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Bop A Ghost


by iloenchen

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I remember one of the first games I played on Neopets. Not knowing much about the site, I had randomly clicked on links and finally stumbled upon the games. I do not remember why I chose this particular game as one of the first to play, but I do remember that a few levels later, my fingers had tied themselves into a knot and I did not come back to play it until a few weeks later.

The game I’m talking about is Ghost Bopper.

Maybe you’ve made the same experience as me, tried playing the game because it looked like fun and gave up because you couldn’t get past level....

Don’t despair, I’m here to help you out.

First, let me introduce the game to those of you who have never even heard of it. The goal, as the title already says, is to hit ghosts. You’ve got nine different gravestones, arranged in a 3x3 grid, that you control with your keyboard to whack Ghost petpets.

Wait, ghost petpets? Is it even possible to hit a ghost? Shouldn’t the gravestone go right through them with the petpets cackling like mad at your desperate attempt to chase them away?

The answer is no. Why? Well, if you couldn’t hit the ghosts, there would be no point in playing Ghost Bopper, would there?

Upon starting the game, you will get the instructions to hit all petpets. Soon, a Greeble will raise from its grave. Look to the side where you will see the controls to find out which key to press to hit it. It isn’t all that difficult if you use your number pad. The bottom row gravestones are controlled by the keys 1-3, the middle row by the keys 4-6 and the top row by the keys 7-9. Easy, isn’t it?

But what do you do if you’re using a laptop? Well, this might be the one time where laptop users have a huge disadvantage. For playing the game, you can use the keys B,N,M for the bottom row, H,J,K for the middle row and Y,U,I for the top row. If you’re now thinking that this works well and wondering why you’re at a disadvantage with your laptop, read on to find out.

You have exactly thirty seconds to beat the first level. In the background, the moon will move along the sky and once it has reached the right edge of your screen, the level is over. Don’t worry, there’s no set amount of petpets you have to hit. Still, if you miss one, you will lose a life, so make sure you get all of them. Another way to lose lives is to accidentally press the wrong key, so even though you should be quick to get the petpets, you should also be careful to hit the right grave. My advice is to let your fingers hover over the middle row of your number pad, as this will allow you to move them up and down as quickly as possible.

Thirty seconds later, a screen will appear, announcing that level two is about to start. The difficulty will raise a little, because now, a new sort of ghost petpet will join the ghost Greeble – the ghost Faellie. In order to beat it, you have to hit it twice, so make sure that you look carefully at which kind of petpet raises from its grave.

Level three is even more difficult. Be careful to avoid the skulls mounting up from the grave. Don’t hit when you see a movement, always make sure that it’s a petpet first because otherwise, you will lose a life.

How do you know how many lives you have left? At the bottom of the screen, you will see a row of hearts – a total of ten when you start the game. This is the number of lives you have. Sounds like a lot? Well, wait until you reach level four and it will suddenly seem very little.

After having finished level three, you will get a message that the controls have been rotated. Look at the bottom right corner to see which key is now associated with each gravestone.

There are now two possibilities to go about the following levels. First, you can try to do it all in your head. Each time a ghost pops up, you will have to know by heart which key to press, because there often isn’t enough time to keep looking at the graphic. That’s what I tried the first time I played the game and it was the reason I didn’t come back to it until a few weeks later.

The second, much easier way, is to rotate your keyboard counter-clockwise. Look at the number pad and compare it to your screen and you will find out that once again, the bottom row on your keyboard controls the bottom row of gravestones.

If you’re using a laptop, you now know why Ghost Bopper is so much more challenging on your computer. Try rotating your laptop, and your screen will move, too. Unless you have a separate keyboard, the next levels are going to be very hard for you.

If you could rotate your keyboard, just continue like you did before, hitting the petpets and avoiding the skulls, or, in later levels, the lost pets that wander into the graveyard. Even if you could argue that they deserve getting hit for getting lost on a graveyard with nine graves, whacking them will cost you a life, so leave them alone.

By now, you will see treasure chests popping up. Hit them once to open them and another time to get the item hidden inside. You will either get a life or a pile of coin, which is worth twenty points. Just opening the chest will not give you the reward. The same goes for petpets that leave a life or coins behind. You need to hit those items; otherwise, they will be lost. Twenty points is a lot, especially when you’re aiming for a trophy.

This leads me to my next part of the guide. Scoring. How do you get points in Ghost Bopper?

Every Greeble that you hit gives you one point. For a Faellie, since you need to whack it twice, you will get two points. Deavers, which have to be hit three times, give three points and Onas, which you need to hit four times, will give you, you guessed it, four points.

If you’re aiming for a trophy, take a look at the highscore table and you will see scores that seem to be incredibly high. The game has a limited amount of levels (13 to be exact), so in most cases, it will be over before you have reached a score high enough to get a trophy. The only way to get in there is to be extremely lucky and get a lot of treasure chests/coins left behind by petpets. If a trophy is what you want, I would advise you to try on the first of the month and play until you’ve been lucky enough to get a game with enough coins to collect.

My guide has not covered everything there is in Ghost Bopper, but you now know the basics. If you’ve made it past level four, you will be able to beat the rest of the game. Besides, where would be the fun if I already spoiled what to expect from the higher levels?

So what are you waiting for? Go on and bop a ghost today.

 
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