History VideoGame / TheMaw

''The Maw'' is an UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade (and later Steam-released) platformer by Creator/TwistedPixel, later creators of ''VideoGame/SplosionMan''. It involves an alien boy, Frank, who gets kidnapped by Galactic Bounty Hunters and then befriends an amorphous blob known only as the Maw. After the ship crashes, he teams up with the Maw to find their way off the planet. By helping Maw eat... and eat... and eat...

%%* BigEater: The Maw.

''The Maw'' is an UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade (and later Steam-released) platformer by Creator/TwistedPixel, later creators of ''VideoGame/SplosionMan''. It involves an alien boy, Frank, who gets kidnapped by Galactic Bounty Hunters and then befriends an amorphous blob known only as The Maw. After the ship crashes, he teams up with The Maw to find their way off the planet. By helping Maw eat... and eat... and eat...

The duo must work their way through a variety of levels taking advantage of The Maw's ability to grow in size with every meal and take on the unique attributes of some of the creatures he devours. Your typical everyday tale of a boy and his loving pet. If that boy was an alien and his pet an [[BigEater unstoppable eating machine]].

* AllThereInTheManual: Frank's race, the Teltarians, can [[EmotionControl cause emotional disturbances in different life forms with the stones on their head]]. This is why the Galactic Bounty Hunters captured him at the beginning of the game, as well as why the Maw doesn't eat him.
** Some of the game's information says what most of the enemies are named like for example the small pink creatures are named Yums, the Firey Lizard creature are named Gastros, the rare & floating snot & Mucas creatures are named Snuffles, the electric flying insectoids are named Bulbous, the slug-like creatures are named Gloobers, The worm-like puffball creatures are named Puff-tors, the hostile peacock-like creature from the fifth level is named Loofer & the giant beetle creature is named Beetull, a pun on the animal species Beetle.
* BadassAdorable: Frank & The Maw.
* BigEater: Maw
* CosmicHorrorStory: Rare example of a C.H.S. that exists mainly in the subtext. The main reason why this game isn't absolutely terrifying is because the visuals are so cute.

* EldritchAbomination: Perhaps the most lovable one next to Kirby.
* EmotionControl: Frank. See AllThereInTheManual for more information.
* ExtremeOmnivore: The Maw. There are only a few things he won't eat.
* FacelessGoons: The Galactic Bounty Hunters.
* TheGoomba: Yums, The small pink creatures are the first enemy you first discover in the game however they are also the weakest enemy in the game.
* HeavyVoice: Maw's voice deepens when becoming larger.
* {{Hellish Pupil|s}}: When Maw is angry or especially hungry, his pupil turns into a vertical slit.

* NoNameGiven: The three sapient flower-like creatures from the first level that scare the Maw & the small electric creatures that come from the ground & you slam onto a stone for a Puff-tor would eat that appear in the Second, Fourth & Sixth levels were never named on any sources of the game making these two enemies, the only enemies in the game to be unnamed.

* PlanetEater: [[spoiler:The Maw eventually becomes a hungry planet-sized creature, one that's still growing.]]

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: On numerous occasions throughout the game, Frank and Maw will run into enemies that were a serious obstacle before, when The Maw was much smaller. In these latter levels, these enemies won't be any better armed than they were before (though there might be more of them), and the Maw will eat them like candy.

* NoNameGiven: The three sapient flower-like creatures from the first level that scare the Maw & the small electric creatures that you slam onto a stone for a Puff-tor would eat that appear in the Second, Fourth & Sixth levels were never named making these two enemies, the only enemies in the game to be unnamed.

* Expy: The sapient flower-like creatures from the first level, that scare the Maw, look & act similar to Piranha Plants from the "Franchise/SuperMarioBros" franchise.

* NoNameGiven: The three sapient flower-like creatures from the first level, that scare the Maw & the small electric creatures that you slam onto a stone for a Puff-tor would eat that appear in the Second & Fourth levels were never named making these two enemies, the only enemies in the game to be unnamed.

* Expy: The sapient flower-like creatures from the first level, that scare the Maw, look & act similar to Piranha Plants from the "Franchise/SuperMarioBros" franchise.

* Expy: The three plant creatures from the first level, that scare the Maw look & act similar to Piranha Plants from the "Franchise/SuperMarioBros" franchise.

* NoNameGiven: The three angry plants creatures & the small electric creatures that you slam onto a stone for a Puff-tor would eat were never named anywhere in any information of the game.

* AllThereInTheManual: Frank's race, the Teltarians, can [[EmotionControl cause emotional disturbances in different life forms with the stones on their head]]. This is why the Galactic Bounty Hunters captured him at the beginning of the game, as well as why the Maw doesn't eat him, most of the enemies have names like the small pink creatures are named Yums, the Firey Lizards are named Gastro's, the floating snot creatures are named Snuffles, the electric flying insectoids are named Bulbous, the slug-like creatures are named Gloobers, The worm-like puffball creatures are named Puff-tors, the hostile peacock-like creature is named Loofer & the giant beetle creature is named Beetull, a pun on the animal specials Beetle.

* TheGoomba: Yums, The small pink creatures are the first enemy you first discover in the game however they are also the weakest.

* AllThereInTheManual: Frank's race, the Teltarians, can [[EmotionControl cause emotional disturbances in different life forms with the stones on their head]]. This is why the Galactic Bounty Hunters captured him at the beginning of the game, as well as why the Maw doesn't eat him.

* ExtremeOmnivore: The Maw. There's only a few things he won't eat.

%%* [[ABoyAndHisX A Boy and His Maw]]

* XMeetsY: ABoyAndHisBlob meets VideoGame/{{Kirby}}.

''The Maw'' is an XboxLiveArcade (and later Steam-released) platformer by Creator/TwistedPixel, later creators of ''VideoGame/SplosionMan''. It involves an alien boy, Frank, who gets kidnapped by Galactic Bounty Hunters and then befriends an amorphous blob known only as The Maw. After the ship crashes, he teams up with The Maw to find their way off the planet. By helping Maw eat... and eat... and eat...

* [[spoiler:PlanetEater: The Maw eventually becomes a hungry planet-sized creature, that's still growing.]]

* [[ABoyAndHisX A Boy and His Maw]]

'''''The Maw''''' is an XboxLiveArcade (and later Steam-released) platformer by Creator/TwistedPixel, later creators of ''VideoGame/SplosionMan''. It involves an alien boy, Frank, who gets kidnapped by Galactic Bounty Hunters and then befriends an amorphous blob known only as The Maw. After the ship crashes, he teams up with The Maw to find their way off the planet. By helping Maw eat... and eat... and eat...

* InferredHolocaust: [[spoiler:The ending shows Maw devouring ''an entire planet''. Not to mention the fact the galaxy at large now has a ever-growing planet-eating monster on the loose.]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_maw_001_3358.jpg

--> ''The pinnacle of alien evolution, Maw is a cowardly fat blob concerned mostly with snacking and lounging. He can, however, absorb the traits of anything he eats, is virtually indestructible, and can grow to unlimited size. If he wasn't a danger to all life in the universe, he'd make the perfect pet.''

An Xbox Live Arcade (and later Steam-released) platformer by TwistedPixel, later creators of SplosionMan. It involves an alien boy, Frank, who gets kidnapped by Galactic Bounty Hunters and then befriends an amorphous blob known only as The Maw. After the ship crashes, he teams up with The Maw to find their way off the planet. By helping Maw eat... and eat... and eat...

The duo must work their way through a variety of levels taking advantage of The Maw's ability to grow in size with every meal and take on the unique attributes of some of the creatures he devours. Your typical everyday tale of a boy and his loving pet. If that boy was an alien and his pet an [[BigEater unstoppable eating machine]].

!!This game provides examples of:

* [[ABoyAndHisX A Boy And His Maw]]

* BigEater: Maw.

* [[HellishPupils Hellish Pupil]]: When Maw is angry or especially hungry his pupil turns into a vertical slit.

* InferredHolocaust: [[spoiler: The ending shows Maw devouring ''an entire planet''. Not to mention the fact the galaxy at large now has a ever growing planet-eating monster on the loose.]]

* OddFriendship: Between an alien [[EmotionControl Emotion Controller]] and his pet EldritchAbomination.
* [[spoiler: PlanetEater: The Maw eventually becomes a hungry planet sized creature, that's still growing.]]

* SugarBowl: The planet that the game takes place on is a brightly colored place, filled with a variety of cutesy or silly creatures...
* SugarApocalypse:...Which just makes it all the more jarring when you go around eating every living thing on it.

* TechnicalPacifist: Frank is apparently a pacifist and technically he doesn't take anyone's life during the game (at least not ''directly''). But considering how many creatures Maw eats and how Frank uses that to his advantage, this may be more of an InformedAbility.
** In the final level, [[spoiler:Frank is capable of single-handedly hijacking an aircraft, kicking the Bounty Hunters out the ship]].
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer for the game ends with [[spoiler: Maw eating a planet]].
* UnexpectedSHMUPLevel: Both the third DLC level and the final level are top-down shoot-em-ups.

* XMeetsY: ABoyAndHisBlob meets {{Kirby}}.

* OddFriendship
* [[spoiler: PlanetEater]] [[spoiler: The Maw eventually becomes a hungry planet sized creature, that's still growing.]]

* TechnicalPacifist: Frank is apparently a pacifist and technically he doesn't take anyones life during the game (at least not ''directly''). But considering how many creatures Maw eats and how Frank uses that to his advantage, this may be more of an InformedAbility.
** In the final level, [[spoiler:Franks is capable of single-handedly hijacking an aircraft, kicking the Bounty Hunters out the ship]].

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: On numerous occasions throughout the game, Frank and Maw will run into enemies that were a serious obstacle before, when TheMaw was much smaller. In these latter levels, these enemies won't be any better armed than they were before (though there might be more of them), and the Maw will eat them like candy.

* [[spoiler: InferredHolocaust]] [[spoiler: The ending shows Maw devouring ''an entire planet''. Not to mention the fact the galaxy at large now has a ever growing planet-eating monster on the loose.]]

* UglyCute: Maw.

* MegaManning: The Maw absorbs powers each level, only to [[BagOfSpilling lose it the next]].