Pico Blast
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The content below is not official to the Pico franchise. |
Pico is sent to investigate a disturbance in the train yard. - Newgrounds Description
Pico Blast: Trouble in the Train-yard is an Adobe Flash side-scrolling shooter game co-created by Luis and BoMToons and released on April 30, 2008. Uploaded on Pico Day with Luis acting as the artist and BoMToons as the programmer, the game stars Pico on another mission. This time, he's called in to defeat a new threat: Hansel, a strange cyborg alien who hijacked a train yard.
Walkthrough
The game opens with an introductory cutscene: Pico turns on a communication device, where The Commissioner appears to brief Pico on what seems to be "another stupid hostage situation". In actuality, he's asked to investigate a disturbance that occurred at the long-abandoned train yard. It is unclear who is responsible, either it be "hobos" or "goths" are responsible, the latter implying Cassandra as a possible suspect, but the Commissioner implores that Pico kill the target regardless.
After the cutscene end, the game starts. Some flying bombs appear, which Pico needs to shoot, so he doesn't take damage and die. After jumping on some platforms, he gets on top of a train, where the hijacker known as Hansel appears, who is nothing less than a giant alien robot. During his first phase, the alien simply attempts to hit Pico with his mechanical fists, which must be shot at and destroyed. He has 4 attacks: The "Hammer", "Laser Beam", "Ground Beam", and "Fat Beam Ball."
After sustaining enough damage, Hansel's mechanical body is destroyed. In his second phase, his head leaves the artificial body and pilots a UFO, with its weak spot being the green circle under. He has two attacks: "Ball Thrower" and "Double Laser." He also launches prawn-like creatures to attack Pico.
When defeated, Hansel is then revealed in his true tentacled form. In his third phase, he launches a nuclear bomb onto the train, causing a massive crater that he and Pico fall into; his three main attacks: "Darth Maul Wannabe," "Missile Mayhem" (launching smaller bombs to attack) and "Super Baller."
Finally, in his fourth phase, only Hansel's brain is left and both him and Pico are almost at the bottom, where molten lava awaits them both. His only attack is "Balls Deep."
Once Pico completely destroys Hansel, a NG helicopter piloted by the Dad appears to rescue him, with P-BOT also onboard and Captain hanging from the landing skid to grab Pico's hand. In the normal "Good" ending, Pico successfully grabs on and escapes the chasm. A final cutscene plays where the Commissioner thanks Pico for killing Hansel, saving the world and "beating the game", though he chastises him for burrowing a gigantic hole "the size of China" through planet Earth.
Alternate ending
In the alternate "Bad" ending, if the player waits too long and doesn't grab Captain's hand, Pico falls into the lava pit and dies. A different cutscene will play, where the Commissioner commends the player for their efforts, but severely scolds them for not saving Pico in time.
Reception
Pico Blast received positive reception upon its release. Some criticism was made toward the difficulty of the game, which was alleviated by Luis pointing out the boss' patterns. As a Pico Day entry, it was featured on the front page and earned both Daily 3rd Place & Weekly 5th Place Awards. On Newgrounds, it currently has over 770,000 views and holds an average score of 4.34/5.00.
Additionally, it is featured on the Pico Day 2008 collection.
Gallery
Main menu screen.
Video
Trivia
- Pico Blast features multiple references from iconic video games:
- The gameplay in is directly inspired by the Metal Slug run-and-gun video game series, and also shares similarities with the Contra series.
- Various sound effects from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, specifically from the classic games, are used throughout the Flash game.
- The "Game Over" screen displays a menacing image of Hansel which displays the text, "GAME OVER - RETURN OF HANSEL". This is a reference to the game over screen from the 1987 Nintendo game, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
- At one point, the announcer of the game shouts "You're the man now, dog!", which is a direct quote from the 2000 film Finding Forrester.
- In the "Bad" ending cutscene, Pico is identified as a "14-yr old boy".
- The FBI logo also appears in the background behind the Commissioner.