_______________________________________________________________________________ =============================================================================== |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯| |_____|_____|_____|_____| Off The Wall |_____|_____|____|____| |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯| Atari 2600 |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯| |_____|_____|_____|_____| FAQ |_____|_____|____|____| |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯| Version 1.00 |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯| |_____|_____|_____|_____| Mike Truitt |_____|_____|____|____| |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯| Tuesday, February 17, 2004 |¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯|¯¯¯¯| |_____|_____|_____|_____|_______________________________|_____|_____|____|____| =============================================================================== ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Contents: I About this FAQ I I Version History I I I Game Basics I V Srategy V Extras V I Notes & Thanks •============================================================================• | I ABOUT THIS FAQ | •============================================================================• _________________ Mission Statement ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I was looking through a bunch of my older games and was wondering to myself why I didn't write any FAQs for these classics. So I decided to write a guide for one of my favorites. That is why this guide is here today. I hope it can help you out. ____________ Legal Notice ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••• ••••• ••••• This FAQ is copyrighted information of Mike Truitt. Any ••••• ••••• using of this FAQ without permission granted by the ••••• ••••• author, Mike Truitt, is strictly prohibited. To obtain ••••• ••••• usage of this FAQ, simply send an e-mail to this address ••••• ••••• miketru@earthlink.net . Please include your name, what ••••• ••••• website / publication you are representing, and I will ••••• ••••• surely grant you permission. ••••• ••••• ••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •============================================================================• | I I VERSION HISTORY | •============================================================================• ____________ Version 1.00 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I have all of the FAQ completed. There really should not be any more updates for this FAQ. If there is, then I will be sure to post it. _____________ Last Updated: ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Tuesday, February 17, 2004 •============================================================================• | I I I GAME BASICS | •============================================================================• _________________________ O B J E C T I V E ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The objective of Off the Wall is to score as many points as possible without loosing your ball. You will be able to score points by hitting blocks with the ball, getting power-ups, and lastly - hitting the dragon above the blocks. _______________________________ G A M E B A S I C S ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Once you start the game a ball will fall down from the left hand side of the screen, you must move the character at the bottom of the screen (Kung Fu Lu is his name, if you are interested) until he is under the falling ball. At which point he will use his staff to deflect these "magical balls". As long as Lu keeps the ball in the air he will not die. However, if the ball falls to the ground Lu will die. Do not be alarmed though -- Lu was granted five lives as a child.... for the obvious reason. You will begin the game with a standard wave of blocks, if you and Lu are good enough to clear all of the blocks you will move onto the next wave of blocks. Note that you can also get to the next wave of blocks by hitting the dragon that is atop of the wall. For every wave of blocks that you clear, you will recieve one extra life. This isn't your mommy's game of breakout (well actually, it probably is), but for all intensive purposes, it isn't ok? Once you get past the first wave of blocks the evil blackbird comes along and will deflect the ball back at you if you hit it, so be careful....!? No matter how crafty the dragon and blackbird are, they did leave themselves vulnerable. Every once in a while a Special Power Token will fall down, and if Lu is able to pick it up he will be given special abilities. Good Luck Lu! _____________________________________ M O D E S O F P L A Y ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ There are three different difficulty settings for Off the Wall. They are Peasent, Student, Master. These, of course, refer to the varying level of skills that workmen had in the middle ages. You can begin the game on any or all of these skill levels. If you are able to destroy all four waves of one difficulty setting, then you will move up to the next toughest, if applicable. _______ Peasent ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This is the easiest mode of play, the ball will be travelling at a relatively slow pace. This mode is meant for beginners to the game. Once you have a few games under you belt, you should have enough skill to begin at the next level up, that is if you haven't gotten there already. _______ Student ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Student is slightly harder than Peasent, but there shouldn't be too much of a problem adapting to this setting. Just focus your attention, like you should have been, on hitting the ball and using the power-ups and you should do fine. ______ Master ¯¯¯¯¯¯ Master is the hardest level in the game. Keep that in mind while the ball is flying at a rapid rate that will keep you on your toes - if they don't then you are some sort of super-human and are wasting your time on this game. If you are not a super-human, then just practice and Master should become managable eventually. On top of having three different difficulty settings, off the wall also comes with a one-player mode and a two-player mode. In two player mode you will try to beat the score of your opponent. After one player dies the second one will come in and play. One player mode challenges the player to beat their own high score. ______________________ C O N T R O L S ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ •===============================================================• | Joystick Movement | What effect will it have on Kund Fu Lu? | •===================·===========================================• | Joystick - Left | Moves Lu to the left side of the screen. | | Joystick - Right | Moves Lu to the right side of the screen. | •===============================================================• •============================================================================• | I V STRATEGY | •============================================================================• ______________________ Angles are your friend ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ When Kung Fu Lu decides that he would like to hit the ball, try to hit the ball at an angle. At first, this may seem like a bad idea because the when the ball is travelling at a great angle, it is not as easy to see where Lu must be to hit the ball when it finally makes its way back down to the bottom of the screen. However, this is not the case - well actually it is - but it is advantagious for you to do so because when the ball hits the blocks at an angle, it will take more blocks away, and will often travel through some and take out many more than a strait shot would. Like I said, this method has its decanter... when the ball comes down, it is much harder to hit. So before you rely on this strategy too much, make sure that you have enough skill to be able to back it up. ______________________________ Watch where you are going, Lu! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ One thing that seems to happen much more often than what one would expect is that you will move Lu much faster and further than he needs to do, which causes him to over-shoot the ball, thus wasting one of his precious lives. Seriously, don't let Lu die. ______________ Hit the dragon ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ If you are able to hit the dragon a total of six times in one level, then he will die. This method of winning is much easier then knocking out the blocks. So go after the dragon as soon as you can. ___________________ Take out his knees! ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Well not the knees actually, because a giant wall does not have knees, or any body part for that matter. However, similar to a crippling knee injury, attack the sides of the wall. If you are able to take out the sides and get the ball up to the top, it will bounce around for a long, long time. With the ball at the top of the screen, you will score massive points in a very short period of time. It will also give you one of the best opportunities to attack the dragon. ___________________________ Once upon a midnight dreary ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Unfortunatly there are no cool poems called "The Blackbird" so just go with this one ok? Anyways, the bird was originally meant to hurt you... if you hit the bird while the ball is travelling upwards, then it will come back down at Lu. This can be used to your advantage in the opposite manner. If the ball is comming downwards, then the bird will make it bounce back up. If you are able to time it well enough to hit the bird, do so. __________________ Power-ups are good ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Throughout the course of the game you will find that power-ups will fall down from the screen. The power-ups will help you out in various ways.... _______________ Magnetic Paddle ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The magnetic paddle icon is just an "M" falling from the screen. Basically, what this power-up icon does is... if you hit the ball and it is right of you, it will travel to the left. If it is to the left of you, the ball will travel to the right. The magnetic ball can really be used to your advantage when attacking the dragon. You can pretty much just move back and forth under the dragon until he gets hit six times. Keep this in mind... ___________ Mega Paddle ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ When you see an icon falling that looks like it is a flame, this would be the Mega Paddle. Once you get the icon your staff will become much larger than normal, allowing you to make a mistake for a while. _____________ Mystery Token ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ An icon falling from the sky with a question mark indicates that you have the mystery token. There are four different things that the mystery icon will do for you. The one bad thing it cand do is speed up the ball, making it harder to hit. However, it will also stop the blackbird on occasion. It also has the abiity to give Kung Fu Lu an extra life. Finally it will give Lu some extra points. The amount of points that Lu will get depends greatly on his level. Here is a chart on how many points Lu will get. ·=========·======· | Peasent | 50 | | Student | 75 | | Master | 100 | ·=========·======· If you are not secure enough with your ability yet, you might want to think twice about getting the mystery token because of the one negative effect it can have. It does pay off in the long run to get this icon though. ____________ Nuclear Bomb ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This icon is distiguishable by its bomb shape. After picking up this icon more blocks will be taken out at one time whenever the ball hits it. You will be able to take out a large chunk of the screen by doing this. Doing this with the "Take Out His Knees" strategy. ____________ Zig Zag Ball ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This icon is shapped like a "Z" that is falling from the blocks. Once you pick up the icon the ball will travel in a zig-zag pattern. Don't worry though, every time the ball is falling back down to the ground, it comes down in a strait line. Don't think that just because you picked up a power-up icon that you will have that ability forever. If you look at the upper-right corner of the screen, you will see that there is a pie chart that steadily decreases. This pie chart is a representation on how much time you have left for that specific power-up. All power-ups take the same amount of time to wear out except for the magnetic ball, which you only get half the time as everything else. _____________________________________________ The basic "keep the ball in the air" strategy ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This strategy is fairly basic, as you can probably tell by the name. All you should do it just keep the ball in the air, and not worry about anything else. If you do this well, you should be safe. __________________________________ Know how the ball will will bounce ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ After a few minutes of playing and hitting the ball you should notice that the ball will bounce differently depending on where you are hitting the ball on the paddle. The ball will react differently if it is hit in the center of the paddle or if it is hit on the outside of the paddle. ___________ Center Hits ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Center hits are the best kind. You will want to hit the ball as exact to the center as possible. If you can do so, they will react in the same way in which they came. If they come in at on angle, they will leave at the same angle, only the opposite direction. ___________ Center Hits ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ In \ / Out In V^ Out \ / V^ \/ V^ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ _________ Edge Hits ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Edge hits hit along the edge of the paddle (really?) and have a much less predictable reaction. Generally, they will go out at a much wider angle in which they came, making the next shot even harder to catch than the previous. Try to get as few of these as possible. _________ Edge Hits ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ In \ _/ Out In V / Out \ _/¯ V / \ /¯ V / ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ •============================================================================• | V EXTRAS | •============================================================================• ___________________ S C O R I N G ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ During the course of the game, you will also notice that you will be accumilating a score. Here is a breakdown of what gives you points, and how many points you will recieve.... •=====================================• | Object | Points | •============================·========• | Brick - Lower | 1 | | Brick - Lower Middle | 2 | | Brick - Middle | 3 | | Brick - Upper Middle | 4 | | Brick - Top | 5 | ·----------------------------·--------· | Mystery Power-Up - Peasant | 50 | | Mystery Power-Up - Student | 75 | | Mystery Power-Up - Master | 100 | ·----------------------------·--------· | Enemy - Blackbird | 0 | | Enemy - Dragon | 100 | •=====================================• ____________________________ C H A R A C T E R S ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Throughout the course of the game you will come across many different characters (well three actually). Here is some basic information on the characters.... •==========================================================• | Character | Alignment | Description of character | •===============·===========·==============================• | Kung Fu Lu | Good | Kung Fu Lu is a special boy | | | | who has always dreamed of | | | | slaying the dragon. Now is | | | | his chance. | ·---------------·-----------·------------------------------· | Evil Dragon | Evil | The evil dragon is located | | | | at the top of the screen. He | | | | has terrorized Lu's town for | | | | far too long. It is time for | | | | them to get their payback... | ·---------------·-----------·------------------------------· | Blackbird | Evil | The blackbird has chosen to | | | | align himself with the evil | | | | dragon. However, he is not | | | | that smart and often hurts | | | | the dragon. | •==========================================================• •============================================================================• | V I NOTES AND THANKS | •============================================================================• A great deal of gratitude is expressed towards all webmasters on the Internet that spend their priceless time and hard earned money for the sole purpose of allowing people from all different walks of life, come together and discuss and help each other with video games. Without that time and that money, the video game industry would be nowhere near what it is today. Thank You All. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••• ••••• ••••• This FAQ is copyrighted information of Mike Truitt. Any ••••• ••••• using of this FAQ without permission granted by the ••••• ••••• author, Mike Truitt, is strictly prohibited. To obtain ••••• ••••• usage of this FAQ, simply send an e-mail to this address ••••• ••••• miketru@earthlink.net . Please include your name, what ••••• ••••• website / publication you are representing, and I will ••••• ••••• surely grant you permission. ••••• ••••• ••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• (c) Copyright 2004_Mike Truitt