Pitfall help - stuck in cavern without smash

[thezwomann]

Help! We are stuck in the Abandoned Caverns (we've already done the crystal cave, eyeball thing, and scorpion thing). We're trying to get back, but we need the "smash strike"...we don't have it and we don't have TNT to get to the Shaman in the crystal cave. But we can't find our way anywhere else. It's like we're completely stuck and no matter what we do, we can't go anywhere. HELP!!!

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[1995hoo]

Help! We are stuck in the Abandoned Caverns (we've already done the crystal cave, eyeball thing, and scorpion thing). We're trying to get back, but we need the "smash strike"...we don't have it and we don't have TNT to get to the Shaman in the crystal cave. But we can't find our way anywhere else. It's like we're completely stuck and no matter what we do, we can't go anywhere. HELP!!!

The Shaman in the Crystal Cavern is one you'll have to visit later, nothing you can do there.

You don't need the Smash Strike to get out of the Abandoned Cavern, although you DO need it to reach the Explorer who's in there. Thus, when you come back later to retrieve the Shaman and the Idol in the Crystal Cavern (both of those require TNT) you can rescue the Explorer as well.

To get out of the Abandoned Cavern without the Smash Strike,

Spoiler Alert!

go back to where the big rock slams up and down (the way out to Crystal Cavern). Get up on top of that rock by using the same rope you used to reach the Crystal Cavern. Then turn back around to face towards the rope you just used. To your left (roughly the 10:00 position on a clock) you'll see another rope. Jump to it when the big rock is at the top of its up-down cycle. Once you're on the rope, look up and slightly to your left. There are some twisted metal platforms with a broken ladder on the right side. You need to jump up there; aim for the darker area to the left, and be prepared that Harry can't land on the platform but can reach it and pull himself up.

Once you're on the platform, look to your left. There are more platforms, some with boxes on them, that you can work your way across. Soon you'll find an Idol, which confirms that you're going the right way. Once you get the Idol, look down from the far side of that platform. You'll see a flat area with a porcupine; this is the area with the swinging boxes that you passed before on your way through here the first time. You can jump on down there. From there, you need to find your way to the exit.....but I'll let you try that on your own before posting how to do it. Come back if you need more help. (BTW, the Abandoned Cavern contains two Idols and one Explorer. The Underground Dam contains two Idols and a Shaman. So if you have 10 Idols, or will have 10 Idols if you grab all these, and if you didn't visit the Shaman in the Underground Dam on the way in, you could buy the Smash Strike from him after you exit the Abandoned Cavern, then come back and get the Explorer. Or you could get the Explorer later once you have TNT.)

BTW, I assume you got the Pickaxes already (you didn't mention them). If you didn't, then you need to go back the way you came. You're going back into the mountains and you won't be able to get anywhere without the Pickaxes.

[oliviarock]

1995hoo just wanted to say i did everything u said not working also is there a way to go back to the scorpion room i'd rather go all the way back cause it's just IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!! HELP SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[1995hoo]

1995hoo just wanted to say i did everything u said not working also is there a way to go back to the scorpion room i'd rather go all the way back cause it's just IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!! HELP SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been quite some time since I've played this game (notice the date of my other post was May 2009!!!) and the reason I learned of your post is that the forum e-mails me if someone responds to a post I made. Let me see if I can try to answer the question based on my recollections of the game.

(1) It sounds like you are having the same problem as the original poster in this thread—you went through the Abandoned Cavern the first time, made your way on to the Crystal Cavern (the next level, which is super-duper dark), presumably got through there to the Eyes of Doom, then visited the Scorpion Temple (where you run around on the ceiling dropping rocks). I assume you succeeded at the Scorpion Temple because you can't get back out until you do, and that you then went to the Mountain Overlook and got the Pickaxes and that you are now on your way back out of that whole area.

If any part of that is incorrect, then you've gone the wrong way, but you wouldn't necessarily realize it until it comes time to use the Pickaxes (and if you're still in the Abandoned Cavern, that time hasn't come yet). So if you haven't gotten the Pickaxes from Nicole yet, you need to go back to the Eyes of Doom and then visit the Mountain Overlook to get them. Then start back yet again.

(2) If you're trying to get back through the Abandoned Cavern, there are two ways to do it. One requires the Smash Strike, one does not. The method listed in my previous post in this thread is the way to do it without the Smash Strike. You have to get up on that big rock, swing to some metal ledges up above, work your way across those, then drop down at the area where there are some boxes and porcupines and those swinging boxes go across the middle.

If you have the Smash Strike, there is another way out and it will allow you to free an Explorer. You know where the big pounding rock is that you had to pass under. There is a rock on the edge of the cliff near that and there are two ropes out over the abyss. Jump to those ropes and swing across to the two big crates. You then need to spin-kick the side of the cages (same move you use to knock down a tree). Do not double-jump, as you can't kick if you double-jump. After you kick out the side of the cage, jump inside, then Smash Strike down several levels until you find the Explorer. Take the Idol he gives you, then walk/roll through that level of the cages to almost the far end. I do not recall if you have to kick out the walls. You then have to jump up one level and roll out through a hole, then climb the ladder to the top of the cages where you first reached them the last time you came through. Kill the porcupine, then run across the "bridge" to get back to the place where there are some boxes and porcupines and the swinging boxes.

Either way, once you get back to that spot, the way you then get out of this level is to use the conveyor belt you see to your left by doing a series of Heroic Dives down to the far end, then climb up the metal platforms on your right and swing your way across to the super-duper high platforms. You then jump down the far side to the exit. You can't use the "bridge" thing you used when you first visited this area because the ladder on the other end is broken off.

Remember the rule of thumb—conveyor belts, platforms, levers, ropes to swing from, etc., almost always have some purpose and should be explored if you're at a loss for what to do next. Very few things in this game are pointless.

(3) You asked how to get back to the "scorpion room." I assume you mean the Scorpion Temple. I'm not sure why you want to go back there (unless you forgot the Pickaxes), but to get back there you need to go back to the Crystal Cavern (run across the conveyor belt under the smashing rock, then swing to the ledge) and work your way through there. St. Clair and his goons will NOT attack you again—you only have to beat them once. Then go through to the Eyes of Doom and climb on up.

Incidentally, if you did not collect the Idols on the other levels, you ought to go back, but you cannot access all of them yet: There is one Idol in the Eyes of Doom located WAY up at the top; there is one in the Mountain Overlook that you find by using your Sling and your Pickaxes; I believe there is only the one in the Crystal Cavern, but it requires TNT so you can't get it yet, and there is also a Shaman in there that also requires TNT; and there is the Explorer and two other Idols in the Abandoned Cavern. As I mentioned before, there is a Shaman in the Underground Dam and you should have visited him on the way into this area before, but if you did not do so, this is a good time to go pick up as many Idols as you can (remember an Explorer is worth five Idols) so that you can buy something good from the Shaman. If you do not already have the Breakdance Strike, I'd suggest that it could prove very useful to you in the next several levels. If you add up what I just said, there are a total of nine Idols (counting the Explorer) that you could have gotten in these levels, plus there are two more back in the Underground Dam if you didn't get them already.

It's easy to overlook the Idols and Explorers, but those things are important.