I’m sorry, Depresso, but I just have to say this.
+~ What is Sprunki? ~+
Incredibox: Sprunki is a fanmod-recreation of Incredibox, a rhythm game where several characters are dragged into a, let’s say, “stage” and sing or add their own distinctive beats and sounds. Combined, these characters can create many different little ditties.
Sprunki, specifically, was first hosted on the kids’ programming website Scratch. It features cute little animals and other creatures, and an admittedly nice collection of sounds. It was created by the user Nyankobflol — who I’ll be calling just “Nyanko” from now on.
I’m not showing pictures because I don’t want my gallery to be tainted by their wretched likenesses, so please research yourself.
Anyways, after Scratch Team removed the original game, it was ported to other platforms, and its popularity skyrocketed… much to the dismay of the Incredibox community, social media, Nyanko, and my sanity. You’ll see why soon.
+~ I FRIGGIN HATE IT SO MUCH ~+
I hate Sprunki with a passion for a variety of reasons. We’ll be going through them step by step.
~ The Premise is Unoriginal ~
Sprunki is yet another example of a poorly executed Mascot Horror game.
See, a certain character, when dragged unto the stage, causes it all to become oh-so-scary. The characters are horribly maimed, pushed over the edge, and splattered with blood. The sky is a deep red. The Sun decided to become a cyclops. But all for what? Why is there a need to destroy the cheery ambience so thoroughly?
+ Kirby did it better +
I would like to point out a better example of this trope at play: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. Basically, a monstrous race known as Dark Matter invades a cheery planet called Ripple Star, and it’s up to Kirby and a fairy called Ribbon to collect every shard of a crystal capable of exorcising the dark beings.
Several characters in the game are possessed by it (Waddle Dee becoming an aggressive Waddle Doo, who is a cyclops, by the way; Adeleine’s face bearing an unnerving grin; and King Dedede’s body being mutilated to the point that his belly becomes an extra mouth). Dark Matter by itself is uncanny too, and especially their leader, 0^2.
Dark Matter is horrific, yes. But the game is nevertheless cheerful. It’s Kirby, damn it. The landscapes are colorful, the music happy. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards doesn’t let its dark aspects completely dominate it, unlike Sprunki, which is a nightmarish mess just for the sake of being one.
~ It’s Everywhere ~
Everywhere on the Internet that I go, there’s a friggin’ Sprunki. I log on Scratch, and what do I see? SPRUNKI. Ok, ok, what about YouTube? SPRUNKI! Ok, FINE. I’m just gonna go check OTF. SOMEHOW, SPRUNKI!
IT’S EVERYWHERE. I CANNOT STAND IT ANYMORE.
+ Crappy Mods +
Sprunki mods are basically like Sans fangames. There’s so many phases.
The characters get progressively “scarier” and “edgier” with each one. But as established before, there’s no point in making something nightmarish just for the sake of nightmarish… ness. You just get worse crap.
+ Content Farms +
Content farms ruin everything. If you don’t believe me, talk to Pomni and Catnap (I also dislike Poppy Playtime, but that’s besides the point) and they’ll tell you how horrible it all is.
The characters are abused by channels to gain sacrilegious amounts of views. Oftentimes, this content is aimed at children, even though neither these videos nor the original game are safe for kids.
There’s also that incredibly annoying “song” that goes “SpRuNki SpRuNki SpRuNki gET fUNkY fUNkY fUNkY“ AUGH I HATE IT SO MUCH.
~ Nyanko’s Plights ~
Up until now, this entire article has just been Sprunki bashing. But I’m not a hateful monster. I hope.
Sprunki genuinely has its merits. It was created by a teenager. His skills show both in the code and in the art. And Incredibox isn’t even originally a Scratch game. Sure, Nyanko may’ve used someone else’s engine (this is fine to do if you have the creator’s permission and you credit them, at least in Scratch), but still, he created a whole damn game, and that calls for recognition. His game might deserve the hate, but it’s unfair to hate him as well, something Twitter (it’s changed so much, culture and brand-wise, that I hesitate to call it that anymore) fails to understand.
Nyanko never wanted his creation to be abused by content farms, or even overshadow Incredibox. My real issue with Sprunki is how much it affected his life. Negatively, very negatively.
+ The Internet’s Laughing Stock +
Need I explain, even? Sprunki was so hated, maybe to the level Barney was, and the Internet community, especially X, mocked him and his creation to an absurd degree. He limited his presence on the web to avoid all the hateful comments he received.
But the problems didn’t end for him. Oh, no.
+ The Doxxing +
That’s right, X, the kid you’ve been mocking was doxxed.
Over a Discord server, Nyanko was tricked by some dude — let’s call him Bob, because he doesn’t deserve a remarkable name — into downloading a malicious file to his computer. This allowed Bob to get Nyanko’s personal data, and he started leaking it on X (even impersonating another user, to make matters worse). Mind you, Bob uploaded pictures of his family, his location, his real name, and so many other things. He threatened to kill him at one point.
Nyanko was forced to discontinue updates for Sprunki because of the grave danger he was in. So now, reasonably, the Twitter community would show sympathy, right?
I repeat that X does not deserve to be called “Twitter” anymore. All the userbase did was celebrate the cancellation and bash the creator more. Even after all of that.
+~ Conclusion ~+
So, now you know why I hate Sprunki so much. Sure, the game itself is kind of bad, but being coded by a teenager, heck, simply the fact that it’s a game, gives it merit. I hate Sprunki because of how much it negatively impacted Nyanko’s life. I find it reasonable to think that he would like to separate himself from it as much as possible, and he himself dislikes it… which is why I disapprove of it having such a sheer degree of presence online. I’m talking to you here, Depresso. STOP POSTING ABOUT SPRUNKI!
Phew. Thanks for sticking around in this long read. Have a good day, and don’t bully teenagers online.
AGREED, ITS THE EQUIVALENT OF DANDY'S WORLD
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