The Plot

Rand Peltzer discovers the Mogwai in a Hong Kong trinket shop. Rand is enchanted by the fluffy little creature and insists on buying it. "With Mogwai comes much responsibility," warns the wise old owner of the shop. Three absolute rules for the care and feeding of Mogwai are:

1. Keep them away from water. Don't ever get them wet. Water makes them multiply.
2. Keep them out of light. They hate bright light. It will kill them.
3. But the most important thing, the thing you must never forget, is that no matter how much they cry, no matter how much they beg, never, never feed them after midnight. If you do, they'll hatch into Gremlins!

Rand presents the Mogwai to his son Billy for Christmas. Billy names his adorable pet "Gizmo" - in honour of his dad's business, which is inventing gadgets and gizmos. When Billy's friend accidentally spills water on Gizmo, five Mogwai spring out of the original one!

Billy cages the Mogwai in his living room, but they break out for a midnight snack. As the game opens things look really grim - or is that grem?

The Cast

Introducing Mogwai
Starring Billy Peltzer
With thousands of Gremlins cast as villains

Behind The Scenes

Insert the Gremlins cartridge into your Atari 5200 SuperSystem as explained in your owner's guide and turn on the console.

Plug a controller into Jack 1 for a one-player game, and another into Jack 2 for a two-player game. The player using jack 1 controls game selection and starts the game.

Press * to choose a one-player, two-player, or demo game.

You can start playing at a higher game level if you wish. Press # to cycle through the twelve difficulty levels. Night 1 is easiest and Night 23 hardest.

Press START to begin playing.

Press PAUSE to stop and restart the action.

Press PAUSE, then RESET during game play to return to the game options display.

Press PAUSE, then START to restart the game at the current game options.

Use your joystick to move Billy on the screen. Billy moves up, down, right and left in the same direction you move the joystick. To automatically pick up a Mogwai, move Billy over to the pet until he makes contact with it. To put the Mogwai in its pen, stand next to the pen. Press either bottom fire button to swing Billy's sword. Press either top fire button to activate a flash cube.

On The Set

Oh no! It's after midnight. The Mogwai and Gremlins are running wild in Billy's living room. Help Billy return the Mogwai to their cage and destroy all Gremlins by slashing them with his sword before sunrise at six a.m.

You have between thirty seconds and six minutes to complete your task. A clock, located at bottom screen center, counts from starting time up to six a.m. The easier nights are shorter. When you make it through one night, you go on to a harder night. Two ways to make it through a night:

1. Return all Mogwai to their pens and eliminate all Gremlins.
2. Survive until six a.m.

You start out with three lives. Each time a Gremlin touches you, you lose a life. Remaining lives are displayed next to your score at the top of the screen. You win a bonus life every 10,000 points. The maximum lives displayed at once are six; extra lives won after that are held in reserve.

Special Props

1. Mogwai Pen
   Located at upper screen right, the Mogwai pen is the best place to put the mischievous little Mogwai. You can only carry one Mogwai at a time in addition to Gizmo, the original Mogwai that Billy carries in a backpack throughout the game. When you're carrying a Mogwai, a Mogwai head appears at top center of the screen. Stand beside the pen to put the Mogwai into it. Gremlins let Mogwai out of the pen, so keep them away from it!
2. Sword
   Swing your sword as soon as you're within range of a Gremlin. The sword swings in the direction you're moving. While it eliminates Gremlins on contact, it swings too high to hurt Mogwai.
3. Flash Cubes
   Mogwai and Gremlins are very sensitive to light. You can stun them for a second by activating a flash cube. You start out with three flash cubes and win a new one with each new life. Flash cube indicators appear as "+"s at lower screen left for Player One and at lower screen right for Player Two.
4. Television
   Located at upper screen left, the TV turns on when Billy, Mogwai or Gremlins touch it. (But they can't turn it off.) When it's on all the Gremlins and Mogwai within range stand still and watch it.
5. Peltzer Popcorn Popper
   Invented by Billy's dad, the Peltzer Popcorn Popper stands at lower room right. It still has a few kinks in it, though. For one thing, it spews popcorn all over the place! For another, it's so easy to turn the thing on that all the Mogwai and Gremlins need do is walk up to the machine and it starts popping.
   
   The Mogwai eat the popcorn for their night snack and promptly turn into pupas, which shortly hatch into Gremlins. You can make the pupas disappear by touching them--but it's risky since they hatch so quickly. Pick up popped corn, and turn off the popper by walking up to it.
   Refrigerator
   The refrigerator stands at the far left side of the room. Gremlins get into the 'fridge as often as possible:
   They fling food out for the Mogwai to eat, which, as you already know, results in disaster! Pick up food by walking over it.

Another Peltzer invention-in-progress is the automatic ice cube maker in the freezer section of the 'fridge. About the only thing the ice cube maker does automatically is spit ice cubes at random onto the living room floor. The ice cubes melt within a few seconds, forming a puddle that the Gremlins and Mogwai love to play in. And remember, when the creatures touch water, they multiply!

Night Types

You'll encounter three different types of night. There's the mixed night that includes Mogwai, Gremlins, popcorn, and water. There's the Gremlin-only night that features lots of water but no Mogwai or food. And there's the Mogwai-only night in which there are lots of barriers, food and no water, and a short time to get the Mogwai into the pen.

Scoring

Player One's score appears at the top left of the screen and Player Two's score is displayed at top right.

Improvisational Tips

1. Use the room dividers to your advantage. You can swing your sword over a vertical room divider to get the Gremlins on the other side, even as the divider shields you from your enemy.
2. To keep them from throwing out food, eliminate Gremlins standing near the refrigerator as soon as possible.
3. If you think you can control them, let the Mogwai multiply. This gives you the potential for more points at the end of the night. But don't forget--if they eat food, they'll turn into Gremlins.
4. Use the flashcubes judiciously. For example, if you're surrounded by Gremlins, activate a flashcube to stun them, and then slash your way out. You can walk right through a stunned Gremlin, but if it wakes up, you'll be sorry!
5. You can turn on the TV and sneak up on the Mogwai and Gremlins while they're watching TV.
6. Time is worth more than food, so don't go out of your way to pick up pieces of food.