Paprium: The Official Thread Mk 2

[Devil N]

Hey everyone, I've been working to consolidate all the information about the game's secrets and unlockables since a lot of it is spread across this thread as well as Twitter. I set up a page on my website, and eventually I'll turn it into a full walkthrough instead of just an info dump. There are still a few things I need to clarify in it (for instance. I haven't played all the arcade routes to verify the level orders), and I'm sure that there will be more discoveries going forward (like those last 11 music tracks, wtf?). Get in touch with me if you find anything new, or if I made a mistake. I'll keep trawling this thread for news.

Paprium: The Unofficial, Incomplete Guide

Good job, and thanks for giving credit where it is due!

I've been keeping various notes on my findings while playing through Paprium, and this is what I've got up to this point. It would be good to have all the available information in one location, so you can add what you want from this list:

* Differences from Hard to Very Hard
    * More enemies overall
    * Enemies move faster, do more damage
    * Some bosses appear in pairs (e.g. Yolo, Leach, Torch)
    * Final stages must be re-played in full (i.e. no shortcut to throned character after one or two sub-bosses)
    * Sexy Sax Man appears on some stages
    * No hidden extra life in Block 888's first room (instead there's a Moutay can)
	
* Bonus missions
    * Police HQ
        1. Central Park (boss = Leach & V.V.) music: Jazzy Shuffle ("Pest Control")
        2. Sky Spa (boss = Gandium) music: Funk Enhanced Mix ("Breach at the Sky Spa")
        3. Freeway (boss = Rondo Red) music: Waterfront Beat ("Rondo Kidnapped a Kid")
    * Golden of Seas
        1. Ice Factory (boss = Chavez Yellow-Green) music: Neon Rider ("A Foe is in Trouble")
        2. Restaurant (boss = Rondo Red) music: Slow Mood Ext ("Big Troubles at Our Restaurant")
        3. The Docks (boss = Gandium) music: Neo Metal ("Cult at the Docks")
    * Bhopal B2
        1. Aquaworld (boss = Showtime) music: Indie Break Beat ("We Lost the Aquaworld")
        2. Blue Bar (boss = Tiger/Bear) music: Club Shuffle ("Wrestling Replacement")
        3. Powder Zone (boss = Chavez Yellow-Green) music: Evolve ("Police is Raiding Our Facilities")
		
* Sexy Sax Man sightings (only on Very Hard and Paprium difficulty)
    * Intercom (Mid-Levels path)
    * Bion-Mart
    * Central Park
    * Ice Factory
    * Green Cross
    * Blue Bar (during Romulus & Remus boss fight)
    * Sky Spa
	
* Secret paths
    * Block 888 (move left) => skip to boss, only after first playthrough
    * Block 888 (breakable door) => items
    * Rooftops (X on pillar) => secret passage
    * Police HQ (breakable door) => items
    * Ice Factory (breakable garage door) => secret passage, leads to S.P.U.
    * Powder Zone (breakable lock on pillar) => secret passage, unlock L.Ektra
    * The Docks (breakable panel) => secret passage, unlock Baba
    * Juvenium (breakable door) => tied-up enemy
    * Digniti KTV (breakable VIP chain) => items
	
* Bonus mini-games
    * Shot-a-Tron => after Bion-Mart, shoot hoops with enemies (music = Dubstep Groove)
	
* Misc
    * Soft reset by pausing, then pressing A+B+C+Start
    * Taunt by pressing the Mode button
    * Some enemies can be picked up by grabbing them and then pressing Up+B
    * Sometimes one of the plus-sized Iridium-type enemies will start convulsing, burst open and turn into a Baby Leach headcrab monster
    * The rollerskating TokTok enemies can be mounted as a vehicle, but they can also ride vehicles themselves. This means that sometimes you will see them riding each other!
    * Sometimes the enemy AI will get stuck and if this takes too long, the enemy will get reset and dropped down in the center of the arena.
	
* FAQ
    * What's the point of the tied-up enemies?
        * Free five to get an extra life
    * What do the NX Terminals do?
        * Warp to Juvenium for X credits
    * What's up with the scoring system?
        * Hexadecimal notation
    * How do I unlock the secret characters?
        * Powder Zone & The Docks hidden areas
    * What is the point of throning?
        * Unlock Sky Spa path & KTV path
        * Unlock extra bonus missions at the end of a path
    * How do the levels fit together?
        * Map: https://imgur.com/gd2R1qk
    * What's up with the music?
        * Key change midway through level
        * Goes out of tune when low on health
        * Pitch goes up when using a Blu pill
    * What do the Blu pills do?
        * Unleash a powerful special attack
        * Partial invincibility
        * Health recovers to the size of the blue portion of your health bar
    * How does the addiction mechanic work?
        * Using Blu pills in a run will increase the blue portion of your health bar for the next run
        * If your health goes down into the blue portion, you enter a "crisis" state:
            * Your attacks become weaker
            * You can only run for about half a screen, gradually you get slower and eventually you end up in a stunned state
            * Blocking is less effective

[NeoVamp]

but it does feel a little better as you get use to it?

[Qjimbo]

Still no sign of my cartridge that was supposed to come from Las Vegas, the status just says "Shipping...". I even emailed WM support for a tracking number on the 13th and no response. Anyone in Canada got their copy yet?

[inqualls]

@NeoVamp: I needed this laugh today. You're right though, I'm in the bargaining stage. I know it's finished but when I played it, it definitely didn't feel that way. All of the untapped potential that could be. Balancing damage values, adding a few more animations to characters, and smartening up the AI would make all the difference.

@Qjimbo: Fonzie has gone on hiatus until January 25th due to customer support overload issues. Before he shut down customer support he sent out a mass email explaining that not all copies have been shipped out yet. For those of us with the "shipping..." status, our copies have not yet gone out. So, right now everyone is basically waiting for the next announcement to see when the rest of the copies are to be shipped.

[Mr. Ksoft]

Good job, and thanks for giving credit where it is due!

I've been keeping various notes on my findings while playing through Paprium, and this is what I've got up to this point. It would be good to have all the available information in one location, so you can add what you want from this list:

Thank you! I have updated the page with your info and some other stuff I found.

[Qjimbo]

@Qjimbo: Fonzie has gone on hiatus until January 25th due to customer support overload issues. Before he shut down customer support he sent out a mass email explaining that not all copies have been shipped out yet. For those of us with the "shipping..." status, our copies have not yet gone out. So, right now everyone is basically waiting for the next announcement to see when the rest of the copies are to be shipped.

Thank you I haven't been able to follow this that closely so I appreciate the update. Hopefully there will be some news after the 25th. At least I'm not alone!

[nieds16]

This is the funniest post I've seen in a long time. Well done.

[cowboyscowboys]

Still no sign of my cartridge that was supposed to come from Las Vegas, the status just says "Shipping...". I even emailed WM support for a tracking number on the 13th and no response. Anyone in Canada got their copy yet?

No and I wouldn't expect it to be shipped until April.

[Kamon]

No and I wouldn't expect it to be shipped until April.

I'm inclined to believe the same. If he had the stock he'd have shipped it by now surely. He can tell us it's because he's waiting for the backlog of packages from Christmas and coronavirus related delays to clear but he really can't claim that anymore. It didn't make much sense before, a package not in the queue isn't getting sent any faster. I got something sent from the Los Angeles (An area many would consider one of the most affected by the virus) 9 days ago. It got sent out of the us in 3 and reached Australia in 7. I know that is circumstantial at best but if that's the best case scenario for delivery time I would have appreciated it being sent out asap than waiting for some vague date that covers an entire month from a serial liar who doesn't respect his customers at all. Man I regret preordering that stick, why did I believe he had all the units ready to ship?

[Frost Blossom]

@inqualls

yeah, that's pretty much in line with how I feel about Paprium. Really good visual/sound presentation with some glaring problems (Choppy anims, weak SFX for hitting enemies) with mediocre gameplay.

[Devil N]

I know it's finished but when I played it, it definitely didn't feel that way. All of the untapped potential that could be. Balancing damage values, adding a few more animations to characters, and smartening up the AI would make all the difference.

This is true. Even when I achieved the Good ending yesterday, I was left thinking how is this 'better' than any of the other endings? It feels like there was supposed to be more to it, but that the game was rushed to completion. Which is probably exactly what happened.

Edit: I just put up a video showing the Shot-A-Tron bonus game from when Loempiavreter and I stumbled upon it last Monday. As mentioned before we didn't really understand how to play it until the time was almost up, so it's not a very good demonstration but it does give an impression of what the mini-game is like:

[NeoVamp]

The missing sprites is what hurts the game the most imo, yeah the gameplay is empty but I can even overlook that a bit.
but missing sprites? resulting in yanky as fuck looking gameplay. throw an enemy? pffff i'll just put this one flexing sprite in there. t-that looks like he's throwing right? nobody needs three sprites for that.
throwing a weapon? pfff lets just use that weird looking sprite with the arm down. t-thats good enough right. okay now jumpkick left and right for an hour and maybe you'll throne someone so you can unlock
a new stage where you can walk around all yanky again as you pretend to not notice the enormous sprite flickering.

I guess I'm still at the depression stage.

[XGoldenboyX]

Hey everyone, I've been working to consolidate all the information about the game's secrets and unlockables since a lot of it is spread across this thread as well as Twitter. I set up a page on my website, and eventually I'll turn it into a full walkthrough instead of just an info dump. There are still a few things I need to clarify in it (for instance. I haven't played all the arcade routes to verify the level orders), and I'm sure that there will be more discoveries going forward (like those last 11 music tracks, wtf?). Get in touch with me if you find anything new, or if I made a mistake. I'll keep trawling this thread for news.

Paprium: The Unofficial, Incomplete Guide

this is pretty cool : )

[tokay]

Has anybody found where and when to use Konami code?

(@Mr. Ksoft: enemies do not display hearts, but sort of /!\ signs when they taunt you)

[Devil N]

Has anybody found where and when to use Konami code?

(@Mr. Ksoft: enemies do not display hearts, but sort of /!\ signs when they taunt you)

They show hearts as well, as seen here:



As someone suggested it seems to happen only when you're playing with a female character.