These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Trauma Center
Alternative Character Interpretation: As per Five-Man Band in the Main tab, nobody can decide on who The Hero of Trauma Team is. The most likely candidates are Gabe and CR-S01, the former since he keeps showing up in everyone's stories and the epilogue ends with him.
The ending theme of Trauma Team, Gonna Be Here (the series' only vocal track), brought its composer to tears when he heard it play over the ending.
The Bloody Rose stays true to the series' trend of epic final battle themes. However, this one succeeds over the other three such themes in terms of epicness in spades, even if the battle itself isn't quite as frantic as its predecessors. Your Mileage May Vary.
Rosalia's GUILT. It's an emotional, sad remix of "Vulnerability" from Second Opinion that plays during the final operation of Trauma Team, when CR-S01 injects the cardioplegic solution into Naomi Kimishima's heart, causing it to stop beating and her maximum vitals to start plummeting. You have literally seconds to excise the Twisted Rosalia virus that has taken over her heart before her vitals peg at zero, and no Healing Touch to see you across the finish line. You screw up, and that's it: Naomi fucking dies.
In Trauma Team, both Tomoe herself and her gameplay mode are this to a great degree.
Complete Monster: Adam von Raitenau in Under the Knife, his grandson Heinrich in Under the Knife 2.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Victor Niguel and "Little Guy". The latter becomes surprisingly popular within the fandom, despite his very minor role.
Linda Reid (a patient) in Under the Knife.
Fan-Disliked Explanation: Remember how Derek Stiles got infected with GUILT in Second Opinion? Under the Knife 2 introduces post-GUILT syndrome. If it affects him at all or if he takes a medication mentioned later in the game to cure it is never mentioned, and it is unlikely they will ever revisit Derek given the direction they've been taking the series since Trauma Team.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: This game series is far more popular in America than Japan, to the degree that from Second Opinion onwards, the games are released in North America before Japan.
New Blood and Trauma Team even take place in the United States.
Heartwarming Moment: After Naomi's surgery, when Alyssa comes running in and Naomi clings on for dear life But pretty much any scene of them together is guaranteed to melt your heart.
Hell Is That Noise: If you screw up dissecting Triti, it lets out a horrible scream- rather disturbing, seeing as it is a mass of triangles. This is the sound of the patent's organs slowly petrifying from the outside in.
The song that kicks in for the REALLY desperate First Response missions, known as Pandemic, not the entire song itself (thought it is tense), but the (synth?) guitar riff that starts at the 1:20 mark. It really complements the fact that you're dealing with countless people on the brink of death from a disease ripped straight out of Hell itself.
Ho Yay: Adel and Derek in Under the Knife 2. Especially evident in one scene about halfway through.
How about Derek and any remotely attractive male character? (this is Atlus after all) Tyler and Victor come to mind.
It's Easy, so It Sucks: Trauma Team is notably less difficult than other games; in particular, the final operation is much easier than in past games, much to the chagrin of the fanbase.
Launcher of a Thousand Ships: CR-S01 has been paired with all of main characters of Trauma Team, characters not even in the game, and his sister and adoptive father.
In the Japanese version, we have Adel calling Tsukimori (Japanese version of Derek's surname) with the tone sounds as foreign as possible. Sadly, it becomes "Daktar Tsukimori" instead.
The song "Gentle Breeze" from Under the Knife 2 is now frequently used alongside pictures of deformed or odd-looking shots of SpongeBob SquarePants characters, beginning with Squidward, and going downhill from there.
Nightmare Fuel: Trauma Team has a pretty scary one. The Rosalia Virus causes WAY too many people to die. And when a person truly dies, they bleed to DEATH through anything with a hole, including their EYES.
Just take a moment to think about what GUILT and Stigma do to you. And there's a lot more where that came from.
From Trauma Team, Rosalia is, essentially, Super Ebola that is spread by butterflies. While giving you a touch of Ax Crazy to make it extra bad. It also just happens to leave it's trademark black bruises in the shape of a freaking CLAW on the liver of most victims. It's likely a consequence of the bruises forming near the entry point of the liver but it still looks frighting as all hell.
By Under the Knife 2, Neo GUILT also causes Ax Craziness.
Doctor Stylllllllllllles....
Older Than They Think: This wasn't the first major surgery-based game (that would be Life and Death) but since it's been fifteen years since that game was made, it is often credited as the first surgical game. It might as well be, considering the rarity of Life and Death these days.
Player Punch: In Under the Knife, you can't help but hate Adam for what he did to Amy Chase. Also, Richard Anderson's death.
And then, the second game punches you again with Emilio's death.
That One Level: New Blood has a couple missions that would certainly qualify for this trope (these don't count as That One Boss because there are multiple operations in these missions).
There are four challenge missions that involve treating a series of patients in a simulation. The final one involves one patient with that is infected with Kyriaki, Cheir, and infant Savato, and the one before that involves a simultaneous Deftera and Soma infection.
In the main storyline of New Blood, there is an arguably even harder mission that involves three patients. The first one is a Brachion infection, which is the Puzzle Boss of New Blood. It's not particularly hard, but it eats up a large amount of time and can get nasty if the heads regenerate. The second operation is a simultaneous Cheir and Soma infection, which is nasty combination, but can be overcome with the right strategy and a little luck. The final operation is the worst thing ever. This patient is infected with both Soma and Onyx. This is downright criminal as treating Onyx invariably means taking your eye of Soma to find the hidden Onyx and you are almost guaranteed that a red tumor will harden while doing so. The kicker for these multiple patient operations is that when you lose, you have to start from the beginning, making it all the more annoying considering the Onyx/Soma combination is intricate enough to be its own mission.
"Lost in Flames". Just... "Lost in Flames".
Every Triti mission is an example of this.
The ninth operation of the original should be mentioned, especially since it's non-GUILT related. The patient's large intestine is suffering from aneurysms. To complete one, first, you have to magnify it. Then, shrink it with a needle until you can scalpel it. Then, forceps it to a tray. Drain the excess blood. Forceps the vessels together. Stitch. It's not the hard the first time, but once multiple ones start appearing, even the Healing Touch won't help. This extends to any aneurysm mission. The danger from them bursting is so great that after the first game this operation almost always takes place within the brain just so you can start and stop immediately, and so the impact of multiple aneurysms bursting at once is more realistic.
While Trauma Team is notably easier than the past games, getting an XS rank is now much more difficult. Nowhere does this become more apparent than "Blade of Resolve" and "Love in the Ground", which require the player to get all COOL miniranks and to finish absurdly fast.
A good number of Tomoe's missions are these, particularly any mission involving multiple branched-out paths. The one where you have to search for Dr. Cunningham in a huge pile of rubble is the prime example.
Naomi's missions may not be ranked, but they are hard. This troper took over an hour each playing her missions.
The Woobie: All of the Sinners, but Emilio takes the cake. Poor Emilio...
Also, in Trauma Team, Rosalia Rosselini. An innocent girl that only wants to help people ended up killed by her own stepfather because she is the carrier of a doomsday virus.
Amy Chase in Under the Knife.
Stoic Woobie: CR-S01/Erhardt Muller in Trauma Team. He was hated by his parents, his adoptive father went insane and killed his sister and thousands of other people. He was then convicted of killing those people and sentenced to 250 years in jail. Even when he can reduce his sentence by performing surgeries, he has to go back to his cell shortly after the operations and thus can't hang out with the rest of the cast. Despite all of this, he doesn't seem that affected on the outside.
