There are also some platforms that dissolve beneath your feet as you stand on them. But later levels flip this notion by offering barriers that are needed to bounce, but open up to a wall of spikes, forcing the player to immediately dash in a new direction in order to avoid death.
Green barriers represent blockades that can be broken by smashing into them, usually requiring that the player hit them with a dash, and then quickly perform another dash in the same direction in order to pass safely through. In these instances, the player must grab the key and then quickly escape the area, bouncing off the keyhole barriers before they disappear… and sometimes the player must continue evading dangerous hazards while he waits for the fuse to burn away a barrier that is blocking the exit door. These barriers are generally a single straight line blocking off a new path or screen transition, but sometimes these appear in long rows that disappear one piece at a time like a burning fuse.
Yellow keys appear throughout many environments, and these are used to open keyhole barriers. Some of these levels also offer blue keys which change the direction of the conveyors and allow the player to navigate the area. Here, the player moves along in one direction and may need to execute a short hop over spikes, projectiles, or lasers. The player occasionally encounters conveyor belts, and these represent some of the few instances where the JUMP button must be used. In these cases, the player must take into account that he will bounce upward a small amount when hitting the wall, and sometimes he must dash through a tight spike-lined dead end and immediately reverse direction upon reaching the far wall. Coins are often strategically placed one bounce-length away from a wall, offering some hint as to the proper path.Įarly on, there is a relatively wide margin for error when making these bounces, but later levels require the player to dash through narrow openings. Understanding the distance of the bounce is paramount, as many walls are lined with spikes, so the player must leave enough clearance to bounce back and fall down without hitting them. Instead, players must learn to slam into the walls to bounce away and allow gravity to pull them down under platform edges. Since the player cannot cancel his movement mid-dash, there are certain places he cannot reach with his dash maneuver, and these places are usually lined with spikes. Completing these levels – and performing well in the standard levels – also unlocks new heads for the robot, altering Blitz’s appearance. By collecting these warp squares and reaching the exit, the player may access a set of warp levels (there are three in each area) which offer an additional set of challenges to put the player’s skills to the test. Additional optional pickups appear in the form of purple squares representing warps to bonus levels. With this design, the player is encouraged to take additional risks and take some indirect routes in order to reach caches of coins. Coins add a significant amount of time to the clock, and achieving the par time is generally impossible without collecting most of them. In this game, grabbing a coin adds a few seconds to the clock, and coins often appear in groups, allowing the player to grab several in a single dash.
Logic would seem to indicate that players should not waste time collecting out-of-the-way coins when speed is the primary focus however, logic would be wrong. In many early games, collecting coins offered a gameplay reward, such as a 1UP for every 100 coins, but so many imitators have created games where collectibles are entirely meaningless. Coins have been a platforming staple since Super Mario Bros., offering levels peppered with collectibles. While many precision platformers offer rewards for quick completion, there is an additional twist here in the form of coins. Instead, the timer is used to measure the player's performance against the par time for the course, rewarding the player with a star if he can reach the exit by the specified time. However, running out of time is the least likely way to perish, as the twitch gameplay encourages fast movement and often results in quick deaths as a result of hasty decisions and environmental hazards. Early levels feature 1- and 2-screen environments, with larger multi-room environments appearing later in the game, although each is meant to be completed in under 30 seconds.Įach level has a countdown timer, and Blitz is killed if the timer reaches zero.
In each level, the robot is spawned into play and the player must use his dash maneuver to fly quickly around the screen, bashing into walls, floors, and ceilings on his way to the exit, all the while dodging hazards such as spikes and spinning sawblades.
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