Controls
: Use the direction pad to control Jack. Jack can run, jump, and fall to the left or right by pushing the pad in either direction. While falling, you can increase the rate at which Jack falls by pressing and holding down.
: Press and hold the A button to make Jack jump. Hold up on the direction pad while pressing A to make Jack jump even higher. While falling down, tap the A button to halt Jack's decent, allowing him to coast to the left or right while falling extremely slowly.
: Press the B button to use one of your Mighty Coins activate Jack's Mighty Power. You can increase Jack's Mighty Power through three different levels. See Jack's description below for more information.
: Press the Start button to begin a new game, and to pause the action in the middle of the game.
: Not used.
Characters
Jack
You control Jack in his quest to rescue the royal family, and defeat the demon king Belzebul. Jack has a number of talents at his disposal, not the least of which is his jumping ability. Jack can jump to tremendous heights, especially when you hold up on the direction pad as he jumps. Jack can also slow his decent if you tap the A button while he falls. This allows Jack to float across very long distances and avoid any fiery hazards beneath his feet. Jumping is also Jack's primary method of opening up treasure chests. Ordinarily, Jack can only open up red treasure chests. He needs additional power to open up the orange chests. That's where Mighty Coins come in. Throughout the game, Jack can collect and store up to nine Mighty Coins. If Jack ever collects ten Mighty Coins at one time, the god of greed will punish Jack and throw him in the torture room (see below). Jack will use a Mighty Coin to boost his power every time you press B. Jack can access three different levels of power.
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First level
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Second level
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Third level
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Jack will lose a life if he ever touches an enemy, touches any kind of flame, or if his stage timer runs out.
Royal Family
The Royal Family are all held captive at the top of the pyramid (Round 17). Jack will only be able to rescue the whole family if he manages to collect two crystal balls. The crystals are well hidden inside the pyramid. In addition to this, Jack will only be able to restore the family's power and defeat the demon king if he collects at least 5 special coins.
Game Mechanics
Timer
The timer can be seen in the upper left corner of the screen. Each stage begins with 60 counts on the timer. The timer counts down by one count approximately every five seconds. Jack must clear the stage before the timer reaches 0, or he will lose one life and be forced to start the stage over.
Torture Chamber
If Jack ever stores up more than nine Mighty Coins, or pushes his Timer beyond 99 by collecting too many Mighty Drinks (which add 10 ticks to the current Timer), or somehow gains more than nine lives (Japanese version only; by collecting E coins and not dying), Jack will be judged as being greedy. His punishment will be to spend time in the Torture Chamber. You will know when this must happen when the game shows the message, "YOU ARE GREEDY GO TO THE TORTURE ROOM". In this chamber, Jack will be locked in an empty room and enemies will soon join him. In order to escape, Jack must jump off the floor fifty times. A count of 50 (49 in the Japanese version) appears at the top of the screen, and reduced by one every time Jack jumps. Completing fifty (fourty-nine in the Japanese version) jumps while avoiding all of the enemies is no easy task, and is best avoided all together. If you succeed, you will start over at the beginning of the stage with no Mighty Coins in your possession at all.
Game Deviation Value (GDV)
This is a grade that you receive upon completing the game that evaluates your performance. While it is intended to be out of 100%, the lowest you can score is 47%, and the highest is 99%. Your GDV is determined by your score, how many S coins you find, and how many stages you clear. The more thorough you are in the game's completion, the higher your GDV will be.
Bomb Bonus
In each stage segment, the bombs are intended to be collected in a particular order. If you figure out that order and successfully collect the bombs in that order, you will be awarded 10,000 additional bonus points for your effort. At the end of every stage is a quick one screen bomb room that pays homage to Jack's original appearance in Bomb Jack. In each of these room, you replay a stage from the original game, complete with the same rules. The idea is to collect as many bombs with lit fuses as possible. If you complete the stage, you will be awarded a special bonus if the number of lit bombs you collected is 20 or higher.
| Lit bombs collected |
Point bonus |
|---|---|
| 20 | 10,000 |
| 21 | 20,000 |
| 22 | 30,000 |
| 23 | 50,000 |