Stop us if you've heard this one before. The Princess- Record Scratch!!
Wow, that was quick. Okay, how about this?
The princess kidnaps The Hero's turtle monster friend, and now he has to traverse a series of 2D Platformer worlds avoiding power-ups and coins and getting help from enemies, spike traps, and bottomless pits.
That is Default Dan.
Default Dan is a Platform Game by Kikiwik Games that takes the basic plot and mechanics of your average Super Mario Bros. game, and flips it all on its head. Here, coins make you explode, enemies are your allies, and what were traps are now helpful to you.
The game was funded on Kickstarter, and released for PC on Steam on January 15th, 2015. It was ported to iOS and Android soon after.
Default Dan contains examples of:
- Adorable Evil Minions: The princess employs cupcakes to work for her.
- Alliterative Title: Default Dan.
- Anthropomorphic Food: One of the enemies is a limbed cupcake that attacks by throwing small cupcakes at Dan.
- Big Bad: As part of the game’s inversion of Mario tropes, The Princess kidnaps Dan’s turtle dragon friend, sparking Dan’s quest to save him.
- Bottomless Pits: Inverted. When Dan falls into a bottomless pit, he drops down from the top of the screen.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Much of the game's difficulty comes from the fact that helpful things look harmful and harmful things look helpful.
- Distressed Dude: In this game, the turtle monster is the one you gotta save.
- Fake Trap: Spikes of Doom make you bounce, Bottomless Pits lead to the top of the screen, Man-Eating Plant monsters act as warp gates, and Goombas carry you.
- Goomba Stomp: Inverted, of course. In this game, to defeat enemies, you have to hit them from underneath.
- Helpful Mook: What are usually enemies in most platform games are now your allies. Man-Eating Plants serve as warp gates, and goombas carry you over hazards.
- Inverted Trope: Pretty much does this to the typical trappings of the platformer genre.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Dan explodes into these whenever he gets killed.
- Man-Eating Plant: The plant monsters in this game DO eat Dan, but rather than kill him, they act as warp points.
- Poison Mushroom: What usually helps you in most platform games, here it makes you explode. Coins, white platforms, cupcakes, hearts, presents, pretty much anything that looks nice, keep your distance.
- Spikes of Doom: Like everything else, Inverted. In this game, the spikes make you bounce.
- Timed Mission: As usual, Inverted. Instead of having to complete the levels before the timer reaches zero, the timer STARTS at zero and counts up.
- Villainous Princess: As part of its nature as an Inversion of a typical Super Mario Bros. Platform Game, instead of the nameless Princess being kidnapped by the turtle monster, the princess kidnaps the turtle monster. From there, Default Dan has to rescue his turtle monster friend from her.
