Game:

Repton 3 (1986)

Duration: 3:27

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3

Jonathan's least favourite level, and after making this video I have some idea of why (though I'm sure he doesn't handle the first monster in anything like the suicidal manner presented here). In the notes to my Work 8 video I listed this as one of the five levels that could compete for the title of the level requiring the longest time for completion. How wrong I was.

Firstly (and this is my new shortcut), I arrange the rocks so that later I will be able to drop the upper rock and create a barrier. Then I remove some earth so that the two rocks fall below the cage, closing the path to the lower-left area. (By the way, let me know if you need me to redo this video in one of the more conventional graphics sets so you can see what is going on!) I block off the fungus on the right before taking the transporter, and take a "low road" through the bottom area so that the spirits have a much shorter journey to get back to the far right cage after I unblock it. Then, returning to the top area, I drop the rock that closes the two newly released spirits off from the right-hand half of the level.

The next shortcut is one I have used for a while: I time my release of the two spirits so that the back one comes out first, meaning there is now a gap between them so I can get in between them and take the diamond from the first cage as soon as the spirit enters it. Then I release the three spirits from the central area, removing my blockading rock so that these spirits circle the outside of this area rather than the whole level. This is because the cage inside this area must be entered first, as this area must be blocked off before the cage on the left can be connected.

Finally, a word about time. Repton 3 runs slower when my recording software is running, so all of my videos are sped up to compensate for this. The time bonus at the end of the level is slowed down equally, and thus remains an accurate measure of how long the level would have taken without the recording software running. The time bonus is equal to 900 minus the number of seconds taken (so in my Work 8 video, with a time bonus of 661, I was honest about it taking just under four minutes). Here the time bonus is 727, indicating completion in just under three minutes, which I would not have believed possible a couple of days ago. The video is, however, slightly slower to fit in more of the song.

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