Prologue

Poor Popolon...

Some guys only have to deal with "Not-Tonight-Dear, I-have-a-headache", but not poor Popolon...

It was bad enough that he had to wear this silly Viking helmet thingy... "It looks sexy...", she had said... And he had believed her, at the time - but then, she was Aphrodite...

And who can say "No" to her?...

"Well, I guess that's both my heads out of action for tonight then...", thought Popolon, as he narrowly avoided the claws of yet another Black Demon...

For Popolon had been tricked, and he knew it...

"Pop-a-long dear... You'll need to do something noble before I lay with thee...", she had said.

"Damn Greeks, and their bloody Melodrama!", thought our hero, as he continued his reluctant Quest.

It was bad enough that the girl had said "No", but to then have got herself kidnapped and taken to the Demon Castle was just too much...

Now he was obliged to rescue her...

Unable to shake off her Love Spell nor Consummate his feelings, he could do naught but march through the Forbidden City, to pass through 8 Gateways leading out of this world and into the Underworld beyond...

All this Death, Destruction and Resurrection, just to Unite again with his Beloved, and then...

...just maybe then...

..to remove that stupid helmet...

Playing The Game

Anyone familiar with the original MSX Knightmare game will feel at home with this conversion, which is similar, lacking only a few of the weapon gems from the original.

Although an eye sore, our hero's Magic helmet grants the ability to resurrect after death, granting a limited number of lives with which to complete the Quest.

More lives are rewarded for high scores, or collected directly by picking up Kingly Chess Jewels, hidden as ground icons. Some ground icons are hidden, being unearthed only after a player shoots them. Shooting ground icons multiple times reveals their Jewel, ready to be collected on contact. Collecting a Chess Jewel activates useful powers to aid our hero, like freezing time (Queen), Killing Enemies (Knight), Granting lives (King) or Granting points (Rook). Since high scores yield extra lives, never underestimate the need for collecting points.

Like ground icons, Bridge scenery is also occasionally hidden - something to consider if you think finding icons is only about treasure hunting...

Aphrodite has also scattered useful Magic and Weapon Gems. Gems generally float down screen towards the player and can be collected on contact. Shooting gems transforms them from one type of power into another. A careful player can cycle through the gem powers by shooting them, before collecting the one that he wants. Weapon gems grant bonus points, twin arrow firepower or flaming arrow power to make our hero more formidable. Similarly, magic gems grant bonus points, bullet protection (shield) or protection from enemy contact (transparency) if collected.

Popolon's Quest is compulsory, like his Love for Aphrodite. The scenery will neither stop nor idle for our hero, being compelled, as he is, to put one foot in front of the other towards his Love. So avoid getting trapped between descending scenery, if you wish to preserve your good looks!

The enemy is many and varied, some fast, some slow, some firing, some killing only on contact. Not all enemies die when shot. Some are more dangerous when attacked, and best left alone. Nevertheless, all enemies can be killed in some way or other.

Death, unpleasant though it is, grants at least one advantage. As he phases from the Beyond, back to the world of the living, Popolon is temporarily rendered invulnerable to both bullets and enemy contact. Such invincibility can prove useful, after death, if a player is quick...

At the end of each level, on the steps of the Gateway to the next, awaits an Overlord... Each Overlord is different, but all must be vanquished before our player can proceed - none can be avoided...

Good Luck!

Loading

Select the "Tape Loader" option (usually already selected at the top, but selectable with cursor keys). Press RETURN/ENTER to load.

This game is 128k only. It is written to work on the 128k Sinclair Spectrum, Amstrad +2,+2B and +3, as well as a range of other clones with 128k or more memory (eg: Russian Pentagon models).

Sorry, but this game will not work on 48k based models, as it uses extensive memory paging for game data.

Game Credits

This game was written as a fan-based game, modelled after the original Konami MSX Knightmare game, made in 1986. Since that time, numerous clones and conversions of this game have appeared for other systems, but none for the ZX Spectrum - until now. The original game on the MSX was noteworthy for a number of reasons when it first appeared:

• It involved colour scrolling (impressive for the MSX at the time)
• the game involved what seemed an excessive range of collectables and power-ups for a game of its era
• the game was actually a decent shoot-'em-up at a time when such a genre was limited for the MSX.

As a ZX Spectrum project, this game was converted originally as an exercise in programming by Climacus, to learn more about scrolling techniques.

The original game is something of a legend amongst MSX fans. Nevertheless, we believed that the simplicity of gaming design, limited scrolling style and graphics might transfer well to our humble ZX machine. We hope you'll enjoy our humble offering...

We´ve used PASMO, SevenuP, Vortex Tracker, Shiru´s effects player Mapwin and Spectaculator.

Testing: Javi Ortiz and Javier Pérez. Thanks!!!
Graphics and Mapping: Mcneil.
Loading Screen: Radastan.
Code: Climacus

Thanks to everybody who has helped us with the game.

Happy Gaming,

Karl McNeil (Aka MCNEIL)
Eduardo Martin (Aka CLIMACUS)