smidgets X
by euphoric rush

introduction
welcome. you are about to experience the second ever finished game by euphoric rush. this is a game in the style of that classic arcade game, robotron, and your primary objective is to win the game by any means necessary.

installation
if you are familiar to the games made by programs such as multimedia fusion, the games factory or klik and play, then you won't need to do much. just extract the bass.dll file into C://WINDOWS/SYSTEM and you're ready to rock! bass.dll allows the boss music to be played.

if you are unfamiliar with the above programs, then you need to learn that certain .DLL files will allow the game to run. for your convenience, i have included that particular file, which too needs to be moved to C://WINDOWS/SYSTEM before you're ready to play.

story
the smidget corporation have been rumoured to be up to no good for quite some time. the fbi interrupted one of their satellite links and discovered that they were producing weapons of mass destruction. so the fbi send in their top agent to stop the production of these machines, which are capable of destroying human-kind.

however, the corporation have been alerted to your presence. when you step through the main doors expecting a nice plush reception area, all you see is...a nice plush reception area. you step through the doorway, onto the mat, and the mat gives way! a hole is there instead, and you plummet down into an underground arena. upon crashing to the floor, your radio breaks and all sorts of nasties are appearing from seemingly nowhere. but the teleporters seem to be malfunctioning somewhat. weapons appear at random. could you use these?

your main objective. free the fridge. erm, actually, it's to find a way out of the arena and cease production of the enemy machines, and to ensure that never again the smidget corporation will be a threat to smidgetkind.

game premise
the game is split up into zones; zone one, zone two and zone three. in each zone are three non-scrolling arenas, one bonus game and one boss fight, making for 12 levels in all and 3 bonus.

the arenas::
in each arena, your objective is to destroy every last creature within. once you have done this, you are given free reign to move to the next arena. bad guys teleport in from the blue teleporter pads you see in each arena. here's a brief description of each of them:

CRETIN :: these wander aimlessly around the screen, bouncing when they hit the edge of the playing area. only sometimes do they chase after you for a period of time before running out of breath.

GREENIE :: these move in an unpredictable pattern, wandering around in curvy movements. every so often, one will shoot out a HOMER at you. and watch out when they die. they explode in a fragment of... bullets.

HOMER :: homers are not simpson-related characters, but rather, purple balls that move towards their intended target: you. after a while they will run out of steam and disappear. they cannot be destroyed otherwise.

SHOOTER :: these are the Corporation's top soldiers, and their aim is said to be infrequent, offputting and downright dangerous. take care with these ones.

CRAWLER :: these are not offspring from eric vaughns snake game; rather, they are little bugs. their tough shells make them able to withstand more hits. they never chase after you or shoot anything at you. instead, they lay MINES for you to accidently walk into.

MINES :: stationary, small, and numerous. and random. should a mine overlap a portal or your life bar, it will sink slowly down. make sure you do not stupidly wander into one.

TANKLETS :: tiny versions of the first boss you face in the game, their turrets always face you and they shoot large numbers of bullets at you too. as well as this they are exceptionally tough. it's just as well then that you won't encounter these until right near the end.

the bonus games::
welcome to slot machine world! there are five turning wheels with 5 different colours within. you must get every wheel to match a particular colour in order to gain an extra life. believe me, you're gonna need them. oh, and the further you progress through the game, the faster they turn. just thought you should know >:)

boss fights::
little is known about them, except they are placed solely to drain your lives. the last one requires tactics. or should that be [jadegoody mode] tictacs [/jadegoody mode]? ho hum.

game controls
smidgets x utilizes a neat little control system which is similar to games like destruction carnival and factor x. you use the arrow keys to move about, and you sidestep by holding down SHIFT and the direction you wish to move in. this movement needs to be learnt, and is essential for survival in the later stages of the game.

game weapons
these little devices of doom spawn randomly around the game arena as ammo packs, and do not last long either. once an ammo pack start to flash, you only have a limited time to get to it, else it will disappear. Here's what can be spawned:

STANDARD GUN :: a slow firing device, this is standard issue for all fbi agents such as yourself

MACHINE GUN :: this is essentially a rapid-fire version of your standard gun

TWO WAY LASER :: this shoots two blue laser beams in the direction you face. to the front and to the side slightly

POWER LASER :: an extremely powerful laser which can shoot right the way through bad guys. however, against bosses this special feature is deemed ineffective

FLAMETHROWER :: die! DIE! KILL THEM ALL! AH HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

cheats and passwords
every game has them. each time you defeat a boss you are given a code. write it down if you know what's good for you. and as for cheats...well, lets just say that you'll have to complete the game to find one of them out. the others will be issued soon, heh heh heh, to weed out the weeds.

all of the codes need to be inputted at the password menu. simply click on the text box there and type in your password. if it's correct, you will automatically know, without having to press any other buttons. try typing in a few words, see what you get ;)