"well that's really cool and everything but... could you please go somewhere else?"
Hotline 024 is a Friday Night Funkin' Game Mod developed by PointyESM with Saruky, Fore8040, EbolaHorny, and Ash. The mod is still a work-in-progress, with two demos.
The original demo
, released for a FunkJamnote in September of 2021, contains two songs and a quick story where Boyfriend and Girlfriend encounter Nikku at a skatepark they were intending to do... "stuff" at. Nikku politely asks them to leave, and Boyfriend of course challenges her to a rap battle.
On April 24th, 2022, the Medley update/demo released — a large step up from the original, this demo has twenty four songs. As the title would suggest, the focus of the demo is remixes, mashups, and covers of various songs, some coming straight from other mods.
During Funkin' Forward 2022note , the full-ass version of the mod, entitled Hotline 024: Sunset Hills, was announced, with the teaser pegging the release date as sometime in 2023. In addition, a second teaser at the end of the event revealed that the cancelled ENA mod created by Sugar Ratio, DozenRahyz and Cotiles would be seeing new life as content within this mod.
The mod was later confirmed to be split into two variations in the future; Hotline 024: Sakura Mix, which focuses on the for-fun music and mashups, and Hotline 024: Sunset Hills, which only focuses on Nikku and her storyline while adapting out Boyfriend, Girlfriend and the FNF gameplay entirely.
Song List (as of the demo's Medley update)
Freeplay
- Broadcasting
- Mirror Magic
- Fandomania
- Killer Queen
- Hyperfunk
- Sugarcrush
- Smokebomb
- Overdrive
- Expurgated
Extras
- Soda Disco Funk (Momo and Gogo)
- Armageddon (Nikku and Rude#1)
Covers
Secrets
- Nightland (Nikku and Clips)
- Uncanny Valley (ENA)
- Extraterrestrial (Nikku and Xigmund)
- Satellite Picnic (Nikku and Boo)
- Sussy Pussy (Nikku and Tomongus)
- Close Chuckle (Pim and Charlie)
- Deep Poems (Monika, Yuri and Nikku)
- Fun is Infinite (Mazin Sonic)
- Astral Projection (Matsu)
Hotline 024 provides examples of:
- all lowercase letters:
- The original demo's dialogue is all in lowercase.
- The official OST upload for "smokebomb" spells it without a uppercase "S".
- Alternate Reality Game: The Medley update comes with a series of hidden secrets meant for the player to uncover, from ciphered words hidden in the codepad screen to pictures within the files themselves. Solving part of this ARG leads to the code for the final hidden song in the game, "Astral Projection".
- Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The second half of "Astral Projection" sees Matsu's office turn completely black, with the plants in the room turning unnatural colors and Windows error messages with ominous threats appearing in the background.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Nikku, Rude#1, Gogo and Matsu all have light gray skin.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: You get to play as other characters in the secret songs, including Nikku herself.
- Antepiece: One of the secret songs of the Medley update, "Uncanny Valley", splits the player's arrows between the left and right sides of the screen. Aside from a few sections, the song is easy to follow, easing the player in to this kind of gameplay. The final hidden song, "Astral Projection", is a return to this style, now faster and with more notes.
- Art Shift:
- "Fandomania" has a brief transition replicating Undertale's battle screens, with a pixelated Nikku above the text box.
- "Killer Queen" includes a cutscene with Nikku, Boyfriend and Girlfriend all drawn in the style of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
- "Satellite Picnic" has a more chibi, stylized look to the character designs, with thicker outlines compared to the rest of the mod.
- "Sussy Pussy" is rendered in 3D, complete with a 3D Nikku as the player character.
- Canon Discontinuity: Everything in the Medley update and the upcoming Sakura Mix portion of the mod has been confirmed to be non-canon to the storyline that Hotline 024: Sunset Hills plans to tell.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
- The brim and small symbol on Nikku's hat changes color to match whatever note she hits.
- In the secret song "Extraterrestrial", the lights on Nikku's spaceship change to the color of the notes she sings.
- Cover Version: Obviously there's the covers themselves — "Thunderstorm" from VS Shaggy, "CG Megamix", which is a medley of all of the main week songs from Vs Cassette Girl, "Deathmatch" from Friday Night Funkin': Corruption, and "Promenade" from Friday Night Funkin': ENTITY — but there's also a handful of other covers that don't go by their original names, such as "Deep Poems" being a mashup of "Poems n' Thorns" and "Deep Breaths" from Doki Doki Takeover!, and "Sussy Pussy" being a cover of "Sussy Bussy" from Vs. Impostor.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The ARG reveals that something happened in Nikku's childhood that caused her father to leave, her mother to become distant, and for Nikku to almost completely block out the memory of her sister Yokki.
- Expy: A foul mouthed, bald, constantly angry and abrasive man with snow white skin and distinctive eyes and eyebrows? If his name wasn't right there, one could easily mistake Rude#1 for /v/-tan.
- Floating Limbs:
- Nikku has no neck, and her head just floats above her body.
- As in her home series, ENA's head just floats above her body.
- Matsu's head is detached from her torso and floats above the collar of her suit. She also has a pair of floating hands with no arms.
- Foreshadowing: Rather than the standard blueballs, the retry screen involves a mysterious character floating above a trio of television screens. The final hidden song has you actually face off against this character, Matsu.
- Guest Fighter: The Medley update includes a bunch of other characters that are either fought or played as in the secret songs: ENA, Xigmund, Boo, Tomongus, Pim and Charlie, Monika and Yuri, and Mazin Sonic.
- Interface Screw:
- "Uncanny Valley" only has the player's set of arrows, with the arrows split between the left (left and down) and right (up and right) sides of the screen.
- Similar to "Uncanny Valley", "Astral Projection" splits the arrows to the sides of the screen. Unlike "Uncanny Valley", the health bar is also missing, meaning the player has no clue how close they are to losing.
- Interface Spoiler: Averted; the character healthbar would give away the twist that you're actually playing as Nikku during "Astral Projection", so it is the only song in the mod where it's absent.
- Ms. Fanservice: Momo's design consists of a small bikini and nothing else, and her breasts bounce slightly when she moves. This is in contrast with the rest of the girls in the mod who are fully clothed, including Gogo, who she sings "Soda Disco Funk" with.
- Mythology Gag:
- Whenever Nikku uses Shaggy's and Matt's voices, they are always either in the same verse or one after the other, referencing their crossover mod.
- In the Medley update, Nikku's final alternate costume is her original sprites from the first demo.
- "EXPURGATED" takes its location and name from "Expurgation" from The Tricky Mod. Nikku even begins the song using Tricky's voice, albeit singing a riff from "Improbable Outset" rather than "Expurgation".
- The four dedicated covers all take place in a location that mashes elements from the mods of origin: Boyfriend and Nikku are battling in the remains of a cathedral (ENTITY), overlooked by large buildings (Vs. Cassette Girl) with a castle looming in the background (Vs. Shaggy). The area is entirely in pink and black, referencing the colors of Corruption's titular virus.
- In the "Deathmatch" cover, there is a segment where Nikku copies Pico's, Skid and Pump's, and Mommy Mearest's voices, similar to how the player briefly takes control of them in the original song.
- In the background of "Close Chuckle", Desmond, who is dressed like Boyfriend, can be seen pointing Pico's gun to his head. The song and its setting are based off of the pilot of Smiling Friends, specifically the scene where Charlie tries to convince Pim that Desmond is a lost cause and they should just leave him to commit suicide.
- No Mouth: Subverted. Nikku doesn't have a mouth in her sprites and communicates via telepathy, but she does have one, she just never uses it outside of things like copying Tankman's "UGH" or eating empanadas.
- Nostalgia Level: In the Sakura Mix final update to the mod, both the newer versions of the songs and their original counterparts can be played.
- One-Winged Angel: Matzushii transforms into some sort of constantly-shifting... thing halfway through "Astral Projection". Her face in her idle animation is constantly shifting from eyes to an impossibly deep pipeworks system, and her poses involve such things as a multitude of hands sprouting from her face, her head splitting open to reveal a blue sky with clouds, and her growing a giant mouth that resembles a zipper.
- Painting the Medium: When Nikku copies Boyfriend's voice in a song he's in, notes rise up on his strumline only to be pulled to Nikku's; she's not only stealing his voice, but the notes to sing with it as well.
- Production Throwback: All of the mod's dedicated covers are songs the director and composer, Saruky, composed for other mods.
- Reference Overdosed:
- "FANDOMANIA" contains many "Megalovania" analogs found in Undertale's SoundCloud community, such as Sudden Changes' "Bullet Hell", Spongeswap's "Bibulus", and Hurricane Season's "Sour Smiling".
- "EXPURGATED" is a giant medley of various mod songs, with riffs, sound clips/instruments, and even the character voices courtesy of Nikku all throughout it.
- "Sugarcrush" is essentially a SiIvaGunner song in mod form, featuring multiple riffs and samples from various popular music and memes, such as "The DK Rap", "Toxic", Jack Black talking about octagons, and the infamous "GRAND DAD?!", to name a few.
- The Reveal: Towards the end of "Astral Projection", the vocals shift from Boyfriend to Nikku, revealing we've actually been playing as her the entire time.
- Secret Level:
- In the original demo, "Sugarcrush" is a Freeplay-exclusive song. No word on whenever or not it's going to become playable in Story Mode in the full version or if it will remain a Freeplay-exclusive.
- In the Medley update, additional bonus songs have to be unlocked using codes hidden within "Fandomania".
- The final secret song of the Medley update, "Astral Projection", requires the player to go through the files and a few videos in order to find the code to access it.
- Spell My Name With An S: Majin Sonic is referred to as Mazin in the game's files and credits.
- Suddenly Speaking: Boyfriend begins the original demo speaking in his usual beep-boops, but then starts speaking English once Nikku mentions that the skatepark they're fighting in is where she hides.Boyfriend: ...Boyfriend: *ahem*Boyfriend: hide from who?
- Telepathy: Nikku speaks via projecting her words into the heads of those she's speaking to.
- Voice Changeling: Nikku and her species do not have a natural voice; instead, they have the ability to create impressions of other people's voices, and Nikku even says in the original demo that she'll be copying Boyfriend's own voice for the sake of rap battling him. While she's given a default, feminine-sounding electronic voice in the Medley update, said update also comes with an absolute showcase of the extent of her voice copying, with her not only being able to perfectly copy the voices of others, but even being able to mix and edit them on the fly.
- Voice Clip Song: Compared to the normal clips and snippets of words and sounds that make up the voices for the rest of the cast, "Uncanny Valley"'s "lyrics" are made up of full words and sentences sampled from Ena's home series, particularly the third episode, "Temptation Stairway".
- Wacky Sound Effect: While the mod doesn't actually feature these, these still pop up on occasion during the "Thunderstorm" cover, as a reference to Shaggy's cartoon of origin.
- Whole Costume Reference: One of Nikku's alternate costumes is an outfit that mimics the styles of Jotaro Kujo and Jolyne Cujou, even making poses from Jojo's when she hits a note in this costume.
