"Once upon a time, when Earth was still a beautiful place, an evil force came to turn all living things into Vegetarians.
Three students from suburban Massachusetts would step up against this catastrophe... to end Vegetarian Supremacy."
Three students from suburban Massachusetts would step up against this catastrophe... to end Vegetarian Supremacy."
An amateur film made by Mark Leung and his fellow Babson College students and released on the Internet in 2006. The entire plot is a send-up of Japanese RPGs (such as Final Fantasy), complete with random battles, pop-up text and extras walking back and forth along the same path.
Mark Leung now has his own independent game company, Uglysoft. Sure enough, his first project is a playable Final Fantasy parody game titled Mark Leung, which is also a spiritual successor to College Saga.
College Saga provides examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: Of Playstation-era JPRGs
- All in a Row: The other party members jog behind Mark at fixed distances. One of them gets left behind in one shot, apparently due to pathfinding failure.
- Argument of Contradictions:Diculous: ...But vegetables are good for you.
Mark: No it's not!
Diculous: Yes it is!
Mark: No it's not!
Diculous: Yes it is!
Mark: No it's not!
Diculous: Yes it is!
Mark: No it's not!
Diculous (shaking fist): !@#$%^&* (Fight Woosh) - Artificial Atmospheric Actions: Invoked and parodied - the extras often walk back and forth along the same path or stand in place doing silly things.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: "The harmonious coexistence of Good and Evil," or meat and vegetables.
- Banana Peel: Early in the series Mark got one on a table, in front of a female NPC. He soon used it on his first battle, throwing it on the ground, causing an enemy to slip on it and die just before he could attack.
- Big "NO!": Four times.
- The first three happen in under 45 seconds: First is Mark screaming towards his father's death, second is after the lightning interrupted by vaporizing his father's corpse, and the third is a cameraman screaming at another getting shot down by lightning.
- The fourth comes from the Big Bad learning the truth about his parents.
- Black Comedy Rape: Summoning a Chocobo to molest Diculous.
- Brick Joke: The easter egg, the TI-83 calculator, and the stolen car.
- Brown Note: Singing is used to defeat the Chocolate Tree.
- But Thou Must!: Staying awake in class is not an option.
- Cutscene
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Most enemies explode upon defeat, starting with Frat Boy.
- Easter Egg: A literal Easter egg is buried by the characters at one point. At the very end, it cracks open on Easter to reveal Jesús back from the dead.
- Eldritch Location: The Cursed Structure. As long as it exists, mankind will continue to eat vegetables.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: "Science professor is weak against English!"
- Fetch Quest: Subverted. After undoing Janitor Pedro's transformation into a chair, he requests a series of items to fully free him from his spot. The party is about to leave to do the quest, but Jesús changes his mind and vaporizes Pedro instead, removing an obstacle for the party to continue their quest.
- Fight Woosh: A transition will happen just before a fight encounter.
- Foreshadowing:
- Diculous can be read as 'dickless'. No, it's not foreshadowing Dick Cheney below.
- The 'someone poisoned my meat lover's pizza' moment near the beginning is most likely also foreshadowing to the reveal of the 'Vegetaria' disease later on, as the man collapses much like victims were.
- Funny Background Event: A frequent source of humour are seeing people doing odd things in the background
- Global Airship: Flying to New York by private bird is easier than driving.
- God: Demands that Willy Wonka's death scene be hurried up.Willy Wonka: Oh, hey God! Nice meeting you.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Including a rifle-wielding Dick Cheney.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: The Frat Boy attacks using "Beer Bottle."
- Groin Attack: Real Diculous hits Jesús with "Nutcracker."
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Leviathan, who sweeps the party with "Tidal Wave.""Just kidding LOL. You can't defeat a guardian force."
- Horse of a Different Color: Characters ride a Chocobo played by a man in a fur suit.
- Hyperactive Sprite: Parodied, with actors constantly swaying up and down in fight scenes.
- Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: "A huge chair is blocking your way."
- Item Crafting: Upon finding a Gold Ore, Mark gets to synthesize it with an Egg Bagel he bought earlier to get an Easter Egg.
- Item Get!: Done with a Stop Trick.
- Look Both Ways: After his sacrifice, Mark and Maria say Jesús' name in the middle of a road and are struck by a passing car as the result.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Played With, back and forth. The man in the Chocolate Tree is actually Mark's father, Mark and Maria are Real Diculous' parents and Diculous is, in turn, their daughter.
- Logic Bomb: Confusing a TI-83 calculator-esque killer robot by inserting a Mac OS X CD.
- Man on Fire: One of the meat-eaters runs like crazy as he is seemingly set on fire.
- Metal Slime: Dick Cheney seems to be one, as he always runs away/self destructs before the party can kill him.
- "Nations of the World" Montage: As Leviathan explains the effects of vegetaria, we see images of stereotypical people around the world collapsing from the effects of the disease, covering diverse places as Mexico (a mariachi), Pennsylvania (an Amish), the Arctic (an Inuit), Detroit (a carjacker), Wall Street (a businessman), San Francisco (a gay couple), China (a cyclist), Greenland (a man on a patch of grass), Iceland (another man on an ice rink), Canada (a hockey player), Vienna (a pianist), England (a footballer), Japan (Ultraman), North Korea (censored), Lake Chaubunagungamaug in Massachusetts, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll in Wales, Taumata in New Zealand, Madagascar (Alex the lion from the animated movie of the same name), South Park (Kenny flatlining), Windurst (a Tarutaru), and Hogwarts (Cedric).
- NPC Roadblock: "My legs are rooted to the ground."
- One-Hit KO: "Nutcracker", at least to Jesús.
- One-Winged Angel: Real Diculous.
- Parody Commercial: "Party Animal crackers for vegetarians of tomorrow! Available in most virtual countries."
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Jesús, to the TI-83:"Now I shall divide you... BY ZERO!"
- Puzzle Boss: The Chocolate Tree, which is undamaged by ordinary attacks but beaten by singing a song.
- Status Effects: Status Effects present in this "game" include Poison, Sleep and Charm.
- Hilarity ensues when Real Diculous uses Charm on the heroes, only for it to just affect Jesus and not her parents.
Mark:I'm your dad, you slut! - Summon Magic:
- Maria is able to summon Guardian Forces to damage enemies.
- George Bush is able to summon Tony Blair, only to perform friendly fire on him.
- The Big Bad summons Titan who came close to wiping the whole party out.
- Super Move Portrait Attack: Jesús's "Hallelujah," which doubles as a "Last Supper" Steal.
- Throw-Away Country: A scene shows people from various countries (complete with stereotypes) dropping dead, including such places as "Madagascar", "Windurst", and "Hogwartz".
- Trauma Inn: Parodied. Mark recovers life and mana after falling Asleep in Class.
- 20 Bear Asses: Janitor Pedro says he needs 10 bricks, 5 lizard eggs, 15 tree branches, and 2 iron ores in order to move out of the party's way. Jesús kills him to hurry things up.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A Man on Fire runs through a dormitory lobby. Nobody bats an eye.
- Victory Pose: Each battle (mostly) ends with the party posing over beating their enemies.
- Welcome to Corneria: "Oh dear! I am late for class!"
- When Trees Attack: The Chocolate Tree attacks with "Branch" and "Cocoa Beans."
