Flying Machine

The Flying Machine
	; King Corobo and Skinny Ray admire the completed Flying Machine
Quest for	Skinny Ray
Unlocked	After defeating three kings

The Flying Machine is a theorised contraption designed to venture beyond the known universe to discover the source of the Earthquakes. It is first mentioned by Skinny Ray, who claims to have devised its blueprint by himself, although a cutscene shows he has been sent the blueprint by God. Howser refuses to listen to Skinny Ray's proposal that The World will soon end and dismisses funding or supporting the creation of the Flying Machine.

The Flying Machine then becomes an ongoing quest where King Corobo must follow various God Quests that lead him to the fabled parts required to create the Flying Machine.

Towards of the end of the story, after all Kingdoms have been conquered and Alpoko experiences its biggest earthquake, Howser gives in and accepts Skinny Ray's idea: Corobo, Verde, Liam and Kampbell also vote in favour of this. The Flying Machine must then be completed in order to progress the story.

Flying Machine Parts

After Skinny Ray has explained and handed his blueprint for the machine to Corobo, God will drop treasure maps around the world, each leading to a Flying Machine part. Alpokians will submit these "God Quests" to Corobo, who can accept them to receive maps and follow them to a respective Flying Machine part. There is one Flying Machine part in each Kingdom, except the Worrywart Kingdom.

Progress of the Flying Machine's current status is recorded under the "Blueprint" tab as part of the Inventory screen found on the Sub-menu.

The Speakers / Omegaphone

Flying Machine Part Location (Speakers) — Memo for the Speaker's location

Corobo must accept the God Paper quest. The Speakers can be found in the Valley of Memories, where the Onii King battle took place. To get it, Corobo has to dig a hole in the center of where the flower circle is. However, when digging it up, several Onii emerge, along with the larger Onii Bride, a mini-boss. After killing all the Onii, the Speakers emerge from the hole. They are needed to 'Crank up some tunes' when flying.

Expensive Wine Oil / Jungle Juice

Flying Machine Part Location (Oil) — Memo for the Oil's location

Corobo must accept the God Booze quest. The Expensive Wine can be found in the Jolly Kingdom. It can be found away from the main area, down a narrow passageway, into an area with a massive Marble Dragon. This dragon is a more powerful version of the Mini Dragons, since when it swings around, citizens will be killed in one hit. After defeating the Dragon, a large wooden tree stump covers the entrant to the the Expensive Wine. It is used as a fuel to power the Flying Machine.

Cooling Fridge

Corobo must accept the God Food Stores quest. The Cooling Fridge can be found in the Ripe Kingdom. It can be found west of the large pinball table where a it is guarded by the Giant Zoeter. To defeat the beetle, the king must first attack the large stump it is hiding in. The Fridge lies beyond the stump. The Cooling Fridge will help the Flying Machine to stay cool and prevent it from overheating.

Diamond Egg Shell

Flying Machine Part Location (Dimond Egg Shell) — Memo for the Diamond Egg Shell's location

Corobo must accept the God UFO quest. Getting the Diamond Egg Shell is different from the others. Princess Shizuka is seen carrying the Diamond Egg from the moment she is freed. The King must visit Shizuka on three separate nights to track its progress. On the third night, Shizuka reveals that the creature inside the egg has been freed, and entrusts you with the broken shell of the Diamond Egg. It is used to cover the whole Flying Machine to protect it from outer space dangers, described as being lighter than a feather but stronger than steel.

Natural HD Television

Corobo must accept the God TV quest. The Natural HD Television can be found in the Primetime Kingdom. If the King visits the Public Broadcasting Tower and enters the light, a previously inaccessible island of the kingdom will open up, where the TV is found in a hole. It was going to be used as an upgrade for TV Dinnah's head, but is instead used as a communications device.

My Beard / Strongest Beard

Flying Machine Part Location (My Beard) — Memo for the Beard's location

Corobo must accept the God Mountain quest. My Beard can be found behind Sobamanjaro. To get it, the king must go through the "Sobamanjaro Forest" behind the collapsed billboard, filled with mushroom UMA. At the end of the forest, the king will find 'My Beard'. It is used as cords to pass electricity around the Flying Machine. It is later shown to also hold mechanical parts together.

Propeller

Corobo must accept the God Forecast quest. The Propeller is the last thing needed for the Flying Machine. It can be found where King Jumbo Champloon was destroyed. This is the only item that does not require much work to get. It is then used to help the Flying Machine go up into the air like a Helicopter.

Ending

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After a cutscene unveiling the Flying Machine, Corobo must talk to Howser in front of the Flying Machine to initiate the journey beyond space to the World of God. Howser will only allow this if Corobo has enough citizens in his Royal Guard to man the Flying Machine.

The following events then occur.

Princesses

Before Corobo can set off into space, all the Princesses have a argument on who is the King's favourite, resulting in all of them wanting a divorce. The king can then pick any princess to take with him. The princess the player picks does not change the result, but they do have their own individual opinions on the World of God.

Verde

If Corobo has completed all of Verde's Salary Statement quests, he can take Verde with him in the Flying Machine. This is the first time that the King and Verde actually kiss. Verde almost admits her feeling for Corobo in the World of God.

Flight Path

Flying Machine ingame — Flying Machine as it appears in-game

The journey into space comes in the form of a Bullet Hell-like minigame, where previous characters appear in various forms. Howser, Skinny Ray and Kampbell all communicate to the player through the HD TV. The Machine's fuel supply acts as a health gauge: taking damage will sometimes make citizens abroad the Machine abandon ship, floating out on umbrellas, and taking enough damage results in a Game Over.

At the start of the bizarre flight into space, the Flying Machine must navigate past pieces of confectionary, such as chocolate and sweets, as Shishkebaboo flies past in the distance. Eventually a wall of cake blocks the path forwards, but the former king bounces into it and breaks the path open.

Space travel begins — The beginning of the journey

The next stage has the Jolly Kingdom's music play as beer bottles spin in place, and trash cans spit similarly spinning bottles at the Machine. Duvroc then shows himself, riding on a cloud with a cherry blossom, where he chugs some booze and lets out a roaring fiery breath.

After this point, the Flying Machine enters the atmosphere, where a cardboard cutout of Long Sauvage drifts past, shouting renniw eht si resol ehT, as he does after his previous defeat. The machine must then avoid several speeding trains, also made of cardboard, as well as shooting stars that can split into pieces.

At 99999 metres, Skinny Ray claims that the King has reached the end of the known Universe, before suddenly warning Corobo of an incoming UFO. The following sequence directly references several classic arcade games, including Space Invaders and Gradius. In the distance, a constellation of Omelet appears.

Space travel ends — The ceiling of the universe

A floating TV eventually hovers into view, revealing TV Dinnah to be broadcasting the whole battle, before the TV is hit and explodes. A black hole then absorbs all of the enemies on screen, as well as the constellations, and the Flying Machine.

Game Over - Howser — Unique Game Over screen

The final area on the Flying Machine's flight path is the most strange: a long, cardboard shaft where the Machine, parts of space and various kings are drawn on the walls. Cutouts of Jumbo Champloon and the Machine are also hanging from these walls. The Machine cannot be damaged at this point, but several crayons fly around in the background, one of which crashes into a hanging cutout of the sun. The Flying Machine makes its way through a hole in the sky and into the World of God.

If the Flying Machine loses all its energy and breaks apart, then a special Game Over screen occurs where Howser is seen screaming, and utters about how unfortunate it is that Corobo died in the explosion.

Music

The music that plays when the Flying Machine is unveiled is a remix of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's "Violin Concerto", using similar instrumentation but shortened to fit the cutscene.

The music plays while Corobo makes his decision is an extract of Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue", slowed down to using percussion such as cow bells to create a piece that more resembles a ballad.

The music that plays during the flying sequence is a higher tempo remix of Saint-Saens' "The Swan" from "The Carnival of Animals", using violins, harps and a strong focus on percussion, before concluding with a climactic orchestrated section.

Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.

Trivia

The Flying Machine quest has several parallels with the creation of the Rocket in Moon, another game developed by Yoshiro Kimura.
- A scientist which thinks little of the player character asks them to collect parts to create a flying vehicle to take them beyond the "ceiling" of the sky.
- He labels the parts one by one on a blueprint in its introduction cutscene.
- Various picture hints lead the player character to the locations of the parts.
- One of the parts is an alcoholic drink used for fuel, stated to be over 100% alcoholic. Another part is a device resembling a TV. Another part is a fridge used as a "cooling system".
- The quest leads to the ending of the game.