THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



MARTIANOIDS



PUBLISHER

US Gold (Under the Ultimate label)



AUTHORS

US Gold in house team.



YEAR OF RELEASE

May 1987



DESCRIPTION

Martianoids is a 3D scrolling isometric arcade game.



INSTRUCTIONS

Guide the computer program to the receiver in each of the

sections of the game.



CONTROLS



KEYBOARD CONTROLS



Left: Your Droid will turn Left using X, V and N keys.

Right: Your Droid will turn Right using C, B and M keys.

Forward: Your Droid will move forward using A, S, D, F..."Enter" 

  row.

Laser: You can fire your laser using Q, E, T, U and O keys.

Blaster: You can fire your blaster using W, R, Y, I and P keys.

Pick Up/Drop: You can pick up and drop spare parts by using

  1, 2, 3, 4...0,Z and "Symbol Shift".



JOYSTICK CONTROLS



Your Droid can be fully controlled using Kempston, Cursor and

Interface II joysticks which replace turn Left, Right, Forward,

PickUp/Drop (pull back). The blaster is fired using Z, X, C and

"Symbol Shift".



Pause: MARTIANOIDS can be paused by pressing "Caps Shift" or

"Space".





CHEATS



SEQUELS/PREQUELS

Game release-wise, Martianoids is the prequal to Bubbler.





INLAY CARD TEXT



THE MISSION

After a long journey with only routine maintenance to do, Markon

is suddenly attacked by vicious and barbaric Aliens...THE

MARTIANOIDS.



The MARTIANOIDS enter your ship, disrupting the passage of

programs as they are transmitted through The Brain of Markon,

draining your battery in desperate suicidal attacks to destroy

you and your ship.  Their Photon Weapons pass through the

internal parts of The Brain destroying all Active Components in

their path.



Your task is to guide the program from the Transmitter to the

Receiver in each sector.  When a program is received the internal

defences are activated, thus preventing any further damage in

that sector of The Brain.  Beware of Disposal Chutes as your

program will fall down these and be lost.  If all the Active

Components in each sector are destroyed then, the sector is

destroyed and can no longer be repaired or activated.  Spare

Batteries are located around The Brain for you to use when your

charges become low.  To defend yourself you have Lasers which

destroy internal walls, Active Components, Replacement cones, and

Aliens.



To help you in your mission, your Console displays a map which

shows your position within The Brain, the position of the program

and the status of each sector. Red indicates the sector has been

destroyed, White that has been activated and flashing Red and

Yellow indicates a sector under attack. Also your Console

displays messages to tell you what is happening within The Brain.





  MARTIANOID Features



 1. 3D Scrolling      13.Battery Charge Indicator 25.Joystick

Control

 2. Transmitters      14.Scrolling Message        26.Extra Lives

 3. Receivers         15.Lasers                   27.Attacking

Photons

 4. Disposal Chutes   16.Blasters                

28.Materialisations

 5. Active Cells      17.Penetrable Walls         29.Destroyed

Cells

 6. Replacement Cones 18.Program                  30.Large Play

Area

 7. Spare Batteries   19.Photons                  31.Sector Stats

Display

 8. Map Display       20.Indestructible Walls     32.Sounds

 9. Pick Up/Drop      21.Droids                   33.Amazing

Animation

10.Scores             22.Clockwork Mice           34.Continuous

Pause

11.High Scores        23.Aliens

12.Name Registration  24.Explosions





SCORES/REVIEWS

Crash, Issue 40 (May 1987), page: 24, 58%





SNAPSHOTS/URLS





FACTS ABOUT THE GAME

Although this wasn't the first Ultimate game that was programmed

by the US Gold in-house team (Pentagram was the first), it was

the first game under the Ultimate Label that received VERY poor

ratings in many magazines.





NOTES

Not up to the usual Ultimate standard.  Because of this it is

amazing just how many people don't know either that it exists or

is an Ultimate game.

