Guide for Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm

Commands

The gameplay of this arcade is very simple; the theory is explained in the in-game manual, and practice can be done in Tutorial Mode. By completing the Tutorial level, other than learning pretty much everything about the gameplay, you will unlock:

It's a good idea to spend a couple of words on the "Spark" command, associated to the Y button, which can "break" what you're targeting. It will never damage the Happy Tree Friends. It can be used to burst gas tanks, break obstacles (like a lock on a control panel box), and traps (such as poisonous candies, sticky floors, and many others). In addition to this, it can be used to un-freeze the Happy Tree Friends (and it's safer than using fire to melt the ice), and it can be used to eliminate all the fire/water you have casted on the floor as well (say you accidentally put fire on the way of the Happy Tree Friends: press Y when your target is on the fire, and it will disappear).

Keep in mind that you can hold a button and it will count as multi-input. For example, if you want to put a lot of fire behind the Happy Tree Friends, just hold B instead of tapping it multiple times.

Suggestions

The score is mostly, if not entirely, based on how quickly you bring the Happy Tree Friends to the goal. You usually need to be very quick in order to score 600,000 points at the end of a stage, but this is easier to do than it sounds when you read it. It's also crucial that you keep all the five Happy Tree Friends alive: if one of them die, the score will be dramatically lower. In the post-stage screen you can see why: there are two multipliers for your score, and one of them goes from 2x to 5x depending on how many of the five characters survive (two survivors is the minimum). The other multiplier, the "award" multiplier, goes from 1x to 3x depending on whether you get a Bronze/Silver or Gold medal. The medal awards also depend on clear-time and, indirectly, survivors, so you'll always get a Gold medal if you play decently.

Given these basis, the consequence is that being quick is usually more important than playing safe. A perfect example is in stage 6.1, where you will face three huge pistons which will most likely smash your Happy Tree Friends. Although it's possible to carefully get through without getting them hurt, you will want to actually cast fire behind them to hurry up and get smashed as little as possible. If they pass through without being killed, you've aced the stage. If they get killed, restart the level and try again. In other words, it doesn't matter how much the poor things suffer, as long as they're alive. This is very important on some stages, and it's even fundamental on those like 6.1.

In the upper-right corner of your in-game screen, there's a timer. It indicates the medal you will receive (as time goes by, it drops from Gold to Silver, then from Silver to Bronze), and if it goes to zero (below the Bronze medal level), it will be game over. The timer will be decreased noticeably if your characters die, and that's why it's impossible to finish a level with less than two characters because it decreases so much. It's also impossible to get lower than a Bronze medal, as long as you complete the stage. As soon as the fourth character dies, the fifth (and last) will automatically die because the timer gauge will be empty.

This isn't a very important aspect of the gameplay, but if you notice that your characters blow up for no reason, and wonder why, well, now you know that you have a limited amount of time to clear the stages. However, when your character reaches the end of the stage, you get some extra time to clear it with the rest of them. But then again, there's always plenty of time, so this is just for your information.

Finally, a note about the "fire." You will spam fire behind the Happy Tree Friends all the time. Keep in mind that their reaction can damage your clear-time more than a slow walk, though. Unfortunately, sometimes they are so scared of the fire behind them that they start running in circles or backwards, occasionally even running in the fire itself. If you have little room available and there isn't a long straight path ahead, avoid hasting them. In case you decide to run the risk and they really start running in crazy directions, immediately hold Y to clear the fire from the floor. This will cost you a few seconds, but at least they will stop running backwards.

The best thing to do is to cast the fire at a good distance from them: the farther the fire, the straighter they will go. And vice versa, if you put the fire right behind their back, they will often go crazy and run in circles. Remember these things when you feel like pushing them through a small door, as in tiny spots it's usually easier to let them walk naturally.

Miscellaneous Achievements

For one of the achievements you will need to complete a zone (i.e. all the three stages of a zone) without taking any damage. And for another achievement, you will need to complete a zone with all the characters with 25% or less of their health.
For both of these achievements, you don't need to fulfill the requirement by playing the stages consecutively. So, say, you end stage 1.3 with no damage, then play other random stages, then at one point you eventually play and end stage 1.1 and 1.2 with no damage, you will unlock the achievement. This is because you once ended 1.3 with no damage as well as 1.1 and 1.2, so you've cleared "zone # 1" with no damage.

Anyways, the easiest zones for these achievements are the first and the second zone respectively; of course you're free to choose other zones, if you prefer.

The first zone (Candy Factory) has the easiest stages of the game, so it will be simple to get through without taking damage (in case you wonder, the Happy Tree Friends don't take any damage when they fall on their backs after riding the elevators). Once the third stage of the zone is completed without taking damage, you will unlock:

The second zone (Hospital) has three easy stages too, and near the end of them there is always a part where you can easily avoid that the Happy Tree Friends go on. In particular:

- Stage 2.1 has a bridge before the end. You can keep it raised and set the Happy Tree Friends on fire until they have.
- Stage 2.2 has a poisonous area before the end. You can let them suffocate there until their health drops below 25%, and then stop the gas leak and end the level.
- Stage 2.3 has a door before the end; set up a barbecue until they take the desired damage, then open the door to end the level.

You'll know when they're below 25% of their max health if you see their health gauges turning blue instead of green. When this happens, use X to freeze (and protect) the characters that you don't want to damage anymore, so you can work on the others' health without any risk. Once you've done it on the three stages of the same zone, you will unlock:

The last miscellaneous achievement of the game will be unlocked as you burn to death 200 of your characters. Stage 7.1 is a good one for this purpose, since they're all gathered and locked in a small area. Kill them all (actually, the last one will automatically die because you run out of time) and restart the level to repeat the process (it should take anything between 30 and 45 minutes if you need to burn 200 of them) until you unlock:

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