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PICO PARK is an action-puzzle game that was developed before fall 2013 by an indie game studio TECOPARK. It is a multiplayer game dedicated to playing with friends, parents, and children. TECO, the developer of the game, has an objective of a game where you can enjoy "the fun of cooperating with a large number of people". The first release of PICO PARK was in 2016 on the Steam platform formerly named "Picollecita" but was now changed because the pronunciation was too hard, was online available to play locally. In 2019, pico park was introduced to Nintendo Switch and then in 2021, the game was updated and allowed the player to play both online and locally.

There are a total of 3 modes that can chose: World mode, Endless mode, and Battle mode. The feature of each mode is different wherein '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 also 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 view of PICO PARK was 137,814.

Gameplay
PICO PARK is a cooperative local/online multiplayer action puzzle game for 2-8 players (2 - 10 players if played in the classic version). The goal of the game is to get the key which is at the end of the map to go through the locked door. Players need to cooperate to reach the objective but players can also prank each other (by moving when other jump over or capture other players so they cannot get out) just to mess with them.
 * Local Play Mode - Player can play together with friends on one computer. Player need one controller per player to control the characters in the game.
 * Online Play Mode - Player can play together online with other people who are far away from the player. This is a game where communication is very important, so a communication program is recommended when playing such as Discord, TeamSpeak, Skype, etc. There is also a quick message system where players can communicate with other players but the messages are limited so communication software is still advised.
 * World Mode - Each level of PICO PARK can be cleared when players get the key, unlock the door and all players reach it. But, every level requires cooperation to complete. There are 12 themes in this mode where 1 theme has 4 levels each so there are 48 levels in total.
 * The 12 theme are:
 * Hello PICO PARK - Follow the normal checkpoint
 * Go together - There is a rope attached to all other players which makes walking more difficult as the movement of one player will also affect another player
 * Time limit - There will be a limited time, everyone must help each other to complete the mission within time.
 * Gimmick gimmick - Each character has a special function. In which each level has a different gimmick such as a stage that works like flappy bird
 * All for one (only available to play in offline mode) - One player will control two-controller in order to move 1 character
 * Push or jump - To win this theme, one must focus on jumping and pushing objects to complete the mission
 * Move and stop - Walking or moving will affect the completion of the mission
 * Retro game - Each level is composed of a retro game such as Tetris and other retro-style games
 * Ball park - This level uses balls to complete missions. Each person must help each other to get the key to open the door
 * Two players - his level can be played by two people at a time which the two of them must help each other to do the mission. If the first two people are successful, it will change to the next two people (if one cycle is finished, will change to the first pair again) to continue playing until they win
 * Hand gimmick - Each character is equipped with a gun that can suck or absorb another character to complete each level in this theme
 * Last park - This theme is the combination of all the previous levels with more difficult gimmicks added to it
 * Battle Mode - Co-op play is the main work of this game, but let's compete with friends in BATTLE MODE once co-op play is completed.
 * Height Battle - The players compete to jump highest until the end of the timeframe.
 * Region Battle - Players need to hit the ball to let it transform into the player's territory. The player with the most territory at the end wins the game.
 * Jump Battle - Player need to jump to dodge the incoming cannonball. If the ball hits the player, they die and the last man standing wins.
 * Stop watch Battle - Whoever presses the button closest to 0.01 second wins. WARNING: Timer disappears at 3 second mark. Other players can also press the player button.
 * Endless Mode - Player can play ENDLESS mode to aim at high scores by collaborating with friends. By collaborating with friends, the player score will grow faster.
 * 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.
 * Endless puzzle - This mode is played like co-op Tetris but every player helps to build in the same block.
 * Endless scroll - This mode is played like flappy bird but multiple people need to dodge the obstacle.
 * 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".

Mr. TECO also developed the whole game by himself and only had his friend help in composing the sounds in the game. This game was inspired by the combination of two game, the first is Saturn Bomberman in which 10 player are able to play simultaneously. He thought to himself that there are not many large group game in the market so he proceeded to make one. The other game was The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, this game require different player to help and cooperate with each other to solve the a mystery so it inspired mr.Teco about the cooperative feature of pico park as it also require player to work together to solve the puzzles.

Pico park was developed before fall 2013 as the first playtest was in fall 2013. At first, the game title was 'Picolecitta' but was later changed to 'Pico Park' as the surrounding opinion suggests that it is hard to pronounce. The game was presented in the Tokyo Game Show 2014 and won the best presentation award of the event "Sense of Wonder Night 2014" in the name of Picolecitta. During the presentation, Mr. TECO had to bring an external USB hub that has 10 gamepads connected to it to demonstrate the game.

Pico park was first released on April 26, 2016, in Steam where you can play you can play with your friends (up to 10 people) locally, where the stage of the game will differ according to the number of players. The game is then released on the Nintendo switch on June 6, 2019, with updated texture and level. Although the initial goal of this game was to play with friends in the same screen, but the fans ask mr. Teco to update the game to support online gameplay as Covid-19 does not allow players to play with each other locally. Then on May 7, 2021, TECOPARK release a new version which has all the features the Nintendo switch version had but with the addition of online gameplay. Then on September 9, 2021, the Nintendo Switch version also gets updated which supports online gameplay.

System
Pico Park is available to play in Steam and Nintendo switch although cross-play between each system is not supported. There is also an official addon application available in ios and android.

Classic
The release date of classic PICO PARK is 28th 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. The all-time peak player playing simultaneously is 419 on August 1st, 2021, and the all-time average player played in a month is 218.0 players.

Version 2021
The release date of PICO PARK in Steam is 7th May 2021. This 2021 version can be played by 2 to 8 people. This version can be played online and can be played with other people on your Steam friend list. The price of the game is $4.99 on Steam. This update also comes with a new texture which makes the game looks more modern. The all-time peak player playing simultaneously is 16,802 on July 1st, 2021. The game has a positive review of 90.82% review from players that play this game in a total of 7,115 reviews. The game is estimated to have sold more than 230k copies since the release of the game.

Nintendo Switch
The release date of PICO PARK in Nintendo Switch is 8th June 2019. The price of the game is $4.99 on the Nintendo store. On September 9, 2021, an online mode was introduced. The game also supports Data cloud which allows the saved files to be stored online. The game can be played in TV mode and Tabletop mode only as tablet mode is not supported for this game.

Android and IOS
There is also an app available in Appstore and Playstore 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 for it to work.

Awards

 * Sense of wonder night 2014 best presentation award
 * Famitsu Cross Review gold award

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).


 * 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.

User Reviews

 * Have a user score of 8.0 in Metacritic
 * Have a very positive Overall review in Steam

Trivia

 * As the fans are calling the character in-game a cat, Mr. TECO decided to call it PICO CAT.

External link
Official website

Official twitter