Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box is a game developed by AlpacaSoft for the Alpaca GD. It is a platformer game with some stealth elements about a demon girl, Pandora, traveling around the world of Mistika to recover her box that she was supposed to guard at the Temple of Chaos. In order to get the box back, Pandora will have to platform and sneak her way around different parts of this magical world to defeat Lord Blackford before he gets to open the box.
== Gameplay ==
Pandora's Box is a traditional 16-bit platformer, for the most part, the player can jump up into the air to reach high ledges, as expected, but Pandora has many tricks up her sleeve.
One of which being the dagger, which is her default mathod of defeating enemies, throughout certain levels, the player will gain access to other weapons, like cannons that go ahead or into the background, swords with longer reach than a measly knife, bubble guns that trap and damage enemies, etc.
Pandora also has a unique moveset centered around stealth, the player will often find foreground barriers that they can hide behind as a tough enemy passes by, allowing them to sneak right past, Pandora can also dash past enemies and very briefly disguise herself as a chosen foe to get past them.
Naturally, the game has a HUD, or heads-up display, that shows the players statistics: The "Health Flower" on the top-left, score on the top-center, lives on the top-right and collectibles on the bottom-left (Stars) and bottom-right (Medallions)
Pandora cannot stay alive forever, she has a health meter represented by a dark flower in the top-left corner of the game's HUD, each of the five petals is one point of health, meaning Pandora has 5 hits before losing a life.
The game's worlds and levels are layed out in a big overworld map of Mistika, with different colored circles representing levels. Yellow circles are new and unplayed levels, blue circles are completed levels and red circles are levels that were beaten, but not completely, because they had a secret exit to locate and use to access a shortcut or new level. In a way, the overworld layout is very similar to the SNES classic, Super Mario World.
Pandora's Box has a few modes to play with in the main menu, first is Story Mode, which lets the player just play through the story of the game, then Multiplayer Mode, which has Player 1 as Pandora and Player 2 as her soul, racing each other to the end of a given level, and Options, which just serves to change certain settings. By collecting Medallions, the player unlocks the Sound Test, to listen to the game's music, and Arena Mode, where the player has to use their combat skills to take down waves of enemies entering a colosseum.
The game has a few collectibles, which are listed further below.
== Plot ==
In the world of Mistika, all of the misfortune and evil takes shape as The Beast, a creature of shadows, so vile and horrifying that it had to be sealed within a box for all eternity, and to prevent anyone from taking and opening the box, a guardian was placed at the Temple of Chaos, the young demon girl, Pandora. But, while Pandora was asleep, a group of evil ravens, lead by Lord Blackford, raided the Temple and took the box, leaving the demon girl scared, confused and with only one thing to do: Go after them across Mistika, starting with a warm-up trip around the Temple of Chaos.
Hot on the ravens' trail, Pandora passed through the beautiful Lavender Plains, a massive field of lavender flowers where corrupted animals then roamed freely, ravaging the plantations. Making it through some hills and ponds, Pandora had to face off against the queen of the Lavender Plains, Lil' Lovely, who assumed that Pandora was the one destroying the beautiful flower fields. After resolving the misunderstanding (With a fight) Pandora was able to continue on her adventure, over to the Red Hot Mounds.
Making her way through pits of bubbling lava, Pandora had to confront the corrupted ruler of the Red Hot Mounds, Ms. Sizzle, who refused to let Pandora pass through alive, so they fought each other. Pandora came out on top and was able to proceed towards the Sea of Despair, a massive body of water where sailors had gone missing for a long time.
Taking ship after boat after raft to cross the Sea of Despair, Pandora noticed she had been followed by a chubby raven with sunglasses, that being one of Blackford's henchmen, Guz, whom Pandora had to battle in a duel of pirate ships. With Guz out of the way, Pandora arrived safely at the other side, just in time for the Sweet Carnival.
Pandora enjoyed some time at the carnival, trying out some of the food, but still focusing on her mission, so she made her way into the largest circus tent in the Sweet Carnival, where people were being brainwashed into enjoying the ring master's show, but since his tricks weren't working on Pandora, Ring Master Prickle attacked her, but was quickly disposed of, revealing that he was just a shadow creature, so she had to move even faster before The Beast was unleashed.
The demon girl made her way through the Crystal Dunes, a vast desert full of colorful rock formations, and just barely caught up with Fritz, who was following Blackford, presumably to their castle. Blackford used his dark magic to create a stone monster, Rocken, to battle Pandora and so that Blackford could gain some time and get to his castle faster. After Rocken was taken out, Pandora was off to the Frozen Fields.
She just barely made it through the brutal snow and ice of the Frozen Fields, but Pandora could not see Blackford and Fritz anywhere, and before she could head over to the next area, she was stopped by General Slushy, the military leader of the Frozen Fields, who decided to fight Pandora in order to see if she could go on in her adventure. Slushy's Frost Panzer was trashed, and he decided to help Pandora move forward, by firing her out of the tank's cannon towards Music Highway.
Pandora had to rush through the streets of Music Highway, hiding from a relentless attack from the Akuyaku Concert, eventually being able to face off against the undead marching band in their tank, the Black Parade. Once the Akuyaku Concert was defeated, Pandora made her way to Cloud City, the empire in the sky.
Jumping from vehicle to vehicle to reach Cloud City, Pandora made it inside and headed to the top of Cloud City, where Fritz was waiting for her, he attacked Pandora with a large mechanical dragon, which, upon being defeated, had its head separated and turned into a smaller dragon for Pandora to use and get to Blackford's Castle through Altitude's Edge.
Going through the atmosphere, Pandora fought various dragons and ships and had to face a large robot, the Battle Drone Zoid, which was quickly taken out, allowing Pandora to reach Blackford's Castle and fight him once and for all.
In the massive fortress, Pandora fought through many foes and had to face off against Guz and Fritz on their own before reaching Blackford's throne room. There, Blackford opened the box, unleashing dark clouds upon the land below and severely damaging the castle, making it slowly fall from the sky, so, he fought Pandora and lost. Suddenly, The Beast possessed Blackford, transforming him into a massive monster to face Pandora one last time.
With The Beast defeated and sealed once more, Pandora safely returned to the Temple of Chaos and placed the box on its pedestal, only to fall asleep on her job again, but without any interruption this time.
== Characters ==
A quick list of the in-game people that the story focuses on.
Pandora	The guardian of Pandora's Box and protagonist of the game, Pandora is a rather childish girl who knows when to be mean and fight. She refuses to forgive Blackford for taking the box and trying to bring all of The Beast's evil and chaos into the world.
Guz	One of Blackford's henchmen and certainly the lesser of the three evils, due to being so incompetent. Guz can only think about eating and satisfying himself, not usually caring about others, but he will defend his and his boss' pride if he really must.
Fritz	Fritz is not the type of minion to just sit back while his boss or his comrades are in danger, he always tries to play the "hero" among the ravens, stepping in to stop fights and save whoever is in need from the true good guys, he also is rarely separated from his trusty sword, Nightfall.
Lord Blackford	The prince of darkness, the lord of shadows, the king of evil, whatever one may call him, Blackford's business is no laughing matter, a relentless tyrant hellbent on bringing Mistika to ruin and building his own utopian society over the scraps, he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants.
== Worlds ==
The different locations that Pandora goes through in order to find Blackford and get the box back.
Temple of Chaos 	Temple of Chaos
A simple tutorial level teaching the player the basics of attacking, the HUD, how to hide, among other things expected from a tutorial. 	Boss: None
Lavender Plains 	Lavender Plains
A beautiful field of lavender flowers with hills, caves and ponds to go through in all of its levels, there is nothing truly unique about this level aside from its pretty visuals. 	Boss: Lil' Lovely
Red Hot Mounds 	Red Hot Mounds
A volcano world with ziplines and climbing equipment, presumably left there before the place decided to erupt, the player will be using all these gimmicks to get through each level of this treacherous world. 	Boss: Ms. Sizzle
Sea of Despair 	Sea of Despair
A gigantic body of water where the main gimmick is jumping between rafts and boats to not sink into the dark water below and be caught by whatever lurks under the surface, complete with some sections where the player controls their own boats.	Boss: Guz
Sweet Carnival 	Sweet Carnival
A massive carnival with many treats and attractions to enjoy, such as trampolines, rail grinding tracks, candy that magically makes the eater lighter or heavier, this locale has it all. 	Boss: Ring Master Prickle
Crystal Dunes 	Crystal Dunes
The Crystal Dunes are a vast desert covered in different types of massive crystals and gemstones, the desert also contains some caverns with even more crystals on the walls and ceilings. 	Boss: Rocken
Frozen Fields 	Frozen Fields
An icy, barren land covered in icicles and shrouded in eternal snowfall, it is also a military camp for snowmen and other people who live in the region, so there are turrets and mines just about everywhere. 	Boss: General Slushy
Music Highway 	Music Highway
A city centered around sound and musical instruments, the levels mainly take place in the titular highways on this city, where Pandora must escape the Akuyaku Concert's cannon balls and other attacks. 	Boss: Akuyaku Concert
Cloud City 	Cloud City
A beautiful fortress built up in the sky, where, mainly, the richest people live their lives, shop for stuff, work, etc. Pandora has to come here in order to find a way into Blackford's castle. 	Boss: Fritz
Altitude's Edge 	Altitude's Edge
The edge of Mistika's atmosphere, this world plays like a space shoot-'em-up game rather than a platformer. Pandora goes through this area on a small dragon ship, flying up to Blackford's castle. 	Boss: Battle Drone Zoid
Blackford's Castle 	Blackford's Castle
The game's final world, set in Blackford's massive flying fortress, the main enemies seen here are lesser raven units charging at Pandora to stop her from reaching Blackford before the box is opened. 	Bosses: Guz, Fritz, Blackford and The Beast
== Items ==
There are a few different items to collect in Pandora's Box, here is a list of them.
* Stars: The game's generic collectible, they come in Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze stars are worth 1, Silvers are worth 5 and Golds are worth 10. there is also a very rare Crystal star in certain levels which is worth 25.
* Weapons: There are many different weapons to find in specific levels in the game, they are:
** Swords: Swords have a longer range than the average dagger, but tend to break after six hits.
** Spears: Spears have even longer reach than the swords, but are much less durable, lasting only about three hits.
** Cannons: There are two types of cannons, the larger ones that shoot forward and explode after three shots, and the helmet cannons that can take more shots before going to waste, but only shoot into the background.
** Bubbler: A gun that shoots large bubbles that trap and damage any enemies they touch.
* Medallions: There are three Medallions in each level, they serve to unlock different functions in the game's main menu, such as the Sound Test and Arena Mode.
== Bosses ==
Each of the worlds in Pandora's Box has its own boss to face at the end, below is a listing of them.
Lil' Lovely 	Lavender Plains 	The queen of Lavender Plains, Lil' Lovely attacks with thorny vines and wind attacks, such as creating gusts of wind to pull Pandora closer or push her away and send spiked balls towards her. Lil' Lovely can only be hit in between different attacks, when her petals are open.
TBAMs. Sizzle 	Red Hot Mounds 	Ms. Sizzle is a serpent made out of rocks, she can spit out more rocks into the air and down to Pandora, she can also jump over the arena, either directly over it or further up, so the player has to stay low or jump up to dodge her.
Guz 	Sea of Despair 	Over the great and dangerous Sea of Despair, Pandora's ship is followed by Guz in his own pirate ship, so they have to battle each other. Guz and the player have many of the same tactics, such as shooting cannons and charging into each other, the battle is all a matter of strategy.
TBARing Master Prickle	Sweet Carnival 	A living cactus that serves as the Sweet Carnival's circus leader, Prickle is able to attack Pandora with his pets, with fire-hoops and with his many spikes. After a few attacks, Prickle will become tired and his spikes will retract, allowing the player to damage him.
TBARocken 	Crystal Dunes 	Created in an effort to slow Pandora down, Rocken is a stone monstrosity that can rapidly fire crystals out of its hands and stomp on the ground, causing shockwaves. Rocken can only be damaged if the player hits their single red eye by bouncing off the cacti at the sides of the arena.
TBAGeneral Slushy 	Frozen Fields 	The leader of Frozen Fields who refuses to let Pandora pass without proving she's worthy, General Slushy rides off-screen between the sides of the arena in his Frost Panzer, stopping to try and gun Pandora down, at the same time, opening himself for an attack.
TBAAkuyaku Concert 	Music Highway 	Straight from the underworld, the Akuyaku Concert is a marching band of skeletons dressed in all black uniforms, as mentioned before, they chase down Pandora through Music Highway, eventually being caught off-guard and having their tank, the Black Parade, attacked and destroyed.
Fritz 	Cloud City 	Lord Blackford's most loyal henchman, Fritz fights Pandora at Cloud City with a giant robotic dragon, he mainly attacks from the background with a flamethrower weapon, but can go further back and shoot missiles or go to the side and bite at the player. So long as the player is hitting the dragon's head, Fritz will take damage.
TBABattle Drone Zoid 	Altitude's Edge 	Zoid is a robot built to prevent any enemies of Blackford from getting to his castle, in battle, he is armed with missiles and a large sword that can turn into a laser gun, but he can be hit at any time.
Lord Blackford 	Blackford's castle	The first of two final bosses in the game, Blackford fights with dark magic attacks, such as orbs and beams, and he tends to immitate the attacks of past bosses in the game, with his own style of attacking.
TBAThe Beast 	Blackford's castle	The game's final battle is against the monster sealed within the box, The Beast. It's a typical background final boss, The Beast will slam its hands down into the ground, and which point, the player must hit The Beast's hands on climb onto them and hit the head. The Beast also has other attacks, such as spewing dark flames and shooting dark orbs.
== Soundtrack ==
* A Chaotic Quest (Title Screen)
* Enjoy the Trip! (Main Menu)
* More TBA
* Trouble Ahead! (Pre-Boss)
* Time To Duel (Vs. Normal Boss)
* Envoys of Evil (Vs, Guz/Fritz)
* Facing the Dark Lord (Vs. Blackford)
* The End Has Come (Vs. The Beast)
* More TBA
* An Adventure Comes To A Close (Credits)
== Trivia ==
* The game would originally feature a bunch of different worlds and a more open style of progression, allowing the player to go through their own path to the end, but that was dropped in favor of a simpler, linear progression.
Category:Original Games
Category:Platforming Games
Category:2D Platforming Games
Category:Adventure Games
Category:Rated E10+ Games
Category:Rated 7 Games
Category:Rated A CERO Games