How to Ugga the Drop

Okay, that’s not the entire truth. There’s more to it than that. While you’re doing the three things I mentioned above, you’re also trying to collect tokens to upgrade your parachute, knock your opponents out of the way, and reach the ground before the rest of the competitors. If you do all of these things correctly, you’re on your way to a 3k day (and even a trophy, if you play your cards right).

“But how do I do all of those things?” you ask? Well, I’m going to help you with that. All you have to do is read this guide, study it continuously, worship it, bathe it...

I’m going overboard. Just read this guide.

The Basic Rules

1. Press the Spacebar to jump (after GO! is shown) and Spacebar again to release your parachute. Use the left and right arrow keys to move your character in midair.

2. You must finish in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or (unlike the game instructions tell you) 4th place to advance to the next round.

3. If you crack the ground, finish in last place, or land in the mud on your landing, you lose a life and must repeat the round.

4. If you lose all 3 of your lives, the game is over.

Scoring

1st place: 2000 points, 200 tokens, advance to next round

2nd place: 1000 points, 100 tokens, advance to next round

3rd place: 500 points, 50 tokens, advance to next round

4th place: 100 points, 10 tokens, advance to next round

5th place: no points, no tokens, lose a life and repeat round

Now I’ll explain how to get the best score possible and earn you the most amount of Neopoints. Let’s begin, shall we?

Step 1: Choose Your Character

Now, I realize you can’t technically choose your character. There are 5 possible jumpers (Kacheek, Wocky, Scorchio, Meerca, and Usul) that can be played by you, but whichever one you play as is chosen at random at the beginning of each game.

Technically speaking, each character specifically does not have any special attributes that help them or hurt them, but they do have different positions that can affect their performance. The Kacheek, for example, is on the far left in every round. That makes it easier for him to avoid being hit by other jumpers, but it also makes it less likely for him to reach series of tokens, unless they are to the left side. So, depending on the character, each position has ups and downs. You must find the right one for you. Take me, for example. I do extremely well with the Scorchio, pretty good with the Kacheek, all right with the Wocky, and absolutely horrible with the Meerca and Usul.

They all have differences in position, but I’m able to use each one to a different level. I will admit, some of it has to do with the location of the jumpers, but a lot of it has to do with personal preference. For some reason, I tend to do better with the Scorchio than the Wocky. Why? I don’t exactly know. It might have to do with his position, or maybe it’s because I like Scorchios, or possibly it’s because I like the color green. You see, the point is to find the one just right for you and roll with it. If you don’t get your favorite jumper when you click Play, then I suggest quitting and trying again until you do.

Step 2: The Fall

This is a very important aspect in the game. If you don’t perform this well, you simply won’t win. So, let’s start from the beginning.

Your jumper is standing on a ledge along with the other jumpers. Words in front of the screen will say “Ready? 3... 2... 1... GO!” It is essential that you press the spacebar the second you seen the green of the Go. That should give you a head start against your opponents, starting you out with a gain.

As you fall, it you are near any other jumpers, force yourself into them. They will be slowed and you will take a swift lead. If you see another character trying to fall into you, slam yourself into them. You should be able to overpower them.

Collect tokens on your way down. They will come in handy later.

Try to memorize each level’s alignment according to the mud pit. Make sure you fall away from the (as I like to call it) Dirt of Doom.

You’ll soon be ready to pull your chute. But when should you do it?

Step 3: The Parachute

This is the most important part of the whole game. Your timing must be spot on, or you could end up one place lower or with a cracked floor. The time at which you pull your chute varies depending on your Quick Draw upgrade level. I’ll explain below, but remember, these are not exact measurements, just close estimations. Try to pull your chute as close to these spots as you can, but if you want to pull it later and take a risk, be my guest. Remember, these are ESTIMATES. I really don’t want an angry mob of failing gamers on my front lawn.

No upgrade: Slightly under the top ledge of the ladder cliff

Level 1: Halfway down the ladder cliff

Level 2: About 2/3 down ladder cliff

Level 3 (maximum): 2/3 to 3/4 down ladder cliff

Step 4: Upgrades

These are more important than you think. Each upgrade costs 500 tokens, and trust me, it’s worth the money. The tokens give no extra points at the end of the game, whereas the upgrades make winning MUCH easier. There are 2 types of upgrades, Quick Draw and Super Slime. Allow me to elaborate.

Quick Draw increases the speed in which your character releases their parachute. This also decreases the distance needed from the ground for you to safely pull it (as explained in Step 3). If you have to choose between Quick Draw and Super Slime, always pick Quick Draw.

Super Slime speeds up your fall, allowing you to easily overtake opponents who are ahead of you. This makes winning the race much simpler. If you have the maximum Super Slime level, it is quite likely you can win the race just by avoiding the other jumpers; you’ll shoot past them with no trouble.

The ideal way to get the upgrades is to increase the levels of both upgrades after each level in the game (for example: get both upgrades to level 1 after Level 1, get both upgrades to level 2 after Level 2, etc.). The key to doing this is to collect as many tokens as possible during each round and getting your total at the end of the level up to 1000. An easy way to do this is to just get 1st place in every round. That will get you 200 tokens every round, totaling up to 1000 at the end of each level.

However, if you’re not skilled enough to do this, you must try to collect as many tokens as you fall as possible. Each gray coin is worth 10, so if you get 2nd in one of the rounds but 1st in all the others, you only have to collect 10 tokens to get up to 1000. The best strategy is to scope out series or, what I like to call, “trails” of tokens and follow them while you fall. That will beef up your total quickly. But be careful; no token is worth a lost life. If there’s one stray token over the mud pit and you’re not sure if you can make it back to the platform in time, don’t risk it.

If you complete all of these steps successfully, you should be on your way to a 3000 Neopoints at the end of 3 games (you must get at least 36,000 points to get 1000 Neopoints). And, even cooler, if you get 1st in every round and end up with a total of 40,000 points, you’ll automatically be awarded a champion trophy for your trophy case. Nice, isn’t it? Don’t worry, if you don’t get it perfect the first time, just keep working. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect! And don’t forget, while you’re polishing your gold, parachute-shaped trophy, be sure to remember who taught you really how to Ugga the Drop.