Mermaids of Atlantis - The riddle of the Magical Bubble by C&E Inc. Author: DJ Tigresa and MC Pantera Email: djtigresa@classicgaming.com, mcpantera@classicgaming.com Okay folks, here's an oldie but goodie we did in 1992. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We bet that when you play this game you'll be saying to yourself, "this game looks eerily familiar". Well you should have a reason to think that because there is an X-rated version of this game best known as Bubble Bath Babes. The gameplay and sprites are all the same except the mermaids do not strip naked. We are too young to play BBB but what as guide writers we played it anyway under our parents' noses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you begin the game you have options of a 1 or 2 player game, which stage you want to start on (up to 4), difficulty (easy, hard, stacked), level of speed (up to 5) and 3 BGM tunes. After you highlight your choices, press start. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Controls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A button = flips bubble formation vertically B button = flips bubble formation horizontally Start = Pause the game Left/Right = move bubble formation into position. This also slows down the bubble formation's rising. This helps in higher levels where bubbles rise faster. Also chooses option in menu mode. Up/Down = down not used in game mode but chooses set of options in menu mode. In game mode, up increases the speed of the ascent and adds points ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gameplay ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The object of this game is to match 4 or more bubbles of the same color. If you do that then the bubbles disappear and here is the catch. Instead of falling, the bubbles rise up instead. If they reach the bottom of the screen where they touch the mermaid, then you lose. You have 3 continues should you lose. The 4 main colors are red, blue, green, and yellow and sometimes there is a multicolored ball that when it touches, it will float in a circle and turn all bubbles in its path to a random color and pop the bubbles. What are those letters in some of the bubbles you ask? Those are the letters you need to obtain in order to clear the stage. The word spells "magic" once you obtain all 5 letters. While you are putting the bubbles into position, if you have a bubble over an empty space, a space holder bubble will appear. These cannot be popped unless you clear all the bubbles above them. There is a trick though. If you have a lot of space holder bubbles in an isolated area. You can move bubbles through them to put them in position. There are random points in the game where a bubble with the word magic appears. This will change the color of all the bubbles on the field and cause a severe chain reaction. This nets you many points. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bubble Formations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are five known formations. They are all in groups of four bubbles each they can be in random colors or all the same color. If the latter, then all bubbles in that formation automatically cleared along with colors in the field of the same color that they touch. Formation one X X X X Formation 2 X X X X Formation 3 X XxX The small x means the bubble appears between the top and bottom bubble. Formation 4 X X X X Formation 5 X X Xx <--the x is small here because it appears between the middle and bottom buble ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The game keeps track of how many bubbles you popped in one try, score for clearing bubbles in one sequence, and total points scored. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cutscenes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After clearing certain stages, you will get a cutscene that tells the story about the origin of merpeople. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Closing notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for reading this guide, be sure to tell your friends about this guide and we'll print them a copy as well for a small fee. Take care -Chiguretha and Pansela Steel aka Ice Queen X and Ember Queen X