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Swordquest: Waterworld - Atari - Atari 2600     HTML Manual   

Swordquest: Waterworld
VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE FOR THE ATARI 2600 VCS tm
SWORDQUEST WATERWORLD
Win the $25,000 Jewelled Crown!

NOTE: Always turn the console POWER switch OFF when inserting or removing
ATARI Game Program cartridge.  This will protect the electronic components
and prolong the life of your ATARI Video Computer System game.


GAME OBJECTIVE
WATERWORLD is the third in a series of four individual contests comprising
the ATARI SWORDQUEST CHALLENGE.

The ultimate objective in the WATERWORLD contest is the jewelled Crown, made
at a cost of $25,000.  To win that Crown, you will have to pass certain tests
of dexterity and cleverness - in both the video game and the accompanying
comic book.

Your goal in the WATERWORLD game cartridge is to discover the seven
"numerical clues" that will refer you to the appropriate page and frame
number of the accompanying comic book.  There you must look artfully for
"word clues" to send to ATARI on the enclosed SWORDQUEST CHALLENGE entry form.

Not all the numerical clues are valid.  Three are decoys.  A careful poetic
reading of the comic book is required in order to obtain information that will
be helpful in selecting the valid word-clue answers from the false ones.

(Figure 1: A room in the game: Room Number, Carrying Pouch, Playing Figure, 
Doorway, Carrying Pouch with Objects and Object in Room.)


GAME PLAY
WATERWORLD is primarily a puzzle.  There are seven rooms.  Scattered
throughout these rooms are 16 magical objects which are related to each other
and to the seven rooms.  Isolating the rooms from each other are three skill-
and-action tests which you'll need to master in order to successfully enter a
room and manipulate all the objects in that room.

Your task, SWORDQUEST CHALLENGE, is to travel successfully from room to room;
discover the relationships of the objects to each other and to the rooms;
and then place a correct combination of objects in the appropriate room to 
get a numerical clue.

Each room needs a unique set of seven objects to trigger a clue.  If you
correctly place at least four of the seven objects designated for a specific
room, a numerical clue will momentarily be revealed to you at the bottom of
the screen.  Use this numerical clue to search for a word clue in the
accompanying comic book.

You can carry a total of six objects in your carrying pouch.  You gain
gain information about the objects and their interrelationships by
transferring the objects back and forth from the room to the carrying pouch in
each of the seven rooms.  Interrelationships between the objects and the rooms
will be displayed as "hints" at the bottom of the screen.  Writing down these
interrelationships and interpreting the resulting information is an essential
prerequisite to successful game play in a puzzle like WATERWORLD.


USING THE CONTROLLER
Use your joystick to travel from room to room and to transfer objects from
the room to your pouch and back.  To transfer an object, move your playing
figure directly over the object and press the red button.

To transfer objects back into the room you must first enter the carrying
pouch.  To do this, move your playing figure over the carrying pouch symbol at
the top of the screen and press the red button.  To emerge from the pouch,
simply move your Joystick up toward the room.

Pressing the red button while a hint is being displayed at the bottom of the
screen will immediately return you to game play.  Doing this will eliminate
the time it usually takes to cycle through each hint display.

Pressing the red button while you are in the midst of a skill-and-action test
is a sign of surrender.  You will be transported directly into the desired
room, but without the power to see or successfully manipulate all the objects
in that room.

In the ice floes sill-and-action test: Push the Joystick up away from you to
jump up to the next floe.  Pull the Joystick toward you to jump back.

Plug your Joystick Controller into the LEFT CONTROLLER jack.  Hold the
controller with the fire button to your upper left, toward the television
screen.  See your owner's manual for further details.


CONSOLE CONTROLS
GAME RESET SWITCH: Press GAME RESET to start a new game.

TV TYPE SWITCH: Set this switch to COLOR if you're playing on a color
television.  Set it to B-W to play the game on a black and white television.

DIFFICULTY/GAME SELECT SWITCHES: These switches are not used in WATERWORLD.

NOTE: Just as you can leave the pieces of a chess game assembled overnight,
you can also maintain the current status of WATERWORLD after a hard day's
SWORDQUESTING by leaving the POWER of your console unite ON- even with your
television turned OFF.  To return to the place you left off, press the red
button on your controller and resume game play.


SKILL-AND-ACTION TESTS 
To simulate the challenging adventures Torr and Tarra must face in the comic
book, part of your SWORDQUEST CHALLENGE requires you to pass certain tests
successfully from room to room.

There are three skill-and action tests facing you:
        - the sea of sharks
        - the school of octopi
        - the slippery ice floes

(Figure 2: Sea of Sharks screen)
(Figure 3: School of Octopi screen)
(Figure 4: Ice Floes screen)

To enter a room with the power to manipulate all the objects in that room
with your Joystick, you must guide your playing figure to the opposite side
of the screen from where you start.

A certain amount of time is allotted for you to accomplish each test.
If you fail to enter the next room through your own efforts, you will be
automatically placed in that same room when time runs out.  However, there
will be a penalty: Not all the objects in that room will be visible to you.

Only if you succeeded in getting through a skill-and-action test can you
manipulate all the objects allocated to that room.  If you try to transfer an
object in a room that you entered after time ran out, that object may 
disappear!

When you do complete a skill-and-action test successfully, an image of the
Ultimate Sword of Sorcery will appear momentarily before you enter the room.
If you are not successful, the word "SWORDQUEST" will appear before you are
placed in the room.


HELPFUL HINTS
- In order to receive a numerical clue, all the objects you leave in a room
must be part of a set that is designated for that particular room.  If you
include any object which does not belong, you cannot trigger a numerical clue.

- For each skill-and-action test, there is a different magical object which
will allow you to pass directly into the next room without having to undergo
that specific test.  There is also one overarching object which will allow you
to travel successfully from room to room without having to undergo any of the
skill-and-action tests.

- WATERWORLD demands logical thinking along with trial and error methods.
You will need to try several types of combinations befog you discover a set
which will work.

- All of the hints are true.  Some hints may not appear to be perfectly clear;
they are capable of being interpreted in more than one way.  Don't get lost.
Make notes.  Keep a journal.

EXAMPLES:
"...and I know a chariot goes in another..."
"...and I remember seeing a crown with a chariot together somewhere, but I
can't be exactly sure where."  - Journal of a lost SWORDQUEST Challenger

(Figure 5: Inventory of Magical Objects)
Amulet, Chalice, Cloak of Invisibility, Crown, King's Ring, Lamp, Medallion,
Money Purse, Peasant's Ring, Royal Seal, Sceptre, Shield, Shoes of Stealth,
Talisman of Passage, Throne, Warrior's Sword


Atari welcomes your comments.  Please address all correspondence to:
Atari, Inc.
Customer Relations
1312 Crossman Avenue, P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, California 94086


GAME CARTRIDGE LIMITED NINETY DAY WARRANTY
copyright 1983, ATARI, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED








WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS - 
WATERWORLD MADE SIMPLE
An Approach to solving the puzzle

The following instructions present a more simplified, step-by-step scenario
on how to play WATERWORLD.  While no critical secrets are revealed (of
course), dedicated adventurers and puzzle solvers may wish to ignore these
suggestions and work out their own approach.

1. Power ON. Press RESET to start. You're in the sea of sharks.  Try to swim
to the other side of the screen. There is a time limit for this particular
skill-and-action test.

If you succeed in swimming past the sharks within the time limit, an image of 
the Ultimate Sword of Sorcery will appear briefly and you will enter room I 
with all objects in that room available to you.  If you fail to swim past the
sharks, the word "Swordquest" will appear instead and you will enter room I
with only the Shoes of Stealth available to you.


2. With the red button pressed down, move your Joystick until your playing
figure is directly over the shoes.  It may take a few passes until you make
the right connection, but when you do, the shoes will be transferred to the
backpack at the bottom of the screen.  Observe what happens during transfer;
make a note of it.  If "nothing" happens, then note that "nothing happened"
when you transferred the shoes in room I from the room to the backpack.


3. By leaving objects in the backpack, you can carry them as you travel from
room to room.  So, leave the shoes in your backpack; carry them with you to
the next room.  Exit from room 1 through one of the lower exits.
Oops!  You're caught in a school of octopi.  OK.  Try to swim past them into
the opening at the bottom of the screen.

If you succeed in swimming past the school of octopi, you'll enter room II
with all the objects in that room visible and available to you.  If you fail,
only the Cloak of Invisibility will be available to you.


4. With the red button pressed down, move your playing figure directly over
the carrying pouch symbol.  You will be transferred to the pouch in the form
of a flashing square (cursor).  With your Joystick, move the flashing square
(cursor) directly over the shoes and press the red button.  Now observe what
happens: You get a hint.

Your hint: The sword and the amulet are related to each other!  You now know
that they belong together in one (or more!) of the rooms and are part of a 
set that can trigger a numerical clue.  Make a note of this.


5. Your task from here on is to take all of the objects in all the rooms and
make a note of what happens when you transfer each object back and forth from
each room to the backpack.  With this information, you can now make some
logical inferences as to which objects belong in which rooms.


6. Go to those rooms.  Place combinations of objects in the rooms until you
can trigger a numerical clue.  Be prepared to make a note of the numerical
clue when it appears, because it will remain on the screen for only a moment.
Then use that numerical clue to look for a word clue in the DC comic book.


7. Use this technique to find all seven numerical clues in the WATERWORLD
video game.  Look with the eye of an artist for the corresponding word clues
in the comic book.  Then - with the discrimitating pen of a poet - choose
four of those seven word clues which you think are correct, write them on the
entry form and send them to ATARI.

All set to meet the SWORDQUEST CHALLENGE?  En garde!




Lafe Travis
I'm a Yosemite Sam Fan, that's what I am!
Star Wars, Doctor Who, Epic Pinball, Horror Films, Bears, FRUA



This document obtained from the History of Home Video Games Homepage, �1997-1998 by Greg Chance