HERCULES - SLAYER OF THE DAMNED =============================== Son of the Gods, curse of his fellow men, Hercules is set 12 awesome tasks to exonerate the sin of murdering his children. Armed by his divine fathers he sets forth to face the hideous skeleton hordes and ultimately overcome the evil minotaur. To slay the damned is his only saviour in repenting his sins. Hercules was the son of Zeus, chief of the Gods, by Alcmene, a mortal. He was thus hated by Zeus’ wife the goddess Hera. Even while Hercules was an infant she sent two serpents to kill him. The youngster was, however, strong enough to kill them with his hands. Hera’s hatred of Hercules increased. Once the hero had married and had children Hera bewitched him and he killed his own children. When Hercules recovered consciousness he was full of remorse and ready to do anything to expiate his sin. Thus the gods decided to send Hercules to Eurystheus, King of Argos, to perform whatever tasks the king bade him do. The spiteful king chose for Hercules the twelve most difficult tasks he could think of. The gods pitied Hercules who in reality was the victim of Hera’s malice. They gave him various weapons to aid him: a helmet, a sword, a shield and a bow and arrow. The king ordered Hercules to perform twelve labours. These were: THE LABOURS 1. THE NEMEAN LION - this terrible lion was the terror of the country of Nemea. Hercules was ordered to slay it, which he did by strangling it. 2. THE HYDRA - this multi-headed monster was also slain by Hercules despite Hera sending a poisonous crab to bite him. 3. THE STAG OF CERYNEA - no man had been able to catch the marvellous stag with antlers of gold and hooves of bronze. It took Hercules a year to capture it. 4. THE ERYMANTHEAN BOAR - Hercules had to trek for many days through snow covered mountains to catch this fierce powerful boar. 5. THE AUGEAN STABLES - these stables had not been cleaned for thirty years. Hercules was ordered to clean them, a task which he accomplished by diverting two rivers to flood them. 6. THE STYMPHALIAN BIRDS - these ferocious man-eating birds were slain by Hercules. 7. THE CRETAN BULL - this beast was caught and tamed by the hero. 8. THE HORSES OF DIOMEDES - these horses were fed on human flesh. Hercules killed their owner and tamed them. 9. THE GIRDLE OF HIPPOLYTA - the beautiful girdle of Hippolyta, a queen of the Amazons, was acquired peacefully by Hercules. However, Hera spread a rumour among the Amazons that Hercules was carrying off their queen by force. They then ran up in arms against him. Hercules slew the queen on the spot. 10. THE OXEN OF GERYON - Geryon was a giant who owned a herd of oxen. Hercules killed Geryon to acquire them. In the process he bent down two mountains peaks to create the Pillars of Hercules on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar. 11. THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES - the gardens of the Hesperides were guarded by a dragon. Hercules appealed to Atlas to get him some of the apples. This Atlas agreed to, providing Hercules supported the heavens while he went to get them. 12. THE DOG CERBERUS - Hell was guarded by Cerberus. Hercules was to fetch the dog. However, even Hercules dared not attempt this task. With heavenly assistance Hercules was able to overpower the dog. These were the twelve labours of Hercules. He engaged in other adventures too. He was one of the Argonauts who accompanied Jason. On this journey he fought with Jason against the skeletons. In his adventures Hercules clashed with Nessus a Centaur. This Centaur was slain by Hercules. However, when Hercules was building a temple to Zeus he requested a fresh garment to celebrate the occasion. However, the Centaur Nessus had charmed a robe, which would fatally scorch its wearer. It was this robe that Hercules donned and finally led to his death. GAMEPLAY The object of the game is to collect the twelve Labours of Hercules. The Labours are graphically represented on the screen. The Labours appear in smoke, and you must hit them to gain them. Once you have collected all the Labours you must kill the Minotaur to win the game. Your weapons are a dub, your fists and feet. Along the bottom of the screen you will see a snake which moves from side to side. Your blows to your enemy are only effective when your enemy is positioned over the snake. If Hercules is losing the battle the snake will appear longer, thus helping you, but if he is winning it will appear shorter. Beware of the spider which at times descends to where the Labours are consumed and tries to steal a Labour. If the spider succeeds you must collect the stolen Labour again, so it is wise to try to hit the spider which will ascend again. Your opponents are the skeletons and Minotaur, armed with swords, tridents and deadly horns, and are fought using the following moves: WITHOUT FIRE PRESSED ON THE JOYSTICK: TURN TURN & WALK | ADVANCE \ | / \ | / \|/ SHUFFLE BACK ---*--- SHUFFLE FORWARD | | | HIGH BLOCK WITH FIRE PRESSED: MOUNTAIN SHAKER PUNCH OF DEATH | THE CRASHER \ | / \ | / \|/ LOW BLOCK ---*--- ZEUS' TORMENT /|\ / | \ / | \ THUNDER KICK TITANS' GIFT PLUTO'S MESSENGER KEY TO MOVES: Mountain Shaker: Overhead Blow Punch of Death: Punch Thunder Kick: Kick Pluto’s Messenger: Leg Sweep Titans’ Gift: Low Cut Zeus’Torment: Mid Blow The Crasher: Head Blow SPECTRUM USERS: Should you wish, the following keys may be used. Q - T UP A - G DOWN Z - V LEFT SPACE - B RIGHT 1 - 5 FIRE T PAUSE O MUSIC ON/OFF AMSTRAD/MSX: SPACE - PAUSE M - MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS COMMODORE 64/128: F7 - PAUSE FI - MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS LOADING INSTRUCTIONS CBM 64/128 CASSETTE: Insert cassette into cassette unit. Press SHIFT and RUN/STOP simultaneously. Press PLAY on cassette unit. The program will load and run automatically. DISK: Insert disk into drive. Type LOAD"*”,8,1 and press RETURN. The program will load and run automatically. Spectrum 48K Type LOAD"*” and press RETURN. Press PLAY on the cassette recorder. The program will load and run automatically. Spectrum 128K/+2 Use the TAPE LOADER as normal. Spectrum +3 DISK: Use the DISK LOADER as normal. Amstrad CASSETTE: Insert cassette into cassette unit. Press CONTROL (CTRL) and the small ENTER keys simultaneously. Press PLAY on the cassette unit and then any key. The program will load and run automatically. DISK: Insert the disk into the drive, label side up. Type |CPM and press ENTER. The program will load and run automatically. MSX Insert cassette into cassette recorder. Type BLOAD“CAS:",R and press ENTER. Press PLAY on the cassette recorder. The program will load and run automatically. GREMLIN GRAPHICS SOFTWARE LIMITED Alpha House, 10 Carver Street, Sheffield S1 4FS. © 1988. 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