Nimmo's Pond Walkthrough

      Nimmo’s Pond. We all know it—that random, frustrating game that results in you spinning wildly out of control, screaming nonsense to the sky as you’re smashing your keyboard, wondering where your life went wrong. Well, I’m here to answer that question! If you’re still struggling to get this avatar for your collect, add the adorable trophy to your cabinet, or are just curious how to master this seemingly impossible game, then grab a cup of tea and look no further!

      I’ll explain the controls, gameplay, then tips and tricks to guarantee a new high score. Don’t let those empty Nimmo eyes intimidate you from playing! Using these tricks, I got both a gold trophy and the avatar my second time playing. Anything is possible in Neopia! Let’s get started.

     CONTROLS

      This game plays extremely easy. You only need to use five keys—left, right, space, B, and V. I can already hear you asking, “What, you don’t use up or down?” and the answer to that is NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

      Realize this game takes place in a pond. When you move something in the water, what does it do? It drifts. When you move the Nimmo forward or backwards, it’s extremely hard—nay, impossible—to stop him and keep him from running into bigger lilypads, which is how you lose health and lose the game and inevitably scream into the abyss. Just, please, don’t use up or down.

      Left/Right. These swivel you, so you can rotate around to see the lilypads to shoot and power-ups to pick up. Keep in mind that rotating uses Paddle Power (your ability to move), so don’t go swinging around like crazy! Stay still as long as you can; this will “recharge” you.

      Space. This is how you fire bullets. Unlike other games, you can’t hold the spacebar and shoot multiple bullets—you have to repeatedly hit the spacebar, so make sure your wrist is in a comfortable position. Eventually, throughout the game, you’ll be able to upgrade your bullets (there are a total of five ‘strengths’).

      B. Only use this in dire situations—hitting B will drop a bomb, laying waste to lilypads coming your way! It’s really useful if a large lilypad is flying at you and you’re unprepared. It doesn’t completely destroy it, but it’ll break it up into manageable pieces. You’ll quickly befriend this weapon in later levels.

      V. This will enable you to collect power-ups, since it makes the Nimmo stick its tongue out to grab stuff. You can’t eat lilypads, so don’t bother trying.

      That’s it, all five keys. Easy and straightforward!

     GAMEPLAY

      The first thing I’m going to cover is power-ups. Power-ups are essential to scoring one more avatar and/or trophy, and are easily identifiable as they’re in little bubbles and having different pictures indicating their use. There are a total of seven (four weapons and three other), and I’ll outline them below.

      Health. This is a small red cross inside a bubble. Obviously, grabbing one of these will give you more health. ALWAYS GRAB THESE. You can never be overly cautious when it comes to healing.

      Paddle Power. A small lilypad inside a bubble. This gives you Paddle Power, otherwise known as your ability to move around. If you’re low on Paddle Power and one of these is right in front of you, go ahead and grab it; otherwise, you can recharge endlessly throughout the game by not hitting the arrow keys.

      Speed Reset. A blue battery-looking item inside a bubble. This will stop you on a dime, but these are usually unnecessary because as we discussed above, you shouldn’t be moving in the first place. I’m looking at all you rebels who think moving isn’t a big deal … it is. Sometimes you’ll accidentally tap up or down, which is annoying but shouldn’t cost you the game, but use caution when playing.

      Bomb. The sacred bombs! These are amazing. Grab these whenever you can.

      Rapid-Fire. A green star/blob/thing in a bubble. These are the default bullets you get, and aren’t the best BUT are good to collect if you’re in the first couple of levels. Don’t rely on these to get you an avatar, though.

      Multiple-Shot. A yellow star/blob/thing in a bubble. THESE ARE THE BULLETS YOU WANT. They’re absolutely amazing, and once you upgrade them to 3, 4, and 5, they’re lifesavers. They shoot out multiple bullets at once, meaning you can swivel around without worrying about your aim too much. Seriously, these are the best, especially when you’ve got a million itty bitty lilypads floating around.

      Super Bullets. Actual garbage, these. You can see for yourself, but literally they shoot one at a time, really slowly, and don’t do much other than land a little ways in front of your Nimmo and make you scream and cry. Avoid these like moldy sausages (which would be way more effective than “Super” Bullets).

      When you begin the game, you start off near the bottom of the screen. You’ll see the Nimmo’s face at the bottom of the screen, sandwiched between a red bar and a blue bar, along with three dots above his head. The red bar is your Health, the little dots are the bombs, and the blue bar is your Paddle Power. Keep a close eye on these! If you lose all your health, it’s game over. If you lose all your Paddle Power, it’s game over. You’ll get a flashing warning across the screen if either get low, but try not to get to that point.

      Since the levels get crazier, you’ll quickly learn what to prioritize. Destroy the fastest lilypads first, as there’s no point in destroying a slow big one if you’ll getting pelted by small quick ones. The smaller the lilypad, the less damage you’ll take.

      Again, only use bombs if you’re a lilypad is sailing at you and you can’t avoid getting hit. Don’t overuse these, as you don’t know when the next power-up will come along.

      That’s about it! This game is really easy, you just have to know what to expect. You’ll need 4,000 or more points to get the avatar and, depending on when, a score of 5,000+ should get you a trophy. Plus, the trophies are adorable, so the addition of gold, silver, or bronze will spruce up your account vey nicely!

     SUMMARY

      Do NOT let the Nimmo drift. Once he gets mobile, you’re out of luck. It’s easy to accidentally tap the up or down key, and if you move a little bit it should be fine. If the poor Nimmo looks like he’s in a race, then it’s time to restart the game.

      If you get in the first two or three levels, restart.

      Use bombs in DIRE SITUATIONS. They’re extremely precious in the later levels when you’re struggling to destroy numerous large lilypads and saved my hide more times than I can count. Treat ‘em like gold.

      Do NOT go after power-ups. It’s not worth it. They move kind of diagonally, and they’ll eventually move to a point where you can grab them with your tongue. If the power-up you want is near a power-up you don’t want, then just wait—having patience and grabbing the right power-up is better than letting impatience cost you an avatar-winning game.

      Rotating uses Paddle Power!! Make sure you recharge often. Nothing’s worse than getting caught in an avoidable situation.

      Expect to invest some time into this game. I got the avatar (and gold trophy) around Level 26-ish, which seems to be average.

      Take it easy! The game can get frustrating if you accidentally start drifting, grab the wrong power-up, or get hit several times in a row. It’s just a game, don’t take it too seriously, and if you get really stressed, take a break to look at some Art Gallery entries, chat on the boards, or drink some water. Games are supposed to be fun!

      Hopefully you got something useful out of this guide. Whether this will be your first or thousandth time playing, I wish you the best of luck playing. Go tell that Nimmo who’s boss!