Equinox
                                - EQUINOX -                                   (snes)CONTENTSThe Way of the Son............................4Starting the Game...........................N/AThe Kingdoms of the World.....................7The Map.......................................7Controls.....................................10Life and Magic...............................11Saving Games.................................13Know Thine Enemies, and How to Defeat Them...13The Mystery of the Stone Crosses.............14The Dungeons of Death........................15Controls.....................................16The Select Screen............................17Rooms, Doors, and Bricks.....................18The Tools at Hand............................20Apples and Potions...........................20Keys and Tokens..............................21Weapons......................................22Spells.......................................23Demons in the Dark...........................25Guardians of Fate............................26Song of the Harp.............................29Sony Imagesoft, Inc. Warranty.............. N/A                                   -[4]-THE WAY OF THE SONMy Dear Son,In magic as in the seasons of the sun, balance is everything. From solsticeto equinox, equinox to solistice, the balance of darkness and light turnsand turns again, round and round through the circles of eternity. Even somust we who command magic hold in delicate balance the good and evilinherent in our power.It is many years since I, Shadax your father, survived the trials ofSolstice. And they have been years of great peace and prosperity throughoutour kingdom of Galadonia.But now - as surely, much to your horror, you already know - that age oflight has been shattered and scattered, driven to the four winds likesplinters of a gentle dream by the gruesome nightmare of...                                   Sonia.She sought me out to be her teacher. But she was my enemy.She pledged herself as my follower. Now she is my captor.She promised to place her powers in the service of the world. But her onlyambition was, is, and ever will be to be its evil empress - to crush it,and me, and you, O my son.                                   -[5]-Now the way of the son - your way - is clear. It is back, back to the lightfrom this darkness. To deliver your father, your land, and all the peoplesof the world from a dateles night of pestilence, plague, terror, anddespair.Make no mistake. The way of the son is long and arduous. It leads throughthe gloom of the deep, deadly dungeons that underlie the seven kingdoms ofcreation. And all - both the far reaches of the visible world and the vastcaverns of the dungeon world below - all is overrun with Sonia's venomousdemons.But my power, and my life - and time itself - ebb fast away, even as I callyou to your mission.Begin. Shadax                                   -[7]-THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLDThe world of Equinox hold seven kingdoms, from Galadonia to Death Island,home of the savage Sonia.They are --                             __________________                            /      DEATH       \                            \      ISLAND      /                             \________________/   ____________                   ___________________   |           \                 /                _/   |GALADONIA -/-------------------DEESO         /   |__________/                 \________________)   ____|____                          ()   |        \                          |/   |         \                         X   | TORI    /---------X____________ __/                ATLENA   |________/         /   ---------------\   | O   |QUAGMIRE      /---O o o o _         _______/\-------- 4   |_____________/           |X|       //\/\/\   \       ~~~      /-------------------------------/  /\ /\/\_/     /                        / /\ /\ /\   /\_/     \     AFRALONA        / /\ /\ /\/\   /      \_____________________/____________/                                   -[8]-GALADONIAYour home, located in the northwest corner of the map. There are threevillages here. The underground dungeon is small, as dungeons go.TORIThe forest kingdom to the south of Galadonia. Four villages lead down intoa rough network of dungeon caverns.DEESOThis barren desert kingdom lies east of Galadonia. Its eerie dungeon islittered - and haunted? - with the remains of an ancient civilization.AtlenaThis is land that man made, for Atlena is nothing more than a handful ofvillages supported by wooden platforms built by the inhabitants. It allfloats, just south of Deeso, above the murky dungeon world of a sunkencastle.QuagmireA swampy, fetid place worthy of its name. Difficult to navigate, and thedump dungeon below - entered through five villages - is just astreacherous. South or Tori.AfralonaThis large kingdom lies far to the south, engulfed by tropical seas, andhides a sprawling, tomb-like dungeon. Afralona's eastern frontier bristleswith an impassable mountain range, but the seaport at the southeasterncorner of this ocean kingdom is your gateway to Death Island.                                   -[9]-Death IslandThis frozen isle lies amid the bleak northern seas. Its desolate landscapeaffords only one entrance to the giant dungeon below: the Ice Palace,stronghold of Sonia, your father's prison... and your utilmate destination.You start the game in Galadonia. But eventually you must travel through allthe kingdoms, braving the horde of trolls and werebats let loose upon theworld by the evil sorceress. And in every kingdom, you must descend intothe dungeons below and unlock doors, find and use objects and weapons, castspells - whatever it takes to vanquish Sonia's horrid minions as you fightyour way, tooth and nail, toward your father's rescue.Galadonia and its four neighboring kingdoms are joined by wooden bridges,many guarded by the spirit of the Guardian of the dungeon below. So you'llhave to destroy the Guardian before you can pass over the bridge andcontinue on your journey.You can reach Sonia's Ice Palace, on Death Island, only by sea. But thereare no seaports on Galadonia or its immediate neighbors, and the port inAfralona, to the south, is too far away for you to reach on foot. So you'llhave to find some other means of transport to Afralona before you can setsail for Death Island.                                   -[10]-CONTROLSUse the buttons on your controller as shown when navigating the surfaceworld of the kingdoms:Control Pad            Move in the direction                       of each arrowB Button (Yellow)      JumpY Button (Green)       Play the harpX Button (Blue)        Rotate the map to                       orient north at the                       top of the screenL Button               Rotate the map 45                       degrees to the leftR Button               Rotate the map 45                       degrees to the rightSTART Button           Pause to view large                       scale map, press again                       to resume play                                   -[11]-You can walk over land and wood but not over water, though you can jumpover small pools and narrow streams as well as small objects on the ground.By pressing and releasing the L and R buttons, you can rotate the maparound you 45 degrees at a time, so you can go in eight differentdirections in all. If you get disoriented, press the blue X button to"reset" the map with north at the top of the screen. To get a better senseof your bearings, press START to see a large-scale map of the kingdomyou're exploring. Press START again to resume play.LIFE and MAGICThe two-line display on the screen shows the following:LIFE Life energyMAGIC Magic power                                   -[12]-At the start of a game, you have two full red portions of life energy andtwo hollow green portions of magic energy. Portions of energy are used upin half units. So, for example, the first time you lose a life, your lifeenergy will be reduced to one and a half full portions (you'll also have tostart over in the room you're exploring at that time). When no remaininglife energy is displyed, the next time you lose a life the game will beover. You can restore your life energy to varying degrees by picking up andeating apples.Magic energy is required to cast spells. Each spell requires a particularamount of energy. If you don't have enough energy for a given spell, yousimply won't be able to cast it. To increase your magic energy, you mustpick up and drink potions.You can't store more than two full portions of life or magic energy, nomatter how many apples or potions you consume. When you have the maximumamount of either kind of energy, you can plan ahead and leave the applesand potions you find until later. However, if you don't clear a room of allthe apples, potions, keys and tokens after you defeat all the demoncreatures, they'll reappear the next time you enter the room.You can increase the maximum capacity of your life energy by successfullyusing a new-found wepon against the first enemy creature you encounter, andby defeating a dugeon Guardian. In a similar fashion, you can increase themaximum capacity of your magic energy by learning a new spell or bydefeating a Guardian.                                   -[13]-SAVING GAMESYou can save up to four games on the batter-backed Equinox game pak, thenselect any saved game to resume play via the menu on the title screen.A game is automatically saved every time you leave a dungeon and return tothe map. And, as you'll find out, there's a spell you can use to save yourcurrent position in a dungeon.When you lose all your lives, you have the option of continuing from thelast point oat which the game was saved. If, instead, you choose GAME OVER,the game is saved from that some point for you to resume at a later time.KNOW THINE ENEMIES, AND HOW TO DEFEAT THEMSonia's trolls and werebats swarm through the seven kingdoms, though thefurther they are from ther stronghold, the weaker they are.Werebats live in holes in the ground, and come flying out to attack as youapproach. When they're killed, they usually leave behind a potion that willincrease your magical power, as shown in the Magic counter on the screen.                                   -[14]-Trolls drop down from the clouds and chase you. When ther're killed, theypass on their life force to you, increasing the number of lives you hace asshown in the LIFE counter on the screen.When you begin a game, you have no weapon-you must descend into the dungeonbeneath Gladonia before you'll find your first weapon. If your're attackedby a troll or werebat before you've armed yourself, the only sensible thingto do is run away. But this won't work once you leave Galadonia; in theother kingdoms, where the landscape is less open, you'll have to fight tothe death with anything that attacks you.When you do get a new weapon, the first troll you meet will be flashing,which means that it's especially tough-it will give you a chance to giveyour new weapon a real workout. If you defeat the troll, you'll receive apermanent extra life.THE MYSTERY OF THE STONE CROSSESThe stone crosses you'll see in each kingdom are part of an ancient magicaltransport system. Unfortunately, the secret of how to master and use thissystem has been lost.                                   -[15]-THE DUNGEONS OF DEATHThe dungeons of Equinox, mostly underground caverns, are reached throughthe villages of teh kingdoms, which appear as brown huts with smokingchimneys. When you leave a dungeon through a different village from the oneyou entered, you'll find yourself in the same kingdom but in a differentplace.The dungeons contain several rooms. As you progress through the kingdoms,you'll find that each dungeon is bigger than the last. But in each one,you'll find many useful objects to collect, weapons to use, and doors tounlock. And you'll encounter many savage creatures, each of which you mustdestroy before you can go on with your quest.                                   -[16]-CONTROLSIn the dungeons, you use the buttons on your controller as shown-Control pad            Move in the direction                       for each arrow, and                       pushB Button (yellow)      JumpY Button (green)       Fire current weaponX Button (blue)        Cast current spellSelect                 Call up select screenStart                  Pause or resume play                                   -[17]-You can move and jump, just as in the surface world. You can walk on mostobjects that you encounter, such as bricks, tables, stumps, and cages. Butspikes are always deadly-fall on one, jump on one, or even touch one, andyou'll lose a life.You can jump about one and a half bricks high. Usually, you'll come justbarely short if you try to jump the width of two bricks between two bricksof equal height. You can fall any distance without getting hurt, unless ofcourse you land on a spike. You can also turn and change direction inmidair while jumping.THE SELECT SCREENYou use the Select Screen to assess your inventory, and select a weapon orspell. You can call up this screen at any time when you're in a dungeon.The game is paused while the Select Screen is displayed.The Select Screen shows the name of the current dungeon and room number,your inventory of keys and tokens, a list of the weapons and spells you'vepicked up, and which weapon and spell are currently selected.Select **EXIT** to return to game play.                                   -[18]-ROOMS, DOORS, AND BRICKSROOMSEvery dungoeon is split into rooms, each one usually about twice the sizeof the screen. Each dungeon has more rooms than the one before it. Thefirst dungeon has only 16 rooms, the Ice Palace over 100. Everyroom has anumber, which is displayed on the Select Screen.You must clear a room to permanently destroy all the enemy creatures init-which means you must defeat every creature, collect every item, andleave the room without losing a life. If you defeat only half the enemiesor leave an object uncollected, the next time you enter the room thecreatures will have multiplied to full strength again.You have to carry keys, tokens, and weapons out of the room where you findthem in order to add them to your inventory. If you lose a life just aftercollecting an item, you must begin all over to clear the room-although youwill not lose any food, potions, or spells you've already collected.DOORSMost doors appear in two forms. When on the far wall of a room, they appearas doorways leading into darkness. When on the front wall, doors appear asarrows on the floor, so as not to obstruct your view of the room.There are also some secret doors, not indicated by doorways or arrows. It'sup to you to find them.                                   -[19]-Most doors are open, but some are locked. Colored locked doors-green, blue,red, and white-can be opened with a key of the same color. Flashing lockeddoors stay locked until the room is cleared-that is, all enemies destroyedand all items collected.BRICKSThe dungeons closer to your goal contain many bricks with unusual ormagical properties that may hinder or help your progress. The simplest ofthese are the pushable bricks. They look exactly like other bricks, butthey can be pushed around-although some are so heavy that you may have topush for a few seconds before that you may have to push for a few secondsbefore they start ot budge. If you find yourself apparently stuck in aroom, try pushing every brick for a way out.Some bricks work like conveyor belts. They look like ordinary bricks, butthey'll push you (or a pushable brick) in a certain directon. Theseconveyor bricks don't affect enemy creatures.Other kinds of special bricks include sliding bricks, floating bricks,invisible bricks, and exploding bricks. You'll have to discover these onyour own. As you'll see, the Reveal spell will highlight all the specialbricks in a room except conveyor bricks                                   -[20]-THE TOOLS AT HANDThere are two kinds of items to be found in the dungeons of Equinox, thosethat affect your energy and those that you can and to your inventory anduse.Apples and PotionsApples increase your life energy and potions increase your magic energy, upto your maximum capacity. Potions come in four colors, from least togreatest strength: green, blue, red and white.You'll find apples and potions dotted around the rooms of every dungeon.Like other objects, they may have been left behind by defeated enemies.                                   -[21]-KEYS AND TOKENSKeys come in several colors, and each one opens a door of its own hue. Akey can be used only once, and then disappears. So if, for example, thereare four locked blued doors, you'll need four blue keys to open them.You can't take keys from one dungeon and use them in another dungeon. Keepin mind, too, that each dungeon contains the same number of keys as lockeddoors. So if you have any spare keys when you're ready to leave a dungeon,more of the dungeon remains to be explored.Every dungeon contains 12 tokens. They may be lying on the floor or hiddenin a room or even carried by a demon creature, in which case you won't findthe token until all the enemies in the room have beeen destroyed.You must have all 12 tokens to summon the Guardian at the end of thedungeon. When you have all 12, simply walk into the Guardian's room tosummon it. The tokens will tehn disappear, but the Guardian, of course,will remain-to take you on in mortal combat.                                   -[22]-WEAPONSEvery dungeon contains one hidden weapon. The first weapon you pick upbecomes your selected weapon. As you add more weapons to your inventory,you must choose the one you want to use through the select screen. You cancomplete the game with only one weapon, but each weapon collected will makethe game a little easier to play.All weapons are projectile weapons-you throw all of them. But they vary instrength, speed, and the number that can be thrown at once.       Name             Number of           Speed             Strength                       Projectiles      Dagger                1                fast                1     Shuriken               2                slow                2        Axe                 3                fast                3    TwinDagger              3                fast                4       Sword                2             very fast              5     Scimitar               3                slow                6       Mace                 3                slow                7    Twin Sword              3             very fast              8                                   -[23]-SpellsAs with weapons, you'll find one spell in each dungeon, and as you build upyour inventory of spells, you use the Select Screen to choose the one youwant to use.Unlike weapons, some spells are essential to completing the game.You need magic energy to put spells to good use - unless you have theenergy needed when you use a selected spell, nothing will happen.Most spells affect either you or the room you're in when you use the spell,and they last only for a while. When you cast these spells, the screenblurs in and out of focus, and a magical bell sounds until the spell runsits course.The spells are as follows:HEAL. This spell reduces you magic energy and increases your life energy,both by one half portion, each time you press the blue (X) button.SLOW. This spell slows down all the demons in the room for 10 secondswithout affecting you. It requires one full portion of magic energy.DAMAGE. This knocks off half the energy of every enemy creature in theroom, at a cost of one and a half portions of magic energy.                                   -[24]-FREEZE. For two full portions of magic, this spell freezes every demon inthe room for 10 seconds.ZAP. Destroy every bad guy in the room - but it will cost you two and halfportions of magic energy.SAVE. For three portions, you can save your current position in the dungeonon the battery-backed Equinox Game Pak. But this spell does not work in theroom through which you enter a dungeon.REVEAL. Highlights all bricks in the room that are pushable or otherwisemagical. Cost: three and a half portions of magic energy.UNLOCK. This spell unlocks all the remaining unlocked doors in a roomwithout the need for keys, but it takes four full portions of magic tocast.                                   -[25]-DEMONS IN THE DARKMost of the enemies that lurk in the dungeons of Equinox come in green,blue, red, or white. The green guys are the easiest to knock off; the whitedemons are the hardest to destroy.Sometimes, when you destroy the last nasty in a room, a bonus item - say,an apple or a potion, or perhaps a key or a token - will be left behind.Most demons kill you simply by touching you.GHOSTS bounce around the room at different speeds, but they're quite easyto destroy.KNIGHTS are slow, plodding, stupid demons, but they're sturdy, with strongarmor that protects them from attack. To get to them, look for the smallchink in the side of their armor.PORTCULLISES simply wind up and fall down at varying speeds. They can blockyour way, but they're deadly only on their way down, so just be sure you'renot standing under them as they come down.SPINNING DEVILS chase you around the room. Invulnerable and elusive aswhirlwinds, they can be attacked only when they stop to catch their breath.BLOBS are extremely intelligent, and their bouncing movements are very hardto predict. The best trick with Blobs is to keep moving.                                   -[26]-THE GUARDIANS OF DEATHAt the end of every dungeon, you must defeat a giant Guardian before youcan go on the next dungeon. You can summon the Guardian of a dungeon onlywhen you've collected all 12 tokens from the dungeon - if you enter theGuardian's room without all 12 tokens in your possession, nothing willhappen. Once the Guard has been summoned, you can't leave the room untileither you've defeated the Guardian or lost all your lives. It's do or diewith the likes of these, listed here in the order you'll encounter them -BONEHEAD. This giant skull doesn't take kindly to being shot at, and helikes to throw ghosts at you.SUNG SUNG. Maybe he's got a complex about his name, but this guy hides outin the soil a lot, coming up every now and then to chuck rocks at you.Quetzalcoatl. This enormous living statue is too massive to be destroyed inone round. And watch out for the surprise he has in store for you at theend.                                   -[27]-PINCHA. This crab's claws protect his vulnerable eyes, so get your shots inwhen he takes his swinging swipes at you.DOLLOP. He's just one big ball of slime, and after every jump, he spewssmaller blobs of slime in your direction.EYESIS. The tough thing about a gigantic spinning pyramid is that its onlysoft spot is way up there at the top.BILLY BONES. The maniacal captian of the ghostly galleon never stopsshooting those exploding cannonballs - until he's stone cold dead.                                   -[28]-SONIA. The Evil Sorceress herself. She can teleport at will, and thosefloating magical balls she fires are fatal.With most Guardians, you can harm them only by shooting them in the face orin the eye. After a few such hits, they'll change colour, turning a shadecloser to red.When they turn bright red, it's a sign that they're close to their demise.When you destroy a Guardian, you'll be rewarded with increases in your lifeand magic energy, and the Guardian's spirit will disappear from the surfaceworld.In additon, as you defeat each of the first five Guardians, you'll collecta string for your harp.                                   -[29]-SONG OF THE HARPYou'll find that you can play the harp as soon as you try, but it won'tsound very good. Adding strings to the harp will improve its song.But like the mystery of the stone crosses, the secret of the song of theharp has been long lost. The last magician who made it really singdisappeared instantly - transported, perhaps, to other places... to othertimes... even, perhaps, to mighty new regions of magic... who knows?