Rocket Ranger
Typed out by tsr
NES-2R-USA
Kemco*Seika
Rocket Ranger
Instruction booklet
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The year is 1990. Low in the night sky appears an alien moon from which waves
of ships descend upon Europe. Their occupants establish a new country called
Greater Leutonia. The evil Leutonians, led by Colonel Krag, set out to conquer
the world. In the wee hours of the morning the Leutonians land a zeppelin in
Washington DC and kidnap Dr. Barnstorff and his beautiful daughter, Jane.
It's all up to you, a young American scientist, and your newly perfected
rocket powered flying suit. Only you, by becoming Rocket Ranger, can rescue
the Barnstorffs and save the world from the oppressive rule of the Leutonians.
Go to it!
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Names of controller parts and operating instructions
Only controller 1 is used for this game.
Control Pad:
Used to move Rocket Ranger, aim weapons, and to aim punches.
SELECT Button:
Used to advance time by one month when in the War Room.
START Button:
Used to start the game and to pause the game.
A Button:
Used to make a selection, fire your weapon, or throw a punch.
B Button:
Not used.
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How to play
Starting the Game:
At any time during the title sequence, press the START button to begin the
game.
The Objective:
Your objective is to prevent the Leutonians from the conquering the world and
rescue Dr. Barnstorff and his daughter. To do this, you must steal the five
parts necessary to build a rocket and sufficient Lunarium fuel to take you to
the alien moon. The Leutonians have established five secret rocket labs
somewhere in the world. You must locate these labs and steal one part from
each lab. In addition, the Leutonians are importing Lunarium from their lunar
base to build bombs. You must find where these Lunarium shipments are arriving
and stael the necessary fuel for your rocket. You can accomplish this by
attacking the facility yourself or by your agents mounting a successful
resistance effort.
Once you have built your rocket and acquired enough Lunarium fuel, you must
pierce their lunar defenses and rescue Dr. Barnstorff and Jane. All this must
be accomplished before the Leutonians conquer the United States. Nobody said
this superhero stuff was going to be easy!
---
Playing the Game:
After reading the introductory text, you will be presented with the Main Menu.
To make a selection from the menu, use the control pad to move the cursor to
the desired selection and press the A button. This Main Menu is available
whenever you are in the United States.
War room:
Your progress, as well as that of the Leutonians, is monitered from the world
map.
The top of the scren shows the current date as well as the the Leutonian
efficiency. The higher the Leutonian efficiency, the more rapidly they will
occupy countries. By destroying their bases you can lower their efficiency.
Here are the symbols used on the map:
Pointer
Rocket Ranger [RR]
Zeppelin
Agent (black if low risk cover, white if high risk cover, blinking if new
information to report)
Leutonian Base [crosshair]
Leutonian Rocket Lab [biohazard-y symbol]
Leutonian Occupied Country [leutonia symbol]
Lunarium Storage Facility [2 wine bottles in a box]
---
Using agents:
To assist you in your challenge, you are assigned five top agents. These
agents can be a valuable source of information about the activities of the
Leutonians. You control both the placement and actions of the agents. However,
you cannot remain in the United States for more than one year or you will be
arrested for cowardice. After all, super heroes are expected to take action!
To command your agents, position the pointer over an agent and press the A
button. You will then be shown a menu like the screen at right.
The first line shows the current country. The second line indicates whether or
not the agent has managed to infiltrate the country.
The third line shows the current orders being carried out by the agent. Agents
can be commanded to Infiltrate or Start Resistance. A country must first be
infiltrated before you can start a resistance movement. In order to obtain the
necessary Lunarium to power your rocket, you must steal it from the Leutonian
rocket base. This can be accomplished either by you directly defeating the
forces at the rocket base, or by your agents mounting a successful resistance.
If you, as Rocket Ranger, defeat the forces that guard the rocket base, your
rocket pack will be filled. If your agents conduct raids on the rocket base,
the Lunarium they acquire will be automatically transferred back to your base
in the United States.
The fourth line shows the cover status of the agent. Agents with Low Risk
cover are less likely to be found by the Leutonians and show up as black
symbols on the map. However, they will take longer to carry out your orders.
Agents with High Risk cover are much more likely to be discovered by the
Leutonians but can carry out your orders more quickly. High risk agents are
shown as white symbols on the map.
The next two lines report the number of agents assigned to the current country
and the number in reserves. You can change the number of agents by moving the
cursor up to the AGENTS line and holding down the A button. When you hold down
the A button, the word AGENTS will change to TRANSFER. You can then use the
left and right directions on the control pad to move agents to and from
reserves to assigned status. By transferring agents to reserves, you can pick
them up and assign them to any other country.
The CHANGE ORDERS and CHANGE COVER options let you change the current orders
and cover statue of your agents. To change these items, move the cursor to the
desired selection and press the A button.
The REPORT option will request a report from the agents. This option will be
blinking if the agent has new information to report. In addition, the agent's
symbol on the map will be blinking. This is a valuable source of information
about the location of rocket labs and enemy bases.
The CONTINUE option will take you back to the map. To leave the War Room, move
the pointer to the United States and press the A button.
---
Fuel depot:
The fuel depot lets you transfer Lunarium between storage, your rocket pack,
and the rocket ship you must build. Lunarium is necessary to power both your
rocket pack and the rocket ship. You must manage your supply of Lunarium
wisely!
To transfer Lunarium, use the Up and Down directions on the control pad to
move the white arrow so that it points to the two places you wish to transfer
between. Next, use the Left and Right directions on the control pad to
transfer the Lunarium. Press the A button when you are done.
---
Rocket lab:
The Rocket Lab will show you how many pieces of the rocket you are missing and
the amount of Lunarium that you need to acquire. When you have the necessary
rocket parts and Lunarium, you can launch your rocket from the Rocket Lab.
Take off:
This allows Rocket Ranger to travel from the United States to another
destination. When you choose to take off, you will be shown a map like the one
in the War Room. Move the pointer to your chosen destination and press the A
button; the screen at upper right will then appear.
This shows you the amount of Lunarium you need to reach your destination and
the amount of Lunarium you have available in your rocket pack. Choose CANCEL
to choose a different destination or ACCEPT to go to your chosen destination.
When you have arrived at a new destination outside the United States, the
screen at lower right will appear. The Pick Destination option will permit you
to choose a new destination. The Send SOS option will call for help from
American forces. This is useful for returning to the United States even when
you do not have enough Lunarium to make it back home.
---
The challenges you face:
You will face many challenges as you attempt to save the world. Among these
challenges are:
The Zeppelin:
The Leutonians have kidnapped the Barnstorffs and are transporting them back
to Greater Leutonia in the zeppelin. You can rescue the Barnstorffs by
destroying the zeppelin. To do this, you must first destroy some of the aerial
torpedoes with your laser pistol. This will permit you to get close enough to
the zeppelin to shoot the gunners in the gondola of the zeppelin. Be careful
to hit only the gondola! After all, the zeppelin is filled with flammable gas!
The Leutonian Air Force:
The Leutonian bases are protected by squadrons of Leutonian fighters. In order
to attack the base you must first destroy the fighters.
The Temple:
Some of the Leutonian rocket labs are located deep within the ruins of ancient
temples. These temples are dotted with gun emplacements. You must knock out
each of the gun emplacements in order to gain access to the rocket parts.
Hand to Hand Combat:
The rocket labs are guarded by macho, burly soldiers. No fancy weapons here,
just good old bare knuckles.
To protect yourself from punches to the head, press Up or Down on the control
pad. To protect yourself from punches to the body, press Left or Right on the
control pad.
To throw a punch, hold down the A button and press a direction on the control
pad. Press Up to throw an upper cut, Right to throw a right cross, Left to
throw a left cross, and Down to throw a punch to the body. The strength of the
fighters is indicated by the bar graph at the bottom of the screen.
The Lunar Base:
After landing your rocket on the lunar base, you must eliminate the female
Leutonian guards. Use the control pad to take careful aim and press the A
button to fire your pistol. If you succeed, you will face one final challenge.
As you do so, remember the importance of the look in the eyes of the aliens!