Spark the Electric Jester 2

The cover art for Spark the Electric Jester 2.

## Game Order

***Spark the Electric Jester 2***, previously known as ***Fark the Electric Jester***, is a sequel to *Spark the Electric Jester*. It is a 3D action game built on the Unity engine on Lake's 3D Framework "Hedgephysics".

## Plot

**Spoiler warning**: ***Plot, ending details or any kind of information follow.***
Fark recollects on the events of *the megagraph incident*, noting Spark's battle with Freom and how he failed his mission despite being a copy of the aforementioned jester. He soon wakes up and realizes he was put under maintenance by Dr. Armstrong. The doctor notes the lack of damage found and his special, one of a kind body. Fark then corrects the doctor, telling him that "Fark" is not really his name, but was in fact given to him by Spark. Fark then asks the doctor if he had found an actual name for him while he was under maintenance. The doctor debunks this, but claims he could dig through Fark's code and find it for him, riling up the jester. This leads to Armstrong questioning his spite for his current given name. Fark explains the reason for his current name, that being his similar appearance to Spark himself. While the doctor assures him that there's no shame in that name, he nonetheless agrees to look through his code. Right as Dr. Armstrong orders Fark to lie down on a table to begin the searching process, a new and unknown jester robot appears and kidnaps the doctor, leaving Fark with the goal of finding him to reveal his true identity.

After traveling through F.M City and F.M Downtown, Fark encounters the jester robot, called E.J. E.J tells Fark he won't be able to find Dr. Armstrong, and that he has orders from 'Lord' Freom to kill him. E.J then mocks Fark more before sending a robot called Ryno Dyno after him.

After defeating Ryno Dyno, Fark moves on to look for the doctor, before Romalo interrupts him. Fark doesn't know who he is at first, but Romalo explains that he helped Spark defeat Freom the first time and wants to help Dr. Armstrong. Fark demands Romalo tell him his information, and Romalo reveals that E.J is Freom's 'little lap dog', and that he saw the jester robot heading towards Technoria City. Fark thanks him and apologizes for being rude. Fark then jumps off towards Floria Highway in his quest to find Dr. Armstrong.

When Fark disappears, Romalo flies over to a Formie known as Astra. Romalo expresses his distaste for Fark and asks if Fark is really a problem after Astra says they have to keep an eye on him. Astra says that according to Clarity, Fark could be worse than Freom, and that they can trust Clarity. Romalo hesitates before he agrees but then begs to see the tech expo at Technoria City. The both of them then leave.

While Fark runs through Floria Highway and fights the many robots there, a group of three robots stare at a screen full of information about Fark. Double, Flint, and Float have been hired by Freom to kill Fark. Flint says there is no way that Fark's small body can hold much power and that he won't be a threat. Double agrees, but says they're just following out their orders from Freom. Float becomes bored, asking if they can leave. Double agrees, before reminding them all to remember who the client for their job is and that they have to do it right. Double pauses to reminisce about fighting for the liberation of robots, before remarking that it's 'really sad to see it come to an end now'. Flint is silent, and Double tells him not to get too emotional.

Before they can leave, E.J interrupts them and tells them that Freom has millions of robots rushing to kill Fark at this very moment, while they just stand there and do nothing. He then demands they get moving, or there will be consequences.

Double doesn't respond to E.J's threats and sarcastically asks if he's going to be the one to 'dish out the pain'. As he grabs his sword, he says that he and his group don't take orders from anyone. E.J is shocked by this before he quickly regains his composure and says that he should know his place and go after Fark right now.

Double kicks E.J hard in the head and launches him into a nearby tree. Double says that E.J can call them traitors if he wants, but Freom made a simple request and they're going to fulfill it. Before he leaves, Double tells him to be a 'good boy', and E.J punches the ground in frustration.

Fark journeys through Floria Plant, reaching its highest tower to encounter E.J and Turbo Bird. E.J begins another spiel, sarcastically complimenting Fark on his ability to make it this far. However, Fark is already irritated, as he gives a shake of his head towards the camera. He begins to leave, alarming E.J. E.J has to threaten Fark with the doctor's life to reign him back in. With that, E.J slices Turbo Bird on Fark, and jumps away. Fark easily dispatches it, and moves onto Floresta Blanca.

At Castela Blanca, Float and Flint are seen admiring the view of one of its highest towers. Flint reminds Float of their strategy to take down Fark, after discussing the power that Fark holds, Flint asks Float if she really has lost every single one of her memories, Float responds with a disappointed "yes", and heads off to Technoria City to fight Fark... Later on, Fark meets up with Float. Float is admiring the atmosphere and discusses the creation of it, Fark takes no interest in this and wonders about the fact Float has friends. Float decides to end the talk and just carry on with the fight at hand. After being killed by Fark, Astra applauds him and mentions that Float may not have actually wanted to kill him. Astra tells Fark about Floats creation, and the location of Dr. Armstrong. Fark thanks him and leaves to find the doctor.

While in Technoria City, Fark starts to get a headache, then all of a sudden he gets a vision. Clarity then starts to talk to Fark and tells Fark that he must destroy Freom. After which, Farks vision abruptly ends. He then notices E.J. off flying in the distance, and chases after him.

Upon winning the fight against E.J., Double mocks him, picks him up, and throws him away. Freom then arrives and informs Fark that "the doctor is dead". Fark steps back out of fear, Double tells Fark that Freom won't hurt him if he doesn't mess with him. Freom brags about his new powers and claims that he will kill Fark soon. Freom then tells Fark that his true name is "Unit-1" and that Fark is his son, and his true name is "Unit-2". Double clarifies to Fark that he didn't actually know about this. Double then commands Flint to leave. Double then notes that Fark may be "cold-hearted" due to fact he didn't actually care about the doctors death. Fark then fights Double, and ends up winning.

Elsewhere, Romala and Astra come across a "spare body" of Freom. They're confused as to why he would go through that. Astra reminds Romala that they have to finish their task at hand.

Sometime later, Fark finally confronts Flint at Titanic Tower. Flint nearly stabs Fark but, stops because he thinks Fark deserves a "clean death". Flint alerts Fark to not trust Clarity and then goes on to fight him.

Upon arriving at Hyperath Fleet, he finds E.J. damaged. E.J. and Fark argue about how Fark ruined E.J.s life, E.J. then notices a lot of other clones of him appearing before his eyes, Astra then stabs E.J. before his panic settles in. Astra assumes that Fark wants to take Freoms place. Denying this, Astra is mad at how Fark is no longer on Claritys side. Astra and Romala then fights Fark. Upon beating Astra, Romala finds out that Astra isn't a person, and thus Astra dies.

Fark finally meets Freom, Freom then explains to Fark his plan to destroy the world, he asks Fark to join him on eliminating everyone. Fark refuses and tells Freom that he will stop him, and Clarity. Fark then exclaims that he wants to be happy like how Spark was back in *the megagraph incident*. After battling Freom, Fark then sees Freom in his Mk. 0 form. He then explains to Fark that he was just made as a copy of Freom, Fark replies saying that Freoms "hiding something". Freom reveals that Fark can transform into a more powerful form at will. Freom then arrives at his Mk. Ultimate form and pushes Fark to his limits, making him go to his "Super Fark" form and manages to kill Freom.

Elsewhere, it is revealed that Armstrong and Flint are still alive in a healthy condition. They then discuss how they're going to deal with *a new problem...*

***Spoilers end here.***
## Gameplay

*Spark the Electric Jester 2* is LakeFeperd's first commercial 3D game made on the Unity engine, running on an updated version of his previous HedgePhysics project.

The player has a choice of multiple difficulties, Casual, for people interested in an incredibly easy playthrough, Easy, a still easy though slightly more challenging take, Normal, the most accessible difficulty, Hard, where enemies deal more damage, Very Hard where enemies deal even more damage, and Challenge Mode, where Fark can only take two hits and his parry mechanics change while he deals more damage to enemies. The difficulty can be later changed while playing, though it is only permanent and must be changed every time the player wants it altered in a single life, as it resets whenever loading a stage or dying.

The game has you take control of Fark, retaining a lot of his abilities from the first game, while also giving him some new toys to play with. His new Jester Dash ability allows him to home in onto weaker enemies and damages them, though tougher enemies cannot be damaged using this move. Charged up attacks now have their own dedicated button (R1), and pressing the L2 button gives him access to two new abilities, the Jester Charge, which allows Fark to charge up and gain an incredible boost of speed, and the Down Dash, a downward dash that can be used to reduce falling time and make precise landing options. His Parry is now slightly more forgiving, allowing the player to hold the shield up rather than activate it for a split second. This comes at the price of having the shield overheat if held for a long duration. A parry done early will be a dark blue and will give Fark some energy, a perfect parry is a bright turquoise which gives him even more energy, and a parry done too late will knock the Jester down and will deplete a large amount of energy, though no damage will be taken. Keep in mind that this new shield can be reverted back into the first game's parry mechanic by picking the Challenge difficulty. Fark previously could not use any special Jester Powers, but in this sequel, he has the option of using seven. He can store up to three Powers at once, mapped to the directional buttons, while the up arrow reverts him back to his base form.

Fark sees himself take fold into 14 levels and multiple bosses. The levels are large and allow full freedom of movement, with many pathways left and right. In the level, there are enemies of varying strength, Bits which can be used in the shop and can slowly heal Fark, larger health packs, and capsules containing Jester Powers. Levels are completed in a straightforward manner, with the only goal being to reach the end Goal ring. There is actually an early Goal ring for a player's first playthrough of the stage. These stages are picked via a map, allowing the player to view the world of the Moon from above.

## Stages

* TUTORIAL: Fark School
* 1- F.M City
* 2- F.M Downtown
* BOSS 1- Ryno Dyno
* 3- Floria Highway
* 4- Floria Plant
* BOSS 2- Turbo Bird
* 5- Floresta Blanca
* 6- Castela Blanca
* BOSS 3- Float
* 7- Shantoria Town
* 8- Technoria City
* BOSS 4- E.J
* BOSS 5- Double
* 9- Terminal Dragon
* 10- Scaria Stropolis
* 11- Titanic Tower
* BOSS 6- Flint
* 12- Planetary Stripe
* 13- Hyperath Fleet
* BOSS 7- Astra & Romalo
* 14- Apocalypse Thruster
* BOSS 8- Freom
* Final Boss

## Achievements

**Game Complete!:** *"You finished the main story"*

* Complete the main campaign on normal mode.

**Game Complete On Hard Mode!**

* Complete the main campaign on hard mode.

**Game Complete On Very Hard Mode!**

* Complete the main campaign on very hard mode.

**Game Complete On Challenge Mode!**

* Complete the main campaign on Challenge mode.

**Stage Rush Complete!**

* Complete stage rush.

**Jester Journey Complete!**

* Complete jester journey.

**Electric Jester Journey Complete!**

* Complete electric jester journey.

**Boss Rush Complete!**

* Complete boss rush.

**Get All Speed Medals!**

* Obtain all speed medals.

**Get All Score Medals!**

* Obtain all score medals.

**Gallery Complete!**

* Collect all concept art.

## Characters

* Fark
* Doctor Armstrong
* E.J
* Romalo
* Astra
* Float
* Double
* Flint
* Freom
* Clarity

## Trivia

* The original demo build was slightly slower, with Fark's acceleration being increased in the final version.
* The save select screen is structured similarly to *Sonic Adventure 2'*s own main menu screen, with character artwork sliding vertically in the background.
* The main menu screen is structured similarly to the *Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance* main menu screen, with both Fark and Raiden having the camera pan around them as they flash with electricity.
* The main menu screen was not the only inspiration from *Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance*, as both game share many similarities. Both Raiden and Fark are robots starring in their own game after the main characters, Double, Flint and Float are all expies of bosses in *Revengeance*, and the Static Bar is based on *Revengeance's* own FC Bar.
* The ingame HUD is similar to another LakeFeperd game, that being *XF Drive*, which also runs on Unity. Feperd also notes that *XF Racing Institute (the second iteration which was more like F-Zero)* was the base for *Spark 2'*s artstyle, supporting the connection.
* The original script contained a lot more swearing and cursing, which was all reverted after backlash following a trailer showcasing said vulgarity. The only two characters affected by this were E.J and Double.
* If the player beats the game in a difficulty setting higher than the other difficulty modes (ex. Challenge Mode), the achievement for beating any easier mode is unlocked.
* Spark 2 is basically a retelling of Fark's story from the first game with the new plot, locations and characters.

## Gallery

The game's logo.The game's logo when it was previously known as "Fark the Electric Jester".Example of Double swearing in the April demo.Example of EJ swearing in the April demo.Another example of E.J swearing in the April demo.A colored draft of the cover art by Andy Tunstall.Thumbnail sketches of a draft for the cover art.Ditto, closer to the final iteration of the cover art.