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Ardy Lightfoot - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Mar 22 2012

Ardy Lightfoot (Video Game)

Ardy Lightfoot is a Platform Game developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, published by ASCII in Japan in 1993 and in the Western world by Titus Software a year later.

A sacred rainbow is shattered into seven Mineral MacGuffin fragments which, when collected, can grant a person one wish. With one of the fragments in possession, Visconti searches for the remaining six. Our hero Ardy Lightfoot and his Ridiculously Cute Critter Pec find a tablet containing the history of the sacred rainbow. Afterwards, they set out on a quest to retrieve the pieces of the rainbow and must stop Visconti from his tyrannical reign. Though the game has a plot and cutscenes, there's no dialogue.

This game provides examples of:

  • Aborted Arc: The "To Be Continued..." phrase at the end implies that there's supposed to be a sequel. There never was.
  • The Ace: Don Jacoby
  • Action Prologue: The game opens with Ardy and Pec finding the tablet in a cave.
  • Auto-Scrolling Level: Scene 15, which takes place on the fourth gate of the castle where Ardy has to avoid electrified arrows.
  • Back from the Dead: At the end of the game, Nina is revived thanks to the power of the fragments.
  • Big Bad: Visconti is the main antagonist of the game.
  • Big Damn Heroes: In the final level, Don Jacoby intervenes to stop Visconti's attacks but gets knocked out. He survives, however.
  • Bowdlerize: The U.S. version scrubs out one of the characters smoking, and edits Catry's death (see below).
  • Cartoon Creature: It's a little unclear what species Ardy is exactly, but he looks mostly like a cat.
  • Damsel in Distress: Nina gets kidnapped by Beecroft on Visconti's orders towards the end of the game.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Gilson the pirate owl, who becomes your ally as soon as you defeat him.
  • Depending on the Artist: There are two official designs for Ardy, a simple, cartoony design used by the game and cover art, and a more complex, manga-esque design used by the manual and the comic in the Super Famicom version.
  • The Dragon: Beecroft is Visconti's second-in-command.
  • Eaten Alive: After Catry escapes with the second fragment, she is eaten alive by a giant worm. Ardy and Pec are eaten as well, but they make it out alive.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: A beta version has Catry, the vulpine boss of the fourth level, sporting a ninja costume (and a slightly more pronounced bustline). On the flip side, her final fate in the bowels of the next level's giant worm is as a half-digested corpse (as opposed to a skeleton in the final Japanese version and just lying prone on the ground in the U.S. version).
  • Final Boss: Visconti is the last enemy Ardy has to encounter after infiltrating the castle.
  • Foxy Vixen: Catry, a vulpine Femme Fatale whose greed and self-confidence leads to her downfall. She also sports more sexualized features in an early version.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Once Gilson is defeated, he hands over the fourth fragment and helps Ardy recover the remaining fragments and confront Visconti.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Don Jacoby covers for Ardy's escape when the exit is collapsing after the latter recovers the third fragment. Though it turns out to be a Disney Death. In Scene 17, Jacoby intervenes to help Ardy defeat Visconti but at the cost of being knocked down into a wall. Like the previous scene, he survives.
  • Interface Screw: The potions in the Mouse Trap level, which reverse left and right— the only way to remedy them is to get the other potion a screen or so away. Over spikes of doom.
  • I Surrender, Suckers!: After Ardy beats Catry in Stage 5, she kneels down in defeat, but it turns out to be a trick so that she can escape.
  • Kiddy Coveralls: Ardy is stated to be young, he wears overalls, he resides near a rural mining town, and he goes on adventures.
  • Mineral MacGuffin: The seven fragments of the sacred rainbow.
  • Mood Whiplash: For the first few levels of the game, it's fairly cartoony and upbeat. Then suddenly, you get eaten by a giant worm and your opponent is digested, door-nail dead.)
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Pec has a lot of teeth in his mouth.
  • No Body Left Behind: After Visconti is defeated, his body disappears into nothing.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Although Ardy himself isn't human, Pec is a super-deformed animal.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Ardy when the mining town is set on fire by Grounder.
    • Ardy again in Scene 17 when Nina is killed.
  • Pirates: Gilson leads a group of pirates who are in possession of the fourth fragment. They ally with Ardy once Gilson is defeated and redeemed.
  • Projectile Platforms: In one level, your character has to jump up a long series of spears above a pit of lava, to reach more stable platforms above.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Pec.
  • Silence Is Golden: There's no dialogue in this game.
  • To Be Continued: The phrase appears verbatim at the end of the credits.
  • Token Human: Nina and the old man are the only humans seen in this game.
  • Turns Red: Every boss turns red when they are close to being defeated, except for Beecroft.
  • Weaponized Headgear: Grounder uses his spiked hat as a weapon in Scene 3.
  • Womb Level: Scene 6, "Eaten!", which is exactly what it sounds like.
  • Would Harm a Senior: Beecroft knocks the old man unconscious before kidnapping Nina. Thankfully he does not kill him.