Gates Of Zendocon Level Password 1 BASE 2 ZYBX 3 XRXS 4 ANEX 5 NEAT 6 YARR 7 EYES 8 NYXX 9 ZYRB 10 SRYX 11 BARE 12 STAX 13 SZZZ 14 RAZE 15 TRYX 16 STYX 17 YARB 18 BREX 19 SEBB 20 SNEX 21 ZAXX 22 BROT 23 STOB 24 XTNT 25 BOTZ 26 SNAX 27 TRAX 28 ZEBA 29 ROXY 30 NEXA 31 NEST 32 EBYX 33 ZEST 34 ZORT 35 ROXX 36 NERB 37 TREY 38 STAB 39 SSSS 40 RATT 41 NYET 42 BRAN 43 XRAY 44 TERA 45 BYTE 46 BETA 48 STAB 49 BOXX 50 TENT 51 NEAR 52 ZETA Gates Of Zendocon strategy General Strategies The monsters are completely predictable: Every time you play a level, they will appear in the same places, in the same sequence. In addition, the "alien helpers" and other objects in the level appear in the same places. So, the key to mastering a level is to first explore the level. Move your ship up and down, up and down, as you proceed through the level, so you can see everything that's there. You might have to sacrificing your ship lots of times before you manage to get the whole level explored. After you know what's there, you can develop the best strategy for getting through the level. This might involve moving your ship as little as possible to reduce risk, or it might involve moving it as much as possible so as to blow away more aliens. The Levels In the listing for each level, the gate(s) which exist on that level are indicated with a letter, an arrow "->", and the name of the level which that gate leads to. Different letters indicate different possible positions of the gate, as shown in this diagram: +--------------------------+ | B | | A D E | | C | +--------------------------+ This is meant to be a schematic representation of the level; your ship starts out at the left and proceeds towards the right. For example, in the first level ("BASE"), it says "A -> ZYBX, E -> RAZE". This means that there are two gates: one at position "A", and another at position "E". You have to go through two "waves" of alien attack to get to a gate at position "E". Each level's entry also tells which "friendly aliens" can be found on that level, and where. The symbols used are as follows: @: "Floating Eye". Hovers below your ship and shoots a fireball horizontally. *: "Plasma Ball". Hovers above and behind your ship, until you fire, at which point it wanders off (usually towards the closest enemy) and attempts to destroy enemies by touching them. ^: "Death Arising". Hovers above your ship and shoots a red "laser beam" straight up. >: "Sonic Dart". Hovers above and slightly ahead of your ship and shoots a vertical white "sonic pulse", which moves to the right and enlarges as it moves away. The result is a continuous triangular wave of pulses which "sweeps out" virtually everthing in front of your ship. The description also tells where the alien is found. Note: You won't find the alien if your ship is already accompanied by an alien of the same type. The levels are numbered in such a way that the gates always lead you to a higher-numbered evel. Also, whenever possible consecutive levels have been given consecutive numbers. (Most levels only have one gate.) 1. BASE: A -> ZYBX, E -> RAZE 2. ZYBX: B -> NYXX, C -> XRXS, D -> NEAT 3. XRXS: A -> ANEX 4. ANEX: A -> NEAT, E -> BARE 5. NEAT: A -> YARR 6. YARR: B -> EYES. *: Near bottom, at end. 7. EYES: A -> NYXX, D -> BARE 8. NYXX: C -> ZYRB. @: Near top of screen. 9. ZYRB: A -> SRYX 10. SRYX: A -> BARE 11. BARE: A -> STAX, D -> XRAY As soon as possible, move the ship straight up to the top of the playfield. Do *not* move left or right. The dragon will fly into your tailjets and get killed instantly. A description of the "real" strategy for killing the dragon is given below under level "NERB". 12. XRAY: A -> RATT. *: Near top of screen. 13. RATT: A -> NYET 14. NYET: A -> RAZE One easy way to get through this level is to stay on the bottom and never shoot. Of course, you don't get many points this way! 15. STAX: A -> SZZZ 16. SZZZ: A -> RAZE. *: Middle of screen, at beginning. 17. RAZE: A -> TRYX, B -> ROXX, C -> TRAX, D -> TERA 18. ROXX: A -> NERB 19. NERB: A -> TREY. @: Stay above partition, after dragon. The dragon in this level is like the one in "BARE": It can be killed only by having its "head" contact your tailjets. None of the alien helpers affects the dragon. To slay the dragon, note that it travels on a grid of circles. It will always stay in this grid. Here's a rough sketch: : : : : '. .' '. .' '. .' .'''. .'''. .'''. .' '.' '.' '. : :xxx : : '. .'. .'. .' '...' '...' '...' .' '. .' '. .' '. : : : : The dots, quotes, and colons represent the path of the dragon. The key is to get your ship into the position marked "xxx" in the center of one of the circles. Avoid the dragon until you can see where the "center of the circle" is, and then put your ship there when the dragon is out of the way. Once in the center of the circle, your ship is entirely safe. After a while, the dragon's path repeats; when it comes round the circle again, it will fly through your tailjets and die. (Actually, this doesn't always happen. Sometimes your ship is a little too far to the right and the dragon will just "chirp" a little as it goes by. If this happens, move your ship to the left a *tiny* bit and wait for him to come around again. Note: This strategy has to be modified somewhat in "SSSS", where you get more than one dragon at a time. 20. TREY: A -> STAR. >: Third set of partitions, top. 21. STAR: D -> SSSS, C ->BYTE. @: First set of partitions, bottom. The "B" gate is under the second partition. It's also sort of hard to enter. 22. SSSS: A -> BREX The dragons in this level come in groups of two or three. This makes things more difficult, because they don't always travel on the same "grid". The strategy is the same, but since the dragons travel on different grids, you'll have to keep moving your ship. If you can't move fast enough, use your shields -- they will get you out of the way much more quickly. (However, you'll be dead if you're caught between two dragons or caught between a dragon and the edge of the playfield.) Dodge the dragons repeatedly until you see what pattern they follow. Each one follows a repeating path. Then, kill them off one-by-one, using the method described in "NERB". 23. TERA: A -> BYTE 24. BYTE: A -> BETA. >: Near bottom of screen. 25. BETA: B -> TRAX, E -> NEST 26. TRAX: A -> ZEBA 27. ZEBA: A -> TRYX, E -> ROXY. @: Near top. 28. TRYX: B -> STYX In this level, the "floor" restricts the ship to the top half of the play-field. However, there is a "hidden feature" or "easter-egg" which allows you to access another gate "below the floor". Here's how you find it: Immediately put on your shields and move the ship down, to kill the alien tanks. Then, start dropping bombs (using your shields when necessary to kill newly-appearing aliens). You will notice at one point the bombs appear to go through the floor. At this locationis an invisible "hole" through which you can fly your ship. It will probably take a few tries before you get through, because the hole is rather small. Once you get through, you maneuver through a couple of minor obstacles and then find the gate. It leads you to the "easter-egg level", whose name is " ". (Four blank spaces: this level, therefore, can't be accessed directly as the others can because its name cannot be entered.) The easter-egg level is fun. It also gives you all four alien helpers: @, *, >, and ^. 29. STYX: A -> YARB 30. YARB: A -> BREX 31. ROXY: A -> NEXA 32. NEXA: A -> NEST 33. NEST: A -> EBYX 34. EBYX: A -> BREX. *: Middle of screen (can't miss it). 35. " ": A -> NERB. *, @, ^, >: all near bottom, near beginning. This is the easter-egg level. Description of level "TRYX" above tells you how to get here. Since this level leads back to an "earlier level", it is possible to loop, and thus (in theory) to play Gates of Zendocon forever: NERB->TREY->STAR->BYTE->BETA->TRAX->ZEBA->TRYX->here->back to NERB. 36. BREX: B -> ZEST, C -> SEBB, D -> STAB. ^: Near bottom, after a long sequence of towers with yellow-and-gray pyramid-shaped tops. 37. ZEST: A -> ZORT. *: Bottom of screen, under stalactite. 38. ZORT: B -> STAB, E -> BRAN 39. BRAN: A -> BROT 40. STAB: A -> BOXX. @: Middle of screen, at beginning. 41. BOXX: C -> SEBB, E -> TENT Here's a map of this level. "[]" represents a box which is hard to shoot, "<>" represents one which is easy. "C" and "E" show the locations of the gates. (left half:) +--------------------------------------------------------/ | <><> [] <> [] [] <> [] <> [] <> / | [][] [] [] [] <> [] [] [] [] [] \ | <> <> <> [] <> [] [] [] [] [] \ | [][] [] [] <> <> [] [] [] <> [] / | [] [] [] [] [] [] <> [] [] [] / +-------------------------------------------------------\ (right half:) /------------------------------------------------------+ / <><><><> <> <><><><><><><><>[][][][] [] | \ [][][][] [][][][][][][] <>[][][][][][] [] | \ [][][][] <>[][][][][][][] <>[][][][][][] [] E | / [][][][] [][][][][][] <>[][][] [][] | / [][][][] C [][][][][][][] <><><><><><> | \--------------------------------------------------------+ 42. TENT: A -> BROT. *: Near middle. 43. SEBB: A -> SNEX. ^: Near bottom. 44. SNEX: C -> ZAXX Yes, the "tank/truck" objects can be destroyed! However, it's a very complex operation. 1: Wait until the first tank is about halfway across the screen. 2: Move behind its cannon, then down behind it after the 2-legged walker isout of the way. 3: Follow it closely, and simultaneously maneuver the ship so that it's 3 pixels off the floor. Move almost all the way to the edge of the screen. 4: Keep the lasers on continuously. This should kill additional walkers as they approach. 5: As each additional tank piles up behind you, the score increments by increasing amounts. When the score is incrementing 10 at a time, the one's digit will be constant. Shortly after this happens, you will kill a walker. Just after the walker is killed, move up slightly, wait for a missile to fly just under you, then move back down into position. 6: Continue to the end. When the screen stops scrolling, leave your ship still for a bit; the tanks will all simultaneously be destroyed. 45. ZAXX: A -> BROT 46. BROT: A -> STOB. >: Near bottom. So-named because of the Mandelbrot Sets used in the background? 47. STOB: A -> XTNT 48. XTNT: A -> BOTZ 49. BOTZ: A -> SNAX 50. SNAX: A -> ZETA, D -> NEAR 51. NEAR: A -> ZETA. *: Near bottom. @: Near top, immediately after *. >: Near bottom, shortly after @. 52. ZETA This is the "penultimate level", as it were. The object is to shoot at the object which slowly moves up and down along the right edge of the screen. Every now and then, this object will "open its eye"; this is the only time when it's vulnerable. The second time you successfully hit it when its eye is open, everything on the screen blows up and you are sent to the endgame. NOTE: If you have alien companions, they will be destroyed along with everything else! (However, they still help you get through this level.) The consequence of this is that when you face Zendocon, you always face it alone. 53. Endgame In the final screen, you fight it out with Zendocon itself, the evil spider-monster which rules all the other aliens you've been fighting. To make it through this level, use the following procedure: Zendocon appears on the right edge of the screen and moves horizontally towards you. While firing the lasers continuously, move your ship down slowly. You will eventually find a point at which your lazer-fire makes "explosions" appear on the monster. When Zendocon is getting close, move your ship to the left and *up* out of the way. It can touch your ship without hurting you, but you want to avoid having it cover your ship entirely. Use your shields if it's a close call. When it starts heading back towards the right, move your ship back down to fire at Zendocon's "soft spot" again. Use your shields when necessary to keep the "eyeballs" from hitting you. After the first couple of left-right "cycles" of Zendocon's movement, you'll be able to position your ship so that you can hit the soft spot and also avoid touching the eyeballs (because Zendocon slowly drifts up as it moves back and forth.) Using this technique, you should be able to hit Zendocon enough so that it dies after five or six repetitions of its left-right path. If you don't, it will start moving around the screen diagonally. This means it's probably too late -- but in a last-ditch effort, put on your shields and fly into its "mouth". This might do it in. If you kill Zendocon and then "commit suicide" by crashing your ship into the floating eyes, you're given another ship and have to kill Zendocon again. If you lose your last ship in this way, you lose the game. Killing Zendocon multiple times doesn't increase your score all that much, but it's something to do if you have lots of extra ships at the end of the game. Shortest Route From Start to Finish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fifteen screens, plus Zendocon. There are three equally short paths from BREX to BROT: ,->ZEST->ZORT->BRAN-. BASE->RAZE->TRYX->STYX->YARB->BREX--->STAB->BOXX->TENT--->BROT-. `->SEBB->SNEX->ZAXX-' | ,---------------------------------' `->STOB->XTNT->BOTZ->SNAX->ZETA->endgame At BASE, take the second gate. At RAZE, take the first. At TRYX, STYX, and YARB you have no choice (disregarding the easter-egg in TRYX). At BREX, choose whichever path you like best (if you choose the upper path, take the second gate at ZORT; if you choose the middle path, take the second gate at BOXX.) From BROT to SNAX you have no choice; at SNAX take the first gate. A typical final score for the "shortest route" is around 100,000. (Or 10,000,000 in the "hard" mode -- good luck!) Gates of Zendocon Map: Each level's gates are numbered left to right, top to bottom, as the terrain scrolls from left to right. Start AAAA -->BASE 1 2/ `--. / ZYBX 2 / 1/|3 `--. / / | XRXS / / | | / / | 1 ANEX / / | .--' |2 / / NEAT | / / | | | | YARR | | | | | | | 1 EYES | | | .--' /2 / | NYXX / / | / / / | ZYRB / / | | /______/ | SRYX / | \ / | BARE 2 | 1| `--. | | XRAY | STAX `--. | | RATT | | | \ SZZZ NYET \ `--. .--' `----------->RAZE___ 2 1/|3\4 `--------ROXX / | \ `--. / | \ NERB / | \_ | / | TERA TREY / | | .--' / | | 2 STAR / | | .--' |1 | | BYTE SSSS | | | | | | 1 BETA | | | .--' |2 | | TRAX | | | | | | | 1 ZEBA | | | .--' |2 | | TRYX ROXY | | | | | | STYX NEXA 1 | | | |2 `--. | | YARB | NEST | \ | | | \____ | EBYX | \ | .--'-------<-' 1 BREX .---'2| 3\___ ZEST | \ / | \ / | STAB / | | ZORT | | | | | | | 1 BOXX | | .--' |2 | SEBB | | .--' TENT | SNEX / | | / BRAN ZAXX / `--------`--. / BROT | STOB | XTNT | BOTZ | SNAX 2 1| `--. | NEAR | .--' ZETA Gauntlet Level select: Select a character, begin the game, but do not move from the starting location. Press Option 1 to jump to level 5. Pressing Option 1 additional times will start five more levels into the game, with a maximum starting level of level 20. Gauntlet * I found merlin but he keeps asking me for clues..! and I always end up dying!! -: there are eight clues (letters or numbers) you have to find in order. to beat the game. If you miss a clue you have to go back to that clue's room and go get it. * which rooms have the clues? -: 16, 26, 46, 54, 66, 70, 81, and 90. The clues are the big symbols; you usually have to do odd things like opening locked chests and shooting or moving walls to get to them. Some passwords: All of these start you with 1400-1500 points, ten keys, ten bombs and all special abilities. The clue letters for these codes are: XRTW98Y7 warrior: 43C BBI HZZ elf: 43C BBI HYY valkyrie: 43C BBI HYZ wizard: 43C BBI HZY Hockey Super team: Enter BATSXPEB as a password. The "X" will turn into a heart to confirm correct code entry. Select the "OK" option to display a comic of a bat. Enter the "Play Game" screen and select "The Bats" team from Group D. This team has perfect statistics. Re-enter BATSXPEB again as a password to view a different bat comic. Klax Level skip: Create a "Big X" on level 6 to jump to level 51 with a 60,000 point bonus. Create a "Big X" on level 11 to jump to level 56 with a 60,000 point bonus. Strategy Guide: In order to excel at KLAX, in addition to improving your reflexes and anticipation, you need to understand the scoring rules. It is possible to get more than 2,000,000 if you know the tricks ;-) ! There are three basic areas of scoring to be considered: 1. Basic scores for KLAXs 2. The score multiplier 3. End-of-level and warp bonuses This will deal primarily with the first two, since there is relatively little the player can do about the last. The basic KLAX scoring matrix is shown below: vertical horizontal diagonal 3-KLAX 50 1,000 5,000 4-KLAX 10,000 5,000 10,000 5-KLAX 15,000 10,000 20,000 How to get a vertical 4-KLAX? Doesn't it go away when you put the 3rd tile on top? *no, not always. There are two basic ways to get a vertical 4-KLAX. The easiest is to use the scoring delay. If you have the following setup: [b] What you want to do is drop the [b] tile [a] on the center column in the bin, and while [a] it is scoring, move over and drop both [a] === tiles on top of the [a] column. The two [a] tiles will just sit there until the | | [b] column finishes scoring, then all of | | the [a]'s will score as a vertical 4-KLAX. | | | [b][a] | | [b][a] | +---------------+ The second way to get a vertical 4-KLAX is to set up chain-reaction techniqes: [b] When you drop the [b] down, it will score === a diagonal 3-KLAX. When the [b]'s all disappear, voil`a, a vertical 4-KLAX | [a] | of [a]'s! | [a] | | [b] | | [b][a] | | [x][a] | +---------------+ These examples also introduce the score multiplier effect. Whenever you score, the score mutliplier is the number of KLAXs scored. This multiplier doesn't reset but keeps increasing until there's nothing left to score and play has resumed. So in the above examples, the [b] KLAXs had a multipler of 1, but the [a] KLAXs had a multipler of 2 and were worth 20,000 points! For a more complex example (capital letters indicate scoring KLAXs): [b] [a] === | [a] [a] | | [a] [a] | | | | [a] [a] | | [a][a][a] | | [A] [A] | | [b] [b] | --> | [B][B][B] | --> | [A][A][A] | | [a][x][a] | | [a][x][a] | | [A][x][A] | | [a][x][a] | | [a][x][a] | | [A][x][A] | +---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+ The [b]'s score as a horizontal 3-KLAX with mutiplier of 1, but the [a]'s will score as 2 vertical 4-KLAXs, 2 diagonal 3-KLAXs, and a horizontal 3-KLAX with a total multiplier of 6 (1 for the [b]'s and 5 for the [a]'s) !!! So the total score for this would be: (mult * hor [b]) + (mult * (hor [a] + (2 * diag [a]) + (2 * vert [a]))) = ( 1 * 1000 ) + ( 6 * ( 1,000 + (2 * 5,000) + (2 * 10,000))) = 1000 + ( 6 * ( 31,000 )) = 187,000 points !!!! As you can see, the multiplier can have a dramatic effect on your score. The maximum multiplier is 9 (athough it's quite difficult to get that high). * You may have noticed during play that if you push forward on the joystick, the top tile on your paddle will be thrown half way back up the ramp. You can use this to rearrange the tiles on the paddle or to get back to a lower tile without dropping the upper tiles. This "push-back" technique is fun. It's addictive. It's also the quickest way to get into deep doo-doo. There is a built-in difficulty advance feature which makes the game play faster depending on how long you have been playing on the current quarter. (This is a not-very-well-kept secret of arcade game design used to balance game play so a the designer doesn't have to screw typical players to keep a really good player from playing forever). Anyway, the point is that you should play as quickly as possible so that the game difficulty doesn't ramp up on you. One way you do this by pulling back on the joystick to speed the tiles down the ramp and (hopefully) onto your paddle. Don't wait for them to come to you. Suck 'em down! This feature can also be abused (although not as badly as the push-back technique), but it can be useful. The basic strategy is going top be to start at level 1, play through level 5, warp to level 11, and take a "secret warp" to level 56… LEVEL 1 Here is a cosmic paradox. Level 1 is the easiest level in the game. It is also the hardest level to do well. Don't get discouraged by the complexity of the patterns (KLAXgrams) shown below. This is as bad as it gets, and you can work up to it slowly. If you wish,use the "Tengen Stax" method shown below. It's worth fewer points, but it is *lots* easier. There are only 4 colors of tiles in the first level. The patterns shown will get you about 370,000 to 565,000 points on level 1. The highest theoretical score for level 1 that we have found is about 720,000 (but I wouldn't waste my time trying for it. In building these patterns, you may complete at most ONE KLAX to get rid of "junk"; if you complete 2 KLAXs, the game will not let you drop extra tiles on the paddle after the first, because the 1st tile will complete the level. And you must be quick to drop all the tiles on the paddle into the center column. If the top [c] finishes scoring before you get the remaining tiles in place, things won't work right. You must be prepared to settle for less and bail out earlier if necessary. These are "best case" patterns. They are very similar: notice that the only difference in the first 2 is an extra [a] at the bottom of the paddle stack, but it's surprisingly MUCH more difficult to achieve! An [x] is a don't care: use the fourth color or just make sure you don't complete a KLAX with them. [c] [c] [c] [b] [b] [b] [a] [a] [a] [a] [b] === === === |[a][a] [a][a]| |[a][a] [a][a]| |[a][a] [a][a]| |[b][b] [b][b]| |[b][b] [b][b]| |[b][b] [b][b]| |[x][a] [c][x]| |[x][a] [c][x]| |[x][a] [c][x]| |[x][b] [a][x]| |[x][b] [a][x]| |[b][b] [a][b]| |[a][c][b][b][a]| |[a][c][b][b][a]| |[a][c][b][b][a]| +---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+ ~370K ~435K ~565K "Rains' Revenge" LEVEL 2 This pattern is known as "Tengen Stax," because the guys over at Tengen discovered it. It makes use of the high value of vertical 4-KLAXs. It's also easy to remember and is recommended for the entire family. There are many minor variations possible with higher and lower scores. These are left as an exercise to the reader. [e] === |[a][b] [c][d]| |[a][b] [c][d]| |[e][e] [e][e]| |[a][b][e][c][d]| |[a][b][e][c][d]| +---------------+ "Tengen Stax" LEVEL 3 Level 3 is a "diagonal wave". Try to complete as much of a BIG X as possible but bail out as soon as possible to keep the game difficulty down. You need at least 3 diagonals to complete the level. You should have been using the pull-down feature to save time so far. Also, between levels keep tapping the button to speed up the scoring (again, reducing time). Again, many variations are possible. [a] === |[a] [a]| |[x][a] [a][x]| |[x][x] [x][x]| |[x][a][x][a][x]| |[a][x][x][x][a]| +---------------+ "BIG X" LEVEL 4 Level 4 should be played the same as level 2. There are more colors on level 4 than level 2, so it is harder. But it is also more important to do well on level 4 because it is a "points wave". Any points that you score over the 10,000 needed to complete the level will be doubled as a bonus. So a 200,000 set of "Tengen Stax" will get you 390,000 points including the bonus. Did I mention that furiously tapping through the scoring at the end of level sometimes reveals a "feature" in which mysterious white tiles appear in the bin and give you extra points? LEVEL 5 Just survive it any way you can. The difficulty will be ramping up pretty well by this time, so I just build simple vertical stacks to get rid of tiles as easily as possible. I often have over 1,000,000 by this time, and survival is the most important thing. DO NOT TAP THE BUTTON AT THE END OF THIS LEVEL TO SPEED THE SCORE -- you may inadvertently get to the select screen and select the default level 6. When you get to the select screen, warp to level 11. LEVELS 11 and 56 Go for a "Super Star" pattern which includes an "X". The "X" on level 11 (and on level 6, too) will cause an immediate warp to level 56 (or 51), plus mucho bonus points. This pattern depends on getting a wild tile ([*]) to complete the star. [*] === |[a] [b]| |[x][a] [b][x]| |[c][c] [d][d]| |[x][b][e][a][x]| |[b][x][e][x][a]| +---------------+ "Super Star" ******************************************************* Another Tip: One thing to realize about making the big X, is that you don't need to make it all one color. For example, the method I usually use is: |[A] [B]| |[x][A] [B][x]| |[x][x][*][x][x]| |[x][C][x][D][x]| |[C][x][x][x][D]| +---------------+ Where the "*" is a wildcard. This is so easy to make that I can always do it on level 6. LYNX CHEAT PAGE PREVIOUS PAGE NEXT PAGE