Tearaway Thomas

You control Thomas, a strange-looking but vaguely cutesy animal of some description in an ultra-fast platform game. There are 50 levels, split into 5 groups of 10.

Each one has a certain number of gems, and your task is to collect a certain number of them (for example, level 2 has 55 and you need at least 40) and then find the exit, all within the time limits. The yellow gems are worth 50 points and the purple ones 100, although the purple ones don’t appear to be more precariously-placed, and the total makes no distinction, so this is for colour as much as anything. Once you’ve got the required amount, the gems double in value, tempting you to continue to explore

The levels are infested with cutesy-looking baddies, such as birds and bears, which can’t be killed, and must be avoided, as contact with them costs you time as Thomas picks himself up. You can jump on the heads of some of them, which gives a small points bonuses. The layouts include ropes to ascend, moving platforms and more. Some levels are entirely vertically-scrolling, seeing you progress up the ledges of a tree or similar.

If you run out of time you lose a life, but the level isn’t reset, so you keep the number of gems collected and have a fresh set of time. This means that you are far less likely to lose a second life on the level, similarly to Chase HQ.