Game Boy Raider (2000)

The Croft Times

Due for release March 2000, this brand new Tomb Raider adventure is specifically designed for Nintendo's Game Boy Color and is the first of a potential series for the format. Deep in the jungles of Peru, hidden in a lost temple, is an ancient and magical crystal known as The Nightmare Stone. In the wrong hands it has the power to destroy the world! Lara Croft must find the deadly crystal before anyone else, but first she must jump, climb, swim and blast her way through temples, tombs and treasure rooms, facing skeletons, giant snakes and evil spirits in her most action-packed adventure yet!

Lara can jump, climb, vault, roll and swim! Awesome weaponry - Uzi and shotgun firepower An exciting mix of exploration, combat and puzzle-solving Tomb Raider GBC features all the traditional elements that have made the title a success story for both Eidos and the games industry. Featuring Lara Croft at approximately three times the size of a standard Game Boy character, Lara's appearance and range of moves are displayed in more detail than any character previously seen on the format. With all 2,500 animations converted from the existing 32-bit model, Game Boy Lara is every bit as adventurous as her current PC and PlayStation incarnations. THE STORY Lara has been contacted by her good friend Professor Igor Bowmane, who works in the Ancient Artefact department of the university of Moscow. He has told her of an old manuscript which recounts the last few years of the reign of Moctezuma II, found by a captain under the leadership of Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador.

In the manuscript it tells the legend of "The Nightmare Stone", one of the few religious icons the Spanish failed to plunder. The manuscript also tells of an evil god named Quaxet, that ruled the Aztec, Mayan and Inca lands.

To stop the evil force, all three cultures joined together. Three High Priests battled and defeated Quaxet and entombed his spirit into a crystal orb. From that day the crystal orb was named "The Nightmare Stone". The stone was then sealed into a vast Obelisk forever.

The Obelisk was then sealed inside a vast temple built by the Priests, to prevent anyone ever unleashing Quaxet again.

Professor Bowmane tells Lara that he has been in contact with his friend Illiat, a fellow curator in Peru, who warns him that there have been 'interested parties' enquiring about the whereabouts of the manuscript. Illiat, unsure of their motives, told them nothing.

Bowmane wants Lara to find the stone before anyone else. Lara immediately embarks for Peru to meet Illiat at the temple entrance, where the stone was kept.

On arrival at the camp besides the temple, Lara finds nobody waiting for her; the only thing she does find is the remnants of a struggle, and Illiat's broken glasses.

She follows some footsteps that lead all the way up to the edge of the temple which just stop. Lara looks all around this area, pulling and pushing at rocks, until an opening appears before her, being Lara she casually strolls in the temple and watches the opening close behind her…


KEY FEATURES

- Front end and cut scenes feature 'Hicolor', allowing 2,300 colours to be displayed on screen simultaneously.
- Gameboy hardware is maximised via use of DMA (Direct Memory Access): DMA allows each frame to be transferred from the cartridge into VRAM, resulting in a vast amount of animation (approx. 2000 frames) and detail for Lara. Lara is 48 pixels tall. (Gameboy games usually have a 16-32 pixel tall character). DMA also allows a greater degree of enemy logic due to faster processing time.
- The original Tomb Raider animations have been rendered specifically for the Gameboy Colour version.
- Vast levels - 5 main levels with between 5 and 15 maps per level. Maps vary from 4 screens to approximately 800 screens!
- High degrees of world interaction - collapsible walls and tiles, levers and switches, pressure pads, swimming, monkey bars etc.
- The use of an advanced music player allowing samples, speech and music.
- The game will look 16-bit with similar graphical quality to the SNES or Megadrive.


LARA'S MOVES

Normal moves:

Stand
Bored Anim
Tired Anim
Stand-into-Walk
Walk Cycle
Walk-into-Stand (R/L Leg anims)
Walk-into-Run (R/L Leg anims)
Run Cycle
Running turn (R/L Leg anims)
Run Stop (into Stand) (R/L Leg anims)
Edge of Ledge Balance Wiggle (from Run Stop)
Crouch (reversed for get up)
Crouch Pickup
Roll
Turn (on the spot)
Standing Vertical Jump
Ledge Grab from Vertical Jump and Pull up (reversed for climb down)
Ledge Hang
Standing Forward Jump
Running Jump
Running Jump Land - into Stand
Running Jump Land - into Run
Running Jump no land go into drop
Pre Step into Running Jump (R/L Leg anims)
Post Step into Running Jump (R/L Leg anims)
Fall Animation
Step off Ledge-into fall anim (R/L Leg anims)
Run off Ledge (1 block over) into Fall Anim (R/L Leg anim)
Run off Ledge (2 block over) into Fall Anim (R/L Leg anim)
Land from short height
Land from bigger height
Land and die on the floor
Running into the wall (1 block over) (R/L Leg anims)
Running into the wall (2 block over) (R/L Leg anims)
Drop back from a Standing Jump into Wall
Drop back from a Running Jump into Wall
Withdraw weapon (whilst standing)
Climb Monkey Bars
Insert Key/Object
Dive off Ledge
Get Hit/Shot/Hurt
Running Jump into Run
Running Jump into Stand
Standing Vault up onto Ledge

With Weapons out:

Stand
Stand-into-Walk
Fire Weapon whilst Standing
Fire whilst Crouching
Walk Cycle
Walk-into-Stand (R/L Leg anims)
Walk-into-Run (R/L Leg anims)
Run Cycle
Running turn (R/L Leg anims)
Run Stop (into Stand) (R/L Leg anims)
Edge of Ledge Balance Wiggle (from Run Stop)
Crouch (reversed for get up)
Roll
Turn (on the spot)
Standing Vertical Jump
Standing Forward Jump
Running Jump
Running Jump Land - into Stand
Running Jump Land - into Run
Running Jump no land go into drop
Pre Step into Running Jump (R/L Leg anims)
Post Step into Running Jump (R/L Leg anims)
Fall Animation
Step off Ledge-into fall anim (R/L Leg anims)
Run off Ledge (1 block over) into Fall Anim (R/L Leg anim)
Run off Ledge (2 block over) into Fall Anim (R/L Leg anim)
Land from short height
Land from bigger height
Land and die on the floor
Running into the wall (1 block over) (R/L Leg anims)
Running into the wall (2 block over) (R/L Leg anims)
Drop back from a Standing Jump into Wall
Drop back from a Running Jump into Wall
Get Hit/Shot/Hurt
Running Jump into Run
Running Jump into Stand

Swimming Moves:

Swim Forwards
Swimming Pull Up
Swim Turn
Push/Pull Switches
Drowning
Get Hit/Shot/Hurt


THE PUZZLES

To show how the player can interact with some of the puzzles, a separate window will pop up on screen. Using the D-pad, the player can move either Lara or a hand symbol around the window.

The following puzzle ideas are still work in progress, they might or might not appear in the final game. Variations on these ideas are also possible.

- Find 3 symbols and put them together to create a pattern. Or once placed together the player needs to rotate them to create the pattern.
- Place 2 or 3 blocks on pressure pads to trigger doors or activate large objects.
- Pull several ropes or levers to open doors etc.
- Find 2 or 3 different crystal keys - inserting them into objects could reveal a piece of the Obelisk.
- Multi-positioning trapdoor, i.e. covering a horizontal passageway - press a switch to open and cover a vertical passageway next to it. The camera/screen moves to show the position of the trapdoor.
- Large objects that can be rotated via 1 or 2 levers. The object is placed in the middle of a very large room. Another lever releases water into the object, filling the object up. Use of lever(s) to rotate the object (the object has channels inside it). Lara needs to channel the water into the correct part of the room so the water then fills passageways/another room, allowing access to the next room/passageway.
- Large chasms in front of Lara - walkways/platforms need to be activated in order to cross these. Lara must search for a lever (or two) that activates a walkway/platform. This walkway could be on a timer - as soon as the lever(s) have been pressed, Lara needs to race back to the chasm before the walkway goes back inside the wall. A countdown timer could appear somewhere on the screen.
- Dynamite could be used to open holes or secret passageways in the walls etc. a crack could be seen in the wall, drop some TNT and reveal a secret room. The TNT can also be used to kill enemies, but in certain areas use of too much TNT could cause an avalanche, falling rocks etc. Take a stick of dynamite out (as Lara does with a flare), press ACTION and she'll throw it. Crouch and press ACTION, Lara places it on the ground.
- Lara needs to find reflective shields to reflect sunlight around a room in order to open a casket etc. Lara could also use the shield to reflect blow darts away from her. If she uses the shield(s) too many times the shield could crack and eventually become useless.
- An idea from TR1 - Lara needs to activate objects in order to create an avalanche or release water etc. to flood/fill a chasm, hence allowing her to continue. If the chasm has been flooded, the player could choose to swim down to collect pick-ups/secrets. To replenish her air supply Lara needs to swim to the top of the chasm.
- Holes in the way - Lara has to find an item to fit one of these holes. Below is a spiked-pit. If she inserts the item in the wrong hole, the floor below opens up and she falls to her death. Getting the correct hole will result in a door opening or release of a piece of the Obelisk.
- Lara is standing in a room containing a casket/ark featuring a face made from Jade. Its eyes are missing. To open the casket/ark Lara has to find the eyes. Or, she needs to find all three items: mask and both eyes.
- Deep chasms/ rooms containing blocks. Push a lever to fill the room with water in order to raise the blocks to the surface. This allows Lara to cross the chasm/room. Passageways may be found under the original position of the blocks. These may also contain secrets.
- Timed sequence of platforms which are spaced across a wall and are moving in/out. These platforms could be triggered via a lever or switch. Or, Lara has a couple of seconds to get across before they retract back into the wall; below her would be a spiked-pit or chasm.
- Lara has to find the correct path over a vast floor. The floor would be made of collapsible tiles, with only a few being solid.
- Find a lever/switch that stops spiked-walls etc. from crushing Lara.
- Stone pillars - push them over to create a walkway over chasms etc. Or use TNT to blow them over.


THE ENEMIES

Tomb Raider Game Boy Color features mid and end game bosses as well as generic level enemies, some of which are listed below:

- Birds
- Natives/with blow darts
- Guards
- Golems (statues that come to life)
- Crocodiles
- Piranha
- Snakes
- Jaguars
- Spiders
- Bats
- Monkeys
- Gold Looters
- Skeletons
- Mummies


WEAPONS / USABLE OBJECTS

Lara's main weapon are her Pistols - unlimited ammo. She may pick up special ammo that makes the Pistols fire in a different manner:

Slug Ammo - Pistols give a shotgun type blast
Rapid Ammo - Pistols give an Uzi fire rate

Objects:

Dynamite sticks
Keys - various
Puzzle items - some of which may be combined (automatically)
Artefacts - amulets, crystals, idols etc.
Small and large medi-packs to replenish energy and heal from poison