Merciful 1/Merciful - Disc 1.iso/software/r/rainbow_islands/rainbow_islands_guide.txt

Text File | 1995-10-14 | 16KB | 346 lines

                        RAINBOW ISLANDS - PLAYERS GUIDE



INTRODUCTION
You have to negotiate the seven rainbow islands, and each is splin
into four vertically-scrolling platform-filled rounds, which increase
in height. You start at the bottom of a round, and the idea is to get
to the goul at the top. When you complete an island, you must then
face the guardian, which is anything from a Vampier to a Helecopter.
The numbers on the right hand side of the Rounds represent the restart
positions 1, 2, or 3. When either character dies, they are both
returned to the last restart position passed. To give you time to get
your bearings, they flash for five seconds, during which time they are
invincible - so make the most of it

CONTROLS
Plug a joystick into port 2 for one player, and port 1 of two are
going to play.

BUBBY & BOBBY
These versatile little fellows start with three lives each. An extra
life is awarded when you first reach 100,000 points, and thereafter
you get one extra life at 1,000,000 points.

MOVING
The boys skills are inpressive, they can;

WALK - They stroll at one of two speeds, depending on whether the
training shoe is worn. They can walk over platforms, rainbows, and
even baddies (but only when invincible).

JUMP - They can jump at one of 10 differant heights, depending on hol
long the joystick is held in the jump position, this varies between 20
and 64 pixels. They always jump at least their own height, and only
stop when their maximum height is reached. Even when falling you can
hold the joystick in the jump position, so if they land on a rainbow,
they will jump off, rather than break it.

FIRE RAINBOWS - They can throw a magic yellow star in an arc which
leaves a rainbow in its wake. The star follows more arcs when a red
potion is taken. The star explodes when the last rainbow is completed.

FALL - They can fall any distance without getting hurt (unless they
land on a baddie or in the water), so they flap their arms to slow
their descent, letting you steer them as they fall.

SWIM - They can't, so avoid the water!

THE INHABITANTS OF INSECT ISLAND
There are six differant creatures on insect island. Like most
inhabitants here, the insects usually start in a happy state, but they
don't like intruders.
Eventually the creatures get angry, either after 12 seconds (or less
on later islands) or when the 'hurry!' message appears. Every enemy
generated after this is angry.
Up to 16 enemies  can be encounted on screen at one time, however only
a maximum of six can exist if there are any other objects on the
screen (like bonus objects), so use this to your advantage.
Occasionally enemies stray too far and dissappear off the top or
bottom of the screen, they hang around for five character lines before
dissappearing, which means you can kill them even though they are not
on screen. The same is true of any gems etc. lying around.
Killing any creature is worth 1,000 points (except the bosses which
aren't worth anything). Killing two creatures similtaneously is worth
2,000 points, killing three is worth 4,000, and killing four is worth
8,000 etc. Exploding red stars or using clever rainbor traps is the
best way to get bigger bonuses.

BEE
Buzzes around in a predictable patten, at about 30 degrees to the
horizon, turning when it collides with any solid scenery.
TRUE IDENTITY: Puru Puru

SPIDER
Baby of the first boss. one of the more formidable enemies. It follows
you by spinning webs up the screen, but only when you get above it. It
also bounces left and right so watch it.
TRUE IDENTITY: Banebo

HIVE
Drops down from the top of the screen, and releases Bees. This first
appears on round two and releases two bees, and again on round three,
releasing three. Take out the hive quickly, unless you want to kill
more enemies.
TRUE IDENTITY: Puru Puru

BABY WORM
Patrols the platforms left to right, turning when it gets to the gap -
unless it's angry, in which case it drops down to the platform below
and turns towards you. Beware, this climbs over rainbows.
TRUE IDENTITY: Zen Chan

BEETLE
Patrols platforms - until it gets angry and decides to come after you.
When its angry and you are above it, the Beetle flies in straight
lines towards you. otherwise it drops down to your level. Fortunately,
it dosen't re-evaluate your position too often.
TRUE IDENTITY: Monster

CROW
Behaves similar to the beetle, but hatches from an egg and flies after
you. when its angry and you are above it, the beetle flies in straight
lines after you.  Otherwise it drops down to your level.  Fortunatly
it dosen't re-evaluate your position too often.
TRUE IDENTITY: Monster

MINOSUKE
The bag worm.  Encased in its chrysalis hanging from a thread (at
which point he's safe to touch), it blows a bubble and drops as an
angry baby worm when you get near.  The Minosuke appears only once in
the entire game.
TRUE IDENTITY: ZenChan

BOSS SPIDER
The Big Mom Spider stands between you and Island two, Combat island.
Starts asleep at the top of the screen (her eyes are closed) then as
she drops down from her web her eyes begin to open and she bounces
after you across the screen.  Her energy is shown at the top of the
screen and is drained with 10 hits.

GEMS
Drop a rainbow on a bad guy and it leaves behind a Gem, which stays on
screen for three seconds.  You can capture a creature with the edge of
the rainbow, and break it to get a gem, but this is difficult and you
more often then not end up breaking the rainbow and getting a gem.
You may heve noticed that when you collect one of the seven differant
rainbow-coloured gems, its displayed at the bottom of the screen.
This is to let you know which colours you have acquired - the reasons
why must remain a secret for the time being.  Suffice it to say the
Gems are quite important.

COMMON THINGS TO COLLECT

BONUS OBJECTS:  There are 80 differant types ranging from the Green
Pepper (worth 10 points) to the money bag (worth 10,000 points).  Each
Bonus Object collected produces the next bonus object in the sequence.
But beware; this sequence wraps around after the money bag back to the
Green pepper.  All items are collected by walking over them or hitting
them with a rainbow (either the star thet produces it or by simply
dropping a rainbow on the object).  Bubby and Bobby have 20 seconds to
collect these objects before they dissapear.

MAGIC STARS
These come in two forms; Yellow and Red.  Both throw out death-dealing
stars, the Yellow an arc of seven, the Red an a corcle of 16.

RED POTS
These aren't left lying around too often, but behave exactly the smae
as their Special Feature counterparts.

HIDDEN BONUSES
One of the best ways of boosting your score is to find and collect
hidden bonuses - mainly fruit, vegetables, cakes and sweets.  On
average around 10 such objects can exist on one screen - no more are
produced unless you dispose of enemies or other bonus objects on the
screen.  Bonus items are only found before the "HURRY!!" message
appears.
Collect any visible fruit and the like, then throw rainbows at the
tops of the platforms - the magic of the rainbows causes bonus objects
to appear, in the same sequence as before.  The sequence is reset when
bubby or bobby dies.  Note that the scores that rise when you collect
the objects are in rainbow colour sequence.
Also, not all hidden objects are uncovered from the platform tops -
some appear from mid-air!  The round maps provided for insect island
show when you can expect to find and hidden items.
There are special items to collect which cause all hidden objects to
appear in one particular form, eg: Money bags.  In fact, its possible
to make all hidden items become explosive stars!

RAINBOWS
The rainbows have many uses.  Their main function is as a weapon to
kill the bad guys.  However, they can also be walked on, jumped from,
used to trap creatures or items, used as protection to deflect the
flying beasts or crushed to fall on enemies or objects below.
Only 12 rainbows may be on screen at any time, allowing complex traps
or platform arrangements to be built.  The appearance of any more
causes the oldest rainbow to dissappear.  However firing a band of
three rainbows with two bands of three already present on screen
causes the first thrown band to dissappear.  Otherwise rainbows stay
on the screen for 12 seconds before their magic begins to fade - they
flash for a second and crumble away.
Use the star that creates the rainbow to kill a bad guy and it spins
up and away in the direction it was moving.  When it lands on firm
ground, it leaves behind a bonus object, in the same sequence as
before.
Bubby and Bobby can walk on or over a rainbow, or shatter it to send
it crashing below.  If they slide down a rainbow and step onto one of
the other side, it gets broken.
Land on the edge of a rainbow and it crumbles and falls down the
screen.  Any rainbows directly connected to the crushed rainbow fall
with it, allowing you to create a string of death or an arm of immense
collective power.  Each rainbow crushed is worth ten points.
Jumping as you land on the rainbow means that it isn't crushed and
your jumping height is extended enormously.  Jumping off a rainbow is
also worth ten points.
Beasts and other objects can be trapped inside rainbows - but don't
leave your enemies cooped up for too long or they will get angry.
Break the rainbow from above or below to crush its contents.
For extra height make a rainbow stairway and jump or climb it.  This
way you don't need the background, which comes in very handy later, on
platform-starved islands.

THE BOSS ROOMS
The forth round at the end of every island is a boss room.  Killing
the bosses living in the boss rooms can prove daunting, so it helps to
know how each one will behave relative to you.  The most important
technique is to lay traps of rainbows - as the boss moves into it,
break the chain and any touching rainbows deplete the boss's energy by
a unit apiece.
Remember: You get a couple of seconds before the boss appears in the
boss room.
The best way of all is to shoot and break the rainbow almost
simultaneously (i.e. jump into it as soon as you fire) - not only does
the star hit the boss , the broken rainbow also counts as a hit.
With the boss spider, use this time to fire off some rainbows under
her.  Wait until she drops and touches the rainbows before breaking
them.  Now walk back and forth across the bottom of the screen,
shooting off rainbows at the spider as she makes contact with the
floor.  Its best to stay on ground level, although cocky players go
straight to the top and unleash a stream of rainbows and dispose of
her almost instantly.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Every creature killed, regardless of the technique used, leaves behind
a special feature item, which stays on the screen for five seconds.
They appear in a sequence of seven, which is reset when Bubby or Bobby
dies.  This is the sequence in order of appearance;

TRAINING SHOES
Help Bubby and Bobby run faster.

RED POT
The star now produces two rainbows.

YELLOW POT
Allows Bubby and Bobby to fire their rainbows faster.

RED POT
Provides a second extra rainbow.  Bubby can now unleash a maximum of
three rainbows in one shot.  It is possible to fire a string of four
rainbows, but only after collecting a special item!

YELLOW MAGIC STAR
Behaves the same as a yellow star.

CRYSTAL BALL
The boss of shadows boys aren't what they seem...  Collect the Crystal
Ball to break the disguise spell.  When you kill the enemies and they
spin away, you can see them as they realy are; Bubble Bobble baddies!
These manifest themselves in differant ways throughout the game, each
alter ego behaving similarly to their real selves.  For example:
Rainbow Islanders that drop things as they move back and forth across
the screen are more often then not the invader in disguise.

Here's a description of the Bubble Bobble baddies;

INVADER
The original Taito Invader moves back and forth across the screen,
dropping bombs as it goes.  It dosen't appear until Combat island.

ZENCHAN
Moves back and forth across the platforms, stopping and turning when
it reaches a gap - until it gets angry.  On later islands the ZenChan
falls down holes, regardless its mood.  It first appears as the Baby
Worm.

HI DE GONSU
Behaves very much like the ZenChan, except it fires.  The life
expectancy of its bullets increases on later islands, i.e. the bullet
travels further.  The Hi De Gonsu also starts to fire in your
generation, and eventually it jumps after you!  It first appears on
the Combat island.

BANEBO
The 'Thing on a Spring' bounces horizontally towards Bubby or Bobby,
jumping after them when they get above it.  Later incarnations wait
until either guy gets near before they respond.  The Banebo first
appears as the spider.

PURU PURU
The least dangerous of the livibg enemies.  It starts disguised as the
bees (in the hive from which they are produced).

MAITTA
Behaves very much like the ZenChan and the Hi De Gonsu.  At first the
Maitta fires a single projectile, but on later islands it fires more
often and the missiles travel further.  Combat island is where the
Maitta makes its debut.

MONSTER
The other flying enemy is tricky.  As it homes in on Bubby or Bobby.
It stops and starts to check their position, but on later levels it
moves in faster but shorter bursts, and checks your position more
often.  The monster starts life as the Beetle and the Crow (including
the egg, from which it hatches).

DRUNK
in the original arcade version there now came a drunk who hurled
bottles at you, but Graftgold had to leave it out, due to disk space.

RED MAGIC STAR
Behaves the same as the Red star.

Collect the first four features and Bubby or Bobby has full power.
This only involves killing 12 baddies, so recovery following death is
swift.

SPECIAL ITEMS
After the sequence of saven special features, the next third enemy to
die produces a special item, which sgain only lasts for five seconds.
There are 42 special items in all, each behaving in one of four ways;
an immediate one-off effect, a delayed one-off effect, a temporary
timed effect, or an effect that lasts until the round is over.  The
special items range from rings, which simply award bonus points, to
magic wands that have an amazing effect on your rainbows!

GOAL IN!
Go to the top of the first three rounds and a magic chest throws out
16 bonus items (from a selection of 32), each worth 500 points.
Collect them quick!
Crush any unised rainbows to avoid walking on them or you could find
yourself in mid-air with no place to go.  But be quick!  Take too long
and the "HURRY!" message will appear after 45 seconds.  Eight seconds
later the water rises.
With the boss removed from the scene, a big magic chest drops onto the
floor, and like its smaller counterparts throws out 16 bonus objects
plus one big bonus object worth 100,000 points!

HURRY!
Each round has a preset time limit before the "HURRY!" message
appears.  When this happens you know you have eight seconds before the
water rises, as each of the rainbow islands is slowly sinking into the sea.
On Insect island it appears after 55 seconds, on round two its 50
seconds, on round three its 60 seconds, and on round four theres 55
seconds.  Play it cool, even when you fall it won't necessary be into
the water as in its early stages of flow it scrolls down with the
screen slightly, giving you vital seconds to get up.
Where you die effects the time remaining before the "HURRY!" message
appears.  You get a percentage of the overall time for thet round,
depending on your restart position.  You are given 80% of the original
"HURRY!" time when you restart from position one, 50% from position
two, and only 30% from position three.

End.