Desperados - Television Tropes & Idioms

Commandos meets Magnificent Seven.

The story takes place a little after the Civil War, in New Mexico, where the train robberies have gotten out control. John Cooper, the bounty hunter, decides to take the job. Taking the short trip to Louisiana to recruit (or rather, save their asses from whatever trouble they gotten themselves into) his old partners Sam Williams, Doc McCoy and Kate O'Hara, and convincing the rather uncooperative Marshall to tell them who's responsible for the train robberies, they set off to catch the Sanchez, the local gang leader, and to collect the bounty.

But things are hardly that simple...

Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive packs almost every Western Trope and plays them straight.

Not to be confused with Desperado.

Trope Examples:

The Alcatraz: Fortezza, where Sanchez is held in mission 13. It is a stone castle with a single iron gate and is guarded by an entire company of US Cavalry, who patrol every single spot on the map save the gang's starting point. Appropriately, it is That One Level, at least in parts.
Doc McCoy: "Goddamnit John, this place is the best guarded jail in these United States! We'll never get Sanchez out of there!"
All Men Are Perverts: All enemies are distracted by Kate's garter trick when not in alert mode, though some do not move from their position as a result.
Almost Lethal Weapons: Very much averted. The protagonists are just as mortal as the antagonists, and go down just as easy to bullets.
Awesome, but Impractical: Mia's poisoned Blow Gun. When a dart hits someone, the guys enters in a killing frenzy and shoots everywhere, sometimes killing other enemies if there are other people in the area (or being killed by his comrades in defense), then if still alive the madman is automatically stunned. There are A LOT of drawbacks: the blow gun can only be loaded with one dart at a time, it is the game weapon with the shortest range, the effect isn't immediate and an enemy hit by a dart immediatly turns from where the dart came and just has the time to shoot before becoming crazy so as the weapon has a very short range, the enemy won't miss and his shoot will be lethal unless you use the blow gun while standing just in front of a door's building and have lightening-speed reflexes.
Badass: The whole team.
Badass Longcoat, Cool Old Guy, Deadpan Snarker, Eyepatch of Power, Frontier Doctor: Doc McCoy.
Badass Moustache: Sanchez and Doc.
Bag of Spilling: Each missions starts with specific gear, even when the previous mission happened soon before. Particulary frustrating for the Eagle Nest and the following level : you find fifteen sticks of dynamite just at the end of the Eagle Nest (useful to disband an enemy counter-attack, although there is easier ways) and you begin the next mission (which occurs just after) with only one; same thing for Doc's gas bottles.
Bandito: Sanchez and the ton of mooks.
Bank Robbery: Done by our heroes in mission 16, against Carlos as part of a ploy to get El Diablo to meet with him.
Big Bad: El Diablo.
Blow Gun: Mia uses a poisoned one.
Bounty Hunter: John Cooper.
Bullet Dancing: El Diablo's men make The Sheriff of Grants do this in mission 18. Rescuing him is technically a required part of the mission.
Chinese Girl: Mia Yung
Christianity is Catholic: Averted, with priests in very clearly Lutheran garb.
Cool Guns: Cooper's gun is a Colt Single Action Army, Sam's gun is a Winchester lever-action rifle.
Cowboy
Critical Existence Failure
Did Not Do the Research: Some of the Mooks have Spanish accents, even in the levels set in Louisiana. Also, Sam is found on a plantation with black workers under armed guard picking cotton at the behest of a rich southern gentleman. In 1881.
- The last one can be Handwaved by the fact that after the war many freed slaves had no choice but to return to work for their former Master just to survive, and the only difference in their treatment after the war was that they got paid for it.
- The first one could also be handwaved with this explanation. Unlikely, but possible.
Disc One Final Dungeon: Sanchez's Fortress. Ironically, his tutorial level, 14, returns to it, albeit in a much less well guarded state.
Distracted by the Sexy: Kate's garter move.
The Dragon: Carlos.
Easter Egg: Placing Doc's coat on the pier in his tutorial mission can have interesting results.
Elite Mooks: Demonios, who only show up in the third-and-second-to-last level and throw instantly fatal knives. Similarily, red coated, sharpshooting guards only show up in these levels, though their presence is given less fanfare. Same thing with the black suited banditos, who only show up during mission 20 and later.
Enemy Mine: One of the reasons because Sanchez joined the Cooper's gang.
Escort Mission: Thankfully subverted: The real mission is not to escort Tied-up Sanchez on the horse thru the hail of gunfire, but to kill the would-be ambushers. Played right and Sanchez will be never be seen by the enemy.
Falling Chandelier of Doom: One of these can be shot down by Doc in Marshal Jackson's hacienda, near the end of the level. It doesn't kill the enemy (the level requires a Pacifist Run, but it does knock them out cold.
Fat Bastard: The pink and blue shirted banditos. The latter of which are also rather cowardly.
Five-Man Band
- The Hero: John Cooper.
- The Lancer: Sam Williams.
- The Smart Guy: Doc McCoy.
- The Chick: Kate O'Hara.
- The Big Guy and the Sixth Ranger No.1: Sanchez.
- Sixth Ranger No.2: Mia Yung.
- Official Team Pet: Mr. Leone, Mia' pet monkey.
- Unofficial Team Pet: Sam's snake in the bag.
Forced Tutorial: Each man of the gang has his/her own tutorial level, which is part of the campaign plot and unskippable. They come the level after each member is recruted: level 1 (Cooper), 3 (Sam), 5 (Doc), 7 (Kate), 14 (Sanchez) and 20 (Mia).
Foreign Cuss Word: The Mexicans characters sometimes shout "''Mierda'!" (Spanish for "oh, fuck!").
Friendly Fireproof: Averted. The team is as vulnerable as the enemy to it's own explosions, Doc's gas grenades, and Sam' snake.
Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- In spite of having quite possibly massacred the entire law enforcement population of several towns across the US, John doesn't dare kill the Marshal's deputies, and the gang gets pursued by the US Cavalry for the circumstancial murder of Mr Smith. Of course, Jackson had some influence, and quite likely staged the whole incident with Smith.
- Some dialogs between missions make sense if Cooper's team sneaked in the various places without killing too many people but sounds a bit surreal if the player completed the mission by killing everyone. The extreme exemple is the Sanchez's gang, which might have been mercilessly slaughtered by the player during the mission where Cooper captures Sanchez; when freed from Fortezza Cooper and Sanchez agree to help each other and Cooper says later that he'll need Sanchez's gang. And then, back to Sanchez hideout, Sanchez's gang has been destroyed by El Diablo's men. Even if the gang has been previously destroyed by the player.
- In the two Soccoro missions (the day and the following night), nevermind if the player killed or tied up everyone during the day mission, because every guards will be back for the night mission.
Gatling Good: With the original Gatling Gun.
Good Is Not Nice: Doc McCoy.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: Where to begin ?
- Leaving their post to go chat with a sexy girl.
- Leaving their post to pick up Tequila bottles and then drink it during the job.
- Not noticing that the other guards seem to be disappearing. Although this one is sometimes averted.
- Forget to investigate this very shadowy corner from where someone hidden regularly throw knifes on guards - even if they ''see'' the guy running to this corner. No joke, this troper killed a quarter of Fortezza guards using this method, in the same dark corner: shoot in the air to alert guards, run in the corner, throw your knife on one of them, wait they go back to their duty, pick up your knife, do it again.
- Dropping Full Alert Mode because the heroes haven't been seen for two minutes.
The Gunslinger: John is a Type D, Doc McCoy a type A.
Guns Akimbo: Some enemies shoot like this, not only with revolvers: some enemies of the latter levels carry sawed-off shotguns akimbo.
Hand Cannon: The Sawed Off Shotgun.
Hostage Spirit Link: The death of a civilian causes the failure of the mission, which increases the difficulty (civilians tends to alert the enemies when they spot a corpse or see the heroes killing someone or drag a dead body). You can stun them and tie them up, though. Note: The mission is also failed if the enemy killed a civilian.
Ignore the Fanservice: Some enemies are not affected by Kate's garter playing.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Averted. Firearms are very inaccurate unless shooting very near of the target and the heroes seems to be less accurate than the guards.
I Surrender, Suckers: A legitimate and rather useful if dangerous tactics. Enemies who spot an unarmed and motionless PC sometimes will not shoot right away but will instead draw a bead on him and slowly approach in order to knock the hero down. Naturally their approach route will just happen to pass an ambush with your knife-thrower at the ready. Can be played even straighter with your Action Girl as a bait as she is fast enough to kick an approaching croon right in the forbidden zone.
It's Personal: Sanchez is definitivly convinced to join Cooper after discovering that El Diablo killed the members of his gang and Mia did so because the bad guys killed her father.
Jive Turkey: Sam.
Kick the Dog: Marshal Jackson's deputies burning down a local town and shooting Mia's unarmed father, as well as El Diablo's banditos forcing civilians to bullet dance on later levels.
Knife Nut: John Cooper.
Little Miss Badass: Mia skirts the edge of this trope, being 18.
The Man Behind the Man: Sanchez is inititally thought to be the leader of the bandit gang causing all of the recent Train Jobs, but upon capture, he reveals that he answers to a higher authority, a mysterious bandit leader known only as El Diablo. Ironically, it was El Diablo himself who pointed them in this direction.
Mook Chivalry: Averted and played straight. Some Mooks will call for help more often than others.
Mexican Standoff: In level 18, at the train station, with 4 desperados against a dozen banditos.
Mexicans With Machine Guns
More Criminals than Targets: Inverted. There are often more guards than civilians in towns.
National Stereotypes: Lots of them about Mexicans.
Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight: Subverted, since it's John who wields it. Played straight for the Demonios.
Nice Hat: Big Bill's coonskip cap in mission 1.
Pacifist Run: One mission requires you to knock out every enemy on the map.
Pistol Whipping: Done by the enemies on one specific target and by Sanchez on a circle around him.
Poirot Speak: The dialogue of the Spanish-speaking enemies.
Powder Trail
Professional Gambler: Kate O'Hara.
Quick Draw
Railroad Baron: Mr. Smith. Also, Lester Lloyd Goodman, aka Angel Face.
Rare Guns: The Doc's gun is a Colt Buntline, a fictionnal variant of the Colt Single Action Army revolver with a very long barrel.
Real Men Wear Pink: One of the banditos wears a pink shirt. Also subverted, as he's a Fat Bastard and Dirty Coward.
Remixed Level: A few times.
- Sanchez's tutorial takes place in his mountain fortress, after it has been invaded by El Diablo.
- The two Soccoro's levels (15th and 16th) occurs the same day in the same map, the former during the day and the later during the night. Even if you killed/stunned nearly everyone, they will come back.
- The levels 18 and 21 are set in the town of Grants. The former is a classical level, the latter features a large scale battle between El Diablo men and the US Cavalry. Both are hostile.
Revolvers Are Just Better: Obviously.
Sawed Off Shotgun: Sanchez's Weapon of Choice.
Scary Black Man: Sam. Also, the US Cavalry officers in the Fortezza level are black, with their officers looking like Banana Republic generals.
The Sheriff: All over the place. Oddly, many towns have multiple sheriffs.
Shoot the Rope: Usually using Doc's special bullets to drop something heavy on the enemies. Oddly, there is no gallow version of this.
- Isn't that justified? You know, since it's Doc who usually needs rescuing from the gallows, in the first place?
Shout Out:
- The whole game is one big tribute to the western films, especially with the names of some levels.:"Hang Em High" (4), "A Fistful of Dollars" (16), "The Magnificient Six" (18). The French version features some different names: "The Magnificient Six" becomes "Le Bon, la Brute, le Truand et les autres" ("The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the other guys") and "Blood Money" (19) is changed in "Pour quelques dollars de moins" ("For a Few Dollars Less").
- The Samuel Williams character could be a reference to Samuel L. Jackson.
- Cooper wears the same clothes that Indiana Jones.
- Doc McCoy is the name of the main character of a (non-western) movie named The Getaway.
- During Doc McCoy's tutorial, if the player orders him to build his decoy on the pier, a cinematic shows him raising his hand to make levitate a sunken boat, then Cooper asks him if the Force is still with him.
- Mia's pet monkey is named Mr Leone.
Show Some Leg: Kate playing with the garter, doesn't work on more disciplined or alerted enemies.
Sissy Villain: Some of the enemies in the last levels have some rather effeminate voices, especially when in pursuit.
Sniper Pistol: Doc's Buntline revolver, with normal bullets and special high-precision bullets.
Stop Or I Will Shoot
Surrounded by Idiots: Sanchez, while still a ganglord, bellows about it after his mooks allow the Desperados to steal their horses.
Stuff Blowing Up: Sam's specialization. He's rather fond of it.
Swamps Are Evil: Averted in mission 5. There's nothing worse in the swamp than alligators, and they don't come to bite you unless you provoke them.
Tap on the Head: Or the boot to the head, depending on who you using. The enemies can also punch and knock-out the heroes.
Thriving Ghost Town: Averted.
Throwing The Distraction: Making noise is very useful to attract enemies somewhere. The explosive variant appears in the plot of the mission where you have to save Doc McCoy: making his cart explode is the most practical way to attract most of the guards far from the gallow.
Train Job: It's all started because of this happening way too much.
Timed Mission: Very mild exemple. The mission where Cooper and Sam need to save Doc McCoy from the gallows is failed if the local preacher reachs the gallows before Doc is released. It is actually a lot less difficult as it seems when reading it: the preacher walks toward the gallow by crossing the starting position of the team, so knocking him out and tying him up is the first thing that the player have to do when the mission starts. Though things could become more tricky if the player triggers the alert: the guards can find the preacher and release him.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: The last level is a 1 VS 1 Boss Battle in a tiny area.
Unnecessary Combat Roll: Can only be used to roll in and out of cover.
- Becomes VERY useful in the last mission.
US Marshal: Marshal Jackson in the first game and Ross Cooper, John's murdered brother, as well as Arthur Clarke, in the second. Jackson is secretly the first game's Big Bad.
The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: El Diablo's fortress, which is carved out of a mountain located at the heart of a lifeless valley and whose mere exterior is as big as Fortezza.
Wanted Poster
We Need a Distraction: Every character exept Sam has a way to distract/bait enemies.
The Western
What Happened to the Mouse?:
- A mission requires to free an American soldier captured by bandits and steal their horses without being spotted, in order to follow then back to their hideout. There is no further mention to the freed soldier.
- The final mission is a fight between Cooper and El Diablo is El Diablo's office, where only Cooper was able to enter. The ending cinematic only shows El Diablo dying. There isn't mention at all about what happen to the team or if/how they were able to clean their reputation about the murder they were accused to have commit.
With Friends Like These: Between Sam and Doc.
Yanks With Tanks: The keepers of Fortezza. They also show up in mission 21, fighting El Diablo's forces.
You Have Failed Me: At the end of mission 19, one of El Diablo's Demonios executes Carlos for failing to pay up on his order.