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Tear Jerker / Elite Beat Agents

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As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.


  • "You're the Inspiration". The tears start before the level even begins. Usually, the person in need of assistance screams for help as Commander Kahn watches, and he then turns around to say "Agents are... Go!" to start the mission. Here, Lucy is simply pleading for her father to come back, and Kahn is just... sitting there, watching her. It's almost as if he's just as heartbroken as the person playing the game. The Agents/Divas themselves don't dance normally like in the other stages. And if you fail the stage... well...
    • Particularly crushing is the third segment, seen in its entirety here. A little girl whose father has died tries to see him in her dreams. In the dream, she chases after his silhouette, and at the end of the segment leaps at him, falling short. She screams "DADDY!" If you're doing badly, he just keeps walking... but if you do well, he stops and then turns to her just before she wakes up. No one will think less of you for pausing the game to collect yourself at that point. Aside from that, there are reports that some players are unable to keep a straight face and break down weeping when they hear You're the Inspiration after playing that level. The writing is just that powerful.
      • This scene is so sad that the Elite Beat Divas (and Commander Kahn) don't do their normal dance moves to it. They just wave their arms like a normal Agent.
      • If you want to feel even WORSE, fail the stage itself. Unable to cope with their loss, the mother considers moving out, leaving the poor girl hopeless.
    • Unsurprisingly, it's hit close to home for a lot of people who've lost their own fathers, as this GameFAQs post (itself sourced from another forum) demonstrates.
  • Additionally, the beginning of the final level involves the crowd gradually cheering the EBA to break free of their petrification, and the building surge of emotion can drive one to tears. The scene was so good that iNiS decided to do a scene like that again for the second Ouendan game's finale. And many Manly Tears were shed.
  • Every Downer Ending you can get if you get a Game Over. Let's count the ways:
    • Fail "Walkie Talkie Man", and Don becomes so overwhelmed with taking care of the children that he bails and leaves Jane to contend with them all on her own, ruining her chances to confess her love to him.
    • Fail "Makes No Difference", and Romancing Meowzilla is cancelled, Chris is fired and we get a lovely shot of a dejected Chris sitting among the destroyed set of the movie, his workers afraid of their future and his dreams of becoming a big name director hopelessly crushed.
    • Fail "Sk8er Boi" and Jack is arrested by the cops for speeding, with his license getting revoked and failing to deliver Linda to the hospital as promised (though it's implied that the cops are gonna get her there regardless, making this a "Shaggy Dog" Story).
    • Fail "I Was Born to Love You", and Leonardo is rejected by Lisa, losing his beauty in the process.
    • Fail "Rock This Town", and the Fullhouse Bandits get clean away with the casino's riches, with Thomas, Angelina, and the casino manager tied up, unable to do anything to stop them.
    • Fail "Highway Star", and Sam gives up his search for his home, lamenting how he wishes he were still there.
    • Fail "YMCA", and Captain Brooke is abandoned at sea by his own parrot, doomed to die alone and penniless.
    • Fail "September", and Sophie is called out by her son for lying to him about the weather forecast, leaving her disheartened in the rain. This also means that she's fired from her job for flat-out lying to all of her viewers live on air.
    • Fail "Canned Heat", and Ken is captured by the Moo Moo Motors guards and thrown into a jail cell surrounded by Doberman guard dogs, his father likely never seeing his son again and losing his business on top of that.
    • Fail "Material Girl", and the Carrington Sisters are still seen trying to signal for help to no avail, likely to starve to death due to their inability to handle survival outside of their element.
    • Fail "La La", and Cap White fails in her duties to fight off the numerous Mr. Viruses taking over Bill's system, and Bill is forced to go to the hospital, never to fulfill his dream of winning the gold medal he worked so hard to win.
    • Failing "You're The Inspiration" takes the cake, though. Ten years have passed and Lucy is still waiting for her father, never having learned what happened to him. Her mother suggests that they should move eventually, but Lucy doesn't even know where they would go at this point. The scene ends on a shot of Lucy embracing her old teddy bear in despair, wondering if she would ever see her father again. Damn you, Nintendo.
    • Fail "Let's Dance", and you get to see Colonel Bob gasping his last breath, regretting his search for oil and begging for water before he falls still. Yes, we get to see him die on-screen.
    • Fail "The Anthem", and the kid that idolizes Hulk denounces and abandons him, the giant lava golem continuing to rampage through the amusement park unimpeded.
    • Fail "Believe", and Amanda is forced to give up on her dreams of becoming a Broadway dancer and return to the country.
    • Fail "ABC", and Max is caught by the construction workers and thrown out, leaving Alden to continue wandering through the construction zone and quite possibly to his death.
    • Fail "Survivor", and Jake runs out of peanuts, leaving him vulnerable to zombie attack...which ends in him becoming another one of them and snuffing out humanity's last hope against the virus.
    • Fail either "Without a Fight" or "Jumpin' Jack Flash", and the Rhombulan Leader petrifies the Agents and the rebels they're inspiring, telling the rest of the world the aliens enslaved that Resistance Is Futile and killing music once and for all.

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