Chapter 62: Let’s Take a Pole

By now, you have climbed four buildings, dealing with egg-laying birds, falling girders (where were they falling from??), a sign with a short circuit, and of course the relentless pelting of the Mad Doctor. You are exhausted, hanging by your flipper from his helicopter, when Melvin flies up to you. He shouts over the noise of the helicopter, “I’ve looked everywhere above the clouds, I don’t see that hole anywhere… and I should know where it was, you and Charlie fired me into it! I think the Doctor is right, it must have moved.”

The Doctor’s terrifying red face leans down out of the helicopter, which makes you wonder who is flying it. He shouts at you with a megaphone. “The hole doesn’t seem to be around any of these skyscrapers! I think it must be in the Pole District!”

You are wondering if he means some kind of Polish neighborhood, when you see the helicopter is making a terrifying dive toward a strange part of town with many poles sticking out of the ground, and some just floating in the air! You are sure you are going to be killed, but the helicopter stops its sudden plummet just a few feet above the ground. You let go and plop down into the dust. Immediately, an evil looking rainbow snake starts slithering toward you, fangs glistening. You scramble away from it in terror. “Watch out for that snake,” says the doctor, “it’ll kill you, and then you’ll never find the hole. Fortunately, you’re a good jumper!” He’s right about that – you leap over the snake, as it lashes out to strike. The doctor throws down a purple and blue jumpsuit. “Put this on! It will help you with pole climbing. I have to go get my orange helicopter – this blue one has no pole attachment. I’ll be back soon! When you see me return, climb up to see if you can find that skyhole anywhere! And… watch out for the bats, and… whatever those face things are. Be right back!”

As the helicopter disappears into the distance, you don’t really want to put on the jumpsuit, but that snake is coming back for you, flanked by some bats, and you are worried you might not be able to jump over all of them. You quickly put it on, which isn’t easy with frog flippers, and leap onto a pole, finding that with the sticky suit, you can easily climb up and down it.

“Wow! Nice work!” says Melvin. “You seem to have this pole thing under control, though if you ask me, this whole thing is a stuntman’s nightmare. Anyway, you look for the hole here, and I’ll go check out the higher parts of the sky.” He zips off, and you see the Doctor returning in his orange helicopter, with a long green pole hanging down from it. You can’t help thinking this is not the best way to look for a hole in the sky, but bats are coming your way, and there’s no time to think about it!

Place the Stuntman cartridge into your Atari 2600. Set difficulty settings to b, and use game select 1. Play until you clear nine screens, or get 10,000 points, whichever comes first. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.