Rage of the Gladiator

Rage of the Gladiator is a Wii Ware game developed by Ghostfire Games. It tells the story of Gracius, a prince from the ancient city of Avalance, forced to fight as a gladiator in the arena for reasons initially unexplained. As the game progresses, the story is told through cutscenes in between fights.

It can pretty much be described as "Punch-Out!! with demons".

Tropes used in Rage of the Gladiator include:

• Abhorrent Admirer: The Sea Witch. She keeps flirting with you during the fight, while trying to kill you at the same time. This is explained in her bio as being a clash between her two sides; her human side seeks affection and companionship, while her reptilian side instinctively strikes out at anyone in self-defense.
• Badass Normal: Some of the opponents include a snake charmer, a ninja (granted, ninja aren't usually considered "normal", but when you think that the game includes mythological monsters and demons) and an old Chinese guy. And they're all extremely tough.
• Boss Rush: The whole game is basically this, like its inspiration.
• Calling Your Attacks: "Cutlass Slash!" "Cutlass Jab!" "Cross Slash!" "Fireball!"
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Tagon, arguably. He is the first boss, so you expect him to be a pushover, but he has a quick three-slash combo that can take unexpecting players completely by surprise.
• Difficulty Spike: After The Sea Witch, the game takes a particularly sharp climb in difficulty. Being based on Punch-Out!!, this is expected.
• Harder Than Hard: "Challenge Mode", similar to the inspiration's Title Defense mode - bosses are tougher, have new attacks and are generally harder to beat.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Nagano is this game's token ninja character. He is a student of Master Yee, who also trains you in the game's Forced Tutorial. Master Yee later returns to avenge his fallen student.
• Limit Break: The Combos, which can be performed (if you have enough energy) by hitting the opponent with your shield when they're stunned. Some of them are rather Awesome but Impractical, requiring a full energy bar to use (those ones deal the most damage, but it takes so long to fill up the energy bar that by the time you can use the combo the enemy is most likely nearly dead anyway). You can get a skill that makes the energy bar fill up faster, though.
• Make My Monster Grow: During the third round, Tagon grows to colossal size thanks to help from his god Arkos.
• Not Using the Z Word: The Sea Witch and Gargadan are an obvious gorgon and chimaera respectively, yet they are never referred to by that specific name in the game (The Sea Witch is called a "cruel creation of the gods" and Gargadan is described as "an experiment gone horribly wrong"). Inverted with Ixthid, who is referred to as a Beholder in his (its?) bio.
• Puzzle Boss: You WILL die many times when facing the True Final Boss before you figure out that he actually uses the same sequence of attacks over and over.
• Schmuck Bait: When you fight Master Yee for the second time, he will periodically beckon and say "Come, attack me!" Attacking him at that time will cause him to block and very quickly whack you with his staff.
• Squishy Wizard: Inverted with the Final Boss (except in Challenge Mode), Lord Vensor the 3rd. While he is a human magician, he's just as physically tough as the rest of the bosses, if not more so.
• True Final Boss: Creatos, lord of the dragons, who is unlocked after completing Challenge Mode.
• "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Tagon - though he's the first boss, he's still by no means a pushover, and the fight against him is essentially the game holding up a sign saying "This game will not be easy. Be warned."