Krazy enough to kick ass
Krazy Ivan is a 1996 First-Person Shooter Mecha Game made by Psygnosis for the Sega Saturn and original PlayStation.
In the future, a hostile alien race have invaded earth and took over most of our cities. To prevent human resistance, the aliens deployed power generators in five countries over different continents - Russia, Middle East, France, USA and Japan - to envelop earth entirely with an energy field capable of irradiating the world's surface and wiping out all of mankind.
You are Commander Ivan Popovich, a famed, bloodthirsty killing machine and paranoid-schizophrenic known by the nickname "Krazy Ivan". Tasked with delivering a top-secret prototype weapon back to Moscow alongside his partner, Lieutenant Kataya, when aliens intercepts Ivan's transport in the wintery wastelands of Siberia and sends his truck crashing, Ivan's military vehicle is revealed to be a disguised, 40-foot, heavily-armed mecha.
Now that Ivan is in control of Russia's best weapon, of course it's up to him to save humanity by blasting his way across alien forces, travelling to the five countries to knock out all alien power generators and kick the invaders back to outer space where they belongs.
Enough! We launch this thing... right now!
- Airborne Mooks: The aliens' stingray-like robots and hovering drones who dominates the skies, occasionally swooping down to take potshots at Ivan's mech. Unlike the land-based robots however the airborne machines dies in two hits.
- Alien Invasion: The entire game takes place during one of these, with humans seemingly on the losing side. Until the Russians created a giant robot and Ivan is the one commander skilled and krazy enough to fight back.
- And the Adventure Continues: The standing ending. After destroying the final alien power generator and thwarting their plans for good, Commander Ivan is ready to declare the mission as complete until Kataya informs him there's still a trace alien signal out there. Ivan then declares he'll be back to wipe out the rest of the alien scum... after he had some dancing. Cue Ivan turning on "Freak Out!" as the credits roll.
- Animal Mecha: Several of the aliens' machines are based on earth animals, oddly enough. Like the two conch-like flying robots, the recurring manta ray-esque drones, Prowl, the lion mech that serves as a boss in the Middle East and Buzzsaw, the giant insect mech boss.
- Arm Cannon: Ivan's mech have Gatling blasters for arms. More than one boss uses this type of weapon in combat as well, including the first one, Deathlok.
- Bait-and-Switch: The instruction manual starts with a mock psychiatric report of Ivan detailing his bizarre delusions and history of erratic, violent behaviours, ending with the following doozy:My initial impression is that he is suffering a relapse of paranoid schizophrenia, secondary to withdrawal from medication. I am in no doubt that if medication is withdrawn then this subject will relapse into a dangerously psychotic state. Violence will be inevitable. In summary, I therefore have no hesitation in recommanding that he is chosen to save the Earth from the alien threat.
- Boss Game: Though there are Mooks that spawn indefinitely to farm resources and currency, your main goal is to destroy the boss Sentients, of which there are anywhere from 3 to 8 in the levels.
- Blood Knight: Ivan signs up for the military just to enjoy the thrill of killing aliens and destroying robots. It's this very reason that earns him the nickname "Krazy" Ivan.Kataya: Congratulations commander. You've successfully neutralized...
Ivan: DAMN RIGHT! [does a Fist Pump] I'll neutralize them off the face of the planet! Let's go, I am hot, I am really cooking with electric! - Cool Shades: While Commander Ivan Popovich doesn't wear any facial gear for most of the game (after all, it would get in the way while piloting his mech) in the cutscene before the mission in the United States Ivan purposely puts on a pair of sunglasses when broadcasting himself for an interview for CBN news. For no reason other than to make himself appear "cool" and enforce the trope.Ivan: Yo, America!
- Cores-and-Turrets Boss: All the alien's power generators, appropriately all named "Core", where they're depicted as a solid energy sphere surrounded by walls, who periodically opens up to dispense projectiles or mooks. But they're vulnerable as soon as they're opened, allowing Ivan to shoot and damage them.
- Dual Boss:
- Demonseed and Sentinel, the two airborne squid-like giant ships that attacks Ivan in the Middle East.
- The "Reflex" duo, two identical flying squid-like alien ships.
- Fireball and Bane, two more gigantic robots, the former who attacks from ground while the latter is a flying robot who hovers in circles.
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: Ivan's mech have one displayed at the screen's bottom, for him to locate aliens on the map.
- Extreme Close-Up: Used to great effect in the opening scene; as the aliens have Ivan cornered, comes an intense zoom-in into Ivan's face, passing his eyes and forehead, moments before he activates the switch that reveals his ride as a giant robot.
- Funetik Aksent: Ivan's lieutenant, Kataya. Sara Stockbridge's attempt at emulating a heavy Russian accent is ridiculously exaggerated and sounds nothing like the real deal, with what seems to be some Polish and Ukrainian thrown in.
- Gotta Rescue Them All: Ivan can collect escaped human prisoners after destroying alien bases or transports. Picking them up awards him with points, and each collected civilain is accompanied by Kataya announcing "Prisoner Rescued!"
- Invisible Monsters: The insectoid alien mecha "Buzzsaw" and the octopus-like "Reflex" both periodically turn invisible during their boss fights. However Ivan's mech has a radar that allows him to See the Invisible.
- Killer Gorilla: Robotic example with Dedlok, the first boss, a gorilla mech who lumbers like one and uses its arms to lift itself off the ground. While it does so, the soles of Dedlok's feet turns out to be laser cannons, which it uses for firing away at Ivan.
- Live-Action Cutscene: The cutscenes and ingame transmissions employ real actors over composite backgrounds.
- Mission Control: Ivan's second-in-command Kataya serves this purpose in-between cutscenes to fill him in with objectives, besides occasionally appearing onscreen in the middle of battles to converse with him - whether he wants it or not.
- Motion-Capture Mecha: How the mech Ivan controls is operated. After activating for the the first time, the cutscene shows Ivan suspended from an exosuit in the cockpit, moving his arms and legs to make the mecha walk.
- Overheating: Should Ivan fire his mech's Gatling cannons consecutively without pausing, the game will throw in an overheating warning for him to stop shooting for a while as the weapon cools off. When the overheating meter is exceeded his cannons will begin firing at a snail's pace.
- Protagonist Title: The titular "Krazy" Ivan is the game's hero.
- Sand Worm: Scorch, the worm mecha spends most of the battle tunneling in and out from underground while digging circles around Ivan. It tends to stay on the surface to unload it's missiles before randomly tunneling back beneath - a good strategy is to let Ivan unleash his missiles before Scorch can start digging.
- Stalked by the Bell: There's a timer. If you let it ellapse, the skies will darken and you will have to fight Black Knight, a black Evil Counterpart of the Krazy Ivan.
- Shoulder Cannon: Ivan's mech can install extra cannons to both shoulders, for him to go More Dakka on enemy forces. Some of the robots used by alien invaders, like the late boss Thunderfoot, also uses them.
- Shout-Out: Behemoth the alien mecha resembles an AT-AT from Star Wars (save for having a back hatch painted brown) and the best way to defeat it, much like it's inspiration, is by aiming for the legs. The way it collapse (front-first, then tiltilng over) even looks like the first AT-AT's fall from The Empire Strikes Back.
- Spider Tank: Arachan, the alien mecha who moves with it's main body on giant arachnid legs.
- Sword Beam: It's called Scythe Beam in the game, but one of Ivan's upgrades swaps his robot's arms with blades which can release energy bolts.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Fireball (one half of the Dual Boss in the America stage) is a robot carrying at least a dozen cannons on ridiculously broad shoulders... and on two thin, stumpy, dinky legs. Despite how it looks, the boss is can somehow jump over Ivan In a Single Bound.
- Transforming Mecha: In the opening FMV when the aliens overpowered Ivan, Ivan then hits a switch that transforms his truck into a 40-foot mecha.
- True Final Boss: If the player meets the Hostage rescue quota in each levels and walks into the explosion of the final reactor core in Area 5, they will be teleported to a final battle against Black Knight.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: Krazy Ivan. In case you forgot this was a 90s' game.
- Ivan: Right now... I'm in the mood... for dancing.
