Funny / MADNESS: Project Nexus 2

Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

MADNESS: Project Nexus may have a serious plot, but even in the beginning, it wasn't all that serious. Naturally, there's a few well-placed jokes here and there to break the ice.

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Story Mode

• Early into the game, Hank needs to unlock a security door. You initially get a prompt to "...Hack, I guess?" a computer. Engaging with it has Hank scratch his head for a second and admit he doesn't really do hacking. What does he do, though? GRAB A SLEDGEHAMMER AND BREAK THE CONTROL MONITOR OPERATING THE DOOR. Our protagonist, ladies and gentlemen.
• During one level Hank meets Rich, who was sent to oversee a power station but his replacement never arrived to take over his shift 29 years ago. He's sporting a Time-Passage Beard but for what it's worth is remarkably easygoing. He conveniently explains to Hank how his job has been to keep the power on, and upon learning Hank's mission being to turn his life's work of 30 years off he simply shrugs it off as he figures it's no longer his job anyway.
• The public demo involves two missions leading up to the confrontation of The Sheriff. When you complete the second one, Sanford goes to plant the demolitions and... there is no effect on the door. The following conversation becomes a huge, progressively less subtle Lampshade Hanging on the limited scope of a game demo.
• As Sanford and Deimos make their way through the Sheriff's stronghold, you can investigate a supply closet. Most supply closets have extra weapons and, occasionally, a medkit. This one has the lights turned off, and has nothing but two grunts who crawl out from under a pile of milk crates. Makes you wonder what exactly they were getting up to in there.
• The reason why the Sheriff keeps resisting Sanford and Deimos is that he thinks that they're after the bounty on his head. Neither Sanford nor Deimos knew about the bounty in the first place. It becomes quite awkward when the Sheriff realizes this after a drawn-out chase/battle sequence.
  Deimos: (Facepalming) "For the last time, you jackass, we're not here to kill you! ... are you seriously hearing deprived or or something?!"
• Sanford and Deimos have to make their way through apartments infested with scavengers. During a particularly crowded brawl, Deimos starts a conversation that goes from trying to reason with the bandits, to wondering what kind of hot dogs they would be.
  Deimos: Listen fellas, we're just passing through. Step aside and we can dance another time, what do you say?
  Sanford: Unlikely. You're like a talking hotdog on legs to these guys right now.
  Deimos: Really? What kind of hotdog, do you think? Are my clothes like, the toppings? Or the bun?
  Sanford: N...None of that was really the point. These chuckleheads have been eating literal garbage for years. If they catch us, we're dinner.
  Deimos: See, I’m pretty lean, so I’m feeling like I’d be more of a turkey dog than a true frankfurter. What about you, Sanford? I picture you as a big kielbasa. Like, often. Not just right now.
  Sanford: ...
• As Hank and Christoff are running from Project Gestalt, they decide to leave through the lift. When Gestalt bursts in, forcing them to wreck the elevator in an attempt to send Gestalt down the shaft, Hank suggests taking the stairs.
  • As well as the running gag of Hank insisting that they can take Gestalt.
  • And when you finally bring him down:
    Hank: Told ya we could take him.
• During a flashback sequence, we see Jeb trying to sneak through a facility. He manages to distract a guard by throwing a rock at the other end of the room. Not because the guard went to investigate the rock, allowing Jeb to sneak by, but because he leaves the room to tell his colleagues about the rock. He must have been REALLY bored that day.
  • When you revisit this lab in one of the main missions years in the future, there's a sign forbidding people from throwing rocks in that room.
• As Sanford and Deimos go through the sewers to reach the Science Tower, they encounter a cult that worships, of all things, buoyancy.
  • Later, it's revealed that the cult was formed by Dr. Crackpot (the guy who took Jeb's place as head scientist when Phobos fired him) out of pure spite for Dr. Christoff.
  • After Sanford and Deimos defeat Dr. Crackpot, he declares that nothing can sink him. Cue Project Gestalt falling from the chute above him, crushing him.
• As Sanford and Deimos are taking the lift to the entrance of the Science Tower, Deimos questions the motivations of and questions raised by Project Nexus, attributing it to something that's making his skin crawl. Then, an insectoid robot abomination falls onto the platform.
  Deimos: Nevermind. That's what it was.
• Later, Tricky bursts in through the window, intent on killing the both of them... for about five seconds. Turns out, even he didn't even know who he was about to fight.
• Tricky's own "Murder Time" show is one in itself, but given the presence of the trademarked "Slaughter Time" in Arena mode, means that the one fight Tricky doesn't wanna pick is over copyright law.
  • Loading screen tips explain why the event exists in the first place: Back when Tricky was the considerably more sane Dr. Hoffnar, he was an avid watcher of "Slaughter Time," marking his calendar so as to never miss an episode. That's right; Tricky started up a gameshow in which the participants brutalize each other because he was a fan of one and wanted to make his own version of it.
• In another flashback sequence, as Jeb takes the elevator to see Phobos, The Blackguard (a G03LM in heavy medieval-style armor) tries to tell his G03LM cohorts about how awesome his battle moves are, all the while nobody pays him any attention. When they get to the top, he falls back into character, that being Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe.
  • When you fight him later, he falls out of character when he's on his last legs and abandons the swordplay and old dialect for a minigun.
    Blackguard: FORTH SOOTH... SOOTH... FOR SOO... AWWW, SCREW IT! SOMEONE HAND ME MY CHOPPER!
    • Ironically, this phase of the fight is remarkably easier than the rest of the fight. He can no longer protect himself with a shield, and has quite a bit of trouble getting you in his line of sight.
• When Hank, Sanford and Deimos enter the science tower, they are greeted by a receptionist who asks them to sign in and wait in the lobby. Everyone is understandably baffled at not encountering any resistance. You can choose to go through with the whole process, at least, until all the Nexus goons in the lobby recognize you.
• When Hank and Sanford assault a barracks, they pass by an Attendant who quickly shutters his post and refuses to come out. You can't hurt him, but thanks to the "Ring for Service" bell on your side of the shutters, you can annoy him to no end. Doing this long enough causes a G03LM to break in through the floor and attack on behalf of the Attendant.
  Attendant: NO! GO AWAY!
  Hank: Hello? Anyone there? Helloooooo?
  Attendant: LEAVE ME ALONE!
  Hank: I need service.
  G03LM: I've got your service right here, pal!
• Later, in one room, a carbine can be found on the floor. The carbine is described as "Best Gun" when equipped, and when it's within range to get picked up, the full name is "Sillyass super custom thing".
• In the room after that, as Hank and Sanford wait for Deimos and Christoff to open the way forward for them, Hank tries to pass the time.
  Hank: Tell me a joke. You're the funny one, right?
  Sanford: No... that would be the other one.
  • To Sanford's credit, he does get a pretty good line once they finally do get their way out.
    Hank: (in response to Gestalt landing in front of them) We can take him.
    ...
    Sanford: Hank, we're not fighting that thing AND the entirety of the Nexus Core!
• Finally, Hank and Sanford end up in a room filled to the brim with nexus agents. All of whom flee for their lives when they realize just how many people Hank has slaughtered to get here.
• When everybody makes it to the top of the Science Tower, they find Church and Jorge, having stolen some medieval-style armor, itching for yet another rematch. At least until Gestalt climbs in through the window and kills them both with little effort.
• When a MAG Agent grapples you, they'll proceed to pistol whip you before throwing you to the ground and firing. Because you're being pistol whipped with a gun the size of an anvil, it makes the appropriate sound.
• After dispatching of Director Phobos, Christoff commands Sanford and Deimos to destroy Gestalt so Phobos's S-3LF has nowhere to go but the Other Place. The problem is that Gestalt is a living tank the size of a small building...
  Deimos: How are we getting past this dude's armor? He may be weak, but he's still a tank.
  Sanford: So... I may have been hanging onto some C-4 this whole time. For an emergency.
  Deimos: You're my hero right now.

Arena Mode

• Upon starting a new wave, a comment will appear under the wave number. Most of the time this is a taunt or a challenge, but rarely you may see a complete Non Sequitur instead.
  "How do you make a hormone?"
  "Go kick a baby"
• After finishing your (relatively short) training session in Bossman's sleepwalker pod, the player discovers Bossman has completely renovated the entire headquarters building from an abandoned dump into a PMC's dream sky-rise. The player promptly decides Bossman deserves a medal. On repeat playthroughs the player will note Bossman still deserves a medal.
• There's a weight scale in the Gymnasium, but rather than giving actual weight readouts, it just compliments you, almost as if it's dancing around having to tell you that you weigh a lot.
  "YOUR WEIGHT: AMAZING"
  "THERE IS SO MUCH OF YOU TO LOVE"
  "I CAN'T WEIGHT TO SEE YOU AGAIN"
  "I'M BODY POSITIVE YOU'RE QUITE THE CATCH"
  "WHERE'D YOU GET ALL THOSE MUSCLES?"
  "THANK YOU FOR STANDING ON ME"
• Upon reaching the final room of the warehouse in "Pilot Episode", the player finds the Toughs' leader Sweet Tony holding Chopper Dave hostage. If Sweet Tony detects the player, then he'll tell his goons to blast the eavesdropper, but if the player doesn't attack, then they get to hear the full dialogue between Tony and Dave, which includes these particular exchanges:

  Dave: Jeez, lighten up Tony! Even I get boarded sometimes!

  Tony: Oh, you have no idea how right you are. Someone hand me my board! I'm gonna play this chump a bit of chin music!

  Dave: How long have you known me, Tony?! Have I ever been a poor earner?

  Tony: What? I can't hear ya. Maybe I just got pomade in my ears, but I feel like you just said "Beat me to a bloody pulp!"

  Dave: Here's what I'm thinking: Staring Contest. Loser has to let me go.

  Tony: You're on, dweeb! No one interrupt us! This is going down...now!

• The three Chefs: Pava, Carre and Don. While Carre and Don are fully commited to being Stereotypical Italian Chefs, Pava doesn't bother with the lingo at all.

  Chef Carre: Who-a be comin' in-a to my ristorante making all-a that racket!

  Chef Don: Ooh, you are-a gonna pay, paisano!

  Chef Pava: Can we please just talk normal and whack this joker already?

  • Even funnier? When he asks to join your cause, he has some gratuitous Italian thrown into his dialogue. That's right, the one guy who didn't want to do accents was an ACTUAL Italian.
• There's a random chance one of your squadmates will mess up their landing when they jump out of the helicopter and land flat on their face.
• The reason why the Haunting of Nevada House mission exists is because the cultists' demoniac summonings are messing with the enmeshment algorithm and because they're annoying.
• The Endless stage of Slaughter Time™ brings back a fan-favorite, smack dab in the middle of the stage; Giant blender blades! Goyle even has lines for managing to throw enemies into it.
• In Club Advent, if you stand on the dance floor in certain spots, the Player Character will start dancing to the music.
• The fact that the vampires in Nevada are basically body mod addicts whose fangs and vampirism are surgically granted. Not only that, it appears as if their eyes are glowing because they're nightmarish horrors, but they're in fact just prone to wearing light-up goggles and displays like they're headed to a rave.
• Sweet Tony's grand return in the third contract mission. He remains completely unchanged from his fight back in the first contract mission. You know, when you had no skills to speak of? Makes you wonder how he thought he had any chance against the vampires...
  • For added context and hilarity, you can use all of two button presses to kill him the moment you regain control after his reintroduction; One to aim for the head, and one to fire.
• Before it was patched out, it was possible for the "Fickle Friends" to end with Doc driving like a god-damned lunatic and running you over.
• The Tinkerer can put any and every modification on any gun. This can lead to absurd sights such as handguns with 50-cal magazines haphazardly attached to the feed mechanism or machine guns with barrels so absurdly long that attaching a bayonet to them creates an impromptu spear.
• The Massive's strength at higher levels causes the physics on ragdolls to react with appropriate force. Kicking someone sends the poor bastard careening into the ceiling fast enough to look like they were just teleported.
• One of the palette packs you can buy from "Fence" is appropriately titled "Ew", and consists of bright yellow, deep brown, and both mixed together.
• The description for the Murder Room mission mostly ponders who in their right mind would make a room like this.
• Though it has since been patched out, there was once a bug where, if the game crashed during a helipad mission, upon entering Arena Mode again, your hirelings would still behave as though they were on mission, which involved them spawning into HQ right on top of you. The pileup of ragdolled hirelings was absolutely glorious.
• The update that brought the Magiturge origin into the game also introduced several changes to the services NPC's can provide you at your home base. Most of these we're just introducing some new equipment or rebalancing old items, but one of the changes is Skinner's Services, with one of his services being to "Get A Cool Haircut" from Skinner.

  These knives are handy for dislodging bullets, but I can also whip up a pretty gnarly hairdo.

• The Magiturge's voice lines are completely unique to him, and he packs a lot of character into a little over a minute of audio.
  "Abraca-DIE!"
  "Ta-friggin-da!"
• The update also added a new loop ending to the game, revealing another way the player character is among the First Generation; They're the first customer of the Marshmallow Madness Ride!

Misc.

• In Project Nexus's training arena, you can summon just about every hostile and friendly character in the game to get a feel for how they move, as well as environmental hazards that can just plain hurt anyone. It wasn't that surprising to find out that Tricky, being the guy that he is, is flagged an environmental hazard.
• Project Nexus gives various characters voices, though one definite highlight is Tricky's voice; a glitchy, Evil Is Hammy Creepy High-Pitched Voice. It's as beautiful as you'd expect.
  "OH YOU'RE DEAD. THAT'S...THAT'S NOT SURPRISING."
  "I'M NOT DONE KICKIN' YER ASS YET!!"
  "DID I SAY YOU COULD DIE-" (pitch winds down)
  "YOU - ARE - DEAD, STUPID!"
  (Angrish) "WHAT WAS THIS?!!"
  "NO! NO! NOOO!"
• Project Nexus also gives a voice to Sanford. Turns out that voice is Johnny Utah, voice of the Newgrounds Tankmen, and that Sandford is, in the words of one commenter, an enthusiastic violence himbo and momma's boy.
  "Hell yeah, dawg!"
  "Hey, look! You have a hole in your face, hahah!"
  "I had no idea I was so popular."
  "I'M READY FOR MORE! YEAH!!"
  "Huhuh, let's go chuckleheads!"
  "Okay, bozos!"
  "Moooom! Living is overrated anyway..."
  "Hey bud!..yer' dead.."
  "NOM NOM NOM ON YOUR FACE!"
  "Good news! You're less ugly."
• Once voice lines for other named characters were uncovered, it was found that the Sheriff's death rattles, presumably as improv by his voice actor, include a full recreation of the "Howie Long Scream" Stock Scream.
• A meta example: From the release date trailer, Hank makes his way through a building of agents, eventually entering what can be assumed to be an office. There, he finds a hot-dog, which he happily eats. While eating the hot-dog, Hank notices that one of the agents managed to stick a knife to his knee, and simply pulls it out without feeling any pain, before putting the knife into his holster and stuffing a napkin into the wound. A mortally wounded agent then crawls over to the doorway, intending to get a surprise shot on Hank, but his gun is empty, and by then, Hank has noticed him and dispatched him with a bullet.
  • Also seen in the trailer is a moment where they show the "200 Methods of Mayhem" with Hank staring up into the sky blissfully as he's buried in guns.
• Tricky's voice actor made an in-character video announcing the game's release.

  Youtube commenter: I think I might by [sic] project Nexus now

  Wallium: darn right you do you win the prize of continuing to have knees

• During the tutorial level, Hank can occasionally encounter Tricky as a demonstrator or target dummy for various segments. The throw tutorial requires Hank to lob a fire extinguisher at Tricky from across a rooftop, causing the clown to abruptly explode/teleport away in a shower of confetti. The long-aim tutorial later has Hank walk in on Tricky failing miserably to shoot a target until he runs out of ammo, prompting the clown to throw down his gun and teleport away in frustration.
  • The ending has Hank reenact the ending to Avenger, with him taking aim at the Sheriff, only to get abruptly get blasted in the back of the head by Christoff... seconds after Hank has already killed the Sheriff. Might wanna work on your timing, Jebediah.
• You can press K to ragdoll on command. Seeing your character flop on the ground with a weak thud can be surprisingly funny. You can even do it in the middle of a dodge or sprint, as well as The Massive's charge punch.
• How did Krinkels officially announce Gianni Matragrano as the new voice of Doc on his Youtube community tab? By sharing this video!

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