Time Bandit ASCII
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# (c) 1985 MichTron #
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# by Bill Dunlevy (Programming) & Harry Lafnear (Graphics) #
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Atari ST "Time Bandit" Walkthrough/Guide/FAQ
__________________________________________
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# Version: 1.0 / May 2008 #
# Copyright: Marcel Schoen #
# Email: marcelschoen@yahoo.com #
# All rights reserved (c) 2008 #
#__________________________________________#
(Yeah... it took me only 23 years to do it..)
==========================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
==========================================================================
1. Introduction
2. Conventions
2.1 Terminology
2.2 Command input
2.3 Game version
2.4 TOS version
3. General notes and hints
3.1 The games' ending
3.2 INV command
3.3 Level completion recommendation
3.4 Single- vs. Multiplayer
3.5 STeem quicksave / quickload
4. Level guides
4.1 King's Crown
4.2 Castle Greymoon
4.3 Ghost Town
4.4 Excalibur
4.5 The Sentinel
4.6 The Guardian
4.7 Cheop's Curse
5. Artifact list
6. Screenshots
7. Sources / Links
8. Other versions / platforms
9. Credits
========================================================================== 1. INTRODUCTION ========================================================================== After 23 years I decided I finally wanted to see the end of "Time Bandit", and so I digged up the ST-emulator STeem and fired up that timeless classic a few more times. Only to discover that I wouldn't have made it anyway, without the emulators' memory snapshot function, which more or less served as a quick-save function for me. Yeah, it's kind of cheating, but at least I could get over "Darside Dare" at all... Speaking of emulators and trainers etc.: I DID buy the original, and I still have, in fact, the original box! This guide does NOT describe all levels, since most of them are pretty obvious and straightforward. For the same reason I did not bother to create maps for everything (only a few select ones, for special small areas that are hard to get through). In general, there's hardly ever a need for a map to get through a level. Instead I covered all the puzzles and riddles, and how to collect the artifacts. And I included some general hints and advices, to which I will gladly add any input I receive from you, my fellow gamer.
========================================================================== 2. CONVENTIONS ==========================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 Terminology --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level - One of the time zones, such as "Excalibur" or "Ghost Town" etc. Stage - The difficulty, such as "1A", "3C" or "4D". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 Command input -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every time you need to type in something in order to issue a command on a terminal screen or respond to some NPC, I will note this with a ">" followed by the command in uppercase, like: > YES
to respond with "YES" to an NPC's question. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Game version --------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are various versions of "Time Bandit", some released as early demo versions, then a final version 2.0 and 2.1. As far as I know, the two main differences between 2.0 and 2.1 are that in 2.0, one single press on "Q" quits the game, while in 2.1 you have to confirm it first, and in 2.0 there's no game saving option while there is one in 2.1. Please note that the 0.9x versions are only incomplete demo versions, which also in my case show some strange graphics errors sometimes. For this walkthrough, I used version 2.1. There should be no differences in 2.0 concerning the solutions, and for the previous versions it does not really matter to me, since they were pretty unfinished anyway. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 TOS version --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that you will need TOS 1.0x for "Time Bandit 2.1". If you try to run it with TOS 2.x, the colors will all get messed up.
========================================================================== 3. GENERAL NOTES AND HINTS ==========================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 The games' ending (SPOILER ALERT!) --------------------------------------------------------------------------
DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO SOLVE IT YOURSELF! What happens at the end??? A question that bothered many, since probably only few have ever seen it... at least without a Trainer version. Screenshot [SCR003] shows you the timegates journal page with all levels on 4D, and all artifacts collected. When you press fire, a message from the programmers is shown (screenshot [SCR004], followed by a nice animation, showing a nighttime sky, with the stars forming a "The End" label, and the Time Bandit standing in a green flowery field, gazing at the sky. Quite nice, and more than I'd have expected, actually. I've created an animated GIF using the emulators slow-motion- and screenshot-features, which you can see in the screenshot section, [SCR005].
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 INV command --------------------------------------------------------------------------
During most puzzle command screens, you can usually enter this command:
> INV
It will list all items you are currently carrying in your pockets ("inv"
is the abbreviation for "inventory").
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3 Level completion recommendation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Complete the following levels in this order:
(a) "The Sentinel" (b) "The Guardian" (c) "Cheop's Curse" because in "The Sentinel" you'll find an ankh which you need afterwards in "The Guardian" to decipher some scrolls. And then in "The Guardian" you'll find a golden scepter, and you'll need both this scepter and the ankh to get the golden mask artifact in "Cheop's Curse".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4 Single- vs. Multiplayer --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the levels are considerably easier to solve when you're playing
together with a friend, especially once one of you has died. At least for
some of the levels, it is extremely useful to have one of the players
be capable - as a ghost - to just walk into obstacles, for
- clearing flames,
- killing rotating cubes that cannot be shot,
- clearing away big worms, especially when they're very fast
- blocking enemies by standing in front of a respawn point
- making walls visible in "Darkside Dare"
Since you cannot die and become a ghost, and then go back to normal
later, you should try, as long as both players are alive, to first do
some of the levels where it's useful that both can pick up items. And
then afterwards the ones that really profit from one player being a
ghost.
Here's a list of levels of which I think that the ghost would be
extremely useful:
- Darkside Dare - A horror for a single player, but probably just a
piece of cake with a ghost, running in advance,
clearing the way.
- Gridville - Flames and Cubes, and the "squad"-enemies, that
split into four when shot.
- Major Hazard - Flames and Cubes, and a big worm
- The Sentinel - Flames
- The Guardian - Flames
- Cheop's Curse - Flames and Cubes
- King's Crown - The ghosts in the rotating knifes chamber
- Castle Greymoon - Cubes, and blocking ghosts in the glowing
spot maze
- Arena - A big worm in the underworld arena
- Welkin Island - Clearing the glowing stars for a direct path to
the keys (beginning from stage "3A").
Altough this comes at the cost of a reduced viewing area, but I still
think that while a single player hardly stands a chance in certain
situations, it's really possible to solve them when playing as a duo.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.5 STeem quicksave / quickload -------------------------------------------------------------------------- One way to cheat without having a trainer version is to use the memory snapshot functionality of an emulator. If you configure it on convenient keyboard shortcuts, you'll end up with functionality similar to the typical quicksave / quickload as usually found in today's FPS games. For STeem, just go into the "Shortcuts" configuration dialog and define two function keys like this (for example): F5 - "Load Last Memory Snapshot" F8 - "Save Over Last Memory Snapshot" Now you can just press F5 at any given time to quickly save the current game state, and just press F8 to restart from there. ========================================================================== 4. LEVEL GUIDES ==========================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 King's Crown --------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========
Stage: 1A
=========
- There is a hidden, direct shortcut to stage "3D" in this level, and
here's how it works:
Go to the scroll in the small room to the upper right, where it says:
"The spirits of Zardoz, warriors not
unlike yourself, are trapped in the
depths of this hideous stronghold.
If you have met the spirits before,
then by uttering their number you
shall sooner meet them again..."
What the text means by "have met them before", I don't know; this
actually also works in a freshly started game where you haven't
completed any other levels yet. Just enter
> TEN
and you're transported directly to stage "3D" ! If you don't want
to get all the loot in the stages in between, of course...
=========
Stage: 4D
=========
- Get the King's Crown artifact at the center of the large maze with the
rotating knifes (see screenshot [SCR007]). Get your timing right, or
get hurt...
- At the exit of the level, when met by the King, answer
> YES
to give him the crown and get 10'000 cubits reward. Strangely, you
still have the artifact in your list now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 Castle Greymoon --------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT: The "Mad Hermit" is only available in exactly the stages
as mentioned below, and if you miss him in one, you'll not be able
to talk to him again in the later stages.
=========
Stage: 1C
=========
- Go to the teleporters and be transported to the cave of Mad Hermit.
Go talk to him:
> YES
Then choose the torch up right by running to it:
> YES
You win the first round, but no bonus or anything like that. You'll
have to win more games against Mad Hermit before you get a reward.
- You can ignore the rubble from the smashed boulder, you'll only
need it later.
=========
Stage: 2C
=========
- Mad Hermit: Go to the table in lower room and get a bottle of wine:
> GET WINE
- Go up to the shepperd and talk to him:
> BUSINESS
Then answer, in order to pay for a sheep with the bottle of wine:
> WINE
Then answer the next question:
> YES
Now, he asks you if this has anything to do with that creepy Mad
Hermit. Here you have two options, but only the second is right:
1. > NO
And he will give you a lamb.
2. > YES
And he will cut the lambs throat himself and give you some of
its blood. Now who's being creepy here...?
- Go back to the Mad Hermit and talk to him:
> YES
And then depending on what you've got from the sheperd answer:
1. > LAMB
Do that, and you loose, but you can still win the next round.
2. > BLOOD
With the blood, you win this round (but again no reward yet).
=========
Stage: 3C
=========
- Mad Hermit: Go to the boulder in the upper left room and shoot it
- Stand on the smashed boulder:
> GET RUBBLE
- Now go to the fresh grave behind Mad Hermit
> GET DIRT
Then, when asked for your name, just enter something, like
> ME
Then you're asked to pay for the dirt with something else:
> USE RUBBLE
and get some grave-dirt in return
- Go to Mad Hermit and talk to him:
> YES
> GRAVE-DIRT
and you win again (still no treasure...).
=========
Stage: 4A
=========
- Sorcerer Maze: see screenshot [SCR010].
- At the Treasure Chest: "
> OPEN CHEST
> IRON PELLETS
and you gain temporary invincibility. The green paper and black
ashes will poison you, and the blue crystals will result in a
diamond, which is needed only in 4C for a riddle of Mad Hermit.
=========
Stage: 4B
=========
- At the treasure chest:
> OPEN CHEST
> IRON PELLETS
and you gain temporary invincibility.
=========
Stage: 4C
=========
- Before going to Mad Hermit, you have to get to the treasure chest
- IMPORTANT: At the treasure chest:
> OPEN CHEST
and this time, take the crystals:
> BLUE CRYSTALS
and you get a blue diamond, which you need to get an additional
bonus from Mad Hermit.
- Go to Mad Hermit and talk to him:
> YES
> DIAMOND
and you'll get 2'000 additional cubits!
- Pass Mad Hermit and go to the Unicorn (beware of the cubes / see
screenshot [SCR008]).
- Answer the Unicorns questions. Here you have different possible
paths, depending on your answers.
First, here's the answers in short, for better readability:
> NO
> NO
> NO
> YOU
If you want to know what happens in all other cases, just
read the following paragraphs.
1. Question: "DO YOU CALL IN THE SORCERESS?"
To get the black unicorn artifact (bad):
> YES
If you answer that first question with "YES", the evil
sorceress appears and kills the unicorn, and that vision will
haunt you forever - in the form of a black unicorn artifact!
So, that means you can have only EITHER the white OR the black
unicorn artifact, but not both!
To continue and get the white unicorn artifact (good):
1. > NO
2. Question: "AM I TO SERVE KING QUARK?"
To get only 10'000 cubits bonus (bad):
> YES
In this case, the unicorn goes into the kings' zoo, and the king
awards you 10'000 cubits - but that's not what you want, if only
because you don't get the white unicorn artifact this way.
Instead, to continue and get the white unicorn artifact (good):
> NO
3. Question: "DOES THE BANDIT CLAIM MY POWER?"
To get only temporary invincibility (bad):
> YES
The unicorn (Kelveshaan) gives you temporary invicibility and
disappears. Again not what you want.
Instead, to continue and get the white unicorn artifact (good):
> NO
4. Question: "THEN WHO HOLDS MY FUTURE?"
To (again) get only temporary invincibility (bad):
> ME
The unicorn (Kelveshaan) gives you temporary invicibility and
disappears. Again not what you want.
Instead, to finally get the white unicorn artifact (good):
> YOU
and you get the white Unicorn artifact, 10'000 cubits and
temporary invincibility!
=========
Stage: 4D
=========
- At the treasure chest:
> OPEN CHEST
> IRON PELLETS
and you gain temporary invincibility.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 Ghost Town --------------------------------------------------------------------------
========= Stage: 1A =========
- In the prison, open the cell with the body of a dead outlaw by walking
over the 3rd lever (from top-down).
- Go to the dead body and get the first letter of a total of nine letters.
Together they form a word, but that word is different for every new
game, so there's no point in naming the letters here. There's a list of
all possible words at the point where the word must be entered.
=========
Stage: 1C
=========
- Talk to the ghost of a Woman in lower left building
> YES
- A ladder appears; go up the ladder, then go to the dead body to note
the next letter.
- Go to remains of murdered waitress Molly
> GET REMAINS
- Get loot and go to the graveyard
- Go to Molly's grave
> BURY MOLLY
You will not get anything for this right now, only after you've
burried the remaining three dead bodies as well.
=========
Stage: 2A
=========
- Near starting point, where there was a rock previously, a trapdoor to
the "Lost Maverick Mine" has opened.
- Enter the mine and find a dead body behind a rock (shoot the rock)
with another letter.
- Also get the key and loot from the mine.
=========
Stage: 2C
=========
- Talk to ghost of a woman in upper left building
> YES
- A ladder appers; go up the ladder.
- Go to the dead body to note next letter
- Go to the remains of daughter Ellen
> GET REMAINS
- Get loot and go to the graveyard
- Go to Ellen's grave
> BURY ELLEN
=========
Stage: 3A
=========
- "Lost Maverick Mine" has a new trapdoor to a lower level, get a key
and loot from there
- Talk to the ghost of Luke Selleck in upper right building
- Luke Selleck thanks you for burying his daughter.
- A ladder appears, go up.
- Go to the remains of Luke Selleck
> GET REMAINS
- Go to the diary book
- Notice vault combination XX-YY-ZZ
(apparently randomly generated for every new game)
- Go to vault door
- enter combination:
> XX-YY-ZZ
- The vault door opens
- Go to the dead body
- Note another letter.
- Go to Luke's grave
> BURY LUKE
- Now only 1 left to bury...
=========
Stage: 3C
=========
- Talk to the ghost of an outlaw in lower left building
> YES
- A trapdoor appears; go down.
- Go down trapdoor
- Go to remains of Outlaw "Tom"
> GET REMAINS
- Go back up and head to the graveyard
- Go to the last grave
> BURY TOM
- You receive 1500 cubits bonus
- You receive another letter. WRITE IT DOWN - this is the only time
you can see this letter; you cannot come back here to check it again.
=========
Stage: 4A
=========
- "Lost Maverick Mine" has a new trapdoor on the lower level to a
second lower level.
- Enter into 2nd sublevel and get to the trapped ghosts
- clear the area from other enemies and then carefully eliminate
the ghosts. Be careful; like the ones on the graveyard, they take
several shots to be destroyed.
Now you can walk up to the two dead bodys to get two more letters.
=========
Stage: 4C
=========
- In a room on the upper side, a new ladder has appeared; go up.
- go to the dead body and get another letter.
- Go to black tar pit - DO NOT WALK IN! The tar pit cannot be
crossed yet, and everytime you walk in, you loose a life.
- Go to the box to the right side of the tar pit and enter the
right word. Which one it is, depends on the letters you found.
Below you see a list of words I gathered with a hex editor from
a memory snapshot of the game (so I hope the list is complete):
Words:
---------
TERRORIZE
HEARTLESS
ENCHANTER
MISCREANT
GENTLEMEN
(please send any other, should you find more)
- Once you enter the right word, a bridge spans accross the tar pit.
In the area on the other side, you find some loot and an artifact,
that looks like an old 19-century golden watch, and which also gives
a reward of 5'000 cubits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4 Excalibur --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special notes: --------------
- The Klingon ship CANNOT BE DESTROYED BEFORE LEVEL 4D! Don't even try...
- This level is played only 4 times, not 16 like all others. It directly
jumps to the stages as follows:
- 1A
- 2B
- 3C
- 4D
- Notice that this also means a corresponding increase in enemy
aggression level each time you enter the level!
- There's an optional part which can cost you up to 9 lives, and is NOT
necessary to finish the level and get the artifact. It's getting to
the asteroid with the Hercules serum, using the long-range transporter
from Starbase-4; so do that part on your own risk. You'll just gain
temporary invincibility, which might be helpful for another part,
but then again, at the cost of several lives...
I do not recommend doing it, since it's not very useful.
- There's a lot of puzzles to solve in this level. With each iteration,
you NEED to solve a few more in order to get to the keys for the exit.
However, solving all the puzzles for destroying the Klingon ship should
be saved for the last level 4D, because it is not really possible in
earlier levels as mentioned above. So I suggest you leave the level
as soon as you have the required keys, save for 4D.
- Now, since the puzzles are always the same in each iteration (only the
codes are generated dynamically), I'll just explain the full solution
only for 4D in detail. For 1A/2B/3C, you'll just follow it as far as
necessary until you have the required keys to end the level.
- Fixing the firing pin: When one walks to the workbench at the back
of the Excalibur and tries to fix the pin by entering
> FIX PIN
> USE WIRE
a message appears that "only a genius would know into which of the
999 holes to put the wire. Which one is it?"
This seems to be some kind of joke from the programmers, because
there is no correct answer. You'll only just get an error response
telling you that you hear a grinding crunch and something falls on
the floor. So, in short, don't bother!
=========
Stage: 4D
=========
- At the back of the nacelle (upper right), walk on the gray floor board
> GET WIRE
- Go to the commanders seat on the bridge
- It tells you that you can see a ring
> USE WIRE
- You get the ring and 500 cubits
- Go downstairs to the speaking door
> USE RING
- The door opens
- Go to the book and write down the coordinates
- Go to the transporter room and enter the coordinates at the terminal
- Walk up on the transporter and get beamed down to Voracious-12
- Collect the key and some loot.
- Walk into the hole to drop into the underground tunnel system
- Go to the log book and note the heading coordinates for Starbase-4
- Go to the blue crystals near the exit
> GET CRYSTALS
- The blue crystals can be picked up a second time later for an
additional 500 cubits bonus.
- Leave the tunnels and head back to the transporter
- Back on the Excalibur, go to the engineers terminal (the text with
the Scotty-ish accent...)
> USE CRYSTALS
- The power of the ship is restored
- Now if you want the 500 cubit bonus for the crystals, beam down to
Voracious-12 again before continuing and get some more blue crystals.
- Then go to the helmsman's terminal on the bridge
- Write down the current heading, just in case you want to return
to Voracious-12 again
- Enter the heading coordinates of Starbase-4, and you'll arrive at
Starbase-4, where a Klingon ship waits.
- Go over to the communications terminal
- Re-enter the distress code mentioned on the terminal's display
- Write down the transporter coordinates in the response
- Go back down to the transporter room
- Enter the coordinates and beam yourself down to Starbase-4
*** Here begins the optional part ***
- Go to the room with the unhelpful computer and enter the characters
which show as lightning bolts on the screen (two characters after
each other, see screenshot [SCR006]) Fill the entire line!
Since it depends heavily on what language setting you have on your
computer, it's difficult to say which keys you have to press exactly.
Once you've done it, you electrocute the computer, and he'll release
part of a 5-digit coordinate. It's always of the format ABC_D, where
the underscore "_" stands for the missing digit.
- Go to the long-range transporter room and use the terminal
- Here's the part that will cost you up to 9 lives:
Try the coordinate you've got and fill in the missing value where
the underscore "_" character is, using a value from 0-9. One of
them should work. Of course you have to step on the transporter each
time to try, and if it wasn't the right one, you'll loose a life.
- Once you got the right combination, you'll be beamed to the asteroid.
Avoid the rolling, indestructible cubes there and walk to the sign.
> USE MUCK
- It tells you that you drink some of it, and if you drink more,
you'll surely die! This is true - DO NOT enter that command again,
or it's immediately game over!
- Instead, you've already gained temporary invincibility with the muck,
so you might use it to quickly continue with the part on board of the
Klingon ship. Run back to the transporter and get back to Starbase-4.
*** Here ends the optional part ***
Continue here for the mandatory part, in order to blast those evil
Klingons to smithereens:
- In Starbase-4, go to the room with the crates
- One of the crates has a different description (content) than the
others; go to that one.
> OPEN CRATE
> GET PIN
- You now have a working firing pin
- Now hide in the create to get on board of the Klingon ship:
> OPEN CREATE
> HIDE
> NO
> YES
- You get transported onto the klingon ship. Be careful, they fire
on sight! Use diamonds etc. wisely for getting past the Klingons
as unharmed as possible. Move quick to do everything you need
and get out as fast as you can.
- Get to their bridge and roam the terminals to get the codes for
dropping the shields. The other codes are irrelevant.
- Note from one of the terminals that the changed security door
password apparently always begins with "de", but the rest of it
changes in each level, as described below.
- Go back to the talking security door and enter the new security
password:
1A > DEATH
2B > DESTROY
3C > DECAY
4D > DECIMATE
- Go to the crew member and get 500 cubits reward
- Go down and walk to the loose floor panel
> OPEN PANEL
> GET CHARM
You get the rabbits foot of a crew member.
> USE WIRE
You shortwired and disabled the electrical fields on the Klingon
ship, so now you can move to the back end and grab the last key.
- Start running back towards the crate
- A dialog pops up, where a crew member, Lt. Moore, asks you to give
him his rabbits charm back:
> YES
Now, depending on the stage you are, you either get nothing
(1A - 3C) or an additional "lucky patch" (4D) in exchange for the
rabbits charm. It's this "lucky patch" that will give you the
advantage at the end of 4D, and 4D only.
NOTE: You can also decide not to give him the charm, so that you
keep it for yourself. But that still won't you give as much
luck as you need in the end, as described below.
- Run to the teleporter and beam back to Starbase-4
- From there go back to the Excalibur
- Run to the bridge and to the communications terminal
- Enter the "Drop Shields" Code
- The Klingon Vessel lowers its shields (and the Klingons
their pants, so to speak).
- Go to the weapons terminal
> USE PIN
- The phasers are operational again
> USE PHASERS
- If you have the "lucky patch", because you returned the "rabbit's
charm" to Lt. Moore, you are "very lucky", and you destroy the
Klingon ship!! Since you get the "lucky patch" only on stage 4D,
you can also destroy the ship only on 4D.
- If you just have the "rabbits charm", because you did not give it
back to the officer, you are just "lucky", and so you'll land a
hit on the Klingons, but then they take evasive action and fire
back, and your firing pin goes up in flames again.
- If you don't have any of these items and just fire, the Klingon
ship "performs a spectacular evasive roll" and they laugh at you!
And you'll get the message as described below at the ending of the
lower levels.
----------------
Excalibur ending
----------------
=========
Stage: 4D
=========
- Go to the exit, and the captain speaks to you, thanks you for
everything etc. You get 5000 cubits bonus, and an artifact that looks
like a Klingon "Bird of Prey" ship!
====================
Stages: 1A / 2B / 3C
====================
- If you have activated the ship's power and freed the crew at this
point, when you finish the level, the captain will send you a message,
thanking you for your efforts, altough the Klingons got away.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5 The Sentinel --------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========
Stage: 2A
=========
- Drop into the hole near the start, from there go to the right, avoiding
the flames, and then up the ladder.
- Go to the scroll.
> GET ANKH
- You get the ankh and 1'000 cubits
- Thanks to the ankh, you will be able to decipher the scroll in the other
egyptian level, "The Guardian".
- There is only one key to get in the tunnels. The central part is not yet
accessible.
Special note:
-------------
- There are some areas within the "Boulder Dash"-inspired rock field with
diamonds, moving flames etc. Apparently these areas are not reachable
when playing alone. My guess is that while playing in coop-mode, those
areas can be reached, but I could not verify that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6 The Guardian --------------------------------------------------------------------------
========= Stage: 2A =========
- If you got the ankh in "The Sentinel", you can decipher the scroll
about the "Quest of the two locks", getting four directions, such
as LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT.
=========
Stage: 2C
=========
- Near the end, you find a scroll and a golden scepter.
> GET SCEPTER
- You get the scepter and 1'000 cubits bonus.
=========
Stage: 2D
=========
- In the large room with the boulders, there is a new scroll:
"The passage of time can make many years
seem to amount to only a day."
I haven't figured out what this is supposed to mean, or how it should
help, so if you find out, let me know!
=========
Stage: 3A
=========
- Near the exit, take the RIGHT lock if you don't want to finish the
level directly, but attempt the "Riddle of the Spinx" first, which
will reward you with 5000 cubits bonus.
- At the maze of glowing spots, follow this path (from bottom to top;
in the middle part, you'll be teleported from A to B):
x = path
. = glowing spot
EXIT
|
..x...
..x...
.xx...
Bx....
......
...A..
xxxx..
x.....
xx....
.x....
xx....
|
START
NOTE: There's also a screenshot for that, [SCR009].
- The scroll you find has the "Riddle of the Sphinx". To start it:
> YES
> YES
Then the riddle appears, which is indeed an old one (now we know
where it originated...):
"Which is it which has
four feet in the morning,
two in the afternoon,
and three in the evening?"
> MAN
One explanation I've found says that morning, afternoon and
evening are referring to stations in life; morning means while
one is a baby (and crawling on all four), afternoon when one is
in his best age, and evening referring to an old person, using
a walking stick (the third leg).
You get 5'000 cubits as a bonus.
=========
Stage: 3C
=========
- In the large room with the boulders, there is a scroll with a riddle:
"In a room with two lids,
they awaken at night.
A pageant of specters,
bringing wonder and fright.
What are they?"
> DREAMS
- You get 1000 cubits bonus.
===============
Stages: 4A / 4B
===============
- In the large room with the boulders, there is a book (instead of the
scroll) with a part of the map to get through the maze of glowing
dots at the end of the level for the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
(which I've already provided a map for above, so you can safely
ignore it).
By the way, the message is signed by "I. Jones". Apparently Indy
was quicker, but not as lucky...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7 Cheop's Curse --------------------------------------------------------------------------
========= Stage: 4A =========
- Here's one of the slightly more complex puzzles, in the tomb with the
four levers, the altars, and the golden eye, "Apep, guardian of the
great Khu-Fu" (sounds more asian than egyptian to me, but never mind)
The goal here is to grab the golden mask artifact in the center. In
order to get to it, light must be activated and be redirected into
the golden eye which guards the artifact. Then the rotating holes
will disappear and free the way to the mask.
Have a look at screenshot [SCR001] to get an idea of the setup.
- NOTE 1: At this point you need to have the golden scepter and the
ankh from "The Sentinel" and "The Guardian"!
- NOTE 2: Once you have activated the light, it works like laser beams.
Each time a beam hits you, you loose up to two lifes, so be careful
to set up everything as described here.
- NOTE 3: In order to turn the direction of the light hitting one altar,
you have to run on a lever. Even though the lever has only two visual
positions, the light can be sent into four directions. This means that
you mave have to walk on a lever twice, which looks as if you would
set it back to its original position, in order to turn the light on an
altar into the opposite direction (each lever move turns the light at
90 degrees).
- First, go to the altar in the middle of the lower row, just in front
of the golden eye.
> USE SCEPTER
The scepter is inserted.
- Now move each lever as often as described:
Upper left : Move 2x (leans to the left then)
Upper right: Move 1x (leans to the right then)
Lower left : Move 2x (leans to the left then)
Lower right: Move 1x (leans to the right then)
- Check out the screenshots [SCR002] to verify what it will look like
once the light beams are activated.
- ATTENTION: Once you perform the next step, the light is activated.
Move out of its way quickly!
- Second, go to the altar in the middle of the top row.
> USE ANKH
- You insert the ankh, and by doing this, activate the light.
- Now run quickly into the center, grab the artifact and escape over
the ladder with it. I suggest grabbing one of the diamond / loot
items first in order to stop the ghosts before running in the
center to grab the artifact.
- You get 7500 cubits bonus for the mask.
==========================================================================
5. ARTIFACT LIST
==========================================================================
Artifact | Stage | Earliest stage ---------------+-------------------+----------------- White Unicorn | Castle Greymoon | 4C Black Unicorn | Castle Greymoon | 4C King's Crown | King's Crown | 4D Ghost | Shadowlands | 4D Phaser | Excalibur | 4D Golden watch | Ghost Town | 4C Golden mask | Cheop's Curse | 4A
For detailled information about how to get each artifact, just search this guide for the name of that artifact. Note that usually an artifact that can be aquired, lets say, on stage 4A, is also still available on 4C - 4D, in case you missed it. But that might not always be the case, so I recommend getting them as listed above.
========================================================================== 6. SCREENSHOTS ==========================================================================
The following image file names must be appended to the following base URL of the Atari-Forum Wiki in order to view the images online: https://www.atari-forum.com/wiki/index.php/Image: [SCR001] Cheops_Mask_off.gif [SCR002] Cheops_Mask_on.gif [SCR003] Timegates_Journal_Completed.gif [SCR004] Game_Finished_Message.gif [SCR005] Ending_Animation.gif [SCR006] Lightning_Bolts.gif [SCR007] Kings_Crown_Artifact.gif [SCR008] Unicorn_Artifact.gif [SCR009] Sphinx_Riddle_Map.gif [SCR010] Sorcerers_Maze_Map.gif
========================================================================== 7. SOURCES / LINKS ==========================================================================
- The "Atari Forum" which hosts this Walkthrough:
https://www.atari-forum.com/
- The Wiki on the Atari-Forum which hosts this FAQ as a Wiki Topic:
https://www.atari-forum.com/wiki/index.php/Time_Bandit
- gamefaqs.com:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/
- Wikipedia topic about "Time Bandit":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Bandit
- An interview with go-creator Harry Lafnear:
https://www.atarilegend.com/interviews/interview.php?interview_id=4
- Kroah's "Time Bandit"-editor utility in the makings:
http://bringerp.free.fr/RE/Tb/news.php5
==========================================================================
8. OTHER VERSIONS / PLATFORMS
==========================================================================
"Time Bandit" has also been ported to some other platforms, such as
Commodore's Amiga or MS-DOS. I don't know these, and if there are any
important differences concerning the solutions described in this guide
(my guess, however, is that there are no real differences), please let
me know it.
Should you know anything valuable about any such version, I'd be glad
to incorporate it in this guide as well.
==========================================================================
9. CREDITS
==========================================================================
This Walkthrough was written by Marcel Schoen, Switzerland, in order to
fill the void and honouring one of my personal all-time favourite games.
Additional thanks for valuable input, help and comments go to
- Kroah, reverse engineer of old games, and author of the "Time Bandit"
editor utility, which naturally helped a lot to uncover hidden details.