Video Game / The Fairly OddParents: Shadow Showdown

Timmy Turner couldn't be more excited. The season finale of Crash Nebula is seconds away! He's all prepared to watch some high-energy, pumped-up, space action... but suddenly, just as the show starts, his TV goes out! Taken aback, Timmy tries to wish for it to be fixed, but Cosmo and Wanda find that their wands aren't working for some reason. In lieu of this, Wanda pulls out her emergency wand and breaks the glass on it, conjuring up a movie projector that plays an old, "interactive" training film hosted by the (former) king and queen of Fairy World, Oberon and Titania, intended to teach fairies how to use emergency wish reserves. After completing the film, the crew head to Fairy World to find out what's wrong and fix Timmy's TV in time to catch the rerun of the season finale the next day.

Upon arriving, they find out from Jorgen Von Strangle that the Royal Jewel, an artifact with "tremendous magical power", has gone missing, or rather, has been stolen, which has caused not just Cosmo and Wanda, but every fairy to lose their powers. The three also conclude that the jewel is responsible for a strange magical signal to emit from TVs everywhere - which has also caused Timmy's own TV to go kaput. With no other option, Jorgen reluctantly enlists the help of Timmy and his fairies to get it back. However, after his first lead goes nowhere, he gives Timmy the task of making the one thing more powerful than the Royal Jewel: a Fairyversary muffin, and later has them assist him with his investigation. Once he catches the recipe, it's up to Timmy to find the following ingredients: Pixie Sugar, Mooncalf Milk, a Phoenix Egg, and Super Strong Hair-Raising Flour. Luckily, Timmy is able to order all of them from the internet (conveniently, from the only store that had them, and only had one of each). His luck doesn't last, however, as his babysitter, Vicky, gets to them before he can, handing off the sugar to Timmy's dad, the flour to his mom, taking the milk for herself, and smashing the egg. With all four ingredients gone and the Royal jewel missing, Timmy must travel through different levels to get the ingredients back, make the muffin, put a stop to the TV magic, find out who stole the jewel, and make it back home in time to see Crash Nebula.

The Fairly Oddparents: Shadow Showdown, released September 8, 2004, is a Spiritual Successor to the previous FOP game, Breakin' Da Rules, taking the gameplay of that game and expanding upon it. Instead of having three sets of five wish stars to collect, you are given three sets of three stars - each with their own color. Excluding the tutorial and Final Boss: there are six levels: "Fairly Disastrous", "Dad's Dream", "Take It on the Chin", "Get a Clue", "Vicky Strikes Back", and "The Great Esc-ape". New to the game is the wish inventory, a mechanic that lets you pick which wish you want to have equipped, as you will need to use multiple wishes to clear levels (and get collectibles).

Spoilers below.

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You'll need to read these emergency wish tropes before we can grant a wish:

• Advancing Boss of Doom: The giant robot in "Dad's Dream".
• Alliterative Name: The company that the TV announcer in the opening cutscene of "The Great Esc-ape" is working for:
  And now, from Big Bad Banana Broadcasting: Banana Bread Binge!
• Alliterative Title: The show the TV announcer in the opening cutscene of "The Great Esc-ape" is announcing:
  And now, from Big Bad Banana Broadcasting: Banana Bread Binge!
• Ambiguous Syntax: A bit of dialogue between Cosmo and Wanda in "Fairly Disastrous":
  Wanda: I wish I had my magic back.
  Cosmo: The back you're using is fine.
• Animated Armor: In "Get a Clue!", not only do these pose a threat, but they are also a level mechanic. In order to obtain the green wish star, Ghost!Timmy has to chase these down to the base the fluffy thing on their helmets corresponds to, then go "boo" to scare them still. Lampshaded by Wanda.
  Wanda: Careful, Timmy! Medieval armor often comes to life!
• Announcer Chatter: Cosmo and Wanda, in the same manner as Breakin' Da Rules.
• Artistic License – Physics: The first part of "Take It on the Chin" is dedicated to blocking the water from the waterworks' faucets so that the water can somehow lower enough to reveal a button you need to press to get inside. Lampshaded by Wanda.
• Big Bad: The Chamberlain’s Shadow, which would've been a mystery had it not been for the title and cover art.
• Big Boo's Haunt: Oberon and Titania's mansion serves as this in "Get a Clue".
• Big "NO!": Timmy does this when his TV craps out at the start of the game. He also does it at the end when he misses the Crash Nebula rerun. Before that, the chamberlain's shadow does this just before Timmy eats the muffin.
• Big Red Button: You have to bounce these to cause things in the levels to happen so you can progress through them. These are also how you save your game.
• Blob Monster: One of the mooks in "Take It On the Chin".
• Boss-Arena Idiocy: You'd think an ape king with a banana allergy would not surround his pillar with easily accessible bananas from palm trees. Then again, the level's opening cutscene does show him to be a bit of a dolt.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  Cosmo: "The Great Esc-ape". I don't get it.
• British Stuffiness: Well, they're from Fairy World, but regardless, Oberon and Titania have the accent and attitude to match.
• Buffy Speak: Timmy's first wish in "Fairly Disastrous" comes from Wanda's suggestion of a "playing card suit restoration gizmo-thingy".
• Canon Foreigner: Oberon, Titania, the chamberlain and his shadow were created for the video game and never appeared in the TV show.
• Captain Obvious:
  • Calling your godparents in the yugonium section of "Vicky Strikes Back" will lead to an incredulous Wanda saying, "Space is big. Really big."
  • When you approach a particularly long Crimson Wing section in "Take It on the Chin", Cosmo will warn, "Remember, kids: don't fall off of tall buildings; it hurts."
  • The hints your godparents will give can come across as this to older players or those who have played the game before.
• Cardboard Prison: In "The Great Esc-ape", all Timmy has to do to get out of prison is push a box and jump out. Seriously.
• Casting a Shadow: The chamberlain's shadow is alive and is the Big Bad.
• Catapult Nightmare: How Timmy's Dad wakes up in "Dad's Dream".
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Instead of all the stars being yellow as in Breakin' Da Rules, there are now purple and green stars. These colorings dictate the order in which sets of stars are collected. Yellow stars are first, then purple, then green. Occasionally, you can collect green stars before purple ones, but they still show up in the third set in the game's HUD.
  • This also applies to the Dairy Fairy cows in "Fairly Disastrous". Each cow has stars of a certain color that corresponds to a shed of the same color.
  • The Knights in "Get a Clue" have a color motif that corresponds to the base that they need to be scared back to in order to release the green wish stars.
  • In certain levels, such as "Take It on the Chin", it's possible to collect different colored stars in the same area before you make a wish, but you need to have three stars of the same color in order to make a wish, not just any three stars. This is handwaved by Wanda, who states "Keep the colors separate or they'll run."
• Color-Coded Speech: Timmy Turner's subtitles are colored white. Wanda's is colored pink. Cosmo's is colored green.
• Comically Missing the Point: In the opening cutscene of "The Great Esc-ape", Cosmo seems more worried about getting banana bread than rescuing Timmy's mom and getting the flour back.
• Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: If you idle for long enough, either Cosmo or Wanda will tell you to get a move on.
• Curse Cut Short: Not exactly a curse, but once you land the last hit on H2Olga in "Take It on the Chin", Timmy will triumphantly declare that "justice prevails!" Cosmo then responds by asking, "Uh, don't you mean poop?", but the next cutscene always starts before he can say "poop".
• Damsel in Distress: Timmy's mom in "The Great Esc-ape".
• Deadpan Snarker: The Door That Never Opens in "Get a Clue".
• Death Glare: Wanda gives one to Cosmo in the opening cutscene from "The Great Esc-ape" when, after learning an evil ape king has kidnapped Timmy's mom, he asks how they're "gonna get [their] banana bread now".
• Department of Redundancy Department: The entry for the Blob sticker.
• Double Jump: Lampshaded in the tutorial level.
  Oberon: For bigger leaps, jump in the air. That's right, ignore the rules of physics and jump twice!
• Dream Land: "Dad's Dream".
• Eternal Engine: The first part of "Take It on the Chin" requires you to lower the water level in the starting area so you can get into one. Once you do, the rest of the level takes place there.
• Final Boss: The game ends with a final battle against the Chamberlain's Shadow.
• Foreshadowing: Trying to use the "House Upside-Downer" while standing on a box will result in Cosmo and Wanda preventing you, saying it would crush you. This is precisely how you're meant to defeat the boss of the level.
• Game-Breaking Bug: In "Vicky Strikes Back", using the pinball, it's possible to clip through the wall in the big room with lasers and floating platforms leading to the pinball room if you do it juuuust right. Timmy will not die, and therefore not respawn, so your only option from there is to reset the game. It's not common, though.
• Game Over/Law of 100: Unlike Breakin' Da Rules, neither trope is present. The game has no lives, so dying just means you go back to the last Respawn Point.
• Going Through the Motions: NPCs tend to do this in non-cinematic cutscenes.
• Gotta Catch Them All: Stickers and video clips are collectibles in the game. Collecting one particular sticker in "The Great Esc-Ape" even prompts Cosmo to reference the trope namer.
• Green Aesop: Hammily parodied by Cosmo during the boss fight with H2Olga in "Take It On the Chin".
  Timmy (after landing the first hit): Yeah, she can't take her pollution!
  Cosmo: And neither can Mother Nature! We have to wake up and act, people!
  Wanda: Careful, honey, don't drop your soapbox in the water.
• Have a Nice Death: In some levels, dying will cause your fairies to comment on it. It's most prevalent in "Vicky Strikes Back".
• Heroic BSoD: Cosmo has a minor one that's Played for Laughs when he hears about the Royal Jewel's theft. The news causes him to freeze up out of shock until the next cutscene.
  Wanda: Oh dear, Cosmo's fused.
• Holler Button: One to call your fairies, just like in Breakin' Da Rules.
  • "Fairly Disastrous" has a more tradional example with Timmy Cow-Boy suit. To get the attention of the cows and make them follow you, you need to moo. You can moo again to make them snap out of it.
  • In "Get a Clue", you do this with the ghost costume to frighten living armor.
• Hollywood Science/Technobabble: How Cosmo explains pinball technology in "Vicky Strikes Back". Naturally, it's lampshaded multiple times.
• Hub Level: Jorgen's base of operations.
  • The central area in "Dad's Dream", where you collect your stars.
• Humongous Mecha: The boss of "Dad's Dream", built by Timmy's Dad himself.
• Hypocritical Humor: Wanda chastises Cosmo for making a particularly bad pun in "Get a Clue", but before that point, she'd been pulling out puns left and right.
• Idea Bulb: The first wish Timmy makes in "Dad's Dream" is for a light bulb to see through dark areas. The bulb in question happens to be Cosmo's good idea bulb. He's not too thrilled about Timmy using it without his permission.
• Informing the Fourth Wall: If you try to use the mansion upside-downer while standing on a box in "Get a Clue", Cosmo or Wanda will stop you, warning that the box will crush you.
• Insult Backfire:
  Jorgen: Do you like having arms and legs, feeble Cosmo fairy?
  Cosmo: Sure! They're useful!
  Jorgen: Bah. You are too stupid to intimidate.
  Cosmo: Thanks!
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Queen Titania is voiced by Lenore Zann. She and Timmy's voice actor Tara Strong had the respective roles of Rogue and Colossus's younger sister Illyana in X-Men: The Animated Series.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: "Dad's Dream".
• Lame Pun Reaction: In "Get a Clue", Timmy wishes for a special magnifying glass to pick up trails of magic. Then Cosmo makes a suggestion...
  Cosmo: We...hahaha... we should call this... hahaha... a magic-fying glass! Ahaha, get it?
  Timmy: ...no. No, we shouldn't.
  Wanda: I don't think so either. Mention that again, and I'll turn you into a candelabra, then light all your heads.
• Last Note Nightmare: The first regular stage theme in "Vicky Strikes Back" ends with a single, eerie sound effect.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: The BGM whenever you pause the game, a la Breakin' Da Rules.
• Literal-Minded: Cosmo demonstrates his literal minded-ness in "Fairly Disatrous" when Timmy wishes he was a cowboy in order to round up the Fairy Dairy cows. Cosmo's interpretation? A cow/boy hybrid, which is just Timmy walking upright in a cow suit with the ability to moo.
• Name-Tron: The third and final wish in "Fairly Disastrous", the Repair-O-Tron.
• invoked Nightmare Fuel: The objective in "Dad's Dream" is to invoke this so's to wake up Timmy's dad.
• No Sympathy: Cosmo in the pre-boss cutscene in "Get a Clue".
  Cosmo: Aww, how sad, not being filthy rich anymore. Please.
  • And right after that...
• Oh, Crap!: ...the boss shows up and scares the crap out of Cosmo.
  Cosmo: Eek! I'm sorry! Rich people are great, and this treasure room is really impressive! Please don't haunt me!
  • Cosmo again when he finds out the Royal Jewel has been stolen, declaring it "the worst thing that could happen".
  • Wanda has her own moment when the cutscene preceding the H2Olga boss fight.
  Wanda: She's huge!
  • Timmy gets his own moment when his dad's giant robot spots him in "Dad's Dream".
  • The little robot in "Dad's Dream" can be heard making an audible "uh-oh" sound two times. The first is in the opening cutscene, when it realizes Timmy is about to chase it. The second is in the closing cutscene, just before it powers down after ejecting the sugar from its back.
• Painting the Medium: Since the tutorial level is supposed to take place in an old training film, the game takes steps to make sure it looks and sounds like one. Everything except Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda are colored in sepia tone, there are grainy film effects everywhere, and even the music sounds like it's coming from a phonograph.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Oberon and Titania as the "ghost" that serves as the boss of "Get a Clue!". They only barely attempt to disguise their voices (yes, their, because a ghost can apparently have two voices) half the time, the other half not even bothering, Plus, you can clearly see eyes inside its "mouth".
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: Quince likes to use these a lot. Also shows up as part of the "loom" gag in "Get a Clue".
  Cosmo: Foom! Is that a word? It should be! Fooooooooom!
• Pinball Zone: The third section of "Vicky Strikes Back" is essentially a set a pinball-like rooms.
• Previously on…: The Crash Nebula season finale starts with one.
  Timmy: I know what happened, get on with it!
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Timmy's dad in "Dad's Dream" when his giant robot is destroyed.
  Timmy's dad: Ego... in... turmoil... must... wake... UP!
• Rainbow Speak: A rather specific example. In the knight section of "Get a Clue", the final room has four knights with four bases. Calling your godparents near, for example, a green base will render the word to be colored green in the subtitles.
• Real Dreams are Weirder: "Dad's Dream", which consists of rogue animate suits without wearers, living tools that attack you, giant moth-eating frogs that are just... there, and a boat made out of pastries. That last one is actually important to the level, as the goal is to turn it into a proper boat so you can get to the giant robot Timmy's dad built.
• Recurring Boss: In the Game Boy Advance version, every boss fight is against the Chamberlain's Shadow.
• Recycled Soundtrack: Both a cutscene and the Hub Level reuse music from Breakin' Da Rules.
• Reused Character Design: Queen Titania very closely resembles Principal Waxelplax from the show.
• Robot Buddy: Timmy's dad built one for himself, using the pixie sugar to power it.
• Rule of Three: Three stars = one wish. There are also three sets of stars.
• Running Gag: The game has its share, most of them triggered by repeatedly calling your godparents.
  • In "Take It on the Chin", when Timmy wishes for the Crimson Wing, Cosmo keeps bringing up apple pie.
    • Later in the level, when you're inside the water puzzle room in the waterworks, Cosmo will keep mentioning an elephant as being part of the puzzle.
  • The "loom" bit in "Get a Clue". See Sublime Rhyme.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Subverted. Timmy manages to save the day, only to return home and discover he missed the rerun of the Crash Nebula finale. However, Cosmo and Wanda point out they have their magic back, which means he can wish to watch the finale now.
• Shout-Out:
  • The names of the king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, is a reference to the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
  • The jester in "Fairly Disastrous" is a walking Alice in Wonderland reference, mainly spouting out words from the Cheshire Cat's song. Also, the playing card motif seen throughout the level? His work.
  • "Vicky Strikes Back" is one big parody of sci-fi TV shows. Even the title is a reference to The Empire Strikes Back.
    • Just before getting a certain star in the level, Wanda will quip, "That star's goin' on a trek!"
  • "The Great Esc-ape" is likely a pastiche of Planet of the Apes.
  • Just before you fight H2Olga in "Take It on the Chin", Wanda quips, "It's cleftering time!"
• Space Zone: "Vicky Strikes Back".
• Spice Up the Subtitles: Words or lines that are said in a certain way will have sort of a wavy effect in the subtitles. Ones that are said in a different way will have the letters jitter around.
• Spoiler Title: The Cover Art and Title pretty much spoil who the Big Bad is.
• Sublime Rhyme: In "Get a Clue", calling your fairies in a room with a giant magic loom will start a short Running Gag in which Cosmo tries to name all the words he can think of that rhyme with "loom".
• Super Drowning Skills: Water in this game is instant death, period. Justified in "Take It on the Chin" due to the water being polluted with Chintonite.
• Take Over the World: Oberon and Titania's plan is to use the Royal Jewel to rule the world after a promise from the chamberlain's shadow. However, the shadow's plan is to screw Oberon and Titania and do the same with the TV magic.
• The Butler Did It: Or rather, his shadow. The old chamberlain separated himself from his shadow so he could be of better help to Oberon and Titania. But since all shadows are apparently evil, his shadow hatched this whole scheme to create a world in which shadows cast people, instead of the other way around.
• 13 Is Unlucky: The Final Boss takes place in the Channel 13 TV studio broadcasting the magic TV signal.
• Title Drop: A sort of dual example: in the hub, the final level is called "Shadow Showdown". However, the Episode Title Card calls it "Shadow TV", which is dropped multiple times in dialogue.
• Translation: "Yes": Comes up in "Fairly Disastrous" with the Dairy Fairy. Cosmo and Wanda are able to find out exactly what Quince has done at the Fairy Dairy with just a simple "moo".
  Dairy Fairy: Moo.
  Cosmo: The cows have been scared away from their shed by Quince?
  Wanda: And the cow shed activates the rainbow bridges?
  Timmy: "Moo" means all that?
  Cosmo: It's all in the context. Context and nuance.
• Trapped in TV Land: "The Great Esc-ape" and "Vicky Strikes Back" both take place in fictional TV shows that have eclipsed the real world due to the TV magic.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: The game has two of these in which you control either Cosmo or Wanda; one in "Dad's Dream", and another, slightly more appropriately, in "Vicky Strikes Back". In the former, it's to collect "brain fuel" to power Timmy's dad's boat. In the latter, it's to open a door to get to Vicky.
• Ungrateful Bastard: So Timmy's just rescued his mom from a crazy tyrannical ape king in a weird monkey TV show. How does she decide to thank him? By scolding him for bouncing on an ape. In fact, the fact that he saved her was the only thing keeping her from grounding him.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable: One part of "Fairly Disastrous" requires you to lead the Dairy Fairy cows back to their sheds so's to supply more power to the rainbow bridge that will lead to Quince. If you time it juuuust right, when you lead a cow onto a cow elevator and press the button at a certain time, you can make it fall into the abyss below (or a body of water, depending on which cow you do this with). That cow is then gone forever, rendering the level impossible to complete, and the only way to get it back is to restart from the last save point.
• Variable Mix: Each level has two variations of its music: a normal theme and a more upbeat remix for when you're sprinting, or when you come in contact with an enemy. Some levels even have separate areas with different themes that also have their own variable mix.
  • In "Vicky Strikes Back", selecting the Gamma Ray wish (outside of the pinball area) will add percussion and a phaser effect to the stage music.
    • The pinball area itself has a variable mix of its theme, but instead of being triggered by sprinting, it's triggered by rolling around really fast in your pinball.
  • In "Get a Clue", turning the mansion upside-down will cue a remixed version of the normal theme. It does not get its own sprint remix, however.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The ape king is allergic to bananas.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: From the tutorial level:
  Oberon: Now, cross these treacherous bookcases! ..."Treacherous bookcases-" who writes this nonsense?!
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: The game's standard Oh, Crap! expression.
• "Will Return" Caption: The end credits during the closing cutscene "Vicky Strikes Back" say that Cosmo and Wanda will return.
• Wingding Eyes: In "Fairly Disastrous", when you use the Cow-Boy suit on the cows, their pupils turn into hearts. It's kind of adorable.
• World of Pun: From the episode names, to things within the levels, to some of the things your fairies say (Wanda in particular), the game is absolutely rife with them.

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Timmy: I finally read all the tropes! What should I wish for?

Wanda: Usually when you get to the end of a trope or a work page, you see a bunch of indices.

Timmy: Indices?

Cosmo: Yeah, they're little links that take you to different pages.

Wanda: Wow, sweetie, I'm impressed! How did you know that?

Cosmo: I sometimes read TV Tropes when you and Timmy are asleep.

Timmy: If you say so, guys. I wish for some indices!

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