Pepper II FAQ(Arcade)

Pepper II FAQ(Arcade)
version 1.0.0
copyright 2003 by Andrew Schultz [email protected]

Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However,
if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I
will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about
answering e-mail. Sorry.

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My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762

================================

OUTLINE

1. INTRODUCTION

2. CONTROLS AND ENEMIES

3. METRICS

3-1. GENERAL POINTS

3-2. MAZE POINTS WITH MAPS

3-3. WHAT HAPPENS BEYOND?

3-4. DIP SWITCHES

3-5. HIGH SCORE LIST

4. STRATEGIES

4-1. GENERAL

4-2. BY MAZE

5. VERSIONS

6. CREDITS

================================

1. INTRODUCTION

Pepper II is a gobble game(i.e. get to all the points you can walk on, minus a
few tunnels) with a funny twist. You are walking on zippers which come undone if
you go down them twice--UNLESS you've managed to rope off a small area the maze
has created. So for instance:

........
1 . 2 .
.....
.
....

Moving around area 1 like so would solidify the lines. You could walk over
them without doing anything.

xxxxx....
x 1 x 2 .
x x....
x x
xxxxx

Same with area 2.

...xxxxx
1 x 2 x
xxxxx
.
....

However, a big circle around both of them could still be undone. Although you
could split between them to knock off both at once.

xxxxxxxxx
x 1 . 2 x
x xxxxx
x x
xxxxx

If an area has a pitchfork in it, you can power up and kill enemies. If it has
an object inside, then you will get several iterations of 910 points plus a time
bonus and the usual tally for blocking the area off. These can get weird but it
adds to the hectic feel of the game.

And Pepper II's a very fast paced game and you usually have to face five
ghosts which slowly appear from the side. There are actually four mazes to a
level, and you need to clear them for the super bonus. Once you do, the game
resets but now the maze vanishes.

As your guy plays longer the monsters become faster, and there's also a
monster your size that runs around and unzips what you zipped. Unless you've
already blocked off areas. You can leave the screen and come back to get rid of
him but the smaller monsters are a tougher proposition. You must let monsters
come in on the new screen before you go back there.

What makes Pepper II's fast pace work is that you can be almost perpetually
powered up throughout a scene if you do things right. You can get in a rhythm of
blocking off squares or not retracing your steps too much, and you can hopefully
clear off far side areas without being accosted. It feels easy to conceptualize
but the practice isn't always easy especially when the monsters start to move
back and forth, seemingly purposefully blocking your way. Bad things? Sound is
heinous. On MAME, turn the speakers down. Although I found it didn't work on one
of my sound enabled computers, which was OK with me really.

It's a pretty simplistic game and I'm not surprised it was ported to the Atari
and Colecovision. But why to no home computers? Not even a rip-off AFAIK? I'd
have liked it on the Apple. Oh well. This way I can still have discovered
something new even in my twenties.

2. CONTROLS AND ENEMIES

Moving Pepper is easy enough but moving hm at the right speed is a problem.
When you are at an intersection you just push any direction, and Pepper will
move that way until he hits another intersection or a bend in the road. You can
track Pepper back on the longer stretches.

Pepper is as fast as the big annoying guy that comes running and starts twice
as fast as the small bad guys. They speed up after a while but return to slow
when you lose a life.

The big bad guy frequently disappears spontaneously, and if you happen to box
off an area except for the small track where he's started to unzip, the game
will count that area as zipped, and you'll get credit. You can also get rid of
him by quickly entering and exiting a level.

The smaller bad guys come from the tunnels, where you don't want to stay at
the beginning of the level unless you've powered up with the pitchfork. They
frequently bounce back and forth or around you, and often you'll need to sweep
clear across the screen to get them off your tail. They can run through each
other and also work you into a corner, and trying to avoid two or three at once
by moving back and forth doesn't work well. You also have a split second after
the color changes back to normal to nab them when you've got the pitchfork, but
don't push it.

3. METRICS

3-1. GENERAL POINTS

--10 points for travelling between each intersection

After getting a pitchfork, you get:
--100 points for the first bad guy
--250 for the next
--400 for the third
--550 for the fourth
--700 for the final one

Eating two pitchforks in a row resets the total available.

You get 910 * (# of tools eaten so far) points for encircling a tool, in
addition to the blocking off bonus.

--6600 points for clearing any one maze, counted by 440's
--15000 points for clearing the set of four, counted by 660's

Each level is about 80000 points. It's a bit less if you don't get any bad guys.

3-2. MAZE POINTS WITH MAPS

The big picture maze looks as follows:

| | | |
| | | |
--1----2----3----4--
| | | |
| | | |
--3----4----1----2--
| | | |
| | | |

Basically: go right, add one to the maze number. Go left, subtract one. Go
up/down, add two.

As of now I only have approximate point totals but believe that there is a
general range of values for each box. They do vary from game to game and I
haven't quite nailed down what the ranges are yet.

* = pitchfork
+ = treasure

...X.......X.... t ............. | ....X...X.... t ........X....
. . . o . . | . . . . o . . *.
. 300 . . .510 * . | .270. . . . .250.
. . . 3 . . | . . . . 4 . . .
........X ....X...X.......X...X | X...X360.450X...X...X 540 X...X
510/ . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
550/ * . 490 .180. 750/ .180. | .250. . .280.200. .220.
590 . . . 780/ . . | . . . . . . . .
...X.......X...X...X...X 800 X.... | ....X...X...X...X...X.......X....
. . . . . | . . . .
. 260 .340. * . + . | . 320 . . 260 .
. . . . . | . . * . .
to 4X.......X . 630/ . ....Xto 2 | to 1X.......X 500 X.......Xto 3
. . . 650/ . . . | . . . .
. 260 . . 660 . .340. | . 260 . . 240 .
. . . . . . | . . . .
...X.......X...X...X...X...X X.... | ....X.......X...X...X.......X....
. . . . . . . | . *. + . . . . .
*. 300 .360.200. 490. . . | .500. 500 .280.280. 340...X320.
360. . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
X.......X X...X.... X.... . | . X.......X...X...X..... ....X
. . . t . . . | . . . t . * .
. 260 *. . o . . 500 * . | . . 260 . o . 510 .
. . . . . . | . . . . .
...X.......X.... 3 ....X........ | ....X........ 4 .............
|
--------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
|
X................ t ............X | ......... t .............
* . o . * . | . . o . * .
690 . . 600 . | . 450 . . 620 .
. 1 . . | . . 2 . .
..........X.X...X...X...X.... . | ....X ....X...X...X .....
. . . . . . | . . . . . .
. 510 . 210 . 300 . . . | . *. . 310 . . .
. . . . . . | .350. . . . .
. ......X.....X...X...X . . | . X...X...X.... X.......X....
. . . . . . . | . . . . .
. . 620 .120. . . . | . . . 420 . * .
. . . . .380. . | . . 500 . . 740 .
...X . ......X...X . X.... | ....X ....X.......X.... .....
. . . . . . | . . . . . .
. . . .360. . | . . . . . .
. . . . . . | . . . * . . .
to 2X...X . 590 . X...Xto 4 | to 3. . . 430 . . Xto 1
. . . . . . | . . . . . .
. . . . . . | . . . . . .
. . . . . . | . . ....X.... . .
...X X.....X.....X...X...X X.... | ....X...X . . X....
. . . . . . | . . . 520 . 550 . . .
. . 340 . 290 . . . | .200. . . . . .
. . . .380. . | . . . . . . .
. ......X.....X.......X . . | X...X ....X...X...X...X.... .
. . . . . . | . . . . . . * .
. 460 . 250 . 290 . . . | . . 340 .210. . . 540 .
. . . . . . | . . . . . . .
..........X.X...X...X...X.... . | . ........X...X .260. .....
* . t . * . | . * . t . . .
730 . o . 640 . | . 520/570 . o . . .
. . . | . . . . .
................ 1 ............. | ............. 2 ....X....

3-3. WHAT HAPPENS BEYOND?

On subsequent levels the board turns invisible for a while. You'll need to be
able to think ahead and visualize the board from memory so that this doesn't
derail you. Thinking two squares ahead should help, and if you're able to reach
a pitchfork while you're running around, no harm should be done. If you seem at
a dead end, move in the direction of the closest intersection. If nothing
happens, try for another intersection that looks good. You'll also need to judge
if a bad guy is near and can come at you. There's nothing wrong with cowering or
going to another maze--as long as you're decisive about it.

The toughest part here when the board turns invisible is learning how to
navigate the edges, if you get stuck there. You'll need to know how to turn
quickly. But another way to get around all this is to clear out as many
rectangles as possible, whenever. This is very proactive, as the parts you've
completed will not disappear. You can either flee or piece together part of a
new rectangle to bound in.

3-4. DIP SWITCHES

You can start the game with 2-5 men and extra lives can occur at 40K, 50K, 60K
and 70K. You'll get another extra at 80/100/120/140 and that seems to be it.

3-5. HIGH SCORE LIST

Here's the default high score list:

LWH 19720 PEPPER ][
JDE 14340 YOU DEVIL YOU
MRK 10130 YOU'RE AN ANGEL
HAI 9830 WHIPPERSNAPPER
AKG 7650 EVIL EYE

The comments don't change as scores are replaced...kind of cute though.

4. STRATEGIES

4-1. GENERAL

I find the best way to go about things is to rush through the level as quickly
as possible, not worrying about nailing monsters once you've gotten the
pitchfork. That's because they can pop up really nastily from the side tunnels
when they regenerate. The only exception might be if you are in an area you need
to clear out, or where you have a long travel between intersections(i.e. level 3
corners.) Then the more bad guys you can clear out the better.

The best way to get through a level is to build on what you already have. Some
backtracking will be necessary, but if you leave one loop uncovered as you go
through an area it's a long trek back. And if you keep building on what you have
you'll always get a bit of a head start roping areas off. Backtracking serially
is a bad idea and of course leaving partial lines open may be wasted as you walk
over them while fleeing or that nasty bad guy comes along and messes them up.

One note--if you think you can just beat a bad guy to an intersection, get a
pitchfork and wallop him, it never works out that way. I think they collision-
detect the sprites enough that even if you touch first, you need to get to the
center of the dot before being touched.

Leaving a level to come back is not great strategy unless you can easily
complete another level and get a pitchfork as you finish and come back to the
first level. The exception is when you have one last bit that's heavily guarded.
You may also want to note that you can reach any one board from any other. But
you'll need two trips to approach the board from the right direction.

Using empty levels as transport however is not a good idea as monsters pop up
in tunnels rather quickly. There's a chance you'll be waylaid if you use the
direct approach, so you better hope your ducking skills are good.

You're actually dropped on the worst place to start a level when you resurrect
or begin a new one. The safest place to be is near a pitchfork but no exits
really are.

Sometimes a tool will disappear quickly. This is just an annoying tease and
although it's worth it point-wise to get the tool, and you can do so easily on
pretty much any level, you don't want to go all out for it. Knock off part of a
few sides first if necessary.

Although you always want to be near a pitchfork, and it's best to consume them
at a regular pace if you block out areas in chunks, you will want to keep an eye
out for when you've wrong footed everyone. Then you can take out a few blocks
that don't have pitchforks.

If one block has a large circumference and bad guys are wandering around it
you may want to sweep around adjacent blocks first.

Running behind enemies that seem clueless is asking for it--especially if the
fast gad buy sneaks up behind you. You'll get trapped.

Early on when you enter a screen you have a few seconds before bad guys
appear. Don't try to get cute and cut out more than one non pitchfork square.
You really don't need to pick off ANY, and on some mazes it just won't be
helpful anyway.

Also watch out for picking off goodies--they don't make you invincible, but in
the heat of the chase you can be fooled.

Following a small monster is a bad idea as they can turn on you at
intersections, and they can trap you against big bad guys.

When you have a choice of how to wrap an area(clockwise or counterclockwise,)
see how close you will be to the next area you want to clear once you're done
and how much backtracking will be able to do if things go wrong.

You also need to beware of a few things--when you solve a maze, the game will
pause(bringing on some heinous sound if you've got THAT on,) but it will
suddenly release you when the bonus is finished counting. Have your next
directional move ready and be prepared to 'hold' for a bit--and snap back into
action. It's easy to get careless and relaxed. Similarly you may be surprised
that the game pauses and gleeps around even when you don't solve a maze. This
happens because you got an extra life. 'Anyone can deal with failure, but how do
they deal with success?'

Also you need to watch out for when you've solved a level. You will be left in
the same place that you started in. So be sure to locate where the nearest
pitchfork is so you can get back into your regular routine. If you have a way to
nab the nearest pitchfork to end things, this can work like a charm as you can
just walk around a small area or two near that(you're still invincible) and get
the pitchfork and start the routine again.

4-2. BY MAZE

** MAZE 1 **

This is not really the easiest maze as the right side presents some nasty
problems. But I find that, at the start of the game, you can quickly loop the
small square to the left if you want, or better yet you can go left, down, and
loop around the bottom left pitchfork. This should get you off to a flier. You
can cover the rectangle to the left and start working your way up. When the
effect wears off, see how much you can cover safely before going to the upper
left corner. Take out the L, the chunk to its side, and the enxt L. Then go down
beneath to cover the left side of the center square. If that's free you can pick
it off, but if no-one is in the upper right you can take a shot at that too.
Sadly the lower right is a bit sticky so once you get second of the two
pitchforks(enter, upper right) you may want to go directly to the lower right
and carve that out. The big Utah-shaped place that holds the tool should be
disposed of piece by piece, knocking off areas that border it, unless you
clearly have enough time for the whole sweep. You may even want to knock off the
part below and right of it before dealing with it.

My pattern to start is as follows: clockwise around the small square up and
left of you(must be done quickly or bad guy may appear,) left, down/left,
clockwise around the pitchfork square. You can go for the lower left edged one
if you want as well, and if you have time, then go up/right/down and have a bit
of a jump, but otherwise you can just go left/up/right/down after getting the
pitchfork, then counterclockwise around the next square, up/right/down and then
up/left/down for the next of the rectangles. This makes the next L pretty easy
to get but if bad guys seem to be closing in you can cover the box next ti it
first. I generally then look for a way to break and cover the left side of the
big box in the center. With my start I can just go left to get another box and
clear off the whole left side(I assume I've cleared the second L in the upper
left once I got the first.) There may be a painful waiting/chance game in the
lower right as monsters hover around, but in that case you're best off waiting
well away until they senseyou. If you're really out of things to do you can exit
mazes up twice to return and clear the lower right.

** MAZE 2 **

I believe this is the easiest maze out there, with the challenge of the bottom
right being the toughest. I like to approach this from maze 1 where I often can
go into the bottom left to pick off a pitchfork and then the goody in the area
next to it. The upper left and right are pretty plain sailing and you should be
able to clear out a lot due to the lack of bends at the intersections--I like to
try to get the squares below the pitchforks before powering up, as it saves that
much more time and is really low risk. The main trick is dealing efficiently
with the lower right, and for that you may want to finish off the center and
make a break down to the lower right. Here it may be a good idea to attack bad
guys hanging around there as they'll be regenerated a bit away, with a bit of
time wasted.

In general though it's not bad to sweep across the top, which you can probably
do without a pitchfork most of the time. The small squares force you to be exact
with movements, but you can sneak around bad guys pretty easily. If you can
start in the lower left more power to you, but as things stand you just need to
chip away until the bottom right becomes accessible. And if it doesn't, exit
down and return as a last resort.

Just don't go right once you're done unless 3 is the last place to cover. I
prefer to go up/down to 4, down being a bit better as it's closer to more
accessible pitchforks.

** MAZE 3 **

This is the toughest maze to work through, and you will probably NOT want to
enter from the left(i.e. right from maze 2.) You'll notice that the pitchforks
are buried in corners with no intersections. There's a certain amount of chance
here and you can't even go to another maze and get a pitchfork and return. It'll
wear off.

The best way to start in my opinion is to take out the upper right--just
chance it. If a monster drifts by then you can steer out of the way, or
backtrack(they tend to sniff you out near exits, but you are faster.) You'll
want to cover the outside part of the place enclosing the pitchfork first as if
plans go sour you can chip away some of the inside blocks. Then you can work
towards the center pitchfork or clobber some of the stuff near the upper right
part you started on. But this is a bit of a contingency plan and you will
probably be able to clear one corner and then get to work on other parts. You'll
want to work your way towards the center, and if you manage to get a few blocks
bordering on the pitchfork, you can probably get the pitchfork and work your way
out.

One added bonus of getting the upper right part is that the treat will be
close. It isn't hard to wrap around and it's worth chucking a pitchfork to get
to it. As for the left side, you may want to mow down the left two pitchforks in
short order when you have the chance. The inside is a bit safer for you than
you'd think due to the number of intersections there. You just have to be able
to react well.

** MAZE 4 **

Entering from the top or left is the best way to go here. The upper left
pitchfork is good to start with although the upper right will do as well.
Entering from the bottom is a bit kf a risk as bad guys can come out and
surprise you if you go to the left for a pitchfork. In that case you may want to
risk going up to the T, right, up and left. If a bad guy comes from the bottom
then don't get the center but otherwise you can start chipping at it, towards
the outside. The bottom right is the most annoying to access, but the upper
right is much nicer than it looks. It's one you can usually get to right away,
or after picking off the center. You can even go down the right edge and back up
to clear out the "t" if you'd like.

There are a lot of odd shapes here, but fortunately if you nail one you take
out a huge chunk of another one. You need to hold your breath in all corners but
the upper left, but the old saw of taking out bordering areas in a row works
well.

End of FAQ proper

================================

5. VERSIONS

1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 9/26/2003. Complete, more or less, except I'm not quite
sure how randomly the points work.

6. CREDITS

The usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should, too, because
they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, daremo, falsehead,
RetroFreak, Snow Dragon, and others I forgot.
War Doc for his incredible pace poking me to find new guides to write up. It's
helped me look into some fun games.
CJayC for creating GameFAQs.com so that I could post cute little time wasting
guides like this.