Escape from Epsilon is a challenging arcade game for one player. The program requires a joystick, BASIC, and at least 16K RAM (24K) for disk systems), and runs on all Atari computers.
Slyvester Biffdrop has been imprisoned in the bottommost of five deadly dungeons. Your task is to help him escape from all five levels. You start in Alpha, the easiest, and work your way up to the terrible Epsilon!
You can move Slyvester to the left and right with the joystick, and can make him jump with a push of the trigger. In each level, Sly begins at the leftmost point of the dungeon. To escape from each level, he must make his Way to the dungeon's extreme right edge. To accomplish this, he must travel from screen to screen, overcoming obstacles, finding keys and opening doors.
The following is a list of the objects you'll encounter in the dungeons, along with a brief description of each of them:
Spikes: If Sly touches one of these, he dies.
Keys: To get a key, simply touch it. Keys in your possession are displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Locked Doors: If you have a key, simply touch the door. Each time you open a door, your key supply decreases by one.
Under-Footers: Often, these are the only barrier between Sly and the dreaded spikes. You must either run along the top of these moving footways or jump over them.
Vacuum Swings: These swing from the ceiling. To get onto one of the swings, jump up when you're directly under it. To dismount, push your joystick in the desired direction.
Vanishing Bridges: These bridges appear and disappear unexpectedly, so you must be careful when crossing them.
Sliding Bridges: These bridges slide back and forth over the spikes.
When Sly escapes from a given level, you're shown the number of minutes the escape took. To choose a new level, press [SELECT] and then [START].
ANTIC VOL. 3, NO. 2 / JUNE 1984 / PAGE 71
