Championship Lode Runner FAQ (Apple/NES)
by Andrew Schultz
[email protected]
version 1.0.0
This FAQ is copyright 2000-2005 by Andrew Schultz. Although it was LODES(ba-
dum-bum-CRASH) of fun to make, it also took, er, lots of time to write.
Therefore, please do not re-distribute for profit without my prior
consent(i.e. please ask nicely to use my materials first with SPECIFIC
queries and use my name please!) The maps were created with the help of a
thirty-line C program and the disk image at apple.asimov.net. Long live(sic)
automation!
For access to graphical representations of these maps, go to (segue to
SHAMELESS PROMOTION:)
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762/loderunner/lodemaps.htm where you
can check out whichever level map you please of both Lode Runner and
Championship Lode Runner on the Apple. Other platforms should have only minor
differences.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762/loderunner/main.htm is my generic
Lode Runner page.
================================
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
1-1. WHAT IT'S ABOUT
1-2. LODE RUNNER FRANCHISE
1-3. APPLE/NES DIFFERENCES
1-4. FAQ SHORTHAND
2. CONTROLS
2-1. APPLE
2-2. NES
3. ENEMY AI, SKILLS AND STRATEGY
4. SCORING
4-1. APPLE
4-2. NES
5. LEVEL WALKTHROUGH
5-1. MAP LEDGER
5-2-0. APPLE DEMO LEVEL/NES LEVEL 1
5-2-x. LEVEL X(APPLE)
[search for 5-2-(level#) for that level's walkthrough]
6. CHEATS
6-1. BYTE EDITING
6-2. PASSWORDS
7. VERSIONS
8. CREDITS
================================
1. INTRODUCTION
1-1. WHAT IT'S ABOUT
The object of Lode Runner is to pick up all the gold pieces on a screen and
then get to the top, where you have another level. There are basic pieces for
Lode Runner as well--ten of them.
EMPTY SPACE: you can walk through it.
BRICK: you can run across it. You can also dig into it, to create an
impression that lasts six seconds or so. You or enemies can fall in. Enemies
are trapped once they fall, but you can freefall into the space below. When
it fills in, it can kill you--or enemies, who regenerate in various places at
the top of the screen.
CEMENT: you can run across it but can't dig it. Very dangerous without brick
around, or...
LADDERS: you can climb up these and often shuck and jive your enemies on
them. You can also fall off them to the side, fool bad guys coming at you
from below. You cannot dig a brick under a ladder.
ROPE: you can't dig a brick under a rope, but you can walk across a rope when
there's no brick under. You can fall off them, down to the ground below.
FALSE BRICK: you will fall through this unless there's a rope or ladder
directly above. Then you have the choice to fall in. These can trap you
quickly, or they can provide you with a hidden secret passage to make things
easier. Because they look like bricks, you need to learn how to map these
out.
GOLD CHEST: you can't dig under a gold chest, but you get points for
collecting it. Once every gold chest is collected, you can reach the top of
the level to advance to the next one. Enemies can pick up gold chests or
release them, and if they drop into a brick-hole with a brick-hole right
about it, the gold chest doesn't appear, but it gets counted as collected.
ENEMIES: reddish guys keeping you from your goal, although sometimes you can
make them fall into pits and use them as bridges.
YOU: self-explanatory. The guy that needs to collect all the gold.
1-2. LODE RUNNER FRANCHISE
Championship Lode Runner was the second title in the Lode Runner series of
games. It started with Lode Runner, which had 150 levels on the Apple
including an editor(and a high score list! That drove me wild!) before moving
to a shorter, tougher game with 50 levels. Not counting various ports, which
feature many of the rather easy levels from the original Lode Runner copied
over, there was then Lode Runner (Returns) for the PS/PSX and Lode Runner
Extra, which featured bombs and other weapons and even timers and backgrounds
that actually WORKED. Lode Runner Online allowed people to share levels made
with the Lode Runner Extra/Returns engine, and Lode Runner 2 was an
intriguing 3-d version that sadly did not achieve commercial success. Each
one contained creative puzzles but Championship Lode Runner may well have
packed the nastiest, simplest ones of all. Perhaps it was just that I had
stick figures and a green screen to work with. It seemed so abstract and a
puzzle and maybe even stick figures flopping around on the PSX made the
future Lode Runners seem too much like a regular game for me.
1-3. APPLE/NES DIFFERENCES
The Apple version also offered people who won the game an AWARD
CERTIFICATE!!!! Those solving Championship Lode Runner were entitled to a
certificate from Broderbund. You just sent a code(on a sticker on the
package) in, along with its counter-code(revealed after you won the game and
typed your code in) and got a nice framed certificate. It even let you put
in a 20-letter message like the game. Pasta Fazoo with special sauce! The
NES's ending is dumpy, kicking you back to level 1.
On the NES you can start from level 1-10 at will, although you can start
even later if you have the right password. You can also restart a level
before you die if you are crafty...or trapped, with or without enemies coming
at you!
Enemies can also lean into a chest and a dug hole on the Apple to kill you,
but on the NES, you get killed if you step on where a monster's about to
appear. On the Apple, you suppress them until they're about to appear. Also
monsters don't suppress each other on the NES--the dead monster regenerates
somewhere else. Which is useful in some levels.
On the NES monsters can also bounce out of holes one after another and are
more likely to be able to escape after being in 3 holes in a row.
1-4. FAQ SHORTHAND
Occasionally I'll refer to N/S/E/W which should be equivalent to U/D/R/L
i.e. Up down right left. I'll use one-letter abbreviations and 2L means two
left, SSE means DDL or 2D 1L, and sometimes I'll call your enemies robots,
monks, guys, or whatever. Chests may be coins or whatever. It should be
clear, but then again you don't need any more distractions when learning how
to beat this tough game.
A 1-rope also refers to a rope of length one, and similarly for an x-ladder.
There's also a distinction between the top of the ladder(how far you can go)
and the top rung. Also you need to watch for the distinction between digging
right and digging from the right(just the opposite.)
A 4-3-2-1 dig means dig 4 holes, then 3 in the space you created, then 2
below that, then 1. Dig-R means dig right, etc.
2. CONTROLS
2-1. APPLE
Keyboard controls
ctrl-k: toggle keyboard
ctrl-j: toggle joystick(left/right buttons dig left/right)
ctrl-l: load game(when not playing)
ctrl-s: save game(can't be used when your man is active. That turns
off the sound)
Keyboard controls:
U=dig left
O=dig right
I=up
K=down
J=left
L=right
ctrl-a=kill your man. Useful when you're trapped and can't move.
ctrl-s: toggle sound
ctrl-r: kill game
Enter: see high score list
+/-: speed up or slow down the game
The joystick is actually a bit more awkward for me. I like the keyboard
because you can put one hand over UIJ and the other over OKL. When you dig/go
left/right you actually use that hand and I find that to be more intuitive.
2-2. NES
A=dig right
B=dig left
directions=move that way if you can
down=fall through false brick or off rope
start=pause screen to look around(the NES only shows part of the screen at
once and in fact is very nasty about not showing you what's to the left or
right--which ever direction you're going. So often you have to track where
monsters are and it breaks the flow of the game.) You can scroll around as
you want, but push start to get the game going again.
You can hold left/right and push a dig button to move one square, dig, etc.
To move up/down and dig you need to hold both but release up/down to dig.
Push select and start to bypass the annoying level-start music. This saves a
lot of time. There's no way to save yourself from the panorama view of the
level or the pause before the new level, but you can also look at it as a
slap on the wrist for restarting a level you know you can't win.
3. ENEMY AI, SKILLS AND STRATEGY
Note that you can't walk over a solitary enemy as easily on the NES as on the
Apple. It's also harder to play chicken with an enemy. And if you start a
level falling on an enemy, you have to tap down-right-down-right to go run to
the side.
Enemy AI: They generally go to the left when they don't know where to go.
Enemies are about half as fast as you are. They even fall half as fast. If
you are digging as you move, you both go at equal speed. Enemies also try to
get on a level with you, where they could walk over and get you if no blocks
were in the way. So if an enemy is in a pit and you're on the left and
another enemy's on the right, they won't try to reach you. But if there's a
wall between you at the bottom of the level, they'll run at you.
A bizarre bug allows monks to stick gold in a place you can't reach. Say
they're circling a ladder at the top, with a rope left of the top rung. One
can release a gold chest when falling off to the left. The monks can get it
back as they circle around, but it's darned annoying.
Although monks always pick up gold they run by, they also tend to leave gold
chests at random, but if you can get them to run across a long stretch you
can usually get them to give theirs up. Also one monk moving around a ladder
and running in circles should eventually leave the gold at the top of the
ladder--monks can't pick up gold where there's a turn from the top of a
ladder to brick. This is useful to know if you seem to have gotten all the
gold in a level and don't know who might have the last one. It's a lazy man's
way to get monks to cough things up.
4. SCORING
CLR is more level-intensive than score-intensive but it's always fun to keep
score nonetheless.
4-1. APPLE
500 Pick up a gold chest
2000 Get to the top of the level
100 Get a robot to fall in a hole
100 Hole closes on a robot
The scoring's a bit inflated over Lode Runner(33%, except the gold-100%)
but hey, it is a tougher game.
There are 10 high scores in the list at the end. They are ranked first by
the level achieved, and second by your score. This is to reward puzzle
solving over getting stuck on a hard level with a lot of gold chests. In
Championship Lode Runner, you get an additional 20-letter message after
completing level 50. But if someone takes your saved game and re-solves with
a higher score, he takes your spot over. That's life, I guess.
Remember that saving a game during play loses you a saved life in one of the
ten save slots but doing so the first time before the start of a level gets
you a bonus. For that reason, always save your game after completing a new
level, unless you have a way to outright cheat.
4-2. NES
You only get points at the end, 100 for each enemy trapped in a hole, and 100
for each pile of gold, 0 if they are sunk. You don't get any points for
restarting a level. No end-of-level bonus. Also, you only get a maximum of
nine lives, although you can get a password to continue later on.
5. LEVEL WALKTHROUGH
5-1. MAP LEDGER
5-2-0. APPLE DEMO LEVEL/NES LEVEL 1
+ X----X $ $
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The NES version is slightly different:
X+ X---X $ $
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This level covers several concepts and strategies that will be used in
varying complexity later in the game. I'll footnote this walkthrough and
outline everything at the end.
Dig right immediately and run right. Your object is to get to the ladder
right of the pit--you can't get there without clibming on the bad guys. (1)
Then go up the ladder and take the two gold chests at the top and come back
down. (2) You can dig left and fall to save time, but that's just a
convenience here.
The next chest to get is the suspended gold. There's no immediately obvious
way to get through to it--dig left and you can't reach, dig above and you're
trapped. The solution is to dig the squares 1U1L and 1L of it. Wait to dig
the 1L1D until 1U1L starts to fill in. Then dig the square over the gold and
fall in. (3)
Now you'll have to use your enemies to clear out the gold on the right. Dig
1R of the pit where the enemies fell and go right and down. They'll run at
you but one will get stuck! (4) Run to the top of the ladder and wait. (4a)
Once he's covered up, pause the screen and look around for where he is. (5)
He should eventually fall into the hole near the top with the money. (6) You
shouldn't have to get anyone else unless a monk falls into the hole right of
the one with the gold. (7)
Once the mad monk falls into the hole, stand 1U 1L and dig right. Hold left
on the controller and dig right again(you can actually hold left and A,) not
letting the controller go. The mad monk will fall right. Now you need to fall
into the long hole you created and repeat the hold left/dig right all the way
down. (8) Wait for the bad guy to run off and fall and dig a hole for him.
From there it is one on one combat with an enemy. He should have gone to the
left. Once you get him covererd up(make 2-3 holes between you) you can climb
down the suspended ladder, digging both squares to the right of it. Fall
right. (9)
Now there's a chamber in the lower right and some gold that you can't quite
grab below it, because there's a false brick below. (10) The solution is to
dig the squares 3U and 2U of the gold chest and fall right onto it.
Time to get the gold next to the suspended ladder. The diagram below shows
what order to dig things in. (Dig left and run right.)
123
$H4
5
Of course you need to remember to go to the top of the ladder before falling
left. (9) again.
Now you're ready for the final bit. Fall into the lower left and now you need
to climb up the ladder, get a gold chest, and come back. (11) Running
straight left and back isn't too taxing and neither is digging again and
holding the controller down/left to get the second. Be sure you pick up the
chest before retreating--you have time to run into the wall a bit.
The final part is a real trial run. Dig left and hold left/down. When going
down the stairs hold right/down and then when going right hold right/up.
(12) After falling right, just hold right. Get the gold, left/up til you
fall, left, left/up, right/up and you'll escape. Note the ladders that
appeared. (13) It should be pretty simple to get to the top.
(1) You can walk or drop over enemies. You can also walk down into them,
which is dumb, but on the NES you can push down sometimes which allows you to
go right/left. A weird quirk.
(2) Lots of times you must do something immediately or you'll miss out on a
gold chest. Sometimes you'll find this out the hard way but if you start
in/near an area that doesn't seem accessible from anywhere else, that's a
sign it needs to be cleared first.
(3) Sometimes you'll need to un-trap a bad guy from a safe place. Here I only
need one, so I only release one.
(4) Bad guys will run at you if there's solid ground between you, and you're
level with them. Obstacles be damned.
(5) This is an important finesse on the NES. If you don't know where the bad
guys are, you don't know how or where to distract them.
(6) If not, you can always try again. There are 3-4 places where an enemy can
fall from to start a level. Sometimes it'll mess your effort up if they fall
in the wrong place, and sometimes you'll need them to fall in the right one.
(7) There's nowhere for the monks to fall uselessly here. But even if they
did fall into the holes to the right, you could dig a square next to them to
get them out.
(8) You can combine digging and running in order to ease the strain of
pushing a bunch of buttons--or to make sure you dig all the holes you need
to.
(9) Enemies can pick up gold chests, too. Sometimes this makes inconvenience,
especially when they get trapped and you can't dig/kill them out, sometimes
it works OK.
(10) If you walk into a gold chest but there's air/false brick below it,
you'll fall before you can get the chest.
(11) For whatever speed you are playing at, you need to calculate how long it
takes to fill in a hole. You can run a little over the width of a screen in
the time it takes to fill a hole up.
(13) Sometimes you need to see where ladders appear in a level so you can
figure which gold chest to get last. Often if one seems impossible to pick up
without being trapped, it is the last, as a ladder will appear to buoy you
up. But ladders can also release monsters you needed to trap.
5-2-1. LEVEL 1
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H
H $ $ $$$$ $ $ $$ H
H $ $ $ $ $ $ $ H
H $$$$ $$$ $ $ $ $ H
H $ $ $ $ $ $ $ H
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This solution is a bit tedious if you mess up at the end, but you don't have
to put a bunch of stuff together as you do for the NES version. You just get
the two bad guys to fall into the bottom. Stand in a bottom corner and they
will run to you. Move to the other one and wait until they're under the gold
chests. Then pick up the chests that make the "hello" before running over
the two robots to get the last two chests. Support ladders will pop up, and
you'll find an easy way to the next level.
MESSAGE: HELLO...WELCOME
5-2-2. LEVEL 2
$- ** h$h - + $
H~~~~~*~*~~~~H~~~~**~~~~~~~H
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SOLUTION: The key is to isolate all bad guys on one side. The rightmost robot
will chase you up the ladder. Here you can just hang out a couple of squares
to the left and wait for him to follow you. Then you can drop down on the
note below and drop left. You can wait for the only bad guy on the left to
follow you down. Try to collect one of the suspended gold and then go right
and up the right ladder one square. You may have to wait for everyone to go
all the way left, but after they do you should be able to pick up the other
two suspended golds with the same method. One the NES you can just wait until
they're off the screen.
For the next but you can circle around to nexxt to the UR note. Fall down two
ropes so that the enemies will come at you but be blocked. Let everyone come
right. Then go up to the bottom of the top set of ropes when they almost
catch you. Run left when everyone's on the ladder and fall and go left. Now
every time you're on a rope, or in line with one, your enemies will go to the
right. This allows you to clear out the right.
The only thing left to do is pick up any gold your enemies might have. You
can probably just have them come after you to the left. Then you can run up
the ladder and go right and this often lets you pick up any gold they may
have missed. You don't have any holes you can dig, so sometimes you just have
to have bad guys chase you back and forth. They'll eventually give up the
gold chest to the guy behind them. You can also shake the gold chest out by
going to the upper right and waiting for someone to unload it--the risk here
is that a gold chest may be left UR of the ladder and you may need the bad
guys to pick it back up.
At any rate it's pretty risk-free, if tedious, to have the bad guys chase you
back and forth and then go to the top to shake the gold out so it's at the
top of the ladder, and you won't have to do the latter bit more than once or
twice.
BTW, here are ways to use the side squares to squeeze out of a mess:
Hang out right of the DL music note and head to the top of the stairs. Run
right and fall when the other guys come after you.
You can also stand on the DR of the right stairs to push the bad guys up.
They'll circle around but you can go up and left and wait and fall and sneak
under as they fall with you.
(Apple): you can calculate who has what gold by your score at the start vs
the end. This level gets you 21000 points. Add 21000 to your start and there
are (that/500) chests left that enemoes are carrying.
(NES): It's harder to determine when enemies have gold or not. Maddening
really because you don't have access to scores. Best to try to split your
enemies up so that if one leaves gold the others need to walk around longer
to pick it up.
MESSAGE: MUSIC MAESTRO
5-2-3. LEVEL 3
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SOLUTION: Split second timing is required to get past the bad guys, but it
can be done. Note that if they are running at you and between two ladders,
you can gain a little time on them when you go down. But you should be fast
enough to get by the bad guys even in the cramped spaces. There's no way to
drill a hole, of course.
If you get stuck in the 2-high places and need to fake an enemy out, wait
left of an open space and climb when your enemy is next to you. Be sure to
collect all chests as you go by the first time--you'll need to make trips
in(to the bottom central) and out.
You should be able to go left and circle around the first enemy. You don't
want to spend time getting the lower of the two because that allows the other
bad guy to get close. Just wait when you're on the left side and then climb
down. You'll outrun the enemies. Now you should be able to duck and weave and
get everything before going out--although you'll want to make sure that the
two enemies behind you stay that way, i.e. on the right edge and that they
don't turn the lower right corner.
Now while it is possible to sneak back past the bad guy it may be safer to
drill a hole for him--it requires perfect timing to use the ladders to move
around him when he's not on one. In this case you may need to duck past the
two bad guy sooner than you'd expected. You could also lure the other two
into the corner if you are able to time your dig so that it envelops your
enemy.
One other thing: the way to get enemies to release their gold chests is to
have them turn a corner on a ladder. So you may wish to sucker them into that
just to make sure they don't have anything. Otherwise you'll have to retreat
and go through the mess again. Remember that you always want to use as much
space as you can and run straight from the bottom of an area to the top and
back down again.
MESSAGE: LADDERS GALORE
5-2-4. LEVEL 4
H
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SOLUTION: This is a nasty little level that requires thought without feeling
particularly elegant to solve. It's easiest to take out the lowest bit and
move up, but the details require some ironing out.
Your best hope with the first enemy is not to kill him. That's one bad guy to
avoid later. So drop down the first 2-ladder in the center, dig on the left,
and go to the right and wait and dig there, but not the rightmost. Then fall
to the left. The bad guy should go back up the ladder and cycle where he was.
Now you need to get rid of the enemies guarding you from going right. If you
drop in you're toast. One solution is to dig the two squares to the right and
go down one--the enemies run into the new spacesand get gummed up there. This
will require a scramble at the end, so we won't get into it. Alternatively
you could dig the 3 holes to the right and sucker the 2 guys in, digging
holes on the left to run past and leave one behind. It's best to go down the
ladder to drag them over in any case. If you're really good you can sucker
both of them in and they'll both go down the nearest ladder so they won't
regenerate.
You can repeat things up to the top row when you get all the chests. Now
there's a problem--the ladders expanding once you've got all the gold have
you trapped. The solution? To wait until the bad guys are congealed. Then go
into the upper left(you should have gotten the top right gold on the cement
last) and wait for the bad guys to come over. Drop down. They'll fall to
chase you, but you can run back over them.
If you are stuck on the upper left there really is no hope. You just have to
remember that there either should be a gold chest in the upper right, or the
enemy coming by will drop one when you dig a hole for him.
The key thing here is to note that this is a one-way level.
You zig-zag your way to the top. Therefore you can trap robots(they
tend to fall down through the center), but you will have to make sure
that if robots do fall behind you(as you work your way up) that they
aren't holding any chests in the meantime.
MESSAGE: DROL HOLE
(NES): May be easiest to trap bad guys inside bricks. You'll need to pause to
see what bad guys are up to on the side though they tend to drop from below.
For them to come after you stand on the concrete level.
5-2-5. LEVEL 5
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HX*X*X*X*X*X X X X~XXX~X XH
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H*X*X*X*X*X*X X X~X X~X XH
H $ X X~X X~X XH
HX*X*X*X*X X X$X$X$X$X$XH
HX*X*X*X*X*X XVXXXXXXXXXH
H ----H
HXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: Climb all the way down the ladder. The four robots will run
to the left and drop in the gap. You then should run over them and take
out the right side. The only way to do this is to take four trips up the big
right ladder.
First, dig the leftmost square at the top of the ladder and jump down.
There's a false brick below. Don't worry.
Second, dig four holes at the top, then three, two and one so that you wind
up left of the right rope. Then dig and drop all the way to left of the gold-
-no false brick beneath it. But on the bright side you can walk in to get the
center gold. It's easiest to dig from right to left at the top.
xxxx
Xxxx
XXxx
XXXx~
x~
x~
x~
x~
x~
Now you can just mirror your actions above to pick up the gold below the left
ropes.
Next, dig down ten times while on the ladder, to your left. Pick up the gold
and come back out. The left side is complete.
Now walk across the robots again and dig right three times, so that when you
go left and down on the ladder they'll walk towards you. You'll only want to
leave one robot so he is easier to fight against. Once the robots have run
all the way they can towards you, go back up the ladder and wait for them to
get covered. Now you can dig right and move left continually to get the lone
remaining robot to come after you. One the NES it's easy--hold left, push A.
Your strategy is to stand right of the ladder, 2 or 3 squares, and dig when
the robot comes nearby. Then go 2 squares down the ladder and watch him go to
the right and fall in the hole so you can walk over him and get the gold.
Stand over him and dig right and walk left to dump him back in the hole.
If he's the only one stuck in the hole after this, you can repeat the
process. Although you'll need him to be as far left as possible before you
dig him out. If things mess up then you'll need to get another guy to drop
into the hole. That's easy enough--go to the bottom of the ladder. On the NES
you may want to pause and restart in order to see if/when only one guy has
fallen. When he does you can move up the ladder, wait, and fall back down.
It's easiest to fight against one guy.
Once you've cleaned up the gold, go to the bottom of the ladder and all the
enemies should fall into the pit. You can walk over them to level 6.
MESSAGE: FOUR IS COMPANY
5-2-6. LEVEL 6
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H
HX X X X $ XXX X X H
HXXX XXX X X X X XXX H
H $ $ XXX $ +H
H X X XXX $ XXX X XH
H XXX X X$ XXX X X XXXH
H$ $ X X X X - H
HX X X X XXX $ X X H
HXXX XXX $ X X XXX H
H $ $ X X XXX $ H
H X X XXX XXX $ X X H
H XXX X X X X XXX H
H $ X X XXX - H
H X X X X XXX$ $ XXX H
H XXX XXX X X X X H
H --- $ XXX $ $H
Solution: This goes a lot easier if you are able to trap some robots. But
you will still have to un-trap a few, and while it's possible to trap bad
guys at the top, there's no way to get them out if they have a gold chest.
The best start is to go to the top and drop to the left of the U where you
started. Drop on the enemy that fell in and drop right. Another will come up
the ladder. Sneak under him and go up the ladder so he falls into a U above.
Now you can clear out the right: fall between the N and the U just below the
rope and dig under where you fell. Fall again between the N and U and fall
off to the left three times the right.
Now at the lower right, climb up until you are over the U with the gold
chest. Wait to drop on the gold chest until the enemy is right next to you.
He'll fall in. Now comes a stretch of digging one way and moving the other.
Dig left and move right. Fall on top of the bad guy. Dig right and move left
and fall on him. Dig left and move right. Dig right and move left. Now he
will wind up with some gold, but don't worry about him right now. You should
be able to clean out the rest of the board, as everyone is trapped. You'll
have to dig through the N in the upper left and drop right of the UL-most U.
But then the time will come to release the final enemy. Drop right of the
middle U and dig through the N and drop. Dig left of the bad guy and run
right. Chances are the bad guy will leave his gold behind when you climb up
the stairs, but if not, you can drop on top of the N on the right and dig a
hole for him to fall him. If he did leave the gold behind, just let him drop
into a U at the top. He's toast for good.
But you don't have all the gold yet. The enemy in the far right still has a
chest. dig the block right of him, from the left. Run up the ladder. Drop
down where he was and quickly dig right. He should get stuck in there. Now
you can fall to the DL and get the gold there. You will want to dig the guy
at the very bottom out, and that will get you the final gold. If you are
quick about things, dig right and go left as your enemy falls. Then you can
slip right, dig left and fall through and beat your opponent to the ladder.
But you can also wait after digging him out--in that case the best bet is to
dig left and wait for the enemy to climb the ladder and fall where he may
when you climb a square up it.
The last bad guy with a chest is on the far left. Dig to get him out and then
fall into the square where he was. Dig left and walk up the stairs. He had a
gold chest you didn't see because it would have popped up onto a brick
square.
MESSAGE: THE U N
5-2-7. LEVEL 7
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
H H
H $$ H
H $VV$ H
H XVVX H
H $ $XVVX$ $ H
H X$X $ XX$X H
H $ $XXX X$ XXX$ $ H
H X$XXX $XX$ XXX$X H
H XXXX XXXX XXXX H
H $ $XX $ $X XX$ $ XX$ $ H
H X$XX X$XX XX$X XX$X H
H XV $ $XXX XXX$ $ VX H
H XX X$XXX XXX$X XX H
H XX XXX $$$$$$ XXX XX H
H + HXXXXXXH ---- H
Solution: The key is to get the robots to fall in the right places. This may
take a couple of tries. You can just get them to fall, period, the first time
after you circle to the UL. One will probably fall down the center, but the
important thing shoudl be that none chases you unless they have to. Only re-
mobilize one at a time to save yourself a headache, then fall down only when
they are on the ladder above where you want them to fall. You'll need one to
fall in each of the squares at the top of the pyramid, but it probably won't
happen on your first trip down. Try to fall when one is right at a ladder
above one of the center squares.
Next you'll want to shake the robots out. Be sure that you can get them to
fall down the top sides of the pyramid. One should have fallen into each of
the top holes, but if not you can move up and down the ladder on that side to
make him fall.
Once everyone's in, drop through the false brick and fall onto the robot in
the inner pyramid. Dig him out of his hole until he falls to the bottom.
Climb up the stairs and drop down when he is just over the false brick he
didn't fall through last time. Note that you may have to dig an enemy out of
the top facade of the pyramid to get back to this guy. That shouldn't be much
of a problem, though. Note through this all we haven't dug holes for the
robots--this shouldn't happen until you've cleared as much as possible from
the under-pyramid. Then you can start digging away and letting regenerated
bad guys fall into holes you don't need to keep track of any more.
There is some question as to what to do if enemies fall into consecutive
holes and the top one still has a gold chest--in that case, knock the lower
one out first.
Also if you're having trouble getting enemies to go down the left center, you
can get them to go down the top hole on the left side. Just dig right and go
left.
MESSAGE: PYRAMID TRAPS
5-2-8. LEVEL 8
H$HXXH$H**H$HXXH$H**H$HXXH$H
H**H HXXH H**H HXXH-H**H HXH
HH-H**H HXXH-H**H HXXH H**HH
HHXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH HH
H*H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH
H H**H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H H
HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH-H*H
HH HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXHH
HH**H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HH
HXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H
H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH H
H**H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXH
HH H**H HXXH-H**H HXXH H**HH
HHXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH HH
H*H HXXH H**H HXXH H**H HXXH
H+H**H$HXXH$H**H$HXXH H**H$H
Solution: The quick start is to head right-ish and dig for the first gold and
then come back up. Wait for the hole to heal and for the bad guys to lump
together. Head up/right and, at the top, you should have the time to grab the
gold quickly before going down. Go left at the second double-ladder. At the
bottom there's one gold chest. Get it, go U/R and dig for another. Go to the
very top. Then fall back down left. You should be able to have the time to
dig left at the bottom to catch an enemy. You can go back up the stairs right
when they come at you. It may take some time but eventually one will follow
you. When he does, dig a brick to the left and go U-R-U-R until he falls in
and then walk back over him. He'll use the ladder to go to the diagonal
below you, putting him out of commission.
You can try this again, although you may need to wait 1 square from the
bottom first. You also may need to go U-R-U-R to get guys to follow you, or
they'll go off to the left and play "prevent."
You can then dig to the left again, run past the guy you dug, and go 1U of
the bottom. The bad guy above will be circling and when he goes to the right
you can go up and make it past him. From there you can grab the gold at the
top of the stair, come back down and go UR, getting the gold and digging
right to make it to the next diagonal.
MESSAGE: EIGHT WAS GREAT
5-2-9. LEVEL 9
XXXXXXXXXXXXh X hXXXXXXXXXXh
XX -HHH HH -h h-HH HH -Xh
$XX $X $XHH HX$ XX$ XX$h
$XX $X $XHH HXX$ XX$ XXh
XX $X $XHH $ + H XX$ XX$ XX
X $X $XHH $XXXXH$ XX$ XX$ X
$ X $XHH $XX XXH$ XX$ XX$
HXX $XHH $XX $$ XXH$ XX$ XX
HX $XHH $XX$HXXH$XXH$ XX$ XX
H $XHH $XX$HX XH$XXH$ XX$
H$XHH $XX$HX $$ XH$XXH$ XX$-
HXHH $XX$HX $XX$ XH$XXH$ XXH
HHH $XX$HX $XXXX$ XH$XXH$ XH
HH $XX$HX $XX$$XX$ XH$XXH$ H
H$ XX$HX $ XX $ XH$XXH$H
XXH $XH XXXXXXXXXXXX HX $HXX
Solution: This one is not so bad, because you can deal with the monsters
individually once you get off to the right. First you'll want to make sure
that the rightmost one doesn't fall into the second cascade on the right-hand
side or you'll never get his gold chest. That involves not falling anywhere.
You can go off to the left, dig left and fall left, but you need to do it
quickly. Then fall to the left a bit and watch everyone go to the right.
Off on the left you have one guy to deal with--fall left and dig left. When
he goes in the hole, climb up the ladder and dig the square to the right.
Fall into it and go 2R U. Your enemy will fall into the hole. Once it starts
to cover him up move UR. You should be able to see if he has reappeared on
the left and so if he's moving right. Unless he falls to the left you can
proceed with clearing the left. You'll fall and drop left for two cascades of
gold, but for the one in the corner, just dig left, drop in, get the gold,
dig left, and fall in and dig right.
This leaves the arrowhead and the right. Wait at the bottom and climb up the
ladders(hold up/right) and drop on top of the arrowhead. Dig to get in. Now
you can just dig down to get the cascades of gold. Three trips: left under
the ladders, right under them, and through the center(dig above the gold
pair, under that, and under that.)
Now how to clear the right, where all the enemies are? Get them to enter the
arrowhead one at a time. To do so, climb DR from the top of the arrowhead,
dig right, and wait at the bottom. When someone comes by, run up the ladder.
Dig the right square at the top when he's about to get there, so he coughs up
any gold he has. Then go down the ladder to the left. He'll circle up, right
and down and left, falling into the arrowhead center. Repeat four more times.
The right is not hard. You can just drop down the first cascade, but for the
second you need to dig below each gold chest after you pick it up. A ladder
will appear to the right of the final gold chest, which is in the upper right
corner.
MESSAGE: ARROWHEAD
5-2-10. LEVEL 10
H~~~ XXXX $HH XXXXXXXX
H $XX$XXX $H $XX X
H $XXXX$XX $H $XX$HXXXXXXX
H$XXXXXX$X H$ ~XX$H XX
HXXXXXXXXX $H ~X H XX
H ~~$$X$$X H$ ~XH $X
H$ XX$XX$ $H ~XHX HX
+H $XX$XX H$ ~XHX$HX$HX$HX
XH XX$XX$ $H ~XH*********X
-XH $XX$XX H$ ~XH X
XH XX$XX$ $H ~XXXXXXHXXXXX
XH $XX$XX XH ~XX$ XHX $X <-nothing on the left ledge of the 0(NES)
$H XX$XX$X H ~ X -XHX XX <-NES has no monster
XH XXXXX H XX XXXHXXXX
H~~~ XXXXX XHHHHHXXX
h
Solution: This has a definite order to how you must pick up the gold. The
first thing to do is go right so you don't land on the bottom with no
escape(*NES note below.) Then pick off the three gold chests on the left of
the one. Next are the chests inside the one and to the oeft. Go to the top
and dig the leftmost square until you get to the edge of the one. Dig right
and you'll catch the rope that will get you the two adjacent chests.
From there dig right, left, etc. until you get to the bottom. Climb back up
to the top and dig right three times, getting the gold chests. Dig again to
pick up the two gold chests, then dig right, left, etc. until you get the
last chest, where you should dig right again. Climb up the alternating
ladders all the way(hold up continuously and left/right alternately) and fall
off to the right, then drop down the ropes until you get to the last one.
Dig the right of the two squares and crawl through the ladders to get inside
the zero. Pick up the two upper chests leaving four chests you can't just
crawl in and get. For these you can just dig up everything in sight and get
them all. The remaining two chests are a bit tougher. The right one first--
Dig the two bricks directly to the right of the ladder's top two rungs. Wait
a couple of seconds and dig the brick right below that. Then after the
bricks regenerate, dig above the gold chest and pick it up. (NES: just get
the left chest the same way as the right.)
APPLE: Dealing with the robot on the left is best done in two steps--first,
get the robot out of the way by digging him out and trapping him. Then,
proceed as in the right. Even if the robot regenerates inside the 0 just dig
the two bricks left of the one over the gold chest and proceed as before.
Getting out is a tricky proposition but the best way to go about things is to
get to the top of the left stair on the zero and head sharply down and right
and down. When you hit the bottom floor it left and you'll be just in time to
grab the stair.
MESSAGE: TEN
(NES:) this level is tricky to start out with. Because you need to tap down-
right-down-right quickly to make it to the ledge on the right, or you'll fall
on top of the monster and just sit there. The good news is that you can keep
resetting until it works.
5-2-1. LEVEL 11
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H
H + H
H XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX H
H X $ X X $ X X $ X X $ X H
H X*XXX XXXXX XXXXX X*XXX H
H X X X X H
H XXX*X XXXXX XXXXX XXX*X H
H X $ X X $ X X $ X X $ X H
H X*XXX XXXXX XXXXX X*XXX H
H X X X X H
H XXX*X XXXXX XXXXX XXX*X H
H X $ X X $ X X $ X X $ X H
H XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX H
H X X X X H
H- X X -H
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: The chests in the center are the easiest to pick off. Do so, and
pick up the chests in the top of the end structures, but remember that robots
always run left when they have a choice. Therefore, do not let both robots
get trapped in the "pit" by having them drop from the second-from-right
structure because you need them to complete the level.
Also, it is a risk to kill the robots, so be warned. They may fall into the
center after they reappear. It's actually more convenient to have an enemy on
each side(less waiting to fall on them to get to certain gold,) you are stuck
with neither of them in play. Only dig one hole and be sure he can follow you
after they get out.
The inner structures' gold is easier to get, so you just need to dig into
them and drop and dig six times--be sure to land outside the pit in the
center. Neither one differs in execution.
As for the structures near the edges, the ones with the cement blocking easy
pickups, the right side is the easier, so let's take care of that first. If
you're above the second-from-right structure(put yourself at the very right
of it), wait until the robot on the right is above the first-from-right
structure(if you need to bring one over then you can just wait at the top for
a while.) Drop down on top of him and move right. Voila! You couldn't dig
to get here, but you can jump on a robot to. Repeat again for the bottom
chest. The left side requires you to drop down on top of the leftmost
structure, fall left, dig a hole for the robot, climb up the stairs, and jump
down on top of the robot. If you're worried about timing, try digging on the
right side of the structure for a small head start--more ground for each of
you to cover, and you'll make it up faster.
MESSAGE: CHAIN REACTION
(NES:) the first of the password-guarded levels.
5-2-2. LEVEL 12
h ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H
Xh V - X X - X X X H
$Vh $X$ $V$ $X$ $V$ $X$ H
V XVXhXXX XVX XXV VVX XXX H
X h X X X X X H
$X$ $Vh hVh $X$ $V$ $V$ $X$H
VXX XXXhXXVhVXX XVV XXX XXXH
X X - X h X - V X X H
$V$ $X$ $Vh $V$ $X$ $X$ H
V XXX XXX XXXhXXX VXX VXV H
X X X h X X X H
$X$ $X$ $V$ $Xh $X$ $X$ $X$H
VXX XXX XXX XXXhXXV XXX XXVH
X $ X $ X $ X h X $ X $ X H
+ HXH HVH HXH hX HXH HXH -H
XXH H H H H H H H H H H HXXH
Solution: This level requires consistent evasive action. Often you will be
on the left side of the structure(brick with ladders two tall on each side)
with a robot on the right and by moving up and down on the ladder you can
fake him out. Not for the faint of heart. Also, you may need to drop two
robots into crosses that have false bricks to their centers. But you can't do
that right away.
The most immediate thing to do is head for the right immediately, where
you'll just have to dig a hole for one enemy, who is coming down the right
ladder. What's more, once you've dug the hole, just have him follow you up
the ladder and stand left of the second cross. Drop him down the center. One
gone.
Now you can clear the other guy out. Hide in the DR ladder again. You can
probably count on him releasing his gold chest by the time he makes it all
the way over to the right. Once all four guys are over by the right you can
climb up. All four will follow you. But you only want the lead one to drop
two crosses left of the first. Two down.
Now there comes a cycle of getting everyone over to the right and getting
them along the ropes and dropping down when they get close. You can run under
them and around. The important thing is not to get trapped at the bottom--
there are ways out of this, but they are tougher than the walkthrough(running
over a guy between two ladders, digging a hole for one guy and running down
and right when the other crosses) and in fact your toughest job may be to
make sure enemies fall onto gold chests so you don't have to take the time
later. They generally pick them up and drop them at the bottom.
Also on the ladder to the right you may wish to move up above the first
cross--that helps enemies who are stuck to fall. You don't want them hanging
around as you drop. You want them at the top so you can beat them to the
ground.
As for the exit, don't follow the ladder the game makes for you. It leads to
a trap. Instead go along the right. This should not be a problem if you have
been leading your enemies along the rope.
MESSAGE: CROSS YOUR T
5-2-3. LEVEL 13
* *************************h
*h+H H$H H$H H$H H$H H$H H*h
***H*******H*******H*****H*h
*H*H$H H$H*H$H H$H*H$H*H*H*h
*H*******H*H*********H*H*H*h
*H$H H$H*H*H*H$H H$H*H*H*H*h
***H*****H*H*H*****H*H*H*H*h
*H*H*H H$H*H*H*H$H*H*H H$H*h
*H*H*H*****H*H*H*H*H*****H*h
*H$H H$H*H$H*H$H*H*H H$H*H*h
*H*****H*H*H***H*H*****H*H*h
*H*H$H H*H*H$H*H*H H$H*H*H*h
*H*H***********H*H***H*H***h
*H*H H$H H$H H$H*H*H*H*H-H*h
*H***************H*H*H***H*h
*H-H$H H*H H$H H$H*H$H H*H
Solution: Another one of those no-dig levels. The point to remember with this
level is that, if you are level with a robot, he will follow you. Also,
robots go to the left and up when they can't follow you. Let's look at the
upper left bit and see how to do things. You'll want to fake this enemy out
continually.
H*
H*******H*
H H H H*H*
**H*****H*
H*H*H H H*
H*H*H*****
H H H H*
1 2 3 4
You'll use ladder 3 to move up and down. Move to the top of it, down and to
the left and up to get into the top left part. Move down and to the right to
get your enemy to go down the left-side ladder. If you want the enemy to get
trapped inside the structure, wait until he's close to you and go up ladder
3. Go right and up and the enemy will run at you. This leaves him that much
more trapped and will come in handy when you bring the other guy over.
The big problem chest is the one in the lower left. We'll get to that later,
but if you try to track it down now, the robot will actually come after you.
But first, after sticking the left robot in the top, you can clear out
everything at the top and walk into various side places to clear them out.
To do that just follow ladder 4 down and wait for the enemy to run at you
from the right. Retreat and go up and right. When he's on the same level as
you, go up and left and up ladder 3, then up and right and up. He'll run past
you into the same trap the other's in. Now you can run past where he was
blocking you before. Clear out everything but the bottom bit.
Now for the final chest--the solution is to let the bad guys pick it up for
you. You can go to the bottom row and get the gold and the bad guys will be
on the other side. Retreat up the stairs and see if the chest is gone. If so
they've picked it up. If not then you need to go down and back up again. On
the NES this is tricky because you may have to pause to see if anyone's
gotten the chest. On other systems you can just go back up the ladder when
someone picked up the chest.
Go back up ladder 3. Now you can get a bad guy to release his chest by
climbing down and up continually. You can stick them both in the upper left
compartment and then drop down and climb back up once they run at you.
Eventually one will release his gold chest, whether next to you or in the
compartment. If it's next to you you can get them to go right in the
compartment(4R2U of ladder 3) and then move in, but if it is in the
compartment, go down ladder 4 quickly. This should finish the level.
MESSAGE: MAZOLIA
5-2-4. LEVEL 14
Level # 14
+ - - - - - h
XXXHXVXHXXXHXVXHXXXHXVXHXXXH
XXXHXVXHXXXHXVXHXXXHXVXHXXXH
XXXHXVXHXXXHXVXHXXXHXVXHXXXH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
XXXHXVX XVXHXXX XVXHXVX XXXH
XXXHXVX XVXHXXX XVXHXVX XXXH
XXXHXVX$XVXHXXX$XVXHXVX$XXXH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
XVX XXXHXVX XXXHXVX XXXHXVXH
XVX XXXHXVX XXXHXVX XXXHXVXH
XVX$XXXHXVX$XXXHXVX$XXXHXVXH
H$HHH$HHH$HHH$HHH$HHH$HHH$HH
XXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXH
XXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXH
XXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXHXXXH
Solution: This level features a lot of false bricks to fall through, and if
you know where they are it can help a lot. Note that every other break
between the ladders at the top is diggable, so you can often get a break by
going to the top, waiting for enemies to cluster there, moving to the first
row of ladders and then going down when enemies get close. They'll have to
backtrack a bit and that can allow you to go all the way right and get to the
far right ladder where you're usually very safe.
The NES is particularly obnoxious as enemies can ambush you out of nowhere,
so if you can have all five in the screen area at once, that is a big help.
But you may just need to hit pause in the upper right to see where the
remaining gold chests are. Then you can go down to the first set of ladders,
wait for the enemies to come over, and sweep left.
And that is mostly what this level is about. Sweep right to start and get to
the upper right corner. Then sweep left. Here's how to go about things.
Climb down to the first ladder row and wait for your enemies to come near.
Then drop down and get the chest on the left(very important--it's a pain to
pick up later) before going right and climbing up the ladders. The robots
will fall through the false bricks, meaning you can climb back up to the
second level. You can probably run across here safely(pause and check on the
NES--if not, go up to the next row) and once you are right of all the
robots(count them--there's five) you can dig holes for them to get any stray
gold. Then go to the UR. Some bad guys may follow you, which actually makes
things easier. Dig holes for them to make sure they have no gold(this'll
usually kill them) and then, after dropping down to the lower level to sucker
everyone over, go back right, dropping down when a bad guy is near.
Here you may need to inspect the tops of ladders to see if any bad guys left
anything. You also may need to sweep along the bottom before coming back up.
MESSAGE: NEW YORK CITY
5-2-5. LEVEL 15
-
+$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ h
H~ H~ H~ H~ H~ H~ H~ H~ H~
H H H H- H H H- H H
H H H H H H H H H
H H H H H H H H H
H H H H H H H H ~H
H H H H H H H ~H
H H H H H H ~H
H H H H H ~H XXXXXH
H H H H ~H X$XXXXXXH
H H H ~H XXXXXXXXXXXH
H H ~H XXXXXXXXXXXXXXH
H ~H X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXH
~H XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXH
h XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXH
Solution: This level's not terribly complex, but it has a nasty twist, and
it's tedious to go through the ladders twice. On the Apple you have to be
exact but on the NES you can hold up/right to get through that bit. Pick up
all but the last gold chest on the ladders. By now all three robots are
taken care of--two are in natural holes and one has created the first half of
the bridge you'll need to get back across. Step on the robot at the top, dig
to the left, and go to the right. He'll fall down a bit and you'll want to
dig three holes after you fall down, followed by a few more on that level.
This creates space for you to trap the robot that just escaped. Dig a hole
beneath one that will close up, in order to trap him. Then go on top of the
second robot. Dig to the left and go to the right again and this robot will
fall to the floor. You now have a bridge, so climb/fall to the last gold
piece, and go right to complete the level.
MESSAGE: MAGICAL GOLD
5-2-6. LEVEL 16
HHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
H $XX ** $ *H$- **$ *H $H
H $XX **-$ *H$ **$ *HH
H$XX $ ** $ *H$ **$ H
HXX HXX ** $ *H$ **$H
H* $ HVX ** $ *H$ *H
H ** $ HXV ** $ *H$ H
H$ *X XX $** $ **H
H*H$ ** $ HXX ** $ H
H$ *H$ ** $ HVX **+H
H*$ *H$- ** $ HXV $XH
H **$- *H$ *X XX $X**H
H$ ** $ *H$ ** $ $X* H
H*H$ **$ *H$ ** $ $X* H
H- *H ** *H XX XX H
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHXXXXXXXH
Solution: A good way to get a nice start os to go right, wait two seconds,
and dig and walk into the structure left. Dig just as one guy approaches,
drop, get the chest, and dig left and drop. Wait a bit and dig left and right
under that. The point is that you will escape but the bad guy won't. This
makes one less guy to deal with when clearing out the upper right. You can
probably just dig in the bottom right to delay him long enough or kick him
over to the left when he regenerates.
If you mess this up originally you can just bring someone else over by
waiting in the UR and falling down and trying again.
The upper right is just a matter of falling down the right ladders. The main
nuisance here is that bad guys run at you rather quickly and on the NES you
have to plan ahead, pause, etc.
Now you may want to test out the false bricks. Drop in the UR diamond, right
side. There's a false brick under the top ladder. Get the gold above it and
drop through the ladder, Get the gold below and dig your way out. This
ensures that the bad guys that will fall in the two natural holes won't have
any gold.
Your next objective is to drop one bad guy into the hole in the upper left
diamond and another into the hole in the center diamond. Sometimes this can
happen by accident and on the NES it is irritating to have to scroll around
to see who's where. To make matters worse you may run left a while and be
near the left of the screen, which just isn't fair.
Safe places to get guys to fall when you are in the DL include the 3rd-
highest ladder of the diagonal walk.
The places to stand on either of the far ladder to get bad guys to fall in
the right square are:
(left) level with the left hole or 1 above it.
(center) level with the top ladder in the first diamond
There's some confusion about if bad guys have gold chests and fall into
natural holes, but you can shake them out by dragging them all right or,
better yet, going to the DR after wiping out the right and then clearing out
the upper right and having them then come over to the right. They'll drop
what they have.
MESSAGE: RUNAROUND QUILT
5-2-7. LEVEL 17
h h
$ h h
H*XH- h h HX*H $
H*XH H**H H**H H**H
H+ $ $ HX*H $HX*H $ $ H
**H $ $ hH**H H*X
HX*H- H**h$ H**H H*XH $
H**$ HX*H $ Hh**H$ H**
H $ HX*H- H*Xh HX*H
HX*h $ H**h H $ H -
$ h**H H** hX*H H*X*H
H*XH $ H**H $ H
H*XH $H**H HX*H H
H**H HX*H H*XH H*XH$ H**H
H h h -h h$ h$h h h $h
H********HX **X**HX ********
Solution: The first part, the right side, is trivial. You just have one guy
to circle around. You'll want to keep him for later, however. Just remember
that the gold off to the left that you have to fall to get will lead you back
to the left. Also note that the stuff on the bottom is off limits until you
get someone to drop into the natural hole on the right. That someone is the
robot on the right.
Once you've cleaned out the right, making sure the enemy robot didn't keep a
gold chest, you need to find a way to lump your enemies together. The rest of
the level is about suckering the enemy into the DR corner and then running
around them--you don't have to bring everyone down as you can dig a hole to
get rid of one.
Drop onto the left center gold and you should have time to go down and right
and dig at the next big ladder. Then go down and right and dig and jump off
to the bottom. Wait in the DL and circle around.
Keep doing this until you've managed to pick up all the gold on the left--
fall through to get gold, go to the DL, wait for everyone to fall, and climb
out. Note that if someone falls off to the right, you need to drag him back
over left, as otherwise you risk having him fall into the lower right where
you won't be able to do much because of all the cement.
The guy at the bottom right should have fallen by now. All you need to do is
dig above the suspended gold in the DR to grab it and go right to pick up the
chest and left for the other two.
If there is no chest, the guy in the hole on the right has it. Dig him out
and dig him a hole to pick up the gold. The ladders should appear. Run by
him, up and out.
The key step here is to twist by the four guys on the left and lump them
together.
MESSAGE: SUSPENDED GOLD
5-2-8. LEVEL 18
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
+ ~ XH XXH XXH XX XX
XX~XXXHXXX~XHXXX~XHXXX~X XXH
XX~XVXHXXX~XHXXX~XHX$X~X XXH
XX~XVXHXX~ XHXXX~XHXV~ X XXH
XX~XVXH ~ XXH ~XH XXXXXH
XX~XVXH XXXXHXVX~XHXXXX X XH
XX~XVXHX XXXHXXX~XHXXXX X XH
XX~XVXHXX$XXHXXX~XHXXXX$ XH
XX~X$ HXVV HX$X~ HX $XXX XH
XXXVXXXXXXXXXVXXVXXXVXXXXXXH
hhh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- -H
h hh h hh h hh h h - H
hh h h hh hh hh H
h h h h h h H
hhh hh h h h h H
Solution: Some nice one way traffic after some really tough levels, although
there are several "gotchas" that first time players will get stuck in. The
letters in the structure say trap so we'll go through by letter.
"T": Dig the rightmost hole and fall through. False bricks! If you'd have dug
and fallen from the ropes you'll fall below the structure, where bad guys are
just waiting for you, and there's no way back up.
"R": Digging from the middle of the ladder down causes you to get stuck in a
false brick, so you have to go up the ladder, dig the rightmost hole and the
one below that. Falling to the next rope dig to the right, go down, dig two
to the right, and dig the left square below those. You'll drop onto the gold
and through a false brick.
"A": Climb all the way up and dig the rightmost brick, then on each rope you
can(except the bottom one,) dig left before falling. You can walk right and
get the gold chest there.
"P": There's a false brick below the top gold, so just dig over to get that.
There's one to the left of the lower of the two remaining, so again go to the
top of the "P" and dig the rightmost square. Drop and go left and dig right.
Then dig as follows:
x
Xxxx
XXxx
XXXx$
X $xXX
This'll allow you to pick up the remaining two and now you can fall through
the false brick. There's one question left--how to deal with the bad guys.
Just wait for them to come down and stand at the base of the Y. Climb up when
everyone's on the ground and they'll run past. Fall right and walk up to
level 19.
MESSAGE: TRAP FOURTEEN
Level # 19
5-2-9. LEVEL 19
~~ * ~ *** ~ **
XH*$X**H X$X* HX $X* H~$
XH XX$ *H ** HX$ X* H X
X****X *H -H*X *XX H X*
$ X***HX***X**X** H X**
V H* HX ~~ ~~~~H XX$*
V*H **X**X* $ *X *V* X**
**H ~ **X***X **$** **
**H *X$* $X***V*** *
~~ **H *X *** ~~~H **$
$ H **H H H **
XH *H HX*H~~~~ *H **
XH*XX *HX*X H - X-* H
*X $XX* H*$XX**Xh X*X HVh
***XXX HX**XX $XhX$* H*$*h$
*$ XH*H +X** *h*X H V h*
The first of the functional yet ugly levels! It's still less of a hassle than
16/17 because you don't need to track guys off the screen from you on the
NES.
Solution: Wait a bit--the robot 5R3U of you will drop down. First order of
business is to deal with the remaining mobile robot. Climb up the jagged
stairs and then go east. Dig the only brick and have him fall in. Go over
him and head NW. Dig the brick W, get the gold chest, dig E, get the chest
E, dig E, and dig the brick S of that. Again dig the brick and climb over
the robot except this time dig the two bricks SE and SSE of the ladder's top
rung. Fall E, get the gold, and dig the block S of it. Wait for the robot
to run to you and fall into your pit and then jump through the hole. It's not
as split-second as it seems, as you can run to the hole as he starts to fall
He'll get trapped where you'll now be able to walk across him.
Do so and once across, dig the first brick E, then the ones SE and SSE of it.
Circle back around and there is a gold chest near the top
with bricks to W and E and cement N and S and SE. Dig the W brick,
then dig the E brick to get that one. Once you've fallen go E and N to
the top of the ladder. Dig E, wait a bit, dig the hole S of that, wait,
dig the brick S of that. Once the top brick regenerates, dig it again,
go E to fall and pick up a chest, goW and dig E. Drop, go 3 E and drop
down(fake brick)then drop through another fake brick 4S4E of where you
fell(right when the ladders zag back.) Go left and then drop on top of the
robot between the brick and
cement. Dig W and go E. He'll fall a bit, and dig below where he used
to be.
Now pick up the gold chest 2N of your starting point. It's got cement on 3
sides of it. A diagram is below of where to dig and when.
H1*H
X*2 H
*$34* <get chest after dig#4
**65
7**
Next we'll tackle that suspended gold just to the right of 5/6. Stand on the
top of the two stacked robots. Dig east and dig west and immediately go east.
Now you can go back left and right to get the encased gold.
Back up the jagged stairs and fall to the right. Dig and fall onto the rope
below and dig the two bricks to the right to get the gold and get out. At the
very top, dig left twice to make it into the extreme left, where you can use
a ladder to dig left three times. Lots of false bricks here will kick you to
a rope below. On the ladder, dig left and dig below that square. Climb on the
rope and fall on the gold piece and use the stair to get back up.
The last dig is somewhat involved but not too hard.
XH*21
*X $34*
***X65
$ 7H*
You should have plenty of time to get the gold in the corner.
Now you just have some gold on the east side. It's fairly straightforward.
Getting there isn't hard--just up the jagged ladder and dig right where you
have to. Pick up the gold SW of the upper right corner, dig the square below
it as well as those SW, 2S2W, 3S2W, 4S2W and fall down to pick up the
remaining two chests. A ladder will pop up which will allow one robot to
escape. Simply climb up the diagonal ladders but stand to the right of the
top one. When he closes in on you, climb down and he'll fall. You can then
run past him to safety. If he goes too far to the left you can just goad him
back right in a game of chicken.
MESSAGE: THE THINKER
5-2-10. LEVEL 20
h
h$ - ~~~~~~~~~~~~$$
H*~~~~~~~~~~~~ $$$$$$$$ $$*H
H*VXXXXXXXVXXXVXXXVXXXXVXX*H
H* $ - $ $ $ $ *H
H* *********** XXXVXXXXVXX*H
H* $$$-$$$$$ * * $$$$$$$$ *H
H* XXXXXXXXX * * XXXXXXXX *H
H* $ - $ $ * $ $ *H
HXHXXXXXXXXXXXVXXXXXXXXXXHXH
HXH$ - $ $ $ $ $ HXH
HXXXXXXXXXXXXX **********XXH
H $ + $ $* $ $ $ $ H
HXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XH
H $ $ $ $* $ $ $ $ H
HXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXH
Solution: First, you must fall through the false brick on the left, but only
after the monsters are aligned so that you can run over them to pick up the
bricks beneath the cement. To do this, just pick up the gold around you and
go briefly into the DL. You'll want an enemy suspended in midair so you can
step on him to get the gold below the cement.
Dig your way past the monsters(you can dig on the top level and fall, but
don't fall right, it's a pit) and clear out the left-hand side.
Now to sucker robots into falling down the center. One may have gotten stuck
in a hole and done so anyway, but if not you can go to the bottom of the
ladder and sit there. Only let one fall down, though. You can clear out the
right side with impunity, although a couple of false bricks may surprise you.
If you are wondering how to get the lower right gold beneath the cement,
here's the easy way. Dig on the right until all your enemies there are gone--
they either fall down the center, off to the right, or the left. If they fall
down the left then you can go to the DR. Wait for all four to fall. Then
climb up to the ledge where there is just one brick. An enemy will come
running at you, and when he falls, you can run over him. The enemies may seem
hard to dispose of, but as long as you stand on the one that is in a natural
hole, they'll turn away. So you can fake the bad guys out that way. Again
clear them out so they're all to the left. Then drop down on the top cement
on the left(4th rope from the right) to clean that mess up. Run over the top
enemy if you need to and dig holes to make sure nobody's hoarding gold. If
you've cleared them out and there's no ladder up, the guy in the center still
has some, and you can dig next to him and go down the DR ladder.
MESSAGE: STACK EM UP
5-2-1. LEVEL 21
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXh
XXXX~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~ Xh
XXX + X - HX Xh
XXX XXXX XXXXXXXXX HX Xh
XX XXXXX XXX$XX$XX HX Xh
XX $XX X$XXXXX$X HX Xh
X - XXX$XXXX$ HX Xh
X XXXX X$XXXX$XX HX Xh
XVXXXXXX** XXX$X$XXX HX Xh
XVX$$$$$XHH X$XXXXX$X HX Xh
XVXXXXXXHH XXXX$XXXX$ HX Xh
XVXXXX XXX$XXXX$XX HV Xh
XVXXXXHX XXXXXXXXXXXX HXXXXh
X H X XXX HX Xh
X H XXX X HX $Xh
XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXVhh
Solution: Timing is everything to start. Play this level slowly if need be
and if your system allows it. Dig left, go right, dig left. Go left, dig
left, pick up the first gold chest as you fall. Dig thebrick you landed on
and the one below that. Collect the gold and then dig the rightmost brick.
The robott should be by soon and you will need to drop onto him and run right
when he appears. That will get you on the ladder to the right. Otherwise
you'll be stuck in the left.
From your ladder haven, climb up and dig to the right. Then dig two to the
right below and then all three right of the robot, going left immediately.
Keep digging the robot right and moving left until he falls to the bottom.
Then run over him.
The right side is easier; the enemy is a negligible distraction, and you can
just dig one hole and let him by. In fact you should, as he may randomly
regenerate in the right corridor you need to climb to win the level.
Two trips through should win it. Here are the ways through each sequence of
chests:
12X 12XXX
XX$ X3$XX
$XX XX4$X
XX$ XXX5$
$XX XX$6X
XX$ X$7XX
$XX XX8$X
XX$ XXX9$
$XX XX$0X
Claim the final chest by climbing up, falling right, and digging right. The
ladders will appear to get you out of there.
MESSAGE: TWENTY ONE
5-2-2. LEVEL 22
** **********h*********** **
XH$$$$$$$$$$$h+$$$$$$-$$$$HX
*H***********H************H*
XH*-$$$$$$$H H H$$$$$$$$ *HX
*HX$****X**H$H$H**X*****$XH*
XH*$XH$$$-*HHHHH* $-$$ X$*HX
*HX$*H***V**HHH**V****H*$XH*
XH*$XH* $$$$HHH$$$ $H*HX$*HX
*HX$*HX$****HHH***$*HXH*$XH*
XH*$XH*$$ $$HHH$$-$$H*HX$*HX
*HX$*H***V**HHH**V****H*$XH*
XH*$XH$$$$XHHHHHX$$$$$HX$*HX
*HX$*******H*$*H********$XH*
XH*$$$$$$$$HX$XH$$$$$$$$$*HX
*H***********$************H*
XH$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$HX
Solution: One trick here is that you can stand at the top rung of the center
ladder and the guys around you won't catch you--even if they're below you
they'll turn off to the left before they get to you. So you can wait for two
robots to congeal to your left. Then you can go up and left and wait for a
robot to get close before falling down. That will allow you to sweep across
the bottom. Now robots may wind up on each side of the board, on the outside,
but that is no problem. Just wait at the top and then when the robots get
close, drop down. They'll all follow you, and the best bet is to go to the
left. They'll all go that way, and you're back as you were.
With all three robots on the left you can clear out the inner parts where you
fall to get the gold, as well as the winding right part. For that, fall into
the false brick to the left, between the gold pieces, climb up the stairs,
fall right and fall left. You will have to circle around again but it
shouldn't be too hard.
Now the problem is, how to let out the two guys in the right enclosure? One
at a time, obviously, but you need to dig above the enclosure, wait until one
almost has you, and drop left. Wait for him again when on the center ladder
and let him follow you to the top, where you can dig a hole for him. Then you
can go to the untouchable area and wait for everyone else to come by before
sticking them in the left again by circling clockwise. Then you can repeat
the process with the final guy--with the right area vacant you just need to
walk in and out.
You can also circle around the left chute with the remaining guy following
you before you clean up the right side, but if you slip he may be waiting for
you with no way out.
If anyone has a gold chest you can just bait them along a merry little chase
clockwise. Even with no places to dig, they'll keep giving the gold to
whoever's behind them.
MESSAGE: CRAZE MAZE
5-2-3. LEVEL 23
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X+ X X X X ~~ ~~ ~~H
X$ X $HX $ X X $X X$ H <-2
XXXXHXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXHXXXH
X XH$X X $X X $ X$HX H
X XH X X HX~~~~HX H
XXXXXHXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXH <-1
X X HX X X $X $ X$HX H
X $ HX$ X XH HHX$ H
X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXH
X X X X$HX X HX X H
X $ X X X $HX X X H
X XXHXXXXXXXXHXXXXXXXXXXXXXH
X $XH X X H$X X$ X H
X XH $ XH hX $H
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: This solitaire level has a definite order to it. Dropping onto the
chest and the one R6D of it is not too tough, and digging to pick up the
suspended gold by the UL ladder isn't tough, but the first real dilemma is
what to do about the suspended gold close by.
First, dig the corner square around row 1. Then go to the top and dig the
square on row 2. Now go back and dig the two squares below row 1. This allows
you an out when you go back up top, dig over the suspended gold, dig again,
and run back left.
You can pick up the DR gold the same way. It requires a bit more timing after
digging twice below row 1, but if you stand on the column of bricks and dig
right, drop, and dig right, you should make it with time to spare.
Now jump over the top brick you dug before--no way back. Get the gold at the
ladder top and dig right. Go right and up the ladder. Dig left for another
gold. Go back and dig right, twice, to descend to the next oart. Get the two
golds and dig the two squares between the ladders. Fall on the ladder below,
dig right, and dig the two squares below that. Fall right. Grab the frebee
fold as you go up. On the middle rope at the top, dig right, go right, fall
on the gold, and run out to the right side ladder. Wait for the dug hole to
regenerate and now dig your way to above the suspended ladder with the gold
next to it. You've seen the digging pattern before. Jump from the ladder top
after:
123
$H4
5
Now there's the lower left to take care of. Dig left so you have a way back,
go left and climb up the stairs. Dig left, down, dig left and go back. Wait
so you can dig left immediately, run back, and dig the square DR of the gold.
Then dig above it and fall through--the blocks should heal soon. Run right.
Up the stairs and dig right to drop on the suspended gold. You can just climb
up, go right, and dig over the final gold as the ladder to escape from the
bottom will appear.
MESSAGE: BEST BUNGELINGS
5-2-4. LEVEL 24
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -XXXX ~~~~
H~~~~~ - ~~~~~~~ XXXXXXX ~~~
H~~~ XXX ~~~~ XXXXXXXX ~~~
H~~ XXXXXXX ~ XXXXXXX ~~~~
H~ X XXXXXXX XXXXXX ~~~~~
H~ X $ XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX ~~
H~~ XXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
H~~~~~~~ XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
H XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX
H XXX$XXX$XXXXXX XXXXXX
H XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX
H ~~~~~XXXXXXXX~~~~~XXXXXX
H ~~~~XX XXX~~~~~~XXXXX
H~~ XXXhXXXXHXXXXX XXXX XXXX
H X$XXh XXXXXX XXXXXX XXX
H+HVHXXXh XXHXHXX XXX
Lots of digging in this level. The most treacherous part is to get the
robots trapped to the right of the "Broderbunny," which really was
Broderbund's mascot. This is tough when they fall between its ears--you need
to dig the top of the left ear a bunch, then its right side, then dig left
for your own escape route and right to get the robots trapped. And it takes a
while for the bad guys to pop up on the right. But if you persist, they'll be
out of the equation, and you can proceed with the actual level without
getting surprised after a tough extended dig. Below is how to dig from
between the ears.
321
87654
cba09-
The bottom gold is not tough to pick up--just dig the brick to the left of it
and fall over it. Right, up, left, right.
The chest on the left is the easier of the two. From the row with four
ropes, dig the two bricks to the left, then dig as much as you can. The
important thing is to dig the square two to the right of the rope end because
once that's gone you can dig two squares below and two below that, get to the
chest, and get out alive.
Diagram of what to dig:
H~~~ XXX ~~~~
H~~ XXXXX.. ~ X
H~ X XXX.... XX
H~ X $ XX...XXXX
H~~ XXX X..XXXXX
H~~~~~~~ .XXXXXX
H ..XXXXXX
H X..$XXX$X
The right chest is a tougher proposition. You need all the other chests
before moving on--the one in the ear on the left shouldn't be tough, but you
need the ladders to escape. To dig the Broderbunny's right eye you need to
start at the row above the broderbunny's ear and since you need two spaces
dug next to the right chest to escape safely, you'll need to dig six(making
seven all told) where the broderbunny's ear is. That means you'll have to
dig EVERYTHING at the third row from the top and repeat that for the fourth
row. After that without ropes to help you you'll be left with 6, 5, 4, 3,
and then 2 spaces to dig(remember to plan so that the spaces are NEXT to the
chest!) Get the chest and dig some more--2 spaces, 1, and dig out of the
"mouth." Take the ladders that have appeared.
Diagram of what to dig(periods):
H~~~ ...
H~~ XX.....
H~ X X...... XX
H~ X $ X......XX
H~~ XXX X.....XX
H~~~~~~~ X....XX
H XXX...XX
H XXX$X..$X
..
.
MESSAGE: BRODERBUNNY
5-2-5. LEVEL 25
XXXXXXXXXXHHHHHHHHXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXHHHH-- +HHHHXXXXXXX
XXXXXXHH XXXXXX HHXXXXXX
XXXXXHH XXXXX~XXXXXX HHXXXXX
XXXXHH XXXXXX~~X X$XX HHXXXX
XXXHH XX$XXXX~~XXXXXXX HHXXX
XXXH XXXX- ~~ -XXXX HXXX
XXXH XXXXXXXX~~XXXXXXXX HXXX
XXXH XXXXX~~X~~X~~XXXXX HXXX
XXXH XXXX~~XX~~XX~~XXXX HXXX
XXXHH XX~ XX ~~XXX$~XX HHXXX
XXXXHH XXXXXX ~XXXXXX HHXXXX
XXXXXHH XXXXXX XXXXX HHXXXXX
XXXXXXHH XXXXXX HHXXXXXX
XXXXXXXHHHH HHHHXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXHHHHHHHHXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: A bit of a break, but precision is still required. Drop off to the
right to get started and send the robots the other way. Then dig the squares
UR, R, 2R of the UR chest to pick it up. Start right and go left and dig
right to take out three more and then take out four below that, using the
support ladders on the side. From there a 4-3-2-1 pattern will get you next
to the rope woth the final gold chest, and you can dig your way out.
Diagram:
XX. HHXXXXX
X$.. HHXXXX
XX... HHXXX
-.... HXXX
XX.... HXXX
~XX... HXXX
~~X..X HXXX
X$~.X HHXXX
XXXX HHXXXX
Now stay at the second-bottom row and let the bad guys come over. When they
get close, ascend. They should follow, and once they do, they're trapped.
Even if they don't you still have the time to swing around the other way, dig
NW, W and 2W of the remaining gold, and(if he's on the left) dig a hole for
the enemy to fall into before walking over him and back up to the top.
MESSAGE: BO
5-2-6. LEVEL 26
XXXXXHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHXXXXXX
XXXXHH HHXXXXX
XXXHH + - HHXXXX
XXHH HXXXXXXHXXXXXXH HHXXX
XXH HX $ XHX $ XH HXXX
XXH~~~H*$ XHX $*H~~~HXXX
XXH$$$HXX XXXHXXX XXH$$$HXXX
XXH$$$H X V*****X X H$$$HXXX
XXH H XXX XXX H HXXX
XXH~~~H $$$ H~~~HXXX
XXH H XXXXXXXXXXX H HXXX
XXH- $HHHHH$ -HXXXX
XXXH VVXVVVVVXVV HXXXXX
XXXXH- -HXXXXXX
XXXXXH HXXXXXXX
XXXXXXH$$$$$$$$$$$$HXXXXXXXX
Solution: Trapping the monsters one at a time works best here. But don't
trap them right away. An outline of the solution is: trap one guy in the
right 2-deep pit, trap another there, bring another to the top of the mask,
drop down the left ladder and have everyone follow you, drop into the left
part of the mask down the false brick and then drop two guys in the left side
of the mask.
So here is how to trap a guy in the right. Stand on the left ladder and dig
when your enemy is near. Then dig behind you, go to the center ladder and dig
right. Dig the two squares below that, too. Wait in that enclosed area on the
right edge and dig left. You'll make it out in time, and the robot will be
blocked in so that he falls in the pit! Bring another robot over from the
sides and repeat the process. The important thing to remember is that you can
flip sides by going to one side, digging, and crossing over. So you can stick
your enemy on the side you need to. Then you can dig a hole for him while
digging from the ladder in the center. That saves critical time.
After trapping two guys on the right you can walk in over them and get the
gold chest after minimal digging. Then there's the old trick of digging two
bricks down, waiting, digging below them and looping over the gold to dig
over that and fall through and pick it up. Do it for the one on the left as
well, why not.
Now you need to bring an enemy over, preferably so that there will be two on
one side and one in the center. Lure him to the side where his comrades are,
dig a hole while on the ladder, and run all the way down the center. Your
enemy will go off to the side. You can get them all on one side, which will
allow you to clear the bottom rank with ease. If you fall through a false
brick before clearing everything, repeat the process. Your enemies should all
stay on the same side, especially if you wait to drag them over.
More bringing an enemy over--for filling in the left it's a bit tougher than
the right. You need to go to the right, dig, and let the guy fall in the
corner square. Then dig over the 2-pit that's filled in, from the left, and
dig left from the ladder. You'll need to move back up here for the enemy to
follow you. It may take a few practice runs before you get it straight, but
once you do, the next time should be easier. Walk across for the final gold
piece.
With one enemy left and two sides to go to, getting to the top is trivial.
MESSAGE: MASK OF THE SUN
5-2-7. LEVEL 27
*- *
*H******** *
*H** *
*H** *******
H H
H H
H H
H H *******************h
H $$*$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$H
H **********************
H
H $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$H
H **********************
H
H $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$H
+ H **********************
Solution: The robot always follows a prescribed pattern if you are anywhere
up the ladder: he goes up the ladder, left, down, and then he falls down.
Thus the bottom two rows are not tough--jump on him and go right. You can
even jump on him while on the second row, to get on the first, which saves
time. (By the way, he may loop at the bottom if you grab the gold from the
first row. Use the ladder at the right end to break up this pattern.) You
need to get them first, because the last row is a trap until you've gotten
the rest of the gold. Be sure to nab the two extra chests on the third row,
beneath the ladder you can't walk to. He'll probably discard them and you'll
pick them up easily, but be aware, especially when you go in for the last
row.
If there's still a gold chest missing you can wait for the enemy to drop it,
and even if it's at the top of his pattern, you can grab it, jump down under
him, and climb back up the stairs to send him back on his way.
So how to get to the last row? You have to run over the bad guy twice. First,
off the big ladder. Be sure to run when he's about 1/3 of the way into the
blank square where he falls, although if you fail you can go left or right
and try again. Eventually you'll get to the small ladder. Push up and wait
for him to circle again. Once he does, walk over him. Collect all the gold.
The ladder should have popped up, allowing you access to the next level. You
may have to wait to see him walking about you, although FCEU shows him
flashing vaguely up the ladder.
MESSAGE: SPHINX
5-2-8. LEVEL 28
+ -
XXhXXXXXVXXXXXXXXXhXXXXXXXXX
h X Xh
hXXXXXXXXXXVXXXXXXXXXXVXXXhX
h X X h
XXXXhXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXVXXX h
h~~~~~~~~~~~~ h
~ H XXX XXXXH
XXXX~~HXXXXXXXXXXX ~~~H
XXXX~ H ~ H
XX-X~ XXXXXHXXXXXXX ~ H
XXXX~ H $ ~ HX
XX-X~ XXHXXXXXX HXXH X ~ HXX
XXXX~ H H H HXXX
X$$X H H H HXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: One way to do this is to stalk your enemy as he falls. You want to
wait to go right until he is one square before falling down(he will still be
going right as you fall,) after which you should floor it right and you will
be able to grab the chest you couldn't otherwise.
But the more brutal way is just to run right ahead of him and make it so he
sees you. Dig a hole and then drop right through the false bricks. Climb up
the ladder at the bottom and, when he falls, run across him to get the chest.
Now you're left with two relatively easy chests. Releasing the robots is a
bit tricky but if you wait for one to pass under you before releasing the
other it should be OK. Staying at the spot where you dug out the second robot
should make them climb to a position where you can just dig two holes and run
past them. You won't have the time to get the two chests right away, but that
can be done later.
The main thing here is not to get trapped between the robots and the wall
after you get the two chests. The best way to ensure this is to dig a few
holes--nothing to trap the robots, but enough to slow them--as you climb up
the stairs after rescuing them.
MESSAGE: FALLING STAR
5-2-9. LEVEL 29
HHHXH HX+ -X-HHHH
VXVXH $ $ $ $ HXXX$XXVXXH
HXVXH HHHHHHHH $HHHX$-$$-XH
HXHHH HXVXVVVH $ HXXXXX$XX
HXXHH HXhh$$VHHHHH HHHHHX$$-
VXXH$ HX$hhXVXVVXH $ $ HXVXX
HHHHH HXhh$XVh$$XHHHHH HHHHH
HXXXH HXXXVXVhhXXVXVXH $$$h
H$$XH HHHHHX$$$XX$hhXH $HHHH
HHHXH$ HXVXXXXhh$XH $HVV
HVHXH HHHHHX$$$$XH $HVH
HVHXXXXXH$ HXXXXVXH HHHVH
HVHHHHHXH HHHHHHHH HXVVH
HVXXVXHXVXXXH$ $ $ $HXHHH
HHHH$XHHHHXXXHHHH HHHHXHXV
VVVVHXXX$HHHXVVVH$ $HVVVXHXH
Solution: Wait until the robots have climbed as far up as they can. Only
then go right and down to the ladder bottom. They'll fall, allowing you to
circle around the ladders to where they were. That'll cause them to run up
and left. Remember to jump left(or you'll never get that one gold chest) and
then
keep to the right and try to get the robots to fall to the left. Don't worry
if they have gold chests when they fall into fake bricks(unless the ones at
the very bottom). You'll get to that later. You can pretty much cause bad
guys to drop off to the left if you fall to the bottom ladders of the center
structure--they'll try to keep on the level with you. Eventually you can
bring enemies over to the left and run circles around them.
Once the central area is cleared out, drop to the right and clear out
everything you can over there. It shouldn't take long. Climb to the top of
the structure and fall off to the left, quickly moving up, so that you don't
trap anyone potentially with a chest in the bottom bits. However, it is okay
to move along the second-lowest part of the structure--that may cause enemies
to drop through false bricks to try to chase you, leaving fewer to deal with.
Once everyone's stuck there, only THEN is it OK to drop to the bottom,
because you'll notice there are no false bricks at the bottom for them to
drop into.
Now your next big goal will be to dispose of all the bad guys that are coming
at you. Often what you'll need to do is to dig a coupple of holes and back
down and go down your ladder. This'll make guys wait to get to you or fall
through a false brick. Then you can deal with one or two enemies and get them
trapped. Eventually they'll start reappearing on the far right, where they
are not a factor. If you can run safely across to the upper left then it is a
good idea to do that, as it will buy you time. Also, if you know an enemy
doesn't have a chest, you can drop him into the bottom, i.e. there is that
row of three false bricks, although enemies can walk out of the rightmost.
Even with two or three enemies left you can probably get the DL stuff. Then
it's an easy walk back up. But before doing so make sure you've milked the
enemies for all their gold.
MESSAGE: TRINGORS LAIR
5-2-10. LEVEL 30
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXhXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X - $ - +hhh - $ - X
XhXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXhX
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~H
H h H
H h H
H h H
H h H
H h H
H h H
H h H
H h$ H
H $ * $ H
H * * * H
H * * * - H
HXXXXX XXXX * XXXX XXXXH
Solution: Dig left, go left, dig left for the first gold. Then go to
the left and when the robots follow you fall to the left, but you'll want to
fall ahead of the robot below you. Go near the bottom. The robots will drop.
You must remember 1)robots go left and 2)if a robot gets the
center gold chest, you're toast.
If you wait one rung up on the left long ladder, bad guys will drop onto the
left cement block and you can just wait for them to drop, or you can just dig
to the right of the pit so that, when you go to the DL, they'll go along the
line and fall down to chase you. Into a trap. Once they vanish, climb along
the rope.
You may not be able to bag all of them, but you may only need to just pick
one off, hide in a corner when he regenerates, etc. The enemies regenerate at
the top and if you stay at the bottom they will drop to the side of the gold
piece.
Once they're all out of commission(remember to dig the right side to sniff
out any stray gold) you can just walk over the rope, drop on the gold chest,
and climb to the top. It's very easy once you know how to do it and where the
enemies fall, but until then it's very tricky, especially if you don't know
where the final ladders go. People playing from scratch may just work to find
that information first and then figure how to trap the robots.
two-tiered cement block. Then go to the bottom rung of the ladder on
the side where you want to pick up the cement. The robot will run
toward you, and then you can jump down on the robot the next time.
Remember to keep track of how many chests out of 5 you have--if they're
gone and you have fewer than 4 entomb a few robots. The last chest is
in the center. Drop on it to pick it up, and you'll make the next
level.
MESSAGE: MANIPULATION
5-2-1. LEVEL 31
hh~~~h~~~h~~~h~~~h~~~h~~~hh
HXXVXXXVXXXVXXXVXXXVXXXVXXH
HX~~~X X~~ X ~~X X~~~XH
HXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXXXXXVXVXVXH
HX X~~~X X V~~~X XH
HXXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXXXVXVXVXXH
HX X X~~~X~~~X X XH
HXVXVXVXXXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXVXH
HX V HX~~~X~~~X X XH
HXXVVVXVXVXVXVXVXXXXXVXVXXH
HX X~~~X V XH~~X XH
HXVXVXVXVXVXVVXXXXXXVXVXVXH
HX~~~ X X XH X X~~XH
HXXVXVXVXVXVVVVVXVXVXVXVXXH
H+-- $ ---H
XXXXXXXXXXXXh hXXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: Easy once you know it, but the trial-and-error is intricate.
Second false brick from the right(fifth from left, in the center of the
rope.) BTW, small tip so it's easier to get out: wait to drop until the enemy
is close.
Dig left, fall through, go left, go left and down, go left and down. Dig
holes to get the robots and escape.
MESSAGE: PACHINKO
5-2-2. LEVEL 32
h + h
H HXXXXXXXXXX*********** H
H HX H H
H H*$XHX $ - $HXH H
H H******************XXH H
H HX ~~~H H
H HX$ - - - $XHX $XH H
H HXXXXXXX**********XH H
H~~~H~~~ X H
H HX$ XHX $$ *H H
H HXXXXXX**********H H
H H* H
H H*$- XHXH $$ XH H
H H*X***********XH H
H H
H H
Solution: Go to the left and then go down the ladder but don't fall off.
The robot on the ladder on the other side will fall, and blast your way over
the ladder into the first level of the inverse pyramid. Dig each way. Get the
gold and go right. Drill the two rightmost bricks to make it to the next
level.
On the second level, dig left to blast the brick right of the ladder. Move
right, drop on the gold, and climb. Wait for the brick to heal, dig left,
fall left and get the gold, run right/up, dig left and go right and down the
stairs.
If you did everything quickly enough you should have three guys lined up
against the wall. Wait for the right brick to heal and devour one. Walk back
left to pick up the corner gold.
The rest of the levels don't have to be done in any order, but you might as
well get things done quickly. Dig onto the end of the rope, then dig again
after you fall so you can get the gold easily when you drop. Dig when you go
back up the stairs and fall right. Get the two gold and now you may want to
go back to the ladder. Don't climb it until the hole heals. Then clim and
drop down when an enemy comes by. Climb back up and drop to get the other
enemy in the hole. One of these two guys may have a gold chest but you can
shake it out.
Dig right from above and on the ladder and drop down. Fall and dig left and
go right and dig left. The enemy will fall in a hole. Get the gold to the
right, run over him, and dig the hole in the left. You can now escape the
structure.
If the remaining gold is available, pick it up and end the level. Otherwise
you will have to release your enemies. Stand on the right one and dig and go
left. He should fall in the hole and the guy behind him should have the
chest. (If it's left in the hole, you can just decoy everyone around and drop
them back in the hole as before.) Drop to the ground once he's outside the
pyramid and shuck and jive at will. There are ladders on each edge to work
with.
MESSAGE: INVERSE PYRAMID
5-2-3. LEVEL 33
~~~~~~~~~~~~~H$~~~~~~~~~~~~~
$ $-$ $H $+$ $
XXXXXXXX H$ XXXXXXXX
XX XX $H XX XX
XhX X X H$ X X XhX
XhhX X X $H X X XhhX
XhhhX- X X H$ X X -XhhhX
XhhhhVVXXXVXX$HXXVXXXVVhhhhX
XhhhhV X XH$X X VhhhhX
XXXXXVXX$ X$HX $XXVXXXXX
XHHHVHHX$ XH$X $XHHVHHHX
XHHVHHHX$ X$HX $XHHHVHHX
H XHVHHHHV$XH$X$VHHHHVHX H
HH XVHHHHHVX$HXVHHHHHVX HH
H VVXXXXVXH$XVXXXXVV H
XXHH $H HHXX
Solution: Run directly left and dig a hole to trap the enemy that is falling
down. Get his chest and climb up the ladder. He'll follow. Go to the left and
wait for him to follow. Drop onto a chest and dig. Once he's trapped, fall
right and leave the same hole for him as before, dropping to the bottom and
climbing up to collect all the gold chests on the zigzag ladder as you go.
You can dig an extra hole if you're feeling nervy.
Note you can also fake out the final enemy(the other two being in the left
corner.) A key to this is to remember how to dodge one guy from above: stand
on the second-lowest rung of the alternating ladder and he'll drop down after
you. Then move right and climb up when he gets down, staying just out of his
grasp while on the second rung. That'll get him hooked into coming all the
way up.
If he's still hanging around you'll want him to follow you closely so you
don't get stuck at the bottom, but in any case you can dig the left square on
the top of the right cube, fall and dig left. Then fall in. Dig down and fall
left to pick up the gold. You can't get the last one until you climb back up
and dig the top of the rightmost squares and the one below it to fall in.
Then climb to the top and do the mirror image of what you did.
MESSAGE: RORSCHACH TEST
(Rorschach are supposed to be blobs but these are obviously cubes. Or maybe
that's just the math person in me.)
5-2-4. LEVEL 34
h ~ -
*h H XH *~~~~~~~~V
H*HX****XX*HXXX*H H H
H***H ~ * $ *HXX*H * * H
H*$ H$ $*H-~HHX*H~~$ $~*H
H**H H H**H **H*H * $~* H
H$*H H *$ H $*H*H~~$ * $~*H
H*$H~H**H H $H*H*H *~$ * H
H$*H *$ H H VH H*H~~$ * $~*H
H*$H**H H H *$*H*H * $~* H
H***$ H H H $V$H*H~~$ * $~*H
H$**H H H H H*** H *~$ * H
**$ H H H H H* XH~~$ * $~*H
* H H H H H H XH*H * * H
$*H*H*H*H*H *** +H*h -- H
H H H H H H XH***XXXX**X*
Solution: This requires considerable accuracy and I would recommend
slowing the game down to complete the level if you can. Shaking off the enemy
above comes first. What you can do for that is either go R4U(onto the 2nd-
bottom rope) or dig left and crawl down the ladder when the robot comes and
dig a hole for him. Eithe way should buy the time you need. Then I'd trap the
robot until
he is out of commission for the moment, in the upper left.
With him out of the way you can focus on the easier gold chests. They're just
right of the ropes, but don't drop right. You won't be able to leave that
area. Do it last--it's just a basic dig-and-run exercise.
Dig the 3-2-1 at the top and you will need two trips for this. On the first
you can go down the stairs and go left to the rope. Push down and fall
through the false brick. Go right, push down, and go right and up and back to
the surface just in time. For your next trip through, pick off the chest at
the top of the ladder and go back up. Then there's another chest to pick off-
-at the DR of the structure, dig to get to the gold at the top of the 3-
ladder and run back out.
Now it's time to take care of the big long ladders. Climb to the top of the
center ladder and go down. At the bottom, go left and dig and fall left. Push
to the left edge, get the gold, go back down, and go right(your enemy will
fall, letting you hook around him.) You'll make it back to the main area just
in time, before the hole closes. Get used to that. You have five more such
trips. You can always start at the top of the screen and move down but you
won't be able to take the gold on the ladder the enemy is guarding. So you
need to force him up a different ladder. He does have a method for choosing
the ladder--he climbs to the one with the gold chest at your height. So if
you climb to the height of a ladder you've already picked off, you can choose
whichever ladder you want next time. It shouldn't be too hard to pick off the
leftmost ones, but switching can be tricky.
Now there's the upper left. You can get rid of your enemy for good by digging
him out of the mess you put him in. Run right and, when 1L of the ladder, dig
left. dig left so that he has a passage down the 2-ladder, and run down the
far right ladder. Wait until he's stuck in that area. Now you can clear the
far left without interference. All you have to do for the left edge is dig
the brick at the top, duck in for one gold chest, and run back.
For the upper left, you need to dig the top brick, fall left, dig there, drop
in and pick up one gold piece. Then run back up the ladders. There's a little
wiggle room for a small goof, but if you sense you're messing up, there's no
risk in going back and trying again.
MESSAGE: SPLIT SECOND
5-2-5. LEVEL 35
h h
h $ $ $ $ - $h
**********XH HX************
H H
HXXH
$ -$ $ H H $ - $
X*X*X*X*X*X*HH*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
HH
~~~~~~ $ HH $ ~~~~~~~~
H************H
H H
$ - H $ $ H $- $
****VXXXXXXXHHXXXXXXXV******
HH
HH
$ +$ HH $ $
Solution: Patience is a virtue here. Don't let the monsters trap you. In
fact, you might want to let them get your chests and bring them down the
board. Note that going to the top is trouble if anyone is trapped--they may
reappear up there. But if you can leave your enemies behind then you can run
up there and get everything.
The best place to trap enemies is on the platform of alternating cement and
brick. You have a back-door out and it takes them forever to recover. You
probably want to reach the right side of this first so you can drop right,
fall and get the very DR chest, which is a tricky one. The bad guys tend to
try to drop through the hole and not climb down the ladder, which provides
you an easy way back up. You can wait at the foot of the ladder for the last
guy to fall off--when there are two left you can work your way around them.
Even 3 really because only 2 will be on one side.
But your basic procedure should be to locate a loose gold chest and pick it
up and then have the bad guys run after you and get behind you so you can
make it back up. Once they're all behind you, you can go to the extreme upper
right, and they will head to the upper left. That'll allow you to sneak back
down. For the last bit it's okay just to take what they leave behind if you
can't force it from them on the striped areas. But remember to have them
follow you, without you digging, for the last bit. You'll be able to see if
you've got all the chests because there will be a ladder in the UL.
MESSAGE: BARREN BOARD
5-2-6. LEVEL 36
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
h - ~~~~~ + h
hXXXXXXXXX H XXXXXXXXXh
hhH~H~H~H XHHHX H~H~H~Hhh
X~H~H~H~H~XH HX~H~H~H~H~X
X~H$H H$H~XHHHX~H$H H$H~X
XXXXXXXXX HHH XXXXXXXXX
H H
HHH XXX
HHH X~~H $
HX ~~~~~$ H H X $ HXXX
H*$ ~~~ X HHH~~ * X H~~
HX*X$~ XHX*X*XHX X H
H X*X*XH - H X*X*X*X*X $*
*H *X X*XHXH $ $ X*
X*X*H$XH $ HX*X*X*X*X*X
Solution: You can trap both robots in the enclosed structures that flank the
ladders, and in fact it's possible to do so right away. Just dig the top
square of the left edge of the right structure. Then go down and get the gold
chests and come back up. Climb down the far ladder when both guys are inside,
dig a hole and drop in.
The rest of the level features the usual duck-and-run to pick up gold chests.
The right is the easiest. On the rope right of the lower bit of the ladders,
dig right and drop and dig left. Go up the ladder to the right, get the gold,
go left on the rope and drop and keep going left. Wait for the holes to fill
back up. Then dig right, drop, dig left. Go up the ladder but take the right
rope this time. Drop right and come back left.
Now for stuff on the left side. Again, go on the right rope and drop and dig
left. Go left along the bottom, climb the ladder, dig left and get the gold
and run back before the brick closes. Then dig into the top of the left
structure for the two gold and dig and drop down. From the top rope dig
right, drop and go right and dig right. You should be able to get the
remaining two gold pieces and climb up with time to spare.
MESSAGE: BI PLANE CLIMB
5-2-7. LEVEL 37
h
H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hh
H~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~XXXH
H X X X X X X X X H
HXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXX H
HX XXXX X XXX X VXXXX H
HXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXVXXXXH
- HXXX XXXXX XXXXXVXXXX H
HXXXXXXXXXX XXXX $ VXXXX H
HXX~XXXXXXXXXXXXVXXVXXXX H
HXXXX $XXX XXXXVXXVXXXX H
HX HXXXXX XXX~VX~VX~XX H
HVXXXHVXXXX$ XXVXXVVXXXXH
HVX~XXX~~XXXX~~VXXV~~XXX H
HVXXXX~~~~XX~~~~XX~~~~XX H
H HH - HH $ HH $ HH + H
Solution: Climb halfway up the right ladders until both robots are adjacent.
Drop down to get the two gold and return to the middle. This will preclude
any nonsense about robots having the gold when they fall into gaps. Now
you'll want to climb 2 rungs away from the top and wait. Move above the
rightmost single rope after going over the top and wait until the closest guy
is above the next-right rope. Drop down. So will he. He'll fall down the
corridor of false bricks. Jump on top of him and push left after passing the
single square which will trap you. You'll fall left of the gold. Go left to
the rope and push down.
Keep track of where the bad guy is as you will want to get to the top and
push this guy just left of where the other dropped. 100% accuracy isn't
important as you only need the first two gaps free for the ultimate big dig,
and if you miss this time you don't have distractions for the next one. Drop
down so that the other robot falls off in a right gap. Now for an easy gold
piece. From the left ladder dig a pair of squares to the right, dig and
repeat, and dig to get into the passage below. From there, dig from the
ladder to the left. It's an easy way out.
Now if the bad guys aren't in the right position you can start at the square
right of the guy to the left, dig right, move left etc., release him and go
to the UR of the castle. Drop when he's above a square more to the left.
The final chest is the toughest and I will just illustrate where to dig in a
diagram.
H . . X
HXX....XXX
HX X... X
HXXXX...XX
- HXXX X..XX
HXXXXXXXXX. X
HXX~XXXXXXX.X
This isn't anything you haven't seen before, and digging once you get the
gold makes an easy out. Of the castle and level.
MESSAGE: CREEPY CASTLE
5-2-8. LEVEL 38
+HHHHXXXX HXXXH~~~~~XXXXHHHH
HXXXH~~~~~HXXXHXXXX XXXXHXXH
HXXX XXVX-HXXXHXXXX~~~~~HXXH
H $-$- $-$H $ H$ $ $$ $ H
XXX **VX XHVXHXXHX VXVX XVHX
XXX $VX XHVXHXXHX $XVX XXHX
XVX XXVX XHHHHXXHX VXVX H HH
$$ $~~~~~~~~~ $H $ $ $ $
XX VHXX-XVXX XVXH XVXH XXVV
XX VHXX XVX$~HHHH X$XH~~~~~~
XX VHXX XVXX XXXH XVXH XXXX
$ $ H $ $ $$ H $$ H $$ $
XHVHXVHVXXX XXXXHVXXVHXXXX X
XHVHXXHVXXX XXXXHVXXVHXXXX X
XHHHHHHVXXX XXXXHVXXVHXXXX X
$H$$$$$$$$$$$$$$H$$$$H$$$$$$
Solution: Overview first. Don't try to challenge all five robots unless you
can lump them together. And once they are, keep them lumped. Then you should
have time to run by them. The best way to do this is to use the leftmost
ladder that touches the ground. Climb all the way up it, wait, and then
climb down. Wait for any robots on the far left ladder to come over as far
as possible(don't let the ones on the middle touch the ground) then scoot
back up the ladder. Your place on the ladder determines the direction of the
robots on the ground to some extent, so tinker with it. You don't need to
know the details; one rung works, the next doesn't.
But the first thing to do in this level is to run down the ladder and right
to get the gold under the cement. Wait for the monsters to stabilize and then
dig right and fall down the center of the rope. You can climb to the bottom,
where four monsters will come at you. Sneak over them with the ladder-row
below the bottom when they get near, and you can run right, onto the tall
ladder in the right. One rung up and you have the bad guys lumped. Now you
can go take a short run for a couple of chests and come back, but the guy at
the bottom will chase you, so don't take too long before going back to the
second rung.
You can actually let them get pretty close to you before moving up the ladder
turns them away. So you can clear all the stuff near the ladder. And when you
are ready to take off, go to the bottom of the ladder once the enemies are
immobilized and wait for them to follow you. Climb up to the first ledge and
you should see all five chasing you. But go up slowly so you can see when
they twitch back and forth. If they all follow you then you can head to the
DL with ease.
You can go left at the top of the ladder and across the very top rope. Then
you'll stand in the DL and walk across the ladders over the guys coming at
you.
Here's what to do on your trips to the UL:
1) drop on the cement and get the two gold chests there
2) drop on top of the gold to the right of the cement(false brick over it)
3) go to the very UL, via the ladders, and dig right twice. Dig over the gold
chest and drop through the false brick.
Through all this it's important to make sure the enemies are lumped together
after your each move, before you decide to drop down.
However if they do get undone near the end, what sometimes happens is that
three guys get stuck on the big ladder and two are in the left. In that case
you can just go up the right side ladder one square. The guys will fall to
the right. You can sneak under them and do the next thing you need to in the
upper right.
What you need to do in the upper right is really pretty trivial--basically,
fall on top of whatever gold chest you need, and if there's no false brick,
just dig to drop in. There's no way to trap yourself. You just have to
remember that you can bunch your enemies by climbing to the top of the right
ladder and then make them fall off the ladder by going to the 2nd-lowest
rung. But if you get on the center ladder and push up, someone may just block
you and sit there if he gets down far enough.
MESSAGE: BROTHERHOOD
5-2-9. LEVEL 39
- ~~ +
HXXXXXXX XXXXXXH
HXXXXXXX XXXXXXH~H~ hh
H XXX XXX - H h h
H~~H XXX XXX H h h
H H XXX XXX H hh
H - XXX XXX H
H XXX $$ $$ XXX H h h
H XXX XX XX XXX H hh
H XXX XXX H h hh
H XXX XXXXX XXX H
H XXX XXXXX XXX HX*XXH
H XX XXX XXX X $ XH
XXXXXHXXX $X$ XXX~~~X X XH
X $ XH XXXXXXXXXXX~~~~XX XXH
X X XH XX XX H
Solution: You can spend a lot of time figuring out how to dig what and where
and eventually you'll wind up digging the enemy out of the picture. But you
need him for the DR gold.
Fall down, wait for the robot to come at you, go W, and dig E. When the
robot falls in, go all the way E and one rung S. The robot will go W, S, and
fall in E. From
there go to the top of the ladder. Dig W, go S, dig W. Wait a bit and dig W
below that before digging where you originally dropped the robot. You can
walk on top of him to get the gold chest.
Go to the lower right, wait for the holes to heal, and then race the robots
to the top. You don't have to beat them badly, just enough to make sure you
can dig out the right eye before they get anything done. You'll also want
either both or none of them to drop. With one left there's the potential for
a guy to close you out on the left, and if you go back right the other guy
will drop to the left.
Dig the 4 leftmost bricks, then the 3 after you've fallen a level, then 2,
then 1. That'll get you 2 chests and falling off and going E will get you 3.
Depending on how many guys have dropped, go left(2) or right(0--and let them
drop the next time).
Now you want to fall west and dig left twice, drop and dig left. There'll be
a small problem with the one guy regenerating--keep squashing him until he
falls into the wabbit and goes left. Now you can take out the gold at the
bottom.
4X1
$ 2
X 3
The usual here: dig 1 and 2, wait a while, dig 3, go over 1 and dig 4. The
final bit consists of a 4-3-2-1 dig over the left eye and then dropping right
to get the final gold chest and get out.
MESSAGE: OMEGA WABBIT
5-2-10. LEVEL 40
H~~~~
H +- HXXXH ~~~~~~~~~ HXXXH
H XHXXXXXH ~~~~~ HXXXXXH
H XXHXHXXXHXX XXHXXXHXH
H XXHXHXXXHXX XXX XXHXXXHXH
H XHXXXHXXXX H XXXXHXXXH
H HXXXHXXXX XHX XXXXHXXXH
H XHXHXXXHXX XHX XXHXXXHXH
H XXHXHXXXHXX XHX XXHXXXHXH
H XXHXXXHXXXX XHX XXXXHXXXH
H XHXXXHXXXX XHX XXXXHXXXH
H H HXXXHXX XHX XXHXXXHXH
XH HXXHXXXH XHX HXXXHXH
XXHHXXXXX $ XXHXX $ XXXH
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX H
Solution: Although you can get one of the gold chests, you have to rely on
the robot for the other. The good news is that the left(trap the robot) is
very similar to the right.
You can just run around to the left and then you should be able to figure out
from the diagram how to bore down. You need to switch ladders a lot.
H123H
X45XH
X.HXH
X.HXH
H.XXH
H.XXH
X.HXH
X.HXH
H.XXH
H.XXH
X.HXH
X.HXH
.XXH
X. H
There are some controller tricks to make this faster. On the NES you can
just hold down A/B and let up on the down button to dig, then switch over,
etc. You should have enough time doing things manually as well. The main
nuisance is switching between ladders after every two digs.
Now you must drop the robot into the area with the other gold chest. He will
walk left after he falls so it's not too tough to climb to the top left bit
and get him to follow you. Then drop down to the lower rope and go right and
climb down the ladder. He'll fall and go left and you can now work on the
left.
So you just dig down as before but with a few differences.
H321H
HX54X
HXH.X
HXH.X
HXX.H
HXX.H
HXH.X
HXH.X
HXX.H
HXX.H
H H.X
XXH.X
XXX. $
Now you need to move up the ladder, left, and into the DL so the enemy comes
toward you and gets enveloped by the healing brick. There's a small chance
he'll give the chest up right away, so you may need to do this more than
once. But it's not terribly esoteric. You can run up and be waiting for when
he's gobbled up, and that'll kick you to the next level.
MESSAGE: TAX MAN
5-2-1. LEVEL 41
- h Xh
XX HXXX h X XhXXXXXXh
XXH XhXXXXXX XXX Xh
H X XXXXX X HX Xh
XhXXXXXX XXXXXXX Xh
XXX XXXXXXX - XXh
X XXXXXXX h
XXXX XX + XXXXH X h
HXXXX H HXXXh
HXX H $ XXXXH HXXXX $ h
XH XXX HXXX $ HXVh
H $ H $ HXXX H
XXXXXXHXX XXXXX H XXXXH
$ - H $ H H
XXX XXXXXXH XXX XXXXH HXXX
H H H
Solution: Getting all the chests isn't hard. The main trick is to realize
that you can use one of the enemies to move a chest to a better location.
That chest is the one DL of where you are. Go to the ladder right of it, top
rung, and have the robot pick it up and take it up the ladder. That will drop
it on top of the ladder, where you can pick it up last.
The rest of the work consists of killing all three enemies and making sure
that they go into the three holes at the top, which is really annoying on the
NES. Once you've gotten the final gold(saving the UL 'til last) you have to
go right, walking over enemies as they drop down. The ladders appeared when
you got the last gold, and you should have just enough time to run
consistently right and over the robots to the top. The error margin between
crossing the first and the second guys is slim but you should be able to wait
for the third. The big long ladder is on the far right.
MESSAGE: HOMICIDE
5-2-2. LEVEL 42
~~~~ hh-
H XXXXXXXh hXXXXXX
HXXXXX X Xh hX X
HX XXXXX X+hh X HXXXXX
HXHXXX X XH XXXHXX HX X X
HX X X XH X H HXXX X
HX $X X XHXXXXXXXH HX X
HX XXXXX XH XXXHX XXXXX
HX X X X XXX XHXX HXXXXH
HXXXXX XXX HXXXXX HX XH
H X X$H X XXXXXXXH XH$
H X XXXXXX X X - X $HXXXX
XHXXXHX -X X X X X HX -X
XH XHX $XXXXX X XXXXX X
XH XHXXXXXX XXXXX XVXX
XXXXXH X V
Solution: Get the robot out of the way so you have time to figure how
to get the chests. This is not trivial as there are not a lot of squares. But
the easiest way to do so is to head down the ladder and go right. Dig left,
drop, dig left and the enemy will be trapped. Don't celebrate ASAP as he may
wind up regenerating where he started, but eventually he'll go to the UL(deal
with him later) or UR. If you want variety, go to the bottom of your current
structure and dig right twice.
To pick off the first gold chest, the suspended one, look at the following
wall:
H1
H2
H3
H4H
Dig 1, wait a second, dig 2, wait a second, and dig 3. Now wait for the holes
to start filling up. Once 2 is full, dig 4 and go back to the top and dig 1-
3. Fall down for the gold and climb up the ladder. Run left when 4 is
covered.
Now at the top ladder above the natural pit, dig right and go down four
times. Then dig left and dig the three squares to the right. This allows you
to get the gold on the right ledge and come back.
At the ladder where you started dig L, go D, dir L. On the 1-ladder dig L, D,
dig L. Fall in and go up the ladder to the left and dig left and work down.
Go left and up to the top. Let's chip away at that gold across the 2-pit.
~~~~
H
H6XXXX
H7
H1HX8X
H2 X
H3 $X
H4 XXX
H5 X
HXXX
Dig 1 and 2. When 1 gets covered up, dig 3 and 4. Then go up and dig 6 and 7
and go back down and dig 5. Then dig 8 and drop for the gold.
Now for the last uncovered gold(the bad guy has the last one.) Run across the
rope and dig down. Then...
XXXX
X
XX1
2H
3H
8HXXXX5X
9H
0X4 6HX
HXX7XX
Drop left of 1, dig and dig 2 and 3. Run down the ladder to the left and dig
4. Then dig 5 from the right, fall in and dig 6. Dip in and get the gold and
dig 7 to get out of all of this.
Now go back to the top. Dig 1, 2 and 3 as before but this time dig 8, 9 and
0, fall left and dig left. Dig the corner square and now drop through it and
dig 3-down the left side so you have a place to dig a hole when the enemy
comes out. Go back up and dig right, go down, dig right and fall left. Dig
right at the ladder, get the gold, and run to the top.
MESSAGE: ETCH A SKETCH
5-2-3. LEVEL 43
XXXHXXX XXXHXXX
XXX H XXXX H XXX
X HXXXXXX XXXXXXH X
XXhXXXX XXXXhXX
Xh HXXX XXXH hX
V XhXXXXXH HXXXXXhX V
V**h********H H********h**V
V h $ X H H X $ h V
V**h******H* ~~ *H******h**V
h H X X H h
-X h XH + HXX XXH - HX h X-
XXXXXHXXXXHX XHXXXXHXXXXX
- XHXX$ HX$$XH $XXHX -
XX XXH X~~HX$$XH~~X HXX XX
XXX H XXXXXXXXXX H XXX
XXXXXXXXH HXXXXXXXX
Solution: The plan is outlined below.
1. Get all the enemies lined up down the left chute. One will come inward
towards you and the others will fall down on top of them. If anyone gets in
the right chute, dig the block on its left and run left and dig right,
climbing up the ladder a rung if you need to deflect enemies temporarily.
Repeat until everyone's on the left. If anyone gets stuck in the middle, dig
on the rope, fall left and dig the two blocks and use the ladder to dig down
into the center. You can use the bottom conduit to get guys to come over.
(If only one or two guys are left you can just dig into the area beneath the
chute where you don't want them to fall, to speed things up.)
2. Climb up the ladders to the level of the gold. Get the enemy to take it
and climb back down. Make sure he carries it back to the pit.
3. Collect the gold you can. That means the stuff in the center pit(drop for
it) and the enclosed gold(dig right mid-ladder and left mid-ladder on the
left, vice versa on the right)
4. Let everyone out and repeat 1. for the right, but mirrored.
5. Climb up. It shouldn't be too bad to clear bad guys out although if you
are desperate you can now drop them down the center shaft. Just get on the
rope, dig left and fall left if they are coming from the right. Eventually
you'll clear all the enemies from one side.
MESSAGE: STACK ATTACK
5-2-4. LEVEL 44
+ h
XXHXH1XXXXXXHXXXXXXXXXHXXXh
H XHX H XHX H X h
XXHXXHXX XHXXXXHXXhXXXXXXXh
H h H H H H H h
XH HX XXH XHX XH X H~
X H H ~ XH XXX XHXXXH
XHX XH23$XHXH X H XH
HX XH4~HX H~XHX H XHXH
H H5XXX-XX H X0XX HXH
XH ~ XH6~ X XH ~ HXH
XH X HXXX7 H8 H Ha$XX HXH
H HXH~~~XX 9H HHX~~~HXH
XXH H H XHX X HXXXXXHH
XXXH~ H~~~~H~~~XX~~~~~H
-
Solution: One sweeping movemet gets both gold pieces.
The map is diagrammed to see what to dig, when. Just dig 1 and then drop down
and run across 2 and dig it, then dig 3. Fall left and wait at 2 a couple
seconds before digging 4. Go 1L1U and wait for 2 to reappear. When it does,
go to the rope and drop to get 4. Go left and dig right. Down and dig
right(6) and go right and dig(7).
Fall right and climb up the stairs and the next part requires you to be
pretty quick. Dig(8) and fall right and dig left at the ladder (9) and climb
up and drop right. Then immediately dig right, drop, 1L and dig right to get
the other gold chest. Go back left and drop down. Go left to the ladder and
hold up/left to get back to where you dug 0. Once 0 heals, you can climb up
the ladder and follow the winding path to the next level.
MESSAGE: CAN OF CORN
5-2-5. LEVEL 45
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
X+ X X $ X H ~~~~~~~~~~
X X$ HX $X~H H
XXXXXHXXXXXXX-H hH XXXXXXX
X X$HX X$ X H h H $XXX$XX
X$ X HX$ X~Hh H X$XXXX$
XX XXHXXXXXXX H $XXX$XX
X $X HX $XH X H X$XXXX$
X $HX X$ X H $XXX$XX
XXXXXHXXXXXXX H X$XXXX$
X~~X HX~~X X H
X~~X HX~~X -X HXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXX HX HX $X
XH X X HXXXXXXXXX
XH- X $ HX HX XH $X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: there's a lot of repetition here especially with the part on the
right side. You need to use the enemy in the right to get some of the gold
out of the block, and some fancy digging will get the upper left block where
you start.
Fall, go E, dig W. Fall W, fall E, and climb up the ladder. Get the chest
and the suspended chest to the W, climb up the one rung ladder, dig east for
two more chests. This is the simple bit.
H0
H1XXXXX
H2 X$
H3$
H4XX87X
H5 $9H
H6 a$
HXXXXXX
Here's how to get the encased chests.
UL and UR: you'll pass back to get the UL so you might as well start with
this anyway. Dig #1 from the right. Then wait 3 seconds and go to dig 0. Drop
left to dig #2 and then, when 1 fills in, 3 below that. Dig over the UR chest
to drop on it. Run left.
DL: Dig 1-4. When they start to fill in, dig 5 and then right of 1. Go back
down to dig 6 and fall through right-of-1 and dig right.
DR: Dig 1-4. When they start to fill in, dig 5 and go back up and dig 0. Go
back down and dig 6. Then curl over and right-of-1 and the 7-8-9-a tetrad.
Climb down the bottom of the ladder and run left. You've covered the upper
left.
Now from the top of the big ladder, dig left, move down, etc., until you open
a hole to the bottom. Fall into it and go right. Go over the next bump on a
one-way trip to the right side.
You need to use the robot on the right to get a few chests. You only need him
for the two bottom chests on the left and here's what to do so you can kill
him off soon after for the messy DR bit. Wait a bit to make sure he's fallen.
Then you can just drop on the 2nd-left square on the block, dig left when
he's near, and run over him and fall left. Then climb up the ladder. When he
drops by, run over him. You can even wait on one of the gold chests you've
grabbed as he will land on the platform and fall left again.
You can just dig over the UL gold to get it. For the ones on the right you
can dig the rightmost 2, then dig down the 2nd-right tile. Except for the
last one. For that, you'll have to come back and repeat as before, except dig
the block over it to fall into it.
The same applies for the gold on the left. Dig 3x(2nd 3rd and 4th left) and
then dig the 3rd and 4th left for one gold and keep digging. You'll get all
but the DL one. Again, you need to repeat the process but this time when you
have the chance, dig the square above it to fall through for it.
Now on to the bottom right.
H1XX32XXXX
H4 H5 $X
H8XXX76XXX
H9 0H $X
XXXXXXXXXX
For the top chest: Dig 1. Wait 3 seconds. Dig 2 and 3 from the left. Drop
left and dig 4. Circle around 1 when it reappears and dig 5. Run right and
get the gold and go back.
For the bottom chest: Dig 1-5 as before, same pauses. But now instead of
getting the gold chest, dig 6 and 7 from the left. Circle back left, dig 8
and 9, and climb over the 1. You will need to re-dig 2 and fall through. Dig
0 after doing so. Run right to grab the gold and run left.
It's possible you can get both chests with one looping motion after another
but this is the safest way to do things. When you're done, ladders that
zigzag back down appear. Climb up them to win.
MESSAGE: TENEMENT LIFE
5-2-6. LEVEL 46
-h h-
** ** *h + h** * *****
* * * * h H h * * * ***
* * * hHh * ** *****
XXXXXVXXX*XHXXXXXXXXXX -XX
H~ H ~ ~ $~$$XHXXXH
H $XXXXX$XHX$HX HX HXXH XH
H $$XXXXX$XHX***VVXHXVX$XXXH
H$$$XXXXX$XH $ ** $ $ H
HX$XXXXXX$XHV**XVXXXXXX**XXH
H **V$V***H* $VVX $X* $***H
XXH**$$$***HXHXXX*XXXXXXXXXH
X H*$$$$$**H*$ $ $XH
XHXXXXXXXXXH****** XXXXX**XH
XH $ $ $ $ H XXXXXHX$ $H
XXXXXXXXXXXX* XXXXH-XHXhXXXX
Solution: You need to keep the two active enemies around to drop them into a
hole. So fall left so that the one doesn't get trapped in the "N" above.
Climb down the ladder and across the single ropes. When the guy chasing you
is on the second one, drop down and he will fall down too, through two false
bricks. Clean up everything else in the immediate area and go back up the
main ladder. Dig the leftmost square at the top and now clean out the left
area.
Drop left to start, go up the left ladder and fall right off the rope, then
get the remaining gold. You will need to go all the way back up the center
ladder and dig left three times to take out what is left. Fortunately some
false bricks help you a lot here.
1234X
567XX
x98XX
XabXX
*V V*
Dig 1-9 and then dig a the first time through, then b the next time. The
third time you'll have to shift 5-6-7 and 9-8 over and dig above the other
false brick to get everything. Basically you have 3 diggings of 4, 3, 2 and 1
squares.
Now you can release your enemy and go across the ropes. Remember to dig once
so he coughs up his treasure. Drop at the third rope as before, so he lands
on top of his buddy. Now you can drop on top of him and get the chest that
was guarded by the false brick before!
You shouldn't have a problem with the stack of gold left of the ladder.
You've done this before. Dig the top three bricks next to them, then wait to
dig the bottom one, and loop over. It's time to take out the right bit.
Dig right of the ropes and fall through the brick below. Shuck and jive the
enemy--don't kill him, but dig so he can escape, go to the bottom, dig so he
can escape again, and go to the top. Dig right twice and go up the ladder to
the left. Stand on the top run until everything fills in--he won't run after
you or into a hole.
Now you have to sucker him into that hole at the bottom. He doesn't have a
chest and can't get one, so he'll be safe. What you need to do is drop down
the ladder, dig left, and get the gold chest below and whatever's below that.
You can't cross to the left yet but you can dig over the 1-rung ladder and
drop down. The guy will drop 2R of you and you can walk over him. There's one
more compartment to dig over and you will need to dig the right square to get
out. Now your final act on the right should be to stand on the 1-ladder and
dig left, run right, and dig left too get the robot out of the hole. Run
right when you do and climb up the stairs. He'll join his pal, which means
that you can now run across them! Dig to get back to the left(top of right
ladder, d-L D d-L D 4L 2U d-L and run left.) Now fall on the two guys you
stuck so long ago. Dig left and fall and get the remaining two chests. You
can run right now...over one guy there's a good chance you'll die, but over
two, none. The ladder should appear in the hole where you dropped the robot,
and you can walk across it. One more dig back across to the main area and you
can climb up the center ladder to the top.
MESSAGE: MINE IS YOURS
5-2-7. LEVEL 47
H ~ - - - - ~ ~ ~ +~H
HX XX$XX$XX$XX$XX XX XX XX H
HXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXH
H XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XH
HX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX H
HXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXH
H XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XH
HX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX H
HXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXH
H XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XH
HX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX H
HXX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XXH
H XX$XX$XX$XX$XX$XX$XX$XX$XH
HX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX H
H H
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Solution: This is easy and elegant if you take it one enemy at a time. The
first thing you can do is to get rid of the gold pieces that aren't guarded
by enemies. For instance, you can start in the UL, dig right, fall right,
etc. Then start at the open square below that, etc.
You'll want to take the rightmost robot out first. Stand 1U1R of him and dig
right. go 1L, dig right and push 1L. On the NES this is accomplished easily
by pushing A, then holding left too. When the robot falls, fall on top of him
and repeat the strategy.
When he gets to the bottom, dig a hole for him so he coughs up the gold he
took. Run up the right ladder. Then stay at one of the niches. This will make
him follow you, which you want. Go as far left as you can and dig right. Fall
in when he's on the second rope. He will fall into a hole he canot get out
of. Dig right and drop right(hold right and A.)
As a final touch go back up and dig the hole right of the guy you trapped.
He'll drop further, leaving you one more space to perform this trick again.
Repeat with two of the other three guys--although you'll have to drop one
when he's on the third rope as there's no space left on the second. With the
fourth guy you don't even need him to chase you anywhere. You just need to
get to the top.
Now, to get any one robot out it's not too bad. Stand NW of him, dig E,
go W, dig E, go W. The robot will fall down and you can repeat. Start
with the rightmost one. Once you've gotten to the bottom, wait a bit so
that when you fall you can dig to the left and catch the robot you
released so you can run across him. Once you've released the fourth
robot you should be able to make it to the west ladder and get out OK.
MESSAGE: TEMPLE OF TOMBS
5-2-8. LEVEL 48
h h
h h
X h h X
X**VXHXV****VXHXV**X
X$$VXHXV VXHXV$$X
XXX *HX XXXX XH* XXX
**H** **H**
X**V*HH* *HH*V**X
X$$V*HXX*V**V*XXH*V$$X
XXX *HX$$V**V$$XH* XXX
**HXXX ** XXXH**
X**V*HH **** HH*V**X
X$$V*H H*V$$X
XXX *H H* XXX
-- *HH + --HH* -
XXXXH HXXXXXXXXXXXXXXH HXXXX
Solution: Setting everything up for this level is tedious, but the main bit
is actually not too tough. You'll need to keep digging until you have one bad
guy in each of the 4 holes 2S of the top ladder rung. Once you have that
there are different strategies for the outside and inside ones. For the
outside ones(we consider the left side but the right side is a mirror image),
fall onto them, go west, get the two chests, dig east. Repeat twice and when
you're at the bottom, dig west. Leave the robot there. For the inside one,
again fall on the robot, go two east, and dig west. Go west and dig west(or
east, if you still need to fill a hole.)
Note that getting the inside gold chests means that there is that much more
work to get a bad guy out, so you might as well just pile them up.
The only problem is if one guy falls on top of the other. Then you want to
release him and move to the main bottom part with all the bricks ASAP. Also,
if you have one guy left over after everyone's in place, if he is on the side
then you will want to take care of the inside and then kill of the remaining
oddball, dropping him into the corner somewhere. You don't want him greeting
you when you come down the outside.
If enemies get stuck on the right edge, go down quickly to the right and come
back up. Same for if they get stuck in the extreme left although you need to
take a bit longer then. You'll want to stay on the bottom usually as if you
climb up the ladders it can cause enemies to drop in spaces you don't want
them to.
MESSAGE: AZTECA
5-2-9. LEVEL 49
XXh hXXX
XXXXXh- + -hXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXhHXXXXXHhXXXXXXXXXX
$ HV VH $
HXX HXX$XXH XXH
HXXXX HX HXXXXXH XH XXXXXH
H HXXhXXXXXXXhXXH H
H - HV XhX V$ XhV XH - H
HXXXXXX$XhX$XXX XhX$XXXXXXXH
H XVXhXXXXXVXhXVX H
VXH h h HXXX
VXXXXHX hXXXXXXXXXh XHXXXVVX
V$ XHXXhHX $X$ XHhXXH X $X
XX$ H XXHX VXV XHXX H X XX
XXX H HXXXXXXXH HX
XXXXXHXXXH HXXXHXXXXXX
Solution: This is one of those random levels where you just have to let stuck
robots regenerate where they may and run at a weakness when you see it. There
are two tricky technical bits here, getting back on to the center
structure(you need to walk over guys that have fallen down) and transferring
from the right side to the left. Fortunately you start off in the center so
you don't have to jump on a falling regenerated robot to get on it twice.
So let's look at each way through the center structure. You'll want to dig
one of the top corner squares and fall into it. Wait for it to heal and then
dig to the inside. Circle around, dig the other corner square, drop and dig
inside. Now you want to dig 2 squares and then 1 so that you land on the
center brick, which is a fake.
To the left you must dig left, drop, get the gold and dig, but to the right
you can grab the bold and fall through.
Now clearing out the right is not too bad. The bad guys tend to gravitate
towards the left anyway. There's probably only one guy over there to start
off. You can dig to make it past him and climb above the encased gold under
the diagonal ladders. At the top, dig, D, dig left and fall left and right.
Then get back on the stairs and circle back up.
Getting the DR gold may be trickier. You may want to wipe out the sole bad
guy or maybe even just lead him back up to the top and leave a couple holes
for him to work out of. At any rate you need to dig the brick 4L2D of the
gold(by the outside ladder touching the base) and the square over the gold
and drop in. Next you'll want to get the gold from the lower center
object...dig over it and dig right once you've fallen through.
There are several ways to get bad guys over to the right. Most involve going
down on the right outside ladder, waiting for them to come over, and reeling
them in. You can get three this way and that should be enough.
You can try to trap the bad guys where you got the gold, but it is risky and
only works once. Hang out at the bottom of the outer ladder and let one enemy
come over. Dig the square right, walk in, and dig a square 4R of the ladder.
When the enemy comes after you, run over him when he falls in the hole and
dig right. He'll have to wait a bit to make it left, by which time his way
out will be covered. This can help immensely.
Just standing on top of the bottom structure and digging holes on the left
end may work as enemies tend to hang around there and walk up the ladder into
the holes, but it's not reliable unless only one or two are left. Then you
can sneak in and get to the main left part. But the best bet is maybe to have
everyone on the left and to bring them over to the right and sucker one or
two to follow you up the right side, then flip over. You also want to
remember the trick of having one guy moving up/down on the ladder after you
released him with the hole and one guy landing above him. The guy on top
won't be able to move, so just dig a hole next to where they are and you'll
get two for one and be able to sneak in, if there's nobody else on that side.
Once two guys are on the left you should be able to work up the left side to
dig a trap for them(or just string them out so you can get the gold in the
small 1x2 structure--where people on the inside ladder can box you out) and
be closer to when they drop from the sky to regenerate, too. You just don't
want to be stuck on the center block with people on each inside stair. If you
must, when on the left, go down the outside stair to bring bad guys over.
Then worry about bringing them back right later. It's better to be safe and
have the right cleared out than to worry about three guys on the left.
Note that the ladders appear to connect you to the center structure once
you've got all the gold chests, so beware that this may cause difficulties.
MESSAGE: 430 AM
5-2-10. LEVEL 50
+ ~~ ~~ ~~~~ X $-$ $
-XH H* $ *HX$X$X XHXVX H
*XXXXX*HX XXHX X XXXXHHXX H
*XXXXX*H X XHX~~ X$XXH XX~ H
H HXXXXXXXXH $ H
HXXXXXXVH H~~X X$XX XX XX
HX XH XHX $X HX$ XXX** XXX
HX$ X $XHXX X HXXX$H $
H XXXXX H X HX$XXH~ $ XHXX
HX HX XH X-XHXXX$H XX $HX$
HX$ X $VH XXHX$X HX$HX X
H XXXXX H XHX -XHXHHXXXX
HX X XH ~H $ XHH XX $
X$ X $XH H $ X XH HXX
$XXXXXXXH H X X*HH HXX HX$
HX X X* H HXX$HX
Solution: a worthy level 50, where I seem to miss something every time I go
through it again. There's not a lot of administrative overhead or time taking
tasks that don't make you think--lots of puzzles packed into the puzzle. So
after a paradoxical little start, let's concentrate on the chests to the left
of the 2-wide pit at the bottom.
Go two squares right, dig left. Jump right and dig left at the ladder. Go
left and climb up the ladder. The monster will climb,
go right, and fall, if you wait. Don't pick up the gold above him; you can't
start on the DL box that way.
H1XX32X
H4 XH
H5$ X $
H X76XX
HX HX X
HX$ X $V
H XXXXX
HX X X
X$ X$ X
XXXXXXX
You need to tackle every chest except the very DR one here. Dig 2-1 to get to
the box area and then dig 1 from the right, wait 3 seconds, and dig 3 and 2.
Drop onto 1 and then dig 4. When 1 regenerates, dig 5 and then loop around to
dig the two below 3. Then dig 6 and 7 and fall left. Dig 8 and 9, then over 7
and then the two squares below 6. Grab the two golds and go left. Dig right
at the bottom two rungs, drop right for one gold and drop left for the other.
Circle around the big ladder and dig left twice to get the final gold in the
rectangle.
Now take the gold over the bad guy. Dig right and go left. You may have to
dig 1U2L of him, dig right and jump on him, but on the NES you can just dig
left while on him, run left and dig right twice quickly. On the Apple you
need more exact timing and you can't dig him out or he'll catch you, and it
is a very tricky move.
Now climb up the stairs/rope/stairs and drop off the rope. Dig 1 and 2, drop
through them and climb up the ladders. Grab the gold 1U1R of the entombed man
and dig him out(3) while holding left. Go back left and dig 4/5. Dig below
4/5 and below that. Get the gold chest and dig right to land on the ladder.
~~~ X $-$ $
X XHXV3 H
XX21HHXX H
X$45H XX~ H
XXXXH $ H
X$XX XX XX
XXX** XXX
Now you can clear out the mess in the lower right. More diagrams for a
situiation requiring moderate accuracy. Dig 1 and 2, move in quickly, dig 3
from the right and then 4. Run back out. Be on the rope so you can quickly
dig 1 and 2 again. Then dig 5 and 6 and, when 3 heals, 7. Drop down. Run back
out. Don't forget the gold chest UR of 1 when you're done.
$
H~ $ XH37
H 1X H4$
H2$H6 5
HXHHXXXX
And another diagram for the DR.
$
H57
H21 H6$
H43$H8
Dig 1-4 to make it to the very corner. Get the chest before digging 5, then
dig 6 and run back out. Now dig 7 and 8 to make it back out.
Now there are two more gold pieces to get before you go back to the main
area. But first at the top of the ladder(U R 2U R 2U) dig left. Get the gold
1U2L of the rope and dig below it to get the one below it. R dig-L fall left
and get the gold 1U1L of the enemy. Stand on him and dig left, run right. Get
the next gold and let the enemy out again. Now you can walk over him and get
back to the UR.
~~~ X $-$ $
X XH5VX H
XX21HH6X H
X$34H 7X~ H
XX89H $ H
X$ab Xc XX
XXd** XXX
This time is even trickier and demands more precision than the last. It's
easier to forget the gold chest in the UR, especially on the NES with its
restricted view, but here's how to make sure of things. The right maneuver
starts off like the first time and even seems simpler. After digging #4 you
need to go directly right and up and dig down the ladder. You can fall left
to dig 8-9 and a-b before you climb the ladder, fall right and run across the
enemy to the top right to get the gold. Then fall back left and dig right to
release the enemy(c) before falling left and digging left to escape onto the
rope as everything blocks up again.
Now dig D2R, DR and R2D of the rope. Your enemy will fall in. Dig him out
with a dig-r and drop left. A ladder will drop to the base of the level. Take
it and run 2R. When the robot starts to climb down the ladder, climb up.
He'll go up and left and fall into the natural pit! Now you just have to dig,
as before, 2U2R and 1U1R of him and dig left over him and run right. Circle
back to the top and drop onto one of the gold chests. Dig right to fall into
an area and then it's dig right, drop, dig left, get the gold, dig to fall on
the gold, and go back up to the top where you can drop onto the gold you
didn't get.
The next time you go back to the top you'll win the level. But don't get too
pleased if you're playing the NES version. You're just cycled back to level
1. Grr. Some reward.
MESSAGE: YOU ARE A CHAMP
6. CHEATS
6-1. BYTE EDITING
Byte-editing Championship Lode Runner does have a few quirks. The save files
you create have a devious trick to them. And although you can't directly add
a life to a game in progress, byte-hacking allows you to add as many lives or
levels as you want to saved games. This is probably more useful if you want
to try out a certain level, as Championship Lode Runner is much more fun to
solve than cheat at. Still, if CLR mysteriously wipes your save file(as it
did to me) you are in luck.
6-1-1. APPLE HIGH SCORES
For the Apple, high scores start at offset 0xcf00(hexadecimal) in the disk
image and occur every eight bytes. Each high score takes up eight bytes.
The first three(0-2) are the initials, in ascii plus 0x80. For instance, A
is 0x41 ascii so it's shown as 0xc1. The fourth byte(3) is the level, and
the next four bytes(4-7) are the score digits(but NOT the hexadecimal
representation of the score!) So, for instance,
c1 d8 ce 11 00 12 53 00
Would mean that AXE got to level 11 with a score of 125,300.
6-1-2. APPLE SAVED GAMES
For the Apple, saved games start at offset 0xcd00(hexadecimal) in the disk
image and occur every 16(0x10) bytes. Each saved game takes up 16 bytes.
The first 8(0-7) are as above for the name. Byte 8 tells the level that will
appear on the screen in hexadecimal. Byte 9 is the actual number of levels
you've solved. THIS IS IMPORTANT if you want to start at a certain level.
Byte 10 is the number of men you have--FF puts it at 255. Bytes 11-14 are
the digits of the score. Again, C2 CF C2 20 20 20 20 20 25 10 A1 98 76 54 00
00 00 is an example of some hacked data. BOB is the name of the saved game.
But Bob will find himself on a Level 37 that looks suspiciously like level
17. His consolation is that he has 161 men and a whopping score of 98765400.
Saved games were organized so that the first time you saved, you did not lose
a life. But on subsequent attempts, you did. It was possible, thus, with
several game slots, to get more than just (lives + (lives+1) + ... + 1) =
(lives^2+lives)/2 chances at a level. With the NES you get arbitrarily many
chances and have a password, and with Apple emulation you have save states,
but even save games were unusual in the Apple's heyday.
6-2. PASSWORDS
The password for each level is specific to that level. You need to push in
one direction then hit the A button--it's an eight-icon code.
gol
cem bri
lad
ruulddul 11
rurrldrl 12
rulrrdrr 13
urrldrru 14
rrdrdrrr 15
uuududuu 16
lduudrlu 17
luuudrld 18
ulddulld 19
ludllrlr 20
drrdrrdd 21
lullulld 22
drrrrrru 23
rluulrul 24
dudlludl 25
ddurrruu 26
uuddllul 27
ldlddrrl 28
rrlululd 29
dlllullr 30
luluulrl 31
udldudld 32
dluurdrd 33
urlddull 34
ulrllrur 35
durulddr 36
luruuldd 37
uurluurd 38
luuullll 39
ullurruu 40
ururuldd 41
uurldruu 42
urruurlu 43
ururddrl 44
dlllruur 45
udrrrrld 46
udrduduu 47
ddrurudd 48
rullluul 49
rlrlllld 50
End of FAQ proper
================================
7. VERSIONS
11/28/2005: Version 1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs, proofread, and fixed for the NES
version of the game as well.
4/9/2000: Version 0.5.0 distributed by Andrew Schultz after being re- solved
4/7/2000 1 AM(originally ~1991). Maps, solutions(rougly[sic, I think]
proofread), messages, and basic information.
8. CREDITS
****
MM1 stuff: thank Adam Lamontagne
thank the NES contributors
Once I thought that the future consisted of a bunch of people getting
together and making Lode Runner tourneys of hard levels. I didn't see it
could be for all games.
