Nimmo's Pond - Neopia's Most Challenging Game

by Xelenai and Xaghuar, & cutesparmy1623

Nimmo's Pond Uncovered!

Why?
First, I want to talk about why the intelligent Nimmos would 'waste' their time removing the lily pads from our lovely Neopian ponds. As everyone knows, light is the source of life, even for creatures and plants living Maraqua and other underwater places. Therefore, if the lily pads would be to increase in number, a lot of underwater beings would perish, as the big leaves would block them from the sun! So the Nimmos all agreed to carry the big responsibility of keeping the lily pad growth under control. Not long ago the lily pads started growing more rapidly (I assume this is Sloth's doing, but one can never be sure), and the Nimmos couldn't handle it on their own anymore, so they called upon us Neopians, to help them out and save the underwater worlds from certain doom!

The Game
You will guide a Nimmo, floating on a small lily pad, through the pond, having to watch both his health points and paddle power. The objective: to show those lily pads what a Nimmo is made of! :) At first there will be 3 pads floating around (every 10th level there will be an extra), these will break up in 3 smaller ones as soon as you have hit them enough, it might take a while, but just keep shooting! As one of the big leaves breaks up, there is also a chance it will release a bug, these bugs will give you an upgrade if you can manage to eat them (use V to grab them with your tongue). Here's a list:

Red bug: Will give you back some health points (hp), watch out not to lose more hp from trying to get them then you get back from eating it however!
Blue bug: Will give you back some paddle power (pp), most of the time it takes more PP to get to it then you get from it though, so very often not worth it.
Black bug: Will give you back a bomb, the maximum of bombs you can carry is 3 (which is the amount you start with) so if your already stocked up with bombs, either use one and take out a few lily pads quick, or don't waste your PP/hp!
Green bug: Will either equip you with the rapid weapon, or upgrade it by one level. Orange & Yellow bug: Will either equip you with the spread weapon, or upgrade it by one level.
All Orange bug: Will either equip you with the launch weapon, or upgrade it by one level.

WARNING: Bugs can change colour always keep your eye on it before you grab it, or you might lose the awesome weapon you been gathering!

If you forgot what each bug does, there's a list (with pictures!) in the game, simply click the 'instructions' button before you start playing.

Weapons
As you start the game, you'll be given the rapid weapon at level 1. This weapon doesn't do a lot of damage, but it shoots fast which makes it pretty easy to hit with, also this weapon will get easier to hit with as you get upgrades, as the shots will get bigger. Spread basically shoots 3 rapid shots at ones, which will spread out at a certain angle seemingly being easy to hit with, this weapon has a big drawback however, it fires slow, also as you get upgrades on it the shots will be less clustered making it actually harder to hit with then the rapid weapon. Launch is my personal favourite, as it does by far the most damage, it's at first hard to hit with, but with some practice it will get you through the levels faster and saver then any of the others.

As you see, every weapon has its advantages and drawbacks, you will have to try them out for yourself and see which you like best. Switching weapons however is always a bad choice, as the level you have a weapon on is more important then which weapon your using. Even though I dislike spread, I'd rather have a level 5 spread then a level 1 launch! So pick a weapon and stick with it throughout one game.

The bomb is a special weapon, which you can only carry 3 (press B to use one), it is extremely strong in the earlier levels (up to 15) after that it can still get you out of a tight spot though, but it wont always completely demolish a lily pad. I myself usually save em up, as the lower levels don't pose much of a problem getting through, you can also use em to get through the early levels fast gathering a good weapon to complete the rest.

Paddling
Paddling is by far the most important part of the entire game, or at least the hardest, explaining how to become a master paddler isn't possible, everyone must follow his own path. I will give a few tips however:

Don't be to worried about your PP, if you need to paddle you need to paddle! Try to move as little as possible at all times. You can only move the direction your facing, so to slow down you'll have to turn around and then hit the forward again.

Before completing a level (let one small lily pad float around) wait for your PP to completely regenerate. Paddle power (PP) will only regenerate when your not firing, turning or accelerating, it doesn't matter if your still moving, just don't press any keys. Before you complete a level would also be a good time to practice your paddling, I suggest you mainly practice slowing down. I cant say this often enough: speed = bad. If you don't have to move don't do it, it will get you destroyed more often then not.

I hope I covered the most important parts of the game, if you have any questions, feel free to Neomail me, and we (my trusty pet Xaghuar and me) will do our utmost to answer it the best we can!

by Xelenai and Xaghuar

How to Play Well in the Nimmo Pond

All right, NeoPets has released a new game called Nimmo's Pond as most of you fellow Neopians have known. In this article, I will list down good tips for playing this game. This game is free and you can earn NP 3 times a day.

This game is quite easy to play. You control a Nimmo on a lily pad and move around in the pond shooting other lily pads. Sometimes when you are a little lucky, flying insects fly out and you get power-ups when you eat those.

Maybe we should work on the controls first. The left and right directional keys turn your Nimmo around. Then there’s the up directional key. This key moves your Nimmo and accelerates it. The spacebar fires weapons (w/ unlimited ammo), the “b” button detonates the bomb wiping out nearby lily pads and the “v” button uses Nimmo’s tongue to eat insects.

During the first 2 levels, try not to move about as much. Fire at the lily pads and soon you will be at level 3. Try to sit still to recover your paddle power after a few shots. At level 3, the lily pads will get bigger by then. Hope you haven’t used up your bombs yet. This time, the insects that pop out appear to be a little dumb now. Don’t go around chasing them yet, just sit still and wait for them. As they fly across press the “v” button when they are directly above you. That should do the trick. Now, same thing, keep blasting the lily pads and slowly work your way up to the other levels.

There are some things that I think I ought to tell you. First, you get 3 bombs only throughout the whole game unless you get a bomb power up.

Okay, the bugs or insects power ups come in ranges of different colours. Each colour lets you upgrade or restore your weapons or health.

- Red: Health
- Blue: Paddle power
- Dark Brown: Extra bomb
- Green: Upgrade Rapid fire weapon
- Yellow: Spread weapon
- Orange: Launcher weapon

These are all the information I hope are the ones you need to thrive. Wish you all get to the high levels and get high scores. Bye!

by cutesparmy1623