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              A   A C   C  E         S     W W W   I   L     D  DD
              A   A  CCC   EEEEE SSSS      WWWWW IIIII LLLLL DDDD

                             Aces Wild Version 1.0

                              by Mbeanis N. Alzin
                             mbeanis@mindless.com

Aces Wild is the first of a series of high quality levels for Sqrxz for the
TI-85 Calculator.  Aces Wild I consists of four levels.  It was created on
June 24, 1998, and is entirely copyrighted, including this text file.

BRIEF OVERVIEW
--------------

These are four levels for the experienced player.  Although they are hard,
however, ample extra lives have been added so that the player should not very
often encounter a Game Over message.  The longest and hardest of these levels
is level three.  Aces Wild contains no hidden spikes, no necessary enclosed
jumps, no necessary rainbow jumps, and no game traps (this means that you are
never stuck in a place where you must restart the game).  I find these tricks
to be evidence of a lack of creativity in level design.


LEVEL ONE
---------

The Disappearing Bridge.
The first screen takes some practice.  It helps if Sqrxz jumps onto the last
of the three top bridge squares instead of running, because that allows more
time before he drops to his death in which you can maneouver him onto the edge
for a good clean jump.  However, it is possible by both running and jumping.
Once you reach the part with the green men, something should be said.  There
is a bug in the program in which, given a square of bridge adjacent to a
square of something other than air, sqrxz may stand on less than half the
bridge square indefinately if more than fifty percent of him is hanging over
onto the other square, in this case spikes.  This means that sqrxz can stand
still or jump repeatedly on the bridge squares as the green men run past him.
This makes that part much easier.

LEVEL TWO
---------

The Race Against the Little Green Man.
This level starts off just where the first ended, except the portculis on the
right is open.  Once Sqrxz makes it through this treacherous pit of hedgehogs
and green men, he finds himself racing with a lone green man, who takes the
bottom route, while Sqrxz must take the top route.  The objective is to trap
the green man in the portculis, but beware, if Sqrxz goes too far to fast, the
green man may be lost on the far left, but if Sqrxz is slow, the green man may
pass back through the portculis before Sqrxz can close it, or kill him while
he is closing it.  Then the green man is released by stepping on the bridge,
and Sqrxz must drop onto the green men on the lower level, surpass him, and
then use him for a high jump when the green man returns in the opposite
direction.

LEVEL THREE
-----------

A Theme of Spikes.
This level is quite uneventful until the most difficult part of the world, the
Iron Maiden.  This is a complicated system of portculises and spikes, in
which no doubt Sqrxz will die many times, and will have to move slowly. Beware
also as the next Switch doesn't appear until after a very difficult jump over
a long pit, and after the onrush of two green men and a hedgehog.  Good luck.
Then jump across a line of bats, drop the portculis and jump on the green man
to get up to the tower, and over to the necessary death station, where you
must flip the switch, die, and then release the green man to use him for a
high jump.  This was originally meant to be harder, but I couldn't get it to
work.  Finally, there is a secret passage in the spike pit,  the first exit is
impossible to enter.  Follow the bats across the bottom and you're finished.

LEVEL FOUR
----------

The level begins with an opportunity to stock up on lives, followed by a fork
in the road.  The lower path is right choice.  Then walk slowly to stagger the
appearance of the hedgehogs so that Sqrxz can jump over them separately. Then
release the bats, jump across them on their return route, and hit the switch.
To the best of my knowledge this pit is impossible to traverse unless you die
and start where the switch is.  After that is the end.

NOTES
-----
The reason I chose the name Aces Wild is on an alphabetical basis, no other
reason, so don't ask.  The program takes up about 1200 bytes, so it's pretty
small.  Thank you for playing, and feel free to distribute the zip file, un-
modified, and with this text file.  Thanks to Jimmy Mardell for adapting this
wonderful game for the TI-85.

(C) 1998 Mbeanis N. Alzin

