The game suddenly goes from being easy to appreciate to a taxing exercise in pondering why the hell a developer would making something too hard for their game's target audience (which, after some thought about who the audience is, has the potential to be pretty damn broad). I think it'll be all too easy to figure out which level takes the piss out of you.
Level 4-1
Password: Triangle, Plus, Circle, Circle
The light bulbs on bat wings are very, very annoying. They're blue when you're right-side up and red when you're upside down, and they change the gravity every three seconds while making a high-pitched shriek sound. You can't just off-screen them in order to get them to stop; you'll have to be far enough away from them to do it. They are also totally invulnerable to your attacks.
The black blobs act much like the ghosts from the last world and change color with the gravity.
The little blue guys with wings just fly in place.
You're going to have to be upside-down in order to make the jump across the platforms to the end of the level.
Level 4-2
Password: Triangle, Circle, Square, Minus
Oh, boy. Oh, no. This.
First you're going down in a maze-like section that goes downward. There are a few instances where you have to have one foot off the edge of a ledge while upside down in order to leap to a platform that you wouldn't be able to get past otherwise.
After walking around for a bit, you do another one, but it leads upward. This one is relatively easier, and is actually somewhat doable. Then you walk around some more. Then, after not seeing them for the whole level, you finally see the light bulb with the bat wings.
THIS IS WHERE THE WHOLE LEVEL GOES STRAIGHT TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET.
You have to go downwards, all the while dealing with multiple bat-winged light bulbs, and the gravity will be reversed twice every three seconds. Your only hope is to flail around on the Control Pad while at times counteracting the gravity reversing of the light bulb enemies. This is your only way of getting through this part, I swear to Jeebus.
The game is probably meant either for fans of the comic - which is a pretty broad audience - or for little kids and made as a way to introduce them to another Harvey Comics character besides Casper the Friendly Ghost (to be fair, my generation got the Casper cartoon on Fox Kids back in the 1990s), so it's pretty damn disheartening to head all the way here, then...BOOM! The game takes the mickey out of you and mentally bashes your brain in with something that is neither straightforward or a puzzle, and instead is an exercise in frustration, timing and obviously patience that you probably don't even have. Did the compass leading to the middle ground between "challenging enough to be fun" and "ingenious enough with the gravity-reversing play mechanics" break so badly all of a sudden that the developers couldn't find the parking lot?
Again...to be fair...WayForward also made Shantae for Game Boy Color, and that was a "Metroid-vania" style adventure of interesting proportions. They've developed some pretty good games, some of them based on licensed properties, this being one of them. But it just makes you wonder...
Level 4-3
Password: Triangle, Minus, Cross, Square
This level is much easier compared to the first two. (At least you won't have to contend with the bat-winged light bulbs here.) There are a few areas where it's easy to take a hit and at least one instance where you can easily fall up into a spike pit, but this level is much better.
The last part of this is a huge pit leading down. Follow the stars so you don't get hit by stray enemies. After this, the whole side-scrolling exploration part of the game is over.
Final Area
Destroy the enemies and get the maximum of five stars. At the end, you'll meet a giant dragon. Avoid the red stones he shoots out, and send the green stones back at him by shooting them and reversing gravity so the green rock hits him in the face. If you score a hit, keep shooting at the mouth. After dealing enough damage, the game is over! You did it!
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