Ronald McDonald was showing off his magic bag at a picnic in the meadow, when all of a sudden the Hamburglar runs off with it. The game starts out with you and the other playable character in the game reading about it when all of a sudden you're meeting with Ronald about it. Maybe you just did this and now you're reading about it or something; I dunno.
You'll start out in Ronald's Clubhouse. You'll need to go through the six levels in the world and get at least four of the Puzzle Cards. Doing this will allow you to advance to Birdie's Treehouse. You'll be on an overworld map similar to that of Super Mario Bros. 3. The D-Pad allows you to walk on the path, and A will allow you to enter the level. If there are moving lines on the M, that means you have not completed the stage yet.
At the top above the map, you'll see your current world (and current level that you're standing at, if applicable), the amount of cards you need for that world that you have yet to get, and your current amount of lives and arches. There will also be some blocks with M's on them to the right, signifying which cards you have collected for the current world.
Level 1: The Garden
Cards: Ronald's Clubhouse
Left and Right let you move left and right, Down lets you duck, and A lets you jump. B lets you grab and throw things. B by itself will allow you to grab a block in front of you, but standing on a block and holding Down while pressing B allows you to pick it up from above, a la Super Mario Bros. 2. When you hold Left or Right, you'll gradually get faster, much like in Sonic the Hedgehog or Psycho Fox or Kid Kool, and this will allow you to make longer jumps. Start lets you pause, and if you've completed a level, you can press Select to exit the level. Pressing Select while the game is unpaused causes you to abort the level and lose a life in exchange, in case you soft lock yourself or something.
There's a lot to learn in this level. The dotted line block that is moving around won't be solid until you grab a solid block that looks like the dotted line outline and place it in the outline. You don't have to throw the block; you just have to put it in the outline. If it's a solid block with a plain face, it can be used to defeat enemies, but if it has the smaller square inside of it with the diagonal lines that represent some sloped surfaces, you can put it in the dotted line outline that is moving around.
The trampolines will allow you to jump up to higher areas. If you're holding a block, you'll get even more height due to your weight causing the trampoline to move further down before springing back up. This is especially true of the larger trampolines.
The things that look like gears with four teeth will allow to go upside down if you run across them with enough speed. This can allow you to access things you could not before. Just remember that you can fall into a ceiling and die, which is true for later levels, and that you'll be on the underside of some platforms. To get back right-side up, just run across the gear again. You'll need to do this to pick up the M Block. The M Block is actually a Card, and you'll need to collect cards in order to open up more worlds. The card here is for Ronald's Clubhouse, so that's one of the four right there that you're going to need.
The McDonald's M's - also known as arches - are much like the coins in the [i]Mario[/i] games, but if you reach 100 at any given time, the M's in the upper-left corner will flash and you'll be able to enter a bonus stage when you reach the goal tape at the end. Underneath the M's in the upper-left corner is your current amount of lives as well as the amount of health you have. Health is few and far between and you'll get one heart for every 25 arches you grab, but thankfully it's pretty easy to get lives if you know what you're doing, especially in the bonus stages.
The black blocks with the arrows pointing to the left that move endlessly will carry you all the way back to the beginning of the level if you touch them, so be careful.
Some platforms will lower when you stand on them. This will make getting around in some parts of some levels a little tricky.
The posts with the tape with the M moving back and forth is the goal. Touch it to end the level and open up some more. If you grab the arch, you'll get ten arches and make it easier to get to the bonus area. Also, you need to head to the goal in order to get credit for any cards you pick up, so pressing Start to pause the game and Select to leave will not work. Also, if you die after collecting a card, you'll have to re-collect that card.
The block with the "1" on it is a 1-Up. Grab it to get an extra life.
When you reach the end, the game will tell you which worlds the cards you've collected, if any, belong to. When you come back from this stage, one of the M Blocks in the upper-right hand corner on the HUD will flip to reveal part of a picture.
Level 2: Gopher Grove
Cards: Ronald's Clubhouse
This is where you will meet with your first enemies. You can throw blocks at the gophers that move back and forth as well as the spiders that are hanging there. Just don't run into them, as you only have so much health and it's hard to have four hit points to work with unless you play pretty well. Enemies will re-spawn if you return to previous areas after defeating them, so keep that in mind, as you can refill health by beating up enemies. Just keep in mind that the amount of blocks in a level will always be finite.
Going up shortly after the start takes you to a 1-Up.
Don't grab the blocks above the arches shortly after the start. This is a trap, and you will have to fall into the water and die just to get out. Keep in mind that if you die, you lose some of your arches.
The lone trampoline in the level will take you to the card.
The little bucket in the water will take you across to the other side. Just jump and land in the bucket, then use Left and Right on the D-Pad to move around in the water. Jumping will allow you to jump out of the boat. It is possible to keep jumping while on the surface of the water to stay afloat and then run to the other side while mashing A, but you won't be using that until you reach the later levels of the game. If you have a block, you can use it to protect yourself while in the boat, but just remember that you'll only have one block to work with unless you can somehow get another.
The platform that moves around in mid-air moves in a pattern. Ride it to get some arches, as well as to get to the zipper. The zippers act as doors to other areas, and you can enter them by standing in front of one and pressing Up on the D-Pad. In this area, you'll need to watch out for the triangles that take you back to the beginning, as unless you are holding Right when you get shuttled all the way to the left, you will be falling into a pit. If you can make it all the way to the right without touching any of the black arrow blocks, you'll be rewarded with a 1-Up. The zipper at the left end will allow you to go back.
In the bonus game, you'll need to jump on the block that lights up with the arrow pointing up. Doing so will allow you to move that block up and give yourself some breathing room on the way to the top, where you can get a few extra lives. If you fall to the bottom, you'll be able to exit, but you won't get anything. If the block you are on lowers before you can leap off of it, do not sweat it too much; you'll be able to jump on the next one (hopefully). When you're about one or two spaces away from the top of the sliders on the wall, you can enter one of the extra life rooms.
Level 3: Lazy Leaves
Cards: Ronald's Clubhouse
This is more of the same from Level 2. The leaf platforms will allow to reach some higher areas.
At the lone trampoline of the level, jump on it and make running jumps to the left to get the card. To the right of the trampoline is a bunch of leaf platforms that lead to a 1-Up, and if you head right from there, you can easily get to the goal.
Level 4: Mountain View
Cards: Ronald's Clubhouse
If you know how to explore the place, you can get a ton of 1-Ups. Once again, you'll be able to go upside-down, but be careful not to fall into the sky and lose a life.
The card is at the end of the last right-side up platform before all of those trampolines.
Level 5: Hidden Glen
Cards: Hamburglar's Hideout
If you go up at the start, you'll be able to get an extra life. Just watch out for the gopher.
At the start, use the trampolines to get to the leaf platforms that fall from the sky. Take those upwards and head right to get the card. Interestingly, this is for Hamburglar's Hideout. Hmmmm...
Watch out for birds. They move up and down as they fly towards you, making them harder to hit.
Level 6: Towering Trees
Cards: Ronald's Clubhouse, Professor's Workshop
The chicks bounce up and down, and the fact that they always try to bounce towards you will make getting rid of them with a block a must.
There are two cards here. One is just above the start, and you'll need to go up and around to get it. The other is at the top near where you need to drop down (and if you know what you're doing, jump across the trampolines to get a ton of arches).
If you've picked all of the cards so far, you'll have five for Ronald's Clubhouse, one for Hamburglar's Hideout and another for Professor's Workshop, another world that we have yet to see.
Now that you have a minimum of four cards for Ronald's Clubhouse, go back to the clubhouse to talk to Ronald. You'll be able to head to Birdie's Treehouse, but you can always back to previous worlds for lives and cards if you need to. At Birdie's Treehouse, we'll need to collect five of the cards for the world, but that will have to wait until the next video...