Boppin' 1.5Mb
Ok, most of us have done some 'boppin' around the Christmas tree, but this is more to do with making some blocks 'dance' according to the game’s peculiar own brand of physics! It’s a kind of puzzle platformer with a large matching element. It was an old DOS game that has been completely remade for Windows.
You have to get like blocks together, but unlike many other matching games, you collect each block by moving on to certain squares. You then have to choose when and where to throw the block to aim it to try to get it to wherever you wish it to land. Blocks usually move diagonally and can also be influenced by other thrown blocks, as well as by stationary blocks and walls etc. When you hit like blocks, they are destroyed and you have to clear each screen of blocks. You can control elevators when present to move to different parts of the screen.
There is a similarity with billiards, in that you need to make banking shots off the walls.
You move whichever one of two characters (one character keyboard, other mouse controlled) and if either die you lose the game. The character who dies then commits a ritual onscreen suicide, of a differing nature depending on which character has died!
If you hit an unlike block with the block you are 'throwing', you lose a life, and do this once too many and .. well.. Uoh! If you can get blocks into certain arrangements, you let loose a monster for extra points. The game gets quite (or very!) complicated later on, which is where the puzzle element comes into play.
There are four or five ordinary endings to the game and one special ending for you to find. There are also hidden cheat secrets scattered throughout the game. If you find these, they can help you progress through parts of the game 'easier' (though it’s never easy!). Some extra cheats are given in the ReadMe file.
Solving levels in Boppin' is a very diverse thing. Some levels are 'simple', boppulate the blocks together and get out of there. Some are like adventures, and you have to find a path through, or solve a maze, or figure out what is a prize, and what is a block. Some levels require timing challenges...oh, no clock is ever used, but you will see what is meant! Some levels offer you a seemingly easy screen filled with cheap isolated blocks, but are in reality a chance to push blocks to form a high-scoring Bop Pattern. Some levels demand that you solve them in a certain order, or you will be 'boned'!
Many puzzles depend on a clever use of Refractors. A Refractor is a device that instantly alters the trajectory of a thrown Bopping block from diagonal to cardinal...to a straight line, up, down, left or right. Refractors can even trap blocks between them, requiring you to either return to the Source and pull down to get a new block altogether...or...perhaps find a way to recapture the lost block.
You can restart a level if you find you can’t progress with it, and some levels while looking easy may have an opportunity to make super points by unleashing some monsters! There are 150 levels to complete. Most levels generally require new tactics to be conquered.
It can also be played two-player, using a joystick and the mouse.
If all this seems weird enough for you, then get out there and start Boppin! It’s actually a very innovative and ‘different’ game which is very well worth playing!
It is small in windowed mode so set background to 800x600 if unable to run it in un-windowed mode (depends on your graphics card)! Even in un-windowed mode it still runs in 320x240 resolution which is probably the only downside to the game.
Download DOWNLOAD Windows compatible Boppin'
(If you have a Windows version previous to XP, there’s a larger download (5Mb) to update necessary installer files, slightly lower down the download page).
Original DOS Version Runs directly in XP HERE (includes level editor)
Manual Here
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faySmvWjBNs&feature=player_embedded
