                                 SKID ROW
  
                                 presents

                             WRATH OF THE DEMON

INTRODUCTION

The wizard, Anthrax, lit the last candle completing the circle around him.
Thirteen flames burning above thirteen waxen heads flickered in an unfelt
wind; a plume of colored smoke rising from each to form a churning cloud
in mid-air.  Anthrax lifted his arms into the cloud and began to mutter
an ancient spell, causing the smoke to swirl wildly, spitting forth
flashes of light that filled the room with an evil energy.  As the wizard
continued his incantation, an image began to materialize in the raging
storm above, an evil twisted image, not that of a human but of a Demon
long thought dead.

The Demon spoke like thunder booming loudly in the wizard's ears, "Who
disturbs the Demon's sleep?!  What creature thinks himself so powerful as 
to risk the Demon's fury?!"

Anthrax tried to scream over the torment building in the room, "It is
I, Anthrax, court wizard to his Majesty the King, who summons you to
perform my bidding!"

The words were almost lost in the rushing wind, "I command you to destroy
the King and make his realm mine!"

The Demon laughed, the sound of thunder exploding over a mountain range,
"Kill the King I shall and capture his domain I will, but not for you,
insignificant worm!"

Lightning erupted from the circling cloud striking the Wizard and
reducing his body to a smouldering pile of ash.  The cloud began to
grow, spilling from the tower's windows, flowing up into the sky.
It spread its tendrils, blotting out the sun to make the land as dark
as death.  An evil rain poured down upon the earth and set the ground
afire, spreading from dirt to rocks, rocks to trees, trees to man.
The Demon's minions leapt from each flame, springing forth as hideous
monsters to devastate the inhabitants of the doomed Kingdom.  In an
instant the entire realm, as far as the eye could see, was burning;
the smoke from a hundred thousand dying souls rising up, lost on the
blowing winds.  As quickly as it had begun the deadly storm receded
into the castle that had witnessed its birth.

The once prosperous Kingdom lay ruined, nothing left alive but a single
bird forgotten in the Demon's blind wrath.  Months turned to years,
years to decades and the memory of the ruined Kingdom was lost like
dust on the wind.  All that remained was a lone castle, the seat of
power from where a King once ruled.

After a time, men wandered into the wasteland and a new Kingdom arose
ruled by another King.  All the while the Demon continued his sleep,
waiting as he recovered the energy he had spent.  The land was his now
and the Demon kept a watchful eye one these inhabitants as they populated
the land.  Within a few generations the Kingdom had grown as mighty
as the one that had stood many years before.  And as it grew, so did
the uneasiness of the Demon's sleep until finally the evil one sensed
the time had come to once again wreak destruction.

In the hollow of a tree, a good faery awoke from a terrible nightmare.
In her dream she had seen a vast horde of pillaging monsters moving 
across the land like an unstoppable plague.  The face of a powerful
Demon reached the recesses of her mind, lingering long after the nightmare
was over.  Fearing the dream a premonition of real danger, the faery
began preparing magical potions and spells that might defend the realm
against such an evil attack.  The King must be warned, she thought,
and someone must find the Demon and destroy it.

Even as the faery worked, the deadly hands of the Demon reached out
from the castle delivering one of its minions to entrap the faery
and keep her captive until the Demon could rise.  As the faery was
being captured she sent out a mental plea for help to the King, that
some brave warrior might be sent to rescue her.  The King received the
message and did as the good faery requested, calling upon his most
trusted messenger to relay a command to the honored knight the King
had selected.

The messenger sped into town with only one thought in mind - to deliver
the Royal Scroll he carried.  The Demon was watching though, and again
released one of its monsters to kill the messenger before he could 
complete his mission.  The flying monster appeared above the roofs
of the town and found the messenger running along a road.

Nearby, a chance visitor strolled along the road in search of lodging
for the night.  Noticing a strange shadow pass along the ground, the
stranger glanced up to see the Demon's minion fly past overhead.

"That thing had blood in its eyes and death in its heart," he thought,
"I must see what evil it might do."

The stranger ran down an alley and stopped in the safety of the
shadows at a corner between two buildings.  He crept back as the
messenger came running, chased by the flying monster.  Too late to
intervene, the would-be hero could only watch as the monster ripped
at the other's man throat leaving him dead in the center of the road.
In the messenger's hand the stranger found the Royal Scroll depicting
the Kingdom's plight.

Here your quest begins.  After travelling to the palace, the King 
instructs you to ride forth and defend the realm.  The King promises
you the hand of the Princess in marriage should you succeed in your
mission.  Even now the evil horde is crossing the land and will try 
to end your journey.  The King calls out as you prepare to leave,
"Only you can save my Kingdom from the horde!  Only you can deliver
us from the grasp of the Demon!"  And so you gallop towards the
horizon where a black, evil cloud has begun to spread across the
darkening sky...

GAME INSTRUCTIONS

After you have opened the package you should find the game disks, a
registration card and these instructions.

To Load Wrath Of The Demon

Always switch your machine off for at least 30 seconds before loading the
game.  Failure to do so could result in virus contamination of your
Wrath of the Demon disks.  See the Warranty Notice in this manual for
further information.  Always be sure that your Wrath disks are write
protected.

Amiga Owners

Switch the computer on.  If prompted, insert a Kickstart disk.  When the
display prompts for a Workbench disk, insert Disk 1 of Wrath of the Demon
into the internal disk drive.  The game will then load.
 
Note to Amiga owners with external drives:  External disk drives can be
used when playing Wrath of the Demon.  Owners of computers with an
external disk drive(s) can insert disks ahead of time instead of
inserting them one at a time when prompted to do so.

Loading Tips

If the ReadySoft logo does not appear within 15 seconds of inserting
disk 1 of WRATH OF THE DEMON, then there may be a problem with your
computer system.  Check your computer connections and make sure that
the above instructions have been followed correctly.  If you are
sure that your computer is functioning (i.e. other software loads
correctly)  and you are still unable to load WRATH OF THE DEMON,
then you may have a faulty disk.  If so, see the Warranty Notice in
this manual for more information.

Starting The Game 

After the game has loaded, the intro will automatically begin (Amiga).
You can skip it (after you've admired it at least once...) by pressing
the FIRE button at any time.  You will then be returned to the title
page.  Pressing the FIRE button again will skip the scrolling text
and start the game right away.

Controlling The Hero

Use the joystick to control the Hero's movements.  The controls of the
Hero are divided into two parts:  the Action Scenes and the Fighting
Scenes.  

CONTROL FOR THE ACTION SCENES

                   Jump/Enter Door 
                          |
                          |
                          |
                          |
                          |
         Move Left --------------- Move Right 
                         /|\
                        / | \
                       /  |  \
                      /   |   \
           Roll/Duck /    |    \ Roll/Duck 
                       Crouch/     
                       Pick Up 

Pressing the FIRE button will PUNCH.  If you have a special weapon in 
your possession, pressing FIRE will use the weapon rather than punching.

Moving the joystick up or down will normally cause the hero to jump or
crouch.  If you are standing in front of or against a door, however,
moving the joystick up or down will make the hero enter these doors.

CONTROLS FOR THE FIGHTING SCENES

                           Jump/Smash
                               |    / Hit High
                               |   /
                               |  /
                               | /
                               |/
             Move Left ------------------ Move Right/Hit Straight
                               |\
                               | \
                               |  \ 
                               |   \
                               |    \ Hit Low
                         Crouch/Hit Down

You can use the joystick to move the hero.  Holding the FIRE button
down will give you access to the sword movements.

Keyboard Functions

Press the F1 key to use a Shield potion; the F2 key to use a Zap potion;
and the F3 key to use a Healing potion.

You can pause the game at any time by pressing 'P' key on the keyboard.
To continue to play, press the 'P' key again and the game will resume.

Energy Symbol And Potions

During the game you will notice a circular symbol around a face on top
left of the screen.  This represents the energy of the hero.  When the
twelve circles around the face become empty, the hero will die.

On the bottom right hand side of the screen, there are three different
symbols with numbers under each.  The first one represents your Shield
potions; the second one, your Zap potions; and the third one, your
Healing potions.  The numbers under them represent the number of 
potions that you are carrying.  Please note that you can't carry
more than three potions of each kind.

SHIELD POTIONS:  The hero will become immortal for three seconds.

ZAP POTIONS:  Every monster around the hero will die or lose some
energy.  Unfortunately some monsters won't be affected by these
potions due to their constitutions.

HEALING POTIONS:  The healing potions will cure all your wounds and
restore your energy to its maximum.

Keys And Additional Weapons

At some point during the game, you will find keys and additional
weapons.  To use the keys, punch in the locks or push the joystick
in the direction of the door.  The door will automatically swing
open.  The additional weapons will become active only when needed.
You can use them by pressing the FIRE button.

Saving Your Position

To save your position press CTRL-S when there is scrolling text being
displayed on the pictures between each of the scenes.  You will then be
prompted to insert a Save Disk.

Remove the Wrath Disk from the internal drive, insert the Save Disk
and press RETURN.  A menu will appear asking you to select a letter
under which to save your position.

You can save up to ten different games on your Save Disk.  If a
save location is already used, the position you saved will be shown,
otherwise 'EMPTY' will be displayed.  If all of your save location
are used, you can save over an existing one or use another Save Disk.
After selecting your location, press RETURN.  You will then be prompted
to insert a Wrath disk.  Insert any of the Wrath of the Demon disks
and press RETURN.  Pressing ESC when prompted for Save location will
cancel the save process.

NOTE:  Any data on your Save Disk will be ERASED.  Be sure to use a blank
disk or one that you will use only to save your positions onto.  Also
it is unnecessary to format the Save Disk (Amiga/ST).  

Loading A Saved Game

To Load your position press CTRL-L while the text is scrolling on the 
King picture (the picture following the title screen).

Next, you will be prompted to insert your Save Disk.  Remove the
Wrath Disk from the internal drive, insert the Save Disk and press
RETURN.

A menu will then appear showing you the name of your previously saved
positions and asking you to select the letter corresponding to the
position to Load from.  If a save location is already used, the 
position from where you saved will be shown, otherwise 'EMPTY' will
be shown.

Select a location and you will be prompted to insert a Wrath disk.
Insert any Wrath of the Demon disk and press RETURN.

Note:  By pressing ESC when prompted for a Load location, the loading
process will be cancelled. 

Restarting The Scene

If the hero dies in one of the scenes, you can restart the same scene
by pressing the FIRE button when the text is scrolling on the Death
picture.  You will restart the scene with the same number of potions
as you had when you originally began the scene.  If you don't press the
FIRE button, you will return to the beginning of the game.

Ending The Game

To stop playing the game simply reboot your Amiga by pressing the CTRL
key and the two AMIGA keys (on some machines the COMMODORE Key and the
AMIGA Key) at the same time.  The screen will go blank and you may
now eject the disk from the drive.

GENERAL HINTS ABOUT THE GAME

1. Try to keep your potions, you'll probably need them badly as you
   progress.
 
2. To defeat the various monsters, you will find that you must develop
   different strategies for each of them.

3. Try to stay far away as possible from the monsters.

4. Never let a monster push you in a corner.

5. At certain points during the game, it is recommended that you make
   a map of the surroundings.

6. Some monsters carry potions that can be collected by killing them.

7. Sometimes it's better to try to avoid a monster rather than trying to
   kill it.

8. Most of the time, switches activates mechanisms.

9. Save between each of the scenes.

10. When in the castle, you always view the North and East walls.

FEATURES OF WRATH OF THE DEMON (AMIGA)

Total Size: 600 screens of action
Graphics Data: 3.5 Megabytes
Music & Sound Data: 600 kilobytes
Music Sample Rate: 20 kilohertz
Number of different sound tracks: 9
Screen Update: 60 times a second
No. of different monsters: 120
Maximum Sprite Size: 300 by 144 pixels
Project Duration: 10 months

                                 SKID ROW

