Dangerous Dave

Dangerous Dave

Gameplay Mechanics:
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There's some sort of obscure background story, where you're going 
through 'Clyde's Hideout.' Whoa...could this be Clyde, a.k.a. Shadow, 
from FFVI?!?  You never actually meet this mysterious individual, so 
let's just assume it is, eh?  Good.  
DD features ten 'normal' levels and four bonus rooms.  To leave 
the level you're in (regular or bonus) you have to pick up a gold 
trophy that'll be lying around somewhere in the level and then go 
through the exit door.  Leaving a level nets you two thousand points, 
unless you're just entering a bonus area.  K.
Left and right move you—wait for it—left and right (and down, if 
you're flying).  Up lets you jump.  The Ctrl key activates your jetpack 
(if you have one) to let you fly, and the Alt key fires your gun (if 
you have one).  And that's about it.  Simple, eh?
A few other things: if you stand in front of a tree, you can 
climb it by pressing up.  If you're positioned properly, you'll 
actually *climb;* if not you just sort of jump up and fall down once 
you reach the top (the falling being slowed if you're 'on' the tree as 
you're going down.  You can also do this jumping thing on the stars 
that appear in the sky in several places ('fly me to the moon...').  

You can kill enemies by either shooting them (only one bullet 
allowed onscreen at a time) or, if you're feeling reckless, crashing 
head-on into them, which, naturally, kills you as well as them.  And 
you do not get points for irresponsible kamikaze tactics like this.  So 
take heed.

On jumping: when you jump, you need to push forward to go 
forward.  Naturally.  If you hold it down, you'll fall at an angle, but 
as soon as you let go of it, you'll go straight down.  All righty then.
In some of the later levels, there are illusory platforms that 
look real but are not.  There's no way to distinguish them from normal 
ground, and some of them are above fatal pits.  If you fall into one 
without a jetpack, you can't do much except swear can call the game 
'cheap' (which it really is in places, to be honest).  Okay.
A brief jetpack-related note: if you push the button to activate 
it, and then die before it comes on, it'll do it on your next life as 
soon as you stop blinking.  This can be a sizable fuel-waster if you're 
not ready to turn it off immediately, so be forewarned. 
As for scoring, you get various amounts of points for killing 
various enemies and grabbing various treasures (see below for specific 
point values).  You start with four lives (one active, three extra), 
and every time you nab twenty-thousand points, you get a one-up—only, 
however, if you have less lives than you started with; if you've got 
the full four, you don't get a dern thing.  

The points max out at 99,999, which is really not very hard to 
get to if you exploit the second bonus room (see the appropriate 
section) to the fullest.  And when you do reach it, strange things 
happen with the one-up gaining system: you immediately gain one as soon 
as you hit the max, but it doesn't end there.  For some reason, you can 
get at least two additional lives with points—and mind you, it's not 
that the game is keeping score but just not showing you.  I think only 
large point-accumulators will get you it, and you don't get it EVERY 
time you pick one up, but sometimes you do.  Furthermore—and this is 
the part that really matters—you also get one-ups for picking up the 
non-point accruing guns and jetpacks.  And yes, I'm almost positive 
that you get one EVERY time you pick one or the other up.  Whee!  I 
assume this is nothing more than a rather bizarre bug, but I do indeed 
like it.