History VideoGame / SpiritualWarfare

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Dogs, ducks, bears and even bees will try to harm you - none of your weapons take them out (except the bees in the NES version). Your fruit will bounce off and your bombs do nothing. The only option is to run away or dodge them.

* UpdatedRerelease: The Sega Genesis port, about a year after the NES version. It has slightly improved graphics (easy to notice when walking over any colored floor tile- your sprite no longer has the floor showing through "blank" lines) and a bit better sound and music. It's not a VAST improvement, but still... and passwords work between versions so any taken from an NES playthrough will work on the Genesis and vice-versa. The PC release also has all of these improvements.

** However, the pear is very useful for clearing out piles of rubble that the stronger fruits will simply pass through.

** Answering the Bible trivia, provided you're not well-versed in it, will most certainly require an answer sheet to get them right, particularly as you go higher up in the question pool (PROTIP: If an answer is "Jesus", it will be correct 100% of the time, and [[SincerityMode that's not sarcasm]]). Even if you are well-stocked on Biblical knowledge, they'll sometimes try to trip you up on minor details, like whether the size of one's faith to move mountains equals a mustard seed or an olive pit.

** Answering the Bible trivia, provided you're not well-versed in it, will most certainly require an answer sheet to get them right (PROTIP: If an answer is "Jesus", it will be correct 100% of the time, and [[SincerityMode that's not sarcasm]]). Even then, they'll sometimes try to trip you up on minor details, like whether the size of one's faith to move mountains equals a mustard seed or an olive pit.
** The island where you obtain the Sword of Spirit is in an area outside the map boundaries called "Lost at Sea", which can only accessed through a single square you can pass through in the southernmost part of the Beach. Nothing in the game tells you that this area exists, it's the only place that has such a secret entrance, and it's not optional, since finding the Sword is necessary to progress through the game. Thankfully, once you're inside it's just a basic grid with no secret paths or looping locations within and there's an arrow leading back out, so finding the island and then returning to shore are easy enough.

** The island where you obtain the Sword of Spirit is in an area outside the map boundaries called "Lost at Sea", which can only accessed through a single square you can pass through in the southernmost part of the Beach. Nothing in the game tells you that this area exists, it's the only place that has such a secret entrance, and it's not optional, since finding the Sword is to progress through the game. Thankfully, once you're inside it's just a basic grid with no secret paths or looping locations within and there's an arrow leading back out, so finding the island and then returning to shore are easy enough.

** Answering the Bible trivia, provided you're not well-versed in it, will most certainly require an answer sheet to get them right (PROTIP: If an answer is "Jesus", it will be correct 100% of the time, and [[SincerityMode that's not sarcasm]]).

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Sword of the Spirit flies quickly, passes through solid walls and objects, makes quick work of demons, and explodes after a set time or when it hits something -- which also collects any items in the blast radius. Suffice to say that you're pretty much done slinging fruit at people once you acquire this puppy.

* CoolSword: The Sword of the Spirit. It fires off energy swords which explode with the same force as the vials on contact. It can kill enemies that are immune to fruit

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: Entering the suburbs from the southern woods before you've obtained the helmet will trap you between stacks of OneHitKill explosives on both sides of the passage, forcing you into a game over.

* WaitingPuzzle: There's an old woman on the casino strip who quotes a Bible verse about how you should wait patiently if you want what you don't yet have. If you take her advice and stay put for about 15 seconds, a car will pull out and drive off, revealing a hidden shop where you can get more Mighty Grapes.

* BadWithTheBone: Samson's Jawbone. It's useless as a weapon and can only retrieve items you cannot normally reach (and once you get the Sword of Spirit, it's even useless for ''that''). It's only unique purpose is to obtain the raft.

* AbnormalAmmo: Samson's jawbone is used as a boomerang to retrieve the raft. You will also throw the sword once you obtain it - as well as all the fruit you throw.

* BadWithTheBone: Samson's jawbone.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Sword of the Spirit flies quickly, passes through solid walls and objects, makes quick work of demons, and explodes after a set time or when it hits something. Suffice to say that you're pretty much done slinging fruit at people once you acquire this puppy.

* NowWhereWasIGoingAgain: The church has that covered.

* MagikarpPower: The pear. It's not very strong and has poor range, but you'll still use it even after finding better fruit to toss, because it's the only one you have that can destroy the piles of junk in the slums area.

* UselessItem: The grapes shoot out at random angles and become a pointless weapon that can't even be properly aimed.
** NotCompletelyUseless: Once you get more grapes (allowing you to rapid-fire them) or the Sword of the Spirit (which can be fired separately from the fruits), the grapes become one of the most useful weapons.

** Answering the Bible trivia, provided you're not well-versed in it, will most certainly require an answer sheet to get them right.

* UnwinnableByMistake: Entering the suburbs from the southern woods before you've obtained the helmet will trap you between stacks of OneHitKill explosives on both sides of the passage, forcing you into a game over.

''Spiritual Warfare'' is one of the games released by Wisdom Tree, a company that specialized in Christian-themed games and was formed as a subsidiary of Color Dreams, a company known for making unlicensed UsefulNotes/{{NES}} games. Like all other Wisdom Tree games for the NES, it focused heavily on a religious theme and Bible trivia- unlike the rest of the Wisdom Tree library, however, it's actually regarded as a competent and even decent game. This may be due to the fact the developer chose to abandon their prior 2D side-scrolling game engine and instead took inspiration from overhead adventure games- primarily ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI The Legend of Zelda]]''.

* DifficultySpike: The start of the game is quite simple. Wait until enemies speed up and do more damage in later areas. Even the armor's half-damage attribute barely helps much (and if you skipped that piece...)

* InfantImmortality: Police officers, surfers, Hare Krishna, body builders, city workers, office workers, all prime hosts for Satan's legion of demons to possess, but somehow they don't seem to have managed to get control of any of the children you meet.

** Both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, two guards at the airport recite the "White Zone/Red Zone" routine from ''Film/{{Airplane}}''. Coming from a Christian-themed children's game, [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar this is kind of edgy material]], though they never quite get to the less family-friendly parts of that exchange.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Sword of the Spirit flies quickly, passes through solid walls and objects, makes quick work of demons, and explodes after a set time or when it hits something. Suffice to say that you're pretty much done flinging fruit at people once you get this puppy.

* PainfullySlowProjectile: The apple, though it is powerful snd passes through obstacles.

* PainfullySlowProjectile: The apple. Powerful, sure.

* AbnormalAmmo: Sampson's jawbone is used as a boomerang to retrieve the raft. You will also throw the sword once you obtain it - as well as all the fruit you throw.

* BadWithTheBone: Sampson's jawbone.

''Spiritual Warfare'' is one of the games released by Wisdom Tree, a company that specialized in Christian-themed games and was formed as a subsidiary of Color Dreams, a company known for making unlicensed NES games. Like all other Wisdom Tree games for the NES, it focused heavily on a religious theme and Bible trivia- unlike the rest of the Wisdom Tree library, however, it's actually regarded as a competent and even decent game. This may be due to the fact the developer chose to abandon their prior 2D side-scrolling game engine and instead took inspiration from overhead adventure games- primarily ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI The Legend of Zelda]]''.

The game saw its primary release on the NES, and was later ported to the Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and MS-DOS. Up until a few years ago it was still possible to buy the game from Wisdom Tree direct but copies have since run out, with exception of the DOS version (which does not run on modern Windows systems- though by all accounts it was a ROM file running under an outdated DOS emulator anyway). [[http://www.wisdomtreegames.com/arcadesw.html Wisdom Tree does offer the NES version for free play on their website via jNes, if your browser can run it,]] but it may be far easier to use a proper emulator.

It is now possible to acquire the entire [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/624550/Spiritual_Warfare__Wisdom_Tree_Collection/ Wisdom Tree collection via Steam]] including this game, emulated via DOSBox.

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* AbnormalAmmo: Sampson's jawbone is used as a boomerang to retrieve the raft. You will also throw the sword once you obtain it- as well as all the fruit you throw.

* WithThisHerring: The first Fruit of the Spirit you receive is the pear, which has pitiful range and lacks any special characteristics.

* PasswordSave: 32 characters long. Passwords are cross-compatible between the NES and Genesis versions.

* EasyEvangelism: According to the story, you're trekking across the city and using the Word of God to proselytize to the masses. In the actual game, you (somehow) make people kneel and pray by pelting them with fruit.

* BadWithTheBone: Sampson's jawbone- see trope page quote.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: The final area of the game sends you to Hell, complete with lava all around, but it doesn't affect you in the least- though at that point in the game, you have the full set of God's armor on which may be keeping you from roasting alive. Subverted with the burning rubble piles- trying to walk on these before you get the boots WILL cause damage.

* DifficultySpike: The start of the game is quite simple. Wait until enemies speed up and do more damage in later areas. Even the armor's half-damage attribute barely helps much(and if you skipped that piece...)

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: With the exception of a very small number of normal people who give advice, the city is crawling with things that want you dead- gang members, police, prison inmates, Hare Krishnas, dogs, ducks, businessmen, construction workers, bar patrons, gamblers.... justified as they're all possessed by demons.

** Answering the Bible trivia --provided you're not well-versed in it-- will most certainly require an answer sheet to get them right.
* HundredPercentCompletion: It is not necessary to get every item- fruit upgrades and certain items can be skipped without causing any problems.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Sword of the Spirit flies quickly, passes through solid walls & objects, makes quick work of demons, and explodes after a set time or when it hits something. Suffice to say that you're pretty much done flinging fruit at people once you get this puppy.

* MiniGame: Bible trivia segments- either a true/false question or multiple choice.

* NintendoHard: The start of the game is rather easy with enemies that move slowly. Then you get to the first boss which is only weak during brief moments. As you go on, enemies get faster, demons released from enemies move like lightning and damage increases - even with the armor that cuts damage by half you will still lose one heart per hit. The game is not so nearly impossible as some, but the sharp learning curve and rapid difficulty increase make it a credible challenge for even seasoned players.

* SceneryPorn: For an 8-bit NES game, some of the graphics- especially the varied ares of the city- are rather well drawn, with every individual area having its own unique tile sets and sprites. Enhanced a bit in the Genesis port which re-drew some sprites to make use of the enhanced range of colors. If not for the simplified black floor in most places the game could have been quite beautiful.

** The game itself to the first Legend of Zelda, from the overhead play style, the layout of the shops and [[spoiler: your having to enter the first building on the starting screen to obtain your first weapon.]]
** The pomegranate to Metroid's wave beam.

** On the beaches, a guy tells you that "[[Music/BeachBoys Everybody's gone surfing.]]"