E.G.G.: Elemental Gimmick Gear is a 1999 Action RPG developed by Hudson Soft for the Sega Dreamcast, from a game design concept by Birthday.
In the world of Tokion, a ancient dome-shaped ruin is found in the depths of a thick jungle. During the excavation of the ruin, the archeologists found a destroyed, egg-shaped machine. As they investigated, the machine opened to reveal a man within, remarkably preserved despite the ruins and himself being nearly 5000 years old. The man inside the machine was named "The Sleeper," and he and his machine were both brought to a nearby lab for study, as the excavation continued.
Over the next century, the machine in which he was found—named Elemental Gimmick Gear, or EGG—was studied, and soon copied, allowing for widespread adoption of similar egg-shaped mechs for personal use. These were utilized by the people of Tokion, including a band of pirates, who used them to venture into the depths of the ruins. Deep within the ancient structure, they found and activated a dormant piece of technology, which violently brought the ruins to life around them.
The land was devastated as massive tentacles, made of organic technology, emerged from the dome-shaped ruin and spread through the jungle and sent earthquakes across Tokion. Then the tentacles began emitting a thick layer of fog, which blanketed the land, and lead the people of Tokion to name the area "Fogna." From within the ruin itself emerged countless hordes of egg-shaped machines and monsters, which found new homes in the wilderness around Fogna. The events as a whole were named "The Breeding," and the majority of Fogna was soon abandoned, leaving only a small town that had been built beside the ruin, around the laboratory where the Sleeper was kept.
Three weeks later, the Sleeper awakes, and the player takes control as they investigate Fogna, the lands surrounding it, and their own mysterious past.
Elemental Gimmick Gear is played in a top-down view on hand-drawn for most of the game, with the exception of boss battles and mini-games, during which the gameplay shifts to 3D graphics. General movement and combat is very similar to The Legend of Zelda, with very few melee attacks and several elemental abilities that must be equipped using a menu. However, the player can also enter "Spin Mode," which retracts the EGG's arms and legs, and allows them to move through environments like a spinning top. This is faster and will damage enemies on contact, but slowly drains the player's health (called Energy) when in this mode, and upon taking damage, the EGG exits spin mode and returns the player to normal movement.
Tropes appearing in Elemental Gimmick Gear:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The crazed computer known as Psycho Mother, the Big Bad of the game. After the events of World War 3, Psycho Mother decreed humanity was no longer worthy of living and intends to overwhelm the entire earth with a twisted terraforming process called "The Breeding" which will result in humanity's extinction and the birth of a new race Psycho Mother can rule over.
- Averted with the AI of the Moon Colony known as Grand Mother, who helps you destroy Psycho Mother and ultimately stop the Breeding.
- Art Shift:
- The game is primarily presented with 2D visuals, but shifts to a 3D presentation for boss fights. The gameplay remains almost identical, except for the 3D fights allowing for full 360° aiming of ranged attacks.
- The racing minigame also uses 3D visuals.
- Bittersweet Ending: Psycho Mother and Norman are both gone, however the programming to trigger the Breeding still lies inside of Fogna. The only way to fully stop the Breeding and save the earth is to destroy Fogna; which can only be done with its self-destruct mechanism which needs to be activated by Grand Mother, the AI who dwells on the Moon Colony. This means the Sleeper needs to teleport to the moon to give Grand Mother the command, but with Fogna and its teleportation gate destroyed he will have no way to return to earth. The Sleeper goes through with this, much to the gratitude but also great sadness of his friends.
- Body Horror Psycho Mother's "son" is an artificial lifeform known only as Norman, a wicked being who intends to fulfill Psycho Mother's Breeding plan. He initially takes the form of a strange ethereal humanoid, but for the final battle he transforms into a disgusting and deformed skinless behemoth.
- Checkpoint Starvation: There is NO save point ANYWHERE NEAR the final boss. If you die and want to load and get all your health back, you'll have to kill the four guys to unlock the door, slowly move the floating platforms back to the opening in the floor, spin through the disappearing platforms, sit through the TWENTY MINUTE dialogue scene with Psycho Mother, go down the elevator, avoid the laser guys, listen to the dialogue of the final boss, wait for the fight to load, wait for the camera to finish spinning around to show off the polygons, and then finally try once again to beat the boss. And that's if you even had the foresight to go out of your way to visit the save room again after you finished setting up the floating platform room.
- Elemental Powers: Fire, Ice, Geo (Earth,) and Plasma (Energy.) All four are mandatory upgrades, and each one has their own ammo pool, used to fire elemental attacks. They are also commonly used solve puzzles which gate progression, opening up parts of the map as each power is unlocked.
- Dishing Out Dirt: The Geo upgrade allows the player to cause a localized earthquake, which deals damage to all enemies on-screen and collapses crumbling structures.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: A mandatory piece of equipment found after defeating the second boss, which allows for both traversal across gaps and attacking enemies from a distance. Unusually, it seems to launch the EGG's whole hand, which then grabs onto outcroppings as needed.
- Heart Container: Energy Tanks increase health by 25 points.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The Sleeper will be called whatever you/the female scientist wish to name him, though his default name is Leon. His true name is Beta.
- Human Popsicle: The Sleeper is well named, he was stuck in an eternal sleep for five-thousand years. When he wakes up he hasn't aged a day, though he has lost most of his memories.
- An Ice Person: The Ice upgrade allows the player to fire a beam of freezing energy. This can temporarily freeze enemies and pools of water that have a running fountain, creating terrain that can be walked across.
- Lost Technology: The E.G.G. that you are found in is this and is used as a blueprint in the current era to make similar mechs. Fogna is also this
- Permanently Missable Content:
- Anything in Fog Tower is lost late in the game when Leon uses it to go to the moon.
- One character, Juji, will offer the game's final energy tank but only if the player says the right things to him beforehand.
- Playing with Fire: The Fire upgrade allows the player to throw a fireball. Often used to burn fallen trees and clear paths, as well as melt ice blocks and frozen enemies.
- Pure Energy: The Plasma upgrade allows the player to summon a localized explosion of plasma, which deals damage to all enemies on-screen and charges unpowered structures.
- Spin Attack: Holding B makes you spin, which deals damage to enemies upon contact. The Eco Spinner makes you not lose EP while doing so.
- Villainous Breakdown: Psycho Mother's creator was a brilliant scientist named Doctor Alpha who was best friends with another great scientist named Doctor Beta. Psycho Mother assumes Doctor Beta would approve of her actions, but then it turns out the player is Doctor Beta and has been opposing her throughout the whole game. This revelation combined with Doctor Beta calling her out makes the already unstable Psycho Mother devolve into furious rants and declare Doctor Beta a traitor.
- World War III: The game takes place on an earth where this happened not too long ago, nearly exterminating all life on earth. Amazingly humanity bounced back from this and (mostly) restored the world, fixing some of their mistakes. Unfortunately, Psycho Mother still thinks humans are irredeemable and need to be exterminated.
