History VideoGame / SphinxAndTheCursedMummy

The game takes place in two parts. The majority of the game takes place as Sphinx, who does the running, jumping, and baddie-battling common to action adventure heroes. The Mummy, on the other hand, has his own separate sections that focus almost exclusively on puzzle-solving. These act as chapter breaks in Sphinx's story, and usually come after dungeons, major bosses, or other big quests.

[[quoteright:247:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sphinx-and-the-cursed-mummy-001_9966.png]]

In late 2016, Creator/THQNordic purchased the rights to the game, having expressed an eagerness in how well it matches the likely audience for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. In November 2017, it released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, and sure enough, a Switch version was released in January 2019.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Sphinx is barefooted through the entire game, regardless of traversing hot sand, rocks, and other hostile terrain.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: In the NTSC version of the game, Smiling Burbles were unable to respawn, making them unable to be captured if all were killed in their encounters, rendering HundredPercentCompletion impossible. The PAL version fixed this bug, and this is no longer the case in THQ Nordic's release of the game in 2017, where this monster can respawn in Uruk Canyon.

* BalefulPolymorph: One of the many curses inflicted on the mummy is the transformation into a small, flying {{Mook}} (useful for solving puzzles), and the Geb Queen boss can turn Sphinx into a frog (actually an integral step in battling this PuzzleBoss).

* SadlyMythtaken: The game implies that the Sphinx was the name of an individual person, in this case a god-in-training. The sphinx was actually a species of mythical creature with the head of a person (often female), the body of a lion, a pair of bird wings on its back and would ask those it comes across a riddle. If they answered correctly, the sphinx would either leave them alone or die. They answer it wrong or refuse to answer and they kill you.

** However, for some reason the Piranha and Exo-Piranha don't respawn after Spinx first encounters them in Abydos in any version of the game.

** The Piranha and Exo-Piranha don't respawn after their first encounter in Abydos in any version, however.

''Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy'' is a 2004 multi-platform [[ActionAdventure Zelda clone]] made by Eurocom that takes ''extreme'' liberties with both [[AncientEgypt Egyptian]] history and mythology, rife with [[AnachronismStew anachronisms]], FridgeLogic, RuleOfCool [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot taken too far]], and [[FantasyKitchenSink random fantasy elements]] despite being ostensibly based on Egyptian history. Considered a "hidden treasure" of the sixth console generation, it's well worth a look.

* ALoadOfBull: The Big Bull. Although it is noted to have more of a ram-like head, it still counts.

** Make sure to capture a Piranha and Exo-Piranha in Abydos before killing them all, because they don't respawn.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: In the NTSC version of the game, Smiling Burbles were unable to respawn, making them unable to be captured if all were killed in their encounters, rendering HundredPercentCompletion impossible. The PAL version fixed this bug, and this is no longer the case in THQ Nordic's release of the game in 2017, where this monster can respawn.

* UniqueEnemy: The lone Sunflower in Uruk Canyon, and Uruk Temple has a giant Crabhands that climbs on the walls in it's room and dives down at you, the only one of it's variant in the game.
* UnwinnableByMistake:

* UniqueEnemy: Uruk Temple has a giant Crabhands that climbs on the walls in it's room and dives down at you, and is the only one of this variant in the game.

* PsychoElectricEel: They serve as BoarderPatrol in one section.

In late 2016, [[Creator/{{THQ}} THQ Nordic]] purchased the rights to the game, having expressed an eagerness in how well it matches the likely audience for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. In November 2017, it released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, and sure enough, a Switch version was released in January 2019.

* DummiedOut: There are a large number of unused items in the game code, leftover from features that were cut from the final game. [[https://www.moddb.com/mods/sphinx-and-the-shadow-of-set Sphinx and the Shadow of Set]][[labelnote:*]]which was the game's original name before the Mummy became a larger part of the game due to positive reactions[[/labelnote]], a GameMod for the PC version, restores a lot of these features, due to unused content being included with the modding tools.
** There are a number of unused Portal Amulets for locations that were scrapped - including an underwater city called Akaria and a jungled region called Sakkara. The amulets are non-functional, though, and the game will hang if you try to use them.
** Originally, Sphinx was meant to have the ability to transform into an actual sphinx - that is, a winged lion.
** There is an unused ability item, the "Wings of Ra", that was likely meant to pair with the Wings of Ibis, allowing the player to triple jump.
** The sole unused item that is actually functional (if acquired through hacking) is the Oxygen Ankh, which allows the player to stay underwater indefinitely.

* {{Unwinnable}}: