LASER GATES
GAME PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS

The thousand galaxies quake at the news: the Cryptic Computer, the
galactic defense synthesizer which has maintained peace for the five cent-
uries since the Wars on Zevon, has malfunctioned! Four Failsafe Detonators
inside the Computer will now initiate universal self-destruct!
The Governors of Enderby order the Dante Dart into action. Only it can
spiral down through the nearly impenetrable defenses of the Computer in
order to reach and destroy the Detonators!

GAME OBJECTIVES

* Navigate the Dante Dart through the caverns of the Cryptic Computer.
* Destroy Radar Mortars, Rock Munchers, Homing Missiles and Byte Bats.
* Blast your way through Densepack Columns.
* Time your approach in order to survive Flashing, Flexing and Fixed
   Forcefields.
* Avoid colliding with the jagged walls of the Computer.
* Reach and destroy each of the four Failsafe Detonators inside the
Computer.

MISSION CONTROL

* To play, use LEFT joystick controller.
* To begin action, press red button.

GAME PLAY

* To pilot the Dante Dart, lean the joystick in the desired direction.
   The Dart faces left or right at your command.
* To fire Dante Dart laser, press red button.

YOUR INSTRUMENT PANEL

Keep track of the instument panel at the bottom of the screen.

Energy
* The Dante Dart consumes energy at a regular pace.
* Laser fire and collisions DO NOT affect energy reserves.

Energy Pod
* To replenish energy reserves, touch Energy Pods as they appear along
   the Computer passageway.
* Do not fire at Energy Pods! You may not survive until another appears!

Shields: Shields protect the Dante Dart.
* With each collision, the Shield indicator on the Instrument Panel
   grows shorter.
* You begin with 24 shield units.
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Collide With: Shield Loss:

Computer Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Unit

Shot from Rock Muncher or Radar Mortar. . . . . . . . . . . 1 Unit

Byte Bat, Rock Muncher, Homing Missile, Radar Cannon,
Densepack Column, any Forcefield or Detonator. . . . . . . 6 Units
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* When the Shield Indicator flashes red, another collision will destroy
   the Dante Dart.
* Gain 6 Shield reserve units for every 10,000 points you score!

D-Time: Indicates the amount of time the Dante Dart has to reach the next
Detonator before it explodes.

COMPUTER DEFENSES

Forcefields: Three kinds of Forcefields appear throughout the Computer.
* Flashing Forcefields flash on and off at regular intervals.
* Flexing Forcefields open and close with a vertical crushing motion.
* Fixed Forcefields have a small gap that remains the same size but
   moves up and down.

Densepack Columns: Grey Densepack Columns of varying widths appear along the
dark Computer passage. Blast your way through with Dante Dart laser shots.

Radar Mortars: Radar Mortars appear along the top and bottom of the Computer
passage.

Rock Munchers, Homing Missiles and Byte Bats fly at you without warning.

FAILSAFE DETONATORS

* Detonators are large and grey and have the numbers "6507" etched on the
   side.
- In order to destroy a Detonator, laser fire must strike one of the
   pins on the side of the Detonator.

Booby Traps!
* Beware of booby-trapped Detonator pins on Detonators!
- The Dante Dart loses Shield reserves for each booby-trapped pin it
   strikes.
- Strike the same booby-trapped pin twice and the Dante Dart will be
   destroyed.
- The position of the booby-trapped pins changes randomly from game
   to game.
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SCORE
Pass Forcefield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 points
Destroy Radar Mortar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 points
Destroy Rock Muncher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325 points
Destroy Bat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330 points
Destroy Homing Missile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525 points
Destroy Detonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6507 points