Cartoon Hero
(無個性戰隊) is a very Power Rangers-esque Fighting Game playable in a browser. The player controls a team of three characters through a handful of levels to defeat mooks and a boss on every level.
It has simple controls: Arrow keys to move, double tap to dash, Z for basic attacks which build power, X for special attacks which consumes power (can be combined with dash, up or down arrow, or being at range to unleash different special attacks), C to switch characters or stances (or block in giant robot mode), and double tap C to deal a Finishing Move to a boss.
The game consists of Japanese and English versions, with different background graphics and music. The English version only has a campaign mode, giving you a fixed code to re-enter at the next level upon beating a level. The Japanese version both has the campaign mode and allows you to select levels freely.
Tropes present in this game:
- Achilles' Heel: While the evil versions of the fighters are very strong, they cannot low-jump nor can they control their direction mid-jump or wall jump. They tend to respond poorly to low-air-to-ground attacks.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Grey's ranged special attack throws out a Roboteching targeted drill. However, it is so slow it would rarely hit the target. Similarly, Yellow's ranged special attack fires a massive shot that erupts on impact with the ground, but is far too slow to be practical.
- Blocking Stops All Damage: Blocking in giant robot form stops all damage. The turtle boss is the only boss who can block, but it does not stop all damage; however, it also makes him partly Immune to Flinching.
- Boring, but Practical: Red's air basic attack. It is fast to execute, has longer range than even his air special attack, and because of the way the Evil Counterparts flinch, it could be used repeatedly across the screen until they hit a wall. It is also possibly the only air move that could possibly break evil red's air special attack, and a good way to disengage cleanly to finish them off with ranged specials.
- Combos: Has a combo meter. You gain score equal to 10 times the square of your combo when it expires (e.g. a 4 combo gives you 160 points). All fighters have a "basic combo" - a combo sequence that would automatically be performed by spamming Z, the last hit of which knocks back the opponent, preventing you from continuing hitting them with basics.
- Red: As mentioned above, his air basic can sometimes be spammed like a combo. Other combos include Z + Z + Z + X (target must not be too far behind him, as his ground X hits a fair distance ahead of him), down arrow X + Z (sweeps target into air, then knocks them away), or down arrow X + air X + Z + Z + Z (the last 3 hits does not always hit, but they can, requiring precise timing and positioning).
- Blue: Z + Z + Z + Z + X (given how his basics have poor range, he'd need to take full advantage of it when he does hit it; with the right timing, you can also add down arrow X + air X at the end before his regular X knocks his target back), dash X + down arrow X + air X (must be about 60% of the screen away to use properly; costs too much energy to use practically, but Evil Blue will spam this in blinding speed).
- Yellow: Down arrow X + Z + Z, down arrow X + X, air X + Z + Z (the latter only works if air X was used to hit a target at a correct distance to a wall so the target hits the wall and bounces back right to Yellow for him to hit them again). His long-range X is so slow that if it does hit the target, it blasts them up into the air for a long enough time you could dash to them to hit them again with any attack.
- If you are feeling really fancy, whenever you switch between Red, Blue, or Yellow, and you have enough energy, the next fighter will open with their long-range X; during this animation, you are still in control of the previous fighter, allowing you to hit your target with attacks from two fighters at once.
- Grey (drill up): Z + Z + Z + X, Z + Z + Z + down arrow X (the last one can be repeated near-infinitum; can last hundreds of hits◊, but your left ring finger will be aching by the time you're done).
- Grey (drill down): Air Z (only if the opponent is standing) + Z + Z + Z + X (a bit hard to pull off, but you can usually continue the combo even if you miss a hit in the middle).
- Flash Step: By double clicking left or right. Can be used to phase through attacks. Can be combined with X for a dash special attack. The Evil Counterpart will use this to a frustrating degree.
- Game-Breaking Bug: In very rare occasions, hitting an enemy fighter mid-air would cause them to recover to a standing position while standing on air◊ (one possibility being a Blue vs Blue match, if one uses air X and another uses down arrow X and they collide, the latter will recover standing on air). They would be able to attack and move just like normal while on this invisible platform, reverting to normal once you hit them with a knockdown attack or when they jump. If you manage to get them standing mid-air when you reduce their health to zero, the game becomes stuck because the finishing move won't be able to hit them.◊
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: The fourth boss.
- Heel–Face Turn: Heavily implied for the grey fighter.
- Immune to Flinching: Bosses (but not evil versions of fighters) are generally immune to flinching when they are using any of their special attacks, even if they can still be damaged. There are also a few moves the fighters can use that makes them immune to flinching, notably Yellow's down arrow + X special, which is very useful in comboing it with another two basic attacks.
- Lag Cancel: The animation of air basic attacks is cancelled if you hit the ground before it finishes, allowing you to act again immediately. Since jump height and duration in air can be controlled by how long you hold the up arrow, using air basic attacks during tiny jumps allow you to attack quicker, and it is often possible to combo air basics into ground attacks this way. This doesn't really apply for specials, as Blue, Yellow, and Grey all have unique finishing animations on their air specials upon hitting the ground that is unaffected, and Red's air special hits several times over its duration and cancelling it would negate some of its damage.
- Make My Monster Grow: All normal bosses do this.
- Mighty Glacier: Yellow. His combos tend to be slow and easy to interrupt (at first), but they hurt. He appears to be the only boss that could literally chain attacks from full to zero health without any chance of retaliation. Whatever you do, don't let him back you into a corner.
- Mirror Match: The evil, slightly darker versions of the fighters can be fought.
- Mutual Kill: If you and the boss both reach 0 HP at the same time, you lose because you have to do the Finishing Move to win.
- Not Quite Flight: Grey's air special attack will cause him to ascend a fixed distance before crashing down, regardless of his prior momentum in the air. Because of this, when combined with a Wall Jump he can very briefly fly over the top of the screen.
- Secret Character: The grey fighter is originally only available by clicking the (normally red) title, changing it to grey. You have the option to choose him from the beginning in the third version of the game. Unlike the normal team, where you press C to change among red, yellow and blue, you switch between "drill up" (the default) and "drill down" stances. "Drill up" features continuous spam attacks and a potentially near-infinite combo, while "drill down" is more flexible and agile with better air basic attacks, although both share the same special attacks.
- SNK Boss: All evil versions of the fighters completely lack an energy bar and can use inhuman special attack combos that could knock off half of your health whenever they damn well please.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Particularly with the first boss's dash attack and the fifth boss's wrecking ball attack, both leaving them almost completely helpless for a long period of time afterwards.
- This Is a Drill: Every single member of the evil army uses drills in combat. When bosses are defeated, a drill falls out and grows into a giant version of the boss.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The second boss, the bird, represents quite a difficulty spike from the first boss which is slow and has a massive vulnerability window after using its dash attack. The bird flies almost constantly, and at a height where few non-ranged attacks can hit (Red and Grey's air special are the only ones that can with a normal jump, you need a good Wall Jump to hit it with other attacks). Its drill rain attack is also quite challenging to new players, dropping tons of drills from the skies while flying from one side of the screen to another, being immune to flinching and damaging and knocking you down if you get close. If the AI uses it often, you would get very little window to attack and might even time out.
- Wall Jump: Although no actual wall is visible, you can jump off the sides of the screen by pressing the arrow key away from the wall while already in the air, gaining additional altitude, very helpful for some aerial bosses. Additionally, Blue's air special attack (dashing downwards at a 45 degree angle) changes slightly if used high enough in the air (only possible with a wall jump). Instead of knocking the target back slightly while they remain standing, there will be an additional shockwave animation, throwing the target about 40% of the screen away and knocking them down.
- You Get Knocked Down, You Get Back Up Again: For the most part, most attacks can't hit you when you're knocked down. Red's ranged special attack is an exception, the laser beam will hit a target that has already been knocked down (most likely by another use of the special).
