Video Game / Smoke 'Em Out Struggle

"Tight bars, little man."

Smoke 'Em Out Struggle is a Friday Night Funkin' Game Mod by atsuover^note (Who also made the Vs. Annie mod) and Rageminer^note (Co-creator and provided the voice of Garcello). It features Boyfriend and Girlfriend encountering a strange man named Garcello in a back alley, who tries to peer pressure Boyfriend into smoking a glowing, color-changing cigarette. However, as they have a friendly little rap battle, it becomes clear that Garcello is not as bad as he seems. But when he feels a pain in his chest...how will things finish?

Shortly after its release, the mod became a huge Sleeper Hit among the community, quickly becoming one of the most popular and viewed/played mods within a week! Nearly surpassing the Vs Whitty mod, the most popular mod, thanks to the combination of awesome music, unique storytelling, sympathetic characters, and a very strong and important anti-smoking message to players. This can even be considered an impromptu anti-smoking PSA in the form of a rhythm game and an unofficial Very Special Episode of Friday Night Funkin', much like how many franchises in The '80s and The '90s featured anti-smoking PSAs as Very Special Episodes.

An expansion for this mod has been announced and is currently being developed, titled "Smoke 'Em Out Struggle +", which will feature additional mechanics and songs, and an additional week that's meant to serve as what Garcello would look like if he stopped smoking or never did in the first place.

On May 3rd, 2022 (one year after the mod's release), the mod Hazy River released, which combined Smoke 'Em Out Struggle and Vs Annie which also featured a week featuring a Minus version of Garcello facing off against Blue Boyfriend. Tropes regarding Garcello's part of the Hazy River mod will be listed on this page, while Annie's parts of the mod can be found on Vs. Annie's page.

Note: Spoilers Off! If you want to experience the twists this mod has unspoiled, play it or watch a playthrough before checking out this page.

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Song List:

Original Version

1. "HEADACHE"
2. "NERVES"
3. "RELEASE"
4. "FADING"

Hazy River - Garcello Week

1. "Headache (remastered)"
2. "Nerves (remastered)"
3. "Release (remastered)"
4. "Fading (remastered)"

Hazy River - Minus Garcello Week^note same as regular Garcello, just with new names and sprites

1. "Headache-"
2. "Nerves-"
3. "Release-"

Hazy River - Bonus Week

1. "Dilemma"

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"I-I'm not giving up just yet though. You've got some tight tropes, little man.":

• Adapted Out: The Minus week sees you playing as just Blue Boyfriend, with Beta and Mean Boyfriend, the other playable characters from Minus, being completely absent.
• Alternate Universe: Word of God says that this mod takes place in a different timeline where Garcello smoked himself to death, and outside the Friday Night Funkin' universe he's actually alive and well.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's never explained what's so special about Garcello's cigarette, how he knows Daddy Dearest, or what he did to incur DD's wrath. It's also implied to not be a normal cigarette considering its color changing smoke and how it even made Garcello's ghost change colors.
  • The soundtrack video ends with a quote and a picture from Garcello stating that he's going to the Ghost McDonald's. Whether this is a throwaway joke or an implication he'll live on as a ghost is down to the player's interpretation.
• Animation Bump: The sprites for Minus Garcello and Blue Boyfriend are much more fluid and bouncy compared to the original week. The reworked Hazy River edition also has noticeably improved character speech portraits compared to the original portraits.
• Bittersweet Ending: Garcello suddenly dies in the middle of the rap battle and regrets not being able to stick around with Boyfriend and Girlfriend, but makes peace with his situation, tells the pair to stay safe, and is even able to get one last song in before fading away with the sunrise. He is also seen with a proud smile by the fourth cutscene, knowing he at least had a friend or two to remember him by just before his death.
• Black Comedy:
  • In response to Garcello's coughing fits, Boyfriend sings two note sections as if the coughing is part of the song.
  • Garcello is entirely nonchalant about his death, promptly apologizing for dying once he regains his bearings and then continuing to sing as a ghost without missing a beat.
  • The fact that Garcello has a ghostly trail leading directly to the cigarette on the ground. This insinuates that his spirit is manifesting through it, meaning that he literally smoked himself out. Indeed, per Word of God, Garcello's soul is bound to the cigarette and he fades away due to the cigarette crumbling to dust. invoked
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • Garcello lets out puffs of smoke in various colors depending on which arrow he is singing, and by "RELEASE", his whole spiritual body changes color depending on the arrow.
  • Double Subverted: In the Minus week, Minus Garcello has no color indications for "Headache-", but "Nerves-" sees the large white puff on his back change color with his notes, with his whole body following suit in "Release-".
• Cue the Sun: "FADING" has the sun rise in the background just before Garcello fades away completely, as he himself notes.
• Fearless Fool: Both Boyfriend and Girlfriend are rather foolishly audacious for walking around and entering a dark alley way and talking to a sullen, smoking stranger in the middle of the night. Even if that stranger is a genuinely friendly guy and only really posed a danger to himself.
• Game Mod: One of the more notable mods that inverts the expectations of popular FNF mods, where the usual formula is for a character to get progressively tougher and difficult with a 3rd song transformation, and here there is a 3rd song transformation but instead of getting angrier, Garcello actually gets happier, and the mod overall is very chilled out and not very difficult with the mod focusing more on telling a story rather than difficult gameplay.
• Meaningful Background Event: A set of streetlamps turn off at the end of both "HEADACHE" and "NERVES". By the time the alleyway is dark, it's lights out for Garcello. They also serve as a signal that dawn is approaching.
• Meaningful Name: All of the song names have significant meanings.
  • "HEADACHE" is Garcello suffering from a splitting headache and smokes to help the pain.
  • "NERVES" is Garcello singing more reluctantly and weakly due to being close to death from the smoking. Also a reference to Garcello's earlier comment about how smoking "calms the nerves".
  • "RELEASE" is Garcello leaving the mortal plane and singing a lot more confidently now that he doesn't have smoker's lung as well as dodging Daddy Dearest's wrath.
  • "FADING" is Garcello's last parting song as he slowly fades out mid-song.
• Monochrome Apparition: As a ghost, Garcello appears as one of four solid colors, corresponding to the note he's singing.
• Moment of Silence: When the week ends after Garcello's ghost fades away, the game returns to the week select menu but without the theme song playing, giving the impression that a moment of silence is being given for Garcello's death.
• Mundane Afterlife: Official art posted at the end of the OST video shows that after passing on to the afterlife, Garcello finds and eats at a "Ghost McDonald's".
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Played with. The Boyfriend ends up accidentally causing Garcello's death, prompting a dramatic cutscene where he coughs up a tidal wave of smoke and returns as a smoke ghost. While the song that follows, "Release", is quicker and a bit more challenging compared to "Headache" and "Nerves", Garcello is ultimately happier than he was before, as he's no longer held down by his smoking habit or the looming threat of Daddy Dearest, and peacefully fades away with the sunrise.
  • Played straight in the Minus week, which sees Minus Garcello turn into a smoke dragon for "Release-".
• Platonic Life-Partners: Him and Annie. In "Dilemma" from Hazy River's bonus week, they're seen trying to figure out what they want from a McDonald's drive-thru together.
• Shout-Out: Garcello's smoke design was based on the flames seen in Promare.
• Silent Credits: Usually whenever a week ends, the game returns to the menu like normal with the theme playing, but after Garcello's death and his ghost fades away, the game returns to the week menu without any music playing.
• Smoking Is Not Cool:
  • "NERVES" features Garcello coughing due to smoking too much. He dies after the second song, becoming a smoke ghost.
  • Boyfriend seems to think smoking isn't cool, since the rap battle began in order to get Garcello to stop trying to pressure him.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The week deals with a heavy smoker who's close to death, yet the songs sound rather upbeat for a situation like this. "NERVES", however, is slower than the other songs, as it represents Garcello struggling to sing as he is dying. "RELEASE", in contrast, is faster and livelier, perhaps to represent Garcello's release from all his smoking pains, as he becomes a ghost instead.
• Space Whale Aesop: Don't smoke... Or your soul might explode out of your body in a cloud of smoke. Downplayed as Garcello is clearly experiencing other painful symptoms before that moment, such as a pained chest and shortened breath.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Minus Garcello doesn't die during his week, simply flying off once "Release-" concludes.
• Sudden Soundtrack Stop: "FADING" is unique in that the song is short, and ends while Boyfriend is in the middle of holding a note due to Garcello fading away. This continues into the story menu, where the normal theme is completely absent.
• Walking Spoiler: It's basically impossible to talk about this mod without giving away the big twist that Garcello's smoking habit kills him halfway into the mod, and that Boyfriend ends up rap-battling his ghost.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Within five minutes of meeting BF and GF, Garcello dies from smoking and only has enough time for two more songs before his soul disappears in the morning light, with no indication if they'll ever see him again.

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