History VideoGame / MercenaryKings

** When the cosmic Violence Kings are defeated they regress into fetuses floating in bubbles, much like the infamous ending of ''Film/2001ASpaceOdyssey''.

** The Sabotage barrel informs the player [[Music/TheBeastieBoys "This sniper rifle is no mirage, we are telling you it's a sabotage."]]

* DecapitatedArmy: [[spoiler: Subverted. Even though the Baron dies 2/3's of the way into the game, CLAW continues to be a major presence.]]

** The Mew Grey and Mew Orange firearm receivers, which are a fat kitty holding a small assault rifle and small shotgun, respectively.

* TheUnintelligible: Choppy, Bobby's sentient helicopter, who's only capable of talking in emoticons (though at one point it engages in symbol swearing when it's being shot at.)

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* ShoutOut: Dozens. Far too many to list in their entirety, but we'll try to cover them on [[ShoutOut/MercenaryKings this page]].

* ShoutOut: Dozens. Far too many to list in their entirety.
** The radio conversations are straight from the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series, more specifically ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'''s "talking heads" Codec chatter.
** King looks a lot like a gruffer, scruffier version of ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'''s Marco, down to the bandanna and backpack. Speaking of ''Metal Slug'', there's also the "Mission Complete!" voiceover and the "Brass Snail" enemies, which even lampshade in their description the reference.
** The Wooden Sword. [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI "It's dangerous to go alone. You should take this."]]
** The "Peashooter" reciever is Franchise/MegaMan's arm cannon. It works on multiple levels: In the first three games (and GameBoy games) it's denoted in the Weapon Menu as the "P" weapon (or P-shooter, if you will), and the description itself is a dead giveaway (designed by Light Industries, made to fight for everlasting peace).
** The "Bolt" (read: Colt) 45's description references Billy Dee Williams' commercials for Colt 45 beer: "''Works every time''".
** One knife in the game is named [[VideoGame/{{Dishonored}} Corvo]]. It’s decent, but nothing special.
** Another knife is just called "Snake". [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid It's described as being solid.]]
** There’s also a pickaxe that is visually identical to one in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''. It’s nearly the worst melee weapon available.
** The Pheasant is quite similar to a full-grown bird from ''Tiny Wings''.
** The Violence Kings come from Robertson's animation ''WebAnimation/KingsOfPowerFourBillionPercent''.
** The Horse pistol, which is essentially [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Emperor]], complete with the description "perfect for a mercenary on a bizarre adventure."
** The description of the Black Thorne gun stock: "[[Film/ArmyOfDarkness This is YOUR boomstick. Available in all great S-Mart locations.]]"
** The description of the Broken Bottle: "[[Film/RoadHouse Pain don't hurt]], but this one will."
** One of the ornaments that can be made by the Runway brothers is a pizza, described as "[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles The teenaged turtle's favorite meal.]] Reunites all food groups!"
** T-Bone the cook was a former soldier and has to be rescued in a mission named "[[Film/UnderSiege Under Siege]]", after the StevenSeagal film wherein he plays a former Navy SEAL turned cook.

** King looks a lot like a gruffer, scruffier version of ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'''s Marco, down to the bandanna and backpack.

* XMeetsY: It's MetalSlug meets MonsterHunter, with the art style of ScottPilgrim.

Oh, and if the sprite work looks familiar, you may recognize it as the work of Paul Robertson, aka the same guy who worked on ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorldTheGame'' and some episodes of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''.

* {{Fanservice}}: Another trend of Robertson's animations (see also ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorldTheGame''). Why else would there be such an abundance of cleavage and bouncing in a sprite game?

* ElementalPowers: There are four elements in the game, which are applied to weapons. If an enemy is strong to a specific element, it gets 20% damage reduction (50% for bosses). If it is weak to an element, then it receives anywhere between 20% and 100% increased damage from that element, depending on the element and the enemy in question.
** HollywoodAcid: Caustic damage.
** KillItWithFire: Incendiary damage.
** KillItWithIce: Cryogenic damage.
** ShockAndAwe: Electrical damage.

* {{Fanservice}}: Why else would there be such an abundance of cleavage and bouncing in a sprite game?

* {{Gainaxing}}: Empress's boobs bounce. A lot. ''Constantly''. Probably a shout-out to Angel from the old NeoGeo game ''VideoGame/ShockTroopers'', who did the same.
** Pretty much [[WorldofBuxom every single female character has a sizable bust]] that bounces when they move.

* AwesomeButPractical: Magnum weapon parts. High damage, quick reloads, compatible with jumbo ammunition and [[RevolversAreJustBetter they're all revolvers.]]