ZARLOR MERCENARY
•
The game of LIFE is accessed through the character selection
screen of Zarlor Mercenary. Turn on your Lynx with the Zarlor Mercenary game
card inserted. Press the fire button twice to get to the character selection
screen. At this point you must hold down OPTION 1 while moving the joypad as
follows: UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, UP. At this point your screen should say LIFE
and there will be a LIFEform
known as a 'glider' moving across the screen diagonally. It will go off the edge
of the screen and return on the bottom, eventually running into the cells
forming the word LIFE and causing the chain reaction that destroys the title
screen.
Before the title screen is destroyed you may try the following controls:
1. Moving the joypad or pressing either OPTION button or PAUSE will stop the
current evolution of LIFE.
2. Pressing OPTION 1 to continue the evolution puts LIFE into a mode where cells
that reach the edge of the screen wrap around to the other side.
3. Pressing OPTION 2 to continue the evolution puts LIFE into a mode where cells
that reach the edge of the screen behave as though they have reached a solid
wall. This may be useful if 'gliders' that are launched are disrupting your
LIFEforms.
4. Pressing either BUTTON A or BUTTON B puts LIFE into DRAWING MODE.
DRAWING MODE: Access DRAWING MODE by pressing BUTTON A or BUTTON B while LIFE is
evolving or after the current LIFEform has reached a stable state. You can tell
you are in DRAWING MODE because the joypad will be in control of your cursor, a
set of green crosshairs. While in DRAWING MODE, your controls behave as follows:
1. Moving the joypad with BUTTON A depressed will allow you to draw.
2. Moving the joypad with BUTTON B depressed will allow you to erase.
3. Pressing OPTION 1 or OPTION 2 will allow your LIFEform to evolve, as
described in 2 and 3 in the above ACCESSING LIFE section.
4. Note that the screen cannot be flipped, but attempting to RESTART the game
will cause the screen to be cleared, and you will remain in the DRAWING MODE.
5. Pressing PAUSE and BUTTON A will put you in COPY MODE.
6. Pressing PAUSE and BUTTON B will put you in PASTE/ERASE MODE.
7. Pressing OPTION 2 and PAUSE will copy your current screen to a temporary
buffer (see below).
COPY MODE: Access COPY MODE by holding down PAUSE and pressing BUTTON A while in
DRAWING MODE. You can tell you are in COPY MODE because the green crosshairs
will be onscreen with the word COPY in green below and slightly to the right of
the crosshairs. While in COPY MODE, your controls behave as follows:
1. Pressing either OPTION 1 or 2 will return you to drawing mode.
2. Holding down PAUSE and pressing either OPTION 1 or OPTION 2 will evolve your
LIFEform frame-by-frame. Note that the OPTION button used determines whether
screen wrap is on or off.
3. Pressing BUTTON A sets one corner coordinate of a box that you can draw.
Pressing BUTTON A again sets the other corner coordinate of the box. Anything
within the box is now in your COPY BUFFER. You are now in PASTE/ERASE MODE.
4. Holding down PAUSE and pressing BUTTON A takes you to the LIFEform library, a
screen full of goodies for you to put into your COPY BUFFER. After selecting a
LIFEform or group of LIFEforms, you will be in PASTE/ERASE MODE.
5. In the LIFEform library, pressing PAUSE and BUTTON A again takes you to your
temporary buffer (see above). You can cut items from this buffer to the main
screen.
6. Holding down PAUSE and pressing BUTTON B takes you directly to PASTE/ERASE
MODE, using whatever was last put in your COPY BUFFER. If you haven't yet
selected anything, you may get garbage.
PASTE/ERASE MODE: Access PASTE/ERASE MODE either by holding PAUSE and pressing
BUTTON B while in DRAWING MODE, or by going to COPY MODE and selecting LIFEforms
from your screen or the library screen. You can tell you are in PASTE/ERASE MODE
because your joypad now controls whatever you have in your COPY BUFFER. While in
PASTE/ERASE MODE, your controls behave as follows:
1. Pressing either OPTION 1 or OPTION 2 will return you to DRAWING MODE.
2. Pressing BUTTON A will allow you to paste your COPY BUFFER.
3. Pressing BUTTON B will allow you to erase using your COPY BUFFER.
4. Holding PAUSE and pressing BUTTON B will flip your COPY BUFFER any one
of eight possible ways.
5. Note that the screen cannot be flipped, but attempting to RESTART the game
will cause the screen to be cleared, and you will remain in the PASTE/ERASE
MODE.
6. Pressing PAUSE and BUTTON A will put you in COPY MODE.
• To get a fully powered up ship, select XQ49 at the start of the game. On the 3rd level, 2nd boss, let him kill you once and then finish the level. At the shop, buy one of these items: power shot, side shooters, back shooters, auto fire, super shields, or lasers. You'll have everything maxed out except mega bombs and lives, but you can use the rest of your Zarbits for them.
