History VideoGame / JamesPond

* GameBreakingBug: {{Downplayed}}. There's a glitch that can cause Pond to fall through the solid ground and die from falling to the bottom of the screen. The glitch itself occurs randomly, but one way it can intentionally be triggered is to try and pick up a jetpack while standing upside-down when the ceiling and ground are close enough.*

[[folder: All three games]]

[[folder: ''James Pond: Underwater Agent'']]

[[folder: ''James Pond 2: Codename [=RoboCod=]'']]

[[folder: ''James Pond 3: Operation [=StarFI5H=]'']]

* GameBreakingBug: {{Downplayed}}. There's a glitch that can cause Pond to fall through the solid ground and die from falling to the bottom of the screen. The glitch itself occurs randomly, but one way it can intentionally be triggered is to try and pick up a jetpack while standing upside-down when the ceiling and ground are close enough.

* NonLethalBottomlessPit: As stated above, the bottomless pits only take away one of James' energy, and don't kill him instantly unless it's his last hit.

* NintendoHard: The first game... wooo, where do we begin? Enemies that rapidly appear and attack, invisible jellyfish that suck your life without you knowing, and no mercy-invincibility means that Pond will die very fast, especially in the later stages.

* {{Snowlems}}: They appear as enemies.[[spoiler: Dr. Maybe himself operates a Snowman mech suit as the FinalBoss.]]

* AxCrazy: One of the enemies, "Alan [=McRat=]", DrivesLikeCrazy and tries to run over Pond.[[spoiler: Dr. Maybe himself becomes a non-violent variant during his VillainousBreakdown if you get the good ending when in Sandbox Mode, where he quotes Darth Vader and claims he's been playing ''I-Spy with his Uncle Frank!'']]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* [[spoiler: LukeIAmYourFather: {{Subverted}}, Dr. Maybe was simply losing it.]]

* MiningForCookies: Mining cheese from the moon is Dr. Maybe's goal. It's {{Justified}} since the Moon is (albeit not only) [[CheesyMoon actually made of cheese]], but he apparently wants a specific, edible kind (which is ''also'' justified, since stepping and walking on the regular soil would probably get it inedibly dirty). There are four levels in the game taking place at Cheese mines, which when cleared, become permanently inaccessible. [[spoiler: The Mines are actually a cover-up for Dr. Maybe's real plan, which is extracting presumably ''radioactive'' cheese, Stiltonium, to make bombs with.]]

** [[spoiler: Shut down the mines but forget to destroy the stiltonium machines and [[ItsAWonderfulFailure Dr. Maybe attacks the Earth with incredibly-smelly cheese bombs.]] It's also implied he ''kills'' James Pond by turning him into canned fish meat!]]
** The last two are good endings that only differ in Dr. Maybe's dialogue. If you beat the game without cheating, Dr. Maybe simply goes on a rant about how his schemes are constantly ruined despite his effort. The ''other'' good ending, which strangely only happens if you use the Sandbox Mode cheat password, [[spoiler: has Dr. Maybe [[VillainousBreakdown going nuts and quoting]] [[Franchise/StarWars quoting Darth Vader]] by claiming [[LukeIAmYourFather "I am]] [[BlatantLies your father..."]] and then claiming ''he's been playing I-Spy with his Uncle Frank!'']]

* PutOnAPrisonBus:[[spoiler: Unlike the previous two games, Dr. Maybe gets sent to jail at the end.]]
* SecretLevel: There's '''lot''' of them in this game. Most of which can be accessed by a Micro-map item that resembles a face with blue curtain bangs. Some micro-maps open up a whole series of levels, some of which have a Micro-map in them too! Although all but one of the secret levels directly accessed by a micro-map have a fake micro-map that does nothing. [[spoiler: One of the secret levels can only be accessed by falling into a certain pit, and it ends up at the last level, Neopolitan Peninsula.]]

** [[spoiler: If you get the good ending while playing in Sandbox Mode, you get not only a good, but a funny ending where Dr. Maybe has a psychotic breakdown and quotes Darth Vader, saying "I am your father..."]]

* EdibleAmmunition: Pond now can use a fruit gun he either must find on the ground or take from certain mouse enemies. There are five different fruit ammo, two pairs of which are virtually identical; apples (the default ammo) and cherries are balanced, oranges and onions/lemons(?) are rapid-fire, and cupcakes are homing bullets.

* AbnormalAmmo: Returning from the first game after being absent from ''[=RoboCod=]'', Pond can shoot enemies again, but with a fruit gun he needs to find first. There are five different fruit ammo, two pairs of which are virtually identical; apples (the default ammo) and cherries are balanced, oranges and onions/lemons(?) are rapid-fire, and cupcakes are homing bullets.

* MascotWithAttitude: It was the 90s, after all. The very heyday of the animal-mascot platformer started by [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog a certain blue rodent]]. Though James Pond [[OlderThanTheyThink actually predates Sonic,]] as ''Underwater Agent'' was released for the Amiga in 1990. Also unlike most examples is that he's not TotallyRadical so much as {{Camp}}y

* ExpressiveHealthBar: The games have expressive ''life count'', with James's expression on the heads-up display reflecting the number of remaining lives (which in the first two games he counts with his fingers).

* NoFairCheating: Averted with one of ''James Pond 3'''s Good Endings, which if you use the cheat password, gives you an otherwise normal good ending where [[spoiler:[[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny Dr. Maybe goes delirious]] and starts quoting Darth Vader. ]]The closest thing to this trope you get is a "Now try without cheating!" message that appears ''after'' the enemy list and credits.

** [[spoiler: If you get the good ending while playing in Sandbox Mode, you get not only a good, but a [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfFunny funny]] ending where Dr. Maybe has a psychotic breakdown and quotes Darth Vader, saying "I am your father..."]]

* GreenAesop: Most levels are about James Pond trying to prevent the destruction of the environment or extinction of endangered species.

* WarpZone: Two levels in the game, "The Chunnel" a NintendoHard yellow cheese cave that [[PointOfNoReturn will trap you]] in the first world, and "The Lost Caves", another cave level very late in the game (in the Blue cheese world), have these. For the former, it's the only way to get out, where it takes you to "Nether Slimeswold", but for the latter, it takes you to a SecretLevel not accessible by a Micro-map, "The Long Tunnel", which itself has a WarpZone going to the final level, "Neopolitan Peninsula". The [=McVitie's=] Penguin biscuit ProductPlacement also returns from ''RoboCod'' in a level exclusive to the Amiga versions that can be accessed through one of these in the second level, "East of Edam".

* LaserGuidedKarma:[[spoiler: Unlike the previous two games, Dr. Maybe gets sent to jail at the end.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: A really mild one, but the game gets away with a single use of "[[PrecisionFStrike damn]]" if you beat a boss. This password screen is different from the one you get if you get a save beacon in an otherwise normal level.