"Quadron"
By Tiny Arcade
1982, Tape 100, Supertape I,
ARCADIAN 6, no. 10 (August 24, 1984): 91-92. 


On December 18, 2011, Paul Thacker commented, "After playing the 2000
Bd version, this one feels much too slow."


"Quadron" is for one player only.

This game challenges you to defend a four-walled energy fortress by pursuing 
and eliminating four monsters who are slowly impinging on the walls and intend 
on breaking through.

If a monster breaks completely through a wall (i.e. creates a "hole" or space 
the width of a wall) the fortress is destroyed.  You start the game with a 
complement of four fortresses.  The game ends when all four have been 
destroyed.

To eliminate a monster, you must move the joystick-controlled blip (it is in 
the center of the fortress when the game begins) toward the monster and "touch" 
it with the blip.  The monster will then disappear.  However, another will take 
its place on the same side of the wall at a distant starting point.

You will have a limited supply of energy with which to pursue the enemy.  When 
you are running low on energy, the background color of the playfield will turn 
red as a warning.

This means you will soon have to return the fortress and eat one of the energy 
dots located inside.  (To eat a dot move the blip over the dot.)  Otherwise, 
your speed will be cut in half and it will be very difficult to keep up with 
the monsters.

Eventually, you will eat up the eight energy dots.  To gain a new supply of 
these, it is necessary to eat all sixty of the bonus dots located near the four 
edges of the playfield (You will also receive sixty new bonus dots).  When you 
accomplish this, the challenge will increase as the four monsters' starting 
points will move slightly closer to the fortress.

In summary, then, the game action consists of eliminating monsters to protect 
the fortress and eating dots to ensure your energy supply.

There are three basic routes you can follow in moving about the playfield.

     1.  Moving around the outside perimeter of the walls.

     2.  Passing through the inside of the fortress via the four
         Openings in the walls.

     3.  Moving off one side of the playfield and appearing on
         the opposite side.

Use these alone and in combination to pursue monsters and eat dots.


Scoring

     Monster ..................... 200 points
     Bonus Dot ................... 100 points
     All Sixty Bonus Dots Eaten .. 800 points


Hand Control

     Joystick - Move the stick in the direction you wish to
                move the blip
     Trigger  - No function
     Knob     - No function

The number of fortresses you have remaining is displayed in the upper left-hand 
part of the screen, while the current score is shown in the upper right-hand 
corner.

To start a new game, press any key (except "H").


Digital Archive Notes: The "original" and "Alt" versions aren't byte-for-byte
                       identical, but Paul Thacker couldn't tell a difference
                       between any of them.
