Star Paws
sci-fi arcade game for Commodore 64, 1987
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Use Control Port 2.
The Tasty Space Griffin, a rare, bird-like creature, is considered a delicacy
and has acquired great value. On the moon of a distant planet, mercenaries
have been secretly breeding the Tasty Space Griffin and plan to flood the
market in order to destabilize it, which they hope will allow them to seize
power. Because of an error on part of the notoriously unreliable series seven
astroplex, the task to destroy this evil plot rests in the paws of the
ill-prepared Captain Rover Pawstrong.
Players take control of Pawstrong and must help him chase and kill all 20
Space Griffins on (and below) the surface of the moon. The looping playing
area is presented from a side-scrolling perspective, with the bottom of the
screen showing a radar indicating the position of Pawstrong and the Space
Griffin he is chasing. Pawstrong's health is represented by a cooked Griffin
which disappears over time, but gets replenished when a Griffin is caught.
The most straight forward and least effective way to catch a Space Griffin is
to simply jump on it. It is advisable however, to use some of the items that
can be picked up from boxes randomly dropped on the moon's surface by a
spaceship. These items include transportation devices like anti-gravity pads
or rockets, weapons such as rocket launchers or explosives and food that
replenishes some of Pawstrong's health. A mining lamp is needed to see inside
the mines under the surface of the moon. Here, Pawstrong can also pick up
ammunition for his weapon. When he finds and uses a matter transporter, he is
taken to a different part of the moon from where he can attack The Space
Griffin with his catapult-style weapon. Finally, a bonus puzzle can be found
which requires the player to rearrange a picture, similar to Split
Personalities, within a time limit.
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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)
[F10] - toggle performance meter
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)