Tar Ball Fall

To the left of the start point is the first Puzzle Piece. You’ll have to traverse a tar pit by walking over a boney path, then pound next to a cactus on the other side of the tar pit.

As you continue through this level, you’ll notice blobs of tar falling from the ceiling. As with any other contact with tar, getting hit by these can severely restrict your movement. You can get rid of the tar by ground pounding rapidly.

You will eventually encounter balloon platforms tied down by ropes. When you touch these platforms, they break loose and begin to float upwards, typically into the sharp spikes of a skeletal fossil. The spikes can not only hurt you, but they can pop the balloon and send you falling to your doom. At first you only encounter one by itself. Expect to see these obstacles used in more complicated platforming sequences.

The second Puzzle Piece can be found at the bottom of a large tar pit. A series of tar spigots on the roof try to interfere with your jumping. Follow these tar balls down towards one of the wooden platforms on the pit, then push against the wall on the left to enter a bonus chamber for a chance to win the piece.

Between the first and second checkpoints, you’ll reach a barrel cannon that launches you onto a moving platform. The path is guarded by Tiki Zings and Tiki Buzzes. As you approach the end of the platform’s path, a pair of Tiki Buzzes can be used as stepping stones to reach the third Puzzle Piece. This can be tough to pull off given how fast the platform is traveling.

You might notice a barrel that can be picked up shortly after the second checkpoint. You need to carry this over a series of platforms spanning a tar pit, while more tar falls from above, avoiding or defeating enemies along the way, until you can reach the fourth Puzzle Piece. As you might imagine, this can be a very taxing piece to reach. Time your movements to avoid the falling tar; if it touches you the barrel you’re carrying is destroyed.

The final platform sequence to reach the Slot-Machine Barrel is quite the challenge: a series of floating platforms that will eventually reach a sharp bone that will pop the balloons and send whomever is on the platform into the bottomless pit below. By the time you see the Slot-Machine Barrel, you probably want out of this level as soon as possible. However, roll-jump off to the ledge on the right of the Slot-Machine Barrel to reach one last secret room where the last Puzzle Piece can be located.