17 September 2006

Began the Scott Miller Watch on the front page.

5 April 2006

Scott Miller, CEO and founder of Apogee - and creator of In Big Trouble - has been in contact saying he would not have designed a level where death is a requirement. He's offered to revisit the level and see if there's anything he can add to this solution.

20 February 2003

A bloke by the name of Matthew Minehan sent me an email recently pointing out a way to solve In Big Trouble without losing a life, although it does require a little bit of luck. I've appended his input to the bottom of this guide.

26 December 2002

Many of you who have played Jumpman Lives! will be familiar with Level 24, "In Big Trouble". IBT is unique to Jumpman Lives!, which is a good thing, because it is near impossible to complete thanks to some very poor level design.

The solution presented here is the only way that I know of to complete the level every time, but it is a bit tricky and it does require the player to lose a life. If you know of another way to complete the level, please email me at matty@classicgaming.com.

In all of the screenshots, the troublesome bomb is the one with the red arrow.

First of all, get the bomb at the top of the left-hand ladder:

Next, get the bomb at the top of the right-hand ladder. Don't get any other bombs!

Now for the tricky bit. A tiny platform will have appeared in the top left of the screen, just below a bomb:

You need to jump from the ladder into the platform and then immediately jump again to the right (into emptyness), without collecting the bomb on the platform. Try to get Jumpman to just touch the bottom of the platform on the first jump, so you will be able to make the second jump without Jumpman shimmying upwards into the bomb.

This screenshot should give you the idea:

Jumpman will then fall to his death, collecting the troublesome bomb on his way:

If you've done it right, you will be able to complete the rest of the level with no problems.

If you are on your last life, or if you have accidentally collected the bomb on the tiny platform, there is still a way to complete the level that works most of the time. Big thanks to Matthew Minehan for his input.

Just collect all the bombs except for the troublesome bomb and stand in the spot shown on the picture:

Wait until Jumpman gets shot. If you are lucky (and this should happen most of the time), Jumpman will fall onto the last bomb and you will progress to the next level without losing a life. Matthew reports that you may have more luck if you wait to get shot from the right.

Happy jumping.