SUPER SMASH (Game called "THRESHOLD" in Europe!) (c)1983 Commodore Business Machines, Inc. --------------------------------------------------- (This game was published earlier in 1982 for the VIC 20.) STARTING THE GAME Commodore 64 Machine: --------------------- 1. Turn OFF your Commodore 64 before inserting or removing any cartridge. 2. Insert the cartridge, with label side up, into the expansion port on the back of the Commodore 64. The expansion port is the opening farthest to the right when the keyboard is facing you. 3. Turn ON the Commodore 64. The opening SUPER SMASH title screen should appear. If the screen remains blank after 5 seconds, turn the computer off, then on again. If this doesn't work, turn the computer OFF and remove the cartridge. Then carefully reinsert the cartridge and try again. CCS64 Emulator -------------- The paddle controllers can be replaced by the PC mouse by setting the input for Control Port 1 as follows: Control Port 1 Paddles PC Mouse + PC Mouse For two players the players may use different controllers if they desire by having a joystick in place of the mouse for one of the directions of the paddle. Set the emulator input as follows: Control Port 1 Paddles PC Mouse + PC Gameport 1 Player 1 will then use the joystick. A joystick is of course not a very good replacement for a paddle. GAME DESCRIPTION A few seconds after start SUPER SMASH goes into the DEMO mode. Press the F1 key on the keyboard to start the game. SUPER SMASH presents you with three games on a single cartridge! In each game, you must break through a multi-colored brick wall using a ball that you deflect with your paddle. The objective is the same in each game, but the differences are based on the walls themselves. SUPER SMASH "NORMAL" presents you with 6 different-colored rows of bricks to smash through. As you break bricks, the ball speeds up and starts taking more unpredictable bounces at different angles. Once you break through to the back wall, your paddle is cut in half, making it even tougher to keep the ball in play. SUPER SMASH "SPECIAL" has not one...not two...but THREE separate walls of bricks! The lowest wall starts very close to the paddle, making the action extremely fast-paced and challenging. SUPER SMASH "PROGRESSIVE" challenges you with the same three- wall screen as "SPECIAL", but with a twist: the WALLS ADVANCE TOWARD YOUR PADDLE as you play!! When you knock out a wall or one drops off the screen, another appears to take its place! It's as challenging as it seems to keep the ball in play!! All three games have 5 balls per play, with a free ball at 10,000 points. SUPER SMASH is a game for one or two players, so you can play by yourself or share the challenge with a family member or friend. CONTROLS SUPER SMASH is designed to be used with paddles. With a C64 emulator you can use the PC mouse an/or the joystick instead. Plug your paddle set into CONTROL PORT 1 to play. Each player has a paddle. To move your paddle to the RIGHT, turn the knob CLOCKWISE. To move to the LEFT, turn the knob COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. To launch each ball at the beginning of play, press the FIRE BUTTON on the paddle. STARTING THE GAME Press the F1 key to start the game. To select the game you wish to play, press F1 (again) for SUPER SMASH, F3 for SPECIAL, and F5 for PROGRESSIVE. To choose the number of players, press the F1 key for 1 player or the F3 key for 2 players. Press RUN/STOP - RESTORE to restart from the title screen at any time. DEMO MODE If you don't hit the F1 key when you turn on the SUPER SMASH cartridge, the game goes into DEMO MODE. The game screens and the title page will be displayed. Your computer will play the game until you press the F1 key or the fire button to start the game. SCORE VALUES Orance Bricks...................... 10 points each Lt. Blue Bricks.................... 20 points each Red Bricks......................... 30 points each Green Bricks....................... 40 points each Dk. Blue Bricks.................... 50 points each Yellow Bricks...................... 60 points each Free Ball.......................... 10,000 points STRATEGY HINTS Normal: Try to position the paddle so that the ball keeps hitting spaces in the same column. Once you knock out a column position the paddle so that the ball goes through the space and starts knocking out bricks from the top. As the bricks vanish from above, place your paddle in position to hit the ball when it drops out of a space in the bricks. When shooting at the bricks you will find that the ball moves slowly until you hit green bricks or higher. At that point the ball will move much faster. Use the corners of your paddle to return a ball travelling at a steep angle. Use the center of the paddle to bounce the ball around the screen, or change ball return placement. Put "English" on the ball by moving the paddle as you hit the ball. This can be helpful in straightening a wild flying ball or slowing a speeding ball. Hitting the back wall at any time will reduce your paddle size. Special: Break through a single hole in the lowest wall as soon as possible. Try to move your way into higher walls early in the game. Let the spaces between walls work for you by placing the ball between two or more brick-filled walls, but try avoiding a back wall as long as possible because your paddle size will be cut in half. Follow the Normal game instructions on ball and paddle positioning. Progressive: Play this game in much the same way as you play Special. Don't worry about the advancing walls. The walls will keep moving down as long as you play. Aim for the walls at the top because low walls will simply drop off the screen. Once again, try to avoid the back wall as long as possible. If you break through to the back wall before a new set of bricks drops down from the top of the screen, your paddle will be shortened. However, if a new row of bricks make up the back wall of the screen your long paddle will remain intact. Follow the Normal game instructions for ball and paddle positioning. -----------------------------------Comments-------------- GAME TYPE: A variation on the "Breakout" theme. GRAPHICS : Very simple, as any Breakout clone is. Big colorful blocks. Might be easy to see on an older laptop, if you're running in emulation. SOUND : See overall. GAMEPLAY : See overall. OVERALL : Just what you'd expect from a Breakout clone. Simple and fun. AD TEXT : "The World Championship is at stake! As a finalist do you have the cat-like reflexes to return the speeding ball and take the crown?" (Seen in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" page 103) COMMENTS : It may be hard to believe, but this title was once a benchmark game. The early Apple ][ series, for instance, used their version of Breakout to demon- strate their graphic capabilities when they were first pushing it. The Vic 20 plays breakout with ease too! I wonder if there was any competition between Apple & CBM, with this game? There certainly was some strong competition over price! -END-