Oh my God, this game. I like it, I really do, but they made level two so hard! Three was much easier, four didn't seem that bad although I did ultimately die on it, but level two, that's hard!

I'm talking about Tonky, a game for the X1 released on 3" disk, so for most people that's going to mean the X1 D, although any X1 owner can play it if they have the external 3" drive expansion. It may very well have been released on tape or 5.25" disk, as well, but this is the only format I've come across so far. The packaging is quite unique, which I've detailed on the Tonky Complete in Box page.

Level 1 is pretty easy. You have to capture all of the little purple guys and take them back to the currently active "safe tree". If you're fast, you can complete it by just taking one purple guy back to the tree. If the second batch of characters hasn't appeared yet, you will have passed the level, although it *might* be beneficial to stay around and try to save more because...

...next is level two, and we already know I feel about that, but there is some variable involved that can make it anywhere from "really difficult" to "horridly difficult". I am not sure if you have any control of that variable or not, but it might be tied to how fast you pass level one or how many purple guys you save before progressing to level two? I don't know.

Anyway, level two finds Tonky crossing piranha-infested waters on a raft. Every time a piranha takes a bite at you, a log from your raft disappears. Run out of logs and it's minus one Tonky and back to the start. This is where the variable comes in. I've started the level with anywhere between 2 and 5 logs on the raft. Even with 5, it's still hard! But certainly your chances of making it across safely increase with the ability to take more hits.

You have bait to try to lure the piranha away from you, but there are so many of them, and the bait seems to be something of a suggestion for the piranha to go away if they feel like it, more than actually guaranteeing that they'll be lured away. And the kicker, even if you lure many of them away, you have to go through that area later on, anyway! I've so far only made it through once.

Level three, should you happen to make it there, is a bit of a breather by comparison. Lizard-like creatures make little ropes and slide from one cactus to another. If you cut the rope before they complete the slide (just walk into it), you can capture the lizard. Capture enough lizards and a cave appears, allowing you to proceed to level four. You can be killed if you are struck by the rope as it is being cast.

I didn't get so far on level four, but it didn't seem as brutal as level two. Use the lizards you captured on the previous level as decoys for the baby lions and make your way to the big lion. It seems you need to have prepared two lizards to give to the big lion, so be careful not to use them all up on the cubs!