Snipperclips is a 2017 video game developed by SFB Games for the Nintendo Switch. It was originally in development as an indie title called Friendshapes before the developers presented it to Nintendo, who decided to publish it as a first-party title.
Snipperclips is a Puzzle Game/Party Game in which the player(s) controls two (or more) cute characters shaped vaguely like horseshoes. The two characters have the ability to "cut" each other into different shapes. Whenever they overlap, they can cut out the parts that overlap from each other. Using this power, they must cut each other into shapes to solve puzzles. Puzzles such as getting basketballs into hoops, popping balloons, scooping up fish from lakes, helping princesses collect gemstones, keeping goo away from sleeping parameciums, and other strange tasks. Although the game can be played in single-player, it's primarily designed to be a multiplayer experience.
Nintendo later announced an Updated Re Release called Snipperclips Plus which included twice the number of worlds and a remix mode for the existing worlds that makes both players a unique shape. It was released on November 10, 2017.
Snipperclips contains examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Several levels in the Retro Reboot world center around helping an Action Girl princess who appears to be the star of her own retro game series.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The world names. Noisy Notebook, Retro Reboot, Silly Science...
- Armless Biped: The player characters have two legs, but no arms. Also, the "enemies" of "Princess Power up"
- Blush Sticker: Both shapes in slightly darker color from the rest of their body. The princess has pink ones. Even the basketball and bowling ball have blush stickers!
- Bug Catching: The classic kid's game, herding fireflies, or a firefly in this case, is a recurring challenge.
- Cardiovascular Love: Get the frog to its tadpoles and you will see heart symbols. The mocking birds' eyes become these if you can get eggs into their nests.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: It is initially just to tell the player shapes apart but as the challenges rack up matching various colored objects and organisms becomes required.
- Cranium Ride: A possible way for the walking shapes to travel is on each other.
- Eat Dirt, Cheap: The last Cosmic Comics challenge involves shooting gemstones into mouths with a cannon. Mouths that then crunch down on them.
- Emergent Gameplay: This is the goal of the game. There are dozens of ways to solve the various puzzles, and while there are a few core shapes players are likely to use, more are possible.
- Four-Legged Insect: Inverted at one point, where you are supposed to become an eight-legged insect.
- Living Toys: Starting with the expressive sports balls of Noisy Notebook. Also, Toybox Tools has an emotional elephant trumpet.
- Lock Picking Minigame: A Cosmic Comics challenge has you opening a treasure chest on a sunken ship on the sea floor.
- Martial Arts Headband: The preview graphic for dojo features headbands, but none are present when it's played.
- Mega-Microbes: The amoeba/paramecium are about the same size as the firefly, and themselves fly, or at least float.
- Minecart Madness: You have to cut mine cart paths at one point.
- Named by the Adaptation: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate refers to the yellow and pink shapes as "Snip and Clip".
- Noodle People: Anything that has limbs will have stick limbs.
- The Noseless: The faces of the players' walking parabolas seem to lack noses, although they are never seen in profile.
- Paper People: The shape people are paper-thin.
- Parasol Parachute: A chicken tries this in a Toybox Tools challenge, but it doesn't work too well. It does give your shape a little protection from the hazardous liquid dripping down on them, though.
- Party Game: The game is made for multiplayer, but there's also a "party mode" designed where up to four people must work together to solve more complicated puzzles.
- Pink Means Feminine: The pink shape appears to be vaguely more feminine, as she has long eyelashes, wears a scarf, and flared heel boots. If you take it as such then it could there the blue shape would also be more "feminine" than the purple shape in party mode, so True Blue Femininity?
- Player Versus Player: The two player puzzle mode and four player party mode involve all participants working together to complete challenges. Blitz mode, on the other hand, is won by one player scoring more points than all the others.
- Punny Name: Several of the levels have puns for names. The game was originally named Friendshapes, too.
- Retraux: The Retro Reboot world is themed around this, with bloopy music and vector graphics.
- Stock Femur Bone: You have to serve a femur bone at a restaurant alongside an order of fish skeleton (the customers are a cat and dog).
- Technicolor Toxin: The "sludge" tends to be bright pink or green. It's harmless to the player's shapes but other creatures don't like it very much...
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The two shapes appear to be male and female based on their features. The yellow shape wears a bow tie and sneakers, while the pink shape wears flared boots and a scarf and has eyelashes.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: It's possible to snip out so many parts of your partner (as in just about every single part that can be snipped) that they end up vanishing from existence. However, they will respawn completely intact shortly after.
- Walk, Don't Swim: In bodies of water, the player's walking shapes sink like lead. Luckily, they have no need of air and are not slowed in the slightest, though the same cannot be said for everything else they have to interact with.
