Atari Lynx Zarlor Mercenary

Zarlor Mercenary is a basic shoot-em-up. I know of no cheats for the game itself. There is, however, a well known secret game.

The Game of Life

To enter the game, start Zarlor Mercenary up and wait till the main title screen shows. Then press either the A or B button to go to the character select screen. Now, from this screen, hold down the OPTION 1 button and push the joypad in this sequence: UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and UP. If the sequence is right, the LIFE title will appear on the screen. When the title is shown, a little cell will come floating onto the screen and hit the 'E' in Life. This cell is called a GLIDER (see below) and it causes the word of LIFE to dissolve into a pattern of little cells all over the screen which are constantly growing and changing.

This game deals with artificial life. The object is to create new cell growth patterns on the screen. A single nanite cell that is in contact with 0 to 1 other cells, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, will die from loneliness. A cell that is in contact with 2 or 3 other living cells with survive and multiply. A living cell is born in any empty position that is bounded by 3 living cells. If the cell is bounded by 4 or more other cells, it will die from over crowding.

CONTROLS OF THE GAME

• A or B buttons / OPTION 1 or 2: Create a green crosshair on the screen.
• Joy pad: Use this to move the crosshair around the screen.
• A button: When moving the crosshair, press this to draw on the screen. This line will trigger new growth when OPTION 1 or 2 is pressed.
• B button: Press this to erase what you have drawn or to erase a cell or growth.
• OPTION 1: After using the crosshair, press this to resume play. Choosing this option allows cell growth to move off the sides of the screen. For example: a glider that is heading for the top of the screen will go off the screen and reappear at the bottom of the screen, thus creating a loop pattern.
• OPTION 2: When finished with the crosshair, press this button to resume growth. This option causes the sides of the screen to become walls and will not let cell growth go into a loop pattern.
• PAUSE / OPTION 1: Clears the screen of all life.
• PAUSE / B button: Starts the PASTE / ERASE mode. In this layout, you can take an already copyed cell structure and paste a duplicate anywhere on the screen. This can be done over and over until the screen is totally full of the same copied cell. To paste copies of the cell onto the screen, press the A button and to erase the copy, press the B button. While in the Paste/Erase mode, use the PAUSE / B button to flip your copy. Each time they are pressed, the cell copy will flip in a different direction and angle.
• PAUSE / A button: Puts you into the COPY mode. You will know that you are in this mode when the word 'copy' appears below the crosshairs on the screen. In this mode, you can copy a cell or growth pattern and make copies of it anywhere on the screen. To do this, place the crosshair somewhere near the object that you want to copy. Then, press the A button once. Now, if you move the crosshair, it will cause a box to form (If you don't like the area where the box starts and want to move the starting point somewhere else, press the B button and the point or line will disappear). Enclose the cell or growth that you want to copy inside the box and press the A button again. Upon doing this, the box and crosshair will disappear and the object that the you copied will have a yellowish tint to it. By pressing on the joy pad, you can now move that copied form around the screen. To paste it onto the screen, press the A button.
• PAUSE / A button twice: This sequence brings up the LIFE FORM LIBRARY (see below). Here, you can copy lots of different types of moving cells that can either fly across the screen, create lots of gliders, twirl, pulsate, spin or create growth in a burst of life.
• PAUSE / A button three times: This takes you to LIFE FORM LIBRARY II. This is a blank screen used for the storage of new life forms created and copied by yourself. You can only copy on this screen. The stored copies will not be saved permanently in the game. This screen is only for temporarily holding life forms while playing the game.
• PAUSE / OPTION 2 (FLIP): This sequence will copy any new design that you have created on the screen and place it in Life Form Library II.

** INSTRUCTIONS CREATED BY: ELAK (KALE) SWINDELL 1991

ZARLOR MERCENARY'S - THE GAME OF LIFE LIFEFORM LIBRARY LEGEND

ADVANCED LIFEFORMS Bird Bomber Tri-Birds Glider Bomber Spark Small Glider Factory Mega Glider Factory Growth Bomber Glider Bouncers Fuse Chain Spark Bouncer Twin Spark Bouncers Diamond Chain Bomber Growth Bomb Birds: Small, Medium and Large	SPINNERS Generator Bee Max Warp Big Reactor Sea Urchin Spinwheel Wing Warp Beacon Sparkers Spinner Butterfly Laser Gate Jumping Jack Double Spinner Lady Bug Sun Mini Reactor
GROWTH BOMBS Shoe Arch Sandle Peg