Radar Lock Copyright (c) 1988, Doug Neubauer. Copyright (c) 1989, Atari Corporation. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ENEMY JET AT 12 O' CLOCK! You're locked in fight-to-the-death air combat with the enemy! You may be outnumbered -- somehow you've been separated from your buddies -- but this is far from your first mission. You've been flying your trusty little delta-wing fighter for more months than you care to remember. Suddenly you sight an enemy interceptor at 12 o'clock! These babies are a piece of cake. You sneak up from behind and zap it with a few rounds from your machine gun. Just when you're feeling a little cocky from your last successful hit, an enemy Bomber appears out of nowhere. This one's not so easy. Not only is its tail gunner an expert shot, but the Bomber is surrounded by a fleet of Escorters, and you can't even get at it with your guided missiles. It's going to take all of your expertise, along with your arsenal of ammunition, proximity missiles, and guided missiles, just to stay alive. Any minute you could be sabotaged by a cagey patroller or the unsuspecting victim of a sneaky Stealth Fighter. Prepare for the dog fight of your life. It's going to be a killer! GETTING STARTED 1. With your television turned on, insert the Radar Lock cartridge into your Atari 2600 (or 7800) as explained in your Owner's Manual. 2. Plug a controller into the left port. Plug another controller into the right port for optional weapons selection in a one-player game or to play the game with two players. 3. Switch on your television. Then push the console's [Power] switch to the ON position. The Radar Lock title screen appears. 4. Press [Select], or move your controller left or right, to choose a one-player or two-player game. 5. Press [Reset] or the left fire button to begin the game. 6. During play, press [Reset] to restart the game. 7. To pause during a game, move the TV-type switch on the Atari 2600 to B/W; to resume play, move the switch to COLOR. On an Atari 7800, press and hold [Pause] to pause the game. PLAYING THE GAME The object of the game is to use your state-of-the-art delta-wing fighter to defeat the enemy fleet in air combat. Your fighter plane is equipped with guided missiles, proximity missiles, and rapid-fire machine guns. The game consists of five missions of increasing difficulty. When the game begins, your jet starts up, increases speed, and takes off from the air field. The scene then switches to the combat screen. At the end of each mission, you must refuel in flight. Use the left controller's fire button to control your speed during the in-flight refueling sequence. Hold down the button to accelerate, and release the button to return to normal flying speed. Using the long-range radar and missile lock, fly to the fuel tanker. When you are close to it, the tanker will lower its fuel hose. Once the nose of your jet is locked into the fuel hose, your mission is complete. You receive bonus points for your remaining fuel and weapons and then advance to your next mission. [picture: roughly triangular plane with four dots on it in a diamond pattern, with a solid line descending from it ending in a larger dot.] [picture: Combat Screen. Score and ammunition on top, enemy jets, horizon and your jet in the middle, fuel, lives counter, missile-lock radar (the crosshairs), long-range radar (the 90-degree-angle thing at right) and guns counter at right.] CONTROLLING YOUR FIGHTER Use the controllers to operate your delta-wing fighter. Move the left controller to maneuver your jet in flight. Move the right controller to select the weapons you wish to use. Left Controller Right Controller Dive Machine Gun ^ ^ | | Bank <--(o)--> Bank Guided <--(o)--> Proximity Left | Right Missiles | Missiles v v Climb (blank) THE INSTRUMENT PANEL The instrument panel is located at the bottom of the screen. The missile-lock radar is located in the center of the instrument panel, and the long-range radar is to the right. Use the long-range radar to locate enemy jets and the refueling tanker when they are not visible on the screen. The small dot in the middle of the radar screen marks the location of the jet. Enemy jets will appear in front of or behind your jet. The fuel gauge is shown to the left of the missile-lock radar. When you are low on fuel, the gauge will begin to flash and you will hear a warning tone. You must reach the tanker and refuel before your fuel runs out completely. The number of lives you have left is shown in the lower left-hand corner of the instrument panel. The number of rounds you have left in your machine gun is shown on the right. The weapon you have selected is shown at the top of the screen, just below the score. ONE-PLAYER GAMES In one-player games, the pilot controls both the firing of weapons and the jet's flight. Press the fire button on the left controller to fire the selected weapon. To increase your jet's speed, hold down the fire button on the right controller. NOTE: When the currently selected weapon runs out of ammo, it will automatically change to the next available weapon. Move the right directional control if you wish to select a different weapon. TWO-PLAYER GAMES In two-player games, the flight officer uses the left controller to fly the ship. The weapons officer uses the right directional control to select weapons and the right fire button to fire them. WEAPONS Your jet starts out equipped with five guided missiles and about 2550 rounds of machine gun ammunition. In Missions 3, 4 and 5, your jet also carries three proximity missiles. GUIDED MISSILES If you wish to fire guided missiles, you must change your weapon selection. Move the right controller to the left. Your missiles remaining display across the top of the screen. The primary function of guided missiles is to destroy enemy bombers. When an enemy jet is within range, the missile-lock radar will turn bright blue and you will hear a beeping tone. Steer your jet until the locked-on enemy jet is in the cross-hairs. The missile-lock radar will then turn deep-red, and you will hear a steady tone. Fire your missile immediately to destroy the enemy jet. NOTE: When an enemy jet is not within range, the missile-lock radar will be light blue if the jet is in front of you and violet if the jet is behind you. MACHINE GUNS In addition to the guided missiles, your jet is equipped with rapid-fire machine guns. You begin your missions with this weapon ready to fire. The number of rounds remaining is displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Use the machine guns to destroy all enemy jets except for bombers; it takes 25 hits from a machine gun to destroy a bomber. PROXIMITY MISSILES In Missions 3, 4 and 5, your jet is equipped with proximity missiles. Press the fire button to launch the missile; release the fire button to detonate it. When you detonate the missile, all visible enemy jets other than bombers will be destroyed. WARNING: Do not release the fire button too soon, or you will risk detonating the missile too close to your own jet and destroying it. THE ENEMY FLEET As you fly missions against the enemy, you will encounter different enemy aircraft. Similar in appearance, these aircraft differ in their basic color and their capabilities. * Drones appear only in Mission 1. They are red and look like Interceptors, only they can't shoot. Drones are easy to hit and make good target practice for higher missions. * Interceptors first appear in Mission 2 and are the basic enemy jet. They are also red and are the easiest of the fighter jets to destroy. They are not equipped with a tail gunner, so they can't hit you when you are behind them. * Patrollers first appear in the second wave of Mission 2 and are yellow. In Mission 2, they follow assigned patrol routes. In higher missions, Patrollers can sneak up from behind and shoot you. * Escorters first appear in Mission 3 and are blue. Their primary purpose is to protect enemy bombers, and they tend to fire quickly. * Stealth Fighters first appear in Mission 4 and are black. Stealth Fighters can jam your long-range radar so you don't know exactly where they are. They can sneak up behind you and fire on you, although they are not as aggressive as Patrollers. * Bombers are large, white delta-wing jets that are very difficult to destroy. They first appear in Mission 3. The Bomber has a tail gunner so that it can also fire behind itself. Proximity missiles cannot harm a Bomber, and it takes 25 machine gun hits to destroy one, so guided missiles are your best bet with these. Bombers usually follow assigned routes. * Super Bombers are the most dangerous enemy jets. They appear only in Mission 5. They are blue and red delta-wing jets, and guided missiles are the most effective weapons for destroying them. Super Bombers fire a barrage of missiles at once, making them especially lethal. NOTE: Some of the enemy jets will fire at you from behind. When they have you in their sights, you will hear a warning tone and see the message "BEHIND YOU" displayed at the top of the screen. THE MISSIONS There are five missions in this game. MISSION 1: DRONES Mission 1 is the easiest of the missions and offers good target practice against the Drones, who can't shoot. Start with this mission to practice maneuvering your jet, shooting your weapons, and refueling. MISSION 2: INTERCEPTORS AND PATROLLERS Wave 1: Interceptors are the primary enemy attack jet. They can shoot only what is in front of them. Wave 2: Patroller jets follow assigned routes. Use your long-range radar to locate the Patroller squadron. After you have identified them, use thrusters (or after-burner) and quick maneuvering to bring them into your sights. Use your thrusters when you want quick acceleration. When you have completed Mission 2, you earn a spare life. MISSION 3: BOMBERS Wave 1: In Mission 3, Bombers follow assigned patrol routes. They shoot from either the front or the back and are difficult to destroy. They are also protected by Escorters. Wave 2: The Patrollers will try to sneak up and shoot you from behind. When you have completed Mission 3, you earn a spare life. MISSION 4: STEALTH FIGHTERS Wave 1: In Mission 4, your ship has the ability to roll. This makes it much easier to maneuver, and the game moves much more quickly at this point. Wave 2: Enemy Stealth Fighters appear. They can jam your long-range radar and sneak up behind you, so you need to move quickly to avoid being hit. When you have completed Mission 4, you earn a spare life. MISSION 5: SUPER BOMBERS Wave 1: You get one last warm-up round of Interceptors before the Super Bombers appear. Wave 2: Your final mission is to destroy five Super Bombers, which are escorted by Patrollers, Stealth Fighters, and Escorters. STRATEGY You have only five guided missiles. Use them wisely. Proximity missiles are especially effective for destroying the escort fleet that protects an enemy bomber. SCORING Drone.....................50 points Interceptor..............100 points Escorter.................250 points Stealth Fighter..........400 points Patroller................500 points Bomber...................950 points Super Bomber............2000 points At the end of each mission, you score bonus points as follows: Each gallon of fuel remaining........1 point Each bullet remaining................1 point Each missile remaining............350 points Completing the mission............801 points You earn a bonus jet after completing Mission 2, Mission 3, and Mission 4. ---end of manual--- typed up by Jeff Coleburn, vsp@netaxs.com