MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies is the fourth spin-off in the Neptunia series, as well as the third title in the series to be developed by Tamsoft, and starring Blanc as the main character. Much like the previous spin-off, Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed, it's a Hack and Slash, but now with some elements of hunting games mixed in as well.
It is set in Gamicademi, a school located in Gamindustri which the CPUs are attending to learn more about human culture. Due to a rash of declining birth rates and dropping attendance, the school is facing the threat of closure. In an attempt to save the school, Blanc and Neptune decide to film a zombie movie to drum up new interest. Conveniently, real zombies begin showing up everywhere. Instead of running away, they seize the opportunity and clear out the zombies while shooting their flick.
Co-Op Multiplayer is available for the first time in the series, in local and online formats. The playable cast of Hyperdimension Neptunia U return, including Famitsu and Dengekiko, as well as Plutia and Peashy from Victory, and Uzume from Megadimension VII, with newcomer Tamsoft rounding out the playable characters. It was released for the PlayStation Vita on October 15, 2015 in Japan, and in May 2016 in North America and Europe. It was also released on Steam on October 3, 2016.
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- Absurdly High Level Cap: The cap is the standard 99 for the series, but the nature of the gameplay and low EXP handouts means you can take down stages ten levels lower that what's recommended. It also says something when just getting one character up to Level 99 is worth a gold trophy, when doing that for one character or even the entire party would be only a silver in previous games.
- A-Cup Angst: Blanc and Uni end up bonding over this when they encounter this dimension's Yellow Heart.
- A Day in the Limelight: Blanc is the main character as opposed to Neptune, who is demoted to deuteragonist.
- Blanc had won the series' second popularity poll in 2014, where the winner would be the main character of a game.
- And the Adventure Continues:
- The story ends with Neptune calling Blanc to shoot another scene.
- After defeating the True Final Boss in Multi mode, there's a scene where the characters are discussing their victory when Nepgear announces even more monsters are appearing and everyone gets ready to return to battle.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Lily Ranks increases significantly faster compared to the previous games and the Lily Rank-related trophy requires maxing it out with only one set of characters rather than every possible pairing.
- Anti-Grinding: Averted. Stages will always give the same amount of experience regardless of what level the characters are at. This makes using cuts like 11-5 (with 78k experience) useful for grinding someone to Level 99 relatively quickly.
- Ass Pull: In-Universe, plenty of the plot twists in Blanc's script come absolutely out of nowhere.
- Assist Character: In the story you can call upon allies like IF and Compa to buff you for a short time.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Lily Specials and EXE Drive attacks when used on most mini-bosses. Many will be knocked out of the attack's area of effect after the first few blows. Some won't and you can work around by pinning those who do against a wall.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Some of the characters are really bad at conveying proper emotion or tone. Tamsoft is especially guilty of this.
- Bash Sisters: Uzume and Peashy quickly bond over their high energy and love of punching things.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Uzume and Peashy fills in this role this time, Uzume's official weapon is still her Megaphone but most of her moves are done with punches and kicks, while Peashy continue to fight with her doll gloves.
- Also, Peashy's moveset revolves about speed and dodging attacks with her tiny body, while Uzume takes the tank route, all the moves in her combo can be charged for massive damage, while she takes reduced damage and can endure attacks without breaking her form when charging her attacks.
- Big "WHAT?!": Everyone reacts this way when Blanc says that she wasn't going to write the final scene and they'll wing it instead.
- Biting-the-Hand Humour: Similar to how Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart is heavily critical of Noire, this game is highly critical of Blanc. No wonder the game based around Vert's idea of the setting doesn't even have her name in it...
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Blanc continually uses her knowledge of the "Magical Noirina" video to get Noire to do her bidding.
- Bland-Name Product: All of the treasures are blandly-named versions of various game consoles.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: From the very start, Neptune exclaims that schoolgirls should be a big draw for this game, and Blanc expresses exhaustion that Neptune is already flinging out punchlines.
- But Now I Must Go: Subverted. Blanc tries to pull this after they finish the movie, thinking that's a good ending point, until Neptune points out that they haven't accomplished any of their primary goals yet.
- Butt-Monkey: Noire again. Being called out on her position as "Ice Queen VP," her loner nature, being the one left behind in the And the Adventure Continues scene mentioned above, and taken up to eleven when Blanc finds the Magical Noirina video.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: As conducted in an In-Universe poll, 80% of the boys in the school say so, hence why Vert and Tamsoft are put in swimsuits when shooting one particular scene during a Backstage Event.
- Character Customization: You can equip accessories like glasses, hats, and pins onto characters, and moreover you can adjust their side, position, and placement.
- Character Narrator: Blanc plays the role this time, usually as a Purple Prose-filled internal monologue.
- Charged Attack: Of the hold type. Some characters have this as part of their moveset, and EXE Drives can also be held to increase their power.
- Clothing Damage: Played with. While outfits won't be damaged in battle, characters can wear pre-torn costumes for a cut/quest.
- Combination Attack: Lily Specials, usable in both single and multiplayer modes, have all participants attack rapidly in an area.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: For the first time, you can team up with up to three other people to tackle missions.
- Creepy Child: One scene involves two of the girls playing this and revealing themselves as zombies. When a similar scene pops up later, Neptune is less than impressed.
- Custom Uniform: Everyone's uniform is colored in a manner similar to their regular clothes.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Those who are expecting the game to play like Neptune U are in for a rude surprise.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Compared to Neptunia U, the girls each have more distinct fighting styles and handle differently.
- Disc-One Nuke: The "P Valun M" treasure set gives 50000 ability points and a large amount of credits upon completion, which is enough to breeze through the story mode. They are easily gathered through Thursday's Special Quests.
- The Dragon: Iris Heart (or Black/Green Heart in alternate cuts) play this role in the film.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the movie, the Student Council President is killed by a falling satellite while the Vice-President is swallowed by a crack in the earth.
- Empty Levels: Not every level you invest in the Technical aspect will guarantee a new combo.
- "Eureka!" Moment:
- When the girls start getting pushy about Blanc finishing the script, she starts gripping they just want to fight the zombies before realizing that would be a good way to do the last part of the script and work from there.
- Later, when searching for the being responsible for the zombies, Neptune jokes that the unusually-nice Blanc has been kidnapped and held somewhere in the school. That causes Blanc to realize that's the only place they haven't searched yet. Ram even mentions the trope name when she ponders what Blanc is thinking for the finale.
- Everything's Better with Samurai: Tamsoft. Right down to the speech patterns. Also has the eye makeup and uses a Notachi(large samurai sword), and has faster than eyesight attack typical of video game Samurais.
- Fix It in Post: Blanc suggests this when Iris Heart intentionally bails on a delivering a proper fight scene.
- Guilt-Based Gaming: If you idle in the menus for too long, characters will bug you to do something already.
- Heroic BSoD: Noire upon Blanc discovering the "Magical Noirina" video.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Tamsoft. Tall, busty, has a tomboyish voice, and kicks ass.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Noire and her ill-fated "Magical Noirina" attempt to drum up school interest.
- Japanese School Club: Several are mentioned; Neptune's film club is the focus, Dengekiko and Famitsu are part of the newspaper club, and Uni is in the airsoft club.
- Joshikousei: Neptune explicitly states schoolgirls as a selling point. Specifically, Nepgear, Uni, Dengekiko, Famitsu, and Tamsoft wear a stylized Sailor Fuku.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Tamsoft's weapon of choice that she keeps strapped to her back. Neptune, as usual, also starts with a wooden one.
- Kiss of Life: In the film, Blanc saves Neptune from turning into a zombie by kissing her.
- Laugh Track: A laugh track pops up in a few scenes, usually after someone quips about the scene itself.
- Long-Lost Relative: One of Blanc's plot points that comes out of nowhere in the film is Uzume being Neptune's sister.
- Love Confession: Nepgear and Uni have one while acting a little loopy from sleep deprivation. Blanc films it for the movie. The two, realizing this is a Mistaken for Gay moment, are quick to claim it wasn't like that.
- Mad Scientist: Rom and Ram claim Nepgear as one when they warn Uzume about her.
- Meta Girl: Neptune is this even more than usual, pointing out all the cliches,
Ass Pulls and Plot Holes in Blanc's script. - Mirror Match: Each of the four CPUs can be fought in Multi Mode quests. Playing as the same one invokes this.
- New Transfer Student: Uzume plays this role.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Plutia doesn't help clear out the zombies to save the school or anything like that. She just wants to nap peacefully without the zombies interrupting her.
- Oh, Crap!: The game answers the question of "What would happen if Uzume encountered Iris Heart?" This is her reaction after running into Plutia after seeing her "take care" of a bully as Iris Heart, not unlike everyone else.
- Older Than They Look: Neptune and Blanc are seniors. Even if you don't take into account that they're The Ageless, they don't look like they're 18.
- Out of Focus: Once Uzume, Peashy and Plutia arrives for the second half of the game, Tamsoft, Dengekiko and Famitsu don't interact in any more cutscenes. Tamsoft does help once towards the end and appears in the Backstage Talk segments, at least.
- Parody: Of the whole "Students band together to create a successful project to save a failing school" plot (most recently codified by the Love Live! franchise). While the students do come together and manage to save the school, it's because Blanc's movie is so terribly bad that the school becomes popular due to new students wanting to see where such a film would be made.
- Plague Zombie: In the film, the zombies are a result of a virus.
- Play Every Day: There are 3 Special Quests that rotate out every day from Monday-Saturday while each day's will be available for two hours each Sunday beginning at noon.
- Playing a Tree: One scene has two of the girls playing dogs.
- Point Build System: Leveling up earns points you can invest in your HP, POW, DEF or learning new combos.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Worn by Vert, as fitting for her refined appearance.
- Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: In a few instances the characters speak what they're doing, e.g. *cry* and *faint*.
- Regenerating Mana: MP refills at a reasonable rate, with the trade-off being using a special move requires you to use all of it.
- The Rival: Dengekiko and Famitsu see each other as one, as they write competing newspapers.
- School Sport Uniform: One CG image of Blanc wearing Ram's out of necessity.
- School Swimsuit: One CG image featuring Ram and Vert in the old style and Tamsoft in the new.
- School Uniforms are the New Black: Everyone wears their uniforms anywhere they go, whether it be the city or some spooky forest.
- Shipper on Deck: Vert apparently supports Nepgear/Uni, if her reaction to their scene is any indication.
- Ship Tease:
- Nepgear and Uni's sleepy love confession. One of the Backstage Talk scenes has Nepgear making lunch for Uni as well.
- After Noire comments on the above, Neptune teases that she could have one with her in the movie's sequel. Noire agrees in a tsundere-ish way.
- There's a bit for Neptune and Blanc, who are better terms than in most games. In the movie, they play the leads who fall in love and save Neptune's character from zombification with The Power of Love.
- Shout-Out:
- One of the evil organizations in the movie's plot is called Parasol Corp., a nod to Umbrella Corp.
- In the movie, Blanc's character tries to justify communicating with the zombies by quoting Spider-Man's famous "With great power Comes Great Responsibility" line.
- Blanc's secret agent codename is 0007.
- A monster movie mentioned is named Neprific Rim.
- One of Neptune's level up lines is "I have the power!"
- Uni is introduced as "Yuri Sniper Uni 13" to Uzume.
- Skill Point Reset: You can reset any AP you spent at any time, with no consequences.
- Tag Team: During the story mode you can select two characters to take on scenes and swap between them as needed.
- Technically-Living Zombie: The zombies in the game are a result of being transformed. Reversing its effects is easy, and can be done multiple times on the same person.
- Thanking the Viewer: This plays after sitting through the credits.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tamsoft and Vert, respectively.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Tamsoft has the most reservations about filming while fighting zombies in a swimsuit due to modesty issues.
- Troll: All of Noire, Rom, and Ram give Uzume a good hazing on her first day of school.
- True Final Boss: Deadring in Multi mode, who can only be fought after clearing Story mode and reaching a high-enough Quest rank.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted. The Big Bad of story mode is described as the "8th Dark History" and the characters wonder what happened to the other 7. They're all fought in Multi mode.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: In-universe, some characters express irritation at the roles they play, which is often when they're playing as the zombies.
- You Just Ruined the Shot: Blanc spots her sisters under attack by zombies and rescues them. Neptune then suddenly pops up and chews her out for ruining the film shoot while Rom tries to comfort the students Blanc just beat up.
- Zombie Apocalypse: It was originally just going to be the theme of the film, but then a real one broke out.
