Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion
Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion is a Mascot Fighter game featuring Cartoon Network characters, a la Super Smash Bros.. The 3DS version (released a few months before the console version) features 18 playable characters, with 19 others acting as assists. The console versions have the 3DS version's roster, plus 8 more, some of them carried over from the assist roster (there are currently only 6 known new assists).
This game features content the following Cartoon Network shows:
- Dexters Laboratory
- Johnny Bravo
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Samurai Jack
- The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
- Codename: Kids Next Door
- Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
- Ben 10
- Chowder
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers
The official website is here (archived).
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Semi-subverted: The narrator never knew that the remote control he bought was corrupting the dimensions.
- All Your Powers Combined: Trope-namer Captain Planet is summoned by Ben's Swampfire form, all of the heroes' hearts that got them that far, Mac and Bloo's experiences on the dimension most Earth-like, Captain K'nuckles' experiences on the waters of Stormalong Horbor, and Chowder breaking wind.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: You can buy clothes from the shop, such as Samurai Jack's ninja attire, Teenage Ben's Plumber suit, Vilgax's original outfit (the version in the game is based off of Alien Force), and Him's exercise outfit. Bonus points go to the developers for including the Rowdyruff Boys and Captain Pollution.
- Artificial Stupidity: During the Cheese protection mission, sometimes Cheese will simply walk off the stage and die, yet the game will penalize the player for not protecting him anyway.
- Considering Cheese's intelligence, this makes perfect sense.
- Artistic License: Aku can only be defeated by the sword Jack wields in the show he hails from. In this game, he can be harmed by any other playable character and a laser in Dexter's lab (which can defeat him in one hit).
- Ascended Extra: Aku, Him, Johnny Bravo, and Kevin Levin were all Assist Characters in the 3DS version. In the Console versions? Not so much.
- Ascended Meme: Dexter's Famous Last Words on his trailer: "My hair is on fire! My hair is on fire!"
- Big Bad: The Narrator's remote control.
- Big Boo's Haunt: Endsville.
- Bigger on the Inside: The capsule the characters use to travel from dimension to dimension.
- Boss Arena Idiocy: Aku's dragon form.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Many of the good Cartoon Network characters were mind controlled.
- City of Adventure: Endsville, Stormalong, Marzipan, Townsville, and Bellwood.
- Crossover
- Crosshair Aware: The remote control shoots lightning bolts that have this effect.
- Cutscene Boss: The army man-esque character from the first part of the KND stage.
- Damage Sponge Boss: All of them.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mandy and, on occasion, the narrator.
- Deus Ex Machina: Captain Planet being summoned. Though, considering his primary role in his series...
- Enemy Mine: Averted, surprisingly, due to being a crossover game.
- Everything's Better with Monkeys: Monkey (obviously) and Mojo Jojo.
- Evil Versus Evil: It plays out that way if the player redoes the final boss with a villain, as the villains never joined the heroes during the story mode.
- Final Boss: In the story mode, the Narrator's remote. In the Arcade Mode, Him.
- Final Boss, New Dimension
- Flunky Boss: Stickybeard and the narrator's remote.
- Follow the Leader: To Super Smash Bros..
- Game Breaking Bug: If you lose a life at the same time you fail a protection mission, the entire 3DS will freeze.
- Gang Plank Galleon: Stormalong Harbor
- Genre Shift: One minute you'll be fighting mooks, the next you'll be on a Minecart Madness segment or a FPS.
- Heart Beat-Down: Captain Planet's Punch Time Explosion attack has him use all of the elements and he ends it with an explosion of heart energy, proving that Heart Is an Awesome Power.
- The Hero: Ben Tennyson seems to fill this role in the story mode.
- Hijacked by The Narrator's Remote Control: The plot of the Story Mode.
- Large Ham: Aku, of course!
- Let's You and Him Fight: To determine who's going to fight Mojo Jojo, the characters fight each other to prove who's strong enough for the task. Kind of makes one wonder why they just don't gang up on Mojo.
- Mascot Fighter
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover
- Metaphorgotten:
Narrator: It's Kevin Levin! And he looks like he fell from the ugly alien tree, and hit every ugly alien branch on the way down! And fell in an ugly puddle. And sat in it for a while. What I'm getting at is that he's really ugly looking.
- Oh Crap: After the mine cart thing in the second Ben 10 level in Story mode, a Forever Knight and a Vilgax Bioid get this reaction.
- Pirate: Stickybeard and the Candy Pirates from Codename:KND AAARRRR perfect examples. There are even three kinds of Candy Pirates: the small ones that hobble around, the medium sized ones that only appear in one point in the game, and the large ones that hit harder than any of the other pirates.
- Planet Heck: Endsville's Underworld.
- Puzzle Boss: The remote.
- Reactor Boss: When you have to simultaneously have to keep Mojo Jojo at bay and destroy the core of Mojo's robot.
- Sequel Hook: At the end, the narrator complains about how he doesn't have a remote control and brings up the idea of having a lava man control it by lever.
- Naturally, that doubles as a Shout-Out to Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
- Shapeshifting: Aku. Complete with Morphic Resonance.
- Shout-Out: If Jack wins, he may say "You must defeat my Dragon Punch to stand a chance."
- Captain Planet borrows Captain Falcon's knee of justice.
- Going through the Endsville Cemetery without dying while playing as Hoss Delgado in XL gets you the achievement/trophy "Like a Hoss".
- By getting 9001+ points in XL, you get the achievement/trophy "It's Over 9000!"
- Spam Attack: Enemies do this alot, to the point were they sometimes play tennis with you; it is one of the most common complaints for the game.
- Stationary Boss: Aku's dragon form.
- Stealth Pun: Captain Planet gets no new animations. Why? They're recycling what they have.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Kevin Levin repeatedly slams his arms into the ground to use two of his attacks and occasionally will get them stuck, giving you free hit time.
- Teleport Spam: Aku will teleport to the area closest to you during his boss fight.
- The Unexpected: Captain Planet. Some actually thought he was a hoax when he was leaked out.
- Tomorrowland: Dexter's Lab.
- Tragic Monster: Kevin Levin.
- Updated Rerelease: Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Aside from hopefully fixing what went wrong in the original version, several new game modes have been added (the confirmed ones being Training, Arcade, PTE Mode, Fight The Drones and Survival). Also, eight new characters have been added to the game, those being:
- Johnny Bravo
- Him
- Aku and The Scotsman
- Young Ben and Kevin Levin
- The Toiletnator
- Hoss Delgado
- And most of the original voice actors returned for the consoles.
- Villainous Breakdown: When the remote is close to losing, it stops trying to beat you through minions and Teleport Spam and comes after you with no shields and two melee attacks. It may have just powered down, though.
- Villain Team-Up: All of the villains in the game.
- "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Argueably Kevin, his attacks have high knockback, he does not keep still most of the time, and after getting his health to a certain point he goes into a temper tantrum that will more than likely hit you.
- Womb Level: There's a Flapjack stage that takes place on some floating debris. After a while, Bubbie swallows you and the fight continues in her mouth.