My Little Pony: The Game (Johnsonverse)

My Little Pony: The Game is a 2018 action-adventure game based on the 2010 relaunch of the My Little Pony franchise by Hasbro and the television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010-2020). Set between the series' eighth and ninth seasons, it follows the adventures of an entirely customizable pony who befriends the Mane Six, and together, they must stop various forces of evil from using the Tree of Harmony to conquer not just the pony and human dimensions, but the entire space-time continuum as a whole.

Development for the game began in 2016, with the goal of creating a video game targeted above the franchise's target audience. Sporting a combination of animated cutscenes and an advanced version of Johnson Games' Equine Engine that allows it to replicate the art style of the show, the game was released on November 29, 2018, and was critically acclaimed for its voice acting, writing, graphics, and gameplay. A follow-up, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Time to Travel, based on the Equestria Girls spin-off franchise, was released on November 1, 2020.

Gameplay
In the game, players customize the pony they play as; they can select the pony's gender (filly or colt), their species (Earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn), one of three voices for each gender (the voices each have completely different lines both in-game and in cutscenes), their cutie mark (which gives them certain powers in the game), as well as colors for any accessories, clothing, fur, mane and tail, their eyes, and styles. When not in a level, players can explore Ponyville, Canterlot and other locations such as Our Town, Manehattan, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, and Cloudsdale (for pegasi), and go to places like the Castle of Friendship, interact with other characters, learn new moves from Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts, learn new spells from Twilight Sparkle and Trixie Lulamoon (if the character is a unicorn), buy clothes from one of Rarity's boutiques, visit the School of Friendship, and buy food items from places such as Mrs. Cake's bakery, the Hay Burger, and the Apple farm, using the in-game currency known as "bits". They can also summon characters such as Discord and Trixie to aid them in boss battles, and get items like clothing or upgrades from other players in the Ponyville post office, which is run by Derpy Hooves.

In-game combat is similar to

Story
The game opens at the Ponyville Train Station, where an unnamed pony comes out of the train. They are greeted by Pinkie Pie, who shows the pony around Ponyville. They go to the Castle of Friendship, where the pony meets Starlight Glimmer. She teaches the pony on how to use basic abilities, as recently, there have been signs of a new threat to Equestria. Just then, Twilight Sparkle bursts through the door, excited. She notices the protagonist, who introduces themselves to her. Twilight responds that she knows how the threat can be dealt with.

After training with Twilight (serving as the game's tutorial on basic combat functions), the pony is introduced to Rainbow Dash.

Cast

 * The Protagonist (Filly Voice 1: Tabitha St. Germain; Filly Voice 2: Kelly Sheridan; Filly Voice 3: Andrea Libman; Colt Voice 1: Terry Klassen; Colt Voice 2: Lee Tockar; Colt Voice 3: Alvin Sanders) is the playable character. Being customizable, The Protagonist has a number of abilities to use, ranging from magical powers to more mundane abilities.
 * Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong, speaking voice; Rebecca Shoichet, singing voice) is an alicorn who is one of five Princesses of Equestria. The Element of Friendship, Twilight is a nerdy, somewhat
 * Rainbow Dash (Ashleigh Ball) is the Element of Loyalty.
 * Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman, speaking voice; Shannon Chan-Kent, singing voice) is the Element of Laughter.
 * Applejack (Ashleigh Ball) is the Element of Honesty.
 * Fluttershy (Andrea Libman) is the Element of Kindness.
 * Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain, speaking voice; Kazumi Evans, singing voice) is the Element of Generosity.
 * Starlight Glimmer (Kelly Sheridan) is Twilight's pupil.
 * Spike (Cathy Weseluck) is a baby dragon who is Twilight's assistant.
 * Granny Smith (Tabitha St. Germain) is a
 * Big Mac (Peter New) is a stallion.
 * Apple Bloom (Michelle Creber) is the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Applejack's sister.
 * Sweetie Belle (Claire Corlett) is a CMC member and Rarity's sister.
 * Scootaloo (Madeleine Peters) is a
 * Babs Seed (Brynna Drummond) is Apple Bloom's cousin.
 * Trixie Lulamoon (Kathleen Barr) is an egotistical unicorn who refers to herself in the third person most of the time.
 * Discord (John de Lancie) is a semi-reformed draconeqqus and the Lord of Chaos. He is Fluttershy's best friend, and can be summoned by the player during battle.
 * Lavan (Brian Doyle-Murray) is the main antagonist of the game, who conspires to brainwash all five Princesses into giving Equestria to him. He is based on the G1 villain of the same name.
 * Derpy Hooves (Tabitha St. Germain) is a mailmare who runs the post office. She also appears at several other points throughout the game.
 * Princess Celestia (Nicole Oliver) is one of five Princesses of Equestria and the
 * Princess Luna (Tabitha St. Germain, speaking voice; Kazumi Evans, singing voice) is Celestia's sister.
 * Princess Cadance (Britt McKillip) is a
 * Shining Armor (Andrew Francis) is a
 * Flurry Heart (Tabitha St. Germain) is
 * Pound Cake (Tabitha St. Germain) is
 * Pumpkin Cake (Andrea Libman) is
 * Dr. Hooves (David Tennant, speaking voice; Peter New, singing voice) is a Time Lord from Gallifrey who is now in a pony's body after an encounter with The Master.
 * Octavia Melody (Kazumi Evans) is a
 * Vinyl Scratch (Jesse Nowack) is a
 * Lyra Heartstrings (Ashleigh Ball) is a
 * Sweetie "Bon Bon" Drops (Chantal Strand) is a
 * Zecora (Brenda M. Crichlow) is a zebra who
 * Cranky Doodle Donkey (Richard Newman) is a
 * Matilda (Brenda M. Crichlow) is Cranky Doodle Donkey's wife.
 * Sunset Shimmer (Rebecca Shoichet) is Celestia's former apprentice. According to Tim, he intentionally put Sunset in the game as a “gift for the Equestria Girls fans”. Sunset was never featured in any advertising or even hinted at in interviews or promotions and, as a result, many players were reportedly shocked when they saw her in the game.

Conception
The game was conceived in 2015 by Tim Johnson.

Graphics and animated sequences
The graphics are designed to look exactly like the animation on the show, and all cutscenes are animated at CinarDHX Media in Canada. The standard intro for the show (which was the one used in the eighth and ninth seasons between 2017 and 2019) is played at the beginning, though it can be skipped at any time. The stylized opening credits sequence, played when a new game is started, is based on the cutie marks of the ponies, with the characters seen through their cutie marks. The sequence was done by Johnson Studios, and is set to an orchestral rendition of the show's theme song.

Release
The game was released on November 29, 2018 in the United States for various platforms, then in Canada and Europe the next day. It was released in Australia on December 10.

Anti-piracy measure
Johnson Games inserted an anti-piracy measure to check if the copy is pirated. If it is, then after the intro, all the graphics are black-colored. In addition, if any person attempts to circumvent this, then the game will crash immediately after the intro.