Z A X X O N

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Z A X X O N
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
for the Atari 2600
Version 1.0 (10/17/14)
Written by Andrew Testa
Email Address: [email protected]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This document is Copyright (c) 2014 Andrew Testa. All Rights Reserved.

Table of Contents
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
1. What's New?
2. Introduction
3. Controls
4. Overview
5. Strategies
6. Frequently Asked Questions
7. Credits
8. Contact Information
9. Legal Disclaimer

=============================================================================
--- 1. What's New? ---
=============================================================================

Version 1.0 (10/17/14): First posted version of guide.

=============================================================================
--- 2. Introduction ---
=============================================================================

Welcome to my strategy guide for Zaxxon on the Atari 2600! This is my
28th guide for an Atari 2600 game, but my third in almost ten years. I really
enjoy writing small guides for these really old, somewhat obscure games,
because they are all elegant in their simplicity. And, overall, they aren't
all that well-covered as far as FAQs are concerned. This game actually does
not have any guides for the Atari 2600 version!

Zaxxon was released by Coleco in 1982 for the Atari 2600. It is on several
other systems, including the 5200 and Arcade, where it was much more popular.
The game itself is classified as a scrolling shooter, only you're scrolling
up, and in 3D, which is quite a difference from most Atari 2600 games.
Overall, I liked this game, and I think it's a good quality 2600 game.

=============================================================================
--- 3. Controls ---
=============================================================================

Red Button: Use it to shoot!
Joystick: Down and up change your plane's elevation; left and right make
your plane go left or right

=============================================================================
--- 4. Overview ---
=============================================================================

Here is a diagram of the game:
______________________________________________________________
| SCORE |
| |
| |
| |
| E WALL (YELLOW) |
| L |
| E |
| V ENEMIES (VARIOUS |
| A FUEL TANK (GREEN) COLORS) |
| T |
| I |
| O |
| N |
| B PLANE |
| A |
| R |
|______________________________________________________________|
| FUEL BAR | LIVES |
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

In Zaxxon, you control a plane while shooting objects and avoiding walls. It
is a side-scrolling (scrolling up!), and you can't stop or slow down your
plane. You can, however, change your elevation, which is one factor that
determines whether you hit or get hit by objects. There is an elevation bar
on the left side of the screen; when you go low, the bar gets small, and when
high, the bar goes full.

You score points by destroying the objects and enemies on the level. You also
need to worry about your fuel. If it runs out, you automatically crash, and
it depletes pretty quickly. To get fuel, you need to destroy the green
objects (the green fuel tanks) on the level. Because of the fuel loss rate,
you need to be looking for fuel tanks at all times.

You can only get hit once, or crash into some once, to lose a life. And the
most common way new people crash in the game is to run into the yellow wall
between areas. This wall does not really look like a wall, but instead just
another part of the ground. You need to either go around it or through a hole
in the middle; the wall changes each time, and sometimes it isn't there at
all.

Elevation is a big issue in Zaxxon. It is hard to tell how high up enemies
are. You can understand their elevation partially through the shadows under
them, but the shadows only tell you whether they are on the ground or in the
air. And you only get five lives in the game, but you get one more if you
reach 10K points.

You score points by blowing stuff up. There are enemy planes, gun turrets,
and radar towers that all give different amounts of points for destroying
them. Here is a list of the points yielded for each object:

Plane.............200 points
Fuel Tank.........300 points
Gun Turret........400 points
Mobot.............400 points
Dodger Gun........500 points
Radar Tower.......1000 points
Zaxxon's Missile..1000 points
Zaxxon Himself....5000 points

At the end of the level, you fight Zaxxon himself, who looks like the Android
mascot. You must hit the missile in his hands several times to defeat him.
The number of times depends on the difficulty that you chose at the beginning
of the game. And if you hit him elsewhere, it won't count as a hit. So, here
is a list of difficulty and number of hits you must get in on Zaxxon's
missile:

Difficulty 1....3 hits
Difficulty 2....4 hits
Difficulty 3....5 hits
Difficulty 4....6 hits

If you don't get enough hits in, Zaxxon unleashes the missile. It is
unavoidable, meaning there is nothing to do to dodge it, and it will kill
you. But! If you do destroy the missile beforehand, you get to repeat the
entire process all over again! Yay for Atari games!

=============================================================================
--- 5. Strategies ---
=============================================================================

Here are some basic strategies for success in Zaxxon.

* Elevation is difficult to gauge by just looking at your plane, so be sure
to periodically check the elevation bar on the left side of the screen.
This will tell you how high up or down low you are.

* Elevation is even more difficult to gauge for enemies. The most black and
white way to look at it is actually black -- that is, look and see if the
enemy has a shadow. And if they do, that means they aren't on the ground
at least.

* Elevation is particularly important when you go past the yellow walls. If
you need to go through a hole in the yellow wall, you must be at the
proper elevation.

* For the yellow walls, you can also go around them. Basically, anything
black is where you need to be to get around them with crashing.

* Don't worry about points for your first few games, until you get the hang
of it. Just try to avoid enemies and get to Zaxxon. And, of course, you
also need to worry about fuel!

* Fuel is crucial. It is like your health bar. Fuel depletes at a rapid
rate, and the only way to replenish it is to destroy fuel tanks, which
are the green objects on the ground. When you destroy one, you regain
fuel.

* So, always keep track of your fuel bar. Try to keep it as high as
possible at all times. But also note that fuel tanks do not give you as
many points as other objects, so you should not JUST destroy fuel tanks.

* When the yellow wall comes up, stop focusing on destroying stuff and try
to see where you need to be to get passed it. Crashing into the yellow
wall is a common way to lose a life.

* Radar Towers award the most points out of any object on the level. So,
you should definitely go for them over, say, a turret or plane.

* When you get to Zaxxon, focus on the missile in his hand, for that is the
only way to defeat him!

* Zaxxon's missile cannot be avoided; it is a homing missile, after all!

* Overall, your top priority is to not die and to destroy fuel tanks. When
you've gotten the hang of that, it will be easier to shoot other enemies.

=============================================================================
--- 6. Frequently Asked Questions ---
=============================================================================

This section tries to answer most commonly asked questions about the game.

Q: Who is Zaxxon?
A: Zaxxon is the boss at the end of the game.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: Is there an easier way to see/move my plane?
A: Not really -- the graphics of the 2600 can make this hard sometimes. But
there is an elevation meter on the left side of your screen (the blue bar)
that tracks how high up or low you are.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: Why does my plane suddenly stop/crash?
A: You ran out of fuel! You need to destroy the fuel tanks on the level to
regain fuel. The fuel tanks are the green objects, and your fuel bar is
located on the bottom of the screen, next to your number of lives left.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: How many lives do you get?
A: Five lives. And if you hit anything or get shot, you die in one hit.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: Can two people play this game at the same time?
A: Yes.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: Why does this yellow thing keeps killing me?
A: That's the wall between areas. You need to either go over it or around
it. As a rule, anything black -- go to that to get around it.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=
Q: Where can I play this game?
A: It's most fun to actually play this game with the jogging pad that came
with the game, but you'd have to look hard to find the game and the pad,
in 2014, in good enough condition. So, that leaves a few choices:
buying the game at ebay or a garage sale, using a ROM, or playing it on
your internet browser. Of those three, the last is probably the easiest.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: Play it on browser, you say?
A: Yes, you can now play most Atari 2600 games on your browser, which is
different than when I first started covering this system in 2003. The
only problem is that you'd be using a keyboard, and not a game pad.
Still, the new browser way is probably the best, sans finding it at
a garage sale.

=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=

Q: I keep dying against Zaxxon!
A: It's by game design. After a period of time, he'll shoot a missile at you
and it will automatically kill you if it hits. There is no way to avoid
or get around the missile.

=============================================================================
--- 7. Credits ---
=============================================================================

In this section, we give credit where credit is due. :)

* CJayC for creating GameFAQs.
* Sailor Bacon, Devin Morgan, and Krystal for continuing, maintaining, and
administering GameFAQs.
* Brian Sulphur, for showing me that writing on old games is cool! :)
* The instruction manual, for providing enemy names such as "Mobot" and
"Dodger Gun." Cool names!
* You! For reading this guide, of course. :)

=============================================================================
--- 8. Contact Information ---
=============================================================================

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, inquiries, spam, additions,
grievances, hate mail, and general overall concerns, please email me at:

"andrew.c.testa(at)gmail(dot)com" <[email protected]>

All I ask is that you put "Zaxxon" or "Zaxx" or "Atari Game" in the
subject line so I know what the email is about. I don't mind if u talk liek
dis 2 me or whatever, so long as I can understand you.

=============================================================================
--- 9. Legal Disclaimer ---
=============================================================================

This document is Copyright (c) 2014 Andrew "TestaALT" Testa. All Rights
Reserved. This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except
for personal, private use. It may not be sold, altered, or published in any
way without the advanced permission of the author. It may not be placed on
any website or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written
permission. Use of this guide on any other website or as a part of any public
display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks
and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective
trademark and copyright holders. All sources that have contributed to this
document are cited and/or credited in some form. The only sites that I
allow this document to be viewed at are GameFAQs <http://www.gamefaqs.com>,
IGN <http://www.ign.com>, and Neoseeker <http://www.neoseeker.com>.

----

Thanks for reading this guide! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I
enjoyed writing it! :) You can see some of my other work at:

<http://www.gamefaqs.com/users/TestaALT/contributions/faqs>

_____________________________________________________________________________
Copyright (c) 2014 Andrew Testa