History VideoGame / CanterlotSiege

* WhipItGood: Mistress Mare-velous attacks with her whip.

** The second game has [[spoiler:Discord]].

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* BonusBoss: After the second game, there's always enemies beyond the last wave.
** The second game has a wave of [[spoiler:Angel Bunnies]].
** The third game has a BossRush, [[spoiler:the Power Ponies, followed by Derpy.]]
** The fourth game has [[spoiler:the ''Equestria Girls'' Humane Six.]] And if you beat [[spoiler:the girls]] on "Hard" or "Insane" mode, you fight [[spoiler: a lawyer from Hasbro!]]

** In ''Inversion'', the BonusBoss randomly rearranges your characters at their entrance.

* DeflectorShields: In ''Inversion'', Cadance and Shining Armor summon a barrier shortly after entry, protecting them from damage and status ailments until it's worn down.

** In the third game, Cadance and Shining Armor, and later Luna and Celestia.

* HeroicSecondWind: In ''Inversion'' when Spike is defeated he respawns, [[GoodCostumeSwitch transforms into Humdrum]], and restores his HP to half to continue on.

* StatusBuff: Support towers can increase the stats of nearby towers. In the second game, Cadance's special ability increases the stats of towers for a short time; she retains the ability as a hero tower in ''4'', though it only affects towers immediately close to her.

** Cadance in ''4'' has a sub-par attack, but her two abilities power-up nearby towers.

* StandardStatusEffects:

* FrickinLaserBeams:
** Queen Chrysalis fires lasers to attack in ''3''.
** In ''4'', Celestia and [[spoiler:Fausticorn]] attack with beams of magic.

[[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-321540151 The first Canterlot Siege]] has the Mane Six rallying to keep assorted villains from invading Canterlot. [[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-2-409853402 The second game]] instead stars a series of supporting characters with the same goal. [[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-3-Inversion-466615443 The third game]], appropriately subtitled "Inversion", flips the concept to the villains defending their bases of power from the attacking heroes. [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-4-560420853 The fourth game]], the Power Ponies edition, has the titular heroes as the towers as the Mane-iac sends an army of clones at them.

** The fourth game has [[spoiler:the ''Equestria Girls'' Humane Six.]]
*** And if you beat [[spoiler:the girls]] on "Hard" or "Insane" mode, you fight [[spoiler: a lawyer from Hasbro!]]

* CrutchCharacter: Area-of-effect characters are great for early waves -- they're economical, enemies have a smaller chance to slip by them, and they can hold off waves on their own. Later on though their low base damage is going to serious hamper their effectiveness against bosses and stronger waves.

* SpamAttack: In all three games, there's a low-range fast-hitting melee attacker (Applejack; Lyra; Gilda) who attacks ''very'' rapidly, as in several times a second. It adds up. With the ability to use a Super Speed orb and a linked Lightning Dust support tower, Gilda can reach an attack speed of 0.07 seconds. [[spoiler:The hidden Orb of Nightmares makes her even faster, ''0.03 seconds''. At that point she's literally faster than the eye can see, her sprite seems to stop attacking and instead begins "twitching" when enemies come near.]]

** Radiance in ''4'' has critical hits as her main advantage -- not only does she have higher critical hit chance than others, but her ultimate saps enemy defenses on a critical hit.

Gameplay in all the games follows typical TowerDefense rules. Waves of enemy spawn and follow a pre-determined path to a goal. The player must line the path with assorted characters each with their own type of attack and form a strategic defense to defeat the enemies before they reach the goal. Every ten waves a boss enemy spawns with special powers and higher stats. Defeating enemies earns bits for the player to upgrade and expand their forces. If too enemies get by the player's defenses and reach the goal, the game is lost. The player wins by defeating all waves before that happens. Each version also undergoes SequelEscalation, introducing new tower types, new power-ups, more enemy types, more waves, and so forth. From the second game on a password feature saves the player's progress, including which maps they've beaten, if they got a perfect score or not (no enemies reached the goal), and in the fourth version, which potions and artifacts they have.

Gameplay in all three games follows typical TowerDefense rules. Waves of enemy spawn and follow a pre-determined path to a goal. The player has a set number of lives, and when an enemy reaches the goal successfully, the player loses a life. Every ten waves a boss enemy spawns with higher stats and special powers, and if they reach the goal the player loses multiple lives. The player must line the path with assorted characters each with their own type of attack and form a strategic defense to keep enemies from the goal. Each time an enemy is defeated the player earns bits with which to upgrade and expand their forces. The game is lost if the player lets too many enemies by that they lose all their lives, and the player wins when all waves are defeated successfully. Each version also undergoes SequelEscalation, introducing new towers, new power-ups, more enemy types, more waves, and so forth. From the second game on a password feature saves the player's progress, including which maps they've beaten, if they got a perfect score or not (no lives lost), and in the fourth version, which potions and artifacts they have.

* FragileSpeedster: Generally the faster an enemy is, the lower their HP. Naturally this eventually gets subverted in higher waves. On the player front, usually the faster a character attacks, the weaker their hits.

* MightyGlacier: The slower an enemy is, the higher their HP. Most bosses trend towards this too. As with the FragileSpeedster enemies, the slow speed tends to get patched up with higher level enemies. For the player, their heavier-hitting characters tend to attack slower and have lower range.

Gameplay in all three games follows typical TowerDefense rules. Waves of enemy spawn and follow a pre-determined path to a goal. The player has a set number of lives, and when an enemy reaches the goal successfully, the player loses a life. Every ten waves a boss enemy spawns with higher stats and special powers, and if they reach the goal the player loses multiple lives. The player must line the path with assorted characters each with their own type of attack and form a strategic defense to keep enemies from the goal. Each time an enemy is defeated the player earns bits with which to upgrade and expand their forces. The game is lost if the player lets too many enemies by that they lose all their lives, and the player wins when all waves are defeated successfully. Each version also undergoes SequelEscalation, introducing new towers, new power-ups, more enemy types, more waves, and so forth. From the second game on a password feature saves the player's progress, including which maps they've beaten, if they got a perfect score or not, and in the fourth version, which potions and artifacts they have.

** In all four games, one of the simplest and most effective strategies is to line the path with the low-range, fast-hitting melee attacker of the game: Applejack, Lyra, Gilda, and Saddle Rager. The other characters available certainly have their utilities and you can't win by ''just'' using one character type, but your main source of damage output is going to be those three.

* ColonyDrop: In the second game, Luna's super power is to drop the moon on an area, dealing heavy damage. Twilight's rains down shooting stars.

* CriticalHitClass: Gilda's special ability tacks on extra critical hit percentage, and her ultimate is just another 15% on top of the 10% she has fully upgraded. [[spoiler:And then she can hold an Orb of Chaos for another 50% boost.]]

* DegradedBoss: Bosses tend to return in late-game waves, usually in multiples.
* DualBoss: In the third game, Cadance and Shining Armor, and later Luna and Celestia.
* EasterEgg: Completing one of the ''Inversion'' maps with a perfect (no lives lost) score unlocks [[spoiler:four secret orb types: the Orb of Fear, Orb of Nightmares, Orb of Chaos, and Orb of Greed.]] Each subsequent map unlocks a new one until, with all four completed, all four are unlocked.
* EdibleAmmunition: In the first game, Pinkie throws cupcakes to attack. In the second, Derpy throws muffins and Bon Bon throws explosive candies.
* EnemySummoner: In the second game, Chrysalis summons several changelings, one at a time.
* FinalBoss: Nightmare Moon in the first game, King Sombra in the second, Luna and Celestia in the third.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Queen Chrysalis fires lasers to attack.

* HeroicSecondWind: In ''Inversion'' when Spike is defeated he respawns, [[GoodCostumeSwitch transforms into Humdrum]], and restores his HP to continue on.
* HijackedByGanon: After the Mane-iac serves as the villain for most of the fourth game, she's hijacked after Wave 50 by [[spoiler:Queen Chrysalis and Nightmare Rarity]], who decide to fight you with the villains from past versions of the game. However, they fail and then Mane-iac serves as the FinalBoss anyway.

* InterfaceSpoiler: Averted with [[spoiler:the four "boss" orbs]] in ''Inversion''; there's no spot in the interface for them until you unlock them.

* LightEmUp: In the second game, Celestia's super power is a scorching beam of light shot over a linear area of effect.
* LuckBasedMission: Downplayed with the third game, but present to a degree. The power-up orbs dropped by enemies can make all the difference in the long run. For instance, if you're fortunate you'll get a Wealth Orb in the early waves, substantially increasing the bits you'll earn for a long time. The difficulty noticeably drops for the first half of the game if this happens.

* MoneyMultiplier: In the second game Fancy Pants, in the third game Flim and Flam. Both increase the money earned by nearby towers. The Wealth Orb and Ultra Orb respectively increase the bits earned by their holders by 20% and 15%, [[spoiler:and the Orb of Greed doubles the bits earned.]]

* PlayingWithFire: Sunset Shimmer shoots fireballs.

** In the third game, the BossRush enemies can sap enemy stats in various ways.

** The second and third game introduce characters that increase the stats of nearby towers.
* TakeThatScrappy: One wave in ''Inversion'' consists of Coco Pommel, Cheese Sandwich, and Seabreeze. The first two were well-received by the fandom; the third was not. So it is that Seabreeze has [[JokeCharacter 1 HP and is the slowest non-boss enemy in the game]].

Gameplay in all three games follows typical TowerDefense rules. Waves of enemy spawn and follow a pre-determined path to a goal. The player has a set number of lives, and when an enemy reaches the goal successfully, the player loses a life. Every ten waves a boss enemy spawns with higher stats and special powers, and if they reach the goal the player loses multiple lives. The player must line the path with assorted characters each with their own type of attack and form a strategic defense to keep enemies from the goal. Each time an enemy is defeated the player earns bits with which to upgrade and expand their forces. The game is lost if the player lets too many enemies by that they lose all their lives, and the player wins when all waves are defeated successfully.

* StatusBuff: In the second game and third games, support towers can increase the stats of nearby towers. Exclusive to the second game, Cadance increases the stats of towers for a short time.

* SecretCharacter: Finishing two maps on Hard in ''4'' unlocks [[spoiler:Fausticorn]] as a hero.

The series' is scored by [[https://www.youtube.com/user/MrBassRabbit Dynamite Grizzly]]

** In all three games, one of the simplest and most effective strategies is to line the path with the low-range, fast-hitting melee attacker of the game: Applejack, Lyra, and Gilda. The other characters available certainly have their utilities and you can't win by ''just'' using one character type, but your main source of damage output is going to be those three.

[[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-321540151 The first Canterlot Siege]] has the Mane Six rallying to keep assorted villains from invading Canterlot. [[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-2-409853402 The second game]] instead stars a series of supporting characters with the same goal. [[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-3-Inversion-466615443 The third game]], appropriately subtitled "Inversion", flips the concept to the villains defended their bases of power from the attacking heroes. [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-4-560420853 The fourth game]], the Power Ponies edition, has the titular heroes as the towers as the Mane-iac sends an army of clones at them.

* BonusBoss: The second and third game have enemies beyond the last wave. The former has a wave of [[spoiler:Angel Bunnies]], the latter has a BossRush, [[spoiler:the Power Ponies, followed by Derpy.]]

* SequelEscalation: Every sequel adds new enemy types, new characters, new powers, and more waves. Accordingly with towers generally becoming more effective, enemies get stronger between games too.

[[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-321540151 The first Canterlot Siege]] has the Mane Six rallying to keep assorted villains from invading Canterlot. [[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-2-409853402 The second game]] instead stars a series of supporting characters with the same goal. [[http://futzi01.deviantart.com/art/Canterlot-Siege-3-Inversion-466615443 The third game]], appropriately subtitled "Inversion", flips the concept to the villains defended their bases of power from the attacking heroes.