Round the Bend/Gameplay

Controls

• Q, A, O and P: In the ZX version, you will have to use these four keys by default to make your currently-selected character go up and down and walk left and right; you can also press Space by default to make him (or her, in the case of Jemima) jump, but for the C64 and Amiga versions you shall have to use a joystick instead. In that ZX version, you can also press H to pause and resume the game, and A to abort it when paused - however, you should only do this if you can't win (i.e. you have been sent back to the office, which happens each time you are hit, too many times!).

Characters

Comic Staff

The show's four main characters, Doc Croc, Luschetti Bruschetti (or "Lou Brush" for short), "Vaudeville" Vincent Vermin and Jemima Wellington-Green start out pacing around their office; press O and P (or push the joystick left and right) to select one of the four drains, Space (or the button) to select a character and Q (or push the joystick up) to enter the drain. When in the drains, they will have to watch out for bats, cans, sharks and Ninja Teddies (a parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) - as if they are hit by any of these, they will be sent back to the office, which costs them valuable time. When a character finds a page of the comic, press Q (or push the joystick up) to enter it in search of the punchline; however, each character can only enter the pages they write, and only Lou can pick up press pieces on finding them. Collecting a punchline shall return Doc Croc, Vincent or Jemima to the office, where it will be reported on John Potato's Newsround (a parody of John Craven's Newsround) - but oddly enough, John Potato's co-host, David Colemole (a parody of David Coleman, 1926-2013), is not present in this game. The time is then set for when the next page must get completed.

Comic Characters

When Doc Croc, Vincent or Jemima enters a comic page in search of the punchline, they will be drawn into a minigame featuring the page's characters:

• The Oddbods: Bouncing Benny bounces around the page; however, his pet kangaroo, along with Loud Lucy and Nancy's Nose, are not present.
• Pzycho the Magnificent: The psychotic German magician chases Reginald (his volunteer from the audience) around the page, zapping everything.
• Cosmic Comprehensive: The Intergalactic Academy holds a hurdles race, as part of their sports day; however, the alien pupils will lose their limbs.
• The False Teeth Versus The Atomic Banana: The False Teeth from Beyond the Stars will be fighting the Atomic Banana for world domination.
• True Romance: Mandy and Dave may be in love, but the staff must avoid the arrows of the mythical Greek god Eros, in order to find the punchline.
• Nursery Crimes: Introduced in the show's second series to replace "Doc Croc's Nursery Spot" (featuring: "The Couldn't-care-less Bears", "Masters and Missuses", "Clarence the Crank Engine", "Poopert Bear" and "Nuddy"), Little Miss Muffet has sat on her tuffet but the spiders must be avoided.
• Vegetables: In Australia Joe Potato (no relation to John), his wife Carrotine and their sons Carrot-Top and Chips are holding a skateboard race.
• Fatman: Also introduced in the second series (but not as a replacement), the "stout defender of justice" is out to flatten a crook hot from a robbery.
• Kenny McTickle and his Magic Kilt: Introduced in the third and final series of the show, wild bagpipes have leapt out from under Kenny's kilt and gone on the rampage; the main character of this strip also had no connection with The McTickles (which ran in the The Beano from 1973 to 1975).

Oddly enough, Transformaloids, Wee-Man (and his father, O.A.P.-Man), Thunderpants, Ricky, Spambo, Arizona Jones, Transformabots (another parody of "Transformers"), Special Agent James Bomb, The Karate Kiddie, Botman (another parody of "Batman"), Tommy's Magic Time Trousers, Starry Trek, Woolly the Wonder Sheep, Old-age Useless Nitwit Tortoises (a second parody of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Teenage Mutant Hero Toilets (a third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spoof) and all the Rubbish Rock Stars (parodies of real-life rock stars) are not present in the game.