Video Game / Gungrave 2002

Destroy everything, Grave! 1,000,000,000 bullets used! Unprecedented Exhilaration!

Gungrave (2002) is the first entry in the Gungrave series that revolves around a man who was brought back to "life" through the Necrolization Project—an advanced technology that can reanimate the dead, creating "Beyond the Grave", a techno-engineered gunslinging revenant. He receives his necessary sidearms from a young girl named Mika (who just so happens to be the daughter of the former head of the Millennion Syndicate). Seeking his protection, Mika returns to Grave his pair of massively-sized handguns, the "Left and Right Head of Cerberus". Grave's caretaker and creator, Dr. T., also provides him with a secondary weapon, the "Coffin", a large device stocked with multiple heavy weapons.

Now armed, Grave can set out for his mission—to destroy the Millennion Syndicate, the very organization he used to work for, back when he was Brandon Heat, in this darkly twisted tale of love, loss, betrayal, and revenge.

Examples

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The first half of Stage 5 in the first game takes place in one.
• Armor Meter: Beyond the Grave (the player character) has a blue bar beneath his HP bar that serves as this; he wouldn't actually be damaged from heavy gunfire of Mooks as long as the bar is still there, but if it depletes, that's when he takes damage normally.
• Ax-Crazy: Balladbird Lee after becoming a Superior and later on, finding out that his closest friend Bob was defeated by Grave.
• Back from the Dead: The key element in Beyond the Grave's origin/creation story. He used to be a man called Brandon Heat, a hitman who used to work for Millennion until he was killed by Harry after rejecting his former friend's suggestion to kill Big Daddy and take Maria for himself.]]
• Badass and Child Duo: Grave and Mika fulfill this, with Grave being a resurrected gunslinger protecting the young teenaged Mika.
• Big Bad: Harry MacDowell, known also as Bloody Harry is the head of Millennion and was once Brandon's former friend before betraying him and killing him, ensuring that he'd have no opposition in his ambitions to become leader of Millennion.
• Blessed with Suck: As a deadman/necrolizer, Grave is gifted with regeneration, immense physical strength, heightened agility and Nigh-Invulnerability. The price he pays for his "necrolized" body is that he has lost almost all of his memories, and he's mostly incapable of feeling emotion. The blood in his body (as in, all of it) must also be replaced periodically, otherwise he won't last longer than a week or so, as he'll steadily "decompose" and revert back to true death.
• Body Horror: Low-quality seed is sold as an enhancement/designer drug, which makes the user stronger than normal and resilient, but also usually makes the user insane. The pure form of seed? You explode into a giant, malformed monster.
• Bottomless Magazines: Grave and company all have infinite ammo.
• Bullet Time: The "slow" feature in the original game, but was only a cosmetic thing.
• Chained by Fashion: Grave, who carries the coffin chained to his upper arms and can swing it around during battle.
• Charged Attack: (Collect-type) The Demolition Shot Gauge, which is filled by "keeping the beat"—shooting enemies and objects in rapid succession to raise the Beat Counter. When enough beat is absorbed, a Demolition Shot can be used.
• Death by Origin Story: Grave. He was once a man named Brandon Heat who used to be a member of Millennion before he was betrayed and killed by Harry.
• Destination Defenestration: During Stage 4, Mika is thrown out of a window of a moving train and yet she still survives the ordeal.
• Die, Chair, Die! / Rewarding Vandalism: Destroying inanimate objects is crucial for getting a high beat count.
• Do Not Run with a Gun: In the original game Grave couldn't shoot while running, and could only melee attack with the Coffin while standing still. In the second game all three playable characters are set to Run as default, and all three characters can run full tilt while dishing out the pain.
• Everything Breaks: A selling point of the game! As quoted by the back of the game's boxart:
  Boxart: RUN IN SHOOTING AND SEND 'EM TO THEIR GRAVES!!
  Everything in Gungrave can be shot! Enemies will flail, cars will explode and bullet holes will be left in walls! Destroying the enviroment is not just a simple eye candy, it's part of the game!
• Evolving Attack: Collecting enough skull points by completing stage requirements usually upgrades Gungrave's demolition shots into stronger ones.
• Excuse Plot: The story is mostly second fiddle to the arcade run-n-gun carnage, though there's enough there to paint an image of the main characters and the world. This is best exemplified by the Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, which basically acts as a Final Boss for the sake of having one.
• Fantastic Drug: Seed, a designer drug sold on the black market with mysterious origins. Used for its potent euphoric effects, but eventually leads to death. And then there's its real purpose...
• Finishing Move / Coup de Grâce Cutscene:
  • The Graveyard Special, only can be done starting with Bob in stage three. When a boss' health is low, the Demolition Gauge blinks, and if Grave has at least one stock of energy, pressing triangle breaks the fight away to a scene of a graveyard, where Grave stylishly finishes the boss off with a more elaborate version of his Demolition Shots.
  • After the final boss, Grave holds his gun to Harry's head, and doesn't fire unless the player presses the shoot button.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The fight with Alien Head is very much this. Once Big Daddy is slain, he's then eaten by a heart-like monster who is never explained and whose fight is never mentioned again after its over.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: The one over where Grave's left eye used to be, along with his body being full of scars he suffered during his brutal murder.
• Guns Akimbo: The Left Head and Right Head of Cerberus, Grave's beloved pair of guns. Bunji has his own set of dual guns as well.
• Hand Cannon: Cerberus. Described as firing 15mm rounds (the kinds of rounds early aircraft cannons fired) and with barrels about two feet long (when a normal pistol barrel is less than half a foot).
• Harder Than Hard: Kickass difficulty, unlike the other difficulties doesn't allow you to heal yourself with the energy from your Beat meter. In addition, enemies will tear through your Armor Meter and your HP like a machine gun through tissue paper, and bosses deal so much damage that nearly every attack is a One-Hit Kill if it doesn't deal heavy damage.
• Healing Factor: Grave's regenerative abilities, and one of the reasons why he requires the transfusion of whole blood periodically.
• Heroic Build: Game Grave takes this to almost Rob Liefeld levels; the way he's proportioned would allow him to grasp his entire head in one hand.
• Heroic Mime: Grave, who's so quiet he doesn't even grunt or yell when taking damage.
• Hub Level: Dr. T.'s safehouse in the first game, though once he's Killed Off for Real, Gungrave has to go elsewhere for the last level.
• Idle Animation: Grave cycles through 3 animations: Gun Twirling, cracking his neck and shoulders, or being annoyed by a bug buzzing around him, which he shoots without looking.
• Immune to Bullets: Grave isn't completely immune to bullets, but because of his regeneration ability he has a high resistance to them, as long as they're not modified to specifically weaken him.
• Letter Motif: A number of Millennion members have names starting with B: Brandon Heat, Bear Walken, Bunji Kugashira, Bob Poundmax, and Balladbird Lee...and Beyond the Grave.
• Mirror Boss: Bunji Kugashira serves as one to Gungrave, boasting a similar moveset of using firearms, healing himself and his own Graveyard Special, making it important that you take him down quickly.
• Mission Control: Dr. T. in the original game until his death.
• Recurring Riff: Gunlock Overdrive, plays as the game's main theme and whenever you complete a stage or use a Graveyard Special to finish off a major boss.
• Riddle for the Ages: The magical girl who is seen in the various posters in Stage 4 and the secret cutscene unlocked by completing Kickass difficulty. According to the game's artbook, she's called Who, which is also the name of the Magical Girl anime she seems to be from. Aside from that, her actual character is a complete mystery, one which isn't answered in this game or any of its sequels.
• Psycho Serum / Applied Phlebotinum: The weird blue-white chemical that forms the mysterious and dangerous drug called "seed".
• Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: The PAL boxart for the game depicts Beyond The Grave with his guns pointed at the player amidst a white background.
• Sequential Boss: The fights with Bob Poundmax, and Bear Walken. The final boss fight with Big Daddy and Alien Head also serves as one.
• Score Screen: Tallies up Grave's performance at the end of the stage or act and if you racked up enough skulls, a reward of a new demolition shot or new option to fiddle with is given.
• Show Within a Show: During Stage 4, there are several posters for a Magical Girl anime called Who?. Cutscene 26, which is exclusive to the menu where you rewatch all cutscenes shows a cutscene involving Who, which is a Mind Screw that actually tells you nothing about her or her own show.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien: In the original game, Alien Head in Millennion's tower.
• Tragic Monster: Big Daddy, Brandon's father and mentor figure, is the final boss of the first game as he was mutated into a horrific monstrosity because of Harry's vile experiments.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Grave, obviously, but also everyone in the first game by consequence of the art style; it becomes pretty blatant when you first see Mika and Dr. Tokioka. Fortunately this is fixed in the sequel.
• The Big Guy: Grave is enormous in the games, much more so than in the image at the top of the page. Though it's mostly from his clothing being about 30% more over the top in the games.
• The Cameo: Stage 4 has posters depicting a character called Who, and is predominantly dressed in white and various shades of pink.
• The Unfought: Harry himself is never fought, and instead he sics Big Daddy on Grave as the final boss.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: In the original game, the Millennion's Tower. Grave must climb his way across several platforms while taking out various Orgmen before confronting Harry Mac Dowell at the very top..