Erin’s Extreme Game Avatar Guide: Volcano Run II

I truly believe avatar games from Tyrannia are among the hardest to achieve. Why? I have some theories:

-Being the oldest land in Neopia, perhaps they have had more time to practice games and perfect their scores.

-As (arguably) the toughest land in Neopia, maybe they have higher standards for their avatar scores. In order to win a game avatar from Tyrannia, you have to earn it.

-TNT is just messing with us. To be fair, we deserve it sometimes.

Regardless of which theory you favor, the fact remains: Volcano Run II is an incredibly difficult avatar that requires a lot of practice and skill. Even the most determined of gamers have struggled with this one. Here are some tips to help you on your quest to collect this fiery avatar and get one step closer to your avatar goals.

The Basics

You play Glubgar, a tenacious scorchio on a quest to make your way through the perilous caves of Tyrannia in search of precious gems and . . . let’s face it, I don’t really know what his reason for being down there in the first place is. Curiosity? Eternal glory, maybe? Use your mouse or trackpad to make Glubgar fly through the cave, avoiding obstacles along the way. Obstacles include:

The bottom and top cave walls – these will singe your fragile little character if you run into them.

Fireballs – in my opinion, these are the hardest obstacles to avoid. They move horizontally across the screen at you and they’re relatively unpredictable regarding where they appear onscreen and how fast they move. Fireballs mostly appear when the gems appear, so stay alert. They also always come in either sets of two or three.

Boulders – boulders can move vertically or stay stationary. I think they’re the easiest to avoid because they usually appear when the cave is wide and you have plenty of room to slowdown and speed up.

Stalagmites and stalactites – these appear usually when the cave is at its narrowest. When you see these, look for a fireball because it’s definitely on its way. The good thing about these is the small dips in the cave floor give you a nice little spot to hide out until the fireball passes over you. Getting the timing right on this is very challenging and requires a lot of practice.

Lava spouts – these only appear after you pass at least 500 meters, so watch out for them! They are on the cave floor and will shoot lava up at you in a vertical column of doom. They will always appear in sets of at least two. The maximum amount of spouts I have encountered is eight in a row, but it might be possible to deal with more.

If you hit any obstacle, you will lose a life immediately and restart at the beginning of the cave. The longer you hold your mouse button, the higher he will fly. The C key on your keyboard slows him down and the V key speeds him up. We’ll discuss more on these later.

Your score in this game is determined by the points collected by gems + your longest distance, which is how far Glubgar travels in the cave before being singed by an obstacle. Distance does not accumulate with each level; if you lose a life at 700 meters on the first round and then lose another life at 600 meters on the second round, your total distance traveled will still be 700 meters, which is why this game is so challenging.

Gems can be yellow or red, with red appearing less frequently due to its rarity. Each yellow gem you collect will net you 10 points and red gems are 20.

The disappointing thing about the premise of this game is you never actually reach the end of the cave. Once you get far enough, the cave will narrow to an impossibly small opening with lava spouts and plenty of fireballs to singe you. You’ll be left thinking, “So, that’s it? What was Glubgar even doing down there in the first place?”

Shhh. Don’t think about it. Just play.

Strategy

Do NOT collect gems on the first round. Once you pass a gem bonus score of 420, gems will stop appearing. They are replaced with fireballs that come in sets of three instead of two, which are much harder to avoid. In fact, if you get a set of three fireballs while you’re in a narrow part of the cave, you’re most certainly doomed.

Thusly, your first round is for distance, not gems. If you lose a life early on in the first round, it’s usually best to just restart your game. You want as many lives as possible after you finish your distance round to collect gems. I once had a great distance level after losing two lives. When I finally crashed, I only had one life left to collect gems (by the way, you can get four lives in this game! We’ll talk about that later) and I crashed too early to get to that 1,500 score. It was tragic.

Protip: every time the cave narrows, zoom forward close to the right side of the screen so you can get to the mouth of the cave faster. This will make it a lot easier to avoid the fireballs because you can zoom out of the narrow part of the cave before they have a chance to trap you. Fireballs trapping me in narrow parts of the cave was the number one way I use to lose lives, but after practicing this method for a few days I got the avatar.

Using the C and V Keys

Glubgar flattens horizontally and vertically depending on which key you hit, and you can use this to your advantage. The C key makes him slow down and flatten vertically, and the V key makes him flatten horizontally. Here are some tips utilize this to the best of your ability:

Fireballs

If two fireballs appear on screen, they will be especially hard to avoid because the space to dart between them is slightly more narrow than normal. Use the C key to slow down all the way to the left side of the screen and wait as long as possible to dart through them. The fireballs will separate with distance, and then you will have a little extra space to dart through them. Use the V key to flatten out horizontally so you can get between them without getting singed.

Lava Spouts

The best way to get past these is to use C to hang back, wait for a spout to fire, and then use V to zoom as quickly as possible over two spouts. If you’re faced with more lava spouts after this, use C to hang back again, wait for one to fire, and then use V to zoom past two more. Repeat until you pass all the lava spouts.

I hope these tips help you on your path to avatar glory!