PrinceWatercress plays Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue (PS1) - Part 4 of 16

In this video, we start tackling a more interesting level and exploring it for Pizza Planet tokens: the Construction Yard.

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Level 4: Construction Yard

You'll be able to get your hands on the green laser immediately at the start. Use this to take care of any enemies, including the new flying ones that will drop bombs if you get close enough to them.

Exploring the ground level is essential at the beginning of the level, as you'll find quite a few coins for Hamm here as well as most of the missions. The construction foreman near the start will ask you to find his fiving missing Little Tikes workers and return to him for a Pizza Planet token, Hamm will be at the top of the tractor near the wheelbarrow,

One of the Little Tike workers will be on a wheelbarrow that you can access by pushing a cinderblock towards it. You can reach Hamm from here. 

At the bottom of the building that is under construction. The bottom level is a sand pit, and you can sink through it and take damage. I jump across it just to make sure that I don't sink. There is also a metal platform in one corner, and as you go up the building, the platform will act as an elevator that takes you all the way up to the highest point that you've taken during your stay in the level. In case you fall all the way down, just come all the way back to this corner and wait for the platform to lower so you can double jump onto it and take a big shortcut back.

Rex will be in one corner at ground level, and he will tell you where all the token are, as always.

The wooden ramp at ground level leads to the trailer, and here, you'll have to mix paint in order to get a Pizza Planet token. Avoid the green ooze and jump on the dry areas, then jump onto the chair and then the table. Climb up the pole, then jump to the top of the filing cabinets. Some of the drawers open and close, and I end up using only one of those drawers to get to a second Little Tikes worker before getting to the paint mixing station.

Here, you can stomp on the buttons to pour the paint into the bucket that you need to move into the white circles on the counter. The circle indicate not only where you need to put them to pour specific colors, but also to put certain colors when you're done making them. You have red, blue and yellow paint to work with, and you can make all three colors the game asks of you - purple, orange and green - with just two colors each. Red and blue combine to make purple, red and yellow combine to make orange, and blue and yellow combine to make green. When you're done making purple paint, move it to the picture of the purple paint can; the same goes for orange and green. When you create all three colors of paint, you'll get a Pizza Planet token.

The bulldozer will be your means of getting up the girders of the unfinished building. Not only will you find the third Little Tike worker inside, but you'll also find a switch that lowers the shovel. You'll need to stand on the shovel to get on the lowest level of girders. Once you're on the girders, avoid crushing pistons as well as falling nails, and pay attention to any mesh in the corners to see where you can get past walls. You'll find the fourth Little Tikes worker on the lowest level of the girders.

If you see any wall switches while on the girders, stomp them when you see them. This will allow the elevator platform in the corner of the unfinished building to move to that level in case you take a big tumble. At least there's no fall damage in this game.

Your main mode of going from one level of girders to the next is the yellow and black "caution" girders that move up and down. They will tilt as you move from one end to the other.

Mr. Potato Head's ear will be on the third level of the girders. When you return it to Mr. Potato Head near the paint mixing trailer, you'll get the Disk Launcher. The Disc Launcher is a homing weapon, and you can carry up to thirty shots. You get ten whenever you pick it up, and it will replace the green laser if you have it. If you stay where you picked up the Disk Launcher ammo, you can get up to thirty if you wait around long enough. When you fire a disk, it will home in on any nearby enemy and hit them, including those nasty bomb-dropping robots that float around in the air. You don't have to go into first-person mode and use the lock-on ability unless you need to; if you're near the enemy, it's getting nailed.

I end up getting the Hamm token before getting the Disk Launcher, so there's that.

After three levels of girders, you'll find a wooden ramp that takes you to the top level. Not only will you find the fifth Little Tike worker off to the side from the red girder platforms, but you'll find the boss. I will mention how to fight the boss in the next video. As for this one, I close it out with the Little Tikes token. Next time, we'll get the boss token and the challenge token.

PrinceWatercress plays Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue (PS1) - Part 3 of 16

In this video, we take care of the last of the Pizza Planet tokens in Andy's neighborhood, then take on our first real boss.

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As you've probably noticed, the Hamm coins will lead you to the gaps in the fences where you can access other areas to get more Pizza Planet tokens. One of these areas is a backyard pool, and if you stomp on the bellows at poolside, you'll inflate an inflatable duck raft. When you fully inflate the raft, it will land in the pool. Stomp on the raft, then jump straight up when the raft jumps upward to get the open air Pizza Planet token.

Moving around in water will definitely slow you down, and even your jumps will feel floaty. Keep this in mind, as this isn't the only level where you're going to be underwater for some reason.

The perimeter of the yard with the pool is a gambit of double jumps, with the occasional enemy to shoot down. You've probably noticed that enemies re-spawn after a while, but it definitely becomes annoying here. Halfway through the series of jumps that you'll have to make, you'll be able to push a wooden plank. Do it; you'll need to make it easier to get to the last potted palm tree at the end, where you'll find your fourth soldier.

There is another area with a pick-up truck with no wheels as well as a clothesline. By stomping the two switches near the truck, you can lower the truck so you can jump on it and stomp the hood to be launched into the washing machine. From here, you'll be able to jump to the clotheslines. At the clotheslines, you'll need to quickly - and carefully - jump from one clothesline to another to avoid running into drying clothes while getting to the basket at the end, where you will find the fifth and final soldier. Now that you have all five soldiers, you can head back to Sarge at the beginning of the level for a Pizza Planet token.

You'd think you'd be done with the level for the time being, since Rex will tell you that you need the Rocket Jet Boots to beat R.C. Usually, you would be right. However, there is a trick to beating R.C. without them, but it takes a bit of practice, a bit of knowledge about how things in the game work, and a bit of patience and getting some timing down.

To beat R.C. without the boots, you need to stay in the center of the track at all times as R.C. accelerates around the track. If R.C. runs into you, he will come to a dead stop. Use the time that R.C. is not moving to make some headway on the racetrack, and keep moving and watching for R.C. You obviously have to double jump over the sand pits and the water puddle, as the sand pits slow you down tremendously and the water puddle is slippery.  If you know that R.C. is going to catch up to you just before the sand pits, stop before the sand pit in the center of the road, have R.C. run into you, then double jump over the sand pit. You'll also want to do this near the water puddle if necessary. 

We have all the Pizza Planet tokens, so it's time to head out of here. If you want to see the race done with the boots instead of without, I'll show that off near the end of the Let's Play.

Level 3: Bombs Away

Bombs Away is your first boss, and it's a plane that flies around and shoots at you.

Walk forward to start the boss battle. Charge up your laser at all times; it will do more damage to the big bosses just like it does to the level bosses that give you tokens. Stay still and do not move around; this will keep you from getting bombed with water balloons. When the plane flies far away before diving forward and shooting the machine gun, this is when you want to lock on to the boss and fire a fully charged-up laser. Three charged shots (six regular) will take this super-easy boss down. Your reward for beating this boss battle is another clip from the movie in addition to the next level.

PrinceWatercress plays Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue (PS1) - Part 2 of 16

In this entry, we finish up the first level of the game. On to Level 2.

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The basement is off to the side from the living room. Avoid the poisonous green goo as you jump around on dry land and get to Mr. Potato Head, who will give you the Cosmic Shield in exchange for his ear. While you cannot jump very high on the toxic goo, you can get to the wooden platform safely and then get on the boxes to explore the rest of the basement.

Pushing the boxes in the basement will allow you to reach a Pizza Planet token. In every level, there will always be one Pizza Planet token out in the open; thankfully, Rex will tell you about it if you find him. As for the zipline in the basement, it will take you to the fourth sheep.

The kitchen is near the basement entrance, just off to the side from the living room. The trash can will get you on the countertop if you push it; watch out for the hot water coming out of the pot on the stovetop. The fifth and final sheep will be on top of the cabinets near the sink and countertop; you'll need to push a scale off the top of another set of cabinets, then stomp on it to get to the sheep. Bo Peep will be on the table; you can either jump up the chair or climb up the broom to get to the top of the table. Talk to her with all five sheep collected to get a Pizza Planet token.

We're done, and if you talk to Rex at this point, he will tell you that you have all the tokens. On to Level 2!

When you exit a level, you'll see what you've collected. At the top, you'll see what the five tokens are. There is a Hamm token, a collectibles token, a race token, an out in the open token and a boss token, and the levels never stray from this formula. In the middle is the amount of coins you've collected for Hamm. At the bottom, you'll see which power-ups you've collected throughout the game. We have the Cosmic Shield, but we'll need the others to fully complete the game. You'll then be able to save your game before being taken to the world map. Left and Right will let you switch levels, while X lets you confirm and Triangle takes you back to the main menu.

Level 2: Andy's Neighborhood

When you start the level, the rescue mission begins. Buzz finally leaves the house and explore the neighborhood.

At the start, avoid the lawnmower; it will hurt you. You'll also see a bunch of molehills on the lawn. The hint cube will tell you that you'll make the soldier surrender if you stomp the molehills that he is near. Look for the stomp symbol and the fireworks to see where to stomp. With each stomp, you'll smoke out the molehills, and on the last one, you'll get a soldier to pop out so you can collect him. You'll also find Sarge on the stoop. He will ask you to find his five soldiers, and if you can do that, you'll get a Pizza Planet token.

When you leave the starting area, you'll come across a racetrack. The RC car will be waiting for you to race him again for another Pizza Planet token, and you'll also see a bunch of car enemies that look like Emperor Zerg. The car enemies require a charge shot to quickly destroy, and if you have the green laser, one shot will tear them to ribbons. Rex is near the huge tree and the swingset. Watch out for the slime coming down from the tree.

You can climb that tree by jumping up the swingset (and collecting your second soldier on the way up), then climbing the rope holding up the tire. Once you're in the tree, you'll meet Hamm almost immediately, so head over here when you need to hand him the coins for the Pizza Planet token. While on the tree, you'll need to jump on the green leafy parts that act as platforms. You may have to go up other parts of the tree, but the completely green parts are the ones to concentrate on. There is also a see-saw platform, and you'll need to get it to lean to one side by getting it to lean all the way to the side in order to continue on.

There is a rope off to the side when you're halfway up the tree. You'll want to double jump to it and grab it, because this will pull the rope down and give you a shortcut back up the tree. This is good, since you'll need to swing off some bars in order to get to the top of the tree, where you'll have to fight a Zurg kite for a Pizza Planet token. Charge up your laser and use the lock-on ability to hit the kite, then stay away as the kite lowers and spins around to hit you in retaliation. Thankfully, this is the whole battle, and once you beat the kite, you'll be able to get a Pizza Planet token.

The video ends with me getting the Pizza Planet token from Hamm, since I'm able to get back up to him.

PrinceWatercress plays Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue (PS1) - Part 1 of 16

Compared to the games based on the first movie, this one is a little easier. It's just as enjoyable, however, and shouldn't be missed.

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Yep, it's Toy Story 2. Which means it's based on the movie. Given that it's on the PS1, it's going to be a 3D platformer, although you could make other kinds of games out of it.

When the game begins, Woody is kidnapped by Al, the owner and founder of Al's Toy Barn. It's up to Buzz and all of his friends to rescue him. 

Level 1: Andy's House

You start the level - and the game - in Andy's room. You move around with the D-Pad, you shoot lasers with the Square button to attack enemies, and you jump - and double jump - with the X button. The Circle button will allow to perform a spin attack. Holding Circle down lets you charge it up, but you'll get dizzy for a few seconds after you let it loose.

Exploring Andy's room will teach you how to play the game. Jumping up to the desk will take you to the numerous help cubes that are in this level. Jumping into the help cubes will give you hints for the level you're in.

Some items in the environment will have a green hand that acts as a push icon. If you see that above an item, you can move into it to push it. Some items will have black trails with red smaller lines inside of them that show you specifically where you can push them, and these locations you can push items to will prove to be useful when getting through the game.

After double jumping from the bed to the dresser, you can climb a pole. Jump into a pole then crab on, then climb up and down with Up and Down on the D-Pad and spin around with Left and Right. Pressing X lets you jump off. Keep in mind that when you do that, you'll jump forward in the direction you're facing.

Jumping into zip lines allows you to slide down them. Jump to jump off before you reach the end.

Once you land in the crib, you'll learn how to enter first-person mode and aim your laser. Press L1 to enter first-person mode and look director through Buzz's visor. From here, you can look around with the D-Pad, press Square to shoot your laser and press the R1 button to lock onto nearby enemies. If there are multiple enemies nearby, you can keep pressing R1 until you lock on to the one you want. By using the lock-on ability, you can shoot down the catches holding up the side of the crib to get out. Just be near them, press R1, and the green reticles will lock on and show you where the catches are so you can shoot them down.

Enemies in this level include red robots that bounce around and flying robots that drop bomb. Using the lock-on ability and the charged laser works wonders in taking them out. Enemies also leave coins when defeated, so make sure you pick them up.

First-person mode has some interesting details, too. You can see Buzz closing his left eye to improve his aim, and you can also hear him breathing. That second part makes no sense, given that he's a toy, but it's still a nice detail.

Speaking of the laser, you can hold the Square button to charge up your laser for a more powerful shot, just like with the spinning attack. Keep this in mind, because you're going to use this pretty often.

The gold coins that you pick up will be necessary for getting one of the Pizza Planet tokens in each level. There are five Pizza Planet tokens in every normal level, and they serve as the main collectible for the game. There are 50 altogether, and we'll be getting every single one of them.

The green coin with Buzz on it is an extra life. Pick it up for a 1-Up.

When you're standing still, you'll see the amount of lives you have in the upper-left corner, your current amount of energy in the upper-right corner and the current amount of gold coins in the lower-left corner. If you're charging up your weapon, the charge gauge will be in the lower-right corner.

Rex is near the entrance to the attic. If you talk to him, he will tell you what you need to do in every level to get the five Pizza Planet tokens. If you pick up a token, he won't mention that mission. If you've picked up all five tokens, he will tell you that you've completed the level.

Above Rex is the attic. Here, you'll learn how pushing things like boxes works even further, but you'll also fight the tin robot. You'll need to beat this tin robot to get a token. To beat the robot, charge up your laser and run away when he charges at you. When he slows down and eventually stops, be ready to fire on him. The boss enemies will have a health meter in the top center to show how much health they have left, and when you empty it, you'll beat the boss. The tin robot takes six shots - three if you charge them up - to defeat, and when you beat it, you can get the Pizza Planet token that shows up. After collecting a Pizza Planet token, you can choose to keep playing or head back to the world map.

Horizontal rods can be jumped into, and if you do that, Buzz will swing around before jumping forward. Be ready to hold Up on the D-Pad and, if you need to, double jump. This will be important for later in the game.

The rest of the attic leads to the top near the roof, and the narrow platforms don't leave much room for mistakes, as you will fall down to the floor if you walk off the edge. Thankfully, there's nothing in the way of fall damage for this game. Thankfully, you can enter the pause menu with the Start button and select "Camera Mode," then select "Active Camera." Active Camera will always keep the camera behind Buzz. It also changes the controls a little bit. Normally, under the Passive Camera, L2 and R2 will rotate the camera left and right. In Active Camera mode, L2 and R2 rotate Buzz left and right. This lets you line Buzz up so you don't walk off edges, and you'll also be able to use the buttons to spin around on poles. It's a nice feature.

You'll find one of the sheep on the other side of the top of the attic. The sheep are the level collectible, and you'll see how many of them you have in the upper-right corner. When you collet all five, you'll be able to return them to Bo Peep, who is on the kitchen table.

Going downstairs leads to the garage as well as the rest of the house. To beat the RC car in the race, you'll need to take three laps around the car. Keep jumping while moving, as it allows you to move slightly faster than if you just run. Double jump over the oil slick, as it is slippery and will cause you to lose control. Also, don't run into enemies. Even though this race is easy, you can lose almost enough momentum to lose the race if you touch an enemy just once. Placing first against the RC car will net you a Pizza Planet token. If the RC wins, leave the garage, then go back in to do the race again.

The path to the top of the garage is full of poles you can grab as well as some obstacles of its own, such as the power drills that can drop down and hurt you as well as buzzsaws that can slice you. You'll eventually end up on top of the family car, and from here, you can jump onto the nearby light fixture to get to the higher shelves. The hint cube will tell you about the horizontal bars you can jump into and swing off of, which I mentioned earlier. At the end of the path at the top of the garage, you'll find another sheep.

Along the way, on top of the family car, you'll find the green laser. The green laser is as powerful as a charged red laser, and if you hold the button down, you'll get rapid fire. You only have a limited amount of ammo, which is indicated by the gauge in the lower-right corner, so use the green laser sparingly, as it is pretty powerful.

Hamm is on the living room couch. If you give him 50 coins, he will give you a Pizza Planet token. Remember that number, as it stays the same every level. 

The two downward-pointing green triangles are the stomp icon. To stomp, jump into the air, then press Circle to stomp. If you stomp on certain things, you can not only hit buttons, but you can also activate shortcuts to places you couldn't normally access. Stomping on the couch with the white X on the seat will launch you to a high corner shelf above the bookcase. You'll be able to jump your way to a battery (which refills health), a 1-Up, and the third sheep. Also, underneath where you land is Mr. Potato Head's ear. You'll need to hand that off to him elsewhere in the level.

PrinceWatercress plays Bomb Jack (ZX Spectrum) - The Longplay

Of course I would do better with the longplay after relearning how to play the game during the Let's Play. Of course.

Let's Play

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 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.

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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...

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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!

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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...

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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.

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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.

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"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.