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{{Multiple Works Need Separate Pages}}
[[File:250px-Zone_of_the_Enders.jpg|frame|It was so nice of Konami to provide a free game with the ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty|Metal Gear Solid 2]]'' [[Preview Piggybacking|demo]].]]
{{quote|''I am the master of time.''
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''I am the sign of the sky.''
''I am the one who repel all creations.''
''I am the one who write the [[wikipedia:Maat|Maat]].''
''I am the master of massacre.''|Lyrics of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePTTAn1FMY Beyond the Bounds], opening of The 2nd Runner.}}
A [[Humongous Mecha]] series created for [[Konami]] by [[Hideo Kojima]].
The First ''Zone of the Enders'' was released on the [[PlayStation 2]], a high-speed mecha combat game about a boy named Leo Stenbuck, a kid from a space colony in orbit around the planet Jupiter that is attacked by BAHRAM, a group of rebels seeking to steal back "Jehuty", a [[Super Prototype]] Orbital Frame that, naturally, Leo [[Falling Into the Cockpit|accidentially ends up piloting]]. With little choice in the matter, Leo, along with Jehuty's AI A.D.A., tries to deliver Jehuty to the [[The Federation|UNSF]] forces on the other side of the colony, while trying to do what he can to halt the attack.
''Zone of the Enders'' did a brisk initial sale, which was mostly attributed to the fact that [[Preview Piggybacking|the game also included a demo of]] ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]: Sons of Liberty''. So rather, people were buying the ''demo'', and then maybe later on trying out the "free game that came with it".
Nonetheless, the game sold well enough to gain a cult following of its own. An anime OAV called "Zone of the Enders: IDOLO" was released. A prequel to the game, IDOLO starred Viola, [[The Dragon]] of the game, and Radium Lavans, two Martian soldiers who join a resistance movement against the Earth using IDOLO, the first Orbital Frame. A full-sized TV Series, ''Zone of the Enders: Dolores, i'', followed up on the story, featuring James Links, a space trucker who ends up receiving Dolores, an Orbital Frame that happens to think he's her uncle, from his estranged wife Rachel, one of IDOLO's designers who was supposed to have died during the climax of that story. This spurs him to seek out and reconcile with his equally-estranged children and reunite his family. And no government forces, crime families, or rebel troops are going to get in his way.
A spin-off game, ''Zone of the Enders: the Fist of Mars'' (a.k.a. ''2171 Testament'') is a [[Turn-Based Strategy]] game for the [[Game Boy Advance]] about a boy named Cage Midwell who finds an strangely powerful L.E.V. hidden on a cruise liner just before the ship is destroyed, forcing him and a mysterious young girl to get inside to save their lives. They eventually fall in with a rebel group known as B.I.S., who seek to free Mars from UNSF oppression. ''Fist of Mars'' plays similar to the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series, but uses a more player-participating battle system where the player chases down the enemy with their crosshairs (or avoids the enemy's) to determine whether an attack hits or misses, and even critical hits. Although the stats of the units help determine how easy or difficult this is, it is entirely possible to hit with every one of your attacks, or dodge every enemy attack, even when a hit or miss would be otherwise unavoidable.
A true sequel to the game: ''Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner'', was released on the Playstation 2 in 2003. It features a miner and former soldier named Dingo Egret who finds Jehuty, the frame from the first game, hidden on the moon of Callisto, just as BAHRAM does. He fights his way though them, and eventually all the way onto their command ship, where he meets Nohman, leader of BAHRAM and an old colleague of his who wants him to come back to the group. Dingo refuses, so Nohman [[Combat Pragmatist|shoots him]]. He finds himself awakened by by Ken Marinaris, a woman he fought earlier on Callisto, who calims to be a UNSF spy, and hard-wires his body into Jehuty's life-support systems to keep him alive. In exchange for her saving his life, and later completely fixing him, she wants his help. Dingo escapes down to Mars, where he faces Bahram mecha, trains, battleships, the first game's Leo Stenbuck in the [[Gradius|Vic Viper]], and finally settling the score not just between himself and Nohman, but Jehuty and Anubis as well. Along the way, however, he has to stop A.D.A. from completing her own mission: make her way to BAHRAM's headquarters and destroy it by self-destructing Jehuty.
Oh right. We forgot to mention that the control cockpits for Humanoid Orbital Frames and L.E.V.s are located on the front, right between the mech's legs in fact. [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]?
Despite rather low sales, Zone of the Enders continues to be a cult favorite, and Kojima has stated that he has ideas for another ZoE game, but for years was tethered to the ''Metal Gear Solid'' franchise. But now [http://www.animenewsnetwork.
In the meantime, An HD Collection of the games (The two console ones, anyway) has been announced for the [[
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* [[Ace Pilot]]: Radam and Viola qualify. Also, Dingo used to be one.
** Leo became one in the second game, piloting the beefed up LEV the Vic Viper (but still considered weaker than orbital frames storywise). He could fight Dingo in the second game to a standstill in an inferior suit.
* [[Action Girl]]: Semil and Mebius in ''Fist of Mars''. Ken in ''The Second Runner'' is supposedly one but [[Faux Action Girl|does not get much chance to show it]].
* [[A Father to His Men]]: Deckson in ''Fist of Mars''
* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Dingo, a former BAHRAM military pilot, and is a genius runner to the extent to be rumored to be the only one that can match Nohman on one-on-one battle. And that's probably the reason why the Jehuty in the 2nd game is far stronger and more useful than the first game Jehuty.
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* [[A Mech by Any Other Name]]: LEVs and Orbital Frames.
** To further distinguish them from one another, orbital frames being immeasurably superior to LEVs in .. pretty much every way. The only thing LEVs have on frames is they can be manufactured with common materials. Although, by 2nd Runner, commercial LEV technology, as with the Vic Viper, had ''just about'' caught up with frame tech, at least insofar as a decent pilot can give a frame a run for its money.
* [[
** Somewhat justified, it is stated that Metatron has a sort of "mineral conscience" that may or may not be true sentience but is apparently malevolent without due protection. Whether or not this is [[Fanon]] is for you to decide, but Nohman does go on about "the will of Metatron" at the and of the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]], so credence is lent to the theory.
** It's more like [[Humanity Is Infectious]] since the AI in this series is more or less reflection of the frame runner's psyche.
* [[Anything That Moves]]: Yukito
* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: Metatron can be used to do almost anything
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** {{spoiler|Although the first game made it clear by the end, ADA directly states that both Jehuty and Anubis are key to making this come about. The second game only makes this more obvious}}.
{{quote|{{spoiler|"I was...created...to destroy.............all"}}.}}
* [[Attack Drone]]: Ardjet has a cape made of tiny wisps, some of which it gifts to Jehuty. When Jehuty upgrades to ver. 2.0, the much bigger and more useful "tail feather" objects on Jehuty detach and become additional firing points. Naturally, Vic Viper comes with the iconic Options from it's parent series.
* [[The Atoner]]: Easily all the good guys in Fist of Mars, in one way or another.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: The Vector Cannon, outside of the fight against the BAHRAM battleships or {{spoiler|as a [[Finishing Move]] against Aumaan Anubis.}}
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** [[Badass Crew]]: The members of BIS {{spoiler|Born In Space}}, half of whom regularly take on several Orbital Frames by the end of the game in little more than [[Ace Custom]] L.E.V.s.
** [[Badass Normal]]: Leo in the second installment - despite not piloting a true Orbital Frame he's still able to keep up with [[Super Prototype|Jehuty]]. Also, James Links, who make up for his lack of skill with an orbital frame with the experiences he gained as a hardened UNSF veteran to overcome many obstacles.
* [[Bag of Holding]]: Vector Traps, "pocket dimentions" of folded-over space enabled by metatron's space-bending properties. A Vector Trap can hold a theoretically limitless volume, but mass is still a factor for the device carrying it. This is what enables the [[Hyperspace Arsenal]] of orbital frames, and the [[Clown Car Base]] of Cellars that [[Mook Maker|deploy unmanned frames]].
* [[Battle Butler]]: Twede from Fist of Mars. Battle Secretary would be more accurate though.
* [[Battleship Raid]]: The Train and battleship fights in The 2nd Runner
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* [[Beam Spam]]/[[Roboteching]]: The Homing Laser attacks used by several Orbital Frames.
* [[Beat Them At Their Own Game]]: Much of ''The Second Runner'' centers on finding the Zero Shift so that Jehuty can fight on par with Anubis.
* [[Beginner's Luck]]: Leo and Cage, helped by the fact that they have some stupidly-powerful mecha with good AIs.
** Subverted in ''Dolores'', since James is a UNSF veteran, but the Dolores AI is, well... not suited for combat.
** James isn't too good at the beginning either, as he's never piloted an Orbital Frame before. He actually improves fairly slowly (and on paper isn't a match for any of the 'elites', though he generally muddles through with sheer pluck and the fact that his new "niece" is a [[Super Prototype]]).
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Push Dolores enough and you run the risk of waking her ISIS mode, which will terminate you in the most efficient manner possible.
* [[BFG]]: The Vector Cannon.
* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Amante in ''Fist of Mars''.
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* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: {{spoiler|Ares and Myona}} suffer through this in ''Fist of Mars''.
* [[Broken Bridge]]: The microwave force-field in the first game.
* [[Broken Pedestal]]: A minor example: {{spoiler|Isaac Barrett, the author of the book ''How To Be A Daddy'' whom James Links practically worships as an epitome of great parent, turns out to be a worse father than James himself. However, Isaac does manage to reconcile with his son at the end of the episode and James just gives Isaac's book back to Isaac, telling him that it is time for Isaac to follow what the book says}}.
* [[Bulletproof Human Shield|Bulletproof]] <s>[[Bulletproof Human Shield|Human]]</s> [[Bulletproof Human Shield|Mecha Shield]]: You can grab enemies and use them like a [[Bulletproof Human Shield]]. The enemies will still shoot, causing them to hurt their allies instead of you. This comes in really useful, especially in the second game, where those enemies are your only defense against a difficult boss.
** The human shield version doubles as a [[Moral Event Horizon]] for one of the villians in ''The Fist Of Mars''.
* [[Bumbling Dad]]: James Links in ''Dolores, i''
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: BIS is made up of these.
* [[Cain and Abel]]: The Orbitral Frames Jehuty and Anubis.
** Dolores and Hathor. Also Testament and Iblis. This series loves invoking this trope.
* [[Can't Live Without You]]: In the sequel Dingo can't live outside Jehuty.
* [[Charged Attack]]: Frequently:
** The burst attack, where Jehuty pushes a lot of its shot energy into a "bubble" of compressed space, then projects it all at once at a target.
** The [[Wave Motion Gun|Vector Cannon]] can ''only'' be fired this way:
{{quote|'''A.D.A.''': [[Transformation Sequence|Switch to Vector Cannon mode]]... [[Do Not Run with a Gun|landing gear and climbing irons locked]]... inner chamber pressure rising normally... life-ring has started revolving... [[Most Wonderful Sound|ready to fire]].}}
* [[Cherry Tapping]]: Forced upon you in ''The Second Runner'' when you fight Anubis for real {{spoiler|Jehuty has been damaged, leaving the only things it can do is blade, dash, grab, burst-blade and Zero Shift. No shield nor long-range weapons of any kind}}. Needless to say, it makes Anubis [[That One Boss|insanely hard]] on your first attempts.
* [[Chessmaster]]: Nohman is shown to be one in the [[Expanded Universe]].
** In {{spoiler|''Dolores, i''}} he allows {{spoiler|Radium}} to go through with his plan because {{spoiler|He knows its a suicide mission that will take Hathor off the table, and even if he succeeds it will destroy the Space Force which is the only real opposition to Project Aumaan. Also the chaos created by Radium's plan had crippled the leadership of BAHRAM}}.
** It is revealed in [[The Stinger]] at the end of ''Fist of Mars'' that {{spoiler|the entire game's plot was a ploy to get rid of his opposition within the leadership of BAHRAM}}.
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* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: Nohman's pilot suit has a tail.. for... some reason..?
** and a man thong too by the looks of it...
* [[I Only Read It for The Articles]]: Non-pornographic example: Several of the people who got the first ''Zone of the Enders'' infamously only bought it to get the ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' demo included in it, something that was also lampshaded in a [[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]] comic, which also acts as the text for the trope picture.
** Looks like history will repeat itself, as it's just been announced that the HD collection will include the demo for ''[[Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance]]''.
* [[It's Not You, It's My Enemies]]: {{spoiler|Myona}} in ''Fist Of Mars'' falls into this line of thinking {{spoiler|after regaining her memory}}. {{spoiler|She even tries to die in the facility where she got turned into a [[Tyke Bomb]] so her friends do not get hurt by people who may come after her}} in one of the two possible scenarios.
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* [[Lovable Sex Maniac]]: Razma. Subverted somewhat in that it's mostly a facade.
* [[Macross Missile Massacre]]: See the Homing Laser, also Jehuty's Homing Missile attack.
** This reaches ridiculous heights if you do a new game plus with the Ultimate form of Jehuty, which has near-infinite subweapon energy. So ridiculous, in fact, it borders on [[More Dakka]] if you use some of the rapid-fire secondary weapons.
* [[Mad Scientist]]:
** {{spoiler|Zephyr}} in ''Fist of Mars''.
** Lloyd in ''2nd Runner'' is [[Informed Ability|said to be one]], although it probably was just Dingo being snarky.
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* [[Older and Wiser]] (Leo in The 2nd Runner)
* [[Older Than They Look]]: Possibly {{spoiler|Amante}} in ''Fist of Mars''.
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]
** {{spoiler|Nohman.}}
** Bolozof slides into this due to overexposure to Metatron.
** {{spoiler|Radium}} in ''Dolores, i'', his plan would essentially make the Earth uninhabitable and as a result would cause Mars to slowly starve to death due to lack of supplies.
* [[One-Man Army]]: Subverted since Jehuty is a [[Humongous Mecha|giant mecha]]. Well, a giant mecha fighting a whole army of giant mechas, a battleship,and an even gianter mecha!
** In the second game it even fights an army of giant battleships protected by armies of not-that-giant mechas.
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* [[Road Cone]]: Done in ''Fist of Mars'', where halfway through, the storyline splits depending on whether you destroy more or less enemy units than a trio of NPCs. However, while the routes are notably different, the ending is more or less the same for both routes.
* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: {{spoiler|Ares}} in ''Fist of Mars'' against the [[Mad Scientist]] who {{spoiler|turned him and his sister Myona into [[Tyke Bomb|Tykebombs]]}}.
* [[Robot Girl]]: Dolores, the biggest one on record!
* [[Running Gag]]: [[Shout-Out|"John Carter?"]] [[John Carter of Mars|"Of Mars!"]]
{{quote|"This is why the Princess left you!"}}
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* [[The Stinger]]: ''Fist of Mars'', you can unlock them in the first game depending on your score.
* [[The Stoic]]: Warren.
* [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]: Dolores' "Isis" mode.
** Subverted, though, in that her ISIS mode isn't any stronger than her normal state at all, just scarier looking. The danger is due to the fact that the battle computer is a lot more ruthless and skilled than Dolores herself.
** Actually, it is implied later in the series by Dolores Links that the ISIS mode ''IS'' the actual AI of the ISIS frame since the good doctor eventually had to perform additional programming to better integrate and harmonize Dolores with ISIS. So, Dolores is more like the ''Underpowered Good Side''. Should count as an inverted trope.
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* [[Tomboyish Name]]: Ken Marinaris from ''The 2nd Runner'', who is otherwise ''very'' girly.
** Note that Ken can be a female name in Japanese.
* [[Took a Level
* [[True Companions]]: Dingo goes into a BAHRAM ship in order to draw BAHRAM away from Callisto so his miner friends do not get hurt. Also, his main motivation to fight BAHRAM is to {{spoiler|avenge his comrades who were unknowingly sent on a suicide mission to be used as a decoy. Dingo was the only one who survived from the UNSF's assault.}}
* [[Unsettling Gender Reveal]]: Cage in ''Fist of Mars'' thinks [[Overly Long Name|Philbright Westriverside Warehouserock XXVI]] is a girl in their first meeting.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Konami]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Mecha Game]]
[[Category:Action Game]]
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