WARLORDS(tm) ATARI(R) GAME PROGRAM(tm) INSTRUCTIONS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. BATTLE OBJECTIVE 3. CONSOLE CONTROLS 4. USING THE CONTROLLERS 5. GAME VARIATIONS 6. HELPFUL HINTS 7. GAME SELECT MATRIX 1. INTRODUCTION Once long ago in a distant land lived a king named Frederick. He took very good care of his subjects and pretty much let the kingdom run itself. One day King Frederick and his wife, Queen Christina, decided to start a family. To their surprise, Queen Christina soon gave birth to quadruplets. Four healthy sons, all at once. The King and Queen were overwhelmed. The years passed quickly and Frederick's sons(Dominick, Marcus, Felipe, and Restivo) grew to be strong young men. But they were nothing like their kind and peaceful father. They were just the opposite. The four sons of King Frederick fought constantly over anything and everything. Their fighting was so fierce that even the normally unconcerned Frederick became concerned. Left to his violent and competitive sons, his peaceful kingdom could very well be destroyed after he was gone, or perhaps even sooner. The solution King Frederick decided upon was drastic, but he knew it had to be. Dominick, Marcus, Felipe, and Restivo were banished from their homeland and sent far away to a forbidden land. There they became warlords, dividing their newly acquired territory into four equal sectors, which incidentally, was the first and last thing they ever agreed upon. They then took to building their own castles, after which the battling resumed and never ended. They stopped catapulting fireballs and lightning balls at one another only long enough to rebuild their damaged and war torn castles. After repairs were made, the fighting always began again with renewed ferocity. So King Frederick's warlords have been battling for many centuries and now it's up to you to carry on their long-standing feud. Dominick, Marcus, Felipe, and Restivo have been locked inside this Game Program.(tm) They've stored enough fireballs and lightning balls so that they'll never run out, and neither will you. They can hardly wait to do battle. So good luck, you're in for some fierce competition. 2. BATTLE OBJECTIVE The object of the battle is to destroy the other three warlords before your warlord is destroyed. Use the Paddle Controller to protect your castle and your warlord. (Your warlord is located inside the castle, as shown in Figure 1.) Turn the knob on the controller to move your shield around your castle and block the ball*. See Section 4--USING THE CONTROLLERS for more details on controller use. When you miss the ball, it knocks out the bricks of your castle. As your castle breaks down, it becomes possible for the ball to hit your warlord, at which time you're out of the battle. Each battle ends when only one warlord remains on the playfield. THE FIRST PERSON OR COMPUTER PLAYER TO WIN FIVE BATTLES WINS THE WAR. Note that a shield controlled by the computer will move slower than a shield controlled by a human player. To compensate for this fact, the computer player and shield have the power to throw the ball in unexpected directions. Also, when a warlord has been killed, his ghost will haunt the battlefield. If the ball comes near, the ghost may actually hit the ball in a new direction. If you look closely, you may even catch a glimpse of the ghost and his shield. * Of the 23 games in WARLORDS(tm), each game has fast(lightning), or slow (fireball) speed. see Section 5--GAME VARIATIONS and the GAME SELECT MATRIX for a description and breakdown of all the games. 3. CONSOLE CONTROLS GAME SELECT SWITCH Use the game select switch to select the game number you wish to play. The game number changes at the top, left side of the screen as you press down the switch. The number to the right is the number of players for each game, which also changes as the game number changes. (See Figure 2.) GAME RESET SWITCH When you have selected the game number you wish to play, press down the game reset switch to start the game. DIFFICULTY SWITCHES Not used. TV TYPE SWITCH Set this switch to color if you hvae a color television set. Set it to b/w to play the game in black-and-white. 4. USING THE CONTROLLERS Use the Paddle Controllers with this ATARI(R) Game Program(tm) cartridge. Be sure the controller cables are firmly plugged into the LEFT CONTROLLER jack at the back of your ATARI Video Computer System(tm) game. For one- or two- player games, use the LEFT CONTROLLER jack. Three- or four-player games require an additional set of controllers plugged into the RIGHT CONTROLLER jack. NOTE: If unsure about which shield your controller operates, turn the knob on your Paddle Controller to see which shield moves on the screen. Hold the controller with the red button to your upper left toward the television screen. See Section 3 of your Video Computer System Owner's Manual for further details. Turn the knob on the controller to move your shield and to block the ball. To use the CATCH feature, press and hold the red controller button before the ball makes contact with your shield. Release the button to send the ball back toward your opponents at HIGH SPEED. Check the GAME SELECT MATRIX to see which games feature CATCH. 5. GAME VARIATIONS WARLORDS HAS THREE MAIN VARIATIONS: A. Number of players--one, two, three, four, or Doubles. The GAME SELECT MATRIX will show you the number of players for each game. In Doubles (D) games, two players control two shields each. The computer operates any unused shields. B. Ball speed--fireball/lightning ball. Depending on the game number you play, the ball speed will either be slow(fireball), or fast(lightning ball). As noted before, when using the CATCH feature, the ball comes off your shield at high speed. Also, when hitting bricks, the darker the wall, the faster the ball will return. C. Shields--ricochet/CATCH. Your shields function either with ricochet or CATCH. Ricochet simply means that the ball rebounds off your shield whenever contact is made. The CATCH feature means that the ball sticks to your shield when you hold down the red controller button before contact is made. The ball comes off the shield at high speed when you release the button. Use the CATCH feature to aim the ball at your opponents or change the pace of the battle. CHILDREN'S VERSIONS GAMES 21, 22, and 23 are special versions for young children. The game play is slowed down considerably. All three games feature ricochet(rather than CATCH), and all three have fireballs(slow balls). The only difference in the three games is the number of players(4, 3, or 2). Check the GAME SELECT MATRIX. 6. HELPFUL HINTS When you first start playing WARLORDS, choose games with slow ball speed (fireball). This will help you get the feel of the game faster. Also, there are certain positions in which the ball always comes off your shield at the same angle, or in the same direction. Learn these positions and use them to your advantage against your opponents. Don't be too predictable. If you attempt to shoot from the same angle or from the same position too often, your opponents will know what to expect and will nearly always be able to block your shots. Vary your attacks to keep the others off guard. Study your opponents' weaknesses. You can learn a lot by studying the habits of the enemy. You may find, for example, that one of your opponent moves very well in one direction when attempting to block shots, but has trouble moving in the opposite direction. Obviously then, you want to concentrate on the direction he or she has trouble moving to. Team Competition: You will find that four-player games are terrific because the action is fierce and extremely competitive. You may even want to create teams and battle for the best cumulative score. 7. GAME SELECT MATRIX HOW TO READ THE GAME SELECT MATRIX Number of Players: 4, 3, 2, 1, or Doubles(D) Shields: C = CATCH R = ricochet(no CATCH) Ball Speed: F = fast(lightning ball) S = slow(fireball) GAME SELECT MATRIX -------------------------------------------------------------- Game Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 -------------------------------------------------------------- Number of Players 4 3 2 1 D 4 3 2 1 D 4 Shields C C C C C C C C C C R Ball Speed F F F F F S S S S S F -------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Children's |Versions Game Number 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |21 22 23 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Number of Players 3 2 1 D 4 3 2 1 D | 4 3 2 Shields R R R R R R R R R | R R R Ball Speed F F F F S S S S S | S S S ----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------Atari 2600 Instructions Archive-------------------