  [Alcazar: The Forgotten Fortress ]
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(K)racked by  The Micron  & Lord Rama
(D)ocs by (the new improved) Lord Rama
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[INTRODUCTION]:

     The country is covered with castles and curioes, with bridges and carpets that fly. And the's no way around it. Your destination is on the other side.
 What perils lurk in these mysterios castles? Which path is quick and sure?
 With map in hand, you'll dare across. collecting the tools you'll need. Tools to master the grandest of castles, the lure, the dream, the goal

   .......The legenday keep.....

            : ALCAZAR :

  (A LORD RAMA & MICRON PRESENTATION)    
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[THE TASK AT HAND]

 You are an explorer moving through a countryside of castles, enroute to Alcazar. Along the way, you must gather the implements needed for a successful journy. You goal is to enter Alcazar, find your way to its crown room and reach its fables throne - but not while a demon is chasing you.
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[Getting Started]

* TO SELECT THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL, press appropriate number key, 1-4

     LEVEL 1-BEGINNER
     LEVEL 2-INTERMEDIATE
     LEVEL 3-ADVANCED
     LEVEL 4-EXPERT

* TO BEGIN ADVENTURE, press RETURN after selecting difficulty level.

* TO PLAY THE SAME DIFFULTY LELEL AFTER ADVENTURE HAS ENDED, ress the coresponding number key and then press the joystick button or RETURN

* TO BEGIN ANEW ADVENTURE AT ANY TIME during a game, press 'Q' and the SHIFT key. This ends the game in process and displays a skull on the strategy map. Using the previous steps, proceed as through the adventure had just ended.

* TO PAUSE THE ADVENTURE AT ANYTIME, press the SPACE BAR. to resume the action press it again.

* If none of the controls are activated for some time, your screen will black out. Press the SPACE BAR, To resume the action, press it again.

* To turn off the music accompanying the strategy map, press M and the SHIFT key TO turn the music back on, press both keys again.

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[PATHWAYS TO ADVENTURE]

    The first thing you'll see is a large strategy map. It displays a countryside dotted with castles connected by paths. Your explorer is presented on the map as a falshing dot. You'll enter the country on the left side and mover toward Alcazar, the largest castle, on the right. Plan your route wisely. This map changes with each new game and can be referred to often. (SEE "CONTROLSS")

    THE FIRST THING YOU'LL DO is move the white dot on the map screen into one of the castles. You will immediately see your explorer standing in the corridor of that castle. Now, you can move through the castle finding tools and fighting demons

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[CONTROLS]

* To move your explorer, move joystick left, right forward or backward.

* To pick up an item, simply walk over it. If you walk over an objext while your hand and pockets are full, the new object will be switched with the object in your hand. If you don't want the new object, just repeat the process.

* To switch things from pocket to hand, press and release the lower joystick button.

* To refer to the large map, press and hold the lower joystick button (This won't work when a demon is on screen)

* To throw or fire an item in your hand, press the lower joystick button then quickly move the joystick in the desired direction. to fire muliple shots, follow the same procedure but hold the button.

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[Castles]

* All castles are two stories high, execpt for Alcazar, which has three stories.

* TO ENTER A CASTLE, simply follow a pathway which leads into it.

* UPON ENTERING, the screen displays a top-down view of the room you've just stepped into. It changes as you move room to room.

* The three squares at the top left of the screen display the contents of your pockets to thier right, a fourth square displays what you are holding in your hand.

* The line-up a the upper right epresents the number of explorers in reserve; the explorer at the extreme right of this line-up represents the one currently in use. The number at the lower left displays the number of doorways you've passed through.

* After you've defeated the first required demon (see "Difficulty levels"), a small map of the castle you are in appears at the screen bottom. The square on the left represents the first floor, the square on the right represnts the second; the blinking purple square shows where you are in the castle, and the room you've entered are shown in white

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[Contents of castles]

* The contents of a castle are indicated by its color. Its most sought-after object (in brackets below) is always guarded by that castle's major demon (also bracketed). Guns, oil, water, bleach and raw meat aare scattered randomly throughout the castles. However, they will be in larger supply mentioned below.

CASTLE COLOR            CONTENTS              DEMONS
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BLUE                  [Rope], guns          [tigers],griffen, trantulas, flies

PURPLE                [ring], oil           [oilmoebas],guard, trantulas, flies

RED                   [raft], water         [griffins],genie, trantulas, flies

BLACK        [Extra explorer in dungeon]    [guards],tiger, oilmoeba, trantuals                                              flies

ALCAZAR           [throne in crown room]    [genies],tiger, oilmoeba, griffin,
                                             tarantulas, flies

-*- Visual and audible warnings are given when danger is nearby. Avoid a confrontation or gather the proper defense.

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[Monster information]

1> Demons & dangers
2> warning
3> defense

[1] TIGER
[2] pawprints on floor
[3] 3 BULLETS

[1] GRIFFEN
[2] raspy breathing sound
[3] oil or 6 bullets

[1] OILMOEBA
[2] black slime on the floor
[3] bleach or 5 bullets

[1] GUARD
[2] tinkling sound of keys
[3] 4 bullets

[1] GENIE
[2] genie jar on floor
[3] water or 6 bullets or ring

[1] TARANTULA
[2] no warning, but they're slow
[3]  1 bullet or the raft

[1] FLIES
[2] loud buzzing sound (obcures all
    otheraudible warings!)
[3] 1 bullet or the rope

[1] BOTTOMLESS SHAFT
[2] very dark flames on-wall torches
[3] Do not enter 


-*- NOTE: Audible clues are not immediatly heard while you are moving. This it is advisable to stop for a moment upon entering a room, in order to hear the warning sounds as soon as possible

-*- Your relative health os indicated by the color of the last explorer in the reserve line-up. White is healthy, green is injured, purple is critical and red means you're close to 'extinxtion'. Another few bites from a demon and you've had it. RENEW YOUR STRENGTH BY LEAVING THE CASTLE!

-*- ANOTHER DEFENSE: The raw meat scattered about is laced with tranquilizers. All demons (except flies) will be stunned for 10 seconds when you toss them this handy between-meal snacks. Tigers, however, will noy yake the raw meat while they are chasing you. Hence, you must toss it to them from a ajoining room.

-*- MORE ABOUT DEMONS: All demons (except flies & tarantulas) will lie in wait until they see or hear you. Shooting a gun, bumping into a genie jar or using your keys will attract the demons in the adjacent rooms. If a demon is chasing you, try to leave a room before he enters it. Doing so will end the chase. Demons will return to a castle when you enter anyother castke, but the useful objects are never restocked, during a game.

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[CONCLUSION]
 
 To succeed, you must be able to predict which rooms contain demons. The best method is to draw 2 floor plan maps- one for the small castles (all basicly the same) and one for Alcazar. Become sdept at correlating those floor plans whith warning signs you see and hear along the way
 Learn how to give demons the shaft! You can stand on the farthest edges of a bootomless shaft and shoot into the adjoining roo. When the demon runs out toward you, he'll fall into the shaft. It's a great move when you're down to 1 bullet (Unfortunately, a guard will take his keys with him.) Demons can also be tricked into flying carpets, though you won't know where they'll turn up later. Neither of these tricks works with genies, flies or tarantulas (they'll fly up or spin web)
  Plan ahead! Know where you're going and carry only what you'll need. Enter Alcazar with a bucket of water to survive the first genie and, in level 3 and 4, bring keys, too, since there are no guards in ALCAZAR
  Using the strategy map to note where a catle's entrances/exits are. Remember that some are on the first floor and some are on the second.

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[Docs written by Lord Rama]
