LittleBigPlanet
Further details:
- Release codes
| LittleBigPlanet | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Also known as: | リトルビッグプラネット (ritorubiggupuranetto, JP) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer: | Media Molecule | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Sony Computer Entertainment | |||||||||||||||||||||
| System(s): | PlayStation 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: | Action, Platformer | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Supported players: | 1-4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Current version: | 1.30 (Read more...) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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LittleBigPlanet, often abbreviated as LBP1 by the community, is a user-supported platforming game developed by Media Molecule and released in 2008. Marking the first installment in the series, LittleBigPlanet introduced various staple aspects that would return and be expanded upon in the future, such as the Create Mode, Story Mode, and the array of online multiplayer features like the Community Page.
In addition to the base game, various downloadable content was added post-release by various associated studios, including Tarsier Studios, Supermassive Games, and Fireproof Studios.
Many in-depth articles surrounding the game can be found below.
Categories
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Pages and categories for all of the content found in or related to the original LittleBigPlanet. |  |
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Overview
Gameplay
LittleBigPlanet is a 2.5D physics platformer and user-generated game. Prior to the termination of all online services, LittleBigPlanet allowed users to create and publish platforming courses (referred to as "levels") for other users to play. LittleBigPlanet also allows for up to four player co-op and, though unavailable following the online shutdown, once supported online multiplayer. LittleBigPlanet features a hand-crafted art style and stars Sackboy, its main protagonist, as a foundation designed not only for interacting with the game world, but also for user customization and personalization. Players can freely add on to Sackboy with a variety of assets awarded by the game during play, as well as other user-generated and downloadable content accessible online.
Aside from its focus on user-generated content, LittleBigPlanet and all subsequent games in the main series feature a "Story" mode. Along with providing a narrative and introducing fundamental game mechanics, the Story mode acts as the main way of obtaining collectibles through Prize Bubbles. These bubbles reward players with Stickers, Decorations, Materials, and other items that expand both character customization and level creation. A summary of LittleBigPlanet's storyline can be found below.
Story mode
LittleBigPlanet's story follows Sackboy's journey around Craftworld as they visit various themed locales (all of which are influenced by real-life locations and cultures). Beginning in The Gardens, Sackboy learns the game's basic mechanics from Creator Curators The King and The Queen. Travelling from The Gardens via submarine, Sackboy arrives in The Savannah, where they must make amends to Creator Curator King Zola over a broken creation, discover what's disturbing the buffalo population, and reunite a Meerkat mum with her son. From the Savannah, Sackboy travels to The Wedding to fix the marriage of bride-to-be Frida and her missing groom, Don Lu. Sackboy unites the couple and travels with them on their honeymoon to The Canyons, where Sackboy must liberate explosives expert Uncle Jalapeño and defeat the corrupt Sheriff Zapata. With Zapata defeated, Sackboy and Jalapeño head to The Metropolis to meet Mags The Mechanic.
Mags, experiencing troubles of her own, sends Sackboy to deal with Ze Dude; a gangster who has stolen her beloved car and torched her construction site with a fireball machine. After defeating Ze Dude and his Bouncers in a fireball battle, he refers Sackboy to his mentor, Grandmaster Sensei in The Islands. Sensei puts Sackboy through a ninja training course, before sending them to save her castle and flame-throwing cat from the Evil Sumo and his ninjas. With the flame-throwing cat at Sackboy's disposal, they head to The Terrible Oni's Volcano, using the cat to burn the knife-wielding, fire-breathing Oni down. With the Terrible Oni vanquished, Sackboy takes Sensei's flying machine to The Temples to buy a flame-throwing cat of their own. Sackboy ventures through the Temples' Dancer's Court to meet The Goddess, who guides Sackboy through the Elephant Temple to meet The Great Magician at his palace.
Throughout Sackboy's journey around Craftworld, a mysterious foe known as The Collector has stolen away most of LittleBigPlanet's creativity. Having come to the realization of this threat, The Great Magician sends Sackboy to The Wilderness, where The Collector has fortified himself and his stolen creations. Along their way through the Wilderness' tundra, Sackboy reunites a family of bears, while joining a squad of toy soldiers to penetrate The Collector's compound, where the kidnapped Scientist has been forced to build death machines for his captor's arsenal. Once inside, Sackboy traverses The Collector's perilous bunker to reach his lair, where he has caged LittleBigPlanet's Creator Curators. With LittleBigPlanet's inhabitants freed, Sackboy takes a tram to The Collector's mountainside lodge, where the two face down in a final battle.
With The Collector's machines dismantled, he reveals his loneliness and isolation on Craftworld; the cause of his evil plot to steal LittleBigPlanet's creations for himself. The rest of the Creator Curators emerge, welcoming him into their community, and encouraging both The Collector and the player to spread their creativity among the Imagisphere.
Development
Prior to LittleBigPlanet's conception, video game developer Media Molecule, who had previously published Rag Doll Kung Fu in 2005, pitched ideas about incorporating user-generated content into a major release. The framework for LittleBigPlanet began to pick up when Media Molecule put out a tech demo for the physics-based platforming that would become a staple of LittleBigPlanet's identity. The demo, referred to as Craftworld, featured a simple two-dimensional play space and starred Mr. Yellowhead, a basic character that was animated solely through player input via a Playstation controller. Mr. Yellowhead could interact with a variety of physics objects in his environment, grabbing and dragging shapes to alter his surroundings.[1]
The pitch for Craftworld would later come to the attention of Sony, who funded further development for the project. The emphasis on user-generated content would be a primary focus throughout LittleBigPlanet's development, following a vision of what would later become one of the game's marketing taglines, "Play, Create, Share." Art direction for the game turned toward a hand-crafted look and feel, with the minimalism of the Craftworld's Mr. Yellowhead evolving into the stylized and highly customizable Sackboy. A version of LittleBigPlanet closer to what it would become on release was shown off at GDC and E3 2007, albeit with various notable differences a year before the game's launch.[2] With music provided by composers Kenneth Young, Daniel Pemberton, and Mat Clark, as well as a selection of songs licensed by Media Molecule, LittleBigPlanet was eventually released worldwide in fall of 2008.
LittleBigPlanet would receive post-release support for multiple years, with periodic updates and downloadable content being introduced to the game up until 2010. During that two-year period, a handheld spin-off developed by SCE Studio Cambridge would release for the PSP in 2009, around the time Media Molecule began preliminary development on a sequel, LittleBigPlanet 2, which would later secure LittleBigPlanet as a franchise upon its release in 2011.
Gallery
Logos
The stacked logo for LittleBigPlanet.
The long logo for LittleBigPlanet.
An early logo for LittleBigPlanet.
The logo for the version 1.12 - the Cornish Yarg update.
The logo for the version 1.21 - the Leerdamer update.
The logo for the version 1.22 - the Danish Blue update.
Icons
Game.
(AS)
Beta.
(EU)
Game.
(EU)
Essentials.
(EU)
Demo.
(NA)
Old icon.
(NA)
Game.
(NA)
Game.
(JP)
Renders
Box art for the US release of LittleBigPlanet.
External links
- LittleBigPlanet on Media Molecule's website (archive)
- Official website on LittleBigPlanet.com (archive)
References
- ↑ The Making of Little Big Planet - (WIRED) Youtube.com
- ↑ LittleBigPlanet PlayStation 3 Trailer - E3 2007 Footage (HD) - (IGN) Youtube.com
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| Unreleased | |