Bog's pepper! A bit strange for him to just have that pepper, but it was explicitly mentioned earlier so I can't really fault anybody but myself for not realizing it.
This of course meant two more trips through the jaws to go out for pepper and come back in.
Bouncer drops off the final key needed to enter the brain, and makes an escape with the sneeze bomb. With all the necessary keys, it's time to confront Dr. Z and his creation, and save the world.
Well, after solving another maze. This time made out of passages. What's really cool about the brain cells is that occasionally electrical impulses will move across the cells, it's a neat looking effect, and coming in contact with one can hurt the player.
The maze would be a pain, but it's easy to get to the hints which offer a solution, and following it is pretty straightforward.
At last we meet Dr. Z and the bio-mechanical creation of his. Like the living labs, the only way through is to go inside, but a wall of spinning guns rapidly shooting stars means the direct approach is suicide.
The art on this board is beautiful.
The trick to getting inside is to backtrack to the connected brain cells board, but slightly lower, allowing access to a new passage and bringing the player to the mental void that Bouncer talked about.
After picking up the bonus points, Dr. Z runs off deeper into the monster and Smiley has to give chase.
The final confrontation is held in the creature's ear where Dr. Z keeps running away, and turns himself invisible regularly making it surprisingly tough to catch him. There's no way to be defeated by Dr. Z however, so at this point victory is inevitable.
With Dr. Z successfully captured, Smiley Guy has completed his quest. There are some hidden bonus points on the final screen where you have to walk off the edge to loop around to the board from the bottom to get.
You don't even get a game over on this screen, the player has to quit so they can't set a high score in a game that really likes bonus points as a reward for things.
Regardless, the game comes to a close with the world once again safe.
(Yes, ZZT's Revenge came with printed manuals for all the games, and yes this is the entire manual for Smiley Guy)
Smiley Guy is a really cute game! It's very short so there isn't a whole lot to talk about. The game has neat art style and theme, and while it relies a bit heavily on mazes, overall it's very pleasant to play through.
The jaws suffer quite a bit by being very easy to lose most of your health, but other than that particular board, the flaws of the game are more tedium than difficulty.
In fact, the game is actually really light on both action and puzzles. Smiley Guy is more about the journey as a whole, seeing where you get to go next, and what kind of weird things may be there. There's not a whole lot of danger, just a fun trip to go on through Dr. Z's living labs. I hadn't ever finished the game prior to this (probably thanks to the mazes), but it's a very quick and pleasant game to take it. I'd recommend it!
And of course, the zip file it's distributed with also contains its sequel, Toxic Terminator, so there's always more Smiley Guy action available if you're so inclined!
Have a nice day.
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