Long Xing (center) and friends from the movies.
Roco Kingdom (洛克王国 - pinyin "Luoke Wangguo") is a Chinese MMORPG created by Tencent Games and originally released in 2010.
The game takes place in the eponymous Roco Kingdom, where the Roco people live and work together with their pets. Many ancient legends can be found in this kingdom, along with all kinds of ancient magic. Players can battle each other's pets, and the pets have one or two of several element-based powers associated with them and can use attacks involving those elements - much like Pokémon.
The game has been updated regularly since its initial release and has achieved enough popularity in its native country to spawn a heap of merchandise and several Derivative Works, including:
- A film series consisting of four movies. The movies are titled Roco Kingdom! Knight of the Holy Dragon (洛克王国！圣龙骑士, released 2011), Roco Kingdom 2: Wish of the Holy Dragon (洛克王国2：圣龙的心愿, released 2013), Roco Kingdom 3: Guardian of the Holy Dragon (洛克王国3：圣龙的守护, released 2014), and Roco Kingdom 4: Go! Valley of the Giants (洛克王国4：出发！巨人谷, released 2015).
- A webtoon that first premiered in 2012, consisting of the seasons Roco Kingdom Budo Club (洛克王国武道会), Roco Kingdom: Xuanyu Island Adventures (洛克王国玄玉岛历险记), Roco Kingdom: The Triumph of Light (洛克王国之光明凯旋), Roco Kingdom: The Resurrection Legend (洛克王国之复活传说), and Roco Kingdom: Legend of the God (洛克王国之神宠外传).
- A television cartoon called Roco Kingdom Adventure (洛克王国大冒险) that premiered on CCTV in 2013. The show has three seasons; the first is simply Roco Kingdom Adventure, the second is Roco Kingdom Adventure 2: Enzo's Diary (洛克王国大冒险2之恩佐日记), and the third is Roco Kingdom Adventure 3: The Eight Medals (洛克王国大冒险3之八大勋章).
- A book continuation of the above called Roco Kingdom Adventure 4: Deep Sea Lost City (洛克王国大冒险4之深海迷城).
- A hybrid live-action/animation series called Roco Kingdom Magic Academy (洛克王国魔法学院) began airing in 2014. Unlike Roco Kingdom Adventure, this series aired on Hunan TV a.k.a. Mango TV.
- Roco Kingdom Mobile, a Genshin Impact-esque mobile game, was announced to be released in 2022.
Roco Kingdom contains the following tropes:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The big dragon in the first movie's climax is animated in CGI, whereas the rest of the film has 2D animation.
- Action Pet: Same deal as Pokémon; you capture pets and then use them to fight other pets. Simple as that.
- Agitated Item Stomping: In Season 3 episode 5 of Roco Kingdom Adventure, Pig angrily stomps on his Gulu Ball after his pet loses to Roco's.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: It's thought to have been created as Tencent's equivalent to Taomee's SEER, another knock-off of Pokémon replacing the urban setting with a speculative fiction one (sci-fi for SEER, medieval fantasy for Roco Kingdom).
- Animated Adaptation: The films, webtoon, and TV show are all based off of the original game.
- Art Evolution: The first two seasons of Roco Kingdom Adventure use cheap Flash animation. The third season shifts to more detailed frame-by-frame animation and looks much more fluid as a result.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Roco and his equivalent in the movies, Long Xing, both wear a bandana that has the letter "R" on it.
- Bunnies for Cuteness: Daermaodou, a pet who looks like a rabbit, evolves into a girl with a rabbit motif for its evolutions. It first turns into a girl wearing a rabbit hoodie, then evolves into a girl who carries a rabbit with her.
- Character in the Logo: The head of the main character of the franchise, Roco, appears in the logo.
- Double Jump: Dimo has one in the game Roco Kingdom: Big Adventure.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: The first boss of the Monon Color game Roco Kingdom: Big Adventure does nothing but charge at you and then stand in place for several seconds before doing it again, so you simply dodge its attacks and attack it back as much as possible to deplete its health.
- Elemental Powers: The pets can be one or two of several possible elemental types, including 火 (fire), 水 (water), 电 (electricity), 草 (grass), 冰 (ice), 武 (martial arts), 毒 (poison), 土 (soil), 翼 (wing), 萌 (cute), 虫 (insect), 石 (stone), 幽 (quiet), 龙 (dragon), 恶魔 (demon), 机械 (mechanical), and 光系 (light).
- Floating Limbs: Huomiao, a fire pet, has flame hands that are not connected to its body.
- Flying Broomstick: They're used as a mode of transportation in the fantasy world of the Roco Kingdom, including by the hero Roco.
- The Full Name Adventures: Roco Kingdom Adventure.
- Gratuitous English: The first film's official English name, The Dragon Knight, averts this. On the other hand, the official English title for the second film, as shown in the logo at the beginning, is The Desire of Dragon. It should be "The Desire of the Dragon".
- Hurt Foot Hop: In Season 2 episode 44 of Roco Kingdom Adventure, Cullan trips over a rock, gets angry and kicks the rock, and winds up hopping in pain when this hurts his foot.
- The Legend of X: One of the licensed books is called Biographies of Roco Kingdom: The Legend of Enzo.
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Licensed Game: The original MMORPG spawned a couple of cartridge games for the Monon Color, a handheld game console made by the company M&D. The extremely small library of games that were released for the C2, a similar handheld created by Baiyi Animation, consists almost entirely of ones based on Roco Kingdom. - Live-Action Adaptation: Roco Kingdom Magic Academy is one, combining live-action with animation.
- The Mockbuster: It's a glorified rip-off of Pokémon, with a set of mons that have the same elemental powers and capsules called Gulu Balls that aren't much different from Poké Balls, just to name a couple of similarities.
- Mons: They're called "pets" and function much the same way as Pokémon, using various element-based attacks when battling each other. Interestingly, Roco Kingdom has actually surpassed the number of mons Pokémon has - while there are 890 Pokémon as of Pokémon Sword and Shield, Roco Kingdom has OVER 2,000 pets.
- New Season, New Name: Each season of Roco Kingdom Adventure besides the first one.
- Season 2 is Roco Kingdom Adventure 2: Enzo's Diary.
- Season 3 is Roco Kingdom Adventure 3: The Eight Medals.
- "Number of Objects" Title: Roco Kingdom Adventure 3: The Eight Medals.
- Numbered Sequels: All the films beyond the first one have numbers appended to their titles, as do all the post-Season 1 installments of Roco Kingdom Adventure.
- The Place: You have one guess as to where the franchise takes place.
- Pointy Ears: The Rocos have pointed ears as part of their not-quite-human design.
- Pokémon Speak: The pets, or at least Roco's pet Dimo, can only say their names.
- Red Is Heroic: Both main heroes — Roco wears a prominently red outfit, and Long Xing from the movies has red hair.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Some of the pets, such as Dimo and Amy, have large eyes and large heads that add to their adorable designs.
- Signature Mon: Roco consistently travels and fights with his pet Dimo. Similarly, Long Xing is usually seen with his pet Abu.
- The Smurfette Principle: Long Xing's gang in the movies has only one female member, Xiao Tiao.
- Snowlems: Yuandan, a pet that could obtained exclusively for a New Year's event that lasted from December 2019 to January 2020, is an anthropomorphic snowman who looks to be controlled by marionette strings.
- Solid Clouds: In the third movie, Long Xing's pet Abu is blown off a floating island high in the sky, and he jumps off the island to catch him. Both safely land on a cloud, which happens to be bouncy.
- Stock Footage: In Season 3 episode 2 of Roco Kingdom Adventure, a flashback shows Roco being helped by another Roco who summons a pet to fight off a bear-like creature that was attacking Roco. A minute or so afterwards, the animation of the pet being summoned and taking out the bear creature is used again without any changes to the footage.
- Technicolor Magic: The franchise's villain, Enzo, has a gang of mages at his side who all wear purple robes. Enzo himself is also seen in a purple shirt and utilizes magic.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Roco loves takoyaki.
- White Bunny: Daermaodou (大耳帽兜), an ice pet, looks like a white rabbit.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Franchise antagonist Enzo, in most of his appearances, has white hair.
- The X of Y: The second film's official English name is The Desire of Dragon, with the original Chinese title translating to the equivalent Wish of the Holy Dragon. The first, third, and fourth films, titled Knight of the Holy Dragon, Guardian of the Holy Dragon, and Go! Valley of the Giants respectively as translated into English, also follow this titling convention.
