A Guide to Hubrid’s Hero Heist

     A Guide to Hubrid’s Hero Heist

      Hello fellow readers! The following article is both a short history lesson and a game guide, so listen carefully!

      Hubrid’s Hero Heist is a game released many years back, right after the release of Neopets’ TCG cards. Hubrid Nox, the villain of the game, has kidnapped the heroes of Neopia (well, at least their card forms) and locked them away into treasure chests in different locations. In this game you are playing as a lowly sorcerer Poogle Apprentice and it is his job to recover all of the stolen heroes!

      Here’s a bit of a history lesson, just so you know what is at stake! Hubrid Nox is one of Neopia’s most dastardly villains. He is known to be Dr. Sloth’s biggest contender for ruling the Neopian world. What makes him interesting? Well, he is a warlock—for those of you who don’t know, a warlock is a man who practices witchcraft. He is a sorcerer and an enchanter (someone who makes objects magical). Hubrid is not only a warlock but also a necromancer—a person who uses magic to bring the dead to life. He once used his magic to create an army of undead slaves to try and rule over the planet!

           Fortunately for us, Nox did not succeed in his plan to rule over Neopia. Very unfortunately for him, Nox was murdered after someone (Xandra) framed him for turning the faeries to stone; he was killed by Xandra so that she could cover up the evidence of her evil scheme. I bet you were starting to feel bad for Nox weren’t you? Well, don’t worry, he came back again as a ghost so we are not completely rid of him yet!

      Now, our main character, whom we play, is the Poogle Apprentice. An apprentice is someone who is learning a new skill or trade from a master. In the story, this young and unskilled sorcerer has discovered Hubrid’s evil plans to take all of the precious heroes from Neopia; his targets are Magnus the Torch, Jeran, Master Vex, Illusen, Jerdana, and Queen Fyora. So, now I bet you are asking, how can a lowly apprentice (who knows very little magic) save all of our heroes? Well, I have good news for you—our apprentice has mastered a total of TWO spells! They are the shrinking spell and the spell of teleportation.

      The shrinking spell allows the apprentice to shrink his enemies down to a small size and then he squishes them when he runs over the top of them; yes, it is pretty violent if you ask me!

     The spell of teleportation allows our apprentice to teleport a short distance away. He isn’t quite good enough to teleport directly to the heroes to save them in just a few swishes. This teleportation spell can take our valiant protagonist into different rooms, but that’s the only thing he can do with it… When on the battlefield, he can ONLY teleport up and down. This means he cannot dodge an enemy’s attack on the same tower floor he is already on. He must dodge by going up or down to another platform; remember, he is still learning.

          Just like any game, the villains are never very intelligent when it comes to getting away with their plan. Our villain, Hubrid Nox, has left a number of enemies in our path to the heroes; Mutant Kacheeks, Werelupes, Grey Shoyrus, Ghost Jubjubs, Ghost Chias, and even the Dark Faerie comes to help him!

     Now let’s get into the controls and the know-how of the game.

      Movement: Using the “arrow keys” on your keyboard will allow you to go LEFT/RIGHT and UP/DOWN ladders in the game.

     Shrinking Spell: In the direction you wish to use your spell, press the arrow keys LEFT/RIGHT and the SPACE BAR. Warning: this spell only works on enemies who are right next to you.

     Teleportation Spell: Using the arrow keys UP/DOWN and SPACE BAR you will be able to teleport to the floor above you or below you. If there is no floor level above or below you, your spell will not be activated. You cannot travel up or down by two levels, only one level per spell.

     Next we will learn more about the enemies in the game.

     The Mutant Kacheek is a very basic enemy; he moves slowly and walks left and right and sometimes he may go up and down ladders. Threat level: LOW.

     The Werelupe is a bit trickier; he moves left and right and can climb up and down ladders. He is faster than the Kacheek and he can shoot a crossbones projectile at you from across the stage; get your teleportation spell ready. This enemy is best dealt with when you are behind them to minimize risk. Threat Level: MODERATELY HIGH.

     The Grey Shoyru is easier than the Halloween Lupe and a bit trickier than the Mutant Kacheek. He will shoot fire at you and move left to right. His weakness is that the fire shoots out in timed intervals of around eight seconds. The Shoyrus do move faster than Mutant Kacheeks so be careful to time your attacks. Threat Level: MODERATE.

     The Ghost Jubjub is another easy enemy. He is basically the same as the Shoyru except he jumps. He can still move left and right and go up and down ladders. Threat level: LOW.

     The Ghost Chia isn’t too much more difficult. He moves slowly left and right and will go up and down ladders but he is sneaky. He will lunge at you and speed up with a headbutt. It is best to sneak up on him from behind or wait for him at the bottom of a ladder. Threat level: MODERATELY LOW.

     The Dark Faerie is challenging. You will lose most of your lives from this enemy. The Dark Faerie flies around the screen and does not stay on platforms. She likes to float around, disappear and reappear, and sometimes she will just fly right into you. You need to be very careful watching her. Did I forget mention she shoots energy beams at you? Oops, ya, she does that. Be careful, you cannot destroy her! Fortunately, she only shows up on levels 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36. These are the levels where you will find your heroes. Threat level: HIGH

     The only way to win the round is if you defeat every single enemy on the field excluding the Dark Faerie. Here is a little bonus though: if you destroy an enemy, little goodies appear and they give you points! These bonus items are what give you the big scores to obtain a trophy. If you are not fast enough, they will disappear. Also note, on every 6th level (the levels with heroes) when you defeat the last enemy a bonus item will appear but the game will stop and you will NOT be able to collect the last item or any other items that may be on the screen at the time. You need to time picking those up carefully!

      A list of goodies and their values:

          Turnip - 100 pts

     Raw Potato - 150 pts

     Teal Juppie - 200 pts

     Pinanna - 250 pts

     Scabu - 300 pts

     Peachpa - 350 pts

     Chokato - 400 pts

     Asparagus - 500 pts

     Striped Negg - 800 pts

     Starberry - 1000 pts

     Silver Negg - 1000 pts

     Jelly Aishas - 1500 pts

     Box of Spyder Bites - 3000 pts

     Faerie Pancakes - 4000 pts

     Cackling Negg - 5000 pts

     Everlasting Apple - 5000 pts

          Points are also awarded for just stomping on each enemy. You will get 100 pts each time you stomp down on one of the enemies mentioned above.

     You only get three lives at the start of the game. As a reward for playing exceptionally well, the game will award you with two more bonus lives! If you play until 10,000 pts (without losing a life) you will be rewarded an extra life and the same thing happens again at 100,000 pts.

     If you are aiming for a trophy I have a number of tips for you:

     Collect all your bonus items first before killing another enemy. Only when convenient should you kill two enemies before picking up the items because the items can spawn on the other side of the map.

     Take your time. You do not get bonuses for finishing the level fast; if you take too long, however, you will lose a life.

     If you have extra lives at the end of the game, you should restart the level to get extra bonus points! Level 35 is usually a good level to farm extra points.

     If a particular level is hard, you may want to avoid getting the bonus points *shivers at the sound of the Dark Faerie*.

     Consider restarting level one a few times until you get some starting high bonus items.

      Finally, I am going to leave you with a quick heads-up on a couple bugs found in the game (maybe the game will be fixed or updated into a newer version one day) which should be avoided so you don’t lose the game unexpectedly.

     First, falling from a high platform can cause your character to fall through the bottom floor and onto the top of the map. If this happens you can land on an enemy and die so try not to fall from the top of the map when it can be helped.

      Second, when using your Shrinking Spell enemies often quickly turn around from the direction they were facing. Why is this a problem? When you use your spell on the Werelupe (Halloween Lupe), if he is in the process of shooting a crossbones, it can turn around and cause you to lose a life.

      With all that information, I hope you can find yourself succeeding at one of Neopets’ best games. I hope you enjoyed your read!