School Rush : Post your score

it has been almost one year since the last release of Bilou : School Rush. Through unpractical ideas, oversophistication and deep engine refactories, I finally get something to share with you. Here is maybe the penultimate release bringing 1-UPs and hi-score tables to School Rush.

Download

Voici enfin une nouvelle release de School Rush. Je laisse donc tomber les options trop complexes pour me concentrer sur ce qui compte vraiment pour le jeu: les 1-UPs, le calcul du score (distance parcourue si on ne finit pas le jeu ou temps écoulé si on le termine).

So, compared to the previous builds,

• you can get 1-UPs by collecting letters. Everytime you get one, the next one will be more "expensive", though.
• every loading screen show how long it took you to get there and how far was that "there".
• there is a "congratulations" level at the end of the 'secret, good ending'
• there is a "game over" screen
• in both case, a hiscore table will show up. You'll compete for the shortest time if you found the good exist, and for going as far as possible (in pixels) if you're game over.
• no new levels this time. Core gameplay unchanged.

I do not have yet the code to let you enter your own name at the end of it though (that will likely be for the latest release). The purpose of this one is to ensure that the arbitrary scores mentioned as "special thanks" can be beaten. So you'll always be "Player One" and the pointing hand will not yet help you to see where you are.

J'ai un début de table des scores, aussi, mais pas encore la possibilité d'y enregistrer son nom. ça, ce sera pour la dernière release.

The times are shown as MINUTES:SECONDS:FRAMES, btw. I managed to get to the end in about 10'50", while losing 2 lives (which took me about 2 minutes). So beating KirbyKid will ask you at least deathless play through and beating Wintermute will almost certainly require to pull off some emergent gameplay and speedrunner skills... which isn't necessarily bad.

gameplay

You're controlling Bilou, a blue, ball-shaped explorer. You make him JUMP with the (A) button and grab things (or throw them) with (B). Your goal is to reach the right of each level before you're caught by the ever-raising ink.
You'll need to be quick, too. Use (R) or double-tap in left/right directions as if you were a pink, living vacuum cleaner.

You can stomp some monsters, you can throw sharpeners at others. Remember: the pencil soldats are the only real threat here, and they must be stopped from pouring even more ink for their autoritarist plans. Everything else that looks dangerous is mostly acting on fear and may prove very useful if you keep your head cold. Think about how useful a bobbing sponge could be if you could ride it (B). or how high an inkwell could shoot you ...

There are rumours of magical artifacts that could help you. The Fist of Justice, that noone can stand against (double-B) and the Floating Twister (hold A), that let you reach far away places. It's unlikely the pendats will let you recover them without a fight, though.

Story

At the far east of this school-like country, there is a gauge that will stop the ink. Rush for it! The books city is close to be destroyed once for all, and the elders' knowledge will be lost. This must be another plot from Square Root, who decided that mathematics are the only thing worth of being written down.
Everyone here seems to believe that Bilou is a sort of legendary hero...


How to play

Get the NDS image and play it on your homebrew-ready console or in an emulator, such as DeSmuME. See this page if you need extra explanation/instructions for running homebrews.

NB: download links have been updated to point towards "aftermath" version, and finally 'jln' version (gameplay fix). The "Gameover" version they were initialiiy pointing to is still downloadable, if you really want to.