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Part Rhythm Game, part tactical war game, part ear worm, pure fun, Patapon is a game by Sony Computer Entertainment, released in 2007 for the PlayStation Portable and designed in collaboration between Hiroyuki Kotani and French artist Rolito, using characters from his RolitoLand flash animation series, with music by Kemmei Adachi and lyrics by Kotani.

You are the deity of a tribe of eyeball villagers, the titular Patapons, waging war in their quest to reach Earthend and gaze upon IT, even if they don't know what or where IT is. Along the way you will have to hunt great beasts, slay foul monsters, raze enemy encampments and put thousands to the fire and the sword all through the medium of minimalistic and colorful 2D animation.

The main gameplay of Patapon is a blend of rhythm and strategy that the developers gave the unique label of "Command Carnival"; it has you issuing orders to your army of 'Pons via the four Sacred Drums, each corresponding to a button on the joypad/PlayStation controller. There are plenty of commands, each with preset drum sequences, that you have to input in time with the rhythm to successfully issue an order (Advance, Attack, Defend, and Run Away, among others). When you successfully enter your orders in time with the rhythm, your army can then enter into a "Fever mode", greatly increasing their effectiveness in battle.

There are also other rhythm minigames back in Patapolis, the Patapon capital, that you can play to either acquire materials or currency (Kaching), used to upgrade your army.

It spawned two sequels, releasing in 2009 and 2011, respectively. The first, Patapon 2: Don Chaka, was a Mission-Pack Sequel that added a wealth of new foes to conquer, songs and missions, but most notably introduced a Hero Unit to the Patapons' army. The third game, Patapon 3, was a marked Genre Shift away from the first two games, becoming an Action RPG with a heavy emphasis on Co-Op Multiplayer.

Patapons 1 and 2 received remasters for the PlayStation 4 in 2017 and early 2020, respectively. Only time will tell if Patapon 3 will be remastered for the Playstation 5.

On the 16th of July, 2023, Ratata Arts, a team composed of some of the developers of Patapon, announced a Creator-Driven Successor called Ratatan. A Kickstarter campaign to fund this project commenced on the 31st of July, 2023, and was funded in less than one hour.


Provides examples of:

  • Action Commands: The very basest, most core mechanic of the series. The play is given four drums corresponding to the four PlayStation buttons, and correctly inputting them to the beat of the music in the game orders your Patapons to perform various actions. For example, the Attack command is PON PON PATA PON(Circle, Circle, Square, Circle) while the Defend command is CHAKA CHAKA PATA PON(Triangle, Triangle, Square, Circle). In Patapon and Patapon 2 you have to unlock new drums and songs by playing through the campaign, but Patapon 3 has you start out with all of them unlockednote . Correctly playing enough commands will put your army into Fever mode, which powers up both their attacks and your commands.
  • A.I. Roulette: Bosses were changed to act like this in 3. Instead of telegraphing their attacks through the whole fight like in the previous two games, once their health bar hits critical levels they will start attacking without conforming to the beat and at random, making them impossible to predict and forcing you to hit them with everything you've got to finish the job. This means that they might potentally shuffle back and forth without attacking and be a total pushover, or do their hardest hitting attack four times in a row and instantly kill Hatapon.
  • Always Chaotic Evil: Dark Ones and Bonedeths.
  • Animate Inanimate Object:
    • The four drums.
    • Signs throughout the levels.
    • Minigames have an animate furnace, baby mountain and a cooking pot. And in the sequel, a giant bell and a... brewing machine of sorts... with a mustache.
    • Patapon 2 has one training mission where cannons will speak to you.
  • Annoying Arrows: Yumipons' arrows don't do a lot of damage on their own; they're made for for spreading status effects around the battlefield. It works in reverse, too; it's not uncommon for just two or three enemy Yumitons/mens/deths with fire or sleep bows to rain a nightmare on the squad from on top of a building until it's toppled. They are also still useful against bosses since the bosses pretty much take up half the battlefield, so almost all the arrows will hit them.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: In Patapon 1, there was no reliable way to get Ka-Ching, forcing you to grind hunting missions or hope for the Hoshipon event. Patapon 2 introduces Shuraba Yapon and Koruru Beruru, who give you Ka-ching in exchange for mundane items and beating their minigame, in addition to the 5-to-one parichari conversion rate in the Patagate.
  • Arc Words: "Oh Mighty Patapon, please lead us to Earthend!"
  • Arrows on Fire: Yumipons can end up with these with the right equipment.
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: Patapon 3 noticeably departs from the minimalistic, "colored-shapes-on-black-background" art style of the first two games, having far more detailed character, enemy and background designs as well as some slight 2½D effects.
  • A Taste of Power: When the player gets another unit type in Patapon 1 and 2, the first unit they get of that type is incredibly overpowered. It leaves when the stage is finished.
  • Autobots, Rock Out!: Several themes from the previous two games get a rock version while facing each Archfiend boss in Patapon 3. Technically the entire soundtrack of 3 could count as this in relation to the previous games.
  • Back from the Brink: In all three games.
  • Badass Adorable: Patapons and many Zigotons. The Karmen and Bonedeth aren't really adorable on account of their masks, although Dark Ones may still fit.
  • Badass Creed: at the beginning of each game, you the player sign a contract as the God of the Patapons. The first game has a rhyming, slightly comedic oath, but all else generally is as follows:
    The Patapon Contract: I swear an oath to become the God of the Patapons to find the end of the world. Even if I do not have a good sense of rhythm, even if I want to quit halfway, I will never give up to the very end. I promise to keep my oath and receive the Drum of Valour as the God of the Patapons.
    1's' Contract: If Thou hast found O Holy Drum, the Patapons shall be your sons. Whether Thou has rhythm or nay, sway thine hips and learn the way. Thine efforts shall bear fruit one day, and Patapons will march and say: "Almighty, Lord o' Patapons, we thank you now for what you've done! Our glory is now back on track; Thank God you signed the Holy Pact!"
  • Bag of Spilling:
    • In Patapon 2, the Almighty somehow forgets all the drum beats. In Patapon 3, however, all the old ones are available at the start.
    • In both sequels, the army you worked so hard to raise from the previous game is gone. Justified, brutally, in both cases: in Patapon 2, the army drowns when the kraken sinks the boat, but the Almighty replants Mater to grow new units from. In Patapon 3, the army was turned to stone.
  • Balance Between Good and Evil: At the end of Patapon 3, Silver Hoshipon tells the Patapons not to fear evil, because the world is better for having a balance.
  • Battle Theme Music: A weird variation: You're the beat, and the Patapons sing along with whatever they've been ordered to do. The melody changes with stages as well.
  • Big Eater: The Patapons; much ado is made about going hunting to feed them at the start of the first two games, and the second comes right out and says they need a ton of food. How much food you may ask? A small tribe of a couple dozen pons eats at the very least one animal 4-5 times their size per day.
  • Bigger Is Better:
    • Stronger weapons in Patapon 3 are at least twice as big as the characters who wield them.
    • There are still some in the first two games, but those are subverted in that while they do a huge amount of damage, they slow the wielder down a lot.
    • Whenever the Uberhero holds a weapon in Patapon 3, it's at least twice as big compared to when a regular Patapon holds it. It gets even bigger when they enter Hero Mode.
  • Big Good: You, the player, assume this role for the Patapon, saving them from near extinction at the beginning of every game.
  • Bizarre Alien Reproduction: You create new individuals for your army... by burying certain stuff under a tree? And to revive them, it works similarly, you have to bury their cap. AND they always come out as fully grown(?) adults...
    • The tree in question is a Tree of Life, of course. A Tree of Life named Mater no less, so there is, at least, a mater involved.
    • It should be noted that the items buried to make a new Patapon are sometimes inorganic matter such as rocks and metals. Not to mention that a new Patapon costs Ka-ching which is supposed to be the life-force of the new Patapon.
    • In several items, mentions are made to "babypons" and many patapon are referred as "he" or "she", hinting at a more "traditional" way of reproduction, ahem. But no actual children are ever shown.
    • Opposing tribes, namely the Zigotons and the Karmen, may or may not use this as well. The way they react to death though (and the many avengers you encounter through the game) hint that they may be more "traditional" in this sense.
    • Note that only soldiers and the minigame pons are created this way, and possibly only because this seems to be under the Almighty's jurisdiction. Civilians probably have a more traditional way of reproducing.
  • Blind Obedience: The Patapon have blind trust in the Almighty (meaning you, the player). And if the Almighty doesn't give them any instructions they will stand around perfectly still while they're getting attacked. The only time they'll break rank is when they're lit on fire and only then will they run around and stop following orders, but still they won't leave the battle.
  • Bookends: In terms of music. The first song heard in the series is Goroch's/Gyorocchi Theme. For the Final Boss of Patapon 3, it returns as the Whoa Gyorocchi theme in epic fashion.
  • Boss-Only Level: Bosses are encountered in their own separate missions to the various "your army vs. another army" missions. This is removed in Patapon 3, where bosses are located at the very end of dungeons, except for bonus bosses, which are rarely encountered in their own levels out in the world.
  • Call a Hit Point a "Smeerp": Call money/life-force "Ka-Ching". The term was used to justify why it drops from fallen enemies.
  • Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Specifically, call a Rabbit a "Rappappa".
  • Carry a Big Stick: Dekapons start out with large clubs as their default weapons, and are capable of using a variety of hammers and maces.
  • Catching Some Z's: Patapons under the sleep effect will have this.
  • Charged Attack: The Charge song(PON PON CHAKA CHAKA), first acquired upon defeating Dogaeen in 1, allows you to command your Patapons to spend a measure charging up their inner energy, which you can then release with either the Attack or Defend songs. Attacking with it allows your Patapons to use a lethal new attack depending on what class they are(Tatepons do a swirling jump attack, Megapons blast out huge persistent projectiles, etc), while Defending protects them from almost all damage if you think you're about to get hit by an undodgeable attack.
  • The Chosen One: The Hero. Or thought to be this at first by Meden. The climax of 2 has Ormen Karmen reveal that the Hero was originally a lowly Wakapon that was tricked by Ormen into breaking the World Egg, eventually leading to the fall of Pata-Pole. Disgusted by his actions, he dons a mask that wipes his memories. 3 eventually plays this straight when the Almighty Patapon combines with the Hero to create the Uberhero.
  • Clingy MacGuffin: The hero's mask may or may not be this.
  • Color-Coded Armies:
    • Played straight in Patapon, everything on the Patapon side is white, everything on the Zigoton side is red.
    • Continues with Karmen using orange, Bonedeth using toxic green... And the Dark Ones using sickly purple along a gratuitous amount of Extra Eyes.
    • Also used in Patapon 3's multiplayer Versus games. One team is Blue, the other is Red.
  • The Comically Serious: Ragewolf in Patapon 3.
  • The Computer Shall Taunt You:
    • Enemies will regularly taunt you:
      Zigoton soldier: You slimy eyeballs!
    • Gargoyles in Patapon 3 are the only enemy guaranteed to drop a chest when killed, but will make the chest disappear if you don't kill them quickly, laughing all the while. They'll even show you what's inside it just to piss you off even more when they magic it away.
  • Cool Gate: Baban and its upgraded form Bababan, as well as the Paraget/Patagate (Patapon 2), the Herogate and the Battlegate (Patapon 3).
  • Cool Horse: Warhorses, elemental horses, divine horses, demonic horses... there are tons of options for Kibapons to use. In 3, Kibadda and Pyokorider Uberheroes can use unique horses with specific names, like Bullgam the Bully or Sibericus the Frosty.
  • Cowardly Boss:
    • Most bosses back off after they've incurred significant damage.
    • Inverted in Patapon 3, bosses will go berserk and attack without warning once they've lost enough health.
  • Crapsack World: Patapon 3: You and your Five Patapon Band, plus Sukopon at the Hideout, are the last surviving members of your species from an apocalypse which you brought upon yourselves. Excluding Silver Hoshipon, everyone else has been turned to stone, is a demon or controlled by one, or is a massive, starving beast trying to devour you. The other tribes are suffering as well. Sonarchy heavily implies once that the Karmen have gone extinct due to this, and does this while taking shelter in the very same bunker-like building you first saw Ormen Karmen perched/napping upon during Patapon 2 no less.
  • Credits Medley: Each game's credits has a medley of songs introduced in the game playing in the background.
  • Cue the Sun: The end of Patapon 1.
  • Cumulonemesis: Cloud Demon Pharamatara, a huge cumulonimbus-shaped monster fought in the Momokkun Cloud Sea. He blows freezing rings from his mouth and damages your army with his disembodied floating hand.
  • Damsel in Distress:
    • Meden, later in the game.
    • The Patapon Princess was stuck inside an egg for who knows how long...
    • And in the third game, Meden is petrified right in the beginning.
  • Dance Party Ending: A rare gameplay-integrated example. In 2, completing a mission in the Patagate will allow you to do the DON CHAKA, a ritual that will crack open the mission egg you've been carrying. The DON CHAKA consists of a rhythm minigame not unlike the juju summon ritual, but with various stipulations for harder missions. Doing well in this minigame will unlock you new masks and Komupons depending on the mission.
  • Darker and Edgier: Patapon 3. The plot itself is Darker and Edgier, including the deaths of several important characters, and the fact the world is in its current Crapsack World status due to the Patapons' obsession with IT leading them to rediscover what should better have been left forgotten.
  • Deal with the Devil:
    • The Zigoton Queen sacrifices her bloodline to Gorl and the forces of the underworld so she can defeat the Patapons. It didn't work in the end.
    • What each and every one of the Dark Heroes did to achieve that status. However, it's more like trickery on their respective Archfiend's part than actual deals, though.
  • Death is Cheap: The Patapon cannot truly die as long as they still have a hat to revive them in 1. 2 removed the part where certain attacks will destroy the hat.
  • Defend Command: The Lament of Defense. Chaka Chaka Pata Pon!
  • Demo Bonus: Loading a demo save into the full game gives you a powerful unique weapon.
  • Developer's Foresight:
    • It is difficult, but not impossible, to kill Goruru and Garuru without them being in Beast Form. They have a unique death animation in the event of that happening.
    • If the player manages to pass the levels "Despair" in Patapon 1 and "Great Despair" in Patapon 2 without obtaining the catapult or Ziggerzank respectively by themselves, Meden will comment on the achievement.
  • Dialog During Gameplay: The enemy tribes and Dark heroes sometimes do this instead of initiating a cutscene. Your Patapons also spout out random lines from time to time, but they don't do actual conversations.
  • Disc-One Nuke: Tondenga in Patapon 3. You can start the game with Taterazay, and is unlocked at level 3. His Uberhero mode is triggered with one command, and since it's the attack command your other units will attack together with you unlike other offensive Uberheroes like Piekron or Myamsar. On paper, he's a Mighty Glacier due to his low speed but ridiculously high defense and offense. But in practice, his Uberhero mode is unaffected by any attack speed enhancers and will consistently strike at a fast rate making him a Lightning Bruiser. His charged attack also tumbles all your opponents, giving you breathing room or an opportunity to strike. His class skill lets you use more set skills on him, so if you decide to build other Uberheroes just for their skills you get to stack a lot of them. On top of that, Chin can also be a Tondenga so you'll have 2 of the most broken characters in the game before you even make it to the first boss.
  • The Dragon:
    • General Gong the Hawkeye, commander of the Zigoton forces.
    • Each Archfiend keeps around a Dark Hero of their own as their personal Dragon, which works to prevent your Uberhero and his squad from reaching the dungeon they're kept in, aside following their orders.
  • Dramatic Wind: The cape from the Patapon 3 heroes always flows behind them. Even if they turn around.
  • Easy Communication: Not giving out any commands or failing to complete an order sequence makes the Patapons stay still as sitting ducks, not making any effort to save themselves. No wonder the Zigotons were owning them at the start of the original Patapon. Although, in the first, if not given an order, some types would still attack. They just do so very, very weakly and rarely.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: In the third game. After three games and hundreds of years of journeying, you can finally allow the Patapons to reach IT.
  • Easy Exp: A variation of it in Patapon 3. Your Patapon earn levels through normal grinding, but the methods for upgrading your class skills, while some are quite combat-related, others are quite mind-baffling. Play enough VS? Have exp. Use charged attacks? Have exp. Attack structures? Have exp. Die a lot? Have exp. March forward a lot? Exp!
    • In general, you earn exp by using the skill. Certain skills, however, are earned simply through common or relevant actions, for example, Tondenga earns a skill that gives him extra skill sets just by generally completing missions with all set skill slots filled up (not, despite what the skill's description may imply, by randomly changing your set skills a lot).
    • However, some of the otherwise seemingly easy class skills... aren't. Many can take hours upon hours of play to master.
  • Easy Logistics: Toripons, Yumipons, and Yaripons have infinite ammo. No Patapon of your army ever seems to get tired in the battlefield, even if you never see them eat, and in fact you never see them leave the obelisk.
  • Energy Weapon: Some of the bosses shoot these from their mouths. In Patapon 3, players can get the lasergun too.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • Patapon 2's Dark One is an Evil Knockoff of your own hero, down to changing classes when needed.
    • Patapon 3 turns this up to eleven with a whopping total of 7 Dark Heroes, all evil counterparts to your own Uberhero (as well as each opposing one of the already established Uberhero classes).
    • Black Hoshipon is an Evil Twin of the normal Hoshipon introduced in the first game. A usual gag is Hoshipon "confusing her/him with an impostor" whenever they meet.
  • Extra Eyes: Gate Ghoul Baban in Patapon 1 has several eyes. Its upgraded form Bababan from Patapon 2 has dozens of small eyes and a few large ones.
  • The Faceless:
    • You never see the face of your enemies in the Karmen tribe, the Bonedeth, Dark Heroes, or even your own Hero unit.
    • Although in Patapon 3, you can clearly see a single eye in the middle of Miss Covet-Hiss' snake mouth mask.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: Come Patapon 2, there are weapons and effects pertaining to all three.
  • Fission Mailed: In the first and second game, there is a section where your army will storm a heavily entrenched fortress and slowly but surely get wiped out by its' defenses while it sustains little to no damage. After you lose, Meden will announce that scouts have discovered a secret Zigoton/Karmen catapult for you to steal and use against the fortress, unless you managed to get Sequence Breaking and somehow win, in which case Meden will be astonished at your achievement.
  • Fog of Doom: Presented both as normal fog and as dust storm, it prevents you from seeing any enemies coming at you until they're right at your feet. Can be dissipated through rain, though you can also counter it by checking the expression of your long-range units...however, this still won't allow you too see exactly what is coming to get you.
  • Fungus Humongous: Sentient demonic mushroom Matango is a colossal mushroom that releases deadly spores and assists General Kuwagattan in battle.
  • Gathering Steam: Your patapons will need some good rhythms to dance themselves into a frenzy, the amount of which depends on how on point they are. But once they are in fever they get much higher attack, reach, and/or other useful abilities depending on the class and on the dance.
  • Gainax Ending: An especially weird variant, considering it's mostly the same as the first game. In Patapon 2, everything is wrapping up the same as the first with a few changes; the Big Bad is defeated, the final boss is revealed to be an uber-powerful demon, and you and your army kill it. Then the patapons find what they think to be Earthend and IT, but it turns out it isn't, And the Adventure Continues. The issue is that the first game has much more closure, with a reconciliation between Queen Kharma and Meden and a definitive implication that there's more to the Patapons' story with a stinger showing the Patapons and Zigotons building a ship to cross the ocean together. 2 just kind of ends with the Patapon Princess telling the Hero that he will bring balance to the world in some nebulous, undefined way, then there's a Dance Party Ending and another stinger showing the Patapons and Zigotons building a bridge to the next place, now assisted by the Karmen. This is further confusing by the fact that Ormen Karmen is dead and the Karmen were never given the same sympathetic backstory as the Zigotons, so the Karmen have literally no reason to be at all friendly to the Patapons. as a result, the whole ending just kind of...happens and doesn't really leave you with a Sequel Hook for Patapon 3.
  • Game Hunting Mechanic: One of things you do, is help the Patapons on their hunts. The hunts will get you meat, wood and rocks, which you can use to create new Patapons or to play minigames that will get you other materials.
  • Game Lobby: Patapon 3's multiplayer/VS matches.
  • Giant Spider: Centura and Darantula.
  • Glass Cannon: Several classes. One example are the Megapons, which pack quite a punch, but are defeated in a handful of hits. And the Oohoroc from Patapon 3 are able to nuke everything onscreen with one of the super-unique staffs, yet they are prone to die if there are no other heroes/patapons in front to shield him/her from damage.
  • Grand Finale: Patapon 3 is this, since it's the last game in the series and the stakes have never been higher, in addition to finally concluding the Patapons' quest by the end. The Dark Heroes and their Archfiends have been defeated, Meden and the other Patapons have been un-petrified, and at the very least Ton, Chin and Kan make it to Earthend, where Silver Hoshipon is revealed to be IT and transports them to an Arcadia-like Heaven. The story still ends with a very minor Sequel Hooknote , but with the closure of SIE Japan Studio and the announcement of Ratatan, Patapon 3 seems to be the definitive conclusion to the Patapon story. It's also the only game to have "The End" displayed after the credits, further indicating the Patapon story is really over.
  • Green Hill Zone:
    • The first "serious" level of the first two games is always a hunting stage, with a blue background, lush green plants, kaching-giving flowers, and light-hearted songs; Patata Plains in 1 and Tochira Beach in 2.
    • In Patapon 3, it's no longer a hunting stage, instead being a series of tutorial levels. Still, the Training Grounds DO look a lot like Patata Plains.
  • Green Thumb:
    • Fah Zakpon and, to a lesser extent, Pan Pakapon.
    • In Patapon 3, Bowmunk.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: In Patapon 1, the first half of the game is very straightforward about who are the bad guys, with the Patapon tribe oppressed by the Zigotons to near extinction. The flipside, however, is that pretty much everyone who's not a Patapon is absolutely convinced that the world will end if the Patapons reach Earthend and see IT.
  • Golden Snitch: In Patapon 3, the team that manages to take the flag of the opposition automatically wins the match in Arena versus games, regardless of points scored. Then again, to fetch said flag, you have to destroy all of your enemies's fortifications first, so you ought to have been winning anyways.
  • Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Divine weapons posses gold-colored markings instead of white.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!: The strongest expletive heard in the world of Patapon is "JEBUS!"
  • Guide Dang It!:
    • The desert level requires you to use a rain juju to be able to get through. By this point, you'll probably have forgotten about the strange totem you saw back at the first hunting stage, which only now you can attempt to copy the sequence from now that you got the Chaka drum. No one mentions explicitly you must summon rain yourself either.
    • "Search for a Lucky Star" is a bit tedious. First off, the rain only stops randomly, and scarcely. Once you rescue Hoshipon from the Pincheek, you must cease the drumming. March too far ahead, and he will get mad and promptly leave without giving you anything, with the Hoshipon warning you with "Hey hey, are you listening to me?". Doing this is also the only way to unlock the McGuffin needed to unlock the Giant Enemy Crab boss and continue the story.
    • In Patapon 3, there's a Pause command that's available at the end of the course by killing the Motsitsi at the end of the obstacle course. Though, info like this is not available on all versions of the user manuals.
    • The only way to save Naughtyfins and turn her back into the Patapon Princess is to select every dialogue option that specifically references her, throughout the entire game. Nothing about the dialogue options suggest that they influence the story in any way, and they only appear to be Flavor Text, so the player is very unlikely to save her without consulting a guide and a second playthrough
  • Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: In Patapon 3, tower and dungeon bosses can go down really fast compared to what is faced before that, depending on how the party is built.
  • Have You Seen My God?: Each game begins by showing this trope already happening to the titular tribe, just barely surviving extinction as a result. Justified in that A God Is You, meaning the tribe is only able to feel your influence again once you start the game and begin the story. Thus, this trope is in place only at the start.
  • Healing Potion: Sometimes these are dropped by enemy units. Patapon 3 introduces a second type, which heals even more and even revives Ton, Chin, and Kan if they've been defeated.
  • Heel–Face Turn: In each Sequel Hook, the Patapons are seen working with their enemy tribe to achieve whatever next challenge they'll be facing. Played with in the second game; Gong just wants his honor from beating you, but realizes about halfway through that the Karmens are a bigger issue.
  • Hero Unit: Introduced in the sequel. Upgraded into the Uberhero for the third game.
  • Hijacked by Ganon: Madfang Ragewolf is a character who appears out of nowhere and whose backstory is never explained like the other Dark Heroes. And yet, he has an almost bloodthirsty hatred of the patapons, and Silver Hoshipon mentions he lost someone close to him a long time ago...sounds very much like a character who was previously known to often make a Deal with the Devil in exchange for power to defeat the Patapons, doesn't it? Yes, the game all but outright says that Ragewolf is supposed to be Makoton.
  • Hyperactive Sprite: Your army in the first two games, everywhere from missions to the obelisk/barracks, except during cutscenes. Applies to the enemy tribes as well; it's as if everyone has some sort of disease that prevents them from stopping. Zig zagged in Patapon 3: units have a proper "standing in place" pose on the equip screen and the start of missions, but once again become hyperactive once you've started commanding them. Uberheroes and Darkheroes are the only ones to avert it completely.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Meden's unnamed assistant seems fairly more capable than she is.
  • Theme Naming: The Dark Heroes are all named after one of the Seven Deadly Sins and an animal, respectively.note .
  • I Know Your True Name: After you name the Hero Patapon in Patapon 2, the Hero says that he has to serve you because you named him. Also, right before you name him, he declares all of you are insane in the membrane.
  • Impassable Desert: Better get the rain juju. It is 'technically' possible to cross it even without the rain juju, but Zaknel's fire attacks hit harder in the heat and your 'pons will randomly burst into flames the longer you stay in the scorching sun. Also, the strongest Rarepon you can create this far into the game actually has a plus 50 percent weakness to fire, so it's generally a terrible idea.
  • Impossible Item Drop: While Ka-Ching is a representation of life force, things like enemies dropping potions and rocks may be not. The Patapon 3 website justified it on the Bonedeths' part by stating that they bring these potions to battle on purpose, they just forget to drink them.
  • In a Single Bound: The Jump song(DON DON CHAKA CHAKA) acquired in 2 and 3 allows your army to jump a terrific distance into the air, avoiding certain boss attacks and activating some switches in 3.
  • Inexplicable Treasure Chests: For some strange reason, the enemies and sometimes other things carry treasure chests with them in Patapon 3.
  • Informed Equipment: A rare voluntary variation of it. Since most helms don't look very good on Uberheroes, they don't show on your character by default. However, you can choose to always show them in the options menu.
  • Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence:
    • A variation of it. Toripons fly high when in Fever mode, often not having to move at all to avoid being hit by enemy units or the Boss Battle... but for some reason, high above the ground as they may be, they cannot fly past any obstacle (including the very low wooden fences or enemy units).
    • Yaripon are shown to jump 2-3 times their height to throw their spears, specially during fever. Yet when faced with a pile of rubble (in particular in the destroyed Oasis level of the first game), none of your Patapon will attempt to jump or simply walk over the rubble until the rubble is 'destroyed' oddly enough.
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: In Patapon 3, the weapons that can be carried get extremely large at the end.
  • It's the Journey That Counts: At the end of Patapon 3, the Patapons do find Earthend, but the journey was more important, bringing hope back to the world.
  • Last Ditch Move:
    • Salamanders from Patapon 3 go out with a bang of their respective element. This actually causes a lot of damage should your 'pons be caught in the blast, so it's better to take them out from a distance.
    • There's a heroic example of this as well; by dying repeatedly, you can teach your Myamsar to go out with a bang of poison.
  • The Legions of Hell: The Dark Ones from 2. and the Bonedeths from 3. The Dark Ones and their leaders, Dark One and General Kuwagattan(The resurrected Makoton/Scorpiton and General Beetleton, respectively} answer to the mysterious Black Hoshipon, while the Bonedeths are the servants of the Dark Heroes.
  • Level Grinding: Has to be done in Patapon 3. Surprisingly, one of the most efficient ways to gain experience is to kill grass.
  • Lightning Bruiser:
    • With the right combination, your hero can become this. For example, a pyokola dekapon with Rabasarana.
    • One of the masks turns your character into one of these by granting both damage and speed, but also gives him a slight case of Glass Cannon.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: From the second game, we get Mahopons, who are weak at first look until you get the later game spells: lighting, which hits everything 3 times (more so if it's a large target), blizzard, which spams ice, and fireblast, which is your own little nuke. Of course, the hero chaincasts meteor. That doesn't even cover the support abilities.
  • Locked Door: Every single dungeon in the third game.
  • Long Song, Short Scene: Many of the "Bonus bosses" in 3 have unique battle themes, despite the fact that they only appear very rarely and can be killed in literal seconds depending on your party's level.
  • MacGuffin: IT is the main motivation of the Patapons on their journey to Earthend. What IT is, though, is unknown to anyone. In the third game, however, IT is revealed to be Silver Hoshipon.
  • Mama Bear: Pekkora are cute, fluffy, sheep-like creatures that inhabit the snowy levels of Patapon 2. Usually, they have a Gentle Giant demeanor; they will refuse to attack their offenders, and will simply try to run away at a slow pace along with their little Pekkorako. But, kill any of their children, even a single one, and they will turn into a terrifying monster with massive maws, in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge... right at your army.
  • Man-Eating Plant: Two of the bosses, Shookle and Shooshookle.
  • Man on Fire: Unless you invested time and ka-ching in upgrading your troops' resistance to fire in later levels, expect your patapons to constantly run back and forth through the screen in a frenzy, their asses ablaze and losing health as they disobey your commands and unwittingly get in the way of enemy attacks.
  • Mask Power: And how! The Hero from the second game is powered up through masks and with the right combination, he can become a Game-Breaker.
  • Meaningful Name: The series is filled with them.
    • Earthend, as (if the Zigoton and Karmen myths are to be believed) the Earth will end if the Patapons find it. The result: They're wrong, and Earthend has an altogether different but still literal meaning; it's where the Earth comes to an end, beyond which is an expanse of... something.
    • The syllabes that precede the "pon" of the class names aren't elected randomly. Yari means spear in japanese, while Tate means shield and Yumi means bow. Hata means flag. Kiba is the act of riding something. Dekai means enormous. Tori means bird while Maho means magic. It even extends to your own default name, Kamipon (kami meaning god). The exceptions are the Robopon and Megapon; the former derives its prefix from robot while the latter is a pun on megaphone.
    • Mater means mother in Latin.
    • Gong means leader in Japanese. Cue General Gong the Hawkeye.
    • The Dark Heroes' names; Standoffish Sonarchy (bat-like Dark hero of Pride), Miss Covet Hiss (snake-like Dark Hero of Jealousy), Madfang Ragewolf (wolf-like Dark Hero of Wrath).
  • Mighty Glacier: Dekapons are slow to move and attack, but pack a punch everytime they hit.
  • Mission-Pack Sequel: Almost the entirety of Patapon has been recycled into Patapon 2, meaning about a third of Patapon 2 has the same content, but with additional mechanics and Zigotons swapped out in story mode with Karmen.
  • Monochromatic Impact Shot: The very last shot in a level turns the screen black and white, with your patapons and whatever they just killed in black silhouetted against the black background as the "Mission complete!" jingle plays.
  • Mook Promotion: Makoton, a regular Zigoton warrior, gradually becomes a formidable adversary later on.
  • Motifs:
    • Everything vaguely on the Patapon's side/made by Patapons tends to have the symbol of a Patapon eyeball somewhere in their design, sometimes with a smile under it as in a megapon's face. Here's a list of things with the eyeball symbol: Mater, The Obelisk, The Altar, Paraget, Trees, Weapons, Pillars, the pole that marks the end of levels, the spirits that act as background during a miracle and final dance at Paraget, and the altar that holds the egg during the final dance at Paraget. Zigotons use red rounded squares as their symbol instead, but it's less prominent than Patapons's.
    • Patapon 2 also has a tribal mask motif throughout the game. The Karmen are a tribe of masked people; Dark One is being powered and controlled by a mask; your own hero lost his memories and is powered up through masks of varying power, and even the last boss is a flying giant mask which spawns a body, then mutates. Even Gong the Hawkeye, of all people, uses a mask to conceal his identity when you first encounter him before immediately throwing it away.
  • Multiplayer Difficulty Spike: Inverted. The game's difficulty significantly decreases in Multiplayer. The lack of the need to defend Hatapon reduces your fail conditions. Every party member will also be an Uberhero, who is much stronger and more durable than their regular Patapon counterparts. Even in the dungeons designed to be too difficult for one player are much more tolerable and manageable in multiplayer.
  • Multiple Endings: Patapon 3 has more than one ending, each of which unlocks a new gameplay feature, played with that you can obtain all 3 endings by beating the final boss again:
    • Ending A: Your Uberhero is revived so that they can continuing fighting the remaining Dark Heroes. This unlocks the Dark Hero hideout and a plethora of Multiplayer exclusive missions through the Dark map, as well as the ability to play as the Dark Heroes in PVP matches.
    • Ending B: Your Uberhero ends their journey to rest in peace. This unlocks the multiplayer-exclusive Depths of Jealousy.
    • Ending C: Your Uberhero sacrifices their life to restore the Patapons to their former glory. This removes the sealing curse placed on them, setting up a new Patapolis, and frees Meden. This unlocks several new items for the Meden Mart, as well as lowering the prices of several items.
  • Multiple Head Case: The demon Gorl has a second head on his stomach, which switches control with his main head in order to make more violent and aggressive attacks
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Triggering either Fever mode or one of your miracles.
  • Musical Assassin: The Megapon units shoot sound wave projectiles out of tubas.
  • Musical Gameplay: Gameplay consists of inputting Action Commands to the beat of the music to give your Patapon army orders on what to do. Unlike most Rhythm Games, all of the songs have a single tempo that they share, because the game isn't purely about playing the notes correctly and requires you to pay attention to other things which are happening on-screen.
  • My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Played with. Your enemies, be they Zigotons, Karmens, Dark Ones or Bonedeths, don't have to follow the four-rhythm beat to attack that you do. The subversion, along with why this doesn't fall into The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard territory is that the beat is implied to be the reason the Patapon armies are so powerful and deadly, so your enemies are actually weaker because they're not playing fair.
    • Subverted by the Dark Heroes on the other hand. Pay attention, and there is a delay between their movements as they follow the 4-beat command, 4-beat action system.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • Literally. Your Hero unit is the lone Patapon who broke the magical egg at the world's core and caused the downfall of the Patapon empire.
    • Applies to the entire tribe in the third game, where they literally caused the end of the world.
  • Nintendo Hard: Patapon 3 in general due to your having a much smaller army and much tougher quests, especially the multiplayer dungeons. Even the first of these requires a well-coordinated lvl 25+ team with decent equipment and rhythm skills to be completed. And it only gets harder from there. The last floor of the last multiplayer dungeon features bladed pendulums that are a one-hit K.O. Expect a lot of losses this way.
  • No Body Left Behind: Patapons and the opposing tribes melt into puddles when killed; however, it seems to be just the way their body works, as defeated Uberheroes melt as well but DO leave their mask behind. Defied with bosses. Played straight with Patapon 3's mini-bosses such as Treants and Cyclops, which just dissapear into nothingness.
  • No Campaign for the Wicked: Zig Zagged. The Dark Hideout can be unlocked by choosing Ending A in 3, yet the Dark Heroes themselves are limited. They can only be played in PVP matches and can't be used in multiplayer dungeons. While a Dark Map exists, you can only play as the heroes in these missions instead of leading a Dark Hero army.
  • No Cutscene Inventory Inertia:
    • In the few cutscenes of Patapon 2, your hero unit always appears as a normal lvl1 yaripon with Shuba mask, no matter what class, level, rarepon, and mask you have him as.
    • Defied in Patapon 3, however. The cutscenes do have your hero units in their equipped attire.
    • In every game so far, at the very end, there's a part where three patapons (Ton, Chin, and Kan) walk along with Hatapon towards what they believe to be Earthend. In the first two games, these are three normal yaripons (spearmen) with normal spears, no matter what. In the third, the three normal heroes appear as their respective starter classes, each with their normal starter equipment.
  • Nostalgia Level: The final duel against Ravenous features the original, unremixed version of Gong's theme as the song. He even says the same thing upon death! At least this time it's just temporary.
  • Oculothorax: The Patapons themselves, the Zigotons and the Dark Ones. The Karmen may also apply since they're similarly shaped but due to their masks covering most of their body this is uncertain.
  • One-Hit Polykill: Several late-game ranged weapons (bows, the Megapon's red notes) have got "pierce factors" and can go through several enemies and through structures. In the case of the Megapons, these red notes are so strong that they can literally become one hit polykills.
  • Pass Through the Rings: Patapon 2's and 3's obstacle courses. Only by getting past the signs will you earn the needed time to get to the end. Specially frustrating in Patapon 3 as this is the only way to obtain the Pause song, and to reach it you're going to have to literally wipe out every single obstacle in range with your every attack command to make it to the end in time.
  • Perpetual Smiler: The Megapons are always smiling, even when suffering from ailments and dying. Mess up the beat or start screwing around however, and they get mad at you.
  • Physical God:
    • Defied. You, the Almighty Patapon, are unable to interact with your tribe in any other way that isn't drumming a command to them in time (except Meden, whose job as a priestess is to be able to talk to you) and must be content instead by watching them from the skies. the Uberhero in Patapon 3 plays this straight, since they're the result of a Fusion Dance between the Almighty and the Hero.
    • One of the missions in Patapon 2 has you save the Zigotons' massive, anthrophomorphic, priest-robed Physical God, which the Dark Ones are keeping captured and chained up inside its home above the clouds. Even General Gong the Hawkeye, of all people, shows up to help.
  • Plant Person:
    • Ubo Bon and Pop Bean.
    • Menyokki rarepon (Called Bowmunk in Patapon 3)
  • Player Headquarters: Patapolis.
  • Player Tic: Who knew this could happen in a rhythm game?
    • As soon as one team-mate gets behind the finish pole, everyone in the party beats the mission.
    • Basically, Pata Pon Don Chaka whenever you want to celebrate or are waiting for something.
    • Certain people (especially in P1 and P2, with the absence/charging time of Hero Mode) can't refrain from charging with Pon Chaka every single time they prepare to attack. Regardless of whether the enemy actually needs a charged attack to be defeated or not.
    • During mission cutscenes that don't immediately break your Fever, expect the command you issue while waiting to invariably become Pata Pata Pata Pon, specially if you're not paying attention to what you drum up. And more especially if your army appears onscreen, as if you expected it to magically start moving again.
    • Non-mission example; In Patapon 3 not so much, but optimizing your squads in P1 and P2 right before deploying, even if you don't have any new weapons, feels so... relaxing.
  • Power Equals Rarity: Especially in the third game, where rarer weapons equipment have higher stats.
  • Power Gives You Wings:
    • The Patapon 3 intro demo... sort of. Hero gets wings indeed, but... on his head.
    • The Barsala (wings on head) rarepon is the best obtainable rarepon of the original game, and is one of the three ultimate rarepons of Patapon 2. Barsala Hero has been the series' mascot from Patapon 2 onwards, and he even forms part of the Patapon 3 logo. So it's definitely not far off.
  • Pre-Final Boss: Both Queen Kharma and Ormen Karmen serve as this in 1 and 2, respectively. They both fight similarly, floating high above your army and raining spells down on them, inflicting various status effects and generally preventing your patapons from operating at maximum efficiency. The idea is to defeat them as quickly as possible or your army will lose to pure attrition.
  • Pressure Plate: Some dungeons in Patapon 3 have these.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: General Gong and most Zigotons.
  • Quirky Bard: Defied. Megapons are your bard class, but they also double as terrifyingly effective long-range artillery units. Of course, what were you expecting from a game based around the Power of Rock...?
  • Quirky Mini Boss Squad: One in each game:
    • Zigoton Generals Beetleton, Spiderton, and Scorpiton(actually Makoton).
    • Karmen Generals Nomen, Kimen and Hukmen from the second game.
    • The Dark Heroes from 3 have shades of this, but they also have fully-fledged boss battles and occasionally team up with one another for unique challenges.
  • Rainbow Speak:
    • Whenever your name or the name of your hero/Uberhero shows up in dialogue, they tend to be highlighted in a different color. Also applies to weapons upgraded at the Blacksmith in Patapon 3 if the player chose to name them, but only when seeing your Patapons' equipment in the Barracks/Obelisk.
    • If playing online, any quips your Uberhero says that you wrote manually have a different color too.
  • Random Event:
    • Happens in Patapon 3. Sometimes (very scarcely) a special boss will appear, a very strong one. Chances are you are going to need multiplayer help to take them down if you don't want to be pummeled, though you may attempt them solo if you grinded enough. You'll be notified when this happens by Sukopon.
    • Kacchindonga in Patapon 2 only appears if snow is falling at Dongara Ruins.
  • Red Sky, Take Warning:
    • Whenever you come into a level with a red sky, it usually means demonic forces of some kind are nearby.
    • Averted by Gorl, the final boss of the original Patapon. The sky is just a really bright white. Of course, this doesn't really help things when you notice the sickly reddish tones of the landscape, and the fact the sun/moon is black.
  • The Reveal: Downplayed; when the Patapons finally reach Earthend, they don't seem to realize that Silver Hoshipon is IT.
  • Schizo Tech:
    • In the first two Patapon games, the army uses things like spears, bows, swords, clubs, magic, and so on. However, in Patapon 3, cannons and lasers are added to the mix. In addition, there is a minigame about launching tactical missiles into the opponents' side of the area.
    • Robopons are described as "the latest in Patapon technology."
  • Screw the War, We're Partying: Completing a mission in 1 and 2 will return you to Patapolis, where the Patapons will be throwing a huge feast and celebrating in your honor, complete with some kind of ceremonial duel between two warriors and a Battle Trophy of whatever boss you killed or animal you hunted (if you did). Failing a mission will instead have the main gathering area be completely empty and silent. In 3, this celebration is only unlocked after unpetrifying the Patapons in one of the game's endings.
  • Strike Me Down: Beetleton; after a long battle, he surrendered like a man!
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Seven Spirits in Patapon 3.
  • Sealed Good in a Can: Both the Patapon Princess and the magical center of the world were contained in eggs. Breaking the latter proved disastrous, however. Also, Silver Hoshipon.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Each of the 7 dark heroes and their Archfiends in Patapon 3 represents one sin.
  • Shows Damage: Most structures. Also, injured units stare differently.
  • Siege Engines:
    • Both Patapon 1 and 2 posses levels featuring capturing/guarding a catapult.
    • In Patapon 3, the Charibasa, Cannasault, and Cannogabang are whole classes specializing in this.
  • Smashing Survival:
    • A gimmick of the Fenrir in Patapon 3. They will crouch down, and after a command's worth of time, will lunge at your Patapons. Get caught, and you will be prompted to Button Mash to escape their fangs. If you fail to do so, it will rapidly drain their health until they die.
    • Balrogs also possess an ability which works like this after they finish eating the food on their fork, where they will spear a Patapon with it and eat them unless you mash hard enough.
  • Socialization Bonus: There are only two Djinns that can be unlocked by playing Patapon 3's singleplayer mode. The rest can only be acquired by leveling up your Uberhero's online Team with friends or strangers in Co-Op Multiplayer.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance:
    • In 2, there are several levels after acquiring the Karmen catapult where the Patapon use it to bulldoze their way through some Karmen defenses, killing hundreds in the process. The music for these levels is "Totechitentan's Theme", which is a goofy silly-sounding march that completely contrasts the Curb-Stomp Battle you're delivering to the Karmen. It plays again when you fight the Zugagang, making the intimidating Karmen tank seem like a trivial joke.
    • One of the early levels in Patapon 3 takes place in an area with lots of birch trees. "Acchichichi's Theme", a Fever theme heavily associated in previous games with the desert, extreme heat, and Zaknel plays there.
  • Speaking Simlish: The Patapons speak vague-sounding Japanese but otherwise only sing the names of the drums. (Pon, Pata, Chaka, and Don.)
  • Spectacular Spinning: The "Don Chaka like it's 1999!" dance. Also, the Hero does a lot of spinning in hero mode if he's a Robopon or a Dekapon.
  • Squishy Wizard: Mahapons are pretty low on hitpoints.
  • Stupidity Is the Only Option: In Patapon 1 and 2, you must lose on a mission. Meden will then ask you to get a catapult.
  • Starfish Language: Downplayed. While the Patapons have English dialogue, its implied in all three games that their main communication amongst themselves (at least in raids) are through rhythmic songs that gradually become more complex with each subsequent verse until they reach FEVER.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: The PATA! PON! DON! CHAKA! command.
  • Stock Femur Bone: Most collectible bones are these.
  • Stone Wall:
    • Hatapon. He cannot attack but he has a lot of health. Changed up a bit in the third game; he has much less health and can die in a handful of hits, but he's invincible as long as there's a shield class alive in the squad.
    • The Guardira class in Patapon 3. Its attack isn't exactly high, but its Hero Mode puts up a massive shield that protects the whole party, while taking only 10% the damage it would receive normally from enemy attacks.
  • Super Boss: if you can tolerate watching the unskippaable end cutscene over and over again, defeating Dettankarmen 3 times in Patapon 2 unlocks Zuttankarmen, a Harder Than Hard version of the final boss.
  • Super Mode: Zig-zagged. Correctly playing to the beat for long enough will put your army into Fever mode, which greatly increases their cohesion and effectiveness in battle, but you'll quickly realize that staying in Fever is basically required to perform effectively in a level whatsoever, meaning that regular mode is more like an "un-super mode" rather than the other way around. However, from Patapon 2 onward, playing four perfect notes in a measure will activate your Hero/Uberhero's hero ability and can only be sustained by continuing to play perfect measures or the ability will peter out, making it a more straightforward example of this trope.
  • Swiss-Army Hero: Pretty much the whole point of the hero unit. Specially in Patapon 2, where besides being able to change into any rarepons and classes you have already unlocked, you can choose between different 'masks' to emphasize some combat style over another.
  • Taken for Granite: Hatapon is the only one not suffering from this at the beginning of the third game.
  • Tank Goodness: The Zigotons build one in the first game called the Ziggerzank that serves as a miniboss. In Patapon 2, now that the Zigotons are on your side, the Ziggerzank provides much-needed support in the assault against Sokshi Gate. The Karmen get in on the action when Black Hoshipon builds one for them, called the Zugagang.
  • Tech Tree: Introduced in the sequel, basically an Evolution tree for Rarepons/classes.
  • Timed Mission:
    • The obstacle course training levels in Patapon 2 and 3 have you try to reach the end before the timer runs out. Reaching it is, in fact, the only way to obtain the pause song in Patapon 3.
    • The second floor of Estate of Earnestness has you doing this. Fail to reach the end in time and you won't obtain the key needed to open the gate and get to the boss.
  • Title Drop: And how! Its TDPM (title drop per minute) is rather high when playing this game.
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: While the Patapon summon a miracle, monsters, bosses and other enemies will just simply wait for you to finish up. Only averted in regards to item drops since all items fade away after a set amount of time; your miracle dance doesn't stop the timer and the item will most likely disapear by the time they finish.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: The Hero Unit lost his memory after he destroyed the world egg. The five survivors from the disaster that starts the first game can't remember anything before it, either.
  • Turns Red: In Patapon 3, when you reduce a boss's health down to half, they will not have a preparation time before their attacks and instead attack immediately.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Gong returns from the dead in Patapon 2. Exactly how is never stated, but perhaps defeating Gorl returned the Zigotons to what they once were?
  • Verbal Tic:
    • Karmen tend to end their phrases with their species's name or the last three words of it.
    • Bonedeths seem to repeat their species's name a little too much as well.
  • Video Game Raids: Patapon 3 has multi-floor multiplayer dungeons that can only be completed with multiple Uberheroes which contain extremely powerful threats but exceptional loot as an incentive. There are also randomly occurring superbosses that spawn out in the world, and while these can technically be killed in single-player the experience will be much easier with other players.
  • Visible Silence: In Patapon 3, these happen a lot and often with "..."
  • Voice Grunting: In first two games, Meden likes to say "Papaya!" when her dialogue box appears.
  • Walking Head: The Patapons and the tribes opposing them.Heck,they're EYES on stick legs!
  • War Has Never Been So Much Fun: Brightly colored backgrounds, absolutely adorable critters as your army and your enemies, defeated units melt into the ground instead of collapsing in pools of gore. The Patapons's ultimate goal is to reach Earthend. Aww, look at the cute little eyeballs with swords and spears go at it!
  • Weather Manipulation: Jujus can be used to turn the environmental tide over to your Patapons. For example, they can dance to bring rain to a scorching desert or manipulate the wind.
  • What the Hell, Player?: If you start screwing around and randomly mash the drums, your Patapons will get really mad at you.
  • With Catlike Tread: Opposing tribes (specially in earlier levels) often attempt to ambush you to no avail, because the shrubbery concealing them barely hides their faces but not their bodies or weapons, not to mention that they're not especially good at stealth.
    Zigoton in the tall grass: [in a big, white speech bubble that makes a stark contrast against the background] Uh... How long do we have to hide?
    Another zigoton in the tall grass: [in the same stark white bubbles] Shh! There they are!
  • When It Rains, It Pours: In the first two games. Patapon 3 has a "light" rain too.
  • When Trees Attack: Patapon 3 introduces a tree-like enemy.
  • The Worf Effect: In the first game, you need to build a sizeable army in order to stand a chance against Dodonga. In the second game, you beat it while your army still consists of the 3 default-equipped Yaripons. The difference is that Hero is present, but his equipment is only slightly better.
  • Worthy Opponent: General Gong is later honored to fight the player.
  • You Shouldn't Know This Already: You can't learn new drumbeats until you unlock the relevant "drum" by finding it in the stage it's hidden in.
  • Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Cartoonish lightning to accompany the storms is the way to go.
  • You Bastard!:
    • The huntable Pekkora in Patapon 2. The tips not only mention that killing the Pekkora without killing its children gets you a better quality fur, it actually encourages you to do it. Then you actually do it, and are immediately rewarded with the sight of the little Pekkorako crying over the limp body of their mother in the background.
    • Patapon 1 is filled with this from the desert stage and on until almost the very end. It's hard not to feel sorry for poor Makoton when he refuses to leave his friend to die, his friend whom you're supposed to kill to progress the level. And Makoton's rage and anguish is very much felt in his later encounters, which soon spirals into a long quest of vengeance.

Alternative Title(s): Patapon 3, Patapon 2

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