Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku

Don't lose! Unlosing Ranger!

This game has only one battle sequence.
 Thank you for your understanding.
 However, it will be one, huge, EPIC battle!

Thank you for your understanding.
—Opening disclaimer

A PSP game from Nippon Ichi which, unlike most of their games, is not an SRPG. This one is a Roguelike, putting it closer to the Diablo, Nethack, or Mystery Dungeon (Shiren the Wanderer, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon) series of games.

It's that time of the year again. The Demon General Darkdeath Evilman has kidnapped Super Baby, the infant savior of the world, and threatens to destroy Earth! But of course, world's most beloved hero, the Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger, heeds the call to defeat Darkdeath and save the world!

...Then he gets run over by a car and dies.

In his last act, he gives his morphing belt, and with that his super powers, to a young teenager who just so happened to witness the scene. With the powers of the Unlosing Ranger at his disposal, this new hero must save the world in his stead!

...But he's the weakest main character alive and dies almost instantly.

Saved from the brink of death by the World Hero Society, our silent young hero meets his instructor Etranger and Pirohiko, the ghost of the previous Ranger. With the world in danger, the lovable weakling has no choice but to train and train until he can defeat Darkdeath Evilman and save the world!

The official English title is Z.H.P. (Zettai Hero Project): Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman (this is actually causing problems with people buying it. The periods are part of Z.H.P., and most stores' systems will not see it as a result for ZHP).

Now has its own growing Character Sheet.

Tropes used in Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku include:
  • Abusive Parents: The protagonist's. And how. Basically, his entire family blames him for all their troubles ever since he and his sister were kidnapped by a Monster of the Week eight years ago.
  • Adult Fear: Almost every chapter deals with some situation adults fear of or go through.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: In true Rudolph fashion, nearly everyone else are dicks until the Unlosing Ranger helps them. Even the main character's own family had been blaming him for their own problems including wanting a divorce; partly due to his sister's repression of the fact that he was the one who saved her from the Cannibal by occupying it via beating the crap out of the main character enough for the police to arrive.
  • Ambidextrous Sprite: From certain angles, your "Left Hand" Item is held in the character's right hand and vice-versa. Sprite mirroring is to blame.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Every single character has an alternate in the other world, usually with their mental issues on full display. Often these mental issues have their own Anthropomorphic Personification, requiring our hero to beat them into submission, Warrior Therapist-style.
  • Apathetic Citizens: In full force.
  • Arranged Marriage/Wife Husbandry: At the end, Etranger's mom wants the former between Etranger and the main character, and the latter between the main character and herself (both at the same time).
  • Ascended Meme: The description of the Wizard Hat: "I put on my Robe and Wizard Hat..." And unlike in Disgaea 2, you can actually see the hat!
  • Awesome McCoolname: Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger and Reckless Cop Dangerama, naturally. Though with the former, it takes some effort before you really begin to live up to that name.
  • Awesome Yet Impractical: Dual-Wielding. Though it allows you to attack twice and some combinations can give some really cool special attacks, it burns through your EN at an alarming rate even if you have the skills to counteract that.
    • Special attacks. Incredibly flashy and powerful as expected from a Nippon Ichi game, but the attacks eat up EN especially the flashier attacks and you need to maintain as much EN as possible when going through dungeons. They still hit pretty hard, though, when you need to burst down a boss or Ao E his mooks.
  • Barrier Warrior: Super Baby. She's powerful enough to hold off Darkdeath's attacks by herself, but being a baby, she hasn't learned any attacks yet and can't actually beat him.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Lampshaded, naturally. Heroes can breathe in space, and are apparently capable of leaving the atmosphere at will even if they can't fly.
  • Batman Gambit: Part of the conflict in Level 4: Medea Lass made a deal with Prince Geo that if the Unlosing Ranger loses, she'd marry him.
  • Beehive Barrier: Super Baby. The Gator enemies generate these (and a piece of equipment) if someone attacks from the front. You also have a "Block" command that produces this, nullifying any enemy special that gets casted from in front of you that turn (though it does nothing for regular attacks).
  • Better Than a Bare Bulb: Pretty much everything is lampshaded. The characters tend to plan their next move based on what trope they want to invoke next.

Darkdeath Evilman: What are you so surprised about? I am the last boss who threatens the world. I should have at least three forms!
Dangerama: Don't worry, Unlosing Ranger! Everyone knows that monsters who regenerate are always weaker than the original! We'll use our "Dangerous Unlosing Hurricane" again to bust a hole in his stomach, and break his spine!
Darkdeath Evilman: Joke's on you! Everyone knows that if you failed to beat a boss with a special attack once, it'll never work the second time.
Dangerama: Damn youuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

  • BFG: The Unlosing Bazooka.
  • BFS: Most bladed weapons, even 'daggers' look huge. Special note to the Unlosing Sword, perhaps the most Egregious BFS in the game.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Played with. The Unlosing Ranger always dramatically returns and engages Darkdeath Evilman, but immediately gets his ass handed to him.
  • Bizarro Universe: There are two Earths, and the fate of characters on one Earth affect their fate in the other.
  • Breakable Weapons: All equipment deteriorates as you use it. If an item's durability drops to 0, it's effectively the same as being naked; you lose any of that item's stat boosts and abilities, and if it's something like a spear or a gun, you also lose the ranged attack. However, unlike most games with this feature, broken equipment is not lost, it just loses any special properties and remains in a severely weakened state. It can even be repaired limited times in-dungeon with the proper facility loadout.
  • But Thou Must!: In the opening sequence, you're given the option to try to turn down the Unlosing Ranger's belt, but you'll get stuck with it anyway.
  • Butt Monkey: You.
  • Came Back Strong: A regular basis for gameplay. Death is only a temporary setback at best.
  • Cameo:
    • Wait for it. The Disgaea: Hour of Darkness crew show up in the bonus dungeons. Yes, in a Nippon Ichi game; shocking, isn't it?
    • Valvoga is in the last bonus dungeon. Hey, Mickey did say that they always ask him/them to be bonus boss. Now we know who "they" are. (And he's not a fake!)
    • Asagi is in it. In fact, she's all the other cameo characters. The entire cameo system was a plot by her to try to replace the other cameo characters with her... cosplaying as them, anyway.
      • Interestingly; Pirihiko's and Etranger's dialogue all indicate that every series is true; with Earth-like series being set in the same world as theirs; and non-Earth being an Alternate Universe. Plus, Asagi wouldn't want to take over a Mutually Fictional Main Character position, after all.
    • Like Soul Nomad, Baal is noticeably missing. It's mentioned in the game that he's been replaced by Valvolga.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Remember when you obtain the Power of Love with the (probably) attached to it? That was no dumb joke by the writers or a Red Herring. You eventually find out that your Power of Love is incomplete and go through another dungeon to fix it.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: ...that, and Training from Hell.
  • Combination Attack: When Dangerama finally accepts the Unlosing Ranger as a hero, he specifically holds back Darkdeath Evilman so the protagonist can go learn a Combination Attack. It's even called by name in the command list (though the actual name is "Dangerous Unlosing Hurricane").
  • Combined Energy Attack: The Unlosing Ranger's final technique. The entire Earth cheers him on, which makes him stronger than rest of the cast combined, allowing him to make a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Cosplay: Not only can you equip random bits and pieces from every enemy in the game including the last boss, beating the anime cameo dungeons allow you to change your base sprite into the boss of said anime or game cameo dungeon, which actually has stat effects in game.
  • Death Is Not Permanent: Ever. EVER. So much that even some enemies can't die.
  • Death Seeker: Dangerama.
  • Decoy Protagonist: The Unlosing Ranger? Yeah, not the main character, really. Well, it gets complicated, but the Unlosing Ranger dies in the first minute of the game, giving the main character (default name: "Main Character") the suit.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Multiple times, mostly as a direct result of the Unlosing Ranger being defeated in combat. Counteracting these is the goal of 99% of the training missions.
  • Determinator: You.
    • Parodied via Gameplay and Story Integration. Dying is a means to get stronger. (The hero falls, but rises to his feet once more!)
    • It's more than that. This turns out to be the nameless hero's defining trait, discovered in flashbacks when he stands up to an insane serial killer/rapist/cannibal who had kidnapped him and his sister. He's beaten to a bloody pulp (literally so: he's hospitalized afterwards and his sister is traumatized into amnesia after just from seeing it), but continues to keep standing up, long enough to keep the serial killer distracted until help arrived. It transfers to his superhero persona very well.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: What is exactly that yellow hero power source in the shadowgram? Any idea?
  • Dramatic Irony: "The parents of that fake can't possibly be normal. They're probably freaks of nature."
  • Dub Name Change: Makeranger to the Unlosing Ranger, Kikender to Dangerama, and Deathdark Tanaka to Darkdeath Evilman.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: The Unlosing Ranger goes from being called a useless fake who's just there to be a nuisance to gaining enough power to punch a nuke into the sun and eventually earning the respect of people all around the world for his unwavering spirit. This rock solid trust and belief in him causes him to power up into the Unlosing Ranger Omega, culminating in him saving the world.
  • Eagle Land: Played straight, complete with a quote worthy of Team America: World Police... although this is later explained by Oldllama's mental issues due to her Bizzaro Earth counterpart.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: While you can defeat Darkdeath Evilman early on a second playthrough, the endings you receive end with you dying in possibly the most pathetic way imaginable with everyone calling you a fraud. The game pretty much requires that Darkdeath Evilman hands you your ass several times before you can see a real happy ending.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman.
  • Expy: Choco is our silent protagonist's little sister who has brown hair and Girlish Pigtails and is voiced by Karen Strassman. Now where else have I seen that combination?
    • Pirohiko. Aside from having brown hair and eyes instead of respectively blue and red, is undeniably a flat-out expy of Kamina. With his fiery and optimistic persona, his mentoring of a younger seemingly fail filled guy as his successor, he can be considered Kamina reincarnated as a Super Hero Otaku!. And further, being motivated by feelings of failure and weakness.
    • Jean Noire: a brilliant surgeon that can operate anywhere, any time, and can even bring himself back from near death with scars across half of his face. Yeah, it can only be Black Jack.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Certain abilities allow one to eat Organic Equipment, Inorganic Equipment or Money.
    • There are pieces of equipment anyone can eat; like Mermaid equipment (except for the Head), Harpy Legs, Hovering Cloud and Appetite Engine.
    • The Death Corgi is an example of this. It will wander around eating every item in sight, leaving behind "Leftover Scraps" on each square. The Leftover Scraps are edible (for a paltry 5 EN each), but strangely enough, they're still left behind even if the item in question wasn't edible to begin with.
  • Final Battle: The entire game is essentially one massive final battle, although the hero has the opportunity to level grind in another dimension after getting his ass kicked.
  • Five-Man Band: The heroes plus Darkdeath Evilman may have become this at the end.
  • Fog Feet: There's an item that replaces the main character's legs with a cloud.
  • Foreshadowing/Red Herring: If you pay attention, you see who is cosplaying what in the cutscenes. In addition, Pirohiko's Bizarro version is a Cadaver. You know, that monster that comes back to life a few turns after you kill it?
    • If you were paying attention, you'll notice that Darkdeath Evilman begs the Unlosing Ranger to run away when he his malfunctioning suit starts blowing up cities... in his real voice.
    • On a less spoilery note, you can see Bizzaro Mana and Kyoya earlier than normal in the same cutscene that kills Bizarro Pirohiko. They ran him over like their normal versions...
  • Gag Boobs: You can equip them. And when an enemy uses that item to invoke Wouldn't Hit a Girl, it leads to a Crowning Moment of Funny.

Pirohiko: Those tits are fake! You got the equipment made for men dangling between your legs! Tripod Ranger!

  • Genre Savvy: Taken Beyond the Impossible for a Crowning Moment of Awesome. The final boss attacking Earth has fired blasts of energy all across the globe, destroying entire cities... that have already been evacuated because they know that those cities are always attacked in movies. Not a single person is killed.
    • Both Etranger and Pirohiko are Genre Savvy, just of different subgenres: Pirohiko is an idealist, Etranger is extremely cynical. Etranger usually plays as a foil to Pirohiko, who, while stupid, is usually morally right.
      • Except when he's using his "hero lessons" to justify things like complaining about his parents finding his Porn Stash.
  • Genre Shift: This is a Roguelike with some elements from Disgaea as opposed to an outright SRPG.
  • Goo-Goo Godlike: Super Baby, the only person on Earth that stands between Darkdeath Evilman and The End of the World as We Know It. The only reason why the Super Baby needs rescuing is because she doesn't know any attacks yet.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: The "Stereotypical Asian" version of the theme song is mostly composed of random Japanese words.
  • Guide Dang It: There's no indication that you could pick up the rotating mirrors and the statues in Chapter 4, other than the color of their dots on the minimap.
    • There is also no indication that you had to throw the rocks into the boss' nostrils in Chapter 8 to make it vulnerable.
    • There's also no mention of the existennce of Unlosing Weapons. Anywhere. Not even a hint. There's apparently one for every weapon type, (Unlosing Sword, Unlosing Gun, Unlosing Wand... etc). The only reliable info is that they become findable "somewhere post-lvel 30" of the Mastery Dungeon).
  • Happily Married: Medea Lass and Prince Geo in the true ending.
  • Head-Tiltingly Kinky: The Dumb Blonde couple. When Mana's water breaks, she says that it "hurts worse than a pineapple."
  • The Hero: The game explores what it means to truly be one.
  • The Hero Dies: How the plot is kicked off. The original Unlosing Ranger is hit by a runaway car.
  • Heroic Mime: You.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The previous Unlosing Ranger took the bullet for the rookie cop Pirohiko, and passed his belt on to him. This was the same incident as the main character's kidnapping.
    • Also, the protagonist supposedly pulls this off in the end, personally flying a self-destructing Giga Giant Darkdeath Evilman into the sun. He makes it back in one piece though.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Etranger: is really a psychic manifestation of Super Baby, and is both cynical and naive because of her age, and the things her mother has told her about humanity and herself.
    • Pirohiko: serious case of Survivor Guilt since the previous Unlosing Ranger died to protect him. Half of the time deeply in denial about his human failings, and half of the time aware of knowing what a hero should be, and ashamed that he couldn't be it.
    • The Main Character: Not a case of You Suck; he has always been a badass that nobody recognized, nobody gave a chance.
    • Dangerama: had to choose between his wife or a lot of innocent people dying. He saved the people. He wasn't the same since.
    • Darkdeath Evilman: not a Omnicidal Maniac; in reality, a super intelligent 8 year old boy attempting Suicide By Hero. Seeing the Unlosing Ranger fail in doing so sends him past the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: The eponymous fight against the "last boss", Darkdeath Evilman, which is repeated at the end of every chapter. It gets progressively less hopeless each time, until it reaches the point where you can't lose.
    • In New Game+, they're not Hopeless, as if you continue to attack, the last turn will be a random Critical Hit for 999 damage, instantly defeating the boss... if you want to continue the game as normal, you must hit "flee" the last turn before you lose. Unfortuantely, winning these hopeless battles causes one of the various Bad Multiple Endings, due to the various psychological problems with the other characters not being solved. To say nothing about poor Darkdeath.
  • Hyperactive Metabolism: You have 100 EN. It's not enough... it goes down constantly, attacking causes it to go down (dual wielding causes it to downright plummet), and it's also used as mana for your special attacks. Several items restore it, some items play with it, etc etc.
  • I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Played straight. Until Chapter X, wherein Pirohiko buys a second MacGuffin. A cheap knockoff, at that!
  • Important Haircut: The nameless hero gains one from pure Heroic Spirit when he learns the special attack "120% Determination", even going so far as to change his portrait in game. This marks the point where he goes from being insulted by just about everyone -- "The Unlosing Ranger (Temp)", "The Fake Unlosing Ranger", etc. -- to actually gaining some respect.
  • Informed Equipment: Averted. One of the game's selling points is that everything you equip will visibly change your appearance, to the point where you'll look ridiculous very early on. This applies to enemies too.
  • Jerkass/Jerkass Woobie/Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Etranger goes through all three of these.
  • Karma Houdini: Again, the protagonist's entire family. How do you say "sorry" for eight years of emotional abuse, triggered by something that wasn't even his fault? Level-9's "happy ending" rings hollow in the face of the hell the protagonist's family put him through.
    • Though to be fair, Choco did undergo Trauma-Induced Amnesia during the whole kiddnapping thing, so she doesn't remember that it was her big bro that saved her. All that she does know is that her parents are sniping at each other because of something he did, so she begins to think that its his fault. YMMV, but she may not be as much to blame. The parents, on the other hand...
      • At least the dad gets his lunch forcefully donated to the main character in case he gets hungry in the ending.
  • Kill Sat: You can get this as a facility after triggering a Kill Sat trap in a dungeon.
  • Large Ham: Pirohiko. Hammy Ranger!
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Shana, Dokuro, Horo, Taiga, Kino, Kino, Index, Kirino, Firo, Celty, Haruka, Touka, Yoko, Silver Crow and the Science Club President among other anime characters will be appearing in the game.
    • Funny considering NIS America now owns the license to the Toradora! anime in North America. They may be trying for the others, which all share the same publisher in Japan.
  • Legacy Immortality: The Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger is believed to be immortal because they would continually pass the transformation belt on when the current one died. In fact, it's practically tradition to hand the transformation belt to a random passerby that just happens to be in the area when they're dying.
  • Level Grinding: Wouldn't be a N1 game without it. This one has the bonus effect of having Restart At Level One as a gameplay mechanic, however. The trailer even brags about it. "The most soul crushing grindfest EVER!" However, in the late game, Item Synthesis and Shadowgram optimization are more important than levels.
  • Long Title: Even with the "Zettai Hero Project" bit reduced to an initialism, it's still a mouthful.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: The fourth boss Bizarro Geo becomes increasingly desperate when Bizarro Medeia flatly turns down his cries for affection, resorting to spawning multiple enemies called "Overflowing Love" to drive his point home.
  • Mad Libs Catchphrase: Pirohiko sometimes ends a statement with "[Noun/Adjective] Ranger!" or, if the opportunity presents itself, something that sounds like an attack name. Bondage Ranger!
  • Mega Manning/Powers as Programs: The Super Suit can be equipped with parts scalped off of enemies. And... anything... yeah Anything. ANYyyyyythiiiing.
  • The Messiah: According to Pirohiko's philosophy, a true hero is a combination of this, Warrior Therapist, and Kung Fu Jesus.
  • Metal Slime: Metal Cacti. They completely fill up the "Makai Wars" stage; only unlocked when you beat all the Dengeki stages.
  • Mood Whiplash: Very often. The ending is especially guilty of this. The heroes chase after the self-destructing Darkdeath Evilman to save him, at which point, he finally agrees to believe in heroes and begs to be saved. This is followed up with Pirohiko, Dangerama and Etranger taking turns trying to push Darkdeath Evilman's robotic exoskeleton into the sun with all of them snapping at each other for failing until Darkdeath Evilman tells them that the smart thing to do is for them to push it together. Then, the main character gains the strength to push it by himself and sacrifice his life in process.
  • Motivation on a Stick: The Appetite Engine accessory is a carrot on a stick worn on the player's head. It reduces EN consumption by 50% while equipped, and can be eaten to restore EN in a pinch.
  • Multiple Endings: 18 of them, but only the 'normal' ending can be obtained outside of a New Game+. Similar to Chrono Trigger, most of them are determined by exactly when you defeat the Final Boss.
  • My Death Is Just the Beginning: A rare heroic version. Disgaea's reincarnate system makes a return. In addition, you can't not trigger it. The plus side is this means that even as you lose, you get stronger. The minus side is this means they've basically shot the difficulty up to 11.
  • N-Word Privileges: Bizarro Frank objects to being called a "loser underdog" by Etranger because she isn't one.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Darkdeath Evilman.
  • New Game+: It's a NIS game, of course it has this. However, unlike Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice, this one is mandatory: you don't get a chance to avoid progressing to the New Game+ mode if you beat the last boss.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Played completely straight when Etranger uses her powers to make Darkdeath a giant -- in a Shout-Out to Mighty Morphing Power Rangers -- in order to prevent a rival hero from saving the day. Then it doesn't wear off, making Darkdeath an infinitely worse danger than before. Er, whoops.
  • Nintendo Hard: Considered by far and away Nippon Ichi's hardest and grindiest game ever.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: 45th American President "Brick Oldllama"?
    • She looks more like Condoleezza Rice.
  • No Fourth Wall: Etranger gets really upset when she discovers a fourth wall (which she actually calls by name) breaking joke earlier actually had a purpose: since the main character's home life is so horrible, he can't fully understand love, which hinders his power as a superhero.
  • Noodle Incident: Nao's past. She was apparently in love with the Unlosing Ranger who Pirohiko replaced, but this is never fully explained.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Completely and utterly avoided, when Oldllama gives up on the Unlosing Ranger, deciding to nuke Japan rather than face Darkdeath Evilman. Then she backs out of it, after you fix her mind, making her realize that sacrificing an entire country is a cowardly thing to do. Then while practicing her apology she bows, headbutting the freakin' launch button. All combined with a heavy handed political message about Japan's subservience to America, America's Eagle Land persona, etc etc etc. What. The. Hell.
    • It does lead to a CMOA (the first for the new Unlosing Ranger) when he punches the goddamned nuke away literally as it hits him. He punches it STRAIGHT TO THE SUN.
  • Number of the Beast: Super Baby was born on the 6th hour of the 6th Day of the 6th Month. Considering that she eventually enlarges the already unbeatable Darkdeath Evilman...
  • Obviously Evil: Darkdeath Evilman. ...Not so much, actually.
  • One Stat to Rule Them All: Much like in every other NIS game, you will end up as a Glass Cannon eventually: you just can't get enough defense to stand up to later enemy attacks. Amusingly, due to weapons degrading, the only real option for most of the middle game is melee Glass Cannon... as you won't have enough blacksmiths to keep a ranged weapon repaired throughout the dungeon crawls.
  • The Paragon: The main character ends up as one.
  • Pastiche: Of Sentai and Toku series as well as superhero anime.
  • Phlebotinum Breakdown: Darkdeath Evilman 's suit malfunctions due to an early attack, which is why he spends most of the game standing around: he's inside, trying to get the stupid thing fixed.
  • The Power of Love: Earned by the Unlosing Ranger as one of the qualifications of being a hero. He was able to demonstrate the selflessness and purity of love to Bizzaro Geo. His understanding of love is still incomplete, however, because of his abusive home life. Familial love is what powers him up into the True Unlosing Ranger.
  • The Power of Trust: By the end of the game, The Unlosing Ranger has gained the trust and respect of all his naysayers along with the rest of the world. Their trust in him powers him into The Unlosing Ranger Omega, and grants him his final technique.
  • Puzzle Boss: (Nearly) every boss has some sort of gimmick that you need to figure out to defeat. And like classic Dragon Quest games, this being lost on the player base inflates it's Nintendo Hard reputation.
  • Randomly Generated Levels: Much like Makai Kingdoms, the entire game is randomly generated, except for boss maps.
  • Rank Inflation: Every monster (and thus, every item) in the game has a rank: 1 to 6 stars. Higher rank items can be synthed higher, have different colors, and generally are "more" than their previous versions (both bonuses and negatives are inflated).
  • Reconstruction: While it is a parody, it also is a pretty much by-the-books Toku/Sentai series: it could be animated and shown on TV with no issues whatsoever.
  • Restart At Level One: As is traditional for Console Roguelikes, every time you enter a dungeon, your level is reset to one. The game does keep track of your total level, and your Shadowgram affects both your base stats and level-up rate, meaning that by the end of the game, you're a much stronger level 1 than before...
  • Retraux: The initial battles against Darkdeath Evilman are shown in an 8-bit style similar to the early Dragon Quest games. In-story, this is explained by people "behind the scenes" not willing to spend money on the budget for a low-level hero. It goes through 2 different Final Fantasies and ends with something that looks like Super Robot Taisen.
  • Rivals Team Up: With Dangerama, though he buys you some time to go learn a Combination Attack before he'll actually fight with you.
  • Roguelike: Dying is mandatory. It helps you become stronger.
  • Sadistic Choice: In Dangerama's backstory, had to choose between his wife or a lot of people. He chose to save the most people; his sanity hasn't been the same since.
  • Save Scumming: One way to get what you want from the Caravan if you don't wan't to do multiple runs through a Mastery Dungeon looking for one particular item. Despite the mechanic mentioned below...
  • Save the Villain: It wouldn't be a pastiche of superhero shows if they skipped this one. This is actually the objective of the Hero Training in the final chapter.
  • Shoplift and Die: Ah RosenQueen and it's security force... of an infinite number of max level Dragons!.
    • Those things are better than Dragons. They're some kind of fire-breathing cyborg anklysaurus.
      • Really, what kind of hero are you? Shoplifting? You deserve it.
    • On the bright side, those dragons give you tons of experience points when you kill them.
  • Shout-Out: A staple of Nippon Ichi, but this one might take the cake with its anime themed dungeons. For example, the Asura Cryin' one has constantly damaging ice floors, the Shakugan no Shana one prohibits normal attacks (requiring over the top special attacks every time you wish to do anything), etc etc.
    • The ultimate shoutout is the final bonus dungeon. Zettai Hero Project, Ultimate Chapter: MAKAI WARS. Yes, they named the final bonus dungeon after Makai Wars, the PSP game that they announced at the PSP launch which was later killed by Sony because they didn't want the PSP to have a sprite-based game on it. Oh, what a difference a few years and commercial success makes.
    • Jean Noire is visually based on Dr. Black Jack.
    • There is an absolutely amazing amount of references to anime, mecha and toku within the skills and equipment. Turn A's moonlight butterfly makes an appearance, alongside Alt Eisen's revolver stake, Wing Gundam Zero's Twin Buster Cannon, Shaider's helmet, RX-78's Last Shooting, Ez8's Falling Alpha Strike, Seiya's Meteor Punch, V2 Gundam's Wings of Light, Cobra's Psychogun, Gundam's Funnels and Mazinger's Jet Scrander. Combined with a simultaneous mocking and respectfully playing straight of all the qualities a hero is supposed to embody and protect, Z.H.P is a wonderful tribute.
    • The WHS goons are pretty much the grunts from Shocker. Complete with kikikikikikikikiki.
    • Observe the following. Remember that jumpsuit. Then look at the outfit of the main character before he becomes Unlosing Ranger. Then remember the Shadowgram. "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to create the perfect Unlosing Ranger."
    • One of the end of chapter scenes has a direct reference to 4chan and the "Delicious Cake" meme.
      • This doubles as Fridge Brilliance, given that this scene also involves discussion of love. Pirohiko suggests something about "Setting a girls heart on fire." To which Etranger replies, essentially, "Oh, wanna try setting my heart on fire?
    • One of Darkdeath's diary entries references an Apocalyptic Log from the first Resident Evil, where the writer became increasingly occupied by how itchy itchy hungry he was. This time with more boobies.
  • Spikes of Doom: A hidden trap type. However, if you're wearing tank treads, you won't get injured by them.
    • Every trap has an item (or rather, thanks to the synth system, a item property) that can disable it. Bats can disable log traps, ghost legs disable pitfalls, shields disable arrows, etc. It is impossible to be outright immune to every trap, however, and if the gear is broken, your skills (and thus, your immunity) is lost.
  • Supporting Protagonist: The main character is the hero and does all the work, but the story is told between Pirohiko and Etranger's interactions with each other (Pirohiko being Genre Savvy but a goofball, Etranger being Wrong Genre Savvy and a spoiled child)... as well as the reactions to the rest of the cast to Pirohiko and Etranger.
  • Sweat Drop: He doesn't speak much, but the main character symbolically represents his opinion of Etranger and Pirohiko quite a few times.
  • Take Up My Sword: How the Player Character gets in the fix in the first place.
  • There Are No Therapists: There is, however, the Unlosing Ranger and his uncanny ability to beat the crap out of Anthropomorphic Personifications of insanity, despair, fear and loneliness.
  • Too Awesome to Use: Due to the mechanics of the game nearly EVERY ITEM YOU CAN GET. Not only does using their abilities usually cost high EN. But they wear down quickly, meaning you have to realy work hard to mod your favorite items to make it so they don't wear out before you complete/escape a dungeon.
    • The "Space Police" facility also helps out a lot with this. It allows you to beam full sets of equipment directly into the dungeon for Emergency Morphing, which means you can assign your best gear to a morph, then slog through the dungeon with disposable crap, only calling in your good stuff when you really need it.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The entire game is this for the Unlosing Ranger. In a single day he goes from a useless, spineless bystander, to saving the world and beating saving the last boss against all odds.
  • Tragic Villain: Most of the Bizzaro Earth bosses. Darkdeath Evilman gets a special mention here: he was a super genius kid who was kidnapped by an evil organization, and prayed for a hero to save him. No one did.
  • Tsundere: Etranger.
  • Unlucky Everydude: The Main Character.
  • Variable Mix: The music in the Mastery Caves change by section based on your equipment. The variations include: Default (No Gear and Unlosing Cape), Hero (???), Sexy Witch (oddly enough, Fluffy Tail counts as this... else something a Magical Girl would use), 8-Bit ("classic" items like Daggers and Longswords), Junk (random parts), Super Robot (Super Robot Mainstays such as Tank Treads and Rocket Punch), Euro/American View ("steriotypical" equipment), Dark Hero ("villinous" stuff like the Dark Mask), Animal ("beastrial" gear), and Last Boss (Darkdevil Evilman's Gear)... yeash!
  • Verbal Tic: The goons at WHS end their sentences with "kikii".
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Bizzaro Geo, mentioned above. Prior to this, boss battles consisted of pushing through a small army of mooks and then pounding down the Boss. Starting from Geo, a Puzzle Boss element is added. You now have to solve this puzzle BEFORE you can attack the boss (or expose and Attack Its Weak Point For Massive Damage), all while still dealing with hordes of infinitely-spawning mooks, a level that is going to take much longer to solve than previous boss battles (meaning starvation becomes an issue), and a puzzle mechanic that injures you if you mess up.
  • Wham! Episode: Arguably, Chapter 9: that family you've been seeing in the montage sequences? Turns out that the main character is the son that they keep complaining about. You also learn that you and your sister were kidnapped as small children, and were saved by the Unlosing Ranger... who wasn't Pirohiko back then. At the time, Pirohiko was simply a policeman: he became the Unlosing Ranger shortly after the incident, as the previous one was mortally wounded while saving you... by the same serial killer that the then quite normal 8 year old main character was successfully You Shall Not Passing away from his little sister.
    • If not that, DEFINITELY Chapter X. Darkdeath Evilman? Not the giant wolf-thing. Darkdeath is the little suicidal 7 year old kid inside it, who is attempting Suicide By Hero.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Super Baby is foretold to be the world's savior, but her superpowers seem limited to self-levitation, self-protection, and turning the enemy into a giant. Attempts to get her to do anything useful end up running into lame excuses. Eventually subverted, as Etranger becomes capable of teleporting herself and others as well as telekinesis... not to mention giving her physical form a permanent age-up into a teenager.
    • In fact, she is the one who helps you guys save the world at the end of the game...
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Getting killed by a monster will give you a phobia of that kind of monster. As long as you have the phobia, you'll take extra damage from them. However, only one phobia can be set at a time, and if you manage to defeat enough of the offending enemy, you'll beat your phobia and gain an EXP bonus from that monster species instead. This effect stacks, so phobias can actually work in your favor in the long run.
  • Wizard Needs Food Badly: All Special Attacks take up EN, you lose EN (for the most part) over time, and if you run out, better chow down some meat or else you'll starve... some dungeons seem to be more generous then others though ("Dengeki: Kino's Journey" is an example of why you should use Specials with care: unless your Facilties are upgraded, food items are very scarce).
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: During the final world, the 'troublemaker hero' attempts to invoke it directly before a mid-boss battle on the 8th floor while attempting to convince Bizarro Darkdeath Evilman that you're not a hero. By the way, the troublemaker hero is male, you have known he's male for several chapters, and he doesn't even fake a female voice very well. And to top it off, Pirohiko helpfully offers you the same 'Plump Bosom' equipment that the troublemaker hero is using as a helpful loophole.
    • You can of course say no... but he gives it to you anyway.
  • X Meets Y: Nethack meets Disgaea.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Think you can beat Darkdeath Evilman just yet? Not before Etranger transforms him into Giant Darkdeath Evilman. How about now, when you have Dangerama working alongside you with a badass team attack? Not so fast, bucko! He becomes Giga Giant Darkdeath Evilman after that. All in all, you fight him a total of 13 times.
  • You Suck: Viciously Deconstructed. As you play through the game, it becomes quite clear that the "helpless Otaku" protagonist is really doing nothing to deserve his reputation as a wimp. Eventually, it's revealed that his Abusive Parents used him as a scapegoat for all their problems, stifling his development in the process. He probably would have been a good candidate for the Unlosing Ranger under normal circumstances were it not for nobody trusting him to not screw things up.
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