∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys

SubpagesMain
VideoGame
YMMV

main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

random

Subpages:

Video Game: Drill Dozer

Known in Japan as "Screw Breaker", Drill Dozer is an action-Platform Game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, developed by Game Freak. (Yes, the same Game Freak who created Pok�mon!)

The main character, Jill, is the daughter of the boss of a group of Loveable Rogues called the Red Dozers. The Red Diamond given to her by her now-deceased mother is stolen, and her father is injured, so Jill must go get her gem back on her own, with only her trusty Mecha-Suit-With-Drills-For-Arms Drill Dozer, The Obi-Wan, the Mechanic, and their Base on Wheels to help her.

Not to be confused with the villain Drill Dozer from Hero Factory season 2.

This game provides examples of the following tropes:

Action Girl: Both Detective Carrie and Jill; the latter punched out the final boss with her own fist! Oh, there is others besides those two, The Magnet Sisters count and perhaps the most overlooked of them all, Jill's Mother.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Jill gets taken away by a police trap, as the police chief reads her crimes, they were of breaking in the Skullker HQ, robbing of the Art Museum, defiling the ruins where the Blue Diamond is, causing havoc at Metal City, and 17 counts of skipping restaurant bills.
Attack Its Weak Point: Every single boss is given some weakness to drills, and it's almost always some big, flashing hole.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Jill's got big eyebrows, but her father's unibrow is epic.
Colossus Climb: The boss of Area 5.
Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Pay 50 chips, and you're put back at the entrance of the room with full health.
- Arguably a Scrappy Mechanic as well, since the only other use for the chips is to buy upgrades. You have to pay for Continues.
  - It's not so bad, as with all the upgrades you'll make way more than 50 chips before you're even CLOSE to dying. Hard mode requires 10 but this is burned away quickly by bosses unless you start over every time you die.
Did You Just Literally Punch Out The Final Boss?
Drill Tank
Goldfish Poop Gang: The Magnet Sisters
Girl with Psycho Weapon
Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Played in the opening of the first stage.
Heel Face Turn: Carrie
Heroic RROD: After destroying the Big Bad's superweapon, and right before the confrontation with the game's Final Boss no less.
Grutch: "We chased Croog all this way and NOW the Drill Dozer falls apart?!"
Humongous Mecha: A good share of bosses.
Jiggle Physics: It's quite easy to miss, but Carrie's walking sprite has these. Surprising for this sort of game.
It Makes Sense in Context
Let's Play: An awesome one by Katachresis, who makes an effort to step away from the obvious Double Entendres with little effect.
- It seems Ntom64 and THD are doing one too. They make even less effort to shy away from Freud Was Right.
Green Rocks: Is there anything those Diamonds can't do?
- It can't rebuild the Red Dozer's base.
  - It can. The heroes just choose to do it without the Red Diamond.
Nintendo Hard: The secret areas, ESPECIALLY the fifth one. Prepare to defenestrate a GBA or two because of this game.
- And hard mode, which turns the Drill Dozer into a One Hit Point Wonder. Which also tends to turn each boss into That One Boss. And that's the only thing that makes the game harder, too!
No Export for You: in Europe, unsurprisingly. Fellow bigger-cartridge game WarioWare Twisted shared the same fate.
No-Gear Level / Stealth-Based Mission: The opening of Area 5-1. Jill is imprisoned and separated from the Dozer, which is powered by a diamond until it finds her.
Schmuck Bait: Happens after defeating the Drizzler. That truck is OBVIOUSLY SUSPICIOUS and she still hops on?!
Punched Across the Room: Certain Skullker robots, most notably the ones in the fifth secret area.
- Also the final boss.
The Power of Love: When Jill is captured by a police trap, and separated from her Drill Dozer, it pilots itself back to her, through the power of her deceased mother's spirit.
Recurring Boss: Detective Carrie's Policebot, and Croog.
Rose-Haired Girl: Jill.
Silent Protagonist: Guess who.
Spin to Deflect Stuff
Tennis Boss: The upgraded Policebot in Area 4-1. Combat revolves around catching the explosive projectile with your drill and sending it back — but this is complicated by having to identify whether to catch it clockwise or counterclockwise (otherwise it explodes and damages you), and the ten-second countdown attached to it as you deflect the projectile back and forth between player and boss.
Theme Music Power-Up: Just about any time Jill finds the 3rd Gear in an area.
This Is a Drill: Right up there with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
- Speaking of Lagann, a lot of people think that Drill Dozer was inspired by that show because they are so similar (mainly because of the characters and the use of robots and drills). The truth is, the game came out first (2005), Gurren came out after (2007).
Timed Mission: Occurs during mission 6-1, when you have to stop the gigantic Drill Missile from destroying your home base (where Dad is recovering).
- Also the fifth boss.
Tube Travel: The many threaded tunnels that require drilling one way or the other to enter and navigate. Defeating the boss of Area 5 involved being able to navigate tunnels within a time limit to destroy the boss's weak points.
Turns Red: Most of the Humongous Mecha bosses get more aggressive after part of them is destroyed.
- Also, the robot dog enemies turn white after you do some damage to them.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: The dozer breaks in the final battle, and you're required to punch out the final boss with a mechanic that was added for just that battle.
When All You Have Is a Hammer: Your drill can do everything from work combination locks, to act as a screwdriver, to deflect bullets, to reverse the direction of a giant drilling missile.