Spark the Electric Jester

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Spark the Electric Jester
Single-player

Spark the Electric Jester is a 2017

platform game created by Brazilian developer Felipe Daneluz. The story follows Spark on his journey to stop a mobilizing army of robots from taking over the world. Gameplay involves a mix of fast-paced platforming and melee combat over a series of differently themed levels. An array of power-ups
are distributed throughout, each characterized by a unique set of abilities for use in battle and traversal.

Daneluz previously created a variety of

Windows as his first commercial title. Critics appreciated its iteration of 16-bit-era gameplay and directed praise towards its mechanics, unlockable content, and soundtrack. A sequel, Spark the Electric Jester 2
, was released in May 2019, followed by Spark the Electric Jester 3 in August 2022.

Gameplay

Spark attacking an enemy with a hammer

Spark the Electric Jester is a side-scrolling

melee attacks,[2] of which three can be chained together into a combo.[3] Additionally, the player is capable of releasing charged shots horizontally and vertically.[4] Dealing attacks will prompt a blue meter, referred to as the "Static Bar", to rise.[5] Once full, it can be expended by releasing a charged shot, enhanced with power.[3] A variety of power-ups are distributed across the levels,[6] each characterized by a unique move set and cosmetic change to Spark.[1][2] They endow the player with different attacks, traversal abilities, or both.[7] Some powers give the player a different special attack when the Static Bar is full.[2][7]

Completing the game will unlock Fark, Spark's

invincibility and a power boost, alongside full health replenishment.[13] Once the bar is full, Fark will enter a powerful state.[2]

Hard modes are available for both characters and introduce modifications to enemy placement, boss fights, and the player's number of

time attack mode is also playable.[14]

Plot

The story begins with Spark, an

portmanteau of "Spark" and "fake".[15]

Spark is eventually introduced to a small group of friendly robots and an engineer named Doctor Armstrong. Armstrong explains that he created an autonomous robot to guard Megaraph, a towering robot production facility. The robot, dubbing himself Freom, developed a dogmatic personality and amassed an army through the dissemination of a computer virus. Armstrong also discovered that Fark's intended purpose was to masquerade as an ally of Freom and eventually betray him, but had been unsuccessful in doing so. Armstrong enlists Spark to infiltrate Freom's battle airships as well as Megaraph, where Spark can confront him.[15]

After defeating Fark in a final duel, Spark ascends up Megaraph and encounters Freom sitting atop a throne of machinery. Freom reveals his plan to launch the facility into the planet's orbital ring, bringing about a mass extinction. As Megaraph lifts off into space, Fark thrusts his staff into the sky to aid Spark from the surface. Brandishing the staff, Spark transforms into a more powerful form and pursues Freom up to Megaraph's peak. With his newfound strength, he is able to defeat Freom and thwart his plans.[15]

Development and release

The concept of Beam Sonic from Daneluz's Sonic After the Sequel was the basis for Spark's design.

Spark the Electric Jester was created by Felipe Daneluz, a developer from

Sonic Chrono Adventure.[16] The games were released between 2011 and 2013 and were downloaded over 120,000 times.[16][19][20][21]

The idea for Spark the Electric Jester originated from a concept in After the Sequel dubbed "Beam Sonic", a mixture of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Beam power-up from the Kirby series. Daneluz was curious as to what the concept would look like as its own unique character,[22]: 12:23–12:48  and drew inspiration from other games, such as Ristar, during his design process for what became Spark. He found that initial reactions to the character's design were poor and attempted to redesign it, but concluded that it just needed to be refined by a different artist.[23] Work on the game had begun by the time of Chrono Adventure's development. Daneluz intended for Spark the Electric Jester to be different from Sonic, recounting the gameplay as initially slow, similar to Mega Man, and more mechanically simple than the final release. He found this early iteration to be dull and implemented Sonic elements, such as speed and vertical loops, as a result.[22]: 13:01–16:15 

A month-long

Metal Sonic and Shadow, while Freom was based on Dragon Ball's Frieza.[23]

Spark the Electric Jester was originally projected for an early 2016 launch on

OS X platforms,[27] but would instead be released on April 10, 2017.[7] It was published under Daneluz's studio name, Feperd Games,[7][37] for Windows via Steam as his first commercial title.[2][22]: 17:10–17:18  An update was released in June 2018, including various fixes, a rewritten story, and the addition of hard modes.[14]

Reception

Amr Al-Aaser of

Sonic 3 & Knuckles by Whitaker, who accredited them towards elevating Spark the Electric Jester's quality to that of the 16-bit Sonic titles. While he characterized the first stage as "ugly" and "disjointed", Whitaker felt the game became better as he progressed, and summarized the level design as "great".[7] Al-Aaser was receptive to Fark's campaign and remarked that the two characters' campaigns "highlight the strengths of the other".[2] Whitaker appreciated the game's amount of unlockable content. He found Fark's campaign to be more difficult than Spark's, which he felt was lacking in challenge.[7] The soundtrack was positively received by both publications. It was described as energetic and feel-good by Al-Aaser, and Whitaker believed it was of equal quality to the music found in 16-bit Sonic games.[2][7]

Sequels

A sequel, Spark the Electric Jester 2, was released through Steam in May 2019 and for the Xbox One in September 2020.[38] Unlike its predecessor, the game features Fark as the protagonist and is a 3D platformer.[39] A third entry, Spark the Electric Jester 3, was released through Steam in August 2022 and is similarly a 3D platformer.[40]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Spark the Electric Jester PC - Encyklopedia Gier" [Spark the Electric Jester PC - Games Encyclopedia]. Gry-Online (in Polish). Archived from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Al-Aaser, Amr (January 30, 2018). "Spark the Electric Jester is more than mere homage". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Khan, Jahanzeb (July 30, 2015). "Spark the Electric Jester is a Shockingly Fine Platformer". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  4. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Tutorial (Spark's Story). Spark: Keep in mind you can fire your charged shot in four directions.
  5. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Tutorial (Spark's Story). Spark: Hit the dummy with normal attacks. A blue bar will fill up. That's your static bar, you build it up by attacking. Once the bar is full, use a charged shot.
  6. ^ a b Ai-Dail-le-fort (September 2, 2015). "Spark The Electric Jester : Un nouveau Sonic-like financé sur Kickstarter" [Spark The Electric Jester : A new Sonic-like funded on Kickstarter]. Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Archived from the original on May 8, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Whitaker, Jed (May 15, 2017). "Review: Spark the Electric Jester". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 17, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  8. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: F.M City (Fark's Story). Pause Menu: Wall Climb: Hold the attack button to walk on any walls [sic], hold up to cling to the ceiling.
  9. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Tutorial (Fark's Story). Fark can also double jump and walk on any wall by holding down the attack button.
  10. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Tutorial (Fark's Story). Fark also has up and down attacks, those can be powered up by attacking three times and then doing an up or down attack.
  11. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: F.M City (Fark's Story). Pause Menu: Up and Down attacks: Press up and down plus attack. You can power up those attacks by doing three regular attacks.
  12. ^ a b Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Tutorial (Fark's Story). You can gain static by attacking enemies or parrying attacks. You can gain lot more [sic] by perfectly parrying enemy attacks.
  13. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: F.M City (Fark's Story). Pause Menu: Static Bar: Once the bar is over the mark, press down plus parry to release Static mode and fully heal yourself. Static Mode: During static mode, you are invincible and your attacks get a power boost.
  14. ^ a b Feperd Games (June 14, 2018). "Spark - Update 1.5 Coming Soon!". Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2019 – via Steam.
  15. ^ a b c Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.).
  16. ^ a b c d e Sillis, Ben (March 19, 2014). "The fan made Sonic trilogy you have to play". Red Bull. Archived from the original on March 24, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c d Balzani, Louis (August 9, 2012). "SAGE 2012: Sonic Before (and After) the Sequel". TSSZ News. Archived from the original on August 14, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  18. ^ ExServ (June 8, 2017). "Sonic Before et After the Sequels" [Sonic Before and After the Sequels]. Gamekult (in French). Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  19. ^ "Sonic Before The Sequel - Release Trailer". December 15, 2011. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ Neltz, András (June 20, 2013). "There's a New Sonic Out on PC. It's a Fangame and It Looks Amazing". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  21. ^ "Sonic Chrono Adventure - Release Trailer". December 15, 2013. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022 – via YouTube.
  22. ^ a b c d e "Interview with the Creator of 'Spark The Electric Jester 2' (LakeFeperd)". May 26, 2019. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022 – via YouTube.
  23. ^ a b LakeFeperd (July 3, 2017). "Spark the Electric Jester: Artbook". Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2019 – via Imgur.
  24. ^ Khan, Jahanzeb (July 28, 2015). "Spark Surges Onto Kickstarter with Electrifying Demo". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  25. ^ Parlock, Joe (July 29, 2015). "Spark the Electric Jester, a 2D Sonic-inspired platformer, is on Kickstarter". Destructoid. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  26. ^ Jarod (March 31, 2017). "Spark The Electric Jester". Gamekult (in French). Archived from the original on June 5, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  27. ^
    Siliconera. Archived
    from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  28. ^ Penwell, Chris (October 28, 2020). "An Interview with James Landino". GameGrooves. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  29. ^ LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel (Windows). Level/area: Credits. RedHot Ride Zone: Newcomer DJ Max-E struts his stuff! The end of the 'middle section' of the game, we chose to score this in a very chilled way.
  30. ^ "Spark: The Electric Jester (Original Game Soundtrack)". Rare Drop. April 25, 2017. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022 – via Bandcamp.
  31. ^ Landino, James. "Spark: The Electric Jester". Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022 – via jameslandino.com.
  32. Siliconera. Archived
    from the original on April 30, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
  33. ^ "We got ourselves a cover art guys!". Spark the Electric Jester Dev Diary. February 12, 2016. Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2022 – via Tumblr.
  34. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Credits (Spark's Story). Game developed by: Felipe Ribeiro Daneluz "LakeFeperd"
  35. ^ Feperd Games (April 10, 2017). Spark the Electric Jester (Windows) (1.5 ed.). Level/area: Credits (Spark's Story). Base coding by: Héctor "Damizean" Barreiro-Cabrera
  36. ^ RK128 (December 21, 2016). "Interview with LakeFeperd on Spark the Electric Jester & Sonic Before/After the Sequel". 3WIREL!. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  37. ^ Bashir, Dale (September 8, 2020). "Spark The Electric Jester 3 Brings Refinement to High-Speed Action Platforming". IGN. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  38. ^ Romano, Sal (September 7, 2020). "Spark the Electric Jester 2 now available for Xbox One". Gematsu. Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  39. ^ Tarason, Dominic (May 3, 2019). "Spark The Electric Jester 2 speeds towards a May 16th launch". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  40. ^ Cunningham, James (August 14, 2022). "Gotta Go Even Faster For Spark the Electric Jester 3 Launch". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2024.

External links

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