BATMAN - THE CAPED CRUSADER (c)1988 Ocean Software --------------------------------- Preliminary Historical Note: --------------------------- Putting these instructions and gathering the complete game resulted in a bigger puzzle than the game itself. Ocean appar- ently produced a Batman game in 1986 but never released it for the C64 as far as I was able to find out, then another game, this one, in 1988, before making "Batman the Movie" in 1989. The crackers received only tapes of the Caped Crusader, without the instructions, and missed the fact this game had two parts, one part being on the back of the tape... Then their cracks were crashing constantly as the crackers didn't take the time to check (in a hurry as always), and people were complaining left and right. The cracks had to be redone... The Web to this day has a lot of copies that don't work as a result of this mess. Finally, and maybe because of this, it appears that the crackers did not like the game. They probably looked at a few screens, laughing at the look of Batman in that game, and made a couple of spoof demos called "Fatman" (one of them is in the tape) to ridicule the way Batman is portrayed and walks in the game, not caring at all for the other features of the game. This attitude carried to 1997 where one cracker made then another Fatman demo to spoof the PC scene this time (also in the tape). CATEGORY Adventure/Puzzle with a few fighting scenes. Aim of the game --------------- There are two separate "plots" revolving around Batman's deadliest enemies - The Penguin and The Joker (which are Parts 1 and 2 of the program, to be loaded separately, Part 1 on the front of the tape and Part 2 on the back in the tape version): 1) A Bird In The Hand The Penguin, having been released from jail, decides to set up an umbrella factory in Gotham City, but (of course) is secretly using it as a cover for his plan to take over the world with an army of robot penguins! As Batman, can you shut down the factory computer and prevent the world from getting the bird? 2) A Fete Worse Than Death Returning to the Batcave after a hard day's crime-fighting, Batman finds that Robin has mysteriously disappeared, the only clue being a single playing card left behind by his kidnapper - the Joker! On the flip side of the card is a message written by the Riddler: "Robin heads for a fete worse than death, the fuse is lit - so don't waste your time, follow your nose and remember, there's no place like home! Boom! Boom!". Can you unravel the mystery, save Robin and defeat the Joker? Game play --------- In both plots the presentation on screen simulates a comic strip with Gotham City and its inhabitants appearing in multiple overlaid panels. Any text (clues, descriptions, what to do next, etc.) is displayed in caption boxes in the appropriate panel. The player as Batman has complete freedom to move around and interact with the numerous locations, solving puzzles en route. The game status is not on the movement screen - it is on a separ- ate screen called the 'utility screen.' You enter this screen by pressing down and fire together on the joystick (but watch out: time does not stop running!). The center of the screen displays * the game completion percentage, * the Background Music on/off Icon (press fire for toggle), * the control icons which are used to manipulate objects you have: Left (open) Hand = Drop Object Icon Right (closed) Hand = Utilize Object Icon, * the Center (pointing) Hand = Return to Game Icon, * the Tombstone = Restart Icon * Batman's various energy status (double) bars from left to right: strength, heart, carry/lift (?), overall health (The trainer version stops these bars from changing.) On the left and right of the screen are placeholders for the objects you will have to find and pick up. Once you have objects, by moving the Bat-cursor onto an object and pressing Fire, the object starts flashing. Then you can move the cursor to the Utilize or Drop icon (depending on the object - for you to decide) and press Fire again to drop or put the object in use. In Part 2 there is a line up of watches at the bottom of the screen. They represent the fuse attached to Robin's bomb... CONTROLS Joystick: --------- Without fire button pressed: With fire button pressed: Face Face Climb back Climb High kick back High kick left \ | / right left \ | / right \ | / \ | / \ | / \ | / \ * / \ * / Walk ----* *----- Walk Punch/ -----* *----- Punch/ left / * \ right Throw left / * \ Throw right / | \ / | \ / | \ / | \ / | \ / | \ Duck Face Duck Low kick Pick up Low kick left front right left object/ right Enter utility screen Keyboard: --------- RETURN key not pressed RETURN key pressed Z Walk left Punch/Throw left X Walk right Punch/Throw right ; Face back Face back / Face front Pick up object/Enter Utility Screen Z + ; Climb left High kick left X + ; Climb right High kick right Z + / Duck left Low kick left X + / Duck right Low kick right Note: I could not find a way to pause the game, I was expecting one when in the utility screen... restarting the game does not fill that purpose. TIPS * Dark rooms require finding an object to light them up... * There are rooms that deteriorate Batman's health quickly--- maybe there is an object which will help there BEFORE entering. Note that the trainer version stops you from finding out such features since Batman's energy stays the same... * In general this is a discovery game, especially to map the place and find where the various objects are as well as what is their use. So the trainer version can help there. Due to the features above it can be of help only in parts of the initial discovery phase. ------------------------------------------------------- Comments (Spectrum version): "A finely-honed arcade advennture which is surely the best comic licence ever - you'd be batty to miss it". Rating: 93% (CRASH #60, January 1989) for the Spectrum version. Now: A graphically pretty nice arcade adventure game. The controls leave however something to be desired... -END-