Swampy is a Sewer Gator who hates being dirty. However, every time he tries to take a bath, Cranky the alligator and his goons sabotage the pipe system and disrupt the flow of water. Your job is to get water into Swampy's house… which is not as easy as you think.
Players use the touch screen to dig dirt and control the flow of water and other liquids. Levels include pipes and switches that modify the flow of liquids, converters that convert the types of liquids, and other devices. There are also hazards in the form of water-absorbing algae, deadly poison, disgusting ooze, sticky mud, and exploding bombs. Along the way, there are three rubber duckies that you can collect by letting water touch them; these are required for 100% Completion.
Due to the success of the games, Disney has begun to release animated shorts on the web titled Where’s My Water? Presents: Swampy’s Underground Adventure as well as spin-offs themed to Phineas and Ferb, the Paul Rudish incarnation of Mickey Mouse, and Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf using the same game mechanics (Where's My Perry?, Where's My Mickey?, and Where's My Water? Featuring XYYnote respectively). An actual sequel, Where's My Water? 2, was released in September 2013.
Where's My Water? provides examples of:
- Advancing Wall of Doom: Some levels invoke this. One such level is "What Goes Up…", where you must let the water flow quickly to the house before the ooze catches up with it.
- "What Goes Up…" is then averted in the Cranky level "…Must Come Down".
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Where the game takes place.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played straight in the intro scenes for earlier levels, where Allie the female alligator hangs out with bad boy Cranky. Subverted in the intro scenes for later levels where she seems to hang around with the nice guy Swampy. Maybe the ribbon that Swampy found had to do with it.
- Allegedly Free Game: Where's My Water? 2, which requires either payment or Facebook connection to complete.
- Animated Adaptation
- Bonus Level: Collecting three specific collectibles allows you to unlock a bonus level. Completing three "Cranky's Challenges" also unlocks a bonus level.
- Breakout Character: While Swampy is not the first Disney character who originated from a game, he is arguably the most recognizable and beloved Disney character who came from an app.
- The Cameo: You can see WALL•E in the background of one of the intro scenes.
- Corridor Cubbyhole Run: Other levels have you avoid periodic poison and ooze streams.
- Cosmetic Award: The various achievements that you can get.
- Crossover: With Phineas and Ferb, of all things.
- And then the mouse himself!
- Distaff Counterpart: In one episode of the animated shorts, Swampy finds himself in a mirror version of his world, where Cranky is female.
- The Ditz: Karl, in the animated shorts.
- Does Not Like Spam: Cranky hates vegetables. To the point where he won't eat anything with algae growing on it, even though he's an Extreme Omnivore otherwise!
- Easter Egg: There are hidden levels on the Collectibles, Achievements, and Cranky's Challenges screens.
- Extreme Omnivore: Cranky eats all sorts of stuff, including junk and garbage. He hates vegetables, though, such as the algae-like stuff growing on his food.
- Face Palm: Cranky may do this if you fail a level by running out of poison.
- Flavor Text: Every Collectible has some that reveals a little about the lives and personalities of whoever owns it. An example of both in action:Picnic Basket - A huge basket made for two! Which means Swampy has to eat two helpings...
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: The rubber ducks, and the collectible items.
- Invoked; the name of one of the levels is called "Catch 'em All", although that one involves using a slider to catch the harmful substances and convert them into water.
- Grimy Water: The purple poison.
- Gusty Glade: The levels in "Caution to the Wind" mostly involve fans and vacuums that blow and suck liquids respectively.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cranky. While starting off as a Jerkass, he becomes a little less so in the later Swampy stories and Cranky's story. He's starting to hang out with Swampy some more.
- Love Interest: Allie. There's also a set of levels for her where the player must get steam into her house so it would power her musical instruments.
- Meaningful Name: Take a guess how Cranky got his name.
- Mirror Universe: In the animated episode Double Trouble, Swampy winds up in an opposite version of the sewer where;
- Karl is intelligent and cultured, instead of being an idiot.
- Cranky is female and in love with Swampy, instead of being the Alpha Male gator of the sewer who dislikes Swampy.
- Pushy and Shovey are friends with one another, instead of being rivals.
- Allie is a bully, instead of being the Love Interest of Swampy.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Subverted by Swampy and Allie, but played straight by Cranky.
- Nice Guy: Swampy.
- Pipe Maze: Many of the levels involve this.
- Poison Is Evil: Cranky's levels require the player to get poison into his house. This is justified though- he needs the poison to get rid of the algae growing on his food.
- Questioning Title?
- Remixed Level: All of Swampy's levels are remixed in the Mystery Duck challenges.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Swampy.
- Sewer Gator: Swampy and all the other gators live in the sewers of some unnamed city.
- Shout-Out: One of the Rubber Duck death sounds is the "get hurt" sound from Donald in Maui Mallard.
- Somewhere, a Herpetologist Is Crying: The snouts of the game's alligators are distinctly crocodylid. It doesn't help they also have their lower teeth sticking out of their mouths (with the exception of Allie, who only has her upper teeth visible just like a real alligator).
- Stealth Pun: If you fail a level, then Swampy cries - a reference to the phrase "Crocodile Tears". Averted in newer versions, where instead of crying, Swampy mopes.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The bombs scattered around some levels blow up if any liquid, steam, or explosion touches them. Mixing ooze and poison together causes an explosion.
- Taken for Granite: The green ooze turns algae into solid rock if they touch each other. For some reason or other. This is important to know in many levels.
- Used to comedic effect if it gets into Cranky's house- it turns his algae-infested food into a rock!
- Technicolor Toxin: The purple poison and green ooze. The former eats through algae and can poison water with a single drop, while the latter turns algae to stone. Combining the two causes an explosion.
- Teleport Spam: The Mystery Duck does this in some levels, making it a matter of timing to collect them.
- Those Two Guys: Pushy and Shovey in the animated shorts.
- Universal Poison: The purple stuff that kills algae, regular rubber ducks, and hurts Swampy if it gets into his house. If poison touches a body of water, it converts that water into more poison! Though in Cranky's case, this is what you must guide into his home in order to kill the algae on his food.
