ZurroGuide: How to Go From Zero to Zurro by sonofzeal |  |
GAMES ROOM - As some of you may have noticed, Zurroball has recently undergone
a change in the scoring system, and a few of you are probably worrying if this
will affect your daily income. For those of you who haven't found out already,
Zurroball used to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to get NP, if you had
strong mouse-weilding skills and the patience to put up with the steep learning
curve. This was rather unfair to the rest of you, so the Neopets Team balanced
it out by dropping the payout from 3 times your score to double it.
But never fear! This guide was intended to be the most comprehensive and complete
Zurroball guide to date (but I'd love to find out if there's a better one I've
missed!). It should give you all the info you need to get that 3000 NP a day,
or beat your personal top score.... Okay, so at very least it'll occupy some
of your time that might otherwise be spent taking out the garbage or cleaning
the bathroom, or whatever it is your mom is yelling at you for not doing. Actually,
you'd better go take out that garbage first, THEN read the article. Okay, done?
Great! Now down to business...
TRICKS
Freestyle: 1 point - The hands-down simplest trick in the book. All you
have to do is not get any other trick and still keep the ball up. The only thing
that can really be said about freestyling is that control is essential. Except
with the Energy Ball (see "Energy Ball" section), you need to be able to stablize
your ball with freestyles so it's not going all over the place when you're not
ready for it.
Left/Right Zurro: 3 points - The next simplest trick. Bounce the ball
off either of the walls once. Important note: if you do a bunch in a row, you
only get points for the first one, so 1 gets you as many points as 100, unless
you break them up with freestyles or other tricks. Master the technique of alternating
Freestyles and Left/Right Zurros, for good safe points. People have earned first-place
trophies doing nothing else.
Boomerang: 5 points - A solid step up from Zurros. Do two Zurros in
a row, one off each wall (i.e. a Left Zurro followed immediately by a Right
Zurro). Considering this move involves the ball moving faster sideways(meaning
more out of control) and gives you less points than two Zurros by themselves,
I would say this move is a waste of your time. Don't bother unless you're trying
to show off. (Note: in older versions, it was like the Zurro in that more than
one in a row would get you no more points, but this has been changed)
Around-The-World: 10 points - The flashiest move around. You have to
hit the ball off both walls before you catch it, like a boomerang except you
can't click on it in between to keep it moving. Needless to say, the ball needs
to be moving pretty darn fast sideways for this to work, and that means DANGER!
If you can land it it's worthwhile, but in general it's not worth the risk unless
you're amazing at it. Still, it IS flashy, and you hear a very satisfying "ding!"
when you do it, whether or not you can collect the points. Oh, and if you do
it right after a Zurro and start on the opposite side, it counts as a Boomerang
and a Zurro, and you only get 8 points, which is a rip-off.
Grounder: 10 points - My personal favorite. Freestyle towards the very
bottom of the screen, until you hear beeping every few clicks. Don't be fooled
though - at least in earlier versions, the beeping isn't consistent and doesn't
tell you whether or not you got a Grounder on that click, only that you're in
the right general area. Also, it counts each at 10 on the displayer. The most
important thing with this move is stability and control when Freestyling. If
the ball is going off to the sides all the time, you're not going to be able
to keep it at the right level, and if it drops a quarter-inch too far, you're
toast. Mmm... toast... *drools* Anyway, Grounders are moderately risky, but
are the fastest way to get those 500 points you need for full NP, and are amazing
practice for control of the ball.
BALLS
Zurroball: Your basic good-at-everything ball, the standard by which all
other balls are measured. It takes a while to get a feel for how it moves (same
with the rest, except for the Energy Ball), but once you have that it has the
best handling of any ball, in my opinion.
Recommended Moves: All Rating:
9/10
Snot Ball: Ugh, don't use this one. It's a smaller target than any of
the other ones, and it also flies higher than most, meaning it comes down faster,
meaning an even HARDER time hitting it again. At least it doesn't fly sideways
too much.... Recommended Moves: None Rating: 2/10
Metal Ball: Hard to use, but not impossible. It doesn't like to move
in any direction, but once it starts, it's hard to stop. In other words, it's
good if you want it to stay fairly still, but bad if you want it to be moving
anywhere.
Recommended Moves: Freestyle, Grounder Rating: 6/10
Energy Ball: A popular favorite. It bounces very high, and flies sideways
a lot, but when it reaches the top of its arc, it stops moving sideways at all
and drops straight down. This is why many people love it, because even if you
lose control and it rockets sideways, it'll calm down in time to catch it again.
The only flaw is how high it bounces, which is bad for two reasons. First, you
spend a longer time between clicks, which can stretch a game out forever if
you're going for a high score. Second, it's falling from higher than a Zurroball
would, meaning it has picked up more speed by the time you need to catch it
again, meaning you have a smaller window opportunity to catch it as it passes
your mouse cursor. Still, it's a good ball overall, especially for beginners.
Recommended Moves: Zurro, Boomerang, Around-The-World Rating: 8/10
Eyeball: Heh... this is the ball for you if you want to show off. The
bounce height is normal, but watch out - it goes stir-crazy on the horizontal.
It's almost a challenge NOT to do Boomerangs and Around-The-Worlds with this
ball, assuming you can keep it up. Entertaining while it lasts, which usually
isn't long at all. For an extra challenge, see how long you can keep it up WITHOUT
hitting a wall or the ground (my record's only 20).
Recommended Moves: Boomerang,
Around-The-World Rating: 3/10
SECRET GRUNDO BALL: Click on the spinning Grundo's blue badge to unlock
it (thanks again to the Neopian who told me about this, whoever you are =) ).
I don't have much experience with it, but it seems to be exactly like a Zurroball,
except bigger. It's hard to tell where it starts and stops because a lot of
it is transparent, and it's very distracting to see that Grundo spinning and
flipping across the screen, but it balances out for those with the sheer coolness
factor.
Recommended Moves: All Rating: 9.5/10
RANDOM STUFF
- If the ball shoots up off the top of the screen, watch the shadow on the
ground and you may be able to catch it. It will show you where the ball is
horizontally, and when the shadow starts getting larger again, you can bet
that the ball's on its way.
- These balls have momentum. That means that if a ball is moving too fast
to the left and you want to stop it, you need to hit it on the left side,
not in the center like in some similar games I've seen. In Zurroball, hitting
it in the center merely gives it an upward boost, without changing the way
it's moving side-to-side.
- Just because you can't hit the ball more than twice in a row at first is
no reason to give up! I couldn't keep the ball up to save my life the first
few times either, and now I'm writing an article about it. Trust me, all it
takes is some time, and even with the reduces payout, a decent player can
rake in the NP.
- Just so you know where this advice is coming from, my high score was 6,300
before the reset, so what I say should be taken in that context. I'm not perfect
and I'm not the best out there, but what I have here can get those results,
which isn't bad in my opinion. I'd love to hear from people with better if
they want to correct me on something though.
SUMMARY
In terms of balls, I recommend the Zurroball or Grundo Ball, but if you find
keeping control impossible, go with the Energy Ball for a while, but don't give
up on the Zurroball entirely; I found it much easier to master after I could
handle an Electric Ball decently well. In terms of moves, the Freestyle-Zurro
combo should be the bread-and-butter of any Zurroballist, but Grounders are
perfect for getting some quick points near the beginning, when you can just
restart if you bounce too low. Good luck, and keep bouncing!
My thanks go to everyone else who has made a Zurroball guide, each one made
me think, and added a new perspective to the mix; also to the people who answered
my questions on the message boards. Particular thanks to DJ Night Force 9, who
helped me proof-read and edit this. And I'd like to give a very special thank
you to whoever it was who wrote Zurroball - you have my admiration and respect.
^_^ 'Till next time! *waves*
|
