Line #16 VideoGame/TheSecretIslandOfDrQuandary


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/secret_island_of_dr_quandary.jpg]]
2
3	''The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary'' is a PuzzleGame produced in 1993 by MECC, the same brains behind ''VideoGame/TheOregonTrail'', ''VideoGame/OdellDownUnder'', and the ''VideoGame/NumberMunchers'' series.
4
5	The player character attends a carnival, plays a shooting game hosted by the [[AlliterativeTitle Quintessential Quizmaster]] Dr. Quandary, and wins a "[[InsistentTerminology Lifelike Action Figure]]". But upon claiming their prize, the player's soul is transferred into the doll, which is whisked away to Dr. Quandary's private island. The only way to escape is to solve Dr. Quandary's quandaries and find the ingredients for his [[ScrewballSerum Fixer Elixer]]!
6
7	----
8	!!''The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary'' contains examples of:
9
10	* AWinnerIsYou: All you get for all your hard work is a generic "Congratulations!" screen. There aren't even any end credits; you just get dumped unceremoniously back to the carnival, with your only option being to start all over again.
11	* CrappyCarnival: From the ripoff "fortune teller" to the Ferris wheel that's clearly about to fall apart any day now to [[BreadEggsMilkSquick the midway game that sucks your soul into a doll and strands you on an island if you win]], the carnival you start the game at ''more'' than qualifies.
12	* DeadpanSnarker: The player character doesn't start speaking until they wake up as the doll. Once they do, they're full of sass and [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]].
13	* EasyModeMockery: Once you win the game as B. Ginner, Dr. Quandary challenges you to come back and try again as O. D. Nary or D. Feecult, and even draws attention to the doll's PunnyName.
14	* ElmerFuddSyndrome: The Tax Cowwector.
15	* EvilLaugh: Dr. Quandary cracks two: once when you choose your Lifelike Action Figure after Troggle Shoot, and once in his letter to the player (in writing).
16	* GameOfNim: [=DiscAppear=] is a Nim variant played with compact discs [[StylisticSuck with titles like "The Boston Pops Play the Beach Boys"]]. It's implied that whoever gets stuck with the last disc [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment has to listen to it]], but fortunately the ''player'' is spared such a fate. What's not so obvious is that the hardest difficulty level [[MisereGame inverts the goal]] by changing the ingredients needed from this mini-game.
17	* GenreShift: Target-hitting minigames abound, as well as the Acid Test, which is basically a BulletHell.
18	* GracefulLoser: Dr. Quandary congratulates the player after they escape his island.
19	* GuideDangIt: The objectives of Tad-Pult are not indicated, nor is the correct post for the [[TowersOfHanoi Tire Tower]] puzzle. Fortunately, there is a Help! option in the menu that will tell you these things.
20	** Tax Factor can be a case of "Math Class Dang It", as it requires a head for numbers and has been known to stop adult players in their tracks, even on the easier difficulties.
21	* HitboxDissonance: Makes all the target-hitting mini-games and Acid Test really annoying.
22	* IncrediblyLamePun / HurricaneOfPuns: Nearly every character, location, and minigame name is a pun of some sort.
23	* InsistentTerminology: Used and then subverted. Dr. Quandary initially insists on calling the dolls "Lifelike Action Figures". Once you're on the island, he makes fun of you being stuck inside the DOLL.
24	* InterfaceScrew: Tunnel Vision, true to its name, challenges you to solve a maze while only letting you see the path DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOU. [[spoiler:Solving one of the tangram puzzles nets you a useful candle that outlines the maze.]]
25	* JerkAss: Dr. Quandary steals your soul, and then writes you a letter mocking you about it.
26	* KarmaHoudini: Dr. Quandary never gets punished for stealing a kid's soul and putting it in a doll.
27	* LargeHam: The only explanation for Quandary writing an EvilLaugh into his letter for the player character.
28	* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: Choosing a Lifelike Action Figure to play as sets the difficulty for the rest of the game. The names of the dolls reflect this: B. Ginner, O. D. Nary, and D. Feecult.
29	* MediumAwareness: The player character suggests using the Num Lock key (of the computer) to open the Num Lock holding Sir Pillory.
30	* MythologyGag: [[VideoGame/NumberMunchers Troggle Shoot]] at the beginning of the game.
31	* ParentalBonus: It seems unlikely that some of the references would have been understood by the target audience.
32	* PuzzleGame: The game is a series of various kinds of puzzles - a memorization game, a math game, a make-shapes-out-of-triangles game, a maze, etc... - strung together by the plot and the item-collection.
33	* RhymesOnADime: William Apespeare's dialogue, and occasionally Dr. Quandry's.
34	* RobeAndWizardHat: Subverted. Dr. Quandary wears a purple robe and a matching ''top hat''.
35	* ShoutOut: To the likes of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, Music/LouisArmstrong, and... Sir Edmund Hillary?
36	** Challenging the door-building puzzle, [[Series/LetsMakeADeal Let's Make a Door]] leads Quandary to quip "[[Film/DirtyHarry Go ahead. Make my door.]]"
37	** The Acid Test game takes place in the [[Music/JerryLeeLewis Great Hall of Fire.]]
38	* SimonSaysMinigame: Ape the Ape, of course! "Watch what I do, then you do it, too."
39	* TowersOfHanoi: The Tire Tower puzzle in a junkyard. The completed tower enables the doll to reach a can of motor oil for the Fixer Elixer.

Context VideoGame / TheSecretIslandOfDrQuandary