Pepper II FAQ(Arcade) version 1.0.0 copyright 2003 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my prior consent. However, if you write a polite e-mail to me referring to me(and this FAQ) by name, then I will probably say OK. But if I ignore you that means no--and I am bad about answering e-mail. Sorry. **** AD SPACE: **** My home page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762 ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS AND ENEMIES 3. METRICS 3-1. GENERAL POINTS 3-2. MAZE POINTS WITH MAPS 3-3. WHAT HAPPENS BEYOND? 3-4. DIP SWITCHES 3-5. HIGH SCORE LIST 4. STRATEGIES 4-1. GENERAL 4-2. BY MAZE 5. VERSIONS 6. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION Pepper II is a gobble game(i.e. get to all the points you can walk on, minus a few tunnels) with a funny twist. You are walking on zippers which come undone if you go down them twice--UNLESS you've managed to rope off a small area the maze has created. So for instance: ......... . 1 . 2 . . ..... . . ..... Moving around area 1 like so would solidify the lines. You could walk over them without doing anything. xxxxx.... x 1 x 2 . x x.... x x xxxxx Same with area 2. ....xxxxx . 1 x 2 x . xxxxx . . ..... However, a big circle around both of them could still be undone. Although you could split between them to knock off both at once. xxxxxxxxx x 1 . 2 x x xxxxx x x xxxxx If an area has a pitchfork in it, you can power up and kill enemies. If it has an object inside, then you will get several iterations of 910 points plus a time bonus and the usual tally for blocking the area off. These can get weird but it adds to the hectic feel of the game. And Pepper II's a very fast paced game and you usually have to face five ghosts which slowly appear from the side. There are actually four mazes to a level, and you need to clear them for the super bonus. Once you do, the game resets but now the maze vanishes. As your guy plays longer the monsters become faster, and there's also a monster your size that runs around and unzips what you zipped. Unless you've already blocked off areas. You can leave the screen and come back to get rid of him but the smaller monsters are a tougher proposition. You must let monsters come in on the new screen before you go back there. What makes Pepper II's fast pace work is that you can be almost perpetually powered up throughout a scene if you do things right. You can get in a rhythm of blocking off squares or not retracing your steps too much, and you can hopefully clear off far side areas without being accosted. It feels easy to conceptualize but the practice isn't always easy especially when the monsters start to move back and forth, seemingly purposefully blocking your way. Bad things? Sound is heinous. On MAME, turn the speakers down. Although I found it didn't work on one of my sound enabled computers, which was OK with me really. It's a pretty simplistic game and I'm not surprised it was ported to the Atari and Colecovision. But why to no home computers? Not even a rip-off AFAIK? I'd have liked it on the Apple. Oh well. This way I can still have discovered something new even in my twenties. 2. CONTROLS AND ENEMIES Moving Pepper is easy enough but moving hm at the right speed is a problem. When you are at an intersection you just push any direction, and Pepper will move that way until he hits another intersection or a bend in the road. You can track Pepper back on the longer stretches. Pepper is as fast as the big annoying guy that comes running and starts twice as fast as the small bad guys. They speed up after a while but return to slow when you lose a life. The big bad guy frequently disappears spontaneously, and if you happen to box off an area except for the small track where he's started to unzip, the game will count that area as zipped, and you'll get credit. You can also get rid of him by quickly entering and exiting a level. The smaller bad guys come from the tunnels, where you don't want to stay at the beginning of the level unless you've powered up with the pitchfork. They frequently bounce back and forth or around you, and often you'll need to sweep clear across the screen to get them off your tail. They can run through each other and also work you into a corner, and trying to avoid two or three at once by moving back and forth doesn't work well. You also have a split second after the color changes back to normal to nab them when you've got the pitchfork, but don't push it. 3. METRICS 3-1. GENERAL POINTS --10 points for travelling between each intersection After getting a pitchfork, you get: --100 points for the first bad guy --250 for the next --400 for the third --550 for the fourth --700 for the final one Eating two pitchforks in a row resets the total available. You get 910 * (# of tools eaten so far) points for encircling a tool, in addition to the blocking off bonus. --6600 points for clearing any one maze, counted by 440's --15000 points for clearing the set of four, counted by 660's Each level is about 80000 points. It's a bit less if you don't get any bad guys. 3-2. MAZE POINTS WITH MAPS The big picture maze looks as follows: | | | | | | | | --1----2----3----4-- | | | | | | | | --3----4----1----2-- | | | | | | | | Basically: go right, add one to the maze number. Go left, subtract one. Go up/down, add two. As of now I only have approximate point totals but believe that there is a general range of values for each box. They do vary from game to game and I haven't quite nailed down what the ranges are yet. * = pitchfork + = treasure ....X.......X.... t ............. | ....X...X.... t ........X.... . . . . o . . | . . . . o . . *. . . 300 . . .510 * . | .270. . . . .250. . . . . 3 . . | . . . . 4 . . . . ........X ....X...X.......X...X | X...X360.450X...X...X 540 X...X . 510/ . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . 550/ * . 490 .180. 750/ .180. | .250. . .280.200. .220. . 590 . . . 780/ . . | . . . . . . . . ....X.......X...X...X...X 800 X.... | ....X...X...X...X...X.......X.... . . . . . | . . . . . 260 .340. * . + . | . 320 . . 260 . . . . . . | . . * . . to 4X.......X . 630/ . ....Xto 2 | to 1X.......X 500 X.......Xto 3 . . . 650/ . . . | . . . . . 260 . . 660 . .340. | . 260 . . 240 . . . . . . . | . . . . ....X.......X...X...X...X...X X.... | ....X.......X...X...X.......X.... . . . . . . . . | . *. + . . . . . . *. 300 .360.200. 490. . . | .500. 500 .280.280. 340...X320. .360. . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . X.......X X...X.... X.... . | . X.......X...X...X..... ....X . . . . t . . . | . . . t . * . . . 260 *. . o . . 500 * . | . . 260 . o . 510 . . . . . . . . | . . . . . ....X.......X.... 3 ....X........ | ....X........ 4 ............. | --------------------------------------+-------------------------------------- | X................ t ............X | ......... t ............. . * . o . * . | . . o . * . . 690 . . 600 . | . 450 . . 620 . . . 1 . . | . . 2 . . . ..........X.X...X...X...X.... . | ....X ....X...X...X ..... . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . 510 . 210 . 300 . . . | . *. . 310 . . . . . . . . . . | .350. . . . . . . ......X.....X...X...X . . | . X...X...X.... X.......X.... . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . 620 .120. . . . | . . . 420 . * . . . . . . .380. . | . . 500 . . 740 . ....X . ......X...X . X.... | ....X ....X.......X.... ..... . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . .360. . | . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . * . . . to 2X...X . 590 . X...Xto 4 | to 3. . . 430 . . Xto 1 . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . ....X.... . . ....X X.....X.....X...X...X X.... | ....X...X . . X.... . . . . . . . | . . . 520 . 550 . . . . . . 340 . 290 . . . | .200. . . . . . . . . . .380. . | . . . . . . . . . ......X.....X.......X . . | X...X ....X...X...X...X.... . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . * . . . 460 . 250 . 290 . . . | . . 340 .210. . . 540 . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . ..........X.X...X...X...X.... . | . ........X...X .260. ..... . * . t . * . | . * . t . . . . 730 . o . 640 . | . 520/570 . o . . . . . . . | . . . . . ................. 1 ............. | ............. 2 ....X.... 3-3. WHAT HAPPENS BEYOND? On subsequent levels the board turns invisible for a while. You'll need to be able to think ahead and visualize the board from memory so that this doesn't derail you. Thinking two squares ahead should help, and if you're able to reach a pitchfork while you're running around, no harm should be done. If you seem at a dead end, move in the direction of the closest intersection. If nothing happens, try for another intersection that looks good. You'll also need to judge if a bad guy is near and can come at you. There's nothing wrong with cowering or going to another maze--as long as you're decisive about it. The toughest part here when the board turns invisible is learning how to navigate the edges, if you get stuck there. You'll need to know how to turn quickly. But another way to get around all this is to clear out as many rectangles as possible, whenever. This is very proactive, as the parts you've completed will not disappear. You can either flee or piece together part of a new rectangle to bound in. 3-4. DIP SWITCHES You can start the game with 2-5 men and extra lives can occur at 40K, 50K, 60K and 70K. You'll get another extra at 80/100/120/140 and that seems to be it. 3-5. HIGH SCORE LIST Here's the default high score list: LWH 19720 PEPPER ][ JDE 14340 YOU DEVIL YOU MRK 10130 YOU'RE AN ANGEL HAI 9830 WHIPPERSNAPPER AKG 7650 EVIL EYE The comments don't change as scores are replaced...kind of cute though. 4. STRATEGIES 4-1. GENERAL I find the best way to go about things is to rush through the level as quickly as possible, not worrying about nailing monsters once you've gotten the pitchfork. That's because they can pop up really nastily from the side tunnels when they regenerate. The only exception might be if you are in an area you need to clear out, or where you have a long travel between intersections(i.e. level 3 corners.) Then the more bad guys you can clear out the better. The best way to get through a level is to build on what you already have. Some backtracking will be necessary, but if you leave one loop uncovered as you go through an area it's a long trek back. And if you keep building on what you have you'll always get a bit of a head start roping areas off. Backtracking serially is a bad idea and of course leaving partial lines open may be wasted as you walk over them while fleeing or that nasty bad guy comes along and messes them up. One note--if you think you can just beat a bad guy to an intersection, get a pitchfork and wallop him, it never works out that way. I think they collision- detect the sprites enough that even if you touch first, you need to get to the center of the dot before being touched. Leaving a level to come back is not great strategy unless you can easily complete another level and get a pitchfork as you finish and come back to the first level. The exception is when you have one last bit that's heavily guarded. You may also want to note that you can reach any one board from any other. But you'll need two trips to approach the board from the right direction. Using empty levels as transport however is not a good idea as monsters pop up in tunnels rather quickly. There's a chance you'll be waylaid if you use the direct approach, so you better hope your ducking skills are good. You're actually dropped on the worst place to start a level when you resurrect or begin a new one. The safest place to be is near a pitchfork but no exits really are. Sometimes a tool will disappear quickly. This is just an annoying tease and although it's worth it point-wise to get the tool, and you can do so easily on pretty much any level, you don't want to go all out for it. Knock off part of a few sides first if necessary. Although you always want to be near a pitchfork, and it's best to consume them at a regular pace if you block out areas in chunks, you will want to keep an eye out for when you've wrong footed everyone. Then you can take out a few blocks that don't have pitchforks. If one block has a large circumference and bad guys are wandering around it you may want to sweep around adjacent blocks first. Running behind enemies that seem clueless is asking for it--especially if the fast gad buy sneaks up behind you. You'll get trapped. Early on when you enter a screen you have a few seconds before bad guys appear. Don't try to get cute and cut out more than one non pitchfork square. You really don't need to pick off ANY, and on some mazes it just won't be helpful anyway. Also watch out for picking off goodies--they don't make you invincible, but in the heat of the chase you can be fooled. Following a small monster is a bad idea as they can turn on you at intersections, and they can trap you against big bad guys. When you have a choice of how to wrap an area(clockwise or counterclockwise,) see how close you will be to the next area you want to clear once you're done and how much backtracking will be able to do if things go wrong. You also need to beware of a few things--when you solve a maze, the game will pause(bringing on some heinous sound if you've got THAT on,) but it will suddenly release you when the bonus is finished counting. Have your next directional move ready and be prepared to 'hold' for a bit--and snap back into action. It's easy to get careless and relaxed. Similarly you may be surprised that the game pauses and gleeps around even when you don't solve a maze. This happens because you got an extra life. 'Anyone can deal with failure, but how do they deal with success?' Also you need to watch out for when you've solved a level. You will be left in the same place that you started in. So be sure to locate where the nearest pitchfork is so you can get back into your regular routine. If you have a way to nab the nearest pitchfork to end things, this can work like a charm as you can just walk around a small area or two near that(you're still invincible) and get the pitchfork and start the routine again. 4-2. BY MAZE ** MAZE 1 ** This is not really the easiest maze as the right side presents some nasty problems. But I find that, at the start of the game, you can quickly loop the small square to the left if you want, or better yet you can go left, down, and loop around the bottom left pitchfork. This should get you off to a flier. You can cover the rectangle to the left and start working your way up. When the effect wears off, see how much you can cover safely before going to the upper left corner. Take out the L, the chunk to its side, and the enxt L. Then go down beneath to cover the left side of the center square. If that's free you can pick it off, but if no-one is in the upper right you can take a shot at that too. Sadly the lower right is a bit sticky so once you get second of the two pitchforks(enter, upper right) you may want to go directly to the lower right and carve that out. The big Utah-shaped place that holds the tool should be disposed of piece by piece, knocking off areas that border it, unless you clearly have enough time for the whole sweep. You may even want to knock off the part below and right of it before dealing with it. My pattern to start is as follows: clockwise around the small square up and left of you(must be done quickly or bad guy may appear,) left, down/left, clockwise around the pitchfork square. You can go for the lower left edged one if you want as well, and if you have time, then go up/right/down and have a bit of a jump, but otherwise you can just go left/up/right/down after getting the pitchfork, then counterclockwise around the next square, up/right/down and then up/left/down for the next of the rectangles. This makes the next L pretty easy to get but if bad guys seem to be closing in you can cover the box next ti it first. I generally then look for a way to break and cover the left side of the big box in the center. With my start I can just go left to get another box and clear off the whole left side(I assume I've cleared the second L in the upper left once I got the first.) There may be a painful waiting/chance game in the lower right as monsters hover around, but in that case you're best off waiting well away until they senseyou. If you're really out of things to do you can exit mazes up twice to return and clear the lower right. ** MAZE 2 ** I believe this is the easiest maze out there, with the challenge of the bottom right being the toughest. I like to approach this from maze 1 where I often can go into the bottom left to pick off a pitchfork and then the goody in the area next to it. The upper left and right are pretty plain sailing and you should be able to clear out a lot due to the lack of bends at the intersections--I like to try to get the squares below the pitchforks before powering up, as it saves that much more time and is really low risk. The main trick is dealing efficiently with the lower right, and for that you may want to finish off the center and make a break down to the lower right. Here it may be a good idea to attack bad guys hanging around there as they'll be regenerated a bit away, with a bit of time wasted. In general though it's not bad to sweep across the top, which you can probably do without a pitchfork most of the time. The small squares force you to be exact with movements, but you can sneak around bad guys pretty easily. If you can start in the lower left more power to you, but as things stand you just need to chip away until the bottom right becomes accessible. And if it doesn't, exit down and return as a last resort. Just don't go right once you're done unless 3 is the last place to cover. I prefer to go up/down to 4, down being a bit better as it's closer to more accessible pitchforks. ** MAZE 3 ** This is the toughest maze to work through, and you will probably NOT want to enter from the left(i.e. right from maze 2.) You'll notice that the pitchforks are buried in corners with no intersections. There's a certain amount of chance here and you can't even go to another maze and get a pitchfork and return. It'll wear off. The best way to start in my opinion is to take out the upper right--just chance it. If a monster drifts by then you can steer out of the way, or backtrack(they tend to sniff you out near exits, but you are faster.) You'll want to cover the outside part of the place enclosing the pitchfork first as if plans go sour you can chip away some of the inside blocks. Then you can work towards the center pitchfork or clobber some of the stuff near the upper right part you started on. But this is a bit of a contingency plan and you will probably be able to clear one corner and then get to work on other parts. You'll want to work your way towards the center, and if you manage to get a few blocks bordering on the pitchfork, you can probably get the pitchfork and work your way out. One added bonus of getting the upper right part is that the treat will be close. It isn't hard to wrap around and it's worth chucking a pitchfork to get to it. As for the left side, you may want to mow down the left two pitchforks in short order when you have the chance. The inside is a bit safer for you than you'd think due to the number of intersections there. You just have to be able to react well. ** MAZE 4 ** Entering from the top or left is the best way to go here. The upper left pitchfork is good to start with although the upper right will do as well. Entering from the bottom is a bit kf a risk as bad guys can come out and surprise you if you go to the left for a pitchfork. In that case you may want to risk going up to the T, right, up and left. If a bad guy comes from the bottom then don't get the center but otherwise you can start chipping at it, towards the outside. The bottom right is the most annoying to access, but the upper right is much nicer than it looks. It's one you can usually get to right away, or after picking off the center. You can even go down the right edge and back up to clear out the "t" if you'd like. There are a lot of odd shapes here, but fortunately if you nail one you take out a huge chunk of another one. You need to hold your breath in all corners but the upper left, but the old saw of taking out bordering areas in a row works well. End of FAQ proper ================================ 5. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 9/26/2003. Complete, more or less, except I'm not quite sure how randomly the points work. 6. CREDITS The usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, daremo, falsehead, RetroFreak, Snow Dragon, and others I forgot. War Doc for his incredible pace poking me to find new guides to write up. It's helped me look into some fun games. CJayC for creating GameFAQs.com so that I could post cute little time wasting guides like this.