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 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 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 1 of 6

It's been a good while since I played Power Blade, so let's play the second game...which isn't as well-remembered, unfortunately.

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It is December 24, 2200. The Delta Foundation has just finished development of a cyborg unit that represents the next generation of fighting robots. They would like to sell it to the Department of Defense, and mention that the cyborg would be a threat to the security of the nation if sold to a foreign country before giving the government a week to respond.

The government considered this matter very seriously and assigned a top secret mission to SP Headquarters. Nova, who saved the New Earth colony by restoring the Master Computer in 2191, is secretly called upon by the Department of Defense to destroy the Delta Foundation. Should something happen to Nova, his superiors cannot get involved.

When you start the game, you'll be able to play the first four stages in any order. Beating all four of these stages will unlock the fifth one. Left and Right on the D-Pad allows you to pick between the stages, while Start makes your selection.

Stage 1

Unlike the stages in the first game, the stages here are a lot more linear, a lot more Mega Man-like and much less open. Go through one stage, and you'll figure out why this game isn't as well remembered as the game that precedes it: the level design is by-the-numbers compared to the first game. While it's not completely a bad thing, it does leave a bit to be desired.

At the bottom of the screen, you'll have your HUD. The power of your weapon is at the very top, and picking up stars will increase the power of your attacks. Below all that is the amount of time you have left to play through the level before you lose a life from running out time. Below that is your current amount of health ("Player"), the current amount of energy for your suits ("Energy," which will be explained in due time), the current stage you are in, and the current area of the stage you are in. The last area of a stage will always be the last one before a boss. To the right of all that is a portrait of Nova (which will be useful later), the amount of life canisters that you have, the amount of energy batteries that you have, and the amount of lives that you have.

Left and Right on the D-Pad allows you to move left and right. Down allows you to crouch, as well as attack downwards in mid-air. A jumps, while B throws boomerangs, just like in the first game. You can throw diagonally downwards while on the ground, but you can only throw straight downwards in mid-air, where you can attack in eight directions. You can use Up on the D-Pad in conjunction with B to throw your boomerangs upwards, and you can also attack diagonally upwards, regardless of whether you are in the air or on the ground. Down and A allows you to slide much like in the Mega Man games.

A good amount of the enemies that you'll fight through the game make return appearances from the first game, and if you've played the first game for a decent amount of time, you'll be able to recognize them as well as their attack patterns.

Stars will increase the power of your attacks. Once you get your power to full strength, it won't take as many strikes to defeat enemies. The double boomerang gives you another boomerang to throw, up to a maximum of three. The single red boomerang powers up the base power of your attack.

The hamburger will replenish a few units of your health. The white and pink battery will add energy to your energy meter. The light blue cylinder acts like a Mega Man-style energy can that refills all your health whenever you press Select, assuming you have one in your inventory.

The spinning drills, whether they are on the walls, ceilings or floor, will instantly kill you if you jump into them. Also, you'll be seeing conveyor belts on the floors along with these drills as early as Area 3. Thankfully, it is easy to tell where they will take you by looking at them. Just watch out for the ceiling turrets. When you get to what looks like a maroon-colored Lego, hold Left while on the platform to grab this. This battery replenishes your energy when it empties out, but again, this will be explained when the time comes.

Enemy generating doors can be destroyed by throwing boomerangs at them until they explode, believe it or not.

The grey doors that spit out the small bugs that jump around in Area 4 can be destroyed by your boomerangs. Also, there are blocks that you'll need to break to make progress.

In Area 5, the platforms on the tracks will only move when you're on them. They will stop when you leap off. If you need to, duck under stationary platforms to keep the platform going.

In the middle of Area 5 is a set of double doors. To enter them, stand in front of them and press Up on the D-Pad to open the door and enter the room. Here, you'll fight a mechanical dragon. You'll need to throw boomerangs at it and keep your power high as you do so, jump over the fireballs it spits out, and jump over the dragon itself when it rolls it into a ball to avoid getting rolled into. When you defeat this dragon, you'll get the Newt Suit. The Newt Suit is the power suit from the first game; it allows you to throw energy blasts that travel all the way to the end of the screen that are more powerful than your standard boomerang. 

To switch between your standard form and the Newt Suit, press Up and Down on the D-Pad while paused. This will change the portrait of Nova on the HUD. The Newt Suit is dictated by the portrait of Nova in armor with the "N" in the upper-right corner. While using this or any other suit, the energy on your Energy meter will go down. While you can pick up small batteries to replenish your energy on the spot, more often than not, the maroon-colored batteries will refill your energy automatically, assuming you have at least one in your inventory. If you run out of energy without a replacement battery, you'll go back to your standard suitless form.

In Area 6, watch out for the electric sparks that travel across the wires in the background. At the top where the spikes are; jump to the left so you're on the left wall, then slide to the right to get over the gap and avoid the ceiling spikes. Take care not to get crushed between the moving floor and the ceiling, as that is an automatic loss of a life. Watch out for blocks to break to find a way to the top.

If you lose a life, you will lose a little bit of your power as well as one of your boomerangs and your red boomerang power-up, but it is easy to get back to maximum.

To destroy the purple disc-throwing cyborg in Area 7, you'll need to duck down and throw some maximum strength shots at it. This will allow you to attack while avoiding the discs being thrown at you.

To beat the boss here, switch to the Newt Suit and stay close to the boss while attacking it repeatedly, but not too close. Duck when you are close to the boss while on the ground to avoid the projectiles and the jump over the center, and watch where the projectiles go when the boss is on the platforms in the corners, as that is when the projectiles will create flame pillars that stick around for a few seconds after they hit the floor. 

PrinceWatercress plays Daffy Duck in Hollywood (SMS) - Part 1 of 6

Compared to the Genesis/Mega Drive version, this version plays differently and doesn't have a time limit. It also rewards exploration with a ton of power-ups, extra lives, and even the main collectible of the game at the same time.

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The mad Professor Duck Brain has ransacked Yosemite Sam's trailer and has stolen his Golden Cartoon Award trophies. Sam has hired Daffy Duck to find all twelve trophies...can he do it?

When you start the game, you'll only be able to play the first two worlds. When you complete them, you'll get the next two, followed by the final two. When you complete a level, you will not be able to play it again, so you'll want to explore the levels carefully.

Scalp Trouble: Scene 1

Since Scalp Trouble is the first world of the game, we're covering it first.

The D-Pad lets you move left and right with Left and Right, while Down allows you to duck down. You can also look up and down with Up and Down. Button 1 attacks, and Button 2 jumps. If you hold Button 1, you can run, although running is not a well-advised move.

If you see bubbles on the floor, stick around. You'll get power-ups, all of which can do wonderful things for your bubble attack such as allow for more powerful shots, allow for faster shots get rid of enemies without you having to touch them, and other things. You can also find money that gets you points, extra lives for in case you die, as well as letters spelling out "DAFFY DUCK," which can also give you an extra life if you collect all of them in a level, which you're going to have to look high and low to do. You can also find golden clappers, which act as continues, although those are rare. You can get lives off of points, but they are few and far between.

You can also find diamonds and other objects out in the open that can also give you points. The trophies themselves will also be out in the open, and I'll mention where they are when the time comes...so don't miss them!

When fighting enemies, keep your distance and watch what they do. If an enemy is encased in a bubble, run into the bubble to get rid of the enemy and send it flying away before it can break out.

You will automatically go down slopes if you stand on them, so be careful.

Don't jump into the cacti; it's instant death. The moving cactus is also indestructible and should not be tangled with, so don't even bother firing at it. You also can't destroy the tornadoes; you can only avoid them.

The other enemies on the other hand, can be defeated. The guy that looks like he is wearing a fedora and coat while walking back and forth can be defeated without much effort, and the guys in the cowboy hats that stand around are easy targets as long as you don't give them time to shoot projectiles at you.

The wand gives you a Fairy Duckmother, who acts as extra hit. You'll want an extra hit at all times, because getting around in this game is hard enough already. Sadly, you can't stack them, so you can only have one extra hit at a time.

If you see anything with two, small beady eyes poking out from underneath some blackness such as a rock, be careful near it. That is a projectile firing enemy, and you cannot destroy it. All you can do is avoid the projectiles that fire in the direction that these enemies are looking.

The levels are separated into three sections cordoned off by walls that open up when you get near them and close once you're past them. You won't be able to go from one section to the next until you defeat all the enemies in that section, so if the wall does not open up, you'll need to go back, as you're missing an enemy or two. You'll also get a hand in the upper-right corner pointing at where to go.

If you see a handhold, you can jump into it while holding Up on the D-Pad to grab on. Left and Right on the D-Pad will allow you to move across the handhold. You can then jump up off the handhold or jump straight down by holding Down and pressing Button 2. 

Scalp Trouble: Scene 2

Power-ups do not carry over from one scene to the next, so when you start a new scene, you'll be back to your basic shot. You'll also go back to your basic shot if you lose a life, so try not to die. This also includes extra hits, so you'll want to find a magic wand pronto.

The blocks that have what look like crescent moons on them are hooks; jump into them to grab them like handholds. You can then jump from one handhold to another with Left and Right on the D-Pad in conjunction with Button 2.

If a platform has a handhold underneath, you can hold Down and press Button 2 to drop down and grab the underside. Keep in mind that you can hold onto a handhold for so long before Daffy automatically drops back down.

Some of the enemies that move back and forth here look a little more menacing, but you can still easily defeat them.

Stalactite shake and drop when you get close enough to them. 

The projectile shooters that look upwards have even more limited range; when they shoot their projectiles, they will quickly come back down.

The statue is near the exit. Go left before you go past the last wall made out of leaves.

Scalp Trouble: Scene 3

Some of the spike pits have fireballs flying out of them, so watch out and take your time so they don't hit you.

There is another trophy at the bottom of the third section near the end of the stage; look around on the ground near the exit before you leave and avoid the cacti.

PrinceWatercress plays Space Station Silicon Valley - Part 1 of 32

Hello, Nintendo 64.

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Space Station Silicon Valley is back after being lost in space for 1,000 years. A professor and a platoon of space marines have went to the space station, but are missing and feared dead after their last transmission, as the robot animals have taken control of the space station. The World President Frank Bloke (I see what they did there), has sent in heroes for hire Dan Danger and Evo as a last measure.

Smashing Start

When the game starts, Dan and Evo find the space station, but as they fight over the music on the radio, Evo knocks Dan out, then they crash into a meteor and make a crash landing into the space station. Evo tries to activate the ejector seat, but to no avail. As a robot dog and a robot sheep declare their love for each other, Dan and Evo's ship kills the robot dog. As Dan and Evo wonder where they are, Evo's ejector seat finally kicks in, sending his robotic body through the top of the space station and separating it into four parts: head, torso, arms and legs. The chip inside of Evo that is essentially his consciousness survives all of this and comes back down. Upon landing, Evo's chip takes a life of its own and enters the now-deactivated robot dog. From here, the game begins, and you have control. Dan will be trapped in the ship and unable to do anything, while Evo will have to do all the work...and you're Evo.

You have two things to do here: get some energy, and get a sheep. Both are pretty easy.

The Control Stick allows you to move around in any direction. A and B have different abilities (known as Skill A and Skill B) depending on what animal you're controlling, and there's quite a few in the game. Left-C and Right-C let you rotate the camera, while Up-C zooms in and Down-C zooms out. 

For the dog, Skill A is the ability to jump, while Skill B is the ability to bark. If the dog is near another animal, you'll bite the animal instead, and you can keep holding the B button down to keep attacking. Biting will not only allow you to break wooden crates to find energy, but also attack the sheep until they are defeated so you can take them over. When a robot animal is deactivated, you can move up to it and press R to switch animals. The R button usually allows Evo to leave the animal and run around in chip form on his own, and from there, you can press it again near another deactivated animal to take control of it. Keep in mind that if you do this, Evo will slowly lose health as he is exposed to the elements, and he can eventually run out of health and die. If you do it near a deactivated animal while currently in one, however, Evo will automatically make the switch and you won't have to worry about Evo slowly dying or even losing an inkling of health in the process. 

The wooden crates with "SV" on them usually contain energy, which exists in the form of bright blue balls with a glowing core. One of these will refill up to 50% of the health meter, which is part of the HUD in the lower-left corner. Breaking one of these crates will allow you to access the energy.

Speaking of the HUD, the green gauge is your health, while the blue gauge is the health for the enemy you are attack. As for the green and blue balls, they are the recharge gauges for Skill A (blue) and Skill B (green). Some animals will use these gauges, while others will not. The green digital display numbers on the lower-right corner is your score. It is completely useless, and if you restart a level or die at any point, it resets to zero. Thankfully, you have infinite lives, so if you die, you'll have to start over, but at least you won't have to worry about a game over.

When you take control of a new animal, you can see information about them as well as what they can do. Pay attention to Skill A and Skill B, as these dictate what you'll be able to do in your new form. You'll also learn other things, such as how resistant to water the animal is, how far it can fall, how light or heavy its armor is, and how strong it is. If you need info on an animal again, take control of the animal you want to know more about, then approach a monitor on a wall - should you find one - and approach it as that animal.

The sheep is able to jump with the A button, and if you press and hold A, you'll be able to float. This will allow you to float slowly for a distance. B just lets you perform a sheep-like bleat and not much else.

When you complete all of the objectives for a stage, the teleporter - a blue hexagon around a purple metal border - will turn red and activate. Walk up to it and stand on it, and you'll complete the level.

Around the level, you'll see purple orbs. There are fifteen of them in each level. These are Power Cells, and you'll need to collect all of the Power Cells in the game. Thankfully, all of the fifteen Power Cells in this stage are easy to find as long as you move about the level. Just remember that there are three Power Cells behind the waterfall.

By pressing Start to pause, you can not only access the in-game options menu that lets you look back at the mission brief, replay or exit the current zone and change the volume levels for music and sound, but you can also see how many Power Cells you have in the current level. Thankfully, the sound you get when you collect a Power Cell plays at a higher key as you collect more of them, and when you collect all fifteen, you'll get a special sound.

If you walk onto the windshield of the ship, Dan will taunt you and you some lines of dialogue. If you deactivate all three sheep in the level, you'll also get some dialogue from Dan.

If you bark into the speakers pumping out the music as the dog, a low-pitched bark noise will come out of them.

Every stage also has a trophy. To get the trophy for this stage, you'll need to deactivate a sheep, move its body to the back of the ship where the exhaust port is, then get on the windshield as the dog and repeatedly bark. This will cause fire to come out of the exhaust port. One of the three will turn into the trophy when burned. (If you burn all three sheep, you'll get more dialogue from Dan.)

We're done here. Get on the teleporter to finish the level. 

Dog

Type: Dog

Environment: Europe

Skill A: Jump

Skill B: Bite Attack

Water Resistance: Excellent

Mass: Medium

Armour: Light

Strength: Medium

Traction: Average

Fall Distance: Medium

Production: Medium

Engine: Electric

Intelligence: Low

Sheep

Type: Sheep

Environment: Europe

Skill A: Floaty Hop

Skill B: Baa!

Water Resistance: OK

Mass: Medium

Armour: Light

Strength: Weak

Traction: Average

Fall Distance: Medium

Production: Medium

Engine: Bio

Intelligence: Very Low

PrinceWatercress plays Donald Duck in Deep Duck Trouble (SMS) - Part 1 of 6

Oh, hey, I'm finally playing this one. About time I did, because this is a fun game.

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The story begins with Donald Duck asking Huey, Dewey and Louie where Scrooge McDuck is. All of a sudden, Scrooge is floating around like a balloon due to a curse from a mysterious pendant he found in a shrine on an uninhabited island. The pendant must be returned to the neck of a goddess statue inside the shrine, or else Scrooge is cursed to be a balloon forever. He gives Donald Duck his adventurer's diary to retrace his steps and find the island so he can return the pendant.

Donald Duck arrives at the island...and the adventure begins.

At the beginning of the game, there are four places you can go: the jungle, the valley, the inlet or the volcano. I start with the jungle.

The Jungle

Only those who possess the jungle king's crown may pass.

Scene 1: Savanna

Left and Right on the D-Pad let you move left and right, Button 1 attacks, and Button 2 kicks.

The heads up display is pretty simple. In the upper-left corner is the amount of lives you have, and in the lower-left is the amount of health you have.

Instead of being able to swing hammers or throw flying discs, you kick at things like blocks...and that kick has some nice animation going for it. You will have to kick blocks into enemies in order to move on, but you can also jump on them if a box is not available. To kick blocks, you'll need to walk into a block, keep holding the D-Pad towards the block, and then press Button 1.

Enemies include wolves that poke their heads out of the ground, sugar gliders that fly off branches, jumping kangaroos, and rolling snakes, You can sometimes get ice cream for replenishing your health if you defeat them. You can use blocks and other things if you want, but you can also jump on them to defeat them.

Kicking blocks can also reveal power-ups, such as money bags for points and ice cream for health. While the light brown blocks just go up and crumble upon landing, the dark blue ones travel forwards and can bounce back and forth in pits. This allows you to travel across spike pits, which is good, because spikes hurt. 

Chests contain better power-ups. A chili pepper will make Donald Duck run very fast, allowing him to plow through enemies and large walls of blocks. The effect only lasts for a short time. You can also find a cooked chicken that restores all of your health.

The ostriches are like those horses in the first stage of Sunset Riders: you have to jump from one to the next and get to the tree branch at the right side, or else you're dead.

After you complete a section, you'll get bonus points for the round as well as for how much health you have left before going to the next one.

Scene 2: Jungle

Whenever you get hit, Donald will get angry and will be unable to move for a second. The animation is very much Donald and very well done, but it gets a little annoying after a while.

The snails slowly move back and forth and hide in their shells. The snakes pop their heads out of the trees to get in your way.

Look high and low for things. You never know what you'll find. You'll mostly want to stay on the top, however, if you want to get through the scene.

Some vines take you to other places, while there are also pairs of vines that raises one vine while you stand on - and lower - the other.

The red flower shoots out projectiles, but it only does it once.

The leaves in the trees have to be kicked loose with a block, and once you do that, you'll be able to ride it down to another area.

You'll eventually encounter a gorilla. Instead of fighting him, you'll be running away. Be ready to jump over spike pits and on top of walls, and watch out for the fruit that drops down from the top of the screen. For some reason, the blue flowers on the ground seem to hint as to when you need to jump. At the end, the gorilla will run into a huge tree, revealing the jungle king's crown and sending you back to the world map.

PrinceWatercress plays Donkey Kong for Game Boy - Part 1 of 11

After seeing this game in Nintendo Power so much as a kid, I've finally played this one...and it's as good as I expected it to be.

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Yep, it's Donkey Kong. It's using the Control Pad to run around and climb ladders while using the jump button to jump over barrels and grab ladders.

When you start the game, you'll get a bit of a demonstration of Mario's new moves, which will be mentioned when the time comes.

World 0

Stage 0-1

Map (by Captain Drake)

The first four stages are the original Donkey Kong game. Climb up the ladders, avoid the barrels, and hit the barrels with the hammers for points if you want to. The hammers don't last forever, though, and they keep you from jumping or climbing ladders. The flames from the oil barrel will keep you from taking too long, so watch your six.

You could play these the original way, but there are new controls for this version of Donkey Kong. The backflip that Proton Jon does is simple. Move in one direction, then immediately press the opposite direction on the Control Pad and the A button at the same time. You'll be able to clear the girders in record time.

Pressing B while using a hammer allows you to throw it upwards. This lets you stop the timer on the hammer so you can throw it above a ladder, climb the ladder, grab the hammer again and then keep using it for as long as you have left on it. There's also a handstand. Down + A lets you perform a handstand, which you can jump out of. If you jump directly after landing on your feet after a handstand jump, you'll do a super jump.

You'll get a time bonus for every second you have left on the clock. These will be totaled in at the end of the world.

Stage 0-2

Map (by Captain Drake)

Here's the pie factory. Keep moving on the conveyor belts and avoid the pies.

The 1-Up heart gives you an extra life. The parasol gives you points.

Stage 0-3

Map (by Captain Drake)

The hat gives you points.

Watch out for the flames as well as the jumping boards that Donkey Kong tosses. The platforms can be used to get through the stage.

Be careful not to touch the spikes at the bottom of the stage.

Stage 0-4

Map (by Captain Drake)

The handbag gives you points.

All you need to do now is to remove the six girders that keep the platforms in place. Once you do that, you'll save Pauline...but not for long! DK gets revenge and steal Pauline again, and this time you're going to have to unlock doors and make your way through several areas just to get her back.

Now the game truly begins.

For every 100 seconds you store from each set of four stages, you'll get an extra life. If you don't have any groups of 100 left, you'll still get an extra one for what you have left.

You'll also see how keys work. Just bring them to locked doors to open them. This is how you'll be completing stages from here on out.

World 1: Big City

Stage 1-1

Map (by Captain Drake)

Instead of chasing Donkey Kong around, you'll now have to find the key and open the door with it to proceed to the next stage.

The flaming oil platform will move up and down, while the duck men will run at you when you're at their level and they can see you.

Here's an interesting new thing you can do with the hammer: you can toss it in mid-air, then catch it on its way down to prolong how long it lasts and take it other areas that you normally wouldn't be able to take it.

Pauline's hat, handbag and parasol appear in every normal stage. If you collect them all, you can play a bonus game when you beat the level. I will be collecting all three of these items in every stage.

To get the key, press B while standing on it to pick it up (a la Super Mario Bros. 2) and Mario will physically lift it. All that's left it to take to the door with the keyhole so Mario can automatically unlock it. You can throw the key to destroy most (but not all) enemies and also make it easier to get to the exit, but it will flash after a while if it hasn't been picked up. Pick the key up again before it returns to its original position. If you get hit while holding the key, you'll drop it instead of losing a life. You can use the B button to throw the key to get rid of enemies or get it somewhere you wouldn't be able to take it while holding it.

You can also stand on top of enemies, pick them up and throw them at enemies, much like in Super Mario Bros. 2 as well. The garbage can can be picked and thrown in the same way. Some enemies can be stood on and picked up, while others cannot.

The slot machine bonus game will allow you to get some extra lives. Thankfully, it's pretty generous, so expect to get at least one extra life out of it.

Stage 1-2

Map (by Captain Drake)

The mice will walk all over the platform they're on. When they reach the end, they walk of the side and then walk upside down before reaching another edge and turning themselves right-side up again.

The wire lets Mario perform some wicked jumps. Just hang off of one, then hold Up on the Control Pad. The faster Mario spins on the wire, the higher you'll launch Mario when you press A.

The wheel mini-game will give you either a 1-Up or a 2-Up. At least you get something.

Stage 1-3

Map (by Captain Drake)

Even in this version of the game, it is still possible to be hit while Mario is holding the hammer straight up. Be careful.

To do a handstand, hold Down on the Control Pad while jumping. Pressing A again during the handstand will let you do a slightly higher jump. If you press A right when you do the handstand, the jump will be even higher.

Some trash cans will come alive when you stand on them, and slowly walk back and forth.

Sparks will travel through telephone wires, and will shock to the touch.

You cannot destroy flames by throwing enemies at them, but you can throw enemies to them and ride enemies over the flames by standing on them.

Stage 1-4

Map (by Captain Drake)

After three regular stages, you will face a boss battle with Donkey Kong. Whenever you beat him, the amount of time you had left from this and the last three stages will be totaled up and converted into more extra lives, just like at the beginning of the game.

This one is simple enough. Get to Pauline while avoiding the falling debris that DK causes to rain down. Use your handstand to block falling objects, and use your handstand jump and backflip to get around more quickly.

When you beat this boss battle, you'll also be introduced to a new game mechanic: magical platforms. Collect the arrow that points in two directions to create a bridge or ladder (depending on the arrow) and you'll be able to get around.

Stage 1-5

Map (by Captain Drake)

You'll be able to test out the magical platform here. Just touch the icon, then place the bridge where you want to put it. The bridge will disappear after nine seconds (once the music for the magic platforms is playing at its fastest speed), so hurry up.

Be careful when falling. If you fall from high enough, Mario will tuck and roll when he lands. If he jumps from a little higher, Mario will land on his back and will be stunned for about two seconds. If you jump from too high up, Mario will land on his head and die.

Stage 1-6

Map (by Captain Drake)

Now you get to play around with magical ladders, and use both the magical bridges and ladders in tandem. Another very simple stage. Just watch out for those fireballs with legs. They can also walk on walls and ceilings.

When placing magical platforms and ladders, make sure that nothing is in the way. Pick-up locations for things such as hammers, hats, parasols and handbags will be treated as solid objects by the magical platforms and ladders. Also, magical ladders and magical platforms cannot go through each other.

If you use more than one magical environment changer, you'll reset the timer on the platforms and ladders that you have created. When the timer ends and the special music stops, everything will disappear at once. Remember this for future stages.

If you complete a stage in 50 seconds or less, Mario will close the door behind him when you put the key in the exit door.

Stage 1-7

Map (by Captain Drake)

Be sure to place the magical bridge so that it's either lined up with or ends up going underneath the platform where the exit is. That way, you can more easily avoid the duck guy (which I've learned is called a Rappie).

Stage 1-8

Map (by Captain Drake)

This time, you fight Donkey Kong. Stop the barrels with your Handstand (or let the barrels hit the walls to the side) and throw them at Donkey Kong. Three will do him in.

You'll then be introduced to switches before getting some extra lives. Hold B and use the D-Pad when over them to flip them.

World 2: Forest

Stage 2-1

Map (by Captain Drake)

This stage is very easy. The bugs around here will walk on walls and ceilings, much like the mice. The spiders have spikes on them, and unlike most enemies, even jumping on them to hitch a ride will immediately kill you.

Hit the switch to trigger the bridges. This allows you to get everything, including the key, and get to the exit.

If you leave the key outside of where you found it long enough, it will start flashing. If you don't pick the key back up quickly, it will return back to where you found it, and you'll have to go find it all over again. 

Stage 2-2

Map (by Captain Drake)

The switch here will trigger more of the platforms. In the middle position, both the left and right sets of platforms will stand still. If you move the switch right, the left moves down while the right moves up. If you move it to the left, however, the opposite is true: the left moves up and while the right moves down.

As long as you can effectively use the switch and keep from touching the spider running around in a circle in this stage, this stage can still be pretty easy. Just make sure you're not holding the key if the spider touches you, as that causes Mario to be stunned and drop the key, which makes progressing more difficult than it can already be at times.

PrinceWatercress plays Donkey Kong Land III: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble - Part 1 of 13

It's high time I played through this one from beginning to end years after playing the second game.

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Donkey Kong Land III is based on Donkey Kong Country 3, and while it shares a lot of things such as music, controls, enemies and level themes, it actually has a different plot much like the first Game Boy game did. The game starts with a hunt in the Southern Kremisphere for who can find the Lost World first. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong set off to find it, leaving Dixie Kong behind. Dixie leaves and takes Kiddy Kong with her, and it also becomes apparent that Baron K. Roolenstein (also known as K. Rool) is looking for the Lost World as well.

Also like the first Game Boy game, you have new world and level names, but at least you don't have to look them up in the manual this time.

For this game, I'm using a translation of the Japan-only Game Boy Color version, which called Kiddy Kong "Dinky Kong" and fixed some bugs from the Western releases - including fixing the camera so that it more easily catches up with you if you're falling - while also having some omissions, such as missing dialogue and animations, that the Western versions did not. Thankfully, this translation patch also fixes what's wrong with the original Japanese version, and you can find it [url=https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1757/]here.

When you start the game, you'll start in Cape Codswallop. It's time to start moving about.

Cape Codswallop

Red Wharf

Map (by Shiny)

I didn't get the pun behind the level name for years.

Just like in the second game, you move around with Left and Right on the D-Pad. A jumps, and B lets you run while holding it down as well as pick up and throw barrels when you press and hold B for the former and let go of the button for the later. Holding Down and releasing B while holding a barrel lets you put it down. Pressing B on its own allows you to perform a roll attack. If you're playing as Dixie and you press and hold B while in the air, you'll do the helicopter spin that Dixie is known for from the second and third games in the 16-bit and handheld trilogies. Pressing Select lets you switch Kongs if you have both, and Start pauses the game.

Barrels can be used as weapons against enemies. If you find a barrel with the DK logo, you can break it to free the other Kong. Dixie is quick and can float in the air with her helicopter spin, while Kiddy Kong is more like Donkey Kong and is more about powering through enemies and defeating tougher Kremlings with a single jump when Dixie is unable to do it.

Bananas in this game act as coins, just like in all the other games in the two trilogies. A bunch of bananas will be worth ten bananas. Collecting 100 bananas will give you an extra life.

Jumping into barrel cannons will launch you into new areas.

The bear coins will be used at the Sheepy Shops, which I'll go into more detail about later.

To defeat enemies, you can jump on them or hit them with the roll attack. Some enemies cannot be jumped on, and some enemies cannot be rolled into. Other enemies are indestructible and should be avoided.

The K-O-N-G letters will give you an extra life when collected. Grabbing balloons will also give you extra lives, and you can see how many you have at the bottom of the screen.

Each stage will have at least two bonus areas, indicated by Bonus Barrels, barrel cannons that have the letter B inside an explosion shape on them. Entering them takes you to a bonus area. To find the first one in this level, go through the walls to the left after you jump into the watter and get the O.

Jumping into horizontal ropes will allow you to grab onto them and climb along them with Left and Right. Jumping off by either jumping normally or by holding Down on the D-Pad and pressing A to drop down will allow you to let go. One of the horizontal ropes - the final one in the level, in fact - will lead to a bonus barrel that you can jump to.

The first bonus area is "Find the Token." For this type of bonus area, you'll need to search the area to find the Bonus Coin; when you find the coin, you'll complete the bonus level. In this type of bonus area, you may see enemies, but defeating them is not required. In every bonus area, you'll have a timer in the upper-right corner, so you'll need to be quick to find it. Thankfully, if you fail a bonus level, you can always go back to where you found the Bonus Barrel to try again. 

The second bonus area is "Collect the Stars." Much like in the second game, you'll need to collect all the stars in the bonus area before time runs out to get the Bonus Coin to appear so you can collect it. In this specific bonus area, you can control the barrel cannon with the D-Pad and launch yourself out of it with the A button so you can collect all the starts. The Bonus Coin will be on the roof on the far right.

You must collect the Bonus Coins to get credit for the bonus area, and you'll need all of the Bonus Coins to collect everything in the game. If you see an exclamation point next to a level name, you've found both bonus areas.

There's also Koin, a guy holding a shield with the DK logo on it. You'll need to hit him in the back with a steel keg, and thankfully, he's always facing you with his shield in front of him, so while you cannot hit him head on, you can hit him from behind. In this level, Koin will be above the goal. Just throw the steel keg over him from the left. It will bounce off the non-existent wall on the right and hit him in the back. Defeating Koin gives you a DK Coin, and you'll need to get all of them to fully complete the game. You'll also get a DK Coin icon next to the level name signifying that you have found that stage's DK Coin.

The flag at the end is the goal. If the flag is limp, you didn't find both bonus areas; if the flag is fully unfurled, you did.

Seabed Shanty

Map (by Shiny)

Once you have some areas opened up, you can use the D-Pad to move around the map and the A button to enter levels.

You'll need to hold Left and Right on the D-Pad and repeatedly press A to swim. Down on the D-Pad allows you to descend faster, and you can ascend faster by swimming by holding Up as you move. Holding Down while pressing A allows you to ascend more slowly.

Going down and to the left at the start will take you to an Enguarde barrel. Swimming into it will turn you into Enguarde the swordfish. Enguarde can move in eight directions freely with the D-Pad, and the B button will allow him to stab forward and defeat enemies.

If you move into an Enguarde barrel while already Enguarde, it will count as breaking a DK barrel and you'll get an extra Kong, which is the same as getting an extra hit point in this case.

The enemies with the spiky shells are called Barbos, and they can only be defeated by Enguarde and only when they are fully opened. If they are closed, touching them will result in you taking a hit. If you're not Enguarde, avoid them.

The green fish that come out of the pipe-like coral in the wall will constantly move in one direction from one pipe to the other. 

The first bonus area is down and to the left after the N. In "Bash the Baddies," you'll need to defeat all of the enemies before the time runs out to get the Bonus Coin to appear. In this particular one, you're defeating all the fish with Enguarde.

The second bonus area is before the two sets of bananas making arrows pointing right to the goal near the end. When you see the first "arrow," go down instead. This is another "Collect the Stars" bonus area where you're collecting stars with Enguarde the Swordfish.

The DK Coin is above the G. In underwater areas, the DK Coin will not be guarded by Koin; instead, they will be in plain sight, and you can collect the coin by moving into it.

After this level, you'll be able to head to the Wrinkly Refuge. You can save your game here, and in this game, it's always free.

Ford Knocks

Map (by Shiny)

If you drop down at the start to play as Enguarde and get the K, you'll miss the first bonus area. You'll have to play through the level again to find the first bonus area.

The flying ladybugs - known as Knick-Knacks - act as aerial platforms that take you to other areas, but you can only jump on them once.

The flying enemies with the angry smiles are called Buzzes. They are much like the Zingers from the earlier games, and you can only defeat them either with a barrel, with invincibility or with the abilities of certain animal buddies. 

The first bonus area is above the wooden awning after the start. There will be a barrel cannon; jump into it to be launched into the Bonus Barrel. Hit the Booty Birds here with barrels to defeat them and take their items, then get the Bonus Coin.

At one point in the level, there is a gap with a 1-Up Balloon in it. Drop down and get the 1-UP to find the bonus area. Thankfully, you just have to defeat the enemies here, which is dead easy.

The DK coin is in plain sight at the end of the level; just throw the steel keg at the left wall while standing to the right of Koin.

To exit a level you've already completed, press Start to pause, then press Select to return back to the map screen.

PrinceWatercress plays Daffy Duck: Fowl Play - Part 1 of 6

Despite being from Sunsoft, the developers of this game are ex-Sunsoft employees, and because of this, this game has some of the old Sunsoft magic in it despite being one of the later titles from the late 1990s...and it shows.

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In this game, you're Daffy Duck, and you're looking for treasure. Interestingly, Bugs Bunny is the game's main antagonist. Also, the game is very well animated, as you'll soon learn when you start the game.

It should be noted that the map is the shape of Daffy Duck's head.

Stage 1: Country

When you start the game, you'll be able to get used to the controls. Left and Right let you move left and right, Down lets you duck, and Up lets you aim with your attack. A jumps, and B attacks...by throwing dynamite.

At the top of the screen, you'll see your current score, your current amount of lives, and your current amount of energy in the form of a percentage. That energy meter slowly goes down, and it hits zero, you're losing a life.

Whenever you see a food item, be sure to pick it up. Daffy will slowly pick it up and devour it, and you'll soon see what I mean when I said that the game is very well animated.

Attacking with the dynamite is a bit of a science. The longer you hold the button, the further you'll through it. You can only have one stick of dynamite on the screen at any time, and it is also possible to blow yourself up and lose a life. You only have three seconds to play around with the dynamite and the count is clearly shown, so you'll need to work with the dynamite quickly.

When you go further into the country, you'll start seeing traps such as mouse traps that will activate when you step on them, guard dogs that move back and forth if they're not punching at you, hens that throw eggs at you, and police officers that move faster than the guard dogs.

Believe it or not, when you go through future levels, the levels will play differently. Some enemies and hazards will show up; other times, they will be completely absent.

Enemies will sometimes leave treasure; pick them up for points/money. You'll need to get rich to earn some extra lives. You'll get an extra life every 20,000 points.

Some traps, such as mouse traps and the rakes that you'll see on the third screen, work better if you get close enough to them without tripping them. Hold Down, press B, then get away from the dynamite you just dropped. That'll do it.

If you get hit by anything, you will lose a life both figuratively and literally. You can get that life back when it drops out of you in the form of a heart, but you'll barely have enough time to grab it. It is possible to get hit multiple times in a row and lose multiples lives in a row as a result...so watch out.

You can push things by moving into them. There is a box on the third screen you'll need to move to get up a huge wall of crates.

Walk off the edge of a platform from a high height instead of jumping off. Jumping will cause Daffy to be briefly stunned as soon as he lands, while walking off the edge does not.

To beat Bugs Bunny, you'll need to avoid the mouse traps as well as the exclamation points that briefly show where the sixteen-ton weights Bugs is throwing will land. This is the easiest boss battle by far, but they will get harder. Once you avoid everything, touch the treasure chest to end the level. You'll see your score and password as Daffy Duck flies around, then you can play a bonus game that while fun, doesn't even give you any extra lives. You'll then move on to the next stage.

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

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

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

Stage 1: 01F

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

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

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

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

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

The pits are instant death if you walk into them.

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

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

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

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

PrinceWatercress plays Alice in Wonderland (GBC) - Part 1 of 6

This is probably one of the last things I would expect to be turned from an animated Disney movie into a full-fledged video game, but somehow Digital Eclipse made it work, and on the Game Boy Color, at that. The result is something that is surprisingly solid but is also relatively obscure due to everything else that was coming out on the Game Boy Color and other consoles at the same time. At least it reviewed alright.

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I barely remember the Game Boy Color "Get Into It" commercial for this game. I may have seen it; I may have not. Nevertheless, there was one. The game itself? After playing it, it's...strangely good?

You have up to three save files to work with in this game. If you need to delete one, press the Select button. When starting a new game, you must input your initials with the D-Pad and confirm with A.

The game begins with Alice sitting in the tree daydreaming as her teacher reads from a history book. All of a sudden, a white rabbit carrying a pocket watch runs into a burrow, looking extremely late for something. Press A to get through the text prompts, which come with the animation of falling cards revealing the text from left to right.)

From here, you'll take control of Alice. Left and Right on the D-Pad move left and right, Down ducks, and A jumps. You can run by holding the B button. This first part is simple; just head to the right and jump from rock to rock once you make it to the river. After going far enough, you'll catch up with the white rabbit - known as The White Rabbit - and from here, you'll go down the rabbit hole. At this point, you'll start getting hints on what to do from the Cheshire Cat.

While falling down the rabbit hole, you can move around with the D-Pad, and you can also use Up to slow your rate of descent. The A button lets you descend faster when held down, but you'll want to go down to the end while hitting as few random objects that aren't gold stars as possible. The gold stars allow you to enter bonus areas when you collect 100 of them, although that won't become much of a priority until you reach Wonderland.

You have five hit points, and you can collect papers with "1/5" on them to refill them. If you lose all of your hit points, you'll end up at the game over screen, but thankfully, you have infinite continues. The game is meant for a general audience, after all.

You'll eventually reach the bottom, and when you do, you'll enter the hallway leading towards Wonderland. You'll run into the Cheshire Cat, who will cryptically explain that the mushrooms will change you from big to small to big again, and when you change size, the pitch of the music gets higher and lower depending on your size (and it definitely gets higher when you're small to the point where it can be a bit grating). You'll also see a lot of platforms moving either vertically or horizontally; be ready to jump onto them and take a ride to wherever they go.

If you see any enemies such as the frogs, you can jump on them when they are on the ground to defeat them. You also must be big in order to defeat them; if you're small, you'll simply bounce off the top of them.

The cyan and white sections of the floors are trap doors that drop you down a level if you stand on them for a second. 

The paintings of the soldiers will carry spears that move up and down. If the tips of the spears touch you in any way, you will lose a hit point. Halfway across the spears section, the Cheshire Cat will tell you that you can perform running jumps to jump further by jumping as you run.

The key allows you to open the brown wooden door with the doorknob at the end of the current section. If you reach a wooden door without a key, you'll have to backtrack and find the key.

Further down the hallway section, you'll see tea cups and tea kettles spinning around as they fly in a certain direction. You can jump on the tea kettles to defeat them, and while you can also destroy the tea cups in the same fashion, they are a little harder to hit due to their size. 

The running pocket watch enemy can be jumped on, but this enemy is rather fast, so be ready to jump on it when it suddenly shows up.

If you collect all of the stars in an area, the Cheshire Cat will tell you when you collect the last one. You'll also get a full heal and have five hit points again, which is pretty nice.

The hallway has multiple sections, and while you won't see much new in the second section, you will see plenty of mushrooms and plenty of running pocket watches. There are also multiple keys, and you'll need to collect them all to get through each section one at a time.

The macaron enemies act much like the frog enemies from earlier; jump on them when they are on the ground to defeat them.

The third hallway section starts with the Cheshire Cat warning you about the tricky floors, even though you've probably found out about them the hard way two sections ago. You'll also be jumping from platform to platform a lot at the beginning, too.

The spinning yellow thing near where the tea cups and tea kettles are actually spinning pocket watches, although I had no idea what they were while playing this game.

There is a wall that you can get through while you are small when you reach the area above the start. If you go into that area, you'll find a teapot. The teapot allows you to unlock things for the photo album mode that can be used with the Game Boy Printer, and there are eight teapots in in all. Don't forget to grab it!

After you get through the third section, you'll face an angry, running pocket watch that is larger than the ones you've previously faced. While you can jump on him to damage him, there are birds that will fly out from the side and give you one of two icons: an "I" icon that gives you temporary invincibility and an icon with a down arrow on it that does damage to the boss. I ended up grabbing a ton of these and destroying the boss in about a minute.

From here, Alice starts crying because she cannot catch the White Rabbit, and this leads to her flooding the room and travelling across the river she has just made in a bottle. Your only controls are Left and Right on the D-Pad to steer left and right, respectively. If you run into an octopus tentacle, or if you run into a rock formation at a fast enough speed, you'll get a game over screen and you'll be forced to play this section again from the beginning. Any of the white glowing areas are currents that will push your upwards faster. You'll get a "!" symbol at the top center of the screen if you are approaching a hazard, and this is your only cue to move around to avoid being nabbed. For some reason, staying to the far left for most of this section will make it easier to get to the end. I wish I knew why.

When you finally complete the bottle section, you'll wash ashore in Wonderland and pop out of the bottle. From here, you've reached the meat of the game...

PrinceWatercress plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Part 1 of 6

Here's another game that I never thought I would beat until I tried it for the Internet. Long live the YouTube channel!

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The game is known as Gekikame Ninja Den in Japan, and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe.

Stage 1

Map

The game starts in an overworld map. If you pause, you can select between the four Ninja Turtles, which have a different weapon (that of course, works differently). You'll have four turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello. Each Turtle has a different weapon (katana, nunchaku, sai and bo staff, respectively), each with a different range. They all have their own individual health bars, and you can switch between them on the pause screen in case you're in trouble.

From what I understand, the first level is supposed to be Fifth Avenue and Greenwich Village.

The map shows red and white squares. The red squares are all the places you can access, while the white squares are an entrance to an area. The flashing dot signifies where you are. You'll be able to get hints from Splinter and/or April O'Neil (when you rescue her) in the message box below.

You'll start near a manhole. Go into it. Moving south past this area leads to a purple tank that will instantly try to kill you if you run into it, so don't do that.

You'll take on what look like Mousers and Foot Clan Ninjas. As you progress, some of them will have mini-boss status. Take them down to empty their life bars and continue on with the game. 

Whenever you finish off a mini-boss, move left past the center of the screen and continue. That way, you'll be able to see what's ahead and deal with it more easily.

You'll find a pizza at the end. The more slices there are on the icon, the more health you'll refill. One slice refills two squares on the life bar, and you'll see anywhere from one to four slices on a pizza icon.

From here, enter the manhole to the right of where you've come out. Go to the right and you'll face Bebop. Stay away from him and hit him from medium range. If you're using Donatello and his Bo, this is a lot easier. If you touch Rocksteady, you also take damage (I found this out by screwing around, don't ask).

When you beat Bebop, Rocksteady runs off with April through the nearby door. Enter it, and you'll come out across from where you entered. If you need health, go into the nearby house and beat up all the bats and stone guys. The stone guys can only be damaged if they're moving. You'll find a slice of pizza midway, followed by a whole pie at the end, and if one of your Turtles somehow need energy at this point, switch to that Turtle, get the Pizza, then switch back. That way, that whole pizza pie won't be wasted. Also, the chainsaw guy (should he show up) is totally violent for a NES game from 1987. Just saying.

Leave the house the same way you came in, then go to the manholes northwest of that house. Watch out for the steamrollers, as they're instant death if you touch them. There are also Foot Clan ninjas you can attack with the B button, just like in the side scrolling sections, should they get near you.

Before entering the one that blocks your path, enter the one south of it. You might find some throwing stars, which you can select with the Select button if you want to go back to your default weapon. There are several projectile weapons that you can find in the game, and if you don't want to grab a projectile weapon without losing the one you have, you can switch to another turtle and have that turtle pick it up. Weapons include throwing stars (a single shot and a three-way shot variety), boomerangs that can be thrown and grabbed again, and scrolls that can shoot an energy wave, among others. You'll find these weapons at random, so look sharp and be ready to press Select to switch back to your melee weapon as well as manage who carries what, as that can be pretty important.

In the manhole that I don't enter, the Turtle logo is invincibility. With this, your current Ninja Turtle spins around and hits everything that he touches for a few seconds. This will take down the frog mini-boss at the end without taking damage. Since this is a dead end, go back and climb up the ladder at the start.

Now you can go into the manhole that blocks your path. There's a pizza at the beginning in case somebody needs some health rations. Continue to the left, take care of the frog mini-boss, then climb up the ladder at the end and you'll come across this isolated blue building.

There are three sets of enemies in a stage, and if you don't like the one that's in the current area, you can leave where you came in from and immediately re-enter to spawn a different set. Nice.

You'll face Rocksteady at the building at the end, and if you jump up to the top of the boxes at the right-hand side and keep striking downwards, you'll be able to beat him without taking damage. This works especially well if you're using Donatello, as it's pretty hard to miss while doing this with him. Just wait for him to jump (horribly) and then hit him. Whenever Rocksteady jumps near the boxes, his hitbox extends a little bit, and you can hit him more easily. You just saved April O'Neil! Congrats!

Controls

Control Pad: Move (Up enters doors)

A button: Jump (side-scrolling only)

B button: Attack (use Up and Down to strike upward and downward, respectively)

Start: Pause (lets you see the map and switch Turtles)

Select: Switch weapons (side-scrolling), leave the Turtle Van (overworld)