Manual written in a txt file by Steve Begin (sbegin@videotron.ca) ----------------------------------------------------------------- HATRIS (Bullet-Proof Software) Instruction Manual Warning: Do not use with front or rear projection TV Do not use a front or rear projection Television with your Nintendo Entertainment System ("NES") and NES games. Your projection television screen may be permanently damaged if video with stationary scenes or patterns are played on your projection television. Similar damage may occur if you place a video game on hold or pause. If you use projection television with NES games, Nintendo will not be liable for any damage. This situation is not caused by a defect in the NES or NES games; other fixed or repetitive images may cause similar damage to a projection television. Please contact your TV manufacturer for further information. (Picture of the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality) This official seal is your assurance that Nintendo has reviewed this product and it has met our standards for excellence in workmanship, reliability and entertainment value. Always look for this seal when buying games and accessories to ensure complete compatibility with your Nintendo Entertainment System. This game is licensed by Nintendo for play on the Nintendo Entertainment System. PAGE 2 ------ TABLE OF CONTENTS A message from the authors............3 Introduction..........................4 The Controls..........................5 Getting Started.......................6 Screen Layout.........................8 Game Play............................10 Helpers: Alexey and Vladimir.........14 Cash.................................21 Hatris...............................22 Top 10 scores........................25 How to play in turbo-speed mode......25 Tactics..............................26 Warnings.............................28 PAGE 3 ------ A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHORS Hello, everybody. How did you like Tetris? We feel that those of you who have played Tetris have gotten a glimpse of life in Russia through this unique, peaceful game. But now, let's talk about our new game. Hatris is very simple and easy to understand, but it also challenges your judgement and skill. We love Hatris. As we worked on the game, it was easy to imagine the people of the world and their characteristic hats. If you like this game too, we'll be glad to have even more friends in the U.S. Enjoy and good luck! Alexey Pajitnov Vladimir Pokhilko PAGE 4 ------ INTRODUCTION Hatris is a puzzle game that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. Random pairs of hats drop into the play field from the top of the screen. If you stack 5 hats of the same type, that stack of hats is sold and you receive a cash bonus. Do this a minimum of 15 times to advance to the next, more challenging Stage. The hats fall faster in each succeeding Stage, making it harder and harder to stack them properly. Complete 10 Stages, and you'll go on to a higher Shop. The higher the Shop level, the more hats that start on the screen. If the hats should pile up to the top of the play field, you're out! But don't panic! As you stack hats, you'll get help from your Russian friends; Alexey and Vladimir. You can use them to move stacks and discard unwanted hats, or save them for cash bonuses in avoided overtime. You may start at any of 6 Shops and 10 Stages. PAGE 5 ------ THE CONTROLS The Control Pad: The black, cross-shaped key is the Control Pad. Press DOWN and START on the startup screen to choose Turbo Mode. Use this to make selections on Game Menu and to move the hats left, right and down. A Button: Use the A Button to confirm your selections on the Game Menu. This will swap falling hats during normal play. It will also activate your helpers during Overtime. B Button: It cancels your selections on the Game Menu. It also starts and stops Overtime. START Button: Activates the Game Menu from the Title Screen. During play, it will pause and unpause the game. SELECT Button: This button is not used in Hatris. PAGE 6 ------ GETTING STARTED To start Hatris on your Nintendo Entertainment System, turn off your Control Deck and insert the Game Pak (as described in your owner's manual). Turn your game system on. Use the Control Pad to select the options that you want: At the Title Screen: Select Game Mode - Normal-speed mode: Hats fall at normal speed. This mode is recommended for beginners. When you see the title, press the START Button. - Turno (high)-speed mode: This is recommended for experienced players. When you see the title screen, press DOWN and START together. PAGE 7 ------ At the Game Menu: Select Shop You can select Shop Levels 0 through 5, the higher the Shop Level, the more hats that start on the screen. Shop 0 is for beginners, it is recommended that you start at Shop 1 after becoming familiar with the game. Use the Control Pad to select the Shop Level and then press the A Button to confirm your selection. Select Stage You can select from among Stage 0-9. Stage 0 is the easiest and Stage 9 the hardest. Use the Control Pad to choose a Stage, then press the A Button to confirm your choice. Press the B Button to return to Shop selection. Music On/Off You can turn the music on or off before the game starts. Use UP/DOWN to select On or Off, then press the A Button. Pressing the B Button returns you to Stage selection. Press START when you are ready to play. PAGES 8 & 9 ----------- SCREEN LAYOUT The screen has the following elements: (in the middle of the screen) 1 - The Play field, where the action is. (upper left of the screen) 2 - Your helper Alexey. (lower right of the screen) 3 - Your other helper, Vladimir. (upper center of the screen) 4 - The next pair of hats to be stacked. (right of the screen beside the word SHOP) 5 - The current Shop and Stage. The first number is Shop, the second is Stage. (right of the screen, 2nd rectangle) 6 - This bargraph shows how close you are to earning a helper. The top bar is for Alexey, the bottom bar is for Vladimir. (right of the screen, 1st rectangle) 7 - The Character Pool shows how many helpers you have earned. (right of the screen beside the word HATS) 8 - HATS: Shows how many remaining stacks of 5 hats must be sold in order to clear the current Stage. (right of the screen below the word CASH$) 9 - How much money you've made so far. 10 - Top of the Play field. If a stack of hats touches it, the game is over. PAGES 10, 11 & 12 ----------------- GAME PLAY Use the Control Pad to move tha falling hats left, right and down. Use the A Button to swap their positions (See the diagram below). DOWN drops the hats down onto the stack immediately below them. If you can stack up 5 hats of the same type, those hats are sold and you earn a bonus. Example: 1. A pair of falling hats has appeared (over the third and forth stacks). 2. Press the A Button and the hats swap places. 3. Press LEFT and the hats move left over heads 2 and 3. 4. Push DOWN and the pair of hats falls straight down. Pause Game During the game, you can pause by pressing START. Press START again to continue. Shops There are 6 Shops, numbered 0 to 5. At Shop Level 0, the game starts with no hats on the screen. With each succeeding Shop Level, more hats appear at the bottom of the Play field. PAGE 13 ------- Stages Each Shop has ten Stages, numbered 0-9. With each Stage the hats fall faster than the previous Stage, except for Shop 0. At Shop 0, hats fall at the same speed through all of the Stages. Each time you complete Stage 9, you start at Stage 0 of the next Shop. Hat Types There are six types of hats. In Shop 0, different hat types appear at various Stages, the higher the Stage, the more hat types that appear. After Shop 0, all hat types appear in all Stages. Hat Type Starting from Shop 0, Stage: Top Hat.......................Zero Baseball Cap..................Zero Cowboy Hat....................Zero Derby.........................One Wizard Hat....................Three Crown.........................Six PAGE 14 ------- HELPERS: ALEXEY AND VLADIMIR Your two helpers are Alexey and Vladimir, the inventors of Hatris. They can help you get out of tight situations. They each have a different skill. Alexey pulls hats from the bottoms of the piles and throws them away. Vladimir moves entire hat piles from one position to another. Earning Helpers Every time you sell five stacks of five hats, you earn one helper. The type of hats sold determines which helper you earn. Selling five stacks of top hats, baseball caps or cowboy hats, earns you a Vladimir. Five stacks of derbies, wizard hats or crowns earns you an Alexey. The bargraphs on the right side of the screen show how close you are to earning an Alexey or Vladimir. Each time you sell a stack, the appropriate bargraph grows by one block. When the bar is full, you earn a helper. When you earn a helper, the bargraph is reduced to zero. PAGE 15 ------- The Helper Pool Each time you earn a helper, his face will appear in the Helper Pool. The Helper Pool can hold up to eight helpers. You may not have more than eight helpers at a time. The last helper earned is the first helper to be used. When a helper is used, his face disappears from the Pool. Overtime (Using Helpers) To use a helper during game play, push the B button. The last helper in the Helper Pool is activated. This will suspend play until the current helper is used up or until you press B again. Alexey will slide down the fire pole or Vladimir will hop up onto the conveyer belt. The helper is then moved using the the(*) Control Pad and activated by pressing A. When the helper is used up, the game returns to normal play. If you don't want to use an entire helper, press B. (*) NFS (Note From Steve!) : This mistake was in the booklet. PAGES 16 & 17 ------------- Alexey When LEFT or RIGHT is pressed, Alexey moves from stack to stack, one at a time. Each time A is pressed, he pulls the bottom hat from the stack he is in front of and throws it off screen. He can pull up to a total of five hats from different stacks before being used up. If you don't want to pull all five hats, press B to return to normal play. Example: 1. Press B to activate Alexey. 2. Move Alexey to the stack you want to remove hats from. 3. Press A and Alexey pulls out the bottom hat and throws it away. 4. He will return to his place after he has removed five hats or if you press B. PAGES 18 & 19 ------------- Vladimir When LEFT or RIGHT is pressed, Vladimir moves from stack to stack, one stack at a time. When A is pressed, he lifts the stack he is adjacent to. He can then be moved to another stack. When a is pressed again, he swaps the stack he is carrying with the stack he is adjacent to. The swapped stack is moved to the first stack's position. You will then return to normal play. If you don't wish to move any stacks, press B to return to normal play. Example: 1. Vladimir is activated by pressing B. 2. Move Vladimir to stack #5. Then pick up the stack by pressing A. 3. Move Vladimir to the stack #3 (where you want to place stack #5). 4. Press "A" to place stack #5 in its new position. Stack #3 is moved to stack #5's original position. PAGE 20 ------- Cash in Helpers At the end of a Stage you may cash in any unused helpers for a cash bonus. At the end of the Stage, a window appears in the center of the Play field (see diagram below). A cursor can be moved left or right to select the head or the cash in the window to choose keeping the helper or cashing him in. A box highlights each head in the Helper Pool, one at a time, in the reverse order they were created. If you press A while the head is selected, you keep the current helper and the next head in the Helper Pool is highlighted. If you press A while the cash bag is selected, then the highlighted head in the Helper Pool is deleted and you are awarded a bonus. After all the heads have been highlighted, the next Stage begins. Press B any time to begin the next Stage. The higher the Shop and Stage, the higher the bonus. This is a reward for avoiding overtime needed to clean up any messes in the hat stacks. PAGE 21 ------- CASH You will receive cash every time a stack of five hats is sold. Each hat type is worth a different amount of cash. If you drop a pair of hats by pressing DOWN, you will recieve between $1 and $8 bonus per hat, depending on how far the hats fall. For each helper cashed in at the end of a Stage, you receive a cash bonus. Hat Type Cash for each stack: Derby.........................50 Cowboy Hat....................80 Basball Cap..................120 Top Hat......................150 Wizard Hat...................200 Crown........................300 PAGES 22 & 23 ------------- HATRIS If you sell two stacks in the same turn, this is called a "Hatris", the cash for both stacks is doubled. Example: 1. There are two stacks of 4 hats each of baseball caps and cowboy hats on the left side on the Play field. The falling hats are also a baseball cap and cowboy hat. 2. By pressing LEFT, the hats are moved over the two stacks. Unfortunately, the falling hats don't match the stacks. 3. The falling hats' positions are switched by pressing A. Now the falling hats match the stacked hats' types. 4. By pressing DOWN, the hats are dropped onto the two stacks, and they disappear down the conveyor belt. The player earns $120 for the baseball cap stack plus $80 for the cowboy hat stack, equals $200, doubled for the Hatris is $400 total. PAGE 24 ------- Game Over When hats are stacked higher than the top of the play field, the game is over. The stack of hats has reached the edge of the play field. The game is over! (picture of a game over) PAGE 25 ------- TOP 10 SCORES At the end of the game, if your score is in the top 10, you'll be asked to add your initials to the high score display. Press UP/DOWN to select the letter, press the A Button to advance to the next initial and press the B Button to return to the previous initial. You can't return to the previous initial after confirming the third initial. In the Shop column is either an "N" or "T" to make it easy to distinguish between scores in normal-speed (N) and Turbo-speed (T) games. If you complete shop 5 Satge(*) 9, "END" will appear instead of a Shop number. High Score initials are erased if the Nintendo Entertainment System is reset or turned off. (*) NFS: Same note as above. HOW TO PLAY IN TURBO-SPEED MODE Any player who can clear Shop 5, Stage 9 needs a greater challenge! At the title screen, press DOWN and START together. This increases the speed of the falling hats. Game play and menus work the same as in the normal-speed game. Once the game begins, you will see TURBO on the wall above Vladimir's head. PAGES 26 & 27 ------------- TACTICS The hats drop directly over the two center heads. If you stack the hats up on the far right and left sides as much as possible, you'll find it much easier to play than if the center has tall stacks. You can also stack high on one side of the screen and keep the other side low. However, mismatched hats may appear in succession no matter how good your position is. You must also be ready to handle runs of bad luck. Try to keep a few helpers around to get you out of tight situations. The curent falling hats disappear during overtime. Keep this in mind while deciding when to bring in your helpers. 1. Piling hats high on the two outer columns gives you many options for placing hats. 2. It is also okay to pile hats higher toward one edge. 3. If hats are piled high in the center, then as the pair of hats fall, you will have to select one side or the other. PAGE 28 ------- WARNINGS * This Game Pak is a precision instrument. Do not expose to extreme temperatures, physical shock etc. Do not take it apart. * Do not touch or moisten edge connectors. * Do not apply solvents such as benzene, acetone, or alcohol to any plastic surfaces. * Be sure to turn off the power before swapping Game Paks. * After use, remove the AC adapter from the wall plug. * While playing, sit as far away from the TV as possible. * If you play for long periods, take 10 to 15 minute breaks every 2 hours. NOTE: During game play, the TV screen may flicker. This is NOT due to any fault in the program, TV, Nintendo Entertainment System or Game Pak. PAGE 29 ------- COMPLIANCE WITH FCC REGULATIONS blablablablabebla... PAGE 30 ------- LIMITED WARRANTY -- BULLET-PROOF SOFTWARE, INC Moreblablablabebla....