Turbo Pudding

JungalooScreenshot Saturday

Six snapshots from the falls to Ember Peak

· The Turbo Pudding team · 4 min read

Tavo, a boy with a spiky black topknot, big round eyes and a woven basket of fruit on his back, stands on the broad brown back of Dumpling, a calm capybara with sleepy eyes, pink cheeks and a little orange on his head, as Dumpling swims across a wide teal bay in heavy rain; small teal gems hang over the water, a big pink gem glows in a dashed ring high on the right, and a dark floating island hangs in the gray clouds above

The second half of Jungaloo runs from the foot of a great waterfall to the top of a volcano, and the light changes with every level: golden hour, a full moon, dawn, a stormy afternoon, a windy noon and sunset. It’s Saturday, so here are six snapshots, one from each of levels 4 to 9.

The picture at the top is level 7, Tidewood Mangroves, where a warm rain thickens into a downpour. Tavo rides across a wide bay on the back of Dumpling, the calm capybara with sleepy eyes and a little orange on his head. “Hop on, sweet pea,” he says at the bank. “Tide’s in a hurry today. I’m not.” Gems hang in arcs over the water, with a big one high up. Pufferfish leap out at Dumpling’s side, so crouch when one does.

Level 4: Thunderveil Falls

Thunderveil Falls is the golden hour at the foot of a wall of white water, with a rainbow standing in its spray and hanging gardens on the cliffs. In the Raft Gorge, there is no floor at all. Two giant leaves, each held up by a vine, slide back and forth over the drop, out of step, and meet halfway. A swift circles over the meeting point.

In a misty gorge of violet cliffs, Tavo, a boy with a spiky black topknot, big round eyes and a woven basket of fruit on his back, stands on one of two big green leaves that hang from long vines and meet edge to edge in midair; a rainbow shows through a gap between the cliffs behind them, thin waterfalls pour down on the right, ledges with pink flowers float in the mist, a teal gem glows on each side, two dragonflies hover on the left and a dark swift flies across the top
Searched “jungle game leaf raft.” Got two, and they meet halfway.

Past the rafts, a snapping bud makes a step over a pit, so hop off when it shakes. Two geysers blow out of step under a ledge where a crab lobs pebbles. On the shelf under the rainbow, by Old Lento’s camp, Captain Bellows has advice: “Swifts don’t fly into walls, kid. Think about it.”

Level 5: Glowwood

Glowwood is a night forest under a full moon, where almost all the light is alive: moss, mushrooms and fireflies. Most of the way is dark, and the fireflies show where to jump. The moonlit glade in the middle is the one stretch with no dark at all, with a heart, fruit and a big gem up on a polypore shelf.

A night forest in deep blue under a big moon: Tavo, the boy with the spiky topknot and the woven fruit basket, stands on mossy ground with a glowing green rim, looking right; above him, a honey-gold kinkajou with huge dark eyes and a long curled tail sits on a shelf of polypore mushrooms, a big pink gem glows in a dashed ring on another shelf, glowing vines hang in loops between dark tree trunks and fireflies float everywhere; on the ground ahead lie a red heart, two orange fruits, tiny glowing blue mushrooms and a mossy standing stone with a glowing orange feather carved in it
Typed “night forest platformer.” A kinkajou had a fig ready.

The glade has a neighbor. A kinkajou sits on a perch above the path, honey-gold, with huge night eyes and a long tail curled around the branch. It winds its arm back with a fig, then lobs it. At the far end stands one of Bellows’ feather-stones, pointing the way on to the frog pond.

Level 6: Mossgate Ruins

Mossgate Ruins is dawn over the terraces of the Ancient Gardeners. Their towers are shaped like flowers that haven’t opened yet, and the mist lifts as you go. The old aqueduct crosses a deep ravine on pillars, with two broken spans and streams of water pouring through the gaps. Falling water pushes you down, so hop through it quickly.

Mossgate Ruins at dawn, under a pink and peach sky: Tavo stands on the grassy stone deck of an old aqueduct, beside a mossy standing stone with a glowing orange feather carved in it and a carved wooden post with a little green grasshopper perched on top; overhead flies Captain Bellows, a black frigatebird with long bent wings, a brown leather flying helmet, a white scarf, a long gray hooked beak and a red throat pouch; on the right, a thin stream of water pours through a gap in the deck, three teal gems hang over it, and pale towers shaped like closed flower buds rise in the mist behind the arches
Search: “pelican in a flying helmet.” Close. It’s a frigatebird.

Captain Bellows, the frigatebird who never lands, circles over the first feather-stone here in his leather flying helmet and white pilot’s scarf. His tip for the ruins: “Old stones, new tricks. Watch the crows, kid.” He means the stone crow on a cornice before the first gap, slate-black with a gray hood, which rears back with a nut in its beak before it throws. Just past the aqueduct, Tavo meets Socks, who would rather not be seen: “Oh! S-sorry. I’m not here. I’m a bush.”

Level 8: Windharp Heights

Windharp Heights is a climb through the bamboo highlands on a clear, windy noon. Leaves fly just before a gust, and the signs keep it simple: “When the leaves fly, wait. When they settle, fly!”

Windharp Heights on a bright blue noon: Tavo stands on a grassy earth bank at the top of a cliff, looking right toward a red heart; tall pale-green bamboo pipes with oval flute holes rise behind him, long brown roots hang from above, wooden wind chimes made of seed pods hang in the air on both sides, a brown kite with a yellow beak glides on the left, orange leaves blow past in the wind, and green bamboo stems and leaves grow up from the drop below the cliff edge, with teal gems floating over it
People also ask: can bamboo play music?

At the top stands the Great Windharp, a row of old bamboo pipes down the cliff, tall to short like an organ, with flute holes cut by the wind. In a breath of wind, the holes hum, and soft rings drift out of them. The islanders’ seed-pod wind chimes hang between the pipes. You climb one stem from the cliff top and jump across to the next in the calm, while a black kite rides the updrafts around them. On the summit wait a heart, a caterpillar on its thread and the gate onward.

Level 9: Ember Peak

Ember Peak is a volcano at sunset, with ash drifting through a lilac and orange sky and basalt columns lit from below. It starts gently, in the Warm Baths: rocky steps with turquoise pools between them. A sign at the start explains the colors: “Blue pools are only warm. Orange glow is lava: keep out!”

Ember Peak at sunset, in purple and orange: Tavo stands on a step of dark volcanic rock with thin orange cracks of lava glowing in it, beside a little yellow flower; on the right, a turquoise pool fills the gap to the next step, where a white plume of warm water shoots up from a small mound; tall six-sided basalt columns rise behind, a dark volcano glows under the low sun, and teal gems float over the pool and down on the left
Search history: “warm pools game,” then “is lava warm.”

You can swim the pools or hop over them. Over the bluest one, a warm geyser on a mound throws you high into the air. A lava beetle walks the second step, and a salamander waits on the far one.

Levels 1–3 and the first boss are free to play in your browser at jungaloo.com. The full game, all ten levels, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Jungaloo page.

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