History VideoGame / IWannaBeTheGuy

* NintendoHard: Ironically, in order to make the game beatable, you have infinite lives and there are even save points. This is an almost unprecedented level of accommodation in the sidescrolling genre, but it's justified since, well, it really ''would'' be (almost) impossible without them (which is indeed exactly what Impossible mode does). To put this in perspective, [[spoiler:Mike Tyson, one of the most difficult final bosses in video game history, is probably the ''easiest'' boss in IWBTG.]]

* OrphanedSeries: It seems that ''I Wanna Save The Kids'' was canceled.

* UnbuiltTrope: The game was a primal inspiration for tons of PlatformHell video games, spawning many fangames and indie games with extremely difficult platforming. However, ''I Wanna Be the Guy'' is different in design from most games that followed. The game itself is quite easier than its imitators; the real challenge comes from its {{Troll}} design, which intentionally baits the players who are used to ordinary video game languages. As the creator talked in the [[https://iwbtg.kayin.moe/faq.html official FAQ]], it's "a game about subversion" and "humor driven game", while avoiding unnecessarily brutal game design to keep the player invested. By comparison, a lot of fangames try to squeezed random and incredibly hard traps as many as possible, thereby missing the point of this game somewhat. In addition, many games like ''VideoGame/MeatBoy'', ''VideoGame/OneThousandAndOneSpikes'', and VideoGame/Celeste enjoyed even bigger critical success than this game, but while they're also occasionally light-hearted and funny, they play the platforming straight, lacking the ironic humor in ''I Wanna Be the Guy'' that criticized the unfair TrialAndErrorGameplay in retro games.

* TitleDrop
--> '''The Kid:''' [[spoiler:Former Grandfather The Guy! You killed him!]]\\
[[spoiler:'''The Guy:''' Just as you will try to kill me, or be killed yourself!]]\\

* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:The Moon]], despite what you may think upon reaching the first boss of The Guy's castle.

* {{Unskippable Cutscene}}s:
** If you don't want to go nuts from having to watch [[spoiler:Mike Tyson rise up]] every time you die, remember, the "S" key is your friend. Perhaps just as well, considering [[spoiler:Dracula can kill you with his goblet during the cutscene before the fight with him]].
** However, the lengthy intros to the Kraidgief and Bowser fights can't be skipped. For the former, this is actually good, as you can shoot his head for a bit once he roars, which wouldn't happen if you skipped it. For the latter, this is due to it being a three-part boss.

** The remaster's border window replicates the look of Windows XP, which was the most popular operating system at the time.

* WorldOfBadass: This would seem to be a requirement for The Guys. Just look at the portrait gallery of Former The Guys: [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]], [[VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Lu]] [[VideoGame/DynastyWarriors Bu]], [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ryu Hayabusa]], [[VideoGame/FinalFight Mike Haggar]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear Big Boss]], ''[[VideoGame/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck]]'', [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]], '''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]]''', etc. If, despite all odds, you manage to beat the game, ''you'' deserve this title.

* WorldOfBadass: This would seem to be a requirement for The Guys. Just look at the portrait gallery of Former The Guys: [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]], [[VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Lu]] [[VideoGame/DynastyWarriors Bu]], [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ryu Hayabusa]], [[VideoGame/FinalFight Mike Haggar]], [[Franchise/MetalGear Big Boss]], ''[[VideoGame/DuckTales Scrooge McDuck]]'', [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]], '''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Kenshiro]]''', etc. If, despite all odds, you manage to beat the game, ''you'' deserve this title.

* ToTheBatNoun: Every single room in the Castle Of The Guy has a placard reading "...Of The Guy."

%% * FinalBoss: The Guy.

* RunningGag: The downward-, upward-, sideways-falling, targeted and homing [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Delicious Fruit]].

%%* ToBeAMaster

* LongSongShortScene: There's a ton of great 8-bit music in this game. The problem is that, with death so frequent, you'll inevitably only hear the first few bars on each life. Even {{speedrun}}s tend to fall prey to this, as after saving, many runners either reset the save to get a predictable cycle (usually involving moving platforms) or reset the whole game to prevent a crash.

* ClassicVideoGameScrewYous: Practically a thesaurus [[labelnote:*]]Why thesaurus? Because an encyclopedia is more in depth, and a dictionary is too short on each entry. [[RuleOfFunny And because it's funnier.]][[/labelnote]] of them. Cheap deaths, out of place spikes, being a OneHitPointWonder, you name it.

** There's [[UpToEleven a set of them that lifts out of the ground and becomes a wall of death which also causes fruit to fire in your direction]].

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the remake, the infamous "YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD, YOU RETARD!" line has been replaced with "YOU JUMPED INTO A SWORD, YOU DUMBASS!"