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About Popeye
Popeye arrived in the arcades in 1982. Like all of Nintendo's early arcade hits, this game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. Nintendo's aquisition of the Popeye license was rumored to have coincided with the motion picture release of Popeye staring Robin Williams as the title character. Though it is not unusual in this day and age for a game to be based on a license, it was a rarer sight in the early 80s. Regardless of your impression of Popeye, chances are you will find this game as enjoyable and challenging as Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.
Story
It's the classic Popeye story. Olive Oyl is the love of Popeye's life, but Bluto has other plans in mind. Prove your love to Olive by capturing her heart(s), listening to her musical notes, and hearing her cries for help as you avoid Bluto through three stages. Turn the tables on Bluto every once in a while by grabbing that can of spinach, but beware of the wicked Sea Hag.
Characters
Popeye
You play as Popeye on your mission to prove your love to Olive Oyl, and stay alive by avoiding Bluto's wrath. Popeye is controlled with the direction pad. Pressing left or right will cause Popeye to run in that direction. If Popeye reaches the end of a ledge, he will automatically jump down to the next available level. Pushing up ot down will cause Popeye to climb up or down any ladder or steps that he is in front up. Pushing the A button will make Popeye throw a punch. Punches are only useful against bottles and skulls, so do not attempt to punch Bluto.
Olive Oyl
The object of Popeye's affection, and the wishful girlfriend of Bluto. Olive Oyl stands at the top of every stages throwing items that Popeye must catch in order to advance to the next stage. In the first stage, she throws hearts, in the second, notes pour out of her harp, and in the third, the letter H, E, L, and P escape her lips. The objects must be capture before they fall in to the water below. If they reach the water, Popeye has only prescious seconds to fish them out by walking over them, or Popeye loses a life.
Bluto
Bluto will do everything in his power to stop Popeye from succeeding. He will try to catch him, and whenever Popeye is on a level adjacent to him, he will jump up and punch Popeye from underneath, or reach down and try to grab Popeye from above. On occassion, he will even stop and throw bottles at Popeye which Popeye must either punch or avoid. Bluto can only be punished for his misdeeds when Popeye eats some spinach, at which time Bluto will run from Popeye in fear for 10 seconds.
Seahag
In the console version of Popeye, the Sea Hag poses a smaller, yet still dangerous, threat than she did in the arcade. Rather than appearing on one side of the screen and throwing a bottle or skull at you, the Sea Hag is relegated to the top of the screen as she occassionally throws bouncing skulls your way. There's no way to stop her, but the skulls can be punched or avoided. The skulls will occassionally drop down to a lower level, so you're not necessarily safe just because you are below them.
Vulture
The Vulture represents a mild but ever present threat in the third stage. They constantly swoop down from the upper left corner of the screen and cross along various levels of the ship, flying out through the upper right corner. They are somewhat slow and can be punched in the face to temporarily rid Popeye of the problem, but another will soon return.
How to Play
Stage 1 - Dock
The first stage contains to most game play features out of all of the stages. Popeye starts on the high ledge on the left. Olive will throw hearts that waft and float down to the water below. The hearts move in a somewhat unpredictable pattern, with some falling at a faster rate than others. Picking them up at a higher level earns Popeye more points. Popeye can make use of any flight of steps,he can climb up or down the central ladder, and he can warp from one side of the screen to the other via the top ledge. A can of spinach alternates between two positions on the left side of the screen. Popeye can grab it at any time, but it will not return unless Popeye loses a life. While strong from the spinach, the point value for collecting hearts doubles. Beneath Olive is a punching bag and a barrel. In order for Popeye to make use of these items, he must leap off from the top right ledge and press punch as he nears the punching bag. This will cause the bag to slide over and knock the barrel loose from it's position. If it hits Bluto in the head on its way down, Bluto will be momentarily stunned, allowing Popeye to whisk past him harmlessly until he gets the barrel off of his head. The lower Bluto is when the barrel hits him, the more bonus points Popeye will earn for the feat. At harder levels, the sea hag will also throw skulls at Popeye, so be careful not to get caught between them and Bluto or one of his bottles.
Stage 2 - Street
There is not as much room to maneuver in stage 2 as there was in stage 1, but fortunately there are not as many notes that need to be caught either. Olive plays the harp on the balcony and the notes she plays drop down in a similar fashion to the hearts. Employ the same strategy for collecting them as you did the hearts in stage 1. Higher equals more points, but don't risk it if Bluto is near. The Spinach is stationary so it will be easy to grab in case Popeye needs it. There is a see saw in the lower left corner of the screeen jumping on it causes Popeye to shoot up to the highest available ledge. But beware as Bluto can do the same. If Sweet Pea is low enough when Popeye flies to the top, he can grab the bar for 500 bonus points, or 1000 if he has just eaten spinach. Popeye can only warp from one side to the other via the third level from the bottom, but Bluto can't do the same so use it for a quick get away.
Stage 3 - Ship
This stages starts out with poor Olive being dumped at the top of the ship by a vulture. In order for Popeye to rescue Olive this time, he must capture all of the letters H, E, L, and P that Olive tosses down. With every letter that Popeye claims, a rung of a ladder is added that reaches up to the top. When all of the letters are collected, the ladder is completed. The ladder is inaccessible to Popeye, so must use the steps on the ship. There is a platform that moves back and forth on the highest level. If Popeye steps on it, it will immediately slide over to the opposite side, which can be used to help speed up the collection of the letters. Besides Bluto, there is an extra threat in stage with the continous attacks by the vulture. They are easily stopped by punching them in the beak, but it doesn't take long for another vulture to take its place. The spinach on this level alternates between two points. The gaps in the floor can make it difficult for Popeye to grab Bluto when he eats the spinach, so time travel between levels carefully.
Arcade Differences
- The biggest difference between the arcade and console version has to do with the graphic capabilities of the Famicom. The arcade game employed a special technique to render high resolution sprites against a low resolution background, resulting in some of the crispest character graphics of its time. These sprites had to be radically simplified for the Famicom.
- The ladder in stage 1 could only be used to descend in the arcade version.
- The Famicom version is missing an image of Whimpy in stage 2 who stood on the other side of the see saw which explained by Popeye and Bluto would fly back up to the top when they jumped on one side.