Here's a list of the allies and enemies found within the Tower of Barbs.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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Uncle Death
- "Senpai! I was waiting for you!"
A skateboarding otaku who may or may not actually be The Grim Reaper. While in the arcade, he operates the DEATH DRIVE 128 console. In the actual game itself, he runs the Fighter Freezer - getting new Fighters and eliminating unwanted ones.
Voiced by: Jukka Hilden (English), Kenta Hamano (Japanese)
- Affably Evil: He's plotting to wipe out humanity with the moon itself, but in spite of this, he's genuinely friendly and easy to get along with.
- Almighty Janitor: He's just a Messenger from the Underworld, but he has enough ability and clout to be deemed worthy of the responsibility of wiping out mankind.
- Ambiguously Human: He appears to be some guy wearing a grim reaper getup... but the outfit covers his entire body and his glasses hide whether or not his face is an actual face or just an elaborate mask. Note, he appears this way in both the Arcade and within the "game". And his talking animations don't reveal much either.
- With some glasses he wears you can see his eyes, and they're also plainly visible during the final escalator ride to the top floor, where one projection of Uncle Death isn't wearing glasses at all. His skull appears to be just a mask, as he has a "regular" mouth between the teeth if you look closely. On the other hand, talking to him in the arcade will sometimes make him mention he apparently doesn't have any organs, though this could just be a lie.
- And the Adventure Continues: After you impress him with your fighting prowess, he foregoes his earlier designs to kill all humans in favor of playing more Let It Die with you.
- Anti Anti Christ: He becomes this after the player impresses him and goes back to playing video games.
- Becoming the Mask: His cheery, encouraging character becomes increasingly genuine as the game goes on.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Despite his goofy attitude and appearance, he still casually one-shots the enemy who kills you in the game's tutorial. He does it again to what was meant to be the game's Final Boss, without even looking at it.
- Bragging Rights Reward: You can get a blueprint for his Grim Reaper's Scythe (a 2-handed Five-Star Weapon that can do an insane amount of damage), but only after completing the Stamp Rally. Since that requires defeating the final boss, you won't get to use the scythe for much of anything other than Tokyo Death Metro operations and post-end exploring.
- Chainsaw Good: Uses a small chainsaw to dispose of unwanted characters in the Fighter Freezer.
- Chess with Death: Evokes the classic image, but with a video game set between the two of you instead of a chess board. He's also there to help rather than compete or so it seems.
- Cool Shades: Has a whole bunch of them, and puts on a different pair practically every time he appears on screen. He even gains a new pair once you beat the game, with cake shaped frames that say "Congratulations" on them.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the true head of the Yotsuyama Group and is plotting to exterminate mankind, though he eventually discards the plan after becoming impressed by the player's capacity for stylish bloodshed. The way his company operates still remains ethically dubious, however.
- Cosplay: Over the course of the game, it's ambiguous as to whether he's the actual Uncle Death, a fan dressed like him, or a Yotsuyama Enterprise employee in a mascot costume. Until the end anyway.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Yes, he’s the Grim Reaper and is tasked with killing off all humanity. However, he forgoes this plan and is actually just a videogame obsessed otaku.
- Dark Reprise: His interactions with the player character once they reach the top eerily mirror the exact movements and shots used during his introduction.
- Deface of the Moon: Prefaces his Colony Drop scheme by hitting the Moon with a golf ball from the top of the tower.
- Dirty Old Man: As the Grim Reaper, he's rather old in spite of how spry he is. As the CEO of Yotsuyama Enterprises, he has many of his female employees such as Momoko, Kiwako, Rin, and Jackal Z (who he has a crush on) dress in revealing outfits with Naomi being the only exception. In addition, the underwear of the female Fighters his company produces doesn't fully cover their rears.
- Expy: Uncle Death's accent and role as the Game Master in a Chess with Death type scenario may be a reference to the Swedish film The Seventh Seal.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Chides you for wondering why he wants to wipe out mankind, reminding you that he straight up introduced himself as Uncle DEATH when the two of you first met. Ultimately subverted when he decides he likes you too much.
- Game Master: Basically a modern version. He gives the player the main campaign, set him up in the hub, brings the characters you can play.
- Golf Clubbing: His scythe retracts and becomes a golf club. There's even a golfing game starring him in the background of the arcade.
- The Grim Reaper: Maybe. It's unknown if he's the actual Grim Reaper or just some guy in a very elaborate costume.
- Heel–Face Turn: Was plotting to destroy the Earth, but by the time you reach the top he's decided he likes you too much as a friend to actually go through with it.
- Hypocritical Humor: Despises mankind's murderous and greedy nature, but adores flashy displays of violence.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Kills the Final Boss for you and decides to spare mankind because he loves the way you fight.
- In the Hood: His outfit has TWO of them, but he only uses one.
- Let No Crisis Go to Waste: He didn't cause the Earth Rage or create the Tower of Barbs, but he was all too quick to tweak the structure so that the deaths of everyone who fought inside would eventually cause the Moon to crash into the Earth.
- Mission Control: Gives you tips with his e-mails and smartphone calls, sends you an Uncle Prime box daily and manages the in-game Fighter Freezer.
- One-Hit Kill: How he deals with the Screamer that kills your first character and how he slays the Final Boss that would've killed your last one.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's oddly sarcastic whenever you beat a Don and outright hinders you in the lead-up fights to Taro by stealing your equipment, even sitting next to him as they watch you battle the Haters and COEN he gave it to.
- Otaku: He likes Japanese culture and even goes so far as to call you senpai.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's bar none the most powerful entity in the game, one-shotting the hunter that kills you in the tutorial as well as the true final boss, but he's also pretty short in comparison to the other characters.
- Shameless Self-Promoter: Calls Let It Die one of the greatest games ever made as he tries to get you to play it again, later indirectly admitting that he's its in-game mascot. He embodies this trope even more when it's revealed that he not only made Let It Die, but the DEATH DRIVE 128 via his company, the Yotsuyama Group.
- Sinister Scythe: He's got a scythe, of course, but it retracts its blade to become a golf club.
- This Cannot Be!: He never actually expected that you'd actually make it to the top of the Tower of Barbs.
- Totally Radical: His skateboard, hoodie, shoes, x-ray glasses, and other "counter-culture" accoutrements are all meant to obfuscate the fact that he's a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: A very subtle example. It's Finnish, if you were wondering.
The Hater Arcade
An 80s retro arcade within the Shibuya District of Tokyo, complete with the classic blue and pink neon look. May or may not be the real setting of the game.
Meijin
- "My win streak's gonna be written about in sonnets and poetry for like a long time."
A fighting game fanatic and the spokesman for the DEATH DRIVE 128 game console.
Voiced by: Josh Keaton
- '80s Hair: Meijin has a mass of curly hair, which may or may not be a Jheri curl, poking out from under his trucker's cap.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: The visuals showcased during the escalator ride to the top of the Tower of Barbs imply that all of the Meijin Tips were given to him by Uncle Death before you started the game, and that Meijin never actually made to the end either.
- Hammerspace Hair: He keeps his gaming tips inside gatcha balls hidden in his hair.
- Green-Eyed Monster: His tips get really aggressive when you obtain Jackal gear as he fears you might surpass him.
- Hero of Another Story: By the time you get your hands on Let It Die, Meijin's already beaten it several times. Which, you are quick to learn, is no small feat. Then you find out from Uncle Death that you are the only person who's ever made it to the top of the tower.
- Hint System: He functions as this, giving out hints from time to time for stuff that isn't in the tutorial messages.
- Nice Guy: Despite being an egotistical gaming veteran, he is actually friendly and polite towards the player, and he gives them tips to help their journey through the Tower.
- Otaku: He's a popular enough fighting game player that he was hired to be the spokesperson for the new DEATH DRIVE 128 video game console.
Naomi Detox
- "Who keeps sticking gum under the counter? Oh that's mine, hmhm."
The clerk for the Hater Arcade. Doesn't exactly want to be there, but a job's a job.
Voiced by: Kelly Stables
- Does Not Like Spam: She's quick to say she does NOT like mushrooms.
- Gamer Chick: Thoroughly averted. She knows nothing of the medium and spends her time texting while behind the counter, just incidentally working at a retro arcade.
- Gossipy Hens: May be one, if one of her interactions over the phone is any indication ("He did what with who and where?!").
- Motor Mouth: She talks a lot.
- Nightmare Fetishist: In spite of her dislike of "emo" things, she nonetheless finds Uncle Death's "perfect skeleton face" extremely attractive.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Like almost everyone else in the game, she works for Yotsuyama Enterprises, an organization she claims to know nothing about.
- Quest Giver: Her laptop has quests that can be completed for rewards. Since she claims to know nothing about games themselves, the app may be completely automated (hence why she spends all her time texting).
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: She's quick to deny knowing what the Yotsuyama Group is, and is a pretty Bad Liar about it.
- Valley Girl: She talks like this, complete with the "my boyfriend's a douche, I hate him; oh wait, he just texted me, I love him" routine.
Mother Barbs
A weird jukebox machine associated with the Let It Die game.
Voiced by: Loraine Newman
- Exposition Dump: As you proceed through the Tower, tape logs are unlocked that explain stuff about the Tower itself and the beings within it. She's also the one to explain the true intentions of Uncle Death as you ride the final escalator to the top floor.
- Sensory Abuse: The visuals of the videos played by Mother Barbs are often harsh, utilizing sharp monochromatic contrasts, and animated in very strange and at times unsettling ways.
The Tower of Barbs Waiting Room
The first basement floor is the lowest section of the Tower, hosting innumerable Waiting Rooms to house all the people who want to climb the Tower.
Mushroom Magistrate
Voiced by: Isabelle Fuhrman
Momoko Yamada, now known as the "Mushroom Magistrate", a former backpacker and foremost expert on mushrooms. Runs the Mushroom Club within the Tower of Barbs.
- Body Paint: She's covered in dark blue and white lines...that is paint, right?
- Butt-Monkey: Introduced pinned under a metal grate on the first level of the game. After you join the Tokyo Death Metro, your Waiting Room might be susceptible to raids. If a raid on your base succeeds, then the stalls and some of your equipment gets roughed up. Except for Momoko's. Her booth gets set on fire.
- The Cameo: In-universe example as she's the protagonist of Mushroom Cop, another Yotsuyama Enterprises video game that can be found in the Hater Arcade. Or she might be an actress paid to look the part.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She's been driven insane by the mushrooms she's consumed over the years and regards them with a nearly fanatical religious fervor. She's even set up shop in the Tower of Barbs, not for the treasure rumored to be at the top, but just for all the weird varieties of mushrooms that grow within it.Momoko: Without mushrooms there is no glory, there is nothing, there is no love, nothing makes SENSE!
- A bit of Fridge Brilliance that some fungi do have some hallucinogenic properties.
- The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Though her worship of mushrooms is without a doubt fanatical, she is technically right to think they're extremely powerful. The higher and higher you climb the tower, the more you'll realize just how powerful they can be against bosses, especially combining stingstrooms with guardshrooms or transparagus.
- The Immodest Orgasm: She sounds like she's in ecstasy whenever she talks about mushrooms...and mushrooms are all she talks about.
- Ms. Fanservice: She used to be a backpacker famed for her beauty. As to whether she's still one now, that depends on your views toward her tattoos, gas mask, warped body chemistry, and general madness.
- Otaku: One obsessed with mushrooms. She even has her hair cut into a bob that resembles a mushroom cap.
- Post-Apocalyptic Gas Mask: Wears one with large bull horns on the sides.
- Power Tattoo: Can create and sell these to the player.
Kommodore Suzuki
- "Welcome. Our express service is all you need to climb the tower."
A mysterious man who runs the Chokufunsha shop. He mainly serves as an equipment engineer, researching and upgrading new equipment from blueprints found in the Tower.
Voiced by: Maxwell Powers
- The Blacksmith: Give him a blueprint and the right supplies, and he'll make anything.
- Cool Shades
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: Inverted. He has a Hitler 'stache, which falls neatly on the "Dangerous" end of the spectrum, but is one of the friendliest and most useful characters you'll meet.
- Foreshadowing: Bears the Yotsuyama Group symbol on his clothing, giving you a very early hint as to who everyone in the Tower (besides you and Uncle Death) works for.
- Post-Apocalyptic Gas Mask: He wears one made of glass.
- Sibling Rivalry: After your first visit to his brother's shop in the tower, he'll remark that his brother is pretty good... for an idiot.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He looks like Hitler with a bowl cut.
Kiwako Seto
- "Another new arrival... looks like things are about to get busy around here."
An insurance saleswoman working for Direct Hell Insurance.
Voiced by: Daveigh Chase
- Cool Bike: She rides a red moped stylized to look like a Tengu, a type of youkai with a very long nose and red skin.
- Game-Over Man: She greets you when you die.
- Nice Girl: So far, one of the few friendlier characters in the game, even cheerfully describing how awesome the player’s death was and becomes saddened when the player declines to be revived. However she does carry a revolver and several throwing knives for protection.
- Post-Apocalyptic Gas Mask: She normally doesn't wear one, but dons one whenever the player defeats a Don, so she can snap a picture with them and Uncle Death.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted. She's a complete sweetheart.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: She's seen with a revolver at her side for protection.
Rin Torai
- "I am not well versed when it comes to escalators."
Another DH employee. She works as the DH Express elevator operator, which said elevator can only be accessed by people with DHE memberships.
- Voiced by: Jenny Shima
- And I Must Scream: She's been stuck inside the DH Express Elevator for 20 years. Or so she says. Subverted as she doesn't seem to mind it.
- Covert Pervert: She likes the smell of you and offers to show you her tattoo which is presumably (as none are visible on her exposed flesh) under her clothes.
- Hot Coffee Minigame: Her character model has nipples underneath her uniform
◊ that you can see by the camera a certain way so that her clothes clip out of view.◊ - No Social Skills: She is hilariously bad at small talk. Sometimes she'll simply comment on how the elevator's doors are locked from the inside or how no one has put a threat on her life apropos of nothing.
- Post Apocalyptic Gasmask: Completely averted. Rin is one of the few people in the Tower that doesn't wear a filtration mask. One of her dialogues reveals that the elevator functions as a Class 100 cleanroom, meaning it's constantly being filled with heavily filtered air.
- Sole Survivor: She claims to be the only one who survived the Earth Rage disaster.
Tetsuo
- "Here we go! Thank you for using the Tokyo Death Metro."
An electronic mannequin within the Waiting Room that runs the Tokyo Death Metro, allowing players to raid each other's Waiting Rooms.
- Voiced by: Jon Sabay
- Creepy Doll: He has the look - glowing eyes, large permanent grin. He's completely harmless, though.
- Hook Hand: His left hand.
- Perpetual Smiler: Being a mannequin, he actually can't make any other face, even when he's distressed by your base being attacked or your fighter being captured.
Captain Yotsuyama
Yotsuyama Enterprises' official spokesperson and company mascot, the good Captain leaves players game hints and updates them on potential events and rewards via e-mails sent to the Underworld Rolodex.
- The Cape
- Corporate-Sponsored Superhero
- The Face: Of the otherwise mysterious and sinister Yotsuyama Group. Vandalism done on his image in the tutorial letters hints that his facade isn't 100% foolproof.
- The Ghost: So far, he's yet to appear in person though you'll hear from him often.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice
- Red Is Heroic
The Tower of Barbs Proper
A massive tower settled on a 3.7 square mile island in the remains of South Tokyo. Said to hold a world-altering treasure at the top, but is filled with all sorts of nasty shit. It stands an estimated 1,686 feet (514 meters) tall, although rumor has it that the Tower is still getting taller.
Fighters
Player-controlled characters who operate within the tower as avatars of the players.
- Bling of War: The more highly upgraded a weapon or piece of armor is, the brighter its color palette and (sometimes) the more fanciful its design.
- Body Horror: They have several holes in their bodies through which the Mingo Head injects...something when leveling up, as well as a light embedded just below their collarbone.
- Bottomless Magazines: Usually averted except in the case of goretastic moves which don't consume ammo from the weapons used to perform them.
- Combat Pragmatism: Stomp enemies on the ground, throw dirt in the enemies eyes with a pickaxe and suplexing unaware enemies are just the start. The game wants you to be vicious.
- Critical Hit Class: The Lucky Star class whose high Luck rating also helps them snag more items and currency from enemy drops and Expeditions.
- Dual Wielding: Fighters are more than capable of having two of the same one-handed weapon, and can chain combo attacks together if both weapons are the same.
- Glass Cannon: The Attacker class, which has Strength and Dexterity almost on par with Strikers and Shooters, but has meagre reserves of HP.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Armor sets frequently come with a number of accessories including a variety of pouches, backpacks, tools, and even weapons that can't be used in any way.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: If no weapons are equipped, or if their current weapon breaks, Fighters default to just punching the living daylights out of whatever's in their way. At higher mastery levels, it's actually incredibly effective.
- Groin Attack: The Welding Gun's Goretastic Finisher involves frying the enemy's limbs in place before aiming the tool at their crotch and pulling the trigger.
- The Gunslinger: The Shooter class. However, with the way damage scaling works, they're also adept with weapons that require high Dexterity to use.
- Heroic Mime: Downplayed. They'll yell obscenities at their enemies and tell them to die, but they fall silent whenever they're interacting with Uncle Death or the Dons.
- Improbable Weapon User: When they use the more exotic DOD Arms and MILK weapons. War Ensemble and Candle Wolf equipment is significantly more conventional.
- I Shall Taunt You: Every class has a unique taunt that has no purpose other than to shame your enemies. It usually involves dancing.
- Machete Mayhem: Jungle Machetes are an absurdly powerful bladed weapon, which swing fast and can cleave through most enemies like wet tissue paper. At higher mastery levels, Fighters can perform a leaping slash and execute a finishing blow at the end of their combo. Meijin himself even calls it OP.
- The Many Deaths of You: Your Fighters are just as susceptible to the dozens of Goretastic Finishers as any Screamer, Hater, Defender or Hunter.
- One Bullet Left: A rage move gives an extra, more powerful shot even if the gun is empty. It can e done before the magazine is empty but rage moves destroys durability and so is better as a last shot.
- Poisonous Person: Can wield Poisoned Weapons in battle and the Poison Eater decal can cause them to get healed when poisoned.
- Powerful Pick: The Combat Pickaxe is a two-handed weapon with a powerful downward smash, which can instantly kill low-level screamers and take down bosses in a handful of hits. Upping the mastery level allows Fighters to throw sand into the opponent's eyes, or charge up the smash for even more power.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Magnums are two-handed guns that are devastatingly powerful, especially with headshots. The rage move fires off a shot that doesn't consume any ammo, so it's completely possible to fire seven rounds from a six-round chamber.
- Rummage Sale Reject: You'll be dressing them in whatever pieces of armor you can forge, buy, or find. A lot of which doesn't match. There are however decals that give defensive bonuses for dressing head-to-toe in gear from a specific brand.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Though not nearly as much as Haters, they have some filthy mouths.
- Stone Wall: The Defender class. High vitality and HP and, if equipped with the nail gun (who scales with vitality), they can shoot fifty nails non-stop before reloading and can take the hits while reloading.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: The Buzzsaw Knuckles which combine the aforementioned buzzsaw (for punching), a power drill (for slamming down), and even detachable saw blades (for a ranged attack).
- Super-Soldier: Implied by Mother Barbs to be the result of a super soldier project created at the site the Tower of Barbs emerged from.
- Super-Strength: Can effortlessly break Screamers in half with their deltoids muscle only. Justified as they were designed to be killing machines.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Can engage in this with the taunt button.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Can suplex or frankensteiner unaware screamers.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Your Fighter Freezer can only hold so many characters, so when you get the option to buy higher grade fighters, the only way to clear up space is to "release" your inferior troops.
Screamers
Feral Fighters who inhabit the Tower. Their gears and level changes each time you load their area.
- Artificial Stupidity: The only "trap" they'll ever dodge are sections of the floor that are on fire and they'll willingly walk through exposed wires, poison clouds, landmines, automated turret fire, steep cliffs, and other hazards during patrols and pursuits.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Once they see you they will rush through flames and blades to attack you, unless you disappear from their sight they will pursue you to the end of the area. Even the ones armed with guns or other ranged weapon will charge at you if you take cover instead of waiting.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: If hit hard, fast, and often enough, Screamers are liable to flee from your Fighters although this is a rare occurrence.
- Ax-Crazy: Completely feral.
- Body Horror: Mushrooms are growing on them when they die and they have blue skin.
- Dual Wielding: Screamers on the higher floors of the Tower gain this ability.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Being weaker versions of fighters.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Like the Fighters they were experiment to create soldiers from dead bodies. But unlike the Fighters that you keep locked in a freezer, they broke free and roam the tower. The Dons reanimate them every time they are killed.
- Improbable Weapon User: They use the same equipment as you.
- Our Zombies Are Different: They're feral, reanimated corpses with purple-tinged skin, but they're smart enough to use weapons and retain the mobility of a fully living person.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Have glowing red eyes, and even the bar on their chest is bright red.
- Roar Before Beating: If they spot you when you're far away, they'll do this. If you're close, they'll forego doing such.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Their load-outs are random, so one of them wearing a complete set of equipment is incredibly rare. While their attire matches the aesthetic of the floors they are on, they are pieces that are often mismatched or purely absent.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: Screamers attack anything that isn't a Screamer, Tuber, or Beast. That said, they'll go out of their way to attack Haters and invading Raiders if their paths cross.
- Super-Senses: They have exceptional eyesight, capable of spotting you from an entire room away. However, their peripheral vision from their left and right sides aren't as good.
Haters
Fighters who had been killed within the tower, and subsequently revived by the Dons to hunt down and kill other Fighters.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: All Haters, at one point, were Fighters controlled by other players before they were killed.
- Artificial Brilliance: If they're naked or unarmed, they'll rush to whatever discarded armor or weapons are nearby and put them on. They can even eat mushrooms lying around the battlefield to take advantage of their benefits.
- The Berserker: It doesn't matter if it's a Fighter, a Tuber, or a Screamer: if someone or something vaguely human-shaped enters their field of vision, they will charge them down and mess them up. Hell, they'll even fight bosses if they spawn or are lured next to one.
- Elite Mook: Not only are they stronger than Screamers they also have access to mastery and rage attack, they can be stronger than the bosses depending on their equipment.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: The first time we see a Fighter turn into a Hater, they have the purple skin of a Screamer. All other Haters have regular human skin tones.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Since they are version of fighters turned by the Dons.
- Made a Slave: Fighters that have been collected by the Jackals and put under control of the Dons.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Fighters swear. Haters swear constantly.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: After killing a mook, provided it doesn't see any other, a Hater will stop to taunt it's corpse. It will always do it after killing you.
Hunters
Fighters sent into the Tower by players on Expeditions. They are virtually identical to Haters and can even take their place in a level, but they are not controlled by the Dons and are thus very much alive as they attempt to assassinate you and gather resources.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Killing you is just a plus that gets them a tidy bonus, but otherwise there's no way to stop them from gathering Kill Coins, SPLithium, and other resources for their masters which will happen no matter what you do.
- The Berserker: They are Fighters without gamers controlling them, which gives them the same playstyle as Haters.
- Elite Mook: Potentially. They can be worse than regular Haters since unlike the normal Haters they didn't get their weapons broken while climbing the tower and dying and unlike Yotsuyama (YSMN-@Hater) their gears aren't based on your tower ascension level. On top of that Hunter's players can see the last Fighter the other player used and send a properly equipped.
- Gas Mask Mooks: They are Fighters model.
- Humans Are Bastards: Sent by rival players to invade your game.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: They're still under the possession of players, have access to Weapon Mastery, Rage Moves, and Execution Finishers like Haters, but they don't get tired like regular Fighters.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Haters tend to be about as strong as your current character, but the Hunters that replace them may be significantly weaker in comparison.
- Palette Swap: The only thing that differentiates them from Haters is how their names are highlighted in red instead of orange.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: There's a tab in the Expedition option of the Fighter Freezer that lists all the players who have raided your game recently, giving you the opportunity to send your Hunters out to seek vengeance.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Since they are Haters.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Hunters cannot go after Fighters who are below their Rank, but can be sent after players who are much, much stronger than them. Can also apply to you if you raided someone's Waiting Room as revenge and fight list ignores ranking (i.e someone you raid might have grinded more and sent a hunter after you).
Beasts
The Tower of Barbs plays host to a varied selection of wildlife descended from the unfortunate animals that were lifted up and trapped within its confines during the Earth Rage. Unprotected from the deadly spores prevalent in the structure, each species is afflicted with its own unique parasitic fungus that fully takes over their bodies when they die, making them handy assets for nutritional and combat purposes. However, some are easier to subdue than others.
- Festering Fungus: Each Beast is victim to it
- Metal Slime: Golden Beasts provide more health and experience points when eaten. The mushrooms you get from killing them are also much more potent.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Lizards are the only Beasts that will go out of their way to attack you. The others capable of doing such, won't do so unless provoked.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Honeycombs release a furious swarm of bees when flung or stepped on.
Tubers
Cybernetic beings created by the Yotsuyama Group's science division, named such for the tube-shaped power cells they have located on their bodies. They were made by its chief scientist, Professor Terada, who wanted to get some use out of the corpses left behind in the wake of the Earth Rage tectonic disaster.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The Reversal Tuber is invincible if hit anywhere that isn't its back.
- Body Horror: They make the Screamers look pleasant by comparison.
- Brain in a Jar: Their namesake 'tubes' are this - glass vials with brains stuffed inside, possibly as some organic CPU.
- Glass Cannon: Most of them can hit incredibly hard, but don't have very high defenses or lifepoints.
- Lightning Bruiser: The Bone Tubers are frightening agile (capable of reaching top speeds of 240km an hour), can block attacks, and hit very, very hard.
- Metal Slime: The incredibly rare Treasure Tubers who upon being spotted will either try to escape using their unicycles or self-destruct if that isn't an option.
- Mighty Glacier: The Reversal Tubers who can exert 2 tons of pressure with their pile bunkers.
- Sexbot: Owners of Bullet Tubers consider them "good company" for whenever they feel lonely.
- This Is a Drill: Hover Tubers are armed with "symbolic" drills that can be used to fire projectiles or gore enemies at close range.
Jackals
Voiced by: Verne Troyer (Jackal X), Mark Rolston (Jackal Y) and Traci Lords (Jackal Z)
- Ax-Crazy: Jackals X and Y are more like punch clock villains but Jackal Z's dialogue seems to imply that she genuinely enjoys her job, even when you defeat her in combat she just lets out a sharp moan of pleasure.
- Beyond the Impossible: Based on the loot they dropped, each member of the team is a Rank SIX Fighter in terms of strength.
- Bling of War: The Dons pay them big money to do their jobs and because their work is so dangerous, the Jackals purchase and use the best equipment available to thrive in the Tower.
- Bragging Rights Reward: Their gear. Getting the blueprints for their armor and weapons requires multiple engagements where you win, and a hefty amount of rare resources to develop. Outside of Tokyo Death Metro Raids and Defense, their uses will be rather limited during the endgame.
- Dark Action Girl: Jackal Z.
- The Dreaded: Most Fighters who see a Jackal run for the hills.
- Energy Weapon: Jackal Y's Rage Move and Goretastic Finisher.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Since they're living beings, they wear the normal gas masks against toxic spores.
- Guest Fighter: They're characters from the Concrete Jackals Fighting Game you can find in the Hater Arcade, making them in-universe cameos of sorts. Though perhaps they inspired that game or they're a trio of hired guns being paid to dress as such to enforce the Masquerade.
- Homing Projectile: The shots from Jackal Y's Jackal Blaster.
- Light Is Not Good: All three of the Jackals wear white clothing and their equipment is a white chrome, but they are the most dangerous and feared faction.
- Made of Iron: All 3 of them are Level 200 and Jackal X tanks a gunshot during their introductory cutscene with only mild annoyance at having been hit.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Jackal Z has a thing for blood, even her own.
- No Kill like Overkill: All 3 Jackals gang up on a single fighter in their introductory cutscene to expedite the execution process. Stick around for a little too long after the first Jackal spawns on the floor you're on, and they'll do the same to you.
- Non-Standard Game Over: Getting killed by any of them is considered an in-game event where they'll take your body to be repurposed as a Hater and thus you won't get a chance to revive yourself by paying Death Metal to DH Express like you would during your usual deaths.
- Number of the Beast: They are three Rank 6 warriors who wear Rank 6 armor and wield Rank 6 weapons.
- Palette Swap: The Jackal Sword. It's basically a flashier and stronger version of the Machete with the same combos and Goretastic Finisher. Jackal Y's Jackal Blaster has the same Execution animation as the Firework Launcher, but has enough unique moves to distinguish itself. Jackal Z's Jackal Yo-Yo is the only weapon among the three that has no outright parallel.
- Power Trio: There's only three of them, and they are all incredibly badass.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: They'll teleport away when they are about to die since unlike any resident of the tower they aren't kept alive by the tower or bodies stored for players so they'll rather leave.
- Stalked by the Bell: If you stay on one floor for too long after killing everything on it, they will come for you.
- Unflinching Walk: Screamers and Haters will charge at you the minute they catch sight of you, but Jackals will pursue you at a leisurely pace.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Deplete all their health and they'll teleport away to safety.
- Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Their equipment was top tier until the patches that gives a fourth upgrade to a few weapons and armor, on top of some pretty strong decal effect.
- Villain Teleportation: How they move about the Tower, and how they pursue their prey.
- Vocal Dissonance: Jackal X has a bizarrely high-pitched, nasal voice. Since he speaks very little even compared to his partners, it's mostly evident in his battle cries. He's voiced by Verne Troyer.
- Weapon Specialization: Jackal X uses a katana-like machete, Jackal Y uses a powerful pistol, and Jackal Z uses a flamethrowing yo-yo.
The Three Shocks Terror
A trio of Super-Soldier experiments created by the Yostuyama Group's Professor Terada, who believed that he could easily create better artificial lifeforms by combining multiple subjects together with some weapons thrown in for good measure. While more intelligent and powerful than the company's Tubers, Terada didn't put too much stock in completing any of them, resulting in each of the three inheriting a glaring sensory shortcoming that the player can exploit in battle. They act as recurring mid-bosses throughout the various tiers of the Tower of Barbs, gaining stronger tactics and new attacks at each higher encounter.
- Body Horror: Stick corpses together and add some techs for good measure and you get the Terrors.
- Body Motifs: Ears for COEN, Eyes for Jin-DIE, and Mouths for GOTO-9.
- Dark Action Girl: Jin-DIE. The only female of the group and also the most dangerous.
- Dem Bones: GOTO-9 can regurgitate skeletal minions to fight alongside him.
- Disability Superpower: COEN's reliance on echolocation makes him the only enemy in the entire game who isn't fooled by the use of Transparagus. If he hears you, he will come after no matter how invisible you are to the naked eye.
- Dual Wielding: COEN can use two of the corpses that make up his body as improvised weaponry.
- Extreme Omnivore: GOTO-9. Who, after stealing them with his tongue, can regain health by eating your equipment.
- Eye Scream: COEN has actual metal parts sticking into his eyes.
- Fusion Dance: With the first three Dons during their respective boss fights. Max Sharp puts his head onto the body of a mechanized COEN, Jackson is placed onto Jin-DIE's body, and Crowley rides atop an armored GOTO-9.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Stronger versions of COEN will rip corpses from his body to act as flails or flung projectiles.
- Hive Queen: Victims that get swallowed by GOTO-9 are regurgitated after a short period of digestion and become slaves to his will in the process.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: GOTO-9 can be tricked into eating mushrooms that will either directly harm him or lower his defenses.
- Informed Flaw: Unlike COEN's deafness, Jin-DIE and GOTO-9's disabilities aren't all that prevalent in gameplay. For example, COEN is unaffected by the player's use of transparagus because he uses sound to locate the player, but Jin-DIE and GOTO-9 are affected by it, despite the fact that Jin-DIE has extremely good eyesight and GOTO-9 uses smell to locate the player.
- I Shall Taunt You: COEN will call you a coward if he can't hear you, his version on the 34th floor keeps shouting it with every attack.
- Laughing Mad: Jin-DIE cackles a lot during her fights.
- Mister Seahorse: They're made from multiple bodies (male & female) fused together, leading to some interesting physiological quirks. The biggest example being that after a Jin-DIE and GOTO-9 had sex, it was the GOTO-9 that got pregnant with U-10.
- Multipurpose Tongue: GOTO-9 uses his to scoop up food, steal items, and attack enemies.
- Off with His Head!: Jin-DIE likes to collect the skulls of those she has killed so she can use them as ammunition with her railgun.
- Super-Senses: COEN has exceptional hearing, Jin-DIE's cameras boost her field of vision to insane degrees, and GOTO-9's sense of taste makes him the only one out of the three that can identify, consume, and benefit from the mushrooms that grow in the Tower of Barbs.
- Villainous Glutton: GOTO-9 loves his mushrooms, and the player can throw them around the battlefield in order to distract him.
- Zombie Puke Attack: GOTO-9 will occasionally shoot out globs of vomit to hurt players and make them lose their footing. One of Jin-DIE's most powerful attacks is a version of this so huge and powerful that it's practically a laser beam.
U- 10
Bar none, the deadliest and most sophisticated cybernetic warrior living in the tower. U-10 forgoes the flashy grotesqueries and gimmicks of the Terrors and Tubers in favor of efficient, widespread lethality.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: She loves to boast.
- Attack Its Weakpoint: Her body (which she will keep elevated above all melee weapons) and the weapon at the end of her tail (which is prone to dodging and counterattacks).
- Badass Armfold: Why punch when you can have your tail do most of the fighting?
- Beware My Stinger Tail: It slices, it bludgeons, and shoots.
- Bling of War: The least tarnished-looking enemy in the Tower of Barbs that isn't a Jackal.
- Body Horror: Barely qualifies, but she's still a rather uncanny being.
- Dark Action Girl
- Energy Weapon: Uses her tail to shoot laser like a firehose.
- Fusion Dance: With Taro, who gains a gaudy metallic mask once they combine.
- Nothing Is Scarier: You get an informative video about her before you even fight. That is, it would be informative, if Mother Barbs had anything to say about U-10. Uncle Death is also rather mum about her apart from telling you U-10's incredibly disgusting backstory after you defeat her.
- Prehensile Tail: Her weak point too.
- Sir Swears Alot: She really likes calling you a bitch.
- Sixth Ranger: One of the Quests lists her as a member of the Three Shocks Terror.
- World's Best Warrior: She is, hands down, the greatest potential threat in the entire game. The area around her is an "Instant Death" Radius, she moves at bull speed with dexterity and reflexes, and the only times she shows vulnerabilities is when her arrogance gets the better of her and she gloats for a few seconds. Her stats are low, but that's to be expected of a five-year old and it's implied that if her stats increase to a fraction of the Jackals' she could take all three on at once and win. She's so powerful that the final boss uses her body to fight you; you WILL need invincibility/invisibility/hyper-speed mushrooms or you can kiss your Death Metals / equipment goodbye.
Forcemen
Four monstrosities that arrive during special events in rotation, their equipment surpasses the Jackals, and their difficulty can be set from normal to Nightmare with scaling rewards, especially the legendary Forcemen Equipment.
- Biblical Motifs: To the four horsemen.
- White Steel is an obvious likeness to Conquest, the white horse.
- Red Napalm is War, being in the War Ensemble area, the multiple guns and the color red.
- Black Thunder is Death. He carries Medusa's decapitated head and has an angel of death design.note
- Pale Wind doesn't have much likeness to Famine or Death, he is more associated with Winter due to his ice rink battleground and bobsled weapons.note Presumably, the idea is that it is hard to grow food during the winter.
- Face Death with Dignity: White Steel gives you a thumbs up, Red Napalm will give you a military salute, Black Thunder gives a praying thank you gesture, and Pale Wind gives a time out gesture as the platform lowers them down after they are incapacitated.
- No-Sell: White Steel can remove mushroom buffs and is immune to most effect. Red Napalm and Black Thunder cancel most buff the moment you enter the arena on higher difficulties.
- Optional Boss: They were added on months after the game release and have no part of the main story or climb.
- The Worf Effect: Downplayed; they usurp the Jackals as the most powerful adversaries in the tower, but the two factions never actually fight.
White Steel
The first of the Forcemen, White Steel lurks within the run-down tunnels belonging to D.O.D Arms. Though he is the weakest of the Forcemen, he makes up for it with short-range weapons in a cramped fighting arena. He can be found on 4F Reginaka, 5F Omeno-Inari, or 8F Ko-Oni in his normal, hard and nightmare forms respectively.- Dual Wielding: Carries the Spike Crusher and Static Massager.
- Evil Gloating: White Steel will taunt you after knocking you down, though this can backfire on him.
- Shock and Awe: The Static Massager is a powerful lightning weapon that can either shoot small orbs or branch three large electric arcs.
Red Napalm:
The second of the Forcemen, and the only female member. Red Napalm waits in the War Ensemble's city ruins, taking on all challengers. Her weapon is a two-handed minigun with six different types of ammo. She can be found on 12F Fuga-Dokoro, 14F Fune-Hashi or 17 Kyuzaka during her Tectonic Terror events.- More Dakka: Her Gatling gun fires six different types of ammo, from rifle shots, to fireworks, to knives. Her Rage move adds lasers to the mix.
Black Thunder:
The third Forceman, Black Thunder guards three floors in Candle Wolf's turf. The rules of his regal arena change frequently, forcing the player to adopt new strategies or take advantage of the rule-enforced power boost. He can be encountered on 22F Hizashi-Gaoka, 26F Hatake-Gara, and 30F Nabokucho.- Animal Motif: His scaly armor, horned helmet, curving wings, and clawed leggings give him a reptilian look, cemented with a sculpted chestplate that resembles a dragon's head.
- Dual Wielding: Carries the Vajra of Light and Head of Medusa.
- Laser Blade: Wields a two bladed lightsaber.
Pale Wind:
The fourth and final Forceman, Pale Wind haunts three floors in the M.I.L.K district. The goals of his hockey-rink arena are packed with exploding mushrooms, which the player must use to make a dent in his ludicrously durable armor. He can be challenged on 32F Shirokin, 35F Dainoba, and 38F Takanowa.- Animal Motif: His black and green armor and wings give a strong insect theming.
- Dual Wielding: Carries two Mortal Bobslayers.
- Puzzle Boss: Pale Wind boasts ludicrously high defense. To seriously damage him, you have to hit him enough times to stun him, and then use a knockback move to skid him across the hockey rink and into a goal, which deals enough damage to take a fair chunk of his health. Just don't get thrown into a goal yourself.
- Wings Do Nothing: He's a hockey player who wears metal wings that don't flap.
Kommando Kawasaki
Kommodore Suzuki's brother. A 51-year old former blackmarket dealer who has set up a mobile department store in the Tower of Barbs, selling all manner of premium goods while raising his infant son. His shop can be found in the dead-end side rooms of the Tower. Upon chancing upon it, its location won't change unless the game is turned off whereupon it will move somewhere else.
Voiced by: Steven Bauer
- Dungeon Shop: The usual Fridge Logic about the whys and hows is justified by the revelation that he's in the Tower of Barbs at the behest of Yotsuyama Enterprises.
- Friend in the Black Market: He used to work in the black market and is arguably the Tower's one-man underground economy.
- Intrepid Merchant: Compared to his brother who plays it safe at the very bottom of the Tower, Kawasaki appears to be one of these, but the ending reveals that he's only plying his goods in such a dangerous location because Uncle Death hired him to do so.
- Lovable Coward: He'll pull the shutters down on his store whenever a fight breaks out near it, but he's a big help if you have enough Kill Coins. And to be fair, he does have his baby with him, so it's probably best that he doesn't keep the shutters open when there's a fight going on outside his shop.
- Papa Wolf: He's a divorced single parent, and he has his baby with him on his back at all times. Knowing full well how dangerous the Tower of Barbs is, he's equipped his shop with indestructible shutters that he'll close if there's a fight going on outside his shop, protecting both himself and his baby.
- Secret Shop: Constantly moves in the tower.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He and Suzuki are only half-brothers, but they're virtually identical.
Max Sharp
Voiced by: Blaine Cartright
- Arms Dealer: He used to make weapons that looked like tools such as the buzzsaw knuckles and combat pickaxe.
- Artificial Limbs: Replaced the arms he put on his head with robotic ones.
- Ax-Crazy: He was the leader of a 50-man strong gang at the age of fifteen, because of how violent he was.
- Beard of Evil: It's made of nails.
- Berserk Button: Mocking him, looking like you're laughing at him, or even worse calling him "Crab Man", gets him angry enough to crucify people with his nails over it.
- The Dreaded: Just calling him “Crab Man” is a good way to end up in the morgue or made into furniture by him. He also ran a gang of 50 people to instill fear into those who cross his path.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: A logical example: Max Sharp’s obsession with extreme DIY and his petty cruelty turned him from a sweet kid to a monster with nails stuck in his head.
- Facial Horror: He has nails jammed on his jaw, one for every gang he massacred.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Modified his own body for better DIY skills and even built modified power tools for his gang.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Extremely sensitive about his appearance, which doesn't mix well with his penchant for violence.
- Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: His boss fight is one, you have to get in front of the train full of screamers, traps, haters and some platforming to avoid dying by falling off the train. Once you face him he is a slightly stronger Coen.
- Hated by All: Despite being a skilled DIY expert, most people had a strong dislike towards him due to his psychopathic temper and his gruesome appearance. Being arrested for his murderous crimes and his first death has not reduced the hate towards him.
- Irony: Supposedly a major engineering buff, the 10 levels he presides over are the most derelict portions of the tower.
- Karmic Death: Before Uncle Death revived him as a Don, Max was decapitated by a hardware store saw blade that was launched at him by the force of the Earth Rage.
- Off with His Head!: You decapitate him off his battle armor with a single kick.
- Perma-Stubble: The nails jammed into his face give this impression.
- Power Armor: He attaches his head to a big battlesuit, but strangely the thing seems to be half-organic. It turns out it's a headless CO-En.
- Rocket Punch: One of his attacks involves launching his drill-equipped arm at you.
- Shameless Self-Promoter: Due to him commending you for your choice of weaponry upon meeting him. To elaborate, barring some very lucky blueprints and Uncle Prime finds, you'll probably be wearing and using a lot of DOD Arms products when you first meet Max, and DOD Arms is his own line of weapons.
- Underground Monkey: Aside from the above attack and a different appearance he is a buffed-up CO-EN, though he isn't blind.
Colonel Jackson
Voiced by: Billy Dee Williams
- Ace Custom: Averted. The Jin-DIE he combines with has more armor and guns than a regular Shock Terror of its type along with a unique ornate appearance, but the abruptness of its appearance and his bafflement at their joining indicate that it's not actually his.
- Break the Haughty: Was a shameless narcissist during his military career, with his confidence in his own skill and luck driving him to do the explosive selfies he became famous for. Johnny's accidental, messy death on the testing range utterly broke Jackson, and by the time the player has encountered him, Jackson is a suicidal disembodied head that has no idea what's real anymore.
- Bury Your Gays: His boyfriend died when he tried taking a selfie together near an explosion. He went on a killing spree until the Earth Rage took his head off.
- Camp Gay: He wears makeup, his earrings look feminine and has a dramatic tone in his voice when he talks about Johnny. Not played for laughs, though, as it's framed more as an indication of his mental instability as he still is traumatized by his boyfriend's death.
- Death Seeker: The first phase of his boss fight is to disarm the bomb his head is on, and he thanks you for finishing him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Jackson loved no-one but himself until he met another soldier named Johnny, and the two hit it off so well that they quickly became soulmates. Johnny dying during the first selfie they took together pushed Jackson completely over the edge, and he's still waiting for his love to come back to him even as a Don.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: He gets attached to a souped-up Jin-DIE, which means he teleports around the arena while shooting at you constantly. His aim is so precise and his shots so frequent that the only way to reliably hit him is to stay invisible with Transparaungus.
- High Collar of Doom: The Jin-DIE he combines with has one.
- Hijacked by Ganon: His main boss fight is mainly a struggle against a Jin-DIE with Jackson along for the ride.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Not him, personally, but his boyfriend Johnny ultimately pays the price for his dangerous hobby while Jackson walked away without a scratch.
- Macho Camp: He was a big fan of action hero movies and wanted to look like them to the point he constantly wanted to look like the cool guy who doesn't look at explosion.
- Mad Bomber: He enjoyed being near explosions he himself made during the war.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Supposedly one of the four principle employers of the Jackals and the boss of the War Ensemble Screamers, he's just a suicidal and depressed head who tries to blow himself up with you.
- Off with His Head!: The Earth Rage disturbance cut his head clean off of his torso and it somehow found its way to the Tower of Barbs.
- Pretty Boy: During his youth, he was quite muscular and attractive while he still had a body, and Jackson was extremely proud of this.
- Puppet King: He's still shellshocked over the sudden death of his fiance, is borderline suicidal before you show up and cause him to go over that line, and doesn't seem to know that he's in the Tower of Barbs or that he's one of the Dons. The fact that he's confused and most definitely not in control when a Jin-DIE puts his head atop her shoulders is a major clue that the Dons aren't the Big Bad Ensemble they appear to be, and that some third party is using them as a front.
- Scary Black Man: Some of his selfies has him creepily staring wide eyed next to exploding victims.
- Self-Disposing Villain: Tries to be this by attaching his head to a giant grenade which would kill him and perhaps the entirety of the Tower. Since you need his Stamp to proceed (and the fact that he has invested a lot of time and money into taking over the Tower), Uncle Death insists that you disarm the bomb to keep him intact.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Although it was not the war that pushed him over the edge. The explosions Jackson caused turned him into a thrill junkie and by the time he becomes a Don, he is completely disconnected from reality.
- Social Media Before Reason: A given, considering his hobby.
- Take That!: To those that recklessly endanger themselves for the sake of selfies.
- Thrill Seeker: To an insane degree. He was taking selfies of himself totally naked near explosions.
- Token Good Teammate: In spite of his violent past, he's the only member of the Dons that isn't outright antagonistic aside the whole "blowing the Tower with you in the front row" issue. He doesn't even seem to know that he is a Don and doesn't introduce himself as such.
- Tragic Monster: Given his predicament was the result of his own reckless stupidity and thrillseeking, his fall from grace was tragic at best.
- Turned Against Their Masters: He opts to blow up both himself and the Tower of Barbs which would have put a considerable crimp in the plans of his "employer" and would-be savior, Uncle Death.
- Unflinching Walk: His entire reason for wanting to go into the military as a child was his fascination with the classic "walk away from the explosion" trope in his beloved action movies. He took this a step further as an adult, taking photos of himself (while being naked) as a bomb was still going off close behind him.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Back when he had a body he was so enamored with his physique that he used to strip down in front of bombs to look at the reflection.
Mr. Crowley
Voiced by: Jason Acuna
- Ace Custom: The GOTO-9 he uses in battle is a heavily armored (if buggy) version of the Mini-Boss and unlike the other Dons who install themselves into their Shock Terror, Crowley simply rides atop his.
- Ascended Fanboy: Attempted to become this through changing his appearance and creating a powerful Energy Weapon to simulate the arcane bolts used by warlocks.
- Child Prodigy: He came out of the womb chanting the digits of Pi like an incantation and gained a PhD at the age of 17.
- Circus of Fear: His floors consist of re-purposed amusement park sets.
- Energy Weapon: Made one to look like the wizard's thunder spell by charging his playing cards with plasma.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: He modified his own face with cosmetic surgery to resemble an elderly wizard at 17 and afterwords, used his knowledge of energy research to slaughter a whole town. Before all of this, he looked normal.
- Game Master: He used to be one before becoming a Don, and even refers to himself as "The Game Master of the Third Hall". This is how he treats everything he does, having his minions dress up in medieval outfits and use period appropriate weapons, and also rolling a dice before fighting the player to determine their fate (Which is always opening up a trapdoor beneath them).
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: He'll always drop you into his trap-filled dungeon no matter the result of the dice roll he spits out during his introductory cutscene.
- Kaizo Trap: Defeat the squadron of Tubers guarding his castle? Congratulations! You get to lower the drawbridge... and immediately get fired upon by the firework turret he hid behind it.
- Karmic Death: Upon his arrest, the Earth Rage struck, and he was decapitated by a bolt of lightning not unlike those he called down to unjustly massacre the people of his hometown.
- Psycho Electro: Can summon thunderbolts to smite his enemies.
- Psychopathic Manchild: His obsession with role playing games made him into a deranged wizard cosplayer and despite his intelligence, Crowley is still immature.
- Shout-Out: To the Ozzy Osbourne song, Mr. Crowley, which is about infamous occultist Aleister Crowley. The first lyric of "Mr. Crowley, what went wrong in your head?" basically sums up the backstory of the Mr. Crowley in the game.
- Standard Fantasy Setting: Swords, Axes, Crossbows, and more of the type are littered and used throughout his level, forming an interesting contrast to the more grounded and conventional weaponry promoted by the other Dons.
- Wave-Motion Gun: He can combine the discharges from his GOTO-9's cannons to fire out a massive beam of energy.
- Younger Than They Look: He's by no means young given the amount of time that has passed since the Earth Rage, but he's nowhere near as old as his appearance would suggest, as he used plastic surgery on his own face to make himself look more like a classic bearded sorcerer. He looked like this at the age of 17 when he died during the Earth Rage.
Taro Gunkanyama
Voiced by: Yuki Matsuzaki
- The Ace: Before becoming a sumo wrestler, he excelled at every other sport except speed skating.
- Author Appeal: He's a Masked Luchador, Sentai, Yakuza-esque Sumo Wrestler. In other words, a Suda51 wet dream.
- Blood from the Mouth: Constantly. It's probably from eating people.
- Blood Knight: He's parked just one floor below the top of the Tower and the fabulous treasure that supposedly resides there, but is happy to spend all his time hosting arena battles instead, and ecstatic to participate in those battles himself.
- Blood Sport: MILK was formed by a squad of athletes skilled in hand-to-hand combat that used modded sporting equipment to create a mixed-martial art that was almost baroque in its cutthroat violence.
- Cannibalism Superpower: Eating chanko stew made from the heavyset athletes he had killed eventually caused Taro to grow in both girth and height, making him almost 8 feet tall.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: Combines U-10's hard-to-hit weak points with a truly absurd amount of health.
- Death by Irony: He was good at every sport except speed skating. When the Earth Rage hit, it was a speed skating boot that decapitated him.
- Fat Bastard: Taro manages to be this despite being only a head, having more chins than any other Don, as well as being an absolutely huge head. He's so big that Uncle Death has to wheel his head out on a cart once you beat him, whereas with the other Dons he just holds their heads in his hands while posing for the commemorative photos. His final form is ironically the most slender out of all of them, being fused with U-10.
- Fun with Acronyms: MILK. As in Muscle International League Killers.
- I Know Madden Kombat: The premise behind his MILK arsenal.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He started consuming human flesh, was "kind" enough to share the flesh of his victims with his unwitting fellow sumos by placing the meat in their chanko stew.
- Instant Expert: Before primarily focusing on sumo wrestling and eventually MILK fights, Taro was an exceptional athlete in every sport he participated in save for speed skating.
- Large and in Charge: The biggest head among the Dons and the most powerful. Once he combines with his personal U-10, he towers above all other bosses with the use of his cybernetic tail. Once he's beaten, it becomes clear that his head alone is the size of an average person's entire body.
- Lightning Bruiser: He packs an absurd amount of HP, with a body that can navigate the entire arena in a blink. He doesn't even need to move to destroy you, since he's also fond of driving his tail-spike up through the floor.
- Mad Eye: He has a really messed up left eye that constantly glares at everyone.
- Meaningful Name: "Gunkan" means "warship" or "battleship" as he has a battleship in his pompadour.
- Monstrous Cannibalism: He targeted athletes for his chanko.
- No-Gear Level: Before he's properly fought, he forces you to fight a sumo Hater, two Haters armed with whatever armor and weapons you showed up with, and a mawashi-wearing COEN, after Uncle Death takes all your items, armor, and weapons.
- Picky People Eater: A Serial Killer and consumer of large-build athletes.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Despite his original small stature, Taro greatly excelled in sumo wrestling much to the surprise of the sporting world.
- Playing with Fire: Spits out fireballs during his boss battle and before it to punish those who are knocked out of his elevated sumo ring.
- Ring Out: Penalizes these with raining fireballs on the transgressor and by making it so that it's very difficult to get back into the ring.
