Welcome to a new edition of Pony Media and it's the season of Halloween once again. Even though last year I wrote several game reviews on Ghosts N Goblins as well as Resident Evil 2. This year I wanted to write reviews on several Grimdark fan fiction tales on MLP considering its the season of horror. I did find a rather interesting tale of a My Little Pony game for Super NES that a guy finds. Will the guy have a unique experience or will this lead to a haunting? Let's find out... It starts with a man taking out his trash when he decides to go for a jog seeing as there was good weather that day. However, when he came back to his home, the trash was ransacked with pieces thrown about on the street. As he was picking up several pieces of trash, he notices that the open trash bag had something still inside and found that it was a Super NES cartridge. He then took it and stunned to find that the game was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I like the originality of the character finding the ROM hack in an different manner. it also gave us a random moment without a killer or monster causing a problem as an evil plan. I'll give props to the author for doing something different instead of the character buying from a weird or possessed store clerk and a phantom eBay seller. The man could tell that the label was professionally made. He mentions how odd it was that a game for Super NES was made from the current gen series considering the system was discontinued nearly two decades ago. The writer did a good job writing this setup and the cartridge's label wasn't crudely done like in the other stories. No weird scribbles on a sticky note nor an odd creepy design are placed on its cover but a normal image of the game. It definitely makes this unique for the scenario and was believable with him thinking it was normal at first. He takes the game and walks back to his home while thinking about his discovery of the initials behind the cart simply written as T.S. When he booted the game, a scene outside Fluttershy's cottage faded in with the Mane Six hanging around each other doing their usual thing. A 16-bit rendering of the song called Smile was playing in the background as the title screen's theme. The man describes the gameplay being similar to games such as Trine with using several characters for their specific ability. I just love the way the writer explained how the game looked and played at the beginning. It made me come to a realization that a game like this would never be made (of course without the creepiness). The way he described the graphics and Smile being rendered in 16-bit graphics made it very easy to picture it in my head. Even the gameplay sounded like this would work if someone decided to make a 16-bit MLP game based off this series. Once he reaches Level 16 titled "STOP" with small droplets of blood dripping from the letters, the environment had a desolate landscape with a cloudy sky and dead trees. He explains that the trees had nearly Nintendo 64 detail and shown above was a cloudy black sky with a hint of red among its clouds. Another thing I should point out was how is this game capable of several things that would have been impossible for the Super NES to run. How is this system capable of running 3D like trees and an environment from the N64? How can it also render MP3 quality music of the actual Smile song? Of course, it's implied that something supernatural is causing the weird things to happen in the game. However, the author could have described the graphics using 16-bit detail and sound to do the same scene. The guy also realized that Smile was playing in reverse but instead of the 16-bit rendering, it was the actual song from the show. Why do these writers insist on doing a song backwards to make it creepy? It's such an overused trope in gaming CPs that now it's becoming repetitive, I mean the author could have made the scene where there was no music playing. I'll even take the music slowing down the more the character progressed (despite also being a cliche trope) over any song playing backwards. He explains by picking Fluttershy and once he came to the middle of the screen, a black bony hand suddenly grabs her from under the ground. He tries the other characters to get passed the thing but no matter what he did, it resulted in the same manner of them getting killed. However, once Twilight was left, the game starts moving her on its own and easily passing the thing without being killed and then faces him. Then her sprite looks at him with a tint of red in her eyes as Twilight would state how she found purpose and that he needed to do the same. The next part of this scene was actually well done and he explains a image of Twilight with black eyes appeared on the screen. Of course the author then has to insert unnecessary elements into the scene as now the guy Super NES turns into a magical piece of hardware. He tells how a screaming sound suddenly emitted from the TV speakers causing the player to shut off the game. So, first his magical Super NES is capable of running N64 quality textures and effects and now, capable on MP3 quality sound? I will admit that there should have been more build up here then what is presented. Take Ben Drowned for example, in that CP things got progressively worse as the character continued. Through the first fifteen levels, nothing was suggested that a systelien specter that took the form of Twilight is implied or hinted. The writer should have placed small hints through each level that the character explained rather than wait to the end. It ends with him getting tired all of sudden which leads to him having a dream of going through his old neighborhood. He ransacked some trash bin only to drop something in and leave right already. He wakes up after that and shortly then his mother calls about how some person trashed her garbage outside the previous night. The guy starts to believe that it was him as he remembers in the dream that it was his old neighborhood he walked through. It certainly wasn't the best way to end a CP like this, but its ending still wasn't ridiculous. Most gaming CPs will either throw logic out the window or these writers will place a plot device to put their characters in a dire situation forcefully. Meaning, the character would claim he was being compelled to continue when nothing was stopping him from smashing the game cartridge as seen in Super Mario 64: Damned. It was simple with the character being controlled by some entity so as to continue the process of its work. The character told his story as a warning to others if they may find it randomly or would go seeking it later on after reading this story. At least he was using common sense, something these moron characters don't even bother using which is probably my biggest gripe with these writers. For once it feels good to come across a Grimdark story that actually was good as the build-up to the climax was well paced. What makes this unique is that the scenario was believable with him thinking it was normal at first. I always rant about how some of these writers should put the characters into a dire situation that is believable. It's good to see a writer is taking a scenario like this seriously rather than using a plot convenience to develop an event in a story. As I already mentioned, I really like the way the writer explained the game's 16-bit graphics and sound effects. I'm pretty sure someone from the Brony community already created a 16-bit version of Smile. They even created sprites of most of the characters from Gen 4 including Equestria Girls as if it was made by Capcom. It truly saddens me that today's studios (yes even Capcom) won't develop a real MLP game from either Friendship is Magic or Equestria Girls. I guess we will have to get something like this from those fan-made games such as Mega Pony to truly experience a great MLP game. Rating: 7.6/10 Good Sources The Story and Cover Image: http://geosheas-lost-episodes.wikia.com. My Little Pony SNES. Anonymous. http://geosheas-lost-episodes.wikia.com/wiki/My_Little_Pony_SNES
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Retro Gamer has been an avid fan of the My Little Pony Series since the debut of Gen 4 in 2010. Whenever she isn't talking about gaming, Retro will give her thoughts on MLP and other pony themed brands.
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