Dr . Micro, 1983 Sanritsu

Oddball little multi-stage game in which you play the role of some plucky adventurer trying to topple the evil reign of the titular mad scientist, who sends various creatures after you (and some collect chemical drips of some sort and drop them down on you, and some drips rain on their own from a network of tubes). You can at times jump and at other times shoot, but never at the same time (both tasks assigned to one button). On the first stage, you must navigate rising and lowering platforms to advance to the right to end the stage. Here is where some sort of animated beaker (or something) fills with chemical and drops it down on you, and some sort of creature menaces you from the right by throwing some sort of projectile at you. You have no jump here-- just the laser you can shoot enemies with. So without a jump, you drop down to the platforms. If you miss, don't worry; a lifeboat will catch you and bounce (?) you back up, so you can't fall to your death-- on this or ANY stage in the game! Once you reach the 2nd to last platform the stage is over and the game controls you the rest of the way. On the 2nd stage you have control of a jump only when you need to jump on balls that send you up in the air. Once you're standing on a ball you can shoot enemies. The ball will eventually shrink and disappear, sending you falling to the ground where you simply board another ball. The ball you ride is sent scurrying around via wind machines on the left and right, so perhaps flying on the opposite side of the wind machine when in its path is a good idea. Monsters will eventually fly up to harass you and fire projectiles at you; your shots can go through multiple monsters (and other balls) for some extra points. After shooting a certain amount of the monsters an exit will appear. You have to hurry to catch it, though if you miss it another will appear after another quota of slain monsters is met. The final stage is sort of reminiscent of the Pie Factory from Donkey Kong, what with all the conveyor belts you must navigate, and items you must jump over at the same time. There are also presses here you must learn the timing of, so you can advance past them safely. If you are daring you may be able to reach bonus prizes in hard-to-reach places by jumping carefully over the top of the presses (I don't recommend it). Halfway up the screen is a laser cannon-- once you collect it you sacrifice your jumping for shooting lasers, and you can blast not only the slag on the conveyor belts (that you jumped over previously) but 2 robots guarding Dr. Micro himself! But to get to the robots you must pass an annoying laser cannon (I guess that's what it is-- this is a weird-ass game) that spews out red projectiles that bounce in a hard-to-navigate pattern; you must have great patience and surgical precision to survive here! Just past it is a platform that rises and lowers; the robots are just above. If you get to the floor the robots are on DO NOT SPARE THE LASER AMMO!!!! BLAST THE LIVING HELL OUT OF THESE BUGGERS AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! They will shoot some sort of weird projectile if you give them the opportunity, so don't let them! Waste them and Dr. Micro falls down a floor or two and runs off, defeated. Then the stages begin again with faster/more persistent/more trigger-happy enemies and other added dangers. A refrain from the dumb movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang plays throughout this game! Oddball little title-- certainly playable but not super memorable apart from its weirdness. Suggested by YouTube user Ace Ray 24.