Difference between revisions of "Journey of the Prairie King"
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|[[File:JOPK_Coffee.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_Coffee.png]] | ||
|Coffee | |Coffee | ||
− | |Increases movement speed. | + | |Increases movement speed. Lasts about 16 seconds. |
|- | |- | ||
|[[File:JOPK_MachineGun.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_MachineGun.png]] | ||
|Heavy Machine Gun | |Heavy Machine Gun | ||
− | |Significantly increases fire rate. | + | |Significantly increases fire rate. Lasts about 12 seconds. |
|- | |- | ||
|[[File:JOPK_Nuke.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_Nuke.png]] | ||
Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
|[[File:JOPK_Shotgun.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_Shotgun.png]] | ||
|Shotgun | |Shotgun | ||
− | |Causes three bullets to be fired at once in a cone at a slightly slower rate. | + | |Causes three bullets to be fired at once in a cone at a slightly slower rate. Lasts about 12 seconds. |
|- | |- | ||
|[[File:JOPK_SmokeBomb.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_SmokeBomb.png]] | ||
|Smoke Bomb | |Smoke Bomb | ||
− | |Teleports the player to a random spot on-screen and causes enemies to stand still with question-marks above their head. Enemies will continue to spawn, building up inside the spawn zones. | + | |Teleports the player to a random spot on-screen and causes enemies to stand still with question-marks above their head. Enemies will continue to spawn, building up inside the spawn zones. Lasts about 4 seconds. |
|- | |- | ||
|[[File:JOPK_Star.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_Star.png]] | ||
|Sheriff Badge | |Sheriff Badge | ||
− | |Increases fire rate and movement speed, and causes three bullets to be fired at once in a cone. Effectively a combination of the machine gun, shotgun and coffee (although fire-rate and movement speed bonuses are slightly lower than from coffee/machine gun). With max boots/gun upgrades, this item is only a minor buff. | + | |Increases fire rate and movement speed, and causes three bullets to be fired at once in a cone. Effectively a combination of the machine gun, shotgun and coffee (although fire-rate and movement speed bonuses are slightly lower than from coffee/machine gun). With max boots/gun upgrades, this item is only a minor buff. Lasts about 24 seconds. |
|- | |- | ||
|[[File:JOPK_Tombstone.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_Tombstone.png]] | ||
|Tombstone | |Tombstone | ||
− | |The player becomes a zombie for a brief amount of time, granting increased movement speed and the ability to kill on contact. Enemies flee from the player. (Note: This power-up does not grant protection from bullets fired by bosses.) | + | |The player becomes a zombie for a brief amount of time, granting increased movement speed and the ability to kill on contact. Enemies flee from the player. Lasts about 8 seconds. (Note: This power-up does not grant protection from bullets fired by bosses.) |
|- | |- | ||
|[[File:JOPK_Wheel.png]] | |[[File:JOPK_Wheel.png]] | ||
|Wagon Wheel | |Wagon Wheel | ||
− | |Causes the player to fire in 8 directions at once. | + | |Causes the player to fire in 8 directions at once. Lasts about 12 seconds. |
|} | |} | ||
Revision as of 01:44, 8 April 2021
Journey of the Prairie King is a SmashTV-style minigame that can be played on one of the arcade machines in The Stardrop Saloon. Beating the game will award the player with a Prairie King Arcade System, delivered by mail the next day. Abigail also possesses a console version of the game that can be played during her 2-Heart Event. Random elements of the game are not affected by Luck.[1]
Please note that none of the power-ups or enemies are referenced by any name in-game, so they have been named by members of the community.
Gameplay Mechanics
Journey of the Prairie King is a top-down shooter, resembling "twin-stick" shooters such as "Smash TV". WASD moves the character and ↑←↓→ shoots. The player can move and shoot diagonally by combining two keys (e.g. W and A together move up and left diagonally). While using a controller, the left joystick moves, and the right joystick shoots. The D-Pad can also be used for movement and the button pad can also be used for shooting.
In the mobile version of the game, there are two transparent red circles. The one on the left moves the character and the one on the right aims.
The player begins with four lives (shown as "x3" in the upper left), and is instantly killed upon contact with an enemy or projectile. Losing every life (when the counter changes from "x0" to "x-1") results in a Game Over. In each level, a timer bar counts down at the top of the screen while waves of enemies appear from the edges of the screen and move towards the player. Enemies stop spawning when the timer bar has counted down completely, and the level is completed when all enemies are defeated, allowing progress to the next area.
Enemies will sometimes drop power-ups, coins and extra lives upon being killed. One power-up at a time can be stored in a slot in the top-left, and can be activated by pressing Space. If a power-up is picked up while another is already being held, the new power-up is consumed immediately. Power-ups last only for a short time.
Items Dropped by Enemies
Upgrades
A Vendor appears after certain levels are completed and will present the player with three upgrades that can be purchased with coins dropped by enemies (see above). Only one item may be purchased per visit, and the items in each slot are always presented in the same order, requiring the first item in that slot to be purchased before the next one is shown in a later level, etc. (For example, both boots upgrades must be purchased before an extra life can appear in the first slot.)
The Vendor appears at the end of every second level: 1-2, 1-4, 2-1, 2-3, 3-1 and 3-3.
Vendor Slot | Image | Name | Purchase Price | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Boots | 8 | Upgrades movement speed. | |
20 | ||||
1-Up | 10 | Get an extra life. Can be purchased again at the next vendor. | ||
2 | Gun | 10 | Increases shooting speed. | |
20 | ||||
30 | ||||
Super-Gun | 99 | Applies the effect of the Shotgun powerup permanently without the fire-rate debuff. Will also be shown as a 4th icon on the left, on top of the other 3. Picking up the shotgun power-up will not increase the bullet spread, but will still decrease fire-rate. This upgrade is only available in hard mode. Requires all other gun and ammo upgrades to be purchased before it will appear. | ||
Sheriff Badge | 10 | Get a Sheriff Badge. Can be purchased again at the next vendor. | ||
3 | Ammo | 15 | Increases bullet damage to 2 / 3 / 4. Bullets gain penetration, such that if a bullet destroys an enemy with damage left over, it will keep going until its damage is depleted, allowing at least two weak enemies to be killed with one bullet. | |
30 | ||||
45 | ||||
Sheriff Badge | 10 | Get a Sheriff Badge. Can be purchased again at the next vendor. |
Enemies
Friendlies
Bosses
Levels
Screenshots of each level | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hard Mode
As of version 1.1, after completing Journey of the Prairie King, the player has the option to start over in Hard Mode. All upgrades and coins are carried over into the new game, but lives reset to the default "x3", and held power-ups are removed. Enemies spawn in greater numbers, some move faster, and each has at least one extra hit point. Additionally, Imps now spawn in every level except boss stages, and extra lives drop far less often.
Each time a harder mode is beaten, the option to start once again is offered, with the game getting progressively harder each time.
Trivia
- There is a Lost Book about this game titled Journey of the Prairie King -- The Smash Hit Video Game!.
- Zoom level also influences the portion of screen the arcade game takes up.
- The title of the game is most likely a reference to the "River King" games (a series of fishing RPGs made by Natsume, who also made the Harvest Moon series), specifically the Game Boy title released in the US as Legend of the River King.
Bugs
- If the nuke power-up is used during the first boss fight, the enemy will vanish from the screen but the stage will not end, resulting in a softlock. This also occurs when using the Tombstone power up against Fector.
References
History
- 1.0: Introduced.
- 1.1: After beating the game, the player can play in Hard Mode.
- 1.5: Progress can now be saved and resumed, so it can be completed in multiple sessions. You now also replay the original difficulty even if you’ve already completed it. (Previously it would increase difficulty automatically, which is now a New Game+ mode.)
- 1.5.2: You can no longer instantly kill Fector as a Zombie.