PrinceWatercress plays Die Hard (PC Engine) - Stage 1 of 10

At least this isn't as frustrating as the NES game...

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This game is a top-down action-style game, much like the NES game. Unlike the NES game, however, the action focuses a lot more on shooting down bad guys and trying not to die than sneaking through the multiple floors of Nakatomi Palaza and taking care of yourself.

Stage 1: 01F

The game starts in the garden outside of Nakatomi Plaza, and just like in the NES game, you'll be playing as John McClane. The D-Pad lets you move around, Button II lets you shoot and Button I lets you jump. You start out with your fists, but you'll find a variety of guns. There will be single-shot rifles, but you'll also find machine guns with rapid fire, grenade launchers that produce huge explosions and even flamethrowers.

You have a health bar, as does the enemy. As you take damage, your shirt will look a little more drab If you lose all your health, you'll have to use one of your limited continues. You also have a limited amount of time to get through a stage, and if you run out

To the right of where you start, take out the enemies and enter the building you see for an easy machine gun. This will make it easier to plow through the enemies up ahead. The black-shirted guards shoot one bullet at a time, while the white (gray?)-shirted guards shoot three.

When fighting enemies, keep tabs on your health constantly. When you take damage, the game makes no effort whatsoever to tell you that you've taken damage; John McClane just stands there and takes it. Your best bet for going through the levels is advancing slowly, watching for the enemy health bar to turn green, then shooting them down while avoiding them and their bullets.

If any enemies are on rooftops, you can jump up to shoot them.

The pits are instant death if you walk into them.

In the second section of the stage, keep on moving forward while taking out the enemies. Pits will form out of nowhere, and if you see that happen, immediately get away from the pit that is forming so you don't fall in. 

Some enemies can drop bottles of beer that replenish two whole units of health, but even fewer enemies will drop a blue vest. This is body armor, and it turns your health bar gold. This acts as a second health bar that goes over your first one, but you'll definitely want to preserve it as long as possible, as there are only a few of these in the game. At least when you get shot with body armor on, you don't lose your main health.

The first aid kit replenishes all of your health as opposed to just two units.

When you see five enemies at once, you're at the exit. Go back down as far as possible and take them out from a distance so you don't get shot a whole lot.

PrinceWatercress plays Freddy and the Spiders from Mars - The Longplay

...and now, the game minus commentary! Enjoy!

Let's Play

Freddy and the Spiders from Mars is a type-in game for the BBC Micro from 1985, from Issue 38 of Input Magazine.

Freddy is a window cleaner with an intense dread of spiders. He's been to his doctor and innumerable specialists who cannot cure his condition. Things are so bad he now has a recurring nightmare, concerning a Martian spider, a collection of balloons, and his favourite hobby, archery.

Frequently he wakes up bathed in sweat after dreaming of beings stranded on his ladder equipped with a supply of arrows. He has been trying desperately to burst balloons, which if allowed to reach the spider's cage above hie head, unlock the doors which imprison the beast.

Help Freddy burst the balloons, or he'll end up as the spider's breakfast! Points are awarded for each balloon Freddy bursts. If he lets through three balloons, the Martian spider is released.

A and Z move up and down, while Space fires an arrow. At the top of the screen, you'll see your current level, how many balloons you have left before moving on to the next level, your current score and the high score for the current session.

As you can probably guess, you'll be climbing up and down a ladder while firing an arrow, hoping to hit a balloon. You can only have one arrow on the screen at a time, so you'll really need to be good with your shots, especially when the balloons, which always show up one by one, show up at different points from the ground. If you can time things right, you can stand in a certain spot on the ladder, fire at a certain point depending on how close the balloon is to you, and hit the target every time.

As mentioned in the instructions, you can only miss three balloons before the Martian spider is freed and Freddy gets eaten in his absolutely nonsensical dream. Thankfully, whenever you reach a new level, all of the walls blocking the Martian spider from being unleashed will be restored, and you'll be back to the three misses. But beware, as the balloons move faster which each new level, and they get pretty fast pretty quickly. I usually never make it past level 3. As a result, sessions of this game do not last very long.

The game is great for what it is, especially when you consider that it is a free type-in game. The graphics are easily identifiable, the only sound you get is the balloons popping, and the controls work like they should. However, like most of the other games that I've played for the BBC Micro, you'll get enjoyment out of the game for a few minutes max before moving on to something else. Is the game still worth looking at? Well, yes. I still have an itch to shoot down some balloons, even if poor Freddy is going to be devoured before Level 3 is over every single time.

PrinceWatercress plays Freddy and the Spiders from Mars

The game may be simple, but at least the dream is as nonsensical as those I've had in real life.

Longplay

Freddy and the Spiders from Mars is a type-in game for the BBC Micro from 1985, from Issue 38 of Input Magazine.

Freddy is a window cleaner with an intense dread of spiders. He's been to his doctor and innumerable specialists who cannot cure his condition. Things are so bad he now has a recurring nightmare, concerning a Martian spider, a collection of balloons, and his favourite hobby, archery.

Frequently he wakes up bathed in sweat after dreaming of beings stranded on his ladder equipped with a supply of arrows. He has been trying desperately to burst balloons, which if allowed to reach the spider's cage above hie head, unlock the doors which imprison the beast.

Help Freddy burst the balloons, or he'll end up as the spider's breakfast! Points are awarded for each balloon Freddy bursts. If he lets through three balloons, the Martian spider is released.

A and Z move up and down, while Space fires an arrow. At the top of the screen, you'll see your current level, how many balloons you have left before moving on to the next level, your current score and the high score for the current session.

As you can probably guess, you'll be climbing up and down a ladder while firing an arrow, hoping to hit a balloon. You can only have one arrow on the screen at a time, so you'll really need to be good with your shots, especially when the balloons, which always show up one by one, show up at different points from the ground. If you can time things right, you can stand in a certain spot on the ladder, fire at a certain point depending on how close the balloon is to you, and hit the target every time.

As mentioned in the instructions, you can only miss three balloons before the Martian spider is freed and Freddy gets eaten in his absolutely nonsensical dream. Thankfully, whenever you reach a new level, all of the walls blocking the Martian spider from being unleashed will be restored, and you'll be back to the three misses. But beware, as the balloons move faster which each new level, and they get pretty fast pretty quickly. I usually never make it past level 3. As a result, sessions of this game do not last very long.

The game is great for what it is, especially when you consider that it is a free type-in game. The graphics are easily identifiable, the only sound you get is the balloons popping, and the controls work like they should. However, like most of the other games that I've played for the BBC Micro, you'll get enjoyment out of the game for a few minutes max before moving on to something else. Is the game still worth looking at? Well, yes. I still have an itch to shoot down some balloons, even if poor Freddy is going to be devoured before Level 3 is over every single time. 

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 6 of 6

In this entry, we finally meet the Queen of Hearts and find out that getting home is anything but easy.

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Now that we have all four of the card pip badges, we can enter the castle in the north end of Wonderland, meet the Queen of Hearts, play croquet with her and win the game. Before I do that however, I head back to the area before the tea party in the Mad Hatter's area and keep going in and out to get enough stars for the White Rabbit races.

For the third race, go right at the beginning, then go through the right path again. After the two stone bridges,  take the middle path as soon as you are able and keep running forward. You just beat the rabbit in record time. Talking to the Brush Dog leads to another bonus area. This time, you'll have to go to the top and use the platforms on the way. Head to the right, get to the mini-mushroom and drop all the way back to the start. You'll need to go up with the platforms, enter the narrow paths and run off the edge to get on the next platform when it comes your way. Jumping will not work. If you take this path, not only will you not need the key to open the door in this level, but you can also find the next teapot.

For the teapot, you'll need to stand on the dark blue rock platforms to drop down. After the first one, take the second one three times, then go all the way to the right and stand on the last one for the last set. Get big again, then head upwards for the teapot and the exit. 

For the fourth and final race, take the right path after the first bridge, the left or middle path after the double bridges, then the left or middle path again after the third and last bridge area. This leads to the final bonus area once you talk to the Brush Dog. It looks much like the first one, but it's definitely different. Watch out for the vulture umbrellas as you drop down from one area to the next. Near the end, you'll need to head to the right shrink down, then go down one more level to get the teapot here. From here, you'll have to use the platforms in the lower-left corner to get back to the start. Stay to the right as you drop down towards the bottom again to get the key. You'll be able to open the door and get out of here.

It's time to enter the castle and face the Queen. Once you enter the hedge maze, you'll need to paint the roses red. The eighth and final teapot will be to the right of where you start, but thankfully, it's really easy to get to once you see it. As for the rose bushes, stand on the X on the ground near them and press A to paint them. Once you paint all four trees, you'll meet the Queen.

From here, you're playing three rounds of croquet with three games each. You'll want to press A when the arrow is pointing straight up towards the top of the screen. In this game of croquet, you'll need to hit the ball so that it goes underneath the card guards who are arched back on the ground. Round 1 is fairly simple, but Round 2 is a little more complicated, as you'll have to time it right so that you can hit the ball when the guard is in position. Since the bird that acts as your croquet mallet beats its wings before you get into position, you'll have a little bit of a delay between when the next part starts and when you can actually press A to swing. Also, you'll always have it harder than the Queen.

If you miss at any point, you'll get a game over, and you'll have to play the current round that you are on again if you continue.

In Round 3, you'll have to shoot past two guards, and this time, the guards move back and forth in opposite directions from each other. 

After making it past all three shots of Round 3, the Queen of Hearts will want your head cut off, and you'll be in another maze area. Avoid the card guards as you run around the maze and make it to the exit. Thankfully, getting through this area is not incredibly hard, and there are two specific areas where you can refill a hit point.

You'll then have to fight the card guard himself. Stay in the center of the room and jump on the guards as they show up. If you hold A while jumping off a guard's head, you'll get a higher bounce off of them. As you defeat the guards, they will show up more and more quickly, but if you use the high bounce, you'll have an easier time getting through. When you defeat enough card guards, you'll beat the Queen and you'll beat the game. Alice will get past the gatekeeper, leave Wonderland, and end up back in the real world. You'll unlock some art in the art gallery (which we'll have all the art for at this point, so you can make pictures you can print with the Game Boy Printer with everything the game gives you) and the second stage for "Where in Wonderland?" You'll also have beaten Alice in Wonderland!

"Where in Wonderland" is a separate game mode where you play hide and seek with the White Rabbit. You'll have two places to choose between if you've beaten the game - the beach and the farm - and you'll need to run around as Alice with the same controls that you have in the top-down overworld sections. From here, stand in a certain section, and if you see a circle where you are standing, press A to see if you've found the rabbit. Cold means you're way off, Warm means you're getting closer, and Hot means you've found the White Rabbit. If you find the Rabbit within the time limit on the lower-right corner of the screen, you'll get a point; if you can't find the Rabbit within the time limit, the Rabbit will get the point. If you play two-player mode, you can just pass the Game Boy Color between yourself and a friend.

With that taken care of, that's the game!

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 5 of 6

It's time for the tea party...and it's really, really annoying.

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It's time to head back to the Mad Hatter. This time around, we have the fresh biscuits, and once we show up at the tea party with them, everything goes nuts. You'll need to get a key from the Doormouse to unlock a gate.

You'll need to do this three times. You'll need to use the arrow in the top center of the screen to figure out where the Doormouse is, reach the Dormouse, get the key, and then get to the gates and unlock the next gate. You'll also have to avoid both the Mad Hatter and the Marsh Hare once you have the key and you're able to run to the gates, and if you come into contact with either of them on the way there, you'll lose the key and you'll have to get it again. Thankfully, once a gate is unlocked, it stays unlocked. 

After unlocking all three gates, you'll face the Mad Hatter himself. Duck to avoid the hat, then jump on the Mad Hatter's head while it is still bare. After about five or six hits, the battle ends, and you'll get the Diamond Medal.

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 4 of 6

In this entry, we meet the Caterpillar and float around in a bubble to spell our name.

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Our next destination is the Caterpillar. Be sure to jump left and hit the Mini Mushroom to get the stars in the lower section at the start. Brambles hurt, so don't land on them.

From here, you'll be taking a ride of the bubbles. Bubbles will pop out of the plants in this area. Jump into a bubble to ride it, then move around with Left and Right. If you hit a ceiling, the bubble will pop. Interestingly, being small makes it a little easier to get enveloped by a bubble so you can ride one. If you need to get out of a bubble early, just jump.

There are two items to look for in the second section: a teapot and the Carpenter's hammer. The hammer will be more to the left, while the teapot will be more to the right.

You can stand on the ladybugs to move across the brambles safely if you see them.

In the third section, you'll meet the Caterpillar. You'll need to spell your name (Alice) on the way to the top, and the lower-right corner will show which letters you've picked up. If you find a Mini Mushroom, be sure to explore the nearby area, as you might be able to find a letter for Alice's name.

Watch out for the mosquitos, as they will pop your bubbles if you run into them as they fly in place. 

Once you fully spell your name, you'll get a Spade Medal, then you'll leave.

We have our second race with the rabbit, since I have enough stars to do this after the Caterpillar. For the maze, it's middle, left, middle, left, and after the winding path, it's right, left after the next winding path, and after the final winding path, keep to the right.

Giving the hammer to the carpenter nets you fresh biscuits for the Mad Hatter.

Speak to the Brush Dog for the next bonus area, you'll have a more linear that goes from left to right. As a result, it's a lot easier to get all of the stars here. You'll find a teapot in plain sight at the end.

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 3 of 6

In this entry, we head to the White Rabbit's house, and just like in the movie, Alice gets enormous.

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The path to the rabbit's house in the overworld has a pink stone wall. To get the stars on the way to the house, you'll have to leap on the enemies walking along the stone wall. You'll have only one shot to get those. You'll also have to jump on the duck with the horn head to get the higher ones, and you have infinite tries to get those.

Unless you have the key with the rabbit head, you're not entering the house. Once you have it, though, you'll have plenty of bookcases and plenty of platforms. You'll need to explore to find not only the key to the door, but also the Walrus' Cane.

Run past the lanterns to get past them and the flames that they leave, and be ready to jump over the moving flames. The lanterns re-spawn immediately after they drop and their flames disappear, so keep an eye out for them.

To get the hand enemy to lower, you'll need to hold the B button and run towards it. This will cause the enemy to lower and wag a finger at you, leaving it vulnerable to a jump attack. 

The green plants will hurt you if you approach them, so stay on the platforms above them.

The red seat cushions are trampolines, and you'll need them all the way to the right of where you start in the fourth room to get the key. There will be another key on the way, and you'll need both key to unlock the ultimate challenge for this area: the cookie that makes Alice big.

Alice eats the cookie and gets so big that she is trapped in the rabbit's house, causing the White Rabbit to believe that a monster is in his house (when it's really Alice).

From here, you'll play as Bill the chimneysweep. Left and Right on the D-Pad moves Bill left and right, A picks the ladder up as well as places it, and Down on the D-Pad ducks. Up on the D-Pad near an upright ladder allows Bill to climb. Since you cannot jump as Bill, you must fall to reach certain ledges. You'll need to duck to avoid the birds that fly, and you'll also want your ladder in your hand as you do this, as the birds will knock the ladder down. Thankfully, the game is very good at telling you exactly where you need to go, although you will have to go against the arrows to pick up the teapot that is in this area.

Once you make it to the top of the house, the Dodo will stuff Bill into the chimney, causing chimney dust to go everywhere and make Alice sneeze, which returns her to normal size, while Bill gets launched into the air. You'll then get the Club Medal for completing this area.

Returning the cane back to the walrus will give you a compass.