_________ __ / _____/ ____ _____ ________ __ ____ _______/ |_ \_____ \_/ __ \\__ \ / ____/ | \_/ __ \ / ___/\ __\ / \ ___/ / __ \< <_| | | /\ ___/ \___ \ | | /_______ /\___ >____ /\__ |____/ \___ >____ > |__| \/ \/ \/ |__| \/ \/ Apathetic Aardvark 9/12/2004 Version 1.0 sinenomine@gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i. Basics ii. Controls iii. The Enemies & Gameplay iv. Hints & Tips v. Disclaimer vi. Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i) Basics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greed. It has been the bane of mankind since our creation, now, it has allowed for a video game. So it can not be too bad. The plot is simple, many members of your submarine crew have ventured into the water to get long lost treasures. But, now they are returning with it, though in danger. You, captaining the submarine must bring them to safety while avoid dangers of your own. Getting hit by any enemy will cause you to lose a sub. Running out of air inside of the sub is also bad news. Surfacing without any rescued crew members will sink you as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii) Controls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As with most 2600 games, use the Atari Joystick with the Orange button facing the upper left of the controller. This button will shoot your weapon. Being able to defend yourself is a critical point of this game. You may hold the button down for continuous firing. If playing with the difficulty switch on 'a', the continuous firing will be substantially slower than if it is set on difficulty switch 'b'. The joystick will move the submarine in the respective directions. The submarine can face both ways, so moving left for example, will actually turn the sub so it faces left. This is good as it allows you to hit the enemies which enter the screens from both sides. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii) The Enemies & Gameplay ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enemies are in theory chasing the divers, but, they can not actually hurt them so they are really just after you.... shame. A common enemy is the killer shark. Sharks are somewhat quick moving and not very large. They will attempt to collide into your sub. Now, all fun aside for a moment, I have never heard of a shark kicking the crap out of a submarine, but, whatever. Enemy Subs make up other hazards. They are slower moving but can shoot torpedoes at you, so be careful. After a while, a patrol submarine will appear on the surface. This sub can not be harmed by you. It does not shoot, so all you must do is avoid surfacing too close to it. Keep in mind though, while surfaced, you can not dive until your oxygen tanks are completely refilled. Also, the patrol sub gets a lot faster as you progress through the game. Killer Sharks and Enemy Submarines yield 20 points each at first. Rescuing divers will get you fifty points. You can only rescue a set of divers when you have six of them in your hold. When you do this, an annoying sound will go off and you will know to surface. If you need to surface before rescuing six of your divers, you will lose one which you have rescued when you do so. If you try to surface with no divers, you will lose a submarine. This is where Seaquest gets a bit interesting. After you have rescued six divers, all enemies destroyed will give ten additional points when you defeat them. This trend continues every sixth rescued diver. Enemies can give only a maximum of 90 points when defeated. As I said before, every diver brought to safety gives fifty points... at first. For each batch of six divers, they will start giving fifty more points. The limit to how many points they give is one thousand each... wow! Finally, the more oxygen in your submarines tank when you reach the surface with six divers, the more extra points you will get. The Oxygen supply is the long bar at the bottom of the screen which begins the game white. As you stay underwater, it will slowly turn red. When the bar is about 80% empty, the emergency alarm will go off and the submarine will have only eight seconds to surface. If it fails to do so, it will be destroyed. Every 10,000 points will give you an extra submarine. You may only have six extra submarines waiting for you to use at a time. If your submarine is destroyed, you will lose one diver you have rescued. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv) Hints & Tips ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Avoid excessive surfacing. In addition to losing a diver every time you do so, you will also cause the difficulty of the game to increase. - Although this contradicts my previous statement, if you have five divers and see two more entering the screen, surface and get air. You will lose one diver and pick up two more, bringing you to six. Now surface again and get a ton of bonus points for all that oxygen you have left! - Much like enemy submarines, your shots fire only directly in front of you, meaning, if you can hit them, they can hit you. - If possible, let a group of enemies pass over or under you and then turn around to shoot them from the back. It is the safest way, after all. - Do not wait until the last second to refuel, or the patrol sub might be in your way meaning you will die one way or the other. - The patrol sub appears after the second wave of six divers has been rescued, just to warn you. - Remember, your divers can not die from enemy fire, so it is not a race to get to them. Be sure to have cleared the vicinity before going in to save them. - Never chase a diver to the very edge of the screen, doing so can open you up to a swarm of enemies jumping on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v) Disclaimer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004, Apathetic Aardvark All rights reserved. The following sites have my permission to post this without asking; www.gamefaqs.com www.neoseeker.com Any site, magazine, or other form of media, that is not included on this list caught hosting this guide without my written consent is in violation of copyright laws and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the laws. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- vi) Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CJayC - Founder of GameFAQs ___________________________________ Copyright 2004, Apathetic Aardvark| ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯