Sanrio Carnival 2(GameBoy) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0 by schultz.andrew@sbcglobal.net
Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I
could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.
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OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS
3. BY-GAME ANALYSIS
3-1-1. TIMED
3-1-2. WAR
3-1-3. POINTS
3-3-1. SECOND SOLO GAME
4. VERSIONS
5. CREDITS
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OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
Sanrio Carnival 2 is a neat little game that doesn't have anything much to do
with Sanrio Carnival 1 other than the same Sanrio characters. It consists of
two subgames: one, where you line up candies 3 in a row as they drop 1 by 1--
Tabo uses his hammer, and two, where you put together a sliding 3x3 puzzle.
Neither game is terribly esoteric, so this will not take long to master, but
hey, it's Sanrio, and Sanrio games are always fun.
The GameBoy version is organized a bit differently from the NES version, but
that's nothing that will really distract you from the strategy.
2. CONTROLS
In the first game, either button causes Tabo to swing the hammer in the first
game. An arrow shows where it will be swung. If there is a piece of candy
directly right, Tabo will slide it and all other candies to the right. The
last one will fall off the edge. If five candies are on the row, then they
just rotate around. Tabo can move up and down to cause candies to fall.
In the
3. BY-GAME ANALYSIS
Games are listed by which option you choose on the menu, then which sub-
option.
3-1. FIRST SOLO GAME
3-1-1. TIMED
The purpose of this game is to get 6 columns/rows of each color(white, grey,
striped) before the timer runs out. Making a column/row causes that set of
candies to disappear. Rows/columns are calculated together, then everything
that can fallo, will. Candies come out the top every half-second, but you
don't have to worry about them piling up. It won't kill you. Also, if you get
more than 6 columns/rows of one color, they turn black and block up the rest
of the area. This creates a small problem when you make a bunch in a row, or
when you don't realize the little flowers at the top tracking your progress
don't change so quickly.
There's no bonus for chains or for getting 4 or 5 in a row--4 or 5 is
possible, but you have to insert something in the center.
If you match up 6 of one type, be sure to avoid matching any further.
Concentrate mainly on the color you have most left of, and this should not be
a problem. It's possible randomness may screw you totally over, but not very.
You only need 18 of any one color if you are careful, and it is easy to get
things started right. In fact, to start you will always have a lot you can
match up. There will be a 5x10 well, and you will have 4 of any one type of
color. You can dump the color you have the most of into the next column. Just
keep repeating. This strategy won't work perfectly all the time, but you can
clear out a lot to start. Eventually you have to look to if you want to kick
something off the edge to make a row instead of a column.
You'll probably get a black triad or two just because the probability you get
18 of each candy type at once, or even close to it, is very low. Don't panic-
-just try to push all that stuff either to the bottom or to a column at the
edge.
3-1-2. WAR
Here you need to be able to match up a triple quickly, with your opponent out
of view, or set up a bunch of 2-matches. Watch for wraparounds and for if you
put a bomb together, which will stun you.
3-1-3. POINTS
This is an interesting variant where you have all the time you need, but the
key is space. If you fill a column with black squares, they all disappear.
Candies will fall from the upper left as before. There are 5 colored pieces:
white
center stripe
side stripe
light grey
dark grey
And your main short-term goals are to match up 3 of a kind(usually in
columns--kick pieces down so they are in adjacent rows, then line them up)
and to place one black square on each column. The columns can be shuffled
later. Eventually you'll run out of columns, but until then you can buy time
by trying to give each row 1 of a different color. Columns are so much easier
than rows that putting 2 of the same color next to each other on a row is not
practical unless there is nothing better. Remember not to push anything right
and release another piece unless there are no other moves, and try not to
make a move that will release random candies down the UL too much. In fact
it's best to match your columns 1R of the left. That allows you to hit either
button A(push near candy 1R) or B(push it 2R and jump the gap) with different
effect than if another column were open. You have the time to shuffle things
so if you are near the top, and in fact I find it worthwhile to nearly fill
up the board to do so.
For each candy that falls, you should have a chance to try to do something
with it. Note that, even in the worst case, if you keep 1 candy color per row,
and you have 1 blank in each row, then
abcdX
bcdeX
abdeX < you have 3 of at least 2 colors.
Finally you may get in a fix where a blank candy is not in a row. The only
way to get around this is to make a 3-high just above the row and try to
position a blank candy above it. Obviously you have fewer chances to do this
than it seems, but if you are careful, you will be able to slide things in.
Also, you can rely on chance that there is some match somewhere long enough
to get things working. Whatever you do, don't disrupt a potential column of
blanks by kicking one to the bottom. It's possible to run out of blanks,
which would kill you, but if you are careful and observant, you can always
scramble up a column match or two long enough to get more blanks down. Once
you've cleared a column, strategically dump blocks into that column so that
you can have many ways to match a set of three.
If you beat 10000, you get a congratulatory message once you are stuck(the
game takes time to detect this,) but otherwise there's no reason to keep
playing.
If lost for a move, scan the board by color, seeing if there are any two rows
each with items of the same color, then look for a third. I start with the
whites, then greys, then stripes. It's easy to get confused by the stripes,
so take a bit of extra time when kicking one of them.
3-2. 2 PLAYER GAME
I didn't have the ability to tinker with this on my emulator.
3-3-1. SECOND SOLO GAME
This is a 3x3 slide puzzle. You get points based on how soon you get the game
done. There are two versions--Tabo's face and numbers. The numbers are a bit
easy because they are not so hard to place, but Tabo's face is not too bad.
You can tell where to put his face by its contours. Still, for practice,
start with the numbers. Each game randomly plucks one square from the puzzle
and makes you replace the rest.
A detailed analysis of the 4x4 case is at cut-the-knot.com. But what you need
to know is, brute force works.
The way to get through this is pretty easy. What you want to do is
1) get a corner square right
2) get the next 2 squares in the row/column right
3) get the next 2 squares in the column/row right
4) shuffle the final 3 squares
We know that there is always a solution, because you can see how the tiles
are slid, and what's even better is, you'll never wind up with
1 5 3
x 2 6
7 8 9
ie you just need to flip two tiles. This is impossible to win, and impossible
to get to. Because you get to all original positions by sliding tiles, it's
enough to show that you can't win, and thus you can't retrace the winning
steps to get there.
Let x = the # of decreases(not just ADJACENT decreases--this tripped me up)
in numerical value as you go left to right, then down to the start. x=0 if
the puzzle is solved, and now we show x stays odd/even.
Any one move is moving a square across 2 other squares in our order. So
e-a-b-c-d becomes e-c-a-b-d, for instance. But then
(a>b) + (a>c) + (b>a) + (c>a) = 2 (if the values are 0=false, 1=true).
However, before = (a>b) + (a>c) and after = (b>a) + (c>a) and
before - after = (a>b) + (a>c) + (b>a) + (c>a) - 2 (b>a + c>a) which is even.
So basically what you need to do is look for a square close to its corner and
start building. Remember too which square is gone, or supposed to be. The
main other trick is just getting pieces in line. First, just link the 2
numbers together that need to be. Say you have:
abc
d89
7e
You can pull square e to the DR, 8 down, 9 left, then c-b-a-d around.
dab
9c
78e
Pull 7 u, 8 l, 9 d, c l, e u, 9 r, 8 r, 7 d.
Fortunately it's usually much less difficult than this. In the first example
below, loop clockwise, and in the second, e> cv 8v a> b^ 8< and loop 9 next
to 8, then move 9 D R with 8 behind it. You can see mirror images make things
difficult.
a98 a89
bcd bcd
7e 7e
Let's say we want to make the left side next.
4a 1a
b1c b4c
789 789
The left is easy but how to split the right so it is the right way?
1< a< c^ 4> b> 1v b^ 4< and now move everything counterclockwise. You'll
notice things get easier, the more is in place. A general rule for any puzzle
like this that is relatively safe and efficient is to try to reduce it to a
2x+1 by 2x square, then 2x by 2x, then fill squares in 2 at a time.
It seems the bonus starts ticking down more slowly once you get very far down,
but a few times working with the controls and understanding the concepts and
having faith that getting close will let you stumble on a solution--with a
bit of luck for a quick solution--means you could clear 20000 points. Just
remember which piece is missing.
End of FAQ Proper
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4. VERSIONS
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 12/12/2007, completed
5. CREDITS
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and
others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message
board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of
mine.
Thanks to the NES Completion Project folks for keeping it going.
Special thanks to odino for notifying me about this game.
Thanks to Suicidal Translations for translating this game.
