ROUND THE BEND! =============== A Newsflash from John Potato........ Doc Croc is having trouble because his video printing press has blown up! Help Doc and his ratty assistants - Vaudeville Vince Vermin, Jemima Wellington-Green and deranged artist Lou Brush - to crawl through the sewers and rescue the missing pages! Avoid the deadly Ninja Killer Teddies and other hideous hazards! Adventure in comic-strip pages with Pzycho the Magnificent and other faves from the rave T.V. series! It's the grubbiest, maddest game in the Universe! It's Insane! It's Crazy! It's Round the Bend! Whee, honk, gibber!!! SPECTRUM LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Tape: Type LOAD"", and then press ENTER. Press PLAY on the tape. Disk: Type LOAD"disk" then press ENTER. COMMODORE LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Tape: Press SHIFT and RUNSTOP together. Press PLAY on the tape. Disk: Type LOAD"*",8,1 CONTROL OPTIONS COMMODORE 64: The players are controlled via a JOYSTICK connected to Port Two on the Commodore 64. RUNSTOP - Pause SPACE - Restart Q - Quits game whilst on Pause SPECTRUM: 1. KEYBOARD CONTROL 2. SINCLAIR JOYSTICK 3. CURSOR JOYSTICK 4. REDEFINE KEYS FROM DE-FAULT SETTINGS 0. START GAME DEFAULT KEYS "Q" UP "A" DOWN "O" LEFT "P" RIGHT "M" JUMP "H" PAUSE. ANY KEY RESTARTS "F" ABORT whilst game Paused THE PLOT Doc Croc has a huge problem on his reptilian paws. Artist Luschetti Bruschetti's (aka Lou Brush) latest invention, the video printing press, has been accidentally detonated by Doc, blasting the latest edition of the comic to the far corners of the sewers. Lou Brush immediately starts the search for the fragments of printing press re- assembling them in Doc Croc's Editorial Office. Meanwhile, Doc Croc, Jemima Wellington-Green and Vaudeville Vince Vermin, embark on a tour of the drains to track down their respective comic pages and bring back the joke punchlines. It is a mad race against time, featuring all of the Round the Bend characters. THE EDITORIAL OFFICE The action starts in Doc Croc's office, with all four characters raring to go on their tours of the sewers. Moving the Joystick Left and Right selects between the various drains, indicated by a large arrow above the sewer. Pressing FIRE allows an individual to be selected for their mission. Pushing UP on the Joystick moves the selected character on to the sewer section. THE SEWERS Walking through the Sewers is treacherous, so be careful to avoid Bats, Cans, Ninja Teddies, and various other nasty bits and pieces normally associated with sewers. A collision with any object will return you to Doc Croc's office, and waste valuable time. In the sewers, moving the Joystick up towards the comic pages allows the character to enter the page in search of the punchline. Each character, with the exception of Lou Brush, has Three comic pages which cannot be completed by another member of the team. Access to the action part of the comic page is denied if the page is not the responsibility of the character currently under control. If Lou Brush falls into the water or collides with any sewer inhabitants, he will drop the piece of Video Press he is currently rescuing and return to Doc Croc's office. Note: On the Spectrum version Lou has to pick up the piece of video press by pressing up, whilst collection occurs automatically on the Commodore 64/128 version. THE COMIC PAGES Doc Croc, Vince, and Jemima, each have their own unique comic pages, making use of their own specialist skills. Each page has a punchline which is protected by characters from the Television series. Collection of a punchline returns the character to Doc Croc's office, where the page is added to the comic heap. COSMIC COMPREHENSIVE A Hurdles race is underway at Cosmic Comprehensive. Join in the race avoiding the rapidly dismembering pupils and their limbs. TRUE ROMANCE Karen and Stuart are in love. Avoid Cupid and his arrow in your search for the punchline. NURSERY CRIMES Little Miss Muffet has sat on a Tuffet. Watch out for the spiders!! BOUNCING BENNY The young lad from the Oddbod family bounces around the comic page, minus his pet kangaroo. FATMAN Flabba-Flabba-Flabba-Flabba.... Fatman, stout defender of justice, is out after a crook hot from a robbery. Watch out as Fatman flattens his opponent. THE FALSE TEETH VERSUS THE ATOMIC BANANA A mighty struggle is in progress between the False Teeth and the Atomic Banana who are in a battle for World domination. Such giants can crush with just one wrongly placed foot! PZYCHO THE MAGNIFICENT Pzycho is engaged in a duel of wit with his "willing" member of the audience. A chase is in progress, with Pzycho "zapping" everything in sight. THE VEGETABLES The ever-popular Australian soap, The Vegetables, are holding a skateboard race. As usual, calamity is only just around the corner, so watch out for crashes and mixed salad. KENNY MCTICKLE AND HIS MAGIC KILT Wild Bagpipes leap out from under Kenny's kilt and go on the rampage. These fearsome wild animals of the Cairngorms must be avoided at all cost. JOHN POTATO'S NEWSROUND Points are awarded for sewer survival, but large bonuses are given for successful comic page completion. These completion bonuses are reported on John Potato's Newsround, and get higher as more of the video press restored. TIMING Round the Bend is a game against the clock, with the time ticking away before the next publication of the comic. At the start of the game, and when a page is completed and goes to press, the time is set for when the next page of the comic must be completed. If the timer runs out before the next page is completed the game ends. Arriving at a comic page's punch line sends the page to press and returns the character to the office. It is therefore up to the player to decide how many parts of the video press Lou Brush can collect before going for the next comic page punchline. Program: David Sowerby (C64) & John Carlyle (Spectrum) Graphics: Neil Hislop (C64) & John Carlyle (Spectrum) Music: Mark Wilson (C64) & David Sanders (Spectrum) Sound FX: Mark Wislon (C64) & John Carlyle (Spectrum) Game Design: David Sowerby & GarethBriggs Made in UK Round the Bend © Wisemen Productions Limited. Comic Material from the "Round the Bend! TV Special 1990" published under exclusive licence by Fleetway Editions Limited (formerly Fleetway Publications Limited). Photograph: Spike Watson Packaging Design: Mammoth Productions "IMPULZE" is a trading name of Zeppelin Games Limited. The program code, graphics, music and artwork of this game are the copyright of Zeppelin Games Ltd and may not be reproduced, stored or hired without the written permission of Zeppelin Games Ltd. © 1991 Zeppelin Games Ltd, PO Box 17, Houghton-le-Spring, Durham DH4 6JP