Player Adventure
| Player Adventure | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer(s) | Black Squirrel |
| Announce Date | 20 December, 2006 |
| Release Date | 20 December, 2006 |
| Genre | Platform/Misc. |
| Players | 1 |
| Input | Standard keyboard |
| Medium | The Games Factory |
| Platform | Windows |
| Status | Released |
Player Adventure is an increasingly horrible and frustrating game made by Black Squirrel in the space of a couple of hours. It stars a badly drawn Mario sprite called "Player 1", and his adventures to save the world. The original game has spawned four sequels, each getting progressively more annoying.
Contents
Overview
"Player 1" lives in a world which is completely in black and white (Although other characters from other worlds initially appeared in full colour). One day for some reason Mario attacks the "Dragoon of Mystery" and screwed up the universe of Player Adventure, resulting in horrible graphics problems, lack of sound and random pieces of text being pasted around. Being the last functioning sprite in the area other than The Dragoon of Mystery, it is up to Player 1 to save the world. Player 1 also has siblings numbered from 2-5 who all look and play identical.
During each game, each sibling defeats Mario but is then captured. This means that Player 5 has the job of saving Players 1-4 as well as the universe. The only success the family has had is restoring sound which Player 1 does at the end of the first game (and this was only because the game would have been stupidly boring otherwise). Even at the end of PA5 the universe is no closer to being saved, so another sequel could be spawned if need be. The only thing that is guaranteed to happen is that the next game will be even harder.
Throughout the series the Players had eventually acquired the concept being "Q WARRIORS" under the guidance of the Dragoon, whereas Mario uses the power of R to do his bidding. Q and R hold the universe in place somehow. Other letters such as O, W, K and ~ have a say as well. It doesn't make much sense, but it provides a backbone for Player 1's backstory in the SHPDMBGWL4 series.
Gameplay
At the start of the first game, Player 1 is briefed by The Dragoon of Mystery, who, although is unable to speak normally due to Mario's attacks, manages to tell Player of two quests; the "Q" Mission and the "R" mission. In order to beat what little game there is, the player must beat both, otherwise it is incredibly difficult to finish (Moreso). The same basic formula is repeated throughout the series, with the addition of other missions as well. Some games require the player to do a platforming bit before being able to start any missions.
Q Missions
The Q Missions always make the player fight Mario, who becomes increasingly more powerful towards the end of the series. Mario is always defeated, but manages to return in the next game (and in some cases, again in the current game). Mario becomes more and more deformed after every defeat - he starts out as an ordinary SMB3 sprite but deteriorates into a massive monochrome thing with giant holes in his head and torso.
R Missions
The R Missions tend to be more difficult. Most of the time the player must save "Pirate World", although it is never revealed as to why. After a usual platforming segment the player is asked a series of questions about the Q mission, most of which can only be answered from studying the Q mission carefully. Some questions are almost impossible too. Failing the questions means Player is taken to the Land of Failure (usually consisting of flashing lights, loud sounds and window abuse), and will have to restart the game and repeat the platforming part again.
O Missions
Short for "ORLY", the O missions usually are completely random and don't often have anything to do with the rest of the game. In 4 and 5 they are still required for completion though.
~ Missions
Tilde Missions are usually the 'final' missions and tend to be a more unforgiving version of the R Missions. They are by far the most difficult of them all, as they require completion of the Q and R Missions to attempt and usually end with a series of time-limited code entry screens.
W and K Missions
Usually minor side quests, the W and K missions are hidden offering a password required for 100% completion at the end of a trial.
Sequels
Player Adventure 2
Player Adventure 2 was released within a day of the original, and was improved on slightly to frustrate even more. This time you played as Player's identical twin brother, known as Player 2. The Q and R missions were back, along with a confusing (But possible) O mission, and included levels that were even more painful on the eyes than the original. The game also has far more secret codes that are needed in order for 100% completion, at least one of which needs to come from finishing the first game.
Player Adventure 3
Player Adventure 3 got its release in less than a day after Player Adventure 2. The game starred "Player 3", Player 1 and 2's identical twin sister who needs to make up for the other Players' mistakes. It is quite possibly the hardest game of the original trilogy, as in order to complete the R mission you need to have completely finished the other two games. It is also the first to house a hidden mini-game.
Player Adventure 4
Released on the 4th February 2007, Player Adventure 4 was the biggest of the Player Adventure games up to that point. Unlike the original trilogy, it wasn't simply made in a day, but rather a few days instead, and is the worst so far in terms of annoying gameplay. PA4 regularly alters the position and size of the window, and is even harder due to you needing codes from the original trilogy to complete it. PA4 has both the Q and R missions, an O mission (Like in PA2) where you have to kick Waligie, and a Tilde (~) mission. It also has the most worthwhile secret, being a demo of a canned game, "Confusion 2".
Player Adventure 5
The second and last of the "Beyond the Trilogy" games. Player Adventure 5 is ridiculously hard from beginning to end, starting with a platforming bit before the mission select and eventually asking for a stupid 25 passwords in the Tilde mission (Which in turn can only be unlocked through the Q and R missions) in order to complete the game. It also has secret "W" and "K" missions, and an O mission set around "gangstas". All of these need to be completed to finish the game 100%.
Player Adventure DX
A compilation of the first 5 Player Adventure games with fixes plus some extra stuff released in September 2007. Makes the series compatible with Black Squirrel's other game series, SHPDMBGWL4. It is also included in the SHPDMBGWL4 Mega Collection with more fixes because glitches have sprung up when it was originally created (e.g. wrong sound effects in places).
SHPDMBGWL4 Series
The Player Adventure universe, existing as a .gam file in the SHPDMBGWL4 universe is attacked by Space Koreans in SHPDMBGWL4 3, resulting in Player 1 and the Dragoon of Mystery being forced to escape, taking the power of "Q" with them. Mario helps them for a period, however when Space Korea acquire the power of "R" from Mario and take it to SHPDMBGWL4's universe, the Player Adventure universe implodes taking Mario and 4 other players with it. Now Player 1 and The Dragoon of Mystery live in the SHPDMBGWL4 universe assisting Quackers the Duck fight Space Korea. Their sprites are still hideously deformed and cannot be fixed.
On a side note, members of the Player family had made cameo appearances as enemies in one of the levels of SHPDMBGWL4 2.
Trivia
- The first game was made in less than three hours and the first three games in less than three days.
- The idea for Q and R came from the first two keys Black Squirrel pressed when the game was in production.
- The series originates from a failed Static Engine attempt, right down to the Player sprites themselves. The whole series could have been made with the broken engine, but it was faster to make the games using TGF's default platform engine. It's included in Player Adventure DX as a bonus feature.
- Many of the Q&A questions are impossible to answer without guessing. They include exactly what level number the player is on (only viewable from Clickteam products like TGF), some cannot be read due to them not fitting on-screen and several are totally random.
- Pirate World has no pirates in it. Or anything related to pirates for that matter.
- There are many game references, although they slowly phase out towards the end of the series. Majora's Mask and Command & Conquer are two referred to.
- Amazingly, Player Adventure was nominated for the "Best Secrets" award in the 2007 MFGG Awards. Its only competitor was Thunder Dragon's Toad Strikes Back. Unlike Player Adventure which had only been in production for less than a day, Toad Strikes Back had been in production for over five years. Unfortunately Player Adventure did not win, but SHPDMBGWL4 3 EX won the "Best Secrets" award in 2008.
External Links
- SHPDMBGWL4 Mega Collection Download (includes Player Adventure DX)
