                                TOP GUN

Typed in by THE TOAD. Edited by PARASITE.


INTRODUCTION
You  are  Maverick, a top fighter pilot in the Navy. Your F-14 Tomcat is a
high powered, highly  manouverable  craft equipped with machinegun cannon,
Sidewinder  missiles and  high heat magnesium  flares. Take off from  your
aircraft carrier and engage the  enemy fighter plane in a deadly,high tech
dogfight. Use both flight and radar to locate your enemy's  position. Test
your reflexes and accuracy as you climb, dive  bank left and right to line
up the  enemy craft  in your cannon or  missile sights - then  fire!  Full
aircraft instrumentation keeps you on top of your aircrafts status.

In  a one player game, you are provided with  three aircraft. The computer
controls  the enemy  fighter plane. Your mission is to destroy three enemy
aircraft  without  losing more than  two of your own. If you're successful
you'll move on  to a new mission, one in which you'll encounter faster and
more manouverable enemy craft with better pilots. If you lose all three of
your own aircraft,you are destroyed.

In  a two player  game, each pilot  is issued with three planes.The pilot
still flying after shooting down the opponents three planes is the winner.

If you want to practice before you take on competition,a good method is to
choose the two  player  and  play  by yourself. Because the unmanned enemy
craft just flies harmlessly along, you can get used to the F-14's controls
and weapons without  having to worry about enemy attack.

TAKEOFF
After  selecting  a one  or two player game, press  fire to  continue  the
program. You'll see a split  screen view of  both your  aircraft  and your
opponents  aircraft taking  off. ( You may exit  the  takeoff  sequence by
pressing fire)Each  time a plane is shot down the scoring  screen appears.
Press the fire  button  to continue the program from  the scoring  screen.
When a game is over, press the fire button to continue. Note:  You need to
select one or two players before each game starts.

COCKPIT LAYOUT
After  takeoff,  you'll  see a  splitscreen  that gives  you a pilots seat
perspective  inside  the  cockpit  and  through  the  canopy of  both your
aircraft and your enemys. The joystick in  port 1  controls the cockpit on
the left side of the screen.
At  the  top of the screen  are two rectangular boxes.The one on your left
is  your altimeter,the one on your right is your airspeed indicator.
There  is a dotted  line going  across the screen - this is the artificial
horizon,and  in the  middle  of the screen is either a cross hair sight, a
square  sight  or  no  sight, depending on what you currently  have armed.
Cross hair-Cannon,  Square sight-Missile , No sight-Flares.
Down at the bottom of the screen are a lot of boxes.Top on the left,with a
picture of a  little plane is the climb/dive indicator. Below that is your
cannon  temperature.To the  right of that is your damage indicator.The big
box in the middle is your  radar, your  aircraft  is always in the middle.
Above the radar is an  arrow,which  indicates whether  the  enemy is above
or below you.The box to the right of that is  the  thrust level  indicator
.There  should  be two boxes  to the  right of that. The  top  one  shows
which  weapon  you currently  have selected, and the one below that is the
missile  lock countdown indicator.

AIRCRAFT CONTROLS
Note that when banking the aircraft, you can increase the rate of turn  by
climbing  at the same time.

                   PLAYER ONE              PLAYER TWO
Increase Thrust     Control                 Clr/Home
Decrease Thrust   Shift (left key)          Insert
Select Weapon       Alternate             Shift (right Key)

                                Dive
                  Dive/Bank left   Dive/Bank right
                                \|/
                     Bank left -- -- Bank right
                                /|\
                Climb/Bank left     Climb/Bank right
                               Climb

Press fire to activate chosen weapon

AIRCRAFT WEAPON AND DEFENSE SYSTEMS
Your F-14 is  equipped  with cannon, Sidewinder missiles, and for defense,
flares. A weapon (or flares) must be selected as the active  device before
it can be fired.To select  a weapon or flares,press the WEAPON SELECT  KEY
until the weapon of your choice  appears on the selected weapon indicator.
You can also tell  which weapon  is  selected  by  the type  of sight that
appears on the screen.A cross hair sight appears when the cannon is active,
a  larger square sight when the missiles are active,and  no  sight  when
flares are active.

CANNON:  When using  the cannon, 25 direct hits are required in  order  to
down the enemy plane.The  screen  border  will flash when a  direct hit is
made,and  damage  will  be indicated   on  the  damage  indicator  of  the
attacked  aircraft.Use  the   cannon sparingly.It  will  overheat  and jam
if it is fired for too long a time.The  cannons heat level is indicated on
the Cannon Temperature Gauge on the instrument  panel.Tip: use  the cannon
only for attacks at close range.

SIDEWINDER MISSILES:  The  Sidewinders  are  heat  seeking  missiles  that
follow the enemy aircraft  even after it leaves your sight ( although they
burn out after  20  seconds) Only  one  direct  hit is required to destroy
an enemy aircraft, and only the most skillful  pilots  can  out manouver a
Sidewinder.However,you must  "fix"  the  oponent directly  in  your  sight
for three seconds  before  firing  to allow  the  heat  seeking element to
lock on to the enemy aircraft.You will hear a warning siren when an  enemy
aircraft  enters  your  missile sight. When a continous tone  sounds, your
missile  is locked on and you are clear to fire the missile.Alternatively,
you can use the Missile Lock  On  Countdown  Indicator on your  instrument
panel to let  you  know  when  your missile can be fired.

FLARES:   The  flares  act as decoys. When coupled  with  use  of evasive
action they  are your  best  defense  against  a  missile  that  has  been
fired at  your  aircraft. When  a missile is headed  your way, your  radar
screen turns red. The flare  must be  launched  at just  the right time in
order to make the  enemy  missile  mistake the ultra  high heat magnesium
flare for  the jet exhaust. Timing is  everything! If you launch the flare
too soon or too late,the effect will be lost.

STALKING THE ENEMY
The  artificial horizon  helps you  to know the position  of the ground in
relation  to your   wings.When you fly  level, the artificial horizon is a
horizontal  line.When  you bank left,the artificial horizon will appear to
turn  right, because it  represents  the  ground  rather than  your wings.
Perform a few turns to get used to the idea.Once you've  got the idea, its
time to go after the enemy!

It  is  most  advantageous  to get behind the enemy  and follow. The enemy
is  most vulnerable  under  these  circumstances and will have a hard time
shaking you  off.When no  enemy aircraft is visible through the canopy,use
the  radar  to  locate  the  enemy. You  are  always  at the centre of the
radar  screen. The small  white dot on  the  radar screen  represents your
enemy. Check  the enemys altimeter or your own enemy above below indicator
to determine the enemys altitude in relation to your own.

Think  of the radar screen as an overhaed perspactive. For example, if the
dot on  your radar is near the top left,then the enemy is in front of  you
to the left.

FIRING AT THE ENEMY
When the enemy is in your weapon sight,press  fire to launch the selected
weapon.Keep in  mind that  25 direct hits  are neccessary to  down a plane
when firing  the  cannon. You'll  find  that  the  enemy  gets  better  at
avoiding your missiles and cannon fire with each level of  difficulty that
you achieve.Good luck as you enter the Danger Zone!
