History VideoGame / CarnEvil

** The Haunted House has an epic, dramatic pipe organ tune for its background music, It's the only level theme that plays throughout its entire level, including the boss fight.

* SmallAnnoyingCreature: Umlaut. Whether he's seen before a level or during the final face-off against Tökkentäkker, he's downright guaranteed to get on your nerves.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Enemies die quicker from head wounds than other types. This doesn't work on those who actually have life bars.

A horror-themed LightGunGame from Creator/MidwayGames, ''[=CarnEvil=]'' is about... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an evil carnival]], set in the fictional town of Greely Valley, Iowa. The game starts off with a hayride/ghost tour making its way through a cemetery at night. One of the patrons hops off the ride and locates the grave of Professor Ludwig Von Tökkentäkker, which seems normal enough... save for the evil-looking jester skull statue on it and a token sticking out of a slot on the tombstone.

A horror-themed LightGunGame from Creator/MidwayGames, ''[=CarnEvil=]'' is about... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an evil carnival]], set in the fictional town of Greely Valley, Iowa. The game starts off with a hayride/ghost tour making its way through a cemetery at night. One of the patrons hops off the ride and locates the grave of Professor Ludwig Von Tökkentäkker, which seems normal enough... save for the evil-looking jester statue on it and a token sticking out of a slot on the tombstone.

* BadSanta: Krampus, the boss of Rickety Town, encountered in the ice rink. Actually based off a mythical creature that kidnaps naughty kids and tortures them.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: It's pretty easy to hate Umlaut, what with his high-pitched voice, mocking poems before each level, and snide comments during your fight with him. Turns out he's not exactly popular InUniverse: In the final level, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments there's a chalkboard with "Umlaut is a Kiss-Ass" scrawled on it, presumably by the other]] {{Mooks}}.

** PixelHunt: When you encounter a swarm of bats in the Haunted House stage, only one will actually attack you, but figuring out which one is nearly impossible. The same applies to Junior/Deaddy's barf attack.
** TrialAndErrorGameplay: Some enemies land a hit on you seconds after they appear.

* GagBoobs: Evil Marie. The dissonance that results when this is coupled [[BoomHeadshot with her half-blown-off face]] is [[BlackComedy both hilarious]] [[{{Squick}} and disturbing]].

* {{Homage}}: The miniboss Hambone is a throwback to the SlasherFilm genre, [[CaptainErsatz ESPECIALLY]] ''Franchise/FridayThe13th''. [[spoiler:His reappearance later in the level as "Hambone the Revenge" is a throwback [[{{Sequelitis}} to their MANY sequels]].]]

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The eventual fate of Evil Marie, [[ThatOneBoss provided you haven't run out of quarters yet]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "Muertito." Not only is the dimunitive form of the word "death" slang for orgasm in several other languages, but this enemy uses multiple Mexican slang terms for testicles when hit.

* HereweGoAgain: [[spoiler:The game ends with the protagonist restarting the journey through [=CarnEvil=] all over again [[DownerEnding while Betty screams in despair]].]]

* EnemyMime: Zombie mimes show up in the Big Top level. They're harmless, except for possibly wasting your bullets.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/logo12.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The greatest show unearthed!]]

->"When the Moon is full and trees are bare -
->Walk though the Cemetery if you dare.
->Where skeletons rot and corpses fester -
->Locate the tomb with the skull of a Jester.
->Feed him the token all shiny and new -
->It is then that [=CarnEvil=] will return for '''YOU!'''"
->--'''The game's opening narration.'''

A horror-themed light gun game from Creator/MidwayGames, ''[=CarnEvil=]'' is about... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an evil carnival]], set in the fictional town of Greely Valley, Iowa. The game starts off with a hayride/ghost tour making its way through a cemetery at night. One of the patrons hops off the ride and locates the grave of Professor Ludwig Von Tökkentäkker, which seems normal enough... save for the evil-looking jester statue on it and a token sticking out of a slot on the tombstone.

* AnAssKickingChristmas: Subverted in that it's not actually set around the holidays, but a large portion of Rickety Town is Christmas-themed, right down to the festive musical score and BadSanta boss.
* AnAxeToGrind: Evil Marie's weapon of choice.

* TheDeadHaveEyes: The skeleton enemies are somehow able to see you.

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: The game ends with the protagonist restarting the journey through [=CarnEvil=] all over again while Betty screams in despair.]]

* TheFifties: The theme of the Garage, a bumper car ride.

* HostageSpiritLink: Every so often, [[DamselInDistress Betty]] will pop up, and you have to avoid shooting her. Shooting her anyway costs you some of your life.

* InHarmsWay: The Protagonist hops on evil flaming rollercoasters and barges through the zombie-invested Haunted House, climbs into the human cannonball cannon of his own free will and grabs the trapeze, and even after he wins he [[spoiler:summons the [=CarnEvil=] again almost immediately.]]

%%* LightGunGame

* PerpetualExpression: The "Smilin' Bob" enemy in the Rickety Town level (just after the "Big Bunyan Ride" Ferris wheel and during the bumper cars). He ''always'' smiles. '''ALWAYS'''.

* SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: Like ''VideoGame/ZombieRaid'' before it, the game supports a two player mode despite there being no second person present in the cutscenes.
* SkeletonCrew: Tökkentäkker summons them to attack the players in the final battle.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: It's pretty easy to hate Umlaut, what with his high-pitched voice, mocking poems before each level, and snide comments during your fight with him. Turns out he's not exactly popular InUniverse: In the final level, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments there's a chalkboard with "Umlaut is a Kiss-Ass" scrawled on it, presumably by the other]] {{Mooks}}.

* DownerEnding: The game ends with the protagonist restarting the journey through [=CarnEvil=]] all over again while Betty screams in despair.

A horror-themed light gun game from MidwayGames, ''[=CarnEvil=]'' is about... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an evil carnival]], set in the fictional town of Greely Valley, Iowa. The game starts off with a hayride/ghost tour making its way through a cemetery at night. One of the patrons hops off the ride and locates the grave of Professor Ludwig Von Tökkentäkker, which seems normal enough... save for the evil-looking jester statue on it and a token sticking out of a slot on the tombstone.

%%* TheDeadHaveEyes

%%* DownerEnding

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The fate of Spooky Sam and the other kids on the tour, though it's reasonable to assume some the girls are the bystanders you're supposed to avoid hitting.

** And Tökkentäkker plans to [[spoiler:put your brain in the body of gorilla that also has miniguns arms.]]

* BodyHorror: Up to VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}} levels in the Freak Show, but you really should've guessed that.

* CaptainErsatz: Hambone, an enemy you fight [[spoiler: twice]] in the Haunted House, looks an awful lot like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th another notorious serial killer with a hockey mask...]]

* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: All the innocent bystanders in this game have the same model as Betty. And it's obviously not her every time because she'd have to be able to teleport, plus several of them get ''killed'' in the Haunted House level (Two gnawed on by zombies, one dismembered in the kitchen, and one eaten by a GiantSpider). Looking closely at the kids on the tour at the beginning of the game you can see that they're all PaletteSwaps of the protagonist and Betty.