Llamatron is Jeff Minter's and Llamasoft's game. This Vectrex version is a fan conversion made with respect, and is not to be ever sold or otherwise distributed for money without the permission of Llamasoft.
CONTENTS
1. GETTING STARTED
Llamatron needs a 64 KB cartridge (for example a VecMulti). Plug in controller 1; plug in controller 2 as well for team mode or true-dualstick play.
THE CALIBRATION SCREEN
Every Vectrex draws a little differently, so the game starts with a calibration screen. It shows a line of text and the help line
2 LEFT 3 RIGHT 4 DONE
Press button 2 or button 3 to nudge the setting until the text is sharp and readable, then press button 4. The title screen follows. The default suits most machines; if the text already looks clean, just press button 4.
Note that artifacts on vecx based emulators are expected, though MAME tends to match the hardware reasonably well, at least my hardware.
2. THE TITLE SCREEN
On the title screen, controller 1 sets up the game:
LEVEL SELECT
Hold buttons 2 and 3 together on the title screen. A two-digit level number appears. Move the stick to change it:
Let go of every button, then press button 4 to start at that level.
If you leave the title screen alone, the game plays a demo.
3. PLAYING
You are the Llamatron. Rescue the beasties (llamas, goats, sheep and camels) and kill everything else, where possible. Clear the screen of enemies to finish the wave. There are 100 waves.
THE THREE CONTROL SCHEMES
The stick moves the llama. Firing is automatic, in the direction of travel. Hold any button to lock the fire angle, so you can move one way and shoot another.
The stick moves the llama. The four buttons fire, going clockwise round the controller:
Press two buttons together to fire diagonally (for example 1 + 2 fires up and right; 4 + 1 fires up and left).
Controller 1's stick moves the llama; controller 2's stick aims the shots, in the original Robotron style. Team mode is not available with this scheme (controller 2 is busy aiming).
PLAYING TOGETHER
WHAT TO PICK UP
CONTINUING
You start with 3 lives. When the last one is lost the game asks CONTINUE? and counts down from 9, about one number a second. Press a button before the count runs out to carry on with 5 fresh lives; let it run out for GAME OVER and the title screen. You have 3 continues in a game.
4. THE ORIGINAL LLAMASOFT TEXT
These are the scrolling pages from the title screen of the 1991 original, by Jeff Minter, reproduced as written. Where the original showed a little picture in the text, a word in {braces} stands in for it. Some notes are about the Atari ST release (keyboard keys, the hi-score file, 50/60 Hz); see section 5 for the Vectrex.
4a. THE STORY
in the space year 2112 the zzyaxians have invaded our planet. with an overwhelming force of cybernetic and genetically-enhanced "grunt" soldiers, the fiends set about systematically destroying every last sheep, goat, camel and llama on the face of the planet.
against this awesome force, we have a devastating (and extremely furry) secret weapon. . .
l l a m a t r o n
{the llamatron}
llamatron- bionic, telepathic, psychedelic and completely ozric, the laser-spitting llamatron is the best hope to defeat the zzyaxian hordes and keep our beasties safe!
the mission:
your enemies:
beware the sheepipede!!
watch out for the screaming mandy
coz i"m sure it"s gonna get you
yeah!!
grab {llama, sheep, goat, camel}, and get hot bullets {hot bullet} and if you get the last beastie get a special bonus!
collect {heart} to make the {llama, sheep, goat, camel} love you! they run towards you while besotted!
collect the following for powerup. .
why not play team mode with a likeminded entity? {llama} and {camel} make a killer team!
all alone? aaahh! never mind - the droid is always waiting and willing to be your partner!
alright then! get out there and grab those {llama, sheep, goat, camel}!
good luck
death to the zzyaxians!!
{camel}
4b. THE CREDITS
llamatron: 2112
perpetrated by: yak
coded on: devpac developer
samples grabbed with: replay-8
guest appearences by: m c urtis, sween "e" todd and andy "rubber chicken" capon on "oh f. . !" sample
programmer entertained by: inspiral carpets, floyd, charlatans, faith no more, house of love, inspiral carpets, lemmings, thunderstrike (pc vga version), buckley"s best bitter, pensarnau pizza power, blizzard skis and salomon boots, ozric tentacles, the grateful dead, the handy hendy bendy mandy generator, devil crash on the pc engine, and loads more funky stuff!
yak 1991
4c. THE VERSION NOTES
llamatron version 1.0
this version at 20 march 1991
!!!read scroller at title screen for play details (wait 1 min for scroller to happen)
use joystick to move beastie. firing is automatic in the direction of travel. you use the fire button to lock the fire angle - so you can move and fire in opposite directions at will.
if you have a suitable arrangement of two joysticks, you can play the game in original robotron style, with the usual stick moving the llama and stick 2 aiming the shots. press fire on stick 2 instead of stick 1 to start a game in that mode.
within game press p to pause the game. in the pausemode h toggles 50/60 hz, s turns samples on/off, t displays an ozric tentacle you can weird with all of joystick 1, g redisplays the game screen if you"ve been looking at the tentacle, and o unpauses the game!
mission: rescue beasties and kill everything else (where possible).
get beasties for bonus and hot bullets - they last for a couple of seconds and slice through all enemies like a cat through butter.
collect last beastie for special bonus
collect hearts to make all the little beasties fall in love with you - they run towards you!
game makes 160-byte file for hiscores on yer current dir.
good luck!!!
5. HOW THE VECTREX VERSION DIFFERS
The Vectrex version plays the original's waves, enemies and rules, redrawn as vector art for the Vectrex screen. The differences:
6. CREDITS
With thanks to Jeff Minter for releasing the original Atari ST source code.
death to the zzyaxians!!
