from: Chris Shepard cshep19@bignet.net Captain Comic Color Dreams Instruction Manual -- The Adventures of Captain Comic I. Introduction "It was magic most foul," Intoned one of the elderss solemnly. "Nonsense!" scoffed another, "It was simply science...thieves make good use of technology." "Good use?" raged the third. The elders of Osmic had come in full regalia, feathers and banners and the heavy gold chains of office but the formal procession of leaders had not carried the hereditary badges of office-the Crown of Ages, the Mystical Gems of Lascorbanos or the Thousand Coins of Tenure. These had been stolen, most wickedly puroined, in an attempt to jeopardize the forcoming festivities of the Tremillenial and were now reputedly hidden on the planet Tambi. So they came to you-Captain Comic, galactic hero, righter of wrongs, and all around nice guy. It was most gratifying-ignore the rumor that they had gone to Orion O'Brian, that mercenary thug, and he had turned them down, callng the job "insanely dangerous" and saying the entire planet of Tambi, from its endless blue lakes to its impossibly blue moon, had not one cubic centimeter where a person could feel safe-nor a single benign life form. Tambi was a land of surpries-all bad. Well, you're on the job now. Using you keen wits and well honed reflexes, you must traverse the ever-changing and treacherous environs of Tambi and return the treasures of Osmic in time for the Trimillenil celebrations. Succeed, and you will be gonored as a hero once more; fail, and three thousand years of galactic peace and prosperity crumble to comic-uh-cosmic dust. 1 -- PRECAUTIONS 1) Store at room temperature. Do not subject to environmental extremes. 2) Always ensure that power is off before inserting or removing the cartridge from the Nintendo system 3) Keep contacts clean (do not touch them and store cartridge in is box when not in use). 4) Do not try to open or disassemble the cartridge. 5) Do not sit too close to your television. 6) Do not clean the cartridge with chemican agents. This product is designed and manufactured by Color Dreams. It is not designed, manufactured, sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo. 2 -- II. Game Control Control pad left determines the direction Captain Comic faces. When pressed continuosly, it causes our hero to walk left. Control Pad right operates similarly but movies Captain Comic to the right. Button A causes Captain Comic to jump. The loger it is pressed, the higher our hero jumps. Use it in conjunction with Move Left and Move Right to alter Captain Comic's trajectory while in med air. Button B activates Captain Comic's blaster after he has located and guzzled down at least one Blastola Cola. With each additonal Blastola, our hero acquires one additional shot. Control Pad Up may be used to open any door on planet Tambi after Captain Comic has located and secured the key, Position Comic in front of a door and press Control pad Up to activate it. Some doors begave normally, allowing our hero to enter the area behind them. Others are linked to Tambi's golobal transportation system and will cause the Captain to be teleported halfway around Tambi, or even to one of Tambi's moons. Select Button may let you tap into the global teleport system in a limited fasion after our hero has gained possession of the Wand, When used properly, the Wand can allow Captain Comic to reach regions of the screen that are normally inaccessible. Start Button allows Captain Comic to keep track of numerous objects that he will encounter on his quest. It also lets him take a break from the action when the going gets too heavy. 3 -- III. Game Mechanics Captain Comic begins his adventure with five lives, no items in his inventory, his Mark-VII enviroment suit with shield projector, and his trusty Blastola assult weapon. The energy supply ofr these two pieces of equipment is located with the Mark VII's back pack. The weapon's energy replenishes itself during periods of non- use. Shield energy does not regenerate; our hero must be sure to pick pu and shield packs that he encounters, they make life so much easier! When an enemy comes into contact with Captain Comic, the enemy is destroyed by the shield, and the shield's energy supply is depleted by one unit. If the shield reserve power meter reaches zero units and the good Captain is hit by an enemy, both the Captain and the enemy will go out in a blaze of sparks. Net cost to the Captain: on life. Care should be aken to monitor the shield meter. It can mean the difference between success and failure. Captain Comic's offensive power can be increased by finding cans of Blastola Cola that have been left lying about the surface of Tambi. Our hero may imbibe up a total of five Blastola Colas resulting in the ability to have five shots in the air simultaneously. Although firepower is unlimited, it can be temporarily depleted. Captain Comic must exercise descretion in firing. When the blastola meter reaches zero no further shots may be fired until the Blaster's evergy pack regenerates itself IV. Scoring Points are earned by shooting the hostile enemy creatures, gathering tools and treasures on the planet's surface, and for all unused shield units remaining at the time of recharging. Points are also awarded for lives and shield units in reserve after successfully retrieving the three missing treasures. The game will end after COMIC retrieves all three treasures or when all spare lives are exhausted. 4 -- V. Weapons and Shields Shield Pack - Restores Comic's shield energy. Points are scored for unused shield units. Shield of Invulnerabllity* - This object super-charges Caaptain Comic's Mark VII shield generator and Blastola assault weapon, making him impervious to enemy attack and giving him unlimited firepower for a brief period of time. Shield of Life* - The Shield of Life bestows our intrepid hero with an additional life in reserve each time he encounters it. Blastola Cola - Increases Comic's firing capability. Up to five cans of cola can be collected for up to five blastola rounds in air simultaneously. Corkscrew - Modulates the firing pattern of Comic's blaster creating a spiral trajctory for all shots fired. This is very useful for destroying creatures which crawl on the ground below Comic's normal line of fire * Occasionally this special item will appear when an enemy is destroyed. 5 -- VI. Tools These items aid Captain Comic in his quest to retrieve the missiing treasures: Door Key - Allows Comic to open doors found in various places on Tambi. Boots - Increase Comic's maximum jumping height. This is useful in reaching ledges which were previously too high to jump to. Lantern - There are a few places on Tambi which will be too dark and dangerous for Comic to explore without the aid of this device. Wand - The pinnacle of Tambian technology - the personal transport wand. Possession of the device allows the user to utillze the world wide teleportation system of Tamvi. Though the system is in disrepair it is still powerful enough to teleprt the bearer through solid walls and around many of the obstacles that stand in Captain Comic's way. 6 -- VII. Enemies Bird Brother Skip - A shy creature, it is the least aggressive of all Tambian avian species, expanding most of its brain power coordinating its ponderous flight. Bird Brother Flip - An arrogant, aggressive flyer, it is easily irritated and very territorial. Smoodgeon - A crenelated harbinger of bad luck - the superstitious Tambian is devastated if a smoodgeon crosses his path. If he sees one crawling on his right, he knows it will take extreme dexterity to aviod disaster; if on his left, the entire day will be sinister. Pyreball - Composed of epual parts of sulfuric acid and a naturally occurring substancemuch like goat cheese, it is highly corrosive and deadly to the human condition. Hopotenuse Moth - Attracted to the triangular shape of Tambian moutains, this creature results when the DNA of the Tambian firefly is irreparably damaged by close proximity to the Tambian pyreball. 7 -- Cycloptopus - Amythical creature reported by deranged seamen, the one-eyed horror figures in legends and ancient stories, but only the foolish believe it actually exists. Petrifed Space Pollen - Pollen of the now extinct parabolic reflector piant which grew on Tambi's eight moons until the plant's habitat was destroyed by marauding VFO's, the grains are gigantic in size and have the hardness of Sirian tensorsteel. VRO (Violent Flying Object) - Once the favorite recreational toy of Tambian youths, equipped with long range radio transmitters, VFO's run riot trying to complete their last received command. Gelignite - pulsating chemical masses, the gelignites were used in Tambiforming the moons, a process doomed to fail because not even over-crowded Tambians wanted to go to all the trouble to emigrate only to end up in a place exactly like the one they left. 8 -- Trisplnnian Dervish - Another genetically engineered creature, once the puied janitors of Tambi, a broom in each pseudopod, they are now deadly dealers of destuction. Bouncing Matilda - The last try the Tambians made at genetically engineered servos, Bounceing Matilda was to gave been an assembly live foreman, humming old folk songs to keep the spirits of the workers positive. Un fortunately, the high radiation once again scrambled programming and now Matilda seeks out and destorys anything hat makes noise. Beelunker - Seeking ever to expand their knowledge of underground formations, they grow to giant size in the still air of Tambian caves. Sangulsuge - The giant blood sucking bat of Tambi is an examle of the deadly mistakes that nature can make. It has no known predators, and its bite is lethal. Luckily for the rest of the planet, the sanguisuge seems to have a preference for cave frog. 9 -- Trimodal Ectosphere - A spinning apparition with three razor-sharp claws, like the phlegmtasm it is vulnerable only in the presence of light. Apparaith - Agelatinous malcontent similar to the Primordial Specter of Shawbati III, the Apparaith has much nastier temperament, hauntion medieval architetures and gaving an intense dislike of anything modern. The Apparaith is invincible in the absence of light. Mosfets - Massive, static electrical charges formed by the Tambian ritual of simultaneous hair combing, they have formed a community of sorts in that silent but pulsating world found within the Tambian master computer. Gigo - Discarded bits of Tambian computer programming, unwanted, isolated and alone they will attack anything 10 -- Blind Cave Frog - They evolved blindness as a protective mechanism ot ensure continuation of the species as cave frogs are made violently ill by the sight of other cave frogs. The males are red and the females are green, but, of course, blind caves frogs do not know this. Glow Globe - A photosynthetic life form bred for cleaning the fluorescent tubes of the space station, the high radiation of the environment has changed them into roving menaces. EMPulse - Stray electromagnetic pulses, they flip flop from one end of the master computer to the other. Phlegmtasm - A blubbery creature with the consistency of half-formed grabe gelatin, it is invinceble in the dark and can only be killed in the presence of light. Angry phlegmtasms smell rather like old handkerchiefs. Purple Judye - (Sister to the Bird Brothers) - Snatched from the nest as an egg and dyed purple for the Tambian Spring Fest celebration, she makes her home in the shed adjacent to the twin lakes of King Wood. Now grown, she seeks revenge on those who have forced her ot go through life clad in purple feathers...and she considers anything on two legs an appropriate target. F.W. Brothers - Fireworks is their first, middle, and last name, and being attacked by one of them is akin to bathing in a meteor shower. 11 -- VIII. Treasures Crown - The Crown of the Ages, the hereditary head dress of the ruler of Osmic. Beautiful beyond belief and wrought from infinitely precious metals and gems. Gems - The Mystical Gems of Lascorbanos, rarest of crystalline formations, they are said to impart wisdom to the ruler of Osmic. Coins - The Coins of Tenure, the traditional, symbolic wage of the rulers of Osmic. These ancient coins are held in trust and passed from one ruler to the next.