Zapman 1: The Fantastic Zapman

The Fantastic Zapman

Release type: Shareware
Release date: 1993 (original release)
Levels: 7
Author: Gary Acord
Website: Acord Games
Registration bonus: The Fantastic Zapman 2 and The Fantastic Zapman 3, hint sheet, secret bonus game, copies of all shareware games, membership in the Zapper Game Club
Registration price: $20
Related games: Zapper 4: Escape from Neverwhere, Zapper 4-B: Holy Neverwhere!, Superheroes, Anyworld, Zapak, Nebula, Pipemare, Penguin Pete, Terrain

FULL ENTRY COMING SOON!

All of Gary Acord's games are wound together like a fanfic.

Story

Dots are life in The Fantastic Zapman

While sitting at your computer, lightning hit you & zapped you into another dimension inside your computer, in ZAPPER 1: ZAPPER IN NEVERWHERE.

In Neverwhere you heard legends of a hero named ZAPPER whom the denizens thought you were.

In Game 2, after escaping Neverwhere and returning to Earth you discovered that you had somehow been physically altered. You now had strange red antennas growing from your head & you possessed enormous strength & an ability to make tremendous jumps almost like flying. You donned a costume & fought alien creatures who were attempting to take over the world, and you called yourself Zapper!

But what became of the original Zapper of Neverwhere? He has been missing for quite some time now. You ponder this question for an interminable period until your head begins spinning & you feel an uncanny power surging through your consciousness. You collapse to the floor in a trance-like state and pictures begin flashing through your mind, & they are so real and amazingly vivid to the extent that you realize that you're witnessing events across vast stretches of space.

You begin to realize that the events unfolding before your mind's eye are very real, that you're watching them with some superpower of clairvoyance. You see a hero in a costume very similar to your own. You realize that he is the original Zapper, and decide to call him Zapman, to distinguish him from yourself. He is on an alien planet or dimension, a place very far away, and the look of desperation on his face shows that he is not happy where he is & is trying to escape.

As events transpire you soon learn that he has been kidnapped by some evil empire of another dimension, and is trying to escape. This is where the story of The Fantastic Zapman begins, & it is up to you with your skills and dexterity to help maneuver him to free himself from the evil clutches of his captors! ... without getting killed or trapped!

Instructions

Level 1 of The Fantastic Zapman

Controls

Use arrow keys to move around.

The [X] key jumps right.

The [Z] key jumps left.

The [Space Bar] shoots.

The [A] key shoots high.

The [P] key picks up objects. Pick up guns, hamburgers,etc.!

The [N] key jumps short right.

Special commands

[F1] gives in-game instructions

[F2] displays inventory.

[F5] saves game.

[F6] loads a saved game.

[F1O] tells about Acord Games.

Credits

Acord Games

Resources

• The first level, a sort of massive Pac-Man maze, is a variation of level 8 from Zapak.
• Levels 2 and 3 are based on the first two levels from Nebula.
• Levels 4 and 5 are based on Pipemare.
• Level 6 is based on Penguin Pete.
• Level 7 is based on Terrain.

Availability

Available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:

• Public Software Library's PSL Monthly 3-10: Education (August 1995)

Links

Interviews / Articles

• Inside the Mind of Gary Acord (Gamasutra)

Listings

• archive.org entry
• demu.org entry

Misc. Links

• Play The Fantastic Zapman online

Downloads

• The Fantastic Zapman (745 kB)
• Level 1 map (? kB)
• Level 2 map (? kB)
• Level 3 map (? kB)
• Level 4 map (? kB)
• Level 5 map (? kB)
• Level 6 map (? kB)
• Level 7 map (? kB)