Tear Jerker / Undertale Yellow

This page contains unmarked spoilers for all areas of the game. You Have Been Warned.

"NO!!! No no no no no no- Why didn't it work!? Kanako, wake up. Wake up right now! Mommy's here, come on! Hey! ... What... What have I done?"

Just like the game it's based on, Undertale Yellow seems like a light-hearted romp with quirky enemies and characters. However, with a seemingly-doomed protagonist and a story that changes depending on your actions, there are many things to cry about.

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• Toriel's worried reaction to Clover falling down a hole after activating a lever that should have helped in one of her puzzles. Knowing how she blamed herself for the deaths of every child to fall into the Ruins in the original makes her worried, frantic reaction a lot sadder than it would be otherwise.
  • Fortunately, if you wait long enough, Toriel returns with a rope Clover can climb up, rescuing them. This does lead to a Non-Standard Game Over, but it's still sweet.
• All regular enemies have unique sprites, dialogue, and flavor text for if you've taken them to below half health, showing them damaged and realizing that they're about to die. It really rubs in the fact that these monsters have lives that you're ending.
  • Even worse, if you're doing a Genocide route, have optimal equipment, and are good at the action command, you'll be two-shotting the majority of enemies you face, so you'll be seeing them in these states a lot.
• Several of the things that happen should you attack or kill normal enemy monsters in the Dark Ruins manage to be pretty upsetting.
  • After hitting Rorrim, the creature's expression becomes sad and its mirror is shattered. Worse, after doing this (or simply if you're on the Genocide route), the poor thing will say "Yellow is the new black.", giving the impression it's desperately complimenting Clover in a vain effort to be spared. Ouch.
  • Whilst mostly at least partly silly, some of the flavor texts or things monsters say when another one is killed manage to be quite bitter. If you kill a Crispy Scroll in a Penilla's presence, they'll say "He didn't deserve to die!" and the flavor text "Penilla finishes her anime drawing to honor Crispy." And if you kill one Flier in the presence of another, its comrade will angrily say "That was my bro! He had goals in life!", which manages to be pretty sad even if said enemies are mostly shallow and pathetic due to reminding you that they really DID still have a life ahead of them.
• The Decibat miniboss, when hurt enough, will cry out "NO NO! NOISE HURTS! NOISE HURTS!" and its expression will change to a miserable one. It's pretty sad to see such an adorable enemy be so upset and presumably in such pain, especially since all the poor monster wants is to not be disturbed.
  • And if you kill it, instead of a normal battle ending, after it turns to dust, you'll get THIS text:
    Sweet silence...
• Dalv, the hooded vampire-like monster, manages to be as pitiable a character as Toriel. Initially, he appears as a mysterious figure who's incredibly lonely, to the point of talking to thin air as if past friends are there before snapping back to reality, and dismissing Clover as being a figment of his imagination, and in these monologues about past friends seems to ponder if they ever actually cared for him. During the battle with him, whilst he initially tries to create the impression he wishes to be left alone, he reveals himself to really be a socially awkward, good-natured character who doesn't truly desire solitude, but is simply afraid of being left behind by any potential friends as soon as they grow tired of his desolate home and is afraid of being hurt. Thankfully, on the Pacifist route, Dalv not only is incredibly enthusiastic about being Clover's friend, showing them around his home and explaining everything they inspect, but even decides to finally leave his home and go outside again and starts to list all the things he'll do once he finally leaves.
  • Also sad about his character is the way Flowey talks about him. Flowey repeatedly calls him "weird" and a "downer", and outright seems to recommend you kill Dalv, saying how nobody would miss him. The kicker? Dalv seems to be aware he's viewed this way, and outright implies Flowey's far from the only one. Poor guy.
    This got out of hand... I'm not going to fight you anymore. I've become the monster I feared everyone thought I was, huh.
  • And should you take up Flowey's advice, the results are all incredibly sad, regardless of how you go about it. If you decide to kill Dalv on a neutral run, after the final blow, he states how it "doesn't seem right" and states how he should have people to say goodbye to, but then reminds himself that he doesn't have anyone, and instead tries to form "last words". He ends up awkwardly admitting it did get lonely, before admitting he's bad with words and apologizing "to everyone" before fading to dust.
  • If you decide to kill him on a Genocide route, his battle dialogue has him note how you made his wish come true by making the area quieter, and he assumes you killed everyone, at which point he begins to lament how he never wanted to hurt anyone and how what happened is his fault, while failing to convince himself you're just a dream and will vanish if he wakes up. As you kill him, he finally admits that you are real, and sadly admits that he isn't going to wake up before turning to dust.
    • The descriptions for items in Dalv's house when checking them on Genocide are also pretty upsetting, being a lot crueler than usual, with his unfinished children's book getting the remark "It's a good thing this was never published." and inspecting his organ revealing that it's "horribly out of tune.". You can also deflate Pops the balloon, which seems quite cruel considering that it was probably Dalv's attempt at making himself a friend.
  • If you spare Dalv on a Genocide run, he'll ask why you thought he deserved to live and not the other monsters, and then wonder if you spared him just so he could suffer from being truly alone, before going off to hide in his room. What makes it worse is that sparing him doesn't abort the route, implying that, should you continue killing every enemy afterwards, Clover really did leave him as the only survivor of the Dark Ruins for that reason.
  • And arguably most upsettingly, if you decide to be especially mean and decide not to shoot Dalv until after he stops attacking, he'll go down in a single hit, noting how friends don't do that. He then says how other monsters really are just trouble after all before admitting even if you didn't kill him, you wouldn't have wanted to stay anyway and would have left him, and says how as much as what you've done hurts, that would've hurt more and he couldn't bear to go through it again, and thanks you for killing him, saying how nobody would choose him over the entire outside world.
• Flowey's reaction should you choose to do a genocide route or just kill a lot of monsters. He remarks, with a very shaky smile, how it's "getting kinda dusty" around the area, but then quickly reassures you it's fine if it helps you get home.
• Due to this game acting as a prequel to Undertale, Clover's death is ultimately inevitable with the exception of the non-canon genocide route, especially since Flowey basically mandates it and erases any other option besides meeting their fate by Asgore. However, the True Pacifist route (the closest thing to a Golden Ending we have) has Clover, exhausted from their battle with Ceroba, ultimately decide to offer up their own soul after knowing how much the monsters suffered being underground, as proof of their unwavering sense of Justice. "Someone calls for help, you answer the call", indeed.
  • The True Pacifist route ends with Clover hugging Ceroba and their friends debating what they should do next with Clover. Martlet brings up that they would not be able to beat Asgore, as he would unlikely listen to Clover or match his strength to beat him. Starlo thinks of hiding Clover away so that they can live, while Ceroba thinks trying to save Clover is selfish as the barrier needs just two souls to break it and free all the monsters. While the discussion keeps going, Clover thinks of what they should truly do and stops listening to the world around them, slowly fading out to a white space of quotes that they heard during their whole journey with the player. Afterward, Clover separated their own soul from their body, shocking their nearby friends with what that meant they would do next. They assure their friends that "It's time" to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of monsterkind. Everyone then does a final group hug with Clover before they return their revolver to Starlo and giving their Cowboy Hat to Martlet as she tells a joking remark that she can no longer recognize Clover as human without it. They finally give their soul to Ceroba before she says her final goodbye to Clover and leave with the rest of Clover's friends. Clover then falls on the floor and struggles with their soul being separated further away from their body. Meanwhile, Flowey reminds them that he could reset the timeline if he wanted to, but decides to give Clover their desired rest and says his own goodbye to them, saying they would meet again. With that, Clover struggles to crawl up to a nearby parapet using their remaining strength. They lean against it before dying, as the camera pans away into the sky with the credits rolling and showing what has happened to everyone that Clover has met during their journey and how their soul was handled on the way to King Asgore. Towards the end, Dalv, Marlet, Starlo, and Ceroba, all meet up in Waterfall near the garbage dump, where they store Clover's belongings on a boat as well as Clover's safety glasses that they used in the duel with Starlo, akin for them to be safe on the boat journey. Although Dalv was not with Clover as much as the other three were, he also becomes sad while the boat drifts away from them further into the water. While it sails away, the boat eventually reaches the end and tumbles down with Clover's belongings landing directly on the golden flower bed in the garbage dump and the safety glasses flying away.
    • When going through the Dunes with Martlet, the two come across a well near the town. Interacting with it will result in Martlet wishing that Clover makes it back home safely. Of course, to even see the cutscene, the player has to be on a non-genocide run, meaning that the wish won't be fulfilled no matter what you do. The only way to fulfill her wish is to go on a genocide route, which turns Martlet into your enemy.
• Kill Starlo during the fight against him, and his dying speech has him admit he probably had it coming. He then asks you to tell his parents he'll be gone for a while.
  • Ceroba comes up to you immediately after this and asks if you saw him. Say "I'm sorry" in response, and she thinks you haven't seen him and he's hiding somewhere because of the breakup of the Feisty Five. She then goes off to look for him, even asking his parents. Of course, they have no idea where he is.
• If you spare Guardener in the Neutral and Pacifist routes, she'll realise that the Steamworks have been abandoned for ages. She attempts to call her creator, but nobody answers, and she decides to go back into hibernation, not wanting to see what the world is like now. She isn't even present in the True Pacifist ending credits, meaning that she never came out of her hibernation.
• During the Genocide battle against Axis, he admits his programming forced him to "neutralize" the human with the integrity soul who fell into the underground. Clover gets enraged and their LOVE increases to 15, promptly destroying Axis's shield with a Big Shot, leading him to beg for his life while apologizing and saying he didn't want to hurt the human. Clover, unmoved, obliterates him with a blast from their soul as their LOVE further increases to 19. After the blast, you're treated to a sight of Axis's shattered remains before the "YOU WON" text comes up.
• In the final battle of the Genocide Route against Martlet, she is desperate to put a stop to Clover's slaughter as she injects herself with a syringe of Determination from the True Lab. However, as the fight rages on and Clover keeps damaging Martlet, the Determination begins taking its toll on her, the bird begging for her body to hold on long enough to stop her foe, crying out that she doesn't want to die as she keeps trying to fight. Ultimately, it's all for naught, as once Clover has done enough damage, Martlet is left a melting husk. Much like Axis, unlike the Genocide route bosses from Undertale who would at least die either verbally spitting in the player's face or at least staying composed, Martlet is begging for it to stop, fearfully reaching out and screaming for help from anyone. But nobody came, as her body ultimately collapses and melts away before turning to dust. A tragic contrast from the birdbrained yet caring rookie Royal Guard from the start of the game.
• Just about everything regarding Ceroba and her family. Her husband died trying to save monsterkind and her daughter ended up "falling down" trying to help her with finishing off Chujin's research, so out of grief she tries to take Clover's SOUL to revive Kanako.
  • Ceroba doesn't know what happened to her daughter, only that she was sent to the lab and has been there for a long time, and hasn't heard anything about her since. Of course, anyone who knows the original game knows she's now an amalgamate. Kanako, a small child, has been melted together with likely multiple other monsters and is trapped in a dark lab. On top of that, there's a good chance they'll never see each other again, given that Alphys only reveals the truth about the Amalgamates on the true pacifist and in a neutral ending.
  • At the end of the Pacifist route, once you've beaten Ceroba, she'll ask you to finish her off, believing that she deserves it after what she's done. If you choose to do so, she'll thank you for it before fading away. However, you then have to break the news to Starlo when he asks where Ceroba went. He tries to deny it at first, and even when Martlet tries to vouch for Clover, saying that they killed her in self-defense, Starlo will still be unhappy and makes it clear that he no longer considers you a friend.
• If you kill Ceroba on a Pacifist run, Clover and Martlet will continue to the throne room, where Martlet's attempt to convince Asgore not to fight Clover fails, and she can only walk off in sadness after Clover agrees to the fight. Asgore himself tries to keep smiling and one line of dialogue implies that he wouldn't be upset if they killed him. Even if he hasn't quite reached the level of reluctance he had in Undertale, he still isn't happy about doing what he believes needs to be done.
• Using the save point at the Hotel will have Flowey take a second or two to notice Clover there, clearly reacting to the statue.
• Checking the couch in the Feisty Five's room, results in Clover having some unpleasant memories return due to the cramped living conditions.
• Once the kill count in Snowdin has been exhausted, the resort will be mostly empty except for the band, who are all sad at what's happening.
• Go into the Wild East Saloon on a Genocide run and Dina will still be there, mourning Starlo and Ceroba. She's so saddened by their deaths that she doesn't even stop you from stealing from the bar.
• On the Neutral Run, sparing Axis by complimenting him is surprisingly effective, but that's not the sad part. The sad part comes in when he talks about how he is envious of you by admitting that he's jealous of your freedom and that monsters and humans have one thing in common: Individuality. It doesn't help that he admits that his programming made him forget "basic decency" in his words. In a sense of irony considering Flowey, you have no freedom at all in the end, you're just a puppet, just like Axis in a way. Perhaps Clover spared and complimented Axis as deep down, they know what it feels like to have no freedom as well.