Video Game / Spandex Force

Spandex Force is a Match-Three Game series with RPG Elements for computers running Windows by KarjaSoft.

Spandex Force was released in 2008.

Spandex Force: Superhero U was released in 2011.

Spandex Force: Champion Rising was released in 2014.

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The original provides examples of:

• Affably Evil:
  • The Crossdresser does try to trick the hero with his Wonder Boy disguise, but he's otherwise relatively well-spoken and surrenders when he knows he's defeated.
  • Countess Conundrum leaves riddles for the protagonist, but she does admit that he's a master detective (even if it's because they're not difficult to figure out) and surrenders.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The PAL-9000 has been designed a bit too intelligently, to the point it decided to take over Vigilance Valley.
• All Your Powers Combined: Ragnarok combines body, mind, and elements for an insanely powerful attack.
• Arc Villain: Every chapter focuses on a specific villain the hero has to defeat.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: The damage increase from your artifacts ignores enemy defense.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The crimes committed by the impersonator include robbing a bank, robbing a jewelry store, and stealing candy from children.
• Anti-Villain: The final villain. Professor Aphasia created the evil clones because he wanted to communicate, and he chose the hero's visage since he's the paramount expression of all that's good in the city.
• Axes at School: The elementary school receives an anonymous bomb threat. It turns out to be a false ploy by Psycho Girl.
• Blackmail: The Crossdresser asks the hero to get 1000000$ by the next day, or he'll reveal his secret identity.
• Canon Name: The default identity of the hero is Frank Farseer and for the heroine is Lara Littlestone, while their hero names are Awesome Man and Awesome Woman, respectively.
• Cassandra Truth: The newspaper takes Crossdresser's reveal of the hero's secret identity as a joke.
• Character Customisation: You can select the playable character's skin, hair, eye, clothing, and stripe color.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The hero keeps saving an old lady and her cat. In chapter 8, she reveals the evil clone's weakness, letting the hero have a chance at beating him.
• Child Hater: The epilogue reveals that Blizzard Wizard works making snowcones for children, and he hates it.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Body orbs are red, mind orbs are blue, element orbs are green.
• Comes Great Responsibility: The main character states that a wise man said that with great powers, comes great sacrifice. Or was that responsibility?
• Common HTTP Status Code: The bottom-left PAL-9000's machine upon defeat ends with "404 NOT FOUND".
• Cosmetic Award: You get two stars next to the name in your save file after beating the game.
• Creepy Crossdresser: The Crossdresser, a villain who freaks the hero out.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Failing a stage makes you watch a cutscene and you don't gain anything earned from it, but you don't lose anything either.
• Degraded Boss: Once you upgrade your base to level 4, the Heavy Mob turns from being a boss exclusively fought in chapter 1 to enemies you can fight whenever they show up in the overworld.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The clues portraits for the villains are made black and white.
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: Icicle of Doom's description mentions that anything with "Doom" is naturally powerful.
• Evil Knockoff: The Evil Clone of the protagonist, who has gone berserk and looks just like the player character's default model.
• Experience Booster: If an artifact has "of Quick Learning" next to its name, it's going to increase experience earned when equipped.
• Fanboy: Wonder Boy is an 11-year old kid who wants to be the player character's sidekick. He won't take no for an answer. This is actually a disguise worn by the Crossdresser.
• Green and Mean: Countess Conundrum. the villainess of chapter 5, wears a green suit as part of the allusion to Riddler.
• Health/Damage Asymmetry: Inverted. Enemies frequently have 50% of your max HP, with bosses having about 75%, but they deal about 3x as much damage with their attacks.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: In chapter 8, the hero is believed to have robbed a bank.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: The hero uses weird exclamations, like "Voluptuous Vanderbilt Mathematicians!" and "Slobbering ghosts of Randall!"
• Hopeless Boss Fight: In chapter 8, a level 100 ??? has 9999 HP, absurdly high stats, blocks about 90% of damage taken, and knows Ultimate Blitz, a move that deals 1620 damage. You can't win this unless you tried playing absolutely perfectly.
• I Have Many Names: Telekinetic Girl decides to change her name to Mistress Psi, then Mentalia. The newspaper clipping calls her Psycho Girl, and the hero wonders if that's her new name (it's the one registered in the villains gallery, at least).
• I'm Your Biggest Fan: Wonder Boy states the line to the hero, word for word.
• Limited Move Arsenal: You can only have four powers in your arsenal at one point. Trying to learn a new move forces you to replace one in an existing slot.
• Mad Libs Dialogue: The exclamations are based on three randomly selected words.
• Marathon Boss: The player's clone has 1000 HP. Considering that the previous boss had 500, beating it will take a while, even if you use Ragnarok at every opportunity as it also blocks about 60% damage from that move.
• Murder Simulators: Mad Martin became a criminal the day he received his first violent video game.
• Must Have Caffeine: One of the stats of your base that increases with each level is the number of coffee machines it has.
• My Name Is ???: The hero's evil doppelganger in chapter 8 is labelled as ??? during battle.
• The Napoleon: Big Larry, who believes himself to be 7 ft tall and capable of anything, despite being a shorty crook with advanced weaponry.
• Narrator: Blue frames serve the role of a narrating, describing the story in a comic book-like fashion.
• Not Me This Time:
  • The snowstorm in chapter 7 isn't Blizzard Wizard's doing, or at least, not directly, as it's the PAL-9000 machine's new and improved version that causes it.
  • The hero immediately accuses the Crsosdresser of pretending to be him to rob a bank in chapter 8, but that turns out not to be the case.
• Not Worth Killing: Losing to PAL-9000 makes it state "ELIMINATION NOT NECESSARY - OPPONENT TOO WEAK".
• Piano Drop: A potential threat to a citizen which the hero can rescue them from is a piano falling on them.
• Poor Communication Kills: Chapter 8 is called "Communication is the Key". It's the lack of it that made it impossible for Professor Aphasia to explain what's wrong with the clones.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Most opponents have every move of theirs rely on one element. Not letting them match it renders them unable to attack.
• Post-End Game Content: After beating the game, you can keep dealing with problems in the city.
• Post-Final Boss: In chapter 8, after dealing with your Evil Clone, you face off with Professor Aphasia. The former has 1000 HP and the highly damaging Power Blitz. The latter has 50 HP, low stats, and the Taunting move which was used by early-game crooks.
• Press Xto Die: Pressing ESC makes you quit the level and displays the dialogue that shows up if you failed.
• Recurring Boss: The Crossdresser is faced in chapter 3, 6, and 8.
• Redemption Rejection: The hero tries to offer Psycho Girl a chance to become a hero, but she refuses, as she finds his speech pathetic and just wants to go to jail.
• Rhyming Names: The second major villain encountered, Blizzard Wizard.
• Riddle Me This: Countess Conundrum leaves the hero a riddle, but it's pretty obvious he's supposed to go to the UFO.
• Rogues Gallery: The Villain Gallery in the HQ describes villains, some of them the hero battles with frequently.
• RPG Elements: You battle opponents in an attempt to deplete their health, level up, buy new moves, and equip new artifacts.
• Score Screen: At the end of each level, you're shown how much EXP, money, reputation, and clues you've earned, as well as the time bonus for the latter three.
• Secret Identity: You name the player character both a hero name and a secret identity. This doesn't come into play for a while, but the Crossdresser intends to find it out, which he succeeds in when he's a reporter in chapter 6, and he blackmailes the hero for 1000000$, but the newspaper ultimately laughs it off.
• Shout-Out:
  • The hero thought about Gothic City, but he realised another hero got there first.
  • The "Classic" billboard clearly resembles Pac-Man.
  • To Bananaman:
    • The first major villains faced are the Heavy Mob.
    • They have a You Can Say That Again conversation that goes almost the exact same as the one in "The Kidnap Caper".
    • The Crossdresser is revealed to live on 29 Acacia Road in chapter 8.
• Spinning Newspaper: The newspapers show up by spinning first.
• Thanking the Viewer: The last line in chapter 8 is "Thank you for playing Spandex Force!" and in the epilogue, the hero thanks the player personally.
• Themed Cursor: The cursor is a blue arrowhead that turns into a glove when it can drag something.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: ???'s Ultimate Blitz, an attack deals 1620 damage (where it's hard to have more than 700 HP), represented by two red orbs, thunders, and some other effects.
• Thinking Wheels: The mind icon is represented by a gray head with gears in it.
• Three-Stat System: There are three stats you can raise upon leveling up - body, mind, and elements.
• Timed Mission: Most timed levels have to be beaten in two minutes.
• Too Much Information: The hero shouts the line in the epilogue to the Crossdresser when spoiler:he talks about his dress.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Clones by Professor Aphasia are very sensitive to coleslaw. This succeeds in making one of them actually beatable.
• Weather Dissonance: Thanks to the Blizzard Wizard's ice machine, there can be snow in the summer, with the hero noting how weird it is.
• Welcome to Corneria: It's clear that the post-rescue lines keep repeating by chapter 3. For levels like the fire rescue, there is only one line.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Psycho Girl wanted to be a famous supervillain so she could make her father, the Miracle Man, proud. The hero doesn't understand the reason, but MM gave up being a hero after getting hurt in a battle with Evil Weevil, so he wouldn't want to see his daughter hurt.
• We Will Meet Again: In the epilogue, Countess Conundrum tells the hero that they will fight again, much to his dismay.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue has the old lady and all the villains conversing with the hero, telling him what they plan to do.
• You Can Say That Again: After defeating the Heavy Mob, one of their members says "Maybe crime doesn't pay after all", the hero says this phrase, then he tries to say that again, only to be interrupted. At the end of the game, a similar situation occurs, but now Professor Aphasia says "It was all a big misunderstanding", but now the hero is stopped from saying that again.
• You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: The hero tries to dissuade Psycho Girl from being a supervillain, saying that she could use her powers for a world of good. She doesn't want that.
• You Keep Using That Word: The hero points out the improper use of the word "inconceivable" by Countess Conundrum, in a way reminiscent of The Princess Bride.

Superhero U provides examples of:

• Achievement System: There are 20 trophies to earn. The conditions for unlocking them are initially hidden, but doing them grants reputation and money as well.
• Acid-Trip Dimension: Dimension X, visited in chapter 2 of Superhero U, has abstract creatures and vivid colors. It reminds the hero of one of his parties.
• Call-Back: Chapter 1 ends with "Unfortunately, Awesome Man is a lousy fortune teller...", similarly to how chapter 1 of the original ended.
• Chromatic Arrangement: The three other heroes. Calculatron is blue, Lighting Lad is yellow, and Princess Pain is pink.
• Dueling Player Characters: At the end of Physical/Mental/Elemental Power 301, you battle Awesome Man, or the previous game's protagonist. He holds back, though.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Near the start of the "Battle Essentials" mission of Superhero U, the hero states he's ready to open a can of whoop donkey.
• Karma Meter: In missions related to helping people, you earn karma points by matching tokens and completing requests. Reaching the required number of them completes it.
• Killer Rabbit: A bunny tries to act cute, but the hero is shocked with how it knows some dangerous moves.
• Heel–Face Turn: Blizzard Wizard went from being a villain in two chapters of the original to a teacher.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The fight with Hyena gives him 180 HP and attacks that will almost certainly deal enough damage to kill the hero. It appears that you can't win, until the guru holds him down and weakens him, making him beatable.
• Magikarp Power: The three early-game superpowers (Left Hook, Flame Arrow, and Mind Blast) can be relatively potent if you upgrade them. Lv. 4 Left Hook has the same damage output as Haymaker but at a lower energy costs (but Lv. 5 Left Hook has higher energy cost and the same damage output).
• Optional Boss: Several sidequests on the notice board which have you battle bosses like the Wombat.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In chapter 4, most of the teacher have red eyes as they start to behave more oddly.
• Rocket-Tag Gameplay: Due to the removal of damage resistance and lower HP totals, battles go by far faster. Still, it's often either you taking a few attacks from the opponent or them taking a few attacks from you.
• Rule of Three: Psycho Girl states "I was... defeated?" three times after the first battle with her, with the third time occuring after the hero and the teacher have gone.
• Shout-Out:
  • The clue mission in chapter 1 is "Where in the World Is Ms. Supreme?"
  • The conversation about benching with Princess Pain ends with "Well, excuse me, Princess!"
  • Lighting Lad's most prized possesion is The Infinity Gauntlet.
• Spell My Name With An S: Lighting Lad wanted to be Lightning Lad, but he misspelled the name and it stuck for the rest of the course. At least it's not as bad as Dorkman's.
• Third-Person Person: Wombat mentions his name and uses the third person while speaking.
• Too Much Information: Part of the ending is the following exchange.
  Player Character: The Crossdresser! What a lovely gown you have on.
  The Crossdresser: Why thank you. I just thought I'd celebrate your victory. I even put on a matching corset and stockings and—
  Player Character: TOO MUCH INFORMATION!
• Verbal Tic: Carn likes to start his sentences with "Forsooth".
• Warm-Up Boss: Depending on what course you picked first, the first boss is either Honcho Guevara, Psycho Girl, Professor Aphasia, or Shorty McDuff. None of these opponents are particularly strong in battle and mainly serve as a tutorial.

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