The beach needed a hero. What it got was a Normy.
Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama is a video game for the Sega Genesis based on the 1985 Norman Keith Robinson comic strip Making It. It was developed by Realtime Associates and published by Electronic Arts in 1994.
One day, Normy, the local beach bum, is wandering the beach, where he comes across the six goddesses, who are playing a game of volleyball. Suddenly, an alien spaceship shows up and captures all six of the goddesses, taking them to different time periods, much to Normy's dismay. Normy then receives a message from a pelican informing him that he is the hero chosen to rescue the goddesses. He is also given a bottle of Space N' Time SPF 4 suntan lotion, which takes him to the designated time periods when he rubs it on his skin. Each of the six goddesses are in a different time period, being held prisoner by a different villain. Normy's goal is to defeat each of the villains and rescue all six goddesses. Normy has a variety of different weapons at his disposal, which he can use by pressing the attack button after collecting them, and he can also dash when his dash meter is cool by pressing the dash button.
This game provides examples of:
- Big Boo's Haunt: The fourth stage, "Transylvania 1973" takes place in the castle of Professor Warhol. Enemies in this stage include wolves, possessed candelabras, possessed books, ghosts, and rats. The boss is Professor Warhol.
- Big Fancy Castle: The second stage, "England 1447", takes place in the kingdom of Princess Cuffy. Enemies include jesters, swordsmen, knights, dragons, and executioners, and Cuffy serves as the boss, using magic powers to stop Normy.
- Binomium ridiculus: In the opening cutscene, Normy is introduced as Laidbackus Dudeus.
- Credits Gag: In addition to everyone being given fake middle names in the closing credits like Michael "The Weasel" Dimambro and Chris "School of Fish" MacDonald, there's also a credit for Weasel Training, which is given to Alan "Nine Fingers" Hickey.
- Damsel in Distress: The six goddesses of the beach have been captured by alien invaders and taken to different to time periods to serve the villains' evil purposes. Normy's goal is to defeat the villains and rescue all six of the goddesses.
- Deadly Droplets: The alien spaceship features green ooze droplets that hurt on contact.
- Didn't Need Those Anyway!: In a Shout-Out to Monty Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight, the knight enemies in "England 1447" still try to attack Normy even after they lose their arms and legs.
- Dress Code: Parodied in "Heck Whenever". When Normy first arrives in Heck, there is a sign that says "Welcome to Heck. No death, no sin, no service."
- Elephants Are Scared of Mice: The mini-boss of "The Jungle 1932" is a mouse-like gangster, which frightens a nearby elephant. Normy has to defeat the gangster so he can ride the elephant across a bed of spikes.
- Extendo Boxing Glove: The first weapon Normy starts out with is a spring-loaded boxing glove, which he collects at the beginning of the first level. As the game progresses, he can acquire more weapons which replace the boxing glove, such as rocks, pies, spears, and banana peels.
- Idle Animation: Leave Normy alone for a few seconds and he will play with a paddle ball.
- Indy Escape: In "The Jungle 1932", there are several sections where Normy has to outrun rolling boulders.
- Invincibility Power-Up: The Cool Shades temporarily make Normy invincible.
- Jungle Japes: The third stage is "The Jungle 1932". Enemies include natives, mice, and monkeys. The boss of this stage is Shlomo, King of the Apes.
- Leap of Faith: Normy can do dashing leaps by pressing the dash button and then the jump button at the right time. This is important to get across hazards such as lava and large gaps.
- NPC Road Block: Early in "New Jersey 65,000,047 BC", Normy comes across a mother dinosaur, who is blocking his path. Normy must find and hatch an egg (which is being guarded by a wooly mammoth) and bring the baby dinosaur to the mother dinosaur so she will lower her head and he can pass.
- Personal Raincloud: One appears over Normy after the six goddesses of the beach get captured in the opening cutscene.
- Planet Heck: The sixth and final stage, "Heck Whenever", takes place in Heck. The enemies found in the different levels of Heck include gym teachers, computer nerds, laywers, snowmen, rampaging pickles, policitians, and Elvis impersonators. The Final Boss is Lucifer himself.
- Prehistoria: The first stage is "New Jersey 65,000,047 BC". It is a prehistoric town that resembles Bedrock, and the background music features a sound-alike of the Flintstones theme song. Cavemen and dinosaurs serve as enemies, and Ogg the Caveman serves as the stage's boss.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: "Chopin's Funeral March" serves as part of the background music for "Heck Whenever".
- Rogues Gallery: Each villain has a different time period, as well as a different motive for making each goddess his or her prisoner;
- Ogg the Caveman wants Moon-unit, the Goddess of Waves, to test his new invention, the surfboard.
- Princess Cuffy has captured Persephone, the Goddess of Sunshine, so she can work on her tan.
- Shlomo, King of the Apes, wants Daphne, the Goddess of Surf Music, to perform at his night club.
- Professor Warhol wants Thalaia, the Goddess of Warm Sand, to make silicon chips for his new invention, video games.
- Grxplrt wants Valerie, the Goddess of Clean Air, to provide an atmosphere for his evil planet.
- Lucifer has kidnapped Bambi, the Godess of Snow Cones, so he can have ice for his lemonade.
- Shout-Out:
- In the opening cutscene, the way Normy is introduced parodies Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
- "New Jersey 65,000,047 B.C." takes place in a prehistoric town that resembles Bedrock, and features a sound-alike of the Flintstones theme song as the background music.
- Some of the enemies in "England 1447" are knights who lose their limbs but still try to attack.
- To defeat Professor Warhol in "Transylvania 1973", Normy must play video games that resemble Pac-Man and Pong.
- In the closing credits, Scott Stoabs is credited as Scott "Beavis" Stoabs.
- Snakes Are Sinister: "The Jungle 1932" has cobra enemies that spit venom.
- Space Zone: The fifth stage is "Planet X-Y-Z 2447", which take place on Grxplrt's home planet. Aliens and robots serve as enemies, and there is also a section where Normy has to turn off the gravity and propel himself backwards. The boss of the stage is Grxplrt himself.
- Spoofs "R" Us: In the game's opening cutscene, after the goddesses of the beach get captured by alien invaders, the beach becomes empty and a sign advertising the grand opening of the Noxious Fumes "R" Us toxic dump gets put up.
- Super Drowning Skills: Normy instantly loses a life if he falls in the water.
- Time Travel: This game's plot involves the six goddesses of the beach being captured by alien invaders and taken to six different time periods. A pelican brings Normy a scroll telling him that he's the hero chosen to rescue them, as well as a bottle of Space N' Time SPF 4 suntan lotion, which takes him to the chosen time periods when he rubs it on his skin.
- Trampoline Tummy: Inverted; pigs serve as organic trampolines, but as they are standing upright, you have to jump on their backs to bounce to higher places.
- Video Game Sliding: Normy can perform a sliding move by pressing down on the D-pad and the dash button simultaneously. This move helps him get through tight spaces.
- Villainous Princess: Cuffy uses magic powers in her battle against Normy, such as firing lightning bolts at him and turning herself into a dragon.
- Vine Swing: "The Jungle 1932" has several sections where Normy swings on vines to get across large gaps.
- Watch for Rolling Objects: In "New Jersey 65,000,047 BC" and "The Jungle 1932", there are small rocks that roll down the stairs as Normy climbs up them. Normy has to jump to dodge them.
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: If Normy loses all of his lives, he is sent to the continue screen, which is depicted as a test pattern. The text below says "We apologize for the temporary loss of this video game, due to inept game playing. We will resume transmission shortly. Please stand-by."
- Wheel o' Feet: When the dash button is pressed, Normy starts running and his running animation is depicted as such.
- A Winner Is You: Your reward for beating the game is a short cutscene where Normy is surrounded by the six goddesses of the beach (with Valerie in particular admiring him) while Lucifer is sentenced to community service and uses his pitchfork to clean up trash on the beach.
