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Line 1: {{~~trope~~work}} [[File:Einhander_battle.jpg\|frame\|Let's destroy this [[Giant Spider\|Spider]] [[Spider Tank\|Tank]] with a one-handed sword!]] ''Glory with the Moon. Mercy on the Earth.'' A surprisingly good [[~~Play Station~~PlayStation]] 1 side-scrolling [[Shoot'Em Up]] from [[Square Soft]] ([[Captain Obvious\|the same ones who made]] [[Running Gag\|the gut-crushingly popular]] ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series). The player takes the role of an anonymous fighter pilot sent by [[La Résistance\|the moon nation Selene]] against [[The Federation\|Earth's forces]], raiding its only city (called [[Unfortunate Implications\|Sodom]] in Japanese version). Initially armed with nothing but a weak machine gun, the fighter can nevertheless grab weapons called gunpods from enemies, including [[Boring but Practical\|plain old cannons and missile launchers]] as well as [[Abnormal Ammo\|a lightning gun]] and [[Laser Blade\|energy sword]]. What follows is single small fighter [[One-Man Army\|cutting a huge swath through huge installations defended by endless numbers of aircraft and turrets.]] Most likely, you have heard of this game because of how dissonant the game is compared to other series made by [[Square Soft]], since this is a rare case of [[Square Soft]] doing something [[Playing Against Type\|other than the RPG genre]]. As a result, it became a cult classic later on due to how fun and impressive it really is. The composer (Kenichiro Fukui) for the game would later go on to compose songs in ''[[Advent Children]]'', produce the theme song for ''[[~~Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)\|~~Final Fantasy XII]]'', and play as the keyboardist in The Black Mages, so you might have heard of this style before. The soundtrack from the game combines several genres (ranging from Techno to Rock) in unique ways that would be comparable to the likes of [[Yuki Kajiura]]. The most notable song from the game is "Shudder" (which would be the other reason you are here), [[Genre Busting\|which combines Fast Rap, Techno, Rock, and other genres]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome\|all for the first boss in the game]]. ~~----~~ {{tropelist}} ~~Tropes used in ''Einhander'':~~ * [[~~Two and A Half~~ 2½D]]: As mentioned below, one of your weapons can fire into the fore- or background, as well as enemies sometimes appearing from said locations. The game makes this clear in no uncertain terms in the opening mook force, which appears in the foreground, before spinning around and entering your 2d plane. Interestingly, the camera also spins back and forth in various angles relative to your craft, even as you stay in the same plane (so that you are looking from a rear 3/4ths view at one moment, and then from below and to the side in another moment. Several boss battles even have the camera pan before the boss uses some attack or another, not to mention many points in the levels themselves. You even get a short first person view point just before the first boss, but only if you didn't get Secret Bonus 3. ** You even get a short first person view point just before the first boss, but only if you didn't get Secret Bonus 3. * [[Underwater Boss Battle\|Above Water Boss Battle]]: The [[Mini Boss]] of Stage 4, [[Meaningful Name\|Salamander]], attacks you from the water below in its first phase. * [[Action Bomb]]: One of the enemies in ~~stage~~Stage 5. They don't attack on their own, but if given enough time, will self-destruct. Green-lined ones will explode into a plasma [[Sphere of Destruction]], while the more dangerous red ones will explode into a starburst of projectiles. * [[After the End]]: The events of game take place years after the great war, there's nothing on Earth but wasteland outside the [[Cyberpunk]] city. * [[All There in the Manual]]: The only real indication to explain why the Earth forces speak German (otherwise, one could easily assume they only speak German in THAT part of the world), and where the capital city is located is because the instruction manual barely mentions that the city was built over the ruins of an [[German Peculiarities\|autobahn]]. It also mentions briefly that Germany (or what's left of it) set up a [[One World Order]] after the bombs fell, while the defeated eventually became Selene. ** It also mentions briefly that Germany (or what's left of it) set up a [[One World Order]] after the bombs fell, while the defeated eventually became Selene. * [[Animal Mecha]]: The monkey mecha Ausf A Gestell, who is ironically not named after an animal. * [[Animal Motifs]]: Almost all the Earth forces are named after animals, including the bosses and [[Mini Boss\|Mini Bosses]]. The bosses and minibosses also share traits to the animal they're named after. And then there is also that [[Ax Crazy\|deranged]] [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Everything's Better ~~With~~with Monkeys\|monkey]]... * [[Animal Theme Naming]]: Almost all the Earth Federation's units are named after animals... in German. * [[Armor-Piercing Attack]] : The Riot weapon can pierce enemies' facial armour and hurt them directly, something which even the Flash cannot do (on certain enemies and bosses). Justified as it's an electrical weapon and fries them from the inside out. * [[Attack Its Weak Point]]: Most of the [[Mini Boss\|minibosses]] and bosses can be defeated quickly if you know where to shoot them in. The same applies to larger enemies that can be defeated by shooting them in their engines and such. * [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Hint: Shoot the part that has a green glowing thing (such as a visor) on it. Nine times out of ten it's the weak point. ~~[[Awesome but Impractical]]:~~The Mosquito gun pod, a manual-guided missile sounds cool until you find out that the missile is guided by the fighter's movement. The Python, although one of the most damaging weapons in the game, is shot out in a string of shots somewhat randomly controlled in opposition to the player's motion. As such, it is quite difficult to damage the enemy with it. ~~Also the~~The [[Laser Blade\|Blade]] -: it does a lot of damage and looks really cool, but it requires you to get uncomfortably close to enemies and ate up its ammo rather quickly. The Flash, which shoots a cool-looking purple beam that slices through everything (bypassing armor and still going after that) but the ammo is ridiculously rare AND limited in amount. {{spoiler\|Unless you unlock the secret ship that always comes with 9999 ammo with any gunpod}} Strangely enough, the most powerful weapons at your disposal appear to be {{spoiler\|your ship's engines and the manipulator arm you use to pick up weapons}}. * [[Ax Crazy]]: The [[Everything's Better ~~With~~with Monkeys\|ape]] [[Mini Boss]] of Stage 5, Ausf A Gestell, attacks your char like a deranged monkey: it frequently tries to swat the player's ship, and if knocked down, throws a crate at the player (similar to [[Donkey Kong\|a certain ape]]). Befittingly enough, the background music when you fight it is called "Madness". * [[Bilingual Bonus]]: All the enemies from ~~stages~~Stages 1-6 speak in German. If you know the language, you can understand that they're trying to kill you. Most of the dialogue, however, is incomprehensible due to sound effects and alarms that go off when they talk.▼ ** Befittingly enough, the background music when you fight it is called "Madness". * {{spoiler\|[[Bolivian Army Ending]]: And you actually [[One-Man Army\|win]], as shown after the credits}}...}}▼ ▲* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: All the enemies from stages 1-6 speak in German. If you know the language, you can understand that they're trying to kill you. * [[Boring but Practical]]: ~~The Cannon gun pod.~~▼ Wouldn't have hurt them to add subtitles for the rest of us though. Some of the dialogue is incomprehensible due to sound effects and alarms that go off when they talk. The Spreader can fall into this. Like the grenade, it is one of the two weapons that can shoot backwards; they are the only two weapons that can effectively fight the Stage 3 Boss, Gustaff, who is prone to try shooting you from behind. Also, like the Cannon example above, getting real close to the enemy can result in some terrifying rates of fire. Even better, nearly the entirety of Stage 4 includes massive amounts of mooks and later, tight corridors, a role that a spread-shot weapon is really suited for. ▲* {{spoiler\|[[Bolivian Army Ending]]: And you actually [[One-Man Army\|win]], as shown after the credits...}} ** The Grenade gunpod. It does the most damage-per-shot out of all the weapons in the game, but it has an arcing projectile and hence, slightly more difficult to land accurate shots with. Then again, due to its low ammo, it's better used on bosses and mini-bosses anyway, and so accuracy is much less important. One more thing, though; it can fire backwards too, which is real handy to fight Gustaff with (see above). ▲* [[Boring but Practical]]: The Cannon gun pod. Your humble Vulcan. Widely available and can reliably destroy your standard mooks. Combined with the Endymion Mk. III's double standard guns, it can do some serious damage over time. The grenade, to a lesser degree. It's arguably the most powerful weapon in the game. * [[Breakable Weapons]]: The gun pods can be destroyed. * [[Charged Attack]]: The Riot gun pod. Line 42 ⟶ 40: * [[Combination Attack]]: The [[Mini Boss]] of Stage 3, Gecko, fires a laser at a [[Mook]], who reflects and amplifies it into a [[Wave Motion Gun\|huge laser]]. * [[Combining Mecha]]/[[Mecha Expansion Pack]]: Sturmvogel and its armor attachment. * [[Cores and Turrets Boss]]: Not a boss, but the turret train cars in Stage 2 qualify. To beat them, destroy their control towers and ignore the turrets. However, you can get ''two'' secret bonuses if you shoot down enough turrets before destroying the control tower. ** Or don't. You can get ''two'' secret bonuses if you shoot down enough turrets before destroying the control tower. * [[Continuing Is Painful]]: With the {{spoiler\|Schabe}}. * [[Deadly Walls]]: Partially averted. See [[Collision Damage]] example above. * [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]]: [[~~Death~~Played ~~Is a Slap On The Wrist~~Straight]]~~: Played Straight~~. You lose the equipped gun pod at death but by choosing a starting gun pod, you can get them with increased damage in your continuation. [[Subverted Trope\|Subverted]] by the Schabe, which can't kill anything stronger than a [[Mook]] without lot of gun pods collected. And it gets reset to level 0 each time it gets destroyed... * [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]: The Vulcan gun pod is weaker than the standard machine gun, though it does have [[More Dakka]]. Line 52 ⟶ 50: ** Then you find out that those background and foreground targets happen to be carrying special weapons like the Juno and Python. * [[Direct Continuous Levels]]: For levels 1-6. Your craft is shown heading to its next destination while Hyperion directs you to your next objective. * [[Everything's Better ~~With~~with Monkeys]]: [[Sub Boss]] Gestell is one [[Ax Crazy\|GENOCIDAL]] [[Impossibly Graceful Giant\|Giant Ape]]! * [[The Federation]]: Gesetz.▼ * [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: [[Mini Boss]] [[Spider Tank\|Gecko]] loves to use this one a lot. * [[Gatling Good]]: Your ship's basic machine gun, the Vulcan and the Juno all fit into this. Especially the latter two. * [[Gratuitous German]]: German becomes Earth's global language. Starting with the federation being called "Gesetz" (German for "Law")... ** The folks of Selene, meanwhile,[[Surprisingly Good English\|still speak some good English]]. * [[Guns Akimbo]]: The first [[Sub Boss]], Greif. The Astraea fighter allows the player to wield two gunpods simultaneously. * [[Headshots Kill Robots]]: Played straight almost all the time- opponents have a glowing green spot that happens to be the weak-armoured cockpit, and that spot is usually the head. Destroying it will destroy the Mook/Miniboss/Boss. But not always: in the case of [[Spider Tank\|Gecko]], the weak spot is the bottom, and for Schwarzgeist, it's the middle section.▼ ** The Astraea fighter allows the player to wield two gunpods simultaneously. * [[Heavily Armored Mook]]: The enemy in ~~stage~~Stage 2 called "Star" (Starling in German) returns as a tougher-to-beat armored version in ~~stage~~Stage 5 called "Panzerstar" (Armoured Starling).▼ ▲* [[Headshots Kill Robots]]: Played straight almost all the time- opponents have a glowing green spot that happens to be the weak-armoured cockpit, and that spot is usually the head. Destroying it will destroy the Mook/Miniboss/Boss. * [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler\|You pull this off once you find out the moon forces declare that [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness\|you are no longer needed]] once you complete ~~stage~~Stage 6.}}.▼ ** But not always, in the case of [[Spider Tank\|Gecko]] the weak spot is the bottom, and for Schwarzgeist it's the middle section. ▲* [[Heavily Armored Mook]]: The enemy in stage 2 called "Star" (Starling in German) returns as a tougher-to-beat armored version in stage 5 called "Panzerstar" (Armoured Starling). ▲* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler\|You pull this off once you find out the moon forces declare that [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness\|you are no longer needed]] once you complete stage 6.}} * [[Helpful Mook]]: The Accidentally Assisting type, they are your source of ammo. * [[High Altitude Battle]]: Stage 6 has your ship fly near outer space in order to destroy a rocket that [[Transforming Mecha\|transforms into the boss]]. * [[Homing Projectile]]: The Wasp weapon, which can home in on enemies '''in the background AND foreground'''!!! The side weapon of the Schabe when it collects a wasp will also home in on enemies, background targets and foreground targets alike. ** The side weapon of the Schabe when it collects a wasp will also home in on enemies, background targets and foreground targets alike. * [[Humongous Mecha]]: Earth forces just love them. * [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: Astraea Mk.II, one of the secret fighters; it functions like default Astraea Mk.I but starts with 9999 ammo for both gun pods. Now arm it with the rare gun pods, Juno and Flash... Line 72 ⟶ 68: * [[Kaizo Trap]]: One of the bosses appears to create such an explosion after you defeat them, you'll get caught in the blast if you're in the way. As well, soon after, the section with the battleship before the ensuing stage's mini-boss has the cockpit detach from the body upon defeat, firing a solid spray of bullets. * [[Kill Sat]]: Two of 'em. On crack. * [[La Résistance]]: Selene {{spoiler\|really isn't this. It's revealed to be [[The Empire]] before the final stage.}}. * [[Lethal Joke Character\|Lethal]] [[Joke Character]]: Schabe, the other secret fighter has nothing but a machine gun, but picking up gun pods will upgrade it. While the Schabe might seem weaker compared to the basic Einhanders (e.g. it does not have any defenses whatsoever), it gains a different secondary fire as different gunpods are collected to level it up. If the Schabe happens to pick up a Wasp or Mosquito gunpod... hoo boy, it gains INFINITE [[Macross Missile Massacre\|HOMING SHOTS]] [[Doomy Dooms of Doom\|OF DOOM]]! * [[Meaningful Name]]: Most of the [[Boss Fight\|bosses]] and [[Mini Boss\|sub-bosses]]: * Greif ([[Gratuitous German\|german]] for [[Giant Flyer\|Griffin]]), has the top half of a robot and the lower half of a hover ship, not unlike the [[Mix -and -Match Critters\|griffin being half a lion and half an eagle]]. * Drache (german for [[Our Dragons Are Different\|dragon]]) looks like a dragon without arms or wings... until its claw-like "head and neck" is destroyed. * Garnele (Shrimp), is best described as a cross between a shrimp/prawn/lobster and a motorbike. * Spinne (Spider) a [[Cool Train\|train]] with four [[Cognizant Limbs\|"arms"]] that carry a [[Kill It ~~With~~with Fire\|flamethrower]], [[Gatling Good\|a vulcan cannon]], [[Macross Missile Massacre\|a homing missile launcher]] and [[Mook Maker\|a drone dispenser]]. The other four "legs" are its train treads. * Gecko is a [[Spider Tank]] that [[Wall Crawl\|crawls on the walls and ceiling]], true to its name. *** Salamander is an amphibious submarine that [[Underwater Boss Battle\|attacks you from the water]] and later on climbs out as a last-ditch attempt to destroy the player. Line 88 ⟶ 84: * [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: Salamander can best be described as a "Stingray submarine with arms that hangs onto monkey bars". And it has a kickass [[Wave Motion Gun]] to boot. * [[Nonstandard Game Over]]: Several. They range from taking too long from stopping a missile, which causes your ship to shut down and plummet to Earth. * [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]: * [[No Export for You]]: PSN-wise, that is. While ''Einhander'' was released to North American markets in 1998, it has yet to see a [[PS One]] Classics rerelease on the NA PlayStation Store. Naturally, it has been available on Japan's PlayStation Store since 2008. * ~~[[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] -~~* Get hit by ''anything'', you will explode. Although [[Collision Damage\|walls and floor WILL NOT kill you... instantly]]... Your gunpods can absorb a limited amount of damage for you before they are destroyed. If you are skilled and/or lucky enough, you can even use the bare manipulator arm to block attacks, and the arm itself is indestructible. This is reflected by the color of the equipped gunpod's background. Green means it has a healthy amount of HP. Yellow means it is damaged. Red means it is about to break, and the weapon itself should blink red. Acquiring the same gunpod will restore its life immediately. Fortunately, if you are skilled and/or lucky enough, you can use gunpods and your grabber arm as ablative shields. *** The Schwarzgeist fires a large burst of missiles at you. If your arm is empty, you can go into the top left corner, hold up and left, and block all 20-odd missiles which will hit the arm and explode but not do any actual damage do you. * [[One-Man Army]] -: By the end of the game, you've single-handedly ended the war by shooting down anything that can fight on {{spoiler\|BOTH sides. And lived.}}. * [[Outrun the Fireball]] ~~/ [[Out of the Inferno]] -~~: If you get a secret bonus on the right stage, you end up going up a tunnel with the explosion just behind you. Then right before the boss, the entire thing goes up and ''you'' begin the boss fight exiting a giant pillar of fire. Badass. There's also a rewarding detail: if you fight the regular boss, the paint job is shiny smooth. If you unlock the secret, the boss's body will be burnt and (cosmetically) damaged. * [[Palette Swap]]: The first boss Drache has two versions. The one you go up against depends on whether you unlock the secret bonus while fighting the Greif-: he's normally green, but is blue if you got the secret bonus. By the way, the blue version can randomly spawn a Juno, a very powerful big brother variant of the Vulcan.▼ ** There's also a rewarding detail: If you fight the regular boss, the paint job is shiny smooth. If you unlock the secret, the boss's body will be burnt and (cosmetically) damaged. ▲* [[Palette Swap]]: The first boss Drache has two versions. The one you go up against depends on whether you unlock the secret bonus while fighting the Greif- he's normally green, but is blue if you got the secret bonus. ** Not exactly. When the claw part is destroyed, Drache flips over and will either shoot lasers from its weak point or a spray of orange shots from its butt. For the latter, the green version will only shoot shots forwards, but the blue version can shoot diagonally backwards as well. * [[Power Equals Rarity]]: The Flash, Juno, Python and Mosquito can only be obtained very few times per playthrough, although the latter two are [[Awesome but Impractical]] due to their weird trajectory and control scheme respectively. * [[Protagonist Without a Past]]: The Japanese version includes images of two pilots; they were removed in the English version. * [[Rewarding Vandalism]]: ~~Aside from enemy [[Mook\|Mooks]], there are some containers that hold gun pods inside.~~ Aside from enemy [[Mook\|Mooks]], there are some containers that hold gun pods inside. You also get Tech Points added to your score by destroying the environment such as the neon signs in the first level, or causing a nuclear meltdown by shooting some support struts located above a reactor and letting gravity do the rest. Certain special weapons can be acquired by destroying certain parts of the enemy. Part of the fun in playing the game is seeing just how far you can strip the bosses naked. The Ausf A Gestell has about 20-some separate weapon and armor points you can remove before you destroy it or run out of time and move on. It just looks like a bare-bones frame when you're done. You can acquire the Flash gunpod if you allow it to kick enough boxes at you in the process. Destroying all the signs near the end of the first level will allow you to net an early Riot pickup, which is useful for beating Greif in just the right way to get the alternate path. * [[Robeast]]: Drache, the first boss seems to fit. [[All in The Manual\|The background story notes that its AI emulates beasts' behaviors]]. Hence why the robot roars when you defeat it. ** ~~Don~~[[Robeast]]: Drache, the first boss seems to fit. [[All in The Manual\|The background story notes that its AI emulates beasts't ~~forget~~behaviors]]. Hence why the robot roars when you defeat it. Ausf A Gestell, the [[Ax Crazy\|mad]] [[Everything's Better ~~With~~with Monkeys\|ape]] mecha which roars in its intro, every time it's knocked down, and upon death. * [[Secondary Fire]]: The Wasp gun pod can be switched from regular rockets to guided missiles. * [[Space Zone]]: Some levels have multi-directional scrolling, but the fighters can't turn around. * [[Spider Tank]]: The [[Sub Boss]] Gecko. * [[Spread Shot]]: The [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin\|Spreader]] gunpod, of course. ▲* [[The Federation]]: Gesetz * [[Theme Naming]]: Almost all of the Mooks (including bosses) are named after animals. In German, no less. * [[Timed Mission]]: The battle against the rocket in ~~stage~~Stage 6, failing to destroy both engines before time runs out will net you a [[Nonstandard Game Over]]. * [[Time Limit Boss]]: All the bosses will quit attacking after a certain point of time, if you "beat" them this way you will lose out on boss repulse points. * [[Wall Crawl]]: Gecko does this, true to its name. * [[Wave Motion Gun]]: A LOT of them. See all of them [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i55rV9lABg here.] The [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler\|Hyperion}}. Drache fires one of these [[Fartillery\|OUT OF HIS ASS!!!]] [[Mini Boss]] [[Spider Tank\|Gecko]] who does this in a [[Combination Attack]] with a [[Mook]]. Salamander does this while clinging onto two overhead bars [[Underwater Boss Battle\|above the water]]. ** A [[Mook]] in ~~stage~~Stage 5 is able to use this. * [[Weaponized Exhaust]]: The rocket chase sequence on ~~stage~~Stage 6. Touch the exhaust and you're fried in an instant. The [[Player Character]] has this too: everytime you change speed, you fire out a burst of exhaust which can actually do very decent damage to anything unlucky enough to be behind you. * {{spoiler\|[[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]}}: {{spoiler\|Hyperion pulls this on you at the end of Mission 6. Considering that you were actually sent on a suicide mission}}...}}▼ ** The [[Player Character]] has this too- everytime you change speed, you fire out a burst of exhaust which can actually do very decent damage to anything unlucky enough to be behind you. ▲* {{spoiler\|[[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]}}: {{spoiler\|Hyperion pulls this on you at the end of Mission 6. Considering that you were actually sent on a suicide mission...}} {{reflist}} [[Category:~~Play Station~~PlayStation]] ~~[[Category:Shoot Em Up]]~~ [[Category:Horizontal Scrolling Shooter]] [[Category:Einhander]] [[Category:~~Trope~~Shoot'Em Up]]