The Halloween Hack: Difference between revisions

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The Monster Book item gives a short explanation of which [[Standard Status Effects]] [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors|affect which types of monsters.]] It serves as a major hint ([[Guide Dang It|albeit one easy to miss]]) that those [[Useless Useful Spell|neglected status-effect PSI]] are gonna come in handy down the line.

* [[Animate Body Parts]]: {{spoiler|Dearkhart and the Anxiety Attack enemies. The "NO NO NO" boss combines this with [[Cognizant Limbs]], as defeating the "chest" takes out the other two.}}

* [[Blob Monster]]: Evil Ectos, which are palette swaps of Soul Consuming Flames.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The 'good' ending. {{spoiler|Despite Varik's best efforts, Dr. Andonuts is too far gone, forcing him to kill the scientist anyway. The monsters have been stopped, but at the cost of Dr. Andonuts dying in terror, convinced he killed his family and the Chosen Four. Varik is rescued and returned to Twoson, finally able to rest after having saved the world, and having grown into a competent and brave man.}}

* [[Bloodier and Gorier]]: From the sprite editing to [[Gorn|the text for entering new locations, and even the descriptions of enemy actions...]] The game really doesn't let up on the carnage.

* [[Beef Gate]]/[[Border Patrol]]: Super Doom Shrooms and Blue Antoids, [[Palette Swap]]s<ref>Ramblin' Evil Shrooms and Black/Red Antoids</ref> that roam outside Twoson, and boast utterly ridiculous stats that Varik has no hope of matching. They exist solely to prevent Varik wandering too far off; while unbeatable by any normal means, they can still be avoided.

** {{spoiler|This Aesop ends up a lot less broken once you consider that entering Dr. Andonuts's Magicant is the only way to learn how and why the scientist ended up in this sorry state, and presents [[Hope Spot|the only chance]] anyone has to possibly bring him to his senses, even if it ultimately proves futile. Thus, only by taking advantage of one of the few choices you're given and defying the game's orders do you get to experience the full story, gain context for Dr. Andonuts's madness, and ensure that Varik comes out of it alive - which lines up pretty well with the themes explored in [[Undertale|Toby Fox's]] [[Deltarune|later works.]]}}

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Ridiculously so. You barely get a minute or so in before you're presented with the protagonist awakening from an explicitly drunken stupor (in a pile of his own vomit no less). He is then explicitly hired to solve a brutally gruesome murder, and [[It Got Worse|once you go through that door in the sewers...]]

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: {{spoiler|Dr. Andonuts so firmly believes he's trapped the Chosen Four in the past or killed them, he ends up hitting this pretty hard. When you finally get to talk to him, he's convinced that he's responsible for killing everyone in the universe and that his own life is meaningless, and quickly devolves into near-incoherent terror upon realizing that Varik might kill him.}}

* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: It's an ''EarthBound'' ROM Hack set on Halloween.

* [[Fan Sequel]]: Set around [[Halloween]] in an alternate timeline of ''[[EarthBound]]''. {{spoiler|The chosen 4 successfully defeated Giygas in the past, but were sent to a whole new timeline, while everyone believes them to be dead in the original one.}}

{{quote|"...Haha, didn't even wash my hands!" ''("Character KO'd" sound plays)''}}

* [[Gorn]]: Everything from the Twoson sewers on drowns the player in several sentences of gory details.

* [[Guide Dang It]]:

** The Twoson Sewers is edited from the original game's Fourside Sewers.

* [[ROM Hack]]: One of the earliest ''EarthBound'' hacks, and incredibly detailed for the standard of what was possible at the time; it was one of the first to go beyond simple palette swaps.

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** One of the clocks in {{spoiler|Andonuts' Magicant}} says "[[Adventure Time]]?"

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Once you open the door inside the Twoson Sewers, the hack drops its facade completely.

* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: {{spoiler|Dr. Andonuts.}}

{{reflist}}