Castle Crisis Docs?

[ballyalley]

Castle Crisis is available for download, but I can't find docs of any kind for the game. I'd prefer something like the original, but a text file would do fine too.

 

Thanks.

[+MrFish]

Here's a text file I picked up from somewhere.

 

-------------------

 

CASTLE CRISIS
For Atari Home Computers
by Bryan Edewaard

Castle Crisis is a fast-paced game for up to four players. Using your shield, you must capture and launch fireballs against an enemy's castle, while protecting your own castle from enemy fireball hits.

Requirements:
Atari 400/800/XL/XE Computer with at least 16K RAM
One or two sets of Atari paddles

Insert the cartridge and turn on the computer.

The game will start-up in Attract mode. In this mode a single fireball bounces around the screen, and the game displays the current high scores and winning corner colors. There are 4 variations of game play depending on how many players are present:

In a one-player game, you must destroy all 3 enemy castles to progress to the next level. Once your castle is destroyed, the game is over. High scores are recorded for this mode.

In a two-player game, both enemy castles must be destroyed before both players' castles are destroyed. As long as one player remains in the game, both players will receive new castles at each new level. High scores are recorded for this mode.

In a three-player game, scoring is not enabled, and players must compete to win a match. Once a player wins the selected number of matches, the game is over.* One castle will be played by the computer.

The four player game is played the same way as the three-player game, but there are no computer players.

To start a game, players press their paddle buttons (if START is pressed first, the attract mode will stop while the game waits for players to press their buttons). Each paddle corresponds to a corner. The counter will begin counting down to the beginning of the game. If a match is being played (3 or 4 players), pressing SELECT will set the number of matches needed to win (1-5-10-15-20 note that there is no number displayed when 1 is selected).

Once the dragon releases the first fireball, players must control their shield to protect their castle from damage. If a player's fire button is pressed, the fireball will be captured when it touches that player's shield. The player may then aim the fireball and release the button to catapult the fireball at another player (doing maximum damage). If a fireball enters a hole in the wall, that castle will be destroyed. The game is over when all players have been eliminated, or when the selected number of matches have been won (for match play).

Press SPACE to pause a game in progress. The screen will turn black & white until SPACE is pressed again and gameplay resumes.

If the Attract mode is allowed to run for 10 minutes, the screen will turn black until a key is pressed.

* In a three-player single match, the game is over when only one castle remains, which may be the computer's castle. In a three-player extended match, a player must reach the selected number of matches. A win by the computer is not counted.

[ballyalley]

Here's a text file [of the Castle Crisis manual that] I picked up from somewhere.

 

Thanks for the manual. I'll be playing "Castle Crisis" tonight with a friend of mine on an Atari 130XE. Last week we played the VCS version of Worlords using Best Electronics upgraded Paddles (those work SO well-- a highly recommended "fix!"). I can't wait to give "Castle Crisis" a whirl on real hardware.

 

Since we're on the topic of "Worlords" games, here is the manual for the 2007/2010 homebrew "War" for the Astrocade by Michael Garber:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/cart_manuals/pdf_manuals/War_Manual_%28Complete%29%284_Pages%29.pdf

 

If you own a Bally Arcade/Astrocade and you haven't played "War" on the system then you should give it a try. It's available on the newest version of the UltiMulticart which was released in January 2014, here:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/221080-bally-astrocade-multicart/?hl=%2Bultimulti&do=findComment&comment=2915118

 

The "War" ROM is freely distributable (as is Garber's "Crazy Climber" hombrew game) and can be used with the MESS emulator. Using a mouse as a paddle doesn't come naturally, but you'll get used to it. The "War" ROM is available on BallyAlley.com, here:

 

http://www.ballyalley.com/emulation/cart_images/cart_images.html

 

I'm pretty surprised that the manual for "Castle Crisis" hasn't been made available online. I made the manual for "War" and "Crazy Climber" available pretty-much as soon as the game was released. Seems like a shame-- but completely understandable is the program's author feels that the manual, as a "feelie," will help to promote and sell the "Castle Crisis." Although... if I'm overlooking a pdf of the "Castle Crisis" manual, then let me know.

 

Thanks again for the text-version of the "Castle Crisis" manual-- it will come in very handy tonight!

[Bryan]

I built a feature into Castle Crisis that I'd love to put to use someday. Paddles use the joystick L and R inputs for the fire buttons. CC makes the U and D inputs alternate between input and low output to control LEDs in the same way the lighted arcade buttons do. In other words, it would be possible to build paddles that had the flashing arcade lights.