Pooyan(Arcade) FAQ 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 3. LEVELS, POINTS AND MONSTERS 4. STRATEGIES 5. VERSIONS 6. CREDITS ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION Pooyan is a cute little game where you play a mother pig who moves up and down in a gondola and fire arrows at wolves who take balloons up/down. Kill enough wolves and you will be able to advance to the next level. Even the wolves are cute and the violence and how they fall to the bottom is all quite endearing. Like many games Pooyan developed a built in game-end in the form of the fifth and sixth levels when it became rather tough to kill the wolves. But the alternation of levels(wolves up with balloon, down with balloon) and snowbally pigs makes this game a treat to play even if you aren't any good or get killed too soon. Missing wolves that go up/down can result in an amusing death. They either bite you from behind, on a ladder in your treehouse, or they gang together to drop a rock on you. If Pooyan has a hook in game play, it is that you need to fire ahead of monsters to hit them, and many missiles travel in a parabola. This allows you to line up enemies in a nonconventional sense. It also has a weird curve--odd numbered scenes(wolves coming down using balloons) start out easier but get tougher than the even numbered scenes(wolves going to the top in balloons.) 2. CONTROLS You move your mother pig up and down in a gondola on the right side of the screen. There are pigs pushing and pulling you near the top, but they don't actually affect the game. You can let a missile hit the top or bottom of your gondola. Occasionally a red blob(meat) will appear at the top of your range of motion, and if you collect it you can fire a powerful parabolic missile. It wipes out all wolves in its way and even a few it doesn't quite seem to catch. But it will bounce off to the side if it hits a balloon. You start off two times as fast as your opponents but eventually they match up with you. 3. LEVELS, POINTS AND MONSTERS 200 points for picking up meat 400, 800, 1600, 1600, 1600 points for each monster you hit with meat although that reduces to 200, 400, 800, 1600, 1600 in the bonus stage extra 200 points if meat hits the balloon too 200 points for popping a balloon a monster fell off--after you nailed the monster with meat. 50 points for shooting a solo balloon launched in even stages 50 points for reducing the size of an enemy's balloon to green(even stages) but 0 for red 200 points for shooting a rock the wolves throw at you 200 points for shooting a fruit dropped First of all some general principles: you usually get two pieces of meat to shoot at the monsters at level's start, and the meat reappears once the number of wolves left(the sign in the upper left) reaches a multiple of eight. You can't store up meat for later use, but you can also chuck meat quickly with the monsters at a multiple of eight and get another one(it's still a multiple of eight) although this isn't always very practical when monsters come flying up as you may just wind up taking out one monster. In general you'll want to try to pick off at least two monsters with one piece of meat. You can get up to five if they're in the right sort of curve but even then it may be safer to get four. The meat will clip the bottom of a bad guy more than you think--often getting him when it seems it misses him. Meat's only drawback: it bounces off unassisted balloons. The red wolves take one hit to their balloons at first(the arrows bounce off them) but two after the first wave, and later the purple wolf traveling above will start dropping fruit to block your progress. Although some seem to get popped right away--it might be a function of how close your arrow is to the balloon base. In the second wave, the purple wolf takes four hits to kill--he's the one at the end. Note that you can generally tell what monsters are going to do as they turn to face you before throwing, and when they're about to take a balloon they stop pacing back and forth, too. I'm not aware of your losing if too many wolves get on the ladder in the first stage, but seven getting to the top of the cliff in the next level means you're toast. Dip switches on the game are set to extra lives at 30000 and every 70000, or 50000 and every 80000. *********** * LEVEL 1 * *********** This level starts with 32 wolves. In general for the odd levels you want to pitch a perfect game, as the wolves start climbing up the ladders and biting out at you rather frequently. Fortunately this is not too bad--the general rule of thumb being: take out multiple wolves with the meat and try to pull to the top to tackle the next wave. The wolves can spend time pacing on top, and it's to your advantage to take them out as soon as you come down. Fortunately you can recover pretty easily. At the start you have a nice trick shot. 1 2 3 4 5 You can take out 3-5 easily but shooting at the foot of 2(be sure to be at the very top) will get 4. If you're just starting out though you may want to go the safer route. 1 and 2 will be easy to blast at close range. You must kill 32 wolves here. If one gets to the bottom a replacement appears at the top. You really want to stop wolves from reaching the bottom because they get on the ladders and become nuisances. Although they start at the bottom(where you shouldn't be anyway) and reach to the top, the threat is always there. It's a huge distraction. And the first level is really the easier of the two anyway. [green/yellow balloons] On completing this level you'll get to see how many pigs the wolves took. The formula is 2 + # of wolves that got to the bottom *********** * LEVEL 2 * *********** Here three balloons go to the top to start. You don't have to shoot them, and in fact you may waste time chasing them, but beware that if you fire meat at a balloon it will bounce back. More generally, you need to watch for relative balloon speeds(with monsters << without them) and be sure balloons aren't blocking your view. Your object is to prevent wolves from reaching the top. If seven do so, they're able to push the rock over the cliff. It will knock your gondola off the rope, and you'll lose a life. And what's worse, there'll be four wolves remaining as you resume. But unlike the previous level you won't be hampered if you let a wolf through. You'll just need that much more precision. And you get a slight break as wolves that In addition there's a nasty purple wolf that comes up after all the others come by. He requires four hits and tends to chuck a lot of rocks, so you need to get started on him wen he's pretty low down. I've found that knocking out the last wolf on the bottom before he gets started is possible as well--just kill a red wolf that takes a balloon up above him. But as this requires some foreknowledge of where the purple wolf will ascend, it may be most advisable to let a few wolves go through if necessary, after you're down to 8 wolves, and reserve the meat for the purple wolf. Because he will be accompanied on later levels. For now, if you've used up the meat(and you should try to hold off--it is more expedient at the end,) you just need to hit him with all you've got, and you won't need anything special, as he will be solo. And if you don't get the purple wolf, five others come back. This is a special problem because you can't ever get another slab of meat. If you are really stuck you can concentrate on him to the expense of getting killed afterwards. Forty wolves total and special landmarks include having 29 wolves left. They line up in a diagonal you should be able to shoot(go just above the top one) to get five in a row. And then fire the meat right away near the top--you'll get a free refill. With 13 wolves left a bunch of them will take purple balloons and go up the left side. I think you should be able to get four here. Aim around the fifth's balloon, just under the meat, to get him--you can play it safe for 'only' four wolves of course too. ******************* * BONUS INTERLUDE * ******************* Here wolves use balloons to get to the top. But there's no penalty for letting them go. The main thing you need to do, in fact, is to hit up combinations of wolves with meat. For the first couple of five-wolf sets you can knock out four and then one. Do so twice. 1 2 3 4 5 Above you can nail 1, 2, 3 and 5 before cleaning out 4 later. There are two of these. Then there will be a lone wolf, you can take out two wolves one on top of the other, and there will be a final threesome. These guys are tough to bunch together and the program seems to have a bit of a random factor built in, but going to the top and waiting 'til the last moment should give the final wolf enough time to take his balloon and be vulnerable before he drops. My best score here is 8400 for the wolves + 1200 for the meat(2400 - 2 * # of meat used.) I suspect that this is the best score. *********** * LEVEL 3 * *********** Purple wolves, 40 to kill. You can start this level out by knocking out five wolves in one blow(they drop down at the edge) although the timing is tricky and of course getting one wolf on the right so soon is bad news. Still, four would hardly be disappointing. To do this you should stay just below the tree leaves and fire when on level with the final balloon. You'll also note the bad guys take two hits instead of one now. You should really be gunslinging at this point. There will be a lot of three-wolf combinations near the end, so take care of them with meat whenever possible. There is also a horizontal phalanx of five wolves. You can get rid of four easily by shooting the top of one balloon and it's a bit easier to pick off the final one here than on the next level, where the other balloons go up and block you. There you might want to overshoot the first one. Don't worry about shooting the strawberries if they're all alone. They'll distract you from buying space/time to get back to the top but you can just free fire away as you're rising, waiting for the next wave of wolves. You'll also maybe run into two wolves that overlap--try to shoot where both the balloons would be, and you should be OK. There's another chance to get three wolves with one piece of meat--when you're under 8, 3 2 1 Fire at the top of 1's balloon. There's no risk in missing as you'll take out 2/3 that way and 1 will be point blank. *********** * LEVEL 4 * *********** 48 monsters, mostly purple balloons, to start out. Here you'll have to check your perfectionist urges at the tree door(how else would the wolves have gotten up there? They're too small and clumsy to climb) and note that a lot of enemy clumps are of the form: 1 2 3 Take them out with meat to save time. You'll also need to shoot balloons as they go up, because they are a bit more prevalent now. In addition there's another interesting formation that's lucrative if you have the time. A bunch of monsters with blue balloons are on their way up. 2 3 1 4 Here you can shoot 2 once, go to the top for meat(if it's there) and come back and torpedo 1-4 pretty easily. The alternative is to fire away--or just hit 2-4 with meat and then take out 1--but if you can work the finesse it can get some nice points. You'll also run into a couple of not-quite-phalanxes of wolves with purple balloons. 1 2 3 4 5 Here just nail 2-5 and let #1 slip if you have to. I have trouble with the timing but you should be able to take out the other monsters pretty easily. At the end here you can save your meat OR cripple the final red wolf on the far left and drop him onto the purple one once it starts going up. ******************* * BONUS INTERLUDE * ******************* Here there are five wolves chucking strawberries. Your mission is to hit as many as you can. They are worth 200 each, but you get a bonus of 2000 if you nail them all. The pattern isn't too bad here. If the wolves are, top-down 1 through 5, you just go... 1, 2, 3, (pause,) 4, 5, 5, (pause,) 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1. You want to shoot a bit above the wolves as although the strawberries land even with the wolves, you don't want to wait 'til he last minute. Oh, and you need to move on as soon as you've fired as well. "PERFECT / NICE SHOOT" *********** * LEVEL 5 * *********** Now and from here on out there are 48 wolves. The purple wolf now drops apples which are really the same as strawberries for practical purposes. To start off you can get the first three bad guys although it may not look like it. In fact they form a regular pattern and while you'll usually want to start with the nearest one and pick your way down, taking out the top of the near balloon will bag the other two bad guys, buying you some time. 3 2 1 Aim for 1's balloon head. And why not use the meat to get the 2-1 right away? There'll be a V formation around 36 wolves left. Shoot the bottom two right as they fall and use the meat. Then run down to kill off the rest. There'll be a phalanx of 4 to use meat on after this and then lots of 3-2-1 as above after. *********** * LEVEL 6 * *********** Here you'll want to stun some enemies and come back later--this is especially a good strategy with the wolves in the middle although there is in fact an even better but slightly silly one. You can fire at the bad guys and if you hit the wolves, the arrows deflect down--into the balloon of the wolf below! Now you should take your first shot to slow up the top wolf, but when they come up from the center you will be able to mow them down without having to move around a lot. Fortunately you've seen most of the formations thrown at you before, so you should be able to deal with this. ******************* * BONUS INTERLUDE * ******************* First thing to do with the meat is to drop it down the left hand side. It'll pick off the first two wolves. But beyond that it is touch and go and I found I couldn't get past 7200/1200 total points. *********** * LEVEL 7 * *********** Use meat on the first formation of three guys. Then go down to blast the other two. Take out this formation: 1 2 3 4 with meat(top of the first balloon) and then there'll be a down/right diagonal-- get the first two with meat and go down for the other 3. Then there will be 5 bad guys coming down the left but the meat will have reappeared--zap four and fire away at the last. Next they'll come down the center(28 bad guys left) and I think you can fire at the wolves' bodies and watch the arrows go down(go for the center wolf first) but otherwise it can be tough--you can nip two wolves with one piece of meat but eventually you need to get crafty with conventional weapons. Because there'll be a reprise(12 left) and after that you can afford to be a bit sloppy clearing out the remaining wolves. *********** * LEVEL 8 * *********** Here with wolves coming up the center you'll want to deflect a lot of shots off the top one's body after you stun him. Getting 4 out of 5 in the opening swarm is not so bad, so don't sweat it. Around 29 wolves left you'll need to drop some meat--at the far left it will take out the wolf at the edge and also the one below and a bit in from it, even if it doesn't look as if it might. There are 4 vertical in a row at 20(drop meat again) and then an inverted V form at 15. 4 3 5 2 1 Shoot 4, throw meat at 5. ******************* * BONUS INTERLUDE * ******************* Here you must shoot 18 strawberries. The pattern's the same as the first bonus interlude of this sort: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, then back up--6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The bonus for a perfect score here is 2400. *********** * LEVEL 9 * *********** Balloons now light blue. This is a very tough level which requires accurate shooting. The first two formations allow you to take out a clump of five. 5 1 2 3 4 3 4 2 1 5 Shoot 1-4 with the meat, then just shoot 5. Eventually there will be bad guys coming like so: 2 1 4 3 Shoot 1-3 before picking off 2. Then by 17 you'll have another 1 2 3 4 But you'll need to pick off another trailer to get the meat to fire at them. The rest is a bit of a scramble with 5 4 3 2 1 to follow. You can use meat on a couple of them but a bad guy will probably get through. There'll also be some bad guys ************ * LEVEL 10 * ************ With 26 left, hit the wolves quickly. You'll need the meat for the formation at 24--in fact you'll need a couple, so try to get up in the air and fire and wait for the next one. The rest isn't too bad, but ******************* * BONUS INTERLUDE * ******************* 4. STRATEGIES There's a good deal of cross-level strategy but some is also specific to the odds or evens. The main cross-level strategy is that you don't want to pick up the meat right away unless you can take out multiple bad guys. If the game is just throwing out single enemies then of course you can keep packing them off. And of course you need to remember to take the enemies' velocities into account when firing at them. Always be ahead of them. The closer they are, the less you'll need to adjust. And if you must take out bad guys with meat, try to get the ones in the rear first. That will make for easier--and quicker--shots. And don't sit back and watch your shot curve--on the later levels bad guys are as fast as you are. When in doubt, move up to avoid a missile from far away. The perception is that you need to avoid where it IS and not where it will be. The farther away it's lobbed from, the more it will drop. For wolves close in, watch their eyes. They turn to face you before firing, and as long as you're gunning at them, you should be able to hit their missiles. Rapid fire here is handy as they don't shoot all the time. Overall wolves close in are easier to shoot, so if you shoot meat and aren't sure of your aim, go for the guys in back. For the odd levels you want to go for perfection. It's a bit easier here fortunately. Move down with the bad guys and fire away. You generally get breaks where you can go back up. Fire constantly. Aim at their eyes and you'll hit the balloon. Balloons don't get in your way here, and often you'll want to wait a bit before bad guys come down. There's little excuse for not nailing two of them with meat. Even if they're split on each side of the screen(but still level) you can aim at the top of the near one's balloon. In later levels you can use balloons to bounce meat back into play, and you can hit wolves with arrows to deflect them down into balloons. You also can hit a wolf's balloon and leave it there. End of FAQ proper ================================ 5. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent in 10/21/2003 because I hadn't really written anything for a bit. I need to be more specific on the later levels and also difficulty/dip switches but most of those notes are at home. 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/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul(great AIM convo helped my revamp efforts,) and others I forgot. War Doc for pushing me by example to look for that one more game that needs/would like coverage. CJayC for creating GameFAQs.com so that I could post cute little time wasting guides like this. My new cat who provided an even better distraction than the internet while I was typing this up(and playing it.)