Huxley Pig

Huxley Pig is a platform/action game which was developed by Bizarre Developments for Alternative Software and released on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 in 1990; it is based on the FilmFair Animation and Central Television series of the same name. The game's story starts similar to that of Alternative's own Sooty and Sweep in that Huxley's friend Horace "the rotten rodent" has left the door of his house open and let all of the "creepy crawlies" in along with his arch-enemy Vile Vincent the Vampire Pig, Sidney the Snake (who wore a hat like that of Tommy Cooper, 1921-1984) and Sam the Seagull - and Huxley now has to find a cross (to bypass Vile Vincent) and collect an aeroplane, cake and sailboat in that order, as well as find the outfits that go with them, all while avoiding spiders (as they will eat part of his sandwich on contact, and if they eat it completely, he'll die!), Sidney (who will reverse his controls), and Sam (who will steal any item he is carrying). If Huxley should bump into Horace, he will also give him the added task of having to find his spanner.

Controls

 * Q, A, O, and P: In the ZX version, you can use these four keys to make Huxley walk left, right, and up and down staircases; however, in the CPC and C64 versions, you'll have to use a joystick for this instead. Pressing Space, or the button on the joystick, shall also cause Huxley to jump.

Part 1
Once you have connected your Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC or Commodore 64 to your television, inserted Side 1 of the game's cassette into the cassette recorder, then switched all three of them on, type LOAD "" (without leaving a space between the quotation marks) and press Enter to load the game into the console; once the game's rendition of the show's theme song has ended, you'll have the opportunity to press Space in all three versions to change the difficulty level from "EASY" to "HARD" (it is displayed at the bottom of the screen), then press the button on the joystick to start it. The text "GOOD MORNING HUXLEY" shall then appear on the screen - and Huxley will start the game in his bedroom, on the right side of his house's third floor. As you direct him around the house you will have to make him jump over the spiders that occasionally scuttle across the floor (as they will eat part of his sandwich on contact, and if they eat it completely, he'll die), along with Sidney the Snake (whose bite will reverse his controls for a short period of time), and pick up a cross from one of the eight tables which usually only have one thing on them (to bypass Vile Vincent who is guarding the playroom); once Huxley has picked up his aeroplane, cake or sailboat from the playroom, he will have to find the outfit that goes with it (it will be randomly-placed on one of the twelve coatracks that are placed around the house) then return to his bedroom (while watching out for Sam the Seagull, as he shall steal the item he is carrying and he will have to pick it up again). If Huxley bumps into Horace the "rotten rodent", he will also give him the added task of having to find his spanner - and its position is, again, randomly-generated. Once Huxley has returned to his bedroom with his sailboat (and wearing his sailor's outfit!), the text "WELL DONE. USE CODE FOR PART TWO" will appear upon the screen, with the code of "SBJV7BYN" below it; you will then have to turn the cassette over to Side 2 (like Danger Mouse in the Black Forest Chateau) and when the text "ENTER CODE FROM PART ONE" appears on the screen, the seven letters and one number will appear as "X"s as you enter them. The game's rendition of the show's theme song will then start to be heard for a second time (this time, the lyrics appear on the screen) - and once it has finished, you'll have to press the button on the joystick (or Enter) to continue.

Part 2
The text "WHILE HUXLEY IS PLAYING WITH HIS TOY AEROPLANE HE DAYDREAMS OF BECOMING A PILOT" will then appear on the screen, and Huxley will start flying forward in his plane; he must break as many 50-point hearts as he can while watching out for other planes, because if he is hit by one, the fuel can on the left side of the screen will turn red and one of the four letters in the word "FUEL" will turn black (if he is hit four times, he will die, even if he is just in a daydream), but once he has broken a total of thirty-two 50-point hearts, the text "WELL DONE HUXLEY" will appear on the screen.

The text "WHILE HUXLEY IS EATING HIS CAKE HE IMAGINES HE IS A CHEF MAKING THE WORLDS GREATEST PIZZA" (the lack of apostrophe in "worlds" is also accurate) will then appear on the screen, and eight ingredients (tomato, onion, mushroom, cheese, pepper, sliced tomato, chili and ham) will be displayed at its top, with the text "SELECT INGREDIENTS" below them; use O and P (or left and right on the joystick) to pick the ingredients, then press Space (or the button on the joystick) to confirm your choice. Once you have selected four of them, the text "TRY AGAIN" will appear below them (if it is a losing combination), or "WELL DONE" (if it is a winning combination) - and in the case of a losing combination, one of the eight ticks in the bottom-left corner of the screen will become a cross, and if all eight of them become crosses Huxley will die (again, even if he is just in a daydream), but in the case of a winning combination, he will win a 50-point heart, and once he wins ten of them, the text "WELL DONE HUXLEY" shall again appear on the screen. The ten winning combinations for this bit are pepper/ham/onion/chili, cheese/pepper/ham/tomato, sliced tomato/mushroom/chili/ham, sliced tomato/cheese/tomato/chili (for which both types of tomato are together), onion/pepper/mushroom/ham, onion/tomato/cheese/mushroom, pepper/onion/tomato/ham, pepper/mushroom/sliced tomato/onion, tomato/ham/cheese/pepper, then (finally) tomato/onion/mushroom/cheese.

The text "WHILE HUXLEY IS PLAYING WITH HIS TOY BOAT HE WISHES HE WAS PILOTING A SPEEDBOAT" shall then appear on the screen, and Huxley will start driving forward in his boat; he must run over as many 50-point fish as he can while watching out for turtles and logs, because if he is hit by one the fuel can on the left side of the screen shall turn red and one of the four letters in the word "FUEL" will turn black (again, if he is hit four times, he will die, even if, once again, he is just in a daydream!), but once he has run over thirty-two 50-point fish, the text "WELL DONE HUXLEY" will appear on the screen. That text of "ALL THIS DAYDREAMING HAS MADE HUXLEY HUNGRY SO NOW IT IS TIME TO GO TO THE SHOPS TO BUY SOME TUNA FISH SANDWICHES" will then appear on the screen and fade into a digitized picture of him from the show as the game's rendition of the show's theme song starts to be heard for the third and final time - and it is also worth noting that this bit of the second part is remarkably similar to the first one.