Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory(Arcade) FAQ
version 1.0.0 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net
copyright 2003
Please do not reproduce this FAQ for profit without my permission. It
required a good deal of effort, and I do not look to profit off my work.
However, if you ask me nicely, mentioning my name and this specific
game, I will hopefully be un-lazy enough to reply to you.
** AD SPACE **
My home page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762
================================
****OUTLINE****
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS
2-1. THE GAME PROPER
2-1-1. YOU
2-1-2. SCOOP TRAJECTORY
2-2. EMULATION
3. ENEMIES AND HOW THEY THINK
4. OVERVIEW
4-1. POINT TOTALS
4-2. LEVEL MAPS AND STRATEGIES
4-3. GENERAL STRATEGIES
4-4. POINTS OF CONTENTION
5. VERSIONS
6. CREDITS
================================
1. INTRODUCTION
Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory(PPICF) is a sort of sequel to
Burgertime, featuring the cute little chef as now, instead of walking
over burgers and outfoxing fast foods, Peter kicks ice cream into cones
and outfoxes junk foods. He doesn't have his pepper weapon but the ice
crea scoops he must kick can squash the monsters. PPICF has 8 level
formations(Burgertime had 6) but it also copies or barely modifies many
sounds(and even the high score initial bit) from Bump n Jump, and that
seems inappropriate. However the trick shots you can make kicking ice
cream up and down, and being able to make a double scoop, makes the game
intriguing and a bit more of a success than the slightly lawless Super
Burger Time, the other arcade sequel from Burger Time. But the controls
are hard to understand at first.
2. CONTROLS
2-1. THE GAME PROPER
2-1-1. YOU
--Peter controls fairly easily, although you may want to use diagonal
movements to cue where he goes next. For instance up/left on a ladder
makes Peter go left once the ladder ends. Up/left on the ground makes
Peter go left until there's an up ladder, which he will climb.
--One button(CTRL on Windows) causes Peter Pepper to jump or kick an ice
cream ball which will bounce in the air and land on the platform below.
Peter can't jump on a ladder but on a platform he will jump straight up
if he's not moving and to the side in an L-shaped trajectory if he's
going left or right. He can also bounce off the walls. Peter moves more
quickly than the monsters while he's jumping, but there's an increased
risk of falling off an edge.
--When you jump and when you kick are a bit fuzzy. First, if two ice
cream balls are already in motion, Peter cannot kick. He can jump
through platforms with no problem and will not be killed by monsters
until he lands. But Peter won't kick until the ice cream ball moves
slightly, so you need to be attentive.
--If you climb down onto an ice cream ball, you can move to one side and
back to push it, but otherwise it stays put.
--Too many ice cream balls on one narrow strip and they just bounce
around a lot and a few eventually fall. But they can wreak havoc in the
meantime.
--if a ball rolls past a double scoop it stops at the next ladder, but
otherwise it goes to the edge.
--A ball will stop when it gets near another one, although you can slog
and push them to the edge or until one drops into a cone.
--If you reach a scoop at the same time an enemy is behind it, they get
crushed. They can also be crushed as a scoop falls into a cone.
--Sixteen short squirp noises mean you've gone one level down a ladder.
Go down a quarter of the way and enemies running by above you won't kill
you.
--WATCH OUT as after you push a scoop into an empty cone just above, if
you continue that way you'll fall through. Corollary: jump over such a
scoop if you're being chased
--Scoops can block you as you run away from monsters, but you can also
jump over them and turn around and knock out whoever's behind.
--If you bash a scoop against the edge of the board by continually
running into it, any monster coming down/up the edge through the scoop
will get offed.
--If a scoop goes into a corner you have to kick it to get it out.
--If you down-kick a scoop on the bottom, it won't fill a cone even if
it passes by the right area.
--Moving up/down is much slower than left/right.
--You are invulnerable when you jump.
--You can jump onto a ladder with gaps to left and right if you time it
just exactly, but it's not worth it.
--You can always jump between two scoops, but if you land on one you
won't push it.
--All falls are lethal. Even onto the later thin platforms.
2-1-2. SCOOP TRAJECTORY
You can only have two scoops in motion at any one time. If a scoop is
pushed into a row of others that goes to an edge, it may bounce through
them and back, and often if it bounces into a row of other scoops it may
bump around a bit more.
Scoops travel a strange looking path when you kick them, but it's not
so bad to figure out. They also 'catch' any cones that are near, and the
game's pretty generous about hit detection with enemies.
The dimensions below assume the game is on a grid of 14x12 icons, with
the size of one icon being a cone.
Kick up: scoop originally goes in a line to 2 L/R, 4 U and then
bounces back down 2 L/R, 2 D.
Kick down: scoop originally goes in a line to 2 L/R, 2 U and then
bounces back down 2 L/R, 4 D.
Subsequent bounces are at 45 degree angles 2U 2L/R 2D 2L/R and if
there's no place to land the scoop drops down a level. If you hit an
edge, you just change the direction L/R that the scoop needs to go.
2-2. EMULATION
Apparently PPICF was originally in cassette form and this provides an
extra necessary layer of translation. In order to run the game via MAME
you will need the two following files in the ROM directory:
cppicf.zip(which only contains .cas files)
decocass.zip(which deciphers the .cas files)
No, don't ask me where to get them :). Save states(SHIFT-F7 and F7) as
of version .71 don't work either, or at least the graphics don't. So you
will have to put up with the 'boot screen' each time you restart. If you
wish to take a slight break and perform other tasks and don't wish to
count back from 113 when you start, push (LEFT ALT)-ENTER to put MAME32
in a window(I heartily recommend MAME32 over standard MAME if you have
Windows.)
Note--the game defaulted to 'extra pepper after every level = yes'
when I first played it, which turned out to be infinite men. Turning it
off made for a regular game. Also 'extra every 20000' actually means
extra every 30000, and changing this gives no extra lives. Again this is
for the cheat file as of .71. It may be fixed later but right now many
changes are marked 'unknown' or incorrectly annotated.
3. ENEMIES AND HOW THEY THINK
Your enemies are a bit faster than you at the start, but then they
increase speed once you complete the first eight levels. The jug and
donut also seem to get a bit smarter. If you jump over them and are by a
stair they often pass under you, go down the stair, and bounce back up.
It's really annoying.
A new enemy appears after you kick your first scoop around. It's a
milk jug.
Here are the differences:
--Scales are rather stupid. They don't chase you much.
--Strawberries are second-stupid. They often seem to lose interest when
chasing you up ladders.
--Donuts and milk jugs are smarter, often tracking you down. Note how
they reverse, above.
Here are the similarities:
--Everyone goes at the same speed.
--They don't like to go up/down two ladders in a row.
--THEY CAN RUN OVER THIN AIR, one square above the cones. It's annoying
and illogical.
--Once they get off a ladder, they look if you're to the left and right
and go that way.
--They don't act in concert.
--If you go up a ladder a bit, they'll consider you above them and try
to go up a ladder
--They run at you even if you have a scoop to hurl at them.
--If traveling left/right they randomly climb up a ladder or continue
when chasing you.
--Monsters can sense they're running away from you yet on a level with
you, and they will loop back up/down a ladder and around.
--Monsters may not see you below, particularly if you are higher up on
the ladder and they just got off another one.
--If you jump from the left of a ladder and land on the right, monsters
on that ladder may still chase you. It depends what side you were on
when the monster left the ladder.
--You can usually rely on monsters walking vertically to avoid you if
you're on a ladder, but all the same don't go too far up.
--Jumping in a crowd of scoops is tough. You may want to push or kick
some out of the way.
--In fact if there are three or more you'll probably want to kick.
Pushing scoops against each other is slow and unpredictable.
--On the bottom you can push a ball into a corner, kick it(down) over
your head, and push it right to get rid of bad guys.
--When bad guys are frozen they are easy to pick off, and if you know
where they regenerate you can push a scoop continually against there for
some more easy points.
4. OVERVIEW
4-1. POINT TOTALS
--300 points for pushing an ice cream ball into an enemy
--600 points for kicking an ice cream ball into an enemy that's on a
ladder
(no combo points for all this)
--300 points for pushing an ice cream ball onto an empty cone
--variable points for pushing an ice cream ball onto a cone with one
scoop
blue = 2000
lt yellow = 1000
yellow = 900
pink = 600
dk yellow = 500
--1000 for the item that appears inside a platform, which freezes
monsters until they start to blink
L1: toaster, upper right
L2: carrot, bottom center
L3: mace, upper center
L4: burger, bottom right
As levels increase, the items appear for less time and stun monsters
less, so they're pretty worthless by the time you run the cycle and get
to level 8.
In general you can angle for a blue scoop when nothing else is around,
but otherwise I find a lot of my points come from either lining up
enemies to roll a scoop ove them or milling around on the bottom waiting
for a break to kick a scoop back up to the top.
I find I got about 10000 points per level until I managed to squash
monsters strategically--then it shot up to 12000. Later on in the level
sequence I don't always have the time to angle for blue cones, but level
1 offers an easy chance. Here's a rough point/difficulty distribution:
L1=high/easy, L2=low/hard, L3=high/easy, L4=medium/medium,
L5=low/easy, L6=medium/medium, L7=low/hard, L8=high/hard.
4-2. LEVEL MAPS AND STRATEGIES
In general, the odd levels are easier than the even levels. Also if
you kick some ice cream, die, and win the level after the fact, you
don't actually lose a guy. These repeat every eight levels, and general
strategies should be valid even the second and subsequent times through
when everything's faster.
** LEDGER **
y = yellow scoop(may be under ladder)
b = blue scoop
d = dark yellow scoop
l = light yellow scoop
p = pink scoop
\/ = cone
(1) green platforms
ll
HH====HH====HH====HH
\/pH HH HH HH\/
==HH== ==HH====HH== ==HH==
HH \/yyHH HHpp\/ HH
==HH======HH====HH======HH==
HH ddHH HH yy HH
HH== ==HH==HH====HH== ==HH
HH \/ HH yH**bbHH \/ HH
HH ==HH======HH====HH== HH
pH\/ HH HH HH \/bH
============================
milk/scale come from top of lower left ladder, donut/strawberry from top
of lower right.
STRATEGY: you may want to stay still until you can push the ice cream
left and squash an enemy. Then you can turn around, jump over the blue
scoop, and push it left. This will get you 2000 points quickly.
The next thing to do is to climb up the ladder and tip the ice cream
right. On the next platform is a pink scoop you can kick up, and you'll
probably see an invincibility pretty soon. Take it. Then you can clear
out the top pretty easily. Otherwise you can just jump around the top
and make a beeline for the bottom.
You can probably get the other blue in a cone pretty easily although
you may want to take care of the upper part first. The trick is to
bounce the pink to the right. When it's the right corner kick it up--you
may have to down-kick the blue first, and you can wait to squash enemies
as they come down the ladder. Then bring the blue scoop to the bottom
left and kick it in.
(2) yellowish platforms
d y
HH====HH== ==HH== HH====HH
HH HH p\/ HH d\/HH HH
HH HH======HH==HH====HH HH
HH\/HH lHH Hy HH\/HH
HH HH== ==HH==HH ==HH HH
HH HH d\/ HH HH\/ pHH bHH
==HH==HH====HH======HH==HH==
HH bHH HH HH HH
====HH== ==HH==HH ==HH====
HH \/ HH**HH\/ HH
============================
strawberry/scale from lower left, donut/milk from lower right
STRATEGY: this is not an easy level, and the start is frustrating. Go
left immediately, and between the cone and the stair, jump straight up.
Now you can go up the far right stair(the middle stair may work if bad
guys don't come down at you but you'll need a backup plan) but not all
the way. A bad guy should pass by, and you can then climb up some more
and start pushing scoops around. If you can wipe out half of the
monsters then make a beeline to the top and clear out the scoops there.
The top two can be pushed and the bottom two can be kicked. Clearing out
the top is critical because if you take out the middle section you will
have to outrun the monsters to the top without any defense. There should
be enough ladders in the middle once you're there and some monsters are
to the side, but you may have to go back down for the final bit.
An alternate strategy is to jump-run left and climb up and push the
scoop right to nail some bad guys. However you can't just go climbing up
the stairs on level 10. You will get nailed halfway up from the second
platform.
(3) light green platforms
==HH====HH====HH====HH==HH==
==HH======HH[[]]HH======HH==
==HH ==HH==HH====== ==HH==
HH\/ HH HH** \/ HH
HH====HH====HH== ==HH====HH
HH HH HH \/ HH HH
HH ==HH==HH====HH==HH== HH
HH\/ HH HH HH HH \/HH
============================
donut/milk from upper left, strawberry/scale from upper right
STRATEGY: Here you just have to kick a ton of stuff down, and getting
off to the right start is critical. Once you're on top you can bump
scoops around and kick them. If you can stun the monsters with the mace
that's on its way to the top, so much the better. Kick everything down
vigorously but beware of the corners at the top--bad guys can appear
there. Because the cones are on the bottom and the bad guys on top, if
you manage to get pretty far down, you can probably push scoops back and
forth to buy all kinds of time and make the rest easy once there are no
scoops on the top two levels. In a related matter be sure to kick
EVERYTHING so the top two levels are cleared, or it'll be tough to get
that last one cleared. I found I've had plenty of time to get the two
blue scoops to make a double--just go left, up, left and jump right and
kick the pink off the wall.
(4) purple platforms
HH== HH== HH== HH== ==HH
HH \/HH d\/HH l\/HH \/ HH
HH HH====HH====HH====HH HH
HH HH yHH yHH HH HH
==HH========HH==HH======HH==
pHH HH HH HH
HH==HH== ====HH======HH==HH
HH HH \/ yHH HH HH
HH==HH==== ====HH ==HH==HH
HH Hl \/ p**HH\/ dHH HH
============================
donut/milk from upper left, strawberry from lower right, scale from
upper right
STRATEGY: less obnoxious than level 2 with the scoops relatively close
to the cones. First thing to do--jump over the strawberry. Don't push
the pink scoop left but rather jump to the right of the dark yellow and
kick it up/left. Do the same for the pink and now you can kick the light
yellow on the left up and back right. That leaves the yellow to push
right, and the bottom is completed. The monsters should be coming down
now, and you should be able to fake them out and make a beeline up. The
scoops at the second-top platform are easy to take care of although if
monsters are following you may wish to push the yellows below and kick
them up. Since the monsters come down you will want to stay 2 below as
they regenerate and then dodge. Eventually you'll have to kick
everything up except for the pink on the side, and that can be kicked
off the wall to nail stuff that's following you.
(5) light yellow platforms
HH==HH== ====HH== ==HH==HH
HH pHH \/ HH l\/HH HH
HH====HH==HH==HH====HH====HH
HH HH HH HH HH HH
HH== HH==HH====HH==HH ==HH
HH \/Hd HH HH Hp\/ HH
HH HH======HH==HH====HH HH
Hb HH HH**HH Hd HH
====HH== ==HH==HH ==HH====
HH \/ pHH Hl\/ HH
============================
milk/donut from upper left, scale/strawberry from upper right
STRATEGY: You can wipe out the two scoops below pretty quickly although
you won't get many points this way. Left, down, kick up/left, right,
kick up/right, and climb under the dark yellow. Push it left and now you
can work your way to the top again. Don't worry about the dark yellow
and pink just above--use them for defense purposes(push them) and then
kick them up. The top left pink scoop will require a kick to the top
after which you can push it in, and you'll want to try to lose the bad
guys in a maze of ladders as yu come down and kick the scoops into
place. The final one, the blue, you just have to survive to get to. You
can kick it left and it'll bounce into the cone above. It helps to try
to wipe out a few monsters before your final trip down. Be prepared to
knock a scoop more than halfway across the screen.
(6)
==HH==HH ==HH
bHH Hd\/ HH b
HH====HH====HH==HH==
HH HH HH HH y\/
HH======== ==HH____HH====HH
HH \/__HH y HH HH
HH HH____HH====HH HH
HH ** HH l pHH HH\/Hp
HH ==HH HH==HH==HH ==HH==
HH\/ dHH\/HH HH Hd\/ HH
============================
milk/donut from upper left, scale/strawberry from lower right
STRATEGY: I like to move quickly right and down and then kick the dark
yellow up. Then I climb up and jump right. I am usually able to push the
two balls right and onto the monsters that come up. Then after
depositing the right of the two, I turn around and fire the second scoop
into the cone on the left, completing the second-lowest platform. Next
up is the pink scoop on the right. Kick it up/left and now you can
probably wait for bad guys to come and then go to the bottom and push
the yellow to the left, bouncing it off the ladder and up into the cone.
This will cause monsters by the top to regenerate and you may be able to
sneak up the ladder, wait for them to come down the left, and nip in
behind them to get near the top. Getting the item to freeze the monsters
is a boon here as you can then drop the blue and then the dark yellow to
the right on the top level(kick the blue on the left up but don't put it
in the cone 'til you take out monsters) and then be sure to kick the top
yellow up/right and the other up and push it left.
If you lose a guy you can slink up the left side waiting for the
monsters come by, and you can follow them. Or in the regular course of
play, if you see a clear crack then you can climb up the right, by the
thin platform. Just be prepared to push stuff around and take care of
the top in one blow in either case.
(7)
**
HH====HH== HH== ==HH====HH
HH HH y\/HH p\/ HH HH
HH HH==HH========HH==HH HH
HH\/HH bHH HH lHH\/HH
====HH====HH ==HH====HH====
l HH HH\/ HH HH y
==HH==== HH======HH====HH==
HH p\/HH HH y HH
====HH====HH== ==HH==HH====
l HH HH \/ HH HH b
============================
milk/donut from upper left, scale/strawberry from lower right
STRATEGY: Run left to the stair, jump over the jug, climb down, kick the
pink up/right, jump left, kick the dark yellow up/right. Now you have a
bit of a puzzle and while you can certainly push the blue and light
yellow into the center this will require some kicking the bottom scoops
around. Nevertheless this is not such a bad option as long as you make a
beeline down and kick the bottom stuff up immediately. You'll probably
have to bounce off a lot of walls to fake out opponents, and note that
you'll need at least eight kicks up.
It's also OK to kick the blue and light yellow near the top up. This is
a buffer against losing a man but I like, on the way back up, to have
scoops you can push for as long as possible. You should be able to get
down with little problem, faking out the strawberry and the scale.
(8)
**
HH== HH== ==HH
HH \/HH \/ HH
==HH HH== HH====HH
\/ HH\/HH \/HH HH\/
==HH========HH____HH ====HH
HH p HH\/ lHH
HH==HH______ ====HH==HH==HH
HH HH \/ dHH HH Hp
HH HH==HH==HH====HH==HH====
Hp HH HH bHH pHH Hl
============================
milk/donut from upper left, scale/strawberry from upper right(all 1
platform down)
STRATEGY: You look really isolated at first, but there's a good way to
start quickly which makes this level much less vicious. Run down/left
and then jump left. You'll have to go back right a bit down the stairs
but then go down/left and right and down. You can probably up/left kick
the pink in the corner to wipe out some pursuers, and they won't be back
for a bit. This is when you start kicking the ice cream on the bottom
up. Then kick it up to the third level. Try to avoid marooning anything
on the left, although you need to note that there isn't room for
everything on the right--yet. So you may want to dump a couple of scoops
in the cone and kick everything else up(disposing of some monsters in
the process, which buys a LOT of time here) and come back down and kick
to the right. (NOTE: if you lose a guy after here, you can consider
going down/left and jump right if there's a scoop very close that you
want to kick in.) Don't be too careless bouncing everything as only two
scoops can be moving at a time, but there's nothing wrong with bouncing
a scoop back and forth on the third level to wipe out monsters and even
try to kick a scoop right in the cone.
The original strategy is OK even if you lose a guy. Just be sure to use
the second-bottom platform and jump to the right to get places quicker.
The bad guys
4-3. GENERAL STRATEGIES
--jump when in open spaces to gain on monsters. If you're not in an open
space the risk is that you will pause to kick a scoop.
--Know the strategy of jumping between two cones. Learn rough distances
and use them to your advantage.
--Standing under a ladder and jumping is risky. Unless you jump right
before you're caught, a monster following you can use the ladder and be
killed.
--Don't go right for a scoop to push in. Wait and try to get some
monsters killed.
--Sometimes jumping also fools monsters into thinking you've climbed
stairs. It depends how high you are when they cross a ladder.
--Watch out for jumping over a cone just to the side of a ladder. I
can't seem to.
--If you're running towards a ladder a monster's coming down, try to
pause and jump straight up if you're being trailed.
--Know how to do a double kick, i.e. if you have two scoops to the left
then jump between them, push the second left and then push the first.
This is also handy if you have a blue on the far left and want the
points for it, and cones are on each side.
--Be shameless running a scoop into the side if you have no other
options and you see a bad guy can be killed.
--Ascending/descending is the main block to winning, and if you can get
all your enemies on ladders it's easier to do so.
--Follow your enemies on ladders. That makes one less that will chase
you. They can't reverse.
--Note where monsters appear after being killed. Avoid corners if you've
just been on a spree.
--If a scoop is near the edge with a cone next to it, kick the scoop up
off the wall to put it in.
--Clearing out middle scoops(i.e. doing what you clearly/obviously can)
isn't always good. The scoops are vital defense especially if you get
killed, and a general plan is to get to the top/bottom, clear that out,
and come back to where you started.
4-4. POINTS OF CONTENTION
--If you run past the corner just as a monster appears, and they're all
frozen, Peter Pepper with '2000' bounces around the top
--If you kick a scoop right/up from the top of level 6, it bounces
around in the air for a while before coming back to the platform.
End of FAQ proper
================================
5. VERSIONS
1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs.com 7/28/2003, complete but with more nonspecific
strategies to fill in.
6. CREDITS
Thanks to bloomer, daremo, falsehead, RetroFreak, Snow Dragon, etc. from
GameFAQs on AIM.
Thanks to mame.net for keeping cool games like this alive.
