Meridell, Home of Ultimate Bullseye (2)

At the heart of Meridell, a great experience is to visit King Skarl’s Castle, and I’ve even seen some (thousands!!!) Neopets try to cheer the poor Grumpy Old King: some have successfully done this, while others… *clears throat*, well, let’s move on with the tour. Gambling here is also an option, with the Double or Nothing game against old Snargan. Here you can also try to save the village of Meridell by playing Invasion of Meridell, or other games, such as Meriball, or Escape from Meridell. And finally, the Castle is home to a great shop, Kayla’s Potion Shop. Step inside and take some souvenirs back home!

But we should also mention Meridell itself, home of the beautiful Illusen, who is willing to give anyone a small quest, and give some reward to those who are able to bring what she seeks. Some daring Neopets (some may call them ‘cruel’, though) may visit the great Turmaculus, and try to wake him up… let’s just hope that if it DOES wake up, he won’t be in such a foul mood (hide the petpets!). And that’s not all; that’s right, my fellow Neopian readers, in this country known as Meridell, there’s also more spots for gambling (Turdle Racing, Kiss the Mortog, Round Table Poker), you can do some exercise while playing Cheese Roller down the hill (just don’t fall down!), you can try to buy some petpets to take home, and you can even broaden your minds playing Shape Shifter.

Wait, but I seem to be forgetting one thing… *thinks* Mmmh…

Oh yeah, there’s one new game for each Neopian to play. Those who have visited Meridell in the past must have played the famous “Ultimate Bullseye” game. This game is the reason why you all must visit this lovely place again, because, as the game got retired, a new, spiffier version of it was just released.

This new version of the game, “Ultimate Bullseye 2”, has new features, including the spotlight of a friendly Buzzer. I’ll try to guide you through the game, though believe me, I’m no expert, but have gotten through the game (loving it, by the way) with PRACTISE.

The Game

Ultimate Bullseye 2, or UB2 as it’s commonly known as well, is a simple game of bulls-eye. You play as the cute little Turdle, standing over a ballista. The friendly Buzzer will aid you by moving the target around.

The Basics

You have 10 shots to gain as many points as possible. To move the ballista, you use the up and down arrows, and to fire, use the space bar. You must hold it down to build enough power before releasing the arrow, or else, it won’t get too far.

The Power-ups

The game has 5 different power-ups to aid you during the game. To unlock them, you must make a perfect pierce in the target with your arrow: a bulls-eye. These special power-ups are:

- Bouncing Bull: Selecting this power-up makes your target get bigger and smaller.

- Fire Hoop: If you manage to get your arrow through the hoop, you get your points doubled. Bear in mind, however, that if you don’t hit the target, you won’t get any points at all.

- Moving Target: The Buzzer appears while this power-up is in effect, by moving the target left and right. Once your arrow is released from the ballista, the Buzzer flies away… a bad aim is always possible, and TNT might need a new assistant for the game.

- Three Shots: One single hit, three arrows fired. Cool, huh?

- Inverted Target: This is a tricky power-up, because scoring is inverted. If you hit the bulls-eye, you get no points (sorry!). As you move out of the target, you start getting points, and if you hit the backboard, then you get the most points and a new power-up!

Scoring

There are different ways of getting a score in this game.

- The normal way – this is, just like with the old version of the game. If you miss the target, zero points; if you hit the outer circle of the target, one point; if your arrow hits the next inner circle, you get two points; the middle ring awards you three points; the ring outside the bulls-eye means five points, and the bulls-eye TEN!

- Occasionally, a balloon will pop down (from where, I wonder?), and is placed in front of your target. Hitting the balloon and missing the target is a no-no: no points at all! However, if you burst the balloon AND hit the target, you get THIRTY whooping bonus points, plus the ring points.

- Another appearance is that of Punchbag Bob with an apple on his head. You can only score two different ways in here: five points if your arrow gets Bob, and TWENTY points if you get the bulls-eye: the apple.

Hints

- As the game tells you, right after the first hit, you can click once the right arrow key to skip the animation where the Buzzer moves the target around.

- If you get a bulls-eye on the last shot, you may continue playing until you miss.

- One must hope that when using your FIRE HOOP power-up, you’ll get the balloon bonus. If you manage to make your arrow go through the hoop, burst the balloon, and hit the target, you’ll get 60+ points! That is, 30 bonus points for the balloon bursting, 2x points for getting through the hoop, and the points for hitting the target. Interesting, isn’t it?

- In my personal experience, moving the ballista too much affects your game negatively. I would recommend not moving it at all, or just a TINY BIT up or down. As for the arrow power, about half-way. That should do the trick most of the times.

- If you get too angry, leave the game for a while, then return.

- If the music annoys you (not sure why it would, but it might to some), or it won’t allow you to concentrate, just turn it off.

No, the Turtum avatar is not retired. Yes, you can obtain it from this new version. The key to get it, is luck and, mostly, PRACTICE! Never give up.

Good luck!