HIGH SCORING GAME PATTERNS AND
STRATEGIES: PART II
9/1: Impossible Staircase
This screen gives you a welcome break in difficulty in
the middle of your trying to complete these 9 mazes. It is the
easiest maze of the 9. Start by quickly moving Bentley up the
stairway and then left, collecting the two gem lines. Now, jump
the ball and the tree to get the hat. (Remember that if you don't
collect the hat during the first few seconds of the mazes in
level 9, it will turn into a ball.) Move to the position BETWEEN
the rightmost V and E in the word LEVEL, shown at the top right
onscreen. Wait here until right as the tree on the right turns
the corner towards you. At this time, quickly move left and down
to the bottom of the maze. Clear the entire back rectangle of
gems next to the honey, being careful of the bees. When they
leave, get the honey, and the gems at the end of the staircase.
Pause here to trap the enemies, and have them get the two gems in
the dead-end. (If you don't want to 'waste' your time
bonus, the pause is not really necessary, but note that the
enemies won't stay trapped as you finish the board. However, they
rarely cause problems.) Now clear the rest of the maze. Done
correctly, the enemies will be trapped the entire time you clear
the board.
9/2: Nasty Tree
This is one of the most difficult boards, because of
the many gemeaters, and the fast tree. But, it also contains the
most potential points. Begin by moving Bentley to the gem just in
front of where the line of four gemeaters lands. As on 8/1, you
will only go for part of this group at a time. When the enemies
land, move into the first three gemeaters, stop, back up a bit,
and then move into the fourth as he gets his second gem. Now, see
where the hat is and jump for it, being careful not to land on
the tree or the last gemeater. Once you've got the hat, move
Bentley in small circles to collect gems, while moving towards
the honey. Following the perimeter of the board is a good path to
take. In any case, try to lead the tree in such a way that it
doesn't pick up too many gems. With the hat still on, get the
honey, and then quickly circle onto the short stairway, to avoid
bringing the tree up. Now, clear the gems at the end of this
stairway, and the one next to it, and continue by clearing the
section in-between the two pairs of elevators. Now, move to a
position such that the tree will ride the lower right elevator
up. When it gets on, clear the gems around the other two
stairways, while not bringing the tree out. Now, clear the large
flat section of the remaining gems. Then, move up the short left
stairway again, and jump the tree. The timing for this is tricky!
If all gems but the top ones are cleared, go up and finish by
clearing those.
9/3: Hidden Spiral
As on most of the other boards, start by eliminating a
line of gemeaters. In this case it's easy, since there's only
two. Move up to the third gem from the back of the top right
corner. Right when the gemeaters land, move into them. Now,
quickly move down to get the hat, making sure you get the
remaining line of gems up the right side of the maze. With the
hat on, quickly move up to the letter with the ghost. Clear this,
and if you were lucky, the ball followed Bentley up, and is now
trapped. Move out before the hat disappears, and clear the other
parts of the maze, in a clockwise fashion, before the gemeater
and/or ball can. Finally, go up the hidden spiral, and complete
the maze, timing the bees to avoid getting Bentley killed.
9/4: Berthilda's Dungeon
This maze is probably the most difficult to execute
well, but timing and correct anticipation help. Start by moving
Bentley to the sixth gem from the back. Move through the
gemeaters right when they land, and get the hat. Then, move up to
the witch's 'tower'. If it's one of the shorter heights, go up
and kill the witch. But if it's one of the taller ones, don't,
since the hat will be gone by the time you reach the top. (Of
course, you might get lucky, as the witch sometimes rides the
elevator down; if this happens, always get on it.) Now, if you're
on the tower, clear it while avoiding the ball, and time riding
the elevator down. Get the honey, and then go down to the front
of the maze to let the ball on the right out. As he starts to
move out, go left, and up the far left stairway. At the top of
the stairway, go right, and clear the gems in the middle portion
of the maze. If you were lucky, the ball got trapped on the left
stairway, and the ball on the witch's tower is still not out.
However, if one or both of the above is not true, move to the
upper right portion of the maze to lead the ball(s) away from the
gems that are left. Then, try to clear the board while avoiding,
or trapping, the balls. When the balls are out on the maze, avoid
using the stairways, as they move very fast, and can trick you as
far as where they are moving to.
If you noticed at the beginning of the maze that the
witch's tower was one of the taller heights, there is still a way
to get the witch. Simply use the beginning methods of the 8/1 and
9/2 patterns to eliminate the three gemeaters, and then back off.
After about a 1 second pause, get the hat and continue the
pattern as outlined above.
10/1: The End
The last maze of the game looks quite different from
the others, but it isn't that difficult, if all goes well. Start
by rolling the trak-ball in a northwest direction. This will put
you in the left quarter of the maze. Now, get the line of gems,
jump the gemeater, and jump over the tree and onto the back
section. Get the honey, and clear the back, left to right,
while avoiding the skeleton. During this time, the balls and the
tree should be trapped. Now, move to the top right portion of
this section so that the tree will be let out, and it will pick
up any gems left on this last row, although you should try to get
a few, if possible. Jump the tree, and then go to the top left
part of the section you landed on. Jump from there to the front
section. Go to the left side, and then back to where you landed,
moving across the top and middle to get there. Move down to the
cauldron, and then get the remaining gems. Now, jump down to the
last section of gems, and quickly get them to end the maze.
At this point, your score before bonuses should fall in
the 695,000 - 705,000 range. To that, add in your life and time
bonuses. Hopefully, you'll have a perfect life bonus of 60,000
points. Note that it is possible to die up to 2 times and still
achieve this, IF you can cross over the 700,000 mark, where a
bonus life can be given. Your time bonus should range from
127,000 - 133,000, depending on how quickly you play. Try to get
at least a 130,000 time bonus, after you've practiced these
patterns.
These patterns are exactly the same patterns I use when I
play. They are designed to produce scores of at least 890,000
points. Using these patterns, I've achieved the upper 890,000's.
A score of even 900,000 is certainly possible using these
methods. The main problem is getting the 'perfect'
game, where you are both playing well, and the random elements on
each board work in your favor.
In any case, good luck in playing, and may you achieve the
score that you want in the game.
PATTERN CREDITS
I'd like to give
credit to certain people who helped me with parts of the above
patterns. The person below who is listed first is responsible for
most of the pattern listed, while any others who follow helped
with parts of the pattern:
1/1: Mark Alpiger (MDA), Tad Perry. 8/1: MDA.
8/2: MDA. 8/3: MDA, Ali Nodjoumi. 8/4: MDA.
9/1: MDA, Mike Quarles. 9/2: MDA. 9/3: MDA, Chris
Ayra. 9/4: MDA, Phil Britt, Frank Seay (FGS). 10/1:
FGS, MDA.
