History VideoGame / Spore

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: The [=PunPun=]. And (much like the trope above)
** Someone on the dev team must really love apes, as a surprising number of Maxis' stock creatures look very [[StealthPun simian]].
** That's just the Maxis-made one; the creature editor has all the tools you need to make more.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Other than the refreshing fact that non-StarfishAliens are rare, absolutely squishy.

* FlowerMouth: The carnivorous mouth part "Dietrap" opens up like a blooming flower with plenty of teeth abound.

** To quote the [=SporeWiki=], the zealot armor is not unlike that of the space marines in TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}.

** The game features a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AA1itwphfM remix]] of the iconic theme from [[{{Videogame/MULE}} M.U.L.E.]], which plays in the communication screen with Trader empires and can also be used as background music in Galactic Adventures.

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** In the Creature stage, the final nest you make it to has a random stick lying on the ground nearby. You end up using it in the cutscene before the Tribal stage as part of the ''[[Film/2001ASpaceOdyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' homage.

** In the Civilization stage, once an opposing Nation gets big enough, you can start a trade route with them as long as they're not at war with you, when they normally have to be friendly with you(Blue Face). This keeps someone trying to win via Economic means from being [[UnwinnableByMistake stonewalled]] if they can't get their relationship with the last opposing nation any higher.

* UnwinnableByMistake: The "Badge Outta Heck" from destroying all Grox colonies used to be impossible to obtain in the game's early history, because the area close to the Galactic Core imposed a 3 parsec limit on travel distance (compared to the maximum 20 parsecs elsewhere), yet the game would spawn stars that were otherwise unreachable with this limit. This prompted Maxis to release an official Expanded Travel Radius mod to correct this. In addition, versions of the game from Patch 1.04 onward would [[ObviousRulePatch remove the travel radius limit]] after you've entered the Galactic Core.

* WingedHumanoid: All too easy to create, and a very good GameBreaker, as flight can easily get you out of dangerous situations in the creature stage and adventures (as well as to deal with [[UnwinnableByMistake poor level design by adventure makers]]). There's even four kinds of wings you can use (each with their own level of power) in the details section.

->How will'' you ''create the universe?

* ThemeTuneCameo: Occasionally, a planet will be accompanied by the ''VideoGame/{{MULE}}'' theme as an EasterEgg.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: [[spoiler:The Grox.]] And how.
* AnimalsHateHim: [[spoiler:The Grox]], again.

* DummiedOut:
** There's a partially-complete aquatic stage that owuld've taken place between the cell and creature stages.
** There's a fourth "Starvivore" diet in the files, which doesn't eat ''anything'' and is the diet ascribed to any creature saved without a mouth. This diet exists purely so you can save a work-in-progress mouthless creature without giving the game another excuse to crash.

** SchmuckBait: The "Bad Baby!" Achievement, which required a creation of yours to get banned from the servers. Unsurprisingly, every {{GIFT}} and their mother created the stuff. It got so bad, ''the achievement was actually deleted''.

* GenderBender: All of the creatures, upon gaining sentience, speak in male-esque voice, with female voice only heard as one of the Economic archetype of the Civilization Stage. None of the voice options in Adventure mode later in the game are gendered (instead they're detemined by pitch), and there is no visible distinction between those who lay eggs and those who don't.

->''How will'' you ''create the universe?''

* SoundtrackDissonance: Galactic Adventures offers some very nice music to use in your adventures, but due to the [[SturgeonsLaw overall quality]] of most adventures, sometimes the music doesn't even belong and will literally drive you nuts.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Other than the refreshing fact that nearly everyone is a StarfishAlien, absolutely squishy.

* {{Stepford Smiler}}s: Judging by the Blocks of Chance, the Bard cultures in Space Stage are this.

* NewsTravelsFast: The very moment you ally with [[spoiler:the Grox]], ''every empire in the galaxy'' will know and [[ThisIsUnforgivable react]] [[ThisMeansWar accordingly.]][[note]] it adds a -200 relation modifier to every empire, causing all but your closest allies to declare war. How your allies react depends on how much you spoiled them before making your [[spoiler:Grox]] alliance. This even applies to species ''[[UpToEleven you uplift afterwards]]''.[[/note]]

** During Creature Stage, the herbivores are always [[HerbivoresAreFriendly friendly and curious]] unless attacked, while the carnivores are always [[PredatorsAreMean aggressive and willing to attack your player]]. In real life, it's actually the inverse; herbivorous animals are likely to be paranoid of predators, hence why they will either be skittish and constantly running or hiding from anything they view as a threat, or (in the case of larger animals such as hippos) [[XenophobicHerbivores have been known to attack other animals even when unprovoked]]. Predators, on the other hand, tend to only attack when hunting or out of defense, due to them saving their energy for when they need it.

** During Creature Stage, the herbivores are always [[HerbivoresAreFriendly friendly and curious]] unless attacked, while the carnivores are always [[PredatorsAreMean aggressive and willing to attack your player]]. In real life, it's actually the inverse; herbivorous animals are likely to be paranoid of predators, hence why they will either be skittish and constantly running or hiding from anything they view as a threat, or (in the case of larger animals such as hippos) have been known to attack other animals even when unprovoked. Predators, on the other hand, tend to only attack when hunting or out of defense, due to them saving their energy for when they need it.

** You're fully capable of ''becoming'' this trope with the Monolith. Whether you're abusive or benevolent is up to you.

* QuarantineWithExtremePrejudice: One of the framing devices for the "Kill 5 Space-Faring Citizens" and "Kill 5 Wild Creatures" missions is that they're infected with a dangerous pathogen and killing them is the only way to contain it. This is also the basis of automatic Bio-Disasters. For the former two, however, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation denying or failing the mission doesn't do more than make the empire who gave it upset with you.]] The latter is the only one where ignoring it will have logical consequences--don't kill the five marked creatures in time, and that species will go extinct and another species will contract the virus; rince and repeat until you either kill the infected or every species on the planet is dead.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Absolutely squishy.

* NotTheIntendedUse: The Warrior's Raider Rally ability is not particularly useful for conquering other planets since the pirates it summons are merely a minor distraction at best. However, if one of your own planets is under attack, it will instantly stop raids from other pirates or enemy empires, and your pirates won't attack you. In addition, players tend to summon pirates just to blow them up for money.