Introduction
In this karate-chopping match against time, you play as Katsuo, a young Kougra who has been training in martial arts to get into the Imperial Guard. You'll be faced with 12 blocks to chop in order to prove your mastery of martial arts.
How to Play
Top Chop's controls are extremely basic - you press the spacebar once per level, when the line on the meter is in the green zone, as close to the center of it as possible. This will cause Katsuo to break the block with his bare paw! Sounds oh so simple, doesn't it? Sadly, it's not quite that easy. You'll be faced with several obstacles along your way:
- you have only 30 seconds to break each block
- the meter speeds up with each level
- you can't break the block when the tiny random insect—the moffit—is on it (if you try, you will get a message telling you to wait, but you will be allowed to try again)
There are two main strategies here: either aim fast or wait until the moffit jumps away. You can use this time while the moffit is blocking you to get your bearings on the timing of the meter and line up the perfect break. Points are awarded based on your speed and accuracy.
Don't hit the moffit. *nod*
Levels
Each level involves a block to break. After you complete a level, that level is unlocked as a starting point option on the start game screen (though obviously you get more points by starting at the beginning and working your way up). You can only unlock levels by reaching them after starting at the very first level; if you start at any other level, you can proceed to levels you have not unlocked, but they will remain locked once your game is over.
Each level brings a slight change in the way the game is played:
Courtyard
This is the first location and contains three levels. The meter moves at a constant speed, the flowers floating in front of the meter move slowly and only minimally block the view, and the moffit only shows up after several seconds.
Imperial Grand Dojo
This location contains four levels. The meter speed is no longer constant, and sometimes even briefly stops as it moves up and down. There is nothing that covers the meter, but the moffit pops up more often.
Emperor's Grand Hall
This location is the "hard" difficulty and contains five levels. The green region now moves in addition to the meter line! There is an Acara guard standing beside the meter that occasionally covers it entirely with his flag. The one nice thing is that there is no more moffit to thwart your efforts!
*muttering* If you wave that flag one more time...
The line that marks your chop still moves at inconsistent speeds and starts/stops more frequently. Fortunately the green region doesn't do that, it only moves up, pauses, moves down, pauses, etc. But it takes a lot more concentration to line up the moving line with the moving green region and to hope the flag doesn't end up in front of it when their paths cross. Sheva suggests that you try to hit the green when it's at either the top or bottom of the meter so that you have extra time to hit since you can bounce off the edge of meter.
Bonus Level
If you are very lucky and very skilled, you'll be asked to demonstrate your chopping skill for the Emperor himself! This level has all the traps of the Emporer's Grand Hall—the Acara guard and moving meter are still there—but you have the added difficulty of making sure the emperor is watching you (has his eyes open toward you) when you strike the board. Plus, your Kougra is in a spiffy new black robe, but that's just a bonus.
To reach this level, you must have a perfect hit (in the white zone) on levels 3-3, 3-4, and 3-5. Pretty high expectations, but a ninja like you is up to the task, yes?
A huge thanks to Grog for this screenshot!
Powerups
The saving grace of games all around Neopia! If you make a perfect chop (the line hits the white center line of the green region on the meter) three times within your game, you'll get a powerup. After earning a powerup, you can activate it by clicking the respective icon in a subsequent level. The powerup only lasts for one level, so use it wisely. Here are the powerups available:
This powerup is essentially an extra life. You get a second chance to break the block if you miss, though you need to activate it before your first attempt. This one is soooo very handy.
This powerup increases the size of the green region on the meter, so it's easier to chop the block. Most helpful in the Emperor's Grand Hall when the green region is tiny and moving!
This powerup slows down the meter line so that you can time the chop more easily. With this, you don't have to be ready to hit space right before the line hits the green region; you usually have time to react to actually seeing the line hit the edge of the region. This is nice for the stopping-and-starting levels.
Bonus Wearables
Top Chop previously gave out several exclusive karate gi wearables, which can be seen below. While the white gi and three of the belts are fairly common even today, the black gi and belt seem to have never been given out!
And that's about it. In my experience, once you understand the way the game works, it's only a matter of practicing over and over again to get the timing. It's a game of how-long-can-you-last-before-you-make-a-mistake, so practice is everything. Hope this helped, and happy chopping!
