Part nostalgia-bomb, part note-taking and part FAQ, what started in GameTrailers as a video game blog is now on Blogger. This blog is a look back at video games, both popular and obscure, from the video game industry's infancy all the way to the previous console generation.
Level 6 takes place on some snowy mountains, and the enemies here largely comprise of those that you've seen in previous levels. The men from Level 3 who throw boulders now throw snowballs that grow in size the further they roll forward, but you can handle these guys like you did then as long as you take your time getting to them. The panthers from Level 4 also come back, and just like last time, you want to avoid their roar projectiles to avoid getting stunned and get past them whenever you see them.
The pirates with the swords and the wooden shields, however are new enemies. Their wooden spiked shields protect from damage against whoever is in front of them, so you'll need to get behind them in order to hit them. Also new are the birds that move up and down as they fly back and forth. They don't drop anything when defeated unlike the other enemies, but they can definitely get in the way.
You have spike pits as well as bottomless pits here, and while the spike pits are not insteant death, the bottomless pits are. Also, you have ice physics to contend with in this level. If you run anywhere in this stage, you will slide a little further when you come to a stop. Unless you need to make a running jump to get past the cat enemies than can stun you, or if you need to get past the two bottomless pits for the boss, you're better off just walking at regular speed and taking your time.
The boss here is a pirate on a weird platform that shoots out dynamite on balloons that float right towards you and home in on you. Stay to either side and take out one balloon, then get to the boss to lure the other balloon full of dynamite towards the boss so you can hit the other balloon and drop the dynamite on the boss. After three hits, the boss is gone, and you can take your place among the Lost Boys to complete the level.
You'll need to duck down to hit the snakes. Get your fly meter filled up by Tink after you drop down at the start, then jump when necessary to avoid sinking into the quicksand floor. Make sure you're low enough so that you don't jump into the ceiling spikes. From here, you'll be flying and swimming. Stay away from walls, floors and ceilings so that you don't get nibbled on by the eels that pop in and out every so often. Thankfully, you can attack the eels if you need to get them out of your way, and thankfully, they stay out of your way permanently.
There is a 1-Up after the water section, but thankfully, you don't have to drop down the area with the spikes on the walls to grab it; you can jump fly in and out and grab it to make it yours without having to take the risk if you're nimble enough.
The bigger stalactites on the ceiling will fall down when you get close enough to them. Get them to fall so that you don't have to run past them and complicate things further. After that, fill up on flight power once more so you can get to the opening at the end and complete the stage.
As soon as you start the level, you'll see Tink to your immediate right. You'll want to fill up on flight power pronto. From here, you'll want to get to the top of the waterfall, land on platforms where necessary, and get to the other side, where you can refill on flight magic just to get above the wall at the end and over the spikes. While there are pick-ups if you stay low, I found it easier to stay all the way up just to get through the first half of the level with minimal effort.
The feline enemies (Pumas? Panthers? Tigers?!?) here shoot out growl projectiles. While they don't hurt you, they will temporarily stun you. You also can't defeat these enemies either, so your best bet is to avoid their projectile attacks and just get past them however you can.
The pirates in the hot air balloons are easier to defeat if you slash the balloons rather than the pirates in them. The balloons pop and fall like a rock after one hit, while it takes two to defeat the pirates, who are shooting at you with pistols. It's better to attack the balloons. Smaller ones will show up once you're past the waterfall, and these will start dropping barrel bombs. You can destroy these with your dagger, but you're better off just attacking the pirates. The first two drop bombs, while the third moves up and down while the pirate inside shoots at you; just duck down on the ground when you see him.
Once you're past the waterfall, you'll be swimming across what seems like the ocean (which is really more like a small lake with some weird currents). Remember to hold B to stay in place underwater. If you go too far down, mermaids will show up to carry you back up. You'll need to avoid the pirates, their bombs, and the gray barrels that are on the surface of the water. You can destroy the gray barrels with your dagger, but you can jump over them if you need to with the help of the mermaids. You'll soon come across some dry land, but if you miss out on getting the mermaid to help you before the dry land is all the way to the left, you won't get crushed by the screen; you'll just be placed on the dry land.
The boss here is a flying pirate ship that shoots out barrel bombs that float downward three at a time. Load up on pixie dust for your flight meter, then slowly fly around and avoid the barrels as well as the spikes below while hitting the pirates whenever they come out of the sides or the underside of the ship. If you need to, strike the bombs with your dagger to get them out of your way. This boss takes three hits to defeat like previous bosses, but this battle can be rough if you try to rush through it or if you aren't paying attention. After this, take your place among the Lost Boys to clear the level.
Compared to the two previous levels, you'll be working your way up instead of going from left to right.
The pirates riding on the barrels take two hits to defeat, as do the pirates that are throwing boulders. You'll want to avoid the boulders and quickly get to them, but watch out for the boulders that they throw after you hit them once.
The blue plants will only eat you if you leap towards the butterflies above them. If you walk or run past them, you'll have no problem.
The archers throughout this level move this time around, and they will stop and fire at you if you happen to be on their level. Thankfully, just like in the last level, you can deflect their arrows with your dagger and/or sword.
The apple refills more health than the cherries, so pick the apples up if you need them.
Near the end of the level, you'll find Tinkerbell, who will give you the power to fly again. If you rush up and to the right, you'll get to the end immediately. If you go up and left, however, you'll find an extra life.
There's no boss here, so once you get to the Lost Boys, take your place with them to move on to the next level.
You'll start this level out with the sword. The sword has a longer reach than the dagger and can also shoot fireballs when you attack. Unfortunately, if you get hit with it, you'll drop the sword and you'll be forced to fight with the dagger once more until you can somehow find the sword again somewhere.
Aside from some of the animal enemies such as the hedgehogs that slowly move towards you, the bats that fly toward you when you get close enough and the spiders on the web strands that move up and down, you'll also have to deal with some human enemies. Some of them will have daggers and will walks back and forth, while others will fire arrows at you with a bow. The human enemies will leave random pick-ups behind, and while they are mostly treasures that will give you points, you may get the odd cherry to refill a hit point or even an extra life!
If you see any hornet's nests, do not attack them. Leave them alone; you don't want to deal with the hornets unless you can somehow swat them away.
The green leaf will increase your maximum health by one point up to a maximum of four leaves for five hit points. These things are few and far between, so grab them whenever you can.
At one point, you'll have to get down to ground level and make a running jump over a huge gap in a wooden bridge just to continue with the level. Be ready to clear the path of bats as you do this, and watch out for more bats once you're on the other side. The bats will line up with you as they drop down before flying at you.
The boss here is an old man who pops out of the holes in the trees while two punch gloves come out of two other holes. Avoid the acorns as they drop down and move across the platforms, then look for the old man while avoiding the punch gloves. I actually don't look for the old man; instead, I just wait where I began the boss fight at and wait for him to pop up near me while avoiding acorns as well as the odd punch glove here and there. Just like with Rufio from the previous level, the boss takes three hits to defeat. Once he's down, head to the right and take your place among the Lost Boys to end the level.
Disney made a live-action remake of one of their animated films before it was "cool" in the 2010s and 2020s, and it came to theaters in 1991. Unlike those other live-action remakes, which casual filmgoers liked while others on social media with more refined tastes didn't, this one is regarded as a classic. So not surprisingly, this got a few games in the following two years, and this one ended up being the development debut of a game developer known as Ukiyotei, who would go on to develop Skyblazer, Spawn: The Video Game for Super Nintendo, Punky Skunk for the PlayStation, Metal Gear 1st Mission and 2nd Mission for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and a few PlayStation ports of some of SNK's current fighting games at the time before ultimately disbanding in 2002 (supposedly) before most of its staff went on to work for SNK.
The story begins with workaholic lawyer Peter Banning being asked by his two children Jack and Maggie if their grandmother Wendy is just like the Wendy from the Peter Pan stories. Peter insists that this is nothing more than a coincidence before sending them off to bed, which soon leads to the kids being kidnapped by Captain Hook. No sooner does Peter read Hook's ransom note that Tinkerbell shows up, realizes that Peter has lost his memories of actually being Peter Pan because he grew up, and whisks Peter off to Neverland. From here, the game begins.
Level 1
Upon arriving in Neverland, Peter is met by The Lost Boys, who scoff at the grown-up man in front of them and only agree to help him if he is the real Peter Pan. Rufio, who has been leading The Lost Boys since Peter Pan left, does not believe that Peter is Peter Pan, then says that the sword in his hands once belonged to Peter Pan but is now his. Tinkerbell then uses her magic to make Peter a younger, more sprightly version of himself with a dagger in order to re-train him to fight Captain Hook.
Left and Right on the D-Pad let you move Left and Right, Down ducks, B jumps and Y attack. If you hold Y as you move, Peter will run instead of walk. Right away, you'll notice that Peter's walk speed is slow, Peter's run speed is faster and that Peter's jumps are a bit floaty. Take time to get used to how Peter moves.
At the top of the screen, you have your current score, your current amount of health in the form of green leaves, a Fly Meter, the amount of lives that you have left, and the amount of time you have left. If you run out of time, you lose a life. If you lose a life, you get kicked back to the beginning of the stage. You'll get an extra life every 100,000 points, so playing this game well will pay off.
It looks like we start out with two hits, but you actually start out with three. When both leaves are no longer green, you have one more hit left, and if you lose that, you'll turn back into Peter Banning and get kicked back to the beginning.
The two enemies at the beginning will run towards you, but you can easily hit them with your dagger. The guys in yellow and gold will leap off ledges to get to you, while the guys in red and blue will turn around at the end of ledges.
Along the way, you'll be able to pick up treasures for points. You'll also be able to get pick-ups such as treasure, health and even extra lives randomly from beating up enemies.
I had to use the arcade game as a guide for this: it's Pockets who is in the bush attacking you with bees. Attack the bees first, then advance and attack the bush that Pockets is hiding in order to get the upper hand on him.
When you get in the water, you'll start sinking. Hold B down so you can stay in place in the water, then use the D-Pad to swim around in eight directions. You can attack with the dagger to attack the piranhas that are swimming back and forth.
To refill your health, pick up cherries. Cherries will refill one of your hit points.
Thudbutt will roll towards you. You'll need to hit him twice to stun him.
As you go through the level, the seasons change from spring to summer to fall to winter and then back to spring again at the end. It's quite nice.
If you see Tinkerbell flying in place with sparkles below her, stand below her to fill up your Fly Meter. With the flight magic, you can hold down B to fly and move around in the air in eight directions with the D-Pad. If you hold down Y while flying, you'll fly faster, which the game expects you to learn how to do.
There are two paths you can take while flying. The upper path has Ace as an enemy, and you can only meet him here. You never actually see his axe in this game, as he just skateboards back and forth on the wooden floorboards. He takes just one hit to get past.
The lower path has spikes on the floor and the ceiling, as well as a 3-Up. This gives you three extra lives. If you keep heading back to the lower path and grabbing the 1-Up over and over again, you'll be able to stock up on as many lives as you need to get through the game, which I definitely take advantage of.
To beat Rufio, keep your distance and jump over him when he rushes at you. When he is down on the ground, hit him. Repeat until you hit him three times to win. Afterwards, Rufio will recognize Peter as the genuine Peter Pan, as do the rest of The Lost Boys, who agree to help Peter. We then see the overworld map before heading to the next level.
Plaque Attack is a shooter for the Atari 2600, and the premise is nothing you and I haven't seen before: protect good things from bad things by shooting bad things until you inevitably lose all good things. In this case, you're a tube of toothpaste protecting teeth from hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, strawberries, cherries, donuts, candy canes and ice cream cones...in that order. While you have unlimited shots, you do not have unlimited time, as the tube of toothpaste that you play as shrinks as each wave goes on. When it rolls all the way up, it's gone, and your teeth are at the mercy of food until the end of the wave. If you have at least one tooth left standing, the game continues. If you're out of teeth, the game ends.
You can move in eight directions, but if you press Up on the joystick, you'll face upwards if you aren't already. If you press Down on the joystick, you'll face downwards. If you're moving diagonally, you'll stay facing the direction you're already facing. Once you figure this out, playing this game gets slightly easier. It is slightly possible to accidentally switch directions, but only slightly, since you can't accidentally do it while moving diagonally. The fire button, of course, fires the toothpaste forwards.
You'll score a new tooth every 2,000 points, which is pretty easy to do early on in the game, especially when you're playing through the first loop. While this can replace teeth you've lose from foods attacking the teeth until they decay and disappear, you can also get new ones past the eight that you start with.
The game select switch lets you choose between two modes, even though there are four modes in all. Game Mode 1, which is the default, is the normal difficulty, and the further you go, the more points you get from shooting down enemies as well as the amount of teeth you have remaining. Game Mode 2 is the child mode, where the amount of points you get from everything remains small and constant, and thankfully, this mode is not as chaotic as Mode 1 if you're learning how to play the game. Game Modes 3 and 4 are the same as 1 and 2, but they are the two-player alternating variants, so you can compete for the high score with a friend. As for the difficulty switches, B/Novice allows for fast shots, while A/Expert allows for slow shots.
Once you go through the eight aforementioned foods (hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, strawberries, cherries, donuts, candy canes, ice cream cones), you will have completed one loop of the game, and it will be on to a faster, more difficult loop. Compared to the first loop, the second loop is a lot more frantic. Good luck!
Once again, Activision produced a banger game here. The game gets pretty hectic pretty quickly, and while it takes a little time to get used to how to switch between facing upwards and facing downwards, once you get used to it, the game becomes a little more fun. Definitely one to get for the Atari 2600 for sure.
