The Glory of Meerca Chase II

Please give me a few minutes of your time to explain myself.

Modes

Unlike Meerca Chase, Meerca Chase II gives you three choices of modes to play in! Each is different and monumentally exciting in its own special way!

Classic

For those of you who enjoyed the original version of Meerca Chase, TNT has graciously kept the "classic" play mode. This means you can still jaunt about at 90-degree angles, bash headlong into your own tail, and have those evil red neggs spawn spontaneously in your path... except with slightly better graphics!

Freestyle

The freestyle mode is much like the classic mode, but oh-so-very-much more exciting! Now you can control your Meerca completely, running in circles and screaming in frustration as your arrow keys refuse to respond and you, once again, crash headlong into your own rear-protrusion!

Maze

The maze mode is most definitely the single most exciting mode able to be played in Meerca Chase II! Now you can also ram your face into various green blocks of hedge, and with the same perils as the classic mode!

Difficulty Levels

These levels are quite the same as the original version of the game, but I feel that they should be described to you anyway.

Easy

Your Meerca will crawl along the screen, passed by various Slugawoos, collecting neggs of various colours for a fraction of a point each.

Medium

Your Meerca will speed up drastically, and the chance of ramming into various objects that you don't want to ram into is increased by 40%.

Hard

Your Meerca apparently catches a terrible case of Bloaty Belly, and is propelled around the board at absurd speeds by its own flatulence. You're pretty much continually going to ram into things that don't want to be rammed into at this pace.

Graphics

The graphics in Meerca Chase II have drastically improved since the original game's creation. Some examples of this are listed below:

Tail

Now, do not fret! Your tail still becomes various puffs of fur to trail you about the screen in any mode, but the state of your back-end appendage turns into a beautiful spectacle in Freestyle Mode! Any negg you consume will spontaneously create another fluff-ball to your rear, but in the colour of the negg itself! This is a very useful way of distracting yourself while you run headlong into a wall.

Meerca

The Meerca itself has changed also! Instead of being frozen in the position of a permanent vertical split, its legs and tail actually wiggle spasmodically, regardless of the speed the Neopet is actually moving! It is amazing! It is wondrous! It is borderline-epileptic!

Backgrounds

The background in the plain Meerca Chase was a dull cornflower blue, and could not be changed. This often ended in cases of blue-blindness and various fits. In Meerca Chase II, it appears that our prayers have been answered! There are now ten, count them, TEN new background colours to choose from!

Cornflower Blue - for those of you that feel a bit nostalgic, you may chose the original blue background for your Meerca to skid upon!

Yellow - you can now pretend that you're running frantically about the Lost Desert, sustaining yourself on the juices of wild desert neggs or maybe just in a game of Petpet Sitter gone horribly, horribly wrong!

Red - are you feeling especially spooky? Pick the red background and slip about in various bits of gore! Or what about for Valentine's Day? This fanciful colour will incite romantic, festive feelings in all who play on it (not guaranteed)!

Green - scamper about the field of Meridell! Prance in the lush green grass of Brightvale! Try to find that darn Leprechaun and steal back your Neopoints!

Grey - perfect for those pets who just want to sit at home and watch the rain fall while they write deep, meaningful poetry involving neoschools and their non-existence.

Tan - well, we guess that this background can be used to pretend you are a Lost Desert explorer, but I personally prefer to pretend that I am some mysterious, unreleased form of petpetpet life, feasting on microscopic eggs on the back of a Warf or other beige-coloured petpet.

Teal - this colour is kinda scary. Don't use it.

Purple - have a royal pet that wouldn't be caught dead(sic) playing "some dumb game with a Meerca and those coloured eggs"? Well, fret no more! You can now lure your fuzzy* monarchs into Meerca Chase II with this royally attractive hue!

*Note: not all royal pets are fuzzy.

White - ever wish you could play Meerca Chase atop Terror Mountain without fear of frostbite or launching into nothingness and falling to Neopia below? Well, now you can! ...kind of! Use the blank white background to pretend that you are drifting about in the snow and stone atop the mountain, munching on negg-sickles as you explore!

Warning: white background may cause temporary blindness - use at your own discretion.

Black - play Meerca Chase in the Haunted Woods without fear of being chased down by various evil trees and ghost pets, or being asked absurd questions by the Brain Tree! It is, however, terribly hard to see in the dark. I suggest only using your Korbat to play on this background, as they have nifty echolocation powers so as to not accidentally make their heads into battering rams.

Depending on how good you are at Meerca Chase II, you can make anywhere from hundreds to thousands of Neopoints playing this splendiferous game 3 times every day. With practice, one can master the game and be the envy of any and all Neopians, and the target of hatred on the high score board.

If you and your pets are feeling especially adventurous, you may actually want to go to the game graveyard and see the original version of Meerca Chase for yourself. I believe that my article will only have so much punch if you do not witness the horror firsthand! The text is invisible in the graveyard, though, so I suggest bringing an experienced oldbie with you to help you navigate the game's deep, dark tunnels of hate and red neggs.

I hope that my article has opened your eyes to the wonderful land of Meerca Chase II, and placed the game upon your pedestal, such as I have.*

*Note: author's opinions should be discounted; Meerca-induced insanity is present.