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For help on getting the game working, see How to Run SPISPOPD. |
SPISPOPD (an abbreviation for Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris) was Jamul's first game, started in 1993 originally as shareware (later being released completely for free). It was an extremely primitive 2D action game, created in response to a joke related to Doom. According to Henry Gabryjelski, the FAQ written itself was a parody of DOOM's FAQ as well:
~ For writing the DOOM FAQ, where I got the skeleton for this FAQ. Yes, that means the SPISPOPD FAQ is a parody of the DOOM FAQ. :-)
Dr. Lunatic is the official sequel. Amazin' SPISPOPD and the The Adventures of Bouapha series were based on it (and indirectly the Loonyland series, as it was based on Dr. Lunatic). Also like Dr. Lunatic, SPISPOPD would later have a rather in-depth map editor called SPISEDIT.
Story[]
The story as told from the original FAQ:
DATELINE - October 30, 1993.[]
All the pumpkins of the world cower in fear again, as another Halloween approaches. As always, they are destined to be culinarily transformed into grotesque icons of a pagan tradition. Their only hope was to steal all of Earth's candles and take them away to the distant pumpkin planet, Pumpkinia.
DATELINE - November 4, 1993.[]
Despite tremendous security measures, the pumpkins succeeded and now Earth has no candles. If the power goes out, everybody is SCREWED. The only hope is Bouapha, the Gourdslayer. He hops into the specially designed TX-34Z Rocket Ship and blasts off for the Zeta Toejam star system.
CAN BOUAPHA AND HIS MIGHTY HAMMERS OVERCOME THE PUMPKINS!?
Gameplay[]
In SPISPOPD the player controls Bouapha, the Gourdslayer, who is also the protagonist of the games directly based on SPISPOPD. To escape being carved up for halloween, pumpkins had stolen all the worlds candles and taken them to the planet Pumpkinia. The gameplay consists of collecting hammer powerups while battling various pumpkin monsters and collecting candles. By collecting all the candles on a level Bouapha could board his rocketship and begin the next level.
Collectibles[]
The collectibles have the following attributes:
- Candle: 2312 pts.
- Dark Blue Gem: 585 pts. + Life
- Green Gem w/A: Rapid Fire
- Keys: 70 pts.
- Light Blue Gem: Protection
- Pink Gem: 15,469,971 pts.
- Red Gem: 103 pts. + Hammer
Controls[]
- Enter: Throw hammers, if you have them.
- Space: Throw hammers, if you have them.
- F2: Save /* No longer works! */
- F3: Load /* No longer works! */
- ESC: Quit (INSTANTLY!) to DOS
- F4: Toggle Sound FX
- F5: Music off
- F10: Options Menu (REMEMBER THIS!)
Worlds[]
The levels were organized into various themed sets, each with its own custom graphical tiles, and a custom look for Baby Pumpkins (the most common and weakest form of enemy). Most of these levels consist of smashing Pumpkins, collecting candles, and destroying Pumpkin Patches. Later levels involve larger, more powerful pumpkins and special boss monsters, many of whom were included in Dr. Lunatic later. The game also featured an editor, called SPISEdit, allowing players to create their own levels.
Each world has its own theme music composed by Brent Christian.
Old Ultima
- Intro Land (intro) is the very first world, and the demo world when the game had a full version.
- Happy Forest Land is a forest- and water-themed world. The water areas have Sea Pumpkins, which shoot bullets. The boss is the Sea Serpent.
- Sandy Desert World (desert) is a desert-themed world. The boss is the Centipumpkin and the pumpkins have turbans on their heads.
- Funky Weirdville (funky) is a "weird" world where the pumpkins look flamboyantly colorful. The boss is the French Chef Liem.
- Spacey Techno World (future) is future-themed and filled with Robo Pumpkins.
- Ice Caverns (ice) features ice pumpkins and the Yeti brothers.
- Old Ultima (oldultma) is a world requiring SPISPOPD version 3.00 that was created as a tribute to the RPG Ultima series.
- H*** (hell) the final SPISPOPD world, you face Squashes, Robo Pumpkins, and, most importantly, every boss you've faced up until this point. The boss of this world is the Spider Pumpkin.
Enemies[]
The full listing of enemies and their description from the original FAQ:
- Baby Pumpkins: Not very dangerous, but they can suck your life away if they make contact. They come in several varieties.
- Big Pumpkins: Dangerous, but stupid.
- Sea Pumpkins: They swim, and spit green blobs at you.
- Robo Pumpkins: LOOK OUT! These things are lethal! They spew energy blasts all about, and charge towards Bouapha.
- Squash: May look small, but these buggers are fast and vicious.
- Massive Pumpkin: He rules IntroLand, vomiting up baby pumpkins at will.
- Chef Liem: An evil chef, who throws pumpkin pies.
- GXR-0932b: A horrid mutant pumpkin. Kept in a containment tank.
- Yeti: Fuzzy creatures that live in the snow. Sympathetic to the pumpkins' cause.
- Centipumpkin: See it to believe it.
- Sea Serpent: Spits out semi-guided swarm bullets, and lives in the water.
- Spider Pumpkin: King of Pumpkinia. Too powerful for words.
- Smog: Ruler of the Earth Realm. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!
- Grim Sowers: Take lots of energy from you (aka Pumpkin Worshipers)
- Evil Boupha: An evil Boupha, has rapid-fire hammers. Smart(?)
System Requirements[]
SPISPOPD requires almost nothing to run. All you need is an IBM compatible 286+ (might run on 808*, but not sure), a VGA graphics card, and a VGA monitor. A soundblaster sound card is highly recommended. It doesn't matter if you have 640k or 32 Megs of RAM, SPISPOPD only uses normal "low" memory. So try to load everything high. :-) NOTE: I have tried playing on a 286 and it is too slow. 386 is my recommended minimum.[1]