A Turn-Based Tactical RPG heavily flavored with Mon-style collecting, published by Square Enix worldwide.
The story follows the adventures of Ziggy, as he tries to save his baby brother Zero from the evil Number 42 and his Machine Network. Along the way he gathers a huge group of Tune Troopers, as well as Robot Boy Z.E.R.O and a quintet of unique, superior troopers, the so-called Superstars.
Oh, and did we mention it's an iPhone, iPod Touch, & originally classic iPod exclusive?
The gimmick of this game is that every individual Trooper Ziggy summons is created from a specific song in your library, and levels up as you listen to that song, so instead of the typical XP grind, they level up naturally as you listen to music.
Also known as Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. The original game was published in 2008 for the scroll-wheel iPod, while a greatly expanded version called Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes - Encore, was released in 2009 for the iOSnote .
A sequel, Guns n' Souls featuring Song Summoner, was announced in 2013, but seems to be in Development Hell.
This game provides examples of:
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Three or four in most battles (plus Ziggy), one in Rehearsal, eighty total.
- Assimilation Plot: Number 42's Network.
- Aura Vision: When Seattelite's daughter, who is blind, meets the party, she describes their auras. This actually factors into game terms: Seatellite, who's a blue resonance type, has a blue aura, while Ziggy, the game's only white type, has an aura like she's never seen.
- Calling Your Attacks: And all of them are named after songs or lyrics.
- Dead Guy Junior: Well, Ziggy doesn't know whether Zero is dead or alive, but he still nicknames his machine companion Z.E.R.O after him.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: You play as a song summoner. You summon songs.
- Experience Points: Play Points are earned by listening to songs. This means that you don't have to spend hours grinding levels, but only the songs you have troopers made from actually earn you anything... and woe betide you if you get a Woody on your favorite song.
- Fantastic Racism: Though, to be fair, machines are a constant menace, so it's no wonder Z.E.R.O catches so much flack.
- Fantasy Character Classes: Boiled down to five- Archer, Mage, Knight, Soldier and Monk. Everyone has one of these classes, even the Big Bad.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: One flashback shows Ziggy jumping over a crevasse that only flying units can cross in-game.
- Geo Effects: Some kinds of glowy ground are harder to move through, but give troopers defense bonuses when stepped on. Others can only be crossed by flying units.
- The Hero: Ziggy
- Jive Turkey: The 'hip' dialogue can be a little... egregious at times.
- Joke Character: Woody, a wooden doll. His special skill is setting himself on fire.
- Meaningful Name: Everyone and everything is named after a music reference, except the robots. The Stargazers are named mostly after poker terms.
- For example, Ziggy is named after David Bowie's alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.
- Mecha-Mooks: Mechanical Militiamen.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Several of the Toon Troopers and Superstars bear a striking resemblance to various real-life musicians. For example, Golden Wing looks like Jimi Hendrix (and is "said to be the reincarnation of a great musician from an alien world).
- Seattlite is pretty clearly a Kurt Cobain homage, from the name (Seattle, home of grunge) to the character design, to his daughter (and Kurt's real-life daughter) having the name Frances. Kind of a Tearjerker when his very first line in the game is "I thought I'd die alone long ago."
- Power of Rock: Music is power, literally.
- Prophet Eyes: Seattelite's daughter.
- Red Herring: Stargazer Nameless is not Ziggy's brother Zero.
- The Red Mage: Conductors. Mage-type Troopers focus on offensive magic, but Ziggy and Groove Master can heal as well.
- The Reveal: Z.E.R.O. is Zero
- Robot Names: Z.E.R.O.'s name isn't actually an acronym; he's named after Ziggy's brother Zero, and as a reference to the fact that his serial number (SGNB 00000000 AA) contains many zeroes.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: Z.E.R.O, rare male example, is also the exact opposite of this trope's usual personality: instead of being cheery, passionate, or romantic, he's The Stoic.
- The Stoic: Z.E.R.O would like to remind you that machines have no emotions.
- Save Scumming: Did your
favorite song create a Trooper with crappy stats? No problem. Just dismiss the new Trooper, and repeat the creation process with the same song. You'll get the same class, but hopefully better stats. - Summon Magic: It's right there in the title.
- Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Well, technically there's five jobs, but it normally falls into this. Archers > Knights & Soldiers > Monks > Archers. Mages are a bit of a wild card here: They deal a lot of damage with their magic, but take more damage from everyone in physical combat.
- Unwilling Roboticisation
- Viewer Gender Confusion: There's a large amount of confusion over Supernova's
◊ real gender. Here's a hint: it's a boy.
