Video Game / Delicious

The first game's title card

Delicious is a series of Time Management Games created by Zylom Studios and currently developed & published by GameHouse acquired the rights. The games tell the story of Emily, a waitress who aspires to one day run her own restaurant, and who works in several other restaurants in order to earn the money to make her dream come true.

It is also well-known and favored by many people due to its detailed and Visual Novel-esque story telling that makes the games natural but memorable. The series actually started to grow in to fans when the fourth installment of the series was released and has been since receiving positive reviews from gamers and critics. The fifth installment, Delicious: Emily's True Love received a full five-star rating from Gamezebo.

If you are a fan of this game, then check out its booming Facebook page and their blog.

The games in the series so far are:

• Delicious
  • Delicious: Winter Edition
• Delicious 2
• Delicious: Emily's Tea Garden
• Delicious: Emily's Taste of Fame
• Delicious: Emily's Holiday Season
• Delicious: Emily's Childhood Memories
• Delicious: Emily's True Love
  • Delicious: Emily's Big Surprise (a free game available from Facebook)
• Delicious: Emily's Wonder Wedding
• Delicious: Emily's Honeymoon Cruise
• Delicious: Emily's New Beginning
• Delicious: Emily's Home Sweet Home
• Delicious: Emily's Hopes and Fears
• Delicious: Emily's Cook & Go (Only for iOS and Android)
• Delicious: Emily's Message in a Bottle
• Delicious: Emily's Christmas Carol
• Delicious: Emily's Miracle of Life
• Delicious: Emily's Moms vs Dads
• Delicious: Emily's Road Trip
• Delicious: Emily's Cooking and Romance
• Delicious World (A freemium Continuity Reboot)
• Delicious Bed & Breakfast (A freemium Match-Three Game)

There are also spin-offs and games that share characters with or at least are stated to be in the same universe as the Delicious series. They are:

• Fabulous:
  • Fabulous: Angela's Fashion Fever
  • Fabulous: Angela's Sweet Revenge (a 2-episode prequel to Fashion Fever)
  • Fabulous: Angela's High School Reunion
  • Fabulous: Angela's Wedding Disaster
  • Fabulous: Angela's True Colors
  • Fabulous: Angela New York to LA
• Heart's Medicine:
  • Heart's Medicine: Season One
  • Heart's Medicine: Time to Heal
  • Heart's Medicine: Hospital Heat
  • Heart's Medicine: Doctor's Oath
• Cathy's Crafts
• Mary Le Chef: Cooking Passion
• Dr. Cares:
  • Dr. Cares: Pet Rescue 911
  • Dr. Cares: Amy's Pet Clinic
  • Dr. Cares: Family Practice
• Sally's Salon:
  • Sally's Salon: Beauty Secrets
  • Sally's Salon: Kiss and Make-Up
• Maggie's Movies:
  • Maggie's Movies: Camera Action
  • Maggie's Movies: Second Shot
• Mortimer Beckett and the Book of Gold
• The Love Boat:
  • The Love Boat
  • The Love Boat: Second Chances
• Amber's Airline:
  • Amber's Airline: High Hopes
  • Amber's Airline: 7 Wonders

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The game series provides examples of:

Delicious (General)

• Achievement Mockery: The "You Should Be Ashamed" achievement, which is awarded for letting 100 angry customers walk out the door.
• Alliterative Title: Delicious: Emily's 'W'onder 'W'edding
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Angela, as seen in Childhood Memories. In the present day, she hasn't quite grown out of this.
• Art Evolution: The first three still had the same designs from its first game. The revamp has taken this to a T.
• Breakout Character: Francois simply started out as a supportive friend who provided Emily with decorations in the restaurant. In later games, he starts to gain much more prominent roles. See A Day in the Limelight.
• Camera Sniper: Originally a one-off feature in Childhood Memories where you took pictures of important moments in Emily's life. It later returned in Honeymoon Cruise and has been a series staple since.
• Camp Gay: Francois. However in Holiday Season, in the end when she needs to choose a boyfriend, Francois is one of the choices and shown in the credits, 80% approve.
• Cats Are Mean: Emily's cat, Snuggy.
• Christmas Special:
  • Delicious: Emily's Holiday Season
  • Delicious: Winter Edition which is just the first game with a Christmas theme.
  • Delicious: Emily's New Beginning has 10 Christmas-themed levels and a expanded storyline on The O'Malleys celebrating their Christmas holidays at the farmhouse.
  • And then we have Delicious: Emily's Christmas Carol.
• Cool Big Sis: Emily to Angela though the roles are reversed in some cases since Angela has had more experiences with relationships than Emily.
• Character Development: In the earlier games, Emily's simply a waitress/restaurant owner who helps people by cooking. She eventually develops a life of her own, such as her family being introduced and having a love interest.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first three games are rather different from the rest of the franchise:
  • They have a basic Excuse Plot as opposed to the animated cutscenes in later games.
  • The art style is vastly different from later games.
  • The games don't have the mouse that appears in every level of later games.

• Easter Egg: After the revamp, this game has this as one of the optional tasks where you win a trophy if you've found them all.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Emily, of course.
• Fiery Redhead: Evelyn who doubles as Emily's beloved s/mother.
• Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Lampshaded by the characters here◊ - they plan to invite 50,000 people to their wedding.
• Friend to All Living Things: Emily has always been very good with animals, even as a child, as shown in "Emily's Childhood Memories." This trait is later passed on to her daughter, Paige.
• Gay Best Friend: Francois, though the "gay" part is not confirmed.
• Happily Married: Emily and Patrick, after Delicious: Emily's Wonder Wedding.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Ever since the third game, the naming convention has been Delicious: Emily's <Insert Title Here>. The Spin-Off featuring Angela is also named Fabulous: Angela's <Insert Title Here>.
• Mistaken for Pregnant: The rather short plot of Big Surprise. It turns out it's only Snuggy, her cat that was pregnant.

• My Beloved Smother: Evelyn, who really wants her daughters (especially Emily) to have a boyfriend and get married ASAP.
  • Brigid of Emily's Wonder Wedding is also this, but she's more critical of her son getting married.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Francois' family name is Truffaut.
• No Plot? No Problem!: The first game has this, as Emily is just moving place to place, cooking.
• Numbered Sequel: Delicious 2 is named... Delicious 2.
• Oireland: Where Patrick's family came from, as well as Emily's mother.
• One-Word Title: The first game is simply titled "Delicious", as it's a game about food. Every game beyond the first has a subtitle.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: Since Taste of Fame, the games blend together elements of both Casual Video Games and Visual Novels.
• Pixel Hunt: In every game, you always have to look for Carl the mouse. Sometimes the locations are out in the open and other times it's a bit of a Guide Dang It!.
• Put on a Bus: Some characters from the first three installments (e.g. Norma, Ziggy, etc.) have never appeared again in later games.
• Really Gets Around: Angela had more boyfriends than Emily's ever had, though Emily had a few that passed her by until ending up with an official one in True Love.
• Slice of Life: Delicious 2 is the first game to have an actual plot. Later installments made this more official.
• Speak in Unison:
  • In Emily's Taste of Fame, Emily comments during a phone conversation that current boss Charles and future boss Ludwig would really like each other.
  Charles/Ludwig: I HEARD THAT!
  • In Emily's New Beginning Emily complains that all her carolers are sick with flu.
  Evelyn/Brigid: I could sing!
  Evelyn/Brigid: You sing?
  • In Emily's Home Sweet Home Emily is working at Happy Funtime Land while Patrick is trying to obtain petition signatures to save their house.
  Emily/Patrick: I had the WORST day!
• The Stinger: The newer installments occasionally have these.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The town of Snuggford, which is only known to be a small town in America.

Pre-Revamp

• Character Development: Brad from Emily's Tea Garden. Though he was pissed off that Emily lied to him, he apologized in the end and said that he's going back to college after realizing how much of a jerk he was.
• Dumb Muscle/Surfer Dude: Brad from Emily's Tea Garden. He tried to get Emily to go out with him, but Emily ended up lying to him to get him off her back.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: Ziggy from Delicious 2.

Taste of Fame

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Francois reminisces on their past adventures.
  Francois: We keep getting ourselves into these situations, don't we Emily?
  Emily: It must be the occupational hazard of being a game character.
• Disney Death: Francois near the end.
• Elvis Impersonator: A character as such debuted in this particular game.
• Home Sweet Home: She is a bit overwhelmed with the publicity and would rather settle down with the normal life she used to have with her friends and family.

Holiday Season

• Christmas Episode
• Love Triangle: Emily, between Paul and Richard.
• Running Gag: Elvis asking for a hamburger from Emily, though in all of the restaurants she worked on, she had served none nor were they on the menu. He finally gets one in the end only to find that there's no ketchup.
• Take a Third Option: If neither of the two, the third choice will be Francois.

Childhood Memories

• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When the family first moved to the countryside.
  70s Evelyn: We did it Edward!
  70s Edward: No more suit and tie!
  70s Evelyn: No more smog!
  70s Edward: No more being suffocated by your mother!
  70s Evelyn: (gets mad) What?
• Passing the Torch: Emily decided that it would be best to sell their house to the new family moving in. She will always have the memories...

• The 20th Century: The game revolves around the following decades:
  • The '70s: Her younger years; Angela was born.
    • Hippie Parents: Emily and Angela's parents (only look like ones) but dropped this look off in...
  • The '80s: Preteen years; She meets Francois.
    • '80s Hair: Edward has a mullet while Evelyn has Anime Hair akin to 80s female music artists of the day.
    • Valley Girl: Emily's three friends who tend to say "like" almost every time. Even Emily herself but only if they're around.
  • The '90s: Her first prom night and first kiss.
  • The Early 2000s: Her first job in a restaurant; she saves a bankrupt factory.
  • The New '10s: The present setting of the game where she is now in her 30s.

True Love

• A Day in the Limelight: Francois became the waiter for a while, while Emily is away in Paris.
• False Soulmate: Jean-Paul. Quite the Tragic Dream for Emily.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: During "Falling Stars", the florist helps Emily sabotage one of the dishes from Jean-Paul's restaurant with hot sauce so she can give it to the food inspector, causing this trope.
• Gay Paree: The setting of the place Emily must go to.
• Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Emily comments that she and Jean-Paul would be virtual strangers after sixteen years and asks what kind of person would marry someone they barely know right before Angela and Jimmy walk in to announce their impending wedding.
• Love Hurts: Emily finds out that the past lover she met in Paris when she was 16 has been cheating on her. Not just her but the florist who she's friends with. Ouch...
• Relative Error: The main reason Emily decides to go to Paris was because she saw a pretty woman trying to meet Patrick. It's later clarified she's his sister.
• Official Couple: Who are they? Emily & Patrick.
• Spit Take: Emily combines this with Double Take and Big "WHAT?!" after Francois tells her that Angela's wedding reception will be at her (Emily's) place.
• Wham Episode: "A Bitter Blow". Doubles as a Drama Bomb.

Wonder Wedding

• Continuity Porn: The many people invited to Emily's wedding attended as guests whom you may have recognized from earlier games.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Officer Johnson orders nothing but donuts.
• Fighting Irish: One of the episodes' titles (except with a "The" on the front) which is about a fighting couple.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Before they even do get married, no less. It all starts when Patrick doesn't tell Emily about Iris.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Iris for Patrick. She's less psychotic than most cases of this trope, since she hasn't inflicted pain on either him or Emily, but she did try some relationship sabotages.
• Spy Speak: When Patrick decides to replace the aborted ceremony with a destination wedding, he invites a priest from Snuggford to officiate.
  Reverend Baylor: Psst! The crow flies at midnight.
  Patrick: Reverend Baylor, I told you, we don't need a code phrase.
  Reverend Baylor: Oh please!
  Patrick: Sigh... The full moon lights the way toward home.

Honeymoon Cruise

• A Day in the Limelight: Due to Emily not working because it's her honeymoon, the game is full of this trope. We have (in order of episode):
  • Francois in charge of the pool deck.
  • Angela running a boutique.
  • Brigid running the spa (much to Patrick's chagrin) with Antonio's help.
  • Edward and Evelyn in the piano lounge.
• Babies Ever After: Three months pass as the epilogue begins and Emily has a visible baby bump.
• The Bus Came Back: Brad returns, running the shack in a beach.
• Heroic BSoD: After Jewel Jacobs rejects Angela as a potential apprentice, Angela loses all will to design clothes to the point she refuses to even touch a sewing machine. Emily snaps her out of it by holding a fashion show with her designs.
• Identical Strangers: In the episodes that take place in "The Kid's Club", there are two kids who look like Emily and Patrick if they were younger. They even have their colors.
• Kid Sidekick: Josh.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Patrick really wants kids but Emily is just too... unsure. Note, they've only been married for several days to weeks when he starts talking about it.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Famous singer (and Jerkass) "John Tones" comes to perform on the ship.
• Porky Pig Pronunciation:
  Jimmy: Your cleaning and finding skills are unek... uneq... pretty great!
• What the Hell, Hero?: Francois, for the sake of petty vengeance on losing 'who served the customers faster' to a little kid named Josh, attempts to dump a bucket of water on Josh by way of a so-called "crowning ceremony". Francois feels guilty after the kid shows him kindness and, when the time comes, he manages to prevent Josh from sitting on the throne and gets himself wet instead. Josh and a lot of other people are disappointed. Including Emily.

New Beginning

• Babies Make Everything Better: This is the game where Paige was born, and she can crawl around the restaurants and make guests happy, which boosts their patience. Subverted, however, as some customers don't like babies, and Paige being near them will lower their patience.
• End of an Age: Downplayed. After owning her own restaurant for the past 3 games, Emily realizes she can no longer run it after having a family, so she sells it and moves away.

Home Sweet Home

• Dance Party Ending
• Heel–Face Turn: Sharon at the end of Level 50, after Emily and the gang rescue Grace from another fall.
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Earnest and his daughter Enid has a variant of this. Earnest wants Enid to become a Super Scout by earning merit badges with outdoor skills, but Enid prefers to earn merit badges using knowledge skills.
• Luminescent Blush: Sharon does this from embarrassment at the end of Level 50, when she confesses that she removed some bolts from the metal shelves the night before.
• Mama Bear: Moon Blossom fits this perfectly. So does Sharon, especially after Grace hurts herself in an accident.
• Shout-Out: The photo-moment when Moon Blossom finally lets Hemmingway climb a tree is called "Happy tree friend".
• Stage Mom: Sharon. She eventually gets over it.

Hopes and Fears

• The Cameo: Allison Heart from Heart's Medicine is seen in the game. She also appeared in Christmas Carol and Miracle of Life.
• Father's Quest: Hopes and Fears is about Paige getting a rare disease and her father, Patrick, going on a quest to find a golden flower that is said to cure her.
• Polka-Dot Disease: Paige's illness involves her getting blue spots.
• Sick Episode: In this game, Paige gets a mysterious illness that sets off the plot.

Message In A Bottle

• Lost at Sea: Due to heartbreak from his wife's death, Emily's grandfather took a boat and sailed out into a storm.
• Message in a Bottle: Also goes the same as from the title.
• Oh, Crap!: Edward has this reaction at the end of level 53 when Vinicio tells him not to buy any property from a realtor who scams people out of money and fled the country... right after Edward already gave him that money.
• Putting the Band Back Together: The goal for this game is to gather all of the Napoli family members for a family reunion.
• The Power of Love: Emily and her family help her uncles reignite their passion for their businesses and their families with this in each level they go to.

Christmas Carol

• Heroic BSoD: Paige goes into this after being fooled by Patrick dressed up as Santa, causing her to think that Santa doesn't exist at all.

Miracle of Life

• Babies Ever After: Emily has twins at the end of the fifth chapter, and she names them Vito Jr. and Emilia, after her deceased grandparents.
• Babies Make Everything Better: This may as well be called "Babies Make Everything Better: The Game".
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Emily's twins, Vito Jr. and Emilia, are always seen in these colors.

Moms Vs. Dads

• A Day in Her Apron: When Emily and her friends think their husbands aren't pulling their weight, the women have the guys do a lot of things (such as Patrick running the "business ends" of Emily's enterprises such as cooking while the other guys clean) as part of a contest to see which of the men deserves the "Father Of the Year" award from the women.
• Heel Realization: After Chad is deemed the "perfect husband," Sharon breaks down to Emily that she'd rather have an IM-perfect husband with her than a PERFECT one who's never here. Chad hears this as he's about to go to his business trip...and we later find it was to give his bosses his resignation, as the contest made him realize he wanted to be there more for Sharon and Grace. While Sharon likes the kiss, she suddenly asks, "Does this mean we're poor now?"

The Love Boat

• Married at Sea: A couple who had their wedding canceled has one on-board the ship, and fortunately, Emily makes a cake for them while Angela improvises a wedding dress for the bride.
• Mistaken for Gay: One storyline focuses on a woman trying to hide from her fiance that she was a centerfold model for a magazine. He eventually finds the magazine and dumps her, but only because he thought her hiding it under the bed meant she was into women.
• The Inspector Is Coming: The new owner of the cruise line, Mr. Skoggstad, is there with his wife, and Julie, Doc, Issac and Gopher need to do all they can to make Captain Stubing look good—or the Captain can be fired and them with him. Unfortunately, Mrs. Skoggstad is unpleasable and gives grief to the crew and the Captain Forthe Evulz. She's Captain Stubing's ex-wife, Stacey, and is out to make him look bad no matter who she also griefed to do it: be it the passengers on the cruise or his crew.
• The Remake: A rare Video Game version of a series based on a Live-Action TV show.
  • The first game was actually based on the pilot episode of the original series itself (though without Emily and Angela).
• This Is Unforgivable!: When Mrs. Skoggstad fires the crew in front of Captain Stubing, he pulls her and her husband to the side, and tells her off, not wanting to have the passengers' cruise disrupted by her, nor her antics treating the crew like "incompetent bozos" being tolerated anymore. He ends up telling her "Go to your room" and her husband, "No matter what you say, I will not apologize. So whatever you have to say to me, say it now." Mr. Skoggstad sides with Captain Stubing, and admits he's a GREAT Captain, no matter what his wife thought.

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