Good morning!
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is a playful little title from Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube and PC (the latter exclusive to Europe). It's about four kids that go to "Morning Land," a magical land that's inhabited by chickens in great danger. Dark Raven and his murder of crows have invaded their paradise, sealed away the powerful Chicken Elders, and plunged Morning Land into a perpetual, gloomy night. As our heroes don the Legendary Chicken Suits, granting them the power to command eggs, it's up to them to kick Dark Raven out of Morning Land.
The game's controls set it apart from many mascot platformers of its era: Billy and friends roll giant eggs to squash enemies flat and traverse hazards, so preserving momentum, judging when to hatch eggs versus when to keep full-powered ones, and balancing the size and weight of an egg are crucial. Billy Hatcher also aims for a younger demographic than Sega's usual fare, reflected in all aspects of the game's presentation. That doesn't mean the game's easy, mind you.
It's no surprise that Billy Hatcher takes a lot of design cues from the Sonic Adventure duology, focusing on mission-based gameplay in small, linear levels with brisk combat segments that complement the platforming more than detract from it. You also earn points during levels which culminate in a letter grade at the end, there are multiple playable characters, and there's several easter eggs to other Sonic Team projects for good measure. The game got mixed reviews upon release and has yet to receive a follow-up, but Billy and friends have made the odd appearance in Sega's promotional art and crossover titles since then.
This game provides examples of:
- 100% Completion: Total completion requires all the emblems, but the last emblems are only obtained by completing all the levels, finding every type of egg, getting an S rank on all the missions, and finding every chick coin. Your reward for doing this is having the title of "EGG MASTER" as the name of your save file.
- Amusement Park: Circus Park, the fifth world of the game, is set in a circus-themed area filled with fun-filled attractions, including a Hall of Mirrors.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Extra eggs are often laying about, to help you out if you lose the one you were rolling around.
- Badass Adorable: I mean, what other character can make a chicken suit look so cool, at the same time, so adorable?
- Big Bad: Dark Raven is the source of the story's central conflict, as he commanded the Crows to cause havoc in Morning Land and imprisoned the Elder Chickens.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Billy has a yellow letter "E" on his blue hoodie at the beginning of the game; what it's supposed to stand for is never explained.
- Bullfight Boss: Moles. The primary method of rendering him vulnerable involves dodging his charges over the ice, sending him crashing to the walls of the arena. You can then roll your egg into him for damage.
- The Cameo: Other Sega characters hatch out of special Sonic Team eggs, and they also appear in the minigames.
- Catch and Return: The 11th-Hour Superpower lets you grab the final boss's dark energy balls and throw them back at him to stun him and leave him vulnerable to being flattened with eggs.
- Cats Are Mean: The small and large cat crow enemies are antagonist to Billy and his friends.
- Cat-and-Mouse Boss: Era Gecko's boss battle is this. Era Gecko starts off big and chases after you, but eventually he will walk to the center, shrink himself, and starting running around in the grass while you search for him in the grass. It's not actually explained in any way why he shrinks.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Billy Hatcher is the title character, followed by the noun phrase "the Giant Egg."
- Chevhovs Gunman: Dark Corvo is first encountered at the very beginning of the game as a mysterious crow creature that summons enemies for Billy to fight.
- Circus of Fear: Circus Park is this before Billy rescues its Chicken Elder: the Crows turned the merry mountainside carnival into a dark, monster-infested nightmare ruled by the Monster Clown Saltim.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: The Elders summon the sun by crowing.
- Color-Coded Elements
- Creepy Circus Music: Circus Park's night theme
is a Dark Reprise of its daytime theme, using its instrumentation to sound sinister instead of upbeat. - Creepy Crows: The main villains are crows.
- Cue the Sun: Successfully hatching an Elder results in them crowing out, resulting in that area's sunrise.
- Dark Is Evil: Dark Raven and his crow cronies spread darkness across Morning Land, use dark magic, and are unambiguously evil.
- Dem Bones:
- The Bone Dino mini-bosses you fight keletal dinosaurs.
- Topo rides on the back of the skeletal, sentient remains of a Tyrannosaurus.
- De-power: At the start of the second half of the final boss fight, Dark Raven will slam into you and swipe your Legendary Chicken Suit, leaving you unable to do anything but frantically run around dodging Dark Raven's attacks until Menie-Funie comes to your rescue by granting you the 11th-Hour Superpower.note Notably, Dark Raven continues using this lunging attack throughout the battle, but he can't swipe the Courage Suit from you, so the attack just damages you from that point on.
- Developer's Foresight: Don't worry about any Unintentionally Unwinnable sections if your egg breaks while platforming. There's always a new egg nearby so you can get back to bouncing.
- The Dragon: Dark Corvo is Dark Raven's powerful right-hand bird, using his sorcery to spread chaos in Morning Land.
- Dungeon Bypass: Possible in one mission in Blizzard Castle. There's a huge, nasty slide, full of spikes, jumps, narrow whip turns, and one "threading the needle" segment where you are pretty much guaranteed to lose your egg (and thus a life) the first time through. Looks vicious... Unless you snoop around the nearby area, and find an egg containing a Jet Pack that lets you hover indefinitely. Hatch the egg, accquire the item, and you can lazily float past the entire slide, and on to the next area of the level.
- Egg McGuffin: The Golden Eggs. Billy needs to hatch them to bring peace to Morning Land, but he has to steer them through treacherous territory to do so.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: The "light ball" ability you gain in the final boss fight. Billy even gains a Super Sonic-esque aura around his suit.
- Energy Being: Dark Raven's final form is a crow-shaped mass of darkness.
- Escort Mission: Once per world (except for the last) you must hatch a golden egg, but it must be protected and be carted through most of the level you do it in.
- Evil Is Not Well-Lit: Dark Raven's arena is so dark that it goes pitch-black on occasion.
- Evil Sorcerer: Dark Corvo and Dark Raven are the story's villains and use magic to terrorize the Chickens.
- Exposition Fairy: Menie-Funie speaks to the current character at the beginning of most levels, to give you hints about the actual mission.
- Expy: The main characters look suspiciously like human versions of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy.
- Fat Bastard: Captain Glur is one of Dark Raven's minions and is rather portly for an anglerfish.
- Final-Exam Boss: Dark Corvo conjures "shadows" of the previous bosses and uses their attack patterns.
- Flunky Boss: All but one of Dark Corvo's abilities is to summon a shadow clone and sit back and wait for the shadow clone to finish attacking; the only attack he has is when he summons clones of himself and attacks with them.
- Foreshadowing: In the first level, when Billy obtains the Chicken Suit, three other lights erupt and separate in three directions, implied to be the reason why Billy's friends also have suits.
- Funny Animal: The Chickens aren't your average livestock, as they wear clothes, dance around, and have jobs.
- Gangplank Galleon: Pirates Island, the second world, combines this with Palmtree Panic, a beach-like area with pirate-themed elements.
- Gentle Giant: Bantam is the strongest of Billy's gang, but he's no less gentle with the eggs and is just as willing to help the Chickens.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Chick only wears his goggles because they look pretty on him.
- Gratuitous English: "GOOD MORNING!"
- "LET'S GO!!"
- Green Hill Zone: Forest Village, the first overall world of the game, is a village set in a grassland. Unsurprising, as this is a Sonic Team game, after all.
- Guide Dang It!: Some of the Chick Coins and rarer eggs are so elusive that you won't find them without a guide or combing through every inch of level geometry.
- Hall of Mirrors: The circus tent on the second level has a lot of mirrors, and most of Saltim's abilties involves mirrors.
- Heroic Mime: Billy and his friends never talk in the whole game, although they make a lot of various sounds besides talking.
- Horse of a Different Color: The "mount" creatures. At least one of them — a shark — lets you avert your Super Drowning Skills.
- Iconic Item: All of the Mons wear a red bandanna somewhere. Some of them have it as a bow — and in one case, a saddle.
- Improbable Weapon User: Billy and his friends use eggs as lethal weapons against enemies.
- Irony: Billy is told to show courage. But he's wearing a chicken suit. And chickens are known to be cowardly. But it may have been intentional.
- Ironic Name: A bantam is a small chicken. Bantam is the biggest of the four kids.
- It May Help You on Your Quest: The chicken elders keep saying this to Billy 'n friends each time they give you an emblem. You actually never realize what are they used for until the very end.
- Keet: Billy's a kind kid who's just as loud and rowdy as his animal inspiration.
- Kid Hero: Billy and his friends look no older than ten.
- Kiai: Whoever you play as, they shout high-pitched gibberish when they jump, pound the ground, or hatch eggs.
- Lethal Lava Land: Dino Mountain, the third world of the game, is set in a volcanic region with Prehistoria elements.
- Lizard Folk: Era Gecko takes the form of a humanoid lizard.
- Locked Door: It's most likely that you will find these in every single mission. They're either opened by pressing a switch button (most likely to be hidden), or defeating all crows on screen.
- Mini-Boss: The Snake Crow, and the Bone Dinosaurs that you fight before Topo.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Most of the hatchable animals.
- Mini-Game: Five different unlockable mini-games, several of which are also Shout Outs — there are games based on Puyo Puyo, Ni GHTS Into Dreams, and ChuChu Rocket!.
- Mirror Monster: Saltim is one; he hides in the mirror and even tries to suck you in.
- Mirror World: Saltim runs around in his mirror world and jumps in and out while he fights you.
- Mons: The hatchable monsters could count as this, since you need to hatch all of the eggs for 100% Completion.
- Monster Clown: Saltim is a much lighter example, but still counts; the chick you meet before entering the circus tent tells you he's scared from hearing Saltim's laughter from inside, Saltim is trying to kill you as well, and when you accidentially walk into one of the wrong mirrors inside the circus tent, you can hear him laughing at you.
- Mood Whiplash: While most of the game is fairly lighthearted throughout, the final boss is when the horror really kicks in.
- Musical Nod: The Circus Park night music, "Odd March," is a song from Knuckles Chaotix. Mariko Nanba composed music for both games.
- Necromancer: Topo is this; he summons undead dinosaurs to aid him.
- Never Found the Body: Unlike the other bosses, it's not clear whether Dark Corvo dies; the other bosses turn into a mass of crows or fade away, but a portal of darkness appears below Dark Corvo and he falls into it without him seen fading away.
- Ominous Floating Castle: Giant Palace floats above Morning Land and is the final level of the game.
- One-Winged Angel: After you beat his first form as a Funny Animal crow wizard, Dark Raven hatches the Giant Egg, merges with it, and transforms into an enormous crow-shaped living shadow.
- Patchwork Map: Morning Land's nonsensical geography; why yes, that is a snowy tundra right beside the desert and volcano.
- Pattern-Coded Eggs: The player can obtain eggs colored like the various animals they hatch into.
- Perpetual Molt: The Elder Chickens shed a wing's worth of feathers when they appear.
- Platform Hell: Especially when you play the first mission of Circus Park. Either your golden egg gets broken after reaching the zone with a ridiculous amount of big cat crows; or you end up losing your egg by using the red rails.
- Player-Guided Missile: Collect the yellow "Psychic Hat" in certain levels and you can steer the egg in any direction after shooting it.
- Power Up Mount: Three of the Egg Animals are these: Rikol, the kangaroo-lion who can jump quite high and spit fireballs; Datch, the sheep-ostrich who can glide and has a green-charged attack... thing; and Kaboot, the shark who averts your Super Drowning Skills and has a body-slam attack. They can also sustain several hits of damage, instead of just one.
- Prehistoria: Dino Mountain is a mountain full of dino bones, some of which spring to life.
- Proj-egg-tile: One of the many things you do with eggs in this game is throwing them at enemies, since they're your primary way of attacking.
- Prophet Eyes: The Crows' eyes are completely white, which reflects their supernatural powers.
- Punny Name: All of the kids have names based on eggs.
- Billy Hatcher: Chickens have bills, Billy hatches eggs.
- Rolly Roll: Egg rolls.
- Chick Poacher: Chicks are small chickens, poached eggs.
- Bantam Scrambled: Bantam chickens, scrambled eggs.
- Rainbow Speak:"My name's Menie Funie, I'm the god who watches over Morning Land."
- Quicksand Sucks: Sandy Ruin's quicksand drags down whoever falls in it immediately.
- Shifting Sand Land: Sand Ruin, the sixth world of the game, is set in a desert with Inca-like pyramids instead.
- Shout-Out: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, a Chao, a Rappy, NiGHTS, a Kapu Kapu, & Amigo make appearances as tamable monsters.
- Silly Simian: Saltim, who is a funny clown monkey boss, who is a
relief from the difficulty of the game, and is considered to be a fun boss. - Slasher Smile: The crows seem to have this, as most enemies have a massive teethshowing smile almost all the time. It's most noticeable on the bosses, if only for the harder ones, as they will kill you while smiling constantly.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Blizzard Castle, the fourth world of the game, is set in a mountainous region where it snows all year around.
- The Smurfette Principle: Out of the four kids, Rolly is the only girl, and out of the seven Elders, Ponee is the only hen.
- Snap Back: By the end of the game, the kids are supposed to go back to the human world; however, during the post-story missions, Billy and his friends are back in Morning Land wearing their respective suits and it's like nothing happened.
- Sound of No Damage: Hitting Era Gecko while enlarged does no damage, and has a small flash as if it was shielded.
- Spelling Song: The song G.I.A.N.T.E.G.G. in which that's all they do. Humorously enough, due to the lack of enunciation between the "I" and "A", they sound like they're spelling it wrong — "G-I-N-T-E-G-G" — which is kind of a liability for a Spelling Song.
- Sphere Factor: The gameplay consists mainly of rolling eggs around. However, Billy is on the ground and is pushing the egg around. He derives strength to battle from them, running noticeably faster when he's pushing an egg along and uses eggs as weapons.
- Summon Magic: Dark Corvo's magic seems to all be associated with summoning enemies.
- Super Drowning Skills: Billy and his friends can't swim; if you land in any pool of water, they go splat with a faceplant and you lose one life. You can, however, cross bodies of water with the purple Joker Hat (which allows you to ride your egg across water), and with the Kaboot the shark.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: With most of the bosses, all you have to do is dodge everything until they mess up and become vulnerable to a strike. Sometimes the bosses do the dumbest things to allow them to be harmed and still repeat their actions over and over again, which makes them seem stupid even though they may be owning you anyway.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Ponee, the female Elder, appears to be wearing lipstick.
- Theme Naming: The Chicken Elders' names are derived from the Hawaiian word for the color they are wearing. Oma-Oma wears green (oma'oma'o), Ponee wears purple (poni), etc.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Billy at the final battle. Despite having unlocked the other 3 characters by then, no one even lifts a finger to help him.
- Threatening Shark: Inverted. You can ride the shark in question (Kaboot) around Pirate Island, letting you avoid the issue of your Super Drowning Skills.
- Underground Monkey: All of the small enemies come in different forms but have the same basic attacks, either inflicting collision damage, or bouncing around.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Giant Palace is the last level of the game, a giant castle floating far above Morning Land.
- Victory Pose: Whenever one of the characters grab an emblem, they strike a victory pose, with Billy and Rolly's looking more like a Happy Dance.
- Waddling Head: Most of the crow monsters are supposed to resemble other animals, but look little more than bulbous heads scooting across the ground.
- Warm-Up Boss: Era Gecko is pathetically easy to defeat, although everything is pathetically easy at the start, but it will get harder.
- Weapons That Suck: Saltim's mirrors are these; they can be used to suck in Billy and trap him, after which Saltim will then deliver a big punch to the mirror, damaging Billy and sending him out of the mirror.
- Whale Egg: Half of the animals you hatch (like monkeys, seal lions, cats, hedgehogs...) don't come from eggs. It's even lampshaded by one of the chicks wondering who or what laid them in the first place.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Mostly in the opening cutscene, you'll notice Billy's huge eyes are abnormally well detailed.
- Word Salad Title: Not the game itself, but the boss theme, named in the OST as "Bang! Bang! Big Hornes Explosion!"
