VANGUARD by Atari c 1986 TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1. In the tunnel 2. Game Play 3. Using the controllers 4. Console controls 5. Scoring 6. Strategy 7. Game Table 1. IN THE TUNNEL ---------------- "Whoowhee! If the folks back home could see me now! When I joined the Vanguard expedition I never thought I'd be flying through the tunnels of Aterria looking for a mythical City of Mystery." "It might not be a myth." "Captain, do you mean to tell me you really believe there is such a city, paved with silver and ruled by a giant called Gond?" "Why not? It's right here in the flight log book we found in the Aterria excavations. That's pretty convincing." "But that book's dated 1983. People believed in all sorts of weird things back then...flying reindeer, egg-laying rabbits..." "When you've been on as many expeditions as I have, you'll believe anything can exist. This whole planet is pretty unreal. Take these tunnel walls, for instance...every color of the rainbow! I'd swear I was in heaven if it weren't for the rocks... "Hey! Watch out! You almost speared us on that stalagmite. I know our spaceship has five live, but we still have a long way to go and we're going to need all the lives we've got. If this log book is telling the truth, these tunnels are full of dangerous flying objects: hovering Mist ships, Harley rockets, Helm balloons." "Yeah. Garimes waiting to tear us with their tentacles and that other cozy customer, the flying Kemlus snake." "Seriously, what do you think the log book means by 'Watch out for the rain of Romedas in the Bleak Zone'?" "I think the pilot that kept that log book was out of his mind, that's what I think. Probably bitten in the head by a Kemlus snake." "Well, if there is anything in this tunnel, we should be sighting it pretty soon. According to our tunnel map, we're entering the Mountain Zone. How's the fuel supply holding out?" "Getting low. We'd better infuse energy pretty quick or we'll crash." "I certainly hope the log is right about energy pods growing in the Mountain Zone. Pod energy is supposed to make us indestructible for 10 seconds. Why, if that's true, we won't need to fire out lasers." "Oh sure, Just run headlong into an enemy ship and POW! down it goes. Listen, I don't believe in pod power any more than I believe in Mist ships. If there is anything like that on Aterria, I'll eat it." "Well, I hope you have the stomach for it. Look what's coming!" "Great Gonds! Mists as thick as hornets and twice as mad." "And they're all yours. Fire at will...and while you're at it, keep an eye out for energy pods." "Roger! City of Mystery, here we come!" 2. GAME PLAY ------------ Your goal is to reach the City of Mystery at the end of the tunnel and destroy Gond. In the tunnel zones, you maneuver around sharp rocks and barriers while battling weird flying objects. The more enemy objects you destroy, the more points you earn. If you make it to the City of Mystery and shoot Gond, you earn bonus points. But watch out! Gond could shoot you instead. If you survive the City of Mystery, you continue the game in Tunnel 2. In two-player games, the player with the highest score wins. Points and bonuses are discussed in Section 5 -- SCORING. AUTO-PLAY Until you start the game, the computer flies the Vanguard spaceship through the seven tunnel zones leading to the City of Mystery. This Auto-Play mode gives you a chance to see what the obstacles are before you start the game. Not that your ship fires lasers in four directions as it travels through the zones. See Section 3 -- USING THE CONTROLLERS for instructions on maneuvering the spaceship and firing lasers. TUNNEL MAP In one-player games, the Tunnel Map (figure 1) is displayed before each zone. In two-player games, it's displayed before each turn. The map shows whose turn it is (Player 1 or Player 2) and where the player's spaceship is in the tunnel. Figure 1 - Tunnel Map [image of the tunnel. Your space ship is at the beginning of the tunnel. The number just below the tunnel is the player number.] THE TUNNEL Mountain Zone (Figure 2). Mist ships and then Harley rockets attempt to collide with your spaceship and destroy it. Mists have a maddening habit of hovering where you can't get a good shot at them. Harleys fire colored missiles at you. Your lasers will destroy Mists and Harleys, but you have to dodge missiles...unless your spaceship is operating on pod energy; then nothing can harm you. Figure 2 - Mountain Zone [image of ship firing at the Mist. The zone looks like a cavern more then a mountain. You fly from left to right, and the energy pods are the big "E" on the ground. The mist look like a mutated fly] Pod Power. Fly through energy pods (marked with E's) to infuse pod energy into your spaceship. Pod energy prevents you from firing lasers but gives you the power to crash into enemy targets and rock ledges without damaging your ship. During the 10 seconds pod energy lasts, crash into as many Helms and Harleys as you can and score points. The Vanguard theme music plays while you're operating on pod power. When your pod energy runs out, the music stops and a siren warns you to stop crashing and start flying. NOTE: If a stray Mist hovers under a rock ledge while you're on pod power, go after it and destroy it. This will bring on the Harleys before your pod energy runs out. All Mist ships must be off the screen before Harleys can enter. Rainbow Zone (Figure 3). From the Mountain Zone you travel downward through a Rainbow Zone, where lethal Helm balloons float across your path. A collision with a Helm will cost you a life, so puncture Helms with your lasers. You must shoot them all before you can enter the next zone. Figure 3 - Rainbow Zone [Image of ship flying from north to south, but I think you actually go from south to north, I could be wrong. The Helms are circles that come out of the walls to your left and right. The walls are made of small squares. The wall is not complete, and you see square holes in it.] Stick Zone (Figure 4). The stalactites and stalagmites in the Stick Zone are beautiful but hazardous. They don't leave much room for maneuvering around Harleys and Mists, which return for another try at you. This time Mists also shoot missiles. Unfortunately, energy pods do not grow in this zone. Figure 4 - Stick Zone [image of ship flying from left to right. Harleys are present. They sort of look like your spaceship in Defender. The walls look like an "X" with the base filled in.] Rainbow Zone 2. You enter another Rainbow Zone, where Ammos, first cousins to Helms, put the squeeze on you. Stripped Zone (Figure 5). It takes an experienced pilot to survive in this zone. You must maneuver to the right or left of dangerous ledges formed by long fingers of rock. If you choose the left side, Garimes extend tentacles to grab you. If you go to the right, enemy bases, barriers, force fields, and floating Paynes bar your way. Collide with any of these objects and your spaceship explodes. Shoot Garimes, bases, and barriers on approach. You can fire lasers through crevices in the rocks. Force fields collapse when you destroy barriers. Unfortunately, floating Paynes cannot be destroyed; you have to edge past them. One or two energy pods grow on the right side of the tunnel in this zone. With pod power, you can clear obstacles out of your way and pile up points fast. Figure 5 - Striped Zone [Image of ship flying from south to north. The walls are made of vertical stripes. There is an "island" in the middle of the screen. The energy is present on the right wall of the right corridor. The Barrier creates a forcefield that blocks your way. The Barrier looks like a spider. The Bases are above the Force Field. These look like an alien saucer with two legs at the bottom of them. Above the Bases is the Floating Payne. These look like a rectangle.] Rainbow Zone 3. Helms reappear as you enter the third Rainbow zone. Bleak Zone (Figure 6). There's light at the end of the tunnel now but still plenty of danger. Kemlus snakes fly out of the rocks and attempt to crush your spaceship. Normally you shoot Kemlus, but if you can maneuver your spaceship into the center of a Kemlus and dock with it (touch it), you can get a free ride and earn losts of bonus points without being crushed. Kemlus are not very bright, but they figure this out after the third ride, so don't try for a fourth ride. Kemlus revive if you touch them right after shooting them. This means you can shoot a Kemlus and then dock with it to earn extra points. After the third docking, however, touching a Kemlus after shooting it is certain death. You no sooner conquer the Kemlus when the rain of Romedas begins. Arrow-shaped Romeda rockets attempt to spear your spaceship. Fire away at them, but watch out for the debris; it's deadly. If you survive the Romedas, you fly out of the tunnel into the bright lights of the City of Mystery. Figure 6 - Bleak Zone [Image of ship flying from south to north. The Kemlus are present. These look like a snake curled in a hollow circle that is open at the south-west end. There is a picture of a ship docking with a Kemlus. The walls are made of long horizontal rectangles. The rectangles are at different lengths, and the space inbetween them make up the cavern. CITY OF MYSTERY In the City of Mystery your spaceship is trapped between two moving barriers (Figure 7). As the Gond fires missiles at you, right to left, the bottom barrier rises and threatens to crush you against the top barrier. To escape, you must fire over the top barrier at Gond and destroy him. When you hit Gond, the city bursts into radiant light and you win a bonus (see SCORING). Figure 7 - City of Mystery [Image of ship flying from south to north. Gond is that face at the top of the screen. The top barrier is the bar between the ship and Gond. The Bottom Barrier is the bar between the ship and the top barrier. A missile is being fired from the walls (left and right) at the ship.] Destroying Gond is not difficult if you fire immediately, before he can launch a missile. However, the longer you wait to fire, the more risk you run and the more bonus points you score. TUNNEL 2 AND BEYOND If you survive the City of Mystery, you are transported into Tunnel 2, where the pace is faster. The zones here are the same as in Tunnel 1, but they are not in the same order. Obstacles are the same except that in the Bleak Zone, Romedas shoot missiles. Tunnel 2 leads to another City of Mystery, which leads to another tunnel like Tunnel 1. You alternate between Tunnels 1 and 2 until you lose your last life and the game ends. ABOUT YOUR SPACESHIP Lives. You start the Vanguard expedition with five lives and earn a bonus life at 10,000 and 50,000 points. The number of lives remaining is indicated by the number of spaceships on the lower left side of the screen (Figure 8). Figure 8 - Game Elements [Image of Mountain Zone. Lives Remaining are the number of ships that you see lined up at the bottom of the screen. The number in the bottom middle of the screen is the score. The Fuel/Energy Gauge is the bar between the score and the playing screen that gets shorter during the game.] Laser Guns. The Vanguard spaceship is equipped with four lasers guns on the forward, aft, starboard (right), and port (left sides). Fuel. Keep an eye on your fuel gauge at the bottom of the screen (Figure 8). If you run out of fuel, your spaceship will go into a dive and crash on the rocks. Your supply lasts 40 seconds and decreases at the rate of one notch a second. Each time you hit an enemy or obstacle, your fuel supply increases one notch. At the start of a new life, your fuel is completely replenished. Energy. The fuel gauge keeps track of energy remaining when you are operating on pod power. Pod energy lasts only 10 seconds and is depleted four times faster than fuel. Listen for the siren that warns you when you are about to run out of pod energy. CONTINUOUS PLAY If you lose your last life in Tunnel 1 during a one-player game, you have the option of continue through the tunnel (starting with zero score) or to begin a new game from the first zone in Tunnel 1. At the end of your last life, CONTINUE? appears at the bottom of the screen and the computer pauses 10 seconds for your reply. The 10-second counter, a white line in place of the fuel gauge, ticks off the seconds. If you want to continue, press the red button on your Joystick Controller. The lives remaining counter will reset to five lives and the score counter will reset to zero, but your position in the tunnel will not change. NOTE: If you're pressing the red button when CONTINUE? appears, release the button and then press it again. If you do not press the red button within 10 seconds, the computer resets to the Auto-Play option mode. Then you must start a new game from the beginning of Tunnel 1. The Continuous Play option is not offered in the City of Mystery, Tunnel 2, or two-player games. TWO-PLAYER GAMES To select a two-player game, press the GAME SELECT switch. The number of players in the game appears above the score counter at the bottom of the screen (see Figure 9). Figure 9 - Game Selection [Image of the tunnel screen. The Number of Players is pointed out. It is the middle number on the screen. The Score Counter is also identified. It is the bottom number.] Player 1, using the left Joystick, starts the game. When he loses a life, Player 2 takes a turn. Players alternate turns until one player loses his last life. The surviving player continues playing until he too runs out of lives. The Tunnel Map (Figure 1) appears before each turn and shows the player's position in the tunnel. 3. USING THE CONTROLLERS ------------------------- Use your Joystick Controllers with this ATARI Game Program cartridge. For one-player games, plug one Joystick into the LEFT CONTROLLER jack at the back of your 2600 Video Computer System console. For two-player games, plug a second Joystick into the RIGHT CONTROLLER jack. Hold the Joystick with the red button pointing to your upper left, toward the television screen. (See your Owner's Manual for details.) STARTING THE GAME Press the red button on your Joystick Controller or the GAME RESET switch to start the game. NOTE: You cannot use the red button to interrupt a game and begin a new game. Use the GAME RESET switch for that purpose. MOVING THE SPACESHIP You can move your space ship up, down, right, left, or diagonally on the screen (Figure 10). Just move the Joystick in the direction you want the spaceship to go. Figure 10 - Spaceship Moves [Image of a compass with eight directional arrows. Arrows point Up, Left, Down, Right, and Diagonal] FIRING LASERS Your Vanguard spaceship fires lasers forward, aft, and to either side (Figure 11). There are four ways to fire, depending upon the position of the DIFFICULTY switches. See DIFFICULTY SWITCHES in Section 4 for firing instructions. Figure 11 - Laser Fire [Image of spaceship traveling from left to right and firing in the directions of Forward (right side of picture), Port (top side of picture), Aft (left side of picture), and Starboard (bottom side of picture). Second ship traveling from south to north is pictured. It is firing forward (up in the picture).] IMPORTANT! Your spaceship moves faster when it is not firing. 4. CONSOLE CONTROLS -------------------- GAME SELECT Press the GAME SELECT switch to select a two-player game. Press it again to return to a one-player game. The number of players appears at the bottom of the television screen (see Figure 9). GAME RESET Press the GAME RESET switch to start a new game or to reset a game to the beginning of Tunnel 1. GAME RESET resets the score counter to zero and the lives remaining counter to five lives. DIFFICULTY SWITCHES The DIFFICULTY switches control the way the spaceship fires. Set the LEFT and RIGHT switches for the method that suits you best. You can change switch settings any time you like. 1. Left A, Right A: Press the red controller button and move the Joystick in the direction you want to fire. Release the button to stop firing. 2. Left A, Right B: Same as method 1 except that you do not have to move the Joystick forward to fire forward. The forward laser gun fires automatically when the red button is pressed. 3. Left B, Right A: Move the Joystick in the direction you want to fire. Press the red button to stop firing. 4. Left B, Right B: Same as method 3 except that the forward gun fires automatically. 5. SCORING ----------- _______________________________________________________ | | | | Mist | 70 Points | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Harley | 50 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Helm | 80 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Ammo | 80 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Garime | 100 - 400 (variable) | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Barrier | 800 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Base | 100 - 400 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Floating Payne | No points (indestructible) | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Kemlus | 100 - 400 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Romeda | 100 | |_______________________|_______________________________| _______________________________________________________ | | | | BONUSES | | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Bonus Life | At 10,000 and 50,000 points | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Docking with Kemlus | 1090 | |_______________________|_______________________________| | | | | Destroying Gond | 1000 - 800 | |_______________________|_______________________________| NOTE: The longer you wait to destroy Gond, the more points you score. 6. STRATEGY ------------ * FIRING SLOWS YOU DOWN. Your spaceship moves twice as fast when you aren't firing. Hold your fire when you're passing barriers or diving for energy pods. * MISTS AND HARLEYS. Keep the spaceship moving up and down to avoid missiles and lay down a barrage of lasers vertically, against the enemy's line of flight. A Mist can only fire once, so you can dodge its missile and then go for it. * HELMS AND AMMOS. Try to hit these with your starboard and port lasers before they cross your path. Avoid getting caught between two balloons, since it is hard to fire without moving into them. * KEMLUS AND ROMEDAS. Fire horizontally across their line of flight. * STRIPPED ZONE. Don't try to shoot everything you pass; think mainly of surviving. Fire at barriers and Garimes through crevices in the rocks, but take care not to crash into the rocks. Don't fire at Paynes. You can't destroy them, and firing slows you down when you need a burst of speed to pass safely. * CITY OF MYSTERY. If you want to earn lots of points, hold your fire until the last minute. The trick of course, is to dodge the missiles. Gond aims directly at you, so keep moving. As soon as you enter the city, move up to avoid the first missile. When it passes, move down. Keep changing your position until you run out of room, then fire. 7. GAME TABLE -------------- ___________________________________________________________ | | | | | ZONE | OBSTACLES/AIDS | POINTS | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | Mountain | Mists | 70 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Harleys (missiles) | 50 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Energy Pods | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | Rainbow | Helms or Ammos | 80 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | Stick | Harleys (missiles) | 50 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Mists (missiles) | 70 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | Striped | Garimes | 100 - 400 | | | | (variable) | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Bases | 100 - 400 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Barrier/Force Field | 800 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Floating Paynes | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Energy Pods | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | Bleak | Kemlus Snakes | 100 - 400 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Docking with Kemlus | 1090 | | | (three times only) | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Romedas | 100 | | | (missiles in Tunnel 2) | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | Mystery City | Gond | 1000 - 8000 | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Moving Barriers | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| | | | | | | Missiles | | |________________|__________________________|_______________| ------------------------------------- And of course, this game was made by ATARI in 1983. This game manual was typed in by me! And who am I? I am Eddie Beiles. I can be reached at beiles@lambada.oit.unc.edu if you have any questions about this game manual. Or you can email me and thank me for typing it in. Anyway, enjoy the game and this wonderfully typed in manual.