History Series / DeadlyGames

* FinalBoss: The Jackal. It's openly stated that no matter what the heroes do to him, the Jackal is unstoppable until they can defeat all his minions. Fortunately, he's bound by video game rules and never does anything besides taunt them and advise the current villain until it's his turn to fight.

* MeanBoss: One of the enemies, Metcalf (played by Creator/LeVarBurton) parodies one Gus had once. He fires (as in, literally incinerates) people for minor infractions at their jobs.

* ButtMonkey: Gus, apparently, based off the sheer number of people Gus feels have wronged him in his life. Shots of his game notes and several scenes of the show reveal there were several dozen villains--a whole army--in his game that never got episodes because the show got cancelled.
** Even more than that, consider that Gus made the game as a power fantasy for himself. But he's so insecure, he still made most of his tormentors invincible except for one or two specific ways they could be hurt. Plus, in most of the game footage, we see, the Cold Steel Kid's losing.

* CutShort: [[spoiler: The last episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend" has the villain based on the titular ex defeated, but in the aftermath, Jackal says Gus's friends were "too late", and they run over, apparently looking at his body just offscreen. Since the show got cancelled, as far as we can tell, the hero dies. The end.]]
* TheDanza: A bit of a reversed version, [[spoiler: seeing as Christopher Lloyd plays Jordan Kenneth Lloyd as well.]]

* FinalBoss: The Jackal. It's openly stated that no matter what the heroes do to him, the Jackal is unstoppable until they can defeat all his minions. Fortunately, he's bound by video game rules, and never does anything besides taunt them and advise the current villain until it's his turn to fight.

* MonsterOfTheWeek: Every week there was a different henchman (played by a guest star).

* TheTropeKid: The character is a boy-wonder military-like Commando hero named "The Cold-Steel Kid." He's referred to by the characters of the video game as such. We see Gus himself got the moniker of "The Kid" from his own father.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Each of the near-invulnerable villains have key Kryponite-like weaknesses, which are usually really goofy things like water, sugar, ink, dirt, rubber, paint, and soap.

* RedShirt: Every episode begins with a character (usually a level-headed voice of reason) getting killed by the henchman-of-the-week. You know... just to set the mood.

* TheEndOrIsIt: After the bad-guy henchmen have are completely erased, Gus defeats The Jackal and the game is over. The computer screen in the empty lab then types away by itself, apparently opening a new program. Jackal is within the system operating the computer from within. We hear him utter "Tough luck kid..." and then cut to credits.

* TheTropeKid: The character is a boy-wonder military hero named "The Cold-Steel Kid." He's referred to by the characters of the video game as such. We see Gus himself got the moniker of "The Kid" from his own father.

** Even more than that, consider that Gus made the game as a power fantasy for himself. But he's so insecure, he still made most of his tormentors invincible except for one or two specific ways they could be hurt. Plus, in most of the game footage we see, the Cold Steel Kid's losing.

* CutShort: [[spoiler: The last episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend" has the villain based on the titular ex defeated, but in the aftermath Jackal says Gus's friends were "too late", and they run over, apparently looking at his body just offscreen. Since the show got cancelled, as far as we can tell, the hero dies. The end.]]

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Gus, who has a [=PhD=], in one episode has to point this out. In physics--particularly the study of Anti-Matter. Gus makes the point that simply because he has such a doctorate, does not mean he makes a lot of money. In fact, in his own words, "The university practically charges me to work there". Gus own father is a physicist--an especially successful one.

* RedShirt: Every episode begins with a character (usually a level-headed voice of reason) getting killed by the henchman-of-the week. You know... just to set the mood.

* ShinyNewAustralia: Jackal offers Lauren a chance to rule New York when he takes over if she'll stop helping Gus. Characters wondering whether he meant [[BigApplesauce the city]] or the state becomes a RunningGag in the episode.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Each of the near-invulnerable villains have key Kryponite-like weaknesses, which are usually really goofy things like water, sugar, ink, dirt, rubber, paint and soap.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: [[invoked]] Every villain is based on someone who traumatized Gus in real life. [[spoiler: Including Jackal. Gus based him on his father, whose initials are J.K.L.]]--on the Jackal's license plate and that of Gus' father, Jordan Kenneth Lloyd.

* CutShort: [[spoiler: The last episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend" has the villain based on the titular ex defeated, but in the aftermath Jackal says Gus's friends were "too late", and they run over, apparently looking at his body just offscreen. Because the show got cancelled, as far as we can tell, the hero dies. The end.]]

* {{Cliffhanger}}: [[spoiler: The last episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend" has the villain based on the titular ex defeated, but in the aftermath Jackal says Gus's friends were "too late", and they run over, apparently looking at his body just offscreen. The end.]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: Each of the near-invulnerable villains have key Kryponite-like weaknesses like water, sugar, ink, dirt, rubber, paint and soap.

* FinalBoss: The Jackal. It's openly stated that no matter what the heroes do to him, the Jackal is unstoppable until they can defeat all his minions. Fortunately, he's bound by video game rules, and rarely does anything besides taunt them until it's his turn to fight.

* Cliffhanger: [[spoiler: The last episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend" has the villain based on the titular ex defeated, but in the aftermath Jackal says Gus's friends were "too late", and they run over, apparently looking at his body just offscreen. The end.]]

* Cliffhanger: [[spoiler: The last episode, "The Ex-Girlfriend" has the villain based on the titular ex defeated, but before Lauren finished her off, she apparently killed Gus.]]

* FinalBoss: The Jackal. It's openly stated that no matter what the heroes do to him, the Jackal is unstoppable until they can defeat all his minions.

* DistressedDamsel: Lauren's video game alter-ego "The Girl". Not Lauren herself, though.

* RantInducingSlight: Every episode, Gus explains the incident with the person that week's villain is based off of. More than once, Lauren and/or Peter tell him it's a really silly thing to still be this upset over.

* AchillesHeel: The villains are basically impervious to everything except a few, sometimes very specific, items, usually based on very specific ways Gus felt wronged by the person the game villain's based on.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: The villains are basically impervious to everything except a few, sometimes very specific, items, usually based on very specific ways Gus felt wronged by the person the game villain's based on.

** Even more than that, consider that Gus made the game as a power fantasy for himself. But he's so insecure, he still made most of his tormentors invincible except for one or two specific ways they could be hurt, and in most of the game footage we see, the Cold Steel Kid's losing.

** Even more than that, consider that Gus made the game as a power fantasy for himself. But he's so insecure, he still made most of his tormentors invincible except for one or two very specific ways they could be hurt, and in most of the game footage we see, the Cold Steel Kid's losing.

** Even more than that, consider that Gus made the game as a power fantasy for himself. But he's so insecure, he still made most of his tormentors invincible except for one or two ways they could be hurt, and in most of the game footage we see, the Cold Steel Kid's losing.

* MeanBoss: One of the enemies, Metcalf (played by Creator/LeVarBurton) parodies one Gus had once.