Catherine

"Vincent: Have you ever had a dream where you... died? Katherine: You mean, like... where you're in danger? Vincent: No, no, where you actually die. You're being killed, or something. Katherine: No... I usually do the killing in my dreams."

From the creators of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona comes an unusual and distinctive Puzzle Game. It's Atlus's first HD game, marking their entry onto the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles with animated cutscenes by Studio 4°C.

Vincent Brooks is just your average 32-year old unambitious salaryman in a stable but unremarkable long-term relationship with a woman named Katherine McBride. When Katherine brings up the prospect of marriage, Vincent freaks out... and then suddenly meets a gorgeous and carefree girl called Catherine who is just his type. He sleeps with her, but starts having strange nightmares where he is wandering in a world of endless staircases and being pursued by... something.

What's more, there's been a rash of mysterious deaths lately- men found in bed with a look of sheer horror frozen on their faces- and a rumor going around that if you fall in a nightmare and don't wake up before you hit the bottom...

Catherine also features a multiplayer mode called "Colosseum" where two players go head-to-head in a single action stage, each trying to make the other Ring Out. It's fun enough to have caught on with the Tournament Play crowd. No, seriously!

The game was released on February 17, 2011, in Japan, July 26, 2011 in North America, and February 10, 2012 in Europe. As of August 4, it had managed to break Atlus's previous launch records, cementing Catherine's place as their fastest selling title in the U.S. with an impressive 200,000 units sold in just one week.

It also spawned its own Wild Mass Guessing page before it even got a works page.

This game contains examples of:
"Justin: "It's the truth.""
 * Absolute Cleavage: Midnight Venus.
 * Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: There is a scene where Vincent is getting a serious beating from  and his friends just laugh it off and ignore it.
 * Abusive Parents:
 * Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: This is how the sheep-men appear in the Nightmare world. Said accessories are used to identify them (Tie-Wearing Sheep, Sheep with Glasses, Sheep with Long Hair, etc.) and are one of the ways to recognize them in the real world.
 * Actor Allusion: Pretty much everything. The English voice actors were specifically chosen for their roles due to how closely related their personalities are. For example, Troy Baker is trapped in Fantasy Land, and falls into a relationship with a very seductive girl.
 * Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Stray Sheep.
 * Affair Hair: In a twist, Catherine (the other woman) finds Katherine's (the girlfriend) hair.
 * Afro Asskicker: Vincent. Midnight Venus' afro kicks his afro's ass though.
 * A God Is You:
 * All Just a Dream:
 * All There in the Manual: There are several points in the manual itself not mentioned in the game:
 * Vincent is an systems engineer for a tech company, but you wouldn't notice that since he doesn't need to dress up for the customers his company works for.
 * Katherine is a manager of an apparel store. She has reunited with Vincent after their high school reunion five years ago. Also, she likes cake.
 * Catherine is described as a seductress and "has a way of ruining the common sense and self-control of any man" she visits. Apparently, she's ten years younger than both Vincent and Katherine (Catherine's 22; Vincent and Katherine are 32).
 * And Then John Was a Zombie:
 * This is also part of backstory.
 * Animal Motifs: Vincent and rams. He sprouts ram horns in the dreamworld and his dreams are filled with bipedal (and necktied) ones who are really other men stuck in the dreamworld. The game never lets up on the sheep motif, either; they mention their connection to dreams in symbolism ("counting sheep!"), the sheep in the nightmares are condescendingly called "lost lambs" by the voice in the confessional,  and so on.
 * To a lesser extent than the sheep, ants are symbolically used as well.
 * Art Major Physics: The tutorial voice tells Vincent that these blocks aren't normal; you can connect them just at their edges and they won't fall. Vincent wonders why the hell gravity doesn't pull them down, but this is dream logic, after all.
 * Ascended Extra:, who played minor roles in Shin Megami Tensei I, Shin Megami Tensei II and Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon. This version serves as
 * Ascended Meme/Shout-Out: One of the dialogue choices when talking to a Sheep is "The pregnancy was a lie?"
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: ALL the bosses.
 * Babies Make Everything Better: Subverted. Not only does the announcement of Katherine's alleged pregnancy cause Vincent to freak out, he starts having nightmares where he's chased by a giant baby. This is combined with Chainsaw Good in a later nightmare.
 * Bad Liar: Good lord, Vincent. Especially jarring since his excuses get more and more unrealistic (like telling Catherine that Katherine's super-long, pale blonde hair came from his chest), but the girls don't confront him until later in the story. Although Catherine does lampshade it, and she probably knows more than she lets on.
 * Betty and Veronica: Katherine and Catherine, respectively.
 * Bishie Sparkle: Midnight Venus.
 * BLAM Episode: It would make more sense if it were a Alternate Universe, but, due to the game's nature...
 * Booze-Based Buff: The more hammered Vincent is by the time he leaves the bar, the faster he runs during the Nightmare levels. As a nice cosmetic bonus, finishing your drink gives you trivia about that type of alchohol; cocktails, beer, sake or whiskey.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall and/or No Fourth Wall:
 * Trisha introduces and concludes the game to the player, and beyond that, the text messages Vincent receives from her are actually for you (Vincent thinks they're spam),.
 * Beating the final Babel stage essentially lets the player
 * Brick Joke: An unusual All There in the Manual example: Katherine likes cake. This doesn't seem significant until she actually gives a cake to Vincent as a present. However, that same cake
 * Catherine Knows Where You Live: Justified, due to
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Vincent can't spit anything out. For most of the game, the Karma Meter has an effect on his inner thoughts...while he just stammers and stutters out loud.
 * Casting Gag: Intenionally done in the English Version. The roles of C/Katherine can be directly comparied personailty-wise to Michelle Ruff and Laura Bailey's characters in Persona 3 (Yukari) and Persona 4 (Rise), who are both Lovers Arcana characters. And for the most fun, the Lovers Arcana interpets into a choice between lovers! Not to metion they are both using the exact same "voices" for both characters.
 * Catch Phrase

"Katherine: If you're going to make excuses, you could at least look me in the eye.
 * Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Different versions depending on your route.
 * Should you choose Katherine
 * Should you choose Catherine
 * Or both, should you choose the freedom route.
 * Classic Cheat Code Shout-Out: JUSTIN BAILEY!!! Can we see Samus in a bikini now?!
 * Climb Slip Hang Climb: An integral part of the gameplay.
 * Creepy Child: The Child.
 * Creepy Twins: Martha and Lindsay. Unnatural speaking patterns? Speaking in unison? Seem to inexplicably know something about the dreams men are having? Check, check, check. However, they do buck the usual trend of this trope; they're old ladies rather than little kids.
 * Crucified Hero Shot: A picture in the confessional shows...someone on a cross, surrounded by sheep.
 * Death by Irony:
 * Death Glare: Katherine gets at least one.
 * Death Glare: Katherine gets at least one.
 * Scare Chord*"


 * Defictionalization: Atlus's special edition of Catherine comes with (among other things) real life versions of a pizza box from the bar Vincent frequents, one of Vincent's shirts, and even a pair of the boxers Vincent wears in his nightmares.
 * Devil in Plain Sight: Catherine keeps passive-aggressively inserting herself into Vincent's life. He keeps waking up with her in his bed, even if he told her "no." He has no memory of the nights they supposedly spend together. This could either scream "Catherine is a soul-stealing succubus" or "Catherine is a stalker who keeps drugging Vincent into submission," but either way she's clearly bad news.
 * Difficulty by Region: In the Japanese version, the "easy patch" can be toggled on and off after installing it, while in the American version it is permanently on. In addition, the "Undo" move is available on "Normal" difficulty in America, but not Japan.

": I can see you, boy. You and your underpants!"
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: The game employs a lot of this, but then the Nightmare Sequences give several interesting points. One is the fact that Vincent's horns are eerily similar to a specific being. Two is the matter of how Vincent is running away from the depths of the Nightmare, while something is chasing him. The ram horns could be related to the Saytr, who was a symbol for lust and hedonism, and would chase wood nymphs daily.
 * The entirety of the Nightmares are also a major allusion to the levels of Hell, since as you go up the tower, the sanctuaries get cleaner, holier and more whole, alluding to the fact that you are climbing your way out of hell.
 * Dramatic Irony: No characters remember things between the Nightmares and the waking world. They only remember that they've had nightmares, but no details. Of course, the audience has no such handicap.
 * Driving Question
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Vincent first appeared in the PSP remake of Persona 3, complaining of Nightmares.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Naturally, given the fact that the game has Multiple Endings.
 * If you helped them, also earned their happy endings.
 * Easier Than Easy: The American version has the aptly named "Super Easy", curiously, it is somewhat hidden and requires a simple code to use.
 * Enemy Within:
 * Erotic Eating: One early image shows Catherine eating a slice of pizza in a very...seductive manner.
 * Escort Mission:
 * First Girl Wins: Choosing Katherine results in this. Toby also believes in this literally, saying he plans on marrying the first girl he falls in love with.
 * Foreshadowing: Fairly early in the game, Catherine says that she has to go to the dentist..
 * A not so distant example happens later: While is beating up Vincent, you hear loud punches and slams, along with Vincent's screams of agony.
 * In a more subtle example, the loading screen usually has quotes from well-known people in history about romance. One of the people who is quoted is Thomas Mutton, who unlike the rest isn't a historical figure.
 * Four Philosophy Ensemble: In terms of Vincent and his three bros. Orlando is the Cynic, Toby the Optimist, Jonny the Realist and Vincent himself (unsurprisingly) the Conflicted.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: In terms of Vincent and his three bros. Toby is sanguine, Orlando is choleric, Jonny is melancholic, and Vincent is phlegmatic.
 * Framing Device: The Golden Playhouse, with your hostess, Trisha: The Midnight Venus. The whole thing plays out as if it's a TV series that shows late night movies, complete with opening and closing narration by Trisha.
 * Funny Afro : Midnight Venus.. You could lose a beachball in that thing!
 * Gainaxing: No, not Catherine -- Trisha.
 * Game Within a Game: The arcade machine in the bar, which is eerily similar to the gameplay proper. Justified in that  Its rules are nearly the same as the nightmare game, except that instead of dealing with a time limit and enemies, you have limits on the number of block-pushes you can use. With 64 stages (and 64 more hidden stages after that), it's arguably big enough to be its own game.
 * Of course, this is a game within a game within a TV show. The dreams themselves are games within a dream within a TV show. That's Colon Cancer for you.
 * Giant Hands of Doom: The first boss is Katherine's hands, holding a giant fork.
 * Godiva Hair: Catherine has this in an image (link NSFW) only unlocked after getting at least 5 Good/True endings. Notably, her hair suddenly gets much longer for it.
 * Goomba Stomp: You can knock down enemy sheep by falling onto them. You can also stand on Monster blocks to kill them, but the game does not tell you this.
 * Gratuitous English: Vincent's text message ringtone is "You got a mail!" Considering the names of the characters revealed so far, it's obvious nobody's actually speaking Japanese, but that means the ringtone should be in Japanese, too...right?
 * '(Boss name) has appeared. It is the killer. Do not die.' This one, they left in for the English release.
 * In the English release, "You got a mail!" is replaced by the more ubiquitous "You've got mail!" However, listening closely in one scene seems to indicate that one instance of the Gratuitous English accidentally slipped through.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: The Inazuma technique (it means "lightning").
 * Growing Up Sucks: The game is basically all about facing the terrors of being an adult; commitment, responsibility, aging, parenthood, and so on.
 * Happily Married:
 * Harder Than Hard: It's called "Hard" mode, but even Japanese players had complaints on Easy. "Easy" mode is supposed to be straightforward. "Normal" raises the difficulty faster, and can get borderline impossible. "Hard" removes the Undo ability, and gets even more complicated. The Xbox360, however, has a disadvantage: there's a common complaint that the 360's controller has a bad design for its D-Pad. Unfortunately, the controller stick is horrible for fine movements in an isometric area. And you need nine Gold trophies in the dreams in order to unlock the final level of Babel. Did we mention that those nine Gold have to be in a difficulty other than Easy?
 * Have a Nice Death: Falling from the tower presents you with a nice image of Vincent's corpse atop a stack of fallen blocks while a voice tells you to Rest In Peace. LOVE IS OVER indeed. Dying on the tower is more kind as at least Vincent goes up in a fine red mist.
 * Plus, when you run out of continues, you're treated to the lovely image of Vincent dead in the real world. Completely pale and with a look of absolute horror frozen on his face. And since this is an Atlus game, you'll be seeing it a lot.
 * Heroic BSOD: Vincent got one after
 * Hellish Pupils: In a non-villainous example, whenever Vincent wakes up from the nightmares, his eyes are briefly seen as creepy sheep eyes.
 * In a straight villainous example, however, we have Instead of pupils,   has the arrow from the "Mars symbol" in  right eye, and the cross from the "Venus symbol" in  left.  also has orange, almost glowing, sclerae.
 * Also played straight in
 * Hidden Depths: Though he starts off pretty average, even the villians notice of this about Vincent...
 * Horned Hairdo: Catherine's Mega Twintails are gravity-defying enough to count.
 * Horny Devils:
 * In Catherine's true ending,
 * I Am a Humanitarian:
 * Ironic Echo: Early in the game, Katherine puts two sugars in Vincent's coffee, saying that's the way he likes it.
 * I See London:  mocks you on this when you reach the Emperio:
 * I Am a Humanitarian:
 * Ironic Echo: Early in the game, Katherine puts two sugars in Vincent's coffee, saying that's the way he likes it.
 * I See London:  mocks you on this when you reach the Emperio:

"DUMUZID. BEEEAAAAAM!!!!"
 * Improbable Weapon:
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: Vincent, every single night! Fortunately, there's also a Booze-Based Buff.
 * Interface Screw: The boss of Stage 3 spews hearts that reverse Vincent's controls if you don't take cover.
 * Invisible to Normals:
 * It Got Worse: The third boss is The Child, which is an immensely creepy looking baby. The fifth boss is Child  
 * It's a Wonderful Failure: If you run out of lives, or opt to just quit the game after Vincent dies in a nightmare, you'll be treated to a cutscene depicting his corpse in bed, with his expression frozen in horror.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:.
 * Daniel talks about this during the Nightmare stages.
 * Jaw Drop: A rather epic one pulled by Vincent on the morning after the 2nd night, when he finds Catherine's in his bed.
 * Also done routinely when he finds out something is chasing him. Or that Catherine was in his bed again.
 * Justified Tutorial: The various sheep compare notes on different block-pushing techniques to keep themselves from dying, and they fill in Vincent on what they come up with. Sometimes Vincent is the one who tells them.
 * Karma Meter: This seems to be in play, based on how you answer questions in the Nightmare section and how you respond to text messages in the Stray Sheep section. Which side the meter is on will affect Vincent's thoughts when dealing with Katherine or Catherine. The blue side of the meter is pro-marriage and commitment, while the red side of the meter is pro-freedom and passion.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: You may feel bad about pushing the other sheep around or zapping them with the Grimoire. But the crazy, murderous sheep? Not so much.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell:
 * Large Ham: While can get over-the-top, Dumuzid takes the cake with his special attack.
 * Large Ham: While can get over-the-top, Dumuzid takes the cake with his special attack.

""I swear by the name of Dumuzid, the Shepherd, consort of Ishtar...your ass is mine, punk!""
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: Vincent's cameo in the PSP port of Persona 3 recieved much hype when Catherine still was in production, talking to him will summarize some of his great frustrations in his own game, like how a girl suddenly made his life take a new turn (Catherine), and that his actual girlfriend (Katherine) is expecting his child.
 * Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Catherine is the Dark Feminine, while Katherine is the Light Feminine.
 * Likes Older Women: Toby. Quite enthusiastically, at that.
 * Limited Wardrobe: On two points.
 * The first is of the "closet full of the same" variety. Sometimes in Vincent's apartment, you'll see a hanger drying out his underwear. All pink-spotted boxers.
 * The second is of the "never change clothes regardless of the situation" variety.
 * Local Hangout: The Stray Sheep which takes a whole new meaning when.
 * Lost in Translation: The title of the game is "Catherine" but in the Japanese version the name is spelled so it clearly refers to both Catherine and Katherine, making them both the eponymous character. In the English version, only Catherine's name is directly referred to by the title.
 * Man Behind the Man:
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Catherine. Though quickly starts getting deconstructed in some really creepy ways.
 * The Many Deaths of You: All compiled with this one little video.
 * Meaningful Echo: Early in the game, Katherine asks Vincent how many years they've been together, and he can't remember..
 * Meaningful Name: Katherine's surname is McBride. As if it wasn't obvious already that she was the Love Interest...
 * Mega Twintails: Catherine's twintails break physics.
 * Men Are the Expendable Gender: The evil force behind the nightmares seems to think so, with all that this trope implies.
 * Lampshaded in one of the conversations you have with Justin; he postulates that in hundreds of years men will be extinct.
 * Mind Screw
 * Mirror Scare: If you wash your face in the bathroom of the Stray Sheep, the lights will flicker, the walls will drip with blood, and there will be a brief flash of that night's boss in the mirror.
 * Most Programmers Are Programmers: Our hero's job is implied to be a computer programmer.
 * Motif: Sheep are very prominent throughout the game as symbols for many different things: sleep, counting sheep, herd mentality, sheep who have gone astray, lambs to the slaughter. The big bad's name is
 * Ms. Fanservice: Played straight with Catherine.
 * Multiple Endings: Nine endings total: eight of them for Golden Theater story mode and one for Babel mode. There are three paths: Lover, Cheater and Freedom. All three have a "true" and "good" ending, while just the girls have a "bad" ending.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse:
 * Combine this with Crazy Prepared,.
 * Musical Spoiler: If you thought that the then you were correct.
 * Never Gets Drunk: Vincent, kinda. He certainly looks pretty drunk when his meter's full, but he holds conversations perfectly fine.
 * Justin complains that his tolerance has gotten too high to get really drunk anymore.
 * Nice Hat: Orlando.
 * Nightmare Sequence: The boss levels.
 * Nintendo Hard: To the point where Atlus had to patch in an Easy Mode in Japan so players can make actual progress. The international releases included it from the beginning.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Clock Tower boss is a giant killer mecha baby with chainsaws coming out of one eye socket.
 * Nipple-and-Dimed: For all the hype, this game isn't that racy; all naughty bits are kept hidden by handy nearby objects and clever camera angles, and we mostly just see scenes of pillow talk. Not that this isn't enough to shock Vincent, though, of course. His horror in these scenes is palpable.
 * Nobody Poops: Averted. Several scenes happen in the lavatory at Vincent's office, his friends sometimes get up to go to the restroom at the Stray Sheep (prompting the rest of them to talk about him while he's gone), and Catherine announces she's going to the bathroom at one point.
 * That said, from a gameplay perspective, you can enter the restroom at the Stray Sheep, but all you can do in there is wash your face and look at Catherine's naughty pictures in the stall.
 * No Export for You: Intentionally subverted. Atlus initially played at the North American fanbase by claiming that they had no plans to release the game outside Japan in a late February 2011 interview. After roughly a day of a raging fanbase, Atlus Faithful members received a cryptic e-mail in Catherine colors with the phrase "Do you still like us?". Whether the teasing was intended to continue or not is unknown as GameStop accidentally leaked the official release date a few days later. Atlus finally confirmed it with an e-mail announcing the official site and the tagline "...Cat's out of the bag". Clearly they never intended to leave Catherine behind, but they were aware of the trope.
 * No Points for Neutrality: Averted. Being neutral is a perfectly viable option and there is actually a nice satisfying ending for sticking with it.
 * Offscreen Teleportation: The way Catherine moves around seats when the camera's not on her, you'd think she can teleport or something.
 * Oh Crap: Vincent has this look whenever there's a nightmare death sequence coming up. Or whenever he sees somebody in his bed that wasn't there before.
 * One Steve Limit: Averted. There's Katherine, a co-worker whom Vincent is dating when he meets 'girl of his dreams' Catherine... You don't even get the benefit of different spellings with the katakana in the Japanese version.
 * Possibly lampshaded by.
 * One-Winged Angel:
 * Ontological Mystery
 * Order Versus Chaos: A given, being the game is a Shin Megami Tensei Spin-Off, but at the same time downplayed by the fact it's all within the context of marriage and relationships, instead of the usual cosmic forces.
 * Peek-a-Bangs: Vincent doesn't usually wear his hair this way, but he does for a brief period after.
 * Perpetual Molt: Vincent's pillow.
 * Professional Gaming: Believe it or not, Colosseum has caught on with the NorCal crowd and has even spawned tournaments.
 * Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Well, any guy who's around age 30.
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: The game features remixes of music by Sarasate, Beethoven, Holst, Bach, Dvorak, Rossini, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Bizet, Chopin and Handel.
 * Punch Clock Villain: Surprisingly, considering the story, the Big Bad may come off as this in at least one ending.
 * Puzzle Platformer: ...to the dismay of the fanbase it seems.
 * Recurring Dreams: Basically, the whole game.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Zig-zagged. The sheep in the nightmare world all have red eyes, but most of them are just average Joes trying to escape like Vincent. But most of the bosses, with the exception of  have them too.
 * Red Herring There's a fair amount of "clues" that point toward being the "witch" that's cursing the male characters..
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Catherine and Katherine, respectively.
 * Relationship Voice Actor: Averted with Koichi Yamadera and Norio Wakamoto, who previously voiced Spike and Vicious.
 * Troy Baker and Laura Bailey who were Snow and Serah, Excalibur and Maka, Kanji and Rise, and Nagi and Evangeline in the first series are Vincent and Catherine in this game.
 * Laura and Michelle Ruff are rivals in this game, just like Chun Li and Crimson Viper.
 * Hell, most of the Black Knights are out for Vincent's blood...
 * Another one for the Japanese dub, Vincent and Katherine are Kaji and Misato.
 * Retraux: Rapunzel, the arcade game in the bar.
 * The Reveal: Double Subverted.
 * Right Through His Pants: No matter what he did with Catherine the previous night, Vincent is always wearing his boxers in the morning.
 * Possible Fridge Brilliance:
 * Rise to the Challenge: Gameplay in the Nightmare sections involves climbing a tower of blocks and reaching a door on the top or else Vincent will killed by whatever massive monstrosity is chasing him down.
 * Sanity Has Advantages: You know those blabbering, homicidal grey sheep you see?
 * Sanity Slippage: Some of the sheep you talk to in between levels exhibit this.
 * Saying Too Much: accidentally reveals   involvement in the nightmares, not realizing that Vincent.
 * Scenery Censor: Most of Catherine's nude scenes just show her from the shoulders up, but Vincent's computer monitor pulls this duty in one scene.
 * Schrodinger's Gun: The differences between the "Bad", "Good", and "True" version of each ending are supposedly determined by how well the girl can sense your feelings (that is, your position on the Karma Meter), but other events happen differently seemingly independently of your feelings about relationships.
 * The Scream:
 * Secret Test of Character:
 * Sexy Packaging / Contemptible Cover: Particularly the PlayStation 3 version depicting Catherine, shown here. Cleaner covers were made for the parts of the US that would have a fit over the originals.
 * Sexy Shirt Switch: The morning after Catherine's always wearing an oversized t-shirt instead of her getup from the night before.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Midnight Venus is pretty hot without her Funny Afro.
 * Katherine in the True Lover's ending when she ditches the glasses and does up her hair.
 * Shout-Out: Many in the intro, including The Ring, Jaws, Godzilla, and Lupin III. There are also several to Persona 3 and 4, including a small figure of Teddie on the counter of Stray Sheep and Gekkoukan High's school badge on the wall of one of the box seats there.
 * More than one line-check, as well. Castlevania II, even an old DMX track.
 * If you watch carefully Vincent's list of books, you can see Hally Porter and Persona as book titles.
 * Likely not intentional, but one can't deny that
 * There's a brand of beer called "Bear Beer" and it has Teddie on its label.
 * Loading screens have tons of famous quotes, mostly about love and commitment, except for Babel Mode, which has quotes regarding overcoming challenges. Everyone from Sophocles to William Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde to Douglas Adams to Anton Chekhov and even George Carlin (yes, THAT George Carlin) are represented in those quotes.
 * The achievement/trophy name for completing the Inquisition stage is "No One Expects The.."
 * The way Vincent runs, especially on the map screen, is reminiscent of another boxer-clad hero (from another Nintendo Hard series).
 * When you leave to the title screen any time during the main level, we see what the victims of the nightmares look like in real life via vincent. The frozen positions and frozen faces of pure terror could be a Shout-Out to The Ring.
 * The Golden Playhouse intro is actually a parody of a real Japanese TV show called "Golden Theater".
 * Shown Their Work: Finishing your drinks in the bar gets you a bunch of accurate alcohol trivia, which is appropriate for a game where the protagonist drowns his sorrows so often.
 * Show Within a Show: The whole game, actually. It actually opens with Midnight Venus introducing the game as if it were an episode akin to something from Tales from the Crypt. Many cutscenes have a watermark in the corner of the screen as if we were watching a TV channel.
 * Significant Anagram:
 * Slasher Smile:
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Quadrangle, FULL STOP.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Vincent and Jonny are the only ones in Vincent's circle of friends who smoke.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: speech before the final battle.
 * The Golden Playhouse intro is actually a parody of a real Japanese TV show called "Golden Theater".
 * Shown Their Work: Finishing your drinks in the bar gets you a bunch of accurate alcohol trivia, which is appropriate for a game where the protagonist drowns his sorrows so often.
 * Show Within a Show: The whole game, actually. It actually opens with Midnight Venus introducing the game as if it were an episode akin to something from Tales from the Crypt. Many cutscenes have a watermark in the corner of the screen as if we were watching a TV channel.
 * Significant Anagram:
 * Slasher Smile:
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Quadrangle, FULL STOP.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Vincent and Jonny are the only ones in Vincent's circle of friends who smoke.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: speech before the final battle.
 * Sophisticated As Hell: speech before the final battle.


 * Soundtrack Dissonance: While for the most part, the epic classical music remixes fit the gameplay, one level has Rossini -William Tell Overture Part 2 "The Storm" And Part 3 "The Ranz Des Vaches" playing, and portions of the song are serene and don't fit the climbing to escape your death gameplay at all.
 * Space Whale Aesop: Don't cheat on your girlfriend  or else a disembodied voice will force you to climb a giant block tower in your Goofy Print Underwear. It Makes Sense in Context.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Catherine versus Katherine
 * Played straight with "Dumuzi" compared to "Dumuzid". May be due to pronunciation issues.
 * Stealth Pun: A minor one, but
 * The achievement named "A God Is Born" involves someone
 * The restaurant Vincent and Katherine visit is called the "Chrono Rabbit." The rabbit in a waistcoat from Alice in Wonderland is used as a symbol for time in japan as well. One revelation in the Chrono Rabbit?
 * Another minor one:
 * Sweet Tooth: Katherine. Most interactions with her take place at the Chrono Rabbit, a love-themed restaurant, with her eating some kind of pastry.
 * Vincent claims this when Catherine finds the cake Katherine had given him, and Catherine says that she has one as well.
 * Teasing Creator: See No Export for You.
 * The Tetris Effect:
 * This Is Unforgivable!: Katherine screams this at Vincent when she discovers what he and Catherine have been up to.
 * This Loser Is You: Scarcely needs to be elaborated upon!
 * Those Two Guys: Todd and Archie. A manager and a subordinate at a suit store, Todd looks out for Archie.
 * Through the Eyes of Madness: Vincent on the eighth day.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Vincent's favorite drink is apparently a Cuba Libre (a.k.a. a rum & coke).
 * Transsexualism:.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Unlike some other Atlus games, Catherine doesn't take place in a specified year. It basically looks like the present, though space tourism is implied to have gotten cheaper.
 * Twitchy Eye:
 * The Unfair Sex: Apparently, not a single woman, fits the conditions to be sent into the nightmares.
 * Pointed out in-game when Vincent asks Asteroth why only men get targeted.
 * Urban Legend of Zelda: A game with adult situations and a couple of hot babes. Check. Rampant rumors of how to get said babes fully naked on-screen? Check and Check!
 * Vapor Wear: Trisha's Absolute Cleavage makes her obviously bra-less.
 * The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The game pulls this twice.
 * Video Game Caring Potential: Vincent may be an indecisive loser in the waking world, but he's surprisingly brave and supportive in the nightmare world, and encourages the sheep on the landings as much as possible.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can push the other sheep off edges, lure them onto spike traps, or turn them into SHEEP JUICE!
 * Once you get up to the higher levels with the crazy sheep, you don't feel so bad about it any more.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Not Vincent, but Todd, another one of the sheep from the nightmare, whose story is that he wanted to be his father (who called him "Maggot" and "Little Shit") and is chased by his own father every night.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Whole-Plot Reference: The game references Inannas Descent to The Netherworld. Make of it what you will.
 * The Rapunzel mini-game especally and
 * Win to Exit
 * Widget Series: It's a block puzzle game about infidelity.
 * X Meets Y: Q*bert meets Swan Lake or Black Swan
 * An episode of The Twilight Zone meets xxxHolic?
 * Yandere: Catherine. After one (drunken) rendezvous with Vincent, she chokes, bites, and threatens to kill him if he ever cheats on her. Not to mention trying to . Erica also tells him about a rumored curse placed on unfaithful men by a mysterious woman...
 * Yank the Dog's Chain:
 * Your Cheating Heart: Vincent cheats on Katherine with Catherine.
 * Also, Todd cheats on his wife, while his wife has an affair with Archie, another sheep from the dreams.
 * Your Mind Makes It Real
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle:
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Catherine dons Grade A, and she could be considered a Grade S, considering her being a Yandere and having Mega Twintails.
 * Fridge Brilliance when you consider that Zettai Ryouiki is the number one fetish in Japan . Though Fridge Logic kicks in when you realise this is supposed to be America.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Catherine dons Grade A, and she could be considered a Grade S, considering her being a Yandere and having Mega Twintails.
 * Fridge Brilliance when you consider that Zettai Ryouiki is the number one fetish in Japan . Though Fridge Logic kicks in when you realise this is supposed to be America.