Sound the alarm! Bad Piggies is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, and PC! Take a deep breath because there is a lot, and we mean A LOT, of information to outline (consider this our exhaustive guide to this amazing game). If you’re eyes have already glazed over, or you had too much bacon for breakfast (shame on you!), then watch the “First Look” video above. It contains a lot of great info as well as a bunch of the actual gameplay. Okay, without further ado, let’s get started.
First, some helpful links:
Bad Piggies 3 star walkthroughs for all 90 levels of Ground Hog Day and When Pigs Fly are live!
Sandbox walkthrough pages with a huge numbered panorama image to help you navigate and retrieve all 20 star boxes
Main Bad Piggies landing page, complete with the latest news, updates, and walkthorughs.
All Bad Piggies news can be found in our “Pig News” section.
Availability:
Like Angry Birds Space, Bad Piggies is launching simultaneously on multiple platforms. This is something quite unique in the world of mobile games. A bunch of additional platforms will be available soon as well, though we don’t know the exact dates as of yet.
iPhone/iPod Touch: Bad Piggies (SD) costs $0.99 USD in the Apple AppStore. It is not clear whether there will ever be a “Free” version of the app (whether in limited content and/or ad-supported), but for now we assume no. The app requires at least iOS 4.0 to run, and only works on iPhone 3GS and higher, or iPod Touch 3rd generation and higher. * A special note here for iPhone 5 owners. iPhone 5, as you know, has a taller screen than iPhone 3GS/4/4S. Precisely, it is 176 pixels taller. The app will, for now, run in “letter-box mode”, with 88 pixels of grey-space on either extreme. Rovio has said that, in the future, they plan to adjust their apps to detect which resolution is needed and display as-such.
iPad: Bad Piggies HD costs $2.99 USD in the AppStore. Same deal about “Free” as above. The app requires at least iOS 4.0 to run, and works on all generations of iPad. Perhaps most notably, it has retina support for “iPad 3”.
Google Play: Bad Piggies comes in a free (ad-supported) version for both mobile and tablet. The minimum system requirements seems to be Android OS 2.2 and up, but there may also be device-specific limitations as well.
Amazon App Store: Bad Piggies is available ad-free for $0.99 on mobile and for $2.99 for Kindle.
Mac: Bad Piggies on your lovely Mac costs $4.99 and requires OS X 10.6.6 or higher.
PC: Bad Piggies costs $4.95 on your PC. Head over to shop.angrybirds.com to purchase.
NOOK Color: Bad Piggies is now available for NOOK! It costs $2.99 from Barnes & Noble.
Episodes, Levels, Bonus Content
Rovio is very good about packing their games full of content, and Bad Piggies is no exception. Your purchase includes 95 unique levels broken out over two full episodes and one playground-esque episode, fittingly named, “Sandbox”.
Two Traditional Episodes:Ground Hog Day (GHD) and When Pigs Fly (WPF). You can actually start on either one of these episodes, though Ground Hog Day is the logical beginning as it incrementally introduces you to new items.
72 Levels in the “Traditional” Episodes: Ground Hog Day and When Pigs Fly each contain 36 normal levels, listed in 9 rows of 4 (we mention the rows because they are tied to unlocking the bonus levels). These levels are numbered via “Arabic numerals” (1, 2, 3, …). The ultimate goal is to complete each level with 3 stars. The first star is always tied to getting your freckled pig across the checkered finish line. The other two stars are obtained by completing certain objectives, which can vary. I’ll explain more later.
18 “Bonus” Levels: GHD and WPF each contain 9 “Bonus” levels, one corresponding to each row of levels. These levels are numbered via “Roman numerals” (I, II, III, …). They are unlocked by obtaining a certain number of stars in the respective row. For example, Level 1-I corresponds to Levels 1-1 thru 1-4, Level 1-II to 1-5 thru 1-8, etc. The threshold for unlocking these levels increases with the numerical value. Starring these levels works the same as the normal levels.
Sandbox Episode: The “third” episode, which is considered non-sequential, is a bit different. This episode currently contains five levels. We are not yet 100% clear as to when each Sandbox level is unlocked, but some are unlocked when you earn a certain number of stars, while other require you to find hidden skulls. These levels are played a bit differently, and will be explained in the gameplay section.
Skulls: There are 10 skulls hidden in each episode, for a total of 20. Obtaining skulls does not help you pass the level, but rather unlock bonus content. Some might think they are like the “Golden Eggs” in Angry Birds, but this is a little inaccurate, since they don’t individually unlock new levels. Instead, they are more like the Hidden Fruit in Angry Birds Rio, which cumulatively unlock new content. Specifically, they help unlock the fifth “Sandbox” level, as noted above.
Gameplay! (The Good Stuff)
Bad Piggies gameplay is amazing. Not only are there endless combinations of contraptions you can build, but you actually get to control many of them. It’s also super easy to restart and reconfigure your contraption, which is nice since you do it a lot. The only downside that I can see is that without a scoring mechanism the replay-ability is somewhat diminished.
First Star: The bare minimum to pass a level is to get our friendly freckled pig to cross the checkered finish line via some crazy contraption (or not in contraption at all!). The levels get challenging pretty quickly, but it’s a fun learning curve.
Second & Third Stars: These stars are obtained by performing certain tasks on the way to obtaining the “First Star”. These tasks vary by level, but some common ones include:
Obtain one (or two) of the blue-star-boxes
Avoid “Krak-snapping” your cart — that is, avoid any significant damage
Not using a certain part — noted by a crossed-through circle
Beat the clock, with the time noted under the clock
Save King Pig by keeping him in the cart all the way to the finish line
You don’t have to obtain all the stars in one go! In other words, you can use multiple attempts, contraptions, and methods to obtain the additional stars. In fact, most levels are impossible to 3-star in a single run.
Sandbox Stars: 20 stars each! As we said above, these are obtained a little differently. The 20 star boxes are scattered around the level (one box = one star). You can use as many runs and as many different vehicles as you’d like in an attempt to obtain all 20. Note that when you obtain a box, it is gone for good. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not since the level inherently lacks replay-ability. (Perhaps change obtained boxes to red for distinction?)
Building: You must build your vehicle within the darkened squares. The pig does not need to go inside of the vehicle, though this is the typical method. It’s also important to note that the game remembers your last-built vehicle, which helps speed things up and aids for reconstruction. Lastly, to save some time, you can shift your entire vehicle using the arrow keys at the top of the screen (the arrows only appear if you have a blank row or column to shift into).
Mechanic Pig! If you can’t figure out how to construct your vehicle why not call a Mechanic? He will quickly construct an appropriate vehicle for you (Secret, save money, use our walkthroughs instead). You can grab 3 Mechanics for free by “Liking” Bad Piggies on Facebook and earn a few others via gameplay. Additional Mechanics are available via an in-app purchase. The cost is 10 Mechanics for $1.99 USD, 35 for $5.99, or 65 for $9.99.
Achievements! Currently 33 on iOS. Sorry Mac users, but still no Game Center integration from Rovio. That said, if you’re curious check out the Bad Piggies Achievements page here on ABN.
Controlling Your Contraption: Certain parts, such as soda bottles, fans, and motors can be activated and/or turned on and off. The easiest method is to use the blue buttons that show up on-screen, which groups like-items together. Like-items are identical items facing in identical directions. On the other hand, you can manually activate each item by tapping the actual item on-screen in lieu of the button. Many times this is the preferred method as it gives you more granular control over each item.
Notable Menu Elements
Lightbulb Icon: Tap the lightbulb icon to bring up a handy sketchbook that contains helpful illustrations on how to use different parts, control your vehicle, etc. Swipe left or right or use the green arrows to navigate between pages of your notebook.
Magnifying Glass Icon: When tapped this icon will pause the game and bring up the starring requirements (top). You can also navigate around the level and zoom in and out. Note, when in build-mode, a two finger pinch also brings up this screen.
Most all the other menu items will be feel very familiar to everyone.
Well, there you have it. Told you there was a lot to cover. As always, if you have questions, find bugs, secrets, or the like, feel free to leave them in the comments below. We hope you enjoy Bad Piggies as much as we have.
