History VideoGame / Catherine

** An episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' meets ''Anime/XxxHOLiC''?

From the creators of ''Series/ShinMegamiTensei'' and VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game. It's {{Atlus}}'s first HD game, marking their entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles with animated cutscenes by [[Studio4C Studio 4°C]].

From the creators of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei'' and VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game. It's {{Atlus}}'s first HD game, marking their entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles with animated cutscenes by [[Studio4C Studio 4°C]].

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise (or at least, its unofficially considered to be another entry into SMT), and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles, with animated cutscenes by [[Studio4C Studio 4°C]].

What's more, there's been a rash of mysterious deaths lately--men found in bed with a look of sheer horror frozen on their faces--and a rumor going around that if you fall in a nightmare and [[YourMindMakesItReal don't wake up before you hit the bottom...]]

There's also a multiplayer mode called "Colosseum" where two players go head-to-head in a single action stage, each trying to make the other RingOut. It's fun enough to have caught on with the TournamentPlay crowd. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgV2R1gINM No, seriously!]]

->'''Vincent:''' ''Have you ever had a dream where you...died?''\\
'''Katherine:''' ''You mean, like...where you're in danger?''\\

'''Katherine:''' ''No...[[ParanoiaFuel I usually do the killing in my dreams.]]''

* HeyItsThatVoice: [[persona3 Pharos]] likes to mess with people in their dreams

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: This is combined with ''ChainsawGood''

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise, and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles, with animated cutscenes by [[Studio4C Studio 4°C]].

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise, and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles. Its cutscenes were animated by [[Studio4C Studio 4°C]].

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ''ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise, and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles. Its artwork was designed by Studio 4°C.

Vincent Brooks is just your [[TheEveryman average 32-year old unambitious salaryman]] in a stable but unremarkable long-term relationship with a woman named Katherine [=McBride=]. When Katherine brings up the prospect of marriage, Vincent freaks out... and then suddenly meets a stunningly gorgeous girl called Catherine who is just his type. [[YourCheatingHeart He sleeps with her]], but starts having [[NightmareSequence strange nightmares]] where he is wandering in a world of endless staircases and being pursued by... ''something''.

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ShinMegamiTensei franchise, and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles. It also [[WMG/{{Catherine}} spawned its own]] WildMassGuessing page before it even got a works page.

The game was released on February 17, 2011, in Japan, July 26, 2011 in North America, and February 10, 2012 in Europe.

As of August 4, ''Catherine'' managed to break Atlus's previous launch records cementing Catherine's place as their fastest selling title in the U.S. with [[http://a.yfrog.com/img620/8172/49gsbu.jpg an impressive 200,000 units sold in just one week.]]

* YouAreTheDemons: [[spoiler:And then Vincent becomes an Incubus in Catherine's true ending!]]

* LostInTranslation: The title of the game is "Cathrine" but in the Japanese version the name is spelled so it clearly refers to both Cathrine and Kathrine, making them both the [[{{CharacterTitle}} eponymous character]]. In the English version, only Cathrine's name is directly referred to by the title.

* LostinTransaltion: The title of the game is "Cathrine" but in the Japanese version the name is spelled so it clearly refers to both Cathrine and Kathrine, making them both the [[{{CharacterTitle}} eponymous character]]. In the English version, only Cathrine's name is directly referred to by the title.

The game was released on February 17, 2011, in Japan and July 26, 2011 in North America. A European release was announced by Deep Silver, though no release date was released at the time.

* AscendedMeme[=/=]ShoutOut: One of the dialogue choices when talking to a Sheep is [[{{Portal}} "The pregnancy was a lie?"]]

** The achievement named "A God Is Born" involves someone [[spoiler:getting laid by Isthar, the goddess of '''fertility''', of all things. As her children would unlikely be mortal, it's easy to see the FridgeBrilliance in the name.]]]

** A, episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' meets ''Anime/XxxHOLiC''?

* ActorAllusion: [[FridgeBrilliance Pretty much]] ''[[BeyondTheImpossible everything]]''. The English voice actors were specifically chosen for their roles due to how closely related their personalities are. For example, [[CloudCuckoolander Troy Baker]] is trapped in [[CloudCuckooland Fantasy Land]], and falls into a relationship with [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny a very seductive girl]].

** Catherine is described as a seductress and "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything has a way of ruining the common sense and self-control of any man]]" she visits. Apparently, she's ten years ''younger'' [[BeyondTheImpossible than]] [[FridgeLogic both Vincent and Katherine]] (Catherine's 22; Vincent and Katherine are 32).

* HarderThanHard: It's ''called'' "Hard" mode, but even Japanese players had complaints on ''Easy''. "Easy" mode is supposed to be straightforward. "Normal" raises the difficulty faster, and can get borderline impossible. "Hard" removes the Undo ability, [[BeyondTheImpossible and gets even more complicated]]. The Xbox360, however, [[UnwinnableByDesign has a disadvantage]]: there's a common complaint that the 360's controller has a bad design for its D-Pad. [[ItGotWorse Unfortunately]], the controller stick is horrible for fine movements in an ''isometric'' area. And you need nine Gold trophies in the dreams in order to unlock the final level of Babel. Did we mention that those nine Gold have to be in a difficulty ''other than Easy''?

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ShinMegamiTensei franchise (maybe, it hasn't been confirmed), and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles. It also [[WMG/{{Catherine}} spawned its own]] WildMassGuessing page before it even got a works page.

From the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' comes an [[WidgetSeries unusual]] and [[MindScrew distinctive]] game in the ShinMegamiTensei franchise, and {{Atlus}}'s first entry onto the {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} consoles. It also [[WMG/{{Catherine}} spawned its own]] WildMassGuessing page before it even got a works page.

The game was released on February 17, 2011 in Japan and July 26th, 2011 in North America. A European release was announced by Deep Silver, though no release date was released at the time.

As of August 04th, Catherine managed to break Atlus's previous launch records cementing Catherine's place as their fastest selling title in the U.S. with [[http://a.yfrog.com/img620/8172/49gsbu.jpg an impressive 200,000 units sold in just one week.]]

--> '''Justin''': "It's the truth."

** If you helped them, [[spoiler: Daniel, Todd, Justin, Archie and Morgan]] also earned their happy endings.

* EnemyWithin: [[spoiler: Shadow of Vincent.]]

* EscortMission: [[spoiler: Stage 8 (The Cathedral) requires you to bring along Katherine. It's an extremely simple level aside from her presence; she is, however, slower than Vincent, and her AI can easily get her into untenable positions, as she will not move blocks and not be able to perform techniques.]]

** Makes sense in the Japanese version as his voice actor WAS Spike Spiegel.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Fairly early on, Catherine says that she has to go to the dentist. [[spoiler: One of the first sheep Vincent meets in the nightmare world is called Steve, who has also fallen victim to Catherine. His profession is a dentist]].

** [[spoiler: Also, the amount of hints given about Erica's [[{{Transgender}} "Identity"]] are really quite HilariousInHindsight]]

* FridgeHorror: So [[GodIsEvil YHVH]] [[GodNeedsPrayersBadly needs prayers badly]], but there's a minority who don't believe in him, and they are disrupting society to the point of RageAgainstTheHeavens. What does he do with the minority? [[spoiler:Send them through this nightly endeavor by allowing angels to select a person who will obtain "True Freedom".]] This is implied by [[spoiler:Astartoth and Thomas Mutton, both of whom are angels or work under them]].

* GratuitousEnglish: Vincent's text message ringtone is "You got a mail!" Considering the names of the characters revealed so far, [[TranslationConvention it's obvious nobody's actually speaking Japanese]], but that means the ringtone should be in Japanese too...right?

* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: In one of the game's three "True" endings, Vincent and Katherine get married at the Stray Sheep and get a very cute HappyEnding. The "True Lovers" ending, specifically.]]

** In a straight villainous example, however, we have [[spoiler: Boss, aka: Thomas Mutton, [[IHaveManyNames aka: Dumuzid]].]] Instead of pupils, [[spoiler: he]] has the arrow from the "Mars symbol" in [[spoiler: his]] right eye, and the cross from the "Venus symbol" in [[spoiler: his]] left. [[spoiler: He]] also has orange, almost glowing, sclerae.

** In Catherine's true ending, [[spoiler: Vincent becomes an incubus.]]

--> '''[[spoiler:Mutton]]''': I can see you boy. You and your underpants!

* InvisibleToNormals: [[spoiler: Catherine, since she is a succubus. They can only be seen by the humans they're seducing.]]

* LikeABadassOutOfHell: [[spoiler: In Catherine's true ending, Vincent storms the hellish dimension where [[HornyDevils Catherine]] is from, dethrones her father (stated to be a very powerful demon himself, even if he is a BumblingDad), and rules over the succubi until, as Catherine states, "there is nobody who doesn't recognize your power". Damn.]]

* LocalHangout: The ''Stray Sheep'', [[MeaningfulName which takes a whole new meaning]] when [[spoiler:the Boss' real name is revealed]].

* MeaningfulEcho: Early on, Katherine asks Vincent how many years they've been together, and he can't remember. [[spoiler:Later on, after Vincent starts to realise just how much Katherine means to him, he asks himself the same question and remembers the answer: five years]].

** [[spoiler: Boss, the final boss of the game.]]
*** [[spoiler: Not to mention his human alias is named Thomas Mutton.]]

* {{Motif}}: Sheep are very prominent throughout the game as symbols for many different things: sleep, counting sheep, herd mentality, sheep who have gone astray, lambs to the slaughter. The big bad's name is [[spoiler: Thomas Mutton. Mutton is sheep meat. He even has pajamas decorated with sheep.]]
* MsFanservice: Played straight with Catherine. [[spoiler: also justified, since she's really a succubus and her appearance is Vincent's personal ideal of MsFanservice.]]
* MultipleEndings: Nine endings total: eight of them for ''Golden Theater'' story mode and one for ''Babel'' mode. There are three paths: Lover, Cheater, and Freedom. All three have a "true" and "good" ending, while just the girls have a "bad" ending.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler: Catherine goes after Katherine with a knife in the animated cutscene before Stage 8. [[NightmareFuel It does not end well]].]]
** Combine this with {{Crazy Prepared}}, [[spoiler: considering that Katherine, perhaps having the same thoughts, was backing up to Vincent's sink to go for the same knife, only for Catherine to reveal that she already had it.]]

** That said, from a gameplay perspective you can enter the restroom at the Stray Sheep, but all you can do in there is wash your face and look at Catherine's naughty pictures in the stall.

* OhCrap: Vincent has this look whenever [[TheManyDeathsOfYou there's a Nightmare death sequence coming up.]] Or whenever he sees somebody in his bed that wasn't there before.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted. There's ''K''atherine, a coworker whom Vincent is dating when he meets 'girl of his dreams' ''C''atherine... You don't even get the benefit of different spellings with the katakana in the Japanese version. [[spoiler: In the English version when Vincent challenges Mutton/Dumuzid to earn K/Catherine back, the localization team edited the subtitles to read "her" when he says their name to keep which one he's fighting to keep ambiguous.]]
** Possibly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by [[spoiler: Steve, who calls Vincent to tell him to stop seeing C/Katherine. Vincent confronts both girls, but neither of them appears to know anyone named Steve. Vincent points out how odd this is, given that "Steve" is a relatively common name.]]
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Catherine, after she's been rejected by Vincent and failed to kill Katherine, and the Bartender/Thomas Mutton, who is really an EldritchAbomination called Dumuzid.]]

* PeekABangs: Vincent doesn't usually wear his hair this way, but he does for a brief period after [[spoiler: Katherine breaks up with him.]]

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 [[spoiler: and a patron of the Stray Sheep, and are entangled with a woman who they have no intention of having children with.]]
* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The game features remixes of music by Sarasate, Beethoven, Holst, Bach, Dvorak, Rossini, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Bizet, Chopin, and Handel.

** [[spoiler: Boss, without his sunglasses, he is an EldritchAbomination called Dumuzid, afterall.]]
* RedHerring There's a fair amount of "clues" that point towards [[spoiler:either Katherine or Erica]] being the "witch" that's cursing the male characters. [[spoiler:It turns out that Erica ''is'' the "witch" from the rumours, but not as you'd imagine: she has nothing to do with the supernatural events, and her identity as the "witch" is a result of misinformation and second-hand gossip from her schooldays with Vincent and friends]].

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Averted [[spoiler: at first]] with KoichiYamadera and NorioWakamoto who previously voiced [[CowboyBebop Spike and Vicious]]. [[spoiler: Played straight with TheReveal.]]

* TheReveal: Double Subverted. [[spoiler: Mutton completely misreads Vincent's attempts to prove Catherine is real as proof that Vincent's figured out the bartender's involvement in the nightmares, leading to quite a bit of confusion on both sides. However, despite Mutton's attempts to pretend their conversation didn't happen, Vincent quickly catches on, forcing Mutton to continue explaining what's been going on.]]

** Possible FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler: There's evidence to doubt the physicalness of Vincent and Catherine's relationship, so it could even be foreshadowing.]]

* SayingTooMuch: [[spoiler: Thomas Mutton]] accidentally reveals [[spoiler: his]] involvement in the nightmares , not realizing that Vincent [[spoiler: just wanted confirmation that someone else had seen Catherine and that Vincent wasn't crazy]].

* SchrodingersGun: The differences between the "Bad", "Good", and "True" version of each ending are supposedly determined by how well the girl can sense your feelings (that is, your position on the KarmaMeter), but other events happen differently seemingly independently of your feelings about relationships. [[spoiler:If you choose Katherine, Jonny, Orlando, and Boss don't show up to corroborate your story in the Bad ending. If you choose Catherine, her father doesn't show up in the Bad ending. And the difference between the Good and True freedom endings is whether or not Feather wins the wrestling tournament, which Vincent should have no way of influencing.]]
* TheScream: [[spoiler: Vincent does this in a montage at the end of the demo; a fairly impressive scream, too, as he manages to hold it for a good twenty seconds.]]
** [[spoiler: In the game, this happens when Catherine and Katherine are arguing, and Vincent cannot have his own word in the conversation. That scream is shown as like a MindScrew, and acted out as like a SkywardScream.]]

** The Golden Playhouse intro is actually a parody of a real Japanese show called "Golden Theater".

* ShowWithinAShow: The whole game actually, it actually opens with Midnight Venus introducing the game as if it were an episode akin to something from ''TalesFromTheCrypt''. Many cutscenes have a watermark in the corner of the screen as if we were watching a channel.
* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler: Rearrange Trisha and you get [[MesopotamianMythology Ishtar]].]]
** [[spoiler:Trisha/Ishtar Lampshades this when she reveal it, saying she had to leave some sort of clue.]]
* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler: Shadow of Vincent sports this at the real one very briefly in a cutscene.]]

* SophisticatedAsHell: [[spoiler: Thomas Mutton's]] speech before the final battle.

** The achievement name "A God Is Born", it involves someone [[spoiler:getting laid by Isthar, the goddess of '''fertility''', of all things. As her children would unlikely be mortal, it's easy to see the FridgeBrilliance in the name.]]]

* TheTetrisEffect: [[spoiler: Inverted in-game with Rapunzel. Thomas Mutton created a video game based on the block nightmares to draw people into them.]]

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Vincent on the 8th day.

* TwitchyEye: [[spoiler: Katherine, during Catherine's volley of insults. Not long afterwards, Katherine move towards the sink to [[MurderTheHypotenuse grab a knife]].]]
* TheUnfairSex: Apparently, not a single female, [[spoiler: unless you count Erica]] fit the conditions to be sent into the nightmares. [[spoiler:Though this may be more because of the guy sending them all in there to begin with, instead of the writers.]]

* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The game pulls this ''twice.''

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: It's understandable Mutton, or Dumuzid, would want men to continue to be faithful and continue to populate humanity. That's fine, but did he really have to do so in a way that involved death? Wouldn't scaring them be enough?]]

** A episode of Series/TheTwilightZone meets Anime/XxxHOLiC?

* YankTheDogsChain: [[spoiler: Vincent saves Katherine from falling to her death in the nightmare towards the end of the game, and it's a fairly romantic moment. He wakes up to Katherine standing in his appartment, under the impression that everything's fixed between them. [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle Turns out]] the whole thing was AllJustADream, and Katherine was never actually in the nightmare at all. She then explains that she knew about his affair the entire time and breaks up with him.]]
* YouAreTheDemons: [[spoiler: And then Vincent becomes an Incubus in Catherine's true ending!]]

** [[spoiler: Ishtar has become fed up with Dumuzid's cheating ways.]]

** [[spoiler: The Cathedral itself isn't revealed in full until the K/Catherine fight comes to its end. Vincent and the player (most likely) believe they're done with nightmares up until the confrontation.]]