Brave: The Search For Spirit Dancer
Brave is a young Native American boy, who spends his days playing and exploring with his friend Meadow Flower. One day after Brave saves both he and Meadow Flower from a bear, his mentor, Gray Bear, decides that it’s time Brave learnt how to be a warrior, and sends him off to find several cave paintings, and do certain tasks to start him off on that path. Whilst Brave is doing so, he learns about an evil spirit known as the Wendigo, and a powerful shaman known as Spirit Dancer, who disappeared many years ago. Upon Brave’s return to the village however, he finds the Wendigo attacking, during the course of which Hooded Crow, the tribe’s Shaman, is possessed by it, Meadow Flower is turned into a mindless body, and Gray bear is killed – not before telling Brave to flee and find Spirit Dancer – the only one who could defeat the Wendigo…
Thus starts the plot of Brave: The Search For Spirit Dancer, a somewhat obscure Platform Game released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 by VIS Entertainment.
- Alien Geometries: The Spirit Realm
- Annoying Arrows: Shoot an enemy with an arrow? Well, they’ll just continue to merrily run around, even when they start to look like a pincushion.
- Big Badass Bird of Prey: The Eagle Spirit, and the Thunderbird [dead link].
- Big Badass Wolf: The Wolf Spirit, the evil wolves, the artic wolves, the undead wolves…
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Sasquatch makes an appearance, helping both Brave and earlier, his father Spirit Dancer.
- Concept Art: Is unlcoked by finding Totems.
- Dem Bones: The Wendigo, and the Fallen Warriors.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Gray Bear dies in Brave’s arms, after protecting him from an attack by Hooded Crow.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Spirit Dancer’s amulet. Which also helps Brave identify his father’s body.
- Disney Death: Gray Bear…who just kinda turns up alive at the end.
- The Dragon: Hooded Crow
- Everything's Worse with Bears: An angry grizzly bear is what starts off the plot.
- Giant Flyer: The Eagle Spirit gets ridden several times… No, wait, that came out wrong.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Gray Bear
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Spirit Dancer is Brave’s father, and his mother is/was?/became the Maiden Rock.
- Redemption Equals Death: Hooded Crow, who, after coming to his senses, gets killed by the Wendigo.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Kinda. When Hooded Crow is possessed, he gains a sort of red glow/tint over his eyes.
- Portal Slam: When Spirit Dancer’s soul is dragged to the Spirit Realm with the Wendigo, his wife tries to follow him… Unfortunately, she ends getting flung into the air, and smashed into Maiden Rock, and ends up becoming it’s new face.
- Mad Eye: Courtesy of Gray Bear.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Gray Bear
- Sacrificial Lamb: Gray Bear
- Summon Magic
- Spirit Advisor: Gray Bear
- Spirit World: The Spirit Realm, which gets repeatedly used a shortcut! And is also where the Wendigo and Spirit Dancer were trapped.
- Taking the Bullet: Gray Bear, who shields Brave from an attack by Hooded Crow.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Canoeing segments! The second of which might be considered a tad aggravating.
- Wendigo: Our villain, ladies and gentlemen.
- You Killed My Father: Sort of. As Spirit Dancer sealed the Wendigo in the Spirit Realm, the Wendigo’s claws ripped Spirit Dancer’s soul out of his body and dragged it into the Spirit Realm too, effectively killing him.
