It's off the rails!
Thrillville is a video game series developed by Frontier Developments and published by LucasArts, and released in 2006.The first game has your self-designed character as the manager of an unpopular theme park owned by your uncle, the brilliant inventor Uncle Mortimer. It's your job to build the park up to success by building new rides, improving conditions around the park and meeting the needs of its guests. However, Vernon Garrison, a multi-million dollar businessman, builds his own theme park, Globo-Joy, and steals all the ride designs from Thrillville for it. You have to combat his attempts to take down Thrillville's popularity and prevent your guests from going to Globo-Joy instead.
A sequel, called Thrillville: Off the Rails, was released a year later, once again pitting you against Vernon as he tries to stop your rise to fame. The sequel’s main gimmick is the addition of more creative and over-the-top rides.
Tropes included:
- Abnormal Ammo: The audio-responsive nanotechnological color-changing wonder paint introduced in the second park is used as a weapon in the western shooting games. The pirate-themed shooters feature a gun that fires coins.
- Animorphism: Implied in Off The Rails. Mortimer apparently turned into a beetle at one point.
- Apathetic Citizens: Averted in OTR. Guests will comment about how clean your park is, how expensive it is, to how they don't like the neon pink and green paint on your new roller coaster.
- Big Bad: Globo Joy, Vernon Garrison, and Tim Twinklefingers.
- Big Good: Thrillville, Uncle Mortimer, and you.
- Bottomless Bladder: Played With in that one of the park guests' needs is "Bladder", however it will cap out at 99% and, in the event of the removal of all bathrooms, will remain in that position indefinitely.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Another one of Globo Joy's schemes to run Thrillville out of business.
- Butt-Monkey: Mortimer. He gets himself hurt in almost every cutscene.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Vernon Garrison- the CEO of Globo Joy.
- Critical Existence Failure: Averted; cars in RC Wars are harder to control when damaged
- Dark Is Evil: Globo Joy's colors are usually a combination of black, gray, and teal.
- Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Vernon Garrison wears an expensive suit whereas Uncle Mortimer wears a lab coat, a goofy yellow tie, vibrantly-colored striped pants.
- Expy: Uncle Mortimer is a thinly-veiled parody of Dr. Emmet Brown.
- Fragile Speedster:
- The Assassin in RC Wars is the fastest vehicle in RC Wars. It is also the one that is damaged most easily.
- Clink in Robo K.O. is the fastest robot of the three. However, he has the least armor of the three playable robots as well.
- Game Within a Game: The player can place arcade games in the park that are playable.
- Malicious Slander: How Globo Joy tries to get the theme-park critics to bash Thrillville.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: The newspaper clippings always show Garrison in an expensive-looking suit.
- Mighty Glacier: Clonk is the slowest robot in Robo K.O. However, he has the strongest punches.
- Likewise, the V12 is the slowest car in RC Wars. Yet, it hits like a tank.
- Minigame Zone: You create one.
- No Ending: Bandito Chincilla just ends after you beat Zero Bomba. We never get to learn if Bandito was able to save his sister or defeat Vico.
- Noodle Implements: When telling secrets.Player: (whispers)Guest: Cool, but how did you convince the zookeeper to let you?
- Overlord Jr.: Tim Twinklefingers is the son of Vernon Garrison.
- Panty Shot: On certain rides when in first-person view, if the character sitting across from the player is wearing a skirt.
- Red-plica Baron: In Off the Rails, there is an arcade flying ace named Barry von Rictoven who is referred to several times as "The Red Barry" and flies a triplane.
- The Reveal: The closing cutscene for Off the Rails reveals why Bandito Chincilla calls himself that when he's a chihuahua: It just sounds cooler.
- Shout-Out: The Curse version of the Monkey Island theme can be heard during certain minigames.
- Sidetracked By The Golden Saucer: Since you're not only in charge of one but you do play in one, after all. However most objectives do gear you towards playing the minigames.
- Spelling Song: "T-H-R-I-L-L-V-I-L-L-E, Thrillville let's go."
- Stolen Credit Backfire: Once the player has reaches the third park, it's revealed the reason behind Vernon's success is because he placed bugs all over the parks and has been stealing Mortimer's ideas in retaliation. To get back at him, Mortimer creates a fake idea for Vernon to steal. Sure enough, Verno's "Lice Land" ends up being a flop and he's forced to declare bankruptcy.
- Third-Person Person: Robotson refers himself as "self".
- Video Game Caring Potential: You can create a fun and safe theme-park that is reasonably inexpensive, takes care of your guests needs, and is free from deadly robots.
- You can also make good friends with your guests and give them nice gifts.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: You could also be a total jerk to everyone you meet, make all of the coasters crash, and sell all of the bathrooms.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Garrison
