History VideoGame / ComicJumperTheAdventuresOfCaptainSmiley

An UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade game by Creator/TwistedPixel.

* UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode: Mocked during ''Improbable Paper Pals'', when Star's cursing is constantly being censored, and you get slapped with a fine whenever you attack a museum guard being controlled by Mistress Ropes. The hypocrisy of the code allowing a deeply racist main character but no swearing is also lampshaded.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Star is a total jerk, but even he's offended at the casual racism and misogyny throughout the events of ''[[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Improbable Paper Pals]]''.

%%* FourthWallObserver

* DistressedDamsel: Mocked in Smiley's own comic, when Gerda is tied up in the background and Smiley makes absolutely no attempt to rescue her (which she lampshades). The building explodes just after you leave.

** Smiley refers to the "speed of time travel", 88 mph, from Film/BackToTheFuture. Winklemeyer's helmet also seems to be intended to resemble the one Doc Brown is seen wearing.

* BookEnds: The game starts with Smiley trying to foil a bank robbery by Doctor Winklemeyer and getting into a fight with Brad and his army of Bradbots, leading to Smiley getting into a fight with Star and punching him repeatedly, with a cut to several real life people destroying his comic book in disgust, and ending with the Creator/TwistedPixel dev team looking at the comic and getting an idea. [[spoiler: It ends with Smiley foiling the bank robbery again, this time killing Winklemeyer before going on a rampage, killing the rest of his rogue's gallery while fighting through an army of Bradbots, leading to Smiley getting into a fight with Star and punching him repeatedly, with a cut to the same real life people now loving Smiley's comic, ending with the Creator/TwistedPixel dev team looking at the comic and nodding in approval while they stand in the middle of a giant pile of money.]]

--> "Big Cartoony Heart!"

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Smiley learns that his comic should be more about violence, action and some minor nudity, successfully [[ContinuityReboot reboots]] his comic and wins the approval of the comic reading public, but the developers at Twisted Pixel [[TakeThatUs swindle him out of the profits by contract]], his sidekick Gerda resigns in disgust, and his co-workers hate him more than ever.]]

* FatBastard: [[spoiler: Nanoc ''really'' let himself go after Puttmaster kicked him out of his kingdom]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Captain Smiley. Though at the end of the game, he finally learns that it's not all about him. [[spoiler: It's also about explosions. Explosions and trite, poorly timed catch phrases blatantly robbed from films. And bathroom humor. And maybe some exposed female flesh, too. But definitely explosions.]]
* JerkAss: Every character to a certain degree, but Star is a particularly standout example. His entire life is apparently spent annoying and undermining Smiley while providing no help at all. He even takes giddy delight when [[spoiler: Smiley accidentally murders an innocent old man near the beginning of ''Nanoc the Obliviator'' #285.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: ZigzaggingTrope. During the whole game, Smiley appears as a pure and unadulterated {{Jerkass}}, only caring about his image and money. But he's also shown feeling awful about killing [[spoiler: an innocent old man and crashing his funeral]]. He then honest-to-God tries to understand [[StrawFeminist Mistress Ropes]] and calm her down instead of engaging in combat with her (even if his efforts are ultimately for naught). Finally, there's his relationship with Gerda. It's obvious he doesn't respect her at all, laughing at her when she's about to get blown to smithereens in the bank...but she never tried to earn his respect, mocking and insulting him repeatedly during his missions. Strangely, he genuinely cares about Star when he feigns sickness after beating Brad, even if the guy had zero compunctions relaying loud and clear to Smiley about how much he ''hates'' him.
* LoveBubbles: Smiley's gun fires them throughout the first two issues of ''Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids'', [[spoiler: until Brad gives Smiley real bullets.]]

* MoneyDearBoy: [[InvokedTrope Invoked.]] The entire plot is so Smiley can get his comic back in circulation. [[spoiler: Parodied by Creator/TwistedPixel during the live action montage in the end.]]
* MoreDakka: Smiley's gun fighting method has much more to do with saturation than finesse. [[spoiler: In the final stage his default pistols are upgraded into an even more potent form with a three foot long muzzle flare.]]

-->'''Smiley''': Oh my god... Okay, okay, you know what, Eugene? You're a [[SymbolSwearing @$%#]] nerd!

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: After facing some pretty humiliating fates during ''The New Adventures of Captain Smiley'', Gerda and Smiley's RoguesGallery decides that they've finally had enough of their co-actor's showboating and resign from playing in his comic any further.]]

** The "comic jumper" machine is pretty much the time travel device used in Film/{{Timecop}}. An unlocked piece of concept art had it being even closer in look.

--> '''Star''': ''This is all John Hammond's fault!''

* TakeThatUs

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: Not that Smiley was much of a paragon of virtue to begin with, but he really ratchets up the smugness and self-aggrandizement to new levels during ''The New Adventures of Captain Smiley''. This is ultimately what convinces Gerda and the villains to finally pack their things and leave Smiley to fend for himself in any further endeavors.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Brad, after the game is completed, shows clear signs of having dipped into one of these, though it's a lower-key example than most. When Smiley goes to talk to him, he's lost all his witty and cocky attitude and has sunk into a deep depression, starting to write his own diary. Understandably so, considering the man not only was trapped in a shoujo manga and forced to act as a high school teacher, would have been forced to date a RobotGirl, have her children and go on a world-spanning adventure he likely didn't want had Smiley and Star not arrived (and had Brad not planned to kill himself before it got that far), but also got utterly shown up by and completely trashed by Smiley in his new series and has lost the attention and adoration of his previously-faithful Bradbots. [[HumiliationConga Talk about pride before a fall.]]]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: Smiley both delightfully lets Gerda die again and brutally kills each nemesis in the final stage. When you get back to the base afterward, they're all pissed at him and quit, Gerda included.]]
** [[spoiler: Even the ''dev team'' is implied to be killed when their pet monkey throws a stick of dynamite into the giant pile of money they're standing in.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Smiley successfully [[ContinuityReboot reboots]] his comic and wins the approval of the comic reading public, but the developers at Twisted Pixel [[TakeThatUs swindle him out of the profits by contract]], his sidekick Gerda resigns in disgust, and his co-workers hate him more than ever.]]
** [[spoiler: To be fair he did learn that it should be more about violence, action and some minor nudity.]]
** RuleOfFunny, man.

** According to the interviews on the website, ''Anime/BottleFairy'' was one of the big influences on the "Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids" stage, with its [[TastesLikeDiabetes over-the-top cuteness]] and [[SugarBowl cheerfulness]].

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: "Improbable Paper Pals," being a parody of Silver Age comics, doesn't shy away from lampooning the racism and sexism of the era's work. Of particular note are Origami Kid, a sidekick who's an offensive stereotype of East Asians, and StrawFeminist villainess Mistress Ropes, whose goals of empowering women are portrayed as unambiguously evil.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Captain Smiley.
** At the end of the game, he finally learns that it's not all about him. [[spoiler: It's also about explosions. Explosions and trite, poorly timed catch phrases blatantly robbed from films. And bathroom humor. And maybe some exposed female flesh, too. But definitely explosions.]]

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Gerda sports pink hair with her superhero outfit.

* FourthWallObserver

* [[GenkiGirl Genki Girls]]: Just about every single schoolgirl in ''Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids''.

*** Later the sub-bosses divide their health in segments, [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} each one getting a different, individually named pattern.]]

** At the halfway point of ''The New Adventures of Captain Smiley'' #00, Smiley chooses a destructor much like [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Ray Stanz]] did.

* ThudAndBlunder: Nanoc the Obliviator's world.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Smiley successfully {{reboot}}s his comic and wins the approval of the comic reading public, but the developers at Twisted Pixel [[TakeThatUs swindle him out of the profits by contract]], his sidekick Gerda resigns in disgust, and his co-workers hate him more than ever.]]

** Don't say you played the unicorn segments of ''Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids'' and didn't think [[SugarWiki/RobotUnicornAttack "Always, I wanna be with you, and make believe with you, and live in harmony harmony OH LOVE"]]

** Don't say you played the unicorn segments of ''Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids'' and didn't think [[RobotUnicornAttack "Always, I wanna be with you, and make believe with you, and live in harmony harmony OH LOVE"]]

** Manga!Star looks very similar to [[TheLegendaryStarfy Starfy.]]

* BookEnds: The game starts with Smiley trying to foil a bank robbery by Doctor Winklemeyer and getting into a fight with Brad and his army of Bradbots, leading to Smiley getting into a fight with Star and punching him repeatedly, with a cut to several real life people destroying his comic book in disgust, and ending with the TwistedPixel dev team looking at the comic and getting an idea. [[spoiler: It ends with Smiley foiling the bank robbery again, this time killing Winklemeyer before going on a rampage, killing the rest of his rogue's gallery while fighting through an army of Bradbots, leading to Smiley getting into a fight with Star and punching him repeatedly, with a cut to the same real life people now loving Smiley's comic, ending with the TwistedPixel dev team looking at the comic and nodding in approval while they stand in the middle of a giant pile of money.]]

* MoneyDearBoy: [[InvokedTrope Invoked.]] The entire plot is so Smiley can get his comic back in circulation. [[spoiler: Parodied by TwistedPixel during the live action montage in the end.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Star is a total jerk, but even he's offended at the casual racism and misogyny throughout the events of ''[[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Improbable Paper Pals]]''.

* JapaneseStockPhrases: A 'sugoi' is dropped just a couple of minutes into the first volume of ''Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids''.

* PropRecycling: [[invoked]] [[spoiler:Mistress Ropes conjures the final boss [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} out of Captain Smiley's thoughts]]. He had beaten ''VideoGame/SplosionMan'' recently, so he thought of the meat monster.]]

* SdrawkcabName: Nanoc's name is a none-too-subtle reversal of Conan.

--> '''Star''': ''This is all Richard Hammond's fault!''

** At one point Smiley chooses a destructor much like [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} Ray Stanz]] did.

** Don't say you played the unicorn segments of Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids and didn't think [[RobotUnicornAttack "Always, I wanna be with you, and make believe with you, and live in harmony harmony OH LOVE"]]

** Did Mistress Ropes just [[spoiler: [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} conjure up a giant monster based on what one of the main characters was thinking of at the time?]]]]

* WhereItAllBegan: The final level is a repeat of the first, but changed to be more awesome.

* TheAhnold: [[SdrawkcabName Nanoc]] [[Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982 the Obliviator]].
* AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles: Spoofed in the "Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids" world, with the "[[{{Hentai}} Hent High]] [[MarsNeedsWomen Fighting Tentacles]]".
* AnimatedActors
* {{Animesque}}: Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids.

* AsideGlance: When Mistress Ropes summons [[VideoGame/SplosionMan the Meat Monster in the final stage]], she gives an exasperated look towards the audience whenever it starts eating itself.
* {{BFS}}: To go along with his [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]] cosplay, Smiley's melee weapon in Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids is pretty much a buster sword with a giant heart at the end of it.
* BishieSparkle and PetalPower: Not seen on-screen, but Brad complains about sparkles and rose petals appearing around him when he's trapped in Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids.

* CallingYourAttacks: The manga stages are full of it, naturally.

* ColorFailure: Smiley briefly loses his color when he's damaged, and when his health is too low it starts to stay that way.

* UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode: Mocked during UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} levels, when Star's cursing is constantly being censored, and you get slapped with a fine whenever you attack a puppet guard. The hypocrisy of the code allowing a deeply racist main character but no swearing is also lampshaded.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: The world of The Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids; to the point where Brad is nearly DrivenToSuicide by it.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The world of Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids is done in screen tones, like a real manga.
* DistressedDamsel: Mocked in Smiley's own comic, when Gerda is Bound (but not Gagged) in the background and Smiley makes absolutely no attempt to rescue her (which she Lampshades). The building explodes just after you leave.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Star is a total jerk, but even he's offended at the casual racism and misogyny of a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comic book.

* FanDumb: In universe, when Smiley reads letters from fans at the end of the first "Improbable Paper Pals" issue.
* FakeDifficulty: Many have pointed out that the game seems to be missing Health Pickups, although infinite lives offset this problem.
** The RPG mechanic only exists to provide stat upgrades and never adds additional abilities. Later stages are practically impossible without these upgrades, thereby forcing the player to [[LevelGrinding grind]] the optional Missions in order to proceed.
** The world of Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids is entirely grayscale. This makes several incoming attacks ''extremely'' difficult to see.

* FemmeFatalons: On Mistress Ropes' modern costume.

* [[GenkiGirl Genki Girls]]: Pretty much every schoolgirl in Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids.
* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Benny from the Silver Age level, as well as the giant head from the Manga level.
* GodGuise: There's one based around mini-golf in "Nanoc the Obliviator", of which Smiley's old foe the Puttmaster takes advantage.
* GunsAkimbo

* IKnowMaddenKombat: The Puttmaster.

* JapaneseStockPhrases: A 'sugoi' is dropped at one point in Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids.
* JerkAss: Every character to a certain degree, although Star probably the most. His entire life is apparently spent annoying and undermining Smiley while providing no help at all. He even takes giddy delight when [[spoiler: Smiley accidentally murders an innocent old man at the beginning of Nanoc's comic.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: ZigzaggingTrope. During the whole game, Smiley appears as a pure and unadultered {{Jerkass}}, only caring about his image and money. But he's also shown feeling awful about killing [[spoiler: an innocent old man and crashing his funeral]]. He then really try to understand [[StrawFeminist Miss Ropes]] and calm her down instead of shooting her. Finally, there is his relationship with her sidekick Gerda. It's obvious he doesn't respect her at all, laughing at her when she's about to get [[spoiler: exploded in a sea of TNT]] but she never tried to earn it, mocking and insulting him repeatedly during his missions. Strangely, he genuinely cares about Star when he seems to feel sick, even if the guy had no problem before to show he literally ''hates'' him.

* LoveBubbles: Smiley's gun fires them in the Manga segments, [[spoiler: until Brad gives Smiley real bullets.]]

* MagicalGirl: The "Shoujo" manga stage seems to borrow mostly from MagicalGirl tropes, including the main characters' mascot animal and Smiley spending most of the stage fighting dark shadowy beings with ThePowerOfLove.
* MartialArtsAndCrafts

* MoneyDearBoy: [invoked] The entire plot is so Smiley can get his comic back in circulation. [[spoiler: Parodied by TwistedPixel during the live action montage in the end.]]

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Gerda and Nordya
* ThePowerOfLove: Manga!Smiley's guns shoot hearts and bubbles, until he finally finds some real bullets and can start actually killing things.

* PurelyAestheticEra: More like "purely aesthetic comic book genre". The gameplay is varied, but what comic genre you're in doesn't seem to make a difference; Smiley still shoots his guns, destroys homing missiles, has projectiles shot/thrown at him, and so on.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: Gerda and all of the villains come to this on Captain Smiley after the final stage.]]

* SdrawkcabName: Nanoc

* ShoutOut: Many.

* StrawFeminist: Mistress Ropes. PlayedForLaughs. When you defeat her, she gets HotterAndSexier.

* TheUnfought: Dr. Winklemeyer
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: Smiley at the end of the game.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Brad, at the end of the game. When Smiley goes to talk to him, he lost all his witty attitude and is suffering a massive depression, starting to write his own diary. Maybe that's because his [[WifeHusbandry Bradbots]] don't want him anymore and are now attracted to the Captain. It tells a lot about his real Casanova abilities but that's to be expected when you are [[HumiliationConga humiliated]] by the ButtMonkey of the game.]]
** [[spoiler: Well, being trapped in a Shoujo manga for three issues being a teacher when you were a super-villian in your previous job can break you down really bad.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: Captain Smiley and Star... possibly.

* WhatTheHellHero: The last stage. Wow.

* {{Yandere}}: The girls of "Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids" don't take it kindly when Captain Smiley tries to take Brad away.
* YaoiFangirl: [=LoLo=], the goth looking cupid. After thanking Smiley for defeating her two sisters, she proclaims she's going to write a super sexy yaoi starring Smiley and Star. They have no idea what she means by that.

* YourMom: She "loves Captain Smiley."

Gameplay consists mainly of traditonal side scrolling whilst shooting anything that moves with the usual platforming and some melee thrown in. The standard action is broken up with on-rail third person shooting and quick time events. The game is very much a nod to the old school shooters of the 16-bit era and their [[NintendoHard harsher]] difficulty. There are no power-ups to restore health inbetween checkpoints but this is offset somewhat by infinite lives.

* StopHelpingMe: Star ''hates'' Captain Smiley and [[FoeYay loves Brad.]]
** Plus Gerda (un)helpfully pointing out when your health is running low.

** Brad looks rather like a beefed-up Sketch Turner from ComixZone.