmitter. Too much quantum — or too little? In any event, I opted for a less scientific means of locomotion. I walked."
An eccentric professor and mechanic of the Steel Titan who helps Akira in eventually piloting the machine itself. Runs the local Timeless Wonders Antiques store.
- Absent-Minded Professor: Downplayed; he's normally eccentric but sensible, but he has his moments, such as misnaming Kaori's turtle and frequently screwing up item refinement.
- Ash Face: Accidentally gets zapped while setting up Taroimo's liquefaction due to Akira plugging in the equipment too early.
- Barely-Changed Dub Name: In the remake, he goes from "Toei" to "Tobei", likely to avoid confusion with the Toei company.
- Big Good: Provides the Steel Titan to fight the villains and helps Taroimo survive.
- Cyborg: The upper half of his head is apparently a transparent case full of electronics. Akira notes in the remake's Tips that he's pretty much turned half of himself into a robot, which is starting to scare the customers.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Subverted. Despite being "half robot" as Akira describes him, for all his eccentricities, Tobei is a fairly decent man who seems content with his life. He only ever liquefacts a turtle during the course of the game's plot to save its life, despite putting out the idea of using a liquefacted human to power the Steel Titan. And he only does it upon the request of others to save the character's life, and lets said character have full control over the robot body they inhabit.
- Explosive Results: His experimental teleporter still explodes on a regular basis.
- Idea Bulb: Parodied in the remake if given something he can refine, where his head lights up like a lightbulb. If it flashes in rainbow colours, it means he will succeed in refining the item.
- Large Ham: Many of his scenes have him shrieking at the top of his lungs.
- Mad Scientist: Subverted. Tobei is an eccentric man and the resident genius on Steel Titan, but he's on the side of the heroes though he was previously affiliated with Livingstill and can utilize Livingstill's liquefaction technology that he uses to create Taroimo. The main difference is unlike Livingstill, Tobei doesn't liquefact people against their will, and only did it with Taroimo to save their life. Even though he considers the idea of using a liquefacted human to power the Steel Titan, he doesn't push the issue beyond musing it.
- Meaningful Name: In the original game, he's named after the famous anime and tokusatsu studio Toei, who made many Super Robot Genre shows in the 70's and 80's.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: He's arguably even shorter than the Earthen Heart Shifu.
- Mundane Utility: He wishes to use Steel Titan as a way to drum up sales for his antique store.
- Noodle Incident:
- It's never stated how he got Steel Titan in the first place.
- Previously worked with Livingstill in the field of robotics and liquefied humans, but an unknown incident had him run away with Lawless's help, likely when Livingstill was in the process of turning his co-workers into liquefied humans to power robotic weapons or as sacrifices to Odeo.
Steel Titan (Buriki Daioh)
"GO! GO! STEEL TITAN!"
A once-forgotten mech built in ancient Babylonia, now in the possession of Doc Tobei. It can only be activated with potent psychic powers or fuel from a liquefied human. Possibly the only chance anyone has to stop the God Odeo.- Acrofatic: In spite of having a similar rotund build as the various old school mecha that inspired it, it's a lot faster and more agile than its size would suggest, as one of its signature moves is Babylon Stomp, which has it launch into the air for a divebomb attack. It helps that it uses its jetpack to move large distances.
- Art Evolution: The remake not only gives Steel Titan more battle animations, but also 3D cutscenes of it in action.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": It has the kanji dai ("big, great") stamped on its chest.
- Brick Joke: Tobei's excited about having the Steel Titan as a major attraction. In the Distant Future chapter of the remake, inspecting the drawers in Kato's room reveals he has a mint-condition vintage Steel Titan toy, heavily implying that Akira and Steel Titan's heroics got so popular that Tobei managed to start a media franchise based on it.
- Chrome Champion: A gigantic heroic robot made of steel.
- Cool Crown: A giant one as part of its design.
- Empathic Weapon: Steel Titan can only be piloted by someone with strong enough psychic power, meaning only Akira and a drunk Lawless are able to even get the thing to move. After the Near Future chapter is finished, Akira can no longer tap into its power.
- Expy: Of various popular Japanese robots:
- Gigantor and Mazinger Z, with an appearance resembling a mix of both, and a theme that sounds not unlike the latter's opening.
- Of Poseidon, from Babel II, in that it's a robot of ancient Babylonian origin which needs to be activated by someone with psychic powers.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Only shows up in battle during Near Future's endgame where Matsu and Akira use it to kick ass. It appears once more during the Boss Rush in the Dominion of Hate.
- Human Resources: One way to power it is through liquefied humans, but although this point is brought up several times, this method never gets used.
- Humongous Mecha: And not just in appearance either — his model while in a fight occupies 4 squares in the combat grid instead of the usual 1 of the heroes, making him the largest controllable character until you get to the last chapter and get the option to fight as the game's bosses if you select Odio as your protagonist,note and even his feet are larger than the army tanks he goes against. The remake pronounces this further by adding a new battlefield which is a zoomed-out version of the street area the Near Future battles usually take place in, showing that Steel Titan towers over several buildings.
- Leitmotif: Go! Go! Steel Titan!. The remake even gives it vocals by the legendary Hironobu Kageyama.
- Limit Break: A playable variant. It doesn't activate until the climax of the chapter and contains all sorts of powerful attacks that wouldn't be useful unless there's an active crisis.
- Lost Technology: Its "opening" implies that it came from ancient Babylon where it was venerated as a god.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Its Marduk's Rage skill allows it to bombard anything within a small area with bombs.
- Play as a Boss: It's for all intents and purposes a playable boss, having absurdly high stats, a massive sprite that takes up several tiles, having the bosses' usual limit of four skills, and even the boss death animation of slowly dissolving into purple fog.
- Purposefully Overpowered: It's a literal playable boss with equally massive stats, which the heroes definitely need considering it fights some of the most powerful enemies in the game.
- Readings Are Off the Scale: The original game hides its HP readout as ???/???. However, it's not an infinite amount, as its actual max HP is 2032. This is properly displayed in the remake.
- Story-Breaker Power: There's a reason Akira seemingly can't reactive it at will after defeating his incarnation of Odio. The Steel Titan takes on what is arguably Odio's most powerful incarnation sans the Final Boss and is able to beat it down without breaking a sweat. (Even if the player messes about in the battle, the Steel Titan is likely to still be above half HP by the time it takes the boss down.) It's only ever used one more time outside of its chapter, and that's during the end game Boss Rush against the various Odio incarnations.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Halogen Laser takes up all but two rows of the battlefield, and can easily wipe the floor with tanks and small aircraft.
Tadashi Tadokoro
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), Jason Yang (English)
Akira's father, a riot police officer under the employment of the Conspirators. He knew his government was up to no good, but he had no choice but to obey. He ended up killed by Lawless when trying to arrest him despite the latter protesting against their evil plans.- Alliterative Name: Tadashi Tadokoro.
- Fatal Flaw: His cold feet; despite knowing how evil the government was, he still followed orders. This ends up killing him.
- Hereditary Hairstyle: The manga gave him the same spiky hairdo like his son, except without the gold highlights.
- Just Following Orders: He's only doing things because the government told him to.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Only shown in the beginning of the Near Future chapter, but his death by the hands of Lawless is what triggered his son's psychic powers, led Lawless to leave the Crusaders and to be a Big Brother Mentor to Akira, and eventually stopped the local incarnation of Odio from destroying Japan.
Bright Sparks Orphanage
Kaori Tadokoro
Voiced by: Shiori Mikami (Japanese), Suzie Yeung (English)
Akira's little sister. She's a sickly girl and the original owner of Taroimo until its roboticization.- Delicate and Sickly: She's bedridden for the entire story. To the point where she asks to be liquefied so she can stay with everyone instead of dying.
- Game-Over Man: If a Game Over is obtained before Steel Titan's activation, she cries out for her brother.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She offers to be liquefacted to pilot the Steel Titan. Defied almost imminently when Akira pleads for her to not go through with it.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: When Kaori and Akira join the orphanage, they are both shown as children. When the chapter begins, Akira is clearly a teenager while Kaori does not appear to have aged at all. The reason isn't given, but as she's chronically ill, it's suggested her sickness stunted her growth.
- Psychic Powers: Or at the very least a Psychic Link to her brother, but this is what the chapter's Game Over scene seems to imply, as Kaori somehow senses that Akira has died.
Taeko
Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (Japanese), Jennie Kwan (English)
The caretaker of the Bright Sparks orphanage.- Art Evolution: Was originally a Palette Swap of the chapter's female NPCs in the original release, whereas in the remake, she has a new design resembling her depiction in the 2019 doujinshi.
- Ascended Extra: She's given a small bit more screentime in Shimamoto's 2019 doujinshi adapting the Near Future chapter, such as initially following Matsu into the Steel Titan and they share a kiss before he dies.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Heavily implied to have a crush on Matsu, given the way she thinks of him as a model citizen and mourns his death. In the manga, Matsu kisses her before he passes away.
- Metafictional Device: For some reason, you can equip an item called Taeko's Furious Fist, which you personally get from her after some panty-snatching (or pocket money theft in the remake) gone wrong. It's even the best weapon you can get for Akira/Lawless in the chapter!Flavor Text: The concentrated rage of a teacher who's sick of your shit.
- Shower of Awkward: In the original version, one random event from Akira teleporting out of battle can send him to the bathroom right in the middle of her showering.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Downplayed; when she catches Watanabe and Akira in the bathroom trying to snatch her panties (or steal her secret money stash in the remake), she chews Akira out and slaps him. You have to do this to progress the story.
Aki, Yuki, Kazu, and Watanabe
Voiced by:
Aki: Ousuke (Japanese), Brittany Lauda (English)
Yuki: Naomi Ozora (Japanese), Triya Leong (English)
Kazu: Rinko Hayashi (Japanese), Suzie Yeung (English)
Watanabe: Ayako Uemara (Japanese), Nicolette Chin (English)
Four little kids from the Bright Sparks orphanage. And yes, Watanabe is that Watanabe for the chapter. (See below)- Art Evolution: In the manga, they were all given individualised designs. The remake however, keeps them as Palette Swaps.
- Ascended Extra: Watanabe's a supporting character in this chapter, rather than a brief cameo like he usually is.
- Distressed Dude: Kazu gets kidnapped by the Crusaders at one point. In the manga, it's Watanabe instead.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Same situation as Kaori, they are shown to be children when Akira and Kaori join the orphanage. Akira grows up and is a teenager after some time has passed, but the rest of the children are still the same age and size. It could have been that the other kids were adopted in the time-skip and new kids joined, but Watanabe was identified as a child too in the flashback and still appears as one in the present time of the chapter.
- Palette Swap: The boys have the same attire and haircut with only colors to differentiate them. Yuki isn't any better, being a palette swap of Kaori.
Bright Sparks Matron
Voiced by: Asako Sato (Japanese), Siho Ellsmore (English)
The orphanage's founder.- Granny Classic: Takes care of the orphans alongside Taeko.
The Crusaders
A biker gang that terrorizes the city the Near Future chapter takes place. They are armed with several robots when fought in the streets.
- Adaptational Heroism: It's implied they were Just Following Orders in the manga adaptation, and Yamazaki attempts to have them liquefied for leading Lawless into Tsukuba, but after being freed, they escape with the heroes and don't burn the orphanage.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: They started out as an anti-government group before becoming the violent pawns of said government.
- Burn the Orphanage: After their plan is found out, Yamazaki orders them to burn the Bright Sparks Orphanage for retaliation against Akira and Lawless. Thankfully, nobody dies and it comes undone quickly after the Steel Titan defeats Odeo. Defied in the manga adaptation, as the army under Yamazaki does it instead.
- Crooks Are Better Armed: To the point that they waged war against the government in the past, before they became cronies to the very government they are fighting against.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Although Steel Titan overpowers them (via a psychic Counter-Attack), they actually managed to damage the mech using an anti-vehicle Tesla gun. This is notable as they are three, on-foot, gangsters taking on a mech that towers over buildings.
- Dem Bones: They wear skull mask helmets.
- Mecha-Mooks: In addition to their human members, they also employ their robotic force as well, such as Lariats and Kyokushins. Said robots are implied to be remotely operated, as they will cease to function if all of their human members are defeated.
The Conspirators
Counterclockwise from left to right: General Yamazaki, Doctor Livingstill, Priest Unryu, Odeo
Voiced by:
Yamazaki: Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Mark Lee (English)
Livingstill: Ryūsei Nakao (Japanese), Mark Ota (English)
Unryu: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Dai Tabuchi (English)
General Yamazaki, Doctor Livingstill and Priest Unryu, the three followers of Odeo who initiated the plan to unite all men by liquefaction and then offer their remains as sacrifices for Odeo.- Adaptational Badass: In the game, Yamazaki's role is minimal aside from sending the Japanese army to stop Steel Titan. In the manga, he personally gets into battle with a katana and destroys the LH Combat Unit W1 in one stroke after it rebels against him, and even tries to fight Steel Titan head-on before getting disintegrated by its Halogen Laser.
- Arc Villain: Like the Kuu Chief above, they could be considered the Near Future chapter's main villains despite Odeo being the Final Boss and an incarnation of Odio; they're the ones driving the plot by kidnapping people and liquefacting them in order to awaken Odeo, which in turn causes Akira and Matsu to oppose them, making Odeo more of a Greater-Scope Villain.
- Armies Are Evil: Yamazaki is a military general and commands the Japanese army to stop the Steel Titan and provide more liquefied humans.
- Assimilation Plot: Possibly — they do mention that Odeo being awakened would lead to humanity being "united" and this awakening does involve turning human beings into living fuel for their god through their hatred, but it's ambiguous whether this was just a means to an end or their actual ideal for all human beings — while Doctor Livingstill's dialogue implies the latter, their pleas for being saved once they get assimilated implies the former instead.
- Ax-Crazy: They believe that they are really trying to unite humanity and deliver them away from hatred by capturing innocents to awaken Odeo within the Inko Buddha statue. Given that they also freak out when Odeo is about to give them a taste of their own medicine, they're likely just insane Knight Templars rather than Well-Intentioned Extremists.
- Burn the Orphanage: After Akira raids their headquarters, Yamazaki orders the Crusaders to burn the Bright Sparks Orphanage for retaliation against Akira and Lawless. Thankfully, nobody dies and it comes undone quickly after the Steel Titan defeats Odeo.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the game, Yamazaki is engulfed by the liquefied humans alongside Livingstill and Unryu after Odeo is destroyed. In the manga, he instead gets deatomized by Steel Titan's Halogen Laser while leading the army against it. Livingstill is implied to be vaporized by the Steel Titan's Finishing Move to Odeo. Only Unryu suffers his in-game fate, but before Odeo's awakening.
- Dub Name Change: Livingstill is known as Shinderumannote in the Japanese version (erroneously rendered as "Cindelman" in the Aeon Genesis translation).
- Evil Overlooker: Doctor Livingstill in the remake's promotional art for the Near Future chapter.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: After the Inko Buddha statue/Odeo was destroyed by the Steel Titan, they get assimilated with the pool of liquefied humans they created to awaken him. In the remake, the lake flat-out pounces on them.
- Hypocrite: Despite the fact that all three of them believe their Assimilation Plot to be an improvement for humanity and force it onto everyone whether they like it or not, once they were on the receiving end of the assimilation by the lake of liquefied humans, they are reduced to begging to be saved from what they claimed to be the salvation for humanity.
- Ironic Name: Doctor Livingstill, who looks like a grey walking corpse, notes the irony of his name when first met.
- Knight Templar: The three appear to be perfectly convinced that they are heroes and messiahs ending world suffering.
- Large Ham: Priest Unryu is easily the loudest and most bombastic of the three, especially during Odeo's boss battle."ODEO! ODEO!! CAST DOWN THIS WICKED CHILD!!"
- Mad Scientist: Doctor Livingstill is a demented scientist and one of the inventors of the liquefaction technology, and he even replaced his own body with machinery similarly to Tobei. He is also convinced that allowing Odeo to destroy humanity would allow them to transcend their mortal forms as the next step of their evolution.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Livingstill, a Mad Scientist who's part of a conspiracy to liquefy humanity to awaken Odeo.
- Noodle Incident: It's never explained what Doctor Livingstill did that caused Tobei to seek Matsu's help to run away from him, but it's likely due to his plans for Odeo and was liquefying his co-workers at the time.
- Sinister Minister: Priest Unryu is a preacher of the Religion of Evil that is dedicated to worshipping Odeo, complete with Human Sacrifices.
- Terrible Trio: A trio of madmen who believe that they will be purifying the world by converting thousands into liquefied humans and awakening Odeo in the Inko Buddha statue through them.
- The Unfought: Akira never directly fights them in any part of the story.
- Unwitting Pawn: In reality, like the Kuu Chief above they're all just outlets for Oersted to vent his anger and hatred against humanity by proving his point.
- Voice for the Voiceless: They provide Boss Banter on Odeo's behalf during the latter's boss fight in the remake.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Subverted. They claim that they're summoning the god Odeo to end all human suffering and appear to have fully convinced themselves that they're saviors and messiahs, but they're reduced to begging for mercy from the liquefied humans once Odeo is defeated and the lake prepares to swallow them, implying that they're just Ax-Crazy madmen in the first place.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Their Evil Plan to kidnap 2000 humans and liquefy them is completed when the Steel Titan reaches them. The only thing Akira can do at that point to end the madness is to kill Odeo with it.
Distant Future Chapter - The Mechanical Heart
Yoshiyuki Kato
"The Engineer"
Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), James Bradwell (English)
"Every experience is an opportunity for growth."
Cube's creator. A nerdy, sensible, kindhearted technician and the resident engineer of the Cogito Ergo Sum.
- Asian and Nerdy: Japanese and the ship's engineer.
- Fatherly Scientist: He treats Cube with the affection of a parent and always addresses it as "little one".
- Giver of Lame Names: In the remake, he admits that naming was never his strong suit, with his first choice of name for Cube being "Roundy", and that he decided to consider the name "Cube" for him as a joke, which he himself notes that it wasn't too funny:Kato: ...That's impressively worse.
Naming was never my forte. - His Name Is...: Non-fatal example. After figuring out that Cube could try and defeat OD-10 in a non-physical manner since he’s a robot, he begins to tell him to use a certain terminal, only to pass out due to his injuries following a murder attempt by OD-10, forcing Cube and Darthe to find out which terminal. He’s talking about the Captain Square games console.
- MacGyvering: He built Cube out of whatever was on the ship at the time, with even a personal note mentioning that the current computer chip designs on Earth are very advanced, but he’ll have to make do with what’s available.
- Nerd Glasses: His sprite has two white circles where his eyes could be, and he puts on his glasses when waking up from cryosleep in the remake.
- Only Sane Man: He is by far the most level-headed member of a very dysfunctional crew, though even he has his moments of weakness when he starts suspecting Darthe after discovering his secret file from the military.
- Rage Breaking Point: He's mostly an unassuming nerd that doesn't participate in fights. However, when he hears about the secret orders of the military that Darthe is involved in, on top of learning that his friends are dying one by one (though this was before Rachel was confirmed dead), Kato snaps and starts yelling at Darthe and accusing him of trying to kill him.
- So Proud of You: In the remake, if you go out of your way to visit his room and talk to him after you have defeated OD-10, he tells Cube how proud he is of how far the little Robot Buddy has come.
- Spanner in the Works: Building robots like Cube was only a hobby of his, but Cube ends up saving Kato and Darthe, as well as being the only one who could stop OD-10 and perhaps all of reality in the end. Him also surviving his murder attempt forces OD-10 in a corner once its attempt to frame Cube for Kato's death failed.
Corporal Darthe
"The Military Courier"
Voiced by: Naoya Uchida (Japanese), Barnaby Edwards (English)
"I was right about you, clank. You're all the same."
A military corporal and passenger on the Cogito Ergo Sum; his job is to guard the Behemoth. At first a robot-hating jerk, but after surviving the ordeal at the ship with the help of Cube, he warms up to him.
- Actually a Good Idea: Originally sees Cube's plan to reprogram the Captain Square game to directly interface with OD-10 and delete its AI consciousness as utterly ridiculous and nonsensical, before seriously thinking it over and conceding that it might actually just work.
- Bald of Authority: The 1994 character design of Darthe shows that he is bald underneath his cap and he is also part of the military where the rest are all civilians. This overlaps with…
- Bald Head of Toughness: This part comes in where he is the only one of the crew to keep it together and remain standing throughout the ordeal. On top of that, he is also the one to destroy the Behemoth.
- Character Development: He at first displays himself as unreasonable and robot-hating, but as the crews start getting belligerent, he ends up being the second Only Sane Man where he clearly wants to live on with the rest and begins warming up to a robot. The end of his scenario has him decide to create medical robots.
- Fantastic Racism: Hates Cube and mechanical things in general because during the Robot War, he had his whole squad killed by robots. He later softens up and befriends Cube. In the epilogue of the story, he even retires from the military to help create medical robots.
- Fantastic Slurs: Mostly calls Cube "clank" out of anger. It later turns into an Affectionate Nickname as he starts softening up and the malicious name becomes one of attachment.
- Fire-Forged Friends: After surviving a fierce apex alien predator on the loose and a psychopathic AI out to kill the entire crew together, Darthe goes from hating Cube because he's a robot to genuinely considering him a valued crewmember.
- Genius Bruiser: Knows how to kick ass and how to patch the Captain Square game to OD-10. He then later retires from the military to build medical robots."Little do you know, clank... Your maker... isn't the only one who knows his way around a workshop!"
- Good All Along: It's implied from his hatred of Cube, his secret order to prioritize the Behemoth's survival over human lives, and being named after one of the most famous villains in media that he's a major antagonist. In reality, he's pretty much the closest the Distant Future chapter has to a Big Good.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Non-alcoholic version. After the entire ordeal in regards to the Behemoth and OD-10, he asks Cube to give him a cup of coffee, both signalling that he's let go of his hatred towards Cube and that he really needs something to help him unwind.
- Killing in Self-Defense: At the end, after Behemoth corners him, he just decides to drop his orders and kills the beast.
- Manly Facial Hair: Has a moustache and is the best fighter of the crew.
- Noodle Incident: Played for Drama. He's a veteran of a war against machines which left him traumatized and gave him a fear and hatred towards robots, which causes a rift between him and Cube (and Kato, to a lesser extent), but nothing about said war is really described aside from it being, as described before, bad enough for it to traumatize Darthe.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: See that Behemoth? The enormous beast that can kill Cube in one touch? Darthe kills it single-handedly while Cube is fighting OD-10.
- Only One Name: Only his last name is known. At the end of the chapter, in the after-action report, his name is given as "(REDACTED) Darthe".
- Only Sane Man: He proves to be this between the whole passengers of Cogito Ergo Sum. His being a jerk to Cube stemmed from a personal trauma that he didn't ask for, he always tried to keep a level-headed attitude (as much as he can) and encourages such calmness when the crew started acting reckless, even if he has to yell for it. And even when Kato, the calmest of the original crew, loses it, Darthe tries his best to explain his situation rationally and still hold that deep down he doesn't want to kill anybody, and eventually leading to Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!. He's also willing to listen to reason, when OD-10 controls the Cube prototype to kill Rachel and tries to impersonate the real Cube, but instead of just blasting both just to be safe (which would've destroyed their only method of stopping OD-10), he instead takes Kato's confirmation when the real Cube correctly answers his question and smashes the imposter.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He's sent by the military to transport the Behemoth within a civilian ship and in the case that things go south, he's to preserve the life of the Behemoth, with the crew being considered acceptable sacrifices. In the end, after Kirk died in an accident, the Behemoth killed Huey, a Cube imposter assassinated Rachel in her sleep, and Captain Hor died in his room due to OD-10 sabotaging his room and turning it into a deathtrap, Darthe decided that enough is enough, no more deaths, even Kato's. When the same Behemoth comes to kill him, he ends up fighting and killing it anyway, going against his original orders and giving Cube time to dismantle OD-10 and ultimately prevented more human deaths than necessary. Afterwards, he quit the military and had a career on building medical robots as his final middle finger to the 'Rules'.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He has really bad memories about a war against machines, which caused him to hate robots at first.
- Shout-Out: Named after Darth Vader from Star Wars.note
- Surrounded by Idiots: During the first half of the chapter. He doesn't hide how much the crewmates' constant arguing and bickering get on his nerves, and when everything begins to go from bad to worse, he calls the crewmates out for their perceived incompetence and letting things deteriorate so badly.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He later learns to befriend Cube over the course of the chapter.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: His reaction when after telling Cube to go look for a second terminal to access OD-10 with, only for them to respond they’re right in front of the Captain Square game console. He’s bewildered at first, only to realise that it’s what Kato was trying to tell Cube about before he passed out and could actually work.
Huey Trumbull
"The Chief Mate"
Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (Japanese), Shash Hira (English)
"People are... a bit more complicated than machines."
Kato's friend, a fastidious bookworm, and chief mate and head of cargo on the Cogito Ergo Sum. He used to date Rachel, and apparently still has a crush on her.
- Ambiguously Brown: Has a noticeably darker skin tone compared to the rest of the crew. In the remake's English dub, he's voiced by a British-Indian actor.
- The Chew Toy: To say that this game hates Huey is an understatement: he's on the losing side of the Love Triangle, he's rejected for his ship captain exam and is about to get fired by Capt. Hor, and he tried saving Rachel (which would have succeeded if OD-10 didn't send a Cube replica to kill her in her cryosleep).
- Heroic Sacrifice: He dies trying to save Rachel from the Behemoth. For naught too.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Huey is a pretty decent and nice character, without glaring flaws like Kirk, Rachel, and Darthe. However, he seems to be resigned with the mindset that humans are incapable of surpassing their nature to fight against each other, from minor bickerings to major wars. Somehow, OD-10 considers that another proof that Humans Are the Real Monsters and must be eliminated, as Huey's particular line is recorded to its data banks. Huey does not survive the scenario because of his mindset of resignation.
- No Sense of Humor: Huey takes things with the utmost seriousness, leaving no room for humor in his job. This is implied to be why Rachel broke up with him and went over to Kirk, who possesses a sense of humor. Kirk is also annoyed at this particular attitude of Huey’s, accusing him of being a Holier Than Thou person.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the sensitive guy towards Kirk's macho man, and this unfortunately had him on the losing side within the Love Triangle with Rachel.
- Shout-Out: He references the film Silent Running, directed by Douglas Trumbull and containing a character named Huey.
Rachel Klein
"The Signaller"
Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Penelope Rawlins (English)
"Don't you dare try to take him from me again."
The sole female of the crew, and in love with Kirk... to an unhealthy degree. Signaller on the Cogito Ergo Sum.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: She likes Kirk's gung-ho attitude more than Huey's softie attitude, something that Kirk likes to taunt Huey on why he doesn't get the girl.
- Foreshadowing: Her role in the chapter is a parallel to Alethea's role in the Middle Ages chapter, specifically that her crazy love for Kirk is similar to how Alethea threw spite at Oersted. Both of these acts would cause a lot of bloodshed that never had to happen.
- Hope Spot: Thanks to Huey's Heroic Sacrifice, Rachel survived the attack of Behemoth, so all she needed was just a rest in the cold capsule, and when she would wake up, she could reflect on her actions and gain respect on Huey post-mortem. Not if OD-10 had its way — it sent a replica of Cube to ruin her capsule, killing her in her sleep.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Rachel's denial over Kirk's death makes her immediately believe "Kirk's" (actually OD-10's) words to rush to open the airlock to let 'him' back on the ship. This almost causes Kato and Cube to get sucked into space. Shortly after, upon hearing the Behemoth escaped, she immediately rushes out, not wanting the Behemoth to hurt Kirk. This directly results in her being critically injured and Huey getting killed protecting her, and ultimately her death later on.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: Unable to accept Kirk's death, she steals his corpse from the sick bay and carries it to her room, talking to it as if he were asleep.
- Sanity Slippage: Her distaste with Huey aside, when things go her way, Rachel can be sensible and kind, especially on Cube. Unfortunately, the sudden death of Kirk throws a wrench to her sanity that she starts making questionable decisions based on her grief and anguish, and even steals Kirk's corpse pretending that he's just asleep.
- Too Dumb to Live: A dangerous alien creature escaped from its cage and is loose on the ship? First priority? Worry about the body of her dead boyfriend and rush out in the halls where it's more likely to find and maim you!
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her dumping of Huey for Kirk results in Kirk antagonizing Huey over her choosing him over Huey, and said antagonizing becomes one of the main reasons OD-10 decides to kill the crew.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Her English voice actress, Penolope Rawlins, was born in the UK and raised in the US, but seems to be aiming for an Australian accent.
Kirk Wells
"The Helmsman"
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue (Japanese), Brent Mukai (English)
"Sounds like an excuse to do nothing."
A gung-ho officer, Rachel's lover. Helmsman of the Cogito Ergo Sum.
- Developer's Foresight: After he introduces Cube to the Captain Square game, beating it while he's watching elicits a bewildered response from him.
- Genius Bruiser: He's a Jerk Jock, but according to Capt. Hor, his redeeming point is that he's the best in data maintenance test, which requires thinking, as he's the only one who nets a positive score. His Hidden Depths also support this.
- Hidden Depths: He's mostly defined with his impulsive jerkass attitude, but he's also surprisingly an avid reader on wordy books. After his death, it's revealed that he tends to read a book titled "Will Warp Navigation Become A Reality" in his spare time, meaning that he does have a bookish side not too different with… his number one bully victim, Huey.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: His bullying of Huey leads to OD-10 deciding to pick him as a first victim of its slaughter of the ship's crewmembers.
- Jerk Jock: He's athletic, but also an impulsive jerk. The remake also adds various sports-related things to his room.
- Jerkass to One: He mostly concentrates his jerkishness to Huey, he works with Kato much better and is tactful to Cube, even giving him advice on how to win at playing Captain Square.
- Mad Libs Catch Phrase: The context may vary, but Kirk has a tendency of saying things with "Warp speed!" added on it, to go with his impulsive personality. On his death, Kato even reminiscences that the line would be something he'd say if he's in a hurry.
- The McCoy: Despite being named after Captain Kirk and the trope refers to the middle-man emotion-wise, he's actually the more impulsive one, being the more gung-ho and illogical, preferring to brute force his way to solve problems. It gets him to be the first victim, when he decided the best way to fix the WATANABE antenna is to physically tamper with it the traditional way. While in space, where accidents like getting cut off from the air supply could happen, though no one could have expected that.
- Nice to the Waiter: While he's a bit of a Jerk Jock, he's quite polite to Cube, even though the robot is mostly just interacts with him as a servitor.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password to his terminal in his room is "Warp speed" - the one phrase he says most often.
- Pet the Dog: Unlike his attitude to Huey, Kirk is very cordial to Cube and compliments them nicely when Cube talks to him (or serves him coffee). In the remake, if Cube loses in the Captain Square game, Kirk may ridicule it for 'not having what it takes', but he makes it up by giving him hints that can be useful to finish the game.
- Real Men Take It Black: He's the only crewmember who likes the ship's often-terrible coffee, citing that it's just how he likes it.
- Retirony: While he wasn't planning to retire, he was planning a lot of things to do on Earth with Rachel before his murder.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the manly man to Huey's sensitive guy, and he constantly bullies Huey for it.
- Shout-Out: His first name is after Captain Kirk from Star Trek. It could be said that his last name is after H. G. Wells.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His impulsiveness leads him to impatiently try to fix the WATANABE antenna in the traditional way rather than wait for an actual analysis result from the others first. This leads to a conflict with Huey where Kirk bullies him based on their past conflict, which becomes the catalyst of OD-10 deciding to kill the crews to maintain order, with Kirk himself as the first victim.
Captain Hor Bishop (Hol)
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Glen McCready (English)
Captain of the Cogito Ergo Sum, who strangely has no direct contact with his crew.- Broken Record: He begins to only repeat the same dialogue to everything after a certain point. At that point, OD-10 has already killed him and that's actually a recording.
- Dead All Along: The only time you get to see him alive is during the crew meeting at the beginning. He's killed and impersonated shortly after, since Rachel already notices some strange behavior from him while trying to get permission to fix the subantenna.
- Dramatic Irony: His confidential assessment report reveals he was actually planning on replacing the crew on the Cogito Ergo Sum due to being too dysfunctional in dynamics to salvage once they returned to Earth, with his assessment even noting that said dysfunction would have an increased risk of an incident. Nearly everyone, including him, gets killed before that happens as a direct result of said poor team dynamics being the breaking point for OD-10.
- Killed Offscreen: Gets murdered sometime after his first transmission in the beginning. The log in his room indicates OD-10 sealed the door and either sucked out the oxygen or flooded the room with toxic gas.
- Punny Name:
- Hologram in the Super Famicom version. Considering you only interact with him via screens since he's dead by the time Cube gets to his room... The official localization obfuscates the reference by changing the spelling of his name.
- In the remake, Horse, as his personal belongings heavily imply he likes horses.
- Shout-Out:
- The reveal that OD-10, an AI, was pretending to be him makes him one to HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- His last name is that of a character from Aliens.
- Token Good Teammate: He has no recorded voice amongst OD-10's voice databanks that it used to justify that humans are incapable of maintaining harmony, meaning that he'd probably not bicker and ruin harmony given the chance, and also serves as a deconstruction: He recognizes the dysfunction of his crew and plans to change the crew once they arrive on Earth; a Token Good Teammate in charge will definitely want to restructure his team full of dysfunctional or evil members so the team can actually work properly. It still doesn't prevent him from becoming a target of OD-10's manipulation that costs him his life.
Captain Square
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
Fictional protagonist of the Captain Square minigame.- Big "NO!": Exclaims this if his attacks miss in the remake.
- Captain Superhero: A spandex-clad hero named after the developer.
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair of green sunglasses.
- The Good Captain: He bears the title of Captain, and he's the hero of his game.
- Gratuitous English: His Japanese voice lines are exclusively in English, and Sugita is clearly taking the piss and pulling off the thickest, corniest fake-American accent he can muster.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Is only playable in the minigame.
- Hand Blast: He shoots energy projectiles from his hands in several of his attacks.
- Heal Thyself: He can use Plasma Charge to heal and buff himself.
- Justified Tutorial: If you choose to play the Distant Future chapter first, his minigame serves as the player’s introduction to the rest of the game’s battle system, as the only actual fight in this chapter is against the boss.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Most noticeable in his win pose.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Which strangely seems to always billow out behind him no matter what he's doing.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: His minigame is the main and usually only source of humour in the Distant Future chapter, but it gets overwritten when Cube uses it to fight OD-10 and Captain Square is never seen again. The remake even has the battlefield damaged.
- Stripped to the Bone: If he runs out of HP in the original version. The remake just has him keel over like the other playable characters.
- A Winner Is You: Completing his game just has him fly through space and take off his sunglasses.
Behemoth
- Adaptational Badass: In the original game, the Behemoth appeared as large as any other character in the overworld, and moved just as fast as the player. As a result, Cube could simply strafe around this alien to get to the next objective. With several generations worth of graphical enhancement, this is undone in the remake; now the Behemoth is large enough to occupy the width of an entire hallway and generally moves faster than Cube can move (not to mention its footsteps cause the screen to shake). Running into adjacent rooms to hide away is the best means of losing the Behemoth's trail.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Downplayed; it's the only unambiguously alien creature in the game and it's also a wild predator that will mercilessly tear apart anything it gets it claws on, but it's implied to only be as intelligent as a wild animal, and thus, doesn't really have a sense of morality nor a understanding of what it's doing.
- Alien Blood: In the remake, after Darthe kills it in self-defense at the end of the chapter, its blood is shown to be purple.
- Art Evolution: In the remake, its sprite was upgraded significantly to better resemble its official artwork, now looking much larger than Cube and having more details on its fur and coloring. This is likely due to the original sprite being limited by the SFC version's size restraints on the overworld; since it's The Unfought, it didn't receive a properly-sized battle sprite.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Boss in Mook Clothing. The Behemoth is a frequent enemy in Square Enix's works, either being a full on boss or a Boss in Mook Clothing. While usually difficult to bring down, it isn't invincible by any means and serves as a fun challenge to the player. Live A Live, however, shows just how horrifying it would actually be for a bunch of average Joes to encounter it; they would more than likely die in seconds. That said, it's also still not invincible, either. But it would take a person highly trained in military skills and sufficient weaponry to get the deed done; and it would likely be a very quick and bloody encounter rather than a long drawn-out slugfest like most Behemoth fights are.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Of the 'to the player's benefit' type. During normal gameplay, the Behemoth will only stalk the hallways of the ship, and will never enter side areas or cabins, as the doors are far too small for it to fit through. But when Darthe finally puts it down, it's able to enter through the human-sized doors into the room where Darthe is.
- Hero Killer: It kills Huey and mortally wounds Rachel, though she survives until her cryosleep pod is deactivated.
- Immune to Bullets: Its fur makes it highly resistant to most forms of conventional weaponry. Key word: most. It corners Darthe when he's toting his carbine, and he promptly shoots it dead.
- No Name Given: "Behemoth" isn't its actual species name; the closest descriptor it's given is "xeno-biological specimen". The remake gives it a database entry codename, SHVC-5V.
- Non-Malicious Monster: While it's a major threat to the crew of the Cogito Ergo Sum once it's loose, it's also a wild animal acting out of its pure instinctual needs to hunt and feed.
- Red Herring: The Distant Future trailer paints the Behemoth as the boss and Arc Villain of the story. It's never fought, and the real villain of the story is OD-10.
- Savage Wolf: It's wolf-like in appearance despite being an alien, and it fits all the traits associated with them (nasty, persistent, quadrupedal predator that eats humans).
- Shout-Out: Its design is clearly inspired by the Behemoth type monsters in Final Fantasy, though in fitting with the theme of the chapter, it's also this to the Xenomorphs from Alien.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Will chase down Cube any time it sees him.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It's an unstoppable killer as far as the defenseless Cube is concerned, but it's still just a wild animal, and ends up quickly dispatched by Darthe and his military-grade firearm.
- The Unfought: Cube spends its time running off from this beast, but the Behemoth can never be fought and doesn't have a counterpart in the Final Chapter. It only serves as an instant death condition against Cube, and then is taken out off-screen by Darthe.
- Xenomorph Xerox: While it doesn't physically resemble the creature, the Behemoth's role in the chapter is lifted almost wholesale from Alien's Xenomorph: a dangerous creature roams a confined ship, anyone who comes into contact with it has little hope of survival (protagonist included), and the mission is secretly to study it with the crew considered expendable. You even discover this by finding a hidden message on a terminal in almost the exact same wording as the one in the film.
Other
Watanabe Family
"My father! No!"
Voiced by:
Most of the sons: Ayako Uemara (Japanese), Nicolette Chin (English)
Most of the fathers: Takashi Tokita (Japanese), Dai Tabuchi (English)
Prehistory incarnations: Tomokazu Sugita
Wan Tan Na Bei: Takashi Tokita (Japanese), Eric Yang (English)
All throughout history, recurring again and again, a father and son (their names being some variant on Watanabe) appear. Most basically, the father is killed in some way or another, leaving the son to burst into tears and run off.- Prehistory Chapter: They're not named, but one of them cries like the other sons when the other falls down a pit trap into an utterly dark room filled with killer prehistoric alligators and most likely not surviving (unlike Pogo, who can fight his way out).
- Imperial China Chapter: Wan Tan Na Bei tries to avenge his father's death at the hands of the Indomitable Fist Kung Fu school by unleashing his secret technique... and fails. Only available if the Earthen Heart successor is Hong.
- Twliight of Edo Japan Chapter: A father and son are ninjas of the Watanabe clan trying to steal Ode Iou's treasure. Either they succeed (because Oboro killed the man in the room below) or, after dodging multiple stabs, the father is impaled. In the remake, if Oboromaru contributed to their survival and aborts the mission, they're seen alive and well while Oboromaru is on the run.
- Wild West Chapter: Watt and his father arrive at Success just as the Crazy Bunch show up. Dad takes a bullet.
- Present Day Chapter: He's not named, but a man throws a soda can at Great Aja (as well as insulting him in the remake). Great Aja turns around, jumps out of the ring, gives him an offscreen beatdown, and returns to the ring (the rest is remake-exclusive again) after his son pleads for the heel lucha to leave his dad alone.
- Near Future Chapter: The only ones where the pair are more than a recurring joke. Watanabe is one of the orphan kids staying in the same orphanage as Akira. His father Kozo was a scientist working in Tsukuba Research Facility that had gone missing. He's turned into a liquefied human and used to power the boss robot fought in the facility.
- Distant Future Chapter: A pair of main and sub antennas, controlled by the Watanabe HyperCaster. An explosion takes out the main antenna, causing the sub antenna to go offline. Used in a creepy way, and not played for laughs. If you're familiar with the Watanabe gag, the moment Kato starts spelling out "Watanabe" phonetically, you know one of the two astronauts currently in space is not long for this world. It starts the horror for real.
- Middle Ages Chapter: Streibough defeats a man named Watt of Nabe during the tournament at the start, whereupon his son runs up on stage while the guards carry his maybe unconscious or maybe dead body away.
- Final Chapternote : Two crying statues are found in Pogo's dungeon. Akira can read their minds, revealing that Death Prophet petrified them for running away too many times. This serves as a hint on how you can encounter it yourself.
- And I Must Scream: The Watanabe father-son duo in the Final Chapter were petrified into the conscious, yet immobile statues as a punishment by Death Prophet for running away from their enemies too much.
- Ascended Extra: The Watanabes get a more significant presence in the Near Future chapter as Akira is friends with the chapter's resident Watanabe, and is forced to fight his father as the LH Combat Unit W1, and nearly tears into the Conspirators after realising who he was.
- Butt-Monkey: Their appearances always have something bad happen to them, and it is played for laughs most of the time (with only two chapters where it isn't). And even in the Near Future chapter, where the disappearance of his father was not played for laughs, the resident Watanabe is still on the receiving end of the short stick when compared to other kids in the orphanage, forced by Akira to do his dirty work (and then ends up sharing Taeko's Furious Fist with him as a punishment for failing to claim the necessary item), getting his TV seat stolen by Yuki every time her favorite wrestler is on screen (and sometimes by getting elbowed to the wall), and ends up getting an Ash Face from the explosion of Doc Tobei's machine in the Golden Ending.
- Cerebus Syndrome: If playing in chronological order. The Watanabes in the future chapters are played for less comedy than their ancestors, with the Distant Future having no comedic outings for them, using them to foreshadow the horror elements of the chapter. They're back to a more lighthearted showing in the Medieval Chapter before returning to a darker depiction for the Final Chapter.
- Disappeared Dad: In the Near Future chapter, Watanabe's father went missing, and thus, Watanabe ended up in the Bright Sparks orphanage until his father will come back. It's eventually revealed that his father was turned into a LH Combat Unit W1 and had to be killed.
- Guide Dang It!: To see the Present Day scene, you need to herd Great Aja into the lower-right-hand quadrant and have him use bite while facing up and left; even then it's still not guaranteed. The remake makes this easier to trigger as Great Aja can be anywhere on the field as long as he uses bite facing upwards.
- Hope Spot:
- The Wild West variants arrive at Success after spending three whole days wandering through the desert with little to no supplies, and just as the dad is celebrating their luck over finally finding civilization, he's shot in the back by a Crazy Bunch member.
- The Final Chapter variants somehow managed to avoid Odio's genocide... only to incur the ire of the Death Prophet with their constant running away, and end up being turned into statues.
- Identically Named Group: Even if it's not shown in the text, it's heavily implied that all incarnations of father and son share the same name.
- Just Like Robin Hood: The father and son in the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter are thieves who want to steal money from Ode Iou's castle to restore the Watanabe clan to its former glory and share the riches with the poor. Sadly, if the retainer below them is still alive, the father will be killed, leaving his son to run away and drag off his body in tears.
- Negated Moment of Awesome:
- The father does an impressive job of dodging the spear thrusts against him in the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter, and for a second, one might think he will pull it off... until he stops to boast in the middle of the attacks, which promptly gets him impaled by giving away his location to the man downstairs.
- Wan Tan Na Bei in the Imperial China chapter charges a powerful attack that could rival Heavenly Peaks Descent, making the earth tremble hard enough that even the Indomitable Fist backs away from him. Unfortunately, the attack fails, blows up in Wan Tan Na Bei's face, and the Indomitable Fist approach him to fight, leading to a soot-covered sobbing Wan Tan Na Bei to unceremoniously run away.
- Ocular Gushers: Usually, the son bursts into cartoony stream of tears whenever his father dies.
- Pre-Final Boss: In the Near Future, Kozo Watanabe is this as the LH Combat Unit W1 where he was liquefied and put into the machine against his will. The fight can be seen as the Final Boss for Akira fighting on-foot with a conventional party rather than the actual chapter boss, which is fought when piloting the Steel Titan.
- Reforged into a Minion: Kozo Watanabe, the Near Future incarnation of the dad, was liquefied by Doctor Livingstill and placed into a LH Combat Unit W1, and while he retained his identity, he lost his free will and had to be killed by Akira and his friends.
- Running Gag: The father of Watanabe will always die or have something terrible happen to him, with his son running away in tears while dragging off his body. In the Near Future and Distant Future chapters, it's not Played for Laughs, as it's Played for Drama in the former and Played for Horror in the latter.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Watanabe's father nearly always gets killed or maimed, leaving his son to run away and drag off his body in tears.
- Throw the Dog a Bone:
- In the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter, if you kill the enemy retainer beforehand, you can prevent Watanabe's father from dying, allowing them to grab a chest they were after, albeit they're only one koban richer rather than the vast wealth they were imagining. The remake adds a further cameo from them if Oboromaru aborts the mission, confirming they fled the castle just fine.
- If one prevents Great Aja from using his bite attack while facing upwards, Watanabe's father will not be maimed by the Heel in retaliation and end the chapter unscathed.
- If Hong is the surviving successor, Wan will become a disciple of Earthen Heart, happily training amongst the others.
- Token Adult: The Watanabe in the prehistoric age is the only one who's an adult; he looks and sounds like every other non-elder caveman in that era (including his dad). The only character younger than him is Pogo, who just reached the age where he's allowed to hunt for food.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- In the Prehistoric era, the dad of Prehistoric Watanabe duo decides to use himself as a makeshift bridge for his son to cross the gap, instead of, well, trying to jump over it. As a result, dad comes crashing down in the crocodile-filled chasm, leaving his son to run away in tears.
- In the Twilight of Edo Japan era, Papa Rat impressively dodges the spear thrusts from a retainer below, and could have succeeded in claiming the treasure from chests in front of him… but then he decides to stop in place and brag, which predictably led to his death.
- In the Present Day era, throwing a can at an extremely Ax-Crazy, hormone-ridden wrestler probably wasn't a good idea for the father.
- Turned Against Their Masters: In the Near Future manga, Kozo Watanabe having been rebuilt into the LH Combat Unit W1 is ordered to kill everyone trying to escape, his son included. Realising he's being ordered to kill his own son, W1 immediately tries to gun down Yamazaki instead, only to be killed by his katana.
- Uncertain Doom: In the original game! it was made ambiguous if the dad was killed during the Present Day chapter's event — on one hand, having an audience member be murdered by a fighter would definitely not go unpunished in real life as it did in the game, on the other, every Watanabe event has the father dying or dead in some way or another, and Rule of Funny could Hand Wave his death in front of the audience. The remake makes his survival more obvious thanks to the use of Big Ball of Violence and the more cartoonish treatment of his beatdown.
- Unlucky Extra: Throughout the timeline, they tend to make only one brief appearance in a given time period, in which the outcome ends badly for them (which means that the dad gets killed more often than not, resulting in the son running off crying, with or without dragging his father's corpse with him).
- Unwilling Roboticization: Watanabe's dad in the Near Future was liquefied and had his mind transferred into a machine known as LH Combat Unit W1, forced to fight Akira against his own will. His last words were begging Akira to take care of his son in the orphanage before exploding.
- Video Game Caring Potential: If you're not too concerned about forfeiting the Pacifist Run or giving up a coin, you can save the Edo era incarnation of the dad by killing the man who was about to kill him.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: In the Twilight of Edo Japan chapter, checking the treasure chests they were after if the father is killed reveals that all but two of them were empty and the only thing of value was a single koban.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Watt and his father in the Wild West chapter were lost in the desert for a very long time, and when they finally find civilization, reaching the town of Success and ensuring their survival, dad gets shot dead by a member of the Crazy Bunch, leaving Watt to run away and drag off his body in tears.
- You Killed My Father: In the Imperial China chapter, the resident version of Watanabe, called Wan Tan Na Bei, tries to take his revenge on the Indomitable Fist Kung Fu school for their murder of his father. However, the secret technique he mastered fails embarrassingly, leaving him to run away in tears.
