''My Friend Pedro'' is a
shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...
video game developed by Swedish developer DeadToast Entertainment and published by
Devolver Digital
Devolver Digital, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Austin, Texas, specializing in the publishing of indie games. The company was founded in June 2009 by Nigel Lowrie, Harry Miller, Graeme Struthers, Rick Stults, and Mike Wilso ...
. The game was released for
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
and
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
on 20 June 2019 and for
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
on 5 December 2019. A
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
port of the game was released on 2 April 2020. ''My Friend Pedro'' is based on an
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...
game named ''MFP: My Friend Pedro'' that was released by
Adult Swim Games
Adult Swim Games (stylized as dult swim games'') is the video game publishing division of the Adult Swim brand of Cartoon Network. While Adult Swim had been publishing games since 2005, primarily based on their in-house franchises. In 2011, it be ...
in 2014.
A
free-to-play
Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...
spin-off, titled, ''My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge'', was released for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and
Android on August 5, 2021.
Gameplay
''My Friend Pedro'' involves the player traversing a variety of themed levels while killing enemies, at the behest of a talking
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
named Pedro.
[My Friend Pedro Review]
by Mitchell Saltzman, at IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
; published 20 June 2019; retrieved 20 March 2020
The game iterates on the gameplay featured in the flash game, including similar controls, mechanics and weaponry. Along with the ability to slow time, the player can now kick objects or enemies, split their aim between targets and dodge bullets by spinning. The game also features parkour elements such as flips, wall jumps and rolls, which can be used to increase the number of points awarded. Another new feature allows players to kill enemies by ricocheting bullets off frying pans or signs, which also adds to the point total.
Points are awarded for each successful hit from the player, while each kill increases the current point multiplier. Players are given a rank at the end of each level based on their total number of points, which is shared on a global leaderboard.
Plot
The game begins with a masked, unnamed, silent protagonist waking up inside a butcher shop owned by a man named Mitch. The protagonist is instructed by Pedro (a floating sentient banana) that Mitch is an arms dealer and must be eliminated. Upon escaping the butchery and killing Mitch, the protagonist heads to the district Null, an abandoned community project now home to a man named Denny and his army of bounty hunters. When confronting Denny he flees but reveals that his sister Ophelia controls the Internet. The protagonist deals with Denny and heads via the sewers to confront Ophelia. After defeating Ophelia, it is revealed that the protagonist has been systematically killing his own family: with Mitch being his father, Denny his brother and Ophelia his sister. Pedro reveals to the player that the protagonist despised his family for their criminal activities, but could not bring himself to kill them, so he knocked himself unconscious and erased his memory so that he could eliminate his family without guilt. Upon revealing this, Pedro jams himself into the protagonist's ear and tries to have him shoot himself. The final battle is a visual representation of the protagonist's mental struggle to resist Pedro's influence. With Pedro defeated, the protagonist removes his mask, revealing that he was Pedro all along with the banana being nothing but a figment of his imagination.
Development
''My Friend Pedro'' started development in February 2015 "on and off"
until indirectly announcing that development would be in full swing on 4 December 2015 in a devlog. It had been announced that it was in the pre-alpha stage of development on 21 November 2015 aimed to release on PC and "eventually" Macintosh computers.
Reception
''My Friend Pedro'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
.
''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
''s Mitchell Saltzman reviewed it with an 8.5/10 score, saying it "simply feels great to play", while noting that the campaign has little replay value.
The game was nominated for "Fresh Indie Game" with DeadToast Entertainment at
The Game Awards 2019
The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2019. The event was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los ...
.
Television series
On July 2, 2020,
Legendary Television
Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (Trade name, doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has c ...
, Dmitri M. Johnson’s DJ2 Entertainment,
David Leitch
David Leitch (born November 16, 1975) is an American filmmaker, actor, stunt performer and stunt coordinator who made his directorial debut on the 2014 action film ''John Wick'' with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited. Leitch the ...
, and
Derek Kolstad
Derek Kolstad (born April 4, 1974) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He is the creator of the ''John Wick'' franchise, which began in 2014. He continued to write for the first two sequels of the franchise and is mainly known as a s ...
will produce a R-rated half-hour dramedy television series adaptation of the game with Kolstad set as the showrunner.
References
External links
*
{{Portal bar, Video games
2019 video games
Indie games
Windows games
Single-player video games
Organized crime video games
Bananas in popular culture
Nintendo Switch games
Video games developed in Sweden
Devolver Digital games
Xbox One games
PlayStation 4 games