-------------------------------------------------------------------------- MR.THOMPSON / DEFJAM P R E S E N T S DOCS TO FLIPIT AND MAGNOSE -------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOADING ------- This is the easy bit. Take the disk, and insert it label side up into the internal disk drive and turn on the power. Flip-it and Magnose will load and run automatically. THE AIM OF THE GAME ------------------- You can play Flip-it and Magnose either on your own, or simultaneously with a friend. Whatever you choose, the object of the game is the same - extract as much water as possible from Earth and escape. The game is split into sex levels, each of which has a set amount of water to offer - but getting hold of it is not easy. The inhabitants of each level aren't going to give up their precious H2O easily, and the only way to get it from them is to find objects that you can swap the water for. Anyway, let's not get bogged down with details just yet - let's got you off on the right foot. THE RIGHT FOOT -------------- Before you can go and save Mars, you've got to get through the options, which appear as soon as the game has loaded. From here you can : Select a One or Two player game. LET'S GO -------- As soon as you select to play with either one or two players, the game will begin. The screen is split into two separate displays - one for each player. Flip-it is on the left, and Magnose is on the right. The large area is the main game screen for that player, where all the action takes place, and directly below that is a smaller display which shows all the vital information for the game: THE TIMER --------- Both players are up against the same tight time limit, as represented by this central chain. It starts at the top of the screen and slowly makes its way down - when it hits the bottom, the game is over for both players. Jump to it!! OBJECTS HELD BOXES ------------------ Flip-it and Magnose can each hold up to four objects - but they can only use one at a time. These four boxes show what those objects are, with a blue frame indicating the one which is currently in use or "active". More on this in a mo. WEAPON INDICATOR ---------------- Whatever weapons Flip-it and Magnose may have bought will be shown here. FOOD CURRENCY INDICATOR ----------------------- This shows how much food - which translates into spendable currency later on - the player is carrying. WATER CONTAINER INDICATOR ------------------------- You can't collect water unless you've got something to keep it in. This box shows if you're carrying a water container, and if it's full or empty. THE WATER METER --------------- This is the important one. The water meter shows exactly how much water you've currently collected. MOVING ABOUT ------------ After the initial teleport sequence, which shows Flip-it and Magnose being beamed down from their spaceship, the game proper begins and you have complete control over your character. Here's what to do: JOYSTICK DIAGRAMS ----------------- | JUMP UP | OBJECT PANEL | | | JUMP LEFT\ | /JUMP RIGHT | \ | / ____\|/____ | ____\|/____ WALK LEFT /|\ WALK RIGHT | SLECT /|\ SELECT / | \ | / | \ | | | PICK UP/DROP | WEAPON PANEL | FIRE AND UP WILL PRODUCE A SUPER | FIRE BUTTON DEPRESSED 3 SECONDS JUMP! | TO GAIN ACCESS TO STATUS PANEL. | Each of the six levels scroll vertically only. You start off at the top of the level, and work your way up and down by running and jumping from platform to platform. Once you've got all the water you need it's back up to the top and onto the teleport pad you started from, to beam onto the next level. There are six levels in total. Here's a rundown: 1.THE JUNGLE 2.THE MOUNTAIN 3.THE FARM HOUSE 4.THE TOWER BLOCK 5.FACTORY 6.SPACE STATION While each level is different in terms of your surroundings, characters and puzzles, the gameplay remains pretty much the same throughout. A level is inhabited by several characters. In the jungle for example, a Snake, a Frog, a Bird and a Bug. These are the characters that will eventually provide you with the crucial life-giving liquid that can save your planet. You'll also notice that on each level there are various objects scattered about the place. By collecting these objects and giving them to the charatcters, you can obtain other, more useful objects, and eventually water. How? OK, if you take a look around you'll see that the animals in the Jungle are, on the whole, unhappy. They want things, and you have to get them. THE FIRST PUZZLE ---------------- Take a look at the big Gorilla. In fact he's so unhappy he's throwing nuts all over the place. There'll be a particularly unhappy person on just about every level, and they can be a real nuisance. For example, if you get hit by the Gorilla's nuts(honk!) you'll get knocked off the platform you're standing on. Take a close look and you'll see that just below the Gorilla is a small platform that looks slightly different to the rest - this is called a Drop Platform and most of the characters in the game have one of these close to them. This indicates they want an object from you. REMEMBER! You can't give an object to a charcter unless there is a Drop Platform for that character. Now go and get the Nutcrackers. They're to be found on one of the platforms somewhere around the first level. To collect them, stand directly over them and push down. The nutcrackers should disappear from the main screen and reappear in one of the four boxes in your status display. You're now carrying the Nutcrackers. Make your way back up the screen to the Gorilla, avoiding his nuts along the way (hur-hur) and stand on the Drop Platform directly below him. Push down on the joystick once more to drop the Nutcrackers, and he'll take them. Suddenly, the Gorilla's happy! Now he can crack his nuts! (he he). In return, he'll give you a bug. Collect this in the same way you did the Nutcrackers. Now take the bug down to the Frog and give it to him, by putting it on the Drop Platform in the same way. The Frog will spit out a droplet of water - collect this quickly!! (you did remember to get a water container first, didn't you?) The water container should now be full. Take it up to the Teleport Pad and it will be beamed aboard the ship. Success! You've collected some water! Now all you have to do is find out how to get more water from the rest of the Jungle's inhabitants - remember, you can't leave the level until you've extracted every last drop of water. That's basically the way the puzzles work - give the right object to the right character, and he'll give you another object that you can give to another character. This carries on until you eventually get some water, and once you've got enough the level is completed. OBJECTS ------- For the sake of speed and efficiemcy, it's often necessary to hold more than one object at a time - this is easy to get the hang of, and it saves you running to and from between locations. If you're carrying an object, and want to get another without dropping the one you've already got, simply follow these sleps: Hold down the fire button three seconds to enter the Object Mode. Now when you move left or right, you're no longer moving Flip-it or Magose, but the blue fraime in the four Objects Held boxes. Move the frame to an empty box (one with static in it) and press fire again. You're now controlling your character again. Now pick up the object as you would normally, and Presto! You've got two objects. You can repeat this process until all four boxes are full. When you need to select ann object to drop, simply highlight it using the blue frame in the same way, and then drop it in the way you would normally. In addition to the objects that are used to trade with characters, there are also several useful (and not-so-useful) items scattered around the levels. MYSTERY PILLS ------------- Look out for the Mystery Pills - these capsule like objects are, as the name suggests, a Mystery. They're different to the other objects because when you collect one, instead of storing it in one of your four "pockets", you eat it immediately. Mystery Pills have a wide range of effects - some good, some bad. Unfortunately, they all look identical and so the only way to find out what a pill does is to eat it! Fortunately, any ill effects of a Mystery Pill only last a short time. SPRINGS ------- These are handy. Getting around a level can be slow and tiresome process with Flip-it and Magnose's limited jumping ability. For an easier ride, collect one of these coils. Once collected (you must store it in one of your pockets), you can add extra height to your jump by pressing fire as you push up. The Spring's effects last only as long as you are carrying it - you may be forced to drop it at times to make way for another object, and then it's back to regular jumping power. Boo. FOOD ---- This is very important. Since both Flip-it and Magnose have limited energy (running out of time is the only thing that can stop them), they don't need to eat. But they still need food as it acts as currency to buy the all-important trapping devices (see TRAPS). Food isn't stored in one of the four pockets. But in a separate area, so you can collect as much as you like. The Food Currency Indicator in the Status Display Shows how much you have. Collect anything and everything that looks like a piece of food (there are many different types) - you'll need it at the end of the level. Food can be lost by falling - the further you fall, the more units of food you lose, and the pieces lost can't be collected again. Be careful!! TRAPS ----- Flip=it and Magnose isn't just a race against the clock - you're constantly battling against your partner to be first to finish a level and, ultimately, the game. Only the first player to finish the game can be declared Champion of Mars. It's failure and second-rate shaving ads for the loser. Being faster is not always a guarantee of being first. Sometimes you may need to slow down your partner's progress in order to keep one step ahead of him - and this is where the Traps come in handy. Depending on the type of trap, these cunning devices can be used to slow him down for a few vital seconds and even sap his water supply!! GETTING TRAPS ------------- Traps are bought on the space ship at the end of every level. No mather who completes a level first, both players get to buy traps in this inter-level sequence. Traps appear randomly in 3 different windows either 1 or 2 at a time. Move your joystick left or right and press fire before your opponent gets it. There is also a time limit! REMEMBER! Traps don't come cheap - each of them has a price in food, and if you haven't collected enough food to buy the trap, you can't have it. The more food you have, the bigger and better traps you can buy. Also, since both players are looking at the same windows, there is only one set of items on offer. If you both want the same item, you'll have to be quick - the first player to shoot it, gets it. When you're finished on the Trap screen, select EXIT and you can go to the next level. TYPES OF TRAP ------------- There are nie types of trap in all- each trap has a different effecton on it's victim, and so some are nastier than others. We won't give them all away here, but here's a brief rundown... ELECTRIC TRAP When the victim walks onto this, a high-voltage electrical charge stuns him for around five or six seconds. FIRE TRAP This trap envelopes its victim in flames when he is unfortunate enough to step on it, holding him back for four seconds. Not only that, the heat also evaporates any water he is carrying! GLUE TRAP Walk onto this, and the tacky substance on the floor will keep you stuck for five seconds. ICE TRAP Stepping onto this turns you into a real cool customer. The Ice Trap activates and throws him off the platform. USING TRAPS ----------- Right, this is the fun part. You're in the game, you're opponent is ahead of you in the water stakes and you need to trap him. Let's do it. To select a trap, hold down fire for a short time to gain access to the object boxes as normal. Then push down to get into the Weapon (trap) Indicators. You can use left and right to scroll through the various traps as you would objects. When you've selected the trap you want, press fire to return to the game. Now go to the platform where you want to set the trap and stand on it - any platform will do. Then, with your trap selected, push down to place it. The trap will flash. Now get off the platform quickly (you only have about two seconds) and wait for the platform to stop flashing. The trap is now set, and waiting to be tripped. The great thing about traps is that they're invisible - unless your opponent glances over to your screen and spies you setting it, there's absolutely no way he can tell if it's there or not. Try and place traps on important platforms that your opponent is likely to use. Unfortunately, because the traps are invisible - you can't see them either. It's vital that you remember where you put them, as traps don't discriminate and will trap ANY player who steps on them. And there's nothing more embarrassing than getting caught in your own trap! There are ways to protect yourself against traps - but you'll have to find those out for yourself. Try using the objects that none of the characters on that level want - they could well be handy as trap protection. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------