The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

REPTON

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Type          : Arcade; Side-On; BOULDERDASH Style Maze-Game

Author             : Tim Tyler

Standalone Release(s)   : 1984: REPTON, Superior, £9.95

                    1990: REPTON, Superior/Blue Ribbon, £2.99

Compilation Release(s) : 1987: FIVE STAR GAMES, Beau Jolly, £9.95

                    1988: SUPERIOR COLLECTION 3, Superior/Acornsoft, £9.95

Stated compatibility    : Electron

Actual compatibility    : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128

Supplier            : SUPERIOR, Department C, Ground Floor, Regent House, Skinner

                    Lane, LEEDS 7

Disc compatibility     : ADFS 1D00, CDFS 1D00, DFS 1D00

Instructions

The object of REPTON is to collect all the diamonds on each screen avoiding the falling rocks and lurking reptiles. You have a limited amount of time in which to complete each screen: the TIME indicator starts at 6000 and decreases down to 0; you then lose a life.

There are twelve screens (denoted A-L). Basically, each screen requires you to solve a set of puzzles by determining your routes to collect the diamonds. A rock or an egg will fall if unsupported, and if a falling rock lands on you it will kill you.

On screens A to H, a map is available for viweing. Only one sixteenth of the full area covered by the map is shown on the main screen at any time. On screens I to L, there is no map available.

To view the map, you must first pass over the MAP character during the game play; the map may then be seen whenever you press "M".

Screen A is relatively easy to complete. After the screen has been completed, a password is given. Entering this password at the start of the game will then take you straight onto screen B. Likewise, passwords are given at the completion of all further screens.

From screen B onwards, eggs, safes and keys are present. When an egg falls, it cracks upon landing and a reptile emerges. Contact with the reptile is fatal. In order to open the safes, the key must be located. When you pass over the key, all the safes open to reveal a diamond.

It is possible to complete each screen without losing a life.

REPTON Competition

The Prize

A prize of £100 will be awarded to the first player to complete all twelve screens of Repton.

How To Enter

When all twelve screens (screens A-L) have been completed, a congratulatory message is displayed on the screen. The first person to send us a photograph of this screen will win £100.

Rules

1. The closing date for recieving entries to the competition is 30th September 1985.

2. All entries must clearly show the sender's name and address, and should be addressed to: Repton Competition, Superior Software Ltd.

3. The company's decision is final and no correspondence can be entered into.

4. The competition is not open to the employees of Superior Software Ltd, the authors of Repton, their agents or their families.

REPTON Passwords

Screen                 Password

A                      SCREEN ONE

B                      CHAMELEON

C                      TERRAPIN

D                      SIDEWINDER

E                      GECKO

F                      PYTHON

G                      SALAMANDER

H                      IGUANA

I                      CUTTLEFISH

J                      OCTOPUS

K                      GIANT CLAM

L                      THE KRAKEN

Game Controls

Z - Left,   X - Right,   * - Up,   ? - Down  

<ESCAPE> - Kill Yourself (Useful if you become trapped)

M - View Map (Screens A-H, after passing over the Map character)

P - Enter Password (Start of Game only)

<COPY>/<DELETE> - Pause Off/On,   S/Q - Sound On/Off,   R - Return to Start of Game

Instructions' Source   : REPTON (Superior) Back and Inner Inlay

Review (Electron User)

REPTON is the latest, and claims to be the best, release from Superior Software, one of the leading Electron software houses. In short, it is. It's one of those arcade-style adventure games with you playing the part of our hero, Repton. His mission is to retrieve all the diamonds from a series of twisting underground caves.

Unfortunately, the caverns are also full of precariously-balanced rocks that tend to drop on you if you dig under them. They're often arranged so that if you loosen some before others, they fall in the wrong order and seal off the passage to certain diamonds forever.

In later caverns the diamonds lie underneath giant eggs which fall and hatch into ferocious reptiles when you take the diamond. Needless to say, they then spend all their time chasing after you.

In even later caverns, you have to open a safe using a special key that you must find.

Now for the technical side. The entire screen acts as a window on to the area of the cavern you're in, so that you can only see a sixteenth of the cavern. As you move, the view through the window scrolls very smoothly in the appropriate direction.

Repton is a colourful green-headed character and is beautifully animated. If you don't move him, he starts looking round of his own accord. Not to be outdone, the reptiles strike a fearsome pose with their webbed feet and yellow bellies.

At any time during play you can look at a map of the entire cavern to see where the remaining diamonds are. After completing each screen you're given a password enabling you to skip that screen in the future.

There are twelve caverns in all, getting progressively harder. This is an astounding game reaching new heights in Electron arcade adventures. So if you feel that you're an Indiana Jones type then go out and buy it today.

Philip Tudor, ELECTRON USER 2.12