A Complete Guide to Mutant Graveyard of Doom II

A guide to monsters, mazes, and treats.

- The basics

You're Albert, a Mutant Kacheek who collects treats throughout the maze; along the way, you'll have to avoid and destroy enemies. You use the keyboard arrow keys to move.

There is no time limit, so take your time and be as thorough and careful as possible!

You have three lives in the game. In order to lose a life, you have to be hit three times; each time you're hit, your lantern will dim, until it dies completely. While you can't regain lives, you can restore your health/lantern by collecting certain power-ups.

When you lose a life, you'll be reset in the same level; you won't need to recollect the treats, and the enemies you've killed will be gone, so you just have to finish collecting! With each life you lose, the candle in the top left corner will melt down.

There are sixteen levels. Five take place in a graveyard, five take place in a crypt, five take place in a cave/cavern, and then there is one final boss level. These levels are the same each time you play, so try to memorize as much as possible; the more you play, the more you'll know the layout and its traps and rewards.

- Things to consider before you start

Although you can take a break between levels (as the game will not proceed until you press a key), there is no other way to pause mid-game, so take advantage of those breaks! To get through all sixteen stages of the game generally takes between one and three hours, so make sure you're comfortable when you start.

Also, it's helpful to choose a time to play when you're unlikely to be interrupted! Letting your attention slip for even a few seconds can be disastrous.

- Enemies

Your enemies in the game are as follows: the Chumablah, the Jowlard, and the Ghostkerchief, and what is either a Halloween Pet Rock, or an original gravestone monster. Each have certain behavioral patterns, and should be dealt with accordingly!

Killing an enemy will award you 50 points, while collecting a treat will only earn you 10. Therefore, killing those petpets is the best way to achieve a high score.

The Chumablah: A purple petpet that generally moves through the maze in a straightforward fashion. They seem the most inclined to actually chase you, so try not to get cornered!

The Jowlard: A bouncy green petpet that seems to move in a random pattern. Like the Chumablah, they'll move through the maze without circling back too much, and generally travel through zones quickly.

The Ghostkerchief: The most dangerous of the petpets! Unlike your other enemies, these ghost-like petpets have the ability to move through the gravestones. They take time and patience to kill.

The Moving Grave: These can be tricky to deal with, as when they stop moving they look like simple gravestones. The best way to distinguish them from real gravestones is to look carefully: they have no markings, but have a roof-like design along the top, and they have no moss/grass along the base; sometimes they'll block paths and blend in, but most of the time they don't align with the maze gravestones and stick out.

You can run past them without being harmed while they're stopped, but because they can start moving again at any time it is best to be careful.

They can stay in one small zone for quite a while, and it can take a lot of patience to wait for them to kill them.

But how to kill an enemy?

There are many types of gravestones in the maze, and one type can be moved to crush your foes! The movable gravestone is a rounded one with no markings or ornamentation.

To move it, press the arrow key toward the stone and hit your spacebar.

But obviously, the enemy petpet must be on the other side!

Sometimes it seems to take more than one click, so I generally hold the arrow key down and just mash the spacebar until it's down.

If you time it just right, you can kill two enemies at once, if they're both perfectly aligned on the opposite side of the movable gravestone.

Because it is likely that you'll need as many movable graves as possible to kill all your enemies, it is best not to knock them over just to make a path (unless you're being chased, of course, and have no other way out). There are almost always other ways to get in or out of an area, so do your best to find an alternative!

The Ghostkerchief will be the hardest to kill. Be very careful when attempting to squash them, as they might just move through one of the other graves to get you!

The best time to push a grave over on them is when they're coming directly at you; if they're coming from the side, be prepared to run.

Later in the game, you'll find yourself in cavern-like mazes that have brown stone pillars instead of graves. The movable stones here are distinguished by the fact that their tip has been cracked off. They're harder to notice than in previous levels, so try to keep an eye out for where they are as you run through the maze.

Additionally, these levels are the hardest because, 1) there are fewer movable stones, 2) it is much more maze-like, with very little room to maneuver and some dead ends, and 3) there tend to be more Ghostkerchiefs, which aren't restricted by the walls; kill them as quickly as possible.

However, because the Ghostkerchiefs have the ability to move any direction at any time, if one has you cornered there's a chance it'll turn around. So be prepared to run past it if it moves off the path.

Note: Running into the monsters will NOT kill them! They'll still be there after they hit you.

- How to Score Points

Enemies

The quickest method of earning points is killing the enemies; as mentioned above, they'll score you 50 points each.

Treats

There are five types of treats that you can collect at 10 points each; each level will vary in how many treats you need to collect. Collecting all of them is the only way to move to the next level.

The treats you need appear along the top of the screen, and do not need to be collected in any particular order.

Power-ups/power-downs

There are two power-ups which help you and two power-downs which hurt you; they are valued at 10 points each.

The Pink Apple Lantern will 1) brighten your lantern, which expands your field of vision, and 2) restore your health. When you first start the game, at level 1, it is best to collect ONE of these before you're hit; it'll brighten the field a bit. Otherwise, do not collect them until the very end of that level--unless you are hit and need to restore your health; collecting more than one at the start will NOT continue to improve brightness or health, and you may need them later.

Pink Popcorn will improve your speed. Again, it's best to collect one at the start to speed up, but after that you won't become faster--though you'll still collect 10 points each.

Just be careful with your new found speed! Make sure you have a good sense of control over it, otherwise you might run smack into enemies.

The Almost Gummy Strawberry Rat will slow you down! The best strategy for these is to avoid them until the end of the level; once all the monsters are gone, you can move as slowly as you like! So before you grab that very last treat, make sure you go and collect the Gummy Rats.

The Mummified Negg will have the same effect as being hit by an enemy---your health will drop and your lantern will dim. The best strategy with these are to wait until you've killed all the enemies, and then to count how many Pink Apple Lanterns remain. From there, only collect as many Mummified Neggs as you can without compromising the maximum light!

In other words, if you're at full health, there are three Apple Lanterns left to collect and five Mummified Neggs, you should only collect three Mummified Neggs! Otherwise, you'll be at a disadvantage in the next level.

Note: Your lantern/health state will continue throughout the levels---if you move from level 1 to level 2 with a dim lantern, it will not automatically be restored with the new level.

However, your speed will automatically be reset to default each level; so if you're slower or faster than default in level 1, that won't be carried over with you to level 2.

This means that you should NOT collect the Mummified Neggs if you can't bring your health back up with spare Apple Lanterns, but that you SHOULD collect all the Gummy Rats once you've cleared the level of monsters!

- The Boss Level

If you've cleared all fifteen rounds, you'll be taken to a single, spooky level in which you'll have a boss fight. The room is smaller, and is set up with mostly movable gravestones, and the boss itself is a Grim Reaper-like monster; it looks very large and scary, but it's really not much harder to avoid than the other enemies. So don't panic!

To kill it, you must crush it with multiple graves! Individually, they do not appear to effect the boss at all, but after three to five times the level will abruptly end, and you'll be able to collect your score!

Killing the boss will award you 150 points, and it is the only way to finish the game as there are no treats to collect.

Note the Pink Apple Lantern in the bottom left corner of the maze! Even if you're at full health, you should collect it for the extra 10 points before you finish off the boss.

- Basic Strategies and Tips

When you do a level for the first time, it's best to move quickly; this ensures that you won't be cornered or trapped by enemies, and will provide you with knowledge of the layout.

I find it best to collect all but the last treat; know where it is, but leave it alone until you've 1) killed all the enemies, 2) collected all the power-downs possible, 3) collected all the remaining power-ups. This way, if you find yourself in trouble you can opt to end the level without having to kill the remaining foes.

When moving Albert through the maze, be very careful when moving upward! Because of the treat indicator at the top, your vision for what's above is impaired; I suggest moving one up-key click at a time when you're unsure of what's above you.

Around the second to last level, it is extremely difficult to kill all the foes. However, if you've been careful thus far and have all three lives remaining, I suggest that you take the risk and lose a life or two trying to get rid of them all, as the boss is unlikely to do you in. These last points can mean the difference between a gold or silver trophy---or perhaps even first or second place overall!

Because there is no time limit, be patient and stay calm. Run away from large clusters of monsters unless you're in a great position; they'll eventually scatter, and you can pick them off one by one.

If you're really dedicated to mastering this game, you can even take the time to run around and thoroughly memorize the mazes! Once you've killed all the foes in a level, there's nothing to fear and no reason to hurry.

As with most other games, practice is key. Study the mazes, placement of the treats and movable stones, and the patterns of the enemies, and you'll make it to the high score table in no time!