Puzzle de Pon FAQ v1.2 by: Dave Hubbard (dave.hubbard@mindspring.com) ******* History ******* v1.2: updated and revised by Dave Hubbard (dave.hubbard@mindspring.com) v1.1: original version by Carl Chavez (carl@bubandbob.com) ******** Gameplay ******** Gameplay is similar to Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move. Aim your crossbow-like shooter with the joystick and press FIRE to launch a bubble. Bubbles stick to other bubbles, and will relocate themselves slightly (i.e., wiggle) to fill in the pattern if you don't hit your mark square. Any single-color bubble chain of two or more will burst when an additional bubble of the same color is shot onto them. Any bubbles freed from other bubbles this way drop off the screen. Bubbles can be bounced off the walls of the play area, but will stick to the ceiling. The game revolves aruond the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the object being to collect special "plates" with symbols on them representing the signs. Every fourth level, a plate with a Zodiac sign is presented, other levels have plain oddly-shaped plates to clear. To clear a plate, burst enough bubbles to drop it as any other bubble. You do not have to clear all the bubbles from the screen to advance, just drop the plate. After you collect all the Zodiac plates and clear the final level, the game is won. Unlike Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move, where the roof slowly caves in and reduces the play area, Puzzle de Pon is timed. You have two minutes to clear each stage. If you clear the stage with more than 30 seconds remaining, you receive bonus points proportionate to the amount of time you have left, up to a maximum of 100,000 points or so. No bonus is awarded if you have less than 30 seconds left. Aside from the normal colored bubbles, there are a few special bubbles in Puzzle de Pon: "Bomb" Bubble - This bubble blows up (clears) any bubble adjacent to it when it sticks. "Barrier" or "Landmine" Bubble - Invulnerable bubble. Cannot be popped, but can be blown up by the "Bomb" Bubble, or dropped by clearing other bubbles. "Star" Bubble - clears all bubbles of the color it first comes in contact with. Has no effect on "Barrier" Bubbles. "Arrow" Bubble - Grants the player a "guided missile" view of sorts, so s/he can see where a shot will come to rest. The Arrow Bubble only lasts for a few seconds, less time is given on harder stages. If you die and continue, the stage gets progressively easier each time you die/continue until you clear the level. You will receive more "Arrow" Bubbles and "Star" Bubbles to help you out. ******* Scoring ******* Bursting three bubbles at once is the basic score and is worth a few hundred points. Bursting longer chains gives more points, as does dropping balls after a burst. Special scoring: The "million" shot - on certain stages, one spot on the screen will award 1 million points when a bubble is shot into it. This area is totally invisible; you have to experiment around to find the "million" shots. They are usually located in hard-to-reach areas. The "Arrow" Bubble - scores 1 point. (Woohoo!) ******************************************* Notes for Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move players ******************************************* Aiming the crossbow-shooter is a little different than in Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move. It's hard to explain, but it's as if the perspective is off a bit. You have to get used to it. Bubbles are also significantly stickier. Make sure you leave plenty of room, or you may find yourself growing bubble "tentacles" where your shots have all stuck together on the side. When a shot is not exactly in a bubble slot and needs to "slide," I've found that it is more likely to slide in a clockwise direction. For example: wall G || B B || <-- you want a blue bubble here, an off-the-wall shot G || If you nick the top green bubble, it will likely slide in and clear your chain of three blues. But, if you nick the bottom green bubble, you'll most likely end up with this: wall G || B B || G B || Keep this in mind when planning your shots. Some stages require many angled or off-the-wall shots to clear. The color of bubbles that come out of your bag appear to be totally random. However, once you clear an entire color from the board AND your bag, that color will not appear for the rest of the stage. Sometimes you can get screwed by the "Star" Bubble when the color you just cleared is spit out of your bag for your next shot. Due to the randomness of the color of the bubbles coming out of your bag, some levels are nearly impossible to clear even if you nail every shot. Sometimes you have to get lucky with the color distribution. ******* Credits ******* Original FAQ written by Carl Chavez (carl@bubandbob.com). Much of this updated FAQ is borrowed from Carl's original version. Carl played PdP at the Drift On Inn at 16708 Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline, WA, USA. It appears to be the only place in the Puget Sound area with PdP (1996). FAQ updated by Dave Hubbard (dave.hubbard@mindspring.com). Dave played PdP at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County gameroom in Catonsville, MD, USA. As with Carl, it appears to be the only PdP within a wide radius (1995-1997). *********** Final Notes *********** Copyright (C) 2000 Dave Hubbard. Attachment of the "Final Notes" section is required for any and all reprinting. Originally posted to The Bub and Bob Page, at http://www.bubandbob.com. 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