Magic Mushrooms

1. Try this for a start: You can go around this first screen any way you like. Apart from the monsters (who are more numerous here than in any subsequent screen), the only significant hazard is the icy platform in the middle. If there happens to be a mushroom on the rightmost piece of ice, you have only two chances to grab it. Jump from the right-hand side so that you can steady yourself first.

2. Fairground fun: Pleasing symmetry here, almost. Don't go up the central escalator until you've collected every mushroom on the two bottom levels, and then don't go up either of the escalators at the edges of the screen until you've cleared both of the central conveyor belts. You don't need the once-only platforms if you know how to jump.

3. Oh for a game of: Climbing down without landing too heavily is the challenge in this screen. Don't drop down to the next "word" until you have got all the mushrooms from the one above. The easiest way down from "MAGIC" is to jump from the M into the A. The trickiest mushroom spot is the bottom section of the final S, for which you need to jump from the lower middle brick in the M. This is also one of two ways to reach the bottom level; the other is from the lowest brick in the leftmost leg of the M.

4. Snakes and ladders: Only one route will work here, and you can't backtrack, so get all of the mushrooms on each level before moving on. From the top, jump onto the middle of the rightmost triple slide. Then go up the second escalator from the left; then down the third slide from the left, then up the rightmost escalator, down the leftmost slide, up the leftmost escalator, and finally down the central slide to the finish. (I should probably annotate the image, but you get the idea.)

5. Non-stick nightmare: This is simple enough in theory. Save the ninety-nine until time is running out. Use the half-walls to scale the icy platforms one at a time. To clear the conveyor belts, jump onto the extreme left edge of the one at the bottom and hold the jump key until you reach the one you want. The monster at the top is annoyingly likely to snag you as you leap from the topmost conveyor, so be prepared. Getting down from the topmost level necessitates a diagonal jump through the bricks onto a slide.

6. Random relocation: The number of start points suggests that you can invent your own route here, but the ninety-nine will probably be needed. Ice platforms pose no problem when you can walk along them from the outer edge of the screen. To climb the wobbly platforms, stand at one extreme edge and hold the jump key while alternating directions. Watch out for the trick slides and the monster on its little island.

7. Oscillating oddities: Avoid the central escalator. Clear the bottom section first, as there is no way back down; holding down the jump and direction keys will make the wobbly platforms less troublesome. Make sure you enter the top half of the screen on the left-hand side. Clear the conveyor belts and use the trampoline to jump over the top of the escalator. You can then climb down via the once-onlies. When ascending the final set of wobbly platforms, always jump to the right.

8. Curse of the lemming: Jump to the right and land on the trampoline, then jump left over the monster. (As usual, collect all available mushrooms as you go.) Drop onto the conveyor belt, jump left into the brickwork, and make your way to the platform at the foot of the escalator. If there are mushrooms on the bottom two trampolines or the lower conveyor belt, remove the once-only immediately left of the escalator and jump down there from the left to land on the left-hand trampoline, then do the longest possible jump from the right-hand side to reach the other trampoline and jump up via the conveyor to get back to where you were.

Remove the leftmost once-only, then hop on the escalator. Use the nearby trampoline to reach the top-left trampoline first and then the one underneath it. Drop off this lower trampoline to fall onto another trampoline behind the "chair" at the bottom, and use the residual bounce to land on the "chair" to the right. Jump left from the chair seat onto the bottom-left trampoline (this is tricky) and again use the residual bounce to get into the base of the chair. Now make your way back up the chair to the escalator and use it again. Finally, cross the ice three times (right, left, right) and drop onto the chequered flag.

9. And finally...: The bottom section is a real pain. Start by crossing the long once-only platform, but use pixel-perfect jumps, watching Murphy's feet, so that you only remove every third piece. Climb the escalator and use the conveyor belts to reach the single once-only embedded in brickwork. Remove this, then return along the conveyors and once-only to your start point, jumping carefully again so that you leave a route back. Climb the leftmost escalator and collect the ninety-nine.

You now need to grab all mushrooms from the ice and wobbly platforms at the top-left, so use the once-onlies judiciously. Then cross to the right-hand section. (If you must, you can make this jump from the top leftmost once-only.) Avoid the escalator until you have collected the remaining mushrooms; then ascend and jump off its left edge, so that you hit the tiny slide at the bottom. A final crossing of the long once-only will get you to the chequered flag.

Monsters

You can touch the edge of a monster without dying. You are only killed if you touch the white of its eyes.

Monsters can only move horizontally, so they pass through escalators without being affected. They can also walk on slides (the vertical sand-like elements), which is quite a mean place to put them because Murphy can't be controlled while sliding. They always start off moving left.

Monsters placed in mid-air or on half-bricks cannot move; they just waggle about on the spot. You can jump over a levitating monster at belly height, but you have to be very precise. You can also pass a levitating monster embedded in a wall if you are falling diagonally (but not straight down), because it's just possible to avoid the whites of its eyes. So these mini-screens can be completed:

Since monsters move slightly off their platform at either end, you can (if you are lucky) pass a monster on a single isolated block by jumping quickly onto the far side and then off again. If the block is a once-only, the monster will be left stranded in mid-air. In the second example, leaving the monster stranded above a mushroom would make it impossible to collect.

Jumping and trampolines

Murphy's longest horizontal jump covers two spaces. If there are at least one-and-a-half spaces, he can jump down to a lower level (as shown here, with double half-bricks on the right).

The editor won't let you place trampolines in the top two rows, but you can achieve it by loading a hacked screen file (or any random data file). It then becomes apparent why this is usually forbidden: Murphy can jump up into the screen title and wipe it out.

The screen file starts at address 9616 (decimal) and is 2160 bytes long, i.e. one 240-byte block for each of the nine screens. Each block consists of 220 bytes for the screen layout followed by 20 bytes (characters) for its title.

Since the screen can hold 22 × 20 = 440 items, this implies that each byte represents two items. These bytes are laid out from left to right and top to bottom, as you would read a page of text.

In each byte, the high nybble is the left-hand item and the low nybble is the right-hand one. The values match those used in the editor, from 0 (empty space) through to 15 (once-only). For example, a monster to the left of a chequered flag would be represented by 16 × 12 + 4 = 196.