Great Maze: Master of the Maze v1.0 July 17, 2006 KingMike Translations (http://kingmike.emxuxhaven.net) *********** INTROUCTION *********** You... must explore the mazes for some reason or another. :) I dunno... maybe you want the treasure or something. I don't know why, but you must. This game doesn't have a plot. But it does have you crawling around the mazes, trying to find the nine pieces of a treasure. Then you have to find the exit. Simple as that. Except you have a power meter that ticks down as you work your way through the maze. If it runs out, you pass out. Doesn't sound like much, and you don't get to kill anything in the game. Yet, it still manages to be fun. And the music is pretty good (though it still get grating if you're really stumped on one of the later levels.) Though if Epoch had put a level editor in the game, this game would've been killer. This game was originally published on November 30, 1990. **** TEAM **** KingMike - graphics, text insertion, translation filler - translation *********** WHAT'S DONE *********** Should be complete. ************ WHAT'S BUGGY ************ Nothing I know of. ********************* PATCHING INSTRUCTIONS ********************* I have included a RUP-format patch. Download Ninja from D's site at http://ninja.cinnamonpirate.com, and apply it. If that, or downloading the .NET framework, or using a command line, is too difficult for you, I have also included the traditional IPS format patch. Download a program like Lunar IPS. Click Apply Patch. Click on the original ROM and the IPS patch when prompted. Pick the format you will and apply it. Do not apply both. I don't know what will happen if you do. **************** EMULATION ISSUES **************** This game uses the Nintendo MMC1 mapper, and almost any decent NES emulator supports this. Many bad ones too. ***************** PLAY INSTRUCTIONS ***************** On the title screen, select a choice with the pad, and press Start. START: Begin from round 1 of the selected difficulty level (defaults to Easy) CONTINUE: Enter a password to continue at the last round of the last difficulty level you played. LEVEL: Choose a difficulty level (Easy, Medium, Hard, or Very Hard) Controls: D-Pad: Up - move forward. Left/Right - turn. Select - View overhead map. As this is meant to be used only a hint, when you're stuck, you will lose 3 hearts each time you open the map. Press Select again to close it. Start - view radar. This doesn't show you the level layout, but it does show you: Your location. You are a hollow red circle. If you have a compass, you will be shown as an arrow, pointing in your current direction. Red blocks represent the remaining treasures on the current floor (indicated in the corner). The green block represents the level exit. The blue circle represents the last landmark placed (by default, a landmark is placed at the start of each level). The above information can be checked, free of charge. B Button - open item menu. Select a Bomb, Witches' Broom, or Power Ring here, and press A to use it. A Button - not used in the main game. Items: You will find several items to help you in the mazes. Hearts - Refills Power by 1 heart. Power Pod - Increases power limit by 5 hearts, you will also recover 5 hearts. Lasts until you die or finish the level. Compass - Activates the needle on your compass on the main screen, as well as on the rader (Start Button). Magic Glasses - extends how much of the maze layout is revealed on the map (Select Button, cost 3 hearts). Usable items: Bomb - blow up a wall with a bomb sign. Power Ring - sets a landmark. Witch's Broom - allows you to instantly return to the last landmark (a landmark is placed at the start of each level, by default) As you progress through each maze, you will find many billboards: Cat - play a minigame for an item. Heart - play the slot machine. Risk your remaining hearts for a chance at a refill. Press Up when looking at the above walls to enter the minigame. Bomb - you can blow up the facing wall with a bomb. Some areas can only be reached by finding a weak wall. The minigames: A strange creature will speak to you. Press A if you want to play a minigame, or press B if you don't want to. If you do play, select a prize you will play for. Each prize from each location can only be won once. A minigame will be randomly selected, and you will receive the item if you win. You will lose your difficulty level in hearts if you lose (ie. lose 1 heart in an Easy maze, 2 hearts in a Medium-difficulty maze, etc.) The minigames: The cube game (if you played Cu-On-Pa for the SNES, translated by Gideon Zhi, you know this game): Turn the cube, but it can only roll onto a colored square if a matching-colored side of the cube would fall on it. White squares cannot be rolled onto, black squares can be rolled onto regardless of color. You must roll onto the "G" before you run out of rotations (indicated at the top of the screen). The pipe-ladder game: Move the guy over a pipe and press A to start. Then some rungs will appear between the pipes. The guy will turn at every possible chance. You can remove a rung by selecting it with the d-pad and pushing A, but only if you have some bombs left (indicated in the corner). If your guy stops on a pipe containing the item, you win. The card game: Your opponents cards are shown briefly (the top row of cards, and the blue score). On each turn, you must choose a card you think will be higher than his. If you're right, you get a point. If you tie, nobody gets a point. The one with the most points at the end wins (unfortunately, ties go to the computer). If you reach the exit of the maze, while holding all nine pieces of the treasure, you win. The game will tell you what level you finished, and which level is next. Note that the name is also the password, so write it down. There are seven rounds to the game. If you finish Round 7, you will go to Round 1 on the next difficulty level. If you finish Round 7 of the Very Hard difficulty... ********* COPYRIGHT ********* Original game (c)1990 Epoch. English translation (c)2006 by KingMike and filler. I am not affiliated with Epoch. Do not distribute the game image ("ROM") and the patch.