http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain

1. Jumpstart 3rd Grade Mystery Mountain
2. Jumpstart 4th Grade Haunted Island Emulator

JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain is a computer game. Instead of settling for a bad grade, I changed history to match my answers. Now that all the Robots are home safe, feel free to stay and explore the mountain all you want. Create a book Download as PDF Download as PDF Printable version. . JUMPSTART 3RD Grade Adventures: Mystery Mountain. JUMPSTART Advanced 3RD Grade Legal note: Old Games Finder is a search engine and assumes no responsibility for the content of external websites. To get the download for JumpStart 1stGrade you can find the link directly on the JumpStart website. You can also purchase the software at Amazon for about $4.89.

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Jumpstart 3rd Grade Mystery Mountain

Professor Spark

The world-famous inventor who created the Elaborate Underground Base inside Mystery Mountain, which serves as the game's setting. He is away on a business trip for the entire game.

• All There in the Manual: According to the old Knowledge Adventure website, his full name is Professor Alberto Leonardo Sparks. (The website used the 'Sparks' spelling, see Sudden Name Change.)
• Deus Exit Machina: Apparently, he would be able to control Polly if he was around, but he's not. He returns home at the end of the game.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Judging from his inventions, he's involved in just about every field of scientific research plus, based on the Art Gallery and Music Hall, the humanities.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Botley clearly respects his authority, and reasons that he'd understand Botley breaking a few of his rules for the greater cause of saving the world. And when he does return home at the end of the game, Professor Spark quickly sees through Polly's attempt to blame everything on Botley.
• Sudden Name Change: His last name is 'Spark' in JumpStart 3rd Grade, but it changes to 'Sparks' in JumpStart Typing.

Polly Spark

Professor Spark's third-grade daughter. After failing a history quiz at school, she decides to send twenty-five robots back in time to change history so that her silly quiz answers will be correct. She is the game's villain, and your task is to foil her plans.

• Big Bad: She is the overall villain of the game, and is responsible for the whole time-travel plot that you have to stop.
• Book Dumb: Sort of. She doesn’t seem to do well in quizzes.
• Dub Name Change: She's named 'Klara Blixt' in the Swedish release of the game.
• Enfant Terrible: Polly is a malicious kid.
• Heel–Face Turn: Polly mellows out considerably by the time of JumpStart Typing, with her and Botley on better terms.
• Four-Fingered Hands: As seen in the image on the right.
• Spoiled Brat: She has a very rotten and entitled attitude. How she got so spoiled is a bit of a mystery since her father doesn't seem especially doting.
• Sudden Name Change: As with her father, her last name becomes 'Sparks' in JumpStart Typing.

Ms. Winkle

The teacher of Polly's third-grade class. She runs a Raygun Gothic version of a traditional one-room schoolhouse.

• Schoolmarm: Technically, since she does run a one-room schoolhouse, albeit a Space Age version of one.

Botley (Android XL-2)

Your helpful guide and companion. He's meant to be Polly's babysitter, but the emergency situation means he has to instead devote his efforts to correcting the damage Polly has done to history.

• Badly Battered Babysitter: Botley was created for the onerous duty of babysitting Polly because she kept scaring away the sitters hired by her father.
• Dub Name Change: His name is 'Roybot' in the Swedish release of the game.
• Exposition Fairy: He serves as your guide throughout the game.
• Nice Guy: Botley is nice to literally everyone in the game.
• Robot Buddy: He's meant to be one for Polly, although she apparently isn't going for it. He is your buddy, however.

Mort

A very hungry robot who has locked himself in the Mountain's kitchen. You must satisfy him in the Robot Kitchen mini-game in order to receive a mission clue or some Invention Points.

• Big Eater: Botley notes that Mort eats so much that other robots call him, 'the bottomless pit.' It's true enough that Mort declares that he's starving every time you visit the kitchen.
• Eating Machine: The ingredients for Mort's meals include a mix of human food, stereotypical robot food like gears, and just plain random items such as soap and gold bullion.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His arms are bigger than his legs.

Mrs. Beasley

The archivist of the Art Gallery.

• Beehive Hairdo: She has a blue, beehive-like hairstyle.
• Scary Librarian: Subverted; she may have this vibe, but she is ultimately friendly.
• The Smurfette Principle: Of all the robots to preside over a mini-game, she is the only Fembot

Bothoven

A robot head who serves as an animated door knocker for the entrance to the Music Hall.

• I Can't Hear You: Considering who he's based on, it's inevitable.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Well, if you would categorize Ludwig van Beethoven as a celebrity anyway.
• Punny Name: Do we even need to explain it?

Maestro Trombot

The robot maestro who runs the Music Hall. He speaks with an Italian accent.

• One-Wheeled Wonder: As seen in the image on the right
• Transforming Mecha: Can transform into a cello if it is selected by the player.

Egbert

A robot scientist who presides over the Shrinking Machine Room and serves as caretaker for a number of specimens in there.

• Friend to All Living Things: Including bugs, and is offended when Polly makes mean-spirited jokes about his beloved specimens.

Monty Monitor

The talking monitor who presents the quiz you must pass in order to access the Time Machine.

• Game Show Host: Since Polly has reprogrammed his quiz into being a Game Show called 'Pollywood Squares', Monty now has the persona of one.

Polly's robot

A robot who resembles a little hovering shark and apparently serves as Polly's minion.

• No Name Given: Polly's robot is never referred to by name.
• The Quiet One: This robot never talks, at least not on-screen, but does occasionally let out a mischievous cackle.

The time-traveling robots

The twenty-five robots Polly sent back in time. They include, in the order depicted in the image at right:

• Top row:
  • Slobot: The Pig Pen ('He loves dirt so much, he married Professor Spark's vacuum cleaner!')
  • Miss Battery-Bot: A battery-themed robot
  • Booster-Bot: A rocket-themed robot
  • Rhonda Robot: Three-time winner of the Miss Silicon Chip Contest
• Second row down:
  • Danny Defrost-Bot: A snowman-themed robot
  • Roland Road-Bot: A track marshal-themed robot
  • Chef Boy-Robot: The robot chef
  • Verna the Vend-Bot: A vending-machine robot
  • Brunwella the Bombshell: A demolition robot whom Botley evidently has a crush on
  • Pierrot-Bot: A Pierrot-themed robot clown artist
  • Bongo-Bot the Six-Armed Robot Drummer: A, um, six-armed robot drummer
  • Vasco da Robot: A Bold Explorer who is pen-pals with Botley
  • Dr. Bug-Bot: The robot doctor
• Third row down:
  • Slide the Heavy Metal Robot: A literally heavy metal robot (he's made of lead) whom Polly reprogrammed to be a rock star
  • Noshi Origami: A exchange-student robot from Japan
  • Eraser-Bot: A pencil-themed robot
  • Amelia Air-Bot: A pilot-themed robot
  • Roast-Bot: A robot fireman
  • Bubble-Bot: A bubble-themed robot who was programmed to walk and chew gum at the same time ('That may not sound like much, but it took a long time to perfect')
• Bottom row:
  • Sock-Bot: A sock-themed robot
  • Flip the High-Diving Robot: A swimmer robot
  • Oswald: A mailman robot
  • Cosmo-Bot: A spaceman robot from Russia
  • Hank the Handyman: A robot Handy Man
  • Robby Robot: A practical joker robot

JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain
Developer: Knowledge Adventure Publishers: Knowledge Adventure (US), Levande Böcker (SE) Platforms: Windows, Mac OS Classic Released internationally: 1996 (US), 1998 (SE) This game has unused music. This game has revisional differences.

Currently the oldest game in the JumpStart franchise that is still being sold, JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain is a rather interesting entry in the series. Bratty half pint Polly Spark flunks a quiz after trying to get her teacher to laugh instead of doing it properly, and when she is appalled that she gets the exact grade she deserves as a result, she decides to take advantage of the secret mountain she lives in with her father, Professor Spark, and sends his numerous robots back in time to change the course of history and make her quiz answers correct. The robot who was programmed to watch after her, Botley, is none too pleased and asks the player to help out.

Often a contender for the best JumpStart game for its bizarre plot, memorable characters, and being a rare instance of an edutainment game that manages to be fun enough to keep you playing. Let's just say there's a very good reason Knowledge Adventure has gone to great lengths to keep this game alive for so long.

To do: Figure out how to open the files and see if any unused content remains of them

• 1Unused Music
• 2Revisional Differences
  • 2.1v1.1
    • 2.1.1Dialogue

Unused Music

General

This file, GE.mid, is never heard in-game despite being installed with the rest of the music. It was meant to be heard in the generator room, but in the finished game no music plays there at all. This problem carries on over to v1.1 as well; this issue wasn't corrected until v1.2.

Music Hall

The MODULE.INI file details all the possible puzzles that can be found in each of the games. In the music hall section, three entries are skipped over -- #6, #13, and #16. The first two still have their staves left over in the game, but no associated music files to actually hear them. Even though the last one has the timing data written in the INI file, it is missing its staves, so attempting to add it back in the game crashes it.

This one, #6, is the Bridal Chorus. Note that the music heard in this video is only a recreation and not actually in the game.

The other one, #13, is Mendelssohn's Wedding March. Once again the music in the video is only an interpretation.

Revisional Differences

To do: Figure out how to get proper audio rips and check for more differences, especially with 1.2 onward. Also, there's probably more removed dialogue, but I've only checked the intro so far.

Six known versions of this game exist. There is v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, v1.4, and v1.5. Additionally, the later updated 'Advanced' package oddly labels the game version as '1.1c', even though it came after the aforementioned versions.

v1.1

This version came out around 1998 and made a fair amount of changes, mostly affecting the length of the game.

Jumpstart 4th Grade Haunted Island Emulator

Dialogue

The most noteworthy difference is the altering of the opening. The opening in the v1.0 was insanely long and had a fair amount of information needlessly repeated and almost nonexistent user interaction. Naturally, Knowledge Adventure got a lot of complaints about this, and edited it down in all subsequent versions. Below is a list of all the removed dialogue.

Classroom

Line	Character	Comments
Now where could it be?	Botley	Spoken just as Botley starts to look around after initially getting up from under the desk.
But wait!... Nah... Well, it's worth a try...		Some random pondering that obviously didn't add too much.
The professor created me as a prototype companion device. You see, he was having such trouble finding sitters for Polly, 'cause she scares them all away, so he invented me. He also programmed me to be her friend, and believe me, it's tougher than it sounds.		Some extra back story information that the developers must have seen unworthy enough to keep. Funnily enough, despite the fact that the next line ('I'm not getting to the point, am I?') pokes fun at this tangent, they still kept it in later releases!

Front Door

Line	Character	Comments
Phew! Sorry about the landing. I wasn't programmed to fly.	Botley	Spoken after Botley crash lands to the front door. Probably cut for being redundant (he says nearly the exact same thing as his first line of dialogue in the game).
Umm... As I was saying... This is the professor's mountain. Polly should be inside, and I just bet she's watching us now.		Spoken after Botley's rocket detaches. Later releases cut straight to Polly watching from inside the mountain. Funnily enough, even though all the dialogue was cut, his gestures connected with them were still left intact, so he briefly raises his arm to introduce the mountain quite awkwardly.
Oh, that was the easy part, since daddy just invented that handy-dandy time machine upstairs. Everyone should have one! I just marched those robots into the machine, pushed a few buttons, and voila! Unfortunately, there's still one more question, the extra credit question, and it's super hard. That's why I've been looking for you, Knotley.	Polly	A fair amount of arguing that was cut. They went a little overboard here, though, because the mentioning of the extra credit question sets up the ending of the game. This leads to a big plot hole at the end where she demands that Botley still has to do the extra credit question, and it comes out of thin air as a result.
That's Botley! And I want nothing to do with your plan, Polly. Just bring those robots back! Don't you see? You could destroy us all!	Botley
(mimicking) 'You could destroy us all!'	Polly
But I'm warning you, if you don't get them back soon, I'm sending you off to do the extra credit question.	Polly	Apparently setting things up is overrated. Pulling plot points out of thin air is the much better way to go, quite clearly.

Mountain Entry

Line	Character	Comments
I s'pose I should give you a two sentence tour of the place.	Botley	A line removed for not being very important. Thank goodness, those kids probably would have hated waiting another whole two seconds.
See? Everyone's impressed by the professor.		Another unnecessary line.
Polly, you know I've been programmed to clean up your messes, and that includes bringing back my robot pals. I know you won't tell me where they are, but how about a little hint?		Yet another unnecessary line.
You and your friend will have to find and collect them all. And even if you can find them all, which I highly doubt you can, you will still have to go to daddy's time machine and figure out where I sent the robot, if you can expect to beat me. Oh, by the way, you know how daddy feels about amateurs going into the time machine room. It's a very sensitive piece of equipment, you know, so before a hunk of rusty bolts like you can get inside, you'll have to earn a bunch of invention points. A thousand of them should just about do it for starters.	Polly	A chunk of needless exposition that doesn't really tell you anything you need to know. If you don't know what the invention points are for anyway, you'll be told if you attempt to enter the time machine without enough.
Finding the clues should be a little less hopeless with my powerful sensoring device. Professor Spark cooked me up this way so I could better keep an eye on Polly. I can monitor every nook and cranny of the mountain.	Botley	An introduction to how Botley scans the area for mission clues. Obviously removed since the player can already figure it out for their self.

Other Changes

• The amount of invention points required used to gradually increase as more robots were rescued, starting at 1000 and going up by 500 with every five robots (so, the second batch would be 1500, the third 2000, and so on). This version stays fixed at 1000 through the whole game, greatly reducing the length.
• In v1.0, when completing the painting gallery, Botley would first congratulate you and instruct you to pick up the clue before it appeared. In this version, the clue appears first, then Botley starts to talk.
• In v1.0, when moving onto the second ring of the generator, it would still make pumping noise even before you placed any batteries. This version alters it so it's silent until you place a battery.
• The fanfare heard when completing the robot maze was replaced with applause in this version.
• The sound heard when rotating a piece in the virtual collection was altered in this version.
• The sound heard when destroying a ball in the shrinking room was altered in this version.
• The sound heard when a question disappears in the wheel of invention was removed in this version.

v1.2

To do: Pictures, videos, sound files, oh my!

In addition to the above changes, v1.2 has a few other changes:

• The opening logo was updated to the then-current one of the company slogan sliding in from the right, and the figure climbing the stairs to reach the star.
• FD.mid, ironically enough, no longer plays at the front door. This seems to be the result of a programming error though; you can briefly hear it start up before it stops, leading to a completely music-less opening. It is still played in the other areas of the game it originally played in though, including the classroom and the time machine.
• GE.mid now correctly plays in the generator room, and one more digitized piece was added there top of that.