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...


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