Mega Thrusterball            (1994)   Loadstar
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: MEGA THRUSTERBALL runs only on drive #8 and does not return to LOADSTAR.

     From far off Tasmania comes this masterpiece of gaming by Legendary
Designs, a group of veteran coders, musicians and artistts. Their
collaboration should lay to rest any talk of "declining quality" in the
8-bit field. Of course, I haven't heard of any such talk, but if there were...

     MEGA THRUSTERBALL is a joystick game for one or two players with well
over 450 "rooms" for exploration. Of course each one is filled with things
to zap (before they zap you). There are instructions in the program (called
M. THRUSTERBALL INFO) but since they can only be seen upon bootup I'll list
them here.


        Objective
		---------

      You must shut down 40 or more reactors placed all around the MEGA universe.
The reactors are tall, blu metallic objects with a hemisphere on top.

      In one-player mode you control the THRUSTERBALL and a DRONE with a 
joystick in Port #2. In two-player mode Player 1 controls the THRUSTERBALL
(Port #2) and Player 2 controls the DRONE (Port #1).

      The DRONE, unlike THRUSTERBALL, can go anywhere on screen but it can
only fire in four directions (unless you have chosen Rapid Fire for it).
Only alien bullets can damage the DRONE. Once it is hit, it turns grey and
is powerless for one minute.

      THRUSTERBALL can be damaged by touching aliens or their bullets. When
its energy reaches zero, you lose a life. The next time you lose a life you
lose all your weapons, too. You keep your credits.


        Weapons and Pick Ups
		--------------------
		 
      You won't be able to get too far without weapons and other items that
need to be "picked up". You get to see these items after shooting a wave of
aliens. A crystall will gave you a credit towards buying an extra weapon. A
"pick up" is some other item that you get by touching that will give you a
bonus or a hindrance. The only way to tell wich it is to pick up and see.

     To select a weapon press FIRE twice and hold it down. The thing to look
for is a blinking cursor over one of the icons at the bottom of the screen.
These are your weapon options. With the FIREBUTTON still down, move to the
weapon you want and release it. If you have enough credits for that weapon,
you bought it.

     The INSTRUCTIONS sequence built into the program shows you each icon and
the weapon it represents.

     WEAPONS:
     
     SELECTED - This icon shows that the weapon has been selected and is 
                therefore not available.

     FOUR-WAY FIRE - Standard fire.
 
     SHIELD - 2 credits; gives you immunity for a short time. 
	 
	 SMART BOMB - 4 credits; blows up everything.
	 
	 RAPID FIRE - 6 credits; extra shot speed.
	 
	 LASERS - 8 credits; 4-way laser fire.
	 
	 SUPER STRENGTH - 10 credits; one hit with this will destroy an alien.
	 
	 ROTORS - 12 credits; rotates around THRUSTERBALL, killing everything.
	 
	 PICK UPS:
	 
	 E - extra money.
	 
	 b - bonus score.
	 
	 T - increase time by 100 units.
	 
	 ? - mystery.
	 
	 CRYSTAL - increase credits.
	 
	 Note that an extra man and 10 credits are awarded every 100,000 points.
	 
	 
	    Teleport
		--------
		
	The TELEPORT looks a little like a REACTOR without the hemispherical top.
It can be used to transport you to other sections of the maze. At the top of
the screen is a status panel showing A for Active or N for Neutral.


        PAL vs. NTSC
		------------
		
	This game was designed for the PAL system which most of the world, 
except for the U.S., uses. The PLA system has more scan lines so the items
at the very top and bottom of the screen may not be totally visible on 
your monitor. The top of the screen is where the status information is
displayed. The bottom is where the weapon icons are. If you can move your
screen up or down with controls on your monitor, you may want to move it
down so the status information is better seen. Once you learn the weapons
icons, you don't need to see them in their entirety.


        Only on Drive #8?
		-----------------
		 
	My theory is that in Auatralia (and Europe) the cost of Comodore systems
is so high that very few users and programmers have multiple drivers. In the
U.S. used drives sell for less than a day's wage, so the average user has at 
least two. I hope that the money situation around the world gets better so
everybody who wants a second (or third) drive can get one. Maybe then the 
otherwise expert programmers will write programs that respect PEEK(186),
the memory location that stores the number of the last device accessed.


        Strategy
		--------
		
	Shoot like a crazy man and dodge like a maniac. The blinking barriers 
that seem to keep you hemmed in can be destroyed with enough firepower but
don't forget to dodge while you're shooting them. I was only able to see
about thirty screens before my lives were up, but I'm sure that LOADSTARites
who are experts with joysticks will be able to progress a lot further. Maybe
someone will even be able to knock out 40 reactors. If so, please let us
know what happens.


        Quitting
		--------
		
	The only way to get back to BASIC is to reset or power down. There's a
menu screen that allows you to select which mode you want (one-player or
two-player). You get to it from the screen with the parallax scrolling moon
scene by pressing SPACE. While in the game if you press STOP the game pauses.
If you press Q while paused, you go to the moon scene. I couldn't find any
way to return to he instructions screen so you may want to print out this
text file for referencing the weapons and pick ups.


        Credits
		-------
		
	Kevin Murphy
	Patrick Ceuppens
	Iron Cat
	Lionel Barbier
	Raoul Jacobs
	Ben Hermans
	Michael Reichmuth
	Christian Wilmanns
	M. Storme Ph.D
	
	Text by Fender Tucker
	
	