Top Banana is a strange little game from the British experimental music group H.E.X., which is also the composer of Soft & Cuddly, released for the Archimedes in 1991, and ported to the Amiga, CDTV and Atari ST in 1992. The story is as follows: The planet is slowly dying from people harming the environment, and it's up to KT to save the day with The Power of Love, and gain the title of Top Banana as a result. The gameplay setup is similar to Rainbow Islands, you start at the bottom of the level, and work your way to the top of it, shooting love hearts at enemies like bulldozers, chainsaws, and giant skulls to turn them into fruit, and kill the boss before the rising water catches up with you, though unlike Rainbow Islands, the water does not kill you instantly, but instead damages you before retreating to the bottom of the level. Later levels also include traps that invert your controls, slow down time, and invert the game's color all at once. Bosses include a digitized photo of a man in a hat surrounded by dollar signs, a Humongous Mecha, a biker helmet with spider legs, and a multi-colored blobby Eldritch Abomination called the 'Sychesphere of Enlightenment'. The game has four stages: The Rain Forest, The Metal-City, The Temple, and The Mind-Scape. The game is notable for its strange-looking graphics that make the game look corrupted, creepy sound effects, and overall extreme weirdness.
This work contains examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: You shoot love heart that turn enemies into fruit.
- All There in the Manual: The story above is only ever elaborated on in the manual.
- A Winner Is You: Upon beating the game, all you get is an image of a clown made of beads. It then cuts to black as the same Evil Laugh that plays when you die plays.
- Blob Monster: The Sychesphere of Enlightenment looks like a Star Bit, but multi-colored and way gooier.
- Blush Sticker: KT has these in gameplay, but not on the box art.
- Covers Always Lie: In the boxart, pictured above, KT looks like a cute chibi with a green cap and sports outfit, in the actual game, however, she looks more like a Creepy Doll with no cap, and wearing a dress. The city in the background, though probably supposed to be the Metal City, also doesn’t resemble any level in the game.
- Digitized Sprites: See Limited Animation below.
- Directionally Solid Platforms: All platforms are this. You also drop from them upon taking damage.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: KT in-game. But not in the box-art.
- Eldritch Abomination: Every single boss exept for the boss of the Metal City. The Sychesphere of Enlightenment stands out, as it's a shapeless multicolored Blob Monster.
- Eldritch Location: The Mind-Scape, and pretty much every level unintentionally looks like this due to the corrupted graphics.
- Expressive Health Bar: Downplayed. KT's portrait shows how much hits she has taken, but instead of showing her expression, it just slowly disappears depending on her health.
- Giant Spider: One of these appears as an enemy. The boss of the temple level is also one of these. Except it’s wearing a biker helmet.
- Green Aesop: The message of the game... at least in the manual, nothing exept the first level elaborates on this in game.
- Hearts Are Health: Averted. Instead, hearts serve as KT's weapon of choice, with the health bar being KT's portrait disappearing depending on how much health you have.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Subverted, food just gives you points.
- Humanoid Abomination: KT is a perpetually smiling Creepy Doll who makes disturbing screeching noises when hit, and can shoot love hearts out of her body.
- Humongous Mecha: The boss of the Metal City.
- Jump Physics: There’s no way to adjust your jump hight, which can lead to you taking various cheap hits.
- Laughing Mad: The sound effect accompanying you dying, and upon beating the game is a maniacal cackle.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to Soft & Cuddly, this game has much less gore and scares. The manual also treats it as a normal cutesy platformer. But then you actually start the game... and are greated with something extremely unsettling.
- Limited Animation: Almost everything aside from KT looks like a stock image awkwardly tilting left and right to simulate movement.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The message upon beating a level is a very ominous Beware Behave, Recycle the Hype, or Get Up Get Down accompanied by the music cutting out. Additionally, the ending is a still image of a clown made of beads with no music for a couple of seconds. And then, maniacal laughter start playing. It then cuts to an ominous message of: Well Done Top Banana Please Type In Your Name.
- Sensory Abuse: The graphics look very corrupted, making it hard to look at them without getting eyestrain.
- Super-Deformed: KT both in game, and on the box art. In game, this has the effect of making her look like a Creepy Doll.
- Wacky Sound Effect: Most sound effects don't describe what's going on. For example, the sound effect for grabbing food is a moaning sound, while shooting a heart makes a sound effect reminiscent of the main instrument of EarthBound (1994)'s Final Boss theme. Jumping instead makes a toilet flushing sound effect, while getting hit makes a demonic screeching sound.
- What Were They Selling Again?: The game is supposed to have an environmental theme, but outside of the manual and (from a very generous perspective) the first level, it hardly shows. Instead, the game is mostly about shooting digitised photos with hearts.