Sub Scan by Sega - Atari Age manual archive

Enemy submarines have been detected in your waters. You command a destroyer which can launch as many as four depth charges at a time. Your mission is to sink as many enemy subs as possible.

But it’s not that simple. Because SUB-SCAN is more than a shooting match. It’s a game of strategy. A battle of wits. Can-and-mouse on the high seas between the hunter above and the hunted below.

Use the left joystick control. Moving the joystick left and right moves your destroyer. Moving the joystick up or down has no effect. Use the red FIRE button to launch depth charges. The depth charges leave the destroyer in the direction the destroyer last moved.

Start the game by either pressing the FIRE button on your control or pressing the RESET switch on the console.
The LEFT DIFFICULTY, RIGHT DIFFICULTY, COLOR/B-W and GAME SELECT switches have no effect.

Your inventory of depth charges is shown directly below the two score panels. Every time a launched depth charge explodes one depth charge is added to your inventory. A depth charge explodes by either hitting an enemy sub or reaching the ocean bottom, where it explodes harmlessly. Your inventory can reach a maximum of four depth charges.

At the bottom of the screen is a radar scanning viewport. On this viewport you see a map of the ocean, with small blips indicating all subs. Your scanner extends beyond the battle scene, so you can see subs on their way into the battle scene. Once you get good enough, you can use this scanner to hit subs just as they enter the battle screen.

Beneath the viewport and to the left is a number which counts down the number of subs which leave the screen without being hit by one of your depth charges. This number begins at 10, and counts down to 0. When it hits 0 (when the tenth sub has safely left the battlefield) the game is over. Any BONUS subs you let go do not count as missed subs.

Beneath the viewport and to the right is a number which shows submarine speed. A game begins with the slowest sub speed (0) and escalates to the highest speed (9) as certain score levels are reached.

Two scores are shown at the top of the screen. The top red number is your actual score. The bottom number is a bonus value which increases every time you sink a submarine. To actually collect this bonus, you must sink a special bonus sub which cruises only at the lowest ocean depth. You’ll know this special sub by its special color and sound.

(Screenshot of Bonus Sub – just an orange-colored sub at the bottom of the screen)

Scoring information is shown in Table 1. Notice that the more subs you hit before collecting the bonus, the faster the bonus value increases. When you hit the BONUS SUB and collect the bonus, the sub count starts again at 0, where the first ten subs hit add 100 to the bonus value.

Number of subs hit	Amount added to BONUS value for each hit
1 – 10	100
11 – 20	200
21 – 30	300
31 – 40	400
41 – 50	500
51 and up	1,000

Submarine speed is shown in Table 2. Your ship and depth charges always move at the same rate. The subs increase speed when certain scores OR bonus values are reached.

(Transcriber’s note: What the instruction manual fails to give are the regular point values for the subs. Subs can appear on five different levels. Subs on the top level score 10 points, subs on the second level score 20 points, and so on up to 50 points for subs on the bottom level of the screen.

2. Once you have aimed a depth charge at a particular sub, keep your eye on the depth charge and the sub. A shallower sub might cruise into the battle scene and run into a previously targeted depth charge. In this case you’ll need to quickly launch another depth charge to hit your original target sub.

3. Avoid hitting the BONUS SUB as long as you possibly can! This builds the bonus value up at an incredible rate and keeps the subs moving at a manageable speed. Remember: a BONUS SUB never counts as a missed sub if you let it go.

4. Use the viewport. If you time it right, you can hit subs just as they enter the battle scene.

Score Value	OR	Bonus Value	Submarine Speed
0 – 1,999	OR	0 – 9,999	0 (slowest)
2,000 – 3,999	OR	10,000 – 19,999	1
4,000 – 5,999	OR	20,000 – 29,999	2
6,000 – 7,999	OR	30,000 – 39,999	3
8,000 – 9,999	OR	40,000 – 49,999	4
10,000 – 13,999	OR	50,000 – 59,999	5
14,000 – 19,999	OR	60,000 and up	6
20,000 – 29,999			7
30,000 – 39,999			8
40,000 and up