C64 Longplay: Pile Up (NTSC)

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RetroGameManDan79

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Published on September 8, 2019 7:15:30 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4xxYCoyGX8

Duration: 48:26

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10

I completed this cranked up on black coffee using multiple save-states and occasional level-skipping because it is otherwise bloody impossible due to sheer difficulty and bugs. The timer is tighter than a gnat's chuff. A lot of the levels I got the last piece on the conveyor belt a split-second before the timer ran out. Crazy.

I don't recommend this game to anybody unless they're a masochist. It's harder than any real-life warehouse job I've ever done, and you don't get paid for it.

I played most of the game at 50% speed and adjusted it to normal on playback, edited in Shotcut.

There are two timers: when the main one to the left in the status panel runs to zero you lose one of four lives.

When the "counter" timer gets to zero it makes a spare platform appear, allowing you to place blocks here temporarily. However, it disappears again when it reaches zero the next time, so watch out!

"Destroy" indicates how many blocks you can afford to blow up. Blow up too many and you lose a life.

I've separated the timestamps from the in-game timers, indicated without colons. It's a pain in the colon, to be honest.

0:00 Loader / Title
4:14 Level 01
6:18 Level 02
6:53 Level 03
7:39 Level 04
8:33 Level 05
8:59 Level 06
9:49 Level 07
10:14 Level 08
10:54 Level 09
14:33 Level 10
17:22 Level 11
19:34 Level 12
21:15 Level 13
24:15 Level 14
25:27 Level 15
27:27 Level 16. Every so many seconds down on the timer the arrow blocks reverse (300, 245, 229, 214, 159, 143), so you have to be careful what block you stick next to them (pushes it in that direction).
29:25 Level 17
31:06 Level 18
33:57 Level 19. If you pile up three of the "IA" or lightning bolt blocks then you get an extra block of which you can dispose of ("destroy" in the status panel). They will also reward you (ha) an extra green version of that block. At 208 the arrows reverse, again at 116, and finally 26. Two blocks stacked horizontally can stop them from moving here. The secret sequence is red ?, purple IA, cyan bolt, cyan IA, purple bolt, red IA, red bolt, green bolt, green IA.
37:57 Level 20
37:12 Level 21. 256 arrows reverse
40:14 Level 22. 235 reverse
42:05 Level 23. 145 reverse
43:30 Level 24 is bugged, making the grabber appear separate. GRRR! Skipped it.
46:22 I lost it after the c***ing thing became an insufferable bug-ridden and frustrating mess. Skipped to the ending.