The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo is a browser-based Visual Novel by Michael Lutz, set in The '90s about a child and their best friend who has a mysterious uncle said to be an employee of Nintendo. The protagonist is planning to spend the night at their friend's house, but as they learn more and more about the uncle, they start to realize that something's not right.
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This game includes examples of:
- The Alcoholic: The friend's father appears to be one, which the uncle alters away. The player notices him drinking a beer which is suddenly replaced by lemonade. Later, if the friend tells the story of what the uncle truly is, and what it's doing there, they will note that they were alone because their father was "at the bar, like always." One of the things they say the uncle promises is a perfect family, implying that one of the things they asked for was to erase his father's drinking.
- Anachronism Stew: Downplayed; some of the games the protagonist can find are games that should not be out yet in the 1990s. The three game consoles the protagonist sees in the best friend's room are implied to be the Xbox, Wii and Nintendo GameCube. This is justified, as the concept of the game is visiting that kid at your school who brags about having "connections" in the game industry. Also justified since the Uncle can warp reality.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Played for laughs - this being a text game, you are told to imagine the unlocked outfits.
- Anti-Frustration Feature: Clicking on locked endings will give you a hint on how to get them.
- Asking your friend about his uncle or the storm doesn't take up any time, even if done multiple times in the same time slot.
- Big Bad: The Uncle, a child-eating Eldritch Abomination.
- Black Speech: The Uncle speaks in this manner.
- Bring My Brown Pants: If you examine the bathroom's toilet, which is completely alien, with water frozen like glass, your character will feel like they don't need to use the bathroom anymore.
- But Thou Must!: Only a handful of choices in the game actually matter, like what you tell your friend when talking about their uncle or the storm. Most of the time, you choose between phrases like "Sure!" and "Okay!", which doesn't change a single line in the dialogue you get in reply.
- Cast from Calories: Weaponized. The uncle is a powerful Eldritch Abomination, but it weakens from hunger quickly if not constantly fed, especially as it alters reality, and its alterations start to break down as it does. This is instrumental in defeating it, as simply going back in time and denying it a meal two times in a row is enough to weaken it to the point that everything falls apart.
- Cosmic Horror Story: All the initial five endings involve the protagonist either dying to the uncle, escaping from the still alive uncle, or becoming the new host for the uncle. That said, the sixth ending (gained through getting the fifth, then entering the kitchen when the uncle arrives) changes things to Lovecraft Lite (with the protagonist starving the uncle to death).
- Deal with the Devil: The uncle promises children the best games, the top skills, and everything they need to become the best forever, for as long as they keep feeding him other children. The friend implies, however, that the real reason they agreed was because they were pretty sure that if they had said no, the uncle would have killed them on the spot.
- Disney Death: The golden ending reveals that since the uncle takes years to fully consume its victims, everyone the friend fed to it is still alive - they presumably come back after the protagonist defeats it.
- Driven to Suicide: In the last two normal endings, it's implied that the friend themselves started the fire that burned down their house, given that you last see them doing a Thousand-Yard Stare into the fireplace after you learn his secret, and you last see his house with "light burning through the windows". Further implied by how in the final ending (which branches off of one of them) involves starving the Uncle to death by going back in time and looping the day, as he was already denied a meal (not even the friend) the first time around.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The New Game ending. You save your friend and starve the uncle to death.
- Easter Egg: There's extra dialogue if the protagonist and best friend are girls. Depending on your views, this extra dialogue can either be
Anvilicious or heartwarming. - Eldritch Abomination: The "uncle."
- Empty Eyes: Parents who are influenced by the Uncle are described as having "glassy and empty" eyes.
- Featureless Protagonist: The only thing that's known about the protagonist's identity is their gender (determined by the best friend's name, with the protagonist and best friend being the same gender).
- Foreshadowing: One quote that can be divided in two can reveal two things about the uncle. "He'll be very tired and very hungry," That perfectly describes the uncle, weak, and hungry. "so offer him something to eat before he goes to bed." That foreshadows the player's fate if they don't escape in time.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: The player is this In-Universe - they're the only person, aside from their friend, who notices the many inconsistencies caused by the uncle shifting reality. Primary examples include their friend's father drinking a beer that becomes lemonade, with the player suddenly remembering that he doesn't drink; the massive storm weeks prior, implied to be caused by the uncle's arrival; and the friend's older brother, who has been Unperson'd so thoroughly that even the friend's parents don't remember him.
- Gamer Chick: The protagonist and best friend can be this. The two can also discuss and bond over the stigma associated with this trope.
- Golden Ending: You can defeat the uncle and end the cycle, but only on New Game Plus.
- Hell Is That Noise: The "uncle" talking.
- Hint System: The game offers hints for the locked endings on the game over screen - you are only able to access it after getting at least one of the endings.
- Undefined Error: Just play games, take it easy, have a good time. Nothing to get freaked out over! Meet your guest at the door.
- Run: Things are a little weird here. Try to run, but it may turn out to be a game of hide and seek.
- Exit: Yeah, it's definitely weird here. Decide you don't feel like spending the night. Call your mom and ask to be taken home. Be sure you have enough time for your ride to show up...
- All Unsaved Data Will Be Lost: Some things you remember don't match what you see. Learn what you can. Ask questions. Have a serious talk, don't be mean, but still... get out of there.
- Do You Want To Continue?: Some things you remember don't match what you see. Learn what you can. Ask questions. Have a serious talk, don't be mean, but still... get out of there. And then make what might be the worst decision ever.
- New Game: Repetition, with a difference. It is not the time for running. Go where you're not wanted. Go where you've been told you can't go.
- I Am a Humanitarian: The uncle.
- Multiple Endings: There are multiple endings, with one special ending that can only be unlocked when the player reaches ending number 5:
- Undefined Error: The player doesn't notice anything amiss, and has a normal night with their friend... until the uncle arrives. The player follows their friend to greet him at the door, and is subsequently consumed.
- Run: The player has a (relatively) normal night with their friend, until the uncle arrives. Unlike the previous ending, the player catches on and makes a run for it... but unfortunately, there's nowhere for them to hide, and the uncle finds them right away and consumes them.
- Exit: The player notices one too many things amiss, most notably the Uncanny Valley parents sitting stationary in the dining room, and decides things are a little too off-kilter. They call their mom to be picked up early by the sitter, and even though their friend protests, they make it out safely. Their friend is never seen again, and when they ask their teacher, they are informed that their friend has moved.
- All Unsaved Data Will Be Lost: The player notices one too many things amiss, but unlike the previous ending, they press their friend and ask questions about these inconsistencies. Eventually, discussing a bad storm from weeks prior clues the friend in that the player remembers things they shouldn't, and the friend comes clean, telling the truth about the uncle, their cool stuff, and the reason why they've invited the player in the first place. The player can choose to believe their friend or not, but either way, they pack their things and leave. That same night, the friend's entire family dies in a house fire. The player, grieving, visits the house to investigate, and stumbles upon their friend's Gameboy Color in the wreckage, but doesn't take it. They leave the destroyed house unscathed.
- Do You Want To Continue?: Follows the previous ending exactly, until the player visits the house one last time and finds the Gameboy. Unlike the previous ending, the player takes it. When they get home, their mother reminds them to take a shower and get dressed before 7 pm, with the player noting that she never asked them to do that at all. When the player asks why, the mother informs them that it's because their uncle is coming over to celebrate his new job.
- New Game: Follows the Run ending until the player chooses to hide somewhere. When the player tries to enter the kitchen, the code remarks that the passage does not exist, but the player enters it anyway. This reveals that the player, after taking their friend's Gameboy in the previous ending, has been starving the uncle to death by tricking it into repeating the sleepover with their friend, and subsequently refusing to feed it and refusing to give in to it. The player is able to return to their friend and save their life using The Power of Friendship, killing the uncle and bringing their friend back to life.
- New Game Plus: The aptly named ending "New Game" is this, and it takes place in the same continuity as the ending in which the player finds their friend's Gameboy in the wreckage of their home and takes it.
- Non-Standard Game Over: A variation occurs if the player is able to unravel their friend's web of lies, but waits until 11 pm or later to call their mother. If the player hasn't yet unlocked the New Game Plus, they are automatically locked into one of two Bad Endings, with their friend remarking that they are too late to save themselves.
- One-Hit Kill: The special Mew that the best friend had on their Game Boy was able to KO any other Pokémon in one hit. In contrast, when the protagonist got a Mew, it was far weaker. The best friend chalks this up to glitches arising from how the protagonist cheated the mon in, but it's implied the uncle was supernaturally enhancing the Mew.
- Painting the Medium:
- The uncle's speech is bold and highlighted red to emphasize how unnatural it is.
- As the uncle dies in the "New Game" ending, the background completely disappears, and the text changes to a Times New Roman font and regular blue hyperlinks, reflecting the uncle's waning power.
- People Puppets: The parents of children influenced by the uncle eventually become like this. The friend's parents are distantly cheery and superficial, only setting up the uncle's wants, and when the player runs into them without him, you find them frozen in the exact position as when the two last left them. The player's mother shows signs of becoming this - with empty, glassy eyes - during the "Do You Want To Continue" ending.
- The Power of Friendship: Reinforcing your friendship with the best friend is the key to defeating the uncle in the sixth ending.
- Reality Warper: The "uncle," who can rewrite memories and alter reality.
- Schmuck Bait: Taking the Gameboy in the ending, "Do You Want To Continue?" The hint for this ending even describes it as "the worst decision ever" - and it becomes necessary to achieve the game's best ending. See Stupidity Is the Only Option below.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The player can decide to call their mom and leave the house early if they feel things are getting too weird/scary.
- Spotting the Thread: The player can, and in some endings, is required to do this in order to reveal the truth of what's going on with their friend. The very first example happens at dinner, when the player can notice that the beer their father is drinking has suddenly become lemonade, with everything shifting as if he never drank at all.
- Stupidity Is the Only Option: Taking your friend's Gameboy after finding out that it was gifted to them by an Eldritch Abomination that compelled them to sacrifice their friends to it is an inordinately terrible idea - and it's also the only way to achieve the Golden Ending, as the player needs to manipulate the starving uncle into giving them the means to go back and save their best friend.
- Take Up My Sword: A very, very sinister example in Ending 5. Your best friend's house burns down, and you decide to investigate. Taking the best friend's Game Boy results in your family becoming the host for the uncle.
- Unperson: The brother of the player's friend. With the right line of questioning, the friend can reveal that the brother was unperson'd by the uncle after a fight.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Happens in the Golden Ending. The friend turns out to believe they aren't worth saving after feeding so many friends to the uncle, and part of stopping the uncle is convincing them that they are better than that, that the uncle wants them to think they're no good, and that it's not too late to fight against it.
- You Are Too Late: Happens if the player doesn't call their mom to pick them up in time, or if the player does call, but does so at 11 pm or later; the uncle will arrive at midnight no matter what, and will consume the player on the spot. Lampshaded by the hint for the "Exit" ending, as the game insists that you "be sure you have enough time for your ride to show up."
