Basketbrawl -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ATARI(R) 7800(TM) Game Manual BASKETBRAWL(TM) Atari Corporation is unable to guarantee the accuracy of printed material after the date of publication and disclaims liability for changes, errors, or omissions. Reproduction of this document or of any portion of its contents is not allowed without the specific written consent of Atari Corporation. Atari, the Atari logo, BasketBrawl, and 7800 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation. ATARI(R) Copyright(C) 1990, Atari Corporation Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302 All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS BATTLE FOR THE HOOP!...........1 GETTING STARTED................2 Optional Game Controls......3 PLAYING THE GAME...............3 Using the Fire Buttons......4 Power Ups...................5 CHARACTER PROFILES.............5 STRATEGY.......................7 SCORING........................8 BATTLE FOR THE HOOP! In a desperate attempt to stop inner-city gang wars, the city leaders organized a basketball league. The league is scheduled to play on three courts: a street, a junkyard, and a rooftop. The mayor figured that a friendly game of hoops would be a much more peaceful way to settle disputes. Boy, was he wrong! Nobody could have predicted games like these. When rowdy gang members chased off the city-appointed officials, Scott "the Blade" Savage, a thug from a neutral gang, stepped in. And what a referee he turned out to be! He doesn't care about fouls. He doesn't care about rules. He doesn't even have a whistle. But he gets his kicks from throwing knives at the players. With no real referee, the players can do whatever they please. And they do. Picture this play: Slash gets the ball and passes to Bruiser. Bruiser dribbles around a junk pile and breaks toward the basket while Slash mercilessly punches Vinnie. Simon steps in to protect Vinnie and punches Slash. Bruiser takes a knife in the gut as he shoots. The ball is up, but no! It hits the bent rim and bounces back. Vinnie breaks free and gets the rebound. He runs for the basket. A swift left hook from Bruiser, and Vinnie crumples to the ground. The ball rolls loose. The three remaining players scramble for the ball in a fist-flinging free for all. Simon comes up with the ball. Slash pounds on Bruiser's face for not moving faster as Simon dribbles downcourt unguarded and shoots for two. No wonder the gang members nicknamed this game BasketBrawl. To them it's not a game -- it's a street fight. GETTING STARTED 1. With your 7800 game system switched off, insert the BasketBrawl cartridge into the cartridge slot as described in your owner's manual. 2. Connect a controller to the left controller port. For two player BasketBrawl, connect a controller to each controller port. 3. Press the POWER button on your console and switch on your TV. The BasketBrawl title screen displays. 4. Press a fire button to display the Options Selection screen. Move the controller up or down to select a row. Then move the controller right or left to choose an option on that row. Current selections appear in yellow. Unavailable options appear in gray. After you select all desired options, press a fire button. 5. The Character Selection screen appears. Move the controller right or left to move the points to the character of your choice. The pointers are numbered to show which player chose which character. If you choose to play a 2-on-2 game, you choose the captain of your team. The computer selects the second player on each team. 6. When you have chosen a character, press a fire button. 7. The Character Status screen appears. This screen shows the characters' strength ratings in three categories: Health, Speed, and Power. The more red appearing in a bar, the stronger that character is in that category. Each category is explained in greater detail in the Playing the Game section of this manual. Press a fire button to begin the game. Optional Game Controls The following optional game controls allow you to pause and restart the game: * To call a time out and pause the game press PAUSE. Repeat to resume play * To return to the Character Description screen and restart the game with the previously selected game options, press RESET. * To return to the Options Selection screen to select new game options and begin a new game, press SELECT. PLAYING THE GAME BasketBrawl is a fast-paced basketball simulation with a twist: the players on each team try to knock each other cold with punches to the face. Meanwhile, the referee, Scott "The Blade" Savage roams the sideline throwing knives at players. You can play 1-on-1 or 2-on-2, against either the computer or a fried. You and a friend can also gang up on the computer. The object of the game is to outscore the opposing team. Each time you win, you are assigned a new challenger. The game ends when you lose a game or get knocked cold. The game begins with the players at center court. The characters controlled by players 1 and 2 are marked by the words 1 UP and 2 UP. If you are playing a 2-on-2 game, the 7800 controls the second player on each team. In a one-player game, the 7800 controls the opposing character or team. The action starts when the ball appears. Use the controller to move around the court. Use the fire buttons to pass, jump, shoot, or fight, as described in the next section. Using the Fire Buttons The fire buttons provide the following actions: Left Button If your character does not have the ball, then the left button makes the character jump. Jump to block a shot or get a rebound. If your character has the ball, the left button causes the character to shoot. A successful shot depends on the distance to the basket and the character's health and shooting ability. Right Button If your character does not have th ball, then thr right button makes the character punch in the direction he is facing. Punching is an ideal way to steal the ball or protect a teammate. If you punch a character often enough, that player loses consciousness and falls to the ground. Since there are no substitutions in BasketBrawl, injured players are not replaced. Putting an opponent out of commission makes winning that much easier, and the referee couldn't care less! To pass the ball to your teammate in a 2-on-2 game, quickly press and release the right button when your character has the ball. If you press and hold this button, you will perform a power throw. A power throw is a hard throw at another player. In a 2-on-2 game, you can select your target. Hold down the right button when your player has the ball, then push up on the controller until the desired target character flashes. Release the button to throw. A successful power throw can easily injure an opponent. While you search for the correct target, action continues around you. Don't let an opponent punch you and knock the ball loose. Power Ups During the course of a game, various icons representing the following power ups appear on the court. Pick up an icon by running over it. These items increase a character's Strength, Speed, or Power: Milk Everybody knows that milk makes a body strong. Picking up a glass of milk raises a character's Health by one point, up to the 9 point limit. A player collapses when his Health reaches zero. Lightning Bolt Speed is one of a hoopster's most important abilities. Fleetness of foot allows a player to catch an opponent from behind and knock the ball loose by punching the other guy in the head. The fast character can then get the ball and break downcourt for a quick two points. Fist Running over a fist increases a character's Power rating. A high Power rating makes it easier to knock an opponent cold with a good punch or power throw. CHARACTER PROFILES BasketBrawl offers a selection of six different characters, each with his own strengths and weaknesses. You can increase a character's Health, Speed, and Power by running over power up icons. However, each character was born with a certain shooting ability. Such things are genetic. There is no way to increase a character's shooting ability. Vinnie Beatiacilli was born mean. Vinnie's father tried to soothe the boy's rage by enrolling him in a gym. While training for the Golden Gloves, Vinnie heard about BasketBrawl. It was a dream come true: a chance to bust heads without wearing those sissy boxing gloves. His raw power and savage meanness make him a natural on the court. Vinnie's favorite pastimes are watching Kung Fu movies and chewing on barbed wire. Vinnie is very fast and has average Power, but he is so busy bashing heads that he never takes the time to practice his shooting. Eric "Buster" Williams had a dream. For as long as he could remember, Buster Williams planned to play professional hoops. He practiced day and night, seven days a week. And he was hot! But his practice got in the way of his schoolwork. Then came the tragic accident. Since he never went to school, he couldn't read the warning label on his electric razor. When he tried to shave in the shower, he got the shock of his life. Something in that surge of electricity turned Buster into a blood-thirst madman and a lousy shooter. Now he terrorizes the BasketBrawl courts, dribbling heads instead of basketballs. Buster is an average shooter. He's not very strong, but he is quick. Jerome "Slash" Gordon was raised in a high-rise uptown apartment. His mother is a wealthy brain surgeon. His father made a fortune on Wall Street. Little Jerome wanted nothing to do with the world of the wealthy. He rebelled by joining a punk rock band and changing his name to Slash. One night, while dancing the Pogo, Slash discovered his natural jumping ability. He soon learned to use that skill on the BasketBrawl court. Slash's deepest secret: he owns 40% of a major computer corporation and three designer neckties. Slash is the best shooter in the city, but his speed and Power are merely average. Bruce "Bruiser" Johnson was born in the heart of Brooklyn and learned to be tough at an early age. His mother used to steal his dessert every night. But Bruiser got even. While his mother grew fatter by the day, Bruiser worked out at the local gym. One night after dinner, Mama reached for her son's jelly donut. Bruiser lifted her by the ear and threatened to throw her out the window. Now she always gives him her dessert. Bruiser's hobbies include breaking down doors with his head and writing love poems to his kitten. Bruiser is more powerful than any other BasketBrawl player and has average speed and shooting ability. Tommy "Biff" Torrance first surfed when he was knee high to a sea lion. Growing up in Southern Cal was like living in Paradise. Then his dad got transferred to New York. At first, Biff was, like, totally stoked. He thought Long Island would be surrounded by gnarly waves. When he hit the city, he was bummed to the max. Where Biff thought he'd find surf, he found asphault and boredom. So he joined a gang. The other gang members put him down because he said "Dude" instead of "Yo." Then they saw him play basketball. He could dribble, shoot, and throw elbows with the best the city had to offer. Now, thanks to BasketBrawl, Biff no longer sits at home watching old Frankie and Annette movies. Even though Biff's grandma can run faster than he can (and she's been dead for years), he has good Power. He is also an average shooter. Simon Smartguy grew up believing he had no athletic ability. That is, until the day he tried a physics experiment. With his slide rule, compass, pocket calculator, and various other school tools, he discovered that the trajectory of a basketball is exactly equal to its velocity times the barometric pressure, divided by the square root of the wind chill factor. Now he can shoot like a pro. He also enjoys measuring the amount of force a BasketBrawl player's face has in relation to Simon's right hook while both players run at full speed directly toward each other. In his spare time, Simon is writing a book about the science of basketball, called The Free Throw: Fact or Friction. Simon's calculations paid off: he is a good shooter with average power. Unfortunately, Advanced Calculus doesn't help him run very fast. STRATEGY Learn to exploit each character's strenghts and weaknesses. Knowing the abilities of your teammates and opponents will help you with your game plan. If you fall behind, start throwing punches. When you are on the offense, note that the best defense is a dead defense. If you knock your opponent out of the game, listen for the power up sounds while you roll up the points. Picking up icons will make you stronger for the next game. Learn to pass in 2-on-2 games. No defense is ever prepared for a fast break. Avoid the Blade's knives. A knife in the gut can ruin a perfectly good layup. SCORING BasketBrawl scoring is just like basketball. A successful shot is worth two points. There are no three-point shots. In addition, players receive points for various BasketBrawl activities, as shown in the table below: Action Points Successful punch......................10 Picking up fist, milk, or lightning...20 Making a basket.......................50 Winning a game.......................250 The total score appears on the Status screen. ATARI(R) Copyright (C) 1990, Atari Corporation Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302 All rights reserved. Printed in Hong Kong. G.C. 8.1990 C300018-080 Rev. A -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document obtained from the History of Home Video Games Homepage, ©1997-1998 by Greg Chance