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Shark Attack - Apollo - Atari 2600    Manual Scan icon HTML Manual   

Shark Attack
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SHARK ATTACK

APOLLO 
Game Instructions

16 Game Variations 
For One or Two Players
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THE SITUATION

You are a deep sea diver in search of a fabulous treasure of diamonds 
that spilled from the hold of a Spanish galeon that sank during a fierce 
storm in the early sixteenth century.  You dive deep into the murky 
darkness of Dave Jones' Locker, and enter the shark-infested maze of kelp 
to retrieve the treasure.  You know your mission is rife with 
danger...the menace of the man-eating sharks that patrol the kelp 
beds...the lurking menace of the legendary Loch Ness monster, a beast 
that will pursue you relentlessly if you dare invade its territory.

THE SET-UP

Shark Attack is played with one or two players using the Joystick 
Controller.  Be sure the power is off when you insert or remove the Shark 
Attack cartridge from your video game system.

THE DIFFICULTY SWITCH

When you set the Difficulty Switch to the "B" position, your diver moves 
rapidly through the deep.  But at the "A" setting, he labors slowly 
against a heavy current, and your challenge of acquiring a fortune while 
eluding death is much greater.

To provide a handicap advantage for a less experienced player in a 
two-player game, you may adjust the positions of the Difficulty Switch.  
Simply place the switch in position B for the inexperienced player, and 
in position A for the veteran.

THE JOYSTICK CONTROLLER

Hold your Joystick Controller so that the red "FIRE" button is in the 
upper left hand corner.  Use this button to close the shark cage door to 
protect your diver in the games that allow it, while you use your 
joystick to control your diver's movements in eight directions as 
illustrated above (picture of joyustick).  Try to keep your diver in the 
middle of the murky channels through the maze of kelp, because he can 
easily become snarled in lush green tendrils of kelp that will impede 
his movement.

SCORING
 
The screen shows one player's score on the left, the other player's score 
on the right, and in the middle the current turn score of the player 
competing at that time.  Players score one point for each diamond 
gathered.  In the gobble game, the central score reflects how many 
diamonds the diver is carrying with him, and is added to his permanent 
score when he returns to the shark cage...if he ever does!  In the pick'm 
up game, the central score reflects how many diamonds have been deposited 
in the shark cage, and is added to the player's permanent score when his 
turn is completed.

(picture of screen)

OPTIONS

In the one-player mode, the game is over when a player's three divers and 
any earned bonus divers have all been eaten by hungry sharks.  You get 
one bonus diver each time 100 points are earned.  When two people are 
playing, each completes his turn when one of his divers is eaten by a 
shark.  In the pic'm up game, a diver must take each diamond back to the 
shark cage one at a time.  In the gobble game, he collects them by 
swimming over them one after the other.  They will be counted permanently 
when he returns to the shark cage with them.  If he waits too long, he 
may be eaten by a shark, and the points for the diamond he's gathered 
will be lost forever!  Players may also decide whether the shark cage 
door is always open, is controlled by the diver, is open and closed at 
random, or is rotated to different sides of the cage.

SHARK CAGE

In the "open and closed at random" mode, the diver has no control over 
the shark cage door.  But in the "diver control" mode, the game begins 
with the door open.  When your diver has entered the cage and you press 
the red "FIRE" button on your joystick controller, you will close the 
door.  When you release your fire button, the shark cage door will open.

SHARKS

Sharks move across the maze, and are not bounded by it as is the diver.  
On each pass, if a shark encounters any diamonds he will eat one.  If a 
shark bumps agaisnt the shark cage, he will remove one diamond from the cage.

PROTECTION FROM SHARKS

A diver is safe from sharks when he is in the shark cage and the door is 
closed.  He cannot kill a shark, so his only other defense against these 
deadly denizens of the deep is to stay alert and swim quickly out of 
their way.  So every second of the game you must decide between your 
diver's safety and how many diamonds he collects.

MYSTERY CAVES

When the diver enters one of the four corner caves, he will immediately 
and unpredictably reappear from any of the four caves.  Note that the top 
two cave entrances are horizontal, and your diver will enter them moving 
to the left or right.  The bottom two cave entrances are vertical, and 
your diver must swim down through the entrance, then turn to the outside 
of the screen at the bottom, entering the caves to the left or right.

LOCH NESS MONSTER

BEWARE! You cannot kill Nessie.  When she is disturbed, Nessie appears 
from one of the four caves, and she will continue after the diver who has 
disturbed her until your diver leads her back to one of the four caves, 
whereupon she will enter and go back to sleep.  NOTE:  The shark cage is 
no defense against the awesome strength of Nessie.

GAME MENU
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Game Number             	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16    	   
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# Players      	1		X   X   X   X   X     X     X     X	
	       	2		  X   X   X   X    X     X     X     X
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Cage Door	Open		X X             X  X
		Open/Close	    X X               X  X
                Diver Control           X X                 X  X
		Rotate			    X X                   X  X		
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Game Play	Gobble		X X X X X X X X
		Pick'm Up			X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
______________________________________________________________________

There are 16 variations of SHARK ATTACK.  Select your favorite with the 
game select switch on your console choosing from any of the variations 
shown on our game matrix.

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This document obtained from the History of Home Video Games Homepage, ©1997-1998 by Greg Chance