- Rick Dalton: Katie, can you hear me!? What's the situation down there!?
Katie Hazard: Looks like the General needs another plan!
General Moustache: LAUNCH THE DOOM JET!
Colossatron: Massive World Threat is a 2013 game for iOS and Android, developed by Halfbrick Studios.
A planet not quite like ours is beset by a gigantic (or indeed, colossal) mechanized battle-platform snake Kaiju from outer space carving a path of destruction through the cities and nations of the world. The world's military forces throw everything they can muster at the "Massive World Threat", led by the bombastic General Moustache.
Perhaps surprisingly, the player sides with Colossatron's rampage and more unexpectedly doesn't direct it themselves. Colossatron roams about as it wills (though it can be directed to strike at a target) while the player gathers primary-coloured "power cores" falling from space with the monster to build Colossatron's body. Three cores of the same colour will combine into a bigger core, better armed and armoured (but a more concentrated target), while two different cores become a secondary-colour core with a second-tier weapon. (And three of those combine, too.)
And so Colossatron (and you) rampage through the world, breathlessly described by the Framing Device of Action News 6 reports from slick studio anchor Rick Dalton and field reporter Katie Hazard, with emphatic input from General Moustache.
The following tropes are exhibited in Colossatron: Massive World Threat:
- Action Bomb: Boom Trucks don't shoot at Colossatron, but instead slowly move towards it. When they touch Colossatron or get destroyed, they explode in an area to cause damage.
- Attack Drone: Later levels introduce experimental sabotage drones, which slowly fly towards Colossatron before latching onto one of its power cores, disabling it until either the core or the drone itself are destroyed.
- Battle Boomerang: The Boomerang Launcher, a weapon for Colossatron's orange power core, fires boomerangs that can quickly destroy enemies within its firing arc.
- Breath Weapon: One of Colossatron's gadgets allows him to breathe fire from his head.
- Boss Battle: Every third level of the seven continents has a boss vehicle that needs to be destroyed. They include:
- The Twin Gunner Tanks
- The Dual Choppers
- The Super Tank
- The Doom Jet
- A Super Tank and Doom Jet pincer attack
- The Gunship
- General Moustache piloting a mech
- Citywide Evacuation: General Moustache mentions that all citizens are evacuated prior to Colossatron attacking a country. It’s a good thing, too, since this usually tends to end with the country destroyed.
- Combination Attack: The Focused Fire gadget. If equipped, tapping and holding anywhere on the screen will focus the firepower from all of Colossatron's power cores at that specific point for five seconds, increasing the fire rate of all weapons in that time before needing to cool down for another five seconds.
- Drone Deployer: Two of the weapons available for Colossatron's purple power core: Attack Drones, which will attack nearby enemies, and Repair Drones, which will heal any damaged power cores.
- Doomy Dooms of Doom: The Doom Jet, a huge aircraft that is one of the level bosses.
- Dual Boss: Metronia's boss is a pair of tanks. The boss of Hammascus is a pair of helicopters. In Nishikyo you fight both the previous bosses, the Super Tank and the Doom Jet, at once.
- The End of the World as We Know It: The news ticker in the promotional trailers often says that Colossatron's rampage could wreck the world's cities, ruin the global economy, and destroy civilisation. Rick sometimes declares that it could be the end of the world, in his oddly cheerful fashion.
- Energy Weapon: The Laser Beam is a weapon available for Colossatron's yellow power core, which fires a constant beam of energy described as being "hotter than the surface of the sun".
- Endless Game: Survival Challenges have no victory conditions, the player just racks up increasing amounts of points as more and more military forces are sent on you until Colossatron bites it, ending the level.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The game is set on a fictional Earth-like planet with only 7 countries, most of which notably take after certain real countries. Metronia is America, Hammascus is Russia, Kingsland is England, Szelk'Ra is Egypt, Nishikyo is Japan. The last 2 countries, instead, are fictional and polar opposites, with Xion being a futuristic utopia and Ultimatum being a cyberpunk dystopia.
- Gatling Good: The Minigun, a weapon for Colossatron's orange power core, which shreds enemies with its decent damage and high rate of fire.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Colossatron has no knowable motives or agenda, and smashes up everything because, well, what else would a giant mechanical serpent bristling with weapons do?
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!:General Moustache: SON OF A BISCUIT!
- Green-Eyed Redhead: Katie Hazard has green eyes and reddish orange hair, actively reporting on Colossatron's rampage and General Moustache's plans.
- Healing Factor:
- One of Colossatron's green power core weapons is Proximity Repair, which repairs other damaged power cores in a small area around it.
- Colossatron himself can equip the Regeneration gadget, which slowly repairs all attached power cores.
- Hero Antagonist: General Moustache may be a General Ripper who's willing to make any sacrifice to destroy Colossatron, but considering that his target is single-handedly causing The End of the World as We Know It, it's kinda warranted.
- Hit Points: Colossatron's health is equal to the number of cores it has left. If it is left without any cores, it is destroyed.
- Humongous Mecha: The penultimate level of Ultimatum has General Moustache piloting a giant robot to take on Colossatron personally. Of course, the titular metal snake also counts.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Rick Dalton shows a downplayed form of this, being just a bit too enthusiastic about Colossatron's rampages and the destruction caused, probably because they make for great viewing figures for Action News 6. (Occasionally, the news ticker reports that the station is getting its biggest audiences ever from the crisis.)
- Large Ham: Every line by General Moustache is delivered with strident bluster, and many of them are bellowed at the top of his voice.
- Laser Cutter: A namesake weapon for Colossatron's green power core, which fires high damage, penetrating energy sawblades in a straight path.
- Life Drain: The Reaper, a weapon for Colossatron's red power core, does this to enemies.
- Lightning Gun: The Thunder Blaster and the Lightning Spire, two weapons for Colossatron's blue power core. The former shoots balls of lightning that damages enemies as it passes, and the latter fires a constant bolt of electricity at a single target. Both weapons have the chance of stunning their target.
- Magnetic Weapons: The Railgun, a weapon for Colossatron's purple power core, which can penetrate targets and deals massive damage, compensated with a low rate of fire.
- Meaningful Name: Katie Hazard is a field reporter out among the danger, General Moustache has prominent facial hair.
- Personal Space Invader: Sabotage Drones will latch onto Colossatron's power cores, disabling them while dealing constant damage until they're shot off or until the core goes down.
- Plasma Cannon: A namesake weapon for Colossatron's green power core, which rapidly fires high-damage plasma bolts with generally poor accuracy.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:General Moustache: Get. Those. Tanks. TO THE BATTLEFRONT!
- The Quisling: Action News 6 is a downplayed example. While Rick Dalton is not trying to curry favour with it, he clearly admires Colossatron and is excited by its destruction.
- Segmented Serpent: Colossatron is a snake-like Kaiju composed of various power cores, with each segment corresponding to certain weapons and/or abilities. It is only defeated if the military forces manage to leave it without any cores.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Power cores automatically detach from Colossatron and blow up once they have sustained enough damage, taking down enemies and buildings nearby. An optional gadget you can choose can increase the damage and radius of the explosion.
- Shows Damage: Colossatron's cores start looking more and more broken as they take damage.
- Smarmy Host: Rick Dalton has the voice, the demeanour and the coiffed hair, and, according to the news ticker, has five people to do his make-up.
- Spread Shot: A namesake weapon for Colossatron's red power core, which functions like a shotgun.
- Suicide Attack: Boom trucks: Military pickup trucks loaded with either a full payload of dynamite or an entire nuclear warhead. While rather slow, destroying them creates a large explosion that can damage Colossatron should he get caught in the blast radius.
- Super-Scream: Colossatron's shock roar, which temporarily stuns enemies.
- Taking You with Me: Once all of its power cores have been destroyed, Colossatron's head explodes in a blast that destroys everything else on the screen.
- Tempting Fate: Rick Dalton ends the intro by saying all Earth can do is hope Colossatron doesn't decide to attack. Following right after is a button for starting the game, labelled "ATTACK!".
- The description for Szelk'Ra states that its monuments and pyramids are priceless treasures that will hopefully last forever. Of course, it becomes Colossatron's immediate next target.
- Title Drop: The name "Colossatron" is all over the place, of course, but the subtitle appears a few times too:
- In the intro, Rick Dalton reports "The military are declaring Colossatron to be a Massive World Threat."
- Each time you start a level, the screen flashes "!!MASSIVE WORLD THREAT!!"
- One of Rick's lines after a Survival Challenge is "What an incredible rampage! Colossatron truly is a massive world threat."
- Unrealistic Black Hole: The Black Hole Generator, a weapon for Colossatron's purple power core, shoots these. Upon impact, they suck nearby enemies into the point of impact, dealing damage and stunning them.
- Villain Protagonist: Colossatron, a mechanized serpentine Kaiju with enough firepower to obliterate a city and a penchant for destroying large numbers of them with absolutely zero provocation.
- A Winner Is You: Once you've led Colossatron through all seven landmasses and smashed up every city, Rick Dalton declares Colossatron an unstoppable force that pretty much succeeded in destroying the world, but says that tomorrow will be new day, and General Moustache will return (Completing the initial campaign unlocks Prestige that allows to replay levels with tougher enemies; the game also continues with "Survival Challenges").
- Zerg Rush: Colossatron's defeat is less likely to be caused by the huge boss machines than the sheer weight of tanks, gunships, and bombers sent against it. (Especially as crowds of aircraft obscure your view of Colossatron, so you can only plug power cores in blindly.) The Survival Challenges just keep piling on more military force until you're finally overwhelmed.General Moustache: SEND IN EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT!
