It's Showtime!
Dancin' Divas is an upcoming Beat 'em Up developed by MrPr1993.
The game focuses on four lounge singers, whose treasure were stolen by the villain Van Bad and his cronies. They all set off to fight them as they want their belongings back.
The gameplay is inspired by arcade games and consoles such as Streets of Rage and Final Fight, with a clear inspiration on the Golden Age of Animation and use of slapstick of Tex Avery, and you can pick which stage you can go depending on your decision.
Oh, and the bosses you fight are a mash of monsters. Usually.
There's a demo available on Steam
and ontheir itch page
This game provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Human: Hina stands out out of the 4 playable characters with her capable of stretching, doing a Fire-Breathing Weapon, and her noticeable things are her teeth and eyes.
- Amusing Injuries: Both players and enemies can suffer injuries with comical results, getting either Squashed Flat, blown up and getting an Ash Face, and the player can even get splatted on the screen if hit by a swinging door.
- Art Imitates Art: Bahati's statue when she respawns appears to be based on the Venus of Willendorf.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: All divas fit the archetype, with Viva being Balance; Hina being a Reach-type, Bahati being Power, and Sofia being Speed.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Brutally averted in the case that's more of the expressions and reactions. Beautiful they are, the divas can perform Eye Pops, get into Amusing Injuries, and will even let out quite the Wild Takes they can.
- Blatant Burglar: The most common enemies you come across of Van Bad's wear masks and usually wear a white and black (or any other color) outfit.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Bahati, who's the most full-figured of the four and isn't hard on the eyes.
- Captain Ersatz: Viva is a clear homage to Jessica Rabbit, having an Impossible Hourglass Figure, High-Class Gloves, bangs, the Sexy Slit Dress, and she even has the same pose based on one of their artworks in the introduction scene.
- Combat Pragmatist: Like most beat em' ups, you can wield weapons. You can also grab objects to throw at and wield guns and bombs against your foes.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: The Mr. Sneak enemies, who come with coats that conceal all but their pointy red noses, eyes, and mouths.
- Dastardly Whiplash: The main antagonist Van Bad fits this archetype entirely.
- Rubber Woman: Hina, who can stretch, and her moveset shows.
- Elemental Powers: Each of the playable divas has them, with Viva being of lightning, Hina capable of breathing flames, Bahati's power of earth, and Sofia's windy abilities.
- Eyes Always Shut: Hina, most of the time. Opening her eyes shows that she has Hellish Pupils.
- Extremity Extremist: Sofia only uses her kicks to beat up her opponents.
- Fat Bastard: The Mr. Large types, who will try and ram you over or jump to crush you. And then there's the Ms. Slams, who performs rolls or hits you with a wrestling move.
- Frankenstein's Monster: The second boss in the boat stage, who's a juggernaut of a Brawn Hilda dressed like Rosie the Riveter.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Most enemies and the divas themselves can be cut in half if they get killed by a bladed attack.
- Harping on About Harpies: The boss in the airplane section of the second stage takes place on top of the plane's wings. She is a 'very' rotund harpy who can sing to stun you.
- Hartman Hips: Sofia has quite some shapely hips which emphasize her need to use them for her moveset.
- Homage: The game is inspired by 1990s beat-em-ups and as such has nods to several of them:
- Having four color-coded player characters with elemental powers reminds of Konami's The Ninja Kids.
- The four divas being color-coded and having different stats is also similar to Ninja Baseball Bat Man, and the parts where they drive cars is lifted from that game as well.
- Impossible Hourglass Figure: While some female characters have this, Viva's the most noticeable of being quite wasp-waisted.
- Limit Break: When their tiny bar is filled from taking or dealing damage, the playable character can perform a Showtime, which can deal heavy damage to all enemies.
- Multi National Team: The 4 playable characters consist of an American, a Japanese, an African, and a Mexican.
- Multiple Head Case: The second boss in the train stage, a cowgirl with two heads and a singular eye each called Dolores.
- Mummy: They appear in the later section of the third stage at the museum, being Cat Folk, alongside snake women who come out of their mummified shells.
- Murderous Thighs: During the cutscene where the divas are interrogating Lady Wolf, Sofia wraps her legs around her neck in an attempt to get answers out of her.
- Musical Theme Naming: Viva's full name is Viva Vegas.
- Night of the Living Mooks: Halfway into the graveyard stage, zombies and skeletons appear, replacing the usual foes for the remainder of the level.
- Oni: A Dual Boss appears in the third stage at the casino, in a literal trope of Red Oni, Blue Oni. Both are female oni in Geisha outfits.
- Play Boy Bunny: They appear as enemies in the casino stage. They also happen to be ninjas. Bunnygirl ninjas.
- Stout Strength: Bahati, who can dish out pain from her, and being a wrestler.
- Shout-Out:
- In one of the choices where Lady Wolf is stopped from getting hit by a rock Viva threw, she collapses in a Family Guy pose.
- The museum stage contains exhibitions that make references to other Beat 'em Up games or media based on that genre, for example, there are weapons on a wall of the familiar turtle's arsenal, a statue of Asterix's head in a crate, and a room with a cadillac and a dinosaur.
- Supermodel Strut: Befitting their lounge singer persona, the playable character's walking animations invoke this.
- Sweeping Ashes: Anyone killed by fire damage will turn them into ash.
- Tin-Can Robot: Mr. Bolts is a miniboss of the first stage, complete with toy-like arms and a Ray Gun that pops out of their chest.
- Top-Heavy Guy: A rare female example with Ms. Punch, a boxer who has a massive upper muscular body with huge boxing gloves and skinny feminine legs.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: The third boss in the graveyard stage, Anna Mari is a Marie Antoinette-esque ghost who can separate their head when they fall and can conjure an axe to attack.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The first boss, Lady Wolf is a rather goofy depiction of the beast, with an oversized muzzle, Gag Lips, and red-painted nails.
- Walk Like an Egyptian: The Aspa enemies who are cobra people have their idle and walk animation with this pose, even moving in this fashion.
