Blue's Journey, also known as Raguy in Japan, is about a planet called Raguy, which was once peaceful until the Daruma Tribe invaded. Now, the titular Blue has to drive off the Daruma and save the kingdom, especially his beloved Princess Fa.
This game is obscure, and seems like a typical platformer, with flowers as coins, cute enemies and intimidating bosses. but two things make it stand out. First, the basic attack doesn't beat the enemies, but it allows Blue to pick them up and throw them. Second, there are many, many endings, the worst of which don't stick.
This game contains examples of:
- Badass in Distress: Princess Lim. Unlike Fa, she is genuinely kidnapped and frozen. Save her, and she can make you immune to the curse that got her.
- Big Bad: The evil Emperor Daruma, who is leading the Daruma tribe.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The tutorial implores that you "hung onto" flowers. There are also gems like "My missin is to kill you Blue".
- Boss in Mook Clothing: Nero, a rare wizard that needs three hits instead of one to go down, and can either curse you or summon minions.
- But Thou Must!: Sometimes, your choices don't really count. For example, if Blue is challenged by Red in the ending, he can't avoid the fight at all. Some of the bad endings also don't really stick. However, other times, your actions do have consequences.
- Damsel in Distress: Double subverted with Princess Fa. While she is a princess and a love interest, she is never kidnapped. However, the pollution still makes her ill and in need of saving.
- Dissonant Serenity: Blue in one of the bad endings seems to be quite happy living with the Daruma Tribe, having let Raguy be polluted to the point of ruin.
- Earn Your Bad Ending: One of the bad endings has you being rejected by Princess Fa because of your poor performance. That needs an abnormally low score and most people don't even know it exists, as it's easier to get the good ending by accident.
- Easy Level Trick: Normally, Dark Mantis is a difficult boss, as he is fast and his attacks are hard to avoid. He also takes eight hits. But each hit stuns him and he barely has any invincibility frames. If you have the acorns fully upgraded, get close to him after his first charge and keep hitting him in melee range. It is possible to take half, or even all his hitpoints after his first attack.
- Flunky Boss: Some bosses can summon minions, which you can stun with the leaf and throw at them for damage.
- Golden Ending: If you do everything right, Blue will save Raguy and marry Princess Fa.
- Goomba Stomp: You can jump on enemies while you are normal sized, and they are stunned. It doesn't work for all enemies, though.
- Guilt-Based Gaming: Some of the bad endings.
- Lose the game normally, and Princess Fa will beg you to save Blue and her kingdom. Don't do so and she will insult you. And for insult to injury, the damage to Raguy is shown.
- If you take either of the villainous offers in the final stage, you become a member of the Daruma tribe and allow Raguy to be polluted. Thankfully, it doesn't stick, but the mockery is there.
- Also, if you say you didn't like the magician's trick, he will be visibly hurt (and you lose a health pack you would have gained otherwise).
- Improbable Weapon User:
- Blue can use a leaf that blows air, as well as explosive acorns that act like grenades.
- Red, Blue's rival, can also use a leaf as a weapon.
- Emperor Daruma uses a wheel as his main weapon.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Blue can shrink in size at will. This allows him to reach secret places and makes him faster, but he cannot attack the enemies while shrunk. Fortunately, he can grow back at will as well.
- Invincibility Power-Up: The pine turns you giant and changes the music. You instantly defeat any enemy you touch and are invulnerable to any hazard that isn't a bottomless pit. You also turn giant.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Do well against Emperor Daruma and he will surrender, begging for forgiveness. He will attack you regardless of if you accept or not, either calling you a fool or a worm.
- Kaizo Trap: The Curse that can affect you. Gameplay-wise, it is a nuisance, as it only freezes you for very little and can't kill you, but, apart from it working as long as you hold still for too long, if you beat the game while cursed, something very difficult because the final boss needs precise movements, you get a special bad ending that sticks. Fortunately, the curse can be dispelled in shops or by death. A certain route can make you immune to the spell.
- Magic Music: You can pay shopkeepers to sing for you so they can remove curses.
- Major Injury Underreaction: "I am not hurt" said Dark Mantis right before he blew up from his injuries.
- Not Completely Useless:
- The boomerang has weak range and can't stun enemies for them to be thrown, meaning it's not the best weapon in most situations. However, it's a lifesaver against flying enemies and especially the turrets that fire lasers from the ceiling in later stages, as it can destroy them with ease and has the best range when you aim upwards.
- While you can duck in this game, you can't move while you do so, only attack, and there is the better alternative of shrinking most of the time. However, ducking can help a lot if you have the acorns and want to hit enemies from below, or against the gatekeeper with the onions that's the first challenge of Daruma Empire, as you can easily avoid his attack and recover fast enough to land hits.
- Poison Mushroom: Do not get the violet flower, it will decrease your flower count.
- Post-Final Boss: Red, if you have encountered him beforehand, challenges you to a duel for the heart of Princess Fa. He takes only one hit with the leaf, but so do you, and you have to use the leaf.
- Power-Up: Flower Boomerangs and Acorn Grenades. Both outrange the basic leaf and can also beat enemies directly. The leaf can also be upgraded twice, and so can the special weapons.
- Protagonist Title: Blue is the titular hero of Blue's Journey.
- Puzzle Boss: The Final Boss. He can't be hurt by any attack, not even the acorns and boomerangs, and you have to hit the wheel he throws and toss it back at him.
- The Rival: Two of them. Both of them count as duel bosses.
- Red is a good guy, but still antagonistic to Blue and challenges him to a fight for an item that's helpful, a torch that allows you to unfreeze Lim, one of Fa's relatives, giving you immunity to the curse. The first one to get hit once loses. He asks for a rematch for the heart of Princess Fa if you have met him, and you have to win the same way to get the good ending. There is also a neutral ending if you have a draw.
- The Dark Mantis, chief enforcer of Emperor Daruma. He stalks Blue throughout the game, acting as punishment for taking too long, until he encounters him as a Pre-Final Boss, and then explicitly aknowledges him as a rival.
- Schmuck Bait: One of the secret passages in Empire Marsh, the one near the waterfall, is very easy to access. Do so and you skip the opportunity to either increase your max flower capacity or keep your flowers even after you die.
- Stalked by the Bell: A giant gray mantis of the Daruma tribe is hunting you down when the time is close to running out, and is invincible until you fight him right before the final battle.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Daruma Empire. Apart from being named after the enemies, it's the only world where the music is ominous instead of happy, the background is a much darker version of Mechanical City, the difficulty increases a lot and it starts with a miniboss that gives you an offer to join him.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Be kind to some of the civilians and they will reward you in various ways.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Grope the fairy shopkeepers and they will give you the boot.
- Villainous Badland, Heroic Arcadia: The planet of Raguy is a colorful place, with upbeat music everywhere. It has green environments, and even the Starge Space and Mechanical City are vibrant. But the Daruma Empire is essentially the Mechanical City if it was dark and soulless, with gloomy music and pollution everywhere.
- Villainous Valor: Should you accept the offers of Emperor Daruma's guardian and Daruma himself, they allow you to live with them peacefully. The Emperor only averts this when he is cornered.
