Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a Platform Game series for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and PC (as well as the Game Boy Color), published by Fox Interactive (now 20th Century Fox Games) and developed by Argonaut Software.
The plot mainly consists of the titular crocodile rescuing his friends / Adoptive Parents, a species of small furry creatures known as "Gobbos", all while trying his best to defeat the evil wizard Baron Dante and his demonic minions, the Dantinis.
Tropes spanning the series:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Croc only wears a Backpack in all of his video games; aside from that he is completely naked.
- All There in the Manual: Both games.
- Who are these people, and what IS that thing taking away that king fluff-ball?
- What does that mysterious footprint mean, and why did they just fire him across the sea? Most of this info is found in the little memorabilia (i.e. Gummi Saver promotions) or the manual itself, which is growing increasingly rare.
- The manual also has a very quirky sense of humour, which the mostly silent first game lacks.
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: Both the original game and Croc 2 have this with their final stages. Many of the level portions in both the Crystal Island levels of Croc 1 and Dante's twisted levels in Croc 2 are similar to earlier portions of the game, but not exactly in order to throw off the player. They also have a much higher amount of enemies in them and other dangerous obstacles (even in the hub levels!), but in Croc 2 this is offset by their much shorter length.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The games' bosses, which are often ordinary animals magically turned gigantic by the villainous Baron Dante (who himself qualifies as an especially large Dantini).
- Back from the Dead: Minor antagonists, like the Dantinis, do this in spectacular arrays of respawn-messiah goodness. But Baron Dante really takes the cake, turning into a ghost as a final boss in the first game and reanimated by his remaining demons in the second.
- Book Ends: The story both begins and ends with Croc meeting his parents: his Gobbo foster parents at the start of the first game, and his real parents at the end of the second.
- Brutal Bonus Level: As detailed above, the extra levels unlocked by collecting a game's Jigsaw Pieces fall very nicely into this trope, being much harder remixes of existing level sections.
- Collection Sidequest: Two for each game:
- The Five Coloured Crystals are found in special locations and, when all five are collected, will unlock an extra section of the level to either get the sixth Gobbo (Croc 1) or the Golden Gobbo trophy (Croc 2).
- The Jigsaw Pieces are found at the end of secret levels that are unlocked by completing what the Coloured Crystals unlock in a given game's level set. Collecting all of them will unlock a bonus set of levels that are especially difficult.
- Crate Expectations: Boxes that match the theme of the level, and in the second game a new variant was introduced that would spawn platforms elsewhere in the level, to replace the red buttons from the first game.
- Creepy High-Pitched Voice: The Dantinis have very squeaky voices, in stark contrast to Baron Dante himself.
- Dumb Is Good: So very true. Bad guys can talk in prose, and the good guys? "Gobbo no can save king. Croc help to save king?"
- Evil Is Bigger: Baron Dante is by far the largest creature in the game, towering over Croc by several heads.
- Evil Laugh: Both Baron Dante and the Dantinis do this upon revealing themselves.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Baron Dante has a deep, booming voice.
- Expy: Croc started out as a Yoshi game, and still strongly resembles Yoshi in the final game, being a bipedal green reptile with large eyes on his head, a pale belly, and an accessory on his back.
- Follow the Money: Crystals, which grant you an extra life per 100 you collect in the first game, or refill your limited amount of lives in the second game.
- Green Gators: The title character is a bright green crocodile.
- Green Hill Zone: The first world of either game has this theme, though with a bit of lava mixed in, particularly in the first game.
- The Sailor levels in Croc 2 is half this and half Palm Tree Panic, since only one of its levels emphasizes the fact that there's an ocean, with the rest preferring to focus on the jungles, mines and rivers.
- Grimy Water: Used by both games, with the first having water so cold it hurts Croc just like lava does. The sequel uses it much more rarely, but is seen in a few of the Sailor levels where you need to by launched up by the friendly hippo residing in the water.
- Ground Pound: Croc's stomp, one of his signature moves (the other being the Tail Slap). One other enemy is on top of platforms Croc must climb over, and the enemy ground pounds repeatedly.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Baron Dante and his Dantinis, being named after the devil.
- Law of 100: With crystals in both games:
- In Croc 1, levels can have any number of crystals, and when Croc collects 100 of them, he gains an extra life. The problem with this, though, is that the crystal counter goes back to zero when you do this (like Wumpa Fruit in Crash Bandicoot (1996)). This is a problem because while you do get an extra life, Croc works like Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) where he's a One-Hit-Point Wonder without crystals/rings.
- Croc 2 remedied this with an interesting take on Video-Game Lives: Croc has a limited amount of lives in Hearts, but if he can manage to collect all of a level's 100 Crystals, they'll be completely refilled. This could be exploited by winning either the Boat or Car races, since Croc gets an automatic 100 Crystals for winning them in a far shorter time than getting all the Crystals in most other levels.
- Lock and Key Puzzle: Some Gobbos and other elements needed to progress are locked up in cages and need keys to unlock them, with the keys either being in the open, in a wooden crate, or is otherwise a challenge to get to. (In the first game, silver keys are required to free the Gobbos from cages, and gold keys are required to open locked doors.) The twisted levels in Croc 2 require you to get a Coloured Gem from each twisted hub's levels to get the Egg inside.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Inverted with the titular protagonist, who is both endearing and kind.
- Red Right Hand: Baron Dante's right hand is made of iron. It's an iron fist.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter:
- Gobbos. According to the manual, Gobbos will even keep other Gobbos as pets.
- Croc himself has very adorable animations for a character of his polycount, and the way he says WHEEEE when grabbing a balloon certainly helps.
- Shout-Out:
- One of the levels in the first game's ice biome is License to Chill.
- In the second game, the level where you fight Baron Dante is called Dante's Peak.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Both games' second set of levels are this, with the first game in particular offering plenty of ice to slip around on (in the sequel, only the river in the hub world and the Choo Choo Train level have ice).
- Speaking Simlish: Everyone, from Croc to the Gobbos to Baron Dante himself, speak this way. For the second game the various characters have text boxes similar to Banjo-Kazooie, although the voice samples attempt to match the words, much like Animal Crossing does.
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: Jellies, according to the manual. The American version of Croc 2 features 'Gummy Savers' but the rest of the world features 'Jelly jumps'. The beta version of the first game actually did feature springs, but they were removed to avoid comparisons to Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Some levels are entirely based underwater. Justified as Croc is a crocodile and these reptiles can spend hours underwater.
- Tail Slap: Arguably Croc's most famous move, being much easier to use than the Ground Pound Stomp since he can keep moving and demands much less aiming.
- Temporary Platform: Some platforms crumble when Croc jumps on them. Croc 2 ups the ante with multiple versions of this, including collapsing wooden crates and huge bomb crates that sink into the lava when Croc lands on them.
- Vegetarian Carnivore: He's a Crocodile. He's also a Gobbo, although he soon realized he wasn't. His favourite meal is peas. 150 buckets of them for breakfast alone. He never targeted a Gobbo as food.
- That being said, an advertisement for the game depicted him implied to have eaten Mario, Crash Bandicoot, and Lara Croft.
Tropes of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Gobbos knew the Dantinis for "Ruthless Burning, Wanton Looting & Marvelous Singing Voices"
- Jaywalking made funny since The Dantini Glee Club got disqualified for eating the judges.
- Big Red Button: Mostly used for creating and moving platforms.
- Cranium Ride: The elephant in the first level of the desert world.
- Demoted to Extra: Dantini Devils and Casters.
- Dynamic Loading: Croc walking across the screen when a level is loading, at least in the console versions.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Lair of the Feeble" has the easiest boss in the game. All it can do is feebly run at you, then stop to catch its breath where it's completely vulnerable.
- Face–Heel Turn: Baron Dante turns various things evil before a boss fight.
- Floating Platforms: Comes in multiple flavors; some crumble when you stay on them too long, others don't and some move back and forth. One of Croc's hallmarks in retrospect is rarely bothering to diagetically justify why the same round platforms are all over the place, only using palette swaps to fit the biome. This is especially the case in the first game, where entire levels would consist of nothing but this trope and two ledges simply for the entry and exit to exist on.
- Forced Transformation: Most of the bosses are innocent creatures who have been magicked by Baron Dante. Fortunately they are reverted back to normal upon being defeated.
- Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: Especially the Secret Sentinel, which after all the effort you did in getting 100% Completion to get to him, is relatively easy.
- This is the opposite way round in earlier levels of the game (the forest world in particular), where the levels are easy, although the same tactic is used for pretty much any boss.
- Instant 180-Degree Turn: Part and parcel of an early 3D platformer. Uniquely Croc can also do this while running, where he'll do a sort of corkscrew backflip before continuing the run.
- Jet Pack: One of the bosses uses a jetpack and slams down to the ground as Croc passes underneath.
- Secret Final Campaign: Collecting all 8 Jigsaw Pieces unlocks an entirely new island full of extra levels and a True Final Boss.
- Sound Test: Can be accessed by going to the Audio Options and pressing Select.
- Spin Attack: Croc uses this as his primary attack, crossing it with the Tail Slap.
- Small Parent, Huge Child: As shown in the opening cutscene, a fully-grown Croc is bigger than his adoptive father King Rufus and the other Gobbos that raised him.
- Ten-Second Flashlight: The lamps you can find in World 3's caves don't last that long.
- True Final Boss: Getting to the end of the Secret Island allows you to fight a crystalized Baron Dante.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: There is a glitch in Level 4-3 that will allow you to get seven Gobbos, however, doing this the first time won't unlock the secret island needed to 100% the time.
- The X of Y: Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.
Tropes of Croc 2:
- Art Evolution: Croc 2 has a noticeably more saturated and rounded aesthetic compared to the original (yes, even with such a low polygon count), and the Gobbos have evolved from a pair of round furball sprites with some limbs to having a more bipedal appearance with polygons and clothing.
- A Winner Is You: Beat any non-boss level, whether it be saving lives or winning a race, and all you get is:Thank you, Croc.No problem.
- Averted in the final cutscene, where you are finally reunited with your parents, only to have it shown that Dante is out there, and you'll have to find him and save your stolen siblings. Played painfully straight after getting 100% completion, giving you the Sequel Hook of "Is this the end of Croc"? Sadly, it was. No more games, no more anything.
- Bamboo Technology: Anything made by the Inventor Gobbo, such as the river machine and the plane, as well as the racecar you drive in the Caveman area.
- Cave Behind the Falls: The only way to win the speedboat race, and to get the last gem in the level for the Golden Gobbo to get another 1% of the game done.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Beany the Bird disappears with absolutely zero explanation. This is because Croc 2 doesn't use the linear map structure of the first game (with hub travel accomplished with Swap Meet Pete's Crystal Ball), and the levels themselves are task-based rather than simply "get to the end". The only remnant are the Checkpoint Gongs, as well as the Swap Meet Pete Gongs that serve the same function as the Beany Gongs: finish the level.
- Demoted to Extra: As said above, the devils go from
Demonic Spiders to Giant Mooks. - Dinosaurs Are Dragons: A justified case with the Village Masher, a cybernetic Tyrannosaurus rex who breathes fire.
- Giant Mooks: Devils, pirates, any large Dantini.
- Hailfire Peaks: Invoked by the Roger Red Ant stage, which is a hot, lava-filled red level amongst the cold, snow-covered white levels everywhere else in the Cossack area.
- Left Hanging: Baron Dante is last seen in the final cutscene stealing the three crocodile eggs. While Croc does recover the eggs, the Baron never shows up again, not even as a bonus final boss like in the first game.
- Lighter and Softer: While the original game wasn't dark by any means, the sequel's art evolution, cutscenes and various conversations lean into a slightly younger demographic compared to the original
- Mad Bomber: Roger Red Ant, whose levels are filled with giant bomb crates and challenges Croc to either transport a ticking time bomb or outrun a fuse that'll kill a Gobbo.
- Mayincatec: The Inca worlds that serve as the final set of levels.
- Minecart Madness: No less than five levels utilize this trope, with the last two being non-stop rides until you reach the end of the level. The fourth in particular requires you to figure out which of the branching tracks actually gets you to the end!
- Mood Whiplash: The ending: Croc is happily reunited with his parents, but the final shot depicts Baron Dante stealing their crocodile eggs right before the credits roll.
- Numbered Sequels: It's called Croc 2, after all!
- Palette Swap: Croc's parents are the normal Croc model with different textures and either a hat or a moustache, while his little brother is a smaller version of him with a large head.
- Pirate: Cannon Boat Keith and his pirates, fitting as the final boss of the Sailor levels.
- Product Placement: Gummi Savers can allow you to save the world, or at least bounce up to high spots with more items replacing the Jellies in the American versions of the game.
- Averted in the PC version, which was, in fact, the same mesh they used for the first Croc gummies. The manual and game still refer to them as Gummi Savers, however.
- In the rest of the world, Gummi Savers are not sold, so they also returned to the Jelly Jumps from the first game.
- Sequence Breaking: The new Triple Jump (where Croc springs into the air after a Stomp) allows for this in some places, particularly the Caveman levels that have rocks at the bottom of the walls, letting you launch up to locations you'd normally access later. Of course, you miss crystals by doing this and are much more likely to get lost, and by the end of the game, practically every jump requires you to Triple Jump to get up.
- Source Music:
- In the opening cutscene, the Inventor Gobbo is listening to the series theme tune on his radio and humming along.
- The theme tune on the title screen is an acoustic remix which is being played by the Gobbos on the screen, who are enjoying a vacation on the beach.
- Taken During the Ending: After Croc is reunited with his family in the game's normal ending, Baron Dante steals several of their eggs and the credits roll. The eggs are recovered when the game is beaten 100%.
- Unexplained Recovery: In the final cutscene of the game,
- Vegetarian Carnivore: Likely a Culture Clash at the end of the game. Croc is reunited with his family at the end of the game, they're probably big time carnivores. Yet we still see Croc's younger brother chasing a Gobbo king. This might be because he only has one tooth and can't chew that much food, what with being a baby crocodile and all.
Gobbo: Thank you, Croc!
Croc: No problem!
Croc: No problem!
