Harbor Walkthrough Example

(Brian Silva)

The Harbor is to be the first level in the game. A brief intro movie introducing Weasel, his city of Scratchtown and his ultimate goal to reach Pleasure Island will set the tone for the game before play begins.

Enter Mr. Helpful

Weasel starts outside his home at the end of the pier near the lighthouse. He immediately meets Mr. Helpful, a happy little fella with a bell in his hand and a gleam in his eye, who explains that in order to exit the level, Weasel must take a certain number of “Big Ticket Items” from the various characters throughout the level and deposit them into Mr. Pawn. Mr. Helpful will instruct Weasel on the finer points of using the context-sensitive action button, and will explain the function and importance of Weasel Vision. Mr. Helpful will also describe the purpose of cash and how & where to obtain it. When Mr. Helpful speaks to Weasel, he will do so in brief segments. Weasel advances the conversation by pressing the context-sensitive action button to slap Mr. Helpful into continuing. Once the conversation has ended and Weasel walks away, Mr. Helpful with his little legs a’pumpin’ and bell a’ringin’, will lazily follow Weasel, not right along side Weasel but near enough (as if tethered by a really long leash) to quickly show up and offer helpful advice whenever necessary.

Vermin

The first characters Weasel encounters are the Vermin. Little short-pants wearing rats that are scurrying around the playfield. Most are empty handed, but some are carrying cash & coins. Mr. Helpful rushes up next to Weasel and explains that in order for Weasel to obtain a Vermin’s item, he must chase after and stomp the Vermin before it escapes into a hole in a wall. Weasel runs around, squashing rats and collecting a small amount of cash for a while before he ventures forth to explore the uncharted harbor surroundings.

Hello, Mr. Pawn!

The next point of interest Weasel will notice is the Mr. Pawn deposit box that resides near the level’s exit gate. Weasel activates his Weasel Vision by holding down the controller’s “R trigger button” and notices an icon pointing to a “bull’s eye doormat” just beneath Mr. Pawn’s giant vacuum hose. Mr. Helpful saunters up next to Weasel again and explains that in order for Weasel to proceed on to the next playfield, Weasel must locate and return to Mr. Pawn a certain number of Big Ticket Items located throughout the harbor. Mr. Helpful points out the large number on the front of Mr. Pawn’s metal exterior. This number represents how many Big Ticket Items remain in the playfield. Every time Weasel deposits a Big Ticket Item, the number drops down by one. Just for fun, Weasel stands on top of Mr. Pawn’s “bull’s eye doormat” and presses the controller’s “context-sensitive action button”. The Mr. Pawn deposit box springs to life and starts-in with his sales pitch: “Hello there, friend! Say, are you tired of pawning the old fashioned way? Then it’s time to say goodbye to haggling with those pesky pawnshop owners and say hello to MR. PAWN! The wonder invention of tomorrow! That’s right! Simply stand on my magic bull’s eye doormat, press your action button, and let me do the rest! Why, I’m so easy to operate, even the wife will catch on.  So, remember, for all your pawning needs, just look for the friendly face of MR. PAWN in your neighborhood. I’m Pawn-tastic!” Mr. Pawn shuts off once his sales pitch is complete.

Kats and the Anchor

Weasel continues exploring the area and notices a group of sleeping Kats in an alley huddled around a conspicuous looking anchor. Mr. Helpful runs up and gives Weasel the lowdown on the Kats. Weasel then engages his Weasel Vision and detects an icon pointing to the anchor, signaling that the anchor is a “Big Ticket Item” that needs to be taken to Mr. Pawn. This should be simple. All Weasel needs to do is carefully sneak past the gang of Kats (making sure not to wake them), pick up the anchor, sneak back out past the Kats again, then run like hell over to Mr. Pawn to deposit the anchor and advance one step closer to moving on to the next level. So, Weasel begins to sneak past the Kats and toward the anchor. He successfully reaches the anchor, picks it up and starts to make his way back out past the Kats. However, just as Weasel turns to leave, one of the Kats starts sleepwalking, creating a moving obstacle in Weasel’s path. If Weasel moves any faster than a “sneak” or bumps into a sleeping or sleepwalking Kat, the Kat will wake up and shout, alerting the entire gang of sleeping Kats to Weasel’s presence, thus ruining any chance Weasel has of getting the anchor over to Mr. Pawn. The sleepwalking Kat is now weaving unpredictably as Weasel desperately tries to avoid him as well as the rest of the sleeping Kats while sneaking the entire time. Just as Weasel is almost in the clear, the sleepwalking Kat turns and begins heading toward the rear Weasel. It’s a slow-motion race to the finish line as Weasel tiptoes past the last few remaining Kats as the sleepwalking Kat is nearly on top of Weasel. Weasel manages to barely squeeze past the last sleeping Kat and slowly turns, narrowly avoiding the approaching sleepwalker. Still not in the clear, Weasel must continue sneaking away until he is beyond the Kats range of hearing. The sound of snores eventually fades off, signaling that Weasel is now clear of the Kats range of hearing and is free to advance at top speed to Mr. Pawn to drop off his first Big Ticket Item. However, once Weasel puts a safe distance between himself and the Kats, a noisy group of Vermin run past the sleeping Kats, waking them and sending the Kats shouting, shaking their fists and chasing after Weasel to retrieve their Big Ticket Item. Now Weasel must sprint to Mr. Pawn before he’s overwhelmed by the fast-approaching mob. Luckily, Weasel has enough of a head start and he manages to reach Mr. Pawn in time, but just barely.

Weasel safely reaches Mr. Pawn, stands on Mr. Pawn’s bull’s eye target and presses the controller’s context sensitive “action button”. Mr. Pawn rattles and rumbles as his vacuum hose sucks up the Big Ticket Item. Mr. Pawn settles down and says, “Yes, sir! Now THAT’S pawning made simple! Tell your friends! They’ll be glad you did.” Mr. Pawn’s number display drops down by one to illustrate how many more Big Ticket Items are required for Weasel to continue on to the next level. Surprisingly, the pursuing Kats continue closing in on Weasel even after he has disposed of their Big Ticket Item. It seems they aren’t too happy about their missing anchor. In an instant, Weasel is swarmed by the vengeful Kats, he tries to run but it’s too late; the Kats take their aggravation out on Weasel by repeatedly socking him in the head, scattering some of his cash around. Weasel manages to escape by running his way through their furry fists. The Kats head back to their territory where they will now constantly patrol in an aggressive state, ready to attack anyone who enters their turf.

So, on the upside, Weasel has deposited his first Big Ticket Item, but on the downside, he has set loose, in one section of the harbor, an angry, dangerous mob of Kats that will chase Weasel down and punish him or at least make Weasel’s progress difficult any chance they get from now on.

The Mausers & the Fire Hydrant (part 1)

The next Big Ticket Item Weasel discovers (via Weasel Vision) is a fire hydrant next to a building located on the opposite side of the harbor from the first Big Ticket Item. The hydrant is surrounded by Mausers (the rival enemies of the Kat gangs). The Mausers are just “hanging out” (leaning against the building, shooting dice, etc). Mr. Helpful jogs by and informs Weasel about the Mausers. Weasel decides to stroll into the Mauser’s territory. As he does so, the Mausers break from their passive idle states, stand at attention and watch Weasel walking past them. The Mausers are obviously suspicious of Weasel and aren’t going to take their eyes off of him as long as he’s nearby. At this point, the stupid thing to do would be to just walk up to and take the Mauser’s Big Ticket Item… so that’s exactly what Weasel does. He leans over, grabs hold of the hydrant, pries it from its foundation (causing a small water spout to erupt) and starts to walk away. “WHAM!” Weasel is cold-cocked in the back of the head by a Mauser! He is sent to the floor, face first, as the Big Ticket Item sails from his grasp and lands a few feet in front of him. A Mauser retrieves the Big Ticket Item and puts it back on its base (plugging the small water spout) as the rest of the Mausers take turns socking Weasel in the head, scattering throughout the area what little cash Weasel has collected. Not wishing to suffer any more abuse, Weasel dashes out of there, managing to recover a little lost cash along the way.

The Glue Bottle & the Fisherman’s Truck

“Well, let’s see… the direct approach didn’t work. What else can I try?” Weasel remembers passing by a couple of strange looking devices a bit earlier and decides to return and investigate. Upon closer inspection, the first device appears to be an old-fashioned gas pump with a big rotating sign on top. On the ground, directly in front of this device is a “bulls eye doormat” (just like Mr. Pawn). Weasel stands on top of the bull’s eye and presses the controller’s action button. Since this is the first time Weasel has encountered this type of device, Mr. Helpful runs up beside Weasel and explains to him that this device is a Vending Machine. Vending Machines provide Weasel with most every special item and weapon available in the game. Each special item or weapon requires a specific amount of cash to purchase. This particular Vending Machine will provide Weasel with a bottle of glue. In fact, the rotating sign above the Vending Machine displays a picture of a bottle of glue on one side, and a dollar amount on the other. Unfortunately, Weasel can’t quite afford the bottle of glue just now, so he makes his way over to the second strange device. Along the way, Weasel passes by the Kat gang he managed to piss off earlier. The Kats notice Weasel and begin to give chase. Weasel hightails it with the Kats hot on his trail pass a couple of buildings and up the side of a wall. The Kats eventually give up once Weasel reaches a certain distance away from their home territory. Weasel climbs down from the wall once the coast is clear and continues toward the second device. The second device turns out to be another Vending Machine gas pump attached to a beat up old fisherman’s truck. As Weasel stands atop the Vending Machine’s bull’s eye target and presses the controller’s context sensitive action button. Mr. Helpful runs up and explains that by paying the Vending Machine’s fee, Weasel will send the truck driving throughout the level. The truck will make several passes around the level before it runs out of gas and comes back to rest at its starting location. This gives Weasel an idea, and since he can afford the lower cost of this Vending Machine, Weasel presses the controller’s action button (while standing on the bull’s eye target), reaches into his pants, pulls out a coin, flips it into the air and deposits it into the Vending Machine. The truck starts up and takes off.

With the truck driving through the level, Weasel remembers that the location of the Kat gang that is after him is near the starting point of the truck. Weasel watches the progress of the fisherman’s truck. Once the truck begins traveling through the desired location, Weasel runs over near the angry Kat gang and whistles (by pressing the context sensitive action button) to gain their attention. The Kats notice Weasel and begin to pursue him (timing is crucial here). Just as the Kats are trailing behind Weasel, Weasel leads them into the path of the oncoming fisherman’s truck and darts out of the truck’s way at the last second. The Kats don’t have enough time to react and are mowed down and sent flying as the fisherman’s truck collides with them, rendering every last Kat unconscious and scattering their cash around the playfield. Taking advantage of the situation, Weasel quickly runs to collect the cash of the downed Kats and takes off before the Kats come to.

The Mausers & the Fire Hydrant (part 2)

Now with a pocket full of newfound cash, Weasel heads over to the first Vending Machine and purchases a bottle of glue. The bottle of glue pops out from the Vending Machine, flies upward and spins into Weasel hand (a glue bottle icon is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen). Weasel stuffs the glue bottle down the front of his pants and makes his way over to the gang of Mausers guarding the fire hydrant. As soon as one of the Mausers sees Weasel, he turns toward him, points and starts yelling, alerting the rest of the gang. The Mausers obviously remember Weasel as the guy that tried to take their fire hydrant earlier and once Weasel gets a little too close to their Big Ticket Item, the Mausers begin running toward Weasel. Weasel retreats. However, the Mausers give up their chase fairly quickly (they don’t want to stray too far from their Big Ticket Item). Realizing precisely how close he can approach the Mauser’s Big Ticket Item before they chase him away, Weasel decides to lay a trap. He waits for the Mausers to return to their resting states around the fire hydrant, walks just close enough to provoke the Mausers to charge after him, and begins squeezing out strategically placed spots of glue in the pathway of the fast approaching Mausers. Weasel needs to hurry and place enough glue spots before the Mausers reach him and before he runs out of glue. The Mausers are almost on top of Weasel as he squeezes out his last drop of glue. Hopefully, he has covered enough of the ground to trap every single one of the oncoming Mausers. Weasel stands on the opposite side of the glue spots as the approaching Mausers as they ALL become trapped in a sticky situation (“sorry”). With the Mausers temporarily held in place, Weasel runs over and removes the fire hydrant (the small water spout erupts again). Now it’s simply a matter of reaching Mr. Pawn before the Mausers pull themselves free from the glue and catch up to Weasel. Mr. Pawn isn’t too far away so Weasel should have enough time to make it there safely.

Once Weasel makes it safely over to Mr. Pawn and deposits the fire hydrant, the camera view will cut back to the origin of the Big Ticket Item so that the player can witness the once undersized water spout quickly erupt into a much bigger waterspout that reaches beyond the height of the nearby building’s rooftop. “Interesting…” Once again, Mr. Pawn promotes himself, “That’s right, friends! It’s just that easy! So, when you think pawn, think Mr. Pawn!” This is followed by Mr. Pawn’s number display counting down by one and Mr. Pawn shutting off again.

The Mausers and the Dog-Pile on the Kat

Weasel can either proceed directly toward his next goal or can begin experimenting by combining together certain items, characters and events to observe the various outcomes and devise new strategies for obtaining future Big Ticket Items.

Weasel decides he would like to experiment a bit. Weasel’s curious to see exactly what would happen if he put some Kats and Mausers together. So, Weasel spends some money to start the fisherman’s truck rolling again and leads the Kats back out into the road to be run over again. Once the Kats are lying unconscious on the ground, Weasel walks over and picks one of them up by pressing the controller’s context sensitive action button and heads toward the Mauser gang. He’ll need to make haste and not fool around collecting the scattered cash since the Kat he’s carrying could come-to at any moment and clobber Weasel. Once Weasel reaches the Mauser gang, the Mausers recognize Weasel and start charging toward him. Weasel presses the context sensitive action button, lifts the Kat over his head with both hands and chucks the Kat at one of the Mausers, knocking the Mauser for a loop. This infuriates the Mausers, causing them to turn their anger away from Weasel and focus it upon their more hated enemy: the helpless Kat victim. The Mausers launch after the Kat in an organized dog-pile assault that kicks up a cloud of dust and stars. Screams and crashes are heard as Mausers jump up and down within the dust cloud, while a lifeless, rag doll-like Kat body is repeatedly flung upward from the mêlée. “Hmmm… this might come in handy later on.”

At this point Weasel has learned that:

1. He needs to take and deposit a certain number of Big Ticket Items
2. He can obtain cash from Vermin and Scrappers
3. He can use his cash to purchase items and services from Vending Machines
4. Mausers and Kats hate each other

The Waterspout, the Glue Bottle & the Zip-Line

Okay, that was fun! Maybe Weasel can even figure out a way to get both entire gangs to start brawling somewhere down the line? For now Weasel continues his search for the next Big Ticket Item. Through the use of Weasel Vision, Weasel is able to detect an icon for a Big Ticket Item that is resting atop the big ship docked in the harbor. However, after examining the pier below the ship, Weasel soon realizes that there is no immediate way up to the top of the ship from the ground below. The only thing down near the bottom of the ship is a giant whale Gargantuan happily fishing in the harbor while sitting in his dinghy (more on this guy later). Weasel looks up, scans the above vicinity and notices a long zip-line that stretches above and across the deck of the ship, but how is Weasel going to access this zip-line? Weasel remembers the giant waterspout he created by taking the Mauser’s fire hydrant and decides to head in that direction.

As soon as Weasel reaches the Mausers and their waterspout, Weasel discovers that the Mausers (now that their hydrant is actually GONE) are much quicker to chase after him than they were before he pawned their fire hydrant. Reaching the waterspout may be trickier than Weasel expected. So, Weasel tries to pull the “fisherman’s truck gag” on the Mausers. Sadly, there are a few too many Mausers and the truck misses a small number of them, leaving the Mausers still able to chase Weasel down and punish him before he can reach the waterspout.

Oh, well, on to Plan-B. Weasel collects some of the scattered cash from the recent truck accident and runs over to buy a new bottle of glue from the nearby Vending Machine. With the fisherman’s truck still cruising around the harbor, Weasel returns to the Mauser’s territory and begins squeezing glue spots in the path of the oncoming truck. The Mausers race over to kill Weasel and all but one of them becomes trapped. Weasel must outmaneuver the one loose Mauser, making sure that he keeps the Mauser in the path of the approaching truck. The truck slams into the stuck Mausers, travels a few feet more and takes out the rogue Mauser… but at a price. You see, Weasel was just a bit too careless and fell victim to his own trap by getting himself stuck in one of his glue spots and eventually nailed by the fender of the fisherman’s truck. Now it’s a “wait and see” situation. Will Weasel recover before the Mausers? Will the Mausers recuperate first, grab Weasel and toss him out on his ear? Weasel shakes off his wooziness just before the rest of the Mausers recover and he makes a b-line for the waterspout. With a leap of faith, Weasel jumps into the stream of water by pressing the controller’s “jump button” and, as he had hoped, is able to ride the spout up to the top of the nearby building. However, much to Weasel’s surprise, the Mausers begin jumping into the waterspout and riding it up to meet weasel on the same rooftop. “Crap!” Weasel frantically searches for the beginning of the zip-line that he hopes is on this rooftop. He locates the zip-line with no time to spare, jumps up, grabs hold of the line and slides away. The frustrated Mausers give up chase and return to the ground floor since Weasel has traveled beyond the boundaries of their turf.

The Kats, the Ship’s Cork & the Water Cannon

The good news is that Weasel’s made his way onto the zip-line and is headed toward the ship. The bad news is that the zip-line will carry Weasel right over and beyond the ship unless he manages to let go of the zip-line at the exact moment that will send him sailing downward onto the deck of the impending ship. The player adjusts the camera to a more advantageous top-down view of Weasel by using the “R analog control stick” to maneuver the camera in place. Weasel is traveling at a good clip as the ship moves into range. He judges his speed and position one last time, lets go of the zip-line by pressing the “jump button” and plunges down toward the ship below. However, it seems Weasel’s timing was just a hair off, as he is now in serious danger of overshooting his target. With no time to lose, Weasel deploys and expands his pants into a parachute-like mode by holding down the “jump button”, which slows down his descent rate enough to gradually maneuver himself successfully back toward the deck of the ship. After touching down safely atop the big ship, Weasel surveys the situation and spots another gang of Kats gathered around a big cork in the middle of the ship. Being fresh out of glue, Weasel’s curiosity gets the better of him and he walks up to one of the Kats. All of the Kats keep a close eye (head-tracking) on Weasel’s every movement as he walks right up to one of them and (by pressing the context sensitive action button just to see what happens) pokes the Kat right in the eye! “DOINK!” The Kat lets out a terrible scream and instantly raises his hands to cover his eyes in agony. The rest of the Kats, now angered, descend upon Weasel. Weasel takes off running. Spotting a towering mast, Weasel races toward the stern of the ship, jumps onto the mast and shimmies on up. The Kats, not wanting to stray too far from their precious Big Ticket Item, quickly give up their chase and return to their posts, still watchful of Weasel’s whereabouts. Once Weasel reaches the platform positioned atop the mast, he realizes that a zip-line is strung from the top of the aft mast he currently stands upon, to the crow’s nest on top of a slightly shorter mast near the bow of the ship. Weasel jumps up, grabs hold of the zip-line and slides to the front of the ship. Once he reaches the end of the line, Weasel finds himself inside the ship’s crow’s nest sitting in the seat of a strange looking gun-turret contraption. A coin slot in front of Weasel is clearly labeled with a dollar amount (this must be the price to operate the device). Luckily, Weasel has enough cash to give it a try. Since Weasel has never encountered this contraption before, as soon as he presses the controller’s context sensitive action button, Mr. Helpful runs up the side of the mast to inform Weasel that he is positioned on top of a high power water cannon that can be used to blast away the filthy characters of Scratchtown. Excited, Weasel inserts his cash into the water cannon’s coin box. The gun begins to warm up, rattling and shaking with a perceptible hum of water pressure building up to dangerous levels. Weasel thinks to himself, “This is too easy. There’s gotta be a catch.” The gun snaps to the ready. The camera switches to Weasel’s point of view starring directly down the length of the water cannon’s barrel toward the awaiting targets. The water cannon can be aimed by maneuvering the controller’s “L analog control stick” in the desired direction. Pressing the “action button” fires the water from the cannon. Weasel swings the cannon around, and opens fire on the miserable Kats loitering on the ship’s deck below (causing the controller to vibrate), blasting them overboard into the cold harbor waters. Wow! That WAS easy! Although, if Weasel wants to grab that Big Ticket Item he’d better hurry before the Kats crawl out of the harbor water and climb back up to the ship or wait for him on the pier below. The Kats can climb the ship’s anchor chain (too high for Weasel) back up to the ship’s deck. So, Weasel hops down from the water cannon, runs over to the big cork, grabs hold and yanks it from the deck, which causes a moderate sized waterspout to erupt. Weasel then runs to the bow of the ship and leaps off. Not wanting to crash land into the ground below, Weasel deploys his parachute pants once again, allowing a gentle touchdown on the playfield’s surface. Weasel rushes over to Mr. Pawn and deposits his third Big Ticket Item! Mr. Pawn gives Weasel a fine “how-do-you-do” and rolls his number display down by one. The camera view cuts back to the ship to reveal it has now sprung quite a few leaks and is listing to one side. With a thunderous groan, the ship topples over, spraying seawater all around as the vessel crashes to a sudden stop against the pier. Sure, Weasel just pawned another Big Ticket Item but in doing so he’s rendered the water cannon, located in the crow’s nest of the ship, completely useless. Yep. Weasel probably shouldn’t have sunk the ship just yet since that water cannon could have come in handy later on. Oops.

The Whale

However, on the upside, in sinking the ship, its hull collided with the dock, causing a section of the pier to break loose and swing outward, creating a convenient walkway leading right out to the giant whale Gargantuan. Remember him? So, Weasel takes a walk along this newly created pathway to get a closer look at the whale. Once Weasel reaches the whale, he sees, setting on a nearby rock, a big bucket filled with fish. Using Weasel Vision, Weasel discovers that this bucket is actually a Big Ticket Item. Unfortunately, the bucket belongs to the Gargantuan whale. However, the whale seems like a nice enough guy; he’s smiling, fishing and singing to himself. In fact, the whale’s not paying any attention at all to Weasel. So, Weasel figures “what the heck”, and starts to grab the bucket of fish. Big mistake. The Gargantuan quickly turns toward Weasel and sees his precious fish bucket being hoisted up. In an instant, the whale’s demeanor turns from friendly to furious and the whale takes a swipe at Weasel. The fish bucket goes sailing and the whale retrieves it and puts it back atop its original rock base. Oddly enough, the whale’s mood quickly returns to normal as he goes right back to fishing in the harbor. Weasel decides to observe the whale a bit longer, and after a while the whale yawns and begins falling asleep. Once the whale is sleeping, Weasel tiptoes over to the bucket, picks it up and starts making his way up the pier toward Mr. Pawn. Just as Weasel reaches a respectable distance between himself and the Gargantuan, the maritime monster wakes up, realizes his bucket is missing and blows his stack, literally. The whale’s expression is now one of rage as he blasts water from his blowhole, lets out a “steam whistle scream” and launches upward out of the water, landing on the extended pier section. Obviously, now would be a good time to run. Weasel takes off, headed for Mr. Pawn while the Gargantuan continues his pursuit. Weasel notices that the distance between himself and the angry whale is rapidly decreasing as the whale is gaining speed and momentum. Weasel, also, notices that blocking his path, directly ahead of him is the same gang of Kats that he blasted off of the ship’s deck earlier. The Kats spot Weasel and charge toward him. This is a bit of a desperate situation. So, Weasel decides to take his chances with the lesser of two evils and attempts to outmaneuver the approaching Kats. With the whale close behind, Weasel jumps, jukes and moves his way through the swarming Kats. Weasel manages to safely slip past the Kats, however, they turn and continue to chase after him. Now with both the Kat gang AND the fast-approaching whale hell-bent on slaughtering him, Weasel witnesses something unexpected and quite welcomed: While closing in on Weasel, the whale plows right through the pursuing Kats, sending them flying like bowling pins and rendering them all unconscious. That was handy! Weasel suddenly realizes that this Gargantuan is a pretty effective tool for mowing down enemies and clearing a path in the playfield. Remembering what a mistake it was to deposit the ship’s Big Ticket Item so early in the game, Weasel decides to drop the Gargantuan’s Big Ticket Item, allowing the beast to recover his prized possession, thus resetting the whale back into the water and preserving him for additional use at a later time.

Doors

Time to seek out a new Big Ticket Item. While exploring the playfield, it dawns on Weasel that he is severely light on cash, and since cash is quite helpful when it comes to acquiring a Big Ticket Item, Weasel figures he should round up a buck or two. He could chase down the scampering little Vermin for some spare change, and although that would be a fun diversion, it won’t provide Weasel with the speedy payoff he desires. He could reuse one of the cash-gathering methods he employed earlier like having the fisherman’s truck run down a street gang, but that’s a dangerous maneuver that might not be as successful as he would like, or he could steal the Gargantuan’s bucket again, but he would have to wait for the waterlogged beast to fall asleep again and then would need to somehow avoid the gang of Kats that are currently swarming the pier near the whale. If he wasn’t such a puss, he could simply clobber the cash right out of one of the Mauser or Kat gangs but since that isn’t the case, Weasel decides to seek out a new scheme. Weasel activates his Weasel Vision and notices that many of the doors in the harbor have “price tag arrows” pointing to them. The price tags represent a door’s entry fee. There seems to be two different price ranges: cheap & not so cheap. However, none of the price tag doors are accessible in Weasel’s immediate vicinity. Weasel observes that the rest of the doors that are directly within reach have question marks above them. Curious, Weasel walks up to one of the question marked doors. Mr. Helpful shows up and explains that there’s no charge to access a question-marked door, simply knock on it to discover what mysteries await inside. So, by pressing the controller’s context sensitive action button, Weasel knocks on the door. The door opens and a big punching glove on a scissor-arm extends, clocking Weasel right in the face, sending him and some of his cash to the ground. Not yet discouraged, Weasel decides to try one more question mark. He steps up to a different door, knocks, the door opens and instead of getting punched in the face, Weasel automatically walks inside the now open doorway. The door shuts behind him, and a “whooshing” sound is heard as the camera pans up and over to another door located on the third floor of a neighboring building. Along the way, sounds of breaking dishes, screeching cats, shouting men and screaming woman are heard. The camera slides to a halt and Weasel automatically walks out from behind the new door of the neighboring building! It would seem that some of these doors are capable of transporting Weasel to different doors within the playfield. Pretty useful! Still curious, and now standing next to a couple of price tag doors, Weasel decides to give one a try. Being close to broke; Weasel opts for one of the cheap price tag doors. He knocks, the door opens and Weasel walks right in as the screen “W-wipes” to black.

The Shell Game

Promptly, the screen “W-wipes” from black to present the player with a Mini Bonus Game via Weasel’s-point-of-view (Weasel’s hands bob up and down on either side of the screen while his fingers greedily twiddle in anticipation). This Mini Bonus Game is “The Shell Game”. It’s very simple. There are 3 shells. Underneath one of the shells is a coin. First, Weasel is shown which shell contains the coin. The shells are shuffled. Once the shells come to a rest, Weasel chooses which shell the coin is under. If he is correct, he wins a little cash. If he is incorrect, he loses some cash. Each game has five rounds. The rounds increase in length, speed, difficulty and payoff or penalty as the game progresses. The more correct guesses Weasel makes, the more money he wins. However, if Weasel loses all his money before the game is over, he will be kicked out.

Shell game, round one: Weasel is shown the coin, the shells are slowly shuffled, then come to a stop. Weasel selects the shell that has the coin by highlighting the desired shell by using the controller’s “L analog control stick” and selecting the highlighted shell by pressing the controller’s context sensitive “action button”. Weasel’s hand reaches toward the selected shell and turns it over to reveal the coin underneath. A victorious bell is sounded as Weasel wins a little cash. The shells go through another shuffle. Weasel turns over the correct shell again and wins a bit more cash than he won the first round. The next shuffle is a little longer and faster than before and it catches Weasel off guard. He extends his arm and overturns an empty shell. A negative “buzzing” sound is heard and Weasel looses slightly more money than he had just won in the previous round. The shells are mixed around again, but this time Weasel concentrates and correctly chooses the shell with the coin! The victory bell sounds and Weasel earns enough money to make up for the cash he just lost, plus a little extra. Okay. Last shuffle. This time the shells are moving faster as they leapfrog over and slide past each other. This is the longest shuffle so far and Weasel’s pretty sure he kept his eye on the coin, but he may have lost track of it at one point and mistakenly started following an incorrect shell. Weasel decides to trust his first impression and turns over the correct shell! Bells ring out and Weasel wins a nice chunk of cash as he waves his clasped hands in victory. Winning all 5 rounds results in a confetti shower and a bonus cash prize. Loosing more money than winning, results in Weasel pounding his fist against the shell table in frustration. Future levels will have more shells, longer shuffles, as well as dangerous “electrified” contents housed under certain shells that will “zap” Weasel (vibrating the controller) and drain even more of Weasel’s cash than the standard incorrect guesses. The screen “W-wipes” to black, then “W-wipes” back into the harbor’s exterior as Weasel emerges out from the door to the Mini Bonus Game.

The Cannon

Now loaded with prize money, Weasel heads out to cause more trouble. He recalls seeing a cannon-like device near the rooftop of the building he rode the waterspout up to earlier. Weasel heads back over to the fire hydrant-less Mauser gang. Feeling a bit more confidant in his ability to maneuver throughout the playfield, Weasel decides to try and run through and past the impending Mauser gang. As he nears the still erupting waterspout within the Mauser’s turf, the Mausers catch sight of Weasel and race to head him off. Weasel spins left past one Mauser, darts to the right of one more and then leaps up and over two others. This continues until Weasel has successfully reached the waterspout. He leaps into the spray and rides it up to the top of the neighboring building. A couple of Mausers follow. Weasel spots the cannon device. There’s a coin box with a price tag along side the cannon. Once Weasel reaches the cannon, Mr. Helpful sidles up and tells Weasel that this cannon is a special pay-per-ride gadget used to propel Weasel through the air toward certain inaccessible, elevated or far-reaching areas of the playfield. Weasel gives Mr. Helpful a much-deserved slap on the ear, then, via the context sensitive “action button”, deposits some cash into the cannon’s coin box, and automatically leaps up and into the cannon. The cannon’s fuse begins to spark as the cannon automatically rotates and aims toward a point across the harbor. “BOOM!” Weasel, flailing and screaming, is hurtled over the harbor below. Weasel crash-lands face first on a small rooftop located on the other side of the marina.

The Mausers, the Fiery Trashcan & the Fake Pinup

Weasel collects himself and has a look around. He spots a gang of Mausers on the roof of a neighboring building below. They seem to be huddled around an old trashcan with a mini bonfire smoldering inside. Thanks to Weasel’s lofty position, the Mausers haven’t yet noticed him. There’s really not much Weasel can do at this point. The fisherman’s truck can’t climb buildings. The Mauser’s rooftop is too confining and the Mausers are too numerous for Weasel to simply rush in and grab the Big Ticket Item. And there doesn’t appear to be a favorable location to squeeze out some sticky glue traps. What the hell? Ready to move on, Weasel catches a glimpse of what looks to be another Vending Machine located next to the building on the opposite side of the Mauser’s rooftop nest. Weasel carefully makes his way along the ledge of the building spanning the gap between him and the building with the Vending Machine. He safely navigates over the Mausers, still unaware of his presence, and winds up next to the new Vending Machine. This newly discovered Vending Machine contains what appears to be a very attractive woman. Mr. Helpful arrives just in time to explain that there isn’t actually a real woman inside the Vending Machine, but instead a crappy wooden reproduction there of, that most of Scratchtown’s perverted residents won’t be able to tell apart from the real thing. A little disappointed, but not too, Weasel plunks in a few bucks and out pops a fake pinup (a fake pinup icon is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen), and once again Weasel stuffs the fake pinup down the front of his pants and strolls on over to the gang of Mausers guarding the fiery trashcan.

These Mausers, never having seen Weasel before, keep a close watch on his movements. Weasel stops near the assembled group and with their eyes upon him, presses the controller’s special item button, pulls the fake pinup from his pants and unfolds it right there on the spot. The Mausers bolt straight up, eyes bugging, and like love-struck zombies, work their way toward the fake pinup, all the while emitting little floaty Valentine hearts that rise and “pop”. Realizing that he may want to put a little more distance between himself and the fake pinup, Weasel rushes in, grabs the fake pinup, stuffs it back down his pants by pressing the action button and leaps up to the ledge above. However the Mausers have, by now, returned to their Big Ticket Item. Weasel pulls out and unfolds the fake pinup on the ledge above the Mausers. The Mausers don’t react (it’s too high above them to notice), so Weasel gives a loud whistle. The Mausers turn toward Weasel, spot the fake pinup and start climbing up toward it. Once the Mausers are all on top of the ledge, Weasel quickly grabs the fake pinup again and runs over to the opposite edge of the nearby rooftop. Weasel manages to unfold and place the fake pinup down before the Mausers shake off their dazed trance. The Mausers, again head toward the fake pinup. Weasel rushes past the Mausers on his way toward their Big Ticket Item. Once the Mausers are gathered around the fake pinup, they leap on top of it all at once, sending smoke, hearts and wood shrapnel flying all around while the sound of hammering, drilling and sawing are heard. Now positioned along side the Big Ticket Item, Weasel leans over and picks up the fiery trashcan by pressing the action button, causing sparks to fly and scatter, which ignite tiny little flames on the rooftop. Instantly, the Mausers cease their activities and stand upright. As soon as they realize Weasel has taken off with their trashcan, the Mausers give chase, yelling and aggressively gesturing all the while. Let’s hope there’s enough distance between Weasel and the fast approaching Mauser gang.

The Gang Fight

Weasel walks off of the rooftop but is so preoccupied with the trailing Mausers that he forgets to deploy his parachute pants and plummets with his Big Ticket Item straight to the ground below. “SPLAT!” Weasel hits the pier face first, which sends his trashcan tumbling. Dizzy little chirping birds orbit Weasel’s head while embers and ash trickle down as the trashcan topples to an upright stop. Weasel, still recovering from his fall, is trampled by the stampeding gang of Mausers as they race toward their Big Ticket Item. However, while making their way toward their Big Ticket Item, the Mausers have unknowingly crossed into a Kat gang’s turf. The Kat gang spots the Mausers, rushes toward them and an all out street brawl breaks loose! Smoke, fists, fur and teeth are flying everywhere! Terrible screams and agonizing crashes can be heard. The gangs seem to be too preoccupied with one another to even notice Weasel as he walks over to the smoking trashcan, picks it up and dashes off for Mr. Pawn. The Mausers, still fighting, attempt to chase after Weasel but the furious Kats keep tackling and attacking the Mausers. By the time the Mausers manage to break away from the Kats, Weasel is nearly home free as he steps onto Mr. Pawn’s bull’s eye doormat, presses the controller’s “action button” and deposits his fourth Big Ticket Item! The camera view cuts back to the rooftop that previously housed the most recent Big Ticket Item to reveal the once small fiery flickers have burst into a raging 3-alarm fire. Oh, well. Weasel doesn’t have time to concern himself with someone else’s problems.

At this point some sirens can be heard due to the mayhem Weasel has been causing throughout the level.

Spank-the-Monkey

Weasel sets off for the zip-line he originally rode to the top of the giant ship earlier. He’s interested to discover where the zip-line actually ends since he jumped off of the zip-line only halfway across last time. So, Weasel runs past the Mauser gang, jumps up into the waterspout he created when he stole their fire hydrant and rides the stream up to the neighboring building’s rooftop. Once Weasel reaches the rooftop, he runs over to the zip-line, leaps upward, grabs hold of the line and starts sliding. He passes over the wrecked ship on his way across the harbor. Weasel finally reaches the end of the line on a small rooftop. The rooftop is vacant and there doesn’t seem to be much activity nearby. So, Weasel decides to have a look around. The first thing he sees is another Vending Machine atop another rooftop in the distance. Weasel wanders over to investigate the new Vending Machine. He notices that the Vending Machine seems to be offering a head of a Kat. Mr. Helpful arrives and explains that this Vending Machine item is actually an oversized “Kat disguise hat”. Whenever Weasel wears this disguise hat, all other characters will react to Weasel as if he were a Kat. But as usual, Weasel is nearly flat broke and can’t afford the purchase price of the hat. Time to find some more cash. Weasel activates his Weasel vision and sees a price tag icon pointing to a couple of nearby door. Weasel walks over to the door, knocks, the door opens and Weasel walks on in.

Inside this door is one of Scratchtown’s favorite bonus game pastimes: “Spank the Monkey!” The camera view is similar to Weasel’s point of view during the previous shell game bonus round. Weasel’s hands eagerly await on either side of the screen while a table with 8 cutout holes arranged in a square-like pattern lay before him. The object of this game is to spank as many monkey heinders that pop out from the 8 table holes as possible before time runs out. Weasel earns a little money for each successful spank, but loses a little cash every time he misses. Also, a cactus can popup at any time to confuse Weasel. The cactus will shock Weasel (vibrating the controller), draining a little more cash from Weasel than the usual miss hit. The game begins: Weasel spanks each monkey by moving the controller’s “L analog control stick” or “digital directional pad” toward the desired hole on the table. The first monkey appears. Inquisitive monkey gibberish is heard as the monkey’s rear end slowly rises out from the upper right-hand corner hole in the table. Weasel presses the control stick to the upper right and “THWACK!” Bright red monkey ass! The monkey lets out a terrible monkey scream and sinks back down into his hole. A victorious bell sound is heard as Weasel’s cash increases a bit. Weasel prepares for the next monkey. It rises from the bottom center of the table. Weasel pulls the control stick straight down and “FWHAP!” Bull’s eye! More cash and more monkey screams. Eventually, the game’s pace increases, making it more challenging to spank each monkey. Weasel just misses a cheeky little monkey and slaps the table instead. A buzzer sounds and some of Weasel’s cash is taken away. Weasel manages to make contact for the next couple of turns, but then the speed of the game really picks up. Weasel, spots a dirty monkey just peeking out from the left side hole and takes a swat at him. Unfortunately, it was a cactus and Weasel suffers a jolt that shakes the entire screen and drains quite a bit of his cash. Determined not to make that mistake again, Weasel successfully spanks the majority of the remaining monkeys with only a few misses here and there. After all is said and done, Weasel comes out well ahead of where he began. Weasel exits out from the Bonus Game door, emerging back on the rooftop.

The Goon & the Disguise Hat

Before heading directly over to the disguise hat Vending Machine, Weasel decides to take advantage of his elevated position and walks around a bit, surveying his surroundings. He notices what looks like a harpoon gun perched on the ledge of a boat-shaped building across the harbor. “I wonder if I can use that later on?” Weasel, also, sees some characters below that he hasn’t seen before. One looks like a regular street tuff, but he’s all by himself. Then he spots two characters walking side-by-side; one is an attractive pinup-like girl, the other is a menacing-looking brute of a guy. “I wonder what that’s all about?” All right, back to business at hand. Weasel begins making his way towards the Vending Machine when he hears a faint far off echo of what sounds like a kind of howl. Weasel stops cold in his tracks. He hears it again, only this time it sounds closer. “What in the hell was that?” Unable to see anything, Weasel continues toward the Vending Machine when suddenly from behind a shingled roof on the horizon, leaps a lanky, drooling, menacing wolf-like creature. “Oh, God! It’s the HOWLER!” The Howler lets out a primal scream as air raid sirens sound from all over. The howler spots Weasel and begins racing toward him. Panic-stricken, Weasel, out of desperation, buys the disguise hat from the Vending Machine, hoping to confuse the Howler and avoid being massacred. Weasel pops in some cash and “BING!” An oversized mascot-like head of a Kat lands right on top of Weasel’s head. Unfortunately, the Howler isn’t baffled by this ploy and continues his charge. Weasel starts running for his life but the Howler is just too fast. The Howler pounces on Weasel (sending Weasel’s disguise hat flying off), pins him to the ground and while hunched over Weasel, the Howler begins biting Weasel and carving at him with a knife and fork. The background slowly fades away and is replaced by a spiraling black and white hypnotic backdrop. Only Weasel and the Howler Goon remain in view. Weasel’s horrible screams are heard as the Howler continues his maniacal wailing and the screen fades to black. This is followed by an on-screen newspaper rollout showing the front-page of the Scratchtown Times with a photo of Weasel passed-out and hanging naked from a rope while stick-wielding children excitedly whack away at him like a piñata. The headline reading, “WEASEL SAYS: LOOK MA’ NO PANTS!” The newspaper rolls back as the screen fades to black. (This sequence is meant to show the outrageous and embarrassing things that happen to Weasel whenever the Goon catches, providing a different newspaper headline each time)

The screen fades back in on a scene of a dumpster somewhere in the harbor. Weasel crawls out of the dumpster, a little groggy and confused. To Weasel’s enormous disappointment, he discovers that ALL of his money is now gone. Crap. Just then, Mr. Helpful shows up and cheerfully explains that the rooftops of Scratchtown are a dangerous place. Anyone who lingers a little too long up there is putting themselves in danger of being attacked by a crazed rooftop monster known as a Goon. This maniac will stop at nothing to capture his prey… he also likes to take embarrassing pictures of his victims to give to the local paper. Weasel slaps the holy hell out of Mr. Helpful for not offering this piece of information earlier.

The Mausers, the Kats & the Gang Fight

Weasel takes a quick look around to figure out where he has just ended up and proceeds toward a nearby group of Mausers. Along the way, Weasel spots another Vending Machine positioned on a nearby balcony. There doesn’t seem to be any immediate route up to the Vending Machine at this time so Weasel moves on. He finally reaches the gang of Mausers and notices that they’re somewhat scattered around their territory. Weasel activates his Weasel Vision and spots the Mauser’s Big Ticket Item. It’s a fuse box attached to the wall of a building. There doesn’t really appear to be any Mausers guarding the fuse box too closely. Weasel then notices a group of Kats just around the corner. These are the same Kats that Weasel took his very first Big Ticket Item from. So, Weasel casually walks up to the Mauser gang’s fuse box, looks around to see if anyone is moving toward him. There’s only one Mauser in view and he’s simply keeping an eye on Weasel. So, by pressing the “action button”, Weasel tears the fuse box from the wall, sending a shower of sparks sputtering out, as he takes off running. The one lone Mauser shouts, alerting the other Mausers. The Mausers give chase as Weasel heads for the Kat gang instead of Mr. Pawn. Once Weasel enters the Kat’s territory, the Kats start running toward him. So, now with both the Kats and the Mausers headed directly for him, Weasel drops the Big Ticket Item between the two approaching gangs. This sends both gangs charging for the fuse box since they’d much rather have a Big Ticket Item than kick Weasel’s ass. The Mausers and the Kats both reach the Big Ticket Item at the exact same time and begin duking it out while diving for the fuse box. In the mean time, Weasel runs around the perimeter of the warring gangs, picking up their scattered cash. Weasel never had any intention of pawning the fuse box. He simply wanted to load up on cash since he recently lost all of money during his run-in with the Howler. As Weasel flees the scene he witnesses the Mausers and Kats both attempting to run off with the loose Big Ticket Item. The Mausers eventually manage to carry their fuse box back to their turf and place it back on the still sparking wall support from which it came. Once the fuse box is returned, the sparking is stopped.

The Zip-Tube & the Harpoon Gun

With his funds replenished, Weasel sets out to figure a way to reach that Vending Machine located on the balcony above the Mauser gang with the fuse box. He remembers seeing a snaking length of colorful tubing at the end of the harbor near a rusty old crane and decides to investigate. Upon reaching what appears to be the entrance to the pipe near the rusty old crane, Weasel notices a sign with a cash amount above the opening of the pipe. Mr. Helpful sprints over to Weasel and explains that this winding pipe is actually a pneumatic mail tube or “zip-tube” that can be used for speedy travel to different areas within each level. However, Weasel must pay to ride a zip-tube and cannot travel through one while carrying a Big Ticket Item or other character. Weasel backhands Mr. Helpful, sending him on his way, then Weasel jumps up into the zip-tube’s opening. It’s a tight squeeze, but Weasel finally manages to slip through. With the sound of a speeding bullet, Weasel is whisked at breakneck speed across the harbor. The camera view is of the exterior of the zip-tube. The tube swells as Weasel passes through. The zip-tube snakes in and out of structures along the way. Finally, Weasel shoots out the exit hole of the zip-tube, splatting against a rooftop surface. It seems that Weasel has ended up near the boat-shaped building that bears the harpoon gun. Weasel makes his way over to what he hopes is a harpoon gun and just as he is about to come in contact with the device, Mr. Helpful drops in to fill Weasel in. Mr. Helpful tells Weasel that this gadget is indeed a harpoon gun. Weasel must pay each time he wishes to fire the gun. The harpoon gun can be used as a weapon against other characters that are within its range. While operating the harpoon gun, a little crosshair will appear on screen to show what is within the gun’s range. When something is out of range, the crosshair will simply disappear. Also, Weasel can use the harpoon gun as a do-it-yourself zip-line. Just fire the harpoon at a nearby structure and the harpoon will impale itself into the structure, thus creating a temporary zip-line for Weasel to slide across. Cool! Weasel steps up to the harpoon gun and takes a seat. The camera switches to Weasel’s point of view (much like the water canon) starring directly down the length of the harpoon gun toward the awaiting targets. The harpoon gun can be aimed by maneuvering the controller’s “L analog control stick” in the desired direction. Pressing the “action button” launches the harpoon. Each time the harpoon is fired, money is automatically withdrawn from weasel’s total. Weasel aims the harpoon toward a nearby Kat and fires. “FFFFWIP!” The harpoon and its cable fly toward and impale the Kat (no blood), then recoil back toward Weasel and the gun. The Kat is flailing and screaming the entire time. Once the harpoon returns to its base, the camera view returns to normal as the Kat is automatically knocked free from the harpoon, and sent tumbling to the ground below. As the Kat collided with the gun, some of the Kat’s cash was knocked loose from the impact, landing near the base of the harpoon gun. Weasel jumps off of the harpoon gun by pressing the “jump button” and rushes around, collecting the loose change. Weasel decides to give it another go. He hops back on, searches for his next target and notices the big Meathead looking character that he saw earlier. Somehow, this guy just looks like he deserves this. Weasel takes aim and fires. “THWAP!” Direct hit! The harpoon along with the Meathead comes sailing and screaming back to the gun’s base. The Meathead is shouting like mad (this guy is really pissed off). The Meathead impacts with the harpoon gun and goes sailing back down to the playfield surface. Weasel notices that the Meathead lost a lot more cash when he impacted with the harpoon gun then the Kat did. Apparently, Meatheads are LOADED! Weasel gathers up the Meatheads lost cash and returns once again to the harpoon gun. Weasel looks across the playfield through the harpoon gun’s sight. He sees the Vending Machine located on the balcony above the Mauser gang with the fuse box. Weasel lines up his shot to the side of the Vending Machine and fires. “THWUMP!” The harpoon sticks into the wall next to the Vending Machine. Weasel hops off of the harpoon gun and slides across his newly created zip-line. Once Weasel reaches the end of the zip-line, he dismounts and the harpoon is quickly towed back to the gun.

The Fuse Box, The Mausers, & the Disguise Hat

Finally gaining access to the balcony’s Vending Machine, Weasel observes that the Vending Machine contains a Mauser disguise hat. Convenient. Weasel drops in a coin and out pops an oversized, fake Mauser head that drops onto Weasel’s own head. Weasel decides to have a little fun. He jumps off of the balcony and parachutes down to the Mausers on the playfield below. Weasel discovers that he is able to walk with absolute immunity along side the Mausers. So, he decides to see what would happen if he grabbed the Mauser’s Big Ticket Item. Weasel walks over to the fuse box, pulls it from the wall, sparks fly again, but the Mausers don’t pay any attention. So, Weasel walks away with the fuse box. Still nothing. However, once Weasel reaches the invisible boundaries of the Mauser’s turf, the Mausers suddenly turn toward him, point, and begin yelling and chasing Weasel down. Weasel crosses back into the Mausers territory and the Mausers instantly stop chasing after him. “Hmmm? I guess the Mausers don’t want their Big Ticket Item to leave their turf no matter who has it.”

The Fuse Box, the Meathead & the Pinup

Then Weasel sees the lovely Pinup and her idiot Meathead walking in the direction of the Mausers. He uses his Weasel Vision and sees that the Meathead doesn’t have any special icons pointing to him at all, while the Pinup has a cleverly placed icon near her middle backside. Weasel, still holding the fuse box, tosses it aside for the time being (the Mausers begin to walk toward the discarded fuse box). Once the Pinup and Meathead are close enough, Weasel runs up behind the Pinup, presses the “action button” and gives her a delightful swat on the behind. “KA-PACK!” The Pinup leaps upward, startled and slightly annoyed. The Meathead, on the other hand, is livid! He goes into a rage and starts chasing after Weasel. Weasel runs toward the approaching Mausers and stuffs his Mauser disguise down his pants just before he reaches them. Confused but still enraged, the Meathead turns his anger upon the other Mausers since, as far as he’s concerned, some Mauser just spanked his girl’s behind. Once the Mauser’s are rendered unconscious by the crazed Meathead, Weasel picks up the fuse box he had placed down earlier and runs it over toward Mr. Pawn.

The Fuse Box, the Kats, the Whale & the Mausers

However on his way to Mr. Pawn, Weasel runs across the gang of Kats that he blasted off the deck of ship earlier on. The Kats remember Weasel and start heading toward him. Weasel tosses the Big Ticket Item, retrieves the Mauser disguise from his pants and puts it on his head. Weasel then picks up the Big Ticket Item and heads toward Mr. Pawn again. Oddly, the Kats continue running toward Weasel. It would appear that they must want the Big ticket Item as well. The Kats eventually intercept Weasel and knock Weasel’s Big Ticket Item loose. Weasel’s disguise hat is knocked loose in the process as well. A pack of Vermin run over to the disguise hat, pick it up and carry it away. Weasel is too concerned with recovering his lost fuse box at the moment to worry about the disguise hat. The Kats return with their newly acquired Big Ticket Item to the pier below the wrecked ship. Weasel rushes past the now preoccupied Kats and heads along the broken pier out to the sleeping Gargantuan. Weasel sneaks his way up to the Gargantuan’s fish bucket, picks it up and quietly sneaks away. Just as Weasel reaches the end of the broken pier, the Kats notice Weasel has another Big Ticket Item so they curiously run toward him, waking the sleeping whale. The Gargantuan has a conniption when he spots Weasel with the bucket and starts to chase after Weasel who leads the whale through the gang of Kats that currently have the fuse box. The Gargantuan tramples the Kats and knocks loose the fuse box. Just then Weasel sees the Mauser gang that he took the fuse box from, fast approaching. Weasel heads in the Mauser’s direction and tosses the Gargantuan’s bucket at them. The whale pounds through the Mausers in order to recover his rotten fish bucket. So, with both the Kats and the Mausers knocked out; Weasel grabs the fuse box and deposits his fifth Big Ticket Item into the nearby Mr. Pawn. The camera cuts back to the origin of the fuse box to show the sparks increasing as smoke begins to pour out from the windows of the immediate building. The camera then cuts back to Weasel and Mr. Pawn. As Mr. Pawn’s number display counts down once again, It seems that Mr. Pawn has a jingle for Weasel this time around: “Pawning is simple. Pawning is swell. If you don’t like pawning, you can go to… Hello, friend! You say you can’t get enough of that great pawning action? Well, that’s why Mr. Pawn is here now to serve you ‘round the clock. So, remember, when it comes to pawning, there’s only one name to trust: MR. PAWN! Now in the big red box!”

The Toady

Weasel takes off into the playfield again. He remembers spotting a lone character while he was scanning the playfield from the top of a building. Weasel makes his way over to find this isolated citizen. He soon spots this character leaning up against the side of a building, flipping a coin into the air and looking mostly disinterested. Weasel approaches this stocky, tough looking character. Mr. Helpful arrives and informs Weasel that this guy is commonly referred to as a Toady. He’s essentially a hired henchman. For a specific fee, Weasel can hire one or more Toadies to help assist him in dealing with local residents and acquire Big Ticket Items. The Toadies charge a 50% fee up front. Once a Toady completes his job by helping Weasel successfully pawn a Big Ticket Item, he’ll demand the second half of his payment from Weasel. Weasel can honor his arrangement or he can “stiff” the Toady by running off without paying for the Toady’s services. This tactic, although economical, will render the Toady “unusable” by setting the Toady loose in the playfield. The Toady will chase after Weasel every chance he gets until he eventually catches Weasel and literally shakes his payment out of Weasel. Once the Toady has been paid in full, Weasel can hire him once again. By using Weasel Vision, Weasel can see a price hovering above the Toady’s head. This is the cost to hire the Toady. Weasel approaches the Toady, presses the “action button” and “CA-CHING!” Weasel has just purchased himself some bona fide muscle. The Toady trails along side Weasel as Weasel makes his way around the playfield. When Weasel comes within range of something a Toady can interact with, an icon of the controller’s “Toady button” will fade-in above the item or character’s head. Weasel runs past a small gang of Kats (only 4) near a drinking fountain. He notices that one of the Kats is holding some type of crude weapon (a board with a nail) and is standing quite a bit further away from the rest of the Kats. As Weasel approaches the Kat, a little Toady icon appears above the Kat’s head. Weasel presses the controller’s “Toady button” and sends the Toady after the stray Kat. The Toady trounces the Kat, knocking the Kat’s weapon loose in the process. However, with all the commotion and the Kat’s screaming, the rest of the Kat gang have been alerted and are charging toward Weasel and his Toady. Weasel quickly runs over to the stray weapon, presses the “action button” and picks up the weapon. Weasel and the Toady then hightail it out of there.

The Weapon

Well, it would appear that Weasel has a weapon now. Mr. Helpful stops by to tell Weasel that by pressing the controller’s “special item button”, Weasel can swing the weapon. However, its usefulness is limited as it will eventually break due to overuse or may be knocked loose and picked up by another character if Weasel suffers an injury. Weasel decides to test out his newfound power on Mr. Helpful and nearly knocks Mr. Helpful’s head clean off. “Thanks, buddy!”

The Toadies, the Kats & the Drinking Fountain

Weasel figures he’s going to need a few more Toadies for this next Big Ticket Item, so he explores the playfield and discovers and hires two more Toadies along the way. Now armed with an entourage and a board with a nail sticking out of it, Weasel is prepared to seize his next Big Ticket Item. Weasel makes his way back over to the small gang of Kats near the drinking fountain. As soon as he gets within range of the Kats, he notices the “Toady icons” above the Kat’s heads. Weasel then sends the Toadies after the unsuspecting Kats. “BANG!” “WHAM!” “SOCK-O!” The Toadies make light work of the nearly helpless Kats. After immediately rendering one of the Kats unconscious, a Toady is straddled on top of another Kat and is whaling into the Kat’s head. Another Toady is holding back the arms of one of the Kats while a Toady works the same Kat over with repeated body blows. It’s a real massacre. During the ensuing violence, Weasel has been making his way toward the Kat’s Big Ticket Item. However, there seems to be one lingering Kat near the drinking fountain. Weasel simply steps up to the Kat, rears back with his wooden board and “CRACK!” He sends the Kat sailing up through the air and back down to the ground. The Kat is out cold. Weasel bends over and pries the drinking fountain free. Another small spout erupts. Weasel rushes out past the still fighting Toadies and heads for Mr. Pawn. The Toadies follow. On the way to Mr. Pawn, Weasel encounters the gang of Mausers he ticked-off earlier by taking their fire hydrant. The Mausers move to intercept Weasel. Amazingly, the Toadies intervene and cut the Mausers off, stopping them in their tracks and giving Weasel enough breathing room to safely pawn the drinking fountain. Just as Weasel drops off the sixth Big Ticket Item, the camera cuts to reveal the tiny waterspout erupt into a full-blown geyser from where the drinking fountain once sat. Even more sirens are sounding throughout the level due to the surrounding mayhem. The camera cuts back to Weasel as all three Toadies are gathered around him with their hands extended, awaiting their payoff. Weasel pays off the first Toady by pressing the “action button”. He pays off the second Toady, but when it comes to paying off the third and final Toady Weasel comes up a bit short. You see, Weasel’s math isn’t the greatest and he didn’t take into account the remaining 50% cut going to each Toady after their services have been rendered. Oops. The only thing for Weasel to do at this point is run for his life… and that’s exactly what he does. However, the Toady chases after Weasel. While trying to escape, Weasel runs over a few cash-carrying Vermin and picks up just enough spare change to fulfill his debt. Weasel stops to pay the Toady, but it’s a little too late for pleasantries and the Toady catches up to Weasel, grabs hold of him, turns Weasel upside down and shakes the life out of him, sending Weasel’s cash showering down to the ground. Weasel’s weapon is shaken loose as well and shatters to pieces. The Toady throws Weasel aside, collects his remaining fee and goes back to his business.

The Chump & the Bounce Attack

Maybe these Toadies shouldn’t be taken so lightly. No matter. Weasel heads over to the new waterspout, dodges past the few Kats, jumps into the spout and rides it up to the neighboring building’s rooftop. Weasel spots a new zip-line and a zip-tube located on the rooftop. Weasel, recalling the earlier Goon incident, promptly jumps onto the zip-line and slides away. This zip-line doesn’t appear to be as long as the first one he encountered. It seems to be taking him to the top of a building located a few rows down from the harpoon gun. Weasel decides to jump off the zip-line on to the approaching rooftop. Unfortunately, Weasel’s timing is off again and he lets go of the line a little too early and drops toward the ground below. However, along the way he lands on top of an awning extended from the side of a building. The impact with the awning propels Weasel upward like a diving board, causing Weasel to perform a lovely swan dive pose followed by cowardly flailing as Weasel rockets toward the playfield below. Much to Weasel’s surprise, his impact with the ground has sent out a mini shock wave around his body’s point of impact. Weasel can see how this action could be transformed into an attack. He’ll just need to lure his victims below one of the awnings that are placed all throughout the level.

Not far from Weasel is an unfamiliar little kitten-like character. Weasel approaches the cute little baby creature and is informed by Mr. Helpful that this little guy is also known as a Chump. They can be found all throughout the playfield and are used to attract Pinups and feed Goons. Weasel picks up the Chump and runs over to the Pinup and the Meathead. Weasel sets the Chump down, not far from the Pinup, and whistles. The Pinup sees the Chump and comes scampering over. Weasel picks up the Chump just before the Pinups reaches it and runs it over to a nearby building and places it just underneath a set of awnings. Weasel whistles once again and the Pinup (along with her Meathead) makes her way over to the little Chump. While the Pinup and Meathead approach the Chump, Weasel climbs halfway up the side of the building next to the awnings and waits. Once the Pinup reaches the Chump, she bends over and pets the Chump’s cute little head while speaking in “baby talk”. The Meathead is forced to just stand there and wait. Now’s Weasel’s chance. Weasel leaps out onto an awning, bounces upward into a spectacular swan dive pose, briefly pauses in mid air and then slams toward the ground below heading directly for the unwary Meathead. “BOINK!” Weasel splats right on top of the Meathead, sending the Meathead on his rear. Weasel rushes around, collecting some of the Meathead’s scattered money but the Meathead almost instantly recovers from the tiny blow and angrily tries to smash Weasel with a two-fisted overhand slam. Weasel manages to dodge the blow and takes off running. The Meathead, never straying too far from the Pinup, doesn’t pursue Weasel very far.

Full-Tilt-Weasel

Weasel decides to head back toward the new waterspout but along the way he spots what looks like a chicken walking across a nearby ledge. Intrigued, Weasel hops and climbs his way up to the ledge. Mr. Helpful shows up as usual and says that chickens are wild inhabitants of Scratchtown that spook easy and can be found in random locations throughout a playfield. Mr. Helpful continues to tell Weasel that eating a wild chicken has been known to instill some folks with enhanced gusto. However, the only trick to eating a chicken is catching them. Weasel sends Mr. Helpful on his way again and starts sneaking closer to the chicken. Nothing doing. The chicken spots Weasel and takes off. Weasel chases after. The chicken leaps down from the ledge onto the playfield below. Weasel leaps after the chicken and slams into the ground, delaying his pursuit. Weasel dusts himself off and continues after the chicken, running in circles like an idiot. Finally, Weasel corners the chicken and “CHOMP!” He devours the bird in one bite (feathers everywhere). Suddenly, Weasel (and the controller) starts to shake. A loud rumbling and ripping is heard as Weasel transforms from a puny little worm into a life-sized Meathead! Large text appears on the screen reading: “FULL-TILT-WEASEL!” Feeling the awesome power of his newly acquired bulk, Weasel heads over to settle the score with that lousy Meathead. Weasel steps up to the Meathead and by pressing the “action button” he lands an earthshaking blow to the Meathead’s gut. With the Meathead doubled-over in agony, Weasel delivers another devastating body blow followed by another, and another, and ANOTHER! Weasel sends the Meathead toppling to the playfield ground. As Weasel runs around collecting the Meathead’s stray loot, he notices that the Pinup is now flirting with him (waving, giggling and blowing kisses). Weasel walks up to the Pinup, presses the “action button” and belches the words “I love yoooouuuu!” The Pinup giggles approvingly. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The effects of the chicken are merely temporary and Weasel suddenly shrinks down to his original size. The Pinup is no longer impressed and walks away. The unconscious Meathead starts to stir. Now would be a good time to runaway.

Rabies

Weasel resumes his journey back to the new waterspout. He eventually reaches the spout and rides it back up to the rooftop again. However, this time Weasel decides to take the zip-tube instead of the zip-line. He walks underneath the zip-tube’s opening and jumps up and in. Cash is automatically withdrawn from Weasel’s grand total as he screams along inside the zip-tube. Weasel is eventually spat out from the zip-tube onto the rooftop of a building. Weasel walks down the stairs from the roof to the floor below. In the recessed room beneath the rooftop, a gang of Kats is gathered around watching television. Through Weasel Vision, Weasel can see that, as expected, the television is the Big Ticket Item. Unfortunately, the room is fairly confined and there are quite a few Kats inside. Weasel spots a pack of Vermin marching up and down the stairs and figures he’ll kill a little time by squashing a few rats and collecting a little chump change in the process. So, as Weasel is running around stepping on helpless Vermin, he spots a Vermin carrying what appears to be a tin can. Weasel, runs over to the can-carrying Vermin and upon closer inspection realizes that the Vermin is in fact carrying a tin can with a what appears to be a picture of a bat on the can’s label. So, Weasel squashes the rat, picks up the can and stuffs it into his pants (a can icon appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen). Mr. Helpful races over and tells Weasel that he’s just crammed a can of rabies down his trousers and by pressing the controller’s “special item button” Weasel will open the can of rabies, sending out a swarm of rabid bats that will attack and infect Weasel with rabies. The good news is that whomever Weasel runs up to and bites (by pressing the “action button”) while infected with rabies, will, in turn, contract rabies and pass it along to whomever they bite, and so on down the line. So, Weasel decides to crack open the can. A flurry of bats escape and immediately swarm weasel, bite him and fly away. Weasel starts having wild spasms on the spot. Fire alarms sound as Weasel’s mouth overruns with foam. An off-camera voice cries out “RABIES!” and Weasel takes off running to the tune of Boots Randolph’s “Yakety Sax” (a.k.a. the Benny Hill Theme). Weasel rushes into the room filled with Kats and bites a couple. The Kats “freak out”, become rabid and start biting their own gang members. Soon the whole gang has rabies and has flown the coop. Weasel yanks the television from the wall (causing a sputtering of sparks) and takes off toward Mr. Pawn. By the time Weasel makes his way down to the playfield, nearly a third of the population has contracted rabies. It’s spreading like wildfire! Weasel witnesses demented citizens, unwavering from their single-minded desire to pass along their rabies. Weasel goes practically unnoticed since he already has rabies. As he passes by the Pinup, Weasel observes a Mauser bite the Pinup’s leg. The Pinup has now contracted “the fever”! In a flash, the half-crazed Pinup tears off her outer clothing to reveal her naughty undergarments and sprints across the playfield. The rabid animals all chase after her. With little to no resistance, Weasel makes his way to Mr. Pawn and tosses his sixth Big Ticket Item up Mr. Pawn’s vacuum pipe. The camera switches to a view inside the old television room. The sparks from the outlet have ignited the room, and flames and smoke spill out from every opening. Mr. Pawn’s number display counts down once again and Mr. Pawn reminds Weasel, “Choosey pawners choose MR. PAWN! Ask for me by name.”

By now, the harbor looks a lot like a disaster area: Smoke and flames everywhere, property destruction, broken waterlines and sirens going off from all directions.

The Mausers & the Smokestack

Weasel heads on over to the new waterspout again to ride the zip-line located on the top of the nearby rooftop all the way to its conclusion this time. So, Weasel easily dodges past the several Kats by the new waterspout and rides the stream up to the rooftop. He jumps onto the zip-line and takes off. Weasel rides the line this time all the way across to a low-lying rooftop. Not far from the rooftop is a gang of Mausers keeping watch over a smokestack. The smokestack is positioned almost right along the outer edge of the rooftop. Weasel decides to take a chance. He casually strolls up to the smokestack, yanks it from its base, which sends embers scattering across the rooftop, and hurls the smokestack off the rooftop down to the playfield of waiting characters below. Weasel jumps off the roof and parachutes down toward the smokestack. The playfield is a pretty dangerous place at this time thanks to Weasel and his self-serving behavior. So, by the time Weasel lands on the ground, there are already a couple of gangs at war over this newly introduced Big Ticket Item. Weasel watches as they play a back and forth game of keep away from one another with the smokestack. At one point a gang of Kats knocks the smokestack loose from a Mauser and the smokestack tumbles off the pier and lands in the harbor water. All the Kats and Mausers can do is gather around the edge of the pier like a bunch of idiots and watch the smoke stack float away… then they started fighting again. However, Weasel isn’t so easily discouraged as he watches the Big Ticket Item float over toward the old rusty crane. So, Weasel, being completely out of money again, carefully makes his way across the playfield toward the crane. Unfortunately, along the way, Weasel becomes caught in the middle of an all out gang war. Weasel is knocked for a loop and since he is devoid of any cash, he is rendered 100% unconscious. The screen “W-wipes” to black, then “W-wipes” back out to another scene of a dumpster as Weasel crawls out. This scenario is very similar to the Goon newspaper gag, but without the newspaper. This is just a minor penalty against the player (a slap on the wrist, really) for getting injured when Weasel is without any cash.

The Crane and the Smokestack

Weasel determines his whereabouts and makes his way toward the crane again. Along the way this time, Weasel makes a point of squashing a few Vermin a picking up some loose change. Weasel manages to make it to the crane unscathed, but instead of climbing up to the crane, Weasel decides to set the fisherman’s truck loose one more time. Weasel pays the gas pump’s fee and follows closely behind the rattling old truck. Weasel realizes that the playfield is now littered with characters and the truck is a handy way of sweeping some of the “garbage” off the street. As the truck plows over the unfortunate residents, Weasel follows closely behind, picking up the scattered loot as well as another nail-filled 2x4 weapon. Once Weasel feels he has collected a comfortable amount of cash he heads back over to the crane and climbs up to the crane’s cabin. Just outside the entryway to the crane’s cabin is a coin box that displays a cash amount. Mr. Helpful swings on by to explain to Weasel the finer points of operating the crane. Mr. Helpful says that the crane is useful for scooping up and fishing out items from of the harbor waters. Weasel deposits some cash into the coin box and hops inside the crane’s control cabin. The camera switches to a near top-down view of the crane and the water beneath. Weasel adjusts the pivot of the crane by maneuvering the “L analog control stick” to the right and to the left. He adjusts the crane’s height and extension by maneuvering the “L analog control stick” up and down. When Weasel wishes to lower the crane’s claw to scoop up an object, he simply presses the “action button”. Weasel maneuvers the crane’s claw above the floating smokestack. Once he feels confidant in his targeting, he lowers the claw. If he misses the crane will reset and Weasel will have to pay for another try. Weasel presses the “action button” and lowers the claw. It’s right on target and scoops the smokestack up and out of the water, automatically depositing it on the pier along side the crane. Weasel has successfully managed to recover the smokestack! The bad news is that a couple of Mausers saw the whole thing and are just about to grab the smokestack. Weasel jumps out of the crane’s control cabin and races down to the pier below to retrieve the Big Ticket Item he just worked so hard to attain. Luckily, Weasel picked up a new weapon earlier. He runs up along side the Mauser walking away with the smokestack and lays him out cold with a shot to the head. The other Mauser heads for the smokestack and Weasel puts his lights out as well. Weasel picks up the Big Ticket Item and tells himself that next time he fishes something out of the harbor, he’s going to squeeze some glue traps near the crane’s drop-off point in order to prevent outsiders from making off with whatever object the crane has just set down onto the pier. Weasel does his best to avoid gaining the attention of aggressive Kats and Mausers, but it’s nearly impossible to proceed undetected across the playfield at this point. Weasel must rely upon his speed and agility to take him safely back to Mr. Pawn. By the time Weasel reaches Mr. Pawn he looks like the grand marshal of a maniac parade. Once Weasel pawns the smokestack the congregation of Mausers and Kats slowly return to their home turf. The camera cuts to the rooftop where the smokestack once resided, as hot coals, strewn about the roof, burst into flames that quickly overtake the entire rooftop. Mr. Pawn’s number display counts down to 1, which means Weasel has only one more Big Ticket Item to pawn. Unfortunately, it’s the whale’s bucket. Mr. Pawn offers Weasel some words of encouragement: “That’s right! Pawning the way it was meant to be. Sure you could do your pawning somewhere else, but why the devil would you?”

The Whale & the Bucket of Fish

Weasel decides to load up on supplies before attempting to steal the Gargantuan’s Big Ticket Item. Weasel buys a glue bottle, purchases a Kats disguise hat and lets the fisherman’s truck loose in the harbor yet again. Weasel squeezes a few strategically placed glue spots around the playfield on his way to the whale. While wearing the Kat disguise hat Weasel safely walks right past the Kats on the pier under the wrecked ship and slowly makes his way along the broken pier out to the sleeping whale. Weasel gently picks up the gargantuan whale’s bucket of fish and sneaks away. Interestingly enough, Weasel manages to make it a bit farther away from the whale this time around since the Kats didn’t cause their usual commotion when Weasel (disguised as a Kat) walked past them. However, the Gargantuan seems to have a sense of when his bucket is missing and wakes up just as Weasel is about to exit the main pier under the wrecked ship. The Gargantuan, upon spotting Weasel carrying his bucket, loses his mind again as usual and leaps up onto the broken pier and chases after Weasel. Weasel takes off as fast as he can. Weasel notices that his pathway to Mr. Pawn is essentially clear since most of his enemies have become stuck in the glue spots Weasel placed earlier. However, Weasel’s path isn’t completely void of hazards. A few lingering Mausers and Kats are making a run at Weasel and there’s always the fisherman’s truck that’s still roaming the playfield. While Weasel is weaving his way toward Mr. Pawn, Weasel’s disguise hat that he’s wearing simply falls apart. The disguise hat basically just crumbles to the ground and dissolves (I guess it’s about as durable as it looks). Oh, well, no matter. The whale has picked up speed and is gaining ground. Weasel spots the fisherman’s truck on its way back around toward him. Hopefully, if he times this just right, he can slow the whale down some. Weasel slightly alters his route in order to lead the whale into the oncoming truck. Weasel’s trajectory is perfect! “CA-RUNCH!” The whale and the truck collide! Unfortunately, it’s the truck that pays the price. Without even missing a beat, the whale pulverizes the fisherman’s truck, turning it into a smoldering heap of steam, smoke and flames. The whale is nearly upon Weasel as Weasel steps onto Mr. Pawn’s bull’s eye doormat and unloads his final Big Ticket Item of the level! Bells ring, party-horns sound and Mr. Pawn fires confetti and streamers into the air as he presents Weasel with sage advice: “Now that you’ve experienced the wonders of Mr. Pawn, why not spread the word? Mr. Pawn! Now with even more pawning action than before!” Weasel is suddenly sucked up into Mr. Pawn’s vacuum pipe and is on his way to the next level as the screen “W-wipes” to black.

The Wrap Up

This is just a small sample of the scenarios and situations that can be experienced during gameplay, as well as the freedom the player has when it comes to experimenting and discovering the different solutions to the challenges presented within each playfield of Crank the Weasel.