PrinceWatercress plays Bomb Jack (ZX Spectrum)

I haven't played a ZX Spectrum game in a long time. Let's fix that!

Longplay

Bomb Jack is a 1984 platformer-style arcade game from Tehkan, which would later become Tecmo. In this game, you play as Bomb Jack, and you have to avoid enemies while picking up all 24 bombs on the screen. Some of the bombs have lit fuses, and as you pick up lit bombs, more will be lit, and you'll have to pick those up, too. Those will usually be in the line of bombs where you find a lit bomb. The more lit bombs you pick up, however, the more bonus points you'll get...if you get more than 20 in total when you complete a stage by grabbing all the bombs, that is.

Left and Right on the Kempston joystick allow you to move around, while the fire button jumps. Pressing the fire button mid-jump lets you stop rising upwards and start dropping, and if you keep tapping the fire button repeatedly, you'll be able to float in mid-air, which makes it easier to grab bombs and avoid enemies. If you hold Up before jumping, you'll perform a high jump.

As you grab the bombs, enemies will pop up. You'll be avoiding mummies and birds that both move back and forth and fly around the screen respectively, but eventually the mummies will tumble to the bottom and turn into flying saucers and slugs that will seek you out and destroy you if they get to you. The birds are just as bad as the transformed enemies, as they will constantly take the shortest path towards you and constantly get in your way because of that.

As you play, power-ups will also show up. The B icons will give you bonus multipliers up to 5x that will multiply the amount of points you get from grabbing bombs, while the E icon will give you an extra life if you're lucky enough to encounter one and grab it. Unfortunately, the E icons are the only way to get bonus lives in this game, as you cannot get any off of points. The P icon is the most important, however, as it turns the enemies into bonus coins for a short period, and if you can grab these coins before they turn back into the enemies, you'll get rid of the enemies for a brief time and you'll get points for it.

There are five backgrounds in all, and once you see all five, they will loop. As for the level designs themselves, however, they do not seem to loop like the backgrounds do, and there is also no ending.

Despite my initial misgivings with the game, I ended up enjoying it. You can tell which bombs are lit just by paying attention a little bit, and it's actually easier than I expected to see where both I, the enemies, the bombs and the platforms are despite the obvious limitations in the ZX Spectrum's hardware. The gameplay was pretty responsive and did not give me any trouble, and once I learned how to high jump, control my jumps, and even float, things got a lot better. Even the gaming press in the UK loved this port, with Crash! giving the game a Smash award and a 92% rating, calling it a great arcade conversion. It was also #2 on the UK sales charts in 1984, kept off the top by Green Beret, only to make it to the top of the all-formats chart two years later when it received a budget re-release. If you're looking for arcade action for the Speccy, this is a really good place to start.

PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 6 of 6

In this entry, we finally beat Blackhorn, rescue Princess Rosebud and return to our world.

First | Previous

Round 6-1: Thelenea

This level is a maze. The first door that you see is obviously where you want to. Just stand in front of it and hold Up on the D-Pad until you enter the next section. (Thankfully, this is also mentioned in the game's manual.)

From here on out, you're on your own. Here's where you figure out where you need to go: look for the skeletons. If you see a skeleton, fight it, then go through the door it spawned next to. Keep doing this until you reach the final area. You'll face a slime knight who will teleport in and out and strike with his weapon. You'll want to hit him with the most powerful strikes that you have, and you'll want to get the health that is in the statue just before you kill him.

You'll then meet Thorndog. Destroy the hand whenever it spawns, then strike at the purple medallion in the center as powerfully as you can while avoiding the purple orbs that move around in sine wave patterns. If you need to use your magic, do it.

Once you beat Thorndog, Thorndog will curse Astyanax so that when Thorndog dies, so will Astyanax. Cutie breaks the seal on Thorndog's curse by sacrificing herself.

Round 6-2: Tower

You'll face a boss rush as soon as you enter this level. The bosses you'll face are the boss from Round 1-1 (the bouncy guy), the boss from Round 2-1 (the slimy guy with the eye), the boss from Round 3-1 (the minotaur), the rock throwing boss from Rounds 1-2 and 3-2, and the hawk and lion boss from Round 5-1. The same strategies apply, and there will be a platforming taking you to the next fight whenever you beat a boss.

Unlike the first time, however, I focused on the hawk instead of the lion for the last boss. I just kept attacking the hawk with powerful jump attacks while jumping over the lion. For some reason, it made that fight easier for me. Regardless of which enemy in that combo you defeat first, they both eventually combine into the same second phase.

You'll then get a full health refill and a range increase before you face Blackhorn. After a cutscene, get away from Blackhorn so that he strikes with his magic instead of his sword. You'll know when he is attacking with his magic when he stands there with the electricity flowing between his hands. You'll want to keep striking him with powerful attacks so that he doesn't hit you with a full-screen magic attack. Blackhorn will also keep teleporting in and out, and if you're too close to him, he will slash at you with a sword instead. It doesn't have a good amount of range, and if you get away from him, you can avoid it.

After doing enough damage, you'll then face a transformed Blackhorn. Blackhorn is now a dragon, and you'll need to strike the red jewel in his chest while avoiding or slashing at the fireballs that he spits out. The jewel will keep moving in and out of existence, so if it disappears, stay away from Blackhorn and keep avoiding or striking the fireballs. If the fireballs land on the ground, they will move towards you, and you'll need to jump over them as they travel across the floor. Blackhorn starts out silver, but he turns gold after enough damage and turns red when he is near-death. When he turns red, hit him with the fire magic while the jewel in the chest is out. It will usually take him out and make this fight go a little faster at the end.

Once you beat Blackhorn, you'll save Princess Rosebud, then Astyanax will be teleported back to his world. When he is, he suddenly runs into a girl who turns out to be Cutie in human form. This ends up being a reward given to Cutie by Princess Rosebud for her bravery, and Cutie ends up staying in the real world with Astyanax. The game then ends. You just beat [i]Astyanax[/i]!

PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 5 of 6

We have one more short stage before entering the final stretch...

First | Previous | End

Round 5-1: Telugamn

You'll want to keep your strikes as powerful as possible when fighting the monsters, which are mostly the same as Round 4-1. Also, watch out for plants. You may have to use magic to take care of some of those plant enemies.

The boss here is a lion and a hawk. The lion runs back and forth while the hawk flies back and forth while performing the occasional divebomb. You'll want to take the lion out first, as it's much easier to defeat than the hawk. The hawk will start carrying the lion around, and you'll want to strike it so that it's high enough up in the sky so that you can duck under the divebomb attacks.

Round 5-2: Cliff

You have another vertical level full of the blob and plant enemies, so use what you learned in Round 1-2 and use it here. Make sure you jump all the way up at the center when you reach the top. The boss is the mini-boss as from Round 3-2; the only difference is that if you've been doing well, you may be able to take him out even faster.

You'll then find out that you're in the castle maze. Rosebud tells you to pay attention to the signs so you can reach Blackhorn, but at this point, her magic weakens.

PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 4 of 6

If you can persevere through the swamp, you'll make it into enemy territory. Onwards!

First | Previous | Next | End

Round 4-1: Marshy

To take care of the enemies that hide in the water below, let them come to you, then strike them on their way up and again on their way down, assuming that you have enough power to do it. If they land, they will follow you around and spit projectiles. If you can, move far enough away so that you can off-screen them out of existence. You'll want to do the same for the ones that leap in and out of the water between smaller platforms, who can also throw spears in mid-air.

The piranhas bounce around. You'll want to move a little further to keep them from re-spawning, then hit them when they're at the right height when they're in front of you. You may have to move yourself into position in order to make that happen without getting hit.

A plant will spawn to the left of one of the power-up statues; you'll need to be on the edge and crouch strike it repeatedly to get rid of it.

If you find Cutie inside of a power-up statue, jump up to her to talk to her. Press Down if you want to change your weapon or Up if you want to refill your magic. Good thing I needed the magic.

The mid-boss is a gold skeleton. He just fights like the rest of the skeletons in the game and just takes a lot more damage than the rest of them. That's it.

Round 4-2: Grave

The butterflies are just like the floating blobs; the only thing different about them is their appearance.

The skeletons can also perform a huge flying leap in addition to attacking and throwing out projectiles, but it won't exactly save them from getting smashed.

There are a couple of plants in this level. I hit the first one with magic, but the other ones can easily be taken care of with your weapon.

The mini-boss is a purple wraith who can freeze you in place for a few seconds in addition to tossing projectiles. You'll want to move back and forth to avoid the mini-boss teleporting on top of you, then get right up to it and hit it with powerful weapon strikes. This will help off-set any times that the mini-boss is able to freeze you in place.

You'll then fight the boss: a tree beast that moves back and forth and throw out green seed projectiles that roll forward and turn into plants while also stopping to hit you with some sort of vine tongue. Keep jumping up and hitting him in the face with powerful strikes, and take out those green seeds before they become a problem.

You'll then arrive at Blackhorn's lair in Thelenea. The end of the game is in sight...

PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 3 of 6

This is the last easier level in the game. Things are going to get a little more difficult from here on out...

First | Previous | Next | End

Round 3-1: Ryogoku

Be careful with the platforms at the start. Make sure you move just a little bit to the right of the spawn points for those flying blob enemies, because some of them will fly at ground level and you will definitely need to get rid of them. There's also a plant on one of the platforms, and you'll need to get rid of it as well when it pops up.

If you've been doing well so far and you've gotten your power meter to a considerable level, you can take out the skeletons here in one shot.

Land at the edge of the platform with the third power-up statue, then immediately duck and strike. This will kill the plant that shows up right away.

The red potions refill just three hearts, but the blue potions are a full health refill.

The mini-boss here is a minotaur with an electric charge around his horns and a full-screen thunder attack that rains down, much like Magical Stardust from [i]Actraiser[/i]. Keep hitting him with powerful strikes at regular intervals so he attacks as little as possible, and if he goes over the side of the screen, he will wrap around to the other side and you won't be able to hit him in time before he attacks. Thankfully, you should be able to do more damage before you meet him on the other side to repeat the process.

Round 3-2: Rent

It's another vertical section, but this time, you're going downwards instead of upwards. The tiny dragon enemies you'll encounter here may be nothing to worry about, but they can pop up when you least expect them as you make your way downwards, and you can lose a little bit of health from touching one. Those hits can add up.

The mini-boss here will move towards you and throw rocks every so often. You'll want to jump over him immediately after he throws a rock so you don't get hit. Keep hitting him with powerful strikes and you'll ensure that you spend as little time with this guy as possible, even if you can easily anticipate where his rocks will go.

The boss is some sort of rock creature with a spiky face in the middle. You'll want to avoid the spiky balls that it throws: one completely overhead, which is only a problem if the boss is far away when it fires it, and the other one that has less distance and bounces along the ground. You'll want to jump over that ball when it is low to the ground. Keep striking the face, but be ready to avoid the spiked balls every so often. When you expose the pink face behind it, you'll only need to hit a few more strikes before the second phase.

For the second phase, the pink enemy in the rock flies back and forth and shoots bubbles downward that move in a sine wave pattern. Avoiding the bubbles while striking with powerful attacks at regular intervals is harder than it seems, and every so often, the boss will speed up for a second and potentially ram into you as it flies around. If you run low on health, use your magic; it'll get you out of a jam here.

After the round ends, Blackhorn knows that Astyanax and Cutie are getting closer. Thorndog assures Blackhorn that they will not make it any further and that he has strengthed the spell he has cast on Princess Rosebud and has now stopped her from communicating with Cutie telepathically. Rosebud says that Astyanax and Cutie will show up, but Blackhorn sees them as just a speed bump in taking Rosebud's power and ruling the world.

PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 2 of 6

In this entry, we face a few more bosses while also tackling our first strictly vertical level.

First | Next | End

Round 2-1: Redroad

The pink skeletons not only shoot projectiles, but they will also strike low in case you're ducking.

Watch out with the small platforms. There's a plant shortly after the beginning, and another one at the end. Both spit fireballs. If you know what you're doing, you can land at the edge at the end, duck down and kill the plant in one shot if your swing is powerful enough. Otherwise, use magic.

When possible, let the flying blob enemies you've been seeing since Round 1-1 move past you. Whatever you do, don't stand where they spawn out from; otherwise they'll come back the instant you kill them or let them leave the screen.

The boss here is a green, one-eyed blob monster who travels across the floor. When you strike him, he rises and strikes back. Keep your distance and strike with your most powerful blows at all times. Thankfully, jumping over him does not put you in any peril, so feel free to do so as long as he's moving around.

Round 2-2: Inazumi

This is your first vertical level. Always jump straight up first before advancing, as this will show more of the level and also reveal some enemies ahead of time, such as the blobs that move back and forth and occasionally rise from the floor to throw spears at you. 

Keep holding the direction you're wanting to go in case you get caught on a platform while jumping from place to place; you'll get to where you need to go more often than not.

When you reach the top of the stage (you'll know it when you see it, as it's all floor with nowhere else to jump to), go all the way to the center, then jump. You'll trigger the mini-boss, which is a dragon-like creature that divebombs you. Avoid the projectiles that it shoots out in diagonal directions by keeping your distance, and strike it enough times with powerful blows from your weapon so that it backs up to the top of the screen. By doing this, you can stay on the ground and the mini-boss will have less of a chance to hit you. Be ready to back the mini-boss up to the top again after it attacks.

The boss is some sort of Medusa-like creature. You'll want to attack the purple jewel on his stomach by crouching down and striking it, and you'll want to be close enough so that you can duck under its hand when it claws at you  and still attack. It will also send two snakes at you, but you can turn around while ducking to strike them both down easily. After this boss sends out four snakes, it immediately disappears and come out from the other side of the screen, alternating between the left side and the right side each time. Thankfully, this boss is deceptively easy if you know what to do.

After the boss battle, Astyanax gets homesick, and Cutie apologizes for putting him through that, as Thelenea - where we need to go to face Blackhorn - is so far away.

PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 1 of 6

Didn't think I would play and beat this one, but after seeing a Let's Play of this game while moving house yet again last year, I had to give this one a shot.

Next | End

"Astyanax...Astyanax...I'm waiting..."

That same dream again...strange.

I'm Astyanax. The name comes from Greek mythology, I think. I'm a freshman here at Greenview High.

I don't understand what the dream means.....and who is that girl??..

The other day I was walking to school.....

"Astyanax. Astyanax."

What the heck....

And from here, we get teleported to another world, and the game begins.

Interestingly, the name is from Greek mythology; Astyanax is the son of Hector of Troy and Queen Andromache from The Iliad.

Round 1-1: Remlia

As soon as the game begins, Astyanax finds himself in Remlia, and he meets a fairy named Cutie. Cutie brought Astyanax to Remlia to rescue Princess Rosebud, who has been captured by the evil wizard Blackhorn and has been appearing in Astyanax's recurring dreams, as he possess "the miracle power." Cutie also reveals that only Rosebud has the power to return him home. Cutie gives Astyanax the magic axe known as Bash, which will be his weapon for the adventure, and Astyanax is soon on his way.

Left and Right move Astyanax left and right, Down ducks, A jumps, and B attacks. Start pauses the game, and while the game is paused, you can switch between one of a few magic spells with the Control Pad. I stick to the default magic throughout the game. Magic spells are cast by holding up and pressing A. You have three spells: Bind, which freezes enemies for several second (represented by a circle); Blast, which damages all enemies on-screen (represented by a flame); and Bolt, which kills all-on screen enemies and can severely damage bosses yet uses more magic than Blast does (represented by a lightning bolt).

At the bottom of the screen is all of the important information. From the left, you have your current score, the current amount of lives that you have left, the current round that you are on, and the current spell that you have equipped. To the right of all that is your power gauge, your life meter and your spell meter. The power gauge empties and slowly refills after you strike with the B button, and the more it is filled up, the more your next attack will be. The life meter shows how much health you have. The spell gauge decreases when you use your magic.

You'll meet your first enemies here. The flying enemies will just fly past you, and unless they are directly in your way, you won't need to attack them. The jellyfish drop projectiles that won't damage you, but if you hit them, you'll be stunned for a few moments before you can move again. You'll want to attack only the jellyfish with the most powerful strikes that you can. The skeletons will pop out of the floor; you'll want to let them come to you, then strike them when they are in range of your weapon.

The statues contain power-ups. The glass container will increase the maximum power of your power gauge, allowing you to strike more powerfully with your weapon. Keep in mind that the more of these you pick up, the more time you'll need to wait before it slowly fills all the way up. This is a good thing, as you actually don't want to rush your way through the rounds. You'll want to move through this game slowly and carefully. Unless you're on the exact point that a flying enemy will spawn, you can easily stay in place and wait for your power gauge to fully refill so you can get past some of the enemies that will be in your way more easily.

Be careful when jumping over pits; you never know when you might run into a plant enemy that will sprout out and spit projectiles upwards. You'll want to fight them from a short distaance with your weapon or with your magic. If you can do it with your weapon, do so; it saves magic for the boss battles.

Grabbing the axe item lets you change the axe into a sword. The sword not only makes your physical strikes more powerful without adding to the power meter, but it also powers up your magic at the expense of using more of the spell meter. It is possible to get a spear, but it is less powerful.

The red potions give you three hearts for your health, but the blue potions refill all of the health meter.

The mini-boss is a bouncing boulder enemy. Grab the power-up at the end before the boss battle is over, then keep your distance as you strike while the boss bounces around. You'll want to keep your distance from the mini-boss and walk past him when the opportunity allows for it. When he opens up and stands still, get close to him and keep striking him with powerful physical attacks while ducking down.

The power-up that looks like a shield is really a pair of wings, which allows you to attack more quickly with your physical weapon.

The boss is a knight on a giant creature. You'll need to attack the head of the giant creature first. Jump over the head when it flies around in a circle, and watch out for the projectiles that it spits out, which won't be much of a problem as long as you stay close to the boss and duck. Once the creature is defeated, you have the knight left. Attack with your physical weapon and trap the knight against the wall, then duck and keep striking repeatedly from a short distance when the knight is backed to the wall.

After the boss battle, Thorndog will tell Blackhorn that Caesar, the boss we just defeated, has been killed. Blackhorn will soon notice that Cutie has brought Astyanax here, and demands Astyanax be destroyed.

PrinceWatercress plays Venture for Atari 2600 - The Longplay

...and now, Venture for the Atari 2600, minus commentary! Enjoy!

Let's Play

Venture is a game by Exidy in which you go through a world with several buildings that you need to enter, get the treasure out of and then get out of in one piece. The game was ported to a good amount of systems back in 1982, with the Atari 2600 being one of them.

You start out in front of a bunch of purple buildings. The single lone purple pixel that looks like it is out of place is you. Yes, you actually control this pixel. This pixel is you. By going into the gaps in the walls of the buildings, you can enter the buildings proper. Here, you can move around, but you can also press the fire button to fire arrows at enemies - something you can't do in the overworld where you're one small, tiny pixel. The arrows have limited range, but you have an unlimited amount of arrows and you can never run out. The dot near the happy face that represents your character indicates where you will fire, and that dot will change position every time you move in a different direction, and the direction that you last went will be where you fire your arrow. Enemies hurt you not only when they are alive, but also when their corpses are still on the screen; if you touch the enemies' corpses before they disappear off the screen, that will cost you a life. As mentioned before, you'll want to get the treasure in the building, then get back out through any of the gaps in the building walls, which counts as both entrances and exits. If you take too long, an indestructible demon that can travel through walls and will always take the shortest path towards you will show up, and if it touches you, you're losing a life.

At the top of the screen, you have your current amount of points in the center, and your lives will be the squares in the upper-right corner. Lose all your lives and the game is over. Sadly, you cannot get points out of extra lives in this game.

The hardest part of the purple buildings is the building in the upper-left part of the map. Here, there are moving red walls, and if any of them touch you, you will lose a life. You'll need to line yourself up with the gaps and make your moves quickly in order to get in the center, grab the treasure and get out before the indestructible demon shows up and ruins your day.

Once you collect all of the treasures in the purple buildings, you'll move on to the blue buildings. This is more of the same, and sadly, there isn't any moment on the blue map that matches the building with the moving walls on the purple map. Once you collect everything in the blue buildings, you'll have completed one loop of the game, and you'll go back to the purple map, but this time, the enemies will be faster and will move around more randomly. The second loop is also much more difficult compared to the first one.

The game does not seem like much, but it does make history as one of the first, if not the first, popular adventure-style games (other than Rogue) to be played from a top-down perspective, and even predates the very first Zelda game by a few years. The graphics are very simple and very identifiable, and gameplay is pretty simple, and while the first loop of the game is easy enough to get through, the second loop and every loop after that is a lot harder to clear. While this port is much more scaled down compared to the arcade original (there are two maps instead of three, graphics are more rudimentary, far less treasures are available to collect, and no music plays at all), it is still a decent effort and well worth putting in your Atari 2600 library.

PrinceWatercress plays Venture for Atari 2600

Welp, time to play yet another game from the pre-Nintendo Entertainment System days of yore. Interestingly, this one is a little more up my alley.

Longplay

Venture is a game by Exidy in which you go through a world with several buildings that you need to enter, get the treasure out of and then get out of in one piece. The game was ported to a good amount of systems back in 1982, with the Atari 2600 being one of them.

You start out in front of a bunch of purple buildings. The single lone purple pixel that looks like it is out of place is you. Yes, you actually control this pixel. This pixel is you. By going into the gaps in the walls of the buildings, you can enter the buildings proper. Here, you can move around, but you can also press the fire button to fire arrows at enemies - something you can't do in the overworld where you're one small, tiny pixel. The arrows have limited range, but you have an unlimited amount of arrows and you can never run out. The dot near the happy face that represents your character indicates where you will fire, and that dot will change position every time you move in a different direction, and the direction that you last went will be where you fire your arrow. Enemies hurt you not only when they are alive, but also when their corpses are still on the screen; if you touch the enemies' corpses before they disappear off the screen, that will cost you a life. As mentioned before, you'll want to get the treasure in the building, then get back out through any of the gaps in the building walls, which counts as both entrances and exits. If you take too long, an indestructible demon that can travel through walls and will always take the shortest path towards you will show up, and if it touches you, you're losing a life.

At the top of the screen, you have your current amount of points in the center, and your lives will be the squares in the upper-right corner. Lose all your lives and the game is over. Sadly, you cannot get points out of extra lives in this game.

The hardest part of the purple buildings is the building in the upper-left part of the map. Here, there are moving red walls, and if any of them touch you, you will lose a life. You'll need to line yourself up with the gaps and make your moves quickly in order to get in the center, grab the treasure and get out before the indestructible demon shows up and ruins your day.

Once you collect all of the treasures in the purple buildings, you'll move on to the blue buildings. This is more of the same, and sadly, there isn't any moment on the blue map that matches the building with the moving walls on the purple map. Once you collect everything in the blue buildings, you'll have completed one loop of the game, and you'll go back to the purple map, but this time, the enemies will be faster and will move around more randomly. The second loop is also much more difficult compared to the first one.

The game does not seem like much, but it does make history as one of the first, if not the first, popular adventure-style games (other than Rogue) to be played from a top-down perspective, and even predates the very first Zelda game by a few years. The graphics are very simple and very identifiable, and gameplay is pretty simple, and while the first loop of the game is easy enough to get through, the second loop and every loop after that is a lot harder to clear. While this port is much more scaled down compared to the arcade original (there are two maps instead of three, graphics are more rudimentary, far less treasures are available to collect, and no music plays at all), it is still a decent effort and well worth putting in your Atari 2600 library.

PrinceWatercress plays Coconuts for Atari 2600 - The Longplay

...and now for a longplay of this game, minus commentary! Enjoy!

Let's Play

Coconuts is a really simple one-screen game for the Atari 2600 from 1982. You play as jungle explorer Stanley I. Presume, and you have to move around to avoid coconuts thrown by a monkey at the top of the trees. That's it. That's the game. You move left and right with Left and Right on the joystick, and those are your only controls. By holding the stick in a direction, you move faster. The fire button is used to start the game and is used to start playing again when the monkey takes a break from throwing coconuts, which also allows you to take a breather for as long as you need. Stanley moves more quickly on B/Novice than he does on A/Expert. You have three points of protection: the umbrella on top of your hat, the hat on your head and your head itself. If you get hit on the head without any head protection, the game is over. If you reach 500 points, you'll recover the last piece of head protection that you lost, and you'll be able to do it again if you reach 1500 points, which can be pretty difficult to do. Points are awarded by dodging coconuts. You'll get five points at first, and that will slowly increase in five-point increments all the way up to twenty points.

It's a simple and fun game and there's not much to it, and what you see is what you get. This could have been considered a classic if it were released a couple of years earlier, but by 1982, there were much more complex games around, and by this point, you had a lot of the Atari classics such as Centipede and Missile Command, and even Nintendo's own Donkey Kong kicking around in the arcades. Still, if you're looking for a simple game for the Atari 2600, this one is a good place to start.

PrinceWatercress plays Coconuts for Atari 2600

Time to play another simple arcade-style game on the Atari 2600, and Coconuts is about as simple as it gets.

Longplay

Coconuts is a really simple one-screen game for the Atari 2600 from 1982. You play as jungle explorer Stanley I. Presume, and you have to move around to avoid coconuts thrown by a monkey at the top of the trees. That's it. That's the game. You move left and right with Left and Right on the joystick, and those are your only controls. By holding the stick in a direction, you move faster. The fire button is used to start the game and is used to start playing again when the monkey takes a break from throwing coconuts, which also allows you to take a breather for as long as you need. Stanley moves more quickly on B/Novice than he does on A/Expert. You have three points of protection: the umbrella on top of your hat, the hat on your head and your head itself. If you get hit on the head without any head protection, the game is over. If you reach 500 points, you'll recover the last piece of head protection that you lost, and you'll be able to do it again if you reach 1500 points, which can be pretty difficult to do. Points are awarded by dodging coconuts. You'll get five points at first, and that will slowly increase in five-point increments all the way up to twenty points.

It's a simple and fun game and there's not much to it, and what you see is what you get. This could have been considered a classic if it were released a couple of years earlier, but by 1982, there were much more complex games around, and by this point, you had a lot of the Atari classics such as Centipede and Missile Command, and even Nintendo's own Donkey Kong kicking around in the arcades. Still, if you're looking for a simple game for the Atari 2600, this one is a good place to start.

PrinceWatercress plays Whoopsy - The Longplay

Now for the game, minus commentary! Enjoy!

Let's Play

Whoopsy is a game for the BBC Micro from 1985 where you're playing as a baby who was to avoid his mum and collect his toys, all the while taking a dump on the floor in order to keep as much distance between yourself and your mum as possible. Collecting all the toys takes you to the next level. As you're doing all this, you'll only have a limited amount of "whoopsies" that you can make (read: taking a dump on the floor), and you'll also have to avoid the moving toilets, as touching the toilets causes you to lose one of your whoopsies. If you get caught by your mum, you lose a life and you also receive some slightly annoying red and blue flashing. Lose all your lives, and the game is over.

: moves up, / moves down, Z moves left and X moves right. Space lets you take dump on a floor aka "make a whoopsy." Escape lets you back out to the main menu. Joysticks can also be plugged in and used; just switch to joystick control on the main menu. You can change those keys at any time in the main menu, which I gratefully welcome. 

When you leave a whoopsy on the floor, your mum will not be able to harm you; instead, she will go right for the whoopsy and clean it up. As soon as she gets to the whoopsy, however, the whoopsy disappears and she will immediately get back to chasing you. No cleaning animation or anything of the sort occurs; the crap is gone and she gets right back on you immediately. The placement of your whoopsies is absolutely crucial because of this.

Bonus lives are awarded at 50,000 and 100,000 points, assuming you can make it that far.

On the main menu, you'll see the top nine scores, you can start the game, change the difficulty level from 1 to 9 with the number keys, switch the music on and off, and switch between keyboard and joystick controls. Space Bar starts the game.

As soon as the game starts, you have to make a whoopsy in order to move. I'm not making the rules here; you actually have to use one of your whoopsies to get everything moving. At least you can plot your course before you take a dump on the floor, so that's a plus. Also, I'm beginning to wonder if what I'm typing is what it will sound like if Aqualung from Aqualung's Game Reviews ever sat down and reviewed this game for YouTube.

At the top of the screen, you'll see your high score, your current level, your current score and the amount of bonus points you'll earn - which slowly ticks down as you play the level - when you clear the level. To the right of that is your amount of whoopsies, and to the right of your whoopsies is your current amount of lives. You'll start in the lower right, while mum starts in the upper left. The toys will be randomly strewn about, and when you collect them, they will re-appear in the crib on the lower left. The whoopsies you have will help with that, but there's a catch: you cannot collect any toys while you have a whoopsy on the floor and your mum is rushing to clean it up. If you try, you'll just move straight through them. You'll have to take a dump, get to a toy, get moving once you collect the toy that you've grabbed, grab a few more toys and make a whoopsy at the right time, and you'll need to do this in such a way that you'll always have a few whoopsies on hand in order to keep distance between yourself and your mum. Not only that, you'll also have to move around in such a way that your mum cannot catch up with you, as she moves faster than you do.

When you complete a level, you and your mum will be back to their original starting positions, and you'll gain three more whoopsies for the next level. You'll also have to collect more toys to get to the next level. In case you lose a life from colliding with your mum in any way, you'll go back to the lower right, but at least you'll get three more whoopsies to make up for it. 

I like this game, although a few things could have made it more fair. You could have had a little animation of mum cleaning the whoopsy up that could have bought you just a little more time. Also, not being able to collect toys while a whoopsy is in play can be a bit irritating. While it gives the game a stop-start motion that you at first get used to before eventually mastering and manipulating in order to get through each level with as few headaches as possible, it can also be a bit of a burden even when you get a grip on how the game wants you to play it. It really feels like the game wants you to play it in a certain way if you want to get a high score and succeed.

As for the rest of the game itself, the game controls wonderfully, and I didn't run into any errors of any kind. The graphics, being the basic things that they are for any BBC Micro game, as identifiable, so they work in that regard. The fact that there is always music playing is a nice touch, but you may still find yourself turning it off, as it can get annoying fast. This is a fun and mischievous game for the venerable Beeb, but while it is easy to play, it is challenging to master, and it is definitely a game to get a grip on if you want a challenge for an arcade-style game.

PrinceWatercress plays Whoopsy

Well, this is an interesting game. I don't know what else to put here, to be frank.

Longplay

Whoopsy is a game for the BBC Micro from 1985 where you're playing as a baby who was to avoid his mum and collect his toys, all the while taking a dump on the floor in order to keep as much distance between yourself and your mum as possible. Collecting all the toys takes you to the next level. As you're doing all this, you'll only have a limited amount of "whoopsies" that you can make (read: taking a dump on the floor), and you'll also have to avoid the moving toilets, as touching the toilets causes you to lose one of your whoopsies. If you get caught by your mum, you lose a life and you also receive some slightly annoying red and blue flashing. Lose all your lives, and the game is over.

: moves up, / moves down, Z moves left and X moves right. Space lets you take dump on a floor aka "make a whoopsy." Escape lets you back out to the main menu. Joysticks can also be plugged in and used; just switch to joystick control on the main menu. You can change those keys at any time in the main menu, which I gratefully welcome. 

When you leave a whoopsy on the floor, your mum will not be able to harm you; instead, she will go right for the whoopsy and clean it up. As soon as she gets to the whoopsy, however, the whoopsy disappears and she will immediately get back to chasing you. No cleaning animation or anything of the sort occurs; the crap is gone and she gets right back on you immediately. The placement of your whoopsies is absolutely crucial because of this.

Bonus lives are awarded at 50,000 and 100,000 points, assuming you can make it that far.

On the main menu, you'll see the top nine scores, you can start the game, change the difficulty level from 1 to 9 with the number keys, switch the music on and off, and switch between keyboard and joystick controls. Space Bar starts the game.

As soon as the game starts, you have to make a whoopsy in order to move. I'm not making the rules here; you actually have to use one of your whoopsies to get everything moving. At least you can plot your course before you take a dump on the floor, so that's a plus. Also, I'm beginning to wonder if what I'm typing is what it will sound like if Aqualung from Aqualung's Game Reviews ever sat down and reviewed this game for YouTube.

At the top of the screen, you'll see your high score, your current level, your current score and the amount of bonus points you'll earn - which slowly ticks down as you play the level - when you clear the level. To the right of that is your amount of whoopsies, and to the right of your whoopsies is your current amount of lives. You'll start in the lower right, while mum starts in the upper left. The toys will be randomly strewn about, and when you collect them, they will re-appear in the crib on the lower left. The whoopsies you have will help with that, but there's a catch: you cannot collect any toys while you have a whoopsy on the floor and your mum is rushing to clean it up. If you try, you'll just move straight through them. You'll have to take a dump, get to a toy, get moving once you collect the toy that you've grabbed, grab a few more toys and make a whoopsy at the right time, and you'll need to do this in such a way that you'll always have a few whoopsies on hand in order to keep distance between yourself and your mum. Not only that, you'll also have to move around in such a way that your mum cannot catch up with you, as she moves faster than you do.

When you complete a level, you and your mum will be back to their original starting positions, and you'll gain three more whoopsies for the next level. You'll also have to collect more toys to get to the next level. In case you lose a life from colliding with your mum in any way, you'll go back to the lower right, but at least you'll get three more whoopsies to make up for it. 

I like this game, although a few things could have made it more fair. You could have had a little animation of mum cleaning the whoopsy up that could have bought you just a little more time. Also, not being able to collect toys while a whoopsy is in play can be a bit irritating. While it gives the game a stop-start motion that you at first get used to before eventually mastering and manipulating in order to get through each level with as few headaches as possible, it can also be a bit of a burden even when you get a grip on how the game wants you to play it. It really feels like the game wants you to play it in a certain way if you want to get a high score and succeed.

As for the rest of the game itself, the game controls wonderfully, and I didn't run into any errors of any kind. The graphics, being the basic things that they are for any BBC Micro game, as identifiable, so they work in that regard. The fact that there is always music playing is a nice touch, but you may still find yourself turning it off, as it can get annoying fast. This is a fun and mischievous game for the venerable Beeb, but while it is easy to play, it is challenging to master, and it is definitely a game to get a grip on if you want a challenge for an arcade-style game.

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 8 of 8

It's time for the final battle with Baldour!

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Stage 8

You'll soon enter Baldour's chamber, where you'll also meet Ornah. To defeat Ornah, duck down and shoot at him at first. When he lands on the ground, jump over the energy waves he produces while letting your magic recharge. For best results, lightly tap the jump button. Sometimes he shoots two waves; other times, he shoots three. When he floats upwards and raises a hand, get to the other side, and get the dragon to fly around in a circle as he follows you. You'll have to jump over the dragon twice. When the magical dragon explodes, duck down and attack to hit Ornah while avoiding the fireballs that spew out. You may have to jump in case a projectile is low to the ground. The pattern will then repeat. If you know what you're doing, you'll be able to beat this phase while losing as little health as possible.

When Ornah starts exploding, get under him when he teleports to the center of the room to avoid his projectiles, then start fighting him again like you have been. Second verse, same as the first. Oran will explode again, and this time, he'll be done for good.

You'll then face Baldour. Stay near the center when he flies all the way to the left, and keep tapping the attack button so that your attack power is near the red. Be ready to duck all the time. Jump over the worms and attack while in mid-air, then jump over the dark maroon projectiles that Baldour fires towards the ground. If you're far enough away from him, the fireballs that drop down won't even hit you, especially if you just keep on ducking.

You'll eventually do enough damage that Baldour flies towards the center. When that happens, head to the left side of the room and keep tapping the attack button like you did with Ornah. This will allow you to destroy the rest of him. This is the time to bust out the raven companion. Have the raven take out everything on-screen every so often, and when you see four dark red projectiles fly out from Baldour, you'll want to run to the side to avoid them when they come down. Baldour will fire other projectiles forward, some of which will be hard to see, such as the feathers from his wings. Staying crouched down on the far left will help after a while, but you'll still have the problem of Baldour lunging at you. You'll want to get to the right once Baldour is right next to you so you can give yourself some room, then head back to the left while avoiding attacks so you can destroy what's left of him. As you keep attacking, parts of Baldour will explode, and he'll eventually stop shooting out those smaller fireballs that flew towards the ground at the beginning of the battle. Once enough of Baldour is destroyed, Baldour finally falls. You just beat Alisia Dragoon!

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 7 of 8

This is where the game really starts getting tough. Not only do you have three tough guards and a boss battle, but you also have to get into the final chamber, all without losing a ton of health.

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Stage 7

Tread carefully at the start of the stage and be ready to avoid projectiles as you shoot at the green blobs. Some of them will generate other slimes as they take damage, and when that happens, you'll want to attack them from far away with a fully-powered attack.

The three guards with the spears that teleport in and out will also shoot out a blue homing shot. You'll need to go back down to either outrun it for long enough of go so far back down that the projectile is forced off-screen and forced out of existence.

Hitting the dark gray titles on the ceiling when your magic is fully charged will turn them into a staircase. If you're wondering why you can't go further up after defeating the three spear guards, that's why. You'll then face another boss. Stay to the side when he teleports in and do whatever damage you can before he raises his hands to throw down explosive projectiles, then get to the center and damage the four smaller guys that show up with a fully-powered screen-affecting attack from your thunder magic. The will-o'-the-wisp is the best companion for this battle, as it will take bullets for you like a sponge. 

Once you beat the boss, use a fully-powered attack to turn the ceiling into stairs, then quickly jump up the stairs and heal yourself with the power-up globes that you come across. Avoid the guys who teleport in on the way up entirely, as it makes it so that you don't have to fight them when you get into the final chamber for this stage. Have the raven by your side as you go left and jump from one spinning triangle platform to another while avoiding the flying machine guns that zoom at you. There will also be small orbs flying around, but you can easily destroy those. Once you reach the final platform, you'll enter Stage 8.

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 6 of 8

Be ready to take damage...a lot.

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Stage 6

Progress slowly as you go through this stage. Some of the robots in the background will come to life and attack, and you'll need to be ready. You'll also see ordinance that will explode if you touch it or attack it from nearby. Keep in mind that you'll be travelling diagonally through all of this stage.

Picking up health extensions while having maximum health will still refill one unit of health, so continue picking them up.

In the second section, you will see blue clouds that turn into monsters that pop up in certain places as well as blue zombie-like humans with guns that spawn endlessly when you are in certain hallways. Tread slowly and always be ready to attack at full power.

You'll soon face the boss. The boss will summon two machine guns than teleport and fire at you while he flies around and shoots projectiles at you. You want to be able to see him and fire at him as much as possible. The raven's full-screen attack will help, as will full-power thunder magic attack. Even though the machine guns will keep coming back, you'll still want to shoot them down along with the boss.

When you beat the boss, continue to tread carefully to preserve your health and more easily defeat the zombie soldiers. When you find a platform, jump on it to entire Baldour's fortress for Stage 7. 

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 5 of 8

We enter a cave for Stage 5...and it soon becomes apparent that we're getting close to Ornah and Baldour.

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Stage 5

As soon as you start the stage, you'll be seeing stalactites falling from the ceiling and bats swooping towards you. Be ready to attack at full power.

If you jump past the first gap and shoot the wall, you'll be able to give your max HP a boost and get two level-ups for your companions, should you need them. Make sure that you thoroughly explore every path, as an attack power-up will reward the curious.

The floating boulders will create slightly smaller rocks to spin around them. You'll need to destroy them to get to the boulder in the center, and that will take a lot of attack magic. The more powerful your attack is, the better. Get away when the center boulder explodes so you don't get hit by the revenge shots. Some of them just jump up and down instead of creating a barrier; they still send a projectile at you after they die.

You'll need to run and blast through the green eye enemies to get through them before they come back while taking as little damage as possible, as they cannot be destroyed.

The little guys in brown and green will run and jump around in addition to throwing projectiles that fly around in "S" patterns. Nothing less than a full-power strike will do. You'll have to get past them to reveal a platform that will get you past the narrow cave-like paths.

You'll soon enter a volcano. Avoid falling into the yellow lava as well as the flames that come out of the lava pools. There will be quite a few green eye enemies at the start, and you'll want to speed past them.

The human enemies that teleport in and out will shoot projectiles between teleports. Wipe them out as soon as possible so that you don't take a lot of damage.

The lava section leaves a lot of blue potions, in case you couldn't tell. There's also an attack power-up that you'll want to collect here, too.

Near the end, there will be a group of seven boulder monsters near each other. Move past them so they don't fall down on you. Take out the group that's dead ahead.

You'll then face the boss: an attack tank. Have the raven ready for battle at full attack power before jumping in. Attack the top of the front of the machine, and use the platforms to jump over the tank as it moves around. You'll want to attack the top of the machine on each side while avoiding the numerous projectiles that come from the tank's cannons. The tank can move forward as well as in reverse, which can throw you off as you're fighting it.

You'll then find what looks like a wrecked spaceship. You'll be going in there for Stage 6.

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 4 of 8

This stage is even faster than the last one if you know what to do.

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Stage 4

Go to the left at the start for some power-ups, including a blue fairy. Get ready to attack a worm that jumps in and out of the ground when you do, though. The head is the weak point. There's more if you stay at the bottom and go all the way to the right. When you go as far right as you can, go up and to the left. You'll find another health extension.

Other enemies include rocks rolling down the slopes, birds dropping said rocks, insects that fly at you, brown flea-like enemies that hop around after rising out of the ground. Take your time, and unleash a full-power attack when enemies start showing up in droves.

When you reach the top, you'll fight what looks like a slightly muscular but also slightly skeletal pterodactyl. You can only attack the head when the mouth is open. When the pterodactyl backs up and then darts right at you, stay on the lower level and duck. Stay on the lower level and be ready to duck and/or jump as the boss spits the big fireballs. When it starts spitting the smaller fireballs, you'll want to unless a full-power attack if you can and attack as many as possible; otherwise, stay in the center and duck.

After this, the boss will back up and then dive at you multiple times. Stay close and keep moving back and forth with it, and fire your thunder magic as you're moving back. After one big dive that you can avoid by staying on the move, the pattern repeats. As for companions to bring in, any of them will do, but the raven and the will-o'-the-wisp are best. Once you beat the boss, head further to the right and take out the rocks along the way to enter the next stage.

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 3 of 8

Things get a little hairier on the airship...

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Stage 3

When you start the stage, you'll have three turrets firing at you. Shoot the two on the right first to make it easier to get around, and you can take out the one at the left. If you go to the left after going far enough to the right while taking out more turrets, insects will start flying out at you.

The blue fairy will give you maximum power for all your attacks for a limited time.

The purple soldiers will self-destruct if they get to the ground where you are, so shoot them down before they do.

On your way up to where the enemies on the platforms are, you'll want to get the item that brings your attack power to Level 3. As for the platform enemies, shoot them down so you can leap from platform to platform to continue on.

The boss is a bunch of purple bio-turrets or something. Bust out the raven companion and make sure they are at Level 3 to do maximum damage on all the turrets; the fewer that are active and shooting directly at you at once, the better. You'll also have to deal with orbs that slowly fly towards you as well as insects with multi-way shots that peek in and out of the walls. You'll need to destroy the turrets and the insects to beat the boss battle and jump off the airship and into the mountains for Stage 4.

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 2 of 8

This stage gets a little bit easier when you take your time through most of it and look around for power-ups.

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Stage 2

Never stand on the lily pads for more than a fraction of a second. They're really monsters, and if you don't jump to the other side immediately, you're going to get chomped on.

Human enemies will pop up from out of the water when you start the stage, so take your time and attack with a full-power attack to hit them all at once if you can in case there is more than one on the screen.

If you see any nooks and crannies below any cliffs, search them for hidden power-ups. 

You'll soon face your first mini-boss. To defeat the worm, keep your distance as you fire at its head and watch the water to see where it is. The worm likes to fly around and also jump into you from the water. Be sure to charge your attack when the worm is not on screen, as the more powerful your shots are, the better. The water doesn't hurt you, but enemies can pop out of it, making it an unsafe place to be.

You'll soon be able to produce a platform created by two fairies. Shoot down the power-up globe, and fairies will appear on the right-hand side of where you fought the worm. Stand on the sparkles to get elevated upwards and go further.

If enemies are near the lily pads, the lily pads will start attacking without you having to be on them. Take your time and take out the nearby enemies before moving on.

When the humanoid enemies on the flying platforms show up, hit them with a full-power attack to decimate them immediately before they can fire projectiles at you.

Be sure to drop down into what seems like a pit when you see the humanoids on the flying platforms. One of the power-ups is a silver curled-up lizard, which will revive any defeated companions with full health. The only downside is that if you revive a companion, they will start over at Level 1, and you will have to power them back up again. You'll also find a health extension next to it.

You'll then face the boss. You'll want to shoot at the mouth when it opens while avoiding any clouds that fire out from it as well as the boss itself. Watch the water to see where it will pop out, and shoot down the fleas that it shoots out of its head. From there, get away from it when it moves towards you so you don't get hit. The pattern will then repeat itself. Full-power shots that cover the screen will work well against the fleas, and will also work well at hitting the boss in its open mouth as it lunges towards you.

When you beat the boss, you'll get on an airship for Stage 3.

PrinceWatercress plays Alisia Dragoon - Part 1 of 8

After seeing a few people play this game, it was only a matter of time until I played this myself.

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From the manual...

As Baldour, the prince of all things evil, near the end of his dormancy, the cocoon in which he rests is transported to Earth by his aide, Ornah. The world is still reocering from the devastating effects of Baldour's last visit.

Alisa Dragoon is the daughter of the magician who attempted to stop Baldour. When she was a child, Alisia's father was tortured to death before her very eyes. His final cries of agony ring in her ears even now. Inexplicably, Alisia's life was spared. She is now a woman with magical ability rivaling that of her father. "Baldour is going to wish he had killed me as well," she vows.

Alisia must find Oranh and the cocoon before Baldour awakens. Use her Thunder Magic to demolish enemies, and summon any one of the four friendly monsters to help you. If Baldour awakens before you can destroy the cocoon, there may be no more tomorrow...

Stage 1

Once again, the silver star fell from the sky, unleashing evil and destruction for the second time. The one person who can save the world must seek out this object. 

Whenever you see the word "Demo" in the lower-right corner, control of Alisia is out of your hands until it disappears.

At the top of the screen is your HUD. At the top-left is Alisia's health and attack power meter. As you hold down the attack button, you will strike the nearest enemies with bolts of thunder magic as the meter slowly drains. You'll need to stop attacking briefly in order for the meter to slowly refill. When the meter is full, it will flash, and if you attack then, you'll perform a thunder magic strike that circles across the screen. At the top right is the health and attack power of your monster companion, should you currently have one on-screen. When the companion's attack meter is full, the enemy will attack if there is an enemy on-screen.

Left and Right on the D-Pad let you move left and right. Down lets you duck, and you can turn around while ducking with Down-Left and Down-Right. The A button lets you switch between the four monsters with Up and Down on the D-Pad, and pressing A again confirms your monster selection. You can even choose to not have a monster companion on the screen at all, if you wish. B attacks with thunder magic, and C jumps. Start pauses the game.

You have four different animal companions. Dragon Frye is a dragon that can shoot fireballs in the direction you are facing. It is strong and has a high attack recharge rate, but it is the biggest target of the four companions. Ball O' Fire is a will-o'-the-wisp that has to run into enemies to attack and defeat them, and it is not very strong at first until you power it up. It can, however, take a lot of damage. Thunder Raven is a neon-colored raven that has an attack that affects the entire screen and hurts all on-screen enemies, but you will have to wait a while for the raven to attack again and it is another large target like the dragon. Boomerang Lizard is a flying lizard that fires boomerangs at enemies, and while it has a powerful attack that has some spread and some good recovery time, the boomerangs may not always hit their target.

When you start the stage, you will have insects flying at you. You'll want to duck down and shoot whenever you see them, and inch your way forward and take your time so the insects don't eat at your health.

Once you're down the slope, you'll see what look like yellow insects flying out from the left side of the screen as well as things that look like brains that shoout out spores that turn into mushrooms. The flying insects are bad enough, but the brain things need a bit of thunder magic to destroy. You'll want to avoid their spores as they fly out, and you'll also want to avoid the mushrooms that form when the spores hit the ground, as both things can damage you.

The flying winged globes with gold stars in them are power-ups. You'll need to shoot them to get the power-ups inside. Some of them will be in sight, while others have to be revealed by moving into specific spots, especially if you find a hidden passage. Shoot them with your thunder magic to open them. The blue potions will refill one rectangle of health for Alisia, while the meat will refill one rectangle of health for your current magical companion. If you need to heal a companion, switch to that companion before grabbing the meat. You'll want to keep your companions alive, as items that revive them are few and far between.

You'll need to duck down and attack to take out the black caterpillars as well as the bats that fly out from the top of the screen. The bats will swoop down if given the chance, and the black caterpillars can come at you from behind and even try to roll into you.

You'll soon enter a temple. Take your time, let your thunder magic recharge before forging ahead to take out any wizards that suddenly teleport into view, and explore carefully so you don't miss power-ups and hidden passages. You may have to leap into a wall or two to find some. You'll be able to find blue stars that will level up your current companion. Companions can be leveled up to Level 3, and by doing this, you can not only make their attacks stronger, but you can also change their appearance slightly.

The slimes will burst into flame when you hit them, so make sure you hit them from a distance.

The Alisia Dragoon doll acts as an extra life. In case Alisia loses all of your health, you'll have a continue to work with. Yes, the game does the "lives as continues" thing, but it takes a little while for Alisia to lose all her health if you take your time and don't rush through the game.

At the end of the temple, you'll run into Baldour, but you'll also run into Ornah, who will commend you for getting this far before fleeing with Baldour and daring Alisia to come to their palace. From here, you'll continue into what looks like a cave. Take your time and inch your way forward to hit the flying insects and the teleporting wizards. If you need to recharge your thunder magic, be sure to duck so you don't get hit by any flying enemies.

The square with the circle adds one rectangle to Alisia's maximum health. You can have up to six rectangles, and you're going to need all the health you can get. The orbs with the thunder bolts surrounding it will increase the level of your attack by one. You'll start out at Level 1, but by collecting these orbs, you can make your attack more powerful so it doesn't take forever to defeat enemies as you progress through the game.

The soldiers with the tridents will only be vulnerable after they stop flickering from teleporting on-screen. If given the chance, their tridents will extend forward slightly to hit you. Ditto with the wraiths who show up to drop bricks from above. Be ready to hit them or stay out of the way when they teleport in and stop flickering, as the bricks they drop can do quite a bit of damage.

The boss is a pair of assassins. Bust out the Dragon Frye and have the Dragon Frye attack the boss while you duck down and strike with full power thunder magic. You'll want to watch out for their daggers, as some of them will spin and fly around in an attempt to hit you, so you'll want to stay on the move when necessary. As for the ones that fly straight ahead, you can duck under them and they will just whizz past.

When you complete a stage, both Alisia's health and those of her companions will be fully replenished.

PrinceWatercress plays Power Blade II - Part 6 of 6

...and now, the epic conclusion of Power Blade II!

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Stage 6

For Area 2 (Area 1 is just you dropping in), you'll be jumping around in the red goop in order to not sink into it. If you want, you can latch onto the ceiling by holding Up and jumping into the ceiling with the Newt Suit, then holding Left or Right to climb across the ceiling. Destroy the long bugs with your boomerang as they pop up.

To destroy the worms in Area 3, throw boomerangs into the red eye. They will attack if given the chance.

For Area 4, the snake blocks make a return. When you reach some more permanent platforms midway through, take the lower set of blocks at first. This will make it easier to switch to the other set. You'll soon have four sets of snake blocks near the end; make sure you take a set that is heading to the right to get to the exit. Be careful with the moving platform at the end; you don't want your head hitting the ceiling spikes.

Area 5 is the same as Area 3. Area 6 is another "watch out in the goop below" area. Be ready to jump to take out some of the jets, and avoid the pincers in case they show up while you're in the red goop. Keep in mind that you can slide over the one-block-long gaps with the spikes in them to get past the spikes safely.

For Areas 7 and 8, keep your distance and repeatedly throw boomerangs with a full power meter in order to take out the enemies safely. When you attack the slime man in Area 9, jump over what's left of him so you'll be past him when he pulls himself together. To get the battery in Area 9, equip the Wet Suit and swim towards the right side of the platform, then switch to the Newt Suit so you can climb over the edge of the ledge and get the battery. Ditto with the energy tank in Area 10.

After defeating some enemies in Areas 11 and 12, use the Rocket Suit at the platforms. Slide off the moving platform on the left, then hold A once you're in mid-air to fly to the door.

For Area 14, use the Newt Suit's ceiling climbing ability to stay out of the goop and keep the pincers from hitting you. When you land on the platform in the spike pit before the final door, jump to the right immediately so you don't get caught out near the end and sent into the spikes for a cheap instant death.

From here, you'll have to go through a boss rush with all five bosses' battles being redone in order. When you beat a boss, you'll get all of your health refilled and a fair bit of energy back, but don't be afraid to press Select to use of your energy tanks. The same strategies for each boss battle still apply.

You'll then see the head of the Delta Foundation turn into an alien. To beat him, stay in the center of the room and keep on jumping. The boss will keep teleporting in and out, and his projectiles will temporarily freeze the goop that makes up the floor of the room so you won't slowly sink into it for a little while. Avoid the projectiles, keep on hopping up and down and keep shooting projectiles at the boss and you'll eventually beat the boss, which is a lot easier than one would expect.

Having saved mankind again, Nova heads back to headquarters just in time for Christmas, his accomplishments never being made public due to the nature of his work. You just beat Power Blade II!

PrinceWatercress plays Power Blade II - Part 5 of 6

After completing the first four stages of the game, we can finally play the fifth one...and this is where things get tough.

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Stage 5

Area 1 is fairly straightforward. Area 2...not so much. You'll need to jump from moving platform to moving platform to get to the top. Use a Newt or Patriot Suit to take out the enemy at the top without receiving damage.

You'll eventually run into Jacqueline, who tells Nova that the president of the Nova Foundation is really an alien from outer space who is now spreading his troops around in order to invade Earth, and that he was really trying to sell the fighting cyborg in order to raise funds for the invasion. If the Nova Foundation is not stopped, Earth's days are numbered.

From here, the stage gets more difficult. Area 5 introduces green snake blocks much like in Super Mario World, that you'll need to ride while avoiding the spikes on both the floor and the ceiling. You'll need to pay attention to where they are going in addition to keeping up with them to get to the other side. Make sure you don't go too far to the left, or else you won't have another snake block to fall back on in case you run out of room in that direction.

Use the Rocket Suit to get the battery at the bottom of Area 6.

For Area 7, use the Wet Suit to get to the bottom more quickly and get the energy tank at the bottom. Ditto for Area 8 so you can destroy the block near the exit.

In Area 9, stick to your suitless form. and destroy the doors spawning the orbs while using the platform to get to the bottom. Remember that the platform stops moving when you jump upwards. For Area 10, switch back to the Wet Suit and avoid the sparks while destroying the enemies from the sides of the platforms.

For the boss, equip the Patriot Suit. Shoot at the boss as it flies around, and always slide when the boss is directly above you so you don't get hit when the boss drops down. This will make it easier to destroy the boss.  The first time the boss passes by you leads to nothing, but the second time leads to the drop down. If you don't attack the boss after he drops down, he will rush towards you; if you do, he just jumps back up and starts flying back-and-forth again.