XENON - MASTERTRONIC PLUS "Amazing shoot out classic. Action! Kwoar! Xenon is a must-buy game." (Sinclair User) SU CLASSIC From the moment that Captain Xod's face appeared out of the static on the communicator, you knew he was in trouble. As the only other Federation ship in the sector you had to go to his aid. You need to fight your way through sixteen zones, collecting essential supplies for the fleet. At the end of each sector you have a chance to refuel and restock but only after you have defeated the most vicious alien you have ever seen. A strategic vertically scrolling shoot-em-up. You have the option of swapping between two very different craft, to suit the challenge facing you at the time; either a ground-based saucer or well-armed, and faster fighter aircraft. A fast-moving, thinking man's shoot-em-up. GAMEPLAY You have to negotiate four sectors, each divided into four zones. You have a choice of two craft, which you can change between at will. You have a ground craft, capable of eight-way movement, and a faster jet fighter. You need to select the appropriate craft to negotiate the obstacles facing you and be prepared to change between them rapidly. Certain of your opponents are ground-based and some are altitude. You need to be in the correct craft to shoot the alien that you are facing. Certain weapons can only be collected and used by the fighter craft. You can only use the ground craft on the ground. You cannot land on the top of buildings. You need to fly over these in the fighter. Shooting the aliens and their weapon emplacements reveals power cells. Collect these by moving over them, to give your craft extra power. There are eleven types of power pill: A ARMOUR Makes your ship invincible for 15 seconds F FUEL There are two types of fuel cell. Those with one orange band restore five units of fuel; those with three restore all your lost fuel H HOMING Shoots homing missiles for 15 seconds MISSILE L LASER Arms your fighter with lasers G GUN Cancels the lasers and reverts to normal bullets P POWER Increases the distance your shots travel R RATE Speeds up your ground craft S SIDE Arms fighter with side lasers W WINGS Gives you wing-tip weapons Z ZAP Again there are two types of zap pills. Those with a single orange band zap all aliens on the screen; those with a triple band zap everything - aliens and emplacements Balls Collect up to three rotating balls that follow you and mimic your fire pattern Each time you are hit by the aliens' weapons you lose at least a unit of fuel which is used to recharge your shields. If you collide with any of the aliens you will suffer substantially more damage and consequently use more fuel. If your fuel runs out you lose a life and have to restart from the beginning of the zone. Some aliens will require more than one hit to kill them. These flash every time you successfully hit them. Some of the aliens are invulnerable. Half way through each section you will be faced with a single large opponent. This is a 'Sentinel' so called because they are set to guard the path and they are fully sentient - that is smart. You need to find out where they are vulnerable and concentrate your fire on the appropriate points. Colliding with a 'Sentinel' is fatal. At the end of each section you will have another larger and more dangerous 'Sentinel' opponent. These are only vulnerable to certain attacks, and completely invulnerable to all others. If you succeed in defeating this you will be refuelled and re-equipped ready for the next section. You lose any weapons you had collected on the previous section. STATUS PANEL Down the right hand side of the screen there is a status panel. This displays all the information you need to know about the state of the game and your craft. At the top of the display there are four numbers. The top number is your score. Underneath this there are two single digit numbers. To the left is the number of lives you have left, to the right the sector number. Underneath these is your altitude. Beneath this there is your long range communicator screen. Most of the time this is blanked off, but at the start of each section Captain Xod will appear and tell you which section you are starting. Underneath this there is a bar display showing your fuel level. Underneath this there are two bargraphs. The left hand one is your rate or speed, and the right hand one your power - the distance your shots travel. At the foot of the display there is a weapon panel. This has ten letters on it. Weapons active are highlighted in red. The weapons are: W: Wing S: Side Shot A: Armour L: Laser H: Homing Missile B: Ball X: Extra ball making two X: Extra ball making three O: Time left on homing missile O: Time left on armour LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Put your machine into 48k mode. Type LOAD "" and press ENTER. Press 'Play' on tape. Program will load and run. CONTROLS KEYBOARD Q - Up A - Down O - Left P - Right SPACE - Fire M - Switch Craft SHIFT - Pause/Continue JOYSTICK: M - SWITCH CRAFT JOYSTICK ONLY: SPACE BAR - Switch Craft A MEMBER OF THE VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC GROUP OF COMPANIES. WARNING: ALL RIGHTS OF THE PUBLISHER AND THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OF THE WORK REPRODUCED RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED COPYING, LENDING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, RADIO OR TV BROADCASTING OR DIFFUSION OF THIS PRODUCT PROHIBITED. THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD ACCORDING TO VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC TERMS OF TRADE AND CONDITIONS OF SALE COPIES OF WHICH ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. (c) 1990 VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC LIMITED MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. IT IS ILLEGAL TO BACK-UP OR COPY THE SOFTWARE CONTAINED ON THIS TAPE. XENON (c) The Bitmap Brothers 1987-90 & 1990 Virgin Mastertronic Ltd.