Mister Spiff IV
Release type: Shareware
Release date: 1994
Levels: 14
Author: Adam Tyner
Related games: Mister Spiff I, Mister Spiff II, Mister Spiff III: Freeze! Mother! Freeze!, CGA Hell
Here we come to the truth. Refined logical abstraction of the nature of Spiff, getting to the heard of what this design is about. And, a possible revelation about the character's true identity.
A heavy refinement of Spiff III, with more complex logical and spatial puzzles, smoother controls, and a trick to reset key counters at the start of the level, in the event of death.
Contains a couple of bonus stages that Tyner later expanded into the Mister Spiff spin-off CGA Hell. Those levels also replace Mister Spiff's head with that of Alan Caudel (in much the fashion of Alan '95). Was our hero Alan all along? The mystery deepens.
Contents
Story
"WHOA!"
You clutch your bag carefully. Public space-transportation isn't as safe as it used to be. Come to think of it, it never really was safe. Anyway, your spaceship broke down on Tizzleplack and you had to catch a bus to get home. At least you still had your...
(CRASH!)
"What the---!!!"
Okay, the bus is flipping around in space. Everyone else has their safety-harness fastened but you. I mean, the light for it came on! Noooo...that online issue of Video Freak was just too good to put down.
Well, you fly out the door, still holding your bag of jewels. Lotta good they'll do you if you're -- Hey! You landed on an old mattress! Too bad it was on a bunch of rusty nails.
Any landing you can stagger away from is okay, so you start to explore the planet looking for another bus stop. Whoops! It's inhabited by a bunch of mean aliens, surprise surprise.
You walk along this path and a purple slobbering beast lunges at you. Without thinking, you tossed a jewel at it. An aura of electricity envelops the alien, stunning it temporarily. Right near it, you see a purple orb which opened a locked door. Off in the distance you see a shop.
"Only one way to get there," you mutter as you enter.
Instructions
Controlling your character
Use these keys:
- LEFT: Walk left
- RIGHT: Walk right
- UP-LEFT: Jump up-left
- UP: Jump up
- UP-RIGHT: Jump up-right
- DOWN: Aim down
- ENTER: Attack key
- G: Fire a hologram (1 initial use)
- H: Heal yourself 1 hit point (1 initial use)
Obstacles
Any blocks with OW! over it means that all blocks like that in that level will automatically kill you. In level 5, look out for blocks tha temporarily vanish over pits of OW! blocks.
Level One
Level one is an introductory level that shows you what to do. In this level, lives will not be deducted.
Power-Ups
There are several power-ups in the game. Touch a power-up to pick it up.
- PURPLE ORBS - Get these to open doors (doors are marked)
- FLOATING HEADS - Worth 1 life
- BEATING HEARTS - Worth 1 hit point
- MONEY - Worth $1 for the shops
Shops
You go into a shop after every level. You can only buy 1 item. Move your hand to the item you wish to obtain. You can choose:
- HOLOGRAMS - Allow you to fire a hologram once more (press G)
- BEATING HEART - Allow you to heal yourself by 1 hit point (press H)
- FLOATING HEAD - Add one more life to your collection
- NOTHING! - Umm...nothing.
Joystick
- CALIBRATING JOYSTICK - Press F9
- ENABLING JOYSTICK - Press F8
- LEFT: Walk left
- RIGHT: Walk right
- UP-LEFT: Jump up-left
- UP: Jump up
- UP-RIGHT: Jump up-right
- DOWN: Aim down
- B1 and B2: Attack! (Healing and holograms must be done on the keyboard.)
Enemies
There are different enemies on each level. Here are the enemies:
Level One
- Underbite - A green alien with an underbite
- Spittle - A slobbering purple freak
- Flyball - A cyclops bat
Level Two
- Blue Streak - An alien with a jetpack and an attitude
- Escargot - A pink, flying snail
- I Can't Believe It's Not A Background Block! - Looks like a block, but turns into an enemy
Level Three
- Helmutt - Blue dog with a weird thing on its head
- Silhouette - Who knows what evil lurks in the spleens of men...?
- Cyberpunk - A punk with a flying disembodied head(?)
- Background Blocker - Tries to stop you from jumping
Level Four
- All of the above +
- Orbert the Friendly Orb - From Questor, it comes out of nowhere!
- Rollin' Appleboy - Umm...rolls.
Level Five
- Broom boy - He'll sweep you off your feet! (Ouch!)
- Wheelie and the Dragster Bunch - Dragsters supreme!
- Mister Palette-Swap - Changes colors...cool.
Level Six
- Mr. Moodswing - Goes from mad to calm to stunned to mad to...
- Chuck None - A martial artist's best friend, and YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE! HAHAHAHAHA!
- The Rhino Kid - Uhh...a...rhino kid.
Level Seven
- Bud the disappearing newt - He disappears, kind of.
- Mister Splendid - He's hypnotized, not that that makes you feel any better
- Carp lord - A fish ate him. Ow.
Level Eight
- Fleshwound - He has a knife in his head
- Socko the Friendly Sock - A deadly sock puppet
- Crazy Head Head - I ain't got no body, so gimme some candy!
Level Nine
- Ernest Cyborgenine - A MIGHTY mite!
- Lil' Red - A killer fruit that'll roll all over you
- Bombshell - She's dynamite!
Level Ten
- Toad-man-with-a-cannon-for-a-nose-on-the-lad-with no body - Beats me.
- El Socko - Tiene un calcetine!
- Gray Guy - He's gray and I don't really know how he came about
There are secret levels. You play a Mister Spiff with a digitized head in the land of CGA Hell. Control is the same.
Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Credits
Mister Spiff IV!
by Adam Tyner
The digitized head on Mister Spiff in CERTAIN levels is of the person Mister Spiff is based on, Alan Caudel!
Availability
This game is not known to have been distributed in any form, prior to its addition to the Archive.
Archive History
After an earlier wave of rediscoveries, on July 13 2011 Alan Caudel provided another archive of previously missing Game-Maker material, including the following:
- Alan!
- Alan B-Day
- Alan '95
- Alan '96
- Bear Fun Show
- Benny
- Bone!
- CGA Hell
- Doom
- Off The Page
- DD4: Canadian Boxing Day
- Godzilla
- Jon '95
- Kozmo Kat
- The Legend of Budd
- Mr. Berkel Derkel!
- Mister Spiff IV
- Ninja
- Palladia: The Game
- Power Budd!
- Power Flux
- Robo-Wars
- Ski
- Star Avenger
- Star Avenger III
- Star Avenger 4
- Star Wars
- Stickman!!! Die
- Trees
- Twister, argh!
- What the...?!?
Links
Downloads
- Mister Spiff IV (290 kB)