- DOC FILE For RUFF'N'TUMBLE -
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Doc typed by MINDWALKER
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RUFF'N'TUMBLE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, Ruff Rodgers was a normal, happy-go-lucky eight year old, with a
spring in his step and a penchant for shiny marbles.
Today, he's transformed into a ruthless, sadisistic killing machine.
It was the Summer holidays, and Ruff scampered out of his house, and up the
road to the park. He enjoyed it there because it had loads of different
places to play, not like his Mum's garden with its clipped lawn and tidy
flower beds. And anyway, he could show of his brilliant marble collection
to the other kids there.
This particular evening, though, there was nobody else in the park. As he
walked through the gates sunlight dimmed, as though a storm was coming; and
suddenly the sky was filled with black clouds. A strong wind picked up and
whistled through the trees, creating... well, an interesting atmosphere,
let's put it that way. For added effect, it also rustled up some dead
leaves from the ground and showered them in all directions. This would
have unnerved most people, but not Ruff. He'd seen all this kind of stuff
before, mostly when he was daydreaming in a boring History lesson, and he
was ready for any nasty things that might come for him from out of the
woods. It was then he saw it; just a glimpse out of the corner of his eye.
A bright light, shining into the trees from just across the other side of
the path.
He padded carefully towards it, holding his heavy bag of marbles tightly in
both hands, ready to swing it into action should anything horrible appear.
As he drew closer, he noticed that the source of the light, a tiny hole in
the ground, was marked with an equally tiny sign, which read: WANT TO
PLAY?
An arrow pointed towards the hole.
Ruff looked around, just to make sure that nobody was playing tricks with
him (and so he didn't look stupid to any of his friends, of course), and
then knelt down before the light. Reaching his hand into his bag, he
pulled out a marble: a big, red shiny one; his favourite kind. Carefully
he aimed towards the hole, and fired. Plop! The marble rolled down, out
of sight.
Almost immediately there was an unearthly roar from under Ruff's feet, and
the ground began to shake violently. Still kneeling, he started to sink
into the earth, and he tried - too late - to get to his feet. The ground
collapsed, and he fell into a brilliant white light. Ruff landed, heavily,
in a tree-lined cave. He rubbed his grazed knees and elbows, and looked
up. Curiously, the hole he had just fallen through had disappeared. Even
more strangely, his bag of marbles had gone; and a large gun lay nearby
with a note attached to it. The note read:
`Master Rodgers, I'm afraid i've had to confiscate your marbles, dear
fellow. I'm incredibly evil, you see, and I need them to power my supreme
machine which will help me take over the world! Ha ha ha!'
A sudden clap of thunder made Ruff jump. Bloody theatrics, he thought, and
then read on.
`But because I'm a sporting kind of chap, i've decided to allow you a
chance to get your marbles back. Grab the gun, climb into the teleporter,
and you'll be taken to my secret netherworld. Of course, you've got no
real hope: even if you get all the marbles, i'll just have to kill you.
Yours evil-ly Doctor Destiny' "Oh yeah, you and whose army?" shouted Ruff,
to nobody in particular. As though in answer the note continued:
`PS. Er, my army, actually. I built them myself. I call them the
Tinheads, and they're programmed to blow the pants off anybody who tries to
come and take the marbles away. Especially you, of course, my dear boy.
To rise to my evil challenge and face them, climb into my clever teleporter
and prepare to meet your Destiny! Ta-ta.'
Almost immediately he read the words there was a blinding flash, and when
the smoke cleared, before him stood a bright metal box - a sort of steel
phone booth. A door in the side opened, revealing another sign: IN�HERE.
He'd never heard of theso-called `Doctor Destiny' before, but already he
was building up an intense dislike for the man. Anybody who calls himself
such a jumped-up name must be a bit of a megalomaniac, he thought. And in
all the movies, it's always the megalomaniacs who eat their words in the
end.
Confused, but annoyed that the rotten git had taken his prized marbles,
Ruff scooped up the gun and ammo, swung them over his shoulder, and
clambered into the teleporter. How tough can these Tinhead things be
anyway?
GETTING STARTED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hardware Requirements
---------------------
To play Ruff `n' Tumble, you'll need an Amiga with at least 1Mb of RAM
(memory). It will load and run quite happily on the majority of Amigas,
except the unexpanded A500s and A1000s, for which you'll need a memory
expansion. If you have other peripherals plugged into the machine, such as
a printer or a hard disk drive, it's best to unplug or disable them before
loading Ruff `n' Tumble.
Loading
-------
To load Ruff `n' Tumble, insert disk one into the internal drive of your
Amiga, and switch on the power. The game will now load and run
automatically. If you have a second disk drive, insert disk two into it to
avoid any disk swapping. Otherwise, when prompted remove disk one and
replace it with disk two.
PLEASE�NOTE: Ruff `n' Tumble cannot be installed onto hard disk.
Loading Problems
----------------
In the unlikely event that Ruff `n' Tumble fails to load, switch off your
Amiga and unplug any external devices (printers, hard disk drives) except
the monitor or TV set. Leave the power off for at least 30 seconds, and
then repeat the loading procedure.
PLAYING RUFF `N' TUMBLE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Controls
--------
Ruff `n' Tumble must be contolled with a joystick plugged into port 2 on
your Amiga. When the game has finished loading, you can either push fire
on your joystick to start, or press O to enter the Options screen. The
Options are to enter your Practice code (see the next section), or press M
to toggle the in-game music on or off. However, we advise you not to do
this - indeed, Ruff `n' Tumble is best played with the volume turned up
LOUD!
The joystick controls are simple: Push up to make Ruff jump, pull down to
duck; while left and right moves him, er, left and right. Push the fire
button to shoot your current weapon. You can hold down fire to shoot
rapidly, but remember your gun will overheat if you fire to quickly.
Also, while you are playing Ruff `n' Tumble, you can press P to pause the
game (and P again to un-pause), and Q to quit back to the main menu. But
you wouldn't really want to do that, would you?
The Screen
----------
From top left to top right as follows: Number of lives, coins collected,
weapon status, energy bar, marbles left to collect and finally the score.
What's going on?
----------------
The main aim in each level is to collect enough coloured marbles to open
the Exit Door, which you'll find at the far right-hand side. Kill
everything that moves, and collect everything else by running into it. The
Tinheads might look cute, but they're all out to see you dead - so take no
prisoners!
Note: As you progress in the game, you'll face progressively tougher
Tinheads. They get more intelligent, and they take more shots to kill -
but no Tinhead is indestructable. We're not going to show you pics of them
all, because we think they should be a suprise. But here's a run-down of
all the power-ups, collectables and, ah, other things you're likely to
find:
Marbles
-------
The three counter at the top of the screen tell you how many marbles you
must collect to open the Exit Door. Each marble collected reduces the
relevent coloured counter by one.
Magic Marbles
-------------
Difficult to find, but reduces the relevent coloured marble counter to
zero.
Gold Coin
---------
A single coin appears briefly as you kill each Tinhead. Collect the
required number of marbles on a level, and the ones remaining will turn
into gold coins. Collect 100 for an extra Ruff.
Tinhead Generator
-----------------
Generates Tinheads, surprisingly. Beware when the coils are pulsating,
because a Tinhead is being born. When the light goes out, the generator is
empty.
Specials
--------
Some of the extra weapons available to Ruff as he progresses. Use them
quickly, because they run out with time.
Weapon Power-up
---------------
Loads the machine-gun with a full magazine of bullets, and adds extra time
to Special weapons.
Heart
-----
Replenishes one unit of energy. If your energy bank is full, don't collect
the Heart - leave it until you need it.
Esther
------
Gives Ruff a full bank of energy, and an extra Heart (to a maximum of
five).
Shield
------
Protects Ruff from the Tinheads with a temporary shield. The weapons
counter displays the amount of Shield remaining.
Speed Up
--------
Endows Ruff with a smart pair of speed shoes, but only temporarily. The
weapons counter displays the amount of Speed Up remaining.
Keys
----
Available in either red or blue, which opens the corresponding coloured Key
Switch.
Switch
------
Each one has a purpose, but you'll have to find out exactly what it is.
Jump on to activate.
Key Switch
----------
Just like a normal switch, but you'll need the relevent coloured key to
throw it.
Extra Ruff
----------
Erm... an extra life. Useful, obviously.
Smart Bomb
----------
Nukes all the Tinheads on-screen in one fell swoop.
Party Power
-----------
Gives Ruff full Weapon Power-up, full shield, and increases the bonus
potential. Temporarily of course.
Jump Pads
---------
Step on these to give Ruff a boost to his normal jump. Available in two
sizes and strengths.
Turbo Lifter
-------------
Escalates young Ruff to previously only-dreamed-of heights.
Beam Gates
----------
Blocks Ruff's way, so you'll need a relevent coloured key to pass.
Rocket Ladder
-------------
Jump on this to activate a useful rope ladder.
Restart Point
-------------
If you don't want to return to the start of the level when you lose a life,
land on this as soon as you see it.
Exit Door
---------
The door to the next level. Opens as you approach, but only if you've
collected the required number of coloured marbles.
WHERE AM I?
~~~~~~~~~~~
World 1: The Fantasy Forest
---------------------------
Don't be fooled by the name: the fantasy stops as the first Tinhead puts
his head down and charges for you. Bobby isn't to bright, but he's solid
tin from the neck up - and perfectly capable of breaking you. His best
buddy, Tommy, is more intelligent and - worse - armed, but even he is no
match for the Gunwasps... Tip: avoid the spikes.
World 2: The Underground Mine
-----------------------------
The second world takes you underground, where you'll need to cope with
slippery crystal surfaces and pools of hot molten lava. Take in the beauty
of it all, but don't miss the manic Miner with his deadly drill, and the
pin-wheeling Drill Bot who will get your head, along with the rest of your
body, in a blood-splattering spin.
World 3: Tinhead Factory
------------------------
This is where the good Doctor manufactures his metal army, so you can bet
that he's made the place pretty impenetrable. The masked Doctor character
is particularly bitter and twisted, so he just might turn his oxy-acetylene
attentions to you. Take care when you're wandering past the Rocket's:
they're on a proximity trip, so they'll fire if you get to close...
World 4: Doctor Destiny's Castle
--------------------------------
A-ha! Finally you meet your nemesis, the evil Doctor himself. Be careful
as you tread the cold stone floors of his castle, because they're littered
with hidden traps and loads of nasty metallic beasties. Keep a special eye
out for the wicked Whizard, who can teleport around the screen to avoid
your fire; and the Knight in shining armour with a glint in his eye and a
smile as sharp as his sword.
PRACTICE CODES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ruff `n' Tumble contains four different worlds, with four levels in each.
To complete them all will take you... ooh, ages, so a Practice mode has
been included to help you tackle the most difficult bits.
At the end of each of the four worlds, you'll see a special four-digit code
on the screen. Make a note of this code, because it will enable you to
return to the following world when you play again.
How to Use the Practice Codes
-----------------------------
When the game has loaded, press O on the keyboard to enter the Options
screen. You will see the message: PASSCODE: **** (Enter values 0-9).
Now simply type in the four-digit code you noted down earlier, press the
Return key, and Ruff will skip forward to the desired world.
NOTE: The practice codes allow you to play the next world only. It is
designed so you can practice the world as you reach them, without needing
to play through the previous levels again. So, when you finish a world in
Practice mode, you will be returned to the title screen.
Remember: The only way to complete Ruff `n' Tumble is to play all the way
through from the beginning. So get that joystick pumping!
That's all mates, have fun with this game and remember...
� A GAME WORTH PLAYING IS A GAME WORTH BUYING! �