FOR THE ATARI 2600 AND ALL COMPATIBLE SYSTEMS BUCK ROGERS PLANET OF ZOOM OFFICIAL ARCADE VERSION SEGA VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE It's the 25th century. You are Buck Rogers fighting the battle of Planet Zoom. This is a race against death. Your ultimate and most powerful enemy is the deadly MOTHER SHIP! There are 16 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 deadly ELECTRON POSTS, ALIEN SAUCERS and smashing SPACE HOPPERS. This is a battle of speed, accuracy and endurance. Your time consumption is crucial to your survival. If you deplete your time you lose one of your five fighter ships. The faster you fly, the sooner you'll get to the MOTHER SHIP, allowing yourself more time to destroy it. You begin with a full time line when you destroy the MOTHER SHIP. Be aggressive but don't be reck- less. This is do or die cosmic combat and it's the MOTHER SHIP or YOU! USING YOUR CONTROLS You begin your battle with a fleet of five fighterships that you have to navigate one at a time above the surface of Planet Zoom and into space. Use your joystick to control them. Press your fire button to start the game. JOYSTICK CONTROL Pushing your joystick FORWARD will increase the speed of flight. Pushing the joystick BACK brings your ship to its minimum speed. Pushing your joystick to the RIGHT will turn your ship to the right. Pushing your joystick to the LEFT will turn your ship to the left. If the joystick is angled up or down while turning right or left, it will fly at that angle. Keep your fire button depressed for rapid fire. 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. Beyond the horizon is outerspace and your battle with the ALIEN SAUCERS then the MOTHER SHIP. The upper edge of your screen shows your score. To the right of your score is the number of ELECTRON POSTS you must pass through before engaging in the next round of battle. Below is your time line ticking down from right to left. As your time runs down your time line will change color to indicate the amount of time you have left. GREEN . . . . . . . . . . . .More than 1/2 of your time is left. YELLOW . . . . . . . .Between 1/2 and 1/4 of your time is left. FLASHING RED . . . . . . . .Less than 1/4 of your time is left. When your time is depleted, your ship will be destroyed. If that was your last ship, the game is over. If you run out of time before reaching the next level, you return to the first round of that level minus one ship. The surface of Planet Zoom changes color as your battle takes you to more treacherous terrain with each level. GAME PLAY Now you are ready to do battle on the 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 - BLUE/BLACK ROUND 1 - 20 ELECTRON POSTS ROUND 2 - ELECTRON POSTS and ALIEN SAUCERS ROUND 3 - ELECTRON POSTS and SPACE HOPPERS ROUND 4 - The MOTHER SHIP with ALIEN SAUCERS Each level is made up of the same sequence of rounds. As the levels increase the number of ELECTRON POSTS you must pass through to advance to the next round of battle grows. As the number of ELECTRON POSTS increase, the aliens also increase in number and density. LEVEL ONE . . . . . . . .20 posts LEVEL TWO . . . . . . . .23 posts LEVEL THREE . . . . . . .28 posts LEVEL FOUR . . . . . . .33 posts LEVEL FIVE . . . . . . .28 posts faster and closer together LEVEL SIX . . . . . . . .31 posts faster and closer together LEVEL SEVEN . . . . . . .34 posts faster and closer together LEVEL EIGHT . . . . . . .37 posts faster and closer together LEVEL NINE . . . . . . .34 posts Even faster and more close together than the last four levels. For the remaining seven levels of play the number of posts increases by three each level and every three levels decreases by three as the speed and density of the alien's attack increases. ENEMIES AND ALIENS Electron Posts - explode on impact. They get closer and faster with each level. Alien Saucers - explode on impact and fly by in greater number and density as levels of difficulty increase. Space Hoppers - explode on impact. As levels of difficulty increase, Space Hoppers will appear in greater number and density. The Mother Ship - This is your greatest challenge. Its destruction is your greatest victory. No enemy is more cunning or powerful. The MOTHER SHIP can be destroyed only by hitting it twice. SCORING ALIEN SAUCER . . . . . . . .300 points SPACE HOPPER . . . . . . . .300 points ELECTRON POST . . . . . . .500 points MOTHER SHIP . . . . . . . .20,000 points Every 50,000 points you receive an additional fightership plus a full time line. STRATEGIC TIPS * Fly as fast as you can without crashing. You receive added points for added speed. * Saucers are more easy to hit as they fly past from behind. * Enemies appear in waves in your battle with the MOTHER SHIP. Try to determine the rhythm of the waves. * Don't be reckless - your fightership steers with super-sensitive response. * Over-steering will cause you to collide with ELECTRON POSTS, ALIEN SAUCERS or SPACE HOPPERS. Copyright (c) 1983 SEGA ENTERPRISES, INC. BUCK ROGERS is a trademark of The Dille Family Trust. ATARI and 2600 are trademarks of Atari, Inc.