Cave Glider

Roxton A. Colchester III, fedora fan and adventurer extraordinaire, has followed a series of clues to an uncharted island in the eastern archipelago. After discovering and passing through an enormous steel door, Roxton and friends find a massive hole, plunging deep into Neopia's core. What could lie at the bottom? What could be so important as to hide this thoroughly? Well, there's only one way to find out...

Get the parachutes!

How to Play

In Cave Glider, you use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to guide a parachuting Roxton as he floats down through a rocky pit, avoiding flying Petpets and collecting treasure. While the Lutari and his parachute can take quite a beating from the Petpets and jagged rock walls, if the health bar empties completely the game will end. Your goal is to lead him safely to the bottom of the cave as quickly as possible, as you will receive a time bonus for doing so. While a meter showing your progress through the current level is available in the top-left corner of the screen, it doesn't reliably show your current position, so isn't terribly useful.

Then again, altimeters aren't meant to be used underground anyway...

Each of the game's three levels is randomly generated, with the positions of rocks, enemies and items changing with each play. Due to this randomness, you will sometimes encounter tight corridors or enemy placements that are impossible to pass without taking damage. To help raise your spirits in these situations, there are a few useful items for you to collect.

Level One

In the first level, you will encounter Spyders, Skree and Bartamus. The random level creator will mostly generate wide, open areas, very rarely creating tight gaps. Numerous power-ups and rubies make this an easy place to quickly raise your score.

Enemies Spyders move slowly, sometimes forcing you to wait for them if you wish to avoid taking any damage. Skree quickly fly across the cave, but their small size makes it fairly easy to avoid touching them. Bartamus move slowly and will frequently pause, making their movements difficult to predict.

Treasures 25 points 50 points

Level Two

At the start of the second level, you will always be forced to move to the right, possibly through a group of enemies; fortunately, there will usually be health power-ups nearby. This level tends to generate much narrower passages, which occasionally open into circular chambers filled with enemies. Move carefully to avoid bumping into the walls, as it's easy to take multiple hits by bouncing off of one rock and into another. In these magma-filled caves, you will find Yellow Spyders, Baby Fireballs, and Darigan Hippalops.

Enemies Due to the smaller space, Yellow Spyders are more dangerous than their black counterparts. Baby Fireballs will slowly drift across the screen, with the occasional burst of speed. Darigan Hippalops move slowly, using their large size to impede your progress.

Treasures 50 points 75 points

Level Three

The third and final level is much easier than the second, but could start out with a nasty surprise: it's possible for the random generation to put several enemies on top of you at the beginning, which could be an instant Game Over if you're low on health. While the wide spaces here make the White Spyders, Blue Airax and Bloopies easy to avoid, there aren't many power-ups to be had, so glide carefully.

Enemies White Spyders are unpredictable, sometimes shooting across the screen unexpectedly. While Blue Airax move quickly, their small size prevents them from becoming a real threat. Due to their size, slow-moving Bloopies are often found in places that makes collision unavoidable.

Treasures 50 points 100 points

Tips & Tricks

• Stay in the center of the screen whenever possible, as this maximizes your reaction time.
• Don't try to collect a health power-up if it could cost you your life; while it's possible to collect the power-up as your health bar hits zero, it will still be counted as a game over.
• Your final score for a level is your remaining time multiplied by ten, with the sum added to the points earned by collecting jewels and bonus power-ups. Due to this, it's always better to take a clock power-up rather than a jewel if you're forced to make the choice.
• To maximize your score and have a chance at a trophy, collect as many score-increasing items as possible in the first and third levels. In the second level, you should focus on staying alive.

Video

This game guide was written by: Chesu