Top Cat/Walkthrough

You will first have to connect your Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 or Commodore Amiga (and cassette recorder, in the case of the 8-bit versions) to your television set, then switch all three (or both, for the case of the Amiga version) of them on; you will then have to place the cassette (or the disk, in the case of the Amiga version) of Hi-Tec Software's PAL Developments-developed (and Twilight-redeveloped, in the Amiga version) 1990 action game of Top Cat into the cassette recorder (or the console itself in the case of the Amiga version), type LOAD "" without leaving a space between the quotation marks, and press Enter to load the program into the console (or wait for it to load automatically for the case of the Amiga version). In the ZX and CPC versions, you will now have to press either 1 to start the game, 2 for keyboard control, 3 for Sinclair joystick control (if connected) or 4 for Kempston joystick control (again, if connected) - however, in the CPC version, option 3 will not be present, so option 4 will be option 3. But in the C64 and Amiga versions, you shall just have to press the button on the joystick to start the game as those two versions do not support keyboard control; in the CPC version, you can also type HELP on the start screen to make Top Cat invulnerable, but he will still game-over if the 48-minute timer runs out.

Area 1
Once Top Cat has appeared on the screen, you shall have to: walk to the right, up, to the right, down and to the right (while watching out for two skaters, three trash cans and a bird), up (while watching out for a guillotine-like gate and a bee), to the right (while watching out for a ball), up (while watching out for a fourth trash can) and left to find Choo-Choo (pink); you'll then have to walk back to the right (while watching out for the fourth trash can as well as a fifth one), down (while watching for another guillotine-like gate), right (while watching for a hedgehog and another ball), down and left (while watching for another bee). You will then have to wait for four bombs to explode, walk down, right, down, right, up, right, up, and left to find Fancy-Fancy (brown) - and if you have lost too much energy, you will have to retrace your steps back to the left of the fourth trash can and pick up the milk bottle. You will now have to retrace your steps back to the hedgehog and second ball, walk to the right, up, and to the right (while watching out for two more skaters and two more bees), up (while watching out for three open fire hydrants and a third guillotine-like gate), left (while watching out for three more balls) and pick up a key; but again, if you have lost too much energy by this point, you will have to walk back to the right, up, to the left (while watching out for two more birds and another hedgehog), up (while watching out for a rat), and to the right to pick up a second milk bottle. You will then have to retrace your steps back to the first ball, walk up (while watching out for a third ball and a wheel), to the left, up (while watching out for three more trash cans), left and pick up a second key - and you shall now have to walk to the right, up (while watching for a fourth guillotine-like gate), to the right (while watching out for a second wheel), down, and to the right. You will now have to wait for three more bombs to explode, walk down, right, up, right, and down to find Brain (orange); you shall then have to retrace your steps back to those first two skaters, walk up, to the left (while watching out for two more birds), up (while watching out for two more open fire hydrants and a third hedgehog), enter "drop object" mode and drop either of the keys you picked up in front of a (non-guillotine-like) gate to open it. You will then have to walk up, to the left (while watching out for another rat), and pick up a spade - and, once again, if you have lost too much energy, you will have to walk to the right, and pick up a third milk bottle. You'll then have to retrace your steps back to those first two skaters again, walk down, to the right, down (while watching out for five more open fire hydrants), right, up, right (while watching out for an eighth trash can), down, right, up (while watching out for a ninth trash can), right and down to find Spook (green); you shall now have to retrace your steps back to the ninth hydrant, walk to the left, and pick up a bone (you can also walk up to pick up a fourth milk bottle if you have yet again lost too much energy by this time). You will then have to retrace your steps back to those third and fourth skaters and bees, walk to the right, down to Griswold's bowl (Griswold himself stands guard on the right), enter "drop object" mode and drop the bone to make Griswold walk over to the bowl - and you will then have to walk to the right to proceed to the second area (it is also worth noting that on the left of the second area's opening screen, there happens to be a poster for the 1985 movie Rocky IV).

Area 2
Once Top Cat has reappeared on the screen, you will have to start walking down (while watching out for two birds, and a guillotine-like gate), to the right (while watching out for a rat, a hedgehog, and two bees), down (while watching out for two more hedgehogs), right, and pick up a key; you will then have to retrace your steps back to the start, walk to the right (while watching out for a third bird, two balls, three skaters, a third bee, and a third ball), and pick up an ID card. You now have to retrace your steps back to the previous screen, walk up (while watching out for another guillotine-like gate and a wheel), to the right, up into the phone box, enter "drop object" mode and drop the ID card - and once you have done so, you will have to walk back to the left, up (while watching out for two trash cans and another wheel), and to the right. You'll then have to wait for four bombs to explode, walk down, right, up, right (while watching for a third wheel, a fourth bird and two more skaters), down and right (while watching for a fifth bird, a second rat and two more skaters); you now have to wait for four more bombs to explode, walk down, right, up, right (while watching out for a sixth bird, a fourth bee and two more skaters), up (while watching out for a fifth bee, a third rat, third guillotine-like gate and third wheel), right (while watching out for a fourth ball, three more skaters, a fourth rat, a fourth wheel, a seventh bird, and three more balls), and pick up a coin. You shall now have to retrace your steps back to the third wheel and fourth bird, walk down (while watching out for three more balls), right, and pick up a figure 2 - and if you have lost too much energy by this point, you will have to retrace your steps back to the sixth bird, and pick up a milk bottle. You now have to go back to that screen with the second rat, walk down (while watching out for two more wheels with a fourth guillotine-like gate, a fifth rat, a sixth bee, two more skaters, an eighth bird and two more trash cans), left (while watching out for a fifteenth skater, two more trash cans and a seventh bee), enter "drop object" mode, and drop the key from the previous area in front of a non-guillotine-like gate to open it; you will then have to walk up, left, and pick up a figure 1. You will now have to retrace your steps back to the previous screen, walk to the right (while watching out for: a fourth hedgehog, a ninth bird, three more skaters, and a sixth rat), up (watching out for three more wheels and a seventh rat) and pick up another key. You'll now have to retrace your steps back to the sixth bird, walk up, enter "drop object" mode, and drop the coin into either of the car wash's slots to make its barrier open - and you'll now have to walk up (while watching out for the rollers) and pick up a figure 4. You now have to retrace your steps back to the fourth ball, walk to the left (while watching out for an eleventh ball and two more bees), up (while watching out for three more wheels and two more skaters), to the right (while watching out for five more balls), enter "drop object" mode and drop the key in front of another non-guillotine-like gate to make it open; you'll now have to walk up, left and pick up a figure 3. You'll now have to retrace your steps back onto the previous screen, walk up (while watching out for a tenth bee and a seventh trash can), to the left (while watching out for a thirteenth wheel and two more skaters), enter "drop object" mode, and drop the four numbers (picking them up again when you have to), so that they spell out the secret code 3412 (causing Officer Patrick Dibble to open the gate to the mansion despite the fact that his voice actor, Allen Jenkins, died in 1974) - and you will then have to walk up (while watching out for two clones of Griswold) and off the top of the screen, in order to proceed to the third and final area.

Area 3
Once Top Cat has reappeared on the screen, you will have to: start walking up (while watching out for three balls), right (while watching out for a ghost and a fourth ball), down, right (while watching out for a third clone of Griswold), up, left (while watching out for a rat), up (while watching out for another ghost), right (while watching out for a fifth ball), down, right, enter "drop object" mode, and drop the numbers; you will then have to walk back to the left and pick up a key. You'll then have to walk up, right, up, left (while watching out for a third ghost), up (while watching out for a guillotine-like wall), right, and up - and you then have to wait for three bombs to explode, walk up (while watching out for another guillotine-like wall, and a sixth ball), enter "drop object" mode, and drop the key in front of a pair of double doors to make them open. You'll then have to walk up and pick up a milk bottle, retrace your steps back to the second guillotine-like wall, and walk left, up, left (while watching out for a fourth ghost) and up; you'll then have to wait for three more bombs to explode, walk right, up, right, and pick up a second key. You will now have to walk back left, down, left, and up (while watching out for a third guillotine-like wall and a seventh ball) - and you will now have to wait for a seventh bomb to explode, walk right, down, right, up and pick up a third key. You will now have to retrace your steps back to the third guillotine-like wall, walk up (while watching out for an eighth ball), right (while watching out for another rat), down, right, up, enter "drop object" mode and drop either key in front of another pair of double doors to make them open; you'll then have pick up a pot, retrace your steps back to that second ghost, walk left (while watching out for three more balls), up, left, and pick up a third key. You will now have to retrace your steps back to the room where you dropped the numbers (they will still be there), walk right (while watching out for a third rat), down, right (while watching out for a fourth rat and three more balls), down, and right - and you'll now have to wait for an eighth bomb to explode, walk up, left, up, left (while watching out for a fifth ghost), up (while watching out for a fifth guillotinelike wall), right, up (while watching out for a sixth ghost), right, down, right (while watching for two more ghosts and two more balls), down, right, enter "drop object" mode, and drop either key in front of a third pair of double doors to make them open. You will now have to walk up, right, down and pick up a second milk bottle; you will then have to retrace your steps back to the previous screen, walk left, down, left, enter "drop object" mode and drop the remaining key in front of a fourth pair of double doors to make them open. You'll now have to walk up, enter "drop object" mode, drop the pot in front of the sink (then pick it up again once it is full up), retrace your steps back to the fourth guillotinelike wall, walk to the left (while watching for a seventh ghost), up (while watching for a fourth clone of Griswold), left (watching out for two more ghosts and fifth rat), up (watching out for a seventeenth ball), left (watching out for a sixth rat and two more ghosts), up (watching out for a fifth clone of Griswold), enter "drop object" mode, and drop the pot in front of a fireplace to make it open - and you will now have to walk up to Benny, who'll say ''THANKS TOP CAT FOR RESCUING ME! GAME OVER.'' (but his voice actor, Maurice Gosfield, died in 1964, so it is not rendered as a speech sample). It's also worth noting that the score display in this game is virtually redundant as you only get points for collecting fruit.