Line #46 YMMV/JamesPond


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2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Both ''James Pond 2: Codename [=RoboCod=]'', and ''James Pond 3: Opertation [=StarFI5H=]'' have gorgeous backgrounds and environments. ''[=RoboCod=]'' has the various [[ToyTime toy shops]], and ''James Pond 3'' has the multiple [[LevelAte dairy-environments]].
3	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
4	** [[https://youtu.be/KP5jUnLjwlI Theme 4/7]] from the [=CD32=]/[=PS1=] version of ''James Pond 2''[[note]]Itself a remixed version of one of the level themes from the first ''James Pond''[[/note]] is surprisingly catchy and upbeat, becoming especially popular [[MemeticMutation after its use]] in [[Creator/NPCarlsson [=NPCarlsson's=]]] ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX1pDd0nGr8 How To Spend Your Morning.]]''
5	** The "Spirit of An Agent" theme, used in both the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz2rl2u6pSc first]] ''James Pond'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xD6DWvOO9c James Pond 3]]'', as well as the above-mentioned Amiga [=CD32=] and Playstation versions of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KpHuI745vU James Pond 2]]''. It gives off a jazzy and '60s psychedelic rock feel that emulates the ''James Bond'' atmosphere without being a SuspiciouslySimilarSong (except in the aforementioned [=CD32=] and Playstation versions, where it does have an extra section sounding similar to the ''James Bond'' theme, but it doesn't make it any less awesome.)
6	** The intro for ''James Pond: Underwater Agent'', especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Q3VvPI8zk the original Amiga version]], which has a nice, {{New Wave\|Music}} and JanglePop guitar sound to it.
7	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Not that '''anything''' ''would'' be mentioned, since the game lacks any dialogue except for the intro and ending, but one of the bonus rooms in the tabletop games-themed level from ''James Pond 2'' has a checkered-tile background that moves around extremely fast like its having a seizure. It's only in that one bonus room.
8	* ContestedSequel: Well, contested ''remake.'' The remake of ''James Pond II: Codename [=RoboCod=]'' by Play-It, ltd., for the Platform/PlayStation, Platform/GameBoyAdvance, and recently, the Platform/NintendoSwitch, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks unsurprisingly]], isn't the most popular among the fans.
9	* SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny:
10	** The first boss of ''James Pond 2'' is a [[KillerTeddyBear giant teddy bear]] with ''spikes on its butt!'' Even better, if James Pond gets hurt by the bear, it gives a SlasherSmile... [[{{Narm}} or at least tries]].
11	** In one of the endings of ''James Pond 3'', Dr. Maybe goes [[VillainousBreakdown nuts]] and [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack quotes Darth Vader]], telling James Pond that [[BlatantLies he's his father]], and then claims he's been playing "I-Spy" with his Uncle Frank! You '''only''' get this ending if you ''cheat!''
12	* CultClassic: All three of the games (or four if you count ''The Aquatic Games'') have their fans.
13	* EvenBetterSequel: While the first game is considered to be good if [[NintendoHard frustratingly hard]], the two sequels are more popular, [[PortOverdosed especially]] ''[=RoboCod=]''.
14	* FridgeBrilliance: As stated on the main page in OpeningShoutOut, the first game parodies the Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer logo, who owns the James Bond film franchise. However, the Sega Genesis versions of the James Pond games were published by Creator/ElectronicArts, who were actually named in tribute to Creator/UnitedArtists, the actual original distributors of the James Bond franchise, who were bought out by MGM in 1981.
15	* {{Narm}}:
16	** In the first game, if you ''pause'', a loud and dramatic musical sting plays. [[SarcasmMode You paused the game, what a huge accomplishment!]]
17	** The intro to the Platform/PlayStation version of ''James Pond II'', for some reason, plays the game's SavingChristmas plot ''seriously'', and it also tries to make James Pond himself look unironically cool. Even if a fish as a spy [[AudienceAlienatingPremise can actually make a serious story]], the [=PS1=] intro is [[LimitedAnimation horribly animated]] and [[ArtStyleDissonance still too cartoony]].
18	*** And that's without mentioning [[https://youtu.be/9zfyUvaAE_0?t=1h48m48s the ending]], which is even ''[[MindScrew worse!]]'' Santa Claus looks like a robot! And why are the [[RecursiveCanon kids getting the game itself]] for Christmas? And—'''[[AccidentalNightmareFuel GAH!]]''' Their floating heads! And James Pond is one too! And the ending ends with him winking at the camera very creepily.
19	*** And the FinalBoss in this version uses... ''the '''bonus level''' theme?''
20	*** ''Adding'' to this is the fact that not only the Playstation, but '''all''' versions of the Play-It, Ltd. remake (except the [=GBA=] and Nintendo [=DS=] ports) have the outside of Santa's castle having a snowstorm with ''thunder and lightning!''
21	* NarmCharm: See the third ''James Pond 3'' NightmareFuel example below.
22	* NightmareFuel: As silly as James Pond can be, there are some pretty creepy moments in the series, most of which are in ''James Pond 3''.
23	** A [[AccidentalNightmareFuel more accidental]] one from ''Underwater Agent'', [[JumpScare at least if you're not expecting it]], is the ridiculously dramatic sting that plays if you ''pause'' the game. If you're used to it, it's either just annoying or [[{{Narm}} entertainingly silly]].
24	** In ''James Pond 2'', some of the rooms have [[NothingIsScarier no backgrounds—just pitch black]]. This is especially creepy on the SNES and Sega Genesis versions, where the backgrounds are changed from the vibrant abstract backgrounds of the Amiga into random onjects in the background, and you'd expect the black-backgrounded levels to have this change too.
25	*** Even creepier is in the Tabletop Games-themed level, there's a bonus room made up of black dominoes, and there's '''no''' clue as to where the walls or ground are aside from random dots.
26	** ''James Pond 3'' in particular...
27	*** Similarly to the above, some levels in James Pond 3 also have [[{{Blackground}} nothing but stars in the black sky for a background]] as opposed to the mountain backgrounds usually seen. This is mostly on boss levels such as "Lair Of The Mush-Beast", though there are some normal levels that have this too. (Except in the [[PortingDisaster Amiga versions]], where '''all''' the levels are like this, [[NightmareRetardant making it more boring than creepy]].)
28	*** In addition, the first boss in the game, "The Lumpsville Lurker", is pretty terrifying, as it's a giant frog with sharp teeth, and you fight him in a dark purple-pink custard cave. Oh, and there's lava to the side, and it's ''very'' hard to jump over without getting hurt,[[note]] If you manage to jump over it though, run up the wall, and jump off of a certain spot, and there's a Micro-Map that goes to a SecretLevel! [[/note]] and if that wasn't scary enough, the frog can even '''[[EatenAlive eat you!]]''' You don't [[OneHitKill die instantly from it]], but it's still scary.
29	*** [[RuleOfThree The third boss]], "Kentucky Fried Fiend", is also terrifying, it's a giant chicken jumping around. [[NarmCharm By all means, it shouldn't be scary]], but the chicken hatched eggs that self-destructing chick enemies come out of, and you can't ''jump'' on the chicken, or even hurt it by shooting it. ([[FalseReassurance It doesn't help that the sound of enemies getting hurt plays if you shoot it.]]) You have to grab corn flakes (with eyes!) on a platform above, and place them on the bridge above a lava pit, and the chicken will eat them, and fall in. But that doesn't kill it, it turns it into a giant golden phoenix that shoots fire! You can actually hurt it by shooting it with the fruit gun, but it's [[ImplacableMan constantly chasing after you]], and the only way to stay safe is to jump on ''invisible'' platforms to the right. Good luck figuring that out.[[note]] Fortunately, like "The Lumpsville Lurker", the game rewards you with a Micro-map if you ''do'' find it.[[/note]] The background also isn't an empty black void, but it still gives off a creepy vibe by only having green beanstalk vines in the background, and no mountains or land in the background.
30	*** Another ''James Pond 3'' example, and also overlapping with FridgeHorror. You have to stop Dr. Maybe from mining the [[CheesyMoon cheese on the moon]] and destroy the stiltonium machines. The cheese mines are [[CaptainObvious only in cheese levels]], but the largest environment in the game, the "slime" levels such as "Lower Gloopy", "Murky Moors", and "Toadstool Point", look ''very'' much like the cheese levels in their reuse of graphics (they have the same swiss-cheese-like holes, trees with swiss-cheese/sponge-looking "wood", and they even have the same exact flower sprite.), but there's still something... off... about it, like how there's, of course, green slime on the surface, and how, there's mushrooms (and very likely the poisonous kind). Could the "slime" levels be what the moon cheese looks like if Dr. Maybe mined it successfully, and the cheese is now poisoned?[[note]] There's also other environments in the game that actually have swiss-cheese-like holes, including an apparently different type of cheese area, but the "slime" levels are the only ones that actually use the same graphics as the normal cheese ones.[[/note]]
31	*** ''Also'' in ''James Pond 3'', three levels in the game, "Parmesan Plains", "Slimeswold", and [[MeaningfulName "Slippery Slopes"]] have BottomlessPits. The first two levels have very long bottomless pits that actually give Pond a different death animation with him giving a horrifying scream. In "Slippery Slopes", [[NothingIsScarier Pond just bounces off the bottom of the screen, without even]] [[CriticalExistenceFailure giving his usual death scream]]. It's hard to say which is scarier.
32	*** Even scarier is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APVLJ2LJ_g4 a glitch that can cause you to]] '''fall through the level's ground and die in this way!'''
33	* NintendoHard: The first game... wooo, where do we begin? Enemies that rapidly appear and attack, invisible jellyfish that suck your life without you knowing, and no mercy-invincibility means that Pond will die very fast, especially in the later stages.
34	* OlderThanTheyThink: James Pond is frequently considered a MascotWithAttitude, like VideoGame/{{Bubsy}} and VideoGame/CoolSpot, but James Pond actually predates Sonic the Hedgehog by a year (at least the original version of the first game, the Sega Genesis version of ''Underwater Agent'' '''did''' come out in 1991), as the first game was released in 1990.
35	* PolishedPort: ''James Pond 2: Codename [=RoboCod=]'' has two in particular:
36	** [[BadExportForYou An absurdly region specific]] Polished Port is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnh2J66LH2s&list=PLIPq3Dh3SJ1M_BL9rk7RRA54T4U4XqIT8&app=desktop Japanese/Super Famicom version]] of the [=SNES=] version of ''James Pond 2'' (known as "Super James Pond [II]" on that console), which not only adds the original Amiga and Sega Genesis intro that the American and [=PAL=] [=SNES=] versions removed, but also added screens with Dr. Maybe that show up after each level[[note]] Since they're in Japanese, it's not clear what the screens say, but the Let's Players in that video think it lists how many levels are left and that it could be mistaken for how much time you spent in the level.[[/note]], and the bosses [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill break down and explode in the most over-the-top way]].
37	** The Amiga [=CD32=] version, which has a revamped CD soundtrack and better graphics than the original Amiga 500 versions, and has an animated video intro and an animated short made to preview ''James Pond 3'' (both of which only exist on [=YouTube=] in low quality, but is pretty fun for what it's worth). Not to mention the fact that the levels have more rooms.[[note]] Granted, said extra rooms are also present in the Amiga 1200 and MS-DOS versions, which don't have the better music, or better backgrounds in the DOS version's case, but still...[[/note]]
38	* PortingDisaster:
39	** Downplayed with the Amiga[[note]] Unlike the previous two games, the Sega Genesis version of James Pond 3 is the original, and the Amiga versions were ports. Also unlike the previous two, it wasn't released for the Amiga 500, but only the AGA Amigas and the Amiga [=CD32=].[[/note]] and SNES versions of ''James Pond 3'', which are pretty functional, and even have a bonus track not heard in the original Sega Genesis version, but the sound quality in both is lesser, especially the Amiga, and the ports both have downgrades (the levels in the SNES version are [[ItsEasySoItSucks simplified]], and the Amiga versions just have a black void with stars for the backgrounds, and lack the mountain backgrounds that were in the SNES and Genesis versions).
40	*** Played straight with the Game Gear version, which has slower physics and poor jumping (much like the examples of ''James Pond 2'' below), and needlessly changed level layouts.
41	** Played straight with Platform/Commodore64 and Platform/GameBoy versions of ''James Pond 2'', '''especially''' the Commodore 64 one, which have poor graphics (though not so much for the [=GameBoy=]), poor physics and jumping control, and the levels are in a confusing order, and there's only ''one'' music track used in the levels (the Gameboy version has more music overal, including a boss theme, but the level music only has one track,). In the Commodore 64 version, jumping on enemies is absurdly difficult to do without getting hurt.
42	* SoBadItsGood: Not so much the gameplay, which is actually ''genuinely'' fun if unoriginal—James Pond 2 and James Pond 3 both clearly have a lot of Mario-type elements—and James Pond 3's gameplay style, which actually ''combines'' Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario gameplay elements, is considered genuinely fun for it's somewhat unique style resulting from said gameplay combination, but what makes the James Pond games truly entertaining are the absolutely ridiculous puns and the {{Camp}}y aspects of the games, such as the [[MundaneMadeAwesome ridiculously dramatic pause sting]] from the first game, the SavingChristmas theme of the second game being mixed with a ''Franchise/RoboCop'' parody, as well as the blatantly MisplacedWildlife of Penguins in that game, and the third game's literally cheesy puns and premise of the moon ''not'' just being made of [[CheesyMoon cheese]], but other dairy products, which a few of just happen to have sponge holes just like the swiss cheese does. This is very likely [[InvokedTrope intentional]].
43	** The Playstation 1 version of the Play-It, Ltd. remake of ''James Pond II'' is also this, though clearly unintentionally so. Unlike the {{Camp}} animated segments from the Amiga [=CD32=] version, which have a fairly decent, Creator/HannaBarbera-esque animation and art style, the [=PS1=] intro has '''awful''' cel-shaded CGI mixed with even ''[[LimitedAnimation worse]]'' [[LimitedAnimation actual 2D animation]], and [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously takes itself seriously]], trying to make Pond look cool, and Dr. Maybe is shown tying an elf to dynamite ''outside'' for no reason whatsoever. And there's a ''thunderstorm'' outside of Santa's castle! And the ending is even worse than the intro because it has [[RecursiveCanon two kids getting the game for Christmas]] for no reason at all... and then Pond winks at the screen, and [[LimitedAnimation the background visibly]] [[SpecialEffectFailure jolts behind him]]. The Play-It remake itself is controversial, as stated above in BrokenBase, but the Playstation version is ''definitely'' worth getting for all the wrong reasons.
44	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Actually averted with the first game, which doesn't have music Suspiciously Similar to any ''Franchise/JamesBond'' themes.
45	** ''James Pond II: Codename [=RoboCod=]'' has intro music that very intentionally is supposed to sound like the ''Franchise/RoboCop'' theme.
46	** ''James Pond 3'' has an intro with a theme similar to the ''Film/FlashGordon'' theme, which the game's working title, "Splash Gordon" parodied.
47	** The track, "Spirit Of An Agent", used in ''Underwater Agent'' and ''James Pond 3'' averts this in those games, but the version of the theme used in the Play-It, Ltd. and Amiga [=CD32=] versions of ''James Pond 2'' as well as the Amiga versions of ''James Pond 3'' have an extra section that does sound quite like the iconic James Bond theme.
48	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: This is how some fans feel about the Play-It, Ltd. remake of ''James Pond 2'' for the Playstation, [=PS2=], Platform/GameBoyAdvance, Platform/NintendoDS, and most recently, the Platform/NintendoSwitch, due to it revamping the entire game layouts, rearranging the levels drastically, and removing hidden levels entirely in exchange for bonus stages that you have to collect all of the bell items in each stage in order to get to. The music itself is either from the Amiga [=CD32=] version (for the console versions and Switch) or from the MS-DOS[[note]]The music from the DOS version themselves are actually modified versions of the original Amiga's [=MOD=] files, in a slightly similar way to the Amiga [=AGA1200's=] tracks[[/note]] (for the [=GBA=] and [=DS=] versions), but the musical arrangement is questionable.[[note]] The handheld versions over-use the Teddy-Bear room theme, simply called "The Bath", including ''outside'' the castle, where the main theme, "Many Cats" would be used, which itself is barely used at all, while the Playstation and Switch versions seem to play different tracks randomly, except outside the castle, where the "Spirt of An Agent" theme always plays. [[/note]] Though the Playstation version [[SoBadItsGood might be worth getting]] if you find [[LimitedAnimation the animated intro and ending]] [[{{Narm}} entertaining]].

Context YMMV / JamesPond