Grapple Dog is a 2D indie Platform Game created by Joseph Gribbin and released on February 10th, 2022. In the game, you play as Pablo, a seafaring dog with a grappling hook tasked with saving the world from a mysterious robotic villain named Nul, using the grappling hook in question as part of the core platforming gameplay. Aiding Pablo on his quest is Toni, the ship's mechanic, and the Professor, an old bird who has Pablo and Toni aiding her on her research.
The game is available to play on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. You can find it on Steam here
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A sequel, Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines, has been announced, with a planned release date of 2024.
Grapple Dog provides the following examples:
- Advancing Boss of Doom: In world 1-B and 5-5, Pablo has to run from a robotic T-Rex. The only method of damaging it is with the cannons at the end of each segment of the chase.
- Affably Evil: Null may not like that Pablo is following him and trying to stop him, and is actively trying to kill him, but they talk about other things NULL ABSOLUTELY NOT HAVING ANGER ISSUES.
- All-Powerful Bystander: The blue cloaked mysterious onlooker(s???) are suggested to be these. They appear in levels, always vanish when Pablo gets nearby. Then in the final world They help out against the battle with Null, and then they put you through a series of trials to test your might.
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: The final stage has Pablo going through a series of portals to revisit earlier island themes, with ramped up difficulty.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- There are accessibility options for the player, including infinite jumping and invisibility much like Celeste before it.
- If you die enough times at a certain segment, the game gives you the option to skip to the next checkpoint.
- When you've triggered an attack on a boss (be it grapple it, hit its obvious weakpoint or launch yourself towards it) Pablo becomes invincible so he doesn't suffer a Kaizo Trap like death.
- Finally, in the time trial mode, you can hold Y to immediately restart a level.
- Attack Its Weakpoint: Tank, the giant head boss, and DRGN all have obvious weak points. The problem is getting to them, or getting the boss to expose them.
- Balloon Belly: Frogs inflate and float when near Pablo, allowing them to be used as hook points.
- Battle in the Rain: The first phase of Nul's bossfight takes place under acid rain.
- Bonus Stage: Collecting a Bonus Stage Coin unlocks ... a Bonus Stage. Usually, bonus stage consists of player trying to get all collectibles or defeat all the enemies within a time limit.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: You'd not be able to defeat Rex if those cannons weren't there. You'd not be able to beat Tank if the ceiling wasn't a grapple block.
- Brutal Bonus Level: There are several bonus levels in each world, each accessed by getting a blue token in certain levels and granting three gems when completed. In addition, The entirety of world 6 is, at least supposedly, filled with these. These all have a huge spike in difficulty compared to the world that they are in and are all timed missions.
- Checkpoint: Checkpoints in this game are marked by short flags which Pablo raises upon contact.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: All of the spots and objects that Pablo's grappling hook can latch onto is noticeably blue-colored.
- Colossus Climb: DRGN is a huge eastern style dragon robot, and towards the end of his phase of attacks Pablo has to grapple his way across its body.
- Conspicuous Electric Obstacle: World 4 features surfaces that get electrified whenever an electric robot enemy on it activates itself.
- Crate Expectations: Crates are common throughout the game. These can be destroyed, revealing springboards and fruit.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: This game delves in some cartoony Video Game Cruelty Potential, having you bash NPCs in order to be able to continue the stage. Most of these are for collectibles. Most.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Upon dying, Pablo simply respawns at the last checkpoint and loses all the berries and gems he collected after reaching said checkpoint.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: One of the first enemies encountered is a robot four times the size of the standard Waddling Head. It doesn't do anything else but walk back and forth and requires two stomps instead of one.
- Fireballs: A few enemies and fireball traps shoot out balls of fire. Some fireballs also emerge from lava.
- First-Episode Twist: The first level contains the plot twist of Nul, the person who tutorialized you on the movement mechanics throughout the level, being Evil All Along and the Big Bad.
- Floating Water: 2-4 introduces spheres of water than the protagonist can swim in.
- Follow the Money: Fruit, hanging mid-air, is often placed in a way that indicates places to progress.
- Funny Animal: Animals in this game are anthropomorphic and wear clothes.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Toni is a lowkey one. She doesn't invent anything spectacular Aside from a biplane but she's shown working on robotics and engineering often.
- Green Hill Zone: World 1 takes mostly takes place in a grassy area.
- The Goomba: The first and most encountered enemy is a Waddling Head version of Tin-Can Robot. that simply walks back and forth
- Goomba Stomp: Most of Null's mooks can be jumped upon to destroy them.
- Goth: The crows on the Ember isles are the "Life is meaningless, why try" variety.
- Greater-Scope Villain: It's heavily implied The Great Inventor is one, because of the fact they are the cause of Null being Driven to Villainy. They faked being an inventor and instead enslaved and stole a dimension of robots' creations and lives.
- Ground Pound: Pablo can perform ground pound move to quickly propel downwards and break objects.
- Hit Stop: Getting hit momentarily stops time.
- Human Cannonball: Entering octagon-shaped cannons allow Pablo to be fired by them, reaching new locations.
- Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: Conveyor belts are in this game to mostly impede the player.
- Invincible Minor Minion: There's two invincible types of robots. The spider types and the hornet types. They have added spikes, and cannot be damaged.
- Lava Pit: Some levels have red lava.
- Lethal Lava Land: World 3 takes place in a fire-themed area.
- Level Goal: Level goals of normal levels are giant bells which the player must ring.
- MacGuffin: The Cosmic Gadgets. They were supposedly used to seal Nul, and are revealed to open an unstable portal in the endgame.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Pablo is the one who unleashes Null on the islands in the first place.
- No Indoor Voice: The Polar Bears!!! Are always yelling!!! Pablo doesn't know why they do this!!!
- Now or Never Kiss: Toni gives Pablo a kiss on the cheek when he's about to fight the Final Boss. Followed by an Anguished Declaration of Love postgame (but they agree to take it slow)
- Palmtree Panic: World 2 takes place in a beach-themed area.
- Plot Coupon: The Cosmic Gems, purple well-cut gems that Pablo has to use to unlock boss levels And the three trial levels in world 6.
- Pre-Explosion Glow: Bosses let out beams of light before exploding.
- Pressure Plate: Stepping on a plate opens up gates of respective color.
- The Professor: The Professor in this game is an archaeologist who's writing a book about the Great Inventor and knows the most about the artifacts.
- Posthumous Character: The mysterious Inventor, a mouse-like being who hasn't been seen for at least hundreds of years at this point. And Null personally knew him as well, but doesn't have a very high opinion of him. According to Nul, the Inventor is responsible for taking the Cosmic Gadgets for himself and didn't even care for Nul.
- Rewarding Vandalism: Breaking crates often yield fruit.
- Roar Before Beating: It's not uncommon for bosses to roar before the boss fight starts.
- Rolling Attack: Pablo can attack enemies by rolling into them.
- Saw Blades of Death: World 2 introduces saws that hang midair or mid-water, acting as an obstacle. World 5 introduces saw blades that move on rails.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: World 4 is ice-themed.
- Spikes of Doom: Spikes are one of the most commonly encountered obstacles in the game. World 2 introduces surfaces that protrude spikes soon after on contact.
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: Platforms with upward arrow propel Pablo upwards when stepped on. Number of arrows indicates the bounce height. There are also balloons that act as regenerating springboards while doubling as hook points. Finally, there are floating green spheres that bounce the player upon contact.
- Stock Femur Bone: Collecting classic cartoon bone pickups restores health.
- Super-Deformed: Characters' heads are larger than their bodies.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: All bosses aside from Rex suffer from having that one attack that leaves them open for attack. An argument could be made against DRGN who's a bit more of a Colossus Climb.
- Talking Animal: The world is filled with these. The main trio are a dog, bunny and a peacock, then there's islands with goats, crabs, otters, polar bears, frogs and crows.
- Temporary Platform: There are grey regenerating platforms that crumble soon after being stepped on. There are also green platforms that temporarily become solid after ringing a lantern.
- Tin-Can Robot: The basic body plan of the enemies is a very rectangular robot or robot head and sometimes a body.
- Tragic Villain: Nul, surprisingly. The reason Nul was sealed in the first place was because he tried to warn his people of the Inventor's treachery, and his entire motivation is simply wanting to go back home. However, doing so would require a portal that would tear down Pablo's homeworld.
- Treasure Is Bigger in Fiction: Collectible gems are as big as Pablo.
- Unreliable Narrator: The book at the very beginning of the game is very misleading, if Nul is to be believed. The motivation for opposing the Inventor was out of a strive to do what was right rather than jealousy, and the Cosmic Gadgets weren't used to seal Nul, but open a portal to his world.
- Vent Physics: World 4 introduces fans that lift Pablo upwards.
- Video Game Dashing: Pablo can dash under water.
- Waddling Head: The most basic enemy is a Tin-Can Robot with two stubby legs
- Wall Jump: You can jump off walls.
- Villain's Dying Grace: At the end of the game, the portal Nul opened grew so unstable that someone had to go in and close it from the inside. Nul himself chose to close the portal, knowing he would be killed in the process, because it was his mistake and to him it was fair that he had to be the one to fix it.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Pablo HAS to unlock the Grapple Hook and aid Null in getting his body so that the game can start proper.
