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LEGO Rock Raiders: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Lego Rock Raiders logo.jpg|framed]]
''[[LEGO Rock Raiders]]'' was a 1999 [[LEGO]] [[LEGO Themes|theme]] based around [[Asteroid Miners|mining on an alien planet]] for [[Power Crystal|Power Crystals]], sporting fifteen sets featuring mining vehicles, other craft, minifigure packs, and a large base set. What it is best remembered for, though, is its two very different tie-in games, one for the PC and one for the [[
The L.M.S. Explorer, a [[Cool Starship]] tasked with observing and exploring uncharted planets, was damaged by an asteroid field and caught by a wormhole on its voyage back to Earth, and was warped into another galaxy and left crippled and low on fuel. The ship's scanners were still operational, and picked up a nearby planet in the solar system, dubbed Planet U, that was rich in [[Green Rocks|Energy Crystals]] which could be used to restore
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* [[Ace Pilot]]: Jet.
* [[Action Girl]]: The [[Smurfette Principle|token girl]], Jet, is an experienced pilot.
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* [[Built With Lego]]: Not so much. The vehicles and buildings are, as well as the L.M.S. Explorer, but all the monsters on Planet U are either organic or elemental. Slugs and Rock Monsters are occasionaly shown with studs on their backs.
* [[Casual Interstellar Travel]]
* [[Conveniently
* [[Cool Starship]]: The L.M.S. Explorer.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: While most of the games and systems made by LEGO are either bright and cheery (eg [[
* [[Death World]]: Arguably, Planet U.
* [[Deflector Shields]]: The L.M.S. Explorer has them, though crippled by the wormhole incident, and all Rock Raiders use relatively weak ones which act as a [[Never Say "Die"]] health function.
* [[Dishing Out Dirt]]: Rock Monsters.
* [[Drill Tank]]: The Chrome Crusher.
* [[Drop Ship]]: The Tunnel Transport.
* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Axle in ''High Adventure Deep Underground''. Notably when he decided to [[What an Idiot!|dance on an incomplete bridge over a lava river]]
* [[Explosions in Space]]: The L.M.S. Explorer is bombarded with asteroids.
* [[Faster
* [[Goggles Do Nothing]]: Axle never once used the goggles he has around his neck. His helmet already has a big visor that covers his whole face, so they're just redundant. Docs also has glasses that are always on his forehead, yet he can read small scanners up close and see objects from across the cavern.
* [[Gravity Sucks]]: The wormhole at the beginning pulls the L.M.S. into it.
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* [[Hyperspeed Escape]]: Away from Planet U in the 100% endings (and supposedly this is the true ending)
* [[Interplanetary Voyage]]
* [[ISO Standard Human Spaceship]] : The L.M.S. Explorer is basically a blocky thing with a hyperdrive at one end.
* [[Magma Man]]: Lava Monsters.
** [[Playing
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Docs is a doctor of medicine and geology. Jet is a pilot. Bandit is a sailor (who likes to steal from monster dens). [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Axle is the top driver]] and was the [[
** Also applies to a great deal of the vehicles and buildings.
* [[Our Wormholes Are Different]]
* [[Phlebotinum Muncher]]: Pretty much everything on Planet U seems to eat or otherwise consume Energy Crystals, most notably the Rock Monsters.
* [[Sci
* [[Single Biome Planet]]: Forgiven as it's a cross between desert and [[Death World]]. What it was like before whatever strange apocalypse left the people as underground savages is a mystery.
* [[Smurfette Principle]]: Jet. Par for the course with LEGO themes, especially those of [[The Nineties]].
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* [[Space Is Noisy]]
* [[Space Is Slow Motion]]
* [[Space Western]] : Though one combined with the [[Asteroid Miners]] trope. The clothing accesories of the rock raiders have several clear allusions to the genre (in fact, a lot of them come from previous LEGO Wild West sets), the planet is a desert wasteland full of unexplored and potentially dangerous territory, the rock raiders themselves are the hard-working
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To Lego Power Miners in 2009.
* [[Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot]]: Several in both the games and two of the books.
* [[Subspace or Hyperspace]]
* [[The Bridge]]: Several scenes in the cutscenes and books take place on the L.M.S.'s bridge.
* [[This Is a Drill]]: Considering it's about mining, it's to be expected. The Granite Grinder and Chrome Crusher in particular sport some impressively large ones.
* [[
* [[Teleporters and Transporters]]
* [[White
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=== The PC game provided examples of: ===
* [[
* [[Almost Out of Oxygen]]: Most of the later caverns have a limited oxygen supply, and Sparks will continually warn: "Your air supply is running out!" until you build enough Support Stations to maintain the oxygen levels. The actual [[Almost Out of Oxygen]] point is when he starts saying, "Your air supply is running low." and you can hear a heartbeat over the background music.
* [[Artificial Stupidity]]: Oh, where to begin?
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* [[Construct Additional Pylons]]: You are only allowed to teleport in 9 [[Worker Unit|Rock Raiders]] before you have to construct a Support Station. After that, you get ten additional worker spaces for each Support Station constructed.
** [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in many cases because levels often have a limited [[Oxygen Meter|oxygen supply]] that depletes more quickly with more workers and can only be replenished by the buildings in question. They also provide places for your Raiders to go and eat, ([[Artificial Stupidity|ignoring any other commands they've been issued]]) though they can also be made to eat by selecting them and choosing a command in the menu. (Why they don't just automatically [[Hammerspace|pull out a sandwich]] when they become hungry is [[Fridge Logic|anyone's guess]].)
* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: The lava doesn't harm items very quickly, and then only if they somehow get pushed into the lava or it erodes under their feet. And you can undo erosion if it hasn't fully eroded yet (and they aren't harmed by it until it does).
* [[Critical Annoyance]]: The heartbeat sound effect whenever the air supply runs low.
* [[Dummied Out]]: Hoo boy. Where to begin? [http://www.rockraidersunited.org/ A little community dedicated to this game] found [[What Could Have Been|massive amounts of unused data]] (and re-activated some), including but not limited to:
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** Leftover code for a mobile Teleport Pad and a canteen.
** Various animations for the Rock Raiders (including saxaphone playing), and a different face resembling Sparks.
** Different animations for the Rock Monster, such as running in fear, a different eating animation, and... [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made
** Icons for various unmade vehicles, buildings and animations, such as a tool store resembling that from the 4910 Hover Scout, buildings resembling those from the 4990 Rock Raiders HQ, a Power Station resembling the Docks, blue Energy Crystals, etc.
** The Tunnel Transport. It appeared as an object in Frozen Frenzy, yes, but code to make it into a proper, fully-functioning playable vehicle was found and reimplemented.
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** And too many other things to list.
** [[Continuity Nod]]: Early concepts for mission objectives refered to things from previous levels.
* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: Laser beam powercells look more like bolts of plasma. Then there are the big "lasers", which can even blow up walls (also they are worthless).
* [[Game Breaking Bug|Game Breaking Oversight]]: It is impossible to get over 50% on Run the Gauntlet. Research has discovered that the reason is becuase the rewards section for that level is programed to need 40 Energy Crystals. [[Fridge Logic|Despite the fact that that level doesn't even have a crystal/ore map]]. Because of this, it is impossible to get the [[
* [[Game Mod]]: A nice little overhaul called Baz's Mod has been released. It makes all the levels MUCH HARDER. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100728172237/http://www.rockraidersunited.org/wiki/index.php?title=Rock_Raider_PC_Mods Many other overhauls] are in progress as well. That aside, this game has been modded more than any other LEGO game.
* [[Guide Dang It]]: The third-to-last mission, Back to Basics, has Slimy Slugs respawn endlessly until you either complete or fail the level, which of course makes your mission of collecting forty-five energy crystal nigh-impossible. What the game ''doesn't'' tell you is that the slugs don't start spawning until you've collected about eleven crystals, which means all you have to do is disable the "collect crystals" priority before you get too many, wait until you find a large collection of crystals in one area, build a Tool Store next to them and turning the crystal collectiong back on.
** In the whole game, Chief only tells you ''three times'' about the monsters in that mission, the other times leaving them to be a nasty surprise. Oh, and one of those three times is a [[Blatant Lies|blatant lie]].
* [[Hailfire Peaks]]: The ice level ''Air Raiders'' has a nasty hot surprise in one cavern.
** There's also the level ''[[Exactly What It Says
* [[Hammerspace]]: Sandwiches, shovels and drills can apparently fit in Rock Raiders' pockets.
* [[
* [[I Fell for Hours]]: Docs and Axle in a cutscene, after getting on the wrong end of a lava flow.
* [[Inexplicably Identical Individuals]]: The standard Rock Raiders: orange uniform, bald head, and a happy smile.
* [[Informed Ability]]: An unintentional case. In one of the training levels, the chief claims that "your Rock Raiders are ''very'' clever". But see [[Artificial Stupidity]] above...
* [[Kill It
* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: A lot. Most notably ''Lake of Fire''.
* [[Non
** Also, monsters always split into smaller ones that run away.
* [[Obvious Beta]]: The impossible requirements for [[
* [[Oxygen Meter]]: The game starts off with unlimited air, but as levels go on you run into this danger more and more. Appears on the fourth level and then again on the eigth and ninth. Then it re-appears on the eleventh and stays until the last level (exept for level 16, ''Split Down the Middle'', just to be nice). And despite the level named ''Air Raiders'', the last level has the worse air suppply. And a pre-built base so you hardly notice.
* [[Phlebotinum Muncher]]: Rock/Ice/Lava Monsters eat Energy Crystals, and will destroy your buildings to get at them. If destroyed the crystals they have eaten can be recovered. Slimy slugs are similar, except they suck the energy out of them instead.
* [[Ridiculously
* [[RPG Elements]]: Rock Raiders can be trained as drivers, pilots, sailors, demolition experts etc., and their experience carries over between missions. They can even be named, but if [[Never Say "Die"|their energy shields are depleted]] they are [[Lost Forever]] until you finish that mission and start another.
* [[Schmuck Bait]]: ''[[Alliterative Name|Lava]] [[Meaningful Name|Laughter]]''. Drill the wall at the top of your cave and... oh look, [[Obvious Trap|a cavern with a crystal cache]]! How wonderful! Of course, your Rock Raiders will run straight for it, [[Too Dumb to Live|ignoring all the Lava Monsters they're disturbing]]...
* [[Slippy
** Contrary to the trope name, however, your Raiders will not slip and slide on the ice. Indeed, gameplay-wise ice caverns are no different to anywhere else.
* [[Eager Young Space Cadet]]: The training missions usualy start with something along "Hello, Rock Raider cadet!"
* [[Speaking Simlish]]: During the cutscenes. Averted during actual gameplay, however.
* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: In accordance with LEGO's (claimed) nonviolence policy, Rock Raiders will stop shooting at monsters and slugs when their health gets down to 15%, letting them retreat back into their walls and holes. Of course, with a laser beam, Rock and Ice Monsters die instantly, and sometimes when using a pusher beam [[Good Bad Bugs|the monster glitches and gets stuck, letting the Raider kill it]]. But when either of these happens, you realize that monsters can't die and just reform into baby monsters that run away. Slugs can rarely be killed without game hacking, but even then they just burrow underground.
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* [[Unexplained Recovery]]: If a Rock Raider's shield reaches zero, he is teleported out, and that individual Rock Raider will not be teleported down for the rest of the mission (noticed more if you upgraded, trained and named your raiders). However, by the next mission you play he's all better! [[Good Bad Bugs|Except there might be two of him]].
* [[Urban Legend of Zelda]]: Three alleged cheat codes (lrrwarp for all levels, lrrmonty to turn Rock Raiders into Rock Monsters, lrrve to unlock all vehicles) have been spread around the internet and it's rare to find a game hints site which doesn't mention them, even though they are completely false and do nothing.
* [[
* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: It's quite easy to abandon a Rock Raider near some fast-eroding lava, or send him into a landslide zone, or just teleport him out yourself.
* [[Walk, Don't Swim]]: Rock Raiders will sometimes [[Good Bad Bugs|wade out into the water]] for various reasons, where it's only waist high. [[Game Mod|Modding]] to allow them to cross water shows that the game treats water tiles similarly to rubble.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: Modding .wad files reveals that an ''in-game editor'' was planned, but sadly not implemented.
** It has also revealed several monsters, buildings, and numerous other ideas that were scrapped. Fortunataly, the monsters were recoverable; DDI was to lazy to remove the files when they scrapped it. See [[Dummied Out]] above for details.
*** On the note of removing files, some of the unused sound clips are rather... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0CrgWgvgKg interesting].
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* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]]: Mining through cavern walls to collect Energy Crystals and ore is the main purpose of the game, as well as how to build up bases.
----
=== The [[
* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: More averted than the PC game. Though it still won't hurt you until you get close, touching it lowers your health at about 250% per second, instantly screwing your game.
* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: So now, not only are the handheld laser guns firing (slightly) more realistic "lasers", but now they can blow up ''any'' wall in ''one shot'' (far superior to the PC game lasers).
** There are also some green scorpions that shoot plasma balls out of somewhere on their front. You will grow to hate them, except when their aim deteriorates as it usually does.
* [[Hailfire Peaks]]: In the NTSC game, the ice levels actually have more lava in them than the lava levels, which are full of...water.
* [[
* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: The trailer for the [[
* [[Regional Bonus]]: More like Regional Different Game. The PAL version has eighteen ''completely different'' levels with much more creative (and difficult) objectives, as well as no respawning tools and nasty Lava Monsters. Also, three bonus levels are unlocked when gold medals are gotten for every level, and there are eighteen two-player levels instead of six (though only six are new, the other twelve are recycled one-player levels).
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: The only weakness of a Rockwhale is water, which (in large amounts) causes them to get soggy and melt into the ground. Almost all the ones that aren't running around... are standing next to water. Waiting for someone to come along with a pusher beam. Which every level they appear in has.
* [[Walk, Don't Swim]]: Bandit, and everyone else (though they die in water). Rockwhales, on the other hand, have [[Super Drowning Skills]] (and make good bridges).
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=== The books, comics and other various media provided examples of: ===
* [[Batteries Not Included]]: Said on the boxes for 4970 Chrome Crusher and 4990 Rock Raiders HQ. Both have "lasers".
* [[Canon
* [[Comic Book Adaptation]]: ''High Adventure, Deep Underground''. Also the comics in the sets, though those are more like quickies.
* [[Compressed Adaptation]]: ''Save the Spaceship'' and ''High Adventure, Deep Underground'', though both have elements of [[Adaptation Expansion]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Construction and Management Games]]
[[Category:The Nineties]]
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[[Category:LEGO Themes]]
[[Category:Real Time Strategy]]
[[Category:Rock Raiders]]▼
[[Category:Video Game]]
[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]
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[[Category:Microsoft Windows]]
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