Line #35 VideoGame/RugratsRoyalRansom


1	[[quoteright:321:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rugrats_royal_ransom_gc_cover17.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:321: ''[[TagLine It's adventure time!]]'']]
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4	'''''Rugrats: Royal Ransom''''' is a 2002 video game based on [[WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} the animated series of the same name]]. The game was released for both the Platform/NintendoGameCube and the Platform/PlayStation2. The game was published Creator/{{THQ}} and developed by Avalanche Software, the latter who would be known for ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'' and ''VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy'' years later. Its handheld counterpart, ''VideoGame/RugratsCastleCapers'' was released one year earlier for the Platform/GameBoyAdvance.
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6	The plot is as follows: Stu Pickles, Tommy's dad, creates the [=PlayPalace=] 3000, which is a huge playground made out of many levels that expands out of a small metal cylinder. He needs to leave to get [[NoodleImplements duct tape and paper clips]], so he leaves Lou Pickles to watch the kids. Once he ([[SeniorSleepCycle inevitably]]) falls asleep, Angelica enters the [=PlayPalace=] 3000 and takes the babies' toys away. She challenges the Rugrats to come and get them back.
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8	Five of the babies are playable; Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, Phil [=DeVille=], Lil [=DeVille=], and Kimi Finster. There's no noticeable gameplay difference between them. There are three difficulty levels: Baby Easy (just as simple as it sounds), Rugrat Medium ([[SurpriseDifficulty surprisingly rather difficult at many points]]), and Reptar Tough ([[NintendoHard insanely hard]]).
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10	The game was mostly ignored by critics, though the GC version ''did'' sell quite well.
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12	!!This game contains the following tropes:
13	* AlliterativeTitle: '''R'''ugrats: '''R'''oyal '''R'''ansom.
14	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Quitting a level before it's completed normally results in the chosen baby getting booted out of the playset, at which point they have to pay coins to get back in. However, if an already completed level is quit midway through[[note]]failing the level gets the baby booted anyway, it has to be quit through the menu[[/note]], the baby will merely be placed back at the level's entrance in the hub and won't need to pay anything as a result. This is because each level has several small batteries and hidden Funny Money to collect, the latter of which can only be collected upon by purchasing the option in the shop, which only appears upon unlocking the third tier on the playset.
15	* ArabianNightsDays: There is a whole section of the game revolving around this theme, complete with magic carpet riding levels.
16	* BigBad: Angelica, who steals the babies' toys and forces them to climb the playset to get them back.
17	* TheCameo: [[VideoGame/TakAndThePowerOfJuju Tak,]] whose very first game would be released about a year later, can be seen waving to the player in the Ready Set Snow! game.
18	* CondescendingCompassion: Susie's comments once you fail a level come across as this.
19	* ConvectionSchmonvection: In the Arabian World levels ''Meanie Genie'' and ''Rugrat Rug Race'', as well as the two Dino World levels.
20	* CriticalExistenceFailure: As soon as your LifeMeter is empty, you're booted off the playset. If you have even a sliver of health remaining, you carry on as normal.
21	* DemBones: In ''Rugrat Medium'' and ''Reptar Tough'' modes, the last level features armored skeletal warriors who serve as Angelica's {{Mooks}}. They are absent from ''Baby Easy'' mode, though Susie still mentions them confusingly.
22	* DoubleJump: Unsurprisingly.
23	* EasyModeMockery: Twofold with Baby Easy: there's less Funny Money to collect (to the point where it's impossible to buy everything in the shop), and you have to deal with the game essentially calling you a baby for not being able to handle the higher difficulties.
24	* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Snowmen, aliens, purple scarab beetles...
25	* FakeLongevity: Reptar Tough difficulty suffers from this ''big time''. ''Monkey Business'' on Tough mode deserves a special mention, as it's the same thing as the Easy and Medium versions, just made ''thrice'' as long.
26	* FetchQuest: Most of the mini games are this. The harder difficulty modes make it worse, though. ''Temple of the Lamp'', for example, sees you collecting rubies. Tough requires ''70'', and many of them are in hard-to-reach places.
27	* GameplayRoulette: As befitting of a MiniGameGame. There's driving levels, platform levels, racing levels, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick boring, inane collectathons...]]
28	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: After taking over the playset, Angelica dubs herself "Queen Angelica''.
29	* GoingThroughTheMotions: A bit funnier than most examples, as when your baby's LifeMeter depletes to nothing, the screen gets letterboxed, a sad sound effect plays, Susie makes a condescending comment ("Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do better next time!") and your baby gets ''right back up'' and stands around as if nothing happened just before it fades to black.
30	* GuideDangIt:
31	** The locations of all the Funny Money in the game is never explained to the player, and one of the only online walkthroughs of the game simply says "[[HintsAreForLosers Coming Soon]]" (said walkthrough was last edited in ''2003''). Additionally, you can't collect all of a level's Funny Money on the first run through: certain stashes of it are rendered uncollectable until you purchase a secret unlock in the store that reveals said Funny Money. Needless to say, finding all of the Funny Money in this game is ''really'' difficult.
32	** The game does ''not'' autosave. And the only way you ''can'' save is when you're inside the [=PlayPalace=]. The biggest kicker of all? If you get a GameOver, and you completely forgot these two important details, you're starting over ''' ''AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME.'' '''
33	* HardModePerks: As a side-effect of the levels being much longer on Reptar Tough, there's much more Funny Money to collect. Good for if you want to get everything in the shop.
34	* HubLevel: The [=PlayPalace=] 3000.
35	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Baby Easy, Rugrat Medium and Reptar Tough.
36	* ItsAWonderfulFailure: A special GameOver cutscene plays if your remaining baby fails a level with less than a hundred tokens left, since you need a hundred tokens to get at least one baby back into the [=PlayPalace=].
37	* JackassGenie: Meanie Genie. He doesn't actually grant wishes though. Instead, he attacks you.
38	* LethalLavaLand: In the levels ''Meanie Genie'' and ''Rugrat Rug Race'', as well as the two Dino World levels.
39	* MagicCarpet: In ''Rugrat Rug Race''.
40	-->'''Susie:''' ''Wow'', a magic carpet ride! I wish I was goin'.
41	* MeaninglessLives: Played with, depending on the difficulty mode you're on. If you're on Baby Easy, it's played straight, as you'll probably never manage to lose any of the coins you need to get back onto the [=PlayPalace=] (the game's equivalent of losing a life). Averted for the most part on Rugrat Medium, due to the harder gameplay on that mode overall. Averted on Reptar Tough, as you'll need every coin you can.
42	* MiniGameGame: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as the game takes place entirely inside a huge playground-like machine made to cater to children's imaginations.
43	* MyLittlePanzer: The playset itself, given just how dangerous and child-unfriendly its levels tend to be. ''Meanie Genie'' on Rugrat Medium and Reptar Tough is the most ridiculous, as it requires [[PlatformHell precision jumps]] over lava having to be made by ''babies''.
44	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Meanie Genie.
45	* NoodleImplements: Stu has to leave to get duct-tape and paper clips for the playset.
46	* NonIndicativeName:
47	** Despite the fact that Reptar lends his name to one of the difficulty modes, he himself never appears once throughout the entire game.
48	** Despite the name, ''Rugrat Rug Race'' is not an actual race; it's a level in which you have to collect rubies while (more often than not failing) to control a flying carpet.
49	* NonIronicClown: Played with. While clowns ''are'' the enemy mooks in ''Cone Caper'' and ''Cream Pie Flyer'' in Circus World, they don't look or act like {{Monster Clown}}s. They simply throw pies at you to hurt you.
50	* NonStandardGameOver: In the event that you've somehow blown all of your coins by, for instance, getting all 5 babies on the playset, getting them all killed in a level (or just quitting a challenge five times for each baby), and have them booted out of the playset with less than a hundred, you'll be presented with a cutscene in which Tommy complains about having to start over again. If you didn't think to save as this game doesn't have an autosave feature, you'll be starting over.
51	-->'''Tommy:''' We have to start all over?! We're gonna get diapie rash!
52	* NoOSHACompliance: Not so much the levels themselves as the surrounding playset. It's got killer, snowball-wielding snowmen ([[WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman Frosty]] these guys ''ain't''), monkeys that require you to walk on ''tree branches'' to put them in cages, evil cyclops aliens that throw copies of their ''eye'' at you, and so on. What was Stu ''thinking?!''
53	* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: Pretty much the entire game is extremely linear, even on the harder difficulty modes.
54	* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Both averted and played straight, depending on the length of the fall. If you fall from a high distance onto something below, the game will remove some of your LifeMeter. If you fall from a great enough distance into the abyss, though, the game will just put you back where you left off without taking any damage.
55	* OffscreenTeleportation: In the opening cutscene, Angelica is somehow able to get to the top of the playset without going through the mini games at all, with no explanation as to how she did so.
56	* PieInTheFace: How the clowns attack you.
57	* PlatformHell: Some of the levels; ''Meanie Genie'' on Medium and Tough difficulty being the best example.
58	* PressStartToGameOver: It's possible to put all five babies in the [=PlayPalace=], enter a challenge with each baby, and then just quit/surrender through the pause menu to send each baby back down to the ground, and eventually, get a GameOver.
59	* RacingMinigame: Some of the minigames, like ''River Fun Run'' and ''Ready, Set, Snow''.
60	* RedIsViolent: Meanie Genie is red.
61	* SaveScumming: One useful strategy for the game on the harder difficulty modes is to save immediately after winning any level when you're sent back to the [=PlayPalace=]. This way, if, say, you beat ''Punting Papayas'' on Tough mode after [[ThatOneLevel much trial and error]], only to pick ''River Fun Run'' and learn you suck at it, so [[RageQuit you get mad and shut off your console]], you won't have to go back and play it all over again.
62	* SealedEvilInACan: Meanie Genie was trapped in his lamp before he escaped. You have to put him back inside the lamp.
63	* SecretCharacter: While not playable in the main adventure, Angelica, Susie, Dil, Stu and Lou can all be purchased in the store to use in certain multiplayer minigames.
64	* SeniorSleepCycle: Grandpa Lou, just like in the show.
65	* SlippySlideyIceWorld: All the levels in Snow World.
66	* TerrifyingTyrannosaur: Inverted by the small tyrannosaurs in "Rex Riding" which are scared of the player and will back away if approached from the front.
67	* TimedMission: The level ''Acrobatty Dash'' in Circus World, which gives you seven minutes to finish on Easy, 3:30 to finish on Medium, and ''[[ThatOneLevel two minutes]]'' to finish on Tough.
68	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Downplayed on the doom part, but Lou commenting that the Play Palace looks fit for a queen is what gave Angelica the idea to take it over.
69	* ViolationOfCommonSense:
70	** Very often, due to the gameplay mechanics. For example, in ''Punting Papayas'', there are certain parts in the level where you have to jump on platforms that lean forwards if you stay on them too long, plunging you into the river below. For some unfathomable reason, you have to wait until they've started ''leaning forward'' in order to successfully jump onto the next one.
71	** ''Rugrat Rug Race'' has an even more ridiculous example, as it's easier to get the rubies if you bang into walls and have them fly into you than if you just steer the carpet and pick them up normally.
72	* TheVoice: Susie is the player's guide for the main adventure, but is never encountered in person. She does appear as an unlockable playable character for multiplayer minigames.
73	* YourSizeMayVary: In the final level, Angelica is much bigger than she should be.

Context VideoGame / RugratsRoyalRansom