Kamis, 12 Februari 2015

Review: Super Filly Adventure

Play it Here!
A link to the EqG Arcade page.
You may remember the review of SOPA "PIPA" Filly Adventure that we posted on Equestria Gaming after Blackout Day in protest of SOPA and PIPA. Well this game provided the basis for that self-made parody. In Super Filly Adventure, you take the role of a filly named Jade on her mission to find her cutie mark.

Jay6, the creator of Super Filly Adventure, originally created this game for the 16-bit Game Contest on Equestria Gaming that has since fallen by the wayside, unfortunately. This game has become very popular in its own right, however, and a proper review is necessary. Read it after the break!

The game itself is a simple RPG game with multiple endings. You start off in Ponyville with a cutscene between Pinkie Pie and Jade, the new filly in town. Pinkie tells you she has a welcoming gift for you and that she's planning a party at Sugar Cube Corner first. She gives you a list of ponies to invite, and the game begins.


The gameplay itself is very simple (arrow keys to move, space to talk, shift to view the invite list). The ponies' sprites are those of Desktop Ponies, an extremely helpful sprite set for pony games, if I do say so myself. The music is a combination of several 16-bit MLP tracks, Tales of Phantasia, and Secret of Mana music. The artwork, however is custom made by Jay6. The game has a nice atmosphere to it.

Now if you'll remember, I said this game had multiple endings. This is true, and is a huge part of what makes this game good. In the paragraphs ahead I will tell you about these endings and how to achieve them, so if you haven't played this game yet and don't want any spoilers, I suggest you skip this section. Just so we're clear: Spoilers Ahead. Ye be Warned.

Ending One: Super-Filly: Okay, this ending is the "main ending" of Super Filly Adventure. To achieve this, all you need to do is talk to everypony on the list and invite them to the party. During the muffin minigame with Applejack, the muffin quality doesn't matter. After everyone is invited, talk to Pinkie Pie in Sugar Cube Corner.

A cutscene will then start, and as soon as you know it, a giant dragon is attacking the town. A boss fight will then start and you must vanquish the dragon. Once this is done, you will have completed the game with a warrior cutie mark, having saved Ponyville.

Ending Two: Muffin: For this ending, during the muffin minigame, you have to make a muffin with all the wrong ingredients to make some Grade A baked bads. Then, you must find Derpy and give her the muffin.

This will trigger the muffin ending, where you get a muffin cutie mark. The same dragon will come, but you are too busy eating muffins with Derpy to do anything about it. The game ends with Ponyville ablaze and you sitting idly by with your muffins. Here is a video commentated in part by Jay6 himself showcasing these first two endings.


Ending Three (Secret Ending): Blank Flank: [WARNING - This ending is very creepypasta (a la Story of the Blanks). You should be prepared so you don't run away from your computer screaming.]  Okay, this ending is rather complicated to access. The first requirement is that you start the game between 11pm and 6am (to increase the nightmare aspect). Note: you can simply reset your computer's clock to  do this.

Next, you have to talk to everypony in the entire game and listen to everything they have to say. This means talking to them multiple times to make sure you've reached the last bit of dialogue they have. In the muffin minigame, you must make a good quality muffin with the right ingredients, and give that to Derpy.

Be careful not to trigger the Super-Filly ending right now by going into Sugar Cube Corner. Instead go all the way to the end of the map, past Applejack, to get to Zecora at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. If you've done the above steps correctly, it will now be nighttime, and Zecora will not forbid you from entering the forest, as she will in other endings, but will instead have zalgoed eyes and will say only "Go...back...". If this is not the case, go back into town and make sure you've gotten all bits of dialogue said.

Now, you can enter the Everfree Forest, and once you do, it's one way. Static appears, and you are trapped within the forest. Jade starts to panic, and as you walk to the next room, you run into Luna on the ground. She seems rather delirious, and talks about the "Bloody Hooves." You move on, and Jade gets even more desperate to get out. A few rooms over, you run into a dark pony silhouette outlined in red.

He says cryptic things like "One of us..." and "You cannot escape." In the next room, as the background gets progressively darker, you run into Luna, now dead. One room further, as the background is now incredibly dark, more of these silhouettes begin to surround you, and the room fades to a picture of Jade, now also dead, ending with the famous Luna Game quote "It didn't have to end this way." Hence the meaning of the blank flank ending - you were killed before you could recieve a cutie mark - thus remaining perpetually blank flanked. Here is a video from Jay6 showing this ending.


End of Spoilers.

The game environment is very simple, yet very well done. The story is short, but the multiple endings make this game re-playable. In short, this game is very, very fun to play, and I tip my hat to Jay6 for making it.