Pico Roulette
Remember Pico Vs Uberkids? It's back with online play and new characters! - Newgrounds Description
Pico Roulette is a now-defunct Adobe Flash game created by Tom Fulp, PsychoGoldfish, and BrenTheMan, and released on April 30, 2007. It was an online multiplayer version of Pico vs. Überkids that featured more playable characters and allowed users to play Rock-Paper-Scissors Roulette against each other. The game's release had also coincided with the second annual celebration of Pico Day.
Due to the game's servers shutting down, it was rendered unplayable and was deactivated in Pico Day 2013 before finally being deleted from Newgrounds entirely.
History
Pico vs. Überkids was first released in the year 2000 by Pico series creator, Tom Fulp. The game featured Pico, Nene, and Darnell facing against the titular group of genetically engineered Überkids in a game of "Rock-Paper-Scissors Roulette". It was a single-player game designed to be played against the computer's AI system.
The following year in 2001, Fulp began development of an online multiplayer version of the game, where the player would be able to choose from a wider cast of characters and interact with other fellow opponents over a local internet connection. The effort didn't go far, though, and Fulp would abandon the project early on.
Meanwhile, PsychoGoldfish was doing his own experiments in coding with online gameplay, leading to him and BrenTheMan developing the Sanguine Server, which was exclusively made for online multiplayer games. In 2007, Tom Fulp would approach PsychoGoldfish about revisiting the online version of Pico vs. Überkids, which he planned on releasing for that year's Pico Day.
Fulp then prepared artwork for seven new characters (Cyclops, Alucard, Hanzo, Cassandra, and the Ghettobots from Pico's School), while PsychoGoldfish helped re-program the original game to support online play, in addition to adding a game lobby, player select screen and a chatroom for other players to communicate, with the only requirement being the player having a registered Newgrounds account.
Characters
Reception
Trying to find the exact response to the game is difficult, but from what can be found by scant few sources is that Pico Roulette had at least positive reception. Upon its release to Newgrounds for Pico Day, many players enjoyed the game for its multiplayer format, as it would earn the Daily 4th Place award the day after. Though over time, complaints were made towards the lack of server connection. Before its shutdown, the game collected up to 1.3 million views and held an average score of 3.65/5.00.
Gallery
An empty Pico Roulette lobby.
Select screen.
Pico sitting.
Pico after a tie.
Pico after losing.
Pico after winning.
Nene sitting.
Nene after a tie.
Nene after losing.
Nene after winning.
Darnell sitting.
Darnell after a tie.
Darnell after losing.
Darnell after winning.
The Überkids as they appear in the introduction sequence.
An Überkid sitting.
An Überkid after a tie (also used for Überjon when Darnell doesn't get shot in the head).
An Überkid after losing.
An Überkid after winning.
The Goth Punks as seen in the introduction sequence.
Cassandra sitting.
Cassandra after a tie.
Cassandra after losing.
Cassandra after winning.
Cassandra "goofing" with the gun.
Cassandra's death animation.
Alucard's mouse trigger animation.
Alucard sitting.
Alucard after a tie.
Alucard after losing.
Alucard after winning.
Alucard's death animation.
Hanzo sitting.
Hanzo after a tie.
Hanzo after losing.
Hanzo after winning.
Hanzo's death animation.
Cyclops sitting.
Cyclops after a tie.
Cyclops after losing.
Cyclops performing his outrageous mating dance.
Cyclops' death animation.
Leroy sitting.
Leroy after a tie.
Leroy after losing.
Leroy after winning.
Leroy's death animation.
Roc sitting.
Roc after a tie.
Roc after losing.
Roc after winning.
Roc's death animation.
José's mouse trigger animation.
José sitting.
José after a tie.
José after losing.
José after winning.
José's death animation.
Reptile takes off his mask in his mouse trigger animation.
Reptile sitting.
Reptile after losing.
Reptile's death animation.
Video
Trivia
- The music played during the game was often determined by what was considered the most popular song in the Newgrounds Audio Portal at the time.
- Various character names have been changed for this game:
- Cassandra's name was fixed from Casandra to Cassandra.
- Leroy's name was misspelled Leyroy.
- Hanzo's was misspelled as Hanzou.
- Reptile is the only character not to have appeared in the original Pico games, as he originated from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.