Line #5 VideoGame/HeroSmash


1	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HeroSmash_1646.png]]
2	->"''Underpants on the outside... for JUSTICE!''"
3	-->-- ''[=HeroSmash=]'' tagline
4
5	''[=HeroSmash=]'' is a multiplayer superhero game, and the third {{MMORPG}} from Creator/ArtixEntertainment, and the second made by them. [[note]]VideoGame/EpicDuel was created by a different company, which was later bought out by Artix.[[/note]]
6
7	Originally called ''[=SuperHeroQuest=]'' until the folks at Creator/MarvelComics complained, the game had relatively little story to speak of before entering a period of DevelopmentHell. However, a more detailed plot was likely planned. The game is arguably even more ''bizarre'' than most of Creator/ArtixEntertainment's other games, since it's set in an ultra-modern city...
8
9	You, as a new smasher in Super City, get involved in a massive war over the [[{{MacGuffin}} Pandorian Malachite]] stashed away in a statue of Pandora. A young girl, Demolicious, and her band of robot Divas valiantly defend the malachite against the robotic forces of Luigi Davinci. Sadly, she gets outnumbered and the MacGuffin falls into the villains' hands. To add insult to injury, villains have outnumbered heroes in all of the game's wars ever since.
10
11	Next, you're meant to convince Death to join either the heroes or the villains by performing four trials for him. [[spoiler:He duels with the player after the trials, then decides not to get into smasher hijinks after all.]]
12
13	After Death's trials, the player has to stop the Clock Blocker from meddling with time and causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. And still nothing is done about the lost Malachite.
14
15	Afterwards, the plot just drops, and the game's pretty much in DevelopmentHell as of 2012.
16
17	The game is also no longer available to play at all since October 2021.
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19	Located [[http://herosmash.com/ here]].
20	----
21	!!This game provides examples of:
22	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Found below the subway at Brickstreet. It's also where you find Momma Chuds.
23	* AfterTheEnd: The third Super Death trial takes you to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
24	* AlienInvasion: The current arc with King Zong and the alien bugs seems to be leading up to one of these.
25	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Yergen who has yellow skin for some unknown reason
26	* AmbiguouslyBrown: Electina, as well as one of the color system's skin color choices.
27	* AmbidextrousSprite: Played straight most of the time as this is a 2D game.
28	** Averted with Demolicious in the Park War cutscene, who holds her wrecking ball with her left hand the entire time. She turns around to hit the player with her weapon still in her left hand.
29	** You'd probably expect Luigi daVinci to avert this trope in the same cutscene, but he plays it straight instead. His heterochromia change sides when he turns around.
30	* AnIcePerson: Arctikiller.
31	* TheBadGuyWins: Every single one of the game's faction war has ended with villains winning, and it's suggested the Clock Blocker does as well. Meta-wise, Creator/ArtixEntertainment refuses to do anything about the game ever again after the consistent villain victories.
32	* BlankWhiteEyes: Everyone has this except for Yergen and some Super Heroes and Super Villains, due to the art style of the game.
33	** The nameless DistressedDamsel in the Corporal building and the Tutorial averts this trope, even though she has almond-shaped eyes.
34	** The little girl in the Yercom building averts this as well.
35	** The Pleasanton citizens appear to avert this, having SphereEyes instead.
36	** And now some heroes and some villains have the option to avert this trope by having eyes with pupils
37	* CaptainErsatz: Since its a SuperHero game it has some
38	** Players can choose to make their characters this
39	** Arctikiller is a CaptainErsatz of [[ComicBook/XMen Iceman]]
40	** The Shock Bloopers are based on [[Franchise/StarWars The Stormtroopers]]
41	** [[http://www.herosmash.com/hs-character.asp?id=Galanor Galanor]] is based on Franchise/RoboCop
42	** King Zong is a CaptainErsatz of Film/KingKong
43	** The Plummer Brothers are based on [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Luigi]].
44	** Harriet Popper is a female version of Literature/HarryPotter.
45	** Demolicious wears a costume similar to ComicBook/{{Psylocke}}'s.
46	* BrokenAesop: This is the only [[Creator/ArtixEntertainment AE]] game where heroes fail to do anything correctly, whether through their incompetency or [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the devs sabotaging]] them at every turn. Considering all the other AE games are about [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin heroes triumphing]] against the odds or attempting to, it makes Herosmash look even worse because it was similarly implied to follow this status quo.
47	* TheCape
48	* ChestInsignia
49	* TheCowl
50	* CutShort: Due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the developer issues]] the game [[WriterCopOut never progressed]] beyond Clock Blocker freezing time permanently.
51	* DarkIsNotEvil: The Good Character wearing the Darkness Armor (in Black) or Echo Assault Armor.
52	** There is also Super Death [[spoiler:who choose not to side with Good or Evil]].
53	* DumbStruck: After Luigi [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech talks down]] to Demolicious, she is at a loss for words. She was snarling at him before that, even telling him to shut his mouth.
54	* EpicFlail: Demolicious' weapon of choice. Considering what her name is based on, though, it makes sense.
55	* EvilIsEasy: Unintended, but many glitches and bugs in this game favor villains, up to the point that there are very few players as superheroes. The worst case happened in the Park War, where the villains won due to a glitch in the war's turn-ins.
56	* {{Expy}}: There are Expies of some of the characters from Lore, and from other franchises as well.
57	** Martial Artix is a Karate version of Artix Von Krieger.
58	** Galanor is Galanoth mixed with Franchise/Robocop.
59	** Illinois Johnson is a DistaffCounterpart of Franchise/IndianaJones.
60	* GlobalCurrencyException: The denizens of the post-apocalyptic locale of Tradertown don't deal in Fame. Instead, they're interested in gum.
61	* GoodIsNotNice: Demolicious when you choose to fight for her during the cutscene at the end of the first half of the Resurrection storyline.
62	** She knocks your character away with her wrecking ball just to get you away from her fight with [=DaVinci=]!
63	** She actually made her point when she told you to [[LeaveMeAlone leave]] just because she didn't want any more people getting hurt because of her.
64	* TheGrimReaper: Super Death.
65	* HelloInsertNameHere: You can choose your character's name.
66	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Demolicious.
67	* {{Jetpack}}: There are some examples
68	** Some players have Jetpacks even though they can fly without Jetpacks
69	** [[http://www.herosmash.com/hs-character.asp?id=rocker Rocker]] from Skull Deep
70	** Mr Purple in the trailer.
71	* JustLikeRobinHood: If what Demo says about trying to sell the malachite to help her sick dad is even true in the first place.
72	** Part of her reply to the player, "I'll not resort to stealing anymore. We will find a more honorable way to work through his sickness."
73	* LeotardOfPower: A handful of armors ingame look like this on female characters. Also, Demolicious has this.
74	* LizardFolk: The Alligator Man of Alldinguo.
75	* MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Pandora's ultimate sacrifice caused a lot of people to develop powers.
76	* MonochromaticEyes: Some [=NPCs=] have colored eyes with no irises, and players can also color their eyes in one color because of the game's simplified art style.
77	* MeaningfulName: Several [=NPCs=] are named in this manner, and players can choose to name their characters like this.
78	** Hottica's name is clearly related to fire.
79	** Ditto for Electina, replace fire with lightning.
80	** Demolicious is a portmanteau of "demolish" and "delicious."
81	* MultipleEndings In the Resurrection storyline, the player can choose to support Demolicious or Luigi Davinci.
82	** If the player supports Demo, [[spoiler:he/she is fighting alongside Demo, until she orders the player to leave. The player refuses, so Demo knocks the player away with her wrecking ball. She then jumps in to face Luigi. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]] for her from there.]]
83	** If the player supports Luigi, [[spoiler:when Luigi orders Demo to be thrown out, the player obliges and punches her. The player then helps Luigi to start up an extraction device.]]
84	** Regardless of your choice, [[spoiler:Demolicious is caught by two of Davinci's robots, made fun of, and thrown out. Luigi gets his hands on Pandora's malachite anyway.]]
85	* MyGreatestFailure: Demolicious' [[spoiler:failure to protect Pandora's Malachite.]]
86	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: King Zong from the latest release is basically an alien King Kong.
87	* NotWearingTights: Enforced due to a complaint from Marvel and DC about the use of the term "super hero." The enhanced humans are referred to as Smashers ingame.
88	* OhCrap: The Beetle Basher gets two of these moments, the first time when the player and Llussion team up against it, and the second time when the hero is about to either destroy or chain up and apprehend it. On both times it says "Oh Uh!"
89	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The people of Aquatia.
90	* PlayingWithFire: Hottica.
91	* PoisonIsEvil: Played straight after alpha testing, as the only way to buy poison powers is to make your character a villain. CAN be subverted after buying said powers if you're willing to spend days removing your villainous reputation and building up your heroic reputation at the same time.
92	* PosthumousCharacter: Pandora.
93	* ShockAndAwe: Electina.
94	* ShoutOut: The Darkness Armor is similar to ComicBook/ThePunisher
95	** The Echo Assault Armor is based on Franchise/{{Batman}}
96	** As mentioned on CaptainErsatz, the [[Franchise/StarWars Shock Bloopers]].
97	** The whole Friday the 13th event is a reference to ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan''.
98	** The Sky God Armor and Sky Hammer are a reference to ComicBook/TheMightyThor.
99	** The Mega Movie Plex so far has shout outs of ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', ''Franchise/KungFuPanda'' (with a ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' ShoutOut with the Female Lotus Armor and Hair being based on Chun-Li), ComicBook/XMen, ComicBook/GreenLantern, ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', ''Literature/HarryPotter'', ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}} [=ThunderCats (2011)=]]]'', ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'', ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''.
100	** The Plummer Brothers from the latest release are shout-outs to [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Luigi]].
101	** Some of the costumes also fit this trope: Red Trooper is based on Superman, Last Fantasy is based on [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]], Iron Eagle is based on The Falcon, Rocky Armor is based on [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]], the Horrible Doctor armor is based on [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Dr. Horrible]], and Midnight Phantom is based on ComicStrip/ThePhantom.
102	** Skulldeep looks similar to [[{{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} The Legion of Doom's Hall of Doom]]
103	* StandardFemaleGrabArea: The killbots that grab Demolicious in the park aim for her arms. She's unable to move as a result, but snarls at Luigi instead. Until Luigi laughs at her and points out her failure.
104	* StandardSnippet: At the beginning of the Corporal Saga, a remix of "The Girl from Ipanema" plays.
105	%%* StarterVillain: Mr Purple.
106	* SuperDeformed: Lampshaded by NightWraith in a recent mini-release. To paraphrase, he said his head is too big and he's going to fall over his pointy feet.
107	%%* {{Superhero}}: A player that chooses good.
108	* SuperheroPackingHeat: If The Character has a Gun and uses it all the time
109	%%* {{Supervillain}}: A player that chooses evil.
110	* TermsOfEndangerment: Just before Luigi's [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech speech]] to Demolicious, he calls her "mia bella," Italian for "my beautiful."
111	* TheBadGuyWins: Luigi, and no thanks to the majority of players supporting him. The rest of the wars in the game are heavily biased towards evil players as well. No wonder this game's going down the drain.
112	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Luigi Da Vinci declares that Demolicious wanted to sell the heart for her own selfish desires, while she is hanging from a pair of Luigi's robots that grabbed her arms. [[spoiler:Luigi's only half right -- the reason she wants to sell it is for money to [[HealthcareMotivation help her sick dad]].]]
113	%%* TricksterMentor: Hottica.
114	%%* UnderwaterCity: The underwater kingdom of Aquatia.
115	%%* UnderwearOfPower The base armor of the players. It's even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the tagline.
116	* WalkingShirtlessScene: Yergen who is shirtless all the time
117	%%* WholeCostumeReference
118	%%* WrittenSoundEffect: Seen in the War cutscene.

Context VideoGame / HeroSmash