2Oth CENTURY FOX
Games of the Century
Game Instructions
TO SET UP:
Set up your video computer system and left joystick as instructed in your game system owner's manual. Turn the power OFF. Insert the Flash Gordon game cartridge and then turn the power ON. The Game Select lever and Difficulty Switches are not used in Flash Gordon. Press the Game Reset lever or the joystick button to leave the game demonstration and prepare for a daring mission through Spider City!
You can use the Color/B-W lever to pause and restart the game at any time during play.
THE CONTROLS:
Tilt the joystick to maneuver your Rocket Ship through the city's tunnels. Use the joystick button to shoot the enemy.
THE OBJECTIVE:
Many dedicated Spacemen have entered Spider City but none have ever been heard from again. It is up to you, Flash Gordon, to rescue any surviving Spacemen and to conquer this hideous city of tunnels. Spider City is conquered when all of its Hatching Pods are eliminated. It doesn't hurt to blast a few Generator or enemy Patrol Ships while you're there.
SCREEN DISPLAY:
The lower half of your screen shows a map of the city's tunnels. The city is a closed system, so when you move through the passageways at either edge of the screen, your Rocket Ship will reappear at the opposite side of the map. Your Ship is represented on the map by a small horizontal line. The vertical lines on the map are Hatching Pods which contain Spider Warriors. The crosses represent Disruptors.
The upper portion of the screen is a close up view of what is happening in the city. Your score is shown at the top of the screen. Extra ships are displayed at the bottom left and in the bottom right corner the number of cities conquered is shown.
SCORING:
10 Points = Debris
25 Points = Patrol Ship
70 Points = Rescued Spaceman
100 Points = Disruptor Generator
100 Points = First Spider Warrior shot from any hatching.
You receive 200 points for the second,
300 for the third, and so on.
-1000 Points = Penalty for shooting a Spaceman
Each time a City is conquered an extra Ship is awarded. Up to nine bonus Ships can be shown on the screen at a time although you may even more than nine in reserve. Bonus points are also awarded after conquering a City. You will receive 10 points for each Spaceman rescued by the current Ship, multiplied by the number of Cities you have conquered. If a Ship is destroyed before the end of any level, any bonus it has accumulated is lost.
OBJECTS:
HATCHING PODS, SPIDER WARRIORS & SHIELDS: Your primary task is to destroy Warriors. First you need to touch one of the Hatching Pods shown on the map with your Rocket Ship. This causes the Pods to hatch, releasing the Warriors. The young warriors will try to flee and so you must shoot them before they escape. If you succeed in shooting five Warriors from any hatching, you will absorb enough power to establish a temporary shield which protects you from harm. When the shield is on, you can run into the enemy to destroy them. Two beeps will warn that the shield is about to disappear.
Also, whenever a Ship is destroyed, the replacement Ship is given temporary shields. This gives you a chance to escape any tight situation you may find yourself in.
DISRUPTERS: These are represented on the map by large crosses. Disrupters cannot be destroyed. Although you cannot see where a Disrupter begins or ends in the top portion of the screen, you sure can tell when you are in the middle of one! You will find yourself surrounded by deadly debris. Avoid contact with the Debris and try to get out of the Disrupter as quickly as possible. Shooting one of the Disrupter's Generators will help you to escape safely. This temporarily freezes the Disrupter so that you can continue on through the tunnel without being followed.
PATROL SHIPS: Lone Patrol Ships in the tunnels are hazardous to your Ship should you accidentally collide with one. Shoot as many as you can.
SPACEMEN: Part of your mission is to rescue Spacemen who have been stranded in Spider City. To rescue a Spaceman, touch him with your ship. Avoid shooting them. A true hero like Flash Gordon would never do a thing like that!
DIFFICULTY LEVELS/CONQUERING A CITY:
The Flash Gordon game play gets more and more difficult as each new City is destroyed. As soon as you have eliminated all of the Hatching Pods from the City Map and reach a place in the tunnel free of enemy objects, you will advance to the next level. You cannot advance while inside a Disrupter. Up to 39 conquered Cities can be displayed on the screen at once, although you can continue to rid the universe of Spider Warriors for as long as you wish.
HINTS FROM DAVID LUBAR...
The key is to try and maintain shields at all times. Once you have shields, go to another Hatching Pod right away. You can use the shielded Ship to quickly destroy the Spider Warriors.
When the Disrupters speed up at the higher levels, it is almost essential to shoot a Generator in order to escape.
Learn to use both displays. The City Map is your only clue to where you are and to where the Pods are.
SPACE ACES
Name Cities Conquered Score _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________