Gruntz

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

I don't want to hear ONE WORD about the pink gun !

The Gruntz are a bunch of small creatures seemingly made of clay. They've strayed from home. They want to go back there. Only YOU can help them through the hellish puzzles, hordes of enemy Gruntz and downright Malevolent Architecture they need to go through.

For some reason, the only way to clear a level is to find a meteorite fragment, and get a Gruntz to carry it to the castle where the Gruntz King is awaiting it. There's no problem with some of your other Gruntz being left behind or worse. But you DO have to be careful, lest it becomes Unwinnable.

Thankfully, the levels are littered with random weapons, bizarre tools and fancy toys that will help your Gruntz go through them.

Gruntz is a strategy/puzzle videogame, published in 1999.

Not to be confused with Grunts!

Tropes used in Gruntz include:
  • Agony of the Feet: Said word-for-word as a random quote when your Gruntz step on Spikez.
  • Artificial Stupidity : the Gruntz, both yours and the enemy. The Toyz are special objects you can use on the enemy to distract them and act even more stupidly.
  • Awesome Yet Practical: Gunhatz. Not only do they have the best range in the game, they can kill an enemy Gruntz in two hits, and also reduce all incoming ranged damage by half!
  • Bag of Spilling : you do not keep any of the wonderful things you get from one level to the next. You don't even keep your Gruntz !
  • Battle Royale With Cheese: The final stage of the final level has a TON of enemy Gruntz with different Toolz at the end. Fortunately, you have a large army of Gruntz with you. Don't expect most of your Gruntz to survive.
    • You can soften this a bit by having your Gunhat user pick off some of them first, though.
  • Best Level Ever : High Rollerz
  • Bottomless Pits : in various fashions according to the current world : tar pits, fall from very high, cooking plates...
  • Boring but Practical : the Gauntletz, a tool to break things and fight other Gruntz, are in nearly every level, and very useful
  • Breakable Weapon : inverted somehow with the red breakable blocks, which will destroy your Gauntletz. Some other Toolz are a more straight exemple, like the Wingz that disappear if you use them too much.
  • Bubbly Clouds : mixed with Level Ate in High On Sweetz
  • Check Point : several per level. You must have the required number of Gruntz with the appropriate Toolz/Toyz to progress. Otherwise, it's Unwinnable...
  • Cherry Tapping : some of the Gruntz fights amount to this if everyone has no (or crap) Toolz. This will also happen in a fight against a Tool Thief.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience : Your Gruntz are orange. Enemy Gruntz cover a wide palette, each color denoting a different behaviour.
  • Cool Sword: Pretty cool, considering that it's a two hit KO and the strongest melee attack in the game.
  • Cosmic Keystone : the meteorite fragments
  • Combat Pragmatist: Tool Thievez. They steal your Gruntz' tool and your bare handed Gruntz has to fight them!
    • Toyerz are not above giving your Gruntz a toy and forcing them to play around. Even worse if it's a car, as your Gruntz will most likely drive into something hazardous.
  • Crippling Overspecialization : Once you give a Toolz to a Gruntz, it keeps it until death or getting a new one. Especially grating if it's crap and you lost a good one to get it. The meteorite holder has the worst luck : it is very slow, cannot attack or defend itself, and you must protect it until it gets to the end of the level
  • Death From Above:
    • The birds in "Trouble In The Tropicz" drop bird poop that kill any Gruntz in a 3x3 radius.
    • The aircraft in "High On Sweetz" drop exploding packages that kill any Gruntz in a 3x3 radius.
    • The spotlight in "High Rollerz" forces your Gruntz to sing if it lands on them. Since your Gruntz can't sing properly, a trapdoor opens up underneath them and removes them from the game.
    • The UFOs in "Gruntz In Space" have two searchlights that instantly melt any Gruntz that come into contact with it.
  • Death Course : Each and every level.
  • Dying Like Animals : the Gruntz, left to their own devices.
  • Easy Mode Mockery : the "Easy Mode" disables the timed TrapDoors... which makes some of the later levels Unwinnable (you are supposed to push overpowered ennemies into them)
  • Escort Mission : Once you get the warp stone fragment, you have to escort the holder to the end of the level. If he dies, you lose.
  • Everything Trying to Kill You : and then some
  • Excuse Plot
  • Floating Continent : High Rollerz, with a dash of Pinball Zone. Viva Las Vegas !
  • Forced Tutorial
  • Game Breaker: The Gunhatz has the best range of any ranged weapon, halves all ranged damage, and can kill a Gruntz in two shots.
  • Gimmick Level : most of them, but special mention to the High Rollerz one where you race against a rolling ball (in order to activate switches so that it continues rolling) for the whole level ; a deliberate aversion of Take Your Time
  • Hit and Run Tactics: Used by yellow enemy Gruntz, which are appropriately known as "Hit and Runners".
  • 100% Completion : the WARP letters
  • Idle Animation
  • Improbable Weapon User : where to start ? the Gooberstraw, the Springz... every Toolz can be used as a weapon with various effectiveness
  • Invisible Grid
  • Jungle Japes : Trouble in the Tropicz
  • Kill It with Fire: The Welderz' Tool.
  • Knockback: Some of the weapons have this, such as the Boxing Glovez and the Sponge Gunz.
  • Oh, No, Not Again: One of the quotes said by a Gruntz when it dies.
  • One-Hit Kill:
    • The welder's tool fires a fireball that instantly incinerates an enemy Gruntz (unless they are wearing a Gunhatz), but has a ridiculously LONG reload time.
    • The Timebombz destroys any gruntz in a 3x3 radius when it explodes.
  • Rewarding Vandalism : but beware of the hidden bombs...
  • Secret Level : One per world
  • Shield Bearing Mook: The dark green enemy Gruntz always hold Shieldz.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The second set of level.
  • Soft Reset : a Big Red Button, of course
  • Spikes of Doom : Only a mild annoyance, actually. You're more likely to die from rolling rocks, pitfalls, lava/water, slimes, UFO lights, etc.
  • Spring Coil: Springz, obviously.
  • Super Drowning Skills : the Gruntz normally avoid falling into water for a good reason (though there's a rare Toolz allowing them to swim)
  • Temporary Platform
  • Time Bomb: Timebombz, obviously. They can appear under a rock that you just smashed, so watch out!
  • Too Awesome to Use : the Wingz, nearly a Game Breaker if you didn't have to ration their usage
  • Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: Tool Thievez steal your Gruntz' tool and fight the bare handed Gruntz with it!
  • Unwinnable : What the Big Red Button is for.
  • Victory Pose : and a victory dance, too
  • Video Game Settings
  • Weaponized Headgear: Gunhatz, natch. They also provide extra defence against ranged attacks.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz : everywhere, especially the Z for plurals
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