Imagic
FATHOM

GAME PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS

Titans have imprisoned Neptina, Neptune's daughter! They've shattered his
magical Trident and scattered its pieces far and wide. Without his Trident,
Neptune is powerless.

Proteus, a member of Neptune's Court, longs to free the lovely mermaid. He sets
out to find the missing pieces of the Trident. He roams land and sea, changing
from a seagull to a dolphin and back again in order to deceive the mermaid's
captors. Deadly trials confront Proteus -- screaming flocks of black birds,
erupting volcanoes, octopuses, tangled beds of kelp, even sharks and giant
squid! But he fights on valiantly!

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OBJECTIVES

Locate the four missing pieces of Neptune's Trident and free Neptune's daughter
up to eight times from her prison at the bottom of the sea. Switch forms from
dolphin to seagull to search the sky and sea for the four Trident pieces. Learn
to make stars appear in the sky. Stars are your key to finding Trident pieces in
the air! Touch all the sea horses you come across -- they are your source of
Trident pieces in the sea! Once you have the Trident, swim to the bottom of the
sea and free Neptina. Then swim for the surface, change forms and fly over the
volcano to the right in order to reach the next sea -- and an even greater
challenge! Hurry! Energy is trickling away!

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GETTING STARTED

Insert cartridge and turn power on.

To begin action: Press Reset.

Press disk to move seagull or dolphin.

To begin Fathom again after running out of energy, press any keypad number.

To begin a new game after conquering all eight seas, press Reset.

Use either hand controller.

FATHOM IS A ONE-PLAYER GAME

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STATUS SCREEN

Consult the Status Screen at any time during a game.

To call up the Status Screen, press 0 on the controller keypad. You use no
energy points while the Status Screen is displayed. To resume action, press 0
again.

Energy

You begin each new Sea with 100 energy points. You consume one unit of energy
every two seconds. Touching any obstacles except sardines, sea horses and clouds
costs you energy points. The more advanced the wave, the more points a collision
costs you. Clouds, sardines and sea horses earn you energy points. The more
advanced the wave, the more points you receive. The seagull or dolphin will
change colors when you are low on energy. Conserve energy! The number of energy
points left in reserve each time you free Neptina is added to your score.
Careful! Once you're freed Neptina, you still need enough energy to: Return to
the surface. Change back into a seagull. Fly across a volcano to reach the next
Sea and greater challenges.

Seas

There are eight seas you must reach, numbered 0 through 7. Once Neptina has been
freed, you can only reach a new Sea as a seagull.

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WINGIN' IT

You begin every game as a seagull floating on the waves.

Flap your wings each time you press the disk. The more often you press, the
faster you'll fly in any direction. Press the disk in the direction you wish to
fly. Once clouds appear at sea level, you can fly up. Avoid running into black
birds. Collisions subtract points from your energy supply! You earn points for
every CLOUD you touch. A star may appear if you touch all the clouds in one
section of the sky before leaving that section. Touch any stars that appear.
Remember: Stars are your key to finding pieces of the Trident! Trident pieces
appear at the bottom of the Status Screen. Touch the correct clouds and you will
acquire a FISH symbol. With it you can change into a dolphin.

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DIVING DOLPHIN

When you have acquired a FISH symbol you can change from a seagull into a
dolphin. Fly back to the dolphin and land on top of him. To swim, press and hold
the disk in the direction you wish to move. Release the disk to stop swimming.
Touching any fish other than sardines costs you energy points. Touching seaweed
costs energy points, too. The longer you struggle, the more energy you lose.
SARDINES give you energy points. Eat all you can. Touch all the SEA HORSES you
can. You earn points for every sea horse you touch. In addition to energy
points, you can acquire a piece or pieces of the Trident by touching sea horses.
Touch the correct sea horses and a BIRD symbol appears on the Status Screen.
With it you can change into a seagull when you surface. NOTE: It is important to
touch sea horses until you find the bird symbol. You will need it in order to
change back into a seagull and fly over a volcano to the next Sea after you've
freed Neptina.

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FLYING THE HORIZON

Each time you free Neptina, advance to the next Sea by flying across the volcano
to the right of where you surface. Once you cross a volcano, you cannot go back!
Don't touch erupting volcanoes! The hot lava sears the seagull and the game
ends.

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SCORING

When you dissolve Neptina's cage and touch her, the number of energy points you
have left at that time is automatically added to your score. Your score
increases by that amount while your energy supply remains the same.

In addition, you receive a BONUS: WAVE BONUS 
0 & 1    10 
2 & 3    20 
4, 5 & 6 30 
7        40 

For a high score:

Run into all the clouds, sea horses and sardines you can. They're worth points. 

Avoid obstacles -- black birds, seaweed, volcano eruptions, lava and all fish
except sardines and sea horses. They cost you points!

GAME ENDS when:

Your energy points reach zero. 

You successfully complete all 8 seas. 

You run into lava. 

The Status Screen appears, displaying your final score, and the number of the
Sea you reached.

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SURVIVING LEVEL ONE!

Here's how to fly and fin your way through Sea 0. After that you're on your own!

As a seagull, fly to the left. When clouds appear, fly up. Touch all the clouds
you find in the first section of sky above sea level. A star will then appear.
Touch it.

Next, call up the Status Screen by pressing zero -- you'll see a fish symbol
plus a piece of the Trident. Not bad!

Next, return to sea level. Fly to the right, past the dolphin. When you reach
clouds at sea level, fly up. Touch all the clouds in the first section you reach
and then in the next higher section of sky, as well as the star that will appear
in each of those sections when you've touched all the clouds there.

Call up the Status Screen. You'll see you have found another piece of the
Trident.

Fly back to the dolphin and come to rest on the surface of the sea. You've made
the transformation -- now swim for the bottom!

As the dolphin swims down, avoid all obstacles while touching all sea horses and
sardines. Check the Status Screen regularly. Once you have the bird symbol and
all four pieces of the Trident, swim for the bottom of the sea. Hurry! Your
energy is still being consumed.

When you reach Neptina, touch the cage. It will dissolve. When it's gone, swim
over and nudge the grateful mermaid. She'll swim off to safety.

Your trials aren't over yet. Return to the surface, avoiding all obstacles. When
you reach the surface, change back into the seagull and fly to the right. You
must cross a volcano in order to reach the next Sea and an even tougher
challenge!

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Game Program designed by Dave Durran

©1983 IMAGIC INC.
700026-1A
All Rights Reserved 
