BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Electric Dreams THE STORY SO FAR... The villainous Mandarin Lo Pan is trying to appease a demon in order to secure a mortal body. To do this he must first marry a green eyed girl and then sacrifice her. Lo Pan's henchmen kidnap Gracie Law and Miao Yin, the girlfriends of Jack Burton and Wang Chi, who both have green eyes, and take the girls down into Lo Pan's underground empire beneath the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco. Jack Burton, Wang Chi and their friend Egg Shen have to fight their way through the streets of Chinatown and down into the sewers and rooms of the underground domain of the Mandarin. PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS The game is played with three characters: 1) Jack Burton, the all American hero who is very handy with his "Bushmaster" gun. When controlling Jack Burton the game becomes a "Shoot 'em up". 2) Wang Chi, the martial arts expert who is carrying a sword in which case the game becomes a "Hack 'em up". 3) Egg Shen the chinese magician who travels on a mystical floating cloud, in which case the game becomes a magical "Zap 'em up". You may switch between these three characters at any time during the game so that you may choose the best character to deal with each situation. The other two characters will follow the one you are controlling. JOYSTICK CONTROLS Fire button not pressed Left Move Left Right Move right Up Jump Down Duck Fire button pressed Up High attack (unarmed) Right Mid attack (unarmed) Down Low attack (unarmed) Left diagonally up High attack (armed) Left Mid attack (armed) Left diagonally down Low attack (armed) KEYBOARD CONTROLS Left I Right O Up Y Down H Fire P SELECTION OF CHARACTERS Jack Burton B Wang Chi C Egg Shen S The following keys will pause the game:- Spectrum SPACE/BREAK Amstrad ESC Commodore F1 To pick up a weapon or eat food you should just walk over the weapon or food. JACK BURTON, Fist/Bushmaster Combat: Initially Jack is able to defend himself only with his fists. However, if you can penetrate far enough into the Mandarin's empire you will find a Bushmaster gun which you may use. The Bushmaster will be shown on screen as three bullets. There is only a limited amount of ammunition, though more may be found lying around. WANG CHI, Karate Combat: Wang Chi is gifted with a knowledge of the Martial Arts. In addition to this a sword will eventually be found. Swords in the game will have a comparatively short life and will eventually break. Fortunately more swords may be found during play and if picked up will prolong the life of the sword you are carrying if you already have one. EGG SHEN, Zap Combat: At the beginning of the game Egg Shen uses magic bolts which he can fire from his fingers; these only have a very limited range. Eventually a magic potion in a bottle will be found which will enable him to use stronger magic. He will now have control over lightning bolts which will have devastating effects on the toughest of opponents. This strong magic may be topped up by finding additional bottles of magic potion. SCREEN DISPLAY At the bottom of the screen you are given indicators to show the status of each of the three characters that you may be controlling. Jack Burton is to the left, Wang Chi in the centre and Egg Shen to the right. The characters stamina is shown by Yin and Yang signs which slowly disappear and may be topped up by eating food that may be found during the game. If you find and pick up a weapon, i.e. by walking over it with the character who may use the found weapon, then a picture of the weapon will appear at the bottom of the screen to show you are carrying it. The weapons are represented by: Guns for the Gun. Swords for the Sword. Bottles of potion for the Magic. Shown above the weapon picture of each of the characters is a bottle of magic potion. This may be found by the characters during the game and will give them added strength. At the very bottom of the screen your score is given. LAYOUT AND COMBATANTS The game action takes place on three different levels: LEVEL ONE: The Streets of Chinatown. Unarmed martial arts experts. Sometimes gunmen may also be found on this level. You will have to retreat and lose them as you will not be able to defeat them in combat until you have gained more experience. The warriors and other henchmen will not allow you to run past them without fighting; however, they may sometimes jump past you. LEVEL TWO: The Sewers In addition to the combatants to be found on level one you will also find the Sewer Monsters here. You must avoid the Sewer Monsters by jumping over them as they cannot be killed. LEVEL THREE: Lo Pan's Headquarters The Storms are elemental beings who must be defeated before you are able to face Lo Pan in combat. They may be identified by the wide brimmed hats they are wearing. LEVEL FOUR: The Marriage Chamber. The Marriage Chamber, to be found at the heart of the headquarters, contains Armoured Warriors and Lo Pan. DEFEATING LO PAN To actually defeat Lo Pan (who appears on a flying cloud in the Marriage Chamber) you will need the combined combat skills of all three characters; as he has the power of regeneration he will need to be shot, zapped and run through a number of times to finally kill him once and for all. After you have accomplished this Miao Yin and Gracie Law will be found and the evil of Lo Pan will have been defeated. WHODUNNIT? Game Design and Graphics FOCUS Programming and Music M D Software Produced by Jon Dean and the SOFTWARE STUDIOS Big Trouble in Little China the computer game is based on the John Carpenter film, TM and Copyright 20th Century Fox 1986. All rights reserved. Electric Dreams Software authorised user. Game copyright Electric Dreams Software 1987.