Chubby Cherub/Walkthrough

To eat or not to eat?
When you play this game for the first time, it is very tempting to want to eat every single piece of food that appears on the screen. But remember, this is not Pac-Man, you're only required to eat as much food as you need to stay alive. In the earlier stages, the food is so plentiful, that you can afford to eat one out of every four or five pieces of food that you see. As the stages increase, you may have to go a bit out of your way in order to gather energy. But since time is energy, the more time that it takes you to collect one piece of food, the less energy you net in the final outcome. Since your primary goal is to progress to the end of the stage, it is far better to collect food when traveling right, then when backtracking to the left. Food that is close to a dog or a telephone pole should generally be avoided if it can be helped.

To shoot or not to shoot?
Of all the enemies in the game, barking dogs are the biggest pain. In addition to their mobility, they also have range since they can hit you with a bark from quite a distance away. Therefore, it can seem very tempting to shoot at them with your weapon if you have any ammo. This is a risky prospect however. The only surefire time that you can fire at a dog is right after you collect an invulnerability power icon. Note that if a bark hits you while you're invulnerable, you will not die, but you will lose the invulnerability prematurely. In order for you to shoot the dogs, you must get close enough to them so that they can hit you. In a shoot out between you and a dog, whoever shoots first wins. If you manage to get in range and fire at them before they fire at you, you will knock the dog out and the bark they send will typically fail to reach you. If a dog gets hit, it will fall from its perch to the bottom of the screen. The dog can still kill you as it is falling, so steer clear of them all together. In order for dogs to bark at you, you must be within a 45 degree angle to their right or to their left. If you are more above or below them then to their side, they will not bark at you. More often then not, your safest bet is to simply fly to the top of screen and bypass the encounter.

To fly or to walk?
It is tempting to want to fly all the way through a stage, both for the advantage of speed and maneuverability. However, that comes with the cost of a rapidly decreasing power meter. And if the edge of your meter reaches the U in "GAU" directly below it, you will no longer be able to fly until you procure more food. And without the ability to fly, food can be difficult to reach. Early in the game, food is so plentiful that you can easily cross entire stages without fear of being forced to the ground. However, food is scarce in the later stages, and you must make a judgment call. Sometimes the stretches without food are so long that it is impossible to cross them entirely in the air. While you might be safe flying as long as you can and walking the remaining distance, if there are opportunities for you to land and walk early on, it might be wise to take them. Energy drains even if you walk, but far more slowly. So if you can cross a good deal of distance safely by jumping from a roof top, and resume flying immediately afterward, you will save a little bit of energy. If you are ever going to stop flying, try to drop when you are as close to the platform you wish to land on as possible. Both time and energy are wasted if you have to fall any distance before you are able to land and continue on.

Heaven and Hell
There are two special stages that you can take advantage of and use to replenish your energy. They are referred to as heaven and hell.

Heaven
Heaven can only be accessed on stages that contain buildings with active smokestacks. The smokestacks bellow out clouds at regular intervals. Ordinarily, the clouds are puffy, but occasionally they come out as rings. If you can maneuver yourself such that you fly directly underneath the ring so that it looks like a halo, you will be pulled up to heaven. If you land on top or to the side of the ring, you will lose a life so be careful. Once in heaven, a screen full of cupcakes will appear. Crows fly through heaven, but they are not difficult to avoid. Each cupcake is worth 500 points, and when you are done, press the jump button to fall back down to Earth. Upon your return, you will have a full energy meter, although your GAU count will be reset to 0.

Hell
Hell is far easier to reach, but difficult to get out of. You can access hell anytime you fall through the bottom of the screen. When you enter hell, you will be in a pitch black room except for the light streaming in through the exit, with two cats, a dog, and a guardian bulldog. There will also be a lollipop which will be crucial for your escape. One important aspect of hell is: you can never lose any lives. You may die, and be forced to start over, but it will never cost you one of your chances. There are a number of blocks that can be used as platforms that you can jump on in order to escape, but they're invisible, so you have to observe what the cats do in order to know where they are. Once you get within range of the bulldog, you must shoot it with the GAU you collected from the lollipop. This is most easily accomplished when you jump down from above the bulldog and fire as early as possible so that you kill the bulldog before it has a chance to bark. Then jump into the exit. When you escape, you will enter the stage approximately where you left with full energy. The truth is, there are times when it can be advantageous to enter hell. If you are running low on energy and about to die, it is better to drop into a gap in the floor and exit hell with a full power meter than to lose a life avoiding hell. You can't lose any of your lives, so assuming you can find your way out, it's a free energy refill.

Mid-stage and End-stage
In every stage, there are two moments when the scrolling stops. One is at the mid-point of the stage and the other is at the end.

Mid-stage
In every stage, you will eventually come to a "STOP" sign. At this point, the only way to advance is to eat every piece of food available on the screen. If you do this, a present will appear on the left side of the screen. This present is an item of special importance to the child that is being rescued in this stage. In general, the only threats to worry about are any barking dogs that might end up on the stage with you. But if you take too long, it will be very costly for you energy wise. It is best to leave one or two pieces of food on the left side of the screen for last so that you don't spend too long after grabbing the present without food.

End-stage
There are two different way that a stage can end, the normal way, or with a fight against a burglar. The normal way consists of a series of windows with food placed directly beneath them. Each food that you eat opens a window. Your goal is to open the window that contains the child you came to rescue. When you open a window, you will either find the child, nothing, or a barking dog will jump out. Because of the threat presented by the dogs, the safest way to check the windows is from top to bottom. If you search from bottom to top, you are likely to run into a dog as it is jumping out of the window. Burglar fights take place every third stage; 3, 6, 9, 12, and so on. During a burglar fight, the burglar will run on to the screen from the right side, depositing a child by the edge of the screen, and dropping a bone before he comes to stop. He will immediately begin tossing many bombs in the air in various directions. They are easy enough to avoid, especially if you are high enough. In order to defeat the burglar, you must collect the bone, and use the attack button to toss it back at the burglar. If you succeed, the dog and the cat that appear on the screen from the left side will attack the burglar and scare it away. Do not get in the burglars way, as he can still kill you when he is running away. Even if you defeat the final burglar on stage 12, the game will start over from the beginning with stage 13.