Monster Lab is a 2008 Role-Playing Game developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by Eidos Interactive for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS.
In this game, the player takes the role of an apprentice Mad Scientist. Through exploring and various Side Quests and Mini Games, parts must be gathered which allow the player to construct monsters. These monsters may then explore areas in search of even more parts, and can take on other monsters in Turn-Based Combat.
Monster Lab provides examples of the following tropes:
- All Your Powers Combined: Baron Mharti claims to have mastered all three elements of mad science (Mechanical, Biological, and Alchemical). Appropriately Thrunch (the Baron's greatest monster) combines parts from all three, unlike any other boss in the game.
- Background Boss: A temporary case. The Junkstack's boss, Gargonaut, spends its introduction lobbing clearly-marked artillery shots at you from somewhere in the background. After about a minute or two, it spawns on the map and can be fought face to face.
- Big Bad: Baron Mharti is the tyrannical ruler of the Uncanny Valley, using his powerful monsters to force its denizens into obeying him.
- Big "NO!": After his "superior" Thrunch is bested by the player and they are declared the new leader of the Mad Science Alliance, Baron Mharti is reduced to screaming "NO!" at the sky.
- Bothering by the Book: When backed into a corner, Mharti invokes a section of the Mad Science Alliance's charter that prohibits non-members from challenging members of the Alliance; as you haven't signed the Mad Science Alliance's charter, he proclaims you're not an official member and can't legally challenge him to a duel. The Alliance get around this by collectively endorsing your membership, rendering you a de facto member of the MSA and leaving Mharti with no choice but to duel you.
- Breaking the Fellowship: The Mad Science Alliance broke up prior to the story due to disagreeing over how to deal with Baron Mharti's Face–Heel Turn, with the members going their separate ways - Fuseless remaining with the Castle, Dr. Sonderbar leaving for the Everglades, and Señor De La Sombra shutting himself up in Tombstone Rise's graveyard. Over the course of the story, you help to reunite them and the story ends with the three electing you as their new leader.
- Critical Existence Failure: A monster can keep using their parts' moves without any problem until the part runs out of health, upon which it breaks off and becomes unusable for the rest of the battle.
- Crosshair Aware: Prior to being fought, the boss of the Junkyard will target the player's monster with long-ranged shots, marked on the map as these.
- The Dark Arts: Alchemical parts and their creation involve this, with components such as "Wailing Souls" and Shrunken Heads serving as ingredients. The actual experiments also feature things such as mixing together elements in an alchemical apparatus, or playing on a haunted organ.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Baron Mharti sports one such moustache, reflecting his nature as a stereotypical villain.
- Deadpan Snarker: Failing when you first attempt to create a part may lead to some sarcastic comments.
- De-Power Zone: Mharti's ultimate plan is to turn the entire Uncanny Valley into one of these through the use of a energy field that would shut down every other Mad Scientist's remote control over their monsters, letting him reign essentially unopposed.
- Elemental Powers: The parts of your monster can be mechanical, biological or alchemical in nature. This leads to Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Mechanical beats biological, biological beats alchemical, alchemical beats mechanical.
- Escape Battle Technique: Zigzagged. Some legs have the "Flee" move, letting the monster try to escape the battle; others avert this by replacing it with another attack. If the legs are disabled, this move can't be used until they're repaired.
- Evil Laugh: The Baron frequently lets out a haughty laugh when taunting the Mad Science Alliance or carrying out a step of his Evil Plan.
- Evil Plan: Baron Mharti's plan involves stationing powerful monsters in different regions of the Uncanny Valley to keep the populace under control while constructing towers that shut down monsters which aren't his. If he succeeds, this will let him consolidate his extant grip on the Valley.
- Exclusive Enemy Equipment: The boss monsters all make use of unique parts that the player cannot craft or find, such as Gargonaut's Arm Cannon and Bonechill's tombstone-arms. Their heads are the only exception, as these drop from the boss fights and are craftable afterwards.
- Face–Heel Turn: Baron Mharti used to be a member of the Mad Science Alliance, only to be seduced by the prospect of wielding all three specialities' power and turn into a vicious tyrant.
- Facepalm: When Fuseless reveals he accidentally used one of the ultimate power core's key components in Gorbok, which the Baron crushed, De La Sombra is seen facepalming in exasperation.
- Fighting Your Friend: Gorbok has to be fought at Mharti Manor, having been defeated and forcibly Reforged into a Minion by the Baron.
- Herr Doktor: Dr. Sonderbar has a noticeable German accent.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Residentula is actually hiding in Cobbleshire all along, disguised as a house on the hillside.
- Hikikomori: De La Sombra isolates himself in the graveyard of Tombstone Rise, refusing to interact with anyone until you defeat him.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The first battle against De La Sombra is impossible to win; his monster has stats far in excess of your own and constantly uses body-wide attacks that will quickly defeat you. This is used to introduce your player to the higher levels of Biological crafting, courtesy of a cache left by Dr. Sonderbar.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Professor Fuseless and the player, when making mechanical monster parts.
- Gradual Regeneration: The "Regenerator" part ability causes the part to regain a small amount of health each turn.
- Justified Tutorial: You are an apprentice Mad Scientist who has just joined the Mad Science Alliance. In the comic book prologue released prior to the game's release, you are a science student whose experiments never work exactly right, but the MSA is overseeing you from afar, seeing the glint of potential.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: In true Mad Scientist fashion, you bring your monsters to life through a massive blast of lightning.
- Mad Scientist: You, the player, are a mad scientist. And so are the zany NPCs in Mad Science Castle who help you out.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: Mad Science Castle has four laboratories: three where you create the different parts, and the fourth where you construct your monsters and bring them to life.
- Mission Control: You take this role in the game, directing your creations around the game world from your base in Mad Science Castle.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Due to the wide variety of parts available to you, it's entirely possible to make something like this, such as a zombie with robotic arms, the head of a Cthulhumanoid, and a plant monster's vines for legs.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Monsters can endure almost any amount of damage without flinching, including losing limbs and getting their heads knocked off. They'll only be defeated when their torso runs out of health or all their limbs except the torso are destroyed.
- Punny Name:
- The game is set in a region named the Uncanny Valley.
- Residentula is a Transforming Mecha that resembles a spider or tarantula in overall structure, with its 'disguised' form being one of the houses in Cobbleshire.
- Shows Damage: Any parts lost during combat and not healed in the subsequent mini-game will be missing from the monster's overworld model. (Excluding the legs, which remain no matter how badly damaged the monster becomes.)
- Smug Snake: Baron Mharti is incredibly smug, talking down to his Igors, his former colleagues, and the Apprentice alike and frequently contacting them purely to gloat about the progress of his Evil Plan.
- Stuff Blowing Up:
- Prof. Fuseless's solution to most things is to launch highly explosive rockets at it, to the disdain of Dr. Sonderbar (particularly considering it frequently fails catastrophically). This eventually becomes a key part of taking down the Baron's De-Power Zone towers.
- Also what happens if you really screw up an experiment: there's a brief cutscene showing the room's door bulging outwards, before an explosion and shockwave shake the Castle.
- Subsystem Damage: Downplayed. While individual limbs and body parts can be targeted, they don't noticeably degrade in performance when taking damage, instead suffering Critical Existence Failure and dropping off when their health hits zero.
- A Taste of Power: Professor Fuseless lets you take control of Gorbok (his personal monster) to defeat two rogue monsters during the Justified Tutorial. Most of his parts and attacks are on par with late-game craftable ones, letting you easily defeat the enemies and learn the ropes of the game. This monster gets taken away once you start building your own, later re-appearing as a Mini-Boss in Mharti Manor.
- Third-Person Person: De La Sombra constantly refers to himself as De La Sombra.
- When Trees Attack: Gloomthorn's body is comprised of a rotting tree trunk wrapped in vines, and it's out to conquer the Wildwoods in the name of Baron Mharti.
