Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure

"Good show!"

A puzzle/platformer/action-adventure game developed by EA Tiburon. Otherwise known as The Most English Game In The World.

The protagonist Henry Hatsworth, #1 member of the Pompous Adventurer's Club, is on a mission to obtain the legendary Golden Suit created by the Gentleman, who could control the Puzzle Realm with it in order to obtain that world's treasure. He discovers the first piece, the Golden Hat, resulting in the re-opening of the Puzzle Realm. With the aid of his assistant Cole, he must travel all over the world in order to collect every piece of the suit and seal the Puzzle Realm once and for all. However, he's not the only one seeking the pieces: his Arch Enemy, Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third, has the same goal. And he won't let Hatsworth succeed so easily...

The game brilliantly combines puzzle games (think Panel de Pon) and platformers into one. Compare Puzzle Quest, which did the same with RPGs. Has a Spiritual Successor Monster Tale.

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Tropes used in Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure include:

• Action Bomb: A variation of the game's goomba, but coloured red. It dies in one hit (even from the weakest projectile), and will die harmlessly if you can kill it before it notices you. Once it does, however, it will set itself on fire and sprint full-tilt towards you. Its explosion also hurts any enemies around it, and if you can get out of the (admittedly large) explosion radius, they can be Helpful Mooks. Otherwise, they're Goddamn Bats.
• Advancing Wall of Doom: The giant fish in 3-1. Used again a few times in the fifth world.
• All There in the Manual: A number of the more advanced moves (such as "charging up" a projectile attack by shooting it and then making up to four Match Threes in the Puzzle Realm before it hits its target) are only discussed in the manual. Lord help you if you buy the game used and without a manual. It doesn't even count as Guide Dang It because the GameFAQs community doesn't seem to think the game worthy of providing a proper level-by-level walkthrough.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign/Bilingual Bonus: The "lyrics" to Lance Banson's theme are random Italian musical terms (such as allegro, strozzo, and fortissimo) mixed with some Italian-sounding gibberish.
• Auto-Scrolling Level: Some of the secret levels use this.
• Autobots Rock Out:
  • Whenever Hatsworth enjoys his Tea Time.
  • The Final Boss theme counts as well.
• Badass Grandpa:
  • Henry will own you. He will.
  • Also, The Captain. Who knew that a senile old geezer confined to a wheelchair could be That One Boss in an already Nintendo Hard game?
• Bald of Evil: Lance Banson.
• Berserk Button: Lady D doesn't like being rejected. Also, don't try taking the Captain's shoes.
• Bonus Stage: Within a few levels are portals that take you to these stages. They're really good for getting loads of currency (which will serve the player well if they want all upgrades).
• Boss Remix: Weasleby's battle theme "Dirty Tricks" is a sped up, clockwork remix of his Leitmotif "Conversational Unpleasantries".
• Bottomless Pits: As to be expected, the game uses them every so often. It's also one of the reasons why you'll hate Tealand.
• Bullet Hell: Cole's robot in 5-6.
• Catch Phrase: "Good Show!"
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase
• Cool Gate: They pop up occasionally, taking the player to a bonus segment with lots of gems.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: A to Attack, B to Jump, Y for Special Attack, X for puzzle mode. You get used to it fairly quickly, but the first few minutes are a pain when you want to jump and attack instead.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Weasleby, though he's definitely missing out on the mustache.
• Deceptive Disciple: Cole.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Lance Banson shows up as the shopkeeper after Cole is kidnapped in order to pay off debts, though Henry fails to actually recognize him.
• Difficulty Spike: The game becomes much harder starting from the second half of World 3/beginning of World 4.
• Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: The pipe is also enchanted and lets Henry breathe underwater.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Cole, yet again.
• Double Unlock: In order to use any item (up to and including 1-ups), you have to collect the item on the top screen which then turns into a block on the bottom, then match-three that same block in the Puzzle Realm when you want to activate it. It's not as annoying as most examples of this trope though, because the second step in the double-unlock is rather easy.
• Down the Drain: Good luck on 5-1, the sewer level. You're gonna need it.
• Dual Boss: Subverted. The Captain and his nurse share the same health bar, but fight as one, with the nurse using the poor old man as a weapon most of the time.
• Elevator Action Sequence: The last map in Chapter 5-3 has you riding an elevator up to the treasure at the end of the level. In practice, they're essentially four Inescapable Ambushes in a row.
• Evil Laugh: Weasleby's "Nyeh heh heh heh!".
• Floating Continent: World 2, Skysland.
• Forced Level Grinding: You will have to do this in order to purchase the melee and ranged attack powerups and other upgrades. Unless...
• Foreshadowing: In the cutscene where Weaselby first appears Henry jokingly calls Cole a 'little weasel'.
• Fountain of Youth: The Golden Suit.
• Gentleman Adventurer: The titular character is one. So is Weaselby and therefore, Cole. And they both belong to a club specifically for gentlemen adventurers. Suffice to say, this game breathes this trope.
• A God Am I: Weasleby claims he's a God after he obtains the Master Piece.
• Gotta Catch Them All: The Golden Suit pieces.
• Guide Dang It: Finding the secret areas. One requires you to go through lava.
• Hailfire Peaks: Skysland (Floating Continent and Gang Plank Galleon) and Atlantis Atlantia (Lethal Lava Land, Underground Level and Under the Sea). To a lesser extent, Mysteria (Jungle Japes, Bubblegloop Swamp and Big Boo's Haunt).
• Inescapable Ambush: All the time. Oftentimes, the game will use the ambush to introduce a new enemy type: first to give you a one-on-one fight against it, and then adding it to another group of enemies you've fought before.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: Hatsworth's Robot Suit.
• Interface Screw: What separates the bosses from the mini-bosses is that the former can interfere with the puzzle world itself. For example, Lance Banson can summon an anchor that will pull the pieces up if you don't do anything about it.
• Jungle Japes: Mysteria, the first world.
• Lampshade Hanging: Done on several occasions.
  • One of the more notable lampshade hangings ends up Painting the Fourth Wall. When Cole reveals that he's The Man Behind the Man, he ends up muttering to himself "Is this what passes for a plot these days?".
    • Actually, he said that while wondering why he wasn't able to use the Master Piece to its full potential. He was not happy with the possibility that "Hatsworth had the power all along", and was pointing out how incredibly lame such a twist would have been.
• Larynx Dissonance: Lady D rivals Doctor Girlfriend in this factor in that her voice is basically a bunch of phlegmy coughs punctuated by the occasionally masculine-sounding "Yoo-hoo!".
• Magical Land: The Puzzle Realm.
• The Man Behind the Man: Cole, Henry's sidekick.
• Marathon Level: World 5-4.
• Match Three Game
• Money Spider: The monsters drop gems upon defeat. You can shake more out of them by juggling them after you've killed them.
• New Game+: Gentleman Mode, a rare example of New Game Plus actually making the game harder. You have less time to spend in Puzzle Mode, and the puzzle raises itself at a much faster rate. Have fun dealing with the enemies returning as Demonic Spiders!
• Nice Hat: Hatsworth's Golden Hat and Weasleby's giant mechanical hat.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Hatsworth searches for the Golden Suit pieces in hopes of finding treasure. Upon picking up the Golden Hat, he breaks the seal on the Puzzle Realm, causing an imbalance between the two worlds. Oops.
• Nintendo Hard: If the Puzzle Realm doesn't anger you, then Tealand certainly will. The game can (and will) make you suffer through every last bit of it.
  • Word of advice: Do NOT attempt the secret levels unless you have a lot of health, upgrades, and are very good at maintaining your temper.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Weasleby's a fair bit younger than Henry. Cole definitely is.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Cole grew tired of doing all the work of tracking down the treasures while Henry gets all the fame and riches.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Lance Banson pretends to be a shop keeper near the end of the game. His disguise consists of claiming he is not Lance Banson, and nothing else.
• Power Armor: Under your control. During Henry's Super Mode. Summoned by tea.
• Quintessential British Gentleman: You don't get more British than Henry himself. Although in his case, he is also British in that they invented heavy metal.
• Real Men Wear Pink: In Lance's case, real men do not fight. They SING!
• Recurring Boss: Weasleby takes a very Robotnik-styled approach and is fought no less than five times throughout the game.
• Robotic Reveal: Weasleby in 5-6. He twitches a bit, then his head falls off, and Cole jumps out of his body: he was just a robot controlled by Cole.
• Rule of Cool: TEA TIME!
• Scenery Porn: Lots of well-detailed and colourful background artwork and spritework abounds.
• Shout-Out:
  • This game felt a bit like an homage to Scrooge McDuck and DuckTales (1987) with original "human" (cartoonish) characters in place of the Ducks. Henry Hatsworth is a rich elderly adventurer with more skill than men a third his age who goes around the world searching for valuable treasures, much like Scrooge (the only difference being that he's British). The main antagonist (until the "twist" comes along) is Weasleby, a foppish and arrogant dandy with glasses who probably inherited all his money, much like Scrooge villain John D. Rockerduck (also known as Robax). It's interesting that Scrooge always wears a top hat and Rockerduck a bowler hat, while for Hatsworth and Weasleby their headgear is reversed. Surely coincidence, but there's a similarity there.
  • To Eddie Izzard, in the soundtrack, no less.
  • "Weaseljuice" is also one to Beetlejuice.
• Sky Pirate: Lance Banson.
• Speaking Simlish: But very clearly British-accented Simlish, of course.
• Spikes of Doom: All over the place.
• Spot of Tea: Henry Hatsworth is fond of his tea. It even allows him to summon a mecha to destroy everything in sight.
• The Starscream: Cole, who is revealed to be The Man Behind the Man.
• Stock British Phrases:
  • Henry's Simlish has "eh wots" and such in it, and his catchphrase is "Good Show!" And when he dies, he says "Poppycock!".
  • Cole gets into the act too, with "Righto!", "Jiminy!" and "Guvnor".
• Stop Helping Me!: Inverted. A number of enemies have abilities that cause the puzzle screen to fill with blocks. The idea is to push enemies to the top, and put Hatsworth in danger. The bonus? If there aren't any other enemies, they'll fill the screen with perfectly harmless blocks, which the player can then use to fill his super-meter bizarrely fast. It's really more like 'Continue Harming Me'.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: One type of the Puzzle Monsters wears a skirt and a ribbon.
• Transforming Mecha: Hatsworth's Mecha was originally supposed to transform from Big Ben.
• Under the Sea/Lethal Lava Land: World 3 alters between these two.
• Villain Song: Banson's Aria, with impressive faux-Italian lyrics.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Cole, who gets plain sick of being what he sees as Henry's Hypercompetent Sidekick and is revealed to be Weasleby in disguise.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: TEA TIME!
• Where Are They Now? Epilogue
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Cole. Just... Cole. His Motive Rant is very much a Who's Laughing Now?... Though as Henry points out, he's effectively threatening the entire world out of sheer immaturity.