An amazing game and a must to those platform lovers and of course, lovers of the first game.
Back in 1982, a platform game took the gaming industry by storm titled Miner 2049er. It brought many different elements like ten different levels (as many at the time barely produce four) and written entirely in machine language, there was little doubt we're going to see the star Bounty Bob again. Yet, its sequel is wasn't as expected at first as the heavily advertised 'Scraper Caper' was due to realise in 1984 didn't see the light of day. This supposed game took Bounty Bob away from the mines and moved to the city as a fireman – what a massive change indeed.
However (and thankfully so) it didn't come to fruition yet in 1985, Bounty Bob now back in the mines starring as 'Bounty Bob Strikes Back'. And to those who didn't get the title's 'hidden joke', it's taken from Star Wars second title 'The Empire Strikes Back' back in 1980. I'm guessing these folks are Star Wars fans – then again who wasn't.
So the aim of this game is very similar to the first one; that is controlling Bounty Bob to 'inspect' each section of the mine in search for villain Yukon Yohan. And to 'inspect' is simply walk over a section of floor, turning it into a solid foundation. Claiming all the sections will forward you to another level however it's not as easy as it seems as there are many obstacles to halt Bounty Bob, and a timer that resembles Bob's lungs slowly ticking away. Also Bob can only fall short distances so there's a lot to think about before claiming those sections.
Like its predecessor, there are many items Bob can use to finish off a level. The famed cannon is back in one level that shoots Bob high up however do not overload this contraption with TNT, the transporters that transport Bob's molecules from one area to another and of course, slides and ladders scattered about.
Yet, what's a new game without new items. Thankfully, there are plenty of them here and some examples are the grain elevator (it takes you up however you have to make your way down), suction tubes (which can alter the direction it sucks), pulverises (just don't stand under them), utility host and many more. Also those glowing mutants are back so avoid them at all costs however you can destroy them by collecting 'relics' that's scattered throughout the level.
To tackle each level requires planning and timing and looks can be deceiving. The way I normally complete a level is to first get rid of all the mutants. These little buggers can be a royal pain if you fail to miss just one (as most platforms are very small) you have no hope in hell 'claiming' it. Sometimes you need to use one relic to destroy three mutants in a row; other times it's just one for one.
Once done, then you can concentrate claiming the mine. Remember that you always need a path to reach the bottom as Bob cannot fall great distances. Other words, what goes up must come down. I sometimes fail to realise this as I claimed a single platform only to realise I cannot claim the others as they are all too far to jump or fall down on.
A new feature has been added that you need to master as soon as possible. When Bob jumps, you can time the distance travel for that jump. Other words, he can complete long jumps or very short ones. It's just a matter of doing a standing jump then move your joystick / controller left or right in mid-air; so the longer the 'delay', the shorter the jump. And to add salt to the wounds, level one has a small platform to claim using this technic and level five's entire screen uses this. And funny enough, this is where most people quit the game.
Visually, there's a massive improvement from its last instalment as everything looks 3D. Quite an impressive feat considering as most users still have the same computer back then. Also Bob changed slightly as he looks redder on his face and there are a lot more relic's variations. Musical scores also ramped up with nice tunes to boot and the big one is the high score / intro as the letters are all controlled by flying birds. And it's quite a feat to see when the high scores ladder are full of characters and seeing the birds re-arrange all the letters in perfect harmony.
To finish the game, you need to complete a whopping twenty five levels in one sitting (actually there are twenty six however the very last is something special). And this game does not use the 'traditional' each-level-is-harder-than-the-last as some, later on levels are amazingly easy; and funny enough they are called 'rest stops' / 'bonus levels'. I felt that level twelve (acid rain), level fifteen (Yukon's Revenge), twenty four (mutant's revenge) and level twenty five (floating transporter) are the hardest. Yet level twenty four is more about luck than skill and twenty five is deceptively hard.
And as a special bonus (and if you allowed it in the configuration page), you can warp levels however this won't trigger until you pass certain criteria. For example: the first one you should encounter is warping to that dreaded level five. In this 'secret message' it states what needs to be done in level two to warp to level five. Of course, the deeper you get into the game, the better the secret message / warps. Also there are four levels of difficulty and to my knowledge, I think most are passable. I only completed the game on easy / medium as the game can be quite difficult at the higher difficulty mode.
'Bounty Bob Strikes Back' overall is an amazing game and a must to those platform lovers and of course, lovers of the first game. Note though: back then, the game was only released on cassette (as it requires a whopping 64KB - seriously, that was huge for an 8-bit system) and the game's installation time was fourteen minutes. Remember there was no hard drive to save it on so it loads directly to RAM.