Sammy Lightfoot(Apple IIe) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.0 by schultw.andrez@sbcglobal.net(anti spam spoonerism) Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. If you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS 3. WALKTHROUGH 4. VERSIONS/CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Sammy Lightfoot was one of the pile of games that a visiting professor and his family dumped on my family when they went back to Europe. They had a lot of really cool pirated games, and this had a hack where you could choose levels 0-6. So I played it a lot, especially since it had a top 10 list--I'd attack the levels I had trouble with, then run from the beginning--though I never really mastered it. SL is a platformer where you control, presumably, a fellow called Sammy Lightfoot, whose orange bouffant spins around when he dies. That is the coolest part of the game, slightly beating out his dopey little dance at the end and the beginning/ending tunes. Here's what he does in the three levels. He can't climb anything, but he can jump and trigger platforms. In the first scene, he bounces on a couple trampolines. Two, he jumps across 4 platforms, back across 6 blocks, and onto a moving platform that swerves around. The third level has a boggle box of ping pong balls at the bottom, a bunch of tentacles coming down from the ceiling above, and a fire pit at the top. The only scoring you get is from a bonus, which does not kill you if it runs down to zero. Complete everything, and it gets touger next round. Sadly there is a good deal of randomization that forces you to wait a while, and that is when you will make most of your mistakes. Compared to Conan or Hard Hat Mack, Sammy Lightfoot is a relatively sparse game, but it's worth a play through especially with save states. Anyway, I got pissed off at a Boxxle level and needed a sort of punching bag, so here it is. Maybe you've played this and always vaguely wondered what the later levels are like, or you just want to remember how things loop, or what happens after level 6. Whichever. Enjoy. It's nothing to make your hair spin on your head, but I couldn't think of anything less trivial to do. 2. CONTROLS You need to use the joystick for this one, but if you are on AppleWin, the number pad works great. Sammy can only move left and right. Either button jumps. If you want to grab a rope and swing on it, you need to hold a button, which is a bit of a pain. You cannot jump left/right by holding and jumping...you must walk a bit first, or you must just have jumped in that direction before. Jump also activates platforms that rise to a fixed height to bring you to your next challenge. Knowing where to stand and where to jump are big parts of getting through the game safely, more than critical reactions(except on the round-2 platform.) 3. WALKTHROUGH We'll go into detail on level 0, as much of the later levels is just a variation on the first. Eventually they get to the point where your best strategy is to save and see what happens next and reload til you find the right way to advance. I've been to level 10 but I think you'll get sick of the game long before then. I did. In this regard, Sammy Lightfoot plays like an old arcade game. Level 0-1 Jump right onto the trampoline right away and hold down. The cue balls that appear will either go off to the top right or bounce at you. You should be able to get ahead of one if it goes below if you jump ASAP. If not, release the button and hold it down once the ball passes. In general, you can sit around and just jump over a ball if it is coming at you. Later you'll learn when you can risk it. Now you need to jump onto the trampoline to the left. If you walk off the edge, you don't make it left. If you jump at the very edge, you miss the trampoline. So jump when you are at the chevron on the left, and you will make it. With timing, you can jump under an approaching cue ball, but no need to push things. Then grab the rope to the left. You have room for error here, but it's best to jump when it is going right at the bottom. You can even catch it when it is at the right edge. Remember to hold the button, then when you get to the left, release. Bounce on the trampoline below. If a ball is in play, hold the button down, but otherwise wait for one to pass by before jumping to the top. Jump the gap, unless a ball is behind you, then jump above it first. Go to the right, touch the white pad, grab the rope and hold it. Release when to the right when the orange smiley guy(looks like he's from Russki Duck) is not at the edge. Level 0-2 * 1 2 3 4 * The platforms vanish as 1, 2, 3, 4, so keep that in mind. There is a two second pause between when one appears and the next disappears. You should be able to get across before the blocks come down. They're slow here, which isn't always the case. 2 should disappear as you are on 3, and you have more than enough time to make it across. The big trouble comes if you are trapped in the middle, with a block coming down and the disappearing guys coming at you. You can wait for the blocks to go back up before jumping left, if you want. Now push a button when you get to the left. Jump right. Now you can pretty much keep jumping right when the next block is level/below. You can jump over blocks 2 and 5 if you are careful, but it does not save time, since 3 and 4 have to wait to be aligned. Push the button when you make it right. Step on the platform with the lines on bottom. Go to the left edge, then push a button. It will go down half the screen, and when it turns left, hold left. It will turn back up. When it does, don't hold left. It will come to a stop by the upper left, which is the end of the level. It gets more complex in later levels, where I should note it can even reverse and not turn. Note that also, if you are using save states and you are walking on the very back end of it, you will fall off no matter which way it turns next. So don't save the state then. For these later levels I played at 50% speed when on the platform. Level 0-3 Run right. Jump over the ball as it comes back--you can duck under it too if you want--and jump onto the platform. Push a button. Jump left from the 2nd- left X and wait for the lines to align. They are slightly asynchronous, so you may need to wait a bit. Be prepared to run left once one is 2/3 up. Sammy's hair can touch the lines, but don't get too cute. Jump right onto the rope. The flames won't hurt you unless you drop into them. The left one moves back and forth a bit quicker than the right. You can jump right when they are both together, but it's best to wait so you have more room for error. You're not synchronized with the enemy, so like in level 1 you can wait to jump. Because the rope goes up at the end, it allows you to wait a bit relative to the orange smiley guy. The timing here is pretty simple--if he's left and you're right, jump and he'll leave before you get there. You should get there so that you can jump from one rope to another, but if the left is behind the rope, don't bother to jump on. You'll just have to hold a button that much longer. Jump onto the rope just after the two touch in the center, then jump over. Level 1-1 Now you may have to avoid balls coming from the right. You can stand just right of the orange trampoline if one ball drops on the left, and if one drops in the center, you may have to run-jump left over it if another one dropped from the top. You may have to jump right off the orange trampoline if you cannot avoid a ball running from the right. Level 1-2 If you are very quick, you can time your first jump so Sammy's hair touches the right block coming down, and you can beat the blocks flashing across(4-3- 2-1), but I'd recommend waiting. The set of jumps back is not so bad. The platform is not too tricky here. D L D L U R U L. A general rule of thumb here is to jump when the next block is just about to hit the bottom. This applies for all levels. Level 1-3 3 balls together--2 are synchronized and you need to jump between them, and you can walk under the other one. Now you need to jump on the very left edge and work left. Remember if you are near the edge to jump so you land with the ball just behind you. You may have to wait a bit here, but the ropes do not get appreciably harder in this or future levels. Level 2-1 The smiley balls wobble around a bit, and you need to stand on either the edge of the center platform or in the center to avoid them. On this level, the smileys only appear off to the left, and you may be able to escape when one goes DR. You should always pay attention to what will appear after each jump and be prepared to release a jump button quickly. You may also need to grab the bottom rope quickly and jump over. Level 2-2 Pattern: 1-4-2-3 Again startin immediately pays big dividends, but if it doesn't work, stay on block 4 and try to jump over to 3 and 2 quickly. Your big block here is #2 as you must jump from 4 to 3 to avoid 4 disappearing, then you need to have the timing right between when 2 and 3 are gone. D R D L U L D L U R U L U. Level 2-3 You will need to pause for the balls that bounce sharply up, and you can walk under or jump over the other one. Here you may be able to stand briefly between the last two oranges as they go up/down so you can make a break to the left. You may have to be patient with the moving stalactites, but the end ropes are easy to time. You can just wait for the enemy to be going right when you make your final jump. Level 3-1 You may have to stand in the center of the right to avoid the smiley balls, as they come pretty quickly. You will need to stand in place to jump over a regular ball and avoid the smiley, and you need to be in the right place, too--in this case, the right of the center. You need to grab the rope when it's open with a quick run left and jump. The game's pretty generous with you being able to grab the rope. Level 3-2 3-2-4-1 Jump to 4. Wait for 3 to disappear. Then you can jump quickly 3(time to jump just before it reappears)-2-1 or wait after 2. Go back, and here is the platform pattern. L D R U R D L D L U R U L D L U R U L Level 3-3 Run right and jump up if a ball behind gets close. The different speeds make this bad but you need to be able to jump over/walk under two balls that are close in a row. It's worth it to wait. The 4 stalactites at the end are tricky, but you can stay under #2 or #3 if the timing is right. The ones that go up quickly aren't particularly tough to judge--it's the 3 in a row that are tricky. Level 4-1 Nothing special here but watch for smileys trapping you from each side. When in doubt, jump straight up at the top. You don't have to wait for a ball to appear in the UL before going into the right, but be prepared to run a lot. Level 4-2 1-3-2-4 Here you can make a quick jump and hang on the edge of 3 and jump just before you get hit by the block from above. You'll intersect the block to the left, but it won't matter. Around here working at half speed is really important as you just can't remember everything and can't stay in the center long enough to anticipate moves. The platform jerks too quickly. D L R D U R L U L D R L D R D L D L U L D L U R U L U R U L U D L R D L D L U (tease) R D L U Level 4-3 Tricky here and you may wind up racing a ball to the edge with it going faster than you. There are a lot of stalactites here, but none is quick to appear, so this should not be a problem. Level 5-1 There's nothing extra tricky about this--the new balls don't do anything spcial, and you just need to catch the rope when you can and use the split second before you land on the trampoine t see where the next ball is from. Take your time evading balls that fall from above. The new ones may bounce twice, so position yourself at the third or first dot from the left. You may have to duck into the right and be alert for a ball coming from there in order to activate the rope. Level 5-2 4-2-3-1 Wait 1 cycle before attacking and then after 4 disappears a second time, jump. You may have a small trick to deal with where boxes descend at the same rate, next to each other. Jump a half-second before you hit bottom. The moving platform is easier than last level. D R D L U R D L U R D R U L D R U L D R U L U L D R U L. Level 5-3 The 2 fast balls can be timed to jump over or run under them, since they are lumped together. For the stalactites, jump straight up under the slow blues. Level 6-1 Nothing new here except you have a torrent of cue balls pouring from the UL, so you need to time your bounces until one appears from the right. You may also be able to just avoid getting your head bashed on the second bounce. You may need to time a jump after getting to the white platform as well to avoid the orange ball and a cue ball. Proceed with cautio everywhere and stuff, especially over the gap, but be prepared to make two quick jumps to get to the small rope. Level 6-2 1-2-3-4 Jump left right away so you get to #3. Then jump left again quickly. You can make it left. Then jump right when each block in the next column reaches the bottom. D R D L D R L D L U L R U L U L D L D L D L D R U R U L U D L U R U D R U R L U L. Level 6-3 Follow the slow ball back right for best results--you only have 2 balls to worry about that way. The stalactites present nothing tricky except for if you are near the edge. You may need to stand under the middle of 3 stalactites that comes down slowly, too. The rest of this is just more vigilance than before, so I'll skip it, except where patterns are viable. Level 7-2 4-3-2-1. You need a quick jump from 2 to 3. L R D L D R U L U R L U L D L D R U L R U Level 8-2 1-2-3-4 D R D L R L U R U R L D L D R L D R U L U (L U) Wait once and jump onto 3 when the block is coming down. Level 9-2 4-3-2-1 Again, bring up the rear. But you have to be quick. D L U L R D L U D R D U L D L R U D R U D L U R L D L U L U D L U R L U R U End of FAQ Proper ================================ 4. VERSIONS/CREDITS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 4/16/2008, complete. Thanks to GameFAQs for being, well, THERE. Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog, Lagoona, Da Hui and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not- yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine. Thanks to ftp.apple.asimov.net and its various mirrors.