Power Pete

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Power Pete is a computer game developed by Pangea Software and published by the Interplay Entertainment Corporation under the MacPlay brand name. It was released in 1995 and packaged with Mac OS 7 on new Macintosh Performa computers. It is a third-person shooter game with a single camera angle almost directly above the character. The player's character is an action figure named Power Pete who has to save the fuzzy bunnies of the doll department from the bad toys while progressing through the fifteen levels of the game. It has graphics similar to early SNES games. The game has a catchy background tune and sayings from the character. It is rated E for Everyone. It won Best Arcade Game of the Year for 1995 from MacWorld magazine and was a runner up in the MacUser magazine Best New Game award for 1995. Pangea regained the rights to it in 2001 and re-released it in upgraded form as a shareware named Mighty Mike. The new version runs on Mac OS 9 and Classic compatible Mac OS X operating systems, although it won't run on Intel-based Macs.

1 Story line
2 Levels
3 Game play
4 Health and scoring
5 Weapons
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Story line

The story of Power Pete revolves around the title character, Power Pete. Power Pete is an action figure residing in a toy store. After the store closes, the all of the toys come alive and chaos ensues. A group of plush rabbits escape from their bin and scatter throughout the store, helpless against the hoards of the more dangerous toys. The only one able to save them is the most popular toy in the store, the action figure Power Pete. Power Pete begins a crusade to try to find and save the rabbits. The other toys in the store, who's sales have been eclipsed by those of Power Pete are less than happy to see the action figure and spend the game trying to hinder his efforts. Power Pete is aided however by the variety of weapon accessories designed for the Power Pete model that are found throughout the store.

[edit] Levels

The game is divided into five departments, each with three areas. The first department is Prehistoric Plaza where Power Pete is assaulted by lots of cavemen and a diverse array of dinosaur toys. The second department is Candy Cane Lane. Here Power Pete fights off gingerbread men, marzipan bears, animated mints, and other sugary treats. The third department is Fairy Tale Trail with depictions of classic villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the witch of Hansel and Gretel and the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk. The fourth department is the Magic Funhouse with evil clowns, jack-in-the-boxes, and carrot wielding rabbits popping out of hats. The final department is the Bargain Bin. Here Power Pete encounters cars, tops, psycho robots and general chaos.

The number of worlds a player can enjoy is dependent on the difficulty level. While only three worlds are available on easy, four are available on medium, and all five can be played on hard.

[edit] Game play

The player moves about each area shooting bad toys and rescuing fuzzy bunnies. Fuzzy bunnies are rescued by walking up to them. Once Power Pete rescues all the fuzzy bunnies the player can move on to the next area. The harder levels and departments have more powerful weapons and more resilient toys. When a bad toy is shot enough times with a powerful enough weapon, it explodes showering confetti and jawbreakers, which can be collected like coins in Super Mario Bros. Sometimes a power-up will appear where the destroyed toy used to be. This can be either ammo or a special power-up. Weapons and ammo aren't collected separately in the game, so having ammo means having the weapon. Special power-ups have temporary effects and include "fire in the hole" (many small explosions everywhere), invulnerability, an expanding ring of fire, an enemy freezer, or superspeed. The jawbreakers and power-ups created upon destruction of a toy disappear after a few seconds. There are power-ups spread throughout the different areas of each department that won't disappear until activated. Power-ups activate immediately when Power Pete walks over them. There is a fuzzy bunny radar screen that shows the position of nearby bunnies relative to the player, although the lay out of the game map makes it extremely difficult to reach some otherwise nearby bunnies. Unless the game is set to the easy difficulty setting there are doors or barriers marked with colored dots in each area. The player must collect correspondingly colored keys spread around each area to unlock them. Keys are picked up like other power-ups. Collected keys display in a special section of the status bar until they are used, at which point they disappear. The keys for each department look different in each department. They are, in order from first to last: hammers, keys, bombs, tickets, or radio controls.

[edit] Health and scoring

Power Pete starts out with four health hearts per life. Each time Power Pete is hit by a bad toy, he loses a heart. The number of starting lives varies depending on the difficulty setting the player chose at the beginning of the game. Power Pete can replenish his health by eating food power-ups that are found through out the game, one heart per-power up. Food can't be picked up if Power Pete is already at full health. If the player collects 200 or more jawbreakers in an area Power Petes maximum health hearts per life will increase by one heart, up to a maximum of eight, at the beginning of the next area or department. Extra lives are gained by finding hidden "FREE DUDE!" Power Pete action figure power-ups and by reaching certain score thresholds. Points are awarded during gameplay for shooting bad toys. Upon completion of an area, points are awarded for jawbreakers and fuzzy bunnies collected in that area.

[edit] Weapons

Power Pete is known for its variety of weapons available to the player. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks.

Suction Cup Gun - A gun that shoots suction cup darts. The player's beginning weapon, it is very weak, has a limited range, and has a low rate of fire.

Rock - The run of the mill rock, it is thrown like a grenade. It has a short range, but does however do a decent amount of damage.

Musket - This weapon, found early in the game, shoots a round projectile that looks somewhat like a small cannon ball. The weapon has a fast rate of fire, long range, and does a large amount of damage.

Flamethrower - The flamethrower, while extremely powerful, has a very limited range. It shoots a continuous stream of fire and as such, consumes ammunition very quickly.

Double-Barrelled Gumball Blaster - A double barreled gun that shoots colorful two colorful gumballs at a time. It has a standard rate of fire and does a mediocre amount of damage.

Triple-Barrelled Gumball Blaster - A better version of the double-barrelled gumball blaster, it fires three gumballs at a time and has a fast rate of fire.

Toothpaste - A rather weak weapon, it shoots a continuous stream of toothpaste a short distance.

Heat Seeker - This gun fires a missile that will seek the nearest target. The missiles move very slowly however and a second missile can not be fired until the first missile finds its mark, as such, it is considered the worst weapon in the game by many.

Pie -A pie that when thrown explodes, covering its target in food.

Exploding Birthday Cake - A cake that is thrown at a target. While it has a short range, it can effect multiple enemies and does a very high amount of damage, killing most enemies in one hit.

Fairy Dust -This weapon launches a ball of "magic" at the enemy. While it has a slow rate of fire, its range is unlimited.

Rubber Band Gun - The rubber band gun, as its name implies, shoots rubber bands. These rubber bands bounce around against solid objects until they hit an enemy. It comes in two version, the only difference being the amount of damage they inflict.

Rocket Launcher - A extremely powerful weapon, it destroys everything in the direction the player fires it in. Unfortunately, the player has to wait for the first rocket to finish before launching another.