Poppup

.....ASOBOH ......?

Poppup, Chapter 2

Poppup (JP: ポップアップ) is a Darkner enemy in the Cyber World that is first encountered in Cyber City. They act similar to pop-up advertisements, hence their name, popping out of seemingly uninhabited places and then becoming more powerful as the party pays attention to them.

Profile

Appearance

Poppups appear as a dolphin-like Darkner, featuring a large square (presumably a vent cover) on top of their head, a crossed-out circle on their forehead, and colorful, springy legs, presumably used in the process of popping up. They also seem to have some avian features, with some flavor text mentioning that they preen themselves and their only harmful attack featuring birds. They have large eyes, many teeth, and are light blue with a white underside. When spareable, their light blue skin instead turns light pink, and the crossed-out circle on their head becomes a smiling face.

Personality

Poppup seems to be starved for attention, hoping for somebody to click on it. This could, however, be simply a ruse to lure in victims, as advertisements like this are prone to use. Clicking on it has the effect of creating another Poppup, referencing real-life pop-ups.

Etymology

"Poppup" is a phonetic respelling of "pop-up", which is usually an advertisement visible while browsing various websites.

Main story

Chapter 2

Poppups appear under both an Annoying Dog traffic cone just after the Trash Zone (when backtracking with Noelle), and under a trash can further on, which may take players by surprise. After the party has reached Queen's Mansion, the Annoying Dog traffic cone is replaced by one of Queen's vases, where Poppup may pop out of if the party gets close to breaking it.

If recruited, Poppup contributes to the Thrash Machine during the GIGA Queen battle.

If Tasque Manager is not recruited, Poppup can be seen amount the recruits wandering around near the Great Door in Castle Town.

Chapter 4

If Shuttah is present, a Poppup is a part of its "wildlife fashion shoot" in the entrance of Ralsei's castle. Another Poppup can be seen moving forward and backward in Lancer's newly built enclosure.

Chapter 5

A Poppup appears as a participant in a "race of familiars" held in Castle Town.

Creation and development

Splendidland's concept art of Poppup from the Autumn 2024 Newsletter

Poppup was designed by Splendidland. At some point in Chapter 2's development, Jean Canellas introduced a bug that caused Poppup to endlessly create copies of itself until the game crashed. This bug was Jean's favorite bug in that Chapter.

Poppup's flavor text contains several references to the 1996 pet simulation game Fin Fin on Teo the Magic Planet. While Poppup was not initially intended to be based on Fin Fin, Splendidland acknowledges it became much more similar to Fin Fin after adding its legs. Its battle flavor text saying it wants "Liimo Berry" as well as being said to like "LEEMO FRUIT" are both clear references to the "Lemo Fruit" that can be fed to Fin Fin in the game. It is also known to say "ASOBOH", a corruption of "遊ぼう", something that Fin Fin can also occasionally say.

In battle

Appears with

• Maus
• Tasque (when Upgrade is used on a Maus)
• Ambyu-Lance (Ch2 All Stars)
• Virovirokun (Ch2 All Stars)
• More Poppups (when Click is used on them)

Attacks

Multiple Poppup ads in-game, including the Everyman

A Poppup uses one of the following attacks per turn. When encountered in groups, the attacks may be stacked on top of each other:

• Birds fly from every direction.
• Poppup summons monochromatic pop-up windows that cover parts of the bullet board but do not hurt. They can be closed by clicking the X in the top right corner, or simply by waiting for a few seconds. Pop-ups include the following 2-frame animations:
  • A Poppup. (The image changes to the shrivelled version if Poppups are ignored using Noelle's ACT "Avoid".)
  • A Virovirokun next to a warning sign.
  • The Everyman. (The only popup that is not animated, and the only one with a dark background. Also very rare.)
  • A "no" symbol, with two simplistic smiling faces beside it. (They are all flashing.)
  • A horde of Maice (with the middle one outlined in black).
  • An advertisement of a zoomed-in Addison selling a toothbrush.
  • An unloaded image with a rotating hourglass over it.

• 
  Poppup's Poppup ad
• 
  Poppup's shrivelled Poppup ad
• 
  Poppup's ad featuring an Addison advertising a toothbrush
• 
  Poppup's ad featuring Virovirokun
• 
  Poppup's ad which never fully loads
• 
  Poppup's ad featuring a horde of Maice
• 
  Poppup's restricted ad
• 
  Poppup's Everyman ad

Available ACTs

Spawns another Poppup. If all three enemy slots are occupied, instantly spares all Poppups instead.

Pop-up advertisements rapidly appear on screen. [CONFIRM] must be pressed repeatedly to block incoming advertisements. Increases all Poppups' MERCY by 10% for each advertisement blocked, up to 100%. A Poppup with 100% MERCY does not use its pop-up window attack.

Inflicts TIRED on all Poppups and makes the birds attack move much slower.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Increases MERCY by 50%.

Strategy

• In addition to ACTs, several other conditions allow Poppup to be spared:
  • Sparing (when its name is not yellow) increases MERCY by 25% for one Poppup.
  • Using SoftVoice on Tasque while Poppup is also present increases MERCY by 50% for all Poppups.
  • Using TakeCareX on Virovirokun while Poppup is also present increases MERCY by 50% for all Poppups.
  • Using TrapAll on a Maus and successfully catching a Poppup makes said Poppup spareable.
• Using Roar on Tasque while Poppup is also present makes all Poppups TIRED.

Quotes

• ...OTANJOBY.. OMEDETOH...? [Neutral]
• .....ASOBOH ......? [Neutral]
• Click Here! Click Here! Click Here! Click Here! [Neutral]
• This application is only supported by OS 2000. [Neutral]
• GOKARMASHI O INARY....? [Neutral, very rare]
• NEED... LOOK... ME... [Avoid]
• ...NEMMUY... [Tired]
• ...HAPPI... [Spare conditions met]
• [Susie] D... Damn!! They knew what I'd fall for!! [S-Action]
• [Ralsei] I... I didn't mean to do it... I... I'm sorry!!! I repent!!! [R-Action]
• [Noelle] Wh-what!? What did I do wrong?? [N-Action]

Flavor text

Any encounter

• A rubbery mascot starved for attention. Click it and...? [Check]
• Poppup is preening its weird rubbery flesh. [Neutral]
• Poppup is begging you to click on a broken link with puppy dog eyes. [Neutral]
• Poppup wants Liimo Berry [Neutral]
• Poppup wants its tongue to be pressed in so it doesn't feel hunger anymore [Neutral]
• Poppup wants Scary Noise [Neutral]
• Poppup wants To Play With You In The Mystical Island Of Mysticisland [Neutral]
• Poppup wants Do Taxes At 7:44 AM [Neutral]
• Poppup wants Randomized String 1 [Neutral]
• Poppup wants PlayTime [Neutral]
• Smells like tropical candy. [Neutral]
• You unconsciously clicked on a popup about demon summoning classes for teens. [Click]
• You unconsciously clicked on a popup about "monsters 4 humans" "in your area," [Click]
• You unconsciously clicked on an ad for a video about making knives out of spaghetti. [Click]
• Huh...!? That made another one!? [Click, if there are less than three enemies]
• [Click, if there are three enemies]
  • You just kept clicking and clicking on ads!!
  • The Poppups crashed!
• Press [(MENU)] repeatedly to block the ads!! [Block]
• Susie accidentally clicked on an ad featuring a flaming eggplant holding a chainsaw!! [S-Action]
• Susie missed clicking on an ad and ended up clicking on the word processor. [S-Action]
  • It got a virus somehow.
• Susie accidentally clicked on a picture of a steak. [S-Action]
  • It wasn't actually an ad, just a static image of a steak...
• Ralsei accidentally clicked on an ad for "lightners 4 darkners in ur area" and was mortified. [R-Action]
  • He deleted the browser shortcut on the desktop entirely...
  • ...but immediately felt guilty because he thought he had "deleted the entire internet".
• Ralsei moved to click on an ad with a bunny on it teaching you how to make friends... [R-Action]
  • ...and accidentally clicked on an ad of a machine gun that appeared over it!
• Ralsei tried to click on an ad with a castle on it... [R-Action]
  • ...but it was actually an ad for a company that demolishes buildings with bazookas!
• Poppup feels like it's been put upside down in a closet. [Tired]
• Poppup is popping with joy! [Spare conditions met]

Cyber World

• Poppups popped up! [Encounter with another Poppup]
• Poppup and Maus appeared. [Encounter with Maus]
• Ambyu-Lance and its pet appeared! [Encounter with Ambyu-Lance; unused]
• Poppup and caretakers appeared! [Encounter with other Swatchlings; unused]
• Poppup and Virovirokun Appeared! [Encounter with Virovirokun; unused]
• Animal house. [Encounter with Tasque; unused]
• Noelle got nervous and looked at the ground! [Avoid]
  • The enemies got shrivelled and TIRED from lack of attention!
• Noelle misclicked on a link to buy How To Draw Dragons! [N-Action]
• Noelle clicked on a link for Hot Female Santas In Your Area! [N-Action]
• Noelle clicked on a link for creepy game glitch compilations! [N-Action]

Ch2 All Stars

• Round Two! [Encounter with Ambyu-Lance and Virovirokun]

Gallery

• 
  Poppup emerging from the ground
• 
  Poppup's tired state after using Noelle's "Avoid" ACT
• 
  An early sprite of Poppup by Splendidland

Trivia

• The Virovirokun pop-up could be based on scareware tactics, which are designed to make users think that they installed a virus on their computer to install fake antivirus software and try to force the user to pay to get rid of the apparent virus.
• Poppup's Virovirokun ad was originally depicted with a pile of small Virovirokun, to the right of some illegible text. There is a warning sign above the text, indicating that it is a virus pop-up. (Only the warning sign and a lone Virovirokun on the lower right are animated.)
• Poppup's lines that do not seem to make sense are actually butchered Japanese:
  • GOKARMASHI O INARY....? is a reference to a boss from Mega Man X3, the Godkarmachine O Inary.
  • ...OTANJOBY.. OMEDETOH...? means "お誕生日おめでとう！", which roughly translates to "Happy birthday!".
  • .....ASOBOH ......? means "遊ぼう？", which roughly translates to "Let's play/hang out!".
  • ...NEMMUY... means "眠い。", which roughly translates to "I am sleepy."
  • ...HAPPI... means "ハッピー", which is an English loanword, simply meaning "Happy".
• If the mouse is in the game's window during the pop-ups attack, the cursor will appear on-screen as a small, pixelated pointer icon. Clicking on the X in the corner closes the pop-up instantly. The same can be done on Nintendo Switch by tapping on the touchscreen.
• The ad for "a video about making knives out of spaghetti" is likely a reference to the YouTube video "sharpest Pasta kitchen knife in the world" by kiwami japan.
• They are represented in the Light World as the top-right computer's dolphin screensaver advertising some kind of malware.
• When "The Poppups crashed!" line appears, the battle background does not animate until the dialogue advances.
• The flavor text detailing how the Poppup "wants its tongue to be pressed in so it doesn't feel hunger anymore" is likely a reference to the Furby toy line, as one of the toy's features was to simulate feeding it by pressing in its tongue from inside its beak. The line "Poppup feels like it's been put upside down in a closet" may also be a reference to Furby, which would say they are scared when upside down.

Version history

Game edition	Version tag	Changes
Chapter 1&2 Demo	v1.04	Crashing a Poppup while another enemy was there would result in the game softlocking, sparing the Poppups and trying to end the battle while an enemy is still there.