"Level Up" is the first segment of the thirty-ninth episode of Big City Greens.
Synopsis[]
Bill gets addicted to a farm-simulating video game.
Plot[]
Bill and Tilly are in the backyard trying to farm their crops when they realize that due to the severity of Big City and its suppressive environment, it is now almost impossible to grow fertile produce, disappointing Bill. Remy arrives to give Cricket his old console the Bintendo Twist- (as opposed to the newer model the Bintendo Twist+) and shows off the new video games on it. Bill is slightly bothered by the new gaming machine until Cricket and Remy reveal that there is a game made for people like Bill called Simulated Farm: Ultra Dull Edition. Bill is amazed by the game's presentation and is given the control to play by the boys who decide to run back over to Remy's to play the newer model. Bill ends up spending an exorbitant amount of time playing the game well on into the evening and straight on into the next day.
Cricket realizes that Bill has not slept (his avatar has) and becomes worried about him. Gramma Alice points how that the crops are withering away due to Bill not tending to them and the rest of the Greens decide to try and snap Bill out by leading him away to things he typically likes. All of these fail with Bill refusing to get up as the finds Simulated Farm to be his ideal way of living and praises it for the minor achievements he receives for performing the various farm duties. When Alice threatens to destroy the game, Bill gets up and locks himself away in his room to continue playing. Cricket calls upon Remy to come and help out; bringing his Bintendo Twist+ so that that all four of them can enter the game and rescue Bill.
Cricket, Remy, Tilly and Alice enter the game with their own avatars and proceed to make a mess of Bill's farm with him desperately trying to keep everything in order. Eventually, Tilly, in her attempt to pet a lamb via button mashing, unlocks a tornado power that allows her to lay waste to the farm. Bill finally removes himself from the game, but is still sad. He tells Cricket that ever since they lost the farm, he has felt that he has not been able to advance in life. The next day, Cricket drags Bill to the roof of Big Coffee and reveals that Ms. Cho has allowed them to add a garden to the roof of the building so that they can grow more crops under the condition that they split the proceeds. Bill thanks his family and gets an "achievement" from Tilly.
Cast[]
- Chris Houghton as Cricket Green
- Marieve Herington as Tilly Green
- Bob Joles as Bill Green
- Artemis Pebdani as Gramma Alice
- Zeno Robinson as Remy Remington
Trivia[]
- While Simulated Farm: Ultra Dull Edition is a parody of Farming Simulator, it also satirizes the simulator genre such as Goat Simulator and Surgeon Simulator.
- The brood of chickens flooding the farm could be a reference to The Legend of Zelda. A running gag in the series involves allowing the protagonist, Link, to attack a chicken (Cucoo) resulting in a horde of them attacking the player.
- As previously stated in "Cyberbullies", Bintendo Twist is a parody of the Nintendo Switch console. The controllers even resemble the Joy-Con used for the system.
- Gloria makes a silent cameo in the episode while Ms. Cho is mentioned by Cricket.
- The Green Family now has a second garden on the roof of Big Coffee, until they lose it in "Chipocalypse Now".
- Alice confirms that their crops are the "money makers" for the family.
- The Simulated Farm sequences are in the style of the popular sandbox game Minecraft.
- Moral: Stick to the one thing that truly matters to you.
International Premieres[]
- February 2, 2020 (Canada)
- February 23, 2020 (Latin America)
- May 12, 2020 (Japan)
- June 26, 2020 (Southeast Asia)
- October 1, 2020 (Portugal)