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* Alley Cat FAQ/Walkthrough Version 1.0 *
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System: PC
Author: bloodstorm 
Email: blood_storm@hotmail.com



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* Table of Contents: *
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1) Introduction
2) Controls
3) Skill Levels
4) Main Screen
5) Mini-games
  a) General game information
  b) Bird game
  c) Fish game
  d) Cheese game
  e) Dogfood game
  f) Spider game
  g) Love game
6) Credits/Contact Information




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* 1) Introduction: *
********************

  Alley Cat was my favorite game when I was a little child, so I 
thought I'd write a FAQ for it.  In this game, you play as a little 
black cat and you have to complete certain tasks to meet a certain 
female cat.  Then you do it all over again, but it's slightly harder.  
It's a point based game, and the better you do in a mini-game, the more 
points you get.  The graphics and gameplay are pretty basic, but it's 
still a very fun game.  But few if any people are probably reading 
this, so I'll just move on to the next section now.




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* 2) Controls: *
****************

Controlling the cat:
--------------------

Left/Right Arrow Keys: Move the cat

Up Arrow Key: Jump

Down Arrow Key: Go down (if you're hanging on to something)

Alt: Special actions (varies depending on mini game)



In-game Commands:
-----------------

Ctrl-S: Turns sound on/off

Ctrl-R: Restart game

Ctrl-M: Quit to main menu




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* 3) Skill Levels: *
********************

The skill levels are:

Kitten
House Cat
Tomcat
Alley Cat

  You can start on any skill level you want, but if you get to the end 
of the love game you'll move up to the next skill level.  As you go up 
in skill levels, several things change.  On the main screen, there will 
be fewer garbage cans and clothes on the clothesline.  The dog will 
also come much more often, and the windows will close faster.  The mini 
games will also get harder, with the dog coming more often, the broom 
working faster, and other things becoming more difficult.




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* 4) Main Screen: *
*******************

  On the main screen, your goal is to get into one of the windows of 
the building to play a mini-game.  First you have to get onto the 
fence.  To do this, you have to jump off of one of the taller garbage 
cans.  You can jump directly onto these cans if you get enough speed 
and do a running jump, but on the easier skill levels you can jump onto 
the smaller cans first and then onto the larger cans from there.  While 
you're doing this, a cat will poke its head out of one can at a time.  
If you're on the can while he is, you'll fall off and the dog will 
come.  The dog will also come on its own.  He won't come very often on 
the easier skill levels, but on the Alley Cat level he comes almost 
constantly (unless you're on a can).  The only way to get the dog to go 
away is to get onto a garbage can.  If the dog gets you, you lose a 
life.

  Once on the fence, a window will open, throw an item out, and then 
close again.  If it is on a higher level you need to jump onto some 
clothes on a clothesline to get higher.  If a mouse runs over your paws 
while you're on the clothes or you jump and don't grab some clothes, 
you'll fall down and have to get onto the fence again (but you don't 
lose a life).  If you jump onto a mouse, you'll get a small amount of 
points, but the mouse will soon be replaced.  If an item that's thrown 
from a window hits you, you'll lose a life and have to try to get onto 
the fence again.  You have to jump into a window before or after an 
item is thrown out.  I'd recommend you go in after the item is thrown 
out, because it is much easier to do.

  When you get into a window, you'll play one of 5 randomly selected 
mini-games.  For more information on that, see the mini-games section.  
If you win the mini-game, you'll jump out of the window (and grab onto 
some clothes if you're lucky).  Now when the windows open, no item is 
thrown out and there's a picture of a cat in the window.  You must get 
into the window (without dying first) to play the love mini-game.  See 
the mini-games section for information on that, too.  If you win that, 
you'll move up to the next skill level and go through the main screen 
process again.




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* 5) Mini-games: *
******************

  Note that the names of these games are not official or anything, and 
I just made up names that seem appropriate.  Or close to it.

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- 5a) General Game Information: -
---------------------------------

  In the mini-games, you have a goal to complete and several things 
trying to stop you from completing that goal.  One thing all of the 
mini-games have in common (except the love game: this section only 
applies to the first 5 mini-games) is that there is a flying broom that 
tries to knock you out the window or otherwise annoy you.  You can 
distract this broom by running along the bottom of the screen to make 
tracks.  The more tracks you make in one area, the longer it takes the 
broom to clean it up.  If there are no tracks to clean up, the broom 
will come after you, and just touching it makes you fly to the top of 
the screen, so it's a good idea to keep tracks around at all times.

  Another thing that is in most of the mini-games is a dog that runs 
across the bottom of the screen.  He'll run right off the screen if you 
get off the ground level, but if you stay on the ground he'll turn 
around and come back.  Actually, it's exactly like the dog on the main 
screen (except maybe for the colour).  If he gets you, you lose the 
mini-game and lose a life.

  Finally, there's a window in every game that you entered through.  If 
you jump through it, you'll go out of the mini-game without losing a 
life.  This can be good if there's that one mini-game that you just 
don't like, or bad if the broom knocks you out of it or you 
accidentally jump out of it while going for that bird...

  If you successfully complete a mini-game, you'll get a score based on 
how fast you completed the game.  Then you'll jump out of the window 
and get a chance to play the love game.


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- 5b) Bird Game: -
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  In this game, there is a cage on the center of the table.  You have 
to knock it off the table in either direction by hitting it several 
times.  Once it falls off it will break and the bird inside will start 
to fly around the screen.  You now have to run into it to win.  Running 
jumps often work well, and you could actually have the broom help you 
by running into said broom when the bird is above you.  This is 
probably one of the easier mini-games.


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- 5c) Fish Game: -
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  In this game, there's a little bowl of fish on a table.  You have to 
jump into the bowl to get some delicious fish.  Once inside, there'll 
be a screen filled with water and containing fish and electric eels.  
At first the fish far out number the eels, but as you collect fish more 
and more eels will appear.  So, I recommend getting the fish near the 
bottom first while the eel population is low, since they are much 
harder to get to when there are eels everywhere.  Also, as you swim 
about underwater, you're colour will change indicating that your 
running low on air.  First you'll turn blue, then pink, and finally red 
when you're almost dead.  To get more breath, just swim to the top of 
the tank and hit the up arrow.  You win when you've got all of the 
fish.  This game isn't too hard (as long as you get the bottom fish 
first).


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- 5d) Cheese Game: -
--------------------

  In this game, there is a giant slice of cheese that is full of holes 
and mice.  Your goal in this game is to get all of the mice.  Make sure 
the broom has lots of tracks to clean up, and then head over to the 
cheese.  You can jump onto the holes, and you'll automatically hang on 
with your sharp, sharp claws.  While hanging from a hole, pressing alt 
will make you go through the hole and come out at a different hole.  
You can use this to wait for a mouse to appear in the other hole and 
then pressing alt, but you might want to jump around to get them if you 
want to get done faster.  Just make sure the broom is busy and you'll 
win, with a little luck.  Not too hard of a game, but it can take some 
time if you don't get lucky.


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- 5e) Dogfood Game: -
---------------------

  After jumping through the window, you'll enter this room full of 
dogs.  But fortunately for you, all of the dogs are asleep and there's 
plenty of tasty food all over.  Your goal here is to eat all of the 
food using the alt key.  However, if you stay close to a dog it will 
open one eye, then the other eye (and you'll get a red flash across the 
screen and noise to warn you), and then it will wake up and kill you.  
You should make sure you don't stay around long enough for the dog to 
wake up if you wish to avoid the death part.  In fact, try to avoid 
letting them open two eyes.  Just get to the food, eat until they open 
an eye, and then get away.  Continue this until the food is gone.  One 
nice thing about this mini-game is that there is no dog that runs 
across the bottom of the screen.  That pesky broom is still here 
though, annoying you and cleaning up your messes.  This is probably the 
most difficult mini-game, because it takes so long.  If you don't get 
impatient it's not very hard at all, but it will take a long while.


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- 5f) Spider Game: -
--------------------

  In this game, you'll see a bookcase with a spider above it.  Your 
goal here is to get the three vases at the top of the bookcase while 
avoiding the spider.  The spider will follow you around, and if you 
stand still it will come down towards you.  It can only move back and 
forth at the top, so what you can do is get it to come down along the 
left of the screen and then rush over to the bookcase and climb to the 
top to get those three vases.  Just make sure that broom doesn't knock 
you into the spider.  You can actually just go right to the vases if 
you're fast enough, but the other method is more guaranteed.  This is 
the easiest mini-game since the vases are so close together, but it 
also comes up the least.  


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- 5g) Love Game: -
------------------

  You'll play this game if you get into a window right after completing 
one of the other mini-games.  You'll know this game is coming up 
because of the cat in the window and because no item is thrown out.

  Your goal here is to bring a gift to the cat on the top level.  You 
can jump on the red hearts, but you'll go right through the blue ones 
(they're black if you're not holding a gift).  The cupids along the 
sides of the screen will shoot arrows that go through the hearts and 
change them.  If it goes through a red heart it turns blue, and vice-
versa.  The cats between you and your love will knock you down a level 
if they hit you.  They also try to follow you around, so they can be 
very annoying.  You just have to use some luck and skill to get past 
them and to the top.  You can get rid of them by dropping a gift on 
their level (using the alt key), but make sure you have one for the cat 
at the top or you can't win.  You can lose the game three ways: if you 
fall through a blue heart on the bottom level, if an arrow hits you on 
the bottom level, or if you take too long and a cat appears on the 
bottom level and knocks you down.

  If you win, you'll get a bonus multiplier and some dancing cats will 
dance for you.  You'll also move up a skill level, and have to try and 
get to the love game all over again.  The bonus multiplier starts at x2 
on the kitten level, then goes to x6, x10, x14, and so on.  The number 
of dancing cats will double each time.  There aren't any at the kitten 
level, but there'll be 4 at the next level, and then 6, 16, etc.  I 
don't think they do anything, but they're cool.  As far as I know, this 
cycles continuously, but I suppose it's possible that there's an 
ending.




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* 6) Credits/Contact Information: *
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If you have any questions or comments about this game or FAQ you can 
email me at blood_storm@hotmail.com. 

This document is copyrighted (c) 2001.
