Pico Park

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Pico Park
Developer(s)	TECOPARK
Designer(s)	Teco
Programmer(s)	Teco
Artist(s)	Teco
Composer(s)	TADOSUKE
Platform(s)	Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release	Steam: May 7, 2021 Nintendo: June 8, 2019
Genre(s)	Action, Casual, Indie

Pico Park is an action-puzzle game developed by the indie game studio Tecopark. It is a multiplayer game dedicated to playing with friends, parents, and children. Teco, the developer of the game, made the game with an objective of cooperating with a large number of people. The first release of Pico Park was in 2016 for Microsoft Windows and was available for purchase online via video game retailer Steam, featuring local multiplayer gameplay. The game was formerly named "Picollecita" but was changed to Pico Park because the pronunciation was too hard. On June 8, 2019, Pico Park was released for Nintendo Switch and then in 2021, the game was updated and allowed players to play both online and locally.

There are a total of 3 modes that players can chose: World mode, Endless mode, and Battle mode. In 'World mode', players need to cooperate to solve the puzzle. In 'Endless mode' players cooperate to achieve a high score, and 'Battle mode' is where players need to compete with each other to win the game. Pico Park won the "Best Presentation" award in Sense of Wonder Night 2014. According to Steam stats, the all-time peak players in a given time was 16,802 players, and the peak Twitch streaming viewers of Pico Park was 137,814.^[1][2]

About[]

Pico Park is a cooperative local and online multiplayer action puzzle game for 2 to 8 players (2 to 10 players in the classic version). The goal of the game is to get a key and unlock the locked door at the end of the map. Players need to cooperate to reach the objective, but players can also prank each other, for instance by blocking other players' movement.

Game modes[]

• Local Play Mode - Players can play together locally on one computer. Each player uses their own controller to control their character in the game.
• Online Play Mode - Players can play together online with other players via internet. Because of the importance of communication in the game, a communication program such as Discord, TeamSpeak, Skype, etc. is recommended when playing.^[3][4] There is also a limited quick messaging system within the game.
• World Mode - Each level of Pico Park is completed when players get the key, unlock the door and all players reach it. There are 12 sets of levels in this mode, each having 4 levels for a total of 48 levels.
  • The 12 sets are:
    1. Hello Pico Park - Standard platformer gameplay to reach the end of the level.
    2. Go together - All players are connected to each other by a rope, causing the movement of any one player to affect all other players.
    3. Time limit - Players have a limited amount of time to complete each level.
    4. Gimmick gimmick - Each character has a special function. Each level has as different style, such as a stage that mimics Flappy Bird.
    5. All for one (only available to play in offline mode) - Players have alternating control over the character on screen.
    6. Push or jump - To win this theme, players must focus on jumping and pushing objects to complete the mission.
    7. Move and stop - Walking or moving will affect the completion of the level.
    8. Retro game - Each level is composed of a retro game such as Tetris and other retro-style games.
    9. Ball park - This level uses balls to complete missions. Each person must help each other to get the key to open the door.
    10. Two players - This level can be played by two players at a time, who must help each other to complete the mission. If the first two players are successful, it will change to the next two players (if one cycle is finished, will change to the first pair again) to continue playing until they win.
    11. Hand gimmick - Each character is equipped with a gun that can suck or absorb another character to complete each level in this theme.
    12. Last park - This theme is the combination of all the previous levels with more difficult gimmicks added to it.
• Battle Mode - Adds competitive gameplay.
  1. Height Battle - The players compete to jump highest in the allotted time.
  2. Region Battle - Players need to hit the ball into another player's territory, capturing some of that territory. The player with the most territory at the end wins the game.
  3. Jump Battle - Players need to jump to dodge the incoming cannonball. If the ball hits the player, they die and the last player standing wins.
  4. Stop watch Battle - Whoever presses the button closest to 0.01 second wins.
• Endless Mode - Players can play endless mode to achieve high scores by collaborating with other players. By collaborating with friends, the player score will grow faster.
  1. Endless jump - Every player has to jump away from the ball to get a score. If the ball hits any of the players, the score will reset.
  2. Endless puzzle - This mode is played like co-op Tetris but every player helps to build in the same block.
  3. Endless scroll - This mode is played like Flappy Bird, but multiple people need to dodge the obstacle.
  4. Endless plane - Players need to control the plane so it does not hit a wall and every player is connected by one string so one cannot go too far from the other.

Development[]

"There are several factors. For one, I was the one who went to my friend's house and played with my friend. Recently, handheld game consoles have become widespread, and many people are playing by looking at their own personal screens. Even though there are games that we get together and play together these days, we only see the screen (of the handheld game console) at hand. I thought it was different to play by looking at only the screen at hand and to play by looking at one screen together. For example, from the standpoint of parents, you can tell what kind of game your child is playing on a TV screen, but you don't know what you are playing on a handheld game console. I think it's fun for us to get together and play on one screen, and for the viewers to enjoy it, but I think that the chances of seeing such a scene have decreased." - Teco when answering the question "What made you start making it".^[5]

Teco also developed the game by himself and only had his friend help in composing the sounds in the game. This game was inspired by Saturn Bomberman in which 10 players are able to play simultaneously, and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. These games had cooperative multiplayer mechanics that inspired Teco during the creation of Pico Park.^[5]

Pico Park was developed before Fall 2013 as the first playtest was in Fall 2013.^[5] At first, the game title was 'Picolecitta' but was later changed to 'Pico Park' as the opinion was that it is hard to pronounce.^[6] The game was presented in the Tokyo Game Show 2014 and won the "Best Presentation" award of the event "Sense of Wonder Night 2014" under the name Picolecitta. During the presentation, Teco used an external USB hub with 10 gamepads connected to it to demonstrate the game.^[7]

Pico Park was first released on April 26, 2016, for Microsoft Windows via Steam. The game was then released for Nintendo Switch on June 6, 2019, with updated textures and levels. Although the game was originally designed for local multiplayer, during the COVID-19 pandemic players requested the developer to add online multiplayer. On May 7, 2021, A new version of Pico Park was released with the additional features that came with the Nintendo Switch version, but with the addition of online multiplayer for PC. On September 9, 2021, the Nintendo Switch version also received an online multiplayer update.^[8]

System[]

Pico Park is available to play on Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch although cross-play between each system is not supported. There is also an official add-on application available in iOS and Android.

Steam[]

Classic[]

The release date of Classic Pico Park is 28 April 2016. This classic version can be played by 2 to 10 players. With a USB or smartphone as a controller, up to 10 people can play while watching one screen. The game is free and is available on Steam.^[9] The all-time peak player playing simultaneously is 419 on August 1, 2021, and the all-time average player played in a month is 218 players.^[10]

Version 2021[]

The release date of Pico Park on Steam is 7 May 2021. This 2021 version can be played by 2 to 8 people. This version supports online multiplayer gameplay. The price of the game is $4.99 on Steam.^[3] This update also comes with an updated set of textures. The all-time peak player playing simultaneously is 16,802 on July 1, 2021. The game has 90.82% positive reviews from players on Steam from a total of 7,115 reviews. The game is estimated to have sold more than 230k copies since the release of the game.^[1]

Nintendo Switch[]

The release date of Pico Park on Nintendo Switch is 8 June 2019. The price of the game is $4.99 on the Nintendo eShop. On September 9, 2021, an online mode was introduced. The game also supports cloud storage for save game files which allows the saved files to be stored online. The game can be played in TV mode and Tabletop mode, with no support for tablet mode.

Android and IOS[]

There is also an app available in the iOS Appstore and Google Play Store named "TecoGamePad". This is a gamepad app that allows you to control characters in Pico Park. This app only supports the Steam version. In order to use this gamepad to play on the computer, the user needs to connect both the laptop and mobile phone to the same local network.

Rating/reviews and awards[]

Awards[]

• Sense of Wonder Night 2014 "Best Presentation" award^[11]
• Famitsu Cross Review gold award^[3][12]

Critic reviews[]

• "What kind of gimmick is this?" And "I wonder if this can be done", the more participants play without prior knowledge, the more exciting it becomes. In particular, the sense of accomplishment is great when we can clear the stage where it is important for everyone to move in the same way. It is a game that should be possessed by those who want to value "play with this member, this moment" rather than skill proficiency and complete elements, including cooperation and battle modes that can be easily played at any time. - Totsuka Keiichi (From Weekly Famitsu No. 1595).^[12]
• Famitsu's Hanzomon Arata also said that the game seems enjoyable for every generation because it is a simple operating system in Tokyo Sandbox 2019.^[13]

User reviews[]

• Have a user score of 8.0 in Metacritic^[14]
• Have a very positive Overall review in Steam^[3]

Trivia[]

• As the fans are calling the character in-game a cat, Teco decided to call it Pico Cat.^[15]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Official twitter