Scarabaeus

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Scarabaeus Game No. 99 Developer Peter Barna, Istvan Cseri, Laszlo Mocsay, Csaba Nagy & András Pohl Company Andromeda Software Publisher Ariolasoft Musician Andromeda Software HVSC-File /GAMES/ S-Z/ Scarabaeus.sid Release 1985 Platform {{{Platform}}} Genre Arcade Adventure 3D Gamemode Single player Operation Media Language Information title "Invaders of the lost tomb" in the USA

Contents 1 Voting 2 Description 3 Design 4 Hints 4.1 Maze Sections 4.2 Puzzle Sections 4.3 Elevator Sections 5 Solution 5.1 Top Floor 5.2 Middle Floor 5.3 Bottom Floor 5.4 Elevator Sections 5.5 Scoring 6 Cheats 7 Critics 8 Miscellaneous 9 Highscore 10 Links

[edit] Voting

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.87 points at 23 votes (rank 50). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	7	18th November 2007 - "very good" - 473 downs
Lemon64	7,8	28th October 2007 - 33 votes
Kultboy.com	8	29th July 2008 - 2 votes
ASM	10/10	Edition 4/86
ZZap64	96%	Edition 85/12

[edit] Description

Scarabaeus is a 3D adventure game made by Andromeda in 1985. It is also knows as "Invaders of the Lost Tomb".

The game starts with the player landing near an Egyptian-styled tomb, which is seemingly on another planet, as he arrives in a rocket wearing a space suit. He and his dog venture in together. The aim is to collect the ancient treasure of Scarabaeus. The explorer gets bitten by a spider upon entering the tomb, although the player doesn't see this. This is what causes the search for the vials of medicine, on top of the search for the treasure.

[edit] Design

The game is divided into three maze-like floors, each with its own puzzles. Along the way, the player needs to keep an eye on the explorer's health on the HUD. The Heads-Up Display consists of the following:

1. Play area - The explorer's first-person view of the maze.
2. Compass - Gives the player an idea of what direction they are facing. The map screen does a better job at clearly showing which way you are facing, however.
3. Map - A vague representation of where you are in terms of which floor you're on. In order to see an actual map of the area, hold back on the joystick.
4. Hourglass - Overall game time limit. Maybe it represents the air supply? It ticks down very slowly; once it empties, it's game over.
5. Doorway - To the right of the hourglass; this doorway with your explorer walking in front of it represents his vitality. It slowly wears down (opens) on its own because of the spider bite he recieved upon entering the tomb. It is possible to recover lost vitality by drinking medicine on the third level, but not before, so the player must advance through the first and second levels quickly. Once the door opens completely, it's game over.
6. Electrocardiogram - Allows you to check the explorer's heart rate. This is basically an extension of what the doorway tells you. The faster it weaves the heartbeat line, the more perilous the explorer's condition.

To view a map of the area, hold back on the joystick. Keep in mind that viewing the map does not pause the game, so enemies can still move freely while you check the layout. Some things which appear on the map are:

	Explorer / Player - Whichever direction his arms are outstretched, that's they way he's currently facing.
	Alcoves - Come in a range of colours. These appear only on the middle and bottom floors, and will bring up a new screen when entered. They contain spiders, puzzles and zombie traps on the middle floor, and potions on the bottom floor. Once an alcove has been inspected, its appearance on the map screen changes; the dot inside the box disappears.
	Skulls - Represents different things depending on which floor the explorer is on. On the top floor, it represents the ghost that will give you hieroglyphs. You need to seek him out. On the middle and bottom floors, they represent spiders and zombies respectively - you'll want to avoid these.
	Walls - Impede movement of both you and anything marked as a skull. Their positions are randomly generated with each new game.
	Zombie Traps - Indicate where you placed a zombie trap. Only on the bottom floor.
	Elevator - Always somewhere on the edge of the maze. Their colour varies depending on what floor you're on.

[edit] Hints

[edit] Maze Sections

• - Move forawrd.
• - Turn left/right.
• Hold to view map.
• At any time, you can check your current score with the H  key, and toggle the music on or off with M . Remember that, while checking your score, the game timer will keep ticking.
• - Check current hieroglyphs (top floor only). Place a zombie trap (bottom floor only).

[edit] Puzzle Sections

• - Move cursor.
• - Make selection.
• Hold and move for the sliding puzzle on the bottom floor.

[edit] Elevator Sections

• Rotate the joystick anti-clockwise to move down, and clockwise to move up. Remember to hit all the directions (left, down-left, down, down-right, right, etc.), because missing even one causes you to fall and lose health.

[edit] Solution

Keep in mind that this game has its fair share of buggy moments. The strategies listed below assume that the game is working as it should.

[edit] Top Floor

The player starts near the top of the tomb, in a magenta-coloured area. A ghost (marked by a skull on the map screen) wanders the corridors, and the player must catch up to him. When the player meets the ghost, it will impart one of nine hieroglyphs - which the explorer automatically notes down on a 3x3 grid - and then teleport to somewhere else on the same floor. When the player has collected all nine hieroglyphs, the ghost disappears and the player must take the elevator down to the next floor. Collecting all of the hieroglyphs is critical, as the next set of puzzles are impossible to solve without all nine.

Press fire at any time to see your current hieroglyph collection. For a slightly easier glyph-hunt, look at the map (down) for a few seconds and see which direction he's moving, then try and anticipate where you can cut him off.

[edit] Middle Floor

This is a gruelling preparation floor. The walls and floor are now blue, and your objective now is to decipher puzzles hidden in alcoves using the nine hieroglyphs you collected on the above floors. To view the collected hieroglyphs, bring up the map (down).

There are thirteen alcoves on this floor, and each one contains a puzzle and a spider. When you walk past an alcove (never approach one directly unless you're sure the spider has left it), a spider appears and slowly begins following the exact path the explorer takes. If a spider catches up to the explorer, he will suffer another bite and loss of vitality. Fortunately(?), once the spider bites, it disappears. A reasonable strategy for outrunning spiders is to run around the maze and hope you have built up enough of a lead so that you will have enough time to decipher the puzzles before they catch up. There is no way to defeat the spiders, as such.

When you come to an alcove, you are presented with a screen like this:

1. Vial - Note that these vials are not actual vials that you can take; they represent an identically designed vial on the bottom floor.
2. Zombie Trap - Looks like a gas-mask for some wierd reason. Used on the bottom floor to get rid of zombies. Press fire to lay one where your explorer is currently standing.
3. Hieroglyphs - There are two sets of hieroglyphs: a red side, which concerns the vial, and a green side, which concerns a zombie trap. Remember the set of nine glyphs you collected on the top floor; if you can see all nine appearing in any order on the red side, you can mark the corresponding vial on the bottom floor as safe. If this holds true for the green side, you can take a zombie trap. Keep in mind that you can choose to do both.
4. Pen symbols - These appear underneath the red set of hieroglyphs (left). If this set contains the nine glyphs you collected on the top floor in any order, select the pen without the red line going through it and press fire. This will cause the vial to appear on the bottom floor's map screen, indicating that it should be safe to drink. If the glyphs don't match completely, select the pen with the red line going through it. It means the corresponding vial on the bottom floor should contain deadly poison, and won't show up on the bottom floor's map screen.
5. Hand symbols - These appear underneath the green set of hieroglyphs (right). If this set contains the nine glyphs you found on the top floor, it is safe to take the trap; select the hand without the red line going through it. If the glyphs don't match, it's better to leave it and exit back to the maze. Remember that while you are studying these puzzles, the spiders will be moving.
6. Maze symbol - Returns you to the maze.

Eventually, you will come across a puzzle that's very different from the rest:

This is one of those puzzles where you have to get all the tiles to show the same picture by flipping rows at a time. In this case: an ankh. You can move the red cursor along the hand symbols around the edge to choose which row or column to flip. Choosing a corner flips the diagonal line. Remember that all the tiles in a line will get flipped, even the ankhs, so plan your moves carefully.

Flipping all the tiles so that they show ankhs will grant you the Pharao's Key, which grants access to the last puzzle on the bottom floor. Once you have inspected all the alcoves correctly and solved the last puzzle, all the spiders should disappear, and you are free to use the elevator to go down to the last floor.

[edit] Bottom Floor

This is where you will see the fruits of your labours on previous floors. The antidotes (which double as general vitality-restoring potions) to the spider bite the explorer received at the beginning of the game are here, as well as some bottles containing deadly poison. Ideally, you will have a few zombie traps from the previous floor.

Zombies appear on this floor, and their appearance is triggered by taking potions from the alcoves. Unlike the spiders, zombies choose their own movement paths and regenerate when they attack the player. Also unlike in the previous floor, it is safe to approach the alcoves directly. To get rid of the zombies, place a zombie trap with the fire button (you can check the location of where you placed them by looking at the map sub-screen) and try to lure one into it. The traps won't hurt the explorer, so a good strategy is to stand on one, wait for a zombie to approach, and move away just as one is about to catch you. Usually, they will walk over the trap while trying to pursue the explorer.

If you've checked your map upon arrival on this floor, you will notice two things:

the right of the screen lists the number of zombie traps you have at your disposal, and the potions that were marked as safe (pen symbol without a red line going through it) will be lined up across the bottom. Keep them in mind, you'll need to recall those soon. When you reach an alcove, you are presented with a screen like this:

If the bottle matches one that appears on the bottom of the map screen on this floor, it means that it should be safe to take, unless there was a mistake with solving the puzzles on the second floor. To take it, select the hand symbol and press fire. If you are unsure, select the maze icon to exit.

Once you have collected all the necessary vials, head to the center of the room for the final puzzle:

This is a sliding puzzle which must be completed in forty moves, indicated by the chains. You can move the blue cursor to select a tile, then hold fire and press up, down, left or right to shift the tile in that direction. Note that you can shift multiple tiles at a time if there is a space beyond your selected piece. The solution to the puzzle is on the outside of the 4x5 grid. The two columns on the far left of the screen indicate where each tile should go on the left-hand side of the grid. Likewise with the tiles on the far right of the screen.

Once you've figured it out, the treasure of Scarabaeus is finally yours.

[edit] Elevator Sections

When it's time to move on to a different floor, or the player feels they have forgotten something on a previous floor, the elevator is the (only) transport of choice. It is represented by a brightly-coloured square on the edge of the map; its colour depends on what floor the player is currently on.

To descend, you must rotate the joystick anti-clockwise, making sure to press every eighth direction (up, up-left, left, down-left, down, etc.) until the walls change colour, indicating that a different floor has been reached. Hold your current direction and press fire to get off. Rotate the joystick in the same fashion, instead going clockwise, to ascend. If the player misses even one of these eighths, or lets the joystick return to its neutral position, the elevator plummets to the next floor down. Your explorer then loses a portion of vitality on impact, depending on how far the fall was.

The player is free to move between floors at any time regardless of how many things have or haven't been collected. Note that this is the only other part of the game, except the title screen, where the explorer's dog appears.

[edit] Scoring

Event	Points
Collecting a hieroglyph	500
Marking vials and traps as safe/unsafe	1,000
Solving the tile-flipping puzzle (Pharao's Key)	5,000
Taking medicine	10,000
Retrieving the Scarabaeus	100,000

You also receive points for remaining time and vitality, and some other bonuses with variable point values.

[edit] Cheats

At the moment there are no cheats known for this game.

[edit] Critics

Robotron2084: "Scarabaeus is a real jewel, that has never received the attention that would have been rightly due. It just drips from atmosphere and devilish-meanly ingenious, though slightly mazy game mechanisms. The symbiosis from 3D run-action and memory puzzle or respectively crackers is fantastically well done and it is by far the best game that Andromeda Software has ever written. I've played it now for more than 20 years and I am againg and again fascinated by it, although to my shame I have to admit that I still haven't played it through. So if one likes solving puzzles under the pressure of time und wants to play cat and mouse with spiders and zombies in a labyrinth, he is totally at the right place here. 11 out of 10 points!"

blubarju: "I can only subscribe to Robotron's view. A software jewel on the C64. Small tip for emulator players: better use a joystick (e.g. Competition Pro) than a joypad, because imo it is otherwise almost impossible to use the elevator (steady, circular movement with the stick is required). 9 points."

[edit] Miscellaneous

Cover

[edit] Highscore

[edit] Links

• C64Games.de - Game No. 3601
• Lemon64 - Game No. 2229
• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 6591
• Test Report No. 2125 on

• ZZap64 test report