DIXONS PREMIER COLLECTION - OCEAN AND AMSTRAD GIFT FROM THE GODS "The Power of Destiny' THE PLACE The Palace of Mycenea in Ancient Greece. THE PLAYERS Orestes Our Hero aided by the Gods returns to Mycenea, to regain his Kingdom from the clutches of his treacherous stepfather and evil mother. Clytaemnestra The traitorous queen who disposes of her husband and rules over the land with her conspirator Aegisthus, after banishing her children Orestes and Electra. Agamemnon The real ruler, whose death Orestes must avenge to restore prosperity to the people of Mycenae and power to the house of ATREUS. Electra Sister of Orestes, imprisoned by her mother in the catacombs below the palace, where Orestes must venture to find the solution to Agamemnon's Puzzle. THE GODS Zeus and Apollo - take Orestes to the summit of Mount Panassus and bestow upon him the gifts he will need to succeed in the Labyrinth and assume his rightful place on the throne. THE GIFTS From Zeus: he receives the silver studded sword given to Ajax by Hector after the Trojan Wars - alone this weapon has the power to defeat the illusionary creatures Orestes will face. From Apollo: Orestes is given the seven tears shed by Icarus as he flew towards the sun, these can be left as markers in tie catacombs. THE PLOT Orestes must fulfil his destiny by trial in the Labyrinth beneath the palace and find the solution to the puzzle, or perish in the attempt. The inter-connecting chambers were created by the gods to punish errant mortals and hidden in 16 special rooms are objects known as Euclidian shapes, geometric designs based on triangles, circles and squares; six of which, when positioned correctly in the Guardian's chamber reveal the exit and success. This chamber however is home of the Demi-Gods who use their power of illusion to prevent discovery of the shapes - Orestes must be wary of this deceit! To assist our Hero in his search the Gods have revealed the solution to Electra imprisoned beneath the palace, "Find Electra", Orestes is told, "she will lead you to the shapes you need", but without the help of Electra, Orestes must determine which shapes from which rooms must be taken to the Guardian's chamber. Terrifying illusionary creatures by the Demi-Gods will try to sap Orestes' strength ... he is advised by Zeus "Whenever you feel weak go at once to the Guardian's chamber where your strength will be restored" - if the creatures can be killed their power will temporarily be lost. "Use this fact to your advantage" advises Apollo. Finally Orestes is warned that Clysemnestra has learned of his task from a soothsayer. She has entered the catacombs to kill Electra, making Orestes task all the more difficult since he must protect his sister - without her he may never solve the puzzle! Orestes enters the darkness from where no human has ever returned ... CONTROLLING THE HERO The game has been designed to be played with a joystick but a keyboard option is available. Joysticks supported are: KEMPSTON PROTEK FULLER AGF SINCLAIR INTERFACE 2 (use this select icon) Any joystick compatible with one listed above will also work When the game has loaded you will be asked to make your selection of joystick/keyboard. Once chosen, your selection can only be changed by reloading the program. The hero has a large repertoire of movements available to him. He can run, turn round, step back (through a door), fly (in 8 different directions), take-off and land. Additionally he can fight by stabbing or scything with his sword. He can also pick up and drop objects. 'INTELLIGENT' JOYSTICK FEATURE All these movements are available from a single joystick (or the keyboard) without the need for complex combinations of stick and FIRE button or a plethora of keys. This is achieved by making the joystick 'INTELLIGENT', it knows what the Hero is doing and by implication what you want him to do next when you operate the controls. It would be confusing to present a list of joystick/keyboard functions; it's better for you to discover the rules by experiment. Load the game and when it is running, play with the joystick and see what the Hero does. You'll soon get the 'feel' of it; just remember that the direction you move the stick in will also be the direction in which the hero will move. STRATEGY TIPS i When the Hero's running, you can make him stop immediately by releasing the stick and pressing the FIRE button: ii To make the Hero turn and face backwards, stab the stick in the opposite direction to which he's facing, If this leaves him facing a door, simply push the stick up and he'll step back into the connected room. iii The Hero can only use his sword when he's on his feet. To make him stab: press the FIRE button and move the stick left or right (depending on which way he's facing). To make him scythe: press the FIRE button and pull the joystick down (regardless of which way he's facing). iv To make the Hero pick something up: press the FIRE button and push the stick up. To make him drop something he's carrying: simply pull the stick down. If you want him to drop something when he's flying, press the FIRE button as well. v There are two things that the Hero is able to pick up, carry and drop: EUCLIDIAN SHAPES and ICARUS'S TEARS. The Hero may carry as many or as few of the 7 tears as you wish. He can only carry one EUCLIDIAN SHAPE at a time. vi EUCLIDIAN shapes can only be dropped in the GUARDIAN'S CHAMBER and in the special rooms in which they're kept. Conversely, the Hero can only drop an ICARUS'S TEAR in the catacombs proper. vii To be sure the Hero knows what he's supposed to be picking up, position him above, below or over it before you operate the joystick PLAYING HINTS Try to think of the Hero as a real person; don't ask too much of him. Every action he performs will reduce his stamina, some more than others, as his stamina gets lower so he'll move more slowly, making it more difficult for him to get about and defend himself. Be sure to seek out the GUARDIAN'S CHAMBER or some other means of rejuvenation whenever he shows signs of flagging. Don't expect him to be able to kill the larger demons with just a quick flourish of his trusty SWORD. They can be 'stunned' quite easily, but to 'kill' a blow to its vulnerable part is necessary, which part that is you will have to discover for yourself. Don't underestimate the value of killing these illusionary creatures. Remember that the Guardians' power of illusion is lost to them for a short time when an illusionary creature is killed. That means the illusion of EUCLIDIAN SHAPES will disappear temporarily from their resting places within the catacombs. There are 64 shapes dispersed around the catacombs, your task is to discover the 6 "REAL" ones. If you come across the Hero's sister ELECTRA, follow her closely, she'll take you straight to one of the EUCLIDIAN SHAPES, you're looking for. The NYMPHS, may not help you. Finally, keep in mind that the Hero's mother, CLYTAEMNESTRA, who is also in the catacombs doing her best to sabotage her son's efforts. She'll pick up and move EUCLIDIAN SHAPES and ICARUS'S TEARS in an endeavour to confuse our Hero ORESTES. and worst of all, she'll kill ELECTRA if she finds her! CLYTAEMNESTRA will do her best to avoid meeting ORESTES as, needless to say, she's afraid of his hatred for her. The best way to thwart her is to keep her on the move. You'll know when she's in the vicinity because she always leaves behind her a small cloud of sparkling dust. KEYBOARD CONTROLS Keyboard operation reproduces 'INTELLIGENT' joystick feature. FIRE -Any key TOP row. UP -Any key SECOND row. DOWN -Any key THIRD row. LEFT - Any ALTERNATE key BOTTOM row. RIGHT -Any OTHER ALTERNATE key BOTTOM row. PAUSE -SPACE. Eight-way direction control can be achieved by using any combination of the above direction keys. MAILSTROM Picture an English town at the dawn at the 21st century. Oil from the North Sea ran dry years before; leading to riots and revolution. A coup took place resulting in major criminal figures governing the country. From the debris of this anarchy emerged a familiar yet unexpected sight; a bright red post van. This was, however, no ordinary van: Bristling with weaponry and equipped with a high speed propulsion unit, the van stood as an ironic reminder of the way things used to be. At the heart of this armoured postal delivery vehicle is the latest Special Knowledge and Information Terminal (SKIT), a sophisticated computer system which controls the vans surveillance, weapons and propulsion systems The driver of this formidable machine is postman Michael Nasty: Rooted in better times, he continues to deliver the post, nothing and no-one will be allowed to stand in his way. "The mail must get through" KEY BOV (Back of Van) - To store an item you have collected. While in this mode, and after collecting a case, press FIRE to discover what weapon or device you have just collected. If you have collected either armoury or Super Pursuit mode device then the below will apply, ARM - This allows you to select the weapon at your disposal. SPM - Allows your van to reach great speeds. PAWS (Pause) -Allows you to pause the game. While in pause mode you can quit the game by pressing 0. DAMAGE - Gives you report on damage sustained plus the number of sacks collected. POSTMAN - Exit mail van. VAN - Enter mail van. OUT - Exit icon menu. PLAYING You are Michael Nasty and your objective is to maintain the last outpost of a formerly proud postal service in a crumbling society. Collect letters from the 'OUT' chute in the sorting office, this will cause several numbers at the bottom of the screen to light up. These numbers correspond to the numbers of houses to which you must deliver letters. Open post boxes (by any means at your disposal) to find sacks which must be stored in your van for later. When a sorting office appears deposit the sacks (stored in the back of your van) in the 'IN' section. At any sorting office the number of sacks you deposit in the IN' chute will determine the number of sorted letters you can retrieve from the 'OUT' chute, of that office on the following day. At the end of each day you will be told how many sacks you must store in the sorting offices on the next day in order to continue the game. If you fail to deposit at least that number of sacks, the game will end. CONTROLS Mailstrom may be controlled by keyboard only. Pressing FIRE when touching an object in the road will cause Michael to pick up that object and drop any object he might already have been carrying. Pressing FIRE when touching the van will cause the main Icon window in SKIT. to open. Control is now transferred to the Icon cursor. Note Use 'UP', 'DOWN', 'LEFT' and 'RIGHT' controls to position the cursor over the desired Icon. Press 'FIRE' to select S.K.I.T. will explain the function of each Icon as it is selected. N.B. Experimentation with the Icon is recommended in order to become familiar with their operation. Keyboard UP - Keys 0 to P (SECOND ROW) DOWN - Keys A to ENTER (THIRD ROW) LEFT -CAPS SHIFT and alternate keys (BOTTOM ROW) FIRE - Keys 1 to 0 (TOP ROW) HINTS and TIPS 1. Avoid delivery to the wrong house. 2. Points are subtracted at the end of the day for undelivered letters. 3. It pays to deposit as many sacks as you can. 4. The minimum number of sacks allowed for the first day is one. N.O.M.A.D. THE GAME Out in the vastness of space lies the heart of an Intergalactic Criminal Network TALOS, a man-made asteroid slowly spinning through the void, spreading its evil through the Universe. At the head of this seemingly unstoppable force sits one man, the unspeakably vile Cyrus T. Gross. A name spoken only in whispered voices, Gross is the embodiment of all that is criminal. Avoiding any attempt to curtail his ever spreading empire, he has crushed all opposition and seems invincible, ruling his depraved Zealots with a fist of iron and a heart of ice. Though no law-enforcement agency has ever managed to convict him, he is surely responsible for many of the nefarious dealings that occur within the civilised Universe. Truly a man without scruples, guilty of arson, murder, gun-running and photo-nucleonic destruction of all people weaker than himself. In a last ditch attempt, the rulers of the Free Worlds have called in the Nemesis organisation, a hardened cadre of humanoid and robotic freebooters who have assigned NOMAD. 471 (Nemesis Organisation Mobile Attack Druid) to penetrate Gross' heavily armed homeworld and destroy this vile despot once and for all. Your mission is to guide NOMAD. through the four sections of Capital City towards Gross's inner sanctum. You arrive at the spaceport and must then progress through the slums, into the city centre and penetrate the HQ; 'Dun Dentin', before you reach his personal quartets for the final deadly confrontation. Many dangers await you in all sections of Capital City. In true cowardly style, Gross has installed magnetrons, heat-seeking missiles, and an infinity of equally deadly obstacles, all of which must be confronted and conquered. N.O.M.A.D. 471 SPECIFICATIONS Autonomous war-druid with high-intelligence. Infra-red visual receptors and high-frequency audio-receivers. Fitted with anti-gravity pods and twin thrusters functional in both forward and backward directions and capable of great speeds with a high degree of manoeuvrability. ARMAMENT Titanium body shell ... Not totally impregnable. Two magnum 57 calibre blasters. The NOMAD. 471 series is as yet untested. This is his first and possibly deadliest mission. The chances of survival are slim... The freedom of the Universe is in your hands. We salute you! CONTROLLING YOUR ROBOT Your NOMAD. druid can be controlled using either a joystick or the keyboard (most joystick interfaces are compatible). Up - Forward Thrust; Right - Rotate right; Down - Backward Thrust; Left - Rotate Left 'Fire' button to fire your photon cannons. These will fire alternately and 'Rapid-Fire' can be achieved simply by holding the button down. KEYBOARD (Controls replace joystick functions) Forward Thrust - 'R' or 'U' Backward Thrust - 'D' or 'J' Rotate left - 'Z' or 'M' Rotate right - 'X' or 'Symbol shift' Fire - '5' or '7' STATUS and SCORING On-screen scoring gives a complete status of the game achievement and level reached. It shows the current score and number of lives remaining (you begin with 4). Bonus lives are awarded at various stages of play and you can monitor your success by the speed of the score counter. PLAYING FEATURES Inertia - Your druid will not stop instantly if you cease acceleration but will slowly decelerate. If you apply the 'brakes' the deceleration will obviously be greater. However it is also possible to slow down by turning 180 degrees and then applying acceleration. (This is useful for shooting things that are chasing you.) Magnetic Walla - Cyrus has placed large banks of Magnetrons along some of the city walls. When active these devices will attract NOMAD's metallic armour, luring him towards the guns and slowing him down. Homing missiles - These appear from silos in the surface of the Asteroid and once targeted are difficult to lose. Artillery - The whole Asteroid is heavily fortified and Cyrus has some of the most efficient heat guns in the known Universe. Even to be caught in the blast from one of these shells is instant death. Robothugs - Cyrus has a whole planet dedicated to producing his personal protectors, the Robothugs. These delightful examples of the roboticist's art are programmed to make a suicide run at anything or anyone who looks as if they may be even thinking about attacking their master. Gateways and Switches - The various sections of the Asteroid have many gateways to partition them. These can be opened and closed by brushing past the switches on the side walls. However because of the appalling maintenance druids, pushing a switch may not necessarily open the door that it should! DALEY THOMPSONS SUPER TEST Daley Thompson's Super Test is an eight event game divided into two days of competition. The first day's tests are recorded on side one of your data cassette and the second day's on side two. You have three lives and must pit your skills and agility against the computer and the clock. Failure to "qualify" in any of the events will forfeit a life. CONTROLS The game can be controlled by keyboard or joystick and most interfaces are compatible. The keyboard controls are user-definable and are selected by an on-screen menu. Upon selecting your choice of controls the "letter ring" will appear; this enables you to input your initials before commencing. Use the left and right controls to move the pointer and press fire to select the chosen letter. To enter your name upon finishing place the pointer on the end letter (a lower case "e") and press fire or leave your controls alone. Both will result in your name being entered and the game will restart. DAY ONE 1. Pistol Shooting 2. Cycling 3. Spring Board Diving 4. Giant Slalom PISTOL SHOOTING The game is designed to test finger co-ordination and fast response is required as you reach more difficult skill levels. Wait until one of the six targets turns towards you, aim the sight using the two running keys (one vertical, one horizontal), and fire at the red cross-wires at the centre. Points are awarded for accurate shooting (600 for a bullseye). There are three chances to qualify and you are allowed 10 shots per qualification round. HINT It is easier if you move the sight diagonally towards the target allowing more time for fine correction. CYCLING Wait for the starting gun - you're off; now alternate the running keys (or joystick) for maximum speed in this sprint against time. (Only one chance to qualify in this test of stamina). SPRING BOARD DIVING You are allowed 3 attempts at each dive. When ready press the fire button to begin bouncing (to gain more height press again as you touch the board). The diver springs 3 times before diving off, when repeated left/right key depressions will make him somersault. Cease movement when the diver is about to enter the water, head first for maximum score. Four judges give marks (0-9) for:- (a) Take Off (b) Number of somersaults (c) Dive finish (d) Overall grace HINT On take off (bouncing) pressing the fire button at the lowest position gives maximum points and also extra height for more somersaults. Overall grace depends on the position of entry into the water. GIANT SLALOM Wait for the green starting light. Push off - you have a short run to increase your speed, until the first flag appears (use left/right control alternately). Now press fire button to transfer control to skier's movement guiding him down the course, through the sets of flag poles, by using the appropriate left or right controls. To complete the run correctly you must pass through all gates in a specified time. (You have 2 chances to qualify). HINT Skiing directly down the slope will give you maximum speed, sharp turns will cut your pace dramatically, as will contact with the flag poles. Avoid any objects on the side of the slope as these can prove fatal. N.B. Keep a note of your score on day one so that you can produce a grand total for the two day's events. DAY TWO 1. Rowing 2. Penalties 3. Ski Jump 4. Tug O'War ROWING Wait for the starting pistol! Use continuous left/right movement to increase your speed. You are racing against both the clock and your CPU opponent. (You must beat the clock to qualify but coming in first gives extra bonus points). PENALTIES Your player will run towards the spot, use alternate left/right keys to build up the power for the shot. When the ball is reached, press fire to kick. The direction of the ball is determined by the timing of the kick and the angle is altered by length of time that the fire button is depressed. You have 5 shots and to qualify you must score 3 goals. HINTS The goalkeeper will respond to save the ball - but he is susceptible to the same kind of shots that score in a "live" game. SKI JUMP The pistol signals the gate to open and you begin to ski down the slope. You must use this period to increase your energy store (continuous left/right movement) enabling the jump to be sustained for a longer time. As you reach the end of the slope press the fire button to enable the skier to leap into the air (the nearer to the end of the slope the better). As your man touches down on the snow press the fire button again but be careful, good timing is all important to avoid a nasty fall! You have 3 chances to qualify. TUG O'WAR First choose your opponent (point with the cursor hand and press fire to select). To qualify you must select an opponent with matching ability (or above) as indicated on the screen. Now to do "Battle" - Use continuous left/right controls to increase the overall power and drag your adversary over the boundary! You have 3 chances to qualify. When you complete all the tests the day restarts and you can compete again at a more difficult level. GOOD LUCK COSMIC WARTOAD THE SETTING The Queen of the Cosmic Warloads has been abducted and imprisoned by THE RYGELLIAN SLIME BEASTS, their deadliest foe. Chained beneath the murderous Sludge Saw in the King's chamber and transformed into an apparition of horror to the Wartoads (namely a human female), her fate is measured by the descent of the blade, which unless stopped will slice her in two! The task of rescue has fallen to you, the most heroic Cosmic Wartoad, to traverse the Rygellian Time-Void, reach the Slime King's lair and dismantle the deathly machine with your Cosmic Tool Kit. The eight pieces of the Tool Kit are scattered around the Time-Vacuums of the Void and must be collected en-route to your goal. They are: Intergalactic whisk, Chronosynclastic stanley knife, X-ray binoculars, Stellar fish, Death-ray smut gun, 3 million megawatt light bulb, Cosmic axe and a Zippo lighter. The reward for success is the hand of the Queen and all her Kingdom, the penalty of failure is death! THE GAME The various elements and objects in the game are described in the following notes, read thoroughly for maximum playing power. TIME VOIDS In the Regellan Void, time and space do not operate and traversing must be achieved by moving between Time nodes (Oases in time). There are 64 of these Node's in the Void interconnected by Vacuums where the monstrous servants of the Rygellians lurk ... bent upon destruction. THE TIME PARADOX The only real measure of time and space is in fact your destination - the Kings lair. This contradiction is demonstrated on screen by the use of "Time Windows, superimposed upon your Real" when and where. You traverse the Void by moving from one window to the next and during the transition between windows will be afforded to a moment to survey events in the Kings lair, in particular the progress of the Sludge Saw as it moves inexorably towards the Cosmic Queen! TIME GRID WINDOWS This is a map of the Rygellian Void in the form of a grid, each square representing a Time Node. The grid is colour coded to demonstrate the different properties of different Nodes. Green: The time node currently occupied. Purple: Power node at the end of the time vacuum (leading to one of these is a Lily Power Window: for recharging your weapon ... see under 'Constant Recoil Alpha-Pellet gun"). Yellow: The bottom left-hand corner of grid - your destination (the grid next to the Slime Kings lair.) Red: Locked time tunnel. White: Unlocked time tunnel. Cyan: Ordinary 'Node'. COSMIC WILLY In the Time-Grid window you control Cosmic Willy (a tadpole which acts as a cursor) allowing you to select your next Time Node - move Willy over your chosen Node and press fire (or key equivalent) and you will be thrust into the Time Vacuum between your present Time Node and the selected one. (N.B. You cannot travel to any Node at will however, only those in immediate proximity. Up, Down, Left or Right of your current Node (Green grid square) or Willy will voice his displeasure!) TIME VACUUM WINDOWS The path between the Time Nodes is a "TIME VACUUM". There can be one, two, three or four separate Time Windows and each of these contains one of 3 different foes, ("The Rygellian Nasties'). In each Time Window you must engage the nasties and fight to the death ... yours or theirs. If you succeed you will be transported to the next window in the Time Vacuum, or if its the last one back to the Time Grid Window at the node you have reached. If defeated you'll be transported back to the Time Grid window at the Node you tried to leave (and also lose a life). If you lose all 3 lives you'll be returned to the beginning of the game with 3 new lives, but remember the Sludge Saw has been descending continually so now you'll have to be that much faster! COSMIC TOOL KIT The eight elements of the vital kit are to be located in the Time Vacuum Windows as are the keys for the Road to Nowhere and Somewhere (see explanation later). CONSTANT RECOIL ALPHA-PELLET GUN and THE LILY POWER WINDOW The main defence against all enemies is your Constant Recoil Alpha-Pellet gun: to operate simply press fire (or key equivalent). The weapon must be periodically recharged and your ammunition status is displayed at the bottom of the screen. When your firepower reaches a critically low level the status strip will flash - if the gun's charge runs out completely you suffer the loss of 3 lives simultaneously! However there are Power Nodes where you can replenish your weapon (these are coded purple in the Time Grid). The Time vacuum leading to a Power Node always ends with a Lily Power Window and it is here that the gun is replenished (there is no restriction on the number of times you may visit a particular Power Node.) NASTIES There are 3 types of enemy which are colour-coded for their grade of nastiness (4 categories) white, yellow, magenta and finally the most nasty, red. (The higher the grade the more difficult to defeat since you must reduce its power, grade by grade until all nastiness is gone). However their task in defeating you is much easier; they merely have to up their level of nastiness to be the one above. The philosophy of survival in the Time vacuums is therefore quite simple - if it moves shoot it - if it doesn't move shoot it anyway; above all avoid contact with the nasties or anything they may send at you for its through these collisions that they will defeat you. Here are your 3 principal foes:- SLIME MASTER Small but deadly, a single contact may be enough to bring you down. They are escorted by their fawning cohorts (Slime Pawns) who both protect their master and attack. These pawns will be reproduced should you dispose of them and vary in number depending upon the nastiness of their master. The status of the master is monitored on screen by a bar chart to the left of the Time Window. SLUDGE SLUG They always occur in regimental ranks and will throw sludge as well as hurling themselves at you. In their Time Windows you can only move left and right, so you must wait until they attack and then respond instantly shooting their Sludge and then the Slugs themselves. The progress of battle is monitored by a large "Status Slug below the Time Window, to the far right you have won; To the left, ignominious defeat. FRENZIED FLY The buzzing pests attack in swarms and have the same suicidal tendencies as the Slime Pawns, but with more vigour, making them very difficult adversaries. However sometimes they swarm together seemingly uninterested in your presence - then is the time to move in and annihilate them en-masse. Status is monitored by a "Fly-in-the-Tube' to the right of the Time Window. TIMES ULTRASONIC ROBOTIC DEFENDERS These are your second line of defence against the "Nasties" roaming the Time Vacuums. One of these defenders is dropped automatically each time you score 1000 Toad points. They delay the enemy who adhere to them for a certain time and are immobilised. There are 4 time grades denoting how long each defender lasts; green 10 seconds, red 20 seconds, cyan 30 seconds and white 60 seconds. (N.B. The grade depends upon the difference between the Toad points and the Slime points accumulated so far). The defender doesn't operate with every "Nasty,' however, Slime Masters and Sludge Slugs are too powerful, in fact Slime Masters eat them as they pass over releasing any Pawns that may be attached! ROAD to NOWHERE and SOMEWHERE (A hitch-hikers nightmare) This strange phenomenon of the Rygellian Time Void gives rise to the travelling paradox - namely to travel along the Road gets you nowhere but uses uptime. The significance of the Road to our goal is that crossing it (rather than going down it) you are transported from one Time Vacuum to another allowing you to "Leap Frog" to another Time Node some distance away. There are 8 occurrences on the Road in the Time Void providing links between 4 pairs for Nodes. When you start the game the linked Nodes are coloured red in the Time Grid Window, before you can cross the Road and make use of the link you must find way to the parked car which will move away as you approach the road allowing you to cross it. (Like the pieces of the Tool Kit, the key to each of the links will be found in the Time Vacuums; simply pass over to pick up.) Next time you visit the Time Grid Window the key will be displayed on the right and the Time Nodes which have an "Unlocked" link will have changed colour from red to white - Once a link has been "Unlocked" by finding the key it will remain so throughout the game even if you run out of lives or Alpha-Pellets and are sent back to the start Node. STATUS and SCORING Dual points totals are constantly displayed:- On the left are the points you have gained. Toad points; On the right are the points you have lost, Slime points. The greater the difference between them the higher will be your grade of Timed Ultrasonic Robotic Defender. (NB. Points are only gained and lost in the Time Vacuums between the Time Nodes). On each side of the Grid Map is status information. To the left are displayed the 8 pieces of the Tool Kit - the pieces so tar collected will be coloured, the ones not yet located will be black. On the right are displayed the four keys from the Road to Nowhere and Somewhere; again coloured if they've been found, black it not. Below the keys, your remaining lives are shown (you begin with 3) and on-screen information includes the progress of the Sludge Saw on its deathly descent. All elements of the game are colour coded to indicate their status as described in each section, including bar charts for the different "Nasties." JOURNEY to SUCCESS You begin at the Time Node in the top-right hand corner of the grid, and initially can only move down or to the left - your ultimate destination is the yellow Node in the bottom left hand of the grid the minimum number of moves to traverse the Void is therefore 14, though there is no restriction upon the number of times you may visit a particular Node. Time is of the essence - You have 1 hour 30 minutes of Real Time to complete your mission. (NB. The space/break key will pause the game and restart when pressed again.) CONTROL INSTRUCTIONS The game can be operated by either Joystick or Keyboard. Most Joystick interfaces are compatible and the Keyboard is user definable - the control selection is displayed on a menu before the start of the game. The Joystick will move The Cosmic Wartoad... UP, DOWN, LEFT and right as appropriate - (moving in a different direction to that which he is facing will turn him to face that way). The fire button operates your Constant Recoil Alpha-Pellet Gun in the direction you are facing. (Note. You cannot move and fire simultaneously.) THE SPACE/BREAK KEY allows you to pause and restart the game. HINTS and TIPS 1. The fire and movement control operating independently can prove an advantage. It means you can halt and fire by operating the fire control only and avoid collision with your foe (which as you know can prove fatal). 2. When battling with the Slime Master and his Pawns, it is most effective to outflank the Pawns defensive wall and shoot the Master himself (a bigger and slower moving target). 3. Clues to the location of Tools - Each time you complete 8 combat screens in succession (i.e. B without defeat) you will be shown the location of one of the Tools next time you return to the Grid Window. At the top the word Tool will flash as will one of the Grid squares (it will be useful to make a note of this for future use). 4. Some Time Vacuums are easier to traverse than others and there are more, or less, difficult ways to achieve your objective. It would be useful to map the different paths to build on experience you have gained, the chances of succeeding at random are remote.