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Vincent: Have you ever had a dream where you... died? |
From the creators of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona comes an unusual and distinctive Puzzle Game. It's Atlus's first HD game, marking their entry onto the Play Station 3 and Xbox 360 consoles with animated cutscenes by Studio 4°C.
Vincent Brooks is just your average 32-year old unambitious salaryman in a stable but unremarkable long-term relationship with a woman named Katherine McBride. When Katherine brings up the prospect of marriage, Vincent freaks out... and then suddenly meets a gorgeous and carefree girl called Catherine who is just his type. He sleeps with her, but starts having strange nightmares where he is wandering in a world of endless staircases and being pursued by... something.
What's more, there's been a rash of mysterious deaths lately- men found in bed with a look of sheer horror frozen on their faces- and a rumor going around that if you fall in a nightmare and don't wake up before you hit the bottom...
Catherine also features a multiplayer mode called "Colosseum" where two players go head-to-head in a single action stage, each trying to make the other Ring Out. It's fun enough to have caught on with the Tournament Play crowd. No, seriously!
The game was released on February 17, 2011, in Japan, July 26, 2011 in North America, and February 10, 2012 in Europe. As of August 4, it had managed to break Atlus's previous launch records, cementing Catherine's place as their fastest selling title in the U.S. with an impressive 200,000 units sold in just one week. [dead link]
It also spawned its own Wild Mass Guessing page before it even got a works page.
- Absolute Cleavage: Midnight Venus.
- Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: There is a scene where Vincent is getting a serious beating from Catherine, and his friends just laugh it off and ignore it. Subverted, when it turns out that as far as they knew, Vincent was alone and was just making weird noises.
- Abusive Parents: Todd's father (physical and emotional abuse) and Archie's mother (sexual abuse).
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: This is how the sheep-men appear in the Nightmare world. Said accessories are used to identify them (Tie-Wearing Sheep, Sheep with Glasses, Sheep with Long Hair, etc.) and are one of the ways to recognize them in the real world.
- Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Stray Sheep.
- Affair Hair: In a twist, Catherine (the other woman) finds Katherine's (the girlfriend) hair.
- Afro Asskicker: Vincent. Midnight Venus' afro kicks his afro's ass though.
- All Just a Dream: The confrontation between the two K/Catherines, and Vincent saving Katherine from the nightmare world. See Yank the Dog's Chain below.
- All There in the Manual: There are several points in the manual itself not mentioned in the game:
- Vincent is an systems engineer for a tech company, but you wouldn't notice that since he doesn't need to dress up for the customers his company works for.
- Katherine is a manager of an apparel store. She has reunited with Vincent after their high school reunion five years ago. Also, she likes cake.
- Catherine is described as a seductress and "has a way of ruining the common sense and self-control of any man" she visits. Apparently, she's ten years younger than both Vincent and Katherine (Catherine's 22; Vincent and Katherine are 32).
- And Then John Was a Zombie:
- And then Vincent becomes an Incubus in Catherine's true ending!
- This is also part of Mutton/Dumuzid's backstory.
- Animal Motifs:
- Vincent and rams. He sprouts ram horns in the dreamworld and his dreams are filled with bipedal (and necktied) ones who are really other men stuck in the dreamworld. The game never lets up on the sheep motif, either; they mention their connection to dreams in symbolism ("counting sheep!"), the sheep in the nightmares are condescendingly called "lost lambs"[1] by the voice in the confessional, the final boss is a giant head with a beard made of sheep, and so on.
- To a lesser extent than the sheep, ants are symbolically used as well.
- Art Major Physics: The tutorial voice tells Vincent that these blocks aren't normal; you can connect them just at their edges and they won't fall. Vincent wonders why the hell gravity doesn't pull them down, but this is dream logic, after all.
- Ascended Extra: Astartoth/Isthar, who played minor roles in Shin Megami Tensei I, Shin Megami Tensei II and Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon. This version serves as The Man Behind the Man, narrator and, if you can beat babel mode, love interest.
- Ascended Meme/Shout-Out: One of the dialogue choices when talking to a Sheep is "The pregnancy was a lie?"
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: ALL the bosses.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Subverted. Not only does the announcement of Katherine's alleged pregnancy cause Vincent to freak out, he starts having nightmares where he's chased by a giant baby. This is combined with Chainsaw Good in a later nightmare.
- Bad Liar: Good lord, Vincent. Especially jarring since his excuses get more and more unrealistic (like telling Catherine that Katherine's super-long, pale blonde hair came from his chest), but the girls don't confront him until later in the story. Although Catherine does lampshade it, and she probably knows more than she lets on being a demon sent to tempt him and all.
- Betty and Veronica: Katherine and Catherine, respectively.
- Bishie Sparkle: Midnight Venus.
- Booze-Based Buff: The more hammered Vincent is by the time he leaves the bar, the faster he runs during the Nightmare levels. As a nice cosmetic bonus, finishing your drink gives you trivia about that type of alchohol; cocktails, beer, sake or whiskey.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall and/or No Fourth Wall:
- Trisha introduces and concludes the game to the player, and beyond that, the text messages Vincent receives from her are actually for you (Vincent thinks they're spam), and when Astaroth says it has many names and faces and will see you again in another place, it's actually Trisha talking to the player again.
- Beating the final Babel stage essentially lets the player hook up with Trisha, aka Ishtar the Goddess of Love, and become a god him/herself. No, not Vincent: you.
- Brick Joke: An unusual All There in the Manual example: Katherine likes cake. This doesn't seem significant until she actually gives a cake to Vincent as a present. However, that same cake ends up rotting in the room a few days later, and ants end up crawling all over Vincent's dorm. Catherine, who somehow slept with Vincent again, questions why does Vincent have a cake after they clean up the mess. This causes a chain of incidents that lead to Vincent being suspected of cheating.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Vincent can't spit anything out. For most of the game, the Karma Meter has an effect on his inner thoughts... while he just stammers and stutters out loud.
- Catch Phrase:
Justin: "It's the truth." |
- Catherine Knows Where You Live: Justified, due to her being a Succubus, and the ability to teleport to anywhere. She doesn't do this in front of the camera, but, towards the ending, she can randomly appear right next to Vincent.
- Classic Cheat Code Shout-Out: JUSTIN BAILEY!!! Can we see Samus in a bikini now?!
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Different versions depending on your route.
- Should you choose Katherine Catherine is basically written off as an "Illusion" by Boss.
- Should you choose Catherine Jonny's back story reveals he's been in love with Katherine since high school, and now that Vincent's out of the picture, his only reason to not pursue a relationship with her is gone.
- Or both, should you choose the freedom route.
- Climb Slip Hang Climb: An integral part of the gameplay.
- Creepy Child: The Child. Especially, The Child With A Chainsaw.
- Creepy Twins: Martha and Lindsay. Unnatural speaking patterns? Speaking in unison? Seem to inexplicably know something about the dreams men are having? Check, check, check. However, they do buck the usual trend of this trope; they're old ladies rather than little kids.
- Crucified Hero Shot: A picture in the confessional shows... someone on a cross, surrounded by sheep.
- Death by Irony: The Merchant Sheep. He believes that if he can collect enough coins, he'll be able to buy his freedom from the tower. Eventually, his sack of coins gets too heavy to carry and he falls off the tower while climbing.
- Death Glare: Katherine gets at least one.
Katherine: If you're going to make excuses, you could at least look me in the eye. |
- Devil in Plain Sight: Catherine keeps passive-aggressively inserting herself into Vincent's life. He keeps waking up with her in his bed, even if he told her "no". He has no memory of the nights they supposedly spend together. This could either scream "Catherine is a soul-stealing succubus" or "Catherine is a stalker who keeps drugging Vincent into submission", but either way, she's clearly bad news.
- Difficulty by Region: In the Japanese version, the "easy patch" can be toggled on and off after installing it, while in the American version it is permanently on. In addition, the "Undo" move is available on "Normal" difficulty in America, but not Japan.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- The game employs a lot of this, but then the Nightmare Sequences give several interesting points. One is the fact that Vincent's horns are eerily similar to a specific being. Two is the matter of how Vincent is running away from the depths of the Nightmare, while something is chasing him. The ram horns could be related to the Saytr, who was a symbol for lust and hedonism, and would chase wood nymphs daily.
- The entirety of the Nightmares are also a major allusion to the levels of Hell, since as you go up the tower, the sanctuaries get cleaner, holier and more whole, alluding to the fact that you are climbing your way out of hell.
- Dramatic Irony: No characters remember things between the Nightmares and the waking world. They only remember that they've had nightmares, but no details. Of course, the audience has no such handicap.
- Driving Question
- Early-Bird Cameo: Vincent first appeared in the PSP remake of Persona 3, complaining of Nightmares.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Naturally, given the fact that the game has Multiple Endings. If you helped them, Daniel, Todd, Justin, Archie and Morgan also earned their happy endings.
- Easier Than Easy: The American version has the aptly named "Super Easy", curiously, it is somewhat hidden and requires a simple code to use.
- Enemy Within: Shadow of Vincent.
- Erotic Eating: One early image shows Catherine eating a slice of pizza in a very... seductive manner.
- Escort Mission: Stage 8 (The Cathedral) requires you to bring along Katherine. It's an extremely simple level aside from her presence; she is, however, slower than Vincent, and her AI can easily get her into untenable positions, as she will not move blocks and not be able to perform techniques. Although, her sporadic movement makes perfect sense]]: she's in a situation she clearly has no knowledge of. There's also the fact that Catherine impaled herself with a knife while she was on top of Katherine, and that was not a pretty sight to see... and is now trying to eat them.
- First Girl Wins: Choosing Katherine results in this. Toby also believes in this literally, saying he plans on marrying the first girl he falls in love with. It's Hilarious in Hindsight when he discovers Erica used to be known as a man.
- Foreshadowing:
- Fairly early in the game, Catherine says that she has to go to the dentist. One of the first sheep Vincent meets in the nightmare world is called Steve, who has also fallen victim to Catherine. His profession is a dentist.
- A not so distant example happens later: while Catherine is beating up Vincent, you hear loud punches and slams, along with Vincent's screams of agony. Then when the scene shifts to Orlando and Toby, all you hear is Vincent. The next day, you find out that only Vincent can see her.
- Also, the amount of hints given about Erica's "Identity" are really quite Hilarious in Hindsight.
- In a more subtle example, the loading screen usually has quotes from well-known people in history about romance. One of the people who is quoted is Thomas Mutton, who unlike the rest isn't a historical figure. Thomas Mutton is the real name of Boss, who is behind all of the nightmares.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: In terms of Vincent and his three bros. Orlando is the Cynic, Toby the Optimist, Jonny the Realist and Vincent himself (unsurprisingly) the Conflicted.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: In terms of Vincent and his three bros. Toby is sanguine, Orlando is choleric, Jonny is melancholic, and Vincent is phlegmatic.
- Framing Device: The Golden Playhouse, with your hostess, Trisha: The Midnight Venus. The whole thing plays out as if it's a TV series that shows late night movies, complete with opening and closing narration by Trisha.
- Funny Afro: Midnight Venus.. You could lose a beachball in that thing!
- Gainaxing: No, not Catherine—Trisha.
- Game Within a Game:
- The arcade machine in the bar, which is eerily similar to the gameplay proper. Justified in that since the bartender is giving the block-climbing nightmares to the patrons of his bar, he put the game there to help them familiarize themselves with the nightmare world. Its rules are nearly the same as the nightmare game, except that instead of dealing with a time limit and enemies, you have limits on the number of block-pushes you can use. With 64 stages (and 64 more hidden stages after that), it's arguably big enough to be its own game.
- Of course, this is a game within a game within a TV show. The dreams themselves are games within a dream within a TV show. That's Colon Cancer for you.
- Giant Hands of Doom: The first boss is Katherine's hands, holding a giant fork.
- A God Is You: Ishtar plans on turning you into her co-deity of love should you complete all four Babel Stages.
- Godiva Hair: Catherine has this in an image (link NSFW) only unlocked after getting at least 5 Good/True endings. Notably, her hair suddenly gets much longer for it.
- Goomba Stomp: You can knock down enemy sheep by falling onto them. You can also stand on Monster blocks to kill them, but the game does not tell you this.
- Gratuitous English: Vincent's text message ringtone is "You got a mail!". Considering the names of the characters revealed so far, it's obvious nobody's actually speaking Japanese, but that means the ringtone should be in Japanese, too... right?
- '(Boss name) has appeared. It is the killer. Do not die.' This one, they left in for the English release.
- In the English release, "You got a mail!" is replaced by the more ubiquitous "You've got mail!". However, listening closely in one scene seems to indicate that one instance of the Gratuitous English accidentally slipped through.
- Gratuitous Japanese: The Inazuma technique (it means "lightning").
- Growing Up Sucks: The game is basically all about facing the terrors of being an adult; commitment, responsibility, aging, parenthood and so on.
- Happily Married: {
- {spoiler|In one of the game's three "True" endings, Vincent and Katherine get married at the Stray Sheep and get a very cute Happy Ending. The "True Lovers" ending, specifically}}.
- Vincent and Catherine get one of their own. Along with dozens of other succubi.
- Harder Than Hard: It's called "Hard" mode, but even Japanese players had complaints on Easy. "Easy" mode is supposed to be straightforward. "Normal" raises the difficulty faster, and can get borderline impossible. "Hard" removes the Undo ability, and gets even more complicated. The Xbox360, however, has a disadvantage: there's a common complaint that the 360's controller has a bad design for its D-Pad. Unfortunately, the controller stick is horrible for fine movements in an isometric area. And you need nine Gold trophies in the dreams in order to unlock the final level of Babel. Did we mention that those nine Gold have to be in a difficulty other than Easy?
- Have a Nice Death:
- Falling from the tower presents you with a nice image of Vincent's corpse atop a stack of fallen blocks while a voice tells you to Rest In Peace. LOVE IS OVER indeed. Dying on the tower is more kind as at least Vincent goes up in a fine red mist.
- Plus, when you run out of continues, you're treated to the lovely image of Vincent dead in the real world. Completely pale and with a look of absolute horror frozen on his face. And since this is an Atlus game, you'll be seeing it a lot.
- Hellish Pupils: In a non-villainous example, whenever Vincent wakes up from the nightmares, his eyes are briefly seen as creepy sheep eyes.
- In a straight villainous example, however, we have Boss a.k.a. Thomas Mutton a.k.a. Dumuzid. Instead of pupils, he has the arrow from the "Mars symbol" in his right eye, and the cross from the "Venus symbol" in his left. He also has orange, almost glowing, sclerae.
- Also played straight in Vincent and Catherine's True Ending, where both of them have red eyes with slitted pupils.
- Heroic BSOD: Vincent got one after Katherine dumped him.
- Hidden Depths: Though he starts off pretty average, even the villians notice of this about Vincent...
- Horned Hairdo: Catherine's Mega Twintails are gravity-defying enough to count. Bonus points for being a literal Horny Devil.
- Horny Devils:
- Catherine (a succubus).
- In Catherine's true ending, Vincent becomes an incubus.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Steve, who turns out to be the first Sheep Vincent meets in the Nightmares, is eaten alive by the above listed Enemy Within.
- Improbable Weapon: Vincent's pillow.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Vincent, every single night! Fortunately, there's also a Booze-Based Buff.
- Interface Screw: The boss of Stage 3 spews hearts that reverse Vincent's controls if you don't take cover.
- Invisible to Normals: Catherine, since she is a succubus. They can only be seen by the humans they're seducing. Boss also can see her, thanks to being the person organizing the nightmares and using Catherine to judge who needs to be sent into them. Which screws him up when a desperate Vincent is looking for some confirmation that Catherine existed and instead congratulated Vincent about finding out his role in the Nightmares.
- Ironic Echo: Early in the game, Katherine puts two sugars in Vincent's coffee, saying that's the way he likes it. In the cutscene before The Cathedral, Catherine does the same, right in front of Katherine, too.
- I See London: Mutton mocks you on this when you reach the Emperio:
Mutton: I can see you, boy. You and your underpants! |
- It Got Worse: The third boss is The Child, which is an immensely creepy looking baby. The fifth boss is Child with a Chainsaw.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: If you run out of lives, or opt to just quit the game after Vincent dies in a nightmare, you'll be treated to a cutscene depicting his corpse in bed, with his expression frozen in horror.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
- Jonny, most likely, for Katherine, in the true end for the Lovers route.
- Daniel talks about this during the Nightmare stages.
- Jaw Drop:
- A rather epic one pulled by Vincent on the morning after the 2nd night, when he finds Catherine's in his bed.
- Also done routinely when he finds out something is chasing him. Or that Catherine was in his bed again.
- Justified Tutorial: The various sheep compare notes on different block-pushing techniques to keep themselves from dying, and they fill in Vincent on what they come up with. Sometimes Vincent is the one who tells them.
- Karma Meter: This seems to be in play, based on how you answer questions in the Nightmare section and how you respond to text messages in the Stray Sheep section. Which side the meter is on will affect Vincent's thoughts when dealing with Katherine or Catherine. The blue side of the meter is pro-marriage and commitment, while the red side of the meter is pro-freedom and passion.
- Kick the Son of a Bitch: You may feel bad about pushing the other sheep around or zapping them with the Grimoire. But the crazy, murderous sheep? Not so much.
- Large Ham: While Astaroth and Boss can get over-the-top, Dumuzid takes the cake with his special attack.
- Late Arrival Spoiler: Vincent's cameo in the PSP port of Persona 3 recieved much hype when Catherine still was in production, talking to him will summarize some of his great frustrations in his own game, like how a girl suddenly made his life take a new turn (Catherine), and that his actual girlfriend (Katherine) is expecting his child.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Catherine is the Dark Feminine, while Katherine is the Light Feminine.
- Like a Badass Out of Hell: In Catherine's true ending, Vincent storms the hellish dimension where Catherine is from, dethrones her father (stated to be a very powerful demon himself, even if he is a Bumbling Dad), and rules over the succubi until, as Catherine states, "there is nobody who doesn't recognize your power." Damn.
- Likes Older Women: Toby. Quite enthusiastically, at that.
- Limited Wardrobe: On two points.
- The first is of the "closet full of the same" variety. Sometimes in Vincent's apartment, you'll see a hanger drying out his underwear. All pink-spotted boxers.
- The second is of the "never change clothes regardless of the situation" variety. If you get the True Lover ending, you'll see Katherine and Vincent's wedding, with them dressed up, as well several anonymous wedding guests in formal wear. Then you see Vincent's friends in the same clothes they always wear. Even Toby is still in his work jumpsuit.
- Local Hangout: The Stray Sheep which takes a whole new meaning when the Boss' real name is revealed.
- Lost in Translation: The title of the game is Catherine but in the Japanese version the name is spelled so it clearly refers to both Catherine and Katherine, making them both the eponymous character. In the English version, only Catherine's name is directly referred to by the title.
- Man Behind the Man: The bartender is really a creature called Dumuzid who was the previous Man of Legends. He was able to climb to the pinnacle 100 years ago in Astaroth's game. The reason men are sent to the Nightmare World is that they refuse to populate the species and he sends out Catherine, a succubus, to test the worth of some of these men.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Catherine. Though quickly starts getting deconstructed in some really creepy ways.
- The Many Deaths of You: All compiled with this one little video.
- Meaningful Echo: Early in the game, Katherine asks Vincent how many years they've been together, and he can't remember. Later, after Vincent starts to realise just how much Katherine means to him, he asks himself the same question and remembers the answer: five years.
- Meaningful Name:
- Katherine's surname is McBride. As if it wasn't obvious already that she was the Love Interest...
- Boss, the final boss of the game. Not to mention his human alias is Thomas Mutton.
- The "Full Body" subtitle for the Updated Rerelease comes from its connection to wine, symbolizing a richer experience for players.
- Mega Twintails: Catherine's twintails break physics.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender:
- The evil force behind the nightmares seems to think so, with all that this trope implies.
- Lampshaded in one of the conversations you have with Justin; he postulates that in hundreds of years men will be extinct.
- Mind Screw
- Mirror Scare: If you wash your face in the bathroom of the Stray Sheep, the lights will flicker, the walls will drip with blood, and there will be a brief flash of that night's boss in the mirror.
- Most Programmers Are Programmers: Our hero's job is implied to be a computer programmer.
- Motif: Sheep are very prominent throughout the game as symbols for many different things: sleep, counting sheep, herd mentality, sheep who have gone astray, lambs to the slaughter. The big bad's name is Thomas Mutton. Mutton is sheep meat. He even has pajamas decorated with sheep.
- Ms. Fanservice: Played straight with Catherine. Also justified, since she's really a succubus and her appearance is Vincent's personal ideal of Ms. Fanservice.
- Multiple Endings: Nine endings total: eight of them for Golden Theater story mode and one for Babel mode. There are three paths: Lover, Cheater and Freedom. All three have a "true" and "good" ending, while just the girls have a "bad" ending.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Catherine goes after Katherine with a knife in the animated cutscene before Stage 8. It does not end well. Combine this with Crazy Prepared, considering that Katherine, perhaps having the same thoughts, was backing up to Vincent's sink to go for the same knife, but Catherine reveals that she already had it.
- Musical Spoiler: If you thought that the "Hallelujah" theme that plays at the end of every level had something to do with mind-raping Angels analyzing your self, then you were correct.
- Never Gets Drunk:
- Vincent, kinda. He certainly looks pretty drunk when his meter's full, but he holds conversations perfectly fine.
- Justin complains that his tolerance has gotten too high to get really drunk anymore.
- Nice Hat: Orlando.
- Nightmare Sequence: The boss levels.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Clock Tower boss is a giant killer mecha baby with chainsaws coming out of one eye socket.
- Nintendo Hard: To the point where Atlus had to patch in an Easy Mode in Japan so players can make actual progress. The international releases included it from the beginning.
- Nipple-and-Dimed: For all the hype, this game isn't that racy; all naughty bits are kept hidden by handy nearby objects and clever camera angles, and we mostly just see scenes of pillow talk. Not that this isn't enough to shock Vincent, though, of course. His horror in these scenes is palpable.
- Nobody Poops:
- Averted. Several scenes happen in the lavatory at Vincent's office, his friends sometimes get up to go to the restroom at the Stray Sheep (prompting the rest of them to talk about him while he's gone), and Catherine announces she's going to the bathroom at one point, though she may just have been using that as an excuse, being a succubus.
- That said, from a gameplay perspective, you can enter the restroom at the Stray Sheep, but all you can do in there is wash your face and look at Catherine's naughty pictures in the stall.
- No Points for Neutrality: Averted. Being neutral is a perfectly viable option and there is actually a nice satisfying ending for sticking with it.
- Offscreen Teleportation: The way Catherine moves around seats when the camera's not on her, you'd think she can teleport or something. She can.
- Oh Crap: Vincent has this look whenever there's a nightmare death sequence coming up. Or whenever he sees somebody in his bed that wasn't there before.
- One-Winged Angel: Catherine, after she's been rejected by Vincent and failed to kill Katherine, and the Bartender/Thomas Mutton, who is really an Eldritch Abomination called Dumuzid.
- One Steve Limit:
- Averted. There's Katherine, a co-worker whom Vincent is dating when he meets 'girl of his dreams' Catherine... You don't even get the benefit of different spellings with the katakana in the Japanese version. In the English version, when Vincent challenges Mutton/Dumuzid to earn K/Catherine back, the localization team edited the subtitles to read "her" when he says his foe's name to keep which one he's fighting ambiguous.
- Possibly lampshaded by Steve, who calls Vincent to tell him to stop seeing C/Katherine. Vincent confronts both girls, but neither of them appears to know anyone named Steve. Vincent points out how odd this is, given that "Steve" is a relatively common name.
- Ontological Mystery
- Order Versus Chaos: A given, being the game is a Shin Megami Tensei Spin-Off, but at the same time downplayed by the fact it's all within the context of marriage and relationships, instead of the usual cosmic forces.
- Peek-a-Bangs: Vincent doesn't usually wear his hair this way, but he does for a brief period after Katherine breaks up with him.
- Perpetual Molt: Vincent's pillow.
- Professional Gaming: Believe it or not, Colosseum has caught on with the NorCal crowd and has even spawned tournaments.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Well, any guy who's around age 30 and is a patron of the Stray Sheep, and is entangled with a woman with whom he has no intention of having children.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The game features remixes of music by Sarasate, Beethoven, Holst, Bach, Dvorak, Rossini, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Bizet, Chopin and Handel.
- Punch Clock Villain: Surprisingly, considering the story, the Big Bad may come off as this in at least one ending.
- Puzzle Platformer: ...to the dismay of the fanbase it seems.
- Recurring Dreams: Basically, the whole game.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning:
- Zig-zagged. The sheep in the nightmare world all have red eyes, but most of them are just average Joes trying to escape like Vincent. But most of the bosses, with the exception of Vincent's Shadow have them too.
- Boss, without his sunglasses, he is an Eldritch Abomination called Dumuzid, after all.
- Red Herring:
- There's a fair amount of "clues" that point toward either Katherine or Erica being the "witch" that's cursing the male characters. It turns out that Erica is the "witch" from the rumours, but not as you'd imagine: she has nothing to do with the supernatural events, and her identity as the "witch" is a result of misinformation and second-hand gossip from her schooldays with Vincent and friends.
- The ants. The camera notes their presence during critical scenes, and Erica shares a rumour that ants are the servants of the "witch" that's cursing everyone. Vincent and Catherine wake up one morning to find the apartment infested with them, and you even have to fight against giant ants in one of the stages. Turns out, the ants have nothing to do with anything.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Catherine and Katherine, respectively.
- Retraux: Rapunzel, the arcade game in the bar.
- Actually probably true in-story as well: since the game only exists in the Stray Sheep and was created by Mutton, it was probably only created when the bar opened a couple of years ago, but it was designed to look like the old arcade cabinets often found in bars.
- The Reveal: Double Subverted. Mutton completely misreads Vincent's attempts to prove Catherine is real as proof that Vincent's figured out the bartender's involvement in the nightmares, leading to quite a bit of confusion on both sides. However, despite Mutton's attempts to pretend their conversation didn't happen, Vincent quickly catches on, forcing Mutton to continue explaining what's been going on.
- Right Through His Pants: No matter what he did with Catherine the previous night, Vincent is always wearing his boxers in the morning. Possible Fridge Brilliance: there's evidence to doubt the physicalness of Vincent and Catherine's relationship, so it could even be foreshadowing.
- Rise to the Challenge: Gameplay in the Nightmare sections involves climbing a tower of blocks and reaching a door on the top or else Vincent will killed by whatever massive monstrosity is chasing him down.
- Sanity Has Advantages: You know those blabbering, homicidal grey sheep you see? Their descent into insanity caused their death.
- Sanity Slippage: Some of the sheep you talk to in between levels exhibit this. Some of them don't get better.
- Saying Too Much: Thomas Mutton accidentally reveals his involvement in the nightmares , not realizing that Vincent just wanted confirmation that someone else had seen Catherine and that Vincent wasn't crazy.
- Scenery Censor: Most of Catherine's nude scenes just show her from the shoulders up, but Vincent's computer monitor pulls this duty in one scene.
- Schrödinger's Gun: The differences between the "Bad", "Good" and "True" version of each ending are supposedly determined by how well the girl can sense your feelings (that is, your position on the Karma Meter), but other events happen differently seemingly independently of your feelings about relationships. If you choose Katherine, Jonny, Orlando and Boss don't show up to corroborate your story in the Bad ending. If you choose Catherine, her father doesn't show up in the Bad ending. And the difference between the Good and True freedom endings is whether or not Feather wins the wrestling tournament, which Vincent should have no way of influencing.
- The Scream:
- Vincent does this in a montage at the end of the demo: a fairly impressive scream too, as he manages to hold it for a good twenty seconds.
- In the game, this happens when Catherine and Katherine are arguing, and Vincent cannot have his own word in the conversation. That scream is shown as like a Mind Screw, and acted out as like a Skyward Scream.
- Secret Test of Character: Catherine herself.
- Sexy Packaging/Contemptible Cover: Particularly the Play Station 3 version depicting Catherine, shown here. Cleaner covers were made for the parts of the US that would have a fit over the originals.
- Sexy Shirt Switch: The morning after Catherine's always wearing an oversized t-shirt instead of her getup from the night before.
- She Cleans Up Nicely:
- Midnight Venus is pretty hot without her Funny Afro.
- Katherine in the True Lover's ending when she ditches the glasses and does up her hair.
- Shout-Out: Many in the intro, including The Ring, Jaws, Godzilla and Lupin III. There are also several to Persona 3 and 4, including a small figure of Teddie on the counter of Stray Sheep and Gekkoukan High's school badge on the wall of one of the box seats there.
- More than one line-check, as well. Castlevania II, even an old DMX track.
- Thomas Mutton provides another Castlevania shoutout, remarking that it's a fine night for a curse.
- If you watch carefully Vincent's list of books, you can see Hally Porter and Persona as book titles.
- Likely not intentional, but one can't deny that the fact Thomas Mutton has Hellish Pupils ,the fact he wears Sunglasses indoors , AND considers himself to be a god easily can remind survival horror fans of Albert Wesker.
- There's a brand of beer called "Bear Beer", and it has Teddie on its label.
- Loading screens have tons of famous quotes, mostly about love and commitment, except for Babel Mode, which has quotes regarding overcoming challenges. Everyone from Sophocles to William Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde to Douglas Adams to Anton Chekhov and even George Carlin (yes, THAT George Carlin) are represented in those quotes.
- The achievement/trophy name for completing the Inquisition stage is "No One Expects The...".
- The way Vincent runs, especially on the map screen, is reminiscent of another boxer-clad hero (from another Nintendo Hard series).
- Taken even further in the True Cheater ending, where we see Vincent fighting his way through Hell in his boxers.
- When you leave to the title screen any time during the main level, we see what the victims of the nightmares look like in real life via Vincent. The frozen positions and frozen faces of pure terror could be a Shout-Out to The Ring.
- The Golden Playhouse intro is actually a parody of a real Japanese TV show called Golden Theater.
- More than one line-check, as well. Castlevania II, even an old DMX track.
- Shown Their Work: Finishing your drinks in the bar gets you a bunch of accurate alcohol trivia, which is appropriate for a game where the protagonist drowns his sorrows so often.
- Show Within a Show: The whole game, actually. It actually opens with Midnight Venus introducing the game as if it were an episode akin to something from Tales from the Crypt. Many cutscenes have a watermark in the corner of the screen as if we were watching a TV channel.
- Significant Anagram: Rearrange "Trisha", and you get Ishtar. She even lampshades this when she reveals it, saying she had to leave some sort of clue.
- Slasher Smile: Shadow of Vincent sports this at the real Vincent very briefly in a cutscene.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Quadrangle, FULL STOP.
- Smoking Is Cool: Vincent and Jonny are the only ones in Vincent's circle of friends who smoke.
- Sophisticated As Hell: Thomas Mutton's speech before the final battle.
"I swear by the name of Dumuzid, the Shepherd, consort of Ishtar... your ass is mine, punk!" |
- Soundtrack Dissonance: While for the most part, the epic classical music remixes fit the gameplay, one level has Rossini -William Tell Overture Part 2 "The Storm" And Part 3 "The Ranz Des Vaches" playing, and portions of the song are serene and don't fit the climbing to escape your death gameplay at all.
- Space Whale Aesop: Don't cheat on your girlfriend with a succubus or else a disembodied voice will force you to climb a giant block tower in your Goofy Print Underwear. It Makes Sense in Context.
- Spell My Name with an "S":
- Catherine versus Katherine.
- Played straight with "Dumuzi" compared to "Dumuzid". May be due to pronunciation issues.
- Stealth Pun:
- A minor one, but the boss of the Cathedral is Catherine.
- The achievement named "A God Is Born" involves someone getting laid by Isthar, the goddess of fertility, of all things. As her children would unlikely be mortal, it's easy to see the Fridge Brilliance in the name.
- The restaurant Vincent and Katherine visit is called the "Chrono Rabbit". The rabbit in a waistcoat from Alice in Wonderland is used as a symbol for time in japan as well. One revelation in the Chrono Rabbit? "I'm late."
- Another minor one: in the Katherine Good Ending, something Orlando says as he, Jonny and Mutton come to Vincent's rescue, "Long time, no see, K." That is, if expounded: "(After the) Long time (game), no C(atherine), (you get) K(atherine).
- Sweet Tooth:
- Katherine. Most interactions with her take place at the Chrono Rabbit, a love-themed restaurant, with her eating some kind of pastry.
- Vincent claims this when Catherine finds the cake Katherine had given him, and Catherine says that she has one as well.
- The Tetris Effect: Inverted in-game with Rapunzel. Thomas Mutton created a video game based on the block nightmares to draw people into them.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Katherine screams this at Vincent when she discovers what he and Catherine have been up to. Turns out, it was just a very real-looking dream.
- This Loser Is You: Scarcely needs to be elaborated upon!
- Those Two Guys: Todd and Archie. A manager and a subordinate at a suit store, Todd looks out for Archie. They are also sheep in the dreams, Regent Hair and Long Haired, and they need to be saved together, otherwise if you save one but not the other, the saved will wait for the other at a higher level, killing himself.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Vincent on the eighth day.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Vincent's favorite drink is apparently a Cuba Libre (a.k.a. a rum and coke).
- Transsexualism: Erica, formerly Eric.
- Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Unlike some other Atlus games, Catherine doesn't take place in a specified year. It basically looks like the present, though space tourism is implied to have gotten cheaper.
- Twitchy Eye: Katherine, during Catherine's volley of insults. Not long afterwards, Katherine move towards the sink to grab a knife.
- The Unfair Sex: Apparently, not a single woman, unless you count Erica fits the conditions to be sent into the nightmares. Though this may be more because of the guy sending them all in there to begin with, instead of the writers. Pointed out in-game when Vincent asks Asteroth why only men get targeted.
- Vapor Wear: Trisha's Absolute Cleavage makes her obviously bra-less.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The game pulls this twice.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Vincent may be an indecisive loser in the waking world, but he's surprisingly brave and supportive in the nightmare world, and encourages the sheep on the landings as much as possible.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential:
- You can push the other sheep off edges, lure them onto spike traps, or turn them into SHEEP JUICE!
- Once you get up to the higher levels with the crazy sheep who have died in the real world and now only care about killing other sheep, you don't feel so bad about it any more.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: It's understandable that Mutton, or Dumuzid, would want men to continue to be faithful and continue to populate humanity. That's fine, but did he really have to do so in a way that involved death? Wouldn't scaring them be enough?
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Not Vincent, but Todd, another one of the sheep from the nightmare, whose story is that he wanted to be his father (who called him "Maggot" and "Little Shit") and is chased by his own father every night.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The game references Inannas Descent to The Netherworld. In other words, it's Trisha/Astaroth/Ishtar and Boss/Dumuzid's backstory.
- Widget Series: It's a block puzzle game about infidelity.
- Win to Exit: Vincent's only hope of escaping from the Nightmares is to reach the top of the tower.
- X Meets Y: Q*bert meets Swan Lake or Black Swan.
- An episode of The Twilight Zone meets xxxHolic?
- Yandere: Catherine. After one (drunken) rendezvous with Vincent, she chokes, bites, and threatens to kill him if he ever cheats on her. Not to mention trying to slice up Katherine. Erica also tells him about a rumored curse placed on unfaithful men by a mysterious woman...
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Vincent saves Katherine from falling to her death in the nightmare towards the end of the game, and it's a fairly romantic moment. He wakes up to Katherine standing in his apartment, under the impression that everything's fixed between them. Turns out the whole thing was All Just a Dream, and Katherine was never actually in the nightmare at all. She then explains that she knew about his affair the entire time and breaks up with him.
- Your Cheating Heart: Vincent cheats on Katherine (who's carrying his child, or so he thinks) with Catherine.
- Ishtar has become fed up with Dumuzid's cheating ways.
- Also, Todd cheats on his wife, while his wife has an affair with Archie, another sheep from the dreams.
- Your Mind Makes It Real
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle: The Cathedral is the top of the tower, and the narrator even refers to it as "the last level". It's not.
- The Cathedral itself isn't revealed in full until the K/Catherine fight comes to its end. Vincent and the player (most likely) believe they're done with nightmares up until the confrontation.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Catherine dons Grade A, and she could be considered a Grade S, considering her being a Yandere and having Mega Twintails. Doubles as Fridge Brilliance when you consider that Zettai Ryouiki is the number one fetish in Japan and you consider Catherine's origins. Though Fridge Logic kicks in when you realise this is supposed to be America.
- ↑ Which is also a reference to a sermon by Jesus.