
 METEORITES

 BY ELECTRA CONCEPTS

 NOTE: Always turn the console power switch off when inserting or
 removing game cartrige from console.

 OBJECT OF THE GAME

 Meteorites is a series of rounds in which the game player(s) tries to
 score as many points as possible by breaking up various size
 meteorites until they are completely destroyed.  New rounds begin
 with more numerous waves of meteorites.  Alien ships make attack runs
 on your ship during game play.  These attack ships can be destroyed
 by your Photon Cannon or be avoided until they leave the screen or
 collide with the meteorites themselves.

 GETTING READY TO PLAY

 Meteorites is for one or two players.  In a two player mode, rounds
 alternate with only one player on the screen at a time.  Both players
 use the same controller.  Set Game Select (1 or 2 players) by
 pressing any numbered key (0-9) or # on the Atari analog controller.
 A second white zero appears in the upper right corner of the screen
 for second player scoring totals.  "START", "RESET" and "PAUSE"
 buttons control their respective functions.  Pressing "PAUSE" a
 second time restarts the game.  The number of ships left in the game
 for each player appears on the bottom left or right corners of the
 screen.

 CONTROLLING THE SHIP

 Your ship's flight altitude, speed and photon cannon are controlled
 by the joystick and both (upper and lower) fire buttons.  Pushing the
 joystick forward ignites the main engine thrusters providing
 acceleration in the direction your ship is pointing.

 Moving the joystick to the right engages clockwise rotation of the
 ship.  Moving the joystick to the left engages counter-clockwise
 rotation of the ship.  The photon cannon fires forward when the
 primary fire button (lower button) is pressed.

 HYPERSPACE.  When collision with a traveling meteorite appears
 likely, the secondary fire button (upper button) can be used to
 engage your ship's hyperspace engines to get out of danger.  But
 beware, frequent escapes to hyperspace may cause your engines to
 overheat, causing a chance of re-entry explosion when your ship
 reappears on the screen.

 SCORING

 Player points total from the following hits or destroys by your
 photon cannon.

 Large meteorites     20 PTS.
 Normal meteorites    50 PTS.
 Small meteorites    100 PTS.
 Large alien ships   200 PTS.
 Small alien ships  1000 PTS.

 Extra ships are awarded to players every 10,000 points scored.

 FLYING TIPS

 Game action takes place in Deep Space with almost no gravity or
 inertia.  Even short bursts of engine thrusters are enough to move
 your ship across the screen.  To stop the ship, it must be rotated
 until engines face the direction the ship is moving and a retro-fire
 burn must be used to slow down the ship until it is near a
 standstill.  The existing gravity will be enough to bring it to a
 complete stop.

 HELPFUL HINTS

 1.  Beware of radar ghosting which can create phantom meteorites on
 the edges of the screen.  Your photon missiles may appear to pass
 through these meteorites, but they will be tracked accurately once
 they move towards the center.

 2.  Keep your ship away from the edges where meteorites and alien
 ships may take you by surprise.

 3.  For accurate firing and thrusting, view the direction of the ship
 as the imaginary line defined by the navigation lights on the bow
 (front) and stern (back) of the ship.

 4.  Fire continuously while the ship is in hyperspace.  This will
 make it easier to locate the ship when it reappears on the screen.

 SPECIAL NOTE

 Meteorites will respond as well as any 5200 cartridge to the analog
 controller supplied with the 5200 system.

 Much of the development programming was done with a digital (Atari
 2600 type joystick) and a Masterplay 5200 Interface.

 We highly recommend the game player compare playing Meteorites both
 with and without the 5200 interface and your favorite 2600 compatible
 joystick.  Our engineers and programmers found this latter set-up
 afforded the fast response time and accuracy of movement for more
 enjoyable and exciting game play.

 END

 Typed by Keita Iida (keita@mindspring.com
