Sky Gunner

"In some parts of the world, there are those with a job unlike any other. They are owners of special aircraft and guns and are commonly known as "Gunners". The setting is the town of Rive, where an exhibition is to take place in two months time. What adventures await these Gunners?"

Sky Gunner is a PlayStation 2 shooter with Flight Simulation elements, released by Atlus, taking place in a Steampunk-like world where everyone, oddly enough, has ponytail... er, tails.

The game stars three "Gunners" (pilot mercenaries for hire), Ciel (a happy-go-lucky Gunner), Copain (Ciel's best friend, a very "let's get 'em!" kind of guy), and Femme (a hired pilot from out of town, come to guard the Expo). They are stationed in the town of Rive, where an exhibition is about to take place. The exhibition is for the "Eternal Engine", an engine of infinite power. Of course, someone just has to screw up the whole thing and that someone is the criminal genius, Ventre. He's plotting to steal the Eternal Engine for himself, and Hardi, the chief of police, dispatches the Gunners to stop him.

Each character is armed with a pair of machine guns (that shoot...money??) and also have his or her own aircraft, special ability, attributes, and even difficulty (Ciel is Normal Mode, Copain is Difficult/Hard Mode, and Femme is Easy Mode). Selecting a Gunner takes you through his/her side of the story, often teaming up with all three characters is some stages in races to see who gets the most cash from taking down everything from small ships to big hulking mecha and battleships. Cue many, many explosions. And it's entirely done in anime-style.

Something not many people knows, EasyGameStation (Yes, THAT EasyGameStation) once made a game called "Gunner's Heart" that acts as a slightly downgraded PC port of the game, with more rudimentary cutscenes, but with the plot and characters completely unaltered from the PS 2 original.

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Tropes:
"Because it was you, I believed it could be done..."
 * Ace Pilot: Ciel and the other Gunners.
 * Awesome Yet Practical - The Fireworks and Cross missiles.
 * Airborne Aircraft Carrier
 * Bigger Bad - Rival's not hanging around for nothing. . He was just using Ventre's conflict with the heroes to do the heavy work. And to fight Ciel for kicks.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil: Ventre.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The game lampshades your recovery from a free fall as an act only achievable from your faith. In reality, it's becaused you mashed all of the buttons fast enough.
 * Actually it's a subversion. The sentence in question is spoken as if someone else is stating their faith in you, not your faith in yourself.

"Ventre: "I'm the greatest criminal genius who ever lived!"
 * Combos: Hits and Chains generally earn your pilot more money/score.
 * Cool Airship: Most of which you shoot down.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: Towards A Far Away Sky, the opening song is a really peaceful yet catchy opening.
 * Curtains Match the Window: Ciel (orange), Femme (green), and Copain (blue).
 * Cut Lex Luthor a Check - Ventre has several airships, an air fortress, and a massive ship that's bigger than a city. It's heavily implied he himself built that ship with his minions. He obviously has several millions, if not billions, of whatever currency the world of the heroes use, and a lot of spare time. He doesn't have to steal, he just wants to.
 * Da Chief: Hardi, chief of police.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Ciel.

Ciel: "Umm, yeah, and I'm the Queen of England.""


 * Death From Above (Pumpkin Bombs, yeah!)
 * Diabolical Mastermind: Ventre, who has committed numerous thefts of priceless items for years before the events of the game.
 * The part about Ventre  is totally wrong, as you do get to kick his ass at the end.   Good luck with that. The final level is the level that everyone loves to hate.
 * Everythings Better With Spinning: Copain's "Vortex" special maneuver.
 * Flight Shooter
 * Fat Bastard - Ventre.
 * Gentleman Thief: Ventre and Rival give off an air of this, fitting in with the setting.
 * Gratuitous French: The game's chock full of it, not in the dialog but in the setting, as nearly every aspect of the game has a French name, including the pilots themselves.
 * Bilingual Bonus boosts this to rather funny moments when you realize what Grand Magasin (the Airborne Aircraft Carrier the last main-story stage is set over) means, for example.
 * Glass Cannon: Rival's weapon power and speed are very high, but his aircraft's defense is the lowest of all the characters.
 * Also, Copain, arguably.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Fireworks missiles and pumpkin bombs, anyone? And Rival (yes, he can be unlocked) can use bat missiles. Cross Missiles drill into the hull of the enemy ship and must be set off by shooting it point-blank.
 * Jack of All Stats: Ciel's craft is ranked B in all stats. Even his difficulty is Normal mode.
 * Little Bit Beastly: A hyper-minor case in that everyone has a horse-like tail. Given everyone is sitting down, the only one seen with any regularity is Femme's, who braids it.
 * MacGuffin: The Eternal Engine.
 * The Lancer: Copain is this for Ciel. Bonus points for his ship sorta looking like a lance on the front, and his name being French for partner/friend.
 * Even driving the 'lancer' point home more is that his aircraft's name means 'knight' in French: the original lancers.
 * Making a Spectacle of Yourself: Rival's brass goggles.
 * Mascot Mook: Ventre's minions, the mischievous, yet insanely cute, Poulets.
 * Adorable Evil Minions
 * Meaningful Name: Pretty much everyone, courtesy of some Gratuitous French.
 * Ciel's name mean's "sky", appropriate for a fighter-pilot hero. His loyal best pal Copain's name means "companion". Sole female cast member Femme's name means "woman". Did you expect a guy named 'Rival' to be on your side?
 * Money for Nothing: Any money you acquire acts as your score. You don't buy anything with it.
 * Although one stage awards you a better engine for your plane if you end up with more money than your comrades.
 * More Dakka: Machine guns, most notably Ciel's (and Rival's) unique skill Heavy Fire. Rival's machine gun has only one turret but is the most powerful of all the Gunners.
 * Nintendo Hard: Atlus Hard!.
 * Not Quite Dead:  turns out completely functional and unharmed at the end of the game, floating on top of a piece of Grand Magasin. It's only revealed in   playthrough, whereupon he destroys it a second time and steals a vital piece of the   from it.
 * Rank Inflation (E to SS rank)
 * The Rival: The snooty and mysterious Gunner, Rival.
 * Serial Escalation- The enemy airships. Two tugships? Believable. A mobile air fortress? Still believable, but pushing it. A final airship that's bigger than the entire town of Rive? Not so much.
 * Shonen Hair
 * Showthe Forehead: Rival.
 * Smashing Survival: Played straight with Dog-Missiles or Poulets that latch onto you.
 * Additionally, you're required to mash buttons if you want your ship to recover from stalling out. This costs more money the longer it goes on and the amount of mashing needed increases each time your ship goes critical.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Femme is the only playable female Gunner, and in fact, the only female character in the entire game. Her name is, of course, French for "woman."
 * Spider Tank: In the assault on Ventre's fortress stage.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Oh yeah.
 * Theme Naming: Everything, from the characters to the airships, are named after French terms.
 * The Very Definitely Final Dungeon - The Grand Magasin.
 * Weird Moon
 * White Haired Pretty Boy: Rival.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Copain.
 * You Fail Physics Forever: The Eternal Engine is a perpetual motion device capable of generating energy infinitely. This is very much disproven by the laws of physics.
 * Femme should've been launched from her plane every time she used Active Maneuver. Also, Copain's plane shouldn't be able to even get off the ground. Not that it matters too much.
 * Art Major Physics
 * Zeppelins From Another World