A CCC EEEEE SSSS W W IIIII L DDDD IIIII IIIII IIIII A A C C E S W W I L D DD I I I AAAAA C EEE SSS W W W I L D D I I I A A C C E S W W W I L D DD I I I A A CCC EEEEE SSSS WWWWW IIIII LLLLL DDDD IIIII IIIII IIIII Aces Wild III Version 1.0 by Mbeanis N. Alzin mbeanis@mindless.com Aces Wild III is the third of a series of high quality levels for Sqrxz for the TI-85 Calculator. Aces Wild III consists of twelve levels. It was created on September 6, 1998, and is entirely copyrighted, including this text file. BRIEF OVERVIEW -------------- These are twelve levels for the experienced player. Although they are hard, ample extra lives have been added so that the player should not very often encounter a Game Over message. The longest and hardest of these levels is probably level three. Aces Wild II! contains no hidden spikes, no necessary enclosed jumps, no necessary rainbow jumps, and no game traps (this means that Sqrxz is never stuck in a place where the game must be restarted). I find these tricks to be evidence of a lack of creativity in level design. Aces Wild III has been divided into three sections, each consisting of two sub- levels followed by two long levels. LEVEL ONE --------- Manoeuverability. This sub-level consists of many spikes and one green man. The safe path for Sqrxz to follow is: Up two squares, right two, down two, up four (a high jump) and right two, down two, right two, left one, down two (onto the green man), right four, up zero, up two, right three, left one, down two, up two, down two, up four, right one, up zero, up two, right one. LEVEL TWO --------- Portculises. No support available. Try hard enough, and you will succeed. LEVEL THREE ----------- Epic. Sqrxz must first activate all three portculises overhead, then release the green man on the right, dodge past him somehow, break both of the bridges, activate the portculis below, and get out of the way when the green man returns. Once the green man is in the compartment on the right, Sqrxz must descend to this compartment, break the brick overhead, and attempt a high jump. This high jump must have its first peak with Sqrxz hitting his head on the tile, and second through the portculis, otherwise it will close before Sqrxz can pass through. Some small tasks are accomplished, and Sqrxz finds himself at the third lever. Above him is an extra life. He then receives some sausages and extra treats. After this he activates a portculis, jumps off a bat's back, traps a blob and a hedgehog, and finds himself at the fourth lever. Here he collects another extra life before entering one of the hardest manouevers in the whole Aces Wild III world. To get past this point Sqrxz must release the green man first. Then he lands on the green man, and while the green man is dormant, he jumps over the bricks to the right, runs to the left over the bridges, and then jumps up and breaks the bridge overhead. Once the green man awakes, Sqrxz is very careful not to destroy any bridges, because then the green man will fall to infinity and Sqrxz will be unable to high jump on the right. Finally he reaches the fifth lever. He explores the many facets of portculises, and crosses the spikes to the sixth lever. Here he kills the three upper bats, destroys the bricks, and releases the lower bats in such a way that he can jump on them sequentially on the right. This part takes some fine tuning on the player's part. At the seventh lever, Sqrxz picks up yet another extra man, then after some footwork finds himself up at the top portculis. He then falls to bridges below, and in order to cross the gap safely, Sqrxz must be already moving when he hits the first bridges from above. He then passes under the Ace of Spikes, and climbs the vertical staircase. He now enters the soil, where five green men run wild among the spikes. Sqrxz passes to the bottom, then up to the middle. After this, he may eiter attempt an enclosed jump from the spikes on the far right, or a high jump off the head of the green man in the middle and past the green man above. Then he makes a leap of faith towards the oncoming bats, a few simple jumps, and rwaches the exit. LEVEL FOUR ---------- Error Mode. This level is designed to take advantage of the no-start-position bug in the TI-85 Sqrxz game. I was first keyed to this by Scott's World (Thank you Scott). However, I have explored all the facets of the uses of this bug. Now if any level developer has questions on error mode, send me an email. For the level itself, first Sqrxz must drop below the bridge and stand on the safety sign, while following where it points. Then walk up the disappearing stair- case. Fall down the chute, break the closed portculises, jump on the blob, and hit the switch (which doesn't trigger). Note: Enemies cannot harm Sqrxz in error mode). After the lever, whenever Sqrxz dies, upon regeneration, he will be stuck in upper left corner. In these instances, you must move him to the left, then wait for the screen to scroll, and he will be at the lever again. Then take the path that says choose, jump as far as you can to the right, and walk right through the hedgehog. Follow the path of dots to the extra lives, and upon death, Sqrxz will find out which exit is correct. LEVEL FIVE ---------- Hour Glass. No support available. LEVEL SIX --------- False Exits. Based on Nick World 3_0. No support Available. LEVEL SEVEN ----------- After the first bat, Sqrxz must land on the farthest bridge in such a way that most of him overhangs onto the portculis square. In this manner the bridge will not break, and the hedgehogs can pass under Sqrxz. Then work to trap the hedgehog in the portculises after the lever, high jump off of the green man, and perform another manoeuver similar the first one described, where Sqrxz re- mains with most of his body over the spikes and just barely hanging onto the bridge while the hedhehogs pass. Finally comes the most diffuclt part of Aces Wild III- The Brick Matrix. Sqrxz must first release the green man and jump on him immediately to keep him up above. Then Sqrxz must go below, destroy all the bricks and activate as few portculises as possible, and jump (still within the matrix) while the green man wakes up and runs past. Then Sqrxz must jump up and over the top, fall down on the green man, and use him for a high jump on the right. Then comes a simple spike pit, yet another Aces Wild pattern area, and a floating forest. After the forest is the exit door. LEVEL EIGHT ----------- The Palindrome. (A palindrome is anything which is the same forwards as backwards, such as the number 1563651, or the sentence "Was it a rat I saw?") This level was designed to be played in both directions, but the first half is much harder. Also, taking the fist exit will not permit Sqrxz to pass level nine. How sinister I am! Anyway, If you have managed to get this far, nothing in this level so difficult that too much time wouldn't cure it. LEVEL NINE ---------- The Secret. As mentioned before, you must fully completed level eight to complete level nine. If you cannot figure it out with enough time, impale yourself on the spikes and hit the lever, then the secret will be unveiled. But if you took the shorcut in the palindrome, the secret will not be unveiled in this manner. LEVEL TEN --------- Stripes. Named for the pattern of vertical stripes. No support available. LEVEL ELEVEN ------------ Into The Upper Realm. Again, no problem here is so difficult that it can't be solved with time. LEVEL TWELVE ------------ The Message. So how do you beat it? Simple- the last dot is a portculis. Easy enough. NOTES ----- The reason I chose the name Aces Wild is on an alphabetical basis, no other reason, so don't ask. The program takes up about 3100 bytes, which is quite reasonable. Thank you for playing, and feel free to distribute the zip file, unmodified, and with this text file. Thanks to Jimmy Mardell for adapting this wonderful game for the TI-85. Also feel free to adapt this world and the other Aces Wild worlds to TI-86 format, and rezip it with this text file. Sorry the text file is so long. UPCOMING RELEASES ----------------- Aces Wild IV is now a long way off, but I'd love to hear from anyone with a critique of my levels. I use Jimmy Mardell's level editor for DOS which was included with the Sqrxz zip file. (C) 1998 Mbeanis N. Alzin