Touch Detective

Touch Detective (Mystery Detective in most of Europe) and its sequel, Touch Detective 2½, are games made by Atlus for the Nintendo DS. In both titles, the player takes control of a young girl named Mackenzie, who inherited a detective agency from her father and wants to become a world-famous sleuth. Now add in Funny Animals, walking fungi, zombies that act like normal people and just plain old wackiness, and you have Touch Detective in a nutshell.

Both games contain examples of:

 * All There in the Manual - The Web sites.
 * Cloud Cuckoolander - Penelope. Even her hair is cloud-like (it has floating balls on the sides...).
 * While Penelope is the ultimate example, the whole cast (minus Mackenzie) could qualify.
 * Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Mackenzie, Chloe, and Penelope.
 * Cordon Bleugh Chef: Antoinette. She can actually make normal pastry, but her fondness for 'experiments' push her into this territory. Eel shortcake? Mushroom cookies?
 * Shorty may also count. He does fine with hotdogs, but his ideas for his choco bananas are pretty weird.
 * Cuteness Proximity: Mackenzie is very fond of Funghi, and just loves to pinch Linsey's cheek.
 * The Ditz - Penelope
 * First-Person Smartass - Mackenzie
 * Five-Man Band (if you replace The Big Guy with Team Pet)
 * The Hero - Mackenzie
 * The Lancer - Chloe (lampshaded in one of the bonus cases, if you talk to her at the right time)
 * The Smart Guy - Cromwell
 * The Chick - Penelope
 * Team Pet - Funghi
 * Fortune Teller
 * Funny Animal: Beatrice is an anthropomorphic bird, Dover's a man-shark, the ringmaster is a fat man-eagle, and the skating ring owner is a walrus.
 * Gadgeteer Genius - Cromwell, who managed to identify a futuristic anti-gravity device and power source which he has never seen before at a glance, and turned what's basically a small theme park ride into a working re-entry vehicle.
 * Guide Dang It
 * Hammerspace - Where does Mackenzie store things such as large masks and broken briefcases?
 * She lets Fungi hold onto it.
 * Inner Monologue
 * Inspector Lestrade - Chloe in the first game. And Inspector Daria in Touch Detective 2½.
 * Kid Detective
 * Leitmotif - The three main girls each have one.
 * Little Bit Beastly: Daisy has cat eyes and generally has catlike features.
 * Medium Awareness - Mostly in the second game, though Cromwell remarks on the credits that appear halfway through the first game's fourth case.
 * A businessman says that there's advantages to living under 'a glass ceiling'.
 * The Cornstalker says he'll "see you in the next episode" after Case #3.
 * During Case #5, Mackenzie makes reference to Japanese popularity polls, and identifies something from Case #2 as being from "Episode #2"..
 * Old Retainer - Cromwell
 * Only Sane Man - Mackenzie.
 * Parental Abandonment - Mackenzie inherited her detective agency from her father, and it's never mentioned in-game what happened to her mom.
 * Perky Goth - Daisy in the first game, and in the sequel.
 * Red Herring
 * Series Mascot - Fungi
 * Trademark Favorite Food - See All There in the Manual above.
 * The Voice - Most of the girls living in the Condominium, as well as Shorty the hot dog/chocolate banana salesman.

Touch Detective 2 contains examples of:
"Fortuneteller: "I can't [help you] right now. The flag's not set on 1. Flags are the road signs that guide the gods of fate. None of us can escape from this binding curse.""
 * Ceiling Banger - In the first case, Penelope tries to send morse code messages to her upstairs neighbour, Daisy, by banging on the ceiling with a large stick. Daisy's "replies" are actually just attempts to get Penelope to stop.
 * Creepy Child - Lynsey, who is taken care of by The Astronomer. She's actually not too harmful
 * Dream Land: They can be stolen, apparently.
 * G-Rated Drug
 * The Igor - Lugol might count, though all he ever does is play music.
 * Jerkass - The Circus Master
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall - The fortune teller, who very often gives excuses for not being helpful, has this to say in case three.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall - The fortune teller, who very often gives excuses for not being helpful, has this to say in case three.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall - The fortune teller, who very often gives excuses for not being helpful, has this to say in case three.


 * Mad Scientist - The Astronomer could be called one, as he has an unhealthy obsession over stars.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: had a crush on Chloe in the second case.
 * X-Ray Sparks - In the second case, after plays with an electrical socket.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle - At the end of part 1 of the fourth case. Not spoilered, as the previous cases all had two parts, and there's at least one item you haven't found a use for...

Touch Detective 2½ contains examples of:
"Chloe: O RLY? Mackenzie: Yes, really... Chloe: NO WAI!"
 * Adventure Archaeologist
 * The Artful Dodger - Friday, the freeloading mouse
 * Bait and Switch Credits
 * Berserk Button - If you're riding a train with Jack the Conductor, you'd better have your ticket...
 * Con Man -
 * Continuity Nod - Two of the sidequests in the Bonus Mission.
 * One is to help the antique shop owner open a jewerly box he recieved. This is done in the exact same manner as in the tutorial from the previous game. As a bonus, the dragon teapot and snow machine from the previous game are also seen, but they have no purpose.
 * The other involves recreating an early puzzle from the first game's fourth case, where you must find a stamp and place it on a card in order to recieve the same prize as in the first game.
 * Cute Ghost Girl: Colette.
 * Did I Just Say That Out Loud? -
 * Gainax Ending - The end of Case 3.  Even Mackenzie's confused by all this.
 * Gentleman Thief - The Cornstalker, who's good-looking and leaves calling cards before committing the crimes.
 * Gonk - Miss Yvonne
 * In the Name of the Moon - Daria attempts this repeatedly, usually ending in self-injury somehow.
 * Master of Disguise - The Cornstalker
 * Paper-Thin Disguise -
 * Rapunzel Hair - Inspector Daria, Collette.
 * - Silver
 * Shout-Out - In Case 3, while trying to convince Chloe to help move a large statue, the following is said:
 * - Silver
 * Shout-Out - In Case 3, while trying to convince Chloe to help move a large statue, the following is said:


 * Also, in the final case, the Salesman's favourite shows include Found and 365.
 * Sleazy Politician - Mayor Tom, who built a museum for two purposes: to brag about his accomplishments, and to sell actual artifacts to the highest bidder.
 * Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Collette, the Haunted Mansion's caretaker, is a particularly cute Token Mini-Moe example.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Antoinette used a giant 3-pronged electric egg-beater to make some pastry. It's as big as an electric jackhammer and Dover used it to dig a fish pond in minutes.