Line #50 VideoGame/TheBouncer


1	[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bouncer_PS2_art_7653.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:256:Wait a second, where's [[ThoseTwoGuys Kou and Volt]]?]]
3
4	->''"Pardon my past discourtesies... I will forget the past... I no longer care about the indignation I have suffered!"''
5	-->-- '''Dauragon Mikado''', as he prepares to fight Kou, Sion, and Volt on board the Galeos.
6
7	It's going to be a long night for a bar so empty.
8
9	''The Bouncer'' focuses on one really bad night at a bar called Fate. Despite being a slow place, it has three bouncers: Sion Barzahd, Koh Leifoh, and Volt Kreuger. On the night of Sion's one-year anniversary as a bouncer, a team of {{Ninja}}s busts in, out to kidnap their friend, Dominique Cross. When they make off with her, the three chase after her, to have a showdown that the bouncers find is way out of their league.
10
11	It was developed by [[Creator/SquareEnix Square]], and launched two days before the Christmas of 2000 for the then-new Platform/PlayStation2. The game did not do nearly as well as they hoped, although main character Sion seemingly lives on through his visual {{Expy}}, [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]].
12
13	The game has somewhat of a cult status with [=PS2=] gamers due to the story and the characters, even though it didn't sell enough to be in the top 10 games sold in the early 2000s.
14	----
15	!!This game has examples of:
16
17	* AllThereInTheManual: Much of the bouncers' backstories are told through short dialogues found in the loading screens between stages. If one is not paying attention, or is using a system that loads quickly, then expect to miss a lot of what the heck is going on.
18	* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Sion can unlock a [[PaintItBlack black-hooded costume]] by clearing Survival Mode. Kou can also unlock his MSF disguise costume if he was chosen for the RashomonStyle interlude after the first fight with Dauragon.
19	* {{Artificial Stupidity}}/{{Too Dumb to Live}}: Dominique in her EscortMission. She will gladly stand in between you and a hostile robot that's trying to kill you, and eat an attack that takes away half of her health... then stand right back up and do it again.
20	* AxCrazy: Mugetsu, made insane by the Mikado corporation's experimentation. Dauragon is up there himself, given that once he starts initiating he plans to use a KillSat to vaporize anyone that refuses his attempt at rule out of spite.
21	* BigBad: Dauragon, CEO of Mikado.
22	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead:
23	** TheKirk: Sion. (Redhead)
24	** TheMcCoy: Kou. (Brunette)
25	** TheSpock: Volt. (Blonde)
26	* BloodKnight: Once Sion was separated from his master Wong and Kaldea in his youth, he lashed out at the world and started looking for strong fights specifically to vent about it. It shows in his story when he's up and ready to brutalize any Mikado flunky or anyone else that gets in his way.
27	** Amusingly the TrueFinalBoss of [[spoiler:Daurugon getting up for a ''third'' fight]] is this, as he abandons all of his ideals and awakens an EleventhHourSuperpower out of nowhere solely to embrace the ultimate fight in a hotblooded showdown.
28	* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Sion's FormerFriend Kaldea is actually the same age as him, but genetic tampering by Mikado left her looking both 15 years older than him ''and'' able to turn into a panther.]]
29	* BrickJoke: That berobed woman from the intro watching the news story of the Mikado satellite? That's actually Leann, and said robe amusingly becomes her alternate costume when you [[SecretCharacter unlock her]].
30	* ChainedByFashion: Sion has a bunch of chains going on that serve no practical purpose. Dauragon also has one, that he uses to [[IAmNotLeftHanded make things "fair" for you]].
31	* ContinuingIsPainful: Zig-zagged through a lack of the functionality; every time you die, you're sent back to the title screen instead of a retry menu, so you can't ''continue'' in the usual sense. However, the game lets you save after every battle, so you just have to load your save. And skip every cutscene, each of which has their own load screen, being punishment in and of itself. Don't expect autosaves, either -- you have to start the entire game over if you didn't save once or lack a Memory Card.
32	%%* DanceBattler: Echidna.
33	%%* DarkActionGirl: Again, Echidna.
34	* DefeatMeansPlayable: Versus and Survival only let you use the three bouncers as playable characters at first, until you start beating the bosses in the story. Beat a boss, you get them as playable in these modes so long as you remember to save. Separate boss phases also count, so that means [[spoiler:two for Mugetsu]] and a whopping ''[[spoiler:four]]'' for Daurugon. Dominique is the only exception, where she automatically unlocks by seeing [[spoiler:her defeat PD-4 in the reveal of her being a RobotGirl]] in the story.
35	* DeathSeeker: Sion in his backstory, after the disappearance of Master Wong and the death of Kaldea. This gets undone when Volt defeats him.
36	* DefectorFromDecadence: Volt, former bodyguard with the Mikado corporation.
37	* DontYouDarePityMe: If Sion learns who Kaldea is, after defeating her for the final time, she states that the reason she chose to stay with Mikado was because she saw how sad Dauragon was beneath his ruthlessness and stays by his side out of pity. Hearing this, Dauragon impales Kaldea with his chain, snidely remarking that he doesn't need "such pathetic sympathy from a bionoid."
38	* EliteMooks: For every {{Mook}} type, there's usually an elite version that has more health, is more aggressive with its attacks, and does more damage than the regulars.
39	* EscortMission: A particularly frustrating one part-way through the game. This game plays this trope painfully straight, and makes a mission that should be a breeze into an absolute nightmare due to Dominique's ArtificialStupidity bordering on TooDumbToLive. This is also one of the longest stages yet.
40	* EvilIsPetty: Daurugon was refused to bring his sister into a hospital for her illness because the only active doctor at the time was on a house call, with no implied malice or spite behind the action. Mind you, this was when he was still a child at minimum, so a good number of years prior. Guess what the first target of Daurugon's KillSat is to highlight how truly evil he was all along?
41	* {{Expy}}: Nomura recycled much of Sion's design for [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]].
42	** Before that, Sion was considered by some to be an expy of 17-year old, brown-haired, blue-eyed, sullen ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' hero Squall Leonhart. Volt and Koh likewise bear a resemblance to Zell Dincht and Laguna Loire, the young Kaldea bears a striking resemblance to Rinoa Heartilly, and Dominique has Selphie Tilmitt's green eyes and looped hairstyle.
43	** Kou's body tattoos and hairstyle shows up years later as [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou Sho Minamimoto]].
44	** Dauragon is a young blonde leader of a big company who fights alongside a panther in your first battle against him. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Remind you of Rufus?]]
45	* FakeDifficulty: The EscortMission falls into this, because Dominique has barely any health, the robot enemies hit like a proverbial truck, and she [[ArtificialStupidity stupidly]] stays near your character, meaning stray attacks or even just being juggled by the foes are almost assuredly going to hit her if she's behind you. It's entirely possible to fail by being ragdolled into Dominque enough to down her.
46	** The [[spoiler:unmasked Mugetsu]] fight can throw players for a hard turn because Volt specifically asks who's going to pilot the air-carrier, which actually takes them out of the battle. After every single character choice before this was who you played to the point of entire exclusive sections at the mid-game, this can accidentally blindside a first time player that picks the character they've been leveling up to that point.
47	* GlassCannon: Dominque as a playable character has some of the strongest moves in the game but her HP and Defence are pitiful enough that she tends not to last very long in battle.
48	* GuideDangIt:
49	** Sion's bonus fight against Wong, which requires you to make sure to '''not''' use him in certain battles. This means you ''absolutely'' have to do this on a NewGamePlus run, as one of the fights that Sion has to be played as in is [[spoiler:the FinalBoss fight against Dauragon]], where an underleveled character will just ''not'' cut it.
50	** Koh's bonus fight against Leann also counts, but the conditions are much more simple, as [[spoiler:you simply have to choose Koh for all possible fights, as well as the mid-game RashomonStyle sequence]]. This ''does'', however, have the chance to go south, as it's entirely possible to accidentally have him sit out of the [[spoiler:Unmasked Mugetsu]] fight, where one of the three player characters has to pilot the air-carrier they're on, leaving the other two to fight the opponent.
51	* HeelFaceTurn: Wong, very briefly, [[HeelFaceDoorSlam before Daurugon puts an end to that swiftly.]] Meanwhile Echidna notably does a partial one after her second defeat, [[spoiler:and a full one in Volt's ending to join the Fate bar]], while Kaldea tries her best [[spoiler:and earns RedemptionEqualsDeath. Or, if you played every single fight as Sion, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness gets killed abruptly like Wong before she can even try.]]]]
52	* HeroicSacrifice: In a playthrough where Sion learns the truth of Kaldea by being the one to beat her [[spoiler:but didn't trigger her early death via playing every single scene as Sion, she ends up pushing Sion and Dominique just past a closing gate as she herself is weakened enough to not be able escape, dying with Daurugon as a result when the Galeos collides with the KillSat.]]
53	* HopelessBossFight: There are a couple fights that are exceedingly hard to win the first time you play, though the bosses do react if you manage to beat them even if it doesn't change the story overall. NewGamePlus can let you come back to sweep them a bit more easily.
54	* IAmNotLeftHanded: Dauragon chains up his right arm for his first fight against you, limiting his power and techniques. Somewhat.
55	* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Sion and Dominique. Though Volt's studded leather jacket with a [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Cactaur]] on the back might be up there.
56	* ItsPersonal: Sion grows to hate Dauragon for his kidnapping of Dominique, his murder of Wong, [[spoiler:and potentially murdering Kaldea right in front of him too.]] Meanwhile Echidna has a personal beef with Volt because he was always stronger than her, and [[spoiler:she assassinated the elder Master Mikado and framed it on Volt under Dauragon's orders]]. Though, if you defeat her with Volt and/or get his ending, [[spoiler:she ends up with a HeelFaceTurn and a notable amount of ShipTease with him.]]
57	* KillSat: The evil MegaCorp's big new energy source of a solar panel satellite has a giant ''laser cannon''? Yeah, no surprise there. The bigger shocker is that [[spoiler:Dominique is rigged as the starter key to the whole system.]]
58	* LawEnforcementInc: Mikado's own security forces, including a unit of ninja commandos. It also doubles as a [=PMC=].
59	* LargeHam:
60	** "Koh Leifoh, Superspy!" To be fair, Creator/SteveBlum voiced him.
61	** Mugetsu as well. To be fair, R. Martin Klien voiced him.
62	* LevelScaling: Arguably one of the first modern games to use this gameplay mechanic. Enemies grow in power and health depending on your character ranks, which will naturally rise as you level both their stats and their skills. If you're playing NewGamePlus, however, that means lesser-leveled characters can end up going against nastier foes than they're built for, and get them destroyed pretty quickly if you're not careful.
63	* LoadingScreen: These give flashbacks to give background on the bouncer you've most recently selected. And a good condition disc can load so quickly you never manage to read it all.
64	* LuckBasedMission: Unless it's [[NewGamePlus not your first run through]], Dominique's EscortMission is nothing but this. How far you get is entirely dependent on how [[TooDumbToLive how suicidal she's feeling this particular go around]].
65	* MegaCorp: The Mikado Corporation.
66	* MightyGlacier: Volt. His power also is meant to compensate for his smaller move pool.
67	* MovesetClone: During Multiplayer and Survival Mode, you can play as two flavours of Mugetsu (Masked and Unmasked), and 4 flavours of Daruagon C Mikado, with only the first one being different from the other 3.
68	* MultiMookMelee: Survival Mode is a 10 stage gauntlet of different sets of enemies across various stages. The first 9 stages has you seek out and take out several enemies, with the final stage pitting against [[{{Superboss}} Jet Black Sion]]. You're allowed to pick any character that you've unlocked though if you take damage, you won't be healed between stages so you have to try to take as little damage as possible when completing Survival Mode.
69	* MultiSlotCharacter: The game allows you to play as not just the heroes but even bosses and other characters too. Mugetsu has two character slots for his masked and [[NightmareFace unmasked selves]] and Darugon C. Mikado has ''4 character slots'' for his restrained state, then the last 3 are his final boss forms ([[IAmNotLeftHanded Unrestrained]], [[LetsGetDangerous Overalls]] and [[TrueFinalBoss Awakened]]).
70	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Koh is actually a spy that was sent to Fate to keep tabs on Dominique. While his goals throughout the game align with the other two, he's feeding info to his superiors the whole time and is ready to act counter to the other bouncers' wishes if need be.]]
71	* NavelDeepNeckline: Kaldea's shirt is zipped down to her navel, baring her cleavage and some midriff.
72	* NewGamePlus: Carries over all the power-ups bought. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Dauragon gets powered up based on your stats, and gets a final form if you've run through enough times.]]
73	* NonstandardGameOver: If you run out of time trying to find the keycard to unlock the cargo to stop the train from crashing with rocket fuel, the collision into the building is more destructive and causes seawater to rush through the explosion, which then causes the whole next level to have water chasing you at certain points, which causes emergency doors to close. If you don't make it through the doors fast enough, then [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRtDlINcHoE a cutscene plays]] where your character of choice is trapped by the doors and the water reaches them. It then it cuts to the normal game over screen over a black background.
74	* {{Ninja}}: The Mikado Special Forces unit led by Mugetsu. They just fight via unarmed combat.
75	* OjouRinglets: Echidna has fairly large ones.
76	* OptionalBoss: Leann and Wong, both of which are firmly plot characters unless you [[GuideDangIt meet the conditions to fight them]] in the ending as Koh and Sion, respectively. They come with their own movesets, and DefeatMeansPlayable for the multiplayer, which is probably why these fights exist in the first place as a way to play as them.
77	* PointlessBandaid: Sion wears a small plaster under his left eye for the entirety of the game.
78	* PressureSensitiveInterface: The attacks are controlled by such buttons, therefore requiring great finesse to execute the various combos. Fortunately, the sensitivity can be tuned in the settings.
79	* PrettyInMink[=/=]FluffyFashionFeathers. Echidna wears [[PinkMeansFeminine light pink]] wrap of either fur or feathers.
80	* PreasskickingOneLiner: A LOT, from awesome ones like:
81	-->'''Sion:''' ''You're not getting paid enough to die! Now'' '''''get out of my way!'''''
82	* PsychoForHire: Mugetsu, emphasis on the "psycho" part.
83	* PunchClockVillain: Hell, some of the mooks that you fight are actual rent-a-cops.
84	* ReplayValue: In a bit of a RashomonStyle approach, Sion, Volt and Koh have different scenes and dialog for whoever you pick per battle, complete with certain scenes being significantly extended or altered. Mid-way through the game, who you pick shows their perspective of their own exclusive level each and requiring another playthrough to see the others unless you load a save. Each gets an ending of their own, though Volt and Koh's can arguably tie together compared to Sion's. And certain secret bonus boss fights and cutscenes only happen if you achieve secret paths via Sion and Koh in who you take into fights -- or don't take, in Sion's case. NewGamePlus lets you carry your character levels into successive playthroughs to both see more scenes and get a chance at the TrueFinalBoss, but then the problem of the LevelScaling can settle in if you're not careful.
85	* RagdollPhysics: Hard to believe, but a game this old does indeed have them. Although it is somewhat goofy, as characters just flop on the ground like they have no real weight or bones from anything mildly disrupting: uppercuts, low kicks, throws, you name it, only the robots don't go flying for it.
86	* SecretCharacter: Apart from the main trio, every other playable character has to be unlocked by way of story progression, usually by way of DefeatMeansPlayable. Three proper examples of secret characters include Wong and Leann, who are fought as post-game {{Optional Boss}}es after fulfilling certain conditions, and [[spoiler:Topless Dauragon]], who only shows up as the TrueFinalBoss in a player's third consecutive NewGamePlus run.
87	* ShapeShifting: Kaldea can change into the form of a surreal-looking black panther.
88	* ShipTease: Kaldea and Dominique with Sion, Echidna with Volt, and Leann with Koh.
89	* ShirtlessScene: You control three bouncers, with one shirt between them. And Sion, the one with a shirt, wears it half-open. Volt leaves his jacket open, and Koh wears just an open vest. Dauragon eventually drops his coat and the top half of his overalls, as well.
90	* ShownTheirWork: Echidna actually uses a fairly realistic ''capoeira'' fighting style which someone clearly studied.
91	* SpyCatsuit: Worn by all of Mikado's ninja mooks. And Mugetsu.
92	* {{Stripperific}}: Echidna's outfit, though what Dominique wears under her jacket and Kaldea's outfits aren't a whole lot better. ''Especially'' [[MsFanservice Kaldea's alternate.]]
93	* {{Superboss}}: If you manage to make to the final level of Survival Mode, you can fight Jet Black Sion, who is one of the hardest fights in the game and even has his own battle theme. Defeating him allows you to unlock him as Sion's alternate costume.
94	* ThisIsUnforgivable: Sion says this to Dauragon before the final battle.
95	* TomatoSurprise: [[spoiler:Dominique is actually a RobotGirl Dauragon built based on his dead little sister.]]
96	* TraintopBattle: The location of your first fight with [[DarkActionGirl Echidna]].
97	* TrueFinalBoss: On your ''third'' consecutive playthrough, [[spoiler:Dauragon will get up for one final showdown with new abilities.]] This is a problem since just like the normal FinalBoss, you ''still'' don't regain any health in-between phases, which means you could be running on empty by the time you reach this. Go down and it's back to phase one all over again.
98	* UnexpectedGameplayChange: If, during the sequence when the three are forcibly separated by Dauragon, you follow Koh's path, you mostly end up trying to pass as a {{Mook}} while wandering the Mikado building which involves requiring you to memorize the correct poses to get past them. Fail and you'll have to fight them as normal, which for this level isn't recommended in the slightest.
99	* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Kaldea, who became an unfortunate victim to Mikado's experimentation, was a friend of Sion's in their youth. Depending on who is used in which battles, it's possible that Sion won't ever learn it's her.
100	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:The credits show a montage of a forever-young Dominique visiting the graves of her friends from Fate.]]
101	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Dauragon is implied to be this by Kaldea, taking out his anger and sorrow on the world for turning its back on him until it was too late to save his sister. As far as the main protagonists are concerned, FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse and decide that he needs to go down.
102	* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Mugetsu says this word for word before one of his boss fights.
103	* {{Zipperiffic}}: Tetsuya Nomura did the character design. Do the math.

Context VideoGame / TheBouncer