Touch Detective

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Touch Detective (Mystery Detective in most of Europe) and its sequel, Touch Detective 2½, are games made by Atlus for the Nintendo DS. In both titles, the player takes control of a young girl named Mackenzie, who inherited a detective agency from her father and wants to become a world-famous sleuth. Now add in Funny Animals, walking fungi, zombies that act like normal people and just plain old wackiness, and you have Touch Detective in a nutshell.

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Tropes used in Touch Detective include:

Both games contain examples of:

• All There in the Manual - The Web sites.
• Cloud Cuckoolander - Penelope. Even her hair is cloud-like (it has floating balls on the sides...).
  • While Penelope is the ultimate example, the whole cast (minus Mackenzie) could qualify.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Mackenzie, Chloe, and Penelope.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Antoinette. She can actually make normal pastry, but her fondness for 'experiments' push her into this territory. Eel shortcake? Mushroom cookies?
  • Shorty may also count. He does fine with hotdogs, but his ideas for his choco bananas are pretty weird.
• Cuteness Proximity: Mackenzie is very fond of Funghi, and just loves to pinch Linsey's cheek.
• The Ditz - Penelope
• First-Person Smartass - Mackenzie
• Five-Man Band (if you replace The Big Guy with Team Pet)
  • The Hero - Mackenzie
  • The Lancer - Chloe (lampshaded in one of the bonus cases, if you talk to her at the right time)
  • The Smart Guy - Cromwell
  • The Chick - Penelope
  • Team Pet - Funghi
• Fortune Teller
• Funny Animal: Beatrice is an anthropomorphic bird, Dover's a man-shark, the ringmaster is a fat man-eagle, and the skating ring owner is a walrus.
• Gadgeteer Genius - Cromwell, who managed to identify a futuristic anti-gravity device and power source which he has never seen before at a glance, and turned what's basically a small theme park ride into a working re-entry vehicle.
• Guide Dang It
• Hammerspace - Where does Mackenzie store things such as large masks and broken briefcases?
  • She lets Fungi hold onto it.
• Inner Monologue
• Inspector Lestrade - Chloe in the first game. And Inspector Daria in Touch Detective 2½.
• Kid Detective
• Leitmotif - The three main girls each have one.
• Little Bit Beastly: Daisy has cat eyes and generally has catlike features.
• Medium Awareness - Mostly in the second game, though Cromwell remarks on the credits that appear halfway through the first game's fourth case.
  • A businessman says that there's advantages to living under 'a glass ceiling'.
  • The Cornstalker says he'll "see you in the next episode" after Case #3.
  • During Case #5, Mackenzie makes reference to Japanese popularity polls, and identifies something from Case #2 as being from "Episode #2". She can also challenge the player to a mini-game during the Bonus Episode if you click on the drawers in the main office.
• Old Retainer - Cromwell
• Only Sane Man - Mackenzie.
• Parental Abandonment - Mackenzie inherited her detective agency from her father, and it's never mentioned in-game what happened to her mom.
• Perky Goth - Daisy in the first game, and Daisy again in the sequel.
• Red Herring
• Series Mascot - Fungi
• Trademark Favorite Food - See All There in the Manual above.
• The Voice - Most of the girls living in the Condominium, as well as Shorty the hot dog/chocolate banana salesman.

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Touch Detective 2 contains examples of:

• Brainwashed
• Ceiling Banger - In the first case, Penelope tries to send morse code messages to her upstairs neighbour, Daisy, by banging on the ceiling with a large stick. Daisy's "replies" are actually just attempts to get Penelope to stop.
• Creepy Child - Lynsey, who is taken care of by The Astronomer. She's actually not too harmful as long as The Astronomer does not give her people-dolls.
• Dream Land: They can be stolen, apparently.
• G-Rated Drug
• The Igor - Lugol might count, though all he ever does is play music.
• Jerkass - The Circus Master
• Killer Rabbit - Karbanov
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall - The fortune teller, who very often gives excuses for not being helpful, has this to say in case three.

Fortuneteller: "I can't [help you] right now. The flag's not set on 1. Flags are the road signs that guide the gods of fate. None of us can escape from this binding curse."

• Mad Scientist - The Astronomer could be called one, as he has an unhealthy obsession over stars. He also turns people into life-sized dolls for Lynsey.
• Mayfly-December Romance: The snow fairy had a crush on Chloe in the second case.
• X-Ray Sparks - In the second case, after Mackenzie plays with an electrical socket.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle - At the end of part 1 of the fourth case. Not spoilered, as the previous cases all had two parts, and there's at least one item you haven't found a use for...

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Touch Detective 2½ contains examples of:

• Adventure Archaeologist
• Aliens Are Bastards
• The Artful Dodger - Friday, the freeloading mouse
• Bait and Switch Credits
• Berserk Button - If you're riding a train with Jack the Conductor, you'd better have your ticket...
• Con Man - Eric, the red-headed Wallaby's employee. Over the course of the game, he tricks his employers, Beatrice, an alien, and even Cromwell.
• Continuity Nod - Two of the sidequests in the Bonus Mission.
  • One is to help the antique shop owner open a jewerly box he recieved. This is done in the exact same manner as in the tutorial from the previous game. As a bonus, the dragon teapot and snow machine from the previous game are also seen, but they have no purpose.
  • The other involves recreating an early puzzle from the first game's fourth case, where you must find a stamp and place it on a card in order to recieve the same prize as in the first game.
• Cute Ghost Girl: Colette.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud? - In Case 3, ask Connor the antique shop owner about Mayor Tom. He'll say that the mayor is very quirky, which makes him hard to impersonate. Thankfully for Connor, though Mackenzie thinks it's an odd thing to say, she doesn't connect this slip-of-the-tongue to the events of Case 1.
• Gainax Ending - The end of Case 3. The Fossil Hunter turns out to be from another dimension, who possesses a statue to come to Mackenzie's world. When he cried in reverse back when he heard about the Noodle Festival, his amber eye came out, causing the body to turn back into a statue until Mackenzie solved the case. Also, the weird pink thing that showed up at the three-quarters point that almost poked out Mackenzie's eye? Turns out to be a member of the ancient Sea Dweller race, who aren't as extinct as you would've thought. Even Mackenzie's confused by all this.
• Gentleman Thief - The Cornstalker, who's good-looking and leaves calling cards before committing the crimes.
• Gonk - Miss Yvonne
• In the Name of the Moon - Daria attempts this repeatedly, usually ending in self-injury somehow.
• Master of Disguise - The Cornstalker
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain - In the final case, the Cornstalker's attempts at stealing the treasure end up helping Mackenzie protect it.
• Paper-Thin Disguise - Ironically, the Cornstalker. Compare his jawline, basic build, and voice to that of the antique shop owner's. To be fair, he does cover his face and body in a ridiculous costume, which may make this an example of Refuge in Audacity. He's pretty good at impersonating people's appearances, however, and can even fool you, the player, at times.
• Rapunzel Hair - Inspector Daria, Collette.
• Ridiculously Human Robot - Silver
• Shout-Out - In Case 3, while trying to convince Chloe to help move a large statue, the following is said:

Chloe: O RLY? Mackenzie: Yes, really... Chloe: NO WAI!

• • Also, in the final case, the Salesman's favourite shows include Found and 365.
• Sleazy Politician - Mayor Tom, who built a museum for two purposes: to brag about his accomplishments, and to sell actual artifacts to the highest bidder.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Collette, the Haunted Mansion's caretaker, is a particularly cute Token Loli example.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Antoinette used a giant 3-pronged electric egg-beater to make some pastry. It's as big as an electric jackhammer and Dover used it to dig a fish pond in minutes.