Santa's Troubles (C64)

This game runs perfectly on both PAL and NTSC models of the Commodore 64.

Background

A few days before Christmas, the toys to be distributed to all the children of the world have now been packaged in Santa's workshop. Unfortunately, a gang of criminals decided to steal part of the gift packages to resell them on the black market. The criminals then went to the North Pole and entered the workshop stealing as many packages as possible and, after loading their truck, fled. Shortly afterwards, one of the village elves noticed what had happened and immediately raised the alarm. Santa Claus then hastily prepared the sleigh complete with reindeer and, following the tracks left by the fugitives in the snow, reached the nearest town, where the criminals had set up their den and where they had unloaded the loot. Now Santa will have to work hard to recover the stolen goods.

Gameplay

The aim of the game is to help Santa Claus recover all the gift packages stolen by the criminals.

Once Santa has snuck into the thieves' den, he will have to move inside the building avoiding the enemies and collect the packages bringing them to the fireplace from which he entered. Santa will be slowed down slightly while carrying a package. After recovering all the packages, the player will advance to the next stage.

At the beginning of each stage (except for the Expert difficulty level) Santa Claus will have a magical power at his disposal capable of temporarily stunning the enemies, but be careful that this power can only be used once. Subsequently, for every two packages recovered, Santa will receive other magical powers in the following sequence:

1. Power capable of stopping time for a few seconds, during which the enemies will not be able to harm Santa.
2. Power capable of stunning the enemies.
3. Power capable of transforming Santa into a "shadow", making him invulnerable and invisible to the enemies for a few seconds.

A flashing icon at the bottom of the screen will indicate what power the player currently has.

Santa Claus will be able to move through the thieves' den via stairs, elevators or trapdoors. The elevators can be called via the appropriate buttons and then operated up or down as desired. The trapdoors can be used as an escape route to elude the pursuers, or to reach the lower parts of the building more quickly.

The enemies (2 for the Easy difficulty level, 3 for the Normal and Expert difficulty levels) have different speeds and are able to chase Santa horizontally, as long as they see him in front of them, or along the stairs when they are nearby. The enemies can use the stairs and the elevators but not the trapdoors. The player will be able to stun an enemy using one of the following methods:

1. Using the stun power.
2. Overwhelming the enemy by falling on top of him through a trapdoor.
3. Operating or calling an elevator upwards just before the enemy reaches it (the enemy will crash into the moving elevator).
4. Operating or calling an elevator downwards crushing the enemy underneath it.

In some stages there is a closed door. The only way to open this door is to recover the key held by the Boss of the gang (the bearded man dressed in brown). In order to steal the key from the Boss, he must first be stunned. An icon at the bottom of the screen will indicate when the player has the key.

In some stages, the fireplace is controlled by a thermostat, which will automatically light the flame when the room temperature reaches the minimum value. As long as there is the flame in the fireplace, the packages cannot be recovered. To turn off the flame it is necessary to act on the thermostat.

The packages will have to be recovered before the time runs out. The amount of time available varies depending on the stage. After losing a life, the time will restart at a minimum of 35.

The player will get 1000 points for each package recovered, 10 points for each horizontal step taken, 2000 points for stunning an enemy, 3000 points for stunning the Boss, and 250 points for each unit of time left at the end of a stage.

As the player progresses through the stages, the enemies will become faster and faster. The game includes a total of 16 stages.

At 40000 points and then every 70000 points (90000 for the Expert difficulty level), the player earns an extra life, for a maximum of 6 lives.

Options

There are 3 difficulty levels to choose from: Easy, Normal, Expert.

On PAL models, you can choose to play at NTSC speed, which is the correct intended speed for the game. PAL speed is slightly lower.

You can choose between A and B fire modes (see Controls below).

You can turn on/off the in-game music. When the music is turned off, additional sound effects are active.

Controls

Joystick in port 2.

Joystick lever = Move Santa Claus.
Short press of fire button (fire mode A) / Fire (fire mode B) = Pick up and drop packages, call elevators, turn off the flame in the fireplace by acting on the thermostat.
Long press of fire button (fire mode A) / Spacebar (fire mode B) = Activate magical powers.

While playing, press F7 to pause or F1 to stop the game and go back to the title screen.

While the best scores are showing, press F1 to reset the ranking.

History

Version 1.0

• First release.

Version 1.1

• You now have the option to activate a magical power by pressing the spacebar.
• Some minor graphics fixes.
  

Version 1.2

• Stage 3 has been modified to make it slightly easier.
• Added a trapdoor in stage 9.
• Slightly increased the speed of Santa and the thieves to make the game more lively.
  
• Reduced collision bounds between Santa and thieves.
  
• Increased collision bounds between Santa and elevator buttons.
• Added the Options menu, where you can also save the settings.
• Now, on PAL models, you have the option to play the game at NTSC speed (recommended).
  
• You now have the option to turn off the in-game music. When the music is turned off, additional sound effects are active.