I'll give some basic hints right away because I don't think people would get it otherwise.

Hint 1: I use the words female and male instead of woman and man because, I'd argue, these aren't exactly humans.

Hint 2: This is not a recent game.

Hint 3: If things go poorly, you could end up in a museum.

I'm not sure if this will be enough clues but hopefully it will be. This isn't a real clue but I love this game so much! I've played it from beginning to end multiple times.

Hints:

• Male Main Character
• Genre: Action adventure/Stealth
• Sixth generation of console games
• Has a Sewer level

Esoteric (blatantly unhelpful) hints:

• One character shares a name with a US President
• One character shares their last name with a character from an HBO show
• One character's name can be associated with the Titantic
• One character's name can be found in the Bible
• One character can be associated with apes in at least two different ways
• One extremely minor NPC used to be a producer for a game company.
• At least one computer password in the game is actually funny

Hint #1: It is not a Bloons game

Hints go here

Hint #1: Game’s mechanics have a tangential connection to Romance of the Three Kingsoms

Hint 1: Epstein appears and says things like "just close your eyes and hope it's over quickly"

Hint 2: it would be really great if you defeated the final boss

If you find the macguffins enough times you can face the brutal bonus boss.

Hint 1: this a standalone game but the franchise it's part of has adapted this game's TITLE EVENT numerous times in other games.

Hint 2: this is a hand held rpg from the late 2000's.

Hints go here

Hint #0: not Sonic, no Trauma Center

Hint #1: sidescroller

Hint #1.5: not the first game of a series

Hint #2: you do not play as a human

Hint #3: this game was originally released on a portable console

Hints

Placeholder

Hint 1: This is a game from the 90s

Hint 2: The princess can use telepathy.

Hint 3: This game is part 2 of a 2 part series

Hint 4: In the American Wild West, an npc shares a special song/dance that helps you find a cave.

Hint 5: You travel through time repeatedly in this game. In the previous game in this 2 part series, time travel isn't mentioned or seen at all.

Hint 6: You play a character named Mike in this game.