Guardian of Paradise
An Metroidvania in the style of the Zelda games by E. Hashimoto, a.k.a. Buster.
Tela and his sister, Tina, were fine living on their own — until Tina fell ill. The local doctor had no idea what her ailment was, and as such, was unable to cure her. One day, Tela speaks with the town's elder, who remembers the tale of Paradise — a land whose waters can cure any malady. Only the five Spirits of Earth, Water, Wind, Dark, and Fire know the way, however. Determined to heal his sister, Tela embarks on a journey that will lead him across the lands and beyond the edge of reality.
The translation can be downloaded here; it also links to where you can download the game proper.
Tropes used in Guardian of Paradise include:
- Aerith and Bob: Tela and Tina.
- Amplifier Artifact: The various jewels that unlock the Spirits' techniques.
- Big Boo's Haunt: The entire Dark Area qualifies.
- Block Puzzle
- Bottomless Pits
- Convection, Schmonvection: Magma only affects Tela if he comes in direct contact with it; even this can be avoided by equpping the Fire Spirit.
- Dark Is Not Evil: While the dark area does have skeletons and bat-themed statues, it really doesn't exhibit much more evilness than anything else. And there's a friendly dark-element spirit too.
- Elemental Powers: The Spirits. Interestingly, Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors doesn't come into play.
- Final Exam Boss
- Free-Range Children: Tela doesn't look to be very old, yet he ventures across the land, defeats powerful monsters, and saves peoples' lives.
- Fungus Humongous: using Luca's 2nd Spirit Power to grow the tiny mushrooms turns them into this.
- Gotta Catch Em All: The Emblems and Heart Containers.
- Grows on Trees: Apples? Believable. Cheese? Less believable. Cooked meat on a bone? Yeah, that's one freaky tree.
- Heart Container
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Tree of Paradise does this to save Tela.
- Hit Points
- Homage: To The Legend of Zelda.
- Implausible Fencing Powers: Tela likely hadn't trained with a sword before he got the plot-advancing one.
- Interchangeable Antimatter Keys
- Item Get: Every single item gets a splash screen; only the sword has a completely unique one.
- It's Up to You: As far as helping Tina and getting peoples' items—or child— back is concerned.
- Jump Physics: Two powers belonging to Kirin the Wind Spirit are basically this.
- Kid Hero: Tela.
- Lost Forever: Due to the Points of No Return mentioned below.
- Made of Explodium: Every enemy.
- Mana Meter: Upgrades to its length are only found early on, and your total is nine.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In order to advance the plot, you have to sign a contract relinquishing the Spirits to an ominous man you just met. Guess who he is?
- No Indoor Voice: The Dark Spirit and its companion do nothing but talk in capital letters.
- Point of No Return:
- Speaking to the Spirit after collecting their Emblem instantly vaults you on to the next area. This is a bit of a Plot Hole, since the Earth Emblem warps you to the Water Area, but you can't use it to go back to the Water Area again.
- In the Dark Area, these appear in the form of lock-controlled doors with no way to open them from one side. In the Fire Area, it's the pits that drop you into a platform amidst a sea of magma. Entering the star shape leading from Oblivion to Paradise, as well.
- Razor Wind: Kirin's second ability.
- Sealed Good in a Can: All of the Spirits. Luca, for example, gets trapped as a bouncy ball. Once you're thrown into Oblivion, they're all sealed again and stripped of their Amplifier Artifacts.
- Shifting Sand Land: The Wind Area.
- Strength Equals Worthiness
- Surprise Creepy: Oblivion.
- Sword of Plot Advancement: The Spirits.
- Taking You with Me: Some enemies explode more violently than others. The Big Bad also attempts this after you defeat him.
- Upgrade Artifact
- When All You Have Is a Hammer: The sword is the only weapon in the game, barring the Spirit Powers.
- World Tree
- You Have Researched Breathing: Tela cannot swim, run, or jump without the proper Spirit Power.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Tela and Tina have purple hair. It's because they aren't exactly human.