Line #6 Literature/PressStart2016


1	[[quoteright:342:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/game_over_super_rabbit_boy.jpg]]
2
3	''Press Start!'' is a series of children's early chapter books written and illustrated by Thomas Flintham as an AffectionateParody of video games.
4
5	Set inside the world of a series of {{Fictional Video Game}}s a boy, Sunny, plays as part of the FramingDevice, the book series follows Super Rabbit Boy, your stock video game hero, and his video-game-esque adventures facing off BigBad meanie King Viking, all while common (and usually [[GenreThrowback classic]]) VideoGameTropes and {{Shout Out}}s to familiar video games are thrown around (even the characters are a CastOfExpies!).
6
7	Not related to the 2007 film ''[[Film/PressStart2007 Press Start]]'', though both the book series and film are about video games. An AnimatedAdaptation was announced for NBC's Peacock streaming service.
8	----
9	!!! Books released so far:
10	# ''Game Over, Super Rabbit Boy!'' (2016)
11	# ''Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up!'' (2017)
12	# ''Super Rabbit Racers!'' (2017)
13	# ''Super Rabbit Boy vs. Super Rabbit Boss!'' (2018)
14	# ''Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off!'' (2018)
15	# ''The Super Side-Quest Test!'' (2018)
16	# ''Robo-Rabbit Boy, Go!'' (2019)
17	# ''Super Rabbit All-Stars!'' (2019)
18	# ''Super Rabbit Boy's Time Jump!'' (2020)
19	# ''Super Rabbit Boy's Team-Up Trouble!'' (2021)
20	# ''Super Cheat Codes and Secret Modes!'' (2021)
21	# ''Super Rabbit Boy World!'' (2022)
22	# ''Super King Viking Land!'' (2023)
23	# ''Super Game Book!'' (2023)
24	----
25	! ''Press Start!'' series provides examples of:
26	* AffectionateParody: The series is an affectionate parody of video games as whole.
27	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Jody Racer is light-green skinned.
28	* AmbiguouslyBrown: Sunny of the FramingStory and his family has brown skin, yet have no specific racial characteristics.
29	* BewitchedAmphibians: {{Inverted}} with the sad prince, who turns out to be the Frog Knight bewitched under the Evil Wizard's curse.
30	* BigBad: Meanie King Viking, who just wants to defeat Super Rabbit Boy and [[FunHatingVillain destroy happiness]] again and again.
31	* TheBigRace: ''Super Rabbit Racers!'', which parodies ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', has Super Rabbit Boy racing in the Super Cup Grand Prix with friends and foes.
32	* BlandNameProduct: [[Platform/GameBoy Super Funston]] and [[Platform/{{Playstation}} Funstation]] [[Platform/Nintendo64 64]].
33	** Some of the ''Super Rabbit Boy'' games are also this: [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Super Rabbit Boy Land]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI The Legend of Super Rabbit Boy]], [[VideoGame/SuperMarioKart Super Rabbit Racers]], and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins Super Rabbit Boy Land 2]].
34	* CardCarryingVillain: King Viking is evil and proud of it, and reminds his younger self that villains are ''always'' mean.
35	* CastOfExpies: A majority of the characters are based on the familiar video game characters people know and love.
36	** Simon the Hedgehog is the most obvious. [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog He is blue and fast.]]
37	** Super Rabbit Boy himself is based on [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Super Mario]]. They both, when consuming a PowerUpFood item, become taller, stronger, faster, and can jump higher, and of course are your familiar video game hero archetype.
38	** Singing Dog, a white singing dog, is likely based on [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossing K.K. Slider]].
39	** King Viking resembles [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Doctor Eggman]]. They are both mustachioed [[FatBastard fat]] {{Big Bad}}s who engineer [[MechaMook a robot army]] and sometimes ride HumongousMecha. He also resembles [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Wario]] to a lesser extent, for their designs and roles as {{Foil}}s to the hero.
40	** One of the Animal Town villagers, a white mouse, wears Mario's classic "red-overall" outfit.
41	** Pilb the Plob[[spoiler:'s disguise]] is based on the ''VideoGame/PacMan'' ghosts.
42	** The ghosts in ''Robo-Rabbit Boy, Go!'' and their Queen Spooky are based on [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Boo and their King Boo]].
43	** Billip from ''All-Stars'' resembles ''VideoGame/PacMan'' and has a PowerCopying ability like ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}''.
44	* ChekhovsGun: In ''Super Rabbit Boy's Time Jump'', it's mentioned that the Time Crystal takes 20 years to charge, which allows [[spoiler:Super Rabbit Man, Old King Viking, and Super Rabbit Gramps]] to join in the fight from the future.
45	* ADayInTheLimelight: The 13th book revolves around King Viking, who finds himself stranded on an island and needing to get home by fixing Captain Trevor's boat.
46	* DemonicPossession: Queen Spooky's ghost army possesses King Viking's robots, turning them against him.
47	* ElementalPowers: The Blue, Red, and Yellow Power Ups bestow the powers of [[WaterIsBlue wa]][[MakingASplash ter]], [[FireIsRed fi]][[PlayingWithFire re]], and [[LightEmUp light]].
48	* EvilVersusEvil: King Viking hates villainous competition and tries to defeat Queen Spooky himself, especially after she kidnaps Super Rabbit Boy.
49	* FictionalVideoGame: The ''Super Rabbit Boy'' games are all fictional, of course.
50	* FramingDevice: The outer-story has Sunny (and occasionally his family and friends) playing the video game, and his controls influence the main story taking place.
51	* FunHatingVillain: King Viking has never experienced a shred of happiness and wants to destroy the fun of Animal Town.
52	--> ''(from #1)'' He does not like happiness. He does not like fun And he really does not like other people who are happy and fun. Not one bit.
53	* {{Gamebooks}}: ''Super Game Book'' puts the player in charge of the game, guiding Super Rabbit Boy through challenges.
54	* GamerChick: In #2, [[spoiler:Rue, Sunny's younger sister, is able to find the pathway to the third Power Up without a walkthough. Sunny lets her play the rest of the game.]]
55	* GenreThrowback: To old video games of TheEighties and TheNineties. The video game world is presented in an 8-bit {{Retraux}} style, the stories are simple as the {{Excuse Plot}}s of old video games, and classic-style tropes are used often. Sunny even plays the games on {{Bland Name Product}}s of [[TwoDecadesBehind old game consoles]], often a Platform/GameBoy.
56	* GreenHillZone: Animal Town, an area of lush rolling hills serving as the first zone in #1.
57	* GoshDangItToHeck: Super Rabbit Boy often uses "bloop" in place of "OhCrap" or a similar interjection.
58	* HornyVikings: King Viking, obviously. A BigBad with a bushy beard and a horned helmet.
59	* KonamiCode: The Konami Code is used in the 11th book to make Super Rabbit Boy grow super tall.
60	* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: FunnyAnimals, such as Super Rabbit Boy and the residents of Animal Town, are shown to be co-existing with humans such as King Viking and Jody Racer.
61	* TheLostWoods: Wise Woods in #2, a thick forest where the [[WiseTree Wisdom Tree]] lives.
62	* MacGuffinSuperPerson: The Super Power Up in ''Super Rabbit Boy Powers Up!'', said to be the most powerful [[PowerCrystal Power Up]], is what King Viking is pursuing to build his "unbeatable" robot and what Super Rabbit Boy has to find before Viking.
63	* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: #9 has King Viking time-traveling to meet his past self and stop Baby Rabbit Boy from ever gaining his powers.
64	* MaliciousMisnaming: King Viking and his cronies often call Super Rabbit Boy childish misnames such as "Smelly/Pooper Rabbit Boy."
65	* MassivelyMultiplayerCrossover: ''Super Rabbit All-Stars!'' has Super Rabbit Boy competing with other video game heroes and villains in the All-Stars Games Tournament, a parody of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''.
66	* MechaMook: King Viking's Robot Army are the main mooks of the ''Super Rabbit Boy'' games.
67	* MirrorUniverse: The Mirror World in ''Super Rabbit Boy vs. Super Rabbit Boss!'', where King Viking is the hero and Super Rabbit Boy, better known as Boss, is evil.
68	* MonochromePast: {{Flashback}}s are colored in pea green like the Platform/GameBoy.
69	* NintendoHard: In-universe, the first Super Rabbit Boy game is so tough by the end that Sunny doubts he'll ever beat it.
70	* PacManFever: {{Subverted}}. While there are plenty of classic video game tropes, akin to the stereotypical depiction of video games, they are played rather for nostalgia of a good old retro video game days, and the ''Super Rabbit Boy'' games become more complex like modern video games.
71	* ParentalBonus: The series packs plenty of video game references for the parents to be entertained with while reading the books to their children.
72	* PirateGirl: Pirate Princess.
73	* PowerCrystal: The Power Ups happen to be [[AnimateInanimateObject sentient]] examples, created by the Power Princess to reward her people. The Super Power Up is obviously the most powerful ([[spoiler:not really, in which the most powerful turns out to be the Super Mega Power Up, who was created for dire cases and disguised as Plib]]).
74	* RealityWarper: In ''Super Cheat Codes'', the codes Sunny enters in the game warp reality to the characters inside it.
75	* RighteousRabbit: Super Rabbit Boy is the hero of the world and to everyone (except King Viking and Queen Spooky).
76	* RobotMe: Robo-Rabbit Boy to Super Rabbit Boy, who debuts in ''Robo-Rabbit, Boy Go!''
77	* SealedEvilInACan: Queen Spooky was locked inside the Moon Orb long ago, but Super Rabbit Boy accidentally frees her.
78	* ShoutOut: The location of the Moon Orb is a recreation of a typical ''VideoGame/DigDug'' stage.
79	* SpaceEpisode: ''Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off!'' has Super Rabbit Boy going to space on his rocket.
80	* StockAnimalDiet: Rabbit Boy becomes Super Rabbit Boy with {{Power Up\|Food}} carrots.
81	* SuperMode: #2 introduces [[spoiler:Super ''Mega'' Rabbit Boy, Rabbit Boy's giant and rainbowy form as the result of AllYourColorsCombined]].
82	* TimeTravelEpisode: A parody of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' and possibly ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'', ''Super Rabbit Boy's Time Jump!'' has King Viking and Super Rabbit Boy traveling back in time.
83	* VillainTeamUp: ''Super Rabbit Boy's Team-Up Trouble!'' has King Viking join forces with Miss Business to create chaos in Underland, forcing Super Rabbit Boy to team up with Mega Mole Girl to fight them off.

Context Literature / PressStart2016