The Snowman/Walkthrough



You shall first have to connect your Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, or MSX and cassette recorder to your television, then switch all three of them on; you shall now have to place the cassette of Quicksilva's 1983 platform game The Snowman into the recorder, type LOAD "" (without leaving a space between the quotation marks) and press Enter to load the program into the console. You then have to press either I for instructions, O for options or S to start the game - and if you choose the second option, you shall have to push either 1 for keyboard control, 2 for Kempston joystick control (if connected) or 3 for Cursor joystick control (again, if connected). The game will now return to the start screen, and you'll have to press S to begin.

The Boy must first collect six pieces of snow (which will appear one at a time in random positions) and drop them (where it says "DROP HERE") onto the inaccessible white platform to build the Snowman; three gas flames run randomly around this stage, and they will not kill the Boy if they touch him (but, if he is carrying a piece of snow, they will melt it, and cause it to reappear elsewhere). Glowing crackers, presents, stockings, and Christmas trees will also appear at random on the stage and are worth 220, 230, 240 and 250 points respectively upon collection - and if an ice lolly appears and the Boy collects it, a bonus timer shall start counting down from 1000, during which time he can freeze a gas flame if he touches it, and receive the remaining timer value as bonus points. As the Boy walks around, his food meter (which is displayed at the bottom of the screen) shall also be drained but it can be restored by collecting a glowing turkey or Christmas pudding (which again also appear at random), for 20 points; also, walking off the edge of the platforms is lethal. At the end of each stage, an instrumental of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the film's theme, Walking in the Air, probably could not be used!) is heard.

On the second stage, the Boy will have to collect the Snowman's facial features (his scarf, hat, nose, buttons, eyes, and smile) and drop them into place; three sleep monsters run randomly around this stage, and will put the Boy to sleep if they touch him. If an alarm clock appears on this stage and the Boy collects it, it'll have the same effect on him as the ice lollies did on that previous stage - and the third stage is much the same, only the Boy has to collect the Snowman's accessories (necktie, spectacles, trousers, torch, skateboard and balloons) and drop them into place (the last of which he shall hold up).

On the fourth stage, the Boy will have to collect six ice cubes to stop the Snowman from melting; three more gas flames run randomly around the stage, and shall again not kill the Boy if they touch him (but again, if he is carrying an ice cube, they shall melt it and cause it to reappear elsewhere). After this stage, the game will start all over again, only with a different screen layout - and all of the subsequent screen layouts are displayed in the gallery below.

The game shall continue until you run out of lives (and you shall receive an extra one every time the screen layout changes), or you turn off the console; however, upon Stage 29, the Snowman is already built (and the sleep monsters are already present), so there are only three stages on the eighth cycle. Also, upon Stage 40, the Snowman is already built with facial features (and sleep monsters present) so there are only two stages on the eleventh cycle.