VOIDRUNNER
(Mastertronic Added Dimension)

(c) Mastertronic Limited 1987
Conversion by Icon Design


Voidrunner: the final conflict of the Droid Wars ...

Much has been said about the infamous Droid Wars, in which the Terran
Gridrunner and Matrix squadrons clobbered the lurking Droid forces that
threatened to mutate and multiply on the great Power Grids that used to
supply the Earth's power in the benighted days before mass/energy
conversion became cheap, safe and efficient. Songs have been written
telling of the brave pilots heroism, children have been named after the
elite squadrons that used to patrol the Grid (although if I were a kid
and had to go through my school life with a stupid name like 'Gridrunner'
Smith I'd be pretty peeved I can tell you).

Most people think that the Matrix wars were the end of that particular
scene; they assume that we pasted the Droids and that they vamoosed back
to their homeworld and stayed put. This is partially true: they did nip
off home pretty smartish after we had finished giving them a good
blasting; unfortunately, shortly after their defeat, a routine Terran
scan of their disgusting pebble of a homeworld revealed intense Droid
activity on a scale never before seen: they were getting ready to come
back and NUKE the whole planet by way of revenge.

Consequently, a top-secret mission, codenamed VOIDRUNNER, was planned
with the objective: genocide. Nail every single droid in existence and
eliminate their threat forever. The mission was kept secret because the
Terran government didn't want our people to think that they were going
to fall into the habit of annihilating entire alien species. (It was
about the time we encountered and befriended the endearingly cute and
highly-developed race of G1'zurkka-antelopes on the planet of
GimmeZeroZero 6, and public feeling was running strongly pro-alien at
that time. This was way before the Zzyaxian conflicts, remember.)

Anyway, a corps of crack pilots (there always seems to be plenty of
crack pilots around when you really need them, don't there?) were
trained, packed into shiny spaceships, and subjected to a few years'
hypersleep until they reached orbit around the Droids' homeworld, which
was such a benighted pit that it was known as Void. Then, they leaped
into their sleek and horribly beweaponed fighters and, each accompanied
by three drone ships, streaked into battle. (Drone ships were extra,
unmanned fighters that flew in pre-programmed formation with the pilot's
own ship. Drones were flown in various configurations, depending on the
threat being encountered. The advantage: awesome firepower, and the
disadvantage: larger target area. If a drone ship was hit the resulting
blast would take out the whole formation.)


Starting the Game
To begin play from the Title Screen, you should, logically enough, press
the FIRE button. When you do so, the screen will indulge in various
pyrotechnica and announce the level you're about to enter, then your
ships will rez-up and blasting can commence. (If the Title Screen has
given way to the High Score Table when you go to start, press FIRE
twice: once to regain the Title Screen, once more to start.)

Your Ship Formation
You have four independently-firing ships. In the game's early levels the
ships move around in a cluster. Later on, you'll get symmetrical
formations of ships where the motion of some ships is reflected or
inverted. You'll need to be on the beam to cope with these. Look at the
level called SHEEP for the first example of this. Many formations have
the ships flying in different directions too; this can be useful for
nabbing aliens coming up behind you, for example.

Your Enemy
There are many different types of enemy ship.
DroidSeg: the most common, explodes when blasted, bounces around the
screen in predictable patterns.
CenHed: behaves like the old Gridrunner aliens; leaves a Pod when hit.
Pod: Neutral; explodes when shot. Some Pods take more than one hit.
Laser: zaps if you go into its line-of-sight; cannot be shot until after
it has discharged. Discharges randomly after a certain time.
Barb: attacks the player from all sides. Can be shot.
Bomb: drops onto the player. One type can be shot; the other cannot and
must be avoided.
Vortices: aliens that fly in loose lissajous formations. They drop bombs
when shot, so watch it.
Camels and Goats: smart bombs. Find out how. Bad karma to shoot these,
but plenty big points.

The Attack
The rez-up of an alien is accompanied by a visual effect such that you
can easily anticipate where it will appear (except Vortices which are
different). Use this to prepare yourself. Sometimes, aliens need more
than one shot to be killed, or turn into other aliens when shot: be
prepared. Some are particularly high-scoring; watch for and shoot these.

The Zapper
This is the vertically-moving line that traverses the screen.
Occasionally it pulses, leaving a bright line for a second or so. If
your master ship (the green one) is on the same line, it will DIE. Be
aware of the firing pattern of the Zapper and you can stay clear of it.

Waves
There are thirty waves in Voidrunner, all different. You have to blast
all the aliens in a given wave (except for Bombs and Barbs, which
detonate anyway) to progress to the next. The first sixteen waves are
available from the startup screen.

Lives
You begin with five. If your ship or any drone is hit, or if you are
zapped, the ships explode and you lose a life. (The ships explode at the
end of a wave, too, but you don't lose a life then; you gain an extra
life for successfully finishing a wave.) You may have a maximum of nine
lives at any given time.

Game Over
Is very pretty, and comes when all your lives are used up. If you have
been hero enough to attain a place on the high score table, the High
Score display will appear with your score on it. You may enter an
appropriate bit of text into the table. You can have thirty letters-
worth: press FIRE to accept the letter already there, or else use left
and right on the stick to select the desired letter, and FIRE to go on
to the next one.

That's About It
I can only wish you good luck and happy blasting.

CONTROLS
Joystick or Keyboard
Keys are redefinable, or use:
Q - Up
A - Down
O - Left
P - Right
Fire - Symbol Shift

LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
Type LOAD "" and press ENTER.