Flycatcher - a Guide to Licking the Competition

*shifty eyes*

Well, it doesn’t really matter how it happened. All you need to know is how to play the game, so here goes. You’re armed with your tongue and…wait. *shouts to TNT* You’re only equipped with your TONGUE?!? Who came up with that brilliant suicide mission?

Ahem. You’re equipped with only your tongue and you have to eat all the flies before they touch you with their deadly…touch of…doom. *shouts to TNT again* What’s so deadly about being touched by a fly? Maybe if they’re carrying a disease, but come on! *turns back to you* As I was saying, if the flies touch you, you lose a life.

To add a twist to all of this, bees will often swoop down at you. If they come in contact with you, you will lose a life. However, you can eat them as well as the flies, and they provide a nice 20 point boost to your score. Sounds good, right? Well there’s yet ANOTHER twist. Floating flowers will...*grunts and shouts to TNT* Floating flowers? Seriously, this game is flawed. Majorly flawed!

Anywho, there will be many floating flowers that get in your tongue’s way. You can eat them as well, but it takes 5 shots of the tongue to finish them off and they only provide one point a piece. That being said, let’s move on to what you really want to know – a good strategy.

Your main goal is to maximize your points (a big duh moment, I know). To do so, you will need to eat as much as possible, flowers and bees included. When each level starts, start consuming the flowers that are closest to the bottom. Depending on how fast your computer is, a bee will swoop your way every 2-4 flowers. Do your best to nab them, but don’t fret if you miss. There will be plenty more to come.

Keep eating the flowers until the flies enter the space that you’ve cleared out. When they approach the edge of the window, fire your tongue at them. Your goal is to hit them right between the first and second fly. If you succeed, you will have eaten the first fly and forced the others to turn around. Do your best not to misfire and hit a fly in the middle. Doing so will cause the swarm to split into two separate groups and will also cut the maximum time you have left in the level (time before the flies reach you, that is).

Keep at it until you are down to your very last fly. Let it buzz around for a while while you eat more flowers and bees. When the little bugger finally reaches the last row above you, it’ll be time to munch on him.

You should now have at least 150 points. Repeat this for each level and you’ll end up with a great score!

Here are a few extra tips that you can use to help you master the game.

-Remember those two extra lives you have? Don’t waste them by waiting for a bee to sting you. Lose them after you’ve collected 150 points in a level. It’ll add at least 300 points to your total, which you will need if you are aiming for a trophy.

-If you’re playing in the World Challenge and are down to your last life, it may be necessary to take the coward’s way out. Leave the bees be and focus on the flies. Your main goal will be to complete the game, not to score high enough to make it on the top 30 list (although that would be nice). 1,100+ points will be all you need.

-Have you seen a little fly-like bug zoom just above your head from time to time? They has no official title, so I just like to think of them as a stink bugs. Eating one will not affect your score, and they taste terrible. Just ask the Quiggle. Every time he eats one, he gags. So if you see one, I’d recommend staying away from it.

-Although you cannot predict exactly where the bees will plunge, you can make a good guess based on the bee’s color. The purple bees tend to zigzag back and forth while the yellow bees tend to follow more of a straight path. Based on this, you can make a decent guess on where they will go. Don’t be surprised if the bees stray from their routine route, though. It will happen from time to time. All you can do about it is to make like a Boy Scout and be prepared.

Now that you have a great strategy, you can be a Flycatcher expert. Your cabinet will soon have a shiny new trophy and you’ll be the envy of all your friends. But just in case you don’t get a trophy, please refrain from throwing moldy veggies at me.

Good luck, and happy fly catching!

*stares blankly at the floor* What? Oh, I almost forgot. I’d like to give big thank you to those of you who helped me with this article. I appreciate the time that you all put into proofing it and the suggestions you all made. Candy, Piper, Kuami, Doggeh, Wilma…I mean Robbie, you guys pwn! Thanks again!