Introduction

When Ancient Egypt was at the height of her glory, the great kings and pharaohs would build hidden tombs far away in a secret place in the depths of the mountains to foil grave robbers. From earliest times until the present day, the land has been rife with skillful grave robbers - some even posing as legitimate archaeologists - all after the luxurious burial artifacts and famed treasures that the pharaohs and their families entombed with themselves.

These secret tombs were always carved deeply into the sides of great cliffs or precipices - the tombs themselves having been excavated in the form of a horizontal chamber. The ruler's mummy would be placed in a stone coffin set into a recessed portion of the floor in the main chamber of the tomb.

Down throughout the years, the pharaohs and the ruling nobility eventually constructed a total of sixty-four of these hidden tombs. This came to be known as the famed VALLEY OF THE PHARAOHS, where the rulers of ancient Egypt had hoped to rest forever in all their former glory.

But, except for the tomb at Thebes of the great Tutankhamen (known as "King Tut"), the wishes of all these grandly buried rulers were foiled: all the great tombs have been broken into, and a majority of them have been left in ruins.

In spite of this, however, with the passage of time a certain number of the former kings were secretly moved to other hidden locations and - through over 3400 years of history - have been able to guard the secret of the famed Mystery Jewels, which hold the secret of eternal life in the Kingdom of the Sun God.

Vick, the notorious English adventurer from Manchester, has gone to the Valley of the Pharaohs in search of the Mystery Jewels. He is betting his skills against those of the wisest minds of ancient Egypt.

Will he be able to solve the riddle of the stone burial crypts???

Will he fall victim to the dreaded curse of the mummy???

Can he locate the hidden resting place of the Mystery Jewels and get away with them safely???

How To Play

This game is designed to be played one person; you compete with the computer.

You can control the action using either your computer keyboard or with a Sinclair type joystick.

You start the game with five lives. At 10.000 points, and for each 20.000 points you score, you get another life.

If you can get all the Mystery Jewels in the pyramid, the secret door to the next pyramid, and the door to the previous pyramid will both appear.

If a mummy touches you, you're out!!

If you want to stop the game midway, press the H key. This will stop the image. Press the H key once again to re-start game.

If you can no longer proceed in the game as the result of mistakes you have made in play, press the R key. This will start you once again at the beginning of the same pyramid. You will lose one life by doing this, however.

Game Controls

O - Left, P - Right, Q - Up, O - Down

Use the left and right controls in combination with the up and down ones to climb and descend stairways.

M or SPACE has different effects as follows:

Vick will grab a pickaxe or a sword whenever he passes one.

Once you have dug a hole, you lose your pickaxe, but the swords may be used over and over.

When you come across a door, jump and touch the lever beside the door. If you make it, the door will slide open.

Hints For Play

1. There are different type of mummies living in the pyramids. Figure out as quickly as you can how each one moves!
2. You can pass through the revolving doors in one direction only: from cyan to white (Weird folks, these "Royal Families"!!). The mummies cannot pass through the revolving doors. Take advantage of this!!
3. Be careful of the holes you make. If you make a hole too deep, you won't be able to get out jumping!
4. Be careful! There are certain places inside the pyramids where you cannot dig! Places you cannot dig include: at the foot of each staircase, directly above and below revolving doors, underneath a sword, and directly underneath the places where pickaxes are left lying.

Scoring

Game Credits

Programming by Manuel Pazos (Guillian) and Jaime Tejedor (Metalbrain)
Graphics by Francisco Javier Velasco (Pagantipaco)
Testing by Javier Ortiz (tbrazil), Iván Sánchez (Ivanzx) and Javier Peña (utopian)

Copyright 1985 Konami
Spectrum Version Copyright 2009 RetroWorks