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Eternal Engine: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"[[All Lowercase Letters|what does this factory make? nobody knows!]]"''|[[Cat Planet|cat planet!]]}}
A vast factory complex or machine that can fill up a building, a city or even a whole planet. Its purpose [[Smoke and Fire Factory|may not be readily apparent]], probably due to the sheer ''size'' of the thing. Pumping pistons act as elevators or [[Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom|crushers]], conveyor belts cover half the floors, and you can expect something to try to [[Everything Trying to Kill You|squash you flat]] sooner or later. Needless to say, [[Malevolent Architecture|this would not be a fun place to work]]. The Eternal Engine may be the insides of the [[Forgotten Superweapon]], or [[Polluted Wasteland]] for a technologically inclined [[Big Bad]]. In either case, you usually run into it as one of the final stages.
Enemies are usually [[Mooks]], [[Mecha-Mooks]], even more Mooks, sentry guns, and, probably more than any other level save [[Lethal Lava Land]], [[No OSHA Compliance|the environment itself]]. Expect conveyor belts to end over [[Bottomless Pits]], pipes leaking superheated steam, if not fire, exposed electrical conduits, and huge vats and/or nasty spills of [[Technicolor Science|fluorescent green chemicals]] and toxic waste. Also expect a [[Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom|hall of giant alternating pistons]]. Expect hectic, intense and sometimes electronic music to match the level theme.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the Great Machine of Epsilon III was an [[Homage]] to ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''. It is seen in the episodes "A Voice in the Wilderness", "The Long, Twilight Struggle", "Voices of Authority" and "War Without End".
** Homage in the sense of a 1990's remake complete with giant vertical shaft with elevator globes.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' 16th season story ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S16 E2 The Pirate Planet|The Pirate Planet]]'', which was also [[Douglas Adams]]' debut as a writer for the series, features a {{spoiler|planet}} that exploitatively harvests raw materials. The Doctor must undertake some very risky maneuvers in order to shut it down.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''' Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, which is an ''entire plane of existence''. Naturaly, [[Clockwork Creature|Clockwork Creatures]] live there.
* Autochthonia from ''[[Exalted]]'' is an entire ''pocket dimension'' of this. [[Genius Loci|It's also a god]]. And it's winding down...
** There's also the lower levels of the Imperial Manse, a superweapon capable of annihilating small countries with a shot. It was built by Autochthon (the aforementioned god, although he's technically a Primordial, which is a step up), who can't be harmed by machines, so he didn't really think to put up much in the way of [[No OSHA Compliance|safety]] around the giant gears, pistons, plasma jets etc.
*** On the other hand: do you really want someone who ISN'T exceptionally careful, logical and prudent to get to the controls of the most powerful weapon currently in creation?
* Many of the Imperium's factories in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' are often described as these. "Small city" is a severe understatement for some of the bigger ones. Then you have the Forge Worlds, which are ''entire planets'' converted into factories.
** Necron tomb complexes are often like this as well in theme, though Necron technology bears little resemblance to mere human machinery. Case in point being the World Engine.
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** ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' had Battlerock Galaxy and Dreadnought Galaxy, particularly in the 2-D sections.
*** ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' has Chompworks Galaxy.
** ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' has Tick Tock Clock.
*** Also Rainbow Ride, which has all the right platforms, just not the theme.
*** The Bowser levels are also a few thematic elements away from being Eternal Engines.
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*** Some parts of the {{spoiler|Palace of Shadow}} as well.
* Luigi's Eternal Engine of the first ''Mario Party'' was this until someone became the Super Star. Turned out that the engine was powering a flying machine of some kind.
* In [[Mario Kart]], Toad's Factory, a race course from ''Mario Kart Wii'', features some elements of this trope, being a factory with crushing machines, conveyor belts, a steam room, and bulldozers that move back and forth periodically across a mud path at the end of the course.
* Metal Man's level in ''[[Mega Man 2]]''.
** ...and Spark Man's level from ''[[Mega Man 3]]'', and Dust Man's level from ''4'', and Mercury's level from ''V'' for the Game Boy, and Junk Man's level from ''7'', and Grenade Man's level from ''[[Mega Man 8]]'', and Plug Man's level from ''9''...it'd probably be easier to list the games that ''don't'' have one. As with the Sonic series, [[Justified Trope|justified]] by Wily's [[Mad Scientist]] nature.
** ''[[Mega Man X]]'' has Flame Mammoth's factory. With inconveniently placed conveyor belts that crush rubbish for no particular reason.
*** It's a recycling facility.
** ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' usually fit 2 or sometimes even 3 into each game.
** And in ''[[Mega Man ZX|ZX]]'', the entire world itself is basically cybernetic to an extent.
* Happens frequently in the ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' series, to varying degrees. Magmoor Caverns in the first falls into the "combined with Lethal Lava Land" variety, and the Phazon Mines have their fair share of machinery obstacles. ''Prime 2'' features the technologically-themed [[Temple of Doom|Sanctuary]] Fortress, and ''Prime 3'' has the [[Steampunk]]-inspired region [[Floating Continent|Sky Town]] on the planet Elysia, complete with enemies with names like "Tinbots", "Steambots", and "Steam Lords", and the Pirate Homeworld.
** ''Metroid Prime Hunters'' has Samus morph ball into a boiler and dodge its eternal workings while trying to find [[Scrappy Level|something]].
** The entire setting of ''[[Metroid]] Fusion'' is a Biologic Space Laboratories research station, a huge space station that simulates a variety of natural environments, thus most of the levels [[Hailfire Peaks|have a few Eternal Engine aspects to them]].
*** Same with [[Other M]].
* The EvilToyCo. Factory in ''[[Nicktoons Unite!|Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots]]'' is an gigantic factory churning out legions and legions of evil [[Living Toys]]. You effectively spend ''nearly all of the game'' in it.
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* The Star Forge, the final level of ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', is an ancient, giant, evil factory slash [[Forgotten Superweapon]] drawing its power from the star in whose corona it hovers.
* The image at the top is of the Steel Works level from ''[[Sparkster]]'' for the SNES, although it's far from the only [[Eternal Engine]] level in that series; at least half of the levels in that series could be considered variations on the concept.
* The Island of the Ancients in the Subspace Emissary, from ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl''.
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' has one, the Welgaia escape route, within the [[Best Level Ever|Tower Of Salvation]]. It has the slippery aspect of a [[Slippy-Slidey Ice World]], due to it being in space, and thusly having zero-g sections.
* ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' has loads. Natla's Mines, Offshore Rig, Fool's Gold, Lud's Gate, Shakespeare Cliffs and Kazakhstan's Project Karbonek.
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* The Mechanical age in ''[[Myst]]'' is a [[Clock Punk]] version of this.
* [[Lunar]] has the Grindery, which you later explore in Lunar 2 as "Taben's Peak".
* The ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' series has Obelisk (Breath of Fire), Highfort (Breath of Fire II), and the remains of Caer Xhan and Station Myria (Breath of Fire III).
* The Mad Hatter's Realm from ''[[American McGee's Alice]]'' and its sequel, ''[[Alice: Madness Returns]]''. It's a massive, floating structure of [[Clock Punk]] machinery that mostly seems to be devoted to making [[Body Horror]] and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|tea]].
* ''[[Legend of Kalevala]]'' has an underground factory area underneath the first area. It's full of [[Floating Platforms]], and it's the first place where you'll find [[Lava Pit|Lava Pits]]. This area is one of the tip-offs to the protagonist that the former inhabitants of Kalevala were a very intelligent civilization.
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