RASTER RUNNER (Mastertronic Plus) A Fan Speaks ... "I mean, the likes of Barry Sheene and Eddie Kidd were bikin' heroes back in the 20th century, but nowadays their antics, like the machines they rode around on, are really funny, aren't they? "After all, romping around a dirt track on a rubber-wheeled hydro- carbon-burning antique is hardly the height of mechanical or physical achievement is it? Compared with the race technology of today, Sheene and Kidd might as well have been swinging through the jungle on vines as riding 'bikes'. "Still, from these humble beginnings did the Plasma Bike evolve. From simple 'road racing' 'circuits', the Rasterfield was developed. So we fans of the Raster Run shouldn't mock too much, I s'pose. "Could even find that someone from the 20th century could get the hang of riding a Plasma Bike. But they'd never survive against a Plasma Pilot like Gazza P or Flathead Andy. Twenty-third-century heroes like them'd take some beating, eh! "Anyway, enough of this idle chatter. Gazza and Flathead are about to ride the Rasterfield, so don't say a word until the contest's over. Just don't interrupt, droid. Spoils me concentration, does idle chatter." LOADING INSTRUCTIONS +2 Press Enter. 48K Put your machine into 48K mode. Type LOAD"" and press Enter. Space to start game. Controls Configuring the Game 1 sets Player One's controller 2 sets Player Two's controller and sets the skill level for the computer in a one player game Press 0 to start the contest Riding Those Bikes If you control your Plasma Bike with a joystick, up, down, left and right are achieved by moving the joystick in the desired direction. Pressing Fire activates the energy shield. Keyboard players move up with the Q key, down with the A key, left with the O key and right with the P key. Prod the SPACE BAR to activate the energy shield. Entering the Hall of Fame Take care when committing your name to the Hall of Fame - press Fire too soon and you'll end up anonymous, or with the wrong name! The square cursor can be moved to the left and right, by waggling the joystick appropriately or by pressing K or L. To cycle through the alphabet, waggle Up and Down or press W or X. When the letter you want appears in the cursor box, move the box along to the next position to leave the letter in place. Only press Fire when your name is up there in lights! 'BREAK' and 'SYMBOL SHIFT' allows you to abort a contest and reset the game. The Raster Runner Arena Enter the Rasterfield and go head to head against an opponent - contestants each have 10 lives (shown on the large digital counters in the status area) and the Plasma Bike rider with the highest score at the end of the game takes the accolade of "Supreme Champion". Which is twenty-third-century-speak for 'winner'. The object of the game is simple. Force your opponent to crash before you do - a life is lost and a new round begins whenever a bike crashes into a plasma trail or the boundary of the Rasterfield. Play ends when one rider has lost all 10 lives. Depending on how play progresses, a single game can last for ten rounds, or be thrashed out over as many as nineteen rounds. A central radar screen gives an overall view of the entire Raster- field. Individual player screens reveal the immediate vicinity of the two Plasma Bikes and should be used for local navigation. Successful riders learn to keep an eye on all three displays. In each round, a rider has three energy shields - three LEDs in a rider's status area keep track of how many have been used. A prod on the Fire button activates an energy shield for a few moments; while the shield is active and your Plasma Bike is flashing you can cross your own or your opponent's plasma trail without crashing. Go gently with your shields; you only have three per round, so they are for emergencies only; and each unused shield at the end of the round is worth 100 points. A porky 1,000 points is awarded to the rider who wins each round, 1 point is added to a rider's score for each second survived out on the Rasterfield, and another whopping 1,000 points bonus is awarded for each life left on the clock at Game Over. Go on. Get out there, gather up the points and wow the twenty-third- century audience! ORIGINAL GAME DESIGNED BY HITECH STUDIO DESIGNS CONVERSIONS BY THE BIG RED SOFTWARE HOUSE PRODUCED BY TERRY HAINES AND ANDREW WRIGHT (c) Virgin Mastertronic Limited 1989