OCTOMANIA Walkthrough by JR CONTENTS: - INTRODUCTION - (octo-01) - CONTROLS - (octo-02) - GAMEPLAY - (octo-03) - CHARACTERS - (octo-04) - ARCADE MODE - (octo-05) - TUTORIAL - (octo-06) - ORIGINAL--> OCTOPUZZLE MODE - (octo-07) - ORIGINAL --> OCTOBATTLE MODE - (octo-08) - ORIGINAL --> ENDLESS MODE - (octo-09) - WI-FI MODE - (octo-10) - OPTIONS - (octo-11) - TIPS & STRATEGIES - (octo-12) - SPECIAL MOVES AND SPECIALTY COLORS (octo-13) - LIST OF TITLES (octo-14) - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - (octo-15) (You can use your browser’s Search option to jump directly to a section by typing in “octo-??”.) INTRODUCTION (octo-01) Oh noes! The hungry magician apprentice Kari has cast a spell to summon her favorite food, TAKOYAKI!!! (aka fried octopus). Unfortunately, her magic backfired, and now, countless octopi are raining down upon the land of Lonronpia! Octomania is a puzzle game that blends cheerful graphics and one-of-a-kind humor with a simple-yet-addictive gameplay. The game features a multi-player mode, a story mode, time challenges, and a cast of twelve unique playable characters, each with his or her own personality, storyline, stage, and special move – Oh yeah, and there’s a lot of octopi, as well...!! CONTROLS (octo-02) The Wii remote can be held at two different orientations: Sideways or Pointer style. Pressing the “-” button will alternate between these two styles. Each mode has its advantages. Pointer-style requires more practice and a steady hand, but players who fully master it will find they have more speed and control over the board. Sideways-style requires very little time to master, but it limits the speed in which the player can move the cursor around the board. Most players will opt for the Sideways orientation. COMMAND SIDEWAYS STYLE POINTER STYLE Move the cursor D-pad Aim the pointer Rotate clockwise 2 A D-pad Right Rotate counter-clockwise 1 D-pad Left Speed up droprate B B Cancel Bubbles A B Pause + + Swap control types - - GAMEPLAY (octo-03) The rules of Octopuzzle are fairly easy to learn. The object of the game is to make your opponent’s board fill up before yours does. When your board is full, you have 3 seconds to do something about it, or you lose. Each player has a half-screen board (8x10) that slowly fills up with multi-colored octopi (red, blue, green, yellow, white, purple, etc.). You move octopi around the board using a 2x2 cursor that cycles octopi either clockwise or counter-clockwise. It takes a short while to get used to, but soon, you’ll be moving your octopi around with ease. Also present on the board are grills. Each grill has a number (2 – 8) in the middle of it; this number represents how many octopi of the same color need to be placed on the grill. So if a grill has a “4” in the middle of it, you must put four octopi of the SAME COLOR onto it (i.e. four yellow octopi). When you have moved the correct number of octopi to a grill, the grill disappears. The octopi you moved onto it begin cooking and turn into sizzling octopi (noted by colored bubbles). Bubbles cannot be moved from their current location, but if you move additional octopi of that color adjacent to them, those new octopi will also begin cooking. You must hurry, though, because when the octopi stop sizzling, they disappear (the higher the grill number, the longer the bubbles will stay on screen). Every octopus you add to the bubbles adds one point to your “chain”. Chains have a few uses. Firstly, the more octopi you can add to your chain, the more space you can clear up on your board (after all, if your board fills up, you lose!). Secondly, your score increases more and more, the longer your chain is. Thirdly, every tenth octopus you add to your chain immediately interrupts your opponent’s chains and destroys any bubbles they have in play. Fourthly, chains raise your diamond gauge (when it fills up, you get a diamond, which can be used to activate your character’s special move). And finally, as you increase your chain, you send Sea Urchins to your opponent’s board! Urchins are dead weight. They cannot be grilled the way octopi are; the ONLY way to get rid of them is to move them next to bubbles (but they do NOT add points to your chain or to your score). The diamond gauge, located on the side of your board, fills up as you complete longer and longer chains. When it fills up, a diamond will be released onto your board. Adding the diamond into a chain of bubbles will unleash your character’s special move (each character’s is different). Each character’s diamond gauge is a different height, depending on how strong his or her special move is! (See the CHARACTERS section for a list of special moves) CHARACTERS (octo-04) KARI – an apprentice magician who doesn’t always look before she leaps (which can be a problem, given that she has immense magical powers she knows nothing about...). She’s believed to be the reason for the octopus infestation. ANGELIQUE – the slacker angel who would love to shirk her duties as protector of Lonronpia in exchange for a vacation. She is notorious for telling lies and taking advantage of people. GOBU – a goblin (not a pig!) obsessed with cleanliness and good-manners. He is worried that the octopi might carry the dreaded Octolococcus virus! KANIZAEMON – a crab-samurai: complete with topknot, his trusty katana Harusame, and a (albeit questionable) warrior’s code. He wants nothing more than to protect the seashores of Lonronpia, but he often acts hastily. FUNKEE – a forest spirit (i.e. tree) obsessed with rapping. He hopes to make it big one day, but he is entirely oblivious to criticism. KAPPRIO – a narcissistic kappa (hint: a “kappa” is a Japanese river imp, not usually known for beauty). With his mirror and his rose, he tries to spread his charm thick among all whom he encounters. He is also the leader of the OCTO Squad, just under Exaltus. FEIFEI – the top student in Kari’s class, she hates the apprentice magician deeply. Feifei is also madly in love with Exaltus. EXALTUS – the Prince of the Demons (and somewhat of a momma’s boy). He and his OCTO Squad like to terrorize Angelique by playing ding-dong-ditch with her doorbell (pure evil!). DRAMO – a baby dragon that Exaltus keeps as his pet. He is a member of Exaltus’s OCTO Squad, but he is tired of the childish pranks. Dramo has one ambition: to overthrow his master and become the heir to the Demon King’s throne. OCTOBOT – a very old robot with a somewhat questionable weapons system. Octobot is loyal to Exaltus and a member of the OCTO Squad. TAKOBO – not from Lonronpia, he is on a quest to become the world’s top takoyaki chef. (He is also the mascot for the Japanese takoyaki chain Tsukiji Gindaco.) Unfortunately for him, Takobo cannot figure out how to return to his home world. SHADOW KARI – a doppelganger spawned from Kari’s raw magical power, she hates being confused with Kari (even though they look nearly identical). Shadow Kari has one goal in mind: defeat her double and become the REAL Kari. (see SPECIAL MOVES AND SPECIALTY COLORS (octo-13) for information on each character’s special move and specialty color) ARCADE MODE (octo-05) In ARCADE MODE you can play single-player as the magician apprentice, Kari, or play head-to-head against a friend in a two-player competition (each player can adjust his or her own difficulty level independently!). Primarily a training mode, the single-player mode of play sufficiently explains the game’s mechanics, while exposing the player to some of the regulars (and irregulars) of Lonronpia. Single player offers as three difficulty levels: Tako-Rookie, Tako-Fighter, and Tako-master. You can also play “To the End”, an endless mode which keeps track of your score, your highest combo, and how long you survived. It should be noted that the character list in ARCADE MODE is more limited than in ORIGINAL MODE. In single player, you can only play as Kari. In two-player your options are limited to 8 players: Kari, Dramo, Gobu, Angelique, Exaltus, Funkee, Kanizaemon, and Kapprio. It is lacking 4 characters: Feifei, Takobo, Octobot, and Shadow Kari. (The first three are also absent from single-player mode, but you CAN play against Shadow Kari in single player if you manage to get through Octo-Fighter or Octo-Master difficulties without losing a single round!) TUTORIAL (octo-06) If ARCADE MODE isn’t sufficient to explain the game, you can access the TUTORIAL, which gives viewable demonstrations on gameplay, explanations on more advanced topics (like each character’s Specialty Color, how to create a Chain Explosion, and how Diamonds work), as well as an introduction bio for each of the twelve characters. ORIGINAL--> OCTOPUZZLE MODE (octo-07) In OCTOPUZZLE MODE the player can initially select one of 6 playable character (the other 6 are unlockable). Each character has a unique storyline in which they interact with and do battle against the other 11 characters. If you are skilled enough to complete a character’s story without losing a match, you will unlock one of the 6 remaining characters! In addition OCTOPUZZLE MODE features five difficulty options to help you test your Octopuzzle skills, hone your abilities, and challenge you endlessly (such as playing against two opponents simultaneously)! If that is not enough for you, then grab a friend and play OCTOPUZZLE MODE in a co-op two-player style! ORIGINAL --> OCTOBATTLE MODE (octo-08) Two-to-four players can compete in OCTOBATTLE MODE to see who is, in fact, the most-skilled Octopuzzle player! You can select the 6 characters from OCTOPUZZLE MODE, as well as any you’ve unlocked by completing their stories. A third and fourth player added to the game will not receive their own board to play on. Instead, they will share a board with another player (first and third form one team, second and fourth another). Because you can select any of the 12 characters and 12 stages, and because you have the option to play with teams, this is the preferred mode for playing head-to-head with your friends (as opposed to ARCADE MODE). ORIGINAL --> ENDLESS MODE (octo-09) One or two players may enter this mode, which allows the player to select from any of the twelve characters and backgrounds and play endlessly to earn as many special Titles and Licenses as possible. Are you skilled enough to earn all the Titles? In this mode grill numbers start small but slowly get higher and higher. Diamonds do not unleash special moves; they return all grills back to “2”. Therefore, the bigger chains you can create will keep you alive longer. (see LIST OF TITLES (octo-14) for a list of what titles you can earn) WI-FI MODE (octo-10) Have you ever had the urge to grill up some octopi with a friend but for some reason found yourself sitting at home, alone? GEOGRAPHICAL-INCONVENIENCE, BEGONE!!! With the WI-FI MODE, players can connect wirelessly to other Wii consoles and experience Octomania’s engaging multi-player excitement! OPTIONS (octo-11) In the OPTIONS menu, the player can adjust a variety of settings (how many points required to win a round, controller orientation, etc.). Additionally, by clicking on CONFIRM DATA, the player can view the results of his or her efforts in the various play modes (high scores, Licenses, Titles, etc.): Controller: You can change between Pointer or Sideways Mode (same as pressing “-“ when outside the Options menu). “A” Button: In Pointer orientation, you can use Left and Right on the D-pad to rotate octopi. You can also use the “A” button. Here, you can set whether the “A” button rotates left (counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise). Default setting is Right. Octo-Octo Warning: You can set how long (60sec, 90sec, 120sec, or no time limit) before the octopi droprate increases dramatically and the variety of colors is raised to include all colors. (This helps ensure that multiplayer Octobattle matches don’t drag on forever...) Default is 90 seconds. Points to Win: You can set how many points (1, 2, 3, or 4) are required to win an entire match in multiplayer. Default is 2. TIPS & STRATEGIES (octo-12) - Learn the ancient art of spinning your octopi both clockwise AND counter-clockwise. Depending on the layout of your board, you’ll find it a lot easier to press one button once than pressing another button three times! - Diamonds in Endless Mode reset grills to “2”. If you earn a diamond while your grills are at a “5” or “6”, don’t be in a rush to use the diamond. Save it for when the grill numbers get too high for you to satisfy them (or if you are really good, learn not to rely on diamonds at all!). - In Octopuzzle Mode only 6 characters are initially available (the top row). Completing a top row character’s story without losing a match will unlock the character immediately below him or her – regardless of what difficulty the game is set on! So, if you are having difficulty unlocking the 6 remaining characters, try playing on Novice. - Holding “B” increases the octopi droprate. This is especially helpful in the first few seconds of a match (the more octopi on your board at the beginning, the larger your first chains will be!). As the match goes on, you should also consider using this if you do not have a lot of octopi on your board. - When you hit a 10-chain or use a diamond, your board is replaced by an animation. Don’t let that stop you from moving, though! You can still move and rotate your cursor as normal (you just can’t see it...!). - So, when do you start making bubbles? If you hold “B” at the start of the round and begin stockpiling octopi, at what point should you start making chains? Wait until your board is at least half-covered in octopi. Use this time to plan out what colors you will be going for first. But MORE IMPORTANTLY, if your opponent starts making chains, you need to start as well, right away. After all, if they are sending urchins at you, you won’t be gaining octopi, so there is no point in waiting any longer. Begin sending urchins to their side once they start moving! - Pressing “A” (in sideways mode) or “B” (in pointer mode) will immediately end the chain of bubbles on your screen. This can be valuable, such as when there are no more octopi or urchins on your side to destroy. Ending the bubbles early will give you more freedom for moving octopi around the board, and it will continue the octopi drop. You definitely do not want to get stuck with bubbles on your screen and nothing to do, while your opponent is busy racking up chains! - When playing in sideways mode, rapidly alternate between two directions to enable you to move your cursor around the board quicker (for instance, instead of just hitting up, up, up, up... try up, right, up, right, up, right...). You will find you can effortlessly rub your thumb back and forth between two directions a lot faster than you can press just one direction. - You can move two octopi across the board at once if you practice (for instance, if you want to move two octopi down, put them at the top position in your cursor, hit rotate twice, move down once, hit rotate twice, then move down once, etc.). - Be patient. Just because you have two red octopi and a “2” grill sitting there in the middle of your board, don’t start grilling them too early! Wait until there are a few more red octopi on the screen; that way, you can move two onto the board and use the remaining ones for a chain! - But don’t be TOO patient! Be aggressive throughout the entire match (and especially, don’t let up just because you see your opponent’s board is beginning the 3-2-1 countdown or just because you used a powerful special attack and you don’t think they can recover from it – always assume they will be recovering flawlessly despite your efforts). Never stop moving around and destroying octopi until the match actually ends! - In Original Mode you can create CHAIN EXPLOSIONS by stacking up a row of same-colored octopi and then completing an adjacent board of that color. This will save you from having to manually move each octopi into the chain after the bubbles start (and is therefore a time-saver). This does not work in Arcade Mode, however. - Tip for increasing your time in Endless mode: Bubbles are only on-screen for a limited amount of time, so if you have two or three grills ready to be filled, fill them one-at-a-time (JUST BEFORE the previous chain of octopi stops sizzling). This will guarantee you the longest time possible to remove octopi/urchins and to keep your chain growing as long as possible. - Save your diamonds for when they will be most helpful. Just because it’s down there on your board, there’s no immediate rush to move it into a chain! - Aim to hit multiples of ten with your chains, since every tenth octopus stops your opponent’s chains immediately. A chain of nine octopi may impress your grandma, but a real Octomania master will bat for ten or more! - Glance at your opponent’s board from time to time. If you see that he or she is setting up a chain of 10 or more, WAIT before completing a grill (since a chain of 10 on their screen will instantly get rid of your bubbles). Similarly, if you have a chain of 10 set up, wait to start it until AFTER your opponent has activated a grill (so you can interrupt them!). - Diamonds only get activated when you manually move them into a bubble chain. Therefore, wait until the most opportune moment before using them! You can move a diamond to a corner and leave it there for as long as you like. - Every character has a SPECIALTY COLOR. Normally, completing a grill sends 2 urchins to your opponent, plus 2 more urchins for each point in your combo. If the octopi are of your Specialty Color, though, you send 3 urchins per combo point! Use this knowledge to your advantage whenever possible (for instance, use smaller numbered grills for Specialty Color octopi, so you can have longer chains). - Super-Secret Attack: OCTOPUS WHIRLWIND MANEUVER 2.0!!! (Probably not an official name for this strategy, but definitely an in-house favorite...) This technique is, essentially, a strategic form of “button-mashing”. As your board becomes more and more cluttered (especially, if your opponent has sent an inconvenient surplus of urchins in your direction...), fill up a grill or two to start some octopi sizzling and then continually click the button to rotate the cursor while moving it around the screen in a spiral pattern. This will shuffle your octopi and urchins around famously, and hopefully, you will serendipitously herd the correct critters into the correct bubbles! (Individual results may vary.) - Whenever you play co-operatively (whether 2-player Octopuzzle or a team game in Octobattle), the height of your diamond gauge is the average height of the two characters’ usual height. So, if you pair Gobu and Kari, for instance, you can use Kari’s special attack a lot sooner than you could playing without a teammate. ***THE FOLLOWING STRATEGIES WERE LEARNED FROM OBSERVING THE COMPUTER PLAYERS ON VERY HIGH DIFFICULTY SETTINGS*** - Use the urchins to extend chains to the correct colors – don’t just simply drag an octopi from far away to the bubbles. If there are stray urchins between your bubbles and those faraway octopi, drag the urchins into the bubbles first, so the octopi have a shorter distance to be moved. - Destroy urchins instead of JUST focusing on octopi. If all the octopi of a chain’s color are destroyed, don’t be in such a rush to move on to setting up a new color; instead opt to drag urchins into the bubbles, one by one (seems like it’d be a waste of time, but appears to work!). - CONSTANTLY keep making bubbles/chains, DON’T waste time setting up a chain reaction when you can be destroying octopi. - The computer moves ultra-fast to get from one place to another, when not rotating (i.e. pointer-mode). - When multiple colors are bubbling at a time, FOCUS ON JUST ONE COLOR – with almost NO exception – even if there are octopi of the other color that are close to the other chain. For instance if you activate a red grill and then, while moving red octopi to the bubbles, you accidentally activate a green chain as well, DO NOT worry about moving green octopi to the green grill. Stay focused on getting all of the remaining reds off your board, first. - You do NOT want an equal number of octopi of each color – you want some colors to have a lot more octopi. Therefore, alternate between which colors you activate (almost like a turn order... “this color, then that color, then that color... then repeat!”). This will keep the supply of octopi high in some colors and lower in others. Evening out the number of octopi of each color will make it HARDER to activate grills and HARDER to rack up large chains! It does you no good to have 4 yellow, 4 red, 5 green, and 3 blue. After all, what if you only have grills that are “6” or “7”? Instead, you want 0 yellow, 8 red, 6 green, and 2 blue. That way, you can make a red chain, then a green chain, and by then the blue will multiply enough for you to make a nice long blue chain... etc. etc. - If you have 6 reds and 3 blues on the board, activate a red grill. Don’t be tempted to do a small blue one just to “get rid of the blues”. Doing this will make it hard to ever do a large blue chain. Get the reds, then cancel the bubbles and let your octopi population increase, then AFTER the blues have replenished, go for them. - When two octopi are distant from a chain, grab the FARTHER one first and/or learn to use chains of urchins to get there. - Always have another grill that’s close to being activated... without spending too much time arranging this and NEVER setting up a giant chain reaction unless it’s convenient and time allows. SPECIAL MOVES AND SPECIALTY COLORS (octo-13) Below is a comprehensive list of what makes each character unique. It is sorted by tallest-to-shortest diamond gauge heights (heights are measured in octopi): Specialty Gauge Diamond Character Color Height Effect Funkee Green 10 All your grills change to 2. Exaltus Blue 9.5 All opponent’s grill change to 8. Kari Yellow 9 Change all urchins/octopi on top of your grills to octopi of the same color. Dramo Green 8 All octopi on opponent’s grills become urchins. Takobo Yellow 7.5 An earthquake shakes opponent’s board and disrupts their chains. Shadow Kari Blue 7 Opponent’s board turns dark. Feifei Yellow 6.25 Drops urchins on opponent, relative to how full their gauge is. Kapprio Blue 6 Opponent cannot move. Octobot Red 5 Opponent’s cursor disappears. Kanizaemon Red 4.5 Opponent’s octopi of a color become urchins. Angelique Red 4.25 Gives opponent three times as many urchins as she has, to be added. Gobu Green 4 All urchins on your board are bubbles. **In Arcade mode the diamond gauge is 7.5 octopi high, and special attacks turn ALL octopi and urchins on your board into the same color as the bubbles you move the diamond into (very powerful, but not an option in Original or Wi-Fi mode). **When you play as a team, the height of your diamond gauge is an average of the two characters’ usual gauge. So, if one member of the team plays as someone with a short gauge (i.e. Gobu), it will be an advantage to the team. **Timing is key with special moves. A special move executed at the wrong time may set your opponent back a couple steps, but most of them can be hurdled over. If a few seconds have passed and your opponent’s board looks as if you DIDN’T just use your special move, then chances are, you used it at the wrong time... **When it comes to offensive special attacks (like, say, Feifei’s) or defense special attacks (like, say, Funkee’s or Gobu’s), just try to remember: you shouldn’t NEED to use a defensive special, in theory. So, if you select a character whose special attack appears largely for defense, try to find a way to turn that defense into an offense (for instance, Gobu’s doesn’t just CLEAR urchins – it turns then into BUBBLES! Use those bubbles to rack up a chain). -Kapprio’s time-stop is very useful for ending the round, but you need to use it (1) when your opponent has NO chains going (especially if you just sent a lot of urchins their direction) and/or (2) when the countdown 3-2-1 is starting. It is most effective when used AFTER the Octo-Octo Warning has occurred, and it should NEVER be used while your opponent has a chain active! Also, his special can be useful (defensively) for filling your board with more octopi and/or destroying urchins. Either way, once you activate his special, the LAST thing you want to do is sit there and do nothing – after all, your opponent is the one frozen: not you! There is, however, much debate over whether or not you want to destroy octopi while your opponent is frozen... You see, the slow trickle of urchins is no match for the downpour of octopi that comes after the Octo-Octo Warning. In fact you will actually be SLOWING down how fast your frozen opponent’s board fills up if you destroy occasional octopi here and there, during this time. However, if you have a large chain reaction already set up and you can instantly send over a lot of urchins, then that might be worth your while to do. Some things that you can do which will be sure-fire good ideas and won’t impede your opponent’s octopi droprate: (1) start setting up chain reactions to be activated once the freeze time ends, and (2) destroy urchins. The best part about setting up large chain reactions and SAVING them for after the frozen time period is that if you opponent survives and is able to activate a quick grill before losing the round, you can counter that by activating your planned-for 10-chain and immediately interrupting his bubbles. Then, they will have NO last hope to survive! -Angelique’s special move requires planning. You need to activate a decently-numbered grill so that the bubbles stay onscreen long enough for you to rack up urchins, but don’t get carried away because if your opponent hits a 10-chain, it will get rid of your bubbles, and your plan will backfire. Also, be ready to make a 10-chain of your own, shortly after activating the diamond, to make it tough for your opponent to clear the urchins. If you opponent easily clears all the new urchins you sent over, then her special attack was wasted. Angelique’s very-short diamond gauge is a huge advantage, and her special is a great example of one that balances offensive and defensive strategy. -Gobu’s special move can be used as an attack, as well as defense, if you have a surplus of one color spread out around the board and a lot of urchins. Additionally, if you can use his attack to cleaning power to get rid of a lot of your octopi, the chain you create will go a long way to refilling his diamond gauge (not to mention doling out urchins)! If you are up against a tough opponent (or a character who can instantly send a lot of octopi your direction), try to save diamonds for emergencies – after all, it isn’t hard to get more, with him. Advanced technique: let’s say you have yellow bubbles active and all yellow octopi cleared from the board, but you have a lot of urchins. So, you decide to drag a diamond into the yellow bubbles (to clear the urchins). Right after you activate the diamond, while Gobu’s splash screen is being shown, CANCEL THE BUBBLES! The urchins will all still turn to bubbles, but it will be a random color (i.e. red, blue, maybe even green). This will open up the off-chance of you racking up a nice chain! After all, if you HADN’T cancelled the bubbles, the urchins would merely turn into yellow bubbles... You still would’ve gotten rid of all the urchins, but you definitely would not have racked up any extra points to your chain, since you already destroyed the yellow octopi. -Takobo’s special move can be devastating. If all his special did was just shake the screen, his special would join Shadow Kari’s and Octobot’s as a special that you can train yourself to overcome, with practice. The shakiness does disrupt their visibility, but the most important feature is how his special ends your opponent’s chains! As takoyaki fall onto their board, their chains will end early. This stops them from clearing very much, and can end a round quickly. It is therefore best used when your opponent’s board is full or near-full. It is very similar in timing to Kapprio’s, except you can execute it while they are chaining and not have to worry – however, if you do this, make sure they have a stock of urchins that will drop onto their board and/or start making large chains on your side. Doing this will help fill up their board extra-fast, lowering the chances that they can satisfy a grill and save themselves in time. -Feifei’s special move needs to be timed right to be most effective. Watch your opponent’s gauge. And whatever you do, beware Angelique’s special – it’s a very potent counter-attack to Feifei’s special! -Funkee’s (like Gobu’s) diamonds should be saved for emergencies (such as to counter to Exaltus’s). On the whole it is one of the least-effective special moves, especially for the length of his gauge! Although his grills will turn to “2”, you’ll find yourself wasting grills and more octopi, if you aren’t careful. The reason being: any movement you do around the board will be very likely to set off a grill (thus, wasting that life-saving low-pointer). This will also consume octopi, but the bubbles will not be on the screen long enough to use these bubbles for a longer chain (thus, wasting those initial octopi). My best recommendation is to use his to get yourself out of a pinch; then quickly rack up whatever chains you can – but all the while focusing on the one-color-at-a-time rule outlined in the Strategies section. You can paint yourself into a corner very quickly with Funkee’s special if you have octopi-ADD (i.e. if you drag whatever colors you can into the chains and not worry about the overall ecosystem of your board). Remember: you always want to have a high supply of a couple colors and a minimal supply of other colors. A balanced amount of octopi of each color is NOT what you want on your board. -Dramo’s can be powerful if you time it correctly and can catch your opponent off guard. Don’t do it at a time when it’s convenient for your opponent (such as, if they have bubbles already started and can easily destroy the new urchins). Use it before they can start up a chain or (most deviously) if you happen to glance over and see they have a high-point grill, like a 6 or 7, mostly-filled up. Your aim should be twofold: destroy AS MANY of your opponent’s octopi as possible, but also, make it harder for him or her to activate another grill right away. If executed correctly, that temporary setback you deliver could very well be enough to win you the match, right then and there. -Shadow Kari’s and Octobot’s specials have the potential to be largely ineffective because they do not actually change anything ABOUT the game boards, themselves. (1) You can still move, you can still destroy octopi, and (2) neither you nor your opponent’s amount of octopi or urchins has changed. A veteran player should be able to function semi-adequately while under the effects of either of these specials. If you are having trouble maneuvering while your screen is darkened by Shadow Kari, just remember: the squids and urchins are a different shape than the octopi, and the yellow octopi, in particular, are pretty easy to distinguish from the rest (due to lighter color). If you are having trouble moving your cursor while under Octobot’s special, just twirl a few times to figure out where on the board you are. You will definitely be moving octopi around a bit slower and methodically while your cursor is invisible, but you should still be able to make the necessary movements to survive. -Exaltus’s special can end a game very early, just make sure to use it when your opponent will be unable to recover... But most importantly, like Kapprio’s, NEVER use it while your opponent has bubbles on-screen. The reason being: when someone activates a grill or two, a new grill (or two) will appear after the bubbles end. So, if your opponent has bubbles active, then after those bubbles disappear, at least one new grill will appear, and it WON’T be an “8” like the others (because it wasn’t on-screen at the time the diamond was activated). Wait until there are NO bubbles on their side so that you turn the maximum number of grills into “8”s as possible! -Kanizaemon’s special is unpredictable; luckily, his diamond gauge is quite short! Kanizaemon’s special can bring about your opponent’s sudden demise, or it could work out to be entirely inconsequential... The color of the opponent’s octopi that becomes urchins is random (however, fortunately, the game will not allow the target color to be one that isn’t on their board – so you are at least guaranteed to affect SOME of their octopi, every time... even if it isn’t the color you were hoping for...). Also, it should be noted that if you move TWO diamonds into a bubble chain simultaneously, one of them goes to waste! The game does not instantly turn TWO colors into urchins. So, if you are fortunate enough to have two diamonds at once, activate them individually. (This issue actually arises with just about anyone’s diamonds, but Kanizaemon’s is probably the only special move where you would actually be tempted to try using two at once, so it’s worth mentioning, here.) -Kari’s is extremely powerful because it not only clears her board (defense) but ALSO sends a lot of urchins to her opponent (offense)! ...Oh, and don’t forget, the large chains you rack up from executing her special will greatly help refill her gauge for the NEXT diamond! In essence that is everything you WANT from a special move: defense, offense, and recovery. Helpful advice: try to move the diamond into yellow bubbles (her Specialty Color). This will have a greater effect on your opponent’s side. Also, try to set it up so you can hit a chain divisible by ten sometime right AFTER you hit the diamond in. The reason being: if you turn all your grills yellow, destroy a lot of free space, and send a lot of urchins to your opponent... but then THEY activate one small “2” grill... they can quickly destroy those urchins! Yes, they wasted a lot of time doing that, and you can rack up some more chains in the mean time, but her special is not about making your opponent simply waste time. Her special is about winning the game! You need to give your opponent a pause after the giant chain to get a bubble chain started, and THEN hit a number divisible by ten (for instance 30 or 40) and interrupt their last hope at clearing their board. Victory will be yours in short order! Finally, though, it should also be noted that after you’ve destroyed all the octopi of a color, DON’T WASTE ANY TIME! Hit the “B” button to stop the bubbles and start filling your board with fresh octopi, and then begin making more chains! If you leave bubbles on the screen for too long after the special is over, you aren’t using it to its full potential. **TO SUM UP (my opinion of the best-worst): Most Useful: In-Between: Least Useful: Angelique Kanizaemon Funkee Gobu Octobot Shadow Kari Kapprio Takobo Dramo Best Team Combinations: Kari [Angelique or Gobu] & Feifei [Kari, Exaltus, Dramo, or Kapprio] Exaltus A combination like that one suggested above ensures that you and your teammate have good offensive AND defensive abilities, as well as a greatly-reduced diamond gauge. LIST OF TITLES (Endless Mode) (octo-14) Red Ginger - 30-hit combo with Red Octopi High Tide - 30-hit combo with Blue Octopi Teriyaki Egg - 30-hit combo with Yellow Octopi Green Onion - 30-hit combo with Green Octopi Cool Guy - 30-hit combo with Squids (white) Aqua - 30-hit combo with Light Blue Octopi Octopi King - 30-hit combo with Purple Octopi All Clear - Clear everything from the screen Grill Master - Clear an “8” grill Five Alive - Combo using 5 different colors at once Quick Six - Combo using 6 different colors at once Lucky Seven - Combo using 7 different colors at once Rich Man - Have 2 diamonds on the screen at once Filthy Rich - Have 3 diamonds on the screen at once Iced Out - Have 4 diamonds on the screen at once Othello - Form bubbles in all four corners Survivor - Play for 20 minutes Marathon - Play for 30 minutes Eternal - Play for 40 minutes Infinity - Play for 60 minutes Endless - Play for 90 minutes Rose - Leave only Red Octopi on the screen after a combo Iris - Leave only Blue Octopi on the screen after a combo Tulip - Leave only Yellow Octopi on the screen after a combo Grass - Leave only Green Octopi on the screen after a combo Squid Farmer - Leave only Squids (white) on the screen after a combo Snow - Leave only Light Blue Octopi on the screen after a combo Lavender - Leave only Purple Octopi on the screen after a combo Congrats - 10-hit combo using Red Octopi and Squids Fireworks - 10-hit combo using Red, Blue, and Yellow Octopi Hydrangea - 10-hit combo using Purple and Green Octopi Pink - 10-hit combo using Purple and Light Blue Octopi and Squids ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - (octo-15) - Sometimes, when rotating octopi around, another octopus from above will land directly on the open square that you are shifting an octopus into. The new octopus will replace the old octopus, and the old octopus (which you were probably about to use to fill up a grill) will just disappear! The Good: You won’t see this happen in Tako Rookie mode, so much, due to the slower droprate. The Bad: Occasionally, you WILL lose a match because of this. You WILL try to drag the fifth and final red octopus over to a grill, only to have a blue octopus land on top of it, and then the 3-2-1 counter will start. The Ugly: On the rarest (and most heart-wrenching) of occasions, you can even lose a diamond because of this! - If your opponent sends urchins your direction, but your board is full, then the new urchins will still land randomly on your board and can start covering up your colored octopi and diamonds! - Whenever you play co-operatively (whether 2-player Octopuzzle or a team game in Octobattle), the height of your diamond gauge is the average height of the two characters’ usual height (see SPECIAL MOVES AND SPECIALTY COLORS (octo-13) for a list of each character’s diamond gauge height). - When your diamond gauge fills up, your chains still continue to be recorded, and after the diamond drops to your board, the gauge will not start back at zero. It will be higher, reflecting any combos you had while the gauge was full. - Any diamonds left on the board when the round ends are lost. They do not carry over to the next round. As such, if you think the round is about to end, and your diamond gauge is full, then try to continue the bubbles for as long as possible to save that diamond for the next round! (Hint: you will know your diamond gauge is ACTUALLY full instead of just merely “close to being full” because the diamond itself will begin pulsating.)