Marvin's Maze(Arcade) FAQ/Walkthrough version 1.0.0 by schultw.andrez@sbcglobal.net Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if you'd like to post it on your site. ============================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS 3. STRATEGIES 4. WALKTHROUGH 5. VERSIONS 6. CREDITS ============================ 1. INTRODUCTION Marvin's Maze is a 2-level maze-chomp game, where you don't have a lot of dots, but you do have a lot of ways to kill your enemies. Getting a power pill allows you to shoot your robonoid enemies, who are generally persistent in following you, until you go up/down one of the elevators. You can pass enemies in the elevators with no harm done. You can also kill enemies by switching over L-shaped blocks while they have almost reached you, causing them to fall in. You complete a level after eating all the dots or killing a fixed number of enemies. The game gets repetitive after a few levels, but it's a good diversion from regular Pac-Man for a bit. 2. CONTROLS You can move up/down/left/right as expected. You can also anticipate turning, which is important, as enemies move at the same speed you do, so if you only move at an intersection, you'll lose a bit of time, which will eventually kill you. The only way to stop Marvin moving is to run into a wall or the end of an L shape. If you move to the side on an L shape, the way you went is not removed. You cannot trap enemies running across a single orange block. Fire button makes Marvin fire. You're invincible while you shoot, but it's a bit of a waste to use shooting to get out of a jam. 100 for a dot. 200 for a power pill. 500 points for getting a robonoid to fall. 500/1500/3500/7500/15500/23500/8000 more per anything else for each robonoid shot with one laser 500*(# of enemies killed) bonus at the end of the level. This can be a few more than the # of enemies you need to kill, if you shot a bunch to end the level. 1st bonus can be at 10000, 20, ..., 80000, and 2nd can be at 2*, 3*, 4* or not at all. Default is 10k/20k. 3. STRATEGIES Monster eye color does not matter. Moving between the top and bottom level shakes enemies off for a bit, but watch out for enemies who will hit you once you get to the top. You can also move right back down after moving up. To make a robonoid fall, when you get on an L shape, head to the center and wait. Push away from the robonoid when he is on the border of the L and the actual maze. This doesn't work automatically at later levels when you may have enemies waiting on the other side. Leave about a half-block between yourself and enemies when you want to turn around and fire, as you can't do so right away. You can also try to get lots of enemies to follow you for more points. Monsters can also be suckered to fall through gaps while well away from you, although I'm not sure exactly how--I think they move randomly toward you to close in on you, so they may run over a gap instead of a single orange piece. The more enemies you have to run against, the more you can line up. Try to avoid corners if you are stacking up enemies, as you'll be kicked to the other level. I found it's more fun to go and try to kill monsters instead of eating dots, but eat a few dots for each power pill. As in Pac-Man, never leave a dot for last. If you are playing to shoot enemies down, try to sweep across the top/bottom so they know where you are and can run after you. Then go down the center once they are near the top. You can follow enemies that bounce back out of a dead end, if you are on an orange square. This fakes them out. You can also fake him out by being 1 square over from a robonoid and seeing which way it is going to go. If playing for points, realize that you will probably only stumble on a row of 5-6 enemies by accident, so you need to work on just being on the right plane at the right time, and eventually you'll get a big bunch in a row. Get one enemy to follow you. You can also lead enemies to a dead end and turn and fire on them. When on the plane with fewer enemies, grab dots. When with more enemies, look for a big shot. Take your time shooting enemies. You don't have to fire right away. Look to make sure an enemy is not 2 squares away before going up/down a shaft. Never die with a shot still to fire. You don't get it when you regenerate. Watch out for the corners if you have a lot of guys lined up. They have a choice to go up the shaft, but you don't. Note you don't get credit for robonoids you kill if you die too soon afterwards, and it is possible to get through a level without killing them, especially the later ones that go faster. Enemies have no clue where you are when they get off the chutes, so if you're almost trapped, that is a way out. Don't try for big bonuses every time--cut the board down to 1 or 2 pills, shooting 1 or 2 guys as you go, then see about the big ones. It's easy to get trapped even after a big shot. Watch for dead ends along the edges. If you can, turn the Ls to face them, and try to have a power pill to cover the edges so you can fire at enemies and be safe. A risky strategy if you want to kill robots instead of clear the board: get 500-bonuses to ward off immediate enemies, then with lots of enemies on the board, then go for the big shots. 4. WALKTHROUGH There's no real way to go about a walkthrough, so I will just detail the first three levels and how I got through them. Level 1 has 4 enemies at the start, so no opportunities for real bonuses unless you wait around for a while. This is actually not too bad, because you can practice faking enemies out, using the tubes, and getting all but one dot. Try to line up 2 guys at once. Note with 8 power pills and 16 enemies, you can just shoot 2 enemies per power pill. Try stepping off an L for 500 too if you miss with a shot, but the game is slow enough you should be able to muddle through and avoid traps. For level 2 you can pick off 5 dots per power pill to make sure you can bail out. Monsters appear more quickly. For level 3 you can sucker enemies to get trapped on the inner bits to start out. There are fewer dots but more dead ends. Around level 11 the dots appear in a different order but it is not a huge deal. End of FAQ Proper ============================ 5. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs.com 2/5/2008, complete except for maybe level maps 6. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine.