Boktai

"TAIYOHHHH!"

Bokura no Taiyō ("Our Sun") in Japan, Boktai is an action RPG series produced by Hideo Kojima. Django is a boy hoping to follow in the footsteps of his disappeared father Ringo as a vampire hunter. With his (not-so; see below) trusty Gun Del Sol and the sun spirit Otenko by his side, he takes on zombies, demonic dogs, vampires and Norse mythology-derived what have you.

The original three games, on the GBA, were an interesting new type of stealth game: the cartridge came with a UV light detector (the UV light needed being sunlight in 99% of cases. Do you keep a UV lamp around the house or something (hint: a black light or even a plasma globe works)? Django's gun is quite literally powered by the sun: sunlight is required to charge the gun's battery. If you were starved for sunlight, the stealth element came into play. Django can sneak around and knock on the walls to distract enemies, at least until you get to an in-game sunlight source or you find a real-world one.

Unfortunately, this interesting gameplay mechanic proved to be the games' undoing. Playing outside in the sunlight is a bit of a turn-off (especially in places with very hot summers... like Japan). Despite decent critical reception for the whole series, the games sold poorly internationally and the third installment never left Japan. Being the dashing, people-pleasing epitome of suavete the man is, Kojima wised up and delivered a DS sequel (Lunar Knights) without the trouble of needing sunlight in the real world (the system's double-slot feature allowed players to use the solar sensor by inserting the game cartridges from previous games though). However, in localizations, this sequel severed ties with the original Boktai series by renaming many characters. It doesn't make too much of a difference, however; the characters in the Japanese version were pretty much only connected to the original series through name anyway, and the thematic elements remain intact in all localizations. Sadly, the game ends on a Cliff Hanger with, so far, no follow-up in sight. A Fan Translation for Boktai 3 exists.

The series is as follows:

  • Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand (Bokura no Taiyō in Japan, nicknamed "Boktai")
  • Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (Zoku Bokura no Taiyō: Taiyō Shōnen Django/"Zoktai")
  • Boktai: Sabata's Counterattack (Shin Bokura no Taiyō: Gyakushū no Sabata/"Shinbok")
  • Lunar Knights (Bokura no Taiyō DS: Django & Sabata/"Boktai DS")
Tropes used in Boktai include:
  • All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks: Dark Loans, which will loan you sunlight energy at crazy huge interest rates (800% plus principal, or nine times what you took if you don't have any sunlight) if you happen to be playing indoors. If you don't have enough energy stored in the bank by the time the payment deadline rolls around, you'll be forced to run on a treadmill until you've made back all of the energy, unless you maxed it out, in which case Doomy lets you off with a bit less.
    • Continuity Nod: In Lunar Knights, Dark Loans is mentioned as having gone bankrupt. Given that in Shinbok, you could get a special weapon by running yourself deep in debt five times over, it's not surprising this is how it happened.
    • ...Except that Lunar Knights and Shinbok are alternate universes. Django's grave was never broken open in the Lunar Knights continuity, so Shinbok never happened. Probably Dark Loans' poor business practices got them screwed over in the meantime anyway.
  • Alternate History: Lunar Knights refers to a Lord of Destruction being Dumas's predecessor, and Trinity is Aaron's father. Both of these were from the alternate timeline the latter came from in Shinbok in which Django dies and Ratatosk manages to take over the world. It might be argued that Shinbok is actually the alternate timeline, since in getting kicked out of his world, Trinity accidentally broke the seal on Django's grave, which totally counts as interference.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: The Immortals make up one spanning the entire universe.
  • Anime Hair: Django's 'do looks pretty much like a beige-ish cloud.
  • Anti-Poopsocking: If you stay out for a long while or overuse your Gun Del Sol/Sol de Vice, they'll overheat, and you'll have to hide out in the shade for a ridiculously long time before it'll recover. If you keep going in spite of this, eventually, your equipment will enter a permanent state of overheat that it won't recover from unless you turn off the game and leave it for a day or so (or mess with the time settings).
  • Blown Across the Room: A class of frames (Spear-type) can do this.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Sabata winds up like this in Shinbok.
  • Cape Wings
  • Cool Ship: Laplace. Schrodinger counts as well, though it eventually develops into more of a Humongous Mecha.
  • Cute Bruiser: Although you never actually see the Earthly Maiden Lita fight in the first three games, she seems to be a master of bare-hand melee combat, almost killing the main protagonist with a single punch for therapy purpose. Her several war cries are quite eloquent in that matter.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: While Sabata is the "Dark Boy" and utilises the powers of darkness, he's not really a villain. Also applies to Lucian in Lunar Knights.
  • Dark Magical Boy: Sabata.
  • Deader Than Dead: The only way to be sure that a vampire won't come back after defeat is to utterly annihilate it's dark power with the Pile Driver or Purifex cannon, which is really a giant Pile Driver in orbit.
    • Annoyingly enough, this never seems to work with the Count, since he comes back, what, five times in three games (counting Battle Network 6)? According to the Count in Shinbok, as long as any of his bats survive, he can regenerate. Presumably, he's pretty careful about leaving extra lives for himself.
  • Discard and Draw: In an ambush near the start of Boktai 2, Django loses the Gun del Sol, but is given the Sol de Vice, a magical gauntlet, and taught how to use it to enchant weapons with the power of the sun. Later, he's turned into a vampire and loses the ability to do even that, but gains vampiric powers instead.
  • The Dragon: Perrault. And later, Dumas.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The final bosses of the second and third games are both horrifically powerful monstrosities who are truly immortal and require an immense amount of magic to seal into dormancy.
  • Elemental Embodiment: The Terrenials in Lunar Knights, the class of being to which Otenko and Nero also belong. Interestingly, War-Rock is also counted among the terennials in the bonus crossover. There's a remarkable similarity between Trance Mode and Denpa-Henkan, one notices.
  • Eleventh-Hour Superpower: Wild Bunch
  • Evil Tower of Ominousness: The Azure Sky Tower in the first game, the Spiral Tower in the second, Vambery and Auguste in Lunar Knights.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Lucian.
  • The Fatalist: Sabata in Boktai.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: The Gun Del Sol.
  • Gameplay-Guided Amnesia: Django begins Shinbok with amnesia, mostly for tutorial purpose. This is explained by the shock of his "death".
  • Gratuitous Japanese: TAIYOOOOHHHH.
  • Intercontinuity Crossover:
    • MegaMan.exe helps Django out in Boktai 2 and Boktai 3. There's crossovers in the Battle Network games too.
    • There are likewise Wifi-instigated crossover events between Boktai DS and Mega Man Star Force, though these were removed from the English localization... for some reason.
    • There's an old amnesiac in Boktai 2 that is implied to be Solid Snake himself. In Lunar Knights, one of the items you can find is the "Cool Bandana", which will automatically use a healing item should you die and was said to be once owned by a "legendary soldier".
  • Konami Code: In the first game, it can be input in one room in The Abyss, rewarding the player with a Life Fruit.
  • Magikarp Power:
    • The second game's use of bare hands. Come on, not only does the attack power grow with strength, but skill also.
    • Also Aaron in Lunar Knights, courtesy of the game's Damage Cap and his possession of a rapid-fire capable weapon.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Dumas is treated as the main villain until he's beaten, and finally Polidori explains his role.
  • Marathon Level:
    • The Azure Sky Tower, Dream Avenue and Vambery. Extra points to AST for having a maximum of 99 floors, which gets tiring as soon as the floor limit reaches past 30.
    • Vambery is technically longer, as each of its sections of 9 has a tenth, "Boss" floor, for a max of 100. That and all the enemies are whatever level the floor is, so you can imagine level 99 to be... painful.
  • Marshmallow Hell: This happens to Django twice in the third game. Unfortunately for him, one of those times involves a girl who is a bit... flat... in addition to being the Cute Bruiser. Poor Django ends up within an inch of his life.
  • Mirror Boss: Sabata.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Bea from Lunar Knights. She sports a very form-fitting outfit that at once shows off her endowments, hips and the stretch of her stomach.
  • Multiple Endings: Shinbok. Depending on how badly you fare in the final battle, Sabata and/or Otenko will die. It is, however, possible to save them both.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Count of Groundsoaking Blood, anyone?
  • Near-Victory Fanfare: All the games have the Pile Driver music, which gets steadily more epic as you get closer to purifying the boss.
  • Nerf: There's actually a series-wide example with Django. In the first game, his Gun Del Sol had arguably the fastest Shooting Frequency. Then came Boktai 2, where the frequency of the Solar Gun was a little bit lowered, but had a pretty decent attacking-speed with other weapons. Fast forward to Boktai 3, and the speed of his swordslashes was downgraded so much it got even riskier to attack the enemies up front (without using certain, faster hitting weapons) and just stick with the Solar Gun, which was improved from its Boktai 2-incarnation (thanks to it being customizable again).
  • Not Quite Dead: At the beginning of Shinbok, Django is defeated by a mind-controlled Sabata and buried in a graveyard, only to be reanimated by his dormant vampire blood.
  • Not Using the Z Word: In the original three Boktai games, vampires are called "Immortals" 90% of the time. In Lunar Knights, this is done away with; vampires are vampires and Immortals are instead Omnicidally Maniacal aliens.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Polidori in Lunar Knights. Look at it this way: he's just one of a race of these guys.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: At least justified in Lunar Knights, where the differences are because of high-powered armor, spirit familiars, etc.
    • In universe example between the GBA trilogy and Lunar Knights ("vampires" and "immortals" are treated as different creatures in Lunar Knights, which would suggest that the former are simply earthbound variations of the latter): it's also implied that vampires have been accepted into the earth's natural activities as another creature, which raises... interesting questions about what exactly are the plans for dealing with their morality.
  • Petting Zoo People: You'll meet anthropomorphic dogs and foxes as NPCs in Lunar Knights.
  • Phlebotinum Battery: Django and Aaron are powered by the Sun, Lucian is powered by the Moon, and in a bit of a variation, Sabata is powered by a lack of sunlight.
  • Planet Eater:
    • Byron.
    • Also Jormungandr.
  • The Power of the Sun: Rather the point of the series, really. It's what powers the Gun Del Sol.
  • The Rival: Sabata.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The protagonist's name is a shout out to the western of the same name, where a gunslinger named Django drags a coffin (with a machine gun inside) around.
    • Django and Sabata's dual-attack is named "The Wild Bunch".
  • Solar and Lunar: The series is big on this, though with a dash of Dark Is Not Evil applying to the lunar half of the trope.
  • Spiritual Successor: To Metal Gear Ghost Babel, which was developed by the same staff.
  • Sunny Sunflower Disposition: The sun spirit Otenko.
  • Super Title 64 Advance: The Japanese title of Lunar Knights.
  • A Taste of Power: Boktai 2 starts Django off with his very high-level Dragoon Frame and enough ENE to fire a hundred times before recharging, on top of being able to one-shot enemies. Sadly, it never gets back up to 100 percent until Shinbok: its partially repaired version sucking up fifty times the ENE for half the damage, on top of being locked in (a slightly upgraded) Knight and the Sol Lens.
  • Theme Naming: And how.
  • Title Drop: Django and Sabata's use of "Our Sun!" (a.k.a. "Bokura no Taiyō!") in the first game, Lucian merely dropping the name of his game at the end of the Epilogue.
  • Wave Motion Gun: The Pile Driver (especially with the "Wild Bunch" attack), The Purifex Cannon.
  • With This Herring: In all his adventures, Django is forced to start off his quest to stop forces capable of rendering the Earth itself undead with the clothes on his back and a banged-up solar weapon that has just enough energy to kill a handful of Mooks without a recharge.
  • X Meets Y: Metal Gear Solid meets Castlevania.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: In Boktai 2, Django became afflicted with vampirism, changing his entire moveset. He had to avoid the sun to keep from burning himself (unless he used sunscreen), could sneak behind enemies to drain their health into himself (normal food hurt him) and could sleep in his coffin he always carried to recharge his energy. After one dungeon, he gained the ability to switch between Human Django and Vampire Django.
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