ACCESSING LIFE: The game of LIFE is accessed through the character selection screen of Zarlor Mercenary. Turn on your Lynx with the Zarlor Mercenary game card inserted. Press the fire button twice to get to the character selection screen. At this point you must hold down OPTION 1 while moving the joypad as follows: Up, Down, Left, Right, Up. At this point your screen should say LIFE and there will be a LIFEform known as a 'glider' moving across the screen diagonally. It will go off the edge of the screen and return on the bottom, eventually running into the cells forming the word LIFE and causing the chain reaction that destroys the title screen. Before the title screen is destroyed you may try the following controls: 1. Moving the joypad or pressing either OPTION button or PAUSE will stop the current evolution of LIFE. 2. Pressing OPTION 1 to continue the evolution puts LIFE into a mode where cells that reach the edge of the screen wrap around to the other side. 3. Pressing OPTION 2 to continue the evolution puts LIFE into a mode where cells that reach the edge of the screen behave as though they have reached a solid wall. This may be useful if 'gliders' that are launched are disrupting your LIFEforms. 4. Pressing either BUTTON A or BUTTON B puts LIFE into DRAWING MODE. DRAWING MODE: Access DRAWING MODE by pressing BUTTON A or BUTTON B while LIFE is evolving or after the current LIFEform has reached a stable state. You can tell you are in DRAWING MODE because the joypad will be in control of your cursor, a set of green crosshairs. While in DRAWING MODE, your controls behave as follows: 1. Moving the joypad with BUTTON A depressed will allow you to draw. 2. Moving the joypad with BUTTON B depressed will allow you to erase. 3. Pressing OPTION 1 or OPTION 2 will allow your LIFEform to evolve, as described in 2 and 3 in the above ACCESSING LIFE section. 4. Note that the screen cannot be flipped, but attempting to RESTART the game will cause the screen to be cleared, and you will remain in the DRAWING MODE. 5. Pressing PAUSE and BUTTON A will put you in COPY MODE. 6. Pressing PAUSE and BUTTON B will put you in PASTE/ERASE MODE. COPY MODE: Access COPY MODE by holding down PAUSE and pressing BUTTON A while in DRAWING MODE. You can tell you are in COPY MODE because the green crosshairs will be onscreen with the word COPY in green below and slightly to the right of the crosshairs. While in COPY MODE, your controls behave as follows: 1. Pressing either OPTION 1 or 2 will return you to drawing mode. 2. Holding down PAUSE and pressing either OPTION 1 or OPTION 2 will evolve your LIFEform frame-by-frame. Note that the OPTION button used determines whether screen wrap is on or off. 3. Pressing BUTTON A sets one corner coordinate of a box that you can draw. Pressing BUTTON A again sets the other corner coordinate of the box. Anything within the box is now in your COPY BUFFER. You are now in PASTE/ERASE MODE. 4. Holding down PAUSE and pressing BUTTON A takes you to the LIFEform library, a screen full of goodies for you to put into your COPY BUFFER. After selecting a LIFEform or group of LIFEforms, you will be in PASTE/ERASE MODE. 5. Holding down PAUSE and pressing BUTTON B takes you directly to PASTE/ERASE MODE, using whatever was last put in your COPY BUFFER. If you haven't yet selected anything, you may get garbage. PASTE/ERASE MODE: Access PASTE/ERASE MODE either by holding PAUSE and pressing BUTTON B while in DRAWING MODE, or by going to COPY MODE and selecting LIFEforms from your screen or the library screen. You can tell you are in PASTE/ERASE MODE because your joypad now controls whatever you have in your COPY BUFFER. While in PASTE/ERASE MODE, your controls behave as follows: 1. Pressing either OPTION 1 or OPTION 2 will return you to DRAWING MODE. 2. Pressing BUTTON A will allow you to paste your COPY BUFFER. 3. Pressing BUTTON B will allow you to erase using your COPY BUFFER. 4. Holding PAUSE and pressing BUTTON B will flip your COPY BUFFER any one of eight possible ways. 5. Note that the screen cannot be flipped, but attempting to RESTART the game will cause the screen to be cleared, and you will remain in the PASTE/ERASE MODE. 6. Pressing PAUSE and BUTTON A will put you in COPY MODE. CREDITS: Documentation and discovery of LIFE by Jeff Kovach, SysOp STAR-LINX BBS. Discovery of COPY MODE and LIFEform library by Todd Ellering, Co-SysOp STAR-LINX BBS. Well, that about sums up our instructions for the game of LIFE. We have discovered a number of new LIFEforms and are sure you will do the same. We welcome you to call STAR-LINX BBS in Mesa, AZ at 602-464-4817 to gain access to our system and join our Lynx Club, with members from all over the U.S.A. and Canada. Share you LIFEform discoveries with us and we will include them in our next press release. Also, post your high scores, read press releases from Atari, play on-line games, and stay on top of the latest Lynx news with STAR-LINX BBS. Be sure to have your California Games game card handy when you call to gain higher access. The above press release is (c)1991 STAR-LINX BBS and may be freely distributed, providing this statement is included.