Waimanu Grinding Blocks Adventure GBA

Waimanu - Grinding Blocks Adventure
General
Author	Disjointed Studio
Type	Puzzle
Version	2013
License	CC
Last Updated	2013/07/04
Links
Download
Website

Waimanu: Grinding Blocks Adventure is a homebrew puzzle game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It is a faithful port of the original DS version, every aspect of the game is replicated here, except for the upper screen picture.

It was submitted to the NEO Retro Coding Compo 2013 (Game, 3rd place).

User guide

How to play

Evil alien jellies, the Wekas, have arrived to Earth. Their plan is to colonize our planet and subdue every form of life on it. But Waimanu, despite being only a little blue penguin, will fight the Wekas for the freedom of Earth inhabitants.

Waimanu can push blocks and make them slide, and sliding blocks can squash Wekas between them. He can also destroy blocks if they cannot be pushed, for instance if they're already against to a wall or if there's another block behind them, but also Wekas can destroy blocks whenever they want, and try to reach our hero.

The field borders can be also hit by Waimanu and they will vibrate for a second, stunning each Weka that is leaning to it. A stunned Weka can be eliminated simply by touching it, but beware because they recover consciousness quite fast!

Finally, blocks containing hidden Wekas are highlighted at the beginning of each level, and they can be destroyed before they deliver the alien life form.

Each level contains a different number of blocks and a different number of Wekas, but you've got a fixed amount of seconds (75 or 50, depending on difficulty level EASY/HARD that you selected when you started the game) to eliminate them, of they'll become faster and will eventually catch you easily, or they'll try to escape before you could eliminate them all, if only one Weka is left.

Scoring

Points are awarded for every second saved when you completely wipe Wekas from a level. Then 400 points are awarded for each Weka that is eliminated, and extra points are awarded when more that one Weka is squashed with the same sliding block.

A small amount of points, 30, are awarded also for each destroyed block, and much more points are awarded for lining up all the three special 'Diamond' blocks (which are deployed in each level, they're also completely indestructible): if they line up against a wall, you'll be awarded 5,000 points, or 10,000 points if you're able to line them up with at least one of them not touching any wall.

An extra life is awarded when reaching 10,000 points and, after that, another extra life will be awarded every 15,000 points.

Bonus

To help Waimanu in his battle for freedom, there could be bonus features of 5 different kinds randomly hidden inside the blocks.

Tsunami (azure tile with a T on it):

• This will release a tsunami wave when Waimanu steps on it.
• The wave will make every alive Weka drown.
• It doesn't touch blocks or still hidden Wekas.

Fire (red tile with a F on it):

• This will heat the whole field with fire when Waimanu steps on it.
• Every alive Weka will be incinerated but this will also destroy a lot of blocks and will set free every Weka still hidden.

Dynamite (black tile with a D on it):

• This bonus can be collected and used when needed.
• It drops a bomb that will explode few seconds later, destroying everything around it. So be careful because even Waimanu could be hit by this.

Hole (green tile with a H on it):

• This bonus can also be collected and used when needed.
• It creates an hole on the field surface that cannot be seen by Wekas so they'll will fall if stepping on it.
• The hole is temporary and will last some seconds. Waimanu won't be able to pass over it, by the way, so beware.

Block (yellow tile with a B on it):

• This bonus can be collected and used when needed.
• It drops a block which is completely indestructible for few seconds, then it will become just like every other normal block.
• This could also be useful for lining up 'Diamond' blocks.

When a bonus is collected, any previously collected but unused bonus will be lost, so only one bonus will be available at a time. Uncollected bonuses will disappear after just few seconds, so you need to be fast to decide if a bonus is worth a run to get it.

To use a bonus (which means to drop a bomb, to make a block appear or to create a hole) you should press the B button. If you do this while Waimanu is moving, the bonus will be released behind him. Otherwise, if he's still, the bonus will be released the direction he's facing.

Notes and game tips

To completely defeat the alien invaders, Waimanu should eliminate them from each one of the 4 different areas where they are hiding.

There are 8 different levels for each area with increasing number of Wekas, and they even get smarter as the battle goes on, so expect them to become more aggressive as they realize how much a little blue penguin can be a threat to their conquest plan.

HARD game mode is even available for those who find the challenge too simple in the standard EASY mode. More Wekas for you to squash.

Eight different tunes will drive you through the journey to free the Earth and a bunch of sound effects will highlight every action that is taking place on screen.

The situation will be always summarized on the upper screen (it shows the number of Wekas still hidden, Waimanu's lives left, the area&level and the current score, the seconds left before the Wekas gets faster, and a balloon will also appear when a bonus is available).

Controls

D-Pad - Move our little penguin around

A - Push/break blocks and to hit walls

B - Use a bonus (if you picked up one of them)

Start - Pause the game

Screenshots

Media

Waimanu Grinding Blocks Adventure (GBA Emulated) (Bernard Larquey)

Online emulator

Can use gamepad or customise in the control settings.

Game Boy Advance	Keyboard

Compatibility

The game has been tested on hardware (on GBA / GBA SP / GBA Micro / NDS Lite [slot 2]) with both SuperCard and M3 cards.

It runs also on latest no$gba/no$debug emulators.

External links

• Author's website - https://disjointedstudio.blogspot.com/
• NeoFlash - https://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php?topic=7637.0