History VideoGame / MoonRemixRPGAdventure

Very few Westerners had played it upon release due to it [[NoExportForYou being Japanese-language only]] for 23 years. The indie developer Music/TobyFox cites it as an inspiration for ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', and it gained spiritual successors in ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'', ''Endonesia'', ''[=GiFTPiA=]'' and ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo''.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The Invisible Boy's encounters with the Hero are the same scenes that are shown of the ''Fake Moon'' game in the lengthy intro. In some instances, this results in puzzles where the Invisible Boy has to take steps to recreate the scenes to match how the Hero experienced them. [[spoiler:Examples include; the Crazed Dog being Tao, the "legendary armor" being Wanda's underwear, the airship being in fact a rocket ship, and [[ClimaxBoss the Penultimizer]] being everyone on the Moon.]]
* OneWordTitle: ShortTitleLongElaborateSubtitle-style.
* PaintingTheMedium: Bali Bali Island is "the island that time forgot". Once you get there, the clock in the UI disappears and the day-night cycle is put on hold.

* SpiritualSuccessor: After Love-de-Lic folded, each of the game's three designers went on to make their own spiritual successors to ''Moon''. Yoshiro Kimura went on to make ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'', Taro Kudou would make ''VideoGame/{{Endonesia}}'', and Kenichi Nishi made ''VideoGame/{{GiFTPiA}}'' and later ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo''. Common features include taking place in small communities, day-night cycles with locals having their own schedules, bizarre SpeakingSimlish using recordings of human speech, and game progress being tied to helping other people.

Had a WeirdCrossover with ''VideoGame/DandyDungeon''.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After finally completing the rocket to reach the Moon with, you learn from its guardians, the Moon Queen and the Dragon, that the only way to bring back the moonlight is to "[[ArcWords open the door]]". Despite his best efforts, the Invisible Boy fails to open it, much to the guardians' confusion. Just then, The Hero, who snuck aboard the Invisible Boy's rocket, [[KillEmAll kills everyone on the moon]], including the Boy himself, and the Hero then falls apart. The boy then finds himself back in the real world, thanks to his mother waking him up. When given the option to continue playing, if you choose "Yes", you're sucked into the TV, [[ShaggyDogStory the end]]. Choosing not to continue the game ends with the player instead [[AntiEscapismAesop turning off the game and going outside]], since it's still just a game. However, [[GoldenEnding the ending becomes happier]] as the residents of Love-De-Gard (minus the Hero himself) are freed due to everyone with the copies of the game quitting and escape to the real world, while ''Fake Moon'' is revealed to have been canceled by its publishers.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: After Love-de-Lic folded, each of the game's three designers went on to make their own spiritual successors to ''Moon''. Yoshiro Kimura went on to make ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'', Taro Kudou would make ''VideoGame/{{Endonesia}}'', and Kenichi Nishi made ''VideoGame/{{GiFTPiA}}'' and later ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo''. Common features include taking place in small communities, day-night cycles with locals having their own schedules, and game progress being tied to helping other people.

Had a WeirdCrossover with VideoGame/DandyDungeon.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After finally completing the rocket to reach the Moon with, you learn from its guardians, the Moon Queen and the Dragon, that the only way to bring back the moonlight is to "[[ArcWords open the door]]". Despite his best efforts, the Invisible Boy fails to open it, much to the guardians' confusion. Just then, The Hero, who snuck aboard the Invisible Boy's rocket, [[KillEmAll kills everyone on the moon]], including the Boy himself, and the Hero then falls apart. The boy then finds himself back in the real world, thanks to his mother waking him up. When given the option to continue playing, if you choose "Yes", you're sucked into the TV, [[ShaggyDogStory the end]]. Choosing not to continue the game ends with the player instead [[AntiEscapismAesop turning off the game and going outside]], since it's still just a game. However, [[GoldenEnding the ending becomes happier]] as the residents of Love-De-Gard (minus the Hero himself) are freed due to everyone with the copies of the game quitting and escape to the real world, while "Fake Moon" is revealed to have been canceled by its publishers.]]

* DisguisedInDrag: In the "Fake Moon" segment, the Hero must pass Rainbow Rocks by wearing "Legendary Armor". In Love-De-Gard, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the "Legendary Armor" is in fact Wanda's lingerie stolen from the drawer in her bar]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: If you can read the walls of text in "Fake Moon" quickly enough, the final one provides hints to the ending.

** The game starts with "Fake Moon" (known in-universe as just "Moon"), a fictional game which the boy plays and eventually gets sucked into, resulting in becoming part of the game world as the Invisible Boy.

** [[spoiler:Love-de-LIC, the game studio that created "Fake Moon". They're the ones who created the preordained world of Love-De-Gard as dictated through the Rumroms, and the never-ending tragedy of the "Hero" destroying everyone. While they're never confronted directly, they do get comeuppance in the form of their game being cancelled by their publishers.]]

* HelloInsertNameHere: Twofold. You are asked to input a name during the "Fake Moon" segment. This becomes your real name when you enter the game, but when used in capital letters/katakana, it instead refers to Gramby's grandson, so you effectively name both characters at once.

** The boy playing "Fake Moon" is responsible for the havoc wreaked in Moon, as he names and controls the hero during the first playthrough of the game.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The Invisible Boy's encounters with the Hero are the same scenes that are shown of the "Fake Moon" game in the lengthy intro. In some instances, this results in puzzles where the Invisible Boy has to take steps to recreate the scenes to match how the Hero experienced them. [[spoiler:Examples include; the Crazed Dog being Tao, the "legendary armor" being Wanda's underwear, the airship being in fact a rocket ship, and [[ClimaxBoss the Penultimizer]] being everyone on the Moon.]]

* StylisticSuck: The "Fake Moon" segment — the graphics, the overall structure, and the admittedly great music are ''way'' behind what the [=PlayStation=] was capable of, which is understandable as it is a parody of old-school [=RPGs=], especially resembling the NES ''Dragon Quest'' titles.

* WallOfText: Played for laughs. The lengthy intro of "Fake Moon" is almost nothing but massive walls of text filled with jargon and PurpleProse, a transparent parody of overly long, bloated, and cliché-filled RPG stories.

During the September 4th, 2019 episode of ''WebVideo/NintendoDirect'', it was announced that ''Moon: Remix RPG Adventure'' would be re-released by indie studio Onion Games (comprised of the game's original staff) as ''moon'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on October 10th, 2019. An official localization of the game, translated by Creator/TimRogers, was released on August 27th, 2020.

During the September 4th, 2019 episode of ''WebVideo/NintendoDirect'', it was announced that ''Moon: Remix RPG Adventure'' would be re-released by indie studio Onion Games (comprised of the game's original staff) as ''moon'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on October 10th, 2019. An official localization of the game, translated by Tim Rogers, was released on August 27th, 2020.

* WallOfText: Played for laughs. The lengthy intro of "Fake Moon" is full of massive walls of text filled with jargon and PurpleProse, a transparent parody of overly long, bloated, and cliché-filled RPG stories.

* ScrollingText: The too fast version is PlayedForLaughs during the "Fake" Moon segments, because the player is not directly playing the game yet, but playing as the boy playing the game. The boy has no interest in the game's lengthy backstory (itself a transparent parody of overly long, bloated, and cliché-filled RPG stories), so he skips over it before the player gets a chance to read very much of it. Later, when the hero is battling the dragon, the hero ends up attacking so fast, his next attack starts before the text of his previous attack finishes scrolling.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After finally completing the rocket to reach the Moon with, you learn from its guardians, the Moon Queen and the Dragon, that the only way to bring back the moonlight is to "[[ArcWords open the door]]". Despite his best efforts, the Invisible Boy fails to open it, much to the guardians' confusion. Just then, The Hero, who snuck aboard the Invisible Boy's rocket, [[KillEmAll kills everyone on the moon]], including the Boy himself, and the Hero then falls apart. The boy then find himself back in the real world, thanks to his mother waking him up. When given the option to continue playing, if you choose "Yes", you're sucked into the TV, [[ShaggyDogStory the end]]. Choosing not to continue the game ends with the player instead [[AntiEscapismAesop turning off the game and going outside]], since it's still just a game. However, [[GoldenEnding the ending becomes happier]] as the residents of Love-De-Gard (minus the Hero himself) are freed due to everyone with the copies of the game quitting and escape to the real world, while "Fake Moon" is revealed to have been canceled by its publishers.]]

* BookEnds: [[spoiler: "Hey! Stop playing that game, and go to bed!", is said to the boy both in the beginning and at the end of the game by his mom.]]
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler: The Hero is only such an OmnicidalManiac because of the cursed, irremovable armor he was thrust into at the Minister's behest.]]
* CentralTheme: Misinterpretation [[spoiler:and AntiEscapismAesop.]]
** The game starts with the usual things an RPG of its time would do; kill monsters, be praised, and defeat the FinalBoss. After crashing into the game, it's revealed that the Hero is anything but heroic, and most people have bad things to say about him, [[spoiler:due to him being under the control of the armor he wears and the events he sees are ThroughTheEyesOfMadness.]] When Pappa sees the Hero [[spoiler:attacking the Perogon doll, he gets inspired and makes a manga-styled comic about the [[AdaptationalVillainy Perogon being the villain]] and [[AdaptationalHeroism the Hero the hero]]. Adder mistakes the Hero for God, and a monster soul as a divine agent. Everyone mistakes you for Gramby's dead grandson, with a drunken Freddy claiming that he was the one who became the Hero.]] At the end of the game, when given your final choice to continue or to quit, [[spoiler: by picking the obvious answer -- "Yes" -- you get the DownerEnding, while choosing "No" gives you the GoldenEnding.]]
** The game teaches the Invisible Boy important life lessons, such as slowing down to "smell the rose" so to say, following the [=NPCs=] routine to better understand them and gather "love". [[spoiler:However, this is still a game, and these life lessons are meant to be implemented in the real world, not in a game. It's only when the boy quits that the Rumroms dictating the [=NPCs=] vanish and the moonlight is restored. TheStinger even says you can turn the game off now.]]
* CheckpointStarvation: At the beginning of the game, you only have one bed to rest in and a very limited amount of Action Limit per day, so you will constantly have to race against the clock while trying to get things done. Once you activate the Rainbow Machine and unlock the east side of the map, you get a second house to stay at, making it only ever so marginally easier. Eventually, though, as you level up and increase your Action Limit, the need for beds is reduced and by the end of the game they become little more than a FastForwardMechanic.

* DeathsHourglass: The game has a system called "Action Limit", which is a meter that gradually goes down until the player either dies or replenishes it by sleeping in a bed. The meter's capacity increases as the player levels up. There is also a marker on the game's clock HUD which shows the point after which the player will die -- if it's white, then the Invisible Boy has more than 1 day left to live, and if it's red, he will die the next time the clock hand passes the marker. The time of death can also be delayed by consuming a food item.

* DisguisedInDrag: In the "Fake Moon" segment, the Hero must pass Rainbow Rocks by wearing "Legendary Armor". In Love-De-Gard, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the "Legendary Armor" is in fact Wanda's lingerie stolen from the drawer in her bar.]]

* {{Expy}}: A few monsters are expies of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' monsters. In the original trailer for the game, a person dressed up as the hero of Dragon Quest breaking into a person's house is a TakeThat to {{Kleptomaniac Hero}}es.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: In full view, the Hero kills one monster by using a lightning spell that turns the monster into a charred corpse. He then kills another monster by cutting the monster's body with a sword. In the unused ending, [[spoiler: the Hero beheads the Dragon]].

** [[spoiler:The Minister was responsible for picking Gramby's grandson to be the Hero, resulting in the events of the game. Though, as revealed by the Rumroms on the moon, this was programmed into him by Love-de-LIC to serve as the game's background]].

** How to build the perfect firework [[spoiler: hinted at in an incomplete Rumrom tablet/chip; the player must use unintuitive math to arrive at the solution...if they even found the tablet in the first place.]]
** The White-feathered Arrow, to the point where the official guide even says that it has no use. You can find out certain backstory-related information, at least earlier, with it. Yoshida, who typically provides information on items, simply states he "doesn't like the look of it." The rumrom/slate/chip that you found with it provides no clues on how to actually use the item. There are two other characters that have a unique response to it; [[spoiler: the Minister, who recognizes it but in surprise pretends not to, and Bilby, the guard, who gives you the more interesting information, but only when he's at Wanda's bar. Any indication you're supposed to show it to him? Nope.]]
* HelloInsertNameHere: Twofold. You are asked to input a name during the "Fake Moon" segment. This becomes your real name when you enter the game, but when used in capital letters/katakana it instead refers to Gramby's grandson, so you effectively name both characters at once.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: The Minister is responsible for the Hero becoming cursed thus leading to the plot. However, he is never punished for this and is one of the characters that end up in the real world. Then again, he was programmed to do all that by Love-de-LIC as part of the game's background, so he can't really be blamed.]]

* ManOnFire: [[spoiler:Saving Perogon from the Hero has you dress in a costume similar to Perogon and light yourself on fire to divert his attention]].
* MediumAwareness: [[spoiler:Several inhabitants of Moon World are vaguely aware that they might be pre-programmed, with their actions and schedules entirely dictated by "rumroms" -- the in-universe representation of game code.]]

* MoneySink: There are several items expensive items that don't reward any Love.

* MyCard: The King gives the Invisible Boy a card that, when shown, will give the opinion of the king from whomever the Invisible Boy is talking to. The Invisible Boy also ends up getting a lot of cards from other townspeople this way, [[DoubleSubversion though one gives him trash... which has the same function.]]

** You must "catch" the souls of animals and monsters killed by the [[{{Jerkass}} Hero]]. Also, [[spoiler:said Hero ends up killing you and everyone on the moon in the ending.]]

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The Invisible Boy's encounters with the Hero are the same scenes that are shown of the "Fake Moon" game in the lengthy intro. In some instances, this results in puzzles where the Invisible Boy has to take steps to recreate the scenes to match how the Hero experienced them. [[spoiler: Examples include; the Crazed Dog being Tao, the "legendary armor" being Wanda's underwear, the airship being in fact a rocket ship, and [[ClimaxBoss the Penultimizer]] being everyone on the Moon.]]

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: This trope is a very strong element that distinguishes the "Fake" segments from the "Real" segments. In one case, the Hero fights a Crazed Dog in the "Fake" segment, but the "Real" segment reveals that [[spoiler: he was chasing around a dog that belonged to someone. Thankfully, the dog avoids getting hurt.]]
* ScamReligion: Adder offers you an option to skip his training by donating 50,000 Yenom to his church [[spoiler:(which is technically impossible -- you have to pay the whole sum at once, but the game limits the amount of money you can carry at 30,000 Yenom)]].
* ScrollingText: The too fast version is PlayedForLaughs during the "Fake" Moon segments, because the player is not directly playing the game yet, but playing as the boy playing the game. The boy has no interest in the game's lengthy backstory (itself a transparent parody of overly long, bloated and cliché-filled RPG stories), so he skips over it before the player gets a chance to read very much of it. Later, when the hero is battling the dragon, the hero ends up attacking so fast; his next attack starts before the text of his previous attack finishes scrolling.

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: The bad ending. The Hero ultimately can't be defeated, all the Moon's inhabitants, including the Queen and the Dragon, are slain. The Moon's Light isn't restored, and the boy takes the opportunity to enter the game afresh in the hopes things will change -- it's strongly implied they won't.]]

** Papas is a comic book writer and artist. Among his previous works are [[ComicBook/SilverSurfer Platinum Surfer]], [[ComicBook/XMen Z-Men]] and [[ComicBook/{{Spawn}} Scawn]].

** The Hero's sword resembles the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Buster Sword, complete with the two slots for materia.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: After Love-de-Lic folded, each of the game's three designers went on to make their own spiritual successors to Moon. Yoshiro Kimura went on to make ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'', Taro Kudou would make ''VideoGame/{{Endonesia}}'', and Kenichi Nishi made ''VideoGame/{{GiFTPiA}}'' and later ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo''. Common features include taking place in small communities, day-night cycles with locals having their own schedules, and game progress being tied to helping other people.
* TheStinger: Waiting long enough after the credits will trigger three new screens to appear. [[spoiler:The first asks if you found love, the second expresses hope that the Invisible Boy will see you again, and the third tells you to stop playing now]].

* StylisticSuck: The "Fake Moon" segment -- the graphics, the overall structure, and the admittedly great music are ''way'' behind what the [=PlayStation=] was capable of, which is understandable as it is a parody of old-school [=RPGs=], especially resembling the NES Dragon Quest titles.

* TragicVillain: [[spoiler: The Hero is actually just a little boy who was targeted and forced into the cursed armor by the Minister and the castle guards, and who no longer knows how to do anything but kill. After he completes his murderous rampage, his body falls apart, with nothing but his armor left behind.]]

* UpTheRealRabbitHole: Played with in the ending. [[spoiler: Moon World is the inside of a game cartridge, as revealed by the rumroms having data on every inhabitant and their schedules, revealing none of the game's characters are 'real.' When the boy turns off the game and goes outside to apply what he's learned in the real world, the game's characters are able to escape as well and live real lives free from the constraints of the game]].

* WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler:Humans and Moon people used to be friends, but the humans forgot about them for an unknown reason]].

It follows the story of a boy playing an RPG named "[[ShowWithinAShow Fake Moon]]", a game that follows the "Hero's" journey to bring back the moonlight stolen by an evil dragon. Right at the FinalBoss, his mother tells him to go to bed and turn off the game. Just then, the game turns back on, and the boy finds himself sucked into the game's world, Love-De-Gard, albeit now invisible. Here, he discovers what [=NPCs=] actually think of the "Hero" and the various mechanics seen in many, many classic [=RPGs=]. In a dream, the "Invisible Boy" is then given a mission by Queen Aphrodite to gather [[ThePowerOfLove love]] by helping [=NPCs=] and restoring monsters by catching their souls to restore balance that the "Hero" has upset.

* DeconstructionGame: The entire game is a deconstruction of [=RPGs=], with the "Hero" being a tabletop murder hobo before the phrase was popular, and the "combat" is revealed to be bad for the environment. Instead of being focused on the player, with [=NPCs=] who have only a few lines of dialogue, and that a regular player would ignore. Here, the main draw is the [=NPCs=], and instead of fighting anything, you wait for things to happen and gather love to level up. [[spoiler:Even that is deconstructed, as the world you're trapped in is a game, and when given the choice, you must say "No" and quit the game, taking what you learned into the real world, which is also what is needed to return moonlight to Love-De-Gard and free everyone.]]

** The game teaches the Invisible Boy important life lessons, such as slowing down to "smell the rose" so to say, following the [=NPCs=] routine to better understand them and gather "love". [[spoiler:However, this is still a game, and these life lessons are meant to be implemented in the real world, not in a game. It's only when the boy quits that the Rumroms dictating the [=NPCs=] vanish and the moonlight is restored.]]

** The game starts with the usual things an RPG of its time would do; kill monsters, be praised, and defeat the FinalBoss. After crashing into the game, it's revealed that the Hero is anything but heroic, and most people have bad things to say about him, [[spoiler:due to him being under the control of the armor he wears and the events he sees are ThroughTheEyesOfMadness.]] When Pappa sees the Hero [[spoiler:attacking the Perogon doll, he gets inspired and makes a manga-styled comic about the [[AdaptationalVillainy Perogon being the villain]] and [[AdaptationalHeroism the Hero the hero]]. Adder mistakes the Hero for God, and a monster soul as a divine agent.]] Everyone mistakes you for Gramby's dead grandson, [[spoiler:with a drunken Freddy claiming that he was the one who became the Hero.]] At the end of the game, when given your final choice to continue or to quit, [[spoiler: by picking the obvious answer -- "Yes" -- you get the DownerEnding, while choosing "No" gives you the GoldenEnding.]]

** The game starts with the usual things an RPG of its time would do; kill monsters, be praised, and defeat the FinalBoss. After crashing into the game, it's revealed that the Hero is anything but heroic, and most people have bad things to say about him, [[spoiler:due to him being under the control of the armor he wears and the events he sees are ThroughTheEyesOfMadness.]] When Pappa sees the Hero [[spoiler:attacking the Perogon doll, he gets inspired and makes a manga-styled comic about the [[AdaptationalVillainy Perogon being the villain]] and [[AdaptationalHeroism the Hero the hero]]. Adder mistakes the Hero for God, and a monster soul as a divine agent. Everyone mistakes you for Gramby's dead grandson, [[spoiler:with a drunken Freddy claiming that he was the one who became the Hero.]] At the end of the game, when given your final choice to continue or to quit, [[spoiler: by picking the obvious answer -- "Yes" -- you get the DownerEnding, while choosing "No" gives you the GoldenEnding.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:After finally completing the rocket to reach the Moon with, you learn from it's guardians, the Moon Queen and the Dragon, that the only way to bring back the moonlight is to "[[ArcWords open the door]]". Despite his best efforts, the Invisible Boy fails to open it, much to the guardians' confusion. Just then, The Hero, who snuck aboard the Invisible Boy's rocket, [[KillEmAll kills everyone on the moon]], including the Boy himself, and the Hero then falls apart. The boy then find himself back in the real world, thanks to his mother waking him up. When given the option to continue playing, if you choose "Yes", you're sucked into the TV, [[ShaggyDogStory the end]]. Choosing not to continue the game ends with the player instead [[AntiEscapismAesop turning off the game and going outside]], since it's still just a game. However, [[GoldenEnding the ending becomes happier]] as the residents of Love-De-Gard (minus the Hero himself) are freed due to everyone with the copies of the game quitting and escape to the real world, while "Fake Moon" is revealed to have been canceled by its publishers.]]

* DummiedOut: An alternate ending, [[AndYourRewardIsClothes alternate clothes]], and a circus-themed area fell to this trope. However, some pictures of the circus area and the room of the unused ending can be seen when dreaming, although blurred. [[spoiler:The alternate ending has the Hero kill the dragon, realize what he did was wrong, restore all the monsters he harmed, and become said dragon, implying [[EternalRecurrence this will happen again]].]]

Very few Westerners had played it upon release due to it [[NoExportForYou being Japanese-language only]] for 23 years. The indie developer Music/TobyFox cites it as an inspiration for ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', and it gained three spiritual successors in ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'', ''Endonesia'' and ''[=GiFTPiA=]''.

* SpiritualSuccessor: After Love-de-Lic folded, each of the game's three designers went on to make their own spiritual successors to Moon. Yoshiro Kimura went on to make ''VideoGame/{{Chulip}}'', Taro Kudou would make ''VideoGame/{{Endonesia}}'', and Kenichi Nishi made ''VideoGame/{{GiFTPiA}}''. Common features include taking place in small communities, day-night cycles with locals having their own schedules, and game progress being tied to helping other people.

* ArcWords: Along with "[[ThePowerOfLove love]]", which is to contrast the violence found in [=RPGs=] and the "Hero" himself, "open the door" also shows up a lot. [[spoiler:The latter means to bring back the moonlight and free the inhabits of the game world. [[RedHerring Despite how it seems]], the "door" in question is not the one on the Moon, blocked by Rumroms. It's actually the door in the boy's bedroom in the real world.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Hero [[KillEmAll kills everyone on the moon]], including your in-game character. You then find yourself back in the real world, thanks to your mother waking you up. When given the option to continue playing, if you choose "Yes", you're sucked into the TV, [[ShaggyDogStory the end]]. Choosing not to continue the game ends with the player instead [[AntiEscapismAesop turning off the game and going outside]], since it's still just a game. However, [[GoldenEnding the ending becomes happier]] as the residents of Love-De-Gard (minus the Hero himself) are freed due to everyone with the copies of the game quitting and escape to the real world, while "Fake Moon" is revealed to have been canceled by its publishers.]]

* CentralTheme: Misinterpretation [[spoiler:and AntiEscapismAesop.]] The game starts with the usual things an RPG of its time would do; kill monsters, be praised, and defeat the FinalBoss. After crashing into the game, it's revealed that the Hero is anything but heroic, and most people have bad things to say about him, [[spoiler:due to him being under the control of the armor he wears and the events he sees are ThroughTheEyesOfMadness.]] When Pappa sees the Hero [[spoiler:attacking the Perogon doll, he gets inspired and makes an manga style comic about the [[AdaptationalVillainy Perogon being the villain]] and the Hero the hero]]. Adder mistakes the Hero for God, and a monster soul as a divine agent. Everyone mistakes you for Gramby's dead grandson, [[spoiler:with a drunken Freddy claiming that he was the one who became the Hero.]] At the end of the game, when given your final choice to continue or to quit, [[spoiler: by picking the obvious answer -- "Yes" -- you get the DownerEnding, while choosing "No" gives you the GoldenEnding.]]

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The Invisible Boy's encounters with the Hero are the same scenes that are shown of the "Fake Moon" game in the lengthy intro. In some instances, this results in puzzles where the Invisible Boy has to take steps to recreate the scenes to match how the Hero experienced them. [[spoiler: Examples include; the Crazed Dog being Tao, the airship being in fact a rocket ship, and [[ClimaxBoss the Penultimizer]] being everyone on the Moon.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[TagLine Don't Be A Hero\\
Experience The Love\\
Experience moon]]]]

It follows the story of a boy playing an RPG named "[[ShowWithinAShow Fake Moon]]", a game that follows the "Hero's" journey to bring back the moonlight stolen by an evil dragon. Right at the FinalBoss, his mother tells him to go to bed and turn off the game. Just then, the game turns back on, and boy finds himself sucked into the game's world, Love-De-Gard, albeit now invisible. Here, he discovers what [=NPCs=] actually think of the "Hero" and the various mechanics seen in many, many classic [=RPGs=]. In a dream, the Invisible Boy is then given a mission by Queen Aphrodite to gather [[ThePowerOfLove love]] by helping [=NPCs=] and restoring monsters by catching their souls to restore balance that the "Hero" has upset.

It follows the story of a boy playing an RPG named "[[ShowWithinAShow Fake Moon]]", a game that follows the "Hero's" journey to bring back the moonlight stolen by an evil dragon. Right at the FinalBoss, his mother tells him to go to bed and turn off the game. Just then, the game turns back on, and boy finds himself sucked into the game's world, Love-De-Gard, albeit now invisible. Here, he discovers what [=NPCs=] actually think of the "Hero" and the various mechanics seen in many, many classic [=RPGs=]. In a dream, the boy is then given a mission by Queen Aphrodite to gather [[ThePowerOfLove love]] by helping [=NPCs=] and restoring monsters by catching their souls to restore balance that the "Hero" has upset.

* ArtisticLicenseEngineering: The protagonist gets involved in the construction of [[spoiler:a rocket ship]], and is tasked with collecting various materials for it. [[spoiler:The navigation system is built from an old robot's circuit, the ship's engine is made from a single firework, a bottle of alcohol serves as the fuel, the cooling system is built using a fridge fished out of a lake, and a video game console (also found in the same lake) is used as the ship's power console.]]

* BookEnds: [[spoiler: "Hey! Stop playing that game, and go to bed!", is said to the protagonist both in the beginning and at the end of the game by his mom.]]

* ExpressiveHealthBar: When the player character is close to passing out, his sprite will start slouching and the movement speed will significantly decrease.

** The game starts with "Fake Moon" (known in-universe as just "Moon"), a fictional game which the protagonist plays and eventually gets sucked into.

** "Love & Animal" is a [[ShowWithinAShow show within the world of Moon]], making it a show within a game within a game. It is a TV show hosted by Dolottle, who tells you how many animal souls you have saved so far, and can be watched on the TV found in the protagonist's new house.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Subverted. When the Hero attacks Darlia's pet Perogon, the Invisible Boy will attempt to save the creature by putting on a Perogon costume, setting himself on fire, and diverting the Hero's attention to himself. The Hero slashes the costume in half, but the protagonist miraculously survives the hit.]]

* LastSecondEndingChoice: [[spoiler:After the Hero kills everyone on the Moon, including the Invisible Boy, the player is then given the option to continue, yes or no. Continuing actually gives you the ''DownerEnding'', while saying no gives you the GoldenEnding.]]
* ManOnFire: [[spoiler:Saving Perogon from the Hero has you dress in a costume and light yourself on fire to divert his attention]].

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The player's encounters with the Hero are the same scenes that are shown of the "Fake Moon" game in the lengthy intro. In some instances this results in puzzles where the player has to take steps to recreate the scenes to match how the Hero experienced them. [[spoiler: Examples include; the Crazed Dog being Tao, the airship being in fact a rocket ship, and [[ClimaxBoss the Penultimizer]] being everyone on the Moon.]]

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: The bad ending. The Hero ultimately can't be defeated, all the Moon's inhabitants, including the Queen and the Dragon, are slain. The Moon's Light isn't restored, and the player character takes the opportunity to enter the game afresh in the hopes things will change--it's strongly implied they won't.]]

** Hero Bromide can be purchased from Curio for 2000 Yenom. It can be used as the the equivalent of a business card to hear other characters' opinions about the Hero.