Trapdoor II - Through the Trapdoor
A solution - by Jaromir Krol - "Jerry King": jaromirk@kki.net.pl
If you had an 8-bit computer, you must have at least heard of the Trapdoor. Both games of the series are based on a little known cartoon series and feature a big weird creature Berk, a horribly annoying pest named Drutt and a skull named Boni. And, of course, a weird monster named "im upstairs", who owns the castle where everything takes place. He was the "main menace" in the first game of the series.
TTT is larger, a bit more arcade, and horribly difficult. I had no idea what to do in it. Gradually, I figured out - but some things I discovered by accident. Some tasks must be done with extreme precision and paying attention to the position. Often, timing is critical. This is the first and at the moment the only solution to this game available anywhere on the 'Net.
The game opens in the castle, as you witness the kidnapping of Boni, who is taken into the horrible depths of the Trapdoor! It's up to you to go with help - so first of all, move Drutt to the left. Now do it with Berk and enter the trapdoor. Switch to Drutt, and after you heard Berk getting up after the fall, follow him...
...to the beginning of the first level of the dungeons and the first adventure! Get Drutt to jump to the left until you see the key. A bat is here, and it will prevent you from taking it. Get Berk to this location, avoiding monsters. Now lure the bat to Berk and move so it doesn't kill you. While it's busy with Berk, quickly jump to the key with Drutt, and get it down. Sometimes you may have to trick the bat another way, by using Drutt only. When you have the key, get Berk to pick it up and go right. Go down the hole. Eat the sweet. Get Drutt down there and get him to jump on the little shelf (start on the upper level of the floor, to the right of the thin wall in the left part of the screen). From the shelf, jump to the upper right and get the red sweet down. Now push it to Berk. Have Berk eat it, get the key and fly to the upper right, to the door. Open the door with the key and get Drutt there. Pick up Drutt and enter door.
Another level! Use Drutt to get a mushroom from the hole in the roof. Eat the mushroom with Berk - now you can jump. Go left, avoiding the stalactytes and jumping over monsters. When you get to the shooting animal, have Drutt get the mushroom from air. Jump over the animal and eat the mushroom. Now pick up the animal and use it to shoot the monsters to the right (put it down when they're close, and it should hit them). Finally, put the animal below the hole in the roof and wait until it shoots the key down. Get the key, open door, get Drutt...
Next level! This was the most difficult one for me, until I found out Drutt can move floating Berk... OK - ignore the red weight: it's not really a red weight, it's a red herring :). Get the eyes with Berk from the large empty room. Watch out - there is a huge beast here, and if you move too far to the right, it will eat you. Go back to the room with the hole and the shelf. Position Berk to the left of the place under the shelf. Similar to level I, get Drutt on the shelf and jump to the upper left, on another shelf. Now start jumping, switch to Berk and eat the eyes. Berk will start floating. Immediately switch to Drutt and time everything so that you jump on Berk when he's still in the air, and thus make him go right, over the upper floor. After a moment, Berk will fall. Go to the right. Watch it - if you stop here, a machine will come down and pick you up. You must place the three creatures in the frames so that their bulbs match the colours of the frames (remember, they change!). When you have done it, you will receive another pair of eyes. Now - sometimes you may use it to get the other pair on the right of the hole, or it may last long enough... Anyway, you must use the eyes to fly down without touching the trapdoor. Now get Drutt to get the key down. Now you may either eat eyes and get the key up with Berk, and return to the door, or place the key on the lower part of the floor and a bit from the wall, so that Drutt can push it left until he reaches the door, and then just kill Berk to make it all quicker. Whichever you prefer - when you're at the door, do the old "open door, hold Drutt, enter door" thing.
And now the final level! Much action and going back and forth here. Firstly, move Drutt to the extreme right, where the yellow skull is (it's not Boni the skull, it's another red herring). Go down, to the snake's pit, and get the key down here. Now, with Berk, eat the sausage and jump your way over the walls, the skeleton, and under the bat to the snake's lair. Watch out for the snake! Get the sausage and the key. Eat the sausage and fly. Watch out for the ghost - it will kill you when you're flying. You may sometimes "swich him off" placing the fake skull directly on his pathway. Anyway, fly up, to the right, and there eat the sausage. Now get the key and fly back to where the falling eyes are. Get down here and get the key to the door. Open it. There's a lot more to be done! Now repeat the whole stunt, but instead of the key, get Drutt near the door. Now get the small cannon and place it in the room with the eyes. Again, go to the pit. Repeat the whole stunt (all the time watch for Drutt, and if he gets near the pit, switch to him and move him back to the door). Eat the sausage on the right... and go! You must use your limited flying power to get to the cannon, land, take it and carry it to the skeleton's room. Now catch a few eyes into the cannon and put it down. Direct it so that it shoots the skeleton when you press down (sometimes to make it work you'll have to die and return there having eaten the sausage from the second room again). After some time, you should manage to kill the skeleton... Surprise, surprise! His head is actually Boni the skull! But if you think it's over... it is not! You must die and repeat the whole sausage stunt again, this time carrying not the cannon to the skeleton room but the skull *from* that room to the door! Get Drutt to the door, and, holding the skull, enter the door.
Finish! You get teleported back to the castle, with Boni. Switch to Drutt and watch him join you. And now... HOME, SWEET HOME!
Game completed / solution written by Jaromir Krol - "Jerry King".
