Video Game / Johnny Rocketfingers

"..A Johnny's work is never done.."

Johnny Rocketfingers is a point-and-click flash game made by Ryan Khatam in 2003 about a badass stick figure who doesn't like playing by the rules. He doesn't get any deeper than that, really. Only two games were made about him, originally released in Newgrounds. The first one has him trying to rescue a little girl from thugs (after being paid a hefty sum of cash by the mother). The second one has him scouting out for Thug Incorporated, a gang that has it out for Johnny when he beat down the leader while buying drugs from him. A third game was planned and was intended to be much bigger than the first two, but the Kickstarter campaign failed and the game was cancelled.

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This flash game series has examples of:

• Art Evolution: While the first game is somewhat crude in appearance, the second is, at least in the street where the game is set, scenery gorn-iffic.
• Brick Joke: The end of the first game has Johnny unable to find the daughter of the woman who hired him, instead finding a horrifyingly ugly... thing that's about her size and settling with that. The end of the second game has the woman siccing her massive boyfriend on Johnny as revenge.
• Combat Pragmatist: Johnny is not afraid to use whatever is around to fight (namely planks, tubes, and even cigarette ashes).
• Cool Shades: Johnny rocks them hard.
• Crapsack World: The city Johnny lives in is not pretty, nor is it clean for that matter.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: Johnny is hindered by all sorts of puzzles during the actual game, but as soon as a cutscene starts up he begins kicking ass, taking names, and dispatching guys twice his size with ease.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: The above mentioned "child". And a key you find in the second game turns out to be a weirdly-shaped fly.
• Hidden Depths: Johnny may just seem like a run-of-the-mill asshole at first, but he drops some interesting tidbits when you do certain things.
• Loser Protagonist: Despite what he would have you think, Johnny is one. He's a perpetually-broke, unemployed asshole, lives in a shitty apartment, and whatever money he does get his grubby little hands on generally ends up in a bottle or up his nose.
• Rule of Cool: The games run on this.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: A great number of them, including Johnny.
• Smoking Is Cool: Milked for all its worth. Johnny is never seen without a cigarette within reach. Hell, the loading bar for the second game is a lit cigarette that shows progress as it burns up.
• Stock Sound Effects: Both games borrow the footsteps and a few other sound effects from the Half-Life series.
• Sudden Anatomy: Johnny's hands do not appear unless they are needed (with violence-related events often occurring).
• Sunglasses at Night: The second game implies he even sleeps with his sunglasses on.
• Villain Protagonist: Johnny is, to put it simply, an asshole. Moreover, he is defined in the game as "suppish", which is basically a smooth Jerkass.
• World of Jerkass: It's easier to count the number of characters who isn't an asshole with one hand. Marty the bartender is one of those few guys.

Johnny Rocketfingers

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: You can distract a gun-wielding thug with a Barbie doll.
• Bag of Spilling: Inverted. You inexplicably end up with useless items in your inventory — Mostly likely Played for Laughs.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': If you choose to murder the woman at the beginning of the game, Johnny is swiftly ventilated by an army of cops.
• Cats Are Mean: One tries to shred Johnny when he tries to pick it up and then claws a guys face off when Johnny uses it as a weapon.
• Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: When Johnny is captured by the thugs, there is a conveniently placed nail in the wall for him to saw open his bonds.
• Eye Scream: For whatever reason Johnny gains several items in his inventory after a cutscene with some mooks. One such item is what appears to be a severed eyeball.
• Freudian Slip: Johnny, you freak me out.
  Johnny: That keyhole brings back memories of me spying on my sist-I mean-GIRLfriend in the shower.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: If the player makes the wrong choice at the start of the game Johnny will smack the woman who asked for his help with a beer bottle. This results in both their deaths and a game over.
• Improbable Weapon User: Johnny finds that a cat proves a better weapon than a crowbar.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Johnny drops one of these when he uses the cat on the bouncer.
• Morton's Fork: If you murder the woman at the beginning of the game, you run into the street only to encounter an army of police. Either option (try and run or stay and get shot) results in Johnny's swift and untimely demise.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The woman who asks you for help is basically a stick figure with hair, a face, and large breasts.
• Videogame Cruelty Potential: At the beginning of the game, you have two options after the woman begs for your help: going for the girl right away or (if you are feeling... jerkass-y) get a little fun from her before. Even if you try to play as a saint and agree to help right away, Johnny still insults her and treats her like crap.
• Videogame Cruelty Punishment: If you select a certain option at the start of the game Johnny will club the woman with a beer bottle, accidentally killing her. He then takes all of her money, runs outside, and gets shot by an army of cops that just showed up out of nowhere.

Johnny Rocketfingers 2

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: With a crocodile to boot. And an enormous stash of gold, for some reason.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  Johnny: IDs are for faggots.
  Store manager: So, where's yours?
  Johnny: Good one, asshole.
• The Alcoholic: He has a "drink time" programmed in his watch (with a cool little animation of him drinking).
• Berserk Button: The phrase "life isn't fair" was shown to REALLY tick Johnny off. Though, no more than to the point of raising his fist in anger.
• Bland-Name Product: Pak-Man arcades.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  Johnny: I'm stuck, you got any hints?
  Shady looking character: Sorry cuz. Maybe you can find an online walkthrough.
• Bullying a Dragon: Or stealing from a drug lord. This is what starts the game.
• Card-Carrying Villain: The thugs sent to kill Johnny at the start of the game. Leads to the question of why a super-underground criminal organisation would distribute cards to its members.
• Chat Speak: Johnny may use terms such as "lol", "lmao", and "rofl" after the player's failed attempts at doing something.
• Crunchtastic: "It feels Cracktacular."
• Diegetic Interface: The player guides Johnny around with a lit cigarette.
• Hypocritical Humor: After a while of incorrectly using the knife, Johnny will utter the phrase:
  "You're a violent person and you scare me."
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  Store Manager: Aren't there puzzles you should be solving?
• Non-Standard Character Design: The store manager is provided with an actual face and more color than the other characters.
• N-Word Privileges: The villains.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Johnny listens to the store manager when he attempts to rap. He concludes the manager is an idiot.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Johnny was no saint before, but here his entire motivation is to murder the guy he already stole drugs from.
• Shoplift and Die: That store manager may not look it, but he's packing some serious boomstick.
• Shout-Out:
  • During the pan across the bar, you can see a sign that says "SCUMM".
  • If you look closely, there is a drawing of Max in the cash register of the store in the second game.
    Johnny: (After trying to use knife or chain on a hobo) Nah, I'll leave that to Alex and his gang.
  • When Johnny has to get back up to the fire exit, one of his methods is to put on a red mask and swings up using webs.
  • One scene with the crocodile is vaguely familiar to the film adaption of Chamber of Secrets.
  • Johnny compares a plumbing diagram with no words to an average Myst puzzle.
  • Johnny can ask the shady-looking character if he's a member of the Weaver guild, a reference to Loom.
• Videogame Cruelty Potential: The game gives you the opportunity to harass the store manager as much as you please.
• Villains Act, Heroes React: Inverted. The mess Johnny finds himself in is entirely his fault after he robbed a drug dealer for no good reason.

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