This is actually Inverted considering they are actually heroes being brainwashed by the Big Bad. Evil Is Cool: The Beastector, especially Lunar.Cult Classic: It didn't do spectacular when it was originally released, but those who did play it generally speak fondly of it.The tricycle is never brought up again outside that level. Yet another level has you retrieving the King's tricycle for him while avoiding an advancing geyser.Other levels begin with Marina riding a missile, an ostrich, and a giant bee, with no explanation given.It's only mentioned again as a reason to leave at the end of the game. In this form, he can smash obstacles and enemies with ease. In one early example, Teran sprouts into the giant, destructive 'Blockman'.You can even jump on his missiles and ride around on them, creating a Robot Girl, on an alien cat, on a missile. A High-Speed Battle against an Axe-Crazy jackal-man riding a giant robot motorcycle that turns into a dog, while you ride on a cat to catch and throw all of his attacks back at him, which includes missiles and a Wave-Motion Gun. Best Boss Ever: Pretty much every boss in the game is insanely memorable, but an especially stand-out one is Cerberus Alpha, the first Beastector boss.Awesome Music: The game has an outstanding soundtrack, but the best of the best definitely goes to the boss themes.The fight with the combined Beastector mechs makes up for it, though. Anti-Climax Boss: Imposing as he may be, the final boss Emperor Leo doesn’t attack too often, he can’t take many hits and he stays in one area.

The only hint to it prior is Merco mentioning Earth as one of the Empire's targets after his boss fight with Marina. It has no bearing on the overall plot and comes out literally at the end of the game. Ass Pull: The Beastector turning out to have originally been human.

Mischief n64