Introduction
Welcome to Tims, Tams and the Tower o' Tims. This guide aims so that you can better understand how Tims and Tams work. As a result, this should allow you to help them fulfill their role in repairing the Tower o' Tims more efficiently. Despite being mentioned by the game as a sub-objective, its completion is essential to unlocking many achievements, including Balan's a Happy Chappy.
Please note that not all mysteries surrounding Tims have been solved yet. For this reason, information on some topics (such as Tim behaviors) might end up a bit vague. Thus, edit suggestions are more than welcome.
I've kept the guide free of spoilerish screenshots, but the final two sections of this guide are nevertheless not recommended for people avoiding spoilers. However, be aware that discovering the content they cover by yourself might take longer than expected, as it relies more on chance than logic.
Tims And Tams
Tims are bird-like creatures players can find throughout their adventure on Balan's Wonderworld. During stages, there's a chance they will help the player collect items such as Raindrops, keys, and eggs, or fight equal-sized Negatis and destroy spiky orbs. They are responsible for purifying frightened hearts and making way so the player can reach and fight bosses.
After eating a lot, Tims eventually become Tams, which means they are ready to lay eggs as soon as you hit them with a Tim. The chick will inherit the physical characteristics from both Tim and Tam. That, together with rescuing Tims during stages and finding eggs, is how you increase your Tim population. Tams automatically turn back into Tims after some time if you don't help them lay their eggs.
It's also worth noting Tims have special abilities depending on their color. Pink Tims enjoy looking for items, while red Tims are prone to attack opponents. As your Tim population grows, you'll also notice new characteristics start to pop up, such as long ears and body patterns. Rainbow Eggs, which can be found during stages, usually hatch into Tims with special characteristics.
Body Patterns
Charts by KetrinDarkDragon
Tams can't accompany you on missions, but Tims will, and they might sometimes end victim to dangers such as carnivorous plants. For this reason, keeping an eye out for your Tims during stages is important, especially if they have medals.
Medals are automatically given to Tims and Tams as they eat a lot of blue, pink, or red raindrops. For instance, after eating a lot of blue raindrops, a Tim/Tam should earn a blue medal. Tims and Tams can earn up to three medals. These medals aren't only for cosmetics, and their use will be explained further in the guide.
Tower O' Tims
The Tower o' Tims starts as a rotary wheel with a tally counter at the Isle of Tims, the hub where players return after leaving a stage. Happy Tims (in other words, Tims that have recently eaten) will automatically jump into it to spin it and raise the numbers. It is also possible to lure them so that they're pulled into the wheel against their will, but they're going to leave a few seconds later.
As the number grows and reaches specific milestones, a tower itself will start to take place, and healthy Tims will be able to enter it to go through a ride. Every time a Tim reaches specific points of the ride, the numbers go up. The ride grows as the counter reaches each milestone, except for the ones that unlock trampolines instead. Just like luring Tims into the rotary wheel, it's possible to throw Tims inside the ride, but instead of getting teleported to the elevator, they get launched out of it.
Trampolines, on the other hand, can only be used by Tams. They also contribute to raising the numbers, and it is possible to unlock up to four of them. There are 13 milestones in total.
Tower o' Tims Milestone List:
Sub-objective /30 - Unlock the base of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /70 - Unlock the first section of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /420 - Unlock a second Tam trampoline
Sub-objective /770 - Unlock the second section of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /1,460 - Partially repair the Clock of Happiness
Sub-objective /2,450 - Unlock the third section of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /3,800 - Unlock a third Tam trampoline
Sub-objective /5,600 - Unlock the fourth section of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /7,850 - Partially repair the Clock of Happiness
Sub-objective /10,700 - Unlock the fifth section of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /14,250 - Unlock a fourth Tam trampoline
Sub-objective /18,600 - Unlock the sixth section of the Tower o' Tims
Sub-objective /24,000 - Fully repair the Clock of Happiness
Raindrops And Father Tim Statues
Raindrops, also known as the gemstones you can feed to Tims and Tams, can be collected throughout stages. Late game chapters usually have way more raindrops to collect than early game ones, not to mention more Balan's Bouts, which can multiply the raindrops you've collected by up to 200%. It's important not to waste these multipliers by entering Balan's Bouts before collecting a significant amount of raindrops. It is also important not to spam the button when feeding Tims/Tams, as throwing more than two handfuls of raindrops will cause the first ones to despawn.
There's also a special kind of raindrop, the rainbow raindrop. There are two ways to collect them: revisiting stages or finding hidden Father Tim statues. The Father Tim statues hidden throughout stages look just like the one at Isle o' Tims, but instead of asking for rainbow raindrops, they give them out.
The rainbow raindrops collected can be given to the Father Tim statue at Isle o' Tims. Every time you handle it rainbow raindrops, the bar will fill until the statue begins asking for a King Tim instead. There's no point in keep giving raindrops to the statue after filling the bar. Instead, it's time to proceed to the next section.
King Tim And Ultima Tim
Now that you've finally completed repairing the Tower o' Tims, know how Tims and Tams work, and fed the Father of Tims, it's time to work towards the birth of King Tim and the awakening of Ultima Tim. While repairing the Tower o' Tims doesn't seem to be a requisite to hatch a King Tim, it does seem to increase the chances.
The process of getting King Tim is quite simple: you will need to combine a three-medal Tam with a three-medal Tim. So far, however, nobody knows what leads (if something) to a 100% chance of getting a King Tim, so if a common Tim comes out of the egg, the best thing you can do is ALT + F4 the game and try again. Once King Tim is born, you'll need to feed him until he's grown to a size you can grab him. If you don't have enough Raindrops to feed him, be careful when you go farm them on stages, as there's a chance King Tim will accompany you and die.
As soon as he's grown, you can grab him and throw him towards the Father of Tims. That will awaken the Ultima Tim, which will give you a lift to an island with one of the best costumes of the game, the Balan costume. As described by the game, it allows you to jump way up high and soar through the skies. As you can guess, it's extremely useful and allows you to collect statues much faster.
In case you get hit while wearing the costume, you'll miss it like usual. Don't fret, though. All you need to do to reacquire it is feed the Ultima Tim a few more Rainbow Raindrops, and they will lift you to the island once again. You won't even need King Tim anymore. However, note this costume is not stackable. Feeding the Ultima Tim to reach the costume again if you already have one is nothing but a waste of Rainbow Raindrops.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2444338563
More BALAN WONDERWORLD guilds
- All Guilds
- How to open the menu to save or exit
- Activating Checkpoints Quicker
- Parkour Costumes
- Lanced Negati's Guide