Cacofonix (French: Assurancetourix) is the bard of the Gaulish village. He is often seen carrying his lyre when feeling inspired. However, his fellow villagers (and generally most people) consider him to be a terrible singer, and will usually prevent him from singing by any means. He is a frequent victim of Fulliautomatix and Unhygienix. He is commonly tied up and gagged during banquets.
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Asterix: Caesar’s Challenge
There is a minigame where Cacofonix plays notes on his lyre and the player needs to repeat them. If no mistakes were made, he will congratulate the player and prepare to sing a song, only to have a tomato thrown in his face before he can start. In case of failure, he will be tied up, gagged and hanging from a tree.
If the game is played by only one person and they choose to stay in prison while having at least 1 gourd of magic potion, Cacofonix (off-screen) will play a discordant melody to "help pass the time" before the player can resume gameplay.
He is also not allowed to sing in the banquet, getting beaten by Fulliautomatix.
Asterix: The Gallic War
Cacofonix appears in the minigame Whack the Roman. He hides quicker than Romans, but hitting him rewards the player with a lot more points.
He also appears in one of the cinematic cutscenes.
Asterix: Mega Madness
Cacofonix is one of the 4 characters competing against each other. The player can choose to play as Cacofonix against everyone else. Otherwise, Cacofonix becomes one of the opponents.
Cacofonix's position on the map is marked with a purple arrow.
If the player remains in the Main menu for long enough, Cacofonix may strum on his lyre, which irritates the other characters, and gets hit by Mrs. Geriatrix.
In the ending cutscene, he is not eating with the others, but starts playing music, for which he gets beaten up and tied to a tree.
Asterix & Obelix XXL
The player frees Cacofonix when opening the pyramid dungeon in Egypt after destroying the machine of war. He offers Asterix and Obelix a song of celebration, to which they immediately object. Cacofonix gives them the last piece of the Great Map, leading them to Rome.
His singing can be heard as the player runs through the pyramid.
He can be seen tied up and gagged in the Gallery picture depicting a banquet with the ELB members.
Asterix Brain Trainer
Cacofonix offers 3 activities, 2 of which are the same.
On one side he offers a memory game with a lyre twice, but there is a twist: the player may need to play a chord (2 strings at the same time).
On the other side there is a very easy colouring game where the colours need to be reproduced from memory.
Asterix: These Romans are Crazy!
Cacofonix is one of the 4 characters that can be played as on the board.
There are 2 minigames revolving around him: Spring cleaning and To sing or not to sing. In the first minigame the player helps him collect music notes and lyres and avoid other objects (associated with Fulliautomatix and Unhygienix), in the second minigame the player needs to tap lyres of different colours at the right time.
Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods
The Gauls convince Cacofonix to get an appartment in the Mansions of the Gods so that he scares off the Romans with his music.
He only has one minigame connected to him: Bard Hero. During the story the minigame is played near the Mansions, afterwards - in the forest. In the minigames Rolling Stones and Whack-a-Boar the player should avoid hitting him.
Asterix and Friends
Cacofonix is replaced with a similar character named Lyrix.
Asterix & Obelix XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir
Cacofonix first appears in the starting cutscene. He is about to sing when he gets a fish thrown at him by an off-screen villager.
The player can hear Cacofonix singing if they approach his house.
He reappears before the final battle, telling Asterix and Obelix about the village being destroyed by the Romans.
Trivia
- In the very first Asterix videogame the player must avoid lyres or they will lose a life upon touching one. This is a reference to Cacofonix's awful music and its effect on others.
- Asterix at the Olympic Games features Romanophones - music boxes with the pattern of Cacofonix's shirt and a figurine of himself inside. These activate special fights with differently coloured Romans who must be hit in accordance with music notes of the same colour. When the sequence is finished, the Romanophone will play a tune with Cacofonix's voice singing it, then the hammer inside (reference to Fulliautomatix) will destroy it.
- There is some repetition in minigames that usually involve Cacofonix. Caesar's Challenge and Brain Trainer both involve the bard playing on his lyre and the player repeating after him. They also both have a minigame with colouring from memory, although the Brain Trainer one is much more forgiving. These Romans are Crazy and Mansions of the Gods both involve tapping/swiping while the music notes are passing through a space.
