PICO VS BEAR DX

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Bloodshed in The Big House that Blew...again! - Newgrounds Description


PICO VS BEAR DX is a fan-made remake of Pico vs Bear developed by "A Lot of People" as a collaboration effort intended for Pico Day 2021, but ultimately released later in 2022. Unlike the original game, it features updated graphics, voice acting, new music, and extended gameplay that brings it more in-line with Pico's School. The gameplay is mostly the same as the original but with extended/additional content, such as cameos from Nene, Darnell, and Boyfriend, added references as Easter eggs, fully-implemented voice acting, and a brand-new final boss battle.

Plot

The plot of PICO VS BEAR DX is almost identical to Pico vs Bear's storyline. Like in the original game, it follows Pico as he's hired by the Commissioner to take down Big Brown Bary, a beloved kid's show host who recently suffered a mental breakdown and is murdered any and every child that comes to his house. After being briefed on the "extremely stupid" hostage situation, Pico heads off to his latest mission and take out the childhood icon he once looked up to.

Walkthrough

Much like the original Pico vs Bear, the game is a point-and-click adventure/shooter where the player uses the mouse to control the main character's actions. The core gameplay is more inspired by that of Pico's School, as it features certain elements from said game; the game allows the player to take choose multiple pathways through the Big Blue House, engage in conversations with various characters, and engage in enemy boss fights.

When he arrives at Big Brown Bary's household, he immediately comes across an obstacle: the gate blocking the front of the home. Now having to find a way to circumvent the lock, Pico is forced by the player to search through a tipped over trashcan in a nearby alleyway, which he is reluctant to do. He finds a pair of bolt cutters, which he uses to open the gate. Before entering, he opens more nearby trashcans to discover an M16 rifle that he happily arms himself with. Like in the original game, a battle commences between Pico and Big Brown Bary, with the former killing off the latter's cronies, Titty, Piss and Poop.

After Pico shoots his arms off, Bary hides in the house where Pico attempts to follow, but the bear had the foresight to lock the door behind him despite his lack of the proper appendages to do so. Pico circles around the house, managing to find Bary's discarded pump-action shotgun, the Bossberg, which he takes as his own. When he inspects the vine graffiti on the wall, he also finds a spare house key taped behind one of the leaves. Pico uses the key to unlock the front door and enters the house. He comes face-to-face with Bary's alleged daughter Hoe-Joe and her stuffed bear, Hoe-Bear. Hoe-Joe has a short conversation with Pico before they fight, and Pico proceeds to kill both her and Hoe-Bear. Pico then heads upstairs to the second floor of the house. In an unseen turn of events, he bumps into Boyfriend, who is armed with a lead pipe and shaking very frantically.

Pico realises that his ex is undergoing Stockholm Syndrome, as he is apparently standing guard by his captor, but decides to brush this off considering how his relationship had ended and the need to fulfil his current contract with the Assassin Corporation. After subduing Boyfriend, he takes his discarded microphone since he won't need it anymore and he "left [his] at home".

When Pico heads downstairs and enters the garage, he is surprised when he comes across Nene, who is cradling in the corner and is also being held hostage by Bary. She reveals that after Pico stopped Cassandra, her parents helped pay for surgeries to heal her wounds and she was inspired to "try another lease in life". This renewed will to live would sadly be short-lived once she found herself being traumatized by another mass shooting, and so asked Pico to mercy kill her once again, which Pico is less than enthusiastic. As the two finish catching up, Pico suddenly realizes there's someone else inside the room with them and Shadow quickly makes her presence known. Acting fast, Pico fires at the lamp above them, which causes Shadow to dissipate. Yet again, the decision of whether or not to kill Nene is left to the player. Regardless, Pico takes a nearly bottle of alternative medicide labeled "DETOX" and heads to the kitchen door, which is also locked.

Quickly heading outside again, he meets his old friend Darnell in the alley. Darnell had apparently managed to escape the Big Blue House and has been watching the carnage unfold for some time. He also admits he was supposed to initate a drug deal, only to forget bringing the drugs he was supposed to exchange. Pico decides to give Darnell the "DETOX" bottle, stating he can tear off the label and pass it off as said drugs. Darnell thanks him for the assist before asking Pico if they could have a rap battle they promised to do earlier. With a spare mic in hand, Pico happily accepts and after "one Friday Night Funkin' mod later", Darnell hands Pico a spare key for the kitchen that he picked up after escaping. The two bid each other farewell, and Pico then heads back to the house, unlocks the kitchen door and finally confronts Big Brown Bary.

Inside, Big Brown Bary delivers his manic rant, revealing that he feels he is put under pressure by his fanbase's expectations and how he'll take everyone with him "in the fires of Hell", before emerging with a suicide bomb vest. Pico proceeds to call the bear out, invoking the name of his creator Jim Henson, and tries to talk him out of ending his life and reminds him of the children he hadn't killed who still care about him. He even promises Bary he'll get him a slightly lighter sentence if he comes peacefully, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. In a last-ditch effort to put the maniac down, Pico engages in another conflict where he shoots the microwave to the kitchen floor before firing at the sink, causing water to leak and short out the bomb, electrocuting Bary as the screen fades to white.

Howver, this does not kill the anthropomorpic ursid, as the surrounding house is now in shambles, and a final battle commences with Big Brown Bary transforming into his ultimate final form: "Mechabear, The Big Blue Bomber". Pico proceeds to fight the mechanized menace in his toughest battle yet, as it throws an assortment of attacks his way. In the end, Pico comes out in the end victorious, as Mechabear explodes and Big Brown Bary is no more. With the enemy defeated, the Commissioner congratulates Pico for his efforts and rewards the hero with ice cream, though Pico can help pay for it in following week. The game ends with the two joined by Darnell reclining outside the ice cream store with their own set of cones.

Cast

Medals

  • Save the Day: Complete the game.
  • Save the Day II: Complete the game, but with a full Mayhem Bonus.
  • Declined: Click the "Decline" button at the debriefing, and you'll be redirected to the Newgrounds frontpage.
  • Extra Brutal: Shoot Nene in the den.
  • Finding the References: Discover all Newgrounds References in-game.
  • Censorsh*t: Toggle the "Naughtyness" setting on.
  • Bruckheimer: Cause an explosion.
  • Pacifist Route: Approach Bary without grabbing the gun and die once.
  • Ant Smoosher: Click on Peter the Ant to crush him.
  • No More Bang Bang?: Run out of ammo and die.
  • Good Touch: Complete the game with touchscreen controls.

Newgrounds References

  • TBA

Transcript

Main article: PICO VS BEAR DX/Transcript

Reception

PICO VS BEAR DX received generally positive reviews from critics upon its release. Critics praised multiple aspects of the game, such as the upgraded graphics, added voice acting, unique gameplay elements, and overall faithfulness to the original Pico vs Bear. In Newgrounds, the submission would gain more than 100,000 views, and currently maintains a review score of 4.60/5.00. Additionally, the game won the awards for Daily Feature and Weekly 3rd Place; it was also featured on the NG front page.

Gallery

Video

Trivia

  • Dialogue between Pico and Hoe-Joe seems to imply that Bary is an anti-vaxxer, as he believed that the latter was "normal" before taking an immunization jab from Doc Hogg.
  • In the upstairs area, a TV can be found playing a broadcast of Tucker Carlson from FOX News. Pico even says he's "getting mixed political stances" from the household.
  • When Pico meets Nene in the house's garage, he comments on how she "reconstructed her face after that school shooting". This is a reference to how Pico would assist on mercy killing Nene in Pico's School, but it's shown here that she miraculously survived.
  • During his conversation with Nene, Pico admits that he is unable to say anything comforting to her since he's "not [her] therapist". Nene is puzzled as she never realized that therapists actually existed in real life, and weren't made up in stories and movies". A concered Pico chooses to ignore this lack of knowledge.
  • Darnell comments on a rap battle that he and Pico were planning to do. Coincidentally, the two appear together in Friday Night Funkin' in the level "Due Debts", which was in development at the time of PICO VS BEAR DX's release.
  • Mechabear's fire attacks were inspired by Bowser and his fire breath ability from the Super Mario series.
  • The ice cream store seen in the end screen is U-Cream, which is a reference to the store owned by the Überkids in Pico's Unloaded.