Pandemonium 2
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| Pandemonium 2 | |
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| Developer(s) | Toys For Bob |
| Publisher(s) |  Crystal Dynamics Bandai |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, PC |
| Release date | 1997 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Kids to Adults (6+) |
Pandemonium 2 (released in Japan as Miracle Jumpers) is the sequel to Pandemonium, released for PlayStation and PC. a platform game, published by Crystal Dynamics, for the PlayStation and PC. It features Fargus, a pyromaniac court jester, and Nikki a would-be sorceress, who seek the power from a legendary comet. The goal of the game is to reach the comet as Nikki or Fargus, before the evil Queen Zorrscha does, who plans on using the power to manipulate the world for her further malevolent needs. For each level, the player can choose which character to be. Each has their own abilities - Fargus can deliver a special spinning attack and a Sid attack, and Nikki can double jump, in addition to different abilities gained from picking up powers. The game consists of a great variety of colorful and psychedelic landscapes for each level, as well as a unique gameplay with two-dimensional surfaces twisting and bending in a three-dimensional world.
In the PlayStation version, rather than using a memory card as in most PlayStation games, progress is saved using a password system.
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[edit] Plot
The comet cometh! It is the Year of the Cheese, as was foretold by the midget prophet Nosewasinit in the Book of Condiments, the Comet of Infinite Possibilities has returned to the skies of Lyr, peppering the air with a titillating... je ne sais quoi.
Encased within the comet is whispered to be a rudimentary force of nature, a source of magic so elemental, so unlimited, so oozing with creamy nougat, so finger-licking chocolicious, that to possess this magic would be to wield supreme, infinite, everlasting power. It is this power that the young Sorceress Nikki craves. Nikki is no longer a limpet-eyed young naif. She has grown, blossomed, "leafed-out and sapped" as it were. And as she has sprouted, so have her desires.... and her means to achieve them. Additionally, Nikki is just too busy to hang out in some drafty library poring over dry, dusty, worm-riddled tomes of magic. Instead, she decided to cut some corners on her way to becoming the Sorceress Supreme and snatch the comet's legendary power.
Sadly, the years have no been as kind to Nikki's bosom buddy, Fargus. Being a few eggs short of an omelet, Fargus's maturation took a downturn after several laboratory 'mishaps' and the infamous Pancake Incident. Fargus got into the habit of spending his days - and nights - riding his hobby-horse Big Ernie and cackling uncomfortably. He also looted a new outfit from the Liberace collection. As Nikki explains: "Fargus is a freak, but in a good way. He's proud of his violent, maniacal side. He can't even tie his shoes, be he can build a thermonuclear bomb from common household items, and set a fortress on fire before you can say Werner von Braun. He may be an idiot savant, but he's got great hair." Fargus's sour sidekick, the armless, legless, buttless Sid, is reportedly the lost soul of an ancient warrior. Whoever's boot he dropped from, he forgot the laces and shoe polish and ended up with the tongue. Sid can cross verbal wits with the best of them. Sid would like to dump Fargus and get closer to Nikki.
Back in Lyr, the Goon Queen Zorrscha with her evil seductive charms has enslaved the entire Goon Empire. She is using this cheap, expendable, non-union labour to construct a fleet of rockets to fly her to the mystic comet in her personal quest for the mythic power. The race is on to stop the evil empress from plundering the comet's magic and perverting its power to her twisted desires of bringing freedom and happiness to the land. It's up to Nikki and Fargus to put an end to the odious, hateful, despicable and hair-colour challenged Queen's unwanted benevolence.
[edit] Characters
(Note: Descriptions are from the game's manual)
[edit] Fargus
Inflamed by visions of flying pigs flambé, Fargus is a firebug in an Elvis outfit, a guy who digs watching flames hopping across charcoal briquettes, a near-moron with a genius's grasp on one thing in life: fire. With one sweaty fist around Sid, and a weak grip on reality, Fargus may yet achieve a sort of barbecue-flavoured greatness.
- Nickname: Heatseeker
- Idol: The inventor of napalm
- Passions: Taking a bite out of each chocolate; anything toasted, playing dress-up.
- Hates: Showering, butter beans, getting gum on his shoe.
- Motto: "Throw another gimp on the barbee."
- Hobby: Hurling Sid or a fireball into someone's dental work.
- Last book read: "Uh........book?"
[edit] Nikki
This curvaceously dangerous creature is not your garden-variety sassy Sorceress. Nikki is a force of nature. Don't be misled by her bikini-ready chassis. Dis this dish and you might find yourself blasted into oblivion.
- Nickname: Red Death
- Idol: Tina Turner
- Passions: Spellcasting, aerial acrobatics, juggling gerbils and chainsaws.
- Hates: Losing, being ogled by Goons, Queen Zorrscha.
- Motto: "Who's next?"
- Hobby: Joyriding on hot-wired rockets.
- Last books read: "Peace Through Superior Firepower, Annihilating to Win, How to Conquer the Universe.
[edit] Gameplay
Like Pandemonium, Pandemonium 2 renders polygons in a typical 3-D fashion, while gameplay is 2-D. The area of gameplay can be described as a two-dimensional surface twisting and bending in a three-dimensional world.
Along the way, the player can gather treasure. Collecting 500 treasure grants the player an extra life. The player can also activate the bonus level, "Boarder Run" by collecting enough of the treasure in one level(80% or more of the total treasure in the level). Enemies and powers also count towards the total treasure of a level. In Boarder Run, the player must collect treasure while simultaneously keeping ahead of a pursuing vortex. If they can make it to the end, they are rewarded a large amount of treasure, enough to give the player at least one extra life. In Boarder Run, the player automatically has three "tries", which are separate from lives. If a player loses all of their tries or makes it to the end of the level, the level ends.
There are two unique powers that the player can collect. When Nikki gets a power, she loses all other powers she had before it. When Fargus gets a power, it depends on what power he has and what power he gets. If he he gets the fire power while he has the fire power, the duration of his fire power is reset. If he gets the lightning power while he has the fire power, or vice-versa, he first uses the fire power. Then, when its finished, he has the lightning power. If a player gets a power he/she already has, nothing happens, with the exception of Fargus' fire power. Each power is different for the character the player is using. The fire power(a red ball with small orange balls circling it) grants Nikki fireballs, which she can aim forward, upward or downward. This will destroy most enemies in one hit, but it will take some enemies more hits. For Fargus, he becomes invincible and can destroy any enemy by merely touching them, but he can't stop moving forward while using it and he can't use any of his other abilities while using it, aside from jumping and movement. Time is also limited for this ability. The lightning power(a glowing ball in the middle of a glowing triangle with sparks circling, said to resemble the Deathly Hallows symbol) grants Nikki the ability to use a lightning chain with a spark, homing in on the nearest enemy, connecting Nikki to the enemy. Once the chain connects, the enemy is stopped dead in their tracks and cannot move. Then, the player must repeatedly press square to send the spark to the enemy. The spark starts at Nikki's side. If successful, Nikki can kill any normal enemy with this, but if not fast enough, the spark can be sent back to Nikki, hurting her. Nikki can move while the chain is connected, but if she moves too far away, the chain will break, damaging neither her or the enemy and allowing the enemy to move again. For Fargus, Sid starts glowing several different colors at a time and when he connects with the enemy, the player can press square to inflate the enemy. Three times will kill the enemy, and it will kill any normal enemy. If Fargus is too slow, however, the enemy slowly deflates, and if Fargus moves, he can't inflate the enemy again without hitting them again with Sid. He can also use the inflated enemy as a trampoline to get to places that he normally can't get to by jumping.
At several points in the game, after passing a certain area the player will use a certain machine or equipment; passing another area or ending the level will cause the player to lose this machine or equipment. The player will use a tank, a turret positioned at the back of a train, a robot, a train and a pair of jet boots throughout the course of the game. Each strip the players of their abilities except for movement. The Tank grants the player missiles and the ability to run over enemies, and it has its own health meter, separate of the player's health, though it does not appear. The It can take about 15 hits, but if its destroyed, the player will die. The turret allows the player to deflect bullets and both the player and the train that the turret is positioned on have their own health, the train can sustain about 4-5 hits before the rail on the back of the train falls and takes the player with it, killing him/her. The turret's movement is limited, due to the short length of the rail it is positioned on. The robot grants a higher jump, the ability to shoot missiles and a shield. The train's movement is limited. it can only rotate to dodge obstacles. The boots allow the player to jump to extreme heights by holding down the jump button after jumping. The challenges of the level then reflect the abilities of each machine or equipment until the character loses them later in or at the end of the level.
On the screen, in the upper left corner, there is a red symbol(a ball with three wedges around it), representing health. Each wedge and the ball represent one hit point. Rare bonuses(life pieces) allow the player to add four more hit points to their health, changing the color of the symbol to the next color of the rainbow(indigo isn't one of these colors), so that the player can store more than four hit points at once. Loss of all symbols and colored layers results in the loss of a life and the return to the latest checkpoint. Loss of all lives ends the game.
[edit] Levels
[edit] World 1 - Land of Lyr and Queen Zorrscha's Fortress
Goon City, found in the Land of Lyr of which Nikki and Fargus belong to, also the realm which is ruled by Queen Zorrscha (who resembles the Bride of Frankenstein somewhat), with her image littered around on banners surrounding the inner city fortress. This level serves more as a tutorial for the player to understand the gameplay and to get started.
Ice Prison, Queen Zorrscha's personal prison built in the deep caverns of the mountainside of Lyr. This is where the evil Queen imprisons and tortures her enemies - mostly those who oppose her demented plans.
Zorrscha's Lab, the mad lab where Queen Zorrscha conducts her dubious experiments in Goon transformation and other odd, bizarre manifestations.
Hot Pants, this poses as the first boss level, and is the Queen's observatory and launch pad, where you must fight off the Queen's DraGoon who guards the rocket which you must embark on in order to travel to the comet. The strategy to defeat it is to use the catapults to hurl fireballs at it. The fireballs regenerate on the catapults after three seconds so you can use the same catapult again if you want.
[edit] World 2 - Surface of the Comet
Stan's The Man, the first level on the second world which is also a sub-boss level. Here you must make your way through the slippery surface of the comet and manage to uncover the lair of Stan Thinman, one of the Queen's henchmen who guards the entry into the inner sanctum of the comet.
Oyster Desoyster, the inner sanctum of the comet. There are trampolines here, as well as bubble types that can be bounced on three times.
Puzzlewood, a mysterious labyrinthine wood where you will confront Zorrscha for the first time. Hench the name, jigsaw-style objects dominate the level.
Temple of Nori, an ancient and peculiar temple dedicated to a forgotten cult. There are a number of gongs here that, when triggered, might clear a path or make a bridge.
Egg! Egg!, this is the second boss level where you must test your skills against the evil mutant King Egg Egg. The tactic to defeat him is this, he must watch out for attacks from behind (shoot at the inner yolk inside him when he flips forward and the hole where it is is shown).
[edit] World 3 - Inside the Comet
Huevos Libertad!, help free the imprisoned eggs of King Egg Egg.
Pipe Haus, the refinery inside the comet where there are lots of pipes, hench the name of the level. There's lots of polluted liquid to avoid here.
Hate Tank, this level is tough, as a giant robot will chase you for the first few minutes. You acquire a tank later on with which to first destroy the robot. From then on, you have to control the tank throughout the rest of the level.
Fantabulous, the biggest hazard in this level is, of course, fans. Near the end, you have to get to an escape pod quickly because the huge fan below begins to rise (a certain button pressed causes the fan to rise).
Mr. Schneobelen, this is the third boss level, and the toughest boss faced so far in the game, in fact, it is the hardest boss in the game. This boss is a giant mech armed with a gun on its left arm, and an extendable morning star on its right arm. The trick to defeating Mr. Schneobelen is to use the enemy's force (rebound the bullets that the mech shoots towards you back at it).
Collide-O-Scope, So you thought because you beat a boss your in a new world, huh? Guess Again. The good thing is, you play as a robot throughout the whole level. Even more, holding DOWN on the D-Pad or keyboard (depending on the version) will activate a shield. Completing this level will give you access to the next world.
[edit] World 4 - The Comet's Core
The Zoul Train, the levels rise in difficulty from here on. Objects that look like Sid or Fargus dominate most parts of this level. This is also where you'll confront Zorrscha for the second time later on.
Lick The Toad, hence the name, amphibian-related objects dominate this level, similar to Puzzlewood being dominated by jigsaw-style objects. The enemies are ruthless here. Watch out in this level for moving obstacles. Enemies seem more mobile and traps now have the tendency to move themselves around making them hard to avoid. In the final section, a huge fly/mosquito will challenge you to a race to the exit portal. Beat him and you get the exit and he gets squashed underneath an anvil, but if your too slow, you'll have to race him again.
The Bitter End, this level is Zorrscha's factory in the comet's core which, though initially dormant, becomes reactivated later on, doubling obstacle difficulty. It is also the longest level.
Rub The Buddha, the final boss battle against Zorrscha herself, who has used the comet's magic to transform herself into a giant, four-armed Buddha. This is a two-part boss battle. The key to defeating Zorrscha is to destroy the green crystals.
[edit] Life Pieces
Like Pandemonium's heart containers, Pandemonium 2's "life pieces" are the most coveted of all treasures and are nearly impossible to find. They add four hit points to the normal health(the player starts with four), and additionally change its color to the next color of the rainbow(excluding indigo, the normal health symbol starts at red). In order to gain access to a life piece, the secret area where the life piece dwells must be located. Despite being a platform game, Pandemonium 2's life pieces are extremely difficult to locate, as certain things may distract one from seeing the less obvious path leading to the life piece, or simply because the area is hard to reach. For example, in level 11, at the end of the level, if you're able to free all of the "eggs", you'll see a cluster of treasure, which additionally has a life piece in the middle. Then, eggs will appear from under the bridge at the end and make a path upwards, and the treasure will place itself on top of them, and the life piece can be found on the last pair of eggs on top. Certain passwords have been discovered in which the character has a purple health meter and twenty four hit points, meaning a total of five life pieces exist throughout the game's fifteen levels and four bosses. However, no one knows of anyone who has found the location all of the life pieces and come forward with the information, although there are rumors. The levels that have life pieces are:
- Level 4: Hot Pants
- Level 8: Temple of Nori
- Level 11: Pipe Haus
- ????????????
- ????????????
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In the game's opening, Sid reveals his full name of "Sid the Magnificent", though its probably not true. One can tell from Sid's cockiness.
- Also in the game's opening, although it isn't mentioned in the game's manual, Sid states that the Comet of Infinite Possibilities passes over Lyr every 300 years.
- Unlike the first game, the ending of Pandemonium 2 varies depending if it is completed with Nikki or Fargus. If it is completed with Nikki, Nikki has control over the universe, using galaxies like turntable disks, then turning into a comet, while Fargus watches in the background. If the game is completed with Fargus, however, Fargus now has created his own world where everything (like flowers and trees) has his face (a kind of nod to the ending of the first game, since Fargus used the third wish to mistakenly wish that everyone back home could be just like him), and Fargus himself has become the sun.
