"I set a course for winds of fortune" ~ Carry On My Wayward Son - Kansas +-----------------------------+ | | | Earth Dies Screaming | | For the Atari 2600 | | FAQ | | By Trace Jackson | | Started: 1/1/07 | | Finished: 1/1/07 | | Last Updated: 1/1/07 | | Version 1.0 | | | +-----------------------------+ This guide is best viewed in 800x600 or 1024x748 resolution (though my New Years Resolution happens to be 1600x800) with the Courier New font on your browser's "small" text setting. It was composed in Metapad. Table of Contents: I. Introduction 1.01: Table of Contents (You Are Here) 1.02: Introduction II. Basics 2.01: Controls 2.02: The Screen III. Walkthrough 3.01: How to Play 3.02: Scoring IV. Last Words 4.01: Copyright Information 4.02: Revision History 4.03: Contact Information 4.04: Credits 4.05: Don't Die Screaming Please If you want to find anything, please press CTRL + F and search for the numerical code of whatever you're searching for (e.g. 3.01 for how to play). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I. Introduction -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 | 1.01: Table of Contents | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 Ya missed it. 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 | 1.02: Introduction | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 Hi, and welcome to the continuation of my finish the Atari alphabet project. This installment is for The Earth Dies Screaming, a game that is basically a first person, 3D Space Invaders. I never cared for Space Invaders, but this game is pretty cool. See the How To Play section for more information. But your ship looks like an X-Wing, and that's cool. Like most Atari games, this game is ultimately pointless; ergo, all I can do is provide you with the tools for how to play. It's up to you to do the rest. This game is more pointless than most Atari games, however; there's only one level. You can't win. The only way to end the game is to die. Lazy programmers. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- II. Basics -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 | 2.01: Controls | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 o--------o------------o | Button | Function | o--------o------------o | Button | Fire | | Up | Move up | | Down | Move down | | Left | Move left | | Right | Move right | o--------o------------o There are no special difficulty settings. 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 | 2.02: The Screen | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- | | | x y | (1) |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | z | ---------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . . . . . . . Xy / \ / \ EEEEEEEEEEEEE/EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE\EEEEEEEE(2)EEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEE/EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE\EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- | a | b | 22500 c | b | a | (3) -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1: The Radar x - An enemy. This guy is to your left. Move left to get him. y - An enemy. This guy is dead ahead of you. z - An enemy. This guy is behind you. Note that there are always three enemies. O - Here be you ~ - This is the standard radar sweep looking thing. | - The bounds of the radar. 2: The Playing Arena . - Stars. They make the background pretty. y - This is an enemy. Yours lasers auto-aim, so you can get him. X - This is your crosshair. / - This is your gun. X-Wing style. E - This is the Earth. It's screaming. 3: Information a - This is the health area. If it's a normal shade of green, everything is fine. If it turns yellow-green, your health is "low" (you're halfway to dying); if it turns purple, the Earth is about dead. b - This is a filler square. It serves no purpose. c - This is your score. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- III. Walkthrough -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 | 3.01: How To Play | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 The premise of the game couldn't be any simpler. Just shoot the ships. That's all there is to it. You can take 39 hits; the Earth can take no more than ten. As I've said, you can't win. The ship auto-aims, so if you can get your crosshairs anywhere near the intended target, you can shoot them. However, there's no way to destroy the enemy shots, and they're very hard to flee. Your best bet is to shoot the enemy before it can shoot you. That's easier said than done, of course. Use your radar to your advantage too. If the enemy is above you, push up. That also helps to bring in far away enemies. Don't let them get far below you, though, or they'll attack Earth. You can hear the screams. You can hold down your fire button if you want. That helps. If you keep moving, you're more likely to avoid enemy shots as well. 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 | 3.02: Scoring | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 Each enemy ship is worth a different number of points. Blue - 975 points Green/Purple - 1150 points Green/Yellow/Purple - 875 points Those are the only three kinds of ships in the game. It's just that simple. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- IV. Last Words -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 | 4.01: Copyright Information | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 Earth Dies Screaming and all other characters, stages, items, and related things are copyright 1983 to Atari, Inc. This guide/FAQ/walkthrough is copyrighted (c) 2001-2007 to Trace Jackson, and is the intellectual property of Trace Jackson. This guide/FAQ/walkthrough is protected under International Copyright Laws. Please feel free to put this anywhere you like, as long as I get credit for it. After all, this is to help the readers! It should be spread around! I WOULD like it if you emailed me asking for permission, but it's not necesary. Just realize that the latest updates to this guide can and will always be found at IGN FAQs (faqs.ign.com) amd GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) Just please credit me for it and don't make any profit off it. The following are sites that can not use my work. If you see these sites using any of my FAQs, please e-mail me ASAP. Each of these websites are sites that have plagiarized myself or others in the past, or simply taken our works without our prior permission. Since they do not have enough respect for the authors (or an ignorance of the law), I am expressly forbidding them from using my work. I will not condone such sites that partake in these actions. 911 Codes http://911codes.com 9 Lives http://www.9lives.ru/eng/ Bean's PSX Dimension http://www.bean.dk/psx/index.htm Cheat Code Central http://www.cheatcc.com Cheat Index http://cheatindex.com Cheat Matrix http://cheatmatrix.com Cheat Search http://cheatsearch.com Cheatstop http://www.panstudio.com/cheatstop/ CNET Gamecenter http://games.netscape.com/Faqs/ Console Domain http://www.consoledomain.co.uk Dirty Little Helper http://dlh.net Dark Station http://www.darkstation.com/ Dreamland http://kirby.pokep.net Games Domain http://www.gamesdomain.com Game Express http://www.gameexpress.com Games Over http://www.gamesover.com/ Mega Games http://www.megagames.com Square Haven http://www.square-haven.net Ultimate System http://www.flatbedexpress.com VideoGaming.net http://www.videogaming.net/ 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 | 4.02: Revision History | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 Version 1.0 (1/1/07) - The guide was completed. 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 | 4.03: Contact Information | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 Before emailing me, please make sure that whatever question you have wasn't addressed here in the guide. If it's not a question (i.e. input, suggestion, correction, etc.), please go ahead and email me. I'm not too picky about grammar, but if I have no idea what you're saying, I might ask for some clarification. I'll take emails in Spanish or English. Doesn't matter to me. No me importa. I'd appreciate whatever you've got. Questions (again, as long as it's not answered here), inputs about ideas that I've raised, suggestions or corrections for the guide, requests for using parts of the guide, problems in life, jokes (as bad as some of these are in the guide), praise emails (ha!), or whatever else is on your mind. Email: doctorwho3 [at] gmail [dot] com I wasn't too bad about doing the spam thing at first. Now half of my emails are virus emails. Just replace the [at] with @ and the [dot] with .. You could also use AIM. I'd prefer these be quick questions, but I really can't stop you from long, involved ones. To be honest, I prefer emails. AIM is still here. That's TracesWritingAIM. 0==~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 | 4.04: Credits | 0==~=~=~=~=~=~=~0 -Whoever just bought an Atari 2600 for $5.00 AUD. That inspired this. 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 | 4.05: Don't Die Screaming | 0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0 I've enjoyed writing this guide. I hope you enjoy the game. --Trace Jackson