Wait – What Happened to the Other Smileys?

Oh no! It appears the smileys have been stolen! Take control of The Last Smiley to find and liberate the other smileys and make your way back to the Neoboards where you belong.

This caused users to panic -- me being one of the nervous bunch. My first thoughts were not if the game was easy or the featured game of the day, but the same question kept scurrying through my thoughts: Who stole these smileys anyway? After clicking on the link, I was brought to the game page, awaiting my upcoming adventure, knowing that somewhere, another Neopian detective was doing the same. More words followed:

OMGHI2U!!! lol ^_^... did u see wut he posted??? :)

ummm neo is broke, smileys arent working :< :<

Yes, on that fateful day the smileys were indeed not working. They had been stolen and whisked away to a place far, far away where they would have all the colour removed from them and would become plain, boring text. The players of Neopets would no longer laugh out loud, there would be no more rolling on the floor, and they could try as hard as they liked but their ... ummm .... arms would never come off.

In this game you play The Last Smiley. You must find and liberate the other smileys and make your way through the world of Neopia back to the Neoboards where you belong.

Before I begin my explanation of collected research, I must tell you that in this article, I will not provide those desperate emotionless-filled Neopians with a guide to beating all eight levels of this game, but I will explore who exactly stole these smileys.

* * *

My first clue was the easiest to spot. According to the game page, The Last Smiley is located in Neopia Central. After actually playing the game, I thought, how could everything be silvery and electronic if the game is in Neopia Central? I decided to look into this and I couldn’t find any evidence of of an electronics store in Neopia Central, so I had to move onto my next clue. But what was my next clue?

With the idea of perhaps futuristic technology fresh on my mind, I knew where I had to go. I ventured straight to the Virtupets Space Station with one question: Where’s Sloth? Instead of doing cool action flips and awesome ninja kicks to find Dr. Frank Sloth, I asked a calm-looking Grundo near the Warehouse to see if he knew anything. I recorded his answers for all of my anxious readers just below.

Me: Hello sir. I was wondering if you knew anything about the missing smileys? I’m writing an article for--

Grundo: Here about the rare items, are you?

Me: Actually, I’ve just come to ask you a few questions...

Grundo: Come on, hurry up, don’t have all day!

Me: Um, sorry? I asked if you knew anything about the missing smileys.

Grundo: Hmmm, 5 minutes till break... I haven’t had a break in hours!

Me: Um, alright... I’ll just be leaving now...

Grundo: My head is spinning with all these codes...

His automated Non-Player Character language was starting to freak me out so I backed away quickly and continued my search elsewhere in the Space Station. I eventually came across a dark path adjacent to the not-so-popular Adopt a Grundo button. I peeked my head down the long corridor and it appeared to me as if it had no end. I knew the answers had to be on this Space Station - there was no where else they could be, right? I needed to investigate further.

I walked down the hallway slowly, trying to take in every detail I could, when suddenly, a random event hit me. “Something Has Happened!” I read aloud. “It seems that you are writing an article and not a short story! Please stick with the facts and make it less detailed!” Taking the warning, I turned and ran out of the eerie walkway and left the Space Station as fast as I could.

I took a short break back home in Meridell after this narrow escape and reviewed all of my studies. I knew the answers were in this strange passageway but I couldn’t go back yet. I needed to think of a plan. I decided to search for my next clue before doing anything without thinking.

My next clue was acquired after practicing and practicing and practicing some more. I spent hours playing The Last Smiley, eagerly searching for something –- anything that would help my investigation. And on one typical, regular and absolutely ordinary night, it happened. I had reached the later levels of the game and I saw something that I had never expected. It appeared as if I was controlling the little :) in the middle of the Lost Desert!

Being the brilliant sleuth I am, I set off for the Lost Desert, hoping for an answer. And when I think of the Lost Desert, I think of Razul, but that doesn’t seem right. He couldn’t have stolen the smileys because he’s gone now... right? I had to see if I could find anything and I had a feeling that another interview wouldn’t be a good idea.

The City of Sakhmet is famous for being the “place to be” in the Lost Desert but obviously not the place to socialize. There were too many tourists for me to find out anything from the locals so I had to keep looking, but where? I explored every square inch of sand I could that day and still nothing. This has just made me more anxious to go back to the Station and explore that peculiar passage. But for now, it is still a mystery. We may never know who stole these smileys but we do know there is a way to save them through this new game. This may even be the first step to freeing them or this may be a step backwards. We may never know...