THE SITUATION

You are a deep sea diver in search of a fabulous treasure of diamonds that spilled from the hold of a Spanish galeon that sank during a fierce storm in the early sixteenth century.  You dive deep into the murky darkness of Dave Jones' Locker, and enter the shark-infested maze of kelp to retrieve the treasure.  You know your mission is rife with danger...the menace of the man-eating sharks that patrol the kelp beds...the lurking menace of the legendary Loch Ness monster, a beast that will pursue you relentlessly if you dare invade its territory.
 

THE SET-UP

Shark Attack is played with one or two players using the Joystick Controller.  Be sure the power is off when you insert or remove the Shark Attack cartridge from your video game system.
 

THE DIFFICULTY SWITCH

When you set the Difficulty Switch to the "B" position, your diver moves rapidly through the deep.  But at the "A" setting, he labors slowly against a heavy current, and your challenge of acquiring a fortune while eluding death is much greater.

To provide a handicap advantage for a less experienced player in a two-player game, you may adjust the positions of the Difficulty Switch.  Simply place the switch in position B for the inexperienced player, and in position A for the veteran.
 

THE JOYSTICK CONTROLLER

Hold your Joystick Controller so that the red "FIRE" button is in the upper left hand corner.  Use this button to close the shark cage door to protect your diver in the games that allow it, while you use your joystick to control your diver's movements in eight directions as illustrated above (picture of joyustick).  Try to keep your diver in the middle of the murky channels through the maze of kelp, because he can easily become snarled in lush green tendrils of kelp that will impede his movement.
 

SCORING

The screen shows one player's score on the left, the other player's score on the right, and in the middle the current turn score of the player competing at that time.  Players score one point for each diamond gathered.  In the gobble game, the central score reflects how many diamonds the diver is carrying with him, and is added to his permanent score when he returns to the shark cage...if he ever does!  In the pick'm up game, the central score reflects how many diamonds have been deposited in the shark cage, and is added to the player's permanent score when his turn is completed.
 

OPTIONS

In the one-player mode, the game is over when a player's three divers and any earned bonus divers have all been eaten by hungry sharks.  You get one bonus diver each time 100 points are earned.  When two people are playing, each completes his turn when one of his divers is eaten by a shark.  In the pic'm up game, a diver must take each diamond back to the shark cage one at a time.  In the gobble game, he collects them by swimming over them one after the other.  They will be counted permanently when he returns to the shark cage with them.  If he waits too long, he may be eaten by a shark, and the points for the diamond he's gathered will be lost forever!  Players may also decide whether the shark cage door is always open, is controlled by the diver, is open and closed at random, or is rotated to different sides of the cage.
 

SHARK CAGE

In the "open and closed at random" mode, the diver has no control over the shark cage door.  But in the "diver control" mode, the game begins with the door open.  When your diver has entered the cage and you press the red "FIRE" button on your joystick controller, you will close the door.  When you release your fire button, the shark cage door will open.
 

SHARKS

Sharks move across the maze, and are not bounded by it as is the diver.  On each pass, if a shark encounters any diamonds he will eat one.  If a shark bumps against the shark cage, he will remove one diamond from the cage.
 

PROTECTION FROM SHARKS

A diver is safe from sharks when he is in the shark cage and the door is closed.  He cannot kill a shark, so his only other defense against these deadly denizens of the deep is to stay alert and swim quickly out of their way.  So every second of the game you must decide between your diver's safety and how many diamonds he collects.
 

MYSTERY CAVES

When the diver enters one of the four corner caves, he will immediately and unpredictably reappear from any of the four caves.  Note that the top two cave entrances are horizontal, and your diver will enter them moving to the left or right.  The bottom two cave entrances are vertical, and your diver must swim down through the entrance, then turn to the outside of the screen at the bottom, entering the caves to the left or right.
 

LOCH NESS MONSTER

BEWARE! You cannot kill Nessie.  When she is disturbed, Nessie appears from one of the four caves, and she will continue after the diver who has disturbed her until your diver leads her back to one of the four caves, whereupon she will enter and go back to sleep.  NOTE:  The shark cage is no defense against the awesome strength of Nessie.

GAME MENU

There are 16 variations of SHARK ATTACK.  Select your favorite with the game select switch on your console choosing from any of the variations shown on our game matrix.