Overview
Pixel Ponies! is a mod of Remixed Dungeon that was released by A. Wolf and Michael Pinnegar on September 9th, 2016. It is most probably based in Remixed Dungeon's just previously released version, 25 fix 5 of August 2016 as they both share the addition of the Necropolis chapter, but it does not include the Ice Caves chapter of 26 fix 3, December 2016, which was the next important change in Remixed Dungeon that could have been evident in this mod.
The mod is in some of its parts incomplete, but in its already completed parts it is still a very imaginative remake of Remixed Dungeon with My Little Pony inspired heroes that descend to the depths of an Enchanted Castle to find on its last depth the Pegacorn Pendant (Amulet of Yendor renamed) that an unnamed Princess has hidden there.
Features
Ponies spawn on the friendly depth 0, on which they find one silver key, with which they can open either the Apothecary (it contains a potion of Mind Vision and Hay food items), the Armory (it contains a Dagger and a Cloth barding armor), or the Study (it contains a scroll of Rage and one of the Book game guides). In an open room the pony will also find a Golden Sword, a Rubber Chicken and a Cream Pie, the last two being both tier 0 joke weapons (the Cream Pie has a weapon description but can only be eaten and the Rubber Duck deals 0 damage and is described as a slow and inaccurate weapon), Hay food, decorative Funny Glasses and a Seltzer Bottle, the last being also a joke item that sprays enemies with no effect. After the hero descends to depth 1, depth 0 becomes unreachable. The extra depths of the Spider Cave, the Necropolis and the Demon's Nest with the Shadow Lord as the Demon Halls' boss and not Yog-Dzewa are added, but not the Ice Caves chapter, and they contain the familiar enemies, chapter bosses and bosses of Remixed Dungeon, but this mod’s "regular" depths are much smaller than those of current Remixed and Remake PD (the Spider Caves and Necropolis have the same size though). The game is completed in the same way as in Remixed Dungeon, by reaching Yog-Dzewa through the Demon's Nest and retrieving the Pegacorn Pendant / Amulet of Yendor.
The only available class is the Earth Pony, equivalent to the Warrior of Original PD. Its subclasses are the Farmer (gets more seeds and dew), and the Bard (has more Laughter to recover easier from negative effects), with the Earth Ponies' Epic Armors being the Harlequin Costume and the Yoke and Plant Team Vest, which both enhance the subclasses' special abilities. The Unicorn, Pegasus, Zebra, Nightwing classes are displayed in the main screen but are not available.
Ponies level up in 6 different virtues of friendship:
- Honesty: equivalent to armor and weapon Strength requirements, levels up with Potions of Honesty.
- Loyalty: equivalent to maximum Speed while wearing armor and weapon Accuracy, levels up with Scrolls of Loyal Oath.
- Magic: allows the successful use of Wands, Magic Rings and Accessories, grants quicker Recharging and Resistance to debuffs, levels up with Spellbooks.
- Generosity: equivalent to Awareness, Identification ability and Regeneration speed.
- Kindness: equivalent to Charisma, Stealth and Evasion.
- Laughter: equivalent to Luck, Reflexes, Resilience and Speed.
There is no in-game specific information about how the last three virtues get levelled up.
Apart from the items already mentioned, some more items are added, either totally new or renamed and retextured to fit the "My Little Pony" theme:
- The tier 1 Scythe melee weapon, equivalent to warrior’s short sword, and also the tier 1 Horse Shoes, equivalent to the knuckleduster.
- Armors are renamed to Bardings, but belong generally to the same types as those of Remixed Dungeon (cloth, leather, mail etc.), while the Gothic Armor is renamed to Ancient Barding and the Epic Armor to Harlequin Costume or Yoke and Plant Team Vest (with different special skills though).
- The Spellbook item increases Magic by 1 point, and is a much more common find than the somewhat similar Tome of Knowledge of Remixed Dungeon.
- Most food items of Remixed Dungeon are renamed and retextured to different types of hay: Rotten Hay satisfies hunger fully but releases toxic gas, plain Hay satisifies half satiety with no side effects, Mysterious Hay has the same side effects with mystery meat, and when burned/frozen it turns to Hay Fries and Freeze-Dried hay.
Rings and Wands have various Magic requirements and can miscast / cause the oposite effect if the pony uses or wears them without having sufficient Magic power. There is also the peculiarity that there are no "ring slots" and rings or decorative items are equipped either in the pony’s mane or tail. There is only one minor bug in this mod, that the Animated Statues do not appear at all in the rooms they would be expected. Also no ads are shown in this mod, so there is the option of four different difficulties (Easy, Normal with saves, Normal, Expert) without the player having to watch ads to save a game.
Keep also in mind that a unique characteristic of Remixed Dungeon and its mods is that 2-3 additional optional chapters are available before Demon Halls and also 1 obligatory chapter is added after Demon Halls (2 chapters in Remake PD). Scrolls of Upgrade and potions of Strength spawn also in the additional chapters, but after 8 Potions of Strength and 13 Scrolls of Upgrade have already spawned, there will be no more of them (the Stranger NPC in Demon Nest will give the hero a potion of Might as a quest reward and he also sells one extra potion of Might but that's about all of the available ways to level up the hero's Strength). So if you have already visited all the optional chapters before the Dwarven Metropolis, don't be surprised if you don't find any potions of Strength and scrolls of Upgrade in the late-game chapters.