-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ATARI 2600tm PHOENIX* * trademark licensed by Centuri, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atari welcomes your comments. Please address all correspondence to: Atari, Inc. Customer Relations 1312 Crossman Avenue Sunnyvale, California 94086 NOTE: Always turn the console POWER switch OFF when inserting or removing an ATARI(R) Game Program(tm) cartridge. This will protect the electronic components and prolong the life of your ATARI 2600(tm) Video Computer System(tm) game. (C) 1982 ATARI,INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. PHOENIX FIRE RISING ________ 1 2. GAME PLAY __________________ 2 3. USING THE CONTROLLER _______ 3 4. CONSOLE CONTROLS ___________ 4 5. SCORING ____________________ 5 6. HELPFUL HINTS ______________ 6 7. SCORECARD __________________ 7 1. PHOENIX FIRE RISING In ancient times, legend says, there was a bird of great beauty. About the size of an eagle, it had brilliant scarlet and gold feathers, a melodious song, and was the only one of its kind in the entire world. This fabulous creature lived in Arabia and had a life span of over five hundred years. At the end of its life, the phoenix built a nest of frankincense, myrrh, and other aromatic spices. After setting fire to the nest by rapidly beating its wings, the beautiful bird settled down to die amidst the flames. From the ashes of that fire miraculously arose a young, revitalized Phoenix. This new bird then took the remains of its parent to the temple of the sun at Heliopolis in Egypt, and sacrificed them on the high altar. The long life of the Phoenix and the dramatic rebirth from its own ashes has made this legendary bird a symbol of immortality and spiritual rebirth in many cultures. The Egyptians saw the myth as a symbol of the life cycle of the sun, which dies every day at sunset and is reborn every morning at dawn. Most others interpret the legend as a general symbol for the regeneration of life after death. However, something awful has happened to tarnish the long-standing image of the Phoenix. Due to the effects of radioactive fallout on its nest, the Phoenix has unfortunately mutated into a bird of prey. Now, several birds arise from the ashes, but these are not like the beautiful, friendly bird of old. These birds are mean. Their cries are shrill. They have developed a tough, metallic-like skin that makes them almost indestructible. And they have turned their backs on the human race to offer their services to alien beings determined to drain away earth's energy resources. Your mission: Eliminate these seemingly immortal war hawks, destroy the alien spaceship, and safeguard our planet from ravaging energy-thieves. 2. GAME PLAY You have five lives in which to survive the bombing attacks of four separate flocks of Phoenix war birds who protect the alien spaceship. Your challenge is to eliminate the birds, get to the spaceship that follows the fourth wave of birds, and shoot the alien pilot. To eliminate the large, menacing Phoenixes of the third and fourth waves, you have to hit them in the center. If you only wing a Phoenix, like its ancient ancestor, it will soon regenerate the missing part and become a whole bird to attack you some more. To destroy the alien pilot, you have to erode the multi-colored hull of the spaceship directly beneath the cockpit to create a clear shot at him. But one of the hull layers - the blue layer - rotates the length of the spaceship. So, you not only have to chip away at the blue layer, but you also have to time your shot at the alien to coincide with the hole passing directly under him. 3. USING THE CONTROLLER Use your Joystick Controller with this ATARI Game Program cartridge. Be sure the controller cable is firmly plugged into the left jack at the back of your 2600 Video Computer System console. Hold the Joystick with the red button to your upper left, toward the television screen. (See your Owner's Manual for further details.) TO START THE GAME PHOENIX is a one-player game. To start the game, press the GAME RESET button on your Video Computer System console. Then grab your Joystick and avoid getting bombed by the small birds that weave back and forth across the screen. (Figure 1.) TO OPERATE YOUR LASER CANNON Move your Joystick left or right to move your laser cannon left or right. Pull the Joystick toward you to activate a protective force field around your laser cannon. This force field is energized for only 1 1/2 seconds before it fades; it cannot be reactivated until another 3 1/2 seconds elapse. When the force field is activated, you cannot move your cannon, but you can still fire your laser. .-------. / \ | .---. | Left <========| |="======="> Right | `-|-' | \ | / `---|---' | V Force Field To fire your laser cannon, press the red fire button. You can only have one laser shot on the screen at any one time. [Small Phoenix Birds (First Wave) Figure 1 - Opening Game Situation (Shows the Laser Cannon to be in the lower part of the screen and the Score and Lives in Reserve to be in the upper part. The birds are violet with orange.)] 4. CONSOLE CONTROLS GAME RESET SWITCH Press the GAME RESET switch to start the game after you insert the cartridge into the console. Press it anytime during game play to return to the first display (Figure 1) and start a new game. After you have exhausted your game quota of five lives, you can also start a new game (and reincarnate yourself!) by pressing the red fire button. GAME SELECT SWITCH Since PHOENIX consists of one continuous game, the GAME SELECT switch has no function. DIFFICULTY SWITCHES Since PHOENIX is difficult enough as it is, the DIFFICULTY switches have no effect on game play either. However, if you wish to eliminate the background sounds of the bird cries, set the LEFT DIFFICULTY switch to the "A" position. The action sounds will remain, no matter which setting you choose. TV TYPE SWITCH Set this switch to COLOR if you're playing on a color TV. Set it to B/W to play the game on a black and white TV. [Figure 2 - Small Phoenix Birds (Second Wave) (The birds are violet with green.] 5. SCORING Point values are identical for the first two waves of attack by the small Phoenix birds. (Figures 1 and 2). You get 20 points for each small bird you hit while it is moving in a horizontal pattern; you get 80 points for each bird you shoot while it is actually swooping in at you. [Figure 3 - Large Phoenix Birds (First Wave) (The birds are blue.)] [Figure 4 - Large Phoenix Birds (Second Wave) (The Force Field is shown to be a white hexagon around your laser cannon. The birds are red in this wave.)] Point values are also identical for the last two waves of attack by the large Phoenix birds (Figures 3 and 4). You get between 100 and 500 points for each large Phoenix you eliminate, depending on its proximity to you when you destroy it. The closer the bird is, the more points you get. If you only wing one of the large birds, you get 20 points. [Figure 5 - Alien Spaceship (Shows the Alien Pilot in the space ship and the Rotating Blue Layer)] The alien spaceship (Figure 5) counts between 1,000 and 4,000 points in the first round - depending on its proximity to you when you vaporize the alien. In this case, the quicker you destroy the ship, the more points you'll score. If you survive long enough to confront the spaceship again, the highest score you can achieve increases by a thousand points in each round to a maximum of 9,000 points. 6. HELPFUL HINTS * Overcome the temptation to fire away the first time the small birds appear. Instead, take a few moments to study their patterns. Observe what happens when you are positioned directly beneath the birds, and when you are not. Study the attack patterns of the lower birds. Learn how to move your laser cannon between the bombs without getting blown apart. * In all phases of the game except for the second wave of small birds, you must press the red fire button each time you want to squeeze off a shot. However, in the second wave of small birds, you'll get continuous firing if you hold the button down. * Don't waste lives trying to accumulate a lot of points in the early waves. Play it safe. Save your stamina for the large birds and for the spaceship, where the real big points are scored. * For the first two times you encounter the alien spaceship, you can chip away the blue layer of the spaceship without getting bombed if you fire close to the edges furthest from the cockpit. Starting with the third encounter with the spaceship, however, bombs will fall from those edges and the alien's shots will be faster-paced and more accurate - just to make things more challenging for advanced players! At all times, you need two shots at the same point to create a hole in the blue layer. * Use your force field sparingly and as a strategic device in emergency situations. If a bird brushes up against your force field, it will be disintegrated; but if a bird crashes into your unprotected laser cannon, you're both "dead ducks." The moral: Keep a watchful eye for low flying birds! 7. SCORECARD (Ommited. Manual has places for DATE and SCORE in the back.) CO19741-73 REV.1 2673 (c)1982 ATARI,INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Printed in U.S.A. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------