Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Babysitter
by Chris Hendricks (a.k.a. Ilsoap)
[email protected]
Version 1.1
08-10-04
-----------------
Table of Contents
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1. FAQ Introduction & Updates
2. Intro Story
3. Walkthrough
3.1. Menu Screen
3.1.1. Paddle-War
3.2. Starting Out
3.3. Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket
3.4. Bloogwaters Crossing
4. Bestiary
5. Bugs, Glitches and Cheats
5.1. Bugs & Glitches
5.2. Cheats
6. Tips and Techniques
6.1. Impossible Pogo Trick
6.2. Standard Galactic Alphabet
7. Links
8. Copyright & Credits
1. FAQ Introduction & Updates
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is the first walkthrough ever created specifically for Commander Keen 6;
at least the first one that's available on GameFaqs. Now, I really don't know
how this thing is going to turn out, or how far I'll take it, but Commander
Keen 6 is a good game, and it deserves some kind of walkthrough.
For this to be a complete walkthrough will take a whole lot more than one day
of effort on my part, so this FAQ will likely be incomplete for a long time.
Bear with me. I have a life. Also, even though I will make this a complete
walkthrough, I'm not going to tell you how to find every hidden point item and
raygun charge. Only major clusters of points will be mentioned here, along with
the location of every single queen viva (which gives you a 1-UP).
2. Intro Story
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The intro story for Commander Keen 6 is as follows, taken directly from the
game manual itself:
Billy Blaze, eight year-old genius, working diligently in his backyard
clubhouse has created an interstellar starship from old soup cans, plastic
cement and rubber tubing. While his folks are out on the town and the
baby sitter has fallen asleep, Billy travels into his backyard workshop,
dons his brother's football helmet, and transforms into.
COMMANDER KEEN - Defender of Earth!
In this episode, Billy is out in his clubhouse, busily working on his handy
new CompuWrist wrist computer. He hears Molly, his babysitter, calling him
to supper but he keeps on working. He hears a strange noise in the backyard
and decides to investigate. On a patch of scorched grass he finds a note:
Keen-
Thanks for dinner.
-The Bloogs of Fribbulus Xax.
P.S. Next time get one with more meat, please.
He puzzles over this for a moment, then notices the babysitter has stopped
calling. Suddenly he realizes that aliens are having her over for supper---
and when they say "for supper" they mean "FOR SUPPER"! If he doesn't save
her, his parents will be furious. They'll never believe that "Aliens ate
my Babysitter!"
"This is a job for Commander Keen!" he declares. Once again, he dons his
brother's football helmet, hops into the trusty Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket,
and starts the launch sequence for Fribbulus Xax. He's got to save Molly
from becoming a snack for creatures from another planet!
If you don't have the game manual, but still want to see the story for
yourself, on the main menu screen, hit "Return to Demo". If a large red planet
(Fribbulus Xax) doesn't pop up, hit Esc, then hit "Return to Demo" again.
Eventually you'll see the planet, with the story scrolling past in Star Wars
fashion.
3. Walkthrough
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3.1. - Menu Screen
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
While it's pretty basic, before I go over the actual game, I should probably
review the menu screen. The menu is called the ComputerWrist, another invention
Commander Keen made, apparently as a way to entertain himself on his long
journeys across the galaxy, fighting for justice. For us, it's mostly a menu,
although it can be pretty entertaining too.
> NEW GAME - Start new game
> LOAD GAME - Load one of the saved games
> SAVE GAME - Save your game at any point in the game (even the middle of a
level) in one of six slots.
> CONFIGURE - A lot of customizing options here, mostly applicable to older
computers. You can turn sound effects on and off, music on and off,
change your keyboard controls (for the purposes of this walkthrough,
please don't do that), and use a joystick instead, if you have one. The
only ones that might require explanation are Score Box and Two-Button
Firing. Hitting Score Box will get rid of the score box in the top left
while you are playing your game. Hide it, leave it, I don't care; it
doesn't interfere too much with your gamelay, so I leave it up.
Two-Button Firing will change your fire button from the Space Bar to
hitting Ctrl+Alt simultaneously. Why would you want that? Well, in the
older Commander Keen games - 1, 2, and 3 - this was the only way to fire.
Some people might be used to it that way. I suggest not using it, as it's
a lot more frustrating, and makes it hard to do the Impossible Pogo Trick
(see 6.1. for details).
> RETURN TO DEMO/GAME - Self-explanatory. The demo is that thing the computer
does by itself if you're away from the game for too long.
> END GAME - Finish your game without exiting Keen
> QUIT - Exit the program.
Your default controls, which I'll assume you're using in this walkthrough, are
the left/right/down/up arrows for movement, Ctrl for jump, Alt for pogo, and
Space for fire. That's it, that's all you need.
You'll notice I skipped Paddle-War. That's because Paddle-War is so big, and so
tremendous, it deserves it very own section! (Okay, it's really just a rip-off
of Pong, but it still deserves its own section.)
3.1.1. - Paddle-War
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
In this amazing game, you play against the computer in a life-and-death match!
First one to 21 wins!
OK, it's not THAT exciting, but it's how Keen entertains himself on the long
voyages, so it should entertain you for a little while too.
The Pong - sorry, Paddle-War - board is horizontal (not vertical, like most
versions of Pong). You're on the bottom, the computer is on the top. To move,
just press your left and right arrows on your keyboard. The object of the game
is to keep the ball from going off on your side. Every time that happens, the
computer gets a point. Simple? I thought so.
TIPS
^~^~
- It's a good idea to finish rounds quickly, because after about 15-20 hits,
the ball speeds up, making it harder (or, as some might see it, giving you more
of a challenge!).
- When the ball hits your paddle, depending on where it hit it, the ball will
ricochet in a different direction. Use that to your advantage. Make the ball
hit your paddle on the extreme left or extreme right, and the ball will fly off
at an angle, making it harder for the computer to get there in time.
Personally, I find that shooting it off to the left is more reliable.
- The computer's paddle, depending on where the ball is, always moves at a
constant speed. Consequently, you should try and make sure that the computer is
at the extreme left or extreme right when the ball goes out. That way, when a
new ball comes in play, the computer won't have enough time to get back to the
middle and block the ball, giving you one, possibly two extra points from a
single ball.
- It's possible to put Paddle-War into a sort of loop. It's possible to hit the
ball in such a way that the computer will return it at exactly the same angle,
and if you keep your paddle in the exact same position as when you shot it, the
ball will bounce back and forth, with no effort from you, for a long period of
time. Watch out, though, because after the ball speeds up twice, the computer
will actually start hitting it in a different direction.
- Just so you know, how you perform in Paddle-War has absolutely no bearing on
what happens in the actual game. Even if you beat the computer 21-0 (which I
have, many times), there are no special power-ups or anything in the actual
game.
3.2. Starting Out
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Now that you're familiar with the menu screen, start a new game. I'm going to
write this walkthrough as if you're playing a game on normal difficulty. Later,
perhaps, I'll expand this guide to include easy and hard levels, but suffice to
say, hard has more enemies, and easy has less. One advantage to playing in easy
mode is that you're able to pogo a little higher than in normal or hard.
You start on a small purple field, with your ship, the Bean-with-Bacon
Megarocket to the right, and a level to the left. Press Enter, and you'll see
your status window. Here's what it all means:
LOCATION: Where you are
SCORE: How many points you have
EXTRA: The point total you have to achieve to get an extra life
ITEMS: Special items you pick up, needed to finish the game
LEVEL: Difficulty of your game
KEYS: Key gems that you have
AMMO: Shots you have
KEENS: Lives
VIVAS: Tiny big-eyed bug-like critters. Walk into 100 of them, and you get an
extra life
There are also numerous point items in the form of candy which you should know
about:
100 points - Lemon-Lime Soda
200 points - Fudge Bar
500 points - Chocolate Ice Cream Bowl
1000 points - Chocolate Milkshake
2000 points - Banana Split Ice Cream
5000 points - Pizza
You start out with no score, no items, no keys, and no vivas, but that's not a
concern right now, you'll get plenty of them later. You have three lives and
five ammo. Now, this is fine and dandy, but wouldn't you like more? Instead of
heading straight to the level on your left entitled Bloogwaters Crossing, go to
your ship, and press Ctrl (the key you press to enter any level you are at).
3.3. Bean-With-Bacon Megarocket
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
At first, it looks like there's nothing here but your ship, and many people
make the mistake of leaving immediately. However, if you're handy with your
pogo stick, you can get an extra life right here. (NOTE: If this is your first
time playing, this part will seem a little difficult, so you may want to just
skip right to 3.4. right now.)
Activate your pogo stick with ALT, and you'll start bouncing. Hit CTRL, and
you'll bounce much higher. Now, on the right side of the screen, you'll notice
that there's a wall keeping you from leaving the level on that side. Pogo stick
up as high as you can with CTRL, and at the top of your bounce, hit ALT and
then -> (the right directional button) really fast. If you do it right you'll
be clinging to the edge of the screen. Pull yourself up, but don't go any
farther to the right.
Now, the tricky part, you'll want to pogo out of the wall you're in, as high
and as left as you can, but while you're pogoing out left, hit the -> button in
midair, and come back in. It's difficult to describe, but if you're successful,
you'll have landed directly above where you started your jump. See those pizzas
up there? Each pizza is 5000 points. You need 20000 points to get an extra life
(remember seeing that in your status screen?), so if you get all the pizzas,
you'll get an extra life. Doing this is much easier if you learn the Impossible
Pogo Trick (6.1.).
If you want some extra points, go back to that first ledge that you found, and
go off screen to the right. You'll fall down into a cavern with spikes and
glowy things. You may have found this cavern accidentally when trying to get
the four pizzas. It's okay, you'll be all right, as long as you can manoeuvre
your way between all the spikes and glowy things and drills. If you make it all
the way to the end of this deadly path, you'll be rewarded with two vivas and
two more pizzas.
No matter what you end up doing in this level - even if you don't take any
point items whatsoever - shoot a single shot from your Neural Stunner. I'll
explain why in the next chapter. After you've shot once, exit the level.
This is a unique level; it's the only level that you can go in and out of many
times without dying or passing it. Every other level has to either be passed or
you die trying. Keep that in mind, in case you're a few points short from
getting an extra life, and you think those pizzas might come in handy.
3.4. Bloogwaters Crossing
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Now that you've plundered that mini-level, go to the first real level,
Bloogwaters Crossing. Remember how I told you to shoot once before entering
this level? That's because there's a rule in the Commander Keen games; if you
ever enter a level with four or less stunner shots, extra ammo will be provided
for you at the very start of the level. Now you have nine shots instead of the
five you would have had. Nice!
Unless you played the previous level in hard mode, this will be the first time
you meet any enemies, and the first one you meet is a BLOOGLET. The
blooglets come in four colors; red, yellow, green, and blue. There's a reason
for this, as you'll see later. Blooglets can't kill you, although they can push
you into traps and other enemies, which isn't good. They can also run a little
faster than you. Shoot him if you want, but if you don't want to waste ammo,
don't bother.
Walk along the path, and you'll run into a larger version of the blooglet, the
BLOOG. The bloog CAN kill you by touch, so don't touch them. Shoot them once,
and they're permanently stunned.
There are two ways to pass this level. The normal way is to just walk across
the path laid before you, shooting blooglets, bloogs, and at the very end, a
BABOBBA. A babobba is a creature that hops on one foot, shooting out tiny
fireballs. If you touch them or if their fireballs hit you, you die. However,
the babobba can get very tired, and so every once in awhile, it will take a
rest. When it's sleeping, they can't hurt you in any way (but you can still
shoot them if you want to, you meanie). I also advise you to avoid spikes and
water, as both of them seem to kill Keen (I guess the planet has toxic water).
Anyways, you can pass the level the normal way, but that's boring. My preferred
way to pass the level is to walk along the path until I reach something that
looks like a light switch. You'll see these all throughout the game, and they
control doorways and moving platforms. Hit the switch, and then run back to the
start of the level. Once you get there, jump onto the long branch of the big
eye plant, and look up. Wait a few seconds, and a moving platform will enter
into the screen. Pogo and jump onto it, and then get the large flying mosquito,
which in this game is called a QUEEN VIVA. If you find one of these in a level,
it will give you an extra life! There's also the normal VIVA, but you need to
collect 100 of those to get an extra life. Either way, an extra life is always
a good thing.
Now that you're on the platform, ride it as far as it will go. You'll encounter
flying vivas (jump into them) and point items. Once you hit the end of the
platform's cycle, jump off onto the branch of the eye plant, and jump from
branch to branch, Tarzan-style, until you reach the farthest point of the
level. Then, jump off, holding your -> button down, and you'll exit the level
just before you hit the ground.
Hidden point and/or neural stunner areas:
- behind the large eye plant, farthest right in the level, near the top is
6000 points (6 hidden milkshakes)
- hidden in some of the cliffs are various point items and stunner charges;
just watch out, because the water is easy to fall into in these places
Now that you've passed the initial level, you have a fork in the road, giving
you two choices where to go. Well, actually, if you go left, you just come to
a cliff that's too hard to climb. Oh, if only you had a rope and a grappling
hook! Go the other direction instead, and enter the transporter. You'll be
transported to a different area, possibly underground. Your only choice in
direction is to go through Guard Post One.
3.5. Guard Post One
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Walkthrough coming soon...
4. Bestiary
^^^^^^^^^^^
Okay, first off, I'm not a big fan of the word "bestiary", but it's pretty
standard to describe all of the creatures in a video game, so here's the list
of the aliens you'll meet in alphabetical order (list is not yet complete).
BABOBBA
-------
Shots to stun: 1
Special attacks: Shoots small fireball from eye, hops
Kills on contact: Yes
Extra notes: Takes occasional naps, does not kill on contact while sleeping
BIP
---
Shots to stun: n/a
Special attacks: None
Kills on contact: No
Extra notes: If you see one walking around, you can step on it and squash it.
BLOOG
-----
Shots to stun: 1
Special attacks: None
Kills on contact: Yes
BLOOGUARD
--------
Shots to stun: 3
Special attacks: Hits ground with large club, temporarily stuns Keen
Kills on contact: Yes
BLOOGLET
--------
Shots to stun: 1
Special attacks: Pushes, walks fast
Kills on contact: No
Extra notes: When shot, will occasionally give a colored door key
5. Bugs, Glitches, and Cheats
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Episode 6 of Commander Keen has had more little glitches discovered in it than
any other Commander Keen game, along with an assortment of cheats (some useful,
some not-so-useful), and no FAQ would be complete without a listing of some of
them. When I have more time, this is where they all will go, but for now, here
are some basics:
5.1. - Bugs & Glitches
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
"The Impossible Bullet" (doesn't work in all versions of the game)
- An unusual bug, useful for finishing certain levels very quickly, which
enables you to turn your Neural Stunner into a cannon! To activate, fall from a
tall ledge. Before you land, shoot downwards (press down, then space bar). A
shot from your Neural Stunner will appear, just under you while you are
falling. When you finally land, you won't have landed on the ground, but
instead will have landed on your raygun shot, making you float in mid-air. Now,
just shoot upwards, and you'll fly through the air vertically as far as the
level will allow you to go. Although this trick won't work if you fall into a
bottomless pit, it might save you from falling onto other hazardous materials
(slime, for instance).
5.2. - Cheats
^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Intended Cheats (cheats that the manufacturers wanted you to know about):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| E-N-D Goes to the ending sequence automatically |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unintended Useful Cheats (cheats that the game makers used while playtesting
their game, which you can exploit to your advantage):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| F10-E Finishes current level (don't use in levels where you have |
| to get "treasures") |
| F10-G God Mode (can only be killed by bottomless pits) |
| F10-I Free items |
| F10-J Jump cheat (hold down CTRL, you can fly!) |
| F10-N No clipping (fall through walls and floors, recommended use |
| only with F10-J on if you're in a level) |
| F10-P Pause |
| F10-W Warp to any level in the game |
| F10-Y Reveal secret passages. Everything that's not a secret |
| passage will be shown in weird color. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unintended Unhelpful Cheats (cheats that the game makers used while
playtesting their game, which probably won't help you anyways):
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| F10-B Set border color |
| F10-C Object statistics |
| F10-D Record a demo |
| F10-M Memory usage display |
| F10-S Slow motion |
| F10-T Sprite test |
| F10-V Change the frame rate |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Tips and Techniques
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you want to pass your game the legal way, without cheating (and we know you
do), there are still many tips and techniques that will improve your gameplay.
6.1. The Impossible Pogo Trick
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
This one is almost essential to beating the game. Once you learn this, you'll
never pogo the same way again.
You've probably noticed that trying to pogo and hitting Ctrl to jump higher
isn't the most efficient way to travel through the level. It can be downright
time-consuming! Well, here's the trick. Hit Ctrl, and a millisecond later hit
Alt, while pressing on one of the <- or -> buttons. You will instantly pogo up
as high as you possibly can pogo, with a great deal of control. Perfect this
skill, and many of the hard-to-reach areas in Commander Keen will be a piece of
cake.
6.2. Standard Galactic Alphabet
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
You've surely noticed by now all of the strange signs all over the place,
written in some funny language. They are actually written in English, with one
unique symbol substituting for each letter of the alphabet. You can find a
complete table with these letters on it in the hidden level of Keen 6, but
here's a table of those letters for you people who are impatient and need to
decode messages NOW (I hope this is easy enough to understand):
Standard Galactic Alphabet
OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO
o o o o o o o o
o AA o B o C o DDDDD o E EE o FFFFF o G o
o A A o B o o o E o o G o
o A o B o C o DD o E o F F F o GGGGG o
o A o B o C o DDD o E o o G o
o AA o BBBBB o C o o EEEEE o o G o
o o o o o o o o
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o o o o o o o o
o HHHHH o I o J o K o L o MM M o N N o
o o I o o K o L L o M o N N o
o HHHHH o o J o K K K o L o M o N o
o H o I o o K o L L o M o N o
o H o I o J o K o L o MMMMM o NN o
o o o o o o o o
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o o o o o o o o
o OOOO o P P o Q o o S o TTT o o
o O o P o o R R o S o T o U U o
o O o P P o QQQQQ o o S o T o o
o O o P o Q o R R o S o o UUUUU o
o O o P P o QQQQQ o o S o T o o
o o o o o o o o
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
o o o o o o o
o V o o X X o Y Y o Z o This would have o
o V o W o X o Y Y o Z Z o been a lot o
o VVVVV o o X o Y Y o Z Z o easier to show o
o o W W o X o Y Y o Z Z o if I could have o
o VVVVV o o X o Y Y o Z Z o used images. :) o
o o o o o o o
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
7. Links
^^^^^^^^
You want to learn more about Commander Keen 6? Here's where to go (it's also
where I got some of my information):
- www.classicgaming.com/cc314
Cerebral Cortex 314: one of the original Keen game sites, and still one of the
best.
- www.spatang.com/ck
Behind the Pogo: An ultimate resource of official and unofficial Keen stuff.
View the level maps for any level in a Keen game, see screenshots, you name
it, it's there.
8. Copyright & Credits
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't have time as of now to write out a proper copyright, but needless to
say, use the info, but don't steal it. Thanks.
Chris Hendricks - www.screenhog.com
