Brush Roller(NES) FAQ/Walkthrough by Andrew Schultz schultz.andrew@sbcglobal.net version 1.0.0 copyright 2007 Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if you'd like to post it on your site. ================================ OUTLINE 1. INTRODUCTION 2. CONTROLS AND SCORING 3. LAYOUT AND STRATEGIES 3-1. HEX CHEATS 4. VERSIONS 5. CREDITS ================================ 1. INTRODUCTION NES Brush Roller(BR) is based on the arcade game Make Trax(MT). You control a brush that must paint the entire board, and then you get to paint another one at a faster speed. Two fish that wait in tanks a bit before running after you are pretty smart and can trap you, but the key point in your favor is that they are never faster than you. Also an object may walk out on the playfield and mess up your work with footprints, in which case you'll have to repaint. There are also big rollers that look like combs that you can use to run over the fish. Each level has a time limit, which is rarely a factor. The game loops continuously through eight levels that get gradually faster, then they go back to the slowest, etc. BR is much easier than MT, and while it's still not inspiring, at least it's a bit fairer, and if MT annoyed you then this will be somewhat cathartic, as if there are any unfair breaks, they probably go your way. As with so many other arcade to home ports, the programmers already got your money, so they don't need to frustrate you any more. Here is a list of advantages: 1. monsters don't outrun you 2. monsters don't wise up fully to the big roller 3. monsters step slightly back INTO the roller if they outrun you. A sort of "tie goes to the runner" deal in your favor. In the arcade, the game is ruthless if you just mis-time something. Here it's over-generous. 4. footsteps guys 1/2 as fast as you, not 3/4 5. places where you turn and miss a small part are easily visible--big line instead of small triangle 6. you start with 10 lives("x9"=# extras left,) not 3. There's no way to get an extra life. 7. this is a step down, but the opening tune is much cooler in the arcade game, and so is the background music, and the level-morph screen(quicker too) and you can't really discern separate footstep guys either. 2. CONTROLS AND SCORING Your brush never stays still unless you push it into a t-intersection, of which there are only a few in the board(next to the bottom roller, under the right tank and left of the bottom roller.) Moving back and forth is not necessary on the earlier levels, and you probably can't do it quickly enough for any real strategy on the later levels where you might use it. Your brush goes a bit faster when it takes the big roller along. As the levels advance, you will need to preempt your moves a bit quicker. You can reverse before you get to the next intersection, but the bad news is that so can and do the fish. Scoring is fairly simple. You get 1 point for your first positive incident, then 2, then doubling up to 8192, after which each incident gets 9999 points. An incident is 1) rolling over a fish with the big roller or 2) grabbing the footsteps guy. You also get 100*(# of seconds) points left. Time is reset if you lose a guy. You get no points for whatever you paint or if you repaint footsteps. To maximize your score, you leave a small area unpainted, then sit around and wait right of the lower brush and roll back and forth when enemies get VERY close. You have a bit of a bunker there to wait for enemies. It's not practical on later levels but for 0-2 you can really pile points up, if you're into that. 3. LAYOUT AND STRATEGIES level 8x+0: rust brown to orange level 8x+1: dark green to light green level 8x+2: blue to purple level 8x+3: black to gold level 8x+4: light green to grey level 8x+5: dark purple to light purple level 8x+6: dark brown to orange level 8x+7: blue to light blue The board: ^ +--+--+--+--+ | | | | | | +--+--+--+ | | | | | <++-+--=--+--+> | | | | | | | | | | +-+--=-+++-+ | | | | | ++-+--+-+-+ | | | | <+-++--=--++-+> | | | | | | | | | | +-+---+--+--+ v As you can see it is not quite symmetrical. The clearest thing to do is to paint the corners, where you can get trapped by the two fish, ASAP. First, remember you can start moving as soon as the level music starts. Go left, up, left off the screen, down and left. That makes the bottom mostly irrelevant. Go up the center and then try to clear out the remaining vertical strips on the bottom. Use the big brushes to buy time to get enemies off your case. The main thing to avoid is getting trapped, as one fish tends to hang out away from you while the other is chasing. The game is an example of the adage about keeping your enemies closer. If the two of them are tailing you directly, you're in good shape, because you know what they are going to do. You really have to watch out if an enemy is on the other side of the board because the fish are smart and they go through the tunnels. If this happens, run perpendicular to the other enemy. You'll need them both chasing you futilely, or you'll need to have run one over with a big brush, in order to get the upper corners. In fact it is probably good policy to run someone over, take out one corner, and take out another corner. Note that no matter what happens, you will probably leave a small thin line from turning off i.e. if you go down below the blue guy and then R U L U, you'll see what I mean. You have to cnver that. You can only escape this by going quickly right and then left, which is advisable if you are not followed closely. Also note that running back and forth with the big brush does nothing much, but you can turn quickly on an enemy breathing down your neck, and it is not hard to turn ahead of time so he does not catch up to you. The brush can also be used to disperse the fish for a few moments before you clear one patch. This is worthwhile and time-efficient. The footsteps guys aren't too much of a threat. Don't follow them directly, as this may let enemies trap you, but remember they can't reverse. So you can pin them down easily that way and be nearly waiting for them, without walking into a trap. In general because the fish's moves are semi-random(i.e. they see if you are up/down and left/right and choose a direction based on that) you want to wait before turning into a corner, especially if you are near the top. You are probably better off approaching any fish not directly chasing you from the other side and turning off. The area above the fishes' dens seems like the toughest to get rid of, because it is the longest straightway where you can get trapped, but if you can't get enemies to follow, you can quickly run over one enemy vertically then paint under the rest. Finally, keep your eye on the enemy near you and be prepared to move away if he changes direction unexpectedly. Fish can change before getting to the next intersection. Always have an out-route where you can detour before painting what you need to later. 3-1. HEX CHEATS Values in memory: 0x215 contains the lives, ORed with 0xe0. So if you want to freeze at 9 lives left, set byte x215 to 9. 0x7fb is the level, and it's only really relevant mod 8. End of FAQ proper ================================ 4. VERSIONS 1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 6/20/2007 complete, should be no real need for revision 5. CREDITS Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of mine. Thanks to the NES Completion Project folks for keeping it going.