A massive multiplayer crossover in the form of a MMORPG made by Cartoon Network. Planet Fusion, a living planet made out of a green, gooey substance, has attacked Earth, and it's up to you, a bunch of animesque versions of characters from Cartoon Network franchises, and many, many other people to stop the alien invaders. The game has a simple but effective equipment system arming you with Guns, Swords, Bombs, Guitars, Frisbees, and other items to defeat the opposition, while giving you shirts, pants, and shoes to protect yourself, while masks, helmets and capes/backwear are just for show.However, the biggest change to the MMO formula came with Nanos, miniature versions of Cartoon Network characters that are gained on level-up instead of stat bonuses. You can have three nanos with you at all times, and each has three abilities, of which each can only use one, granting you a variety of different layouts and choices, such as having Numbuh Two provide super speed, the ability to warp back to specific locations in dungeons, or increased money gain upon defeating enemies.
Can be played here And there's a wiki!The game itself can be considered a who's who of Cartoon Network's original characters. Here is a list of series represented by characters in the story:
Toonami (The characters, like TOM, themselves, not the shows from the block)
Regular Show (The NPCs haven't been added yet, but you can see Mordecai and Rigby Nanos in bubbles at Mount Neverest and the aforementioned Rigby Nano is now available by a codeword)
The Amazing World of Gumball (The NPCs haven't been added yet, but you can get a Gumball Watterson Nano through a passcode)
Animesque: Done to pretty much everyone to a slight degree in an attempt to unify art styles, but done most obviously (which is to say, really obviously) to the Powerpuffs and to Dexter. Reaction to the Puffs has been mixed, but the new, older, richer-and-Tony-Stark-like Dexter... uh, doesn't have any female detractors, at any rate.
Antagonist In Mourning: After giving Buttercup amnesia in a deadly fight, Mojo Jojo displays a... surprising amount of guilt.
Anti-Poop Socking: Upon gaining a certain amount of experience, both experience and money gained after that point is reduced by 50%, then dropped to 0%. It resets to 100% the following day. They've since removed the 0% feature, but it will still drop to 50%.
Darker and Edgier: The whole game is slightly darker than the cartoons it's based off of, or at least those that weren't already dark.
Musical example: In the CGI intro that shows up when you first access the site, a portion of an instrumental version of Thursday's "Jet Black New Year" plays in the latter half. In the original version, the first half had a portion of an instrumental of Mastodon's "Crystal Skull".
Lighter and Softer: They advertise this game as "Warcraft-Lite done right".
And don't forget the brave sacrifice of Runty. So what's for lunch?
Drama-Preserving Handicap: Megas has been trapped by fusion matter, hence why Coop can't just blow the crap out of Fuse's minions. Ben's Omnitrix also doesn't work due to interference. The rest can be chalked up to simple Gameplay and Story Segregation.
Dueling Games: Sorta. Considering that Cartoon Network is rivals with Nickelodeon, compare the plot of this game to that of the fourth Nicktoons Unite game, Globs of Doom (which was released three months before FusionFall).
Gameplay and Story Integration: Defeated Lord Fuse, but wondering why he's still around next raid? Simple really. He's actually the physical avatar of the Genius Loci of Planet Fusion, so while defeating him is severely annoying, he just regenerates.
Hey, It's That Voice!: Most, if not all, of the characters' original voice actors reprise their roles. A notable exception is the late Mako Iwamatsu (voice of Aku), but his replacement would have you think he came back from the dead just to voice him again—yes, the impersonation is that good.
Improbable Weapon User: Any fan of the Kids Next Door knows that this trope is going to come into play at one point or another.
Magic Skirt: The Powerpuff Girls wear them. There's also several versions girl characters can wear. True to the trope, they never go high enough for anything to be seen. Failing the trope, this only applies when the camera is straight. Aim it up and it no longer works. It also fails horribly when using a scooter-type vehicle, as the seated position of a character causes the skirt to be oriented vertically. However, all that's there is a blackened waist area, as if they were trying to make shorts but just got lazy and painted the skin.
In one of the later updates, you can see shorts under some of the shorter skirts if you aim the camera juuuust right.
Misplaced Wildlife: In a way. In the future, Eduardo hangs out in the cul-de-sac, and Samurai Jack hangs out in the junkyard.
It may be to play up the crossover element and it's not unusual to see characters from several shows hanging out in one location, but Juniper Lee is in the middle of Nowhere while Grim holds court in her hometown of Orchid Bay.
Due to the lack of Camp Lazlo characters, others fill the void (e.g, the Toiletnator and May hang out in Camp Kidney, Flapjack is in Leaky Lake, and Gwen can be found on Pimpleback Mountain).
Mythology Gag: Any fan of the shows the game represents will see at least five of these for each series.
No Export for You: The game has been "coming soon" to parts of Asia and the South Pacific for a looooonnnnng time.
Off Model: The Nanos, intended to have the cartoonish look that most of their NPC counterparts lost.
Rule Of Cool: The only reason Samurai Jack is within walking distance of Megas XLR in the Future Zone.
Shout Out: The game's unique naming system opens up quite literally a universeseveral universes brim full of possibilities in regards to this trope. My personal favorite? XanFireant.
Story Relevant Age Up: Dexter, the Powerpuff Girls, and the members of Sector V are in their (pre)teen years.
Temporal Paradox: The nanos were created with information the player (if they joined before early 2011) brought back from a Bad Future, which no longer exists because everyone was better able to fight Fuse now... because of that technology from a time that doesn't exist anymore.
Timey Wimey Ball: Until February 2011, the opening segment took place in a post-apocalyptic future the player was sent to due to a Deedee-induced time travel accident. Now the opening is just basic training and the Timey Wimey Ball seems to have been removed—except there are still references to the Nano tech coming from the future. And CN's offical in-universe reason for the new intro segment? Due to the heroes' efforts, that future no longer exists.
Warp Whistle: Flying Monkeys, courtesy of Mojo Jojo, and the KND's S.C.A.M.P.E.R. (which warps you between regions instead of just areas within the same region).
What Could Have Been: Originally, Ben was going to be in his child form, but it was replaced with his 15-16 year old incarnation before release. However, Kid!Ben is slated to be a Nano in the future.
Vilgax was also to be based on his original counterpart, but they changed it to his Alien Force counterpart. Like with Ben, though, Vilgax's nano still bears resemblance to his original look.
What Does This Button Do?: The mistress of this trope, Dee Dee, sends you into the future because of this.