FireTrap
arcade game for Commodore 64, 1987
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SCENARIO
Officially licensed from Data East, one
of the hottest arcade games ever created
is ready to burn its way onto your
screen... FIRETRAP.
If you've got cool hands, get ready to
climb the burning skyscrapers and dodge
the falling bricks, cars, glass and
obstacles to rescue the people trapped
inside.
And watch out - it's a long fall to the
street!
NEWS FLASH... ...DATELINE...
DECEMBER, ARCADEVILLE, USA...
Dale Ewing reporting on the Firetrap...
09:30
"...The situation here is really
critical now. The World's tallest
building, the ED Apartments, burst into
a ball of flames just thirty minutes
ago. Hundreds of people, some known to
have animals with them, are trapped.
And time is running out..."
09:37
"...We are being showered with falling
debris... glass, bricks, tables... you
name it, it's raining down on the
street. We watch with bated breath..."
09:51
"...The fire services have just arrived
at the scene, but have been unable to
get near because of the tremendous heat
from the blaze, and... oh! NO!... the
skyscraper next to it has just burst
into flames... and... a third has just
caught alight... this is terrible... in
all my years of reporting I've never
seen anything like this before!...
everyone is pulling back... now a fourth
building is ablaze, and a fifth...
Ladies and Gentlemen, this entire block
is one big FIRETRAP! I'm getting out of
here..."
10:05
"...A big red firetruck has just
arrived... Fire Chief Carrington is
holding up an experimental fire fighter
suit... and from where I'm standing it
appears to have some sophisticated,
hi-tech water cannon... yes... he says
it straps onto your back... but why is
he showing us ?..."
10:07
"...Everywhere is chaos... There are
only eight minutes left before the first
building is gutted. The local firemen
are exhausted from firefighting and
cannot use the new suit... all seems
lost... our only hope is that we can
find a fit and brave young person to
volunteer to put on the suit, climb
these towering infernos, put out these
blazes and rescue the people..."
"...yes! We have a volunteer...
My friend... we're all depending upon
you... Good Luck in the FIRETRAP...!"
TACKLING THE FIRETRAP...
CHIEF FIRE OFFICER's BRIEFING...
The screen will display a section of the
first burning building as viewed from a
corner. You see yourself, the brave
volunteer firefighter, at the corner of
the building, and can move left, right,
up or down by moving the joystick in
those directions, or by pressing the
relevant keys.
You have a water cannon and jet pac on
your back, and huge water globules may
be fired upwards by pressing the fire
button on your joystick, or the fire
key.
The protective layers of the
experimental fire suit you wear is many
layers thick, giving several attempts.
When the game begins, or if you lose a
life, a small outline of the building
you are climbing is displayed at the
bottom right hand edge of the screen,
showing how much further you have to go
to the top.
You must climb to the top of the
building, and as you climb you will see
peoples (and we even have reports of
little dogs) hanging out of windows.
To rescue them, simply climb onto their
window - they may then parachute to
safety, but keep a hot watch above as
all sorts of objects are falling from
windows above, and it's a long way down.
If any of the objects knock you off the
building, you will lose a life and must
try again.
Watch out for fires raging in other
windows - if you're quick, you can
put them out with a blast of your
water cannon. If a fire touches you,
you lose a life.
Also, you'll find flagpoles useful to
hide beneath in tricky situations.
During your task you may find various
items to aid you, and bonus items to
increase your score.
When you reach the top of the building,
there's a trapped woman - take hold of
her and then use your jet pac to fly her
down to the street and safety. To make
matters worse... time is short and the
clock is rapidly counting down.
But even if you achieve the unthinkable
and complete the first building - then
it starts to get really difficult...
Are you sure you can stand the heat ?
JOYSTICK CONTROLS
Plug a joystick into Port #2.
Up, down, left and right to move.
Fire button to shoot water globules.
KEYBOARD CONTROLS
[Q] - Move up
[Z] - Move down
[,] - Move left
[.] - Move right
[SPACE] - Shoot water globules
PAUSEMODE
[RUN/STOP] - Toggle pausemode on/off.
SUITS AND JET PAC
GREEN SUIT (NOT COLLECTABLE)
This is the standard suit that features
a single water globules shot upwards.
RED SUIT (RED-FLASHING OBJECT)
This adds two more water globules shots,
one to the left and one to the right.
BLUE SUIT (BLUE-FLASHING OBJECT)
This one protects you from fire and all
obstacles. But beware, you have this
suit only for a short time.
JET PAC (ORANGE-FLASHING OBJECT)
This one transports you some floors up
once collected. Beware, don't collect
this jet pac if you're close at the top
of the building. Otherwise you overfly
it and you've to retry from beginning.
ABOUT THE BONUS-SYSTEM
You'll receive "STAGE * TIME * FLAMES"
bonus only if you managed the stage
without losing a life.
The "TIME * FLAMES" bonus appears
always, equal how often you got knocked
off the building. To receive bonus for
that, try to shoot some flames when you
come the way down from the top of the
building with your jet pac.
Press and hold the joystick up (or [Q]
key) to slow down the jet pac. Release
the joystick or key to get back to
normal speed.
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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)