Trapdoor II - Through the Trapdoor

A solution - by Jaromir Krol - "Jerry King": jaromirk@kki.net.pl
                 
 If  you had an 8-bit computer, you must  have at least heard of the Trapdoor.
 Both  games  of  the series are based  on  a  little known cartoon series and
 feature a big weird creature Berk, a horribly annoying pest named Drutt and a
 skull  named  Boni. And, of course, a  weird monster named "im upstairs", who
 owns the castle where everything takes place. He was the "main menace" in the
 first game of the series.

 TTT  is larger, a bit more arcade, and horribly difficult. I had no idea what
 to  do  in  it. Gradually, I figured out  -  but  some things I discovered by
 accident. Some tasks must be done with extreme precision and paying attention
 to  the  position.  Often, timing is critical.  This  is the first and at the
 moment the only solution to this game available anywhere on the 'Net.

 The  game opens in the castle, as you  witness the kidnapping of Boni, who is
 taken  into  the horrible depths of the Trapdoor!  It's  up to you to go with
 help - so first of all, move Drutt to the left. Now do it with Berk and enter
 the  trapdoor. Switch to Drutt, and after you heard Berk getting up after the
 fall, follow him...

 ...to  the  beginning  of  the  first level  of  the  dungeons  and the first
 adventure!  Get  Drutt  to jump to the left  until  you see the key. A bat is
 here,  and  it  will prevent you from  taking  it. Get Berk to this location,
 avoiding  monsters. Now lure the bat to Berk and move so it doesn't kill you.
 While  it's  busy with Berk, quickly jump to  the  key with Drutt, and get it
 down.  Sometimes  you may have to trick  the  bat another way, by using Drutt
 only. When you have the key, get Berk to pick it up and go right. Go down the
 hole.  Eat the sweet. Get Drutt down there  and get him to jump on the little
 shelf  (start on the upper level of the  floor, to the right of the thin wall
 in  the left part of the screen). From the shelf, jump to the upper right and
 get  the  red sweet down. Now push it to  Berk. Have Berk eat it, get the key
 and  fly to the upper right, to the door.  Open the door with the key and get
 Drutt there. Pick up Drutt and enter door.

 Another level! Use Drutt to get a mushroom from the hole in the roof. Eat the
 mushroom  with Berk - now you can jump. Go left, avoiding the stalactytes and
 jumping  over  monsters. When you get to  the shooting animal, have Drutt get
 the mushroom from air. Jump over the animal and eat the mushroom. Now pick up
 the  animal  and use it to shoot the  monsters to the right (put it down when
 they're  close,  and it should hit them).  Finally,  put the animal below the
 hole  in  the roof and wait until it  shoots  the key down. Get the key, open
 door, get Drutt...

 Next  level! This was the most difficult one  for me, until I found out Drutt
 can  move floating Berk... OK - ignore the  red weight: it's not really a red
 weight,  it's  a red herring :). Get the  eyes with Berk from the large empty
 room.  Watch out - there is a huge beast here, and if you move too far to the
 right,  it  will  eat you. Go back to  the  room with the hole and the shelf.
 Position  Berk to the left of the place  under the shelf. Similar to level I,
 get  Drutt  on  the shelf and jump to  the  upper left, on another shelf. Now
 start  jumping,  switch to Berk and eat  the  eyes. Berk will start floating.
 Immediately switch to Drutt and time everything so that you jump on Berk when
 he's  still  in  the air, and thus make  him  go right, over the upper floor.
 After a moment, Berk will fall. Go to the right. Watch it - if you stop here,
 a  machine will come down and pick you up. You must place the three creatures
 in  the frames so that their bulbs match the colours of the frames (remember,
 they  change!). When you have done it, you will receive another pair of eyes.
 Now  -  sometimes  you may use it to get  the  other pair on the right of the
 hole, or it may last long enough... Anyway, you must use the eyes to fly down
 without touching the trapdoor. Now get Drutt to get the key down. Now you may
 either  eat  eyes  and get the key up  with  Berk, and return to the door, or
 place the key on the lower part of the floor and a bit from the wall, so that
 Drutt  can push it left until he reaches the door, and then just kill Berk to
 make  it all quicker. Whichever you prefer -  when you're at the door, do the
 old "open door, hold Drutt, enter door" thing.

 And  now the final level! Much action and going back and forth here. Firstly,
 move Drutt to the extreme right, where the yellow skull is (it's not Boni the
 skull,  it's  another red herring). Go down,  to the snake's pit, and get the
 key  down  here. Now, with Berk, eat the  sausage  and jump your way over the
 walls, the skeleton, and under the bat to the snake's lair. Watch out for the
 snake!  Get  the sausage and the key. Eat  the sausage and fly. Watch out for
 the ghost - it will kill you when you're flying. You may sometimes "swich him
 off"  placing the fake skull directly on  his pathway. Anyway, fly up, to the
 right,  and there eat the sausage. Now get  the key and fly back to where the
 falling eyes are. Get down here and get the key to the door. Open it. There's
 a  lot  more to be done! Now repeat  the whole stunt, but instead of the key,
 get  Drutt  near the door. Now get the  small cannon and place it in the room
 with  the  eyes. Again, go to the pit.  Repeat  the whole stunt (all the time
 watch for Drutt, and if he gets near the pit, switch to him and move him back
 to  the  door).  Eat the sausage on the  right...  and  go! You must use your
 limited  flying power to get to the cannon, land, take it and carry it to the
 skeleton's room. Now catch a few eyes into the cannon and put it down. Direct
 it  so that it shoots the skeleton when  you press down (sometimes to make it
 work  you'll  have to die and return  there having eaten the sausage from the
 second  room  again).  After  some  time,  you  should  manage  to  kill  the
 skeleton...  Surprise, surprise! His head is  actually Boni the skull! But if
 you  think it's over... it is not! You  must die and repeat the whole sausage
 stunt  again, this time carrying not the  cannon to the skeleton room but the
 skull  *from* that room to the door! Get  Drutt to the door, and, holding the
 skull, enter the door.

 Finish! You get teleported back to the castle, with Boni. Switch to Drutt and
 watch him join you. And now... HOME, SWEET HOME!

 Game completed / solution written by Jaromir Krol - "Jerry King".