Jawbreaker II(Apple) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0 by [email protected](anti spam spoonerism)

Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I
could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.

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           OUTLINE

 1. INTRODUCTION

 2. CONTROLS

 3. POINTS AND STRATEGIES

 4. GETTING THROUGH A LEVEL

 5. CHEATS

 6. VERSIONS/CREDITS

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 1. INTRODUCTION

Jawbreaker 2 is a bit of an awful game, I'm afraid. While Jawbreaker had fun
ways to beef up your score, Jawbreaker 2 doesn't even offer that. You're
still a clacking pair of teeth, but this time you don't have a real maze or
anything. It's just five rows of dots. Jawbreakers roll around the rows,
unable to turn. You drop or rise through portals above and below you. You
have power pills at the corner, and while jawbreakers roll at you, it's
generally easy to sneak in behind them or even catch up to them as you gobble
dots. If you just gobble whatever's at the corners, and take out a fourth of
the board, you should be okay. Though at earlier levels you can gobble both
pills and get through things rather quickly. You may get bored before the
game decides to turn impossible, letting the jawbreakers run back on you.

Jawbreaker II is Jawbreaker on the Atari 800, though actually Atari 2600
Jawbreaker has more rows. Chuck Bueche("Chuckles") wrote this before writing
a lot better games, like 2400 AD. It looks like it was a port of the Atari
2600 version, and I'd guess it was done as a programming exercise, or for
some quick cash. (Bueche deserved it, for all he went on to do.) Maybe it'll
give you confidence your second game will be a lot better than your first.
Otherwise, this game isn't particularly worth your while.

 2. CONTROLS

It's interesting that you can choose the up/down/left/right keys and be able
to stop. I go with YHJK. That allows you use either thumb to hit the space
bar. This feature is one of the few innovative things you'll see in
Jawbreaker II.

You lose all ties when going for a power pill, but on the bright side, you
can catch an enemy when he is 4/5 out of bounds and you are charged up.

 3. POINTS AND STRATEGIES

5 for dot, 20 for power pill.
100-200-400-800 for the monsters. Eating two power pills in a row saves the
doubling bonus.
200 for candy cane, 400 for watermelon, 800 for lollipop.

Overall these values are about half what they should be, in keeping with a
game with a half-assed concept.

You get an extra man every 10000 points.

You have 17 dots on each level, minus the center square, for a total of
80*5+4*20=480 points per level. Most of your points will, thus, come from
gobbling enemies.

You should go to the left to start out, then back to the right. An enemy will
come at you from the left. He will be useless. Then work your way up(or down,
if he comes from the bottom. Go where they ain't.) On later levels you will
not be able to get all the way to the left on the second-top row, but you can
bail by eating a power pill at the top. Kill the jawbreaker at the top then
work your way down and repeat.

Watch for enemies going off the screen. They always reappear on the row where
you aren't, unless you have a power pill. On early levels, enemies roll off
one side of your row and back out the other. On later ones, they bounce back
at you. If an enemy changes his row, he always comes out on the opposite
side.

It's best to drop on enemies, or near them, when you have a power pill. That
way they can't run. You can probably catch them, but it wastes time.

Make sure you can get to the edge when you drop to another level, or be
prepared to go up and around. You can and should divide the board into ten
sections: Row 1 left and right, 2 left and right, etc. Rows 1 and 5 are easy,
you can get row 3 at the start, and that leaves 2 and 4. If an enemy appears
on row 2/4, go the opposite direction and be prepared to move up or down.
Hang out on an edge row and then drop in behind a row 2/4 enemy if things get
tricky. Row 3 is also good for mucking around since you'll clear it first
thing. You may wish to run against the grain to be sure you avoid an enemy
you want to sneak behind--run past them so you have a half-width of room.
Also beware that if you drop down, you're not safe til all of you is below at
the next level.

You don't need the sound if you know the color coding of the boundaries.
 blue = no pill
 white = pill about to expire
 orange = pill
 Around wave 5(wave=1 trip in dentist chair) the white disappears.

 4. GETTING THROUGH A LEVEL

For the first few levels, it is pretty easy to plow through. Though you may
wish to get points by moving up and down the rows and eating enemies. In
general I find it's worthwhile to take out 4 enemies with 2 pills in the
early going--it's safe, and remember, the 800 is the big reward. If you get 4
enemies with 2 power pills, that is better than 3 with 1 each. What I would
do is clean up the bottom 2 enemies with a pill in the upper left, then clean
up the other 2 with one on the bottom. Then zigzag bottom to top. After a few
levels it's only practical to nab the guy in front of you, and the main point
getter may be ducking in for the treasure at the center.

You can hop over enemies a bit at first, but on later levels, they turn
around instead of cycling from one side to the other--and then they turn
around sooner and sooner. So you have to plot your escape valve, whether it
is above or below you.

After about level 5 or so, there's no white warning, which makes the game
much trickier than before. You can barely double back at a monster running at
you at the top. You need to stop, get the pill and turn around. The enemies
also turn around earlier, so it is not so good to follow after them. Drop
down and run into the corner, and you may have to run at enemies if they are
close to you. Remember the chutes/rises are faster than the enemies.

 5. CHEATS

None known.

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 6. VERSIONS/CREDITS

1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs/Honestgamers 4/20/2009, complete.

Thanks to the usual GameFAQs/honestgamers gang, current and emeritus. They
know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS
writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro,
Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog
and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned
message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be
part of mine.
Thanks to the NES Completion Project for keeping it going and especially for
Da Hui for pointing out this game to me.
All you people at honestgamers, YELL AT ME if I forgot you and you deserve to
be in there. I mean, it's partially because of HGWars I wrote this FAQ, and I
want to add to this in the future.

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