This doc took me bloody ages, I hope you all appreciate it!
Signed: Codetapper!
It was Princess Lucanna's 18th birthday. The whole of honshu seemed to be there for the celebrations. From the moment Lucanna rose to meet the sun she was showered with wonderful gifts. Dragons danced for her, magicians cast beautiful spells for her and enchanting music played from dawn to dusk. The princess laughed and sang her way through what she thought would be the best day of her life.
From the filthy pit of anguish, he rose. Towering above his one time prison, he breathed deep the fresh and fragrant air of the new day. Lifting his magnificent head, Thanatos screamed his freedom at the clear blue sky. The chilling sound echoed eerily across the land, thunder rolled through the distant hills and the blue sky darkened to a lifeless grey. Thanatos closed his eyes and smiled. "Free, at last!"
Drifting on an ethereal carpet of absolute evil he looked down at the pit that had held him prisoner for so long and felt pure hatred. They had done this to him. Trapped him with their tricks and lies. Well, now it was time revenge. They would know the anguish and torment he had endured for the last 1000 years, and they would look death in the face, and know fear! Yes they would know fear...
The princess's day went all to quickly and even though she prayed it would last forever, the sun slowly began to sink towards the horizon, signifying an end to celebrations. The music played more softly through the halls of kiromo, now. No more dancing dragons, no more magic spells, no more gifts.
Lucanna walked out to the garden where the sound of music was replaced by the quiet giggling of running water and the song of the birds preparing to roost. The little dog Lucanna had been given by cousin susonne snuggled close to her neck to keep away the chill of dusk.
Lucanna sat by the stream and thought about her day.. Bright colours and sounds filled her mind as she remembered the enchantment of the previous hours.
Thanatos luxuriated in the rushing of the wind as he raced towards the temple of kiromo. Death and decay shadowed him and the earth over which he flew; creatures of land, sea and air mutated into mockery of their former selves and deadly traps manifested into the very ground itself Thanatos flew faster when he spied honshu on the horizon. His mouth watered with the expectation of vengeance, revenge would taste sweet.
Lucanna stroked her dog and watched the garden slowly fade to grey, she hummed quietly to the animal as she unwound from the excitement of the day. The dog sat bolt upright, its ears pricked.
Lucanna spoke reassuringly to her new pet but she herself felt something strange in the air. The cold that suddenly poured over her was intense and it felt strangely clammy against her skin. A sudden rush of air whipped around her, bending trees and shrubs and uprooting flowers as it raced through the garden.
Fear clawed at Lucannas throat. The dog yelped and leapt from her grasp, she tried to race after it but found the wind too strong to fight against.
"Are you sure you don't want the late duty, Leander? I hear the princess is in the garden".
"Yes. And she may want a hand controlling that vicious animal Susonne gave her for her birthday!"
"Come on Leander, why don't you confess that you love princess Lucanna?"
"And dream of her being your bride".
Right enough of this drivel. There's 2 more pages of him staring at her and wanting to marry her etc. So I've started from the main part.
Firstly the nasty guy Thanatos has had it away with princess Lucanna and it's hit Leander pretty badly.
"Leander!" shouted the guard, "The emperor wants to see you."
A summons from emperor Etoroshi was not a thing to take lightly, Leander ran to the imperial throne room. 2 Magnificent golden doors silently swept open as Leander approached the throne room, in the flickering light, he could see, at the far side of the room, the emperor kneeling before the ghost-Like image of a beautiful woman. Leander looked in awe at the face of janoon, mystical aid to the emperor, and he too dropped to his knees.
Janoon spoke to Etoroshi briefly before glancing at Leander. The emperor turned his head towards the captain of the guard and as he did so, janoons image faded.
Erotoshi got to his feet and beckoned Leander to approach. Leander stood and walked, head bowed, towards the emperor.
"It is a dark day for honshu, Leander. What Thanatos has done must be quickly undone if we are to survive and conquer the evil that is now spreading across the land. Thanatos will use Lucannas life force to replenish his own... She will die and he will flourish. Then we shall all die".
The emperor sat on his throne and heaved a great sigh.
"Janoon has spoken to me. She told me of your love for Lucanna... Leander looked up.... Do not worry, Leander. It is your destiny. And that can never be denied, for it is the love you feel for my daughter that will save our land. Your feelings for my daughter. And hers for you, will help protect you against the evil of Thanatos. You, Leander, must muster all your strength and bravery to face Thanatos challenge and free Lucanna. However, you will not be alone. Janoons three sirens will guide you through each of the three worlds. Their help will be limited, I'm afraid, but invaluable to your success."
"Say nothing, Leander. Go now, and face your destiny. I await your
return".
Before taking on the challenge of Leander you have a choice to make;you may either start the game immediately or enter the options menu. Impatient ones who initially start will play `Leander` in the default of normal mode (see below). However, selecting options enables you to customise the difficulty of Leander to suit your joystick prowess. Push your joystick up or down to select an option and press fire to confirm your choice.
Joystick - You may play Leander with a single or twin fire joystick.
Lives - You may select to have a maximum of 7 (training mode), 5 (normal mode) or 3 (hard mode) lives.
Start world - If you know the codes(given at the successful completion of the previous world) you may enter it here to immediately access world 2 or start at 3 at start of play.
Credits - You may select a maximum of three credits; i.e. three chances to re-start the game from the level on which you were last destroyed.
Difficulty - Training mode only allows you to play the first world but it does give you maximum hit-point armour (6). And it makes the enemy easy to dispatch. Normal mode (default) lets you play all 3 worlds and it provides you with medium hit armour (3) although the enemy is fairly tough. Hard mode lets you play all 3 worlds but gives you minimum armour (1) and pits you against very strong enemies.
Title seq - The amazing title sequence plays through when you die, unless you use this option to turn it off.
Sound type - Use this option to choose to play Leander accompanied by music or sound effects.
Exit - Exit the option menu.
You are the captain of the guard. And it is you who must face the dangers and terrors of Thanatos evil. Only by fighting your way across the 3 increasingly deadly worlds - each infested with mutant creatures, burly guards, deadly traps and devious puzzles - will you be able to battle Thanatos for the life of princess Lucanna.
Leander has some really neat armour, its initial strength (the number of hit points it features) depends on the mode you choose to play the game. However, there are icons throughout the game that, when picked up, will enhance his armours protection. Purple armour provides the minimum protection (1 hit point), followed by green (2 hit points), blue (3 hit points), silver (4 hit points), gold (5 hit points) and finally black (6 hit points) of protection.
Chests, and some of the enemies, when destroyed, leave behind icons for Leander to pick up. These mainly consist of coinage(for that always useful shopping spree), armour enhancement or extra lives, however, should Leander discover an icon(coinage not included)and leaves it floating around on-Screen instead of collecting it, it will change into a skull icon. Collecting a skull icon calls "Thanatos" ethereal presence!
Attacks if Leander collects a skull icon. Accompanied by crashing thunder, dazzling lightning and torrential rain, his attack can only be thwarted by rune bombs(see weapons) a direct hit with a rune bomb will cause the ethereal presence to change direction. It will take 4-5 hits to destroy it.
Leander begins his quest with a short training sword which delivers only 1 hit point to enemies. However, a quick visit to 1 of the many shops situated through out the game could greatly enhance your enemy-Destroying capabilities - If you have the finances.
Dagger - One hit point.
Long sword - Two hit points.
Force blade - Unstoppable. Varying hit points.
Tempest blade - 2 hit points with each blow. Leanders speed and jumping capabilities are increased.
Lion blade - 5 hit points
Suicide weapon - Uses up one of your lives but delivers 20 hit points to any enemy in the immediate vicinity. Won't work if you only have one life remaining.
Rune bombs - Required for the operation of lion blade. Also, rune bombs are the only weapon capable of dispatching Thanatos "ethereal image".
Please note that the strength of Leanders force blade, tempest blade and lion blade may be increased by holding down the fire button on your joystick. The energy indicator bar at the base of the screen displays their increase in power as you hold the fire button down.
Release it to engage the weapon, Leanders suicide weapon and suicide blade require a full charge of energy before being activated.
Left of the screen (person) is the shop keeper
Right of the screen is an information scroll.
Bottom left of screen is the stock item for the shop.
Bottom middle nearest icon to stock item is Leanders stats.
Next to Leander's stats is the activity icon.
Next to the activity icon (bottom screen) is shop stock up/down to view.
Next to this is the exit icon (bottom right).
Move your joystick left and right to select the activity icon (middle of screen at the bottom/next to Leanders stats icon) press fire to engage it. Shop stock icon requires you to push your joystick up or down to scroll through the shops inventory.
The shop keep will only show you weapons that you can afford.
Top left - Proportional jump left.
Top right - Proportional jump right.
Up - Proportional jump.
Centre left - Turn/walk left.
Centre right - Turn/walk right.
Down - Crouch/enter shop or cave.
To engage blade, tempest blade or lion blade, hold the fire button down.
To engage the suicide weapon, crouch (pull joystick down/centre) and hold the fire button down. Remember the suicide weapon won't work if you only have 1 life remaining.
Esc - Quit current game.
M - Music/FX toggle on/off.
F10 - Pause game.
Kill Leanders momentum by pulling the joystick in the opposite direction to the way he's walking for a fraction of a second. This will help him land on small platforms and ledges and prevent him getting a spike up his wotsit.
Predict the paths of fast moving platforms. Jump to land on them when they are travelling towards you. If you jump when they're closest to you they won't be there by the time you land! And you may have another nasty experience with a spear.
Learn the habits of enemies. There are no random paths in Leander.
Use your coinage wisely. Don't go buying funky weapons when you have only 2 hit-Point armour. What use is a big weapon to a dead hero?
When Leander loses a life (as long as its not his last one) he will return to the screen and flash for about 5 seconds, during this time (if he doesn't get arrested) he is invincible to enemy blows, but those spears can still do him a lot of harm!
To defeat the queen spider and collect the teleport key you will need to destroy her head first then her tail and finally her stomach.
This creature must be hit many, many times. However, one strike of his claws and its curtains.
You will need to collect a powerful sword before you can hope to defeat Thanatos.
