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1[[quoteright:410:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spudsadventure.PNG]]
2
3''Spud's Adventure'' is a 1991 ActionAdventure game by Creator/{{Atlus}} developed for the Platform/GameBoy as part of the ''Puzzle Boy'' franchise. The game follows [[PunnyName Spud]], a wandering potato who vows to rescue Princess Mato from the clutches of Devi, who has locked her away deep within his tower. There, he finds knights who tried to fight off Devi previously, each of them failing. After rescuing them, they team up to stop Devi and SaveThePrincess.
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5Gameplay revolves around scaling Devi's tower, defeating enemies, solving puzzles, and leveling up along the way, while collecting power-ups to increase chances of success.
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7!! ''Spud's Adventure'' contains examples of:
8* AllThereInTheManual: The manual offers more detail to the game's story; the King is named Vegitan the 5th, and Devi is the Lord of the Far Tower who commands the Kitchen Army. Devi used to live in the card kingdom of Uker but was so nasty he was thrown out, and the cards followed him to keep him out of trouble.
9* AlliterativeName: There's player character ''T''erry ''T''urnip and NPC ''P''eppo ''P''epper.
10* AnthropomorphicFood: The main cast are living vegetables, and bosses include a pumpkin, bean pods, olives, and corn.
11* ArtStyleDissonance: The characters are adorable anthropomorphic food with cute chibi sprites, but the story is surprisingly serious, especially when [[spoiler:Arnie and Devi die]].
12* BadassInDistress: Both the knights that Spud has to rescue, as well as [[spoiler:Terry]], can hold their own in a fight, it's just that Devi somehow managed to get to them first.
13* BattleBoomerang: Arnie Eggplant's default weapon is a boomerang that is slower than Spud's shot and can only be fired one at a time, but is stronger, can go through walls and behind you, and has a long, angled range.
14* BigDamnHeroes: Spud happens on Devi in the middle of executing Gerrit Carrot with a cannon and saves Gerrit by blocking the shot.
15* BlackoutBasement: Some dungeon levels have the lights flicker on and off to make navigating difficult.
16* BlockPuzzle: Like its parent series, some levels have you pushing blocks into specific places to open doors.
17* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:Spud has to leave and continue wandering after the game is over. Princess Mato decides to go with him]].
18* CharacterLevel: Defeating enemies allows Spud and company to gain experience points. Once one hundred of them are accumulated, they gain half a heart in health.
19* ContinuingIsPainful: Continuing after a Game Over resets your level and health back to 1, making it very easy to die again.
20* DamselInDistress: Unlike the other people Spud rescues, Princess Mato has no fighting prowess whatsoever and needs the group's help to break free.
21* TheDrifter: As noted at the beginning of the game, Spud is a wanderer who just so happened to be in town when Princess Mato was kidnapped. [[spoiler:He decides to go off again at the end of the game]].
22* DeathFromAbove: [[spoiler:As Arnie Eggplant can attest to]].
23* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Spud cradles Arnie Eggplant as he dies and gives a last request]].
24* DoppelgangerAttack: The attack gained by the spade card lets you throw your 'shadow' as a weapon, which manifests as a clone of yourself. It's stronger than Spud's default weapon and most importantly shares your large hitbox, and any character can use it until they take a hit.
25* EasyLevelsHardBosses: Climbing the tower isn't nearly as tough as defeating the bosses, as while enemies can swarm you, they have set respawn points, and you can grind enough EXP to max your HP fairly easily and restore any lost health. Bosses have no such luxury, hit hard, and most of all have ''huge'' hitboxes and erratic movement patterns, making them very easy to die or get a Game Over to.
26* EvenEvilHasStandards: When an earthquake strikes the tower, Devi rushes to relocate Princess Mato before the jail caves in--he wanted to imprison her, not kill her.
27* EvilLaugh: Devi lets out his pretty much every time you meet him.
28* FisherKing: The manual describes how with Princess Mato gone, the Vegetable Kingdom became sad and droopy, with her father ready to wilt.
29* GameOverMan: Devi appears on the Game Over screen to taunt you if you lose.
30* GhostReunionEnding: [[spoiler:In the ending, Arnie and Devi's spirits smile down on Spud, the princess, and the knights from the afterlife]].
31* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:Devi turns out to be one, as he takes his defeat in stride]].
32* GreaterScopeVillain: While Devi is the more immediate threat, having kidnapped Mato and all that, it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:Devi is just taking orders from Dodorian, the real leader of the Kitchen Army]].
33* HealingPotion: Peppo the Pepper hangs around on dungeon floors with his Power Pepper potion, which restores your health once you talk to him.
34* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Arnie Eggplant pushes his friend Terry Turnip out of the way of falling rocks, and gets killed by them]].
35* InterfaceScrew: Some rooms swap the controls, reversing left and right and up and down.
36* LevelUpFillUp: Gaining 100 EXP will level you up and restore all your health, making it useful even in cases where you can't increase your max health anymore.
37* MadBomber: Gerrit Carrot is directly called this in the manual and it's noted his bomb-throwing techniques scare enemies.
38* MoodWhiplash: The entire game has adorable sprites and an upbeat tone, and then [[spoiler:Arnie is killed and doesn't come back, with Devi also being killed by the real big bad]].
39* MrExposition: Waterman, the first vegetable to go to the Far Tower and live to tell about it, offers advice periodically to help save Princess Mato, whom he loves.
40* OddballInTheSeries: The rest of the ''Puzzle Boy'' games are puzzle games without a story, while this one is a dungeon-crawling action game with puzzle elements and a plot.
41* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Devi looks like a small winged imp, [[spoiler:and he is mortal just like anyone else]].
42* TheParalyzer: Terry Turnip's special weapon is a beam that stuns enemies for a bit, letting her harmlessly walk through them.
43* PetTheDog:
44** Devi rushes to rescue Princess Mato from her prison after an earthquake strikes, moving her to a more secure cell.
45** In a scene exclusive to the Japanese version of the game, Devi agrees to not attack Spud midway through the tower because his sister convinces him.
46** After you defeat him, Devi sees Spud as a worthy opponent and speculates that they could've been friends in another life, and also tells him information about where the princess is located. [[spoiler:This last one gets him killed]].
47* PixelHunt: Some floors have you finding a key in a completely dark room. Since these rooms have no enemies, the challenge is simply to search the floor until you find it.
48* PlayerVersusPlayer: Versus Mode was possible with two Game Boys, two copies of the game, and the Game Boy Link Cable. The object was to use all four veggies to race up the tower and save Princess Mato first.
49* RecruitmentByRescue: After each rescue, Spud can be swapped out with the other party members by pressing A.
50* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Devi, after his defeat, decides to give the party some advice on how to defeat his master Dodorian, as well as the location of the princess. For this, he is rewarded with an arrow to the chest and dies]].
51* RouteBoss: Depending on which path you take in the third level, you can either fight two bean pods or an angry olive.
52* SaveThePrincess: The game's plot revolves around saving Princess Mato from Devi.
53* SignificantAnagram: The passwords in the English version are anagrams of the vegetable-themed passwords in the Japanese version, which were "cabbage", "burdock", "spinach", and "soybean".
54* SizeShifter: Obtaining a diamond card will allow the player to grow until they leave the current floor, [[InvincibilityPowerUp granting invincibility]] and crushing anything in their path in the process. Devi uses this ability in his boss fight with you, though thankfully he's not invincible.
55* SparedByTheAdaptation: A very unusual version where a player character is spared by the Versus Mode. [[spoiler:Arnie Eggplant]] dies in single-player mode, but lives throughout Versus Mode as both players can control all four veggies.
56* TakeOverTheWorld: Waterman explains that [[spoiler:Dodorian]] kidnapped Princess Mato in an attempt to take over the Vegetable Kingdom.
57* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: While you can play as other characters for the tower floors, Spud is automatically chosen for boss fights. This is enforced in-story for the final boss, as only Spud's weapon will work on him.
58* ThrillSeeker: According to the manual, Spud lives for danger and adventure--the bigger the risk, the better.
59* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Gerrit Carrot's special weapon is a bomb that drops instantly and explodes in an outward range for about 3 seconds.
60* UnwantedRescue: Gerrit Carrot is too proud to thank Spud when he's rescued from being killed.

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