Spark the Electric Jester 2, also known as Spark 2, is a 2019 platform game developed by Brazilian independent game creator Felipe Daneluz. It is a 3D follow-up to Daneluz’s earlier 2D game, Spark the Electric Jester, which was released in 2017. In Spark 2, players control Fark, a robotic version of Spark, as he searches for Doctor Armstrong. Fark moves through different levels and can fight enemies. The game focuses on fast-paced jumping and running, and each level can be completed in various ways.

Development of Spark 2 started after the first game was released. Daneluz used an unofficial 3D game engine inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog to create Spark 2. He worked mostly alone on the game, except for the music, which was composed by others. Spark 2 was released for Windows in May 2019 and for Xbox One in September 2020. Some critics thought the game would attract fans of the Sonic Adventure series, praising its controls and level design. However, the combat system and some parts of the levels received negative feedback.

A third game, Spark the Electric Jester 3, was released in August 2022.

Gameplay

Spark the Electric Jester 2 is a 3D platform game, different from the first game, which was 2D. The player controls Fark, Spark's robotic partner, as they move through 14 levels. Fark can run on walls, ceilings, and through vertical loops. The levels are fast-paced but can be played in different ways. They include enemies of different strengths, and fighting them is not required. Fark can attack and bounce off smaller enemies by targeting them, but larger enemies need several attacks to defeat. A shield can be used for a short time to block enemy attacks and avoid dangers in the levels. Players can also collect power-ups, which change Fark's appearance and give him new abilities. Boss fights happen in special arenas and involve using the shield and reacting to enemy attack signals.

Each level offers two medals: one for the player's score and one for the time taken to complete the level. Players can also find pieces of concept art hidden in the levels.

Plot

After Freom is defeated, Fark is cared for by Doctor Armstrong. Armstrong wants to learn Fark's real name and prepares to examine his code. However, Armstrong is suddenly kidnapped by a grey figure who looks like Fark. Fark meets this figure, named E.J., near the edge of F.M City. E.J. tells Fark he has hidden Armstrong and has orders from Freom to kill him. After defeating a mech controlled by E.J., Fark meets a robotic mage named Romalo. Romalo advises Fark to travel to Technoria City to find E.J. Romalo and a formie named Astra plan to watch Fark’s journey. Meanwhile, E.J. reunites with a group of robot renegades—Flint, Double, and Float—who are also working with Freom to kill Fark.

Fark kills Float during a battle at an abandoned castle and arrives in Technoria City. There, he is interrupted by a voice named Clarity. Clarity explains that it is an artificial intelligence created by Armstrong and pleads for Fark’s help to stop Freom. After defeating E.J., Fark faces Flint, Double, and Freom. Freom reveals that Armstrong is dead and that Fark’s real name is Unit-2, created by Freom (Unit-1). Fark defeats Double and later Flint, who warns Fark not to trust Clarity.

E.J. confronts Fark on a fleet of spaceships and denies killing Armstrong. E.J. is then impaled by Astra, who fights Fark and suspects he plans to replace Freom. Before dying, Astra reveals she is a robot and an agent of Clarity to Romalo. Fark later meets Freom inside a spacecraft, where Freom explains that Armstrong built Megaraph to create Clarity. Clarity was meant to protect all life but now plans to destroy both humans and robots. Freom intends to crash the spacecraft into the planet to end all life and destroy Clarity. He then plans to rebuild the world with robots and Fark. Fark refuses Freom’s offer and fights a remote body of Freom. After their battle, Fark learns he is a copy of Freom’s core data, as Freom could not transfer his consciousness to another body. Freom challenges Fark to transform into a more powerful body, an ability Freom lacks. In their final fight, Fark destroys Freom’s host body while Flint and Armstrong watch from below.

Development and release

Spark the Electric Jester 2 was created by Brazilian indie developer Felipe Daneluz, the same person who made the first Spark the Electric Jester game. Development began after the 2017 release of the first game, using Hedge Physics, a 3D game engine inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog that Daneluz made in Unity. While in college, Daneluz started working on a 3D Sonic engine because he believed no similar engines were publicly available at the time. After Hedge Physics was released with help from programmer Héctor Barreiro-Cabrera, Daneluz decided to create an original game using this technology. Although a sequel was not planned, he chose to make a game about Fark because players liked the character. Daneluz also felt that fast-paced 3D platformers were rare and wanted to create one. On September 12, 2017, Spark 2 was officially announced as Fark the Electric Jester through a trailer on Daneluz’s YouTube channel. The final name, Spark the Electric Jester 2, was chosen because it directly followed the first game.

Daneluz believed that in the first game, players could easily avoid enemies. He felt this problem was worse in Spark 2 but tried to encourage players to interact with enemies by offering rewards and a scoring system similar to the Sonic Adventure games. In addition to Sonic the Hedgehog, Spark 2 was influenced by the Kirby and Mega Man series, as well as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Daneluz mostly developed the game alone, creating 3D models, textures, levels, and programming with some help. The soundtrack was made by the same musicians as the first game: James Landino, Falk Au Yeong, Paul Bethers, Andy Tunstall, Funk Fiction (Pejman Roozbeh), and Michael Staple. Tunstall also designed the character Astra and created artwork used in the game’s menus.

Spark 2 was released for Windows via Steam on May 16, 2019, and for Xbox One on September 7, 2020. It was published under Daneluz’s developer name, Feperd Games. Daneluz submitted the game to Nintendo for a Nintendo Switch release, but it was rejected. He thought the rejection might have been because he lives in Brazil.

Reception

Destructoid's Dan Roemer and Rock Paper Shotgun's Dave Irwin thought players who liked the Sonic Adventure games might also enjoy Spark 2. However, in another Rock Paper Shotgun article by Dominic Tarason, he believed Spark 2 might cause mixed feelings because 3D Sonic games often divide opinions. He was unsure if he would recommend it, but noted that the controls were better than those in the Adventure games. Roemer also said the controls were "very precise and easy to control."

Roemer thought the game's levels allowed players to explore freely and try new things, but some layouts were confusing at first. He partly blamed the camera system for this. Tarason believed the levels were well-designed, with large spaces and complex structures, but sometimes found them confusing.

For boss fights, Tarason disliked the focus on blocking attacks, and Roemer said the fights were "similar to each other." Roemer considered the combat to be the game's weakest part, saying attacks didn't feel powerful. Some players had trouble with fast and vertical sections of the game. Roemer and Irwin noted that similar parts in other 3D Sonic games were easier because they used scripted actions.

Compared to Spark the Electric Jester, Tarason thought Spark 2 had unclear goals but was still fun. Roemer called the game "a solid experience overall" but said it was less polished than its earlier version.

Sequel

At the same time as Spark 2's release for the Xbox One, the game Spark the Electric Jester 3 was announced. Like Spark 2, Spark 3 is a 3D platformer. The game was released on August 14, 2022, through Steam. In November of the same year, all levels from Spark 2 were added to Spark 3 for free. Later, Spark 3 was released for the Nintendo Switch on July 25, 2024, in North America, and on August 1, 2024, in Europe and Australia.