Go Berserk!
A retro-inspired platformer game that released for the Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam in March 6, 2024.The game stars a young boy named Kei, who is destined to save the world from a mad scientist named Dr. Genos, who has plans for using the five Berserk Orbs—orbs that grant people special abilities—for his own ends. Kei and a bird named Fiore team up to gather the five Berserk Orbs themselves and put an end to Genos' plans.
Berserk Boy contains the following examples:
- Air-Dashing: Dashing mid-air is part of most movesets of Kei's various forms. The Lightning Justice form can be upgraded to allow air-dashing twice before having to land.
- All Your Powers Combined: Surprisingly, by the Big Bad! After Kei defeats Genos once in the Final Showdown, Geno steals and merges with all five of his Berserk Orbs at once. It is only through the help of Fiore's secret sixth Life Orb that Kei gains a Berserk form even more powerful than the original five's put together.
- Beam-O-War: The final battle between Kei and Genos, ends with this. With the power of the Life Berserk Orb, Kei finally defeats Genos once and for all.
- Blue Is Heroic: While Kei’s first and most common Berserk form is the purple-themed Lightning Justice form, his Animal Companion Fiore is a bird with a blue flame shooting from his head. Then, between all five of Kei’s Berserk forms, including the already blue-themed Ice Kunai form, his strongest, game-ending form turns out to be a sixth radiant blue one fueled by Fiore’s secret Life Orb.
- Boss Warning Siren: Whenever a major boss appears, the screen blinks red, alarm is sound, and a large "WARNING" message appears.
- Bottomless Pits: There are certain screens where there are bottomless pits. These are usually marked with skull icons.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: Anyone who wields the Berserk orbs can activate their power by simply saying the words: “GO BERSERK!”.
- Cartoon Bomb: One of the enemies drops black spheres with wicks as an attack.
- The Chosen Many: The Berserk Orbs are said to be sentient, and will only merge with certain individuals that they deem worthy of using their powers. It has been gestured by Fiore that forcing unworthy people to merge with these orbs has led to... unpleasant results.
- Collapsing Ceiling Boss: A few of the minibosses cause boulders to fall from the ceiling.
- Color-Coded Elements: Purple is Lightning. Red is Fire. Blue is Ice. Green is Air. Yellow is Earth.
- Crosshair Aware: Many boss attacks attacks are marked with skull symbols to indicate which where the attack will land. Particularly powerful attacks are indicated by arrow-patterned columns. Throughout the levels missile strikes also get a warning that indicate where they land.
- Dash Attack: Kei's Air-Dashing also doubles as a main way to attack enemies.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Kei's fight against Genos at the end of Dark Fortress isn't the last boss in the game. From there, you must go through an additional sequence of gathering 50 Berserk Medals, and then find an old energy core for Dizzie so that she can locate Genos' final whereabouts, which turns out to be in the Final Showdown.
- Directionally Solid Platforms: Some platforms can be jumped through from below. The player can also drop down from them.
- Elemental Powers: Each of the Berserk orbs has their own unique element.
- Embarrassing Name: Kei seems bewildered that his gruff Commander's first name is the girly-sounded Leslie. Said Commander only allows Fiore to call him that.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: When Genos steals all five of Kei’s Berserk Orbs, Kei assumes a more powerful sixth Berserk form by merging with Fiore, who was revealed at that time to wield the Life Orb.
- Fast Tunneling: The Flame Drill form is able dig underground, hence the name.
- Floating Platforms: The game features levitating platforms. Blue ones move around while red ones fall when stepped on.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Genos' lackeys: Flame Drill (Sanguine), Ice Kunai (Melancholic), Soaring Wind (Phlegmatic), and Mine Buster (Choleric).
- Goomba Stomp: The player can defeat and damage some enemies by stomping over them.
- Gotta Rescue Them All: As a Teleporter, Kei can teleport lost people back to the base. The more you save, the more the resistance grows.
- Grind Boots: There are certain rails that Kei can ride on with his boots.
- Face–Heel Turn: Dr. Genos, the Big Bad of the game, was revealed by Fiore and Commander Leslie early on that he used to work for the Resistance as one of its most brilliant scientists. His deep desire to claim all of the Berserk Orbs is what eventually drove him to the dark side.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the game’s finale, Genos reveals to Kei that back when he was a good guy, he revived Fiore from an ordinary dying bird to a talking bird with special powers through the use of his special Life Berserk Orb. Following Genos’ Face–Heel Turn, this would ultimately end up being his undoing when Kei merges with Fiore to defeat him using an ultimate Berserk form.
- Hub Under Attack: Early in the game, the base gets attack by a wave of robots and monsters which Kei takes out. The attacks continue throughout the game.
- Hurricane of Puns: Flame Drill, no matter the situation, can't help but spill loads of fire-based puns when he's on screen. Kei, Fiore, Ice Kunai, and even Genos call him out for it on different occasions.Fiore (thinking): These puns are really extinguishing my patience...
- Kill Enemies to Open: Certain areas lock off after entering and the player has to destroy every enemy before they reopen.
- Mechanical Animals: Some robots have animal motifs. For an example, spider boss in the first stage.
- Ninja: The Ice Kunai form takes the elements of this. As this form is fast and agile, and has the techniques of a ninja.
- No Name Given: All four of Genos' lackeys are only named by the Berserk Orb each of them wield, even after they lose their Orbs as well as when Kei encounters them again during the Boss Rush of the Final Showdown.
- The Pig-Pen: Downplayed. There are some quips that imply that Kei is not an entirely-tidy boy, such as when Fiore first meets his room at Home Base, or when Dr. Quill prepares his Berserk suit for upgrades.Dr. Quill: Do you ever... clean this thing?!
- Plucky Girl: Dizzie. After Kei rescues her, she’s always ready to help him out and even represents your main offense during autoscrolling sections. Her initial kidnapping by Flame Drill also seems less out of fear for her life and more so feeling annoyed about her situation. Kei rescuing her even has her more excited about the info she was able to listen in on from Flame Drill about Geno's schemes.
- Post-Defeat Explosion Chain: Bosses die while producing multiple explosions.
- Power-Up Magnet: The player has a slight variation. When dashing, the player attracts pickups from immediate vicinity.
- Purple Is Powerful: Kei has purple hair. It becomes a more vivid shade of purple in his Lightning Justice Berserk form, which also gives gives him a dynamic purple suit to match.
- Retraux: The game is largely inspired by both Mega Man (namely the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero Sequel Series) and Sonic the Hedgehog. In a way, this also means it's largely inspired by Pulseman since both games' protagonists wield electric powers in a high-speed 2D Platform Game. The flow and pacing of the game's action has also set off comparisons to Rocket Knight Adventures and the Azure Striker Gunvolt Series (itself derived from Mega Man alumni).
- Saw Blades of Death: One of the hazards is a buzzsaw that starts appearing from area 3. It either moves back and forth mid-air, or moves along the surfaces.
- Sentry Gun: One of the enemies includes a wall-mounted turret that aims at the player.
- Sequel Hook: Geno is finally defeated, but he escapes once more before Kei & Fiore could arrest him for his crimes. His defeat also caused nearly all of the Berserk Orbs to vanish again, except for two: The Lightning Orb that Kei first gained, and the secret sixth Life Orb that powered Fiore this whole time.
- Shout-Out:
- The Mine Buster form essentially gives Kei an even more Mega Man-esque form with its main attack being an Arm Cannon.
- The True Final Boss against Genos essentially has Kei fight him using a Super Mode in an Astral Finale a la Super Sonic. The last portion of this fight then involves a Beam Of War a la Goku's Kamehameha Vs. Vegeta's Galick Gun (bolstered by Kei's Super Saiyan-like hair and Geno's Vegeta-esque voice).
- Spikes of Doom: Spikes frequently show up as a level hazard. Some of them (such as the spiked chaser blocks, or any spikes during a Dizzie autoscroller), are a One-Hit Kill a la Mega Man. They take different looks based on the environment they are in.
- Spin Attack: Kei has some of the attacks that cause him to spin such as Flame Drill. Some of the enemies also attack by spinning.
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: The game features springboards that can launch the player high up in the air.
- Stock Sound Effect: Certain electric sounds are taken from stock audio library. Most prominently heard when Kei uses electric attacks.
- Super Mode: In the True Final Boss, Kei merges with Fiore through the power of Fiore's Life Berserk Orb to take on a Berserk form that's even more powerful than the combined power of the original five orbs that Genos had just stolen for the battle.
- Take Our Word for It: Fiore gestures to Commander Leslie like this about what happens when the Berserk Orbs get forced to merge with people that they don't deem worthy of their powers.Fiore: Well, let's just say the process isn't without its flaws.
- Temporary Platform: Some platforms collapse when stood on. Usually they respawn.
- Tornado Move: Flame Drill often attacks by spinning around like a drill.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The aptly-named Final Showdown. This level has no Berserk Medals to collect nor Resistance members to rescue. Just a Boss Rush against several minibosses and rematches against Genos' four lackeys before a two-part finale against Genos, himself.
- Video Game Flight: The Soaring Wind Berserk form allows its user to fly in any direction. Kei also gains this power after merging with Fiore through the latter's Life Orb.
- Wall Jump: The player can jump on walls as long as necessary.
- Worm Sign: When Kei and some of the enemies are under the surface, you can tell where they are by the mound of dirt.
