The big bear has gone mad with distemper. Pico is called in to bring him down! - Newgrounds Description
Pico vs Bear (formerly titled Bloodshed in the Big Blue House and Bloodshed in the Big House that Blew[3]) is a point-and-click game created by Tom Fulp and released on December 30, 1999. Also acting as an entry of Newgrounds' infamous Assassin series, it is the fourth entry of the Pico franchise that is a vulgar parody of the Disney television series Bear in the Big Blue House.
The game begins with Pico being recruited by The Commissioner to handle an "extremely stupid" hostage situation, due to him being best suited to handle the target. The target, as it turns out, is Pico's favorite kid's show host, Big Brown Bary, who has been shooting children, exposing his genitalia to the press, is armed with a shotgun, and has been injecting himself with adrenaline to enhance his physical ability. Pico has had a personal connection to the bear, but decides to put his feelings behind him, as suggested by the Commissioner.
After being given a briefing of the mission, including psycho-analyses of the titular bear and his associates made by Dr. Dirk van den Brink, Jr., Pico confronts Big Brown Bary at the front porch of his house, and the two exchange gunfire. As Pico fights off Bary's associates and whittles the bear's health down, Bary then injects himself with adrenaline, enhancing his strength and speed. After more gunfire is exchanged between the two, Pico manages to injure Bary enough to the point where his arms fall off, forcing the ursid menace to retreat into his house with the boy in pursuit.
Upon entering the house, Pico continues to fight off more of Bary's associates and eventually confronts the bear in the kitchen, who utters insane ramblings before revealing to Pico that he has outfitted numerous explosives to himself that will detonate within 30 seconds. With quick marksmanship, Pico manages to electrically short out the explosives and kill Bary, thus saving the remaining children being held hostage in the house.
The game ends with The Commissioner congratulating Pico for his efforts and offering that they go out for ice cream, on the condition that he pays next week.
Walkthrough
As with Pico's School, the game controls using the mouse. Similarly to the aforementioned game's "Cinema Mode", you shoot by moving the mouse on what you want to shoot and left-clicking. During the first part of the battle and after defeating Hoe-Joe and Hoe-Bear, you move left using the "A" key and right using the "D" key.
Once Bary shoots the child, the battle will begin. You must shoot at Bary from the center part of the screen while he moves to your position to fire his gun at you. In order to avoid taking damage from the shots, hide behind the bushes on the left and right sides of the screen. However, keep in mind that you cannot harm Bary while behind the bushes (indicated by the reticle being crossed out), and each shot by Bary will whittle the bushes down. The said bushes after being shot enough times, will no longer offer protection.
During this phase, Piss will first appear from the left and attempt to run into Pico. He can easily be gunned down. Depending on how long the phase goes on for, Poop will also appear from the right, and must also be gunned down. Afterwards once the two are taken out, Titty will then occasionally appear to throw bombs, which will explode and leave fire that will linger for a short period of time before disappearing. It is possible to fire at Titty to take him out likewise, but with fast accuracy required.
After hitting Bary enough times, he takes an adrenaline shot, making him remain stationary with a pause in between his now-stronger shots. Once Bary's health is almost fully depleted, he loses both of his arms and takes shelter in his house.
As Pico follows Bary inside, you will then fight Hoe-Joe and Hoe-Bear. Hoe-Joe will roll bombs down the stairs that can be shot to be detonated, while Hoe-Bear will fire energy blasts at Pico only when Hoe-Joe is being shot at, all while moving in a wave motion back and forth. Due to Hoe-Bear's energy blast ability preventing Hoe-Joe from being safely damaged, it is advised to take out Hoe-Bear first while shooting Hoe-Joe's bombs as well. Hoe-Joe can then easily be gunned down afterwards since she does not move from her spot and has no other attacks.
After killing both of them, you have the option to walk into the den or the kitchen. If you walk into the den, the ominous Shadow of a girl will immediately rush at Pico, or rather, his health bar to deplenish it. To stop her, shoot the lightbulb hanging from above; you will also obtain a "Medicinal Herb". If you walk into the kitchen, Bary will reveal that he is outfitted with a suicide bomb that is set to explode in 30 seconds. In order to kill Bary and win the game, you must quickly shoot the sink and then the microwave to electrocute and short out the bomb, killing Bary in the process and thus saving the surviving children in the building.
As with other Flash games that were uploaded on Newgrounds prior to the Flash Portal, it is unlikely to calculate the initial reception made towards Pico vs Bear. Once it made its proper debut in the modern Portal with its 2006 re-release, it received over 1.1 million views with an average score of 4.46/5.00; though it won no awards. Additionally, Pico vs Bear is featured in the Pico & Assassin collections.
Controversy and re-release
The original title.
A comparison of the original "Bloodshed" release and the current release. Notice how Bary's first design resembles that of the show.
When the game was first published, Disney and The Jim Henson Company e-mailed Tom Fulp, requesting him to remove the game due to copyright infringement. The game was re-released on February 28, 2000, with the game being renamed Bloodshed in the Big House that Blew (later simplified to Pico vs Bear), and the Bear in the Big Blue House characters being redesigned in order to avoid further legal issues. The original "Bloodshed" version was made available as an Easter egg to veteran Newgrounds users as part of the "secrets" system, but with the redesigns of the site, the "secrets" system no longer works.
Remake
A fan-made remake of the game entitled PICO VS BEAR DX would be developed by Dungeonation in collaboration with various artists and released to Newgrounds on January 10, 2022. Although it was primarily developed for Pico Day 2021, many conflicts led to it being delayed. While the storyline of the game was mostly kept the same, the gameplay featured new content such as voice acting and updated boss battles.
The Commissioner congratulating Pico on taking down Big Brown Bary.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Videos
Trivia
In the original 1999 release of Pico vs Bear, the loop heard throughout the game was Tom Fulp's remix of "Welcome to the Blue House", the theme song to Bear in the Big Blue House. After the copyright lawsuit from Disney, it was replaced in the 2000 update with an original loop by Tony Doran.
Even though Fulp credits "Polygon Window" as a music artist, the game actually utilizes songs from The Tomkat & Saucer, a musical duo that was also known as "The HIGHLANDERS".
Aside from the name change, the disclaimer in the end credits was revised, in which Fulp made distaste for The Jim Henson Company quite clear; though, he more respectfully refers to the late Jim Henson as a "genius".
Despite being a parody of Bear in the Big Blue House, it also includes characters that are bears from other well-known series, both in parody and representation of other bears, that are found in the kitchen, such as:
Winnie the Pooh, whose severed head is placed in a salad with an apple stuffed in his mouth
A Bear version of a Furby stuck inside the microwave
Brother Bear and Sister Bear, who are both tied up (when Bary is electrocuted, they're burnt alive due to the electric shock spreading through the water; they can also be killed by Pico as well).
The Furby being in a microwave is a direct nod to another Assassin game created by Tom Fulp, where you could put a Furby in a microwave.
If you zoom in on the staircase inside the house, you can find 3 hidden messages, which say:
If you can read this, you are zooming in too close.
The big brown bear has a big brown penis. It's hairy, too.
The bear's penis isn't as big as the other picture claims.
Judging by their appearance, the cans of beer seen with Creepo could be a reference to the cans of beer seen throughout the South Park series.
The only characters from Bear in the Big Blue House not to have any counterparts in-game are Luna and Ray (though Luna can be seen outside the kitchen window, she is still referred to as a delusion of Bary's in the mission briefing).
