insaniquarium

Insaniquarium was created by Flying Bear Entertainment and PopCap Games. It was awarded "Innovation In Game Design" in the 2002 Independent Games Festival by the Game Developers Conference.

The first version of the game was Java-based and was available as a free online game. Shortly after, a PDA version was released. The latest version is the popular Insaniquarium Deluxe, for PC (released in September 2004).

The deluxe version of Insaniquarium costs approximately $20, and features enhanced graphics, new pets, new modes of gameplay, and a new type of currency called shells. Shells are collected as you continue to play, and can be used to buy various upgrades and bonus pets.

Basic Gameplay

Insaniquarium can be played either in Adventure, Time Trial, Challenge, or Virtual Tank mode.

Adventure Mode

In adventure mode, the object is to advance through a series of four tanks, each with five levels, and then to beat the boss monster Cyrax. Although the tanks get progressively harder and feature different monsters, each level starts with the player having two small guppies, $200 available, and needing to obtain three egg shell pieces to finish the level.

Guppies start small, but as they are fed they can grow into medium and then large guppies. Medium guppies periodically drop silver coins worth $15, and large guppies drop gold coins worth $35. After a number of minutes, a large guppy can become a blue guppy(also known as a king guppy) and drop diamonds worth $200. During the game players have at their disposal a number of available upgrades, including food (both the quality and the number of food pellets that can be dropped at once), weapons (to repel aliens) as well as other features. The option to purchase egg shells often is not available until other upgrades or special fish are first purchased; the cost of egg shells rises as the player progresses through the different levels.

Special Fish

There are more fish invovled in the game than just guppies. There are also...

• Carnivores: Piranha-ish fish that eat only baby guppies, but produce diamonds.
• StarFish: When a large guppy eats a star potion, it becomes a StarFish. These produce stars, worth $40.
• Starcatchers: Squid-like creature that roam the bottom of the tank and eat the stars produced by StarFish. It gives a diamond for each star it eats.
• Guppycrunchers: Like carnivores, they eat only baby guppies. Like Starcatchers, they are confined to the bottom of the tank. These give beetles worth $150.
• Beetlemuncher: As their name implies, these fish eat the beetles produced by the Guppycrunchers. They also produce pearls worth $500.
• Breeders: These fish look a lot like normal guppies, but they're not. Instead of producing money, these fish produce baby guppies.
• Ultravores: The near-shark huge fish that eats carnivores, in the same way that carnivores eat baby guppies. This fish produces treasure chests worth $2000.

After a player has beat the first four tanks, the new pet screen will come up as in previous levels. However, instead of a new pet made available, Cyrax appears on the screen. The final battle then begins with Cyrax warping into a guppie-less tank; unlike previous levels, however, all of the player's pets (except for: Angie, Presto, Brinkely, Stanley, Walter and Nostradamaus) are made available. The goal is to beat Cyrax, who attacks by producing miniature Sylvesters which are harmful to the pets. Moreover, other aliens will periodically warp into the tank and begin to attack the pets. In this tank, Cyrax can take away the special powers of your pets, but, once Cyrax is defeated, your pets will regain their powers.

Time Trial Mode

Similar to Adventure mode, but the player is restricted to five minutes for the first tank and ten minutes for the other three tanks, and egg shells no longer count towards finishing a level, but rather adds a random pet into the tank. Each shell costs double the previous one, with the first shell starting at $100. The goal of the Time Trial mode is simply to make as much money as possible. In the deluxe version, after you have run out of time, 5% of your monetary score is converted to shells and collected by the virtual tank.

Challenge Mode

Similar to Adventure mode, but the cost of each item on the board rises 1% for every five seconds of game time. Buying a shell piece resets the cost of all of the items except for other shell pieces; as such, shell pieces eventually cost $99,999 if the player waits enough time. Moreover, the difficulty and number of aliens allowed in the tank also rise as time progresses, behooving the player to finish as quickly as possible. Finally, unlike in the adventure mode, after five minutes all purchase options are open so that there is no need to purchase specific upgrades or special fish to be able to buy other items or egg shell pieces.

See Challenge Mode VIDEOS at http://users.insaniquariumguide.com/benyu/

Virtual Tank mode

The Virtual Tank mode enables the player to purchase and manage fish purchased from a Virtual Store. Many different types of fish are available, each with a special attribute. There are also rare pre-named fish available, and many possible upgrades for the tank.

Bonus Adventure Mode

This mode is replaces Adventure mode after you defeat Cyrax in Adventure Mode. This only difference from this mode is that after you finish a level you go to the shell collecting level. In this mode, your fishes cannot die of starvation and, unless you buy the alien attractor, of aliens

Sandbox Mode

Unlocked after you obtain the silver trophy. To use Sandbox Mode you have to press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A. If you've done this right you will appear in a tank. Pressing keys on your keyboard will spawn fish, pets and aliens except Cyrax.

Pets

There are 24 pets in the Deluxe version of Insaniquarium, four of which are bonus pets. In the original Java version of the game there were only 10 pets (they are listed first below), with a random regular pet being unlocked each time a level was completed. In the Deluxe version the pets are unlocked in the order given below. Brinkley, Nostradamus, Stanley, and Walter are bonus pets and can be obtained only after earning enough shells.

• Stinky the Snail - Collects coins at the bottom of the tank.
• Niko the Oyster - Produces pearls, which you can click on for $250.
• Itchy the Swordfish - Fights aliens.
• Prego the Momma Fish - Produces small guppies.
• Zorf the Seahorse - Produces free level-two fish food.
• Clyde the Jellyfish - Collects coins that are falling if he passes by them.
• Vert the Skelefish - Drops gold coins as though he were a large guppy.
• Rufus the Fiddler Crab - Fights aliens forced to the bottom of the tank.
• Meryl the Mermaid - Causes all guppies to drop three coins in unison.
• Wadsworth the Whale - Hides small and medium guppies during alien attacks.
• Seymour the Turtle - Slows down coins and fish food.
• Shrapnel the Robot Fish - Drops bombs worth $150, but these will kill fish on contact if not collected.
• Gumbo the Angler - Lures guppies far away from aliens. Aliens can still eat fish if they are let near Gumbo.
• Blip the Porpoise - Gives location of alien attacks, alien health, tells you with an arrow when fish are hungry, and unlocks all items for purchase.
• Rhubarb the Hermit Crab - Pinches fish away from the bottom of the tank.
• Nimbus the Manta Ray - Bounces coins and fish food to the top of the tank.
• Amp the Electric Eel - Electrocutes all of the guppies in the tank, killing them and turning them into diamonds.
• Gash the Shark - Attacks aliens powerfully, but eats your guppies as a price, no matter the size.
• Angie the Angelfish - Revives dead fish who have their corpse she passes by that are still in the tank.
• Presto the Tadpole - Transforms into any other unlocked pet.

Bonus Pets (May contain spoilers)

• Brinkley the Scuba-Diving Elephant - Eats fish food, and gives items for every three food items he eats, the items becoming more and more valuable. This pet was first made available in the PDA version of the game.
• Nostradamus the Nosefish - Drops snot which gives you $1. He occasionally delays alien attacks with a sneeze as well. If a guppy eats the snot they will turn into Nostradamus. Nostradamus is supposed to be the nose of Rutherford B. Hayes.
• Stanley the Startingly Small Sea Serpent - Throws balls at aliens, doing decent damage and destroying alien missile attacks.
• Walter the Penguin - Punches other pets, activating their powers. Also can be used to punch your fish, making them drop money. Does not work with Angie, Walter, Itchy, Rufus, Prego. Makes Presto revert back to its original form.

Aliens

In addition to feeding fish, the player must protect the fish from aliens that attempt to eat the fish. The deluxe version of the Insaniquarium contains eight different signatures, but in the original Java version there are four alien types (referred to as "signatures").

• Sylvester the Alien
• Balrog the Alien
• Gus the Baby-Faced Man-Child (or Glutton) or "Type G"
• Destructor the Alien or "Type D"

The deluxe version doubles the number of aliens to include:

• Ulysses the Alien or "Type U"
• PsychoSquid or "Type P"
• Bilaterus the Alien or "Type II"
• Mini Sylvester the Alien
• Cyrax the Evil Alien Mastermind or "Final Boss of Doom"

Game Modifications

Insaniqualien or Insaniquarium Deluxe Revenge of the Fish version 1.0

Original=New

Guppy=Mini-Sylvester

Carnivore=Balrog

Statrcatcher=Destructor

Guppy Cruncher=Ulysses

Beetle Muncher=Gus

Breeder=Blue Cyrax

Ultravore=PsychoSquid

Sylvester=Large Carnivore

Balrog=Gash

Gus=Beetle Muncher

Destructor=Rhubarb

Missile=Guppy Cruncher

Ulysses=Star Catcher

PsychoSquid=Stanley

Bilaterus=Chain of Guppies, 1st one is blue and balloon-like, last one is a king

Mini-Sylvester=carnivore

Cyrax="Evil Bob"

There is a similar version where the original Sylvester is a Cyrax.

Cheats

• If you have a laptop and mouse you can click both left buttons to shoot,feed,ect. faster.

TIME - Displays the time elapsed in the lower right corner of the tank. Typing the same will cancel the time display.

ZOMBIE - Normal fish look like dead ones. Typing the same will revert back to normal.

SPACE - Outer-space background. Typing the same will revert back to normal.

VOID - No background (solid white). Typing the same will revert back to normal.

SUPERMEGAULTRA - Prego will make different sound on giving birth. Typing the same will revert back to normal.

WELOVEBETATESTERS - Replaces the Breeder fish's "pop" with a really disgusting birth noise.

PREGO - Goes back to the normal Prego sounds.

WAVY - Background will ripple and distort making it appear more like it is being reflected through a water tank. Typing the same will revert back to normal.

GIVE - Allows you to give shells to another user.

B - briefly adds a few bubbles to your tank.

External links

• Flying Bear Entertainment
• Insaniquarium discussion boards
• Popcap Games
• The Insaniquarium Guide