Video Game / Stinkoman 20X6

There is no time for candy
Only the challenge of fight. (I will fight a brick wall!)
Referred to being "The Guy" (I will collect many things!)
Hero making showdown tonight!
Tonight!
Stinkoman! (Stinkoman!)
Stinkoman! (Stinkoman!)
FIGHT!

— "Theme from Stinkoman", FMV intro

Stinkoman 20X6 is a Mega Man-like Platform Game starring Stinkoman, the blue-haired Animesque counterpart of Strong Bad from Homestar Runner. It was released as a Flash game in 2005, and is freely playable.^note The game now uses the Ruffle emulator as Flash Player has been completely depreciated on browsers.

The story, in the typical Homestar Runner irreverence, focuses on Stinkoman's adventures in his homeworld of Planet K, many of which involve fighting, challenges, and variations of sentences using those two words. However, a Mysterious Shadowy Figure has kidnapped his friends Pan Pan and 1-Up, and it's up to Stinkoman to save them. He'll probably get around to it eventually, but not when there's brick walls to fight and many things to collect.

On January 6th, 2018, more than twelve years after Level 9 was added to the game, a teaser for Level 10 was released. And another teaser on December 28 of the same year. It finally released on December 20, 2020.

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Tropes:

• 1-Up: Collecting an icon of Stinkoman's head grants the player an extra life. In an homage to this trope, the 20X6 version of Homestar is named 1-Up.
• Absurd Altitude: Parodied. Stinkoman jumps high enough to see all of Planet K to get over a wall that is only just out of his normal jumping reach, spending the rest of the stage first flying upwards, then falling down.
• Adaptational Villainy: Z-Sabre is one to Coach Z, who is usually not considered antagonistic in his other incarnations.
• Advertised Extra:
  • Pan Pan is given equal billing with Stinkoman and 1-Up in the Attract Mode intro, but he's kidnapped for most of the game and acts as a Living Prop in the few cutscenes he's in.
  • Done again in the FMV intro, where Pan Pan gets a cool action sequence. Marzi-Mei and Cheatball also have prominent scenes despite only showing up at the end of Level 10, a fact she lampshades when she makes her cameo.
• All There in the Manual: Just about anything that can hurt you has a name in the Stinkomanual. That's not a cactus! It's called a Pooru-Pooru!
• All the Worlds Are a Stage:
  • Level -0 takes everything from the rest of the game and throws it in a blender.
  • Level 10.2 plays this more literally, composing of most of the levels played so far and throwing it at your face (except for Levels 3 and 9), even referencing the glitchfest of Level -0. It even features every single enemy from those levels.
• Animation Bump: The boss cutscene for Level 10 features a fluid animation sequence of Stinkoman getting injured by the Shadowy Figure's attack (recycled from a short Strong Bad posted on Twitter), compared to the jerky sprites of the rest of the cutscenes before and after this.
• Anti-Frustration Features: "New Mode", added to the game when Level 10 was added, gives Stinkoman two extra hits, more extra lives to start with, mid-level checkpoints, the ability to respawn after falling into a pit at the cost of a hit point, and makes Level 3 "less annoying".
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: You play as 1-Up instead of Stinkoman in Level 5.
• Art Shift: The FMV intro cinematic is animated by SmallBu Animation Studio, and it resembles an anime opening; in particular, it strongly resembles Studio Trigger's BNA: Brand New Animal.
• Autobots, Rock Out!: The final level has some epic music that sets it apart from the rest of the levels.
• Bad with the Bone: One enemy is an obese, robotic chicken that constantly spits bones out of its mouth.
• Big Bad: The Shadowy Figure, or Z-Sabre, the 20X6 version of Coach Z.
• Bladder of Steel: No pausing allowed. While in most levels you can easily find a safe spot to idle, in Level 7 idling will cause Stinkoman to freeze and take damage.
• Body Horror: The last scene shows Z-Sabre with his lower face destroyed and with a mouth.
• Bowdlerise: Stinkoman's level intro is based off of one of his poses from the "Japanese cartoon" short, sans the Big Knife in his hand.
• Brain Monster: The first boss is the brain of the Humongous Mecha Stinkoman defeated in the opening cutscene.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The intro cutscene to Level 5 has Stinkoman refuse to help 1-Up get Pan Pan back, because he'd "already helped out in Level 4"—not the Lava Zone as it was referred to in-universe, just Level 4 in general.
• Boss Remix: The final boss theme is a remixed version of Trogdor's theme that transitions into a rendition of the first stage's theme.
• The Cameo: When a character says "asplode", Vector Strong Bad shows up to admonish them.
• Catchphrase: Stinkoman shouts his catchphrase, "Are you asking for a challenge?!", whenever he is about to engage in a Boss Battle. Likewise, 1-Up shouts "I wanna be the guy, too!" in his solo boss fight.
• Chekhov's Gun: In level 4, 1-Up takes Stinkoman's Power Crunch which doesn't seem to have any other importance for the rest of the game. Come the final level, 1-Up tosses the Power Crunch to Stinkoman to give him a needed power boost against Z Sabre.
• Collapsing Lair: After defeating the final boss, Stinkoman must navigate a short but tricky platforming course and escape to the Stinkowing before time runs out.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Stinkoman's "Power Crunch" from level 4 is the cassette tape of Strong Bad's "number 1 jam" from the Sbemail "time capsule", which Stinkoman thought was a Power Crunch (and somehow wound up empowering him).
  • Level 10 starts with a fight against the "Worst End-Boss Ever" from episode 6 of Skills of an Artist. Fortunately, if you just keep shooting at him as he does his charge attack he'll explode.
  • The credits have another one where after beating Level 10.5, you fight against Sticklyman as the credits roll, just like how Strong Bad said he would be the secret boss of Level 10.5 in the fifth episode of SBCG4AP. Neither he nor Stinkoman can be defeated, and if you just stay still, he won't attack.
• Costume Evolution: Marzi-Mei's original character design had her wearing a purple leotard with a purple skirt, and she highly resembled a Sailor Moon character. Her new design created by Lindsay Small-Butera has her wearing a purple jumpsuit with hand-hiding sleeves (and Foot-Hiding Pant Legs). Her hair is also styled differently, with it originally being up in a long ponytail.
• Critical Existence Failure: Our protagonist has four (or six on New mode) energy bars and unless it drops to zero, he'll never be injured.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: Most enemies explode upon defeat.
• Department of Redundancy Department: The manual quotes the second boss as saying, "My feet are orange feet."
• Easter Egg: The hidden fourth option in the main menu, visible either by pressing down from the third option or hovering over the area, shows the game's manual. The option is made visible with the Level 10 update.
• Edible Collectible: The bread in Level 3.2, which must be collected tenfold in order to clear the level.
• Escape Sequence: After beating Mecha-Trogador, one last level is played which has a timer with the objective being to get out of the tower.
• Escort Mission: Stinkoman has to protect his Power Crunch (and, by extension, 1-Up) from the creatures in the Lava Zone.
• Excuse Plot: While there is some semblance of a plot in the background, most levels are initiated by Stinkoman looking to get his challenge fix. Quoth the Attract Mode summary:
  ON PLANET K, STINKOMAN IS ALWAYSLOOKING FOR A FIGHTING OR A CHALLENGE.IN 20X6, HE CAN USUALLY FIND ONE!
• Explosive Breeder: While trapped inside The Shadowy Figure's lair, Pan Pan had 100 babies. Despite no other member of his species being around for... the act of breeding.
• Exposed to the Elements: Deconstructed. Standing still too long in the Slippy-Slidey Ice World will cause Stinkoman to freeze into an ice cube and take damage.
• Expy: The Shadowy Figure/Z-Sabre is one of Sigma.
• Face Ship: The Stinkowing, a fighter jet shaped like Stinkoman's (and by extension Strong Bad's) mask.
• Fan Remake: Created by Ratheronfire using the Godot Engine and adding more Anti-Frustration Features like being able to pause and giving 1-Up three hit points instead of one in Level 4, along with adding post-game content such as a Time Attack where you can play the levels as either Stinkoman or 1-Up, a Boss Rush mode, and a(n incomplete as of 1.0) Level Editor. Release Trailer here.
• Floating Platforms: More than a few levels have them.
  • Level 4 has floating platforms and corresponding tiles to control them, with the goal being to put them in the correct place to help 1-Up (or Stinkoman) get through.
  • Many levels have floating trapdoors, which are solid platforms when up, but cause the player to fall through when down. In Level -0, the positions are reversed: down is solid, up lets you fall.
• Flying Seafood Special: The level 9 enemies are vaguely fish-like creatures that fly through the air to attack Stinkoman.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the enemy rollcall in the credits, the Shadowy Figure's non-boss sprite is credited as "Bubs".
• Game-Breaking Bug: Dying on the first two bosses usually causes the floor to disappear, since the trigger that loads the level is at the start of the level instead of the start of the boss. This is fixed in the Level 10 update.
• Giant Hands of Doom: Stlunko fights primarily with its giant disembodied hands.
• Glitch Entity: Invoked. "Poor Ekersby. He's a jumble of good, good graphics from the rest of the game."
• The Homeward Journey: Level 1 is outright called "Go Home!", focusing on Stinkoman's obstacle-filled journey back after defeating Tampo.
• Humongous Mecha: Mecha-Trogador, a robot version of Trogdor, is the game's Final Boss.
• Idle Animation: If Stinkoman is left standing, he will start to yawn. In the level where you play as 1-Up instead, 1-Up will blow Snot Bubbles instead. Turned against the player in Level 7, where Stinkoman will freeze into an ice block and take damage.
• I Fell for Hours: The second part of Level 3, in which Stinkoman comes down from the apex of his extremely high jump, especially if you're taking too long with collecting the breads.
• Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: Most inconvenient with Stlunko, the Level 3 boss, where it can change direction while you are trying to avoid the giant fists. The belt also has a hazard on each side.
• Instant Ice: Just Add Cold!: Stinkoman will "freeze to square" if he stands still too long in Stage 7, the Slippy-Slidey Ice World. This causes him to be temporarily trapped in an ice cube and take damage.
• Intentional Engrish for Funny: All throughout the game. "AND OTHER VICTORY FOR STINKOMAN!!"
• Invincible Minor Minion: Both Clowder from Level 3 and Stafulter from Level 6 are invincible to Stinkoman's attacks.
• Jungle Japes: Level 9 has Stinkoman piloting his jet through a jungle. Despite this, most of the enemies are underwater-themed.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Level 10's opening cutscene opens with Stinkoman falling asleep in front of the Shadowy Figure's lair, with said Figure angrily commenting that he's been there for a while. 1-Up and Pan Pan have also been captured for so long that the former grew a beard and the latter gave birth to a litter of children. It's pretty obviously a joke about the out-of-universe long wait in between the release of Level 9 and Level 10.
• Lethal Lava Land: Level 4, in which you must protect the Power Crunch (held by 1-Up) from giant lava falls.
• Level 1 Music Represents: The overworld theme of Level 1 is probably the most iconic piece of music from the game, as it shows up in the menu theme, is used in the Level 10 trailer, and gets all new remixes for Level 10's overworld and for the final boss.
• Level in the Clouds: Level 6: Stratosfear, AKA the Pink Cloud Zone. Many enemies are electricity-themed, and The Liekand, a sunglasses-wearing tornado, is the boss.
• Manual Misprint: Invoked as, despite what the manual says, the Level 9 boss is not a squid. Lampshaded in the boss's quote.
  "That description is ALL WRONG!" -Harvax XVII
  • As a brick joke, that's what we end up seeing in the credits.
• Mini-Game Credits: Stinkoman can fight Sticklyman during the end credits, though both are invincible.
• Minus World: Level -0 is a homage to this. It's composed of bits and pieces of other levels, as is its music (see also: All the Worlds Are a Stage).
• Planar Shockwave: The Stinkowing causes a few rings when it explodes.
• Poison Mushroom: Poison capsules deal 1 damage to you and look like the Power Crunch capsules that restore full health.
• Power Copying: Parodied with Stlunko—after defeating him, Stinkoman takes one of his giant stone hands as a "new powerup", which comes into play in the next level.
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Z Sabre refers to Mecha-Trogador as his 'pet inside quotes.'
• Recursive Canon: One cutscene shows Stinkoman playing... ...Stinkoman 20X6.
• Retraux: A pseudo-8-bit game produced by the fictional video game company Videlectrix, which later gets an upgrade to pseudo-Sega CD game status with the inclusion of a fully-animated (and poorly-encoded) cinematic cutscene.
• Segmented Serpent: Saargtsson, who must be defeated by attacking the last segment of its tail until it falls off.
• Sequel Hook: Lampshaded, when the Crystal Heart of Mecha-Trogador is broken into pieces and scattered across Planet K, Stinkoman observes that gathering the shards would make for a great sequel or an animated series spin-off. The cartoon short seen in Twenty THANXty Six may in fact be said animated series.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • When 1-Up decides to go rescue Pan Pan in Level 4, Stinkoman's first concern is not that his friend is taking a very dangerous shortcut, but that his Power Crunch might be destroyed along the way.
  • This continues after Stinkoman gets zapped to Level 7 after 1-Up is kidnapped. Getting revenge on the guy who "red-buttoned" him is high priority; maybe rescuing his friends is secondary.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Level 7, "Ice 2 Meet U", which has several unique ice enemies, including An Ice Machine as the boss, and in which the cold weather can even damage you if you stay still for too long.
• Space Zone: Level 5, in which 1-Up decides to go to the moon to search for the kidnapped Pan Pan.
• Stationary Boss: Stlunko and An Ice Machine each stay put during their respective fights.
• The Stinger: After the first "The End" screen, we cut to Z Sabre emerging from his wrecked lair, now speaking with a newly-formed mouth.
• Stylistic Suck: The pre-rendered intro added with the Level 10 update is filtered to resemble the poor-quality FMV seen in Sega CD games like Sonic CD. The viewing area is shrunk to a letterbox inside a "VideleCDrix" border, and there are visible graphical blurs and pixelation throughout the video. Completing the game unlocks a link to watch the cinematic in full HD.
• Super Mode: Stinkoman gets buff for the Level 10 boss battles. All it does is make him jump higher.
• The Reveal:
  • After 15 years, we finally have a definite answer as to who the Mysterious Shadowy Figure is, and the fans were correct: It's the 20X6 version of Coach Z, known as "Z Sabre".
  • We also finally know the name of the 20X6 version of Marzipan: Marzi-Mei.
• Title Scream: "Twenty-exty-six!"
• Took a Shortcut:
  • Parodied. Whereas Stinkoman takes an entire level to reach low-Earth orbit, 1-Up just walks to the moon.
  • Level 4 is an attempt to invoke this; it quickly turns into a Ridiculously Difficult Route instead.
  • Lampshaded when Stinkoman tells 1-Up and Pan Pan to "meet [him] in the next cutscene safe and sound" as he escapes the Collapsing Lair. They proceed to do just that.
• Unexpected Shmup Level: Level 9, in which you control the Stinkowing instead of Stinkoman himself. The jump command typical of the rest of the game becomes a "shield" command instead.

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