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Fathom - Imagic - Atari 2600    Manual Scan icon HTML Manual   

Fathom
FATHOM

by Imagic
c 1983

Game program designed by Rob Fulop
Graphics assisted by Michael Becker and Wilfredo Aguilar


Titans have imprisoned Neptina, Neptune's daughter!  They've shattered his
magical Trident and scattered its pieces far and wide.  Without his trident,
Neptune is powerless.

Proteus, a member of Neptune's Court, longs to free the lovely mermaid.  
He sets out to find the missing pieces of the Trident.  He roams land and 
sea, changing from a dolphin to a seagull and back again in order to 
deceive the mermaid's captors.  Deadly trials confront Proteus -- 
octopuses, tangled beds of kelp, screaming flocks of black birds, even 
erupting volcanoes!  But he fights on valiantly!



OBJECTIVES
----------

Locate the three missing pieces of Neptune's Trident and free Neptune's 
daughter 7 times from her prison at the bottom of the sea.  
* Switch forms from dolphin to seagull to search the sea and the sky for the
  three pieces of the Trident.
  * Learn to make magical stars appear in the sky and the starfish appear 
    in the sea.  They are your key to finding the Trident pieces!
  * Once you have the Trident, swing to the bottom of the sea and free the
    mermaid! Hurry!  Time is ticking down!



GETTING STARTED
---------------

* Insert cartridge and turn power on.
* To begin action:  Flip Game Reset Lever.
* Time begins ticking down when the dolphin dives underwater.



DIVING DOLPHIN
--------------

* You begin every game as a dolphin.
  * To swim, press and hold the red button.  Release the button to stop 
    swimming.
  * Use the joystick to control the direction the dolphin swims.
* As you swim, avoid octopuses and strings of seaweed.  You lose valuable 
  points if you touch them.
* Touch all the SEA HORSES you can.
  * You earn points for every sea horse you touch.
  * A starfish may appear if you manage to touch all the sea horses in one
    section before leaving that section.
* You can acquire a piece or pieces of the Trident by touching starfish.  The
  Trident parts will appear at the bottom of the screen.
* Touch the right number of sea horses and a bird symbol appears at the 
  bottom of your screen.  With it you can turn into a seagull when you 
  surface.

[Image of the screen.  The colors I use are the ones in the picture 
inside the manual.  The dolphin is the character you control and is 
yellow.  The Octopus look more like jellyfish.  Their tops and red, and 
their tentacles are white.  The seaweed looks like green plants.  The sea 
horse has a white head and a purple tail.  The following objects are 
located below the playing screen.  The fish symbol looks like your 
dolphin.  The bird symbol looks like a cross between a "v" and a picture 
of a bulls head (like the Long Horn's of Texas logo).  The trident looks 
like a fancy fork.  The fish symbol, bird symbol and trident are all
yellow-orange.  The level number is the white number that is between 1 
and 9 (on the left), and the time/score is the other white number (on the 
right).



WINGIN' IT
----------

When the dolphin leaps out of the water, you'll become the seagull, 
provided you have the bird symbol.
* To fly, press the red button once for each flap of your wings.
  * The more often you press, the higher and faster you'll fly.
  * To glide, stop pressing the button.
  * Use the joystick to direct the seagull.
* Fly off the screen to the right or left, as well as up into the 
  clouds.  Each time you free Neptina, you can fly farther and higher than 
  before!
* Touch the pink CLOUDS.
  * You earn points for every pink cloud you touch.
  * A star may appear if you manage to touch all the clouds in one 
    section of the sky before leaving that section.
    * Remember:  stars are your key to finding pieces of the Trident!
  * You have a limited number of chances to touch pink clouds before they 
    turn grey.
    * Grey clouds can also lead to lucky stars, but touching grey clouds 
      costs you points!
* Touch the right number of clouds and a fish symbol appears at the 
  bottom of the screen.  With it you can change back into a dolphin.
* Avoid running into black birds.  Collisions subtract points from your 
  score!

[Image of the screen.  The black birds are the black things that fly.  
The pink clouds are the pink fluffy things.  The star is the yellow five 
pointed star that has lines coming out of it (showing that it is 
shinning).  The seagull is the bird that you control.  Its body is white, 
its wings are grey, and the tip of its wings are black.]



FLYING THE HORIZON
------------------

* After changing into a seagull, while the dolphin appears on the screen, 
  you can only fly to the left or right.
* Once the dolphin is out of view, you can fly higher.
* Similarly, when a volcano appears on screen, you can only fly to the 
  left or right, not up.  Once the volcano is out of view, you can fly 
  higher.
  * Eerie volcanoes cover the landscape.  You cannot pass the first 
    volcano until you succeed in freeing Neptina for the first time.  After 
    that, you can reach more distant volcanoes each time you free the 
    mermaid.
* Each time you free the mermaid, the gods extend the territory you can 
  cover by adding one section each of sky, land, and sea in every direction.
* With more territory to cover, each level becomes more difficult!  
  Finding a lucky star on higher levels will take a lot of shill and 
  daring!  Good luck!



SCORING
-------

* The Level number appears at the bottom left of the screen.  All games 
  begin at Level 1.
* If you free Neptina, you automatically advance to the next level (2, 3 
  etc.).  Your score for the new Level returns to 50.
* When you free Neptina, the points you earn on the Level are added to 
  the point bank with the total number of points earned on all previous 
  Levels.
* The points you earn are multiplied by the Level number you are on.  
  Example:  Earn 50 points on Level 2 and 100 points are stored in the 
  point bank (50 x 2 = 100).


FOR A HIGH SCORE

  * Run into all the sea horses and pink clouds you can.  They're worth 
    points.
  * Avoid obstacles -- black birds, grey clouds, octopuses, seaweed and
    volcanoes.  They cost you points!
* Time freezes when the dolphin and the seagull appear on screen 
  together.  Otherwise you lose points as the seconds tick away.


GAME ENDS WHEN:

* Your points reach zero.  When this happens, the dolphin or seagull 
  disappears.  To resume play, hit Game Reset.
* You run out of chances to get starfish.  This happens when sea horses stop
  appearing before the dolphin succeeds in getting a fish symbol to   
  appear.  To resume play, hit Game Reset.
* When the game end, you will see your final score.  The number of levels you
  achieved is indicated by the number of hears that appear.
* Free the mermaid seven times and watch for a special surprise!



SURVIVING LEVEL ONE!
--------------------

Here's how to fin and fly through Level 1.  After that you're on your own!

As the dolphin swims down, octopuses and two sea horses appear.  Touch 
both sea horses.  Then touch the starfish that appears.  A piece of the 
Trident now shows at the bottom of the screen.  Note:  You must reach 
both sea horses and the starfish without leaving that section of the 
sea.  If you don't, return to the surface and try again.

Next dive through lines of seaweed.  More sea horses appear.  touch one 
and a bird symbol shows at the bottom of your screen.  Return to the surface 
now, or try to reach other sea horses for additional points.

Jump out of the water when you reach the surface.  Fly to the left or 
right.  Land appears.  Flap your wings hard and fly up.  Touch two pink 
clouds in that section of the sky and a star appears.  Touch it.  You'll 
have another piece of the Trident.  Return to the dolphin.  Fly until you 
reach land on the other side.  Repeat the game of tag with pink clouds.  
Touch one pink cloud and acquire a fish symbol; touch the other and a 
star appears.  Touch the star and the third piece of the Trident is 
yours.  Return to the dolphin, change forms and dive for the bottom.  
when you arrive, the mermaid's prison will dissolve.


And of course, this game was made by IMAGIC in 1983.  This game manual 
was typed in by me!  Who am I?  I am Eddie Beiles.  I can be reached at
[email protected] 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.
 






This document obtained from the History of Home Video Games Homepage, �1997-1998 by Greg Chance