Turbo Pudding
Level 5 of Jungaloo is the Glowwood, a forest at night, right after the falls. Old Lento, the sloth who keeps camp along the way, sums it up: “Night… is just… day… with the lights off.” The Glowwood has 55 gems, and the gate at the end opens at 34. It also hides three golden feather relics and one secret room. This Tuesday: how the dark works, and where to look.
Follow the glow
Most of the Glowwood is dark. Tavo carries a small pool of light around him, and a few things shine on their own: gems, relics and some of the locals. The first sign says it plainly: “Gems glow in the dark. Follow them!” That’s good advice for the whole level. When you see a gem floating somewhere odd, there’s usually a way up to it.
Jump when the fireflies shine
The Firefly Trail crosses three pits, and over each one hangs a cloud of fireflies that all flash at once. A cloud shines for two seconds and goes dark for one, with a soft hum in the last half second before it lights up again. The three clouds are set a little out of step, so the light rolls down the trail like a wave. The sign: “Fireflies light the gaps. Jump where they glow!”
Captain Bellows chimes in from above as you pass his feather-stone, no help at all: “Can’t see a thing down there. Good thing walking is beneath me.”
Old Lento’s seeds
At his camp, Old Lento has one tip: “Throw… a little… sunshine.” Next to him stands a stump of glowseeds. You get six at a time, and the stump grows six more eight seconds after you take them, so a seed thrown wrong costs nothing.
Hold Up and throw a seed with the special button. It sticks wherever it lands, on a wall, the ground or a mushroom, and lights everything within about four steps for 30 seconds. That light matters, because of the glowcaps. These glowing mushroom caps hold you like a branch, but only while they’re lit. When the light goes, a cap dims for half a second and falls asleep. The one rule in your favor: a cap never sleeps under Tavo’s feet.
The first glowcaps are simple: three of them lead up to a shelf of gems. A little farther on, five caps stand over a pit with a big firefly cloud above them, and this time the fireflies do the waking. The sign: “The fireflies wake the mushrooms. Jump while they shine!”
Secret one: up in the lianas
Past the camp, a chain of lianas swings across a dark gap. Don’t rush it. Halfway along, the first relic sits on a shelf fungus among the lianas, glowing gold. A moon owl hovers nearby, so watch the sky as you drop down to it.
Secret two: the door that isn’t there
Farther on, there’s a pond with kinkajous lobbing things from the branches above. On the far bank, one more sign: “Glowseeds show what hides in the dark.” It means exactly that. Right next to it is a door you can’t see at all until a glowseed’s light reaches it. Once it shows up, it stays. A fresh stump of seeds waits just past it, so you can always light the spot.
If you’re stuck, Bellows has another feather-stone before the pond, and he’s ready: “Roger! Sparkle trail — follow it, kid!” Push Up on the stone, and he flies a sparkle trail to the nearest thing you haven’t found yet.
Behind the door is the Mushroom Grotto, a dark little cave with a song of its own. Five glowcaps climb toward the second relic, with a big gem worth five along the climb and a leaf of life, which gives one more heart for the rest of the level. There’s a stump of glowseeds by the door inside, too.
Secret three: inside the Lantern Tree
The gate stands at the roots of the Lantern Tree, at the very end. Over the roots, four caps flash in a wave, each woken by its own little firefly cloud. Look up before you leave. The tree is hollow, and six sleeping caps zigzag up inside the trunk. Wake them with seeds, one or two at a time, and climb to the third relic at the top.
The first three levels and the first boss of Jungaloo 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 its Jungaloo page.
