Ardy Lightfoot is a Platform Game developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, published by ASCII in Japan in 1993 and in the Western world by Titus Software a year later.
A sacred rainbow is shattered into seven Mineral MacGuffin fragments which, when collected, can grant a person one wish. With one of the fragments in possession, Visconti searches for the remaining six. Our hero Ardy Lightfoot and his Ridiculously Cute Critter Pec find a tablet containing the history of the sacred rainbow. Afterwards, they set out on a quest to retrieve the pieces of the rainbow and must stop Visconti from his tyrannical reign. Though the game has a plot and cutscenes, there's no dialogue.
This game provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: The "To Be Continued..." phrase at the end implies that there's supposed to be a sequel. There never was.
- The Ace: Don Jacoby
- Action Prologue: The game opens with Ardy and Pec finding the tablet in a cave.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: Scene 15, which takes place on the fourth gate of the castle where Ardy has to avoid electrified arrows.
- Back from the Dead: At the end of the game, Nina is revived thanks to the power of the fragments.
- Big Bad: Visconti is the main antagonist of the game.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the final level, Don Jacoby intervenes to stop Visconti's attacks but gets knocked out. He survives, however.
- Bowdlerize: The U.S. version scrubs out one of the characters smoking, and edits Catry's death (see below).
- Cartoon Creature: It's a little unclear what species Ardy is exactly, but he looks mostly like a cat.
- Damsel in Distress: Nina gets kidnapped by Beecroft on Visconti's orders towards the end of the game.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Gilson the pirate owl, who becomes your ally as soon as you defeat him.
- Depending on the Artist: There are two official designs for Ardy, a simple, cartoony design used by the game and cover art, and a more complex, manga-esque design used by the manual and the comic in the Super Famicom version.
- The Dragon: Beecroft is Visconti's second-in-command.
- Eaten Alive: After Catry escapes with the second fragment, she is eaten alive by a giant worm. Ardy and Pec are eaten as well, but they make it out alive.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: A beta version has Catry, the vulpine boss of the fourth level, sporting a ninja costume (and a slightly more pronounced bustline). On the flip side, her final fate in the bowels of the next level's giant worm is as a half-digested corpse (as opposed to a skeleton in the final Japanese version and just lying prone on the ground in the U.S. version).
- Final Boss: Visconti is the last enemy Ardy has to encounter after infiltrating the castle.
- Heel–Face Turn: Once Gilson is defeated, he hands over the fourth fragment and helps Ardy recover the remaining fragments and confront Visconti.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Don Jacoby covers for Ardy's escape when the exit is collapsing after the latter recovers the third fragment. Though it turns out to be a Disney Death. In Scene 17, Jacoby intervenes to help Ardy defeat Visconti but at the cost of being knocked down into a wall. Like the previous scene, he survives.
- Interface Screw: The potions in the Mouse Trap level, which reverse left and right— the only way to remedy them is to get the other potion a screen or so away. Over spikes of doom.
- I Surrender, Suckers: After Ardy beats Catry in Stage 5, she kneels down in defeat, but it turns out to be a trick so that she can escape.
- Mineral MacGuffin: The seven fragments of the sacred rainbow.
- Mood Whiplash: For the first few levels of the game, it's fairly cartoony and upbeat. Then suddenly, you get eaten by a giant worm and your opponent is digested, door-nail dead.)
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Pec has a lot of teeth in his mouth.
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Nintendo Hard: Given that it was made for the Super Nintendo, the game is difficult. - No Body Left Behind: After Visconti is defeated, his body disappears into nothing.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Although Ardy himself isn't human, Pec is a super-deformed animal.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Ardy when the mining town is set on fire by Grounder.
- Ardy again in Scene 17 when Nina is killed.
- Pirates: Gilson leads a group of pirates who are in possession of the fourth fragment. They ally with Ardy once Gilson is defeated and redeemed.
- Projectile Platforms
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Pec.
- Silence Is Golden: There's no dialogue in this game.
- To Be Continued: The phrase appears verbatim at the end of the credits.
- Token Human: Nina and the old man are the only humans seen in this game.
- Turns Red: Every boss turns red when they are close to being defeated, except for Beecroft.
- Weaponized Headgear: Grounder uses his spiked hat as a weapon in Scene 3.
- Womb Level: Scene 6, "Eaten!", which is exactly what it sounds like.
- Would Harm a Senior: Beecroft knocks the old man unconscious before kidnapping Nina. Thankfully he does not kill him.
