ATARI(R) 7800(TM) Game Manual
BASKETBRAWL(TM)

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after the date of publication and disclaims liability for changes, errors,
or omissions.  Reproduction of this document or of any portion of its contents
is not allowed without the specific written consent of Atari Corporation.

Atari, the Atari logo, BasketBrawl, and 7800 are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Atari Corporation.

ATARI(R)
Copyright(C) 1990, Atari Corporation
Sunnyvale, CA  94089-1302
All rights reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BATTLE FOR THE HOOP!...........1
GETTING STARTED................2
   Optional Game Controls......3
PLAYING THE GAME...............3
   Using the Fire Buttons......4
   Power Ups...................5
CHARACTER PROFILES.............5
STRATEGY.......................7
SCORING........................8

BATTLE FOR THE HOOP!

In a desperate attempt to stop inner-city gang wars, the city leaders organized
a basketball league.  The league is scheduled to play on three courts: a 
street, a junkyard, and a rooftop.  The mayor figured that a friendly game of
hoops would be a much more peaceful way to settle disputes.

Boy, was he wrong!

Nobody could have predicted games like these.  When rowdy gang members chased
off the city-appointed officials, Scott "the Blade" Savage, a thug from a
neutral gang, stepped in.  And what a referee he turned out to be!  He doesn't
care about fouls.  He doesn't care about rules.  He doesn't even have a
whistle.  But he gets his kicks from throwing knives at the players.  With
no real referee, the players can do whatever they please.  And they do.

Picture this play:  Slash gets the ball and passes to Bruiser.  Bruiser
dribbles around a junk pile and breaks toward the basket while Slash
mercilessly punches Vinnie.  Simon steps in to protect Vinnie and punches
Slash.  Bruiser takes a knife in the gut as he shoots.  The ball is up, but
no!  It hits the bent rim and bounces back.

Vinnie breaks free and gets the rebound.  He runs for the basket.  A swift
left hook from Bruiser, and Vinnie crumples to the ground.  The ball rolls
loose.  The three remaining players scramble for the ball in a fist-flinging
free for all.  Simon comes up with the ball.  Slash pounds on Bruiser's face
for not moving faster as Simon dribbles downcourt unguarded and shoots for
two.

No wonder the gang members nicknamed this game BasketBrawl.  To them it's
not a game -- it's a street fight.

GETTING STARTED

1. With your 7800 game system switched off, insert the BasketBrawl cartridge
into the cartridge slot as described in your owner's manual.

2. Connect a controller to the left controller port.  For two player 
BasketBrawl, connect a controller to each controller port.

3. Press the POWER button on your console and switch on your TV.  The
BasketBrawl title screen displays.

4. Press a fire button to display the Options Selection screen.  Move the
controller up or down to select a row.  Then move the controller right or
left to choose an option on that row.  Current selections appear in yellow.
Unavailable options appear in gray.  After you select all desired options,
press a fire button.

5. The Character Selection screen appears.  Move the controller right or left
to move the points to the character of your choice.  The pointers are numbered
to show which player chose which character.

If you choose to play a 2-on-2 game, you choose the captain of your team.  The
computer selects the second player on each team.

6. When you have chosen a character, press a fire button.

7. The Character Status screen appears.  This screen shows the characters'
strength ratings in three categories: Health, Speed, and Power.  The more red
appearing in a bar, the stronger that character is in that category.  Each
category is explained in greater detail in the Playing the Game section of this
manual.  Press a fire button to begin the game.

Optional Game Controls

The following optional game controls allow you to pause and restart the game:

* To call a time out and pause the game press PAUSE.  Repeat to resume play

* To return to the Character Description screen and restart the game with
the previously selected game options, press RESET.

* To return to the Options Selection screen to select new game options and
begin a new game, press SELECT.

PLAYING THE GAME

BasketBrawl is a fast-paced basketball simulation with a twist: the players
on each team try to knock each other cold with punches to the face.
Meanwhile, the referee, Scott "The Blade" Savage roams the sideline throwing
knives at players.  You can play 1-on-1 or 2-on-2, against either the computer
or a fried.  You and a friend can also gang up on the computer.  The object
of the game is to outscore the opposing team.  Each time you win, you are
assigned a new challenger.  The game ends when you lose a game or get knocked
cold.

The game begins with the players at center court.  The characters controlled
by players 1 and 2 are marked by the words 1 UP and 2 UP.  If you are playing
a 2-on-2 game, the 7800 controls the second player on each team.  In a 
one-player game, the 7800 controls the opposing character or team.

The action starts when the ball appears.  Use the controller to move around
the court.  Use the fire buttons to pass, jump, shoot, or fight, as described
in the next section.

Using the Fire Buttons

The fire buttons provide the following actions:

Left Button

If your character does not have the ball, then the left button makes the
character jump.  Jump to block a shot or get a rebound.

If your character has the ball, the left button causes the character to shoot.
A successful shot depends on the distance to the basket and the character's
health and shooting ability.

Right Button

If your character does not have th ball, then thr right button makes the
character punch in the direction he is facing.  Punching is an ideal way to
steal the ball or protect a teammate.  If you punch a character often enough,
that player loses consciousness and falls to the ground.  Since there are no
substitutions in BasketBrawl, injured players are not replaced.  Putting an
opponent out of commission makes winning that much easier, and the referee
couldn't care less!

To pass the ball to your teammate in a 2-on-2 game, quickly press and release
the right button when your character has the ball.  If you press and hold this
button, you will perform a power throw.

A power throw is a hard throw at another player.  In a 2-on-2 game, you can
select your target.  Hold down the right button when your player has the ball,
then push up on the controller until the desired target character flashes.
Release the button to throw.  A successful power throw can easily injure an
opponent.  While you search for the correct target, action continues around
you.  Don't let an opponent punch you and knock the ball loose.

Power Ups

During the course of a game, various icons representing the following power
ups appear on the court.  Pick up an icon by running over it.  These items
increase a character's Strength, Speed, or Power:

Milk  Everybody knows that milk makes a body strong.  Picking up a glass of
milk raises a character's Health by one point, up to the 9 point limit.  A
player collapses when his Health reaches zero.

Lightning Bolt  Speed is one of a hoopster's most important abilities.
Fleetness of foot allows a player to catch an opponent from behind and knock
the ball loose by punching the other guy in the head.  The fast character can 
then get the ball and break downcourt for a quick two points.

Fist  Running over a fist increases a character's Power rating.  A high
Power rating makes it easier to knock an opponent cold with a good punch or
power throw.

CHARACTER PROFILES

BasketBrawl offers a selection of six different characters, each with his
own strengths and weaknesses.  You can increase a character's Health, Speed,
and Power by running over power up icons.  However, each character was born
with a certain shooting ability.  Such things are genetic.  There is no way
to increase a character's shooting ability.

Vinnie Beatiacilli was born mean.  Vinnie's father tried to soothe the boy's
rage by enrolling him in a gym.  While training for the Golden Gloves, Vinnie
heard about BasketBrawl.  It was a dream come true: a chance to bust heads
without wearing those sissy boxing gloves.  His raw power and savage meanness
make him a natural on the court.  Vinnie's favorite pastimes are watching
Kung Fu movies and chewing on barbed wire.  Vinnie is very fast and has
average Power, but he is so busy bashing heads that he never takes the time
to practice his shooting.

Eric "Buster" Williams had a dream.  For as long as he could remember, Buster
Williams planned to play professional hoops.  He practiced day and night,
seven days a week.  And he was hot!  But his practice got in the way of his
schoolwork.  Then came the tragic accident.  Since he never went to school,
he couldn't read the warning label on his electric razor.  When he tried to
shave in the shower, he got the shock of his life.  Something in that surge
of electricity turned Buster into a blood-thirst madman and a lousy shooter.
Now he terrorizes the BasketBrawl courts, dribbling heads instead of 
basketballs.  Buster is an average shooter.  He's not very strong, but he is
quick.

Jerome "Slash" Gordon was raised in a high-rise uptown apartment.  His mother
is a wealthy brain surgeon.  His father made a fortune on Wall Street.  Little
Jerome wanted nothing to do with the world of the wealthy.  He rebelled by
joining a punk rock band and changing his name to Slash.  One night, while
dancing the Pogo, Slash discovered his natural jumping ability.  He soon
learned to use that skill on the BasketBrawl court.  Slash's deepest secret:
he owns 40% of a major computer corporation and three designer neckties.  Slash
is the best shooter in the city, but his speed and Power are merely average.

Bruce "Bruiser" Johnson was born in the heart of Brooklyn and learned to be
tough at an early age.  His mother used to steal his dessert every night.  But
Bruiser got even.  While his mother grew fatter by the day, Bruiser worked
out at the local gym.  One night after dinner, Mama reached for her son's jelly
donut.  Bruiser lifted her by the ear and threatened to throw her out the
window.  Now she always gives him her dessert.  Bruiser's hobbies include
breaking down doors with his head and writing love poems to his kitten.
Bruiser is more powerful than any other BasketBrawl player and has average
speed and shooting ability.

Tommy "Biff" Torrance first surfed when he was knee high to a sea lion.
Growing up in Southern Cal was like living in Paradise.  Then his dad got
transferred to New York.  At first, Biff was, like, totally stoked.  He thought
Long Island would be surrounded by gnarly waves.  When he hit the city, he
was bummed to the max.  Where Biff thought he'd find surf, he found asphault
and boredom.  So he joined a gang.  The other gang members put him down because
he said "Dude" instead of "Yo."  Then they saw him play basketball.  He could
dribble, shoot, and throw elbows with the best the city had to offer.  Now,
thanks to BasketBrawl, Biff no longer sits at home watching old Frankie and
Annette movies.  Even though Biff's grandma can run faster than he can (and
she's been dead for years), he has good Power.  He is also an average shooter.

Simon Smartguy grew up believing he had no athletic ability.  That is, until
the day he tried a physics experiment.  With his slide rule, compass, pocket
calculator, and various other school tools, he discovered that the trajectory
of a basketball is exactly equal to its velocity times the barometric pressure,
divided by the square root of the wind chill factor.  Now he can shoot like a
pro.  He also enjoys measuring the amount of force a BasketBrawl player's
face has in relation to Simon's right hook while both players run at full
speed directly toward each other.  In his spare time, Simon is writing a book
about the science of basketball, called The Free Throw: Fact or Friction.
Simon's calculations paid off: he is a good shooter with average power.
Unfortunately, Advanced Calculus doesn't help him run very fast.

STRATEGY

Learn to exploit each character's strenghts and weaknesses.  Knowing the
abilities of your teammates and opponents will help you with your game plan.

If you fall behind, start throwing punches.  When you are on the offense,
note that the best defense is a dead defense.

If you knock your opponent out of the game, listen for the power up sounds
while you roll up the points.  Picking up icons will make you stronger for the
next game.

Learn to pass in 2-on-2 games.  No defense is ever prepared for a fast break.

Avoid the Blade's knives.  A knife in the gut can ruin a perfectly good layup.

SCORING

BasketBrawl scoring is just like basketball.  A successful shot is worth
two points.  There are no three-point shots.  In addition, players receive
points for various BasketBrawl activities, as shown in the table below:

Action                              Points
Successful punch......................10
Picking up fist, milk, or lightning...20
Making a basket.......................50
Winning a game.......................250

The total score appears on the Status screen.

ATARI(R)
Copyright (C) 1990, Atari Corporation
Sunnyvale, CA  94089-1302
All rights reserved.

Printed in Hong Kong.  G.C. 8.1990    C300018-080 Rev. A