Popeye (1985)/Walkthrough

You shall first have to connect your Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC or Commodore 64 and cassette recorder to your television, then switch all three of them on; once you've done so you shall have to place the cassette of DK'Tronics's 1985 platform game Popeye in the recorder, type LOAD "" (without leaving a space between the quotation marks) and press Enter to load the program into the console. Once the game has loaded, you can press J to switch to Kempston joystick control (if connected), K to switch back to keyboard control, or R to redefine the keys - and if you choose to redefine the keys, you must do it in the order RIGHT, LEFT, DOWN, UP, and HOLD. Regardless of choosing to redefine the keys or not, press S to start the game.

Once Popeye has appeared in front of the archway to the right of Olive's front door, Bernard the vulture will fly past him from the right side of the screen; you will then have to walk down the staircase and to the right, as Brutus (who starts at the lighthouse) walks towards you from the left side of the screen. You will now have to walk up towards the rope to grab it, climb up it to the first floor of its building and walk to the left to collect two keys (which open the lower door of the lighthouse and the door on the right side of the starting screen) and a heart - and once you have done so you will have to walk back to the right, climb back down that rope, walk back down away from it (while watching out for Brutus, because you may remember he possesses the power to change "layers"), retrace your steps back to Popeye's starting position to drop down through that archway, walk to the left (as Bernard flies past from the screen's right side again), walk back down to the screen's bottom "layer", walk to the left, and jump up to collect another heart from the lighthouse's balcony. You'll then have to walk to the left and jump up to collect a can of spinach from the balcony, and repeat the process for a third heart; once you have done so you will have to enter the lighthouse and walk up the staircase to its light (while watching out for a flying blue alien). You will now have to walk right and down to collect a third key (which opens the door to the lighthouse balcony), and walk left and up to collect another can of spinach - and once you've done so you will have to retrace your steps back down to the lighthouse's balcony, open the door to it and walk down onto it. You will then have to walk to the left and jump up to collect a fourth key, which opens the door of that building you'd climbed the rope to the first floor of earlier; once you have done so you will have to walk to the right and jump up to collect a third can of spinach. You will then have to retrace your steps back down to Popeye's starting position, then walk to the left to give the two hearts he has collected to Olive - for he'll only have a free space for one more item now.

You shall then have to retrace your steps back up to the lighthouse's light (while again watching out for the flying blue alien), walk down and to the right, and jump onto the alien's spaceship when it hovers into view from the screen's left side to be carried over to the one-armed bandit; once it has dropped Popeye off on its third staircase, you will have to walk down it, and walk to the left towards the fence to drop down through a trapdoor to the deck of the ship. You will then have to jump up to collect two more hearts - and once you have done so, you will have to walk down to the ship's bowels to collect a fifth key (which opens the door at the bottom of the ocean). The Sea Hag shall then fly past from the left side of the screen, and you will have to walk to the left, walk up to grab onto the chain of the ship's anchor and climb down it into the ocean (while watching out for a mechanical shark swimming back and forth just below its surface); once you have done so, you shall have to walk to the right and enter the door at the bottom of the ocean to be warped back to your starting position and walk to the left to give the two hearts you have collected to Olive. You will then have to retrace your steps back down to the bottom of the ocean (while again watching out for the mechanical shark), jump up to collect two more hearts, enter the door to warp back to your starting position and walk to the left to give the two hearts to Olive - and once you have done so, you shall have to retrace your steps back down to the deck of the ship, walk to the right and walk up to collect a match (which will be used for lighting the cannon later). You'll now have to retrace your steps back to the deck of the ship, walk up to grab onto its mast and climb up it to its sail; once you've done so, you shall have to walk to the left to collect an eighth heart, retrace your steps back down to the bottom of the ocean while once again watching out for that mechanical shark, enter the door to warp back to your starting position, and walk to the left to give the heart you collected to Olive. You will now have to retrace your steps back up to the ship's sail, walk right and collect a ninth heart, retrace your steps back down to the bottom of the ocean, enter the door to warp back to your starting position, and walk to the left to give the heart you collected to Olive - and once you have done it, you will have to retrace your steps back up to the lighthouse's balcony (while, once again, watching out for that flying blue alien), jump onto the alien's spaceship as it flies into view from the screen's left side again (only this time, you will have to jump off it onto the lower roof of that building you climbed up to the first floor of earlier), and walk to the left to collect a tenth heart. You shall then have to drop back down to the starting position, walk up the staircase and walk to the left to give the heart you collected to Olive; once you have done so, you shall have to retrace your steps back up to the lighthouse's balcony, jump onto the alien's spaceship as it flies into view again (only this time, you shall have to jump off it into the first floor of the building you climbed up to earlier), walk to the left to collect a sixth key (which shall be used for opening the door in the dragon's cave later), walk down a staircase to open that door on the right side of the starting screen, walk to the right and up to open the door of the building you had climbed up to the first floor of earlier, walk to the left to collect an eleventh heart and walk to the right to collect a twelfth one. You'll then have to retrace your steps back to your starting position, and give the two hearts you collected to Olive - and once you have done so, you have to retrace your steps back to the rope, then climb up it off the top of the first map to the dragon's cave, which is at the bottom-right of the second map (much like how the one-armed bandit is at its top-left, but it can only get reached with the spaceship).

You will then have to walk down to open the door to the dragon's cave and jump up to collect an eighth key (which will open the door in the cannon's yard); once you have done so, you shall have to walk back up out of the door you just opened to grab back onto the rope, climb up it to the first floor, walk to the left, walk down a second staircase and walk to the left into the cannon's yard. You'll then have to walk back down to open the door to the cannon's yard (once you've done so, the match shall automatically be used to make it start firing), walk to the left and up a staircase, and jump up to collect a thirteenth heart - and once you have done so, you will have to walk back down that staircase and to the right, walk back up to grab onto the rope, and climb up it to the ground floor of the screen above it. You then have to walk back down to the screen's bottom "layer", to the left, and up to drop down through a second trap door onto the cannon; once it fires while Popeye is standing on it, it shall propel him back up to the first floor of the screen above him. You shall then have to walk to the right, down to the screen's bottom "layer", to the right again, up and to the left to collect a ninth instance of a key - and once you've done it, you will have to retrace your steps back to where you landed, walk to the left, back down to the screen's bottom "layer", and off the left side of the screen (while watching for the Sea Hag again). You then have to walk up and to the left to collect a jar that holds a flame (which will be used for protection against the dragon later) while watching out for the Sea Hag once again; once you've done so, you'll have to walk back to the right and down a staircase to the ground floor, back off the screen's right side, up, and back off the left side of the screen to collect a fourteenth heart. You shall now have to walk left, down, left and up to collect a fifteenth heart - and once you have done it you shall have to retrace your steps back down to the dragon's cave, walk back up that staircase you'd come down earlier and back to the right, and drop down to the ground floor (when the dragon wakes up and breathes a flame at Popeye the jar that he collected earlier will render him invulnerable to it). You now have to enter the doorway on the ground floor to warp back to the start, then walk up the staircase, and give the three hearts you collected to Olive.

You will then have to retrace your steps back to the ground floor of the dragon's cave, walk to the right and jump up to collect a sixteenth heart; once you've done so, you will have to retrace your steps back down the rope to the first map (while watching out for the spaceship if it passes), walk down onto the lower roof of the building, walk to the left, and jump up to collect a coin (which shall be used for playing the one-armed bandit later). You will then have to walk back to the right and jump up to collect a fourth can of spinach - and once you have done this, you shall have to retrace your steps back up to the ground floor of the dragon's cave, enter the doorway of the same floor to be warped back to the start again, walk up the staircase and give the heart you'd collected to Olive. You'll now have to retrace your steps back up to the ground floor of the screen above the cannon's yard, walk back down to its bottom "layer" and to the right, then walk up to open the door (that the ninth key unlocks) and collect a seventeenth heart; once you have done so, you'll have to walk back down to the screen's middle "layer" and off its right side. You'll now have to walk down to the screen's bottom "layer" to grab onto a rope, climb up it, and switch to its front to collect an eighteenth heart (while watching out for the Sea Hag yet again) - and once you've done it, you will have to switch back to the back side of the rope, climb back down it to a platform, drop down off the back of it and jump up to collect a nineteenth heart. You will now have to walk back to the right, climb up another rope to another platform (while watching for the Sea Hag for what is now the fifth time) and drop back down to the ground; once you've done so, you'll have to retrace your steps back down to the start and give those three hearts that you'd collected to Olive. You shall now have to retrace your steps back up to that screen you were just on, climb back up the second rope to the second platform again (watching for the Sea Hag for a sixth time), drop back down to the ground, and walk to the right and up to collect a tenth key - and once you've done so you'll have to walk back down, to the left, and up to grab onto a chain, then climb up it to collect a fifth spinach can (while watching for that Sea Hag for a seventh time). You then have to climb back down the chain to the ground, walk back to the right, climb back up the second rope to the second platform once again (watching out for the Sea Hag for the eighth time), and walk to the right and up to open the door (which the tenth key unlocks), and grab onto a third rope; once you've done it, you will have to climb up the rope to the ground at the bottom-right of that first map, retrace your steps back up to the top of the lighthouse, then jump onto the alien's spaceship as it flies into view again.

Once the spaceship has dropped Popeye off on the third staircase of that one-armed bandit, you will have to walk down it and to the right until he is under its lever, then jump up to pull it (the coin you collected earlier will cause its six reels to spin around and stop either on items or letters spelling Popeye's name); after each pull of the lever, you will have to walk back to the left and up the bandit's third staircase as the spaceship passes again (when there's not enough time to do this it's also possible to avoid it just by walking down to the screen's bottom "layer"). If one or more of the reels stops on one of the letters in the right position, it will not spin again after that - and once all six reels have stopped on the letters in the right position (spelling POPEYE), the six remaining hearts shall appear in front of their windows. You will then have to walk up any one of the bandit's staircases (jumping up to collect the hearts in front of the windows above it), then walk back down it again, walk up either of the two remaining staircases and (again) jump up to collect the heart in front of the bottom window above it; once you've done it, you will have to retrace your steps back to the start (through the door at the bottom of the ocean) and give the three hearts you've collected to Olive. You'll then have to retrace your steps back to the lighthouse top, jump onto the spaceship as it flies into view to get dropped off at the one-armed bandit again, collect the three remaining hearts by walking up the two remaining staircases and jumping up, retrace your steps back to the start and give them to Olive - and once you have done so, Olive's front door will open, and Popeye shall automatically enter her house as the roof starts moving up and down! The scoring for the hearts will always be 25000, but the scoring for the time is based on how long you took to deliver them all, and Popeye will later return for Popeye 2 in 1990.