Nico Adventures: Origins

***Nico Adventures: Origins*** (also known as ***Pico Adventures***) is an action-adventure video game developed and published by J-Games. Being the first game in the series to be released solely on the J-Exo and not the J-Flash, the game saw an international release in August 2012. It is the seventh main entry in the *Nico Adventures* series and is the successor to *Nico Adventures: Mystery*. The game has since been released on every subsequent J-Games console.

*Origins* serves as a prequel to the third entry in the series, *Nico Adventures: Partners in Crime*, and follows Pico as he grows up with his parents in a South American rainforest, before leaving to find his long-lost brother Nico after his parents died. The game is the first in the series to center around Pico, and explores the adventures that defined his character and the journey he took to finally reunite with Nico. Gameplay sees the player taking control of Pico, and on a few occasions, Nico, as they navigate through a variety of open-world levels connected by various vehicle segments, fighting enemies, finding clues and solving environmental puzzles. Each level of the game features multiple different story quests to complete before the player can move on to the next level. The game features RPG elements, as seen in each location where Pico can form bonds with locals. The game continues the trend set by *Mystery* and does not include a hub world: instead, each level has a central hub where Pico returns to after each quest.

The game's development began in the summer of 2011, and took place over the course of a year. The game was initially intended to have a downscaled version released for the J-Flash, but time constraints resulted in the game only getting a J-Exo release. Jay Stevenson, the game's creator, writer and director, wanted the game to be visually impressive, so devoted a lot of time into 4K rendering for character models and environments. The game takes a lighter atmosphere in comparison to the previous three games, said to match Pico's lighter personality. Jay Stevenson also serves as the game's composer after the departure of Shiro Sagisu. The game's main theme was recorded by Gladys Knight.

*Nico Adventures: Origins* released to mixed reviews from critics. The game's graphics, story and characters were all praised, but many felt that the game seemed to be rushed and that visuals were prioritised over controls. Reviewers claimed that the game felt clunky in combat and platforming. In addition, the gameplay was cited to be repetitive when compared to previous entries: most notably, the vehicle segments that connected each level were seen to be tedious and uninspired. The game's soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics who felt that the dynamic soundtrack of Shiro Sagisu was superior in most aspects. The choice to have the player still spend time with Nico and his team was also negatively received, with players believing that Pico should have had the entire game to himself. Pico was praised as a protagonist as refreshing, optimistic but wary and resilient. Role-playing elements were praised for their concept, but critics also noted that these became more shallow as the game progressed. The game was nominated for a multitude of awards at the 2012 Video Game Awards, including Game of the Year, and winning Best Graphics.

Commercially, *Nico Adventures: Origins* suffered from seeing its only release being on an under-performing console. The game had the lowest first week sales since *Nico Adventures II* in 2007. Despite this, the game still sold substantially well, selling over 15 million copies on its native platform. Across all platforms, the game has sold over 40 million copies. To many, the drop in quality of the game when compared to its predecessors signalled the end of the Nico Adventures golden era. The game saw a feature film adaptation in the following year, which received substantially better reviews than its source material. The game was succeeded by *Nico Adventures: The Lost Keys* in 2013.