The game's default controls are shown above, but you can change which buttons you want to use for attacking, jumping and changing weapons in the configuration menu.

High Score -The current high score. The default is 30,000 points, it'll increase once you top that. There's no high score screen though...

Score -Your current score. Increase it by defeating enemies, beating bosses and collecting bonus items.

Life Block -Each block represents a bar of life. You can obtain more blocks by collecting life items. If you lose a life bar and have no blocks left, you'll have to use a continue, otherwise it's game over. You can have a maximum of four life blocks.

Life Bar -This will deplete whenever you take damage. Once the bar has been completely depleted, you will lose a life block.

Weapon -Your current weapon. The default weapon is the whip, but there are some weapons with limited uses to find in certain levels. The amount of uses the extra weapons have will be displayed next to the picture of the weapon.

Earnest Evans is an platform/action game. You play as Earnest Evans, a treasure hunter who's armed with a whip. Get through each level by defeating enemies, pass deadly traps and obstacles, and find key items to progress. In total there are twelve levels, with there being a boss to fight at the end of most of them. After finishing certain levels, a cutscene will play (CD version only), which shows what's going on in the story.

If Earnest takes damage, the life bar will decrease. If you want to increase your life, look for these items:

Apple

Collecting an apple will give you one block of health.

Meat

Raw meat will give you two life blocks when collected, but this is a rare item.

Potion

The potion will completely restore all of your life blocks and life bar.

If you have four life blocks already and collect an apple or meat, the life bar will increase instead.

 

If the life bar depletes to nothing and there are no life blocks left, Earnest will collapse and the continue screen will appear. You have several seconds to press start to continue, doing so will let you resume playing immediately. If you die after using your last continue, the game will end and then go back to the title screen.

JUMPING

A key move to master to get anywhere in this game at all. You can control which direction he's going to go during a jump by holding left or right.

CROUCHING

Press down to make Earnest crouch. You'll have to do this at certain parts of the game to fit through tight spaces. Press up to stand back up again.

LYING DOWN

Whilst crouching, press down again to lie down. Press up to go back into the crouching position. You'll need to use this occasionally if you want to get through some really narrow spaces. It also sets you up for the below move.

ROLLING

Whilst lying down, press the jump button to roll forwards. This is actually more of a warning than a description because my advice is to never use this move, it often gets you into a lot more trouble. Earnest rolls a great distance, and it can send him straight into enemies or hazards. It takes him a while to recover from each roll as well, which can lead to you losing a lot of life. This move also appears to be glitchy, I've been able to somehow do it without pressing the jump button -like Earnest just decides to do it by himself sometimes.

USING ROPES

Move onto a rope and hold up to grab onto it. You can move up or down by using the joypad, and you can attack whilst holding onto a rope as well. Press the jump button to leap off a rope.

CLIMBING

Whilst next to a wall, hold up to start climbing up it. You can attack whilst clinging to a wall, or press the opposite direction on the joypad or the jump button to leap off. Not all walls can be climbed.

ATTACKING

Press the attack button to make Earnest use the whip. He can swing it pretty quickly, and if you hold up on the joypad, he'll aim at whatever is above him.

USING THE WHIP ON OBJECTS

You can also use the whip to grab onto certain objects, and use them to send Earnest flying a great distance -perfect for avoiding more difficult routes and some traps. Attack the object, if you do it right hold either left or right to control how far you fly.

 

FLAME WHIP

Available only in the second level, this makes the whip all red and more importantly, Earnest gets a hat! This is also the only extra weapon that has an infinite amount of uses.

ROCKS

Uses: 15

Found only in level 3, these stones pack quite a punch -one hit from a rock is 100 times more powerful than a hit from the whip! There are 15 rocks in a pile, and there are two piles to find in the level.

MACE

Uses: 20

This weapon is only available in the fourth level. It's a little strange to use, but is quite good as it automatically targets enemies and is very effective against the boss of the level.

MALLET

Uses: 40

I'm calling this a mallet because it sounds better than "rock on a stick". You can only use this weapon in level nine, and it has quite good hitting power.

The configuration menu -which is called options in the cartridge version -can be accessed from the main menu. It has a few different options:

Music -Listen to any music track here. The CD version also lets you play audio from the cutscenes.

Sound Effects -Play any of the game's sound effects.

Control -Change the buttons for attacking, jumping and weapons here. There are three different layouts available.

Visual Scene -Choose if you want the cutscenes to play or not. This option is only available in the CD version.

Exit -Go back to the main menu.