This is a guide to Piper Panic. This isn’t the “get the highest score ever” guide, but it is a solution guide that will get you 1,000 neopoints every time you play the game.
The levels vary a little with every game, but they generally have the same solution (note: I don’t know exactly how the levels are different. If need be, substitute “row” for “column” and vice versa as appropriate). The premise of the game is that you are the Jubjub snake charmer who has to guide the Cobralls to the baskets.
The Cobrall will go in a straight line in the direction of the key that you press until it hits a basket. If it doesn’t hit a basket, it will keep going to the edge of the board and you will lose a life. The other way to lose a life is to run out of time. You get bonus points for picking up the gems and getting the baskets with stars on them last, but it won’t matter much. If you finish the whole game, without trying you will get over 3,000 points. At the time of this writing, the NP ratio is .50, which means you need only 2,000 points to get 1,000 NP per play.
Level 1
This is the easiest level. Go straight for the basket. Don’t worry about getting the gem since it isn’t worth that much anyways.
Level 2
This is another easy level. Go straight for the first basket and then to the second one.
Level 3
This is the last of the really easy levels. The baskets will be in right angles of each other and there will be only one that the Cobrall can safely get to. Head for that one and go to the others from there.
Level 4
This level will be somewhat like a spiral of right angles. You want to start in the middle and work your way out.
Level 5
Level 5 is a 3×4 grid of baskets with one basket missing and the Cobrall in its place. This one is pretty simple. Go to one edge and go back and forth clearing the baskets. Try to get the star baskets last for more points, but like I said it doesn’t matter that much. For example: if you start on the third row, second column and the star baskets are on the far right column.
O O O O
O O O O
O X O O
You would go left, up, up, right, down, right, up, down, right, up, up. There are other combinations, as well. If you want to do the level perfectly later, getting as many gems and multipliers as you can, you can figure those out for yourself.
Level 6
This level will set you in the middle of two somewhat rectangular structures with a line of four baskets somewhere nearby. I went around the line of four, clearing one of the rectangles. Then I entered the line of four, clearing the regular baskets before going to the star basket. Then I got the last rectangle-like formation.
Level 7
This level sets you in an unfinished 4×4 grid of baskets. One will be missing on the corner, one will be missing on the side for a powerup (for me it was a scarab), and one will be missing for the Cobrall.
Whichever side the Cobrall is closest to, head to that column (for me, this was the right column). Clear the corner that the Cobrall is now closest to (for me this was the bottom right corner). From there you just have to clear the columns going up and down. It’s pretty hard to mess this up from here, but not impossible. Just make sure that if a basket doesn’t have a basket parallel to it in another column, that you clear that basket before clearing the rest of the column.
Level 8
This is another unfinished 4×4 grid of baskets, but this one is bigger.
One side will have two missing along the edge (but not the corner), the opposite side will have one basket missing where the Cobrall is, and another side at a right angle from that (as in… not the opposite side) will have one missing along the edge. Two of the three directions the Cobrall can go without losing a life will be star baskets. Go to the one that isn’t a star basket. It should be in a column of three. Clear that column.
There will be two baskets to go to without dying. Head for the one that isn’t a star basket. Then, clear the two corner baskets that aren’t star baskets. Here you will have nowhere to go but to a star basket. Go to that, then go away from the edge to another star basket in the middle of the board. After that, you will have one way to go: to another star basket and then back out to the edge of the board to a regular basket. From there, it is pretty obvious. You have to go to the corner star basket and then the last basket, which is also a corner star basket.
Level 9
Level 9 is a very poorly placed unfinished 4×4 grid. One column, on an edge, will have only one basket in it.
The opposite edge will have a basket missing where the Cobrall is, and one of the baskets in that column will be off of its row by one space. Finally, one of the middle columns will have a basket missing along the edge. Get out of the Cobrall’s row as your first move. Then, one side of the Cobrall will have one basket in it and the other side will have two. Head for the one and finish up that row. Finish up the column that you end up in after that.
Then, get the basket in a column all by itself (it will be a star, but don’t worry). Your only choice from there is to get another basket in that row, but don’t finish up the row! Finish up that column, go for the corner star basket, and then go along that edge to finish up the board.
Level 10
Finally! The last level! Actually, it wasn’t so tough to get there. This level is actually pretty simple once you figure out the trick. This board is made up of three squares of baskets that all share the same corner, where the Cobrall is.
The first square is 5×5 tiles, the second square is 9×9 tiles, and the third square takes up the whole board. The trick is to clear the squares in order, starting with the smallest one. Doing it this way, you will get the star baskets last for the full bonus.
Using this method while writing this guide, I got 3,782 points. That’s almost double the amount needed for 1,000 NP and I wasn’t even trying! This game is a good way to get 3,000 NP in a few minutes without much effort. – Paul Schaefle