BUCK ROGERS - PLANET OF ZOOM ============================ - ONE PLAYER COSMIC COMBAT - EXPLOSIVE 3D COLOUR GRAPHICS - FOUR GALACTIC SCREENS PER ROUND - PRECISION PILOT SKILLS AND CHALLENGES - DEMANDING FUEL SUPPLY/EFFICIENCY FACTOR It's the 25th Century. You are Buck Rogers fighting the battle of Planet Zoom. Skillfully slip through zapping electron posts. Dodge and destroy deadly space hoppers and alien saucers. Your race against death has just begun! Prepare for battle with your most powerful enemy... the Mother Ship! It's never easy when it's do or die. You must hit the Mother Ship dead centre. Anything less will only waste precious fuel. Aim steady, but hurry ... your fuel is dangerously low! There are five levels of increasing difficulty - each with four rounds of challenging space combat. Before you meet the MOTHER SHIP, your pilot skills and nerve are tested against zapping ELECTRON POSTS, ALIEN SAUCERS and smashing SPACE HOPPERS. This is a battle of speed, accuracy and endurance. Your fuel consumption is crucial to your survival. If you deplete your fuel you crash into the surface of Planet Zoom, destroying any one of your three battle ships. The faster you fly, the less fuel you burn. Be aggressive but don’t be reckless. This is “do or die" cosmic combat and it's the MOTHER SHIP or YOU! USING YOUR CONTROLS LOADING Position the cassette in your tape recorder with the printed side upwards and make sure that is it rewound to the beginning. Ensure that the connection lead goes from the EAR socket on the recorder to the EAR socket on the Spectrum and that the MIC socket is disconnected. Type LOAD"" (Note there is no space between the two quotes) the " is obtained by pressing SYMBOL SHIFT and the P key simultaneously. For further instructions consult your manual. Press PLAY on the recorder. The screen message should appear and the game will load automatically. If this does not happen adjust the volume and tone controls until loading takes place. When loaded follow screen instructions. You’ll begin your battle with a fleet of four fighterships that you navigate one at a time above the surface of Planet Zoom and into space. You can use your keyboard or joystick to control them. JOYSTICK CONTROL From the Main Menu select Kempston, Sinclair interface 2, or Cursor Joystick interfaces. Pushing your joystick FORWARD will elevate your fightership until it has reached its maximum elevation. Pulling the joystick BACK brings your ship lower until it skims the surface of Planet Zoom. Pushing joystick to the right will turn your ship to the right. Pushing joystick to the left will turn your ship to the left. If the joystick is angled up or down while turning right or left, your ship will fly at that angle. Keep Fire button depressed for steady fire. KEYBOARD CONTROLS Your ship will fly the same way on your screen when using keyboard controls. Keys 1 to 0 will ELEVATE your ship. Keys A to L will bring your ship to the surface of planet Zoom. Keys Q to T will steer your ship LEFT. Keys Y to P will steer your ship RIGHT. Keys Z to M will FIRE your missiles. HOW TO PLAY The object of the game is to destroy the MOTHER SHIP before the MOTHER SHIP and its deadly Electron Posts, Saucers and Space Hoppers destroy you! THE SCREEN Your screen shows the view as you skim over the surface of Planet Zoom. In the distance are mountains and beyond them, outerspace and your battle with the MOTHER SHIP. The upper edge of your screen shows your score, and your fuel gauge. When your fuel is depleted, an alarm sounds and your fuel gauge flashes as your ship collides into the surface of Planet Zoom, destroying that ship. If that was the last of your three ships, the game is over. If you run out of fuel before reaching the next round, you return to the first round of that level minus one ship. Below your fuel gauge is your enemy/obstacle display indicating the number of Alien Saucers or Space Hoppers to be destroyed or the number of Electron Posts to be passed through. GAME PLAY Now you are ready to do battle on Planet Zoom. The game is divided into five skill levels. Each level is made up of four rounds of battle. Each round you encounter a different combination of enemies and aliens. The combinations get more difficult as you advance through each round of every level: LEVEL 1 ROUND 1 - 10 Electron Posts ROUND 2 - 16 Electron Posts, Alien Saucers and Space Hoppers ROUND 3 - 18 Electron Posts and Alien Saucers ROUND 4 - 20 Alien Saucers ROUND 5 - The Mother Ship with Missiles. The number of Electron Posts, Alien Saucers and Space Hoppers indicates the combined total of enemies and aliens you must destroy or Electron Posts you must pass through. Your screen will show no more than 20 enemies or aliens to be destroyed. ENEMIES AND ALIENS Electron Posts - With each level they are spaced more closely. They explode on impact. Alien Saucers - Will explode on impact and fly by with greater speed and frequency as levels of difficulty increase. Space Hoppers - Will explode on impact with your ship. As levels of difficulty increase. Space Hoppers will appear with greater speed and frequency. The MOTHER SHIP - this is your greatest challenge. Her destruction is your greatest victory. No enemy is more cunning or powerful. The MOTHER SHIP can be destroyed only by hitting it dead centre. As it approaches, the MOTHER SHIP will fire at you. SCORING Alien Saucers 400 points Space Hoppers 400 points Electron Posts 500 points The MOTHER SHIPS 10,000 points STRATEGIC TIPS - If you fly outside the Electron Posts after level 1, you are likely to be hit by Electron Posts. - You are more vulnerable to attack by Alien Saucers when flying low. - Saucers are more vulnerable as they fly past from behind. - Enemies appear in waves. Try to determine the rhythm of the waves. - Be aggressive - if you're not, you’ll use your fuel before you encounter with the MOTHERSHIP. - Over-steering will cause you to collide with Electron Posts, Alien Saucers or Space Hoppers. Copyright ©1983 SEGA ENTERPRISES, INC. BUCK ROGERS is a trademark of The Dille Family Trust. U.S. Gold, Unit 10, Parkway Industrial Centre, Heneage Street, Birmingham.