History VisualNovel / ArcadeSpirits

* AnAesop: Dreams have to be fought for.

The year is 20XX, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, and arcades are mainstream. UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 never happened, and as a result, arcades never declined in popularity, remaining a permanent part of popular culture. That doesn't make running one any easier than running any other small business, though.

Arcade Spirits is a UsefulNotes/RenPy-based VisualNovel by [[Creator/{{Twoflower}} Stefan Gagne]], creator of ''Literature/SailorNothing'', and Aenne Schumann. The full version of the game was released on February 12, 2019. [[http://www.arcadespirits.com/ The website can be found here.]]

* AlternateHistory: The series is set in an alternate timeline where UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 explicitly didn't happen and [[TakeThat the ET Atari game wasn't complete rubbish]].

* ExpositionFairy: Iris, a phone AI, is this, explaining how everything works, getting you the job that kicks off the plot, keeping track of your stats, and occasionally reminding you of what you're supposed to do. [[spoiler: And exploding your phone to snap you out of it when the VideoGame/{{Polybius}} game starts to absorb your mind.]]

** When you go to the rare game auction where they're selling off the contents of a dead singer's personal arcade, one of the games you find is VideoGame/{{Polybius}}, and it tries to control your mind.

* HeelFaceTurn: Hunter [[spoiler:and Valkyrie]], though it depends on whether Hunter is a friendly rival or a hostile rival, and on [[spoiler:whether you use the Ultimate on Hunter or Valkyrie in the final battle]]:
** If Hunter is a friendly rival [[spoiler:and you use the Ultimate on them, they'll only be banned from esports for a year and they'll join Good Clean Fun in the epilogue, but Valkyrie will be banned for life and be reduced to selling tobasco sauce.]]
** If Hunter is a friendly rival [[spoiler:and you use the Ultimate on Valkyrie, both Hunter and Valkyrie will only be banned from esports for a year, Hunter will join Good Clean Fun in the epilogue, and Valkyrie will make a comeback by helping to write a new code of conduct to improve the gaming community.]]
** If Hunter is a hostile rival [[spoiler:and you use the Ultimate on them, they'll only be banned from esports for a year and will become a medical lab assistant in the epilogue, but Valkyrie will be banned for life and be reduced to selling tobasco sauce.]]
** If Hunter is a hostile rival [[spoiler:and you use the Ultimate on Valkyrie, Valkyrie will only be banned from esports for a year and will make a comeback by helping to write a new code of conduct to improve the gaming community, but Hunter will be banned from esports for life and be forced to do thousands of hours of community service for the crime of fraud, eventually vanishing after being unable to return to glory.]]

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Polybiris, Hunter's Iris, cared so much about Hunter's dreams that she gave in to the Polybius code inside her willingly and used increasingly underhanded tactics to help Hunter win at all costs. At the game's climax, Polybiris even attempts to murder Seeker, viewing them as an obstacle in Hunter's path. This becomes even more pronounced if Hunter was romanced, as in that case Polybiris becomes incredibly jealous, wanting to kill Seeker for swaying Hunter's thoughts away from winning tournaments and towards them.]]

** Out of all the sequel romance options, the rival Hunter has the most spotlight and two different variations of their romance depending on whether they are friendly or hostile. They're also fully customisable by the player, who can make them as attractive as they want.

** Retroactively applies to QueenBee in the first game. She is the only love interest that shows up in person in the sequel. She and Ari have unique dialogue for each other that the other love interests don't.

* BittersweetEnding: Some of the character endings can be read this way. [[spoiler:If you enter into a romance, then the two friends with the lowest relationship score ''will'' end up drifting away from the arcade at some point after taking down Deco Nami. In some of the narrations, the protagonist says that they were never ''that'' close to the person who left anyway, and in others they wonder if the person is truly happy with their decision.]]
* CallBack: Before entering the Funplex for the first time, Iris says she has found the protagonist's dream job with 99.97% accuracy. When [[spoiler:convincing Sue to take down Deco]], if you nail it, Iris will predict at 99.97% chance of success.

* BenevolentAI: Iris may make some questionable decisions, from ordering copious pizza bagels to blowing up your phone, but her only goal is to help the protagonist as much as possible.

* GamerChick: Naturally, ''Arcade Spirits'' is full of them, though the primary examples are Queen Bee and Sue.

* RelationshipValues: IRIS tracks your closeness to the different dateable characters (save [[spoiler:Juniper]], whose values are hidden) and can be seen at any time in the top right hand corner. This actually exists in-universe as well, and when the protagonist comes to express their feelings for someone, they admit to feeling kind of weird about something so personal and subjective being reduced to numbers. However, IRIS explains that this really just tracks the choices you've made, attempting to discern the amount of affection you've shown for someone, and you're totally able to ignore it all and just choose who you feel like anyway.

* EvilGloating: If Hunter is a hostile rival, [[spoiler:then in the climax, Hunter reveals that their Iris was the actual culprit behind Valkyrie's victory-by-cheating and the indirect attempted murder of Coda. Hunter then gloats about how they took advantage of the opportunity Polybiris gave them, and Hunter even mocks Seeker for not being smart enough to figure out Polybiris and Hunter's villainy sooner. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] if Hunter is a friendly rival, as in that scenario, Polybiris was acting without Hunter's permission and was too powerful for Hunter to stop.]]

* DatingCatwoman: Downplayed. Seeker is able to romance their rival, Hunter, who is a part of the team P2W that opposes Seeker’s team for the entire game. Further downplayed if Hunter is a friendly rival.

** After deciding which game you want at the auction, you say, [[Film/DoctorStrange "Hamza, I've come to bargain."]]

* BareYourMidriff: Queen Bee's usual outfit of a tube top and skirt does this. Naomi's crop top too, when she isn't wearing her apron.

* RetroGaming: Percy loves Mr Moopy's Magic Maze, and hates when older games are panned just for being old, but also appreciates newer games too.

* CharacterCustomisation: The protagonist can be given a name, pronouns, a hair length, a skin colour, and a variously coloured hoodie. Unlike most examples, there are no different body types, and the character is actually directly shown quite a bit. It's also possible to customise the character's personality via the Identity Identifier System, which judges your character on a number of traits. This not only affects how the character interacts in general, when you get to especially meaningful scenes later on, you're only able to respond with the traits you've cultivated most throughout the game.

* AlternateHistory: The series is set in an alternate timeline where UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 explicitly didn't happen and [[TakeThat the ET arcade game wasn't complete rubbish]].

* SequelHook: The mystery of the haunted "Polybius" arcade game is never really solved, opening up the possibility for it to be solved in the sequel. Also, if you complete all the routes, you'll get a scene that in-universe advertises a sequel to Fist of Destruction, while out-of-universe also putting forth the possibility of a sequel to ''Arcade Spirits'' itself. Said sequel would be released on May 2022.

** If you have completed all the romance routes, you get a scene of an unknown character playing Fist of Destruction, and then seeing a teaser for a sequel, Fist of Destruction II, which will introduce team play. The unknown character wonders who to team up with...