Fork Parker's Holiday Profit Hike Guide Last updated April 18, 2015 ========================== || TABLE OF CONTENTS: || || 1. Legalese || || 2. Credentials || || 3. Plot || || 4. Strategies || || 5. Walkthrough || || 6. Review || || 7. Acknowledgments || || 8. Contact || || 9. That's it || ========================== -------------------------- -- 1. LEGALESE ----------- -------------------------- This FAQ is free and on the internet so the idea of copyrighting it seems farcical. Go ahead and reproduce it if you want. -------------------------- -- 2. CREDENTIALS -------- -------------------------- I've gotten all 17 Steam achievements, which includes a deathless run, high- score run, and speedrun. The first two of those are what I'm best at. My speedrun time was around 10 minutes, compared to the 12 required for the achievement, but also compared to the 3-minute runs people Tweet about. So I won't presume to include speedrun strats in this guide--just deathless and high score! -------------------------- -- 3. PLOT --------------- -------------------------- Come on, now, the entire plot is contained in the 20-second intro cutscene that you can't skip past. I am not going to recap this for you. -------------------------- -- 4. STRATEGIES --------- -------------------------- Although many areas of the game require unique strategies, which will all be covered in depth later on, there are a few overarching principles that apply to large chunks of the game. Remember these as you improve your skills. > Learn the run button. Novice players tend to ignore it, but it really makes the game so much easier, and for one main reason: if you hold it before throwing a piton, the piton travels farther and faster. This not only allows you to reach farther walls but also to have straighter angles. Learn the run button. The vast, vast majority of your throws should be run-throws. Spend most of the game with the run button held down. Basically the only time you shouldn't hold run before throwing is if you specifically want a droopy angle (useful in some of the later segments). Along those lines: > Learn what I'll call alternating side run-throws (ASRTs). This technique can solve MOST of this game's problems, and once you master it, things just become so much easier. Here is what you do: - Jump straight up. - Hold run. - Throw a piton straight to one side. - Land. - Jump straight up (quickly, if you had landed on an angled rope). - Hold run. - Throw a piton straight to the other side. - Repeat. (A slightly trickier version has you throw both directions in a single jump by turning around in midair. It's never necessary, but can save you short amounts of time or aggravation.) This technique allows you to escalate straight upwards, which is what a lot of the game is about. Sometimes you will be in a narrow corridor and will have to do it very quickly to avoid slipping into spikes. Sometimes you will be in a wide open area, giving you plenty of time and gentler angles. Sometimes its use is required. But even when it's not, it's often still the optimal strategy, in terms of speed, safety, AND easiness. Learn it. Master it. > Plan your piton order. If you throw one piton straight left, and another up-right, it may seem like the order doesn't matter, since the connecting rope will be identical either way. However, as you travel up this rope and throw another piton, you will likely want the new rope to join with the right piton, which will only happen if it was the most recently thrown. So make sure that the left one was thrown first. GENERALLY, YOU WANT THE PITON BEHIND YOU TO LAND BEFORE THE PITON IN FRONT OF YOU. A few exceptions will be addressed in the walkthrough (usually when you're going for a cash icon and then backtracking). > Remember to use regular platforming. This game is about pitons, but it's not all about pitons. Sometimes the easier strategy is just to do a good old- fashioned Mario jump between platforms. And speaking of Mario... > ...jump on enemies' heads sometimes! Not all the time, but it can give you a nice boost and let you skip a short section. The same goes for projectiles like snowballs. (I don't think the snowball jumps should ever be your primary strat, unless you're going for a crazy speedrun time, given how precise they are. But it can make a nice backup strat if you're stuck.) > Don't forget the clear button. Especially useful is clearing the pitons while attached to a rope -- this will clear everything except the one you're attached to. A lot of times, especially when you're learning the game, you will find yourself suspended over a pit of spikes, with a tangle of ropes above it, and when you throw a piton, the "wrong" rope disappears and you fall to your death. You can avoid this by just clearing the ropes you aren't on! That will make your current rope the newest one, and it won't disappear when you make a new connection. -------------------------- -- 5. WALKTHROUGH -------- -------------------------- I will run through this one section at a time, detailing two strategies for each, DEATHLESS and HIGH SCORE. The "names" of each section are things I came up with. Feel free to refer to them as such while posting on forums or conversing with loved ones, until they eventually enter popular usage. This isn't very lingo heavy, but I will talk about ASRTs a lot, and if you didn't catch what that stands for, read the second item in the above Strategy section. ALL DIFFICULTY RATINGS ARE BASED ON THE DEATHLESS ROUTE ONLY. :: SECTION 1:: "Track Star" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - Do not use any pitons. Just run-jump onto each ledge. If you want to be fancy, you can wall jump off the white block wall on the right side. HIGH SCORE - There's one bill pickup. You can probably figure it out without my help. Please e-mail me if you would like a more detailed breakdown. :: SECTION 2:: "The S" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - Four more run-jumps will clear some pits for you. It's not until you're back on the left side again that you need to throw THE FIRST PITON OF THE GAME. An ASRT will work, but you can really do whatever. After that, use some more run jumps without pitons. HIGH SCORE - Stand below the bill. One set of ASRTs is enough to grab it. ***If you did not catch what ASRT stands for, read the second item in the above strategy section. :: Section 3:: "Blocks Biloxi" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - A combination of ASRTs and ropeless run-jumps will get you through. I won't bother detailing every specific jump because this is still pretty simple. For me the outside route is easiest, but really any of them work fine. HIGH SCORE - An ASRT will get a nice straight rope leading to the bill. Glide over, grab it, and jump back. Easy stuff. :: Section 4:: "First Sweater" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - An ASRT connecting to that small block will let you glide under the sweater. After you clear the sweater, some ASRTs will get you to the next checkpoint. You have lots of room for them, too! HIGH SCORE - I don't think you needed me for this one, but while you're gliding under that sweater, a quick tap of the jump button while cause Fork Parker to ascend into the cash. :: Section 5:: "A Parker in the Road" Pickups: 3, whaaat Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - Starting this segment, you have a fork (Parker) in the road: should you travel left, where there's an enemy, or right, where there's no enemy, and there is an item? Whether you're on a high-score run or not, I would have to say the route without the enemy is a sounder choice. Go to the right. A bunch of ASRTs will get you upwards. I told you we'd be using this a lot! When you get to the area with two bills and a sweater visible all at once, start up the middle. Before you reach the sweater, climb over the left block. Jump right, jump left, and you're at the checkpoint. HIGH SCORE - After you climb over that left block, jump downwards through the money icon. Move back over to the right and prepare to jump downwards to the other icon. Wait until the sweater is low, bounce off it, and come back up to where you were. Make ropeless jumps to the checkpoint. :: Section 6:: "Presumed Oversight" Pickups: 0 Difficulty: <--- notice there are not any stars. DEATHLESS - Hold run and jump to the right. Then do it again. I can only assume this checkpoint was designed this way by accident. The possibility of dying between the two seems... remote. HIGH SCORE - n/a :: Section 7:: "Bwark Bwark" <--- penguin sounds Pickups: 2 Difficulty: ** DEATHLESS - Start in the middle platform between the two checkpoints. Run-jump left. ASRT up to where the first penguin is (the middle of the three). I usually end up clinging to the ledge, and just hanging out for a while, until he waddles to the right and I can pull myself up safely. From there, bop on his head, bouncing straight up and down until the leftmost penguin isn't near you, and then bounce to the left platform. Ropeless-jump right, twice, then ASRT to the checkpoint. HIGH SCORE - Fall through the left icon. The right one looks hard until you realize that a head-bounce brings you to the exact needed height. :: Section 8:: "Brave New World" Pickups: 3 Difficulty: ** DEATHLESS - This is the first time in the game we can't ASRT through the whole thing! Hence the name of the section. (We can still use it for about half the section though; don't worry.) Run-throw a piton to that platform sticking out on the left. Then regular- throw one to the right, so it droops down and can connect with something. Shimmy your way up, and just plant ropes wherever you can. Remember the ordering strategy described above -- the one behind you goes before the one in front of you. That way you won't make a tangled mess and accidentally strand yourself. The rest of this is just ASRTs and run-jumps. You got this. HIGH SCORE - Get the left one first by dropping onto it. If you don't already have an escape route below you, put a piton at your feet, and then regular- throw one to the right. This will create a slope to glide away on. Then go for the one on the right. NO PITONS ARE NEEDED. Run-jump over. Then wall jump twice (right then left) into the cash. Then run-jump back home. For the one in the middle, see those two blue blocks surrounding it? Connect a piton to each one, putting a rope straight across the pit. Then slide over the rope through the money. $$$$$ :: Section 9:: "Death Pit" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: *** DEATHLESS - Two run-jumps will get you at the top of the pit. If you're new to the game, this section is near-impossible. If you have a strategy though, it's not bad at all. Walk to the left part of the platform. Throw a piton straight up. Walk about two-thirds of the way to the right. Regular-throw a piton to the right. If done properly, it will arc under the ceiling, and not land until it hits the rightmost wall. If you mess it up, clear everything and try again. These two pitons need to be fairly precise. There should now be one single rope sloping down across the entire pit. It should be high enough so that gliding down it will not make you hit any spikes. If it is not, clear everything and start over. Glide down. Wheeee! But BE CAREFUL; YOU HAVE TO JUMP LEFT AT THE END. This is the only actually hard part of the section. If you don't jump left, you will hit the spikes. (Jumping straight up would keep you moving right. You have to hit left while you jump, to make Fork move straight up.) Jump up and down a few times to get your bearings and settle your nerves. Breathe. Relax. Haaaa. You are in control. Don't rush it. Okay when you're ready you can ASRT out of there. Then ASRT again to the next checkpoint. HIGH SCORE - If you used the above piton placements for that pit, you will have already slid straight through the bill. :: Section 10:: "Pieces of Cake" <--- plural, since there are two pickups Pickups: 2 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - Novices may die here a couple of times, but if you have learned ASRTs, this section will give you no problems whatever. HIGH SCORE - When you're placing those ASRTs, just make sure you give yourself one single (fairly) straight line running through the passage, high enough so that gliding through doesn't let you touch any spikes. Simple! :: Section 11:: "More Cake" <--- not only is this another instance of cake, three pickups is more than the previous section's two Pickups: 3 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - ASRTs are literally all you need here. I told you they made the game easier! HIGH SCORE - Before doing any of the above, get that pickup on the right. Literally the only way to get it is with a series of rapid-fire ASRTs. Just get the rhythm down and nothing can go wrong. In fact, this is a great place to practice the rhythm. When you get that cash at the top, hit the clear button in midair and plummet to safety. Work your way back up to the checkpoint. ASRT upwards, place a rope through the hole on the left, near the top of the hole, glide into the cash, change directions with a jump, and glide back to the middle. ASRT up some more and grab the last cash icon. More cake! :: Section 12:: "Dodge 'Em" Pickups: 2 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - Ignore your pitons on the bottom section. Just run-jump from platform to platform. When you reach the highest white platform (slightly above the snowman's level), a single ASRT will get you to the checkpoint. HIGH SCORE - It's not as hard as it seems. Get above the snowman, on that highest white platform on the left. Run-throw a piton to the left. Then run- throw one to the right. Since the right wall is farther away, that piton will be a little lower down. Conveniently, the resulting rope sends you right through the first pickup. It also sends you ABOVE the second pickup. When you reach it, hop up and down a few times to stall while the snowball timing gives you an opening, and then drop down into the cash. Move down left one platform, then run-jump your way back up to the left. :: Section 13:: "Hello Yeti" Pickups: 2 Difficulty: ** DEATHLESS - ASRT up to the left. Glide across to the right. ASRT straight up. Done! HIGH SCORE - The temptation is to get the lower one first, but don't. Get the higher one first, so there's less back-and-forth. While ASRTing up in the first place, have one line going across that you COULD glide on to get the lower pickup. But don't get it yet. Just leave the line there. Then join that to a second rope, leading higher on the right side, so you can get on that higher platform. Walk to the left, drop onto the cash, and land on your first line. Get back to the right and climb back up. Easy! :: Section 14:: "Penguin Army" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: ** DEATHLESS - Until the very end, you don't need (and in fact shouldn't use) your pitons. Just run-jump your way through this. Remember you are invincible while hanging onto a ledge. HIGH SCORE - Same strategy. Shouldn't be any difficulties. :: Section 15:: "Their Way or the Stairway" Pickups: 2 Difficulty: ** DEATHLESS - C'mon, this is easy. They give you a staircase! Just jump from ledge to ledge without pitons. Sometimes you should hold run and sometimes you shouldn't. Sometimes you want to land on top of the platform, sometimes you want to grab its edge. You can decide which is which. Do this until you're at the top right (above the spiky pit). Then use some ASRTs until you're at the next checkpoint. HIGH SCORE - The layout of this section implies you are supposed to drop down onto the right pickup. Why make things harder for yourself though? Just plant a piton on the leftmost small floating blue block, run-throw one to the rightmost wall, glide over safely, jump up to grab the cash, and then glide back home. No problem! The left pickup you should drop down onto, but it's still not a problem if you plant your pitons purposefully. Stand on that leftmost floating blue block. Run-throw a piton left, then do so on the right. This gives you an escape route later. Leave it there. Then connect it to a rope going up-left, so you can climb up above the cash. Jump down through it, landing on your first rope, and return to safety. :: Section 16:: "Boomerang Path" Pickups: 0 Difficulty: ** DEATHLESS - Run jump left, then right. You're on an icy platform in front of a very long spike pit! ASRT to the platform above it. ASRT through the vertical path. ASRT to the left, and glide to safety. Hop up the stairs (watch out for snowballs!) and ASRT to the red platform on the right (same note). HIGH SCORE - n/a :: Section 17:: "The Gauntlet" Pickups: Difficulty: **** Two snowmen, aiyeee! This one is actually easy to die on if you don't pay attention to timing. DEATHLESS - There are different routes you can take. My favorite is to go up and to the left in the beginning (a wall jump can get you there with no pitons). Go all the way left and put a piton at your feet. Then hold run, run a little to the right, and throw one diagonally up-right (don't let go of run until after the throw). Jump-climb up the rope until you reach the right-side platform (it's above the lower snowman's head). You can rest here if you want! The snowballs look threatening but they will bounce over your head. From here, clear the pitons, put one at your feet, one up-right, and one up- left. Jump climb up, run-throw another one to the right wall, and then run- throw one onto that left ledge sticking out. Shimmy your way over. Voila! HIGH SCORE - When you're on that platform above the lower snowman's head, jump down and grab pickup #1. Jump on his head to get back up. When you're on that final rope out of the area, drop down onto the second pickup while holding left (so you don't land on those spikes). Hop back down, and then work your way back up. :: Section 18:: "Sweater Party" Pickups: 0 Difficulty: *** Here we are, the first and only segment for which you can't use any pitons! Gotta use those old school platforming skills. DEATHLESS - You can walk-speed jump on each of the four sweaters if you want. In my opinion, a much easier method is to run-speed jump only on the first and third sweaters. But try it both ways and see which you like. What makes it hard is that, whichever speed you use, you cannot simply hold right during your jumps. You have to let go and/or tap left every once in a while. This will likely take several tries when you're new to the game, but it really does get easier as you get used to the controls! Even after you clear it, you will possibly want to kill yourself and do it over a few times. Just to get in some free practice for your next run. To get out of the pit, jump right to the blocks' edge, pull yourself up, and jump left to the ledge's edge. (Speedrunners will want to save those frames by using a wall jump to skip that second edge climb.) How to get onto that red platform is up to you. My own strategy is to put one piton on the bottom left and one on the top right. This will make the rope lead upwards, underneath the platform, and when I glide through it, I then jump left to get on top of it. Checkpoint! HIGH SCORE - n/a :: Section 19:: "Laundry Chute" Pickups: 2 Difficulty: * Just a periodic reminder that the difficulty ratings are based on deathless only, not high score! DEATHLESS - You can do this entire section without any pitons. (And that's not just to show off -- it's quicker and easier this way.) Walljump up the shaft, jump right to the first blue block, wall jump right-left to the second blue block, and then jump left out of there. Walk a little bit and you're done. HIGH SCORE - Left one first. Edge grab that solitary ice block without climbing onto it. Hop straight up, and tap the throw button on your way back down. You may have to clear and retry a few times. You want the piton to land in such a place that it's all the way on the left wall, maybe near the seam of where the red blocks turn into ice blocks. The ideas is when you put a rope there, Fork gliding down it will touch the cash without having to jump. For the second piton, run-throw it up-right. This is your descent rope. Now put a third piton at your feet. This is your return rope (for the first half of the trip anyway--then you will switch over to the first rope, which is higher up). Glide down and jump-climb back up. You may not even need that second rope, but sometimes it comes in handy, like if the first rope is too high and you hit your head when you try to jump up it. Second pickup now! This one is super easy. Stand on the platform to the left of it. Hold run and throw a piton in each direction. This creates a rope above the pit. Jump onto the rope -- you should touch the money but nothing else. Then jump right and walljump out of there. :: Section 20:: "Abobo" <--- because there are two threatening villains at once, like that time in that Double Dragon game. Whatever, this is my FAQ, I can name the sections whatever I want. I could literally name all of them after my own screenname. Pickups: 2 Difficulty: **** DEATHLESS - You can set up some ropes to glide over the first snowman if you like. I find it easier to just walk/jump over to him, jump on his head, and launch myself to the left. Easy enough. You'll even grab the money icon this way. This second snowman is one of the hardest parts of the game (for me at least). Start by just relaxing for a moment and getting a feel for the rhythm of the snowballs. They can't hit you here. When you can, jump up and walk over to the space in front of the spikes (I don't recommend using run, which might cause you to overshoot it). This too is a place you can camp out for a moment. Your gamer instincts will tell you to run jump left AS SOON AS A SNOWBALL PASSES YOU, but don't! Because then you'll jump into the next snowball coming. What you actually want to do is jump left over a snowball *as it's coming towards you,* like right after he throws it. That way you'll jump over it while it's moving right, and there won't be another one coming to hit you. This may take a few tries. Don't give up. You'll get it. Walk all the way left (don't jump yet) and, again, camp out to catch your breath. CLEAR THE PITONS, jump straight up, and throw a piton left. Land, catch your breath, and run-throw one up-right. This gives you a nice rope to jump up to, and then jump away with. Done! HIGH SCORE - You already got the first pickup by accident. The second one you can just walk into when there's a clear path. The third one though.... Do everything in the deathless strategies, then get on top of that red ledge without using any pitons. Your only rope should be the one you used to jump away from the snowman. You're going to use it again. Just plant one more piton on the left wall, a little above the first, so there are now two ropes in that space to the left of the snowman. They should form a > shape. Stand on the right side of the snowman to make him face right. When he finishes a throw, hop left down onto higher rope, drop down onto the lower rope to touch the cash, jump back up to the higher rope, then jump back up to the platform. That in my opinion is one of the hardest cash pickups in the game. Let me know if you have a better strategy for it! :: Section 21:: "Egg Cage" Pickups: 1 Difficulty: * DEATHLESS - Go to the right side and ASRT your way up. HIGH SCORE - This is medium difficulty from the setup standpoint, and moderate difficulty from the execution standpoint. The same basic strategy is the same as the deathless climb -- ASRT your way up the right side. The only difference is that you have to place your climb-up with ropes in such a way that you can reuse them as your get-the-egg-with ropes. Stand on that sideways platform on the right side of the screen, the one at the bottom corner of the egg cage, below the vertical platform. Walk to the left side of it, jump up, and ASRT both ways once each. Get on that rope, and ASRT both ways again. Jump up to the new rope. It should be basically horizontal, and at a height where, if you were in the middle of it, your body would touch the egg. While holding this rope, hit the clear button to get rid of the other ropes. While on this new rope, ASRT once each way again (throwing from the peak of your jump height). This creates two more ropes, one of which is useless and the other of which is a second horizontal rope, not coincidentally one jump height above the first horizontal rope. No more pitons until you've got the egg. Jump up until you're above the egg cage. Jump into the cage, landing on your first rope. Drop onto the second rope. Grab the egg. Jump back out of there. You did it! :: Section 22:: "Crossfire" Pickups: 2 Difficulty: **** DEATHLESS - Make your way up to that middle platform. You'll want to ASRT through this, but you can't, because of those white blocks! Face left and regular-throw a piton. Then face right and run-through a piton up-right. Climb up the resulting rope. When you get to the top of that, you can ASRT out of there. HIGH SCORE - Do all the above except for the last sentence. When you're above the right cash icon, drop down into it. You'll fall a long way down, but I told you this wasn't a speedrun. Climb back up to that middle platform. Regular throw a piton to the right. Speed-throw one up-left. climb over, drop into the cash, make your way back up. :: Section 23:: "Long, Winding Road" Pickups: 3 Difficulty: **** DEATHLESS - ASRT your way through the first couple of sections, until you get to the first cash icon. Here's where things get tricky. Have a piton on the right bump that comes down from the ceiling, then have one on the left wall. The rope should be kind of flat but doesn't have to be so precise. Get on this rope and clear everything else. While slowly sliding left on this rope, regular throw a piton to the right, so it arcs below the bump and lands on the floor. You may have to clear and retry this a few times. It should just BARELY miss the bump -- otherwise the angle of the rope will be too steep. If it was placed properly, you can drop onto the new rope and slide downwards, passing just barely below those spikey things in midair without hitting them. BE CAREFUL NOT TO SLIDE TOO FAR. When you start getting near the bottom, jump and tap left to keep yourself still. When you're ready, ASRT out of there, and ASRT up the narrow corridor. Then you will get to the part with the egg. Your strategy here is to... ASRT out of there. HIGH SCORE - The first two pickups you probably got without even trying. The third one is a bit harder. But still not prohibitively hard! Really what makes this hard is that if you mess it up, you get sent way back, so there's not a good way to practice it. If you've got some ASRT ropes going on, there will naturally be one around the egg's height, and two above it. The top of these should be at the top of the spikes, allowing you to slide towards it, jump over the spike, land back on the rope, drop down to a lower rope, touch the egg, jump back up, and jump back over the spikes. The only reason this is hard is because of that platform above the egg, restricting your jump movement when you're trying to clear those spikes. But you can do it! Believe in yourself! :: Section 3:: "I did it!" Pickups: 0 Difficulty: <--- no stars I mean, technically this is a section. DEATHLESS - Press the jump button while holding right. Then tap the up button. Then hold right for a short period of time. Then toss the controller into the air, being careful not to hit the ceiling fan. HIGH SCORE - n/a Congratulations!!! -------------------------- -- 6. REVIEW ------------- -------------------------- This game is great and highly replayable and I love it a lot. -------------------------- -- 7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ---- -------------------------- Thank you to the makers of this game for making this game. -------------------------- -- 8. CONTACT ------------ -------------------------- cottonrhetoric@gmail.com -------------------------- -- 9. THAT'S IT ---------- -------------------------- Okay that's it.