Skeleton+
(C) 2002,2003 Eric Ball

1. STORY

"You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike" certainly 
describes the situation you are in.  

You hear faint footsteps, so you follow the sound through the 
maze.  To your horror, you discover the source of the footsteps 
is a Skeleton; and it doesn't look friendly.  Acting quickly, 
you blast it with your Undead Disintegrator and the Skeleton 
vanishes in a flash of colour.  But as you reload your UD, you 
hear footsteps again; and you wonder; are you the hunter or the 
hunted in this nightmare?

2. GAMEPLAY

NOTE: Skeleton is for one player only.
The objective of Skeleton+ is to eliminate Skeletons without 
being killed yourself.  Use your Joystick Controller to manuver 
your way through the maze.  Press the red controller (fire) 
button to shoot your Undead Disintegrator at a Skeleton.  When 
a Skeleton is destroyed, another will take it's place.  Destroy 
five Skeletons and you will enter the next maze.  Complete all 
eight mazes to win your freedom.  Being touched or touching a
Skeleton will reduce your life.  When your life reaches zero, the 
game is over.

Each new Skeleton is stronger than the previous and will require 
more hits from your Undead Disintegrator to be destroyed.  You 
are also not a dead shot with the Undead Disintegrator so 
sometimes a Skeleton will require more shots to be destroyed.  
Although each new Skeleton starts moving slowly, the speed with 
which the Skeleton moves will gradually increase until it is 
destroyed.

You are also equipped with an Undead Locator which indicates the 
direction of the Skeleton via a square at the edge of the screen. 
The square will be near the top of the screen when the Skeleton 
is ahead of you and near the bottom of the screen when the 
Skeleton is behind you.

Sound can provide assistance when playing Skeleton+.  The sound 
of the Skeleton's footsteps will get louder the closer the 
Skeleton is to you.  The sound will also be louder if the 
Skeleton is in front of you and quieter if the Skeleton is 
behind you.  If your ATARI Video Computer System is capable of 
producing stereo then you will be able to hear if the Skeleton 
is to the right or left of you as well.

Two numbers are displayed at the bottom of the screen.  The 
number of Skeletons you have destroyed is shown on the left.  The
amount of life you have remaining is shown on the right.

3. USING THE CONTROLLERS 

Use your Joystick Controller with this Game Program. Be sure to 
plug the controller cables firmly into the jacks at the back of 
your ATARI Video Computer System. Hold the controller with the 
red fire button to your upper left toward the television screen. 
Use the LEFT CONTROLLER jack for this one-player game. See 
Section 3 of your owner's manual for further details. 

Use the Joystick Controller to: 

- Move through the maze 
- Shoot your Undead Disintegrator

Push the Joystick forward to move forward, push the Joystick to 
the right to turn right and push the joystick to the left to 
turn left.  You must return the Joystick to the center before 
each move.

Press the red button to shoot your Undead Disintegrator.  You 
must release the red button to shoot again.  It requires one 
second to reload your Undead Disintegrator.

4. CONSOLE CONTROLS 

GAME SELECT SWITCH
GAME RESET SWITCH
Press down either the GAME SELECT or RESET switch to start the 
game.  Pressing either the GAME SELECT or RESET switch during 
the game has no effect.

DIFFICULTY SWITCHES
When the LEFT DIFFICULTY switch is set to A when the game is 
started, you will need to destroy ten instead of five Skeletons 
to complete each level.

When the RIGHT DIFFICULTY switch is set to A when the game is 
started, you will start with 49 life instead of 99 and your 
Undead Disintegrator will only do half the damage it does when 
the RIGHT DIFFICULTY switch is set to B.

When the LEFT DIFFICULTY switch is set to A during the game your
Undead Locator is turned off and you must use sound to find the
Skeleton.  Stereo sound is recommended in this case.

When the RIGHT DIFFICULTY switch is set to A during the game the
speed of the Skeleton is reset only at the start of each level.

TV TYPE SWITCH
When the TV TYPE switch is set to B/W the Skeletons have the
touch of death.  The game is over if you are touched by or touch 
a Skeleton.

5. LEGAL STUFF

Permission is granted to distribute the ROM code for the ATARI 
Video Computer System Game Program, Skeleton+, provided that this 
text file is included with the code.  Skeleton+ may be included
on websites and shareware or freeware compilations, but please 
contact Eric Ball first. 

The end user is granted permission to use the ROM code with an 
emulator, or a RAM cartridge such as a Supercharger or Cuttle 
Cart, or to make a single cartridge for use with their ATARI 
Video Computer System.

Permission is NOT granted for any individual to manufacture or 
distribute cartridge versions of the ROM code for another end 
user without the written consent of Eric Ball.

Skeleton+ (C) 2002,2003 Eric Ball, all other rights reserved