The Crackpet Show

The Crackpet Show
Date	Original release: December 15, 2022 GOG.com release: May 23, 2023 The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition: September 27, 2023
Developer	Vixa Games
Publisher	Ravenage Games
Platform	Windows Nintendo Switch Xbox One Xbox Series X|S PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5
Genre	Action Adventure Indie Combat Shoot 'em Up Party

The Crackpet Show is a game released by Ravenage Games. It is a top-down shoot 'em up presented in a roguelike format where a player or players (up to 4) playing cooperatively progress from room to room killing enemies using equipped weapons and special items helped by advantageous effects granted by perks to earn Fame for upgrades in the Campaign mode or as high score in the Endless mode. Its roguelike format means that every run is not the same, randomness plays heavily in room progression, and equipment and perks do not carry over between runs. It was originally released as an indie game for the PC running Windows and for the Nintendo Switch on December 15, 2022.

The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition is an optional downloadable content for The Crackpet Show that adds content based on Happy Tree Friends slated for release on September 27, 2023 for Windows via Steam and GOG.com and the Nintendo Switch. The game is launched with Happy Tree Friends Edition pre-installed on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, as well as the Epic Games Store release, all slated to be released on the same date. Happy Tree Friends Edition is part of a collaboration between MondoMedia, Vixa Games, and Ravenage Games. The collaboration results in this DLC for The Crackpet Show side and an internet short for the Happy Tree Friends side titled "Too Much Scream Time". This is the second Happy Tree Friends game to be released on a major video game console since Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm in over fourteen years and it is also the first one to be released on Nintendo and Sony platforms.

Description

The following is the description specific to The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition:

Happy Tree Friends are back! Remember those rebellious days when parents forbade us from watching this cute cartoon, and we had to sneak around? Well, guess what? Now you can embrace the legendary cruelty and humor of the iconic cartoon as you play your favorite characters in The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition! Get ready to unleash chaos, earn fame, and have a blast!

System requirements

For the Windows version, the minimum system requirements are:

• OS: Windows 7
• Processor: 2.0 GHz Processor
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX compatible graphics
• DirectX Version: Version 11
• Storage: 2 GB available space

Recommended system requirements:

• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: 3.0 GHz Processor
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX compatible graphics
• DirectX Version: Version 12
• Storage: 4 GB available space

Gameplay

The Crackpet Show typically involves the player fighting against various enemies in each of the episodes.

The Crackpet Show is a top-down shoot 'em up presented in a roguelike format. Up to four players can play cooperatively, each playing as one of the characters. The base version of The Crackpet Show features 8 characters, who are Bunny, Cowie, Rusty, Sharky, Crocodile, Panda, Evil Goat, and Piggy. If the player chooses, they may play a character with an alternate skin, though the skins have to be unlocked first, except for Panda, who starts out with 2 alternate skins from the start. After picking a character, the player picks a starting class, though they may mix up their loadout by dropping the chosen equipment, picking another class, and then re-picking the dropped weapon/item.

• Assault: Focuses only on damage. Comes with the Pew Gun and the Anvil Drop special item.
• Engineer: Focuses on debilitating enemies. Comes with the Zap Gun (chance to stun) and the Turret special item.
• Medic: Focuses on defensive playstyle. Comes with the Lob-o-Gun (shoots bullets in an arc) and the Bandages special item.
• Tank: Focuses on herding enemies through distraction. Comes with the Shotgun (spread shot of 3 bullets) and the Taunt special item.

Weapons are players' main method of attack. Players automatically aim for the closest enemy, though the player may change target via dedicated buttons. Each weapon behaves differently and this information can be shown by reading its description. Players start off only being able to equip one weapon, but eventually the player is allowed to bring two to switch between. A player can not be weaponless, but if this happens, the player enters the next room with their chosen class weapon.

A special item has various effects from inflicting damage to affecting enemy behavior. Like weapons, a single use of an item puts it into cooldown until it can be used again, but unlike weapons, an item has a limited number of charges before it runs out, and a player can only hold one special item at a time.

Once players are ready, they may step into the round area that says "START" to begin the game. Every time players start a new session, they are given a choice of perks to claim. Perks give advantageous effects to the affected and their effects can be stacked with each other. Only one player can claim one perk machine at a time, so if multiple players claim the same perk, they will be subjected to a button-press minigame where the winner will be the one to claim the chosen perk. In the game, the players face rooms of enemies, with some layouts having traps that can damage both players and enemies alike. Each enemy type attacks differently, but their attacks are distinguished by the use of the color red. A player starts off with six hit points, and taking any damage deducts it by one. If a player runs out of health, they will be considered dead, but in co-op, a timer will appear to give allies a chance to revive the fallen player with one hit point. If all players are dead, however, the run ends. To move on to the next room, all enemies must be killed. Doing this in co-op will also revive all fallen players with one hit point. Players' weapon and special item pickups do not carry between runs whether a previous run is a success or a failure.

The game features Campaign and Endless game modes. Campaign is the game's main story where players, whether playing solo or co-op up to four players, progress through three seasons each consisting of six episodes, for a total of eighteen episodes. Episode progress is tracked by clear completion, meaning players have to clear a new episode to unlock the next. An episode consists of a randomly-generated stage progression where players vote to pick. A stage has a random layout and typically can be either the normal Enemy, Weapon, Perk, or some other category, with any stage category other than Enemy rewarding the players depending on the stage type. For example, if the stage is a Weapon room, then a weapon is rewarded after defeating all the enemies inside. The player can also encounter minibosses starting from Episode 4 onwards, but all episodes in general end with a major boss fight.

In Campaign, players earn Fame used to obtain Upgrade Coins and Likes for purchasing at the Shop rooms. Upgrade Coins are then used in the lobby to upgrade either a weapon, an item, or a perk offered randomly. Successfully clearing an episode will earn the players Trophies and skin cards to be used to unlock Sponsor skills and the wheel of fortune respectively. Sponsors are where the player can unlock additional features and gameplay advantages, but the player also has a choice to not assign a Sponsor skill once it is unlocked. Meanwhile, the wheel of fortune is used to unlock alternate skins for the playable characters, but it takes 5 skin cards per use and the skin rewarded is random.

The Endless mode is available once the player cleared Season One. The players will start off in the lobby like in Campaign, but with the Sponsors and upgrades unavailable. However, every player is able to equip two weapons and find hearts occasionally dropped from enemies to heal without using Sponsors. Every player is also given a perk to increase damage and movement speed at the start. Endless mode has players face waves of various enemies. Every 10 waves, the player faces a random boss. As the mode goes on, the enemies gradually grow stronger, but the likeliness of epic weapons and special items to drop are also gradually increased. The mode only ends if all players are dead.

Happy Tree Friends Edition content

The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition features the following content:

• 9 playable Happy Tree Friends characters, each with unique death animations inspired by the most memorable scenes from the show:
  • Cuddles
  • Giggles
  • Toothy
  • Petunia
  • Handy
  • Splendid
  • Sniffles*
  • Flaky
  • Nutty
• Lumpy as a host of the show.
• Enhanced sounds and music from the cartoon.
• Updated visuals and effects.
• Other features.

* - debut as playable character

Promotion

The Fan Art Contest poster by Vixa Games.

Prior to Happy Tree Friends Edition, The Crackpet Show has been promoted on subreddits as being inspired by classic gore cartoons, with Happy Tree Friends being constantly namedropped. It took until August 2023 for the collaboration news to be made official, preceded by an announcement on Vixa Games' Discord server that The Crackpet Show would be receiving an update.

Since the announcement of Happy Tree Friends Edition on August 17, 2023, the downloadable content continued to be promoted in the days leading up to its release date. Near the end of August 2023, Happy Tree Friends Edition got its own Twitter (@htfedition) and TikTok (@happytreefriendsthegame) accounts dedicated to promoting it and related events. The Twitter account is where most events are announced, with its main highlight being the Fan Art Contest where Twitter or Instagram users were encouraged to draw fan art of Happy Tree Friends or The Crackpet Show and upload it with the hashtag #HappyTreeFriendsAreBack. The event was going to last up to September 20, 2023 until it was given an extension up to September 26, 2023 in order to give more users a chance to participate. Users that managed to place top 10 after the event would be eligible to receive a copy of The Crackpet Show for any platform for free. Another notable promotional campaign is a GIF tweet depicting Cuddles and Bunny and with the caption, "If this tweet reaches 1 million views, we'll reach out to Mondo Media with a request to continue creating new #HappyTreeFriends Episodes!" implying that the Happy Tree Friends side would be able to continue beyond "Too Much Scream Time" if the tweet's requested view count was reached. Meanwhile, the TikTok account is used to post short clips promoting Happy Tree Friends Edition, either using material or footage from the downloadable content or using clips of Happy Tree Friends shorts centered around the featured characters, like using Giggles' Valentine's Smoochie to represent Giggles.

Trivia

• Despite Flaky's color scheme being entirely red, which is the color scheme for enemy bullets, she was picked to be included in Happy Tree Friends Edition. Vixa Games eventually realized this mistake, but reassured that Flaky would not be removed.

Gallery

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  Logo for The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition.

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  Key art for The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition.

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  Promotional thumbnail for The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition.

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  Xbox store page art for The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition.

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  Steam header art for The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition.

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  PlayStation Store background art for The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition.

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  Handy, Giggles, Petunia, and Sniffles after defeating Plus-Size Hamster.

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  Nutty in Season Three biome.

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  Handy in Season Two biome.

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  Cuddles in Endless mode.

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  Handy, Giggles, Petunia, and Sniffles in the lobby, with Handy choosing the Assault class, Giggles choosing Medic, Petunia choosing Tank, and Sniffles choosing Engineer.

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  Handy, Giggles, Petunia, and Sniffles defeating Mole in the Hole.

• 

  Giggles and Handy fighting over a perk through a button-press minigame.

• 

  htfedition's Twitter profile image, which is Giggles' minigame portrait in The Crackpet Show.

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  htfedition's Twitter background.

• 

  Twitter promotion image, with Cuddles representing Steam and Nutty representing Epic Games Store.

• 

  Twitter promotion image, with Toothy representing Xbox and Giggles representing Nintendo Switch.

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  Twitter promotion image, with Flaky representing PlayStation and Handy representing GOG.com.

External links

• The Crackpet Show: Happy Tree Friends Edition announcement trailer by MondoMedia on YouTube