Space Ace Walkthrough IBM-CDROM Version by Lafe Travis, HTML by Pete Belknap ________________________________________________________________________________ Index of Walkthrough <*> The Moves <*> Kim Is Kidnapped <*> The Black Spheres <*> Dodging the Beams <*> The Platforms <*> The Dogs and the Robots <*> The Junk Planet <*> The Dog Fight <*> The Yellow Planet <*> The Dark Side <*> The Motorcycle Chase <*> The Roller Skates <*> The Giant Eels <*> The Final Confrontation ________________________________________________________________________________ The Moves Here is a complete set of moves for Space Ace: L=left, R=right, U=up, D=down, F=fire/Energize . All Moves are in Parenthesis and Boldface. I've tried to include as many timing references as possible. If the move doesn't seem to be working, try different timing. Some moves have very exact timing. So here's the walkthrough... ________________________________________________________________________________ Kim Is Kidnapped Kim is carried away into Borf's huge spaceship. Borf will fly out on a hover pad to destroy Dexter. Jump (L) to hide behind a rock when Borf fires his laser. Jump (L) again to avoid another blast. A wide view of the cliff leading to Dexter's spacecraft will be shown. Flying robots move towards Dexter. Run (R) to the boulder. Robots will continue to follow, so run (R) again. The word "Energize" will flash at the bottom of the screen. Now you must choose whether or not to energize yourself and turn into Ace. That's the great thing about this game; choice. Both ways will work, but will lead to different sets of moves for this scene. Ace - (F) energizes you while you are running along the cliff. Dexter transforms into Ace! A robot will grab you. (F) will have Ace shoot it. The ground you are standing on becomes shaky, so jump to safety (R). A top view of the cliff will be shown and the robot in front of Ace will fire off in several directions at once. Jump (L) to the left cliff, but quickly jump back (R), and fire before you land (F) in order to destroy the harmful robot -- it takes good of timing. Your ship doesn't appear too far away. Move (L) to jump over the hole on the cliff. But then your energy runs out and you turn back to Dexter. Proceed to the Dexter moves to finish this scene. Dexter - The dirt bashers are after you. Contrary to the instruction manual, you do not need to wait for the arms of the dirt bashers to go up before jumping left over the holes. Just keep hitting (L) repeatedly, with no respect to proper timing and you'll finish this scene. It couldn't be easier! This first scene has no mirror image, but almost all of the others do. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Black Spheres Dexter takes off in his space ship towards Borf's ship, but first he must navigate through a storm of black spheres. Dexter tries to reach her, "Kimberly, come in. Are you okay?" Kimberly will reply "Oh sure, I'm just kidnapped by aliens, that's all." "I'll save you Kimmy!" Dexter will promise. She screams "Get me out of heeere!" This scene can be presented to you in many ways. You are also given a choice of which way to steer the ship, which can lead to different paths. You need to see which way the ship veers after the first move to really know which way the rest of the scene will be. The first move is always (U). If your ship then veers to the right of the shot, the second move will be (R). Then you are given a choice to go up or down , both are acceptable. You'll notice that moving down will cause a slight hiccup in the animation. If you move (U), you'll fly straight towards a green sphere. Blast it (F). You'll fly up a tower and must make a sharp turn (R) into a corridor. You'll encounter another green sphere (F) and must turn sharply down a tunnel (D). The way looks open, except for a green sphere (F) . If you move (D), you'll need to make a quick turn to the (R) and then (U) . You'll fly through the whole maze again from the beginning, except it will be a mirror image; begin by moving (U) again and then you'll veer to the left. If your ship veers to the left of the shot, the second move will be (L). You have a choice of moving up or down. If you move (U) , you'll fly straight towards a green sphere. Blast it (F). You'll fly up a tower and must make a sharp turn (L) into a corridor. You'll encounter another green sphere (F) and must turn sharply down a tunnel (D) . The way looks open, except for a green sphere (F) . If you move (D) , you'll need to make a quick turn to the (R) and then (U) . If this is your first time through, you'll need to fly though the entire maze again, except the right and left moves will all be reversed. Having flown through the maze twice, no matter what paths are chosen, you'll dock with Borf's huge spaceship. "Star Pad, request permission to land." It's almost easier to figure this one scene out yourself than to memorize all of these moves. ________________________________________________________________________________ Dodging the Beams "Aha, Borf is here!" Dexter drops down from a ceiling hatch into one corridor of Borf's spaceship. A light beam will shoot towards Dexter. Quickly jump forwards (U) . Now you will need to jump either TOWARDS the flashing light, which could be one of two directions. I will give the moves for the left way. If the light flashes to the left, you'll jump that way (L) . Dexter must avoid two other flashes of light. "Alert! Unidentified personnel on level one!" the computer will say. (U) , "Seal off all exits on level one!" (U) . The word "Energize" will flash on the bottom of the screen. You have to choose whether to turn into Ace or not. Ace - (F) will energize Dexter into Ace. Ace will chuckle, and must quickly jump towards the flashing corridor (L) . He will run into an alien guard, and must shoot him (F) . The corridor up ahead will flash, so jump ahead (U) . Jump Ace through a circular corridor (U) and confront another guard (F) . Ace will lose his powers and turn back into Dexter: "Far out!" Jump towards the flashing hallway (L) . You're now Dexter again. Kimberly will appear on a video screen, begging for help. Dexter will have the choice of jumping through two holes in the wall. Move either (L) or R ; I don't think it really matters. Both of them will complete the scene. Dexter - So, you chose not to energize? Wait through the opportunity until the hallway ahead flashes (U) to make the move, otherwise you'll die. Move (U) to escape another beam of light. You'll have a sense of deja-vu as you run down the hallways for the second time. Move (L) towards the flashing hallway. Run down the hall and avoid the beams (U) . The computer will say "Seal off all exits on level one!". Run forwards again (U) . You must take a turn towards the flashing corridor again (L) and run forwards (U) . Kimberly will appear on the huge video screen, being hauled off by aliens. Two circular holes are at the end of the hall. Choose either (L) or (R) to complete the scene. Dexter will slide down a pole to a lower deck of the ship. The reverse of this scene will have you moving right instead of left and left instead of right. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Platforms Dexter will be at the entrance to a room. A turret on the ceiling will be shining down a red light which can melt you into the floor. Observe which side of the screen the beam shines and move in the opposite direction! Here is the first version of this scene. The mirror image of it will simply be reversed left and right. If the red light shines to the left, jump Dexter to the right (R) . You'll need to do this again (R) . Dexter must quickly run to the other side of the room before the security gun can rotate (U), (U) . Dexter must run through a diamond-shaped door (U) . Now in a new area, Dexter will be faced with another menacing robot and has a choice of escape or confrontation. Dexter - Cowardly Dexter chooses to escape! Jump into the escape tunnel (L) . Avoid the laser beam by jumping onto the moving platforms (R) . The platforms will crumble, so you'll need to keep jumping (L), (F), (L) and Dexter will slide down another pole to another part of Borf's ship. For some reason, there is a bug on one version of this scene where Ace will say "Far out!" and you will always lose a life. If you encounter this error, choose to Energize instead. Ace - Wait for the word "Energize" to appear on the bottom of the screen, otherwise you'll be jumping the gun and lose a life. Ace must shoot the spherical sentry floating above him (F) . Jump (R) to get onto a conveyor belt of sorts. Shoot the robots above before they can do you any harm (F), (F) . Jump over to the moving platform on the other beam (R) . Ace will enter a tunnel and you'll be in some psychedelic vortex. There will be more robots to shoot (F), (F) . Unfortunately, Ace will change back into Dexter and the cool ride will come to a crashing end, so be sure to jump off either (L) or (R) . You'll slide down to the next level of Borf's ship. I don't think it really matters which way you go, but I think it might determine which way the next scene(s) will be facing. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Dogs and the Robots You'll find Dexter being pursued by large green mutts with antlers who snarl your name -- run for your life! (U) . Dexter will be narrowly missed by laser beams, and the dogs will get blasted instead. Now depending on which orientation of the scene the program has generated, you'll need to turn a sharp corner to the side. If corner turns to the left, go that way (L) . More alien dogs will come at you from all directions, except right, so go that way (R) . Now you have the opportunity to energize or not to energize into Ace. Ace - The word "Energize" will flash on the bottom of the screen (F) . Confidently, you turn into the super hero. Ace grabs two of the dogs by the neck and crashes their heads together. Holey bad continuity Batman, you're suddenly standing between two armed robots! Jump away from the crossfire (R) and let the robots destroy each other. You'll need to evade some blasts around a corner (L) . You soon run into another pack of hungry green space dogs, so you'll need to shoot them (F) and then run onwards (L) . You'll confront another armed robot and need to shoot it (F) . Things will begin moving, so you'll need to run through the lane of traffic and fire bolts (L), (L) to a quieter avenue. By now, Ace will lose his power and turn back into Dexter. Dogs will be chasing you again, so make a quick (R) turn towards the flashing light. Dexter will scurry up the ladder to escape all the machine explosions. Dexter - Instead of energizing, you'll run ahead (U) away from the dogs. You'll need to make a turn down the street (R) and then (L) towards the flashing light. More dogs will victimize you, so escape (U) . Make a sharp (R) towards the flashing avenue. You'll climb a ladder and everything will explode behind you. If you are given the reverse of this scene, all of the left moves become right and all of the right moves become left. Otherwise the moves are the same. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Junk Planet Dexter lands in a pile of trash and is suddenly picked up by a trash robot for disposal. The robot sprays a clear plastic bubble over Dexter. Dexter must shoot his way out (F) to avoid being jettisoned into space. Dexter must leap across two moving platforms (R) and (U) . Dexter runs into the trash robot again. It is time to energize, but only if you want to. Ace - (F) will energize. A trash monster will spring up in front of Ace. He shoots it (F) . Ace must jump across a moving platform (R) , where he meets the huge trash worm again (F) . Having shot it, Ace must jump safely across to another ledge (L) . The terrible trash monster makes another appearance (F) . Ace becomes Dexter again and must jump to a swinging ladder above (U) . Dexter - (R) will jump to the other side of the walkway where the trash robot is cleaning. The robot captures Dexter again, who must break free (F) . Dexter must avoid the trash compactor by jumping across a moving platform (R) . Things get hectic as the piles of trash become smaller. Dexter must jump over to a moving pillar of trash (L) , and then to another one (R) . The escape ladder hangs from above. Dexter must jump safely to it (U) . The scene should be over, but you must play through it again in reverse! I'm certain that it is a bug in the program which makes both versions of this level appear one after the other. I think only one of them was to be randomly chosen, but you must play through both versions, first left to right and then right to left. The second time through, the moves are reversed. Start by shooting the trash robot (F) and leaping across two moving platforms (L) and (U) . Now you can energize if you want to. Ace - (F) will energize. Shoot the trash monster (F) , jump across a moving platform (L) , shoot another monster (F) , jump across to ledge (R) , shoot the monster again (F) and finally jump to the ladder (U) . Dexter - Jump over (L) , break free (F) , jump across the platform (L) , to the moving pillar of trash (R) , then to another one (L) and finally leap to the ladder above (U) . ________________________________________________________________________________ The Dog Fight Escape the explosion in your spacecraft by moving AWAY from the fire (L) . Dog fighters will be pursuing your spaceship. Move yourself out of their crosshairs by steering your ship upwards (L) . You'll all fly into a winding tunnel. Steer through the tunnels and out of the alien's firing range (R) and then (R) again. Timing here is really important. "I'll get you this time!" Fire when the alien's ship is in your crashers (F) and hit a second one (F) . Steer your ship sharply up out of the first tunnel (U) and dive down into another tunnel (D) . This is fun! Another alien will try to hit you, so move out of its crosshairs (U) . Take out another alien (F) . A tower will rise up in front of your ship, so bank up sharply (U) . Another alien will enter your crosshairs (F) . Avoid being shot by another alien (U) , and take out the final alien (F) . "Later Space Invaders!" You'll splash down onto the surface of another strange planet. Watch out of the reverse of this screen, which occurs once in many games. All the left and right moves will be reversed. You'll know if you've gotten the reversed scene if the first move is right, away from the explosion. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Yellow Planet As soon as Dexter emerges from his ship, he is attacked a huge purple plant monster. It will grab you. The only way to escape is to shoot it (F) . Huge monsters will appear on either side, so you must escape forwards (U) . You'll go through a cave and meet up with blue space cats. Now is your chance to energize if you want to! Ace - Dexter becomes Ace (F) and throws off the cats. A gigantic yellow monster will jump up in front of Ace. Shoot it! (F) . Ace will be on a narrow bridge and the yellow monster will need to be shot at again (F) . The yellow beast will crush the bridge with its hand and Ace must jump across to safety, either (L) or (R) depending on the orientation of the scene. Dexter - rather than energizing, Dexter will run forwards, away from the blue space cats (U) . The cats will chase Dexter to a narrow bending walkway, where a horrific plant creature will pop up. Dodge the plant (U) , and do so again on another bend (L) . The space cats will be hot on Dexter's trail, so jump across to a rocky spire (L) . The pillar is unstable, so jump to another one (R) . You'll need to jump over to a rope (L) . You swing on the rope towards the mouth of a huge yellow monster, so quickly fire your gun (F) to escape. You'll land on an island with the blue cats in pursuit of you. Two flashing openings are ahead. Move (U) ahead to choose either one and strangely, the animation ends. Of course, with the reverse of this scene all the lefts become rights and visa versa, but it rarely occurs. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Dark Side Dexter falls down a deep pit, towards a pool of water and two converging walls of spikes. His only hope is to jump over to a hanging rope (L) . The rope will drop Dexter even further into a subterranean passage, where Kimberly is waiting on a ledge. "Kimmy!" Her hands are tied behind her back, and she simply says "Beware of your dark side!". Suddenly Kimberly transforms into an evil Dexter! Your evil double shoots at you. Defend yourself by firing your laser gun (F) . Quickly jump into a hole in the ground to hide (L) . He'll call you a"coward". The top of the hole closes up, trapping you. It begins filling with water. You MUST energize in order to escape! (F) . You break out of the cage-like hole as Ace! The evil Dexter has energized into an evil Ace and is now the size of a giant! Jump up to the top of a pillar to get to his level (U) . The giant alter-ego will appear at the end of a walkway, so shoot him (F) . He will grab you and try to eat you. Climb away from his gaping mouth (L) . The giant evil Ace will have you in the palm of his hand. Shoot at him with your gun (F) , and quickly jump down from his hand (D) to his wrist. He will shoot at you with his gun, but you jump out of the way (R) and he hits himself instead. Jump down further (R) so he can haphazardly finish himself off. Jump over to the giant's foot (U) . All that is left of your evil self now is a head. It begins rolling down the sloping pathway after you. Run for your life (R) and take a sharp turn (U) to escape. You turn back into Dexter. The reverse of the whole scene would be (R),(F),(R),(F),(U),(F),(R),(F),(D),(L),(L),(U),(R),(U) ________________________________________________________________________________ The Motorcycle Chase Dexter runs through a doorway and is caught up in a spiral tube. He lands on the back of a motorcycle. Against him are pig-bikers, the Big-Boys. The track is a windy checkerboard road. Pay attention to which way the pigs are facing on their bikes, that is the first direction you will be moving! If the pigs are facing left on the screen, you should go that way (L) to get away from them. Your bike will spin around in the opposite direction and you'll need to keep going (R) . The pig-bikers are armed and they begin shooting at you! Dexter should pull out his gun and shoot back (F) . The bikes will go up a very steep ramp and Dexter will almost fly off the edge. "Yikes!" Now is your chance to energize if you want to! Ace - (F) Energize when the message to do so appears at the bottom of the screen. The weight of Ace will bring the bike down before it flies off the ramp. Ace will drive the bike down the slope into a compound. Kimberly is being held inside. Shoot the pig-bikers coming up behind you (F) , otherwise you and Kimberly will go to motorcycle-heaven. Shoot more pig- bikers (F) . Kimberly is not too grateful, "Thanks, I'll walk," until you snatch her out of the jaws of a giant pig (R) . Kimberly will jump onto the back of your bike and you will try to escape. "Dexter, the Infanto Ray's about to be fired at Earth." You will ride the bike up a hill and escape the giant pig again (D) and successfully jump the bike across a chasm (D) . Little pink fluffy monsters will attack your bike. Shoot them away three times (F), (F), (F) . You will run into the pig-bikers again and jump the bike off the road to escape (R) . More little pink monsters attack (F) . You run into a group of pig-bikers and take off in the opposite direction (L) . More bikers block your path (R) . A top view of the floor will be shown, so steer your bike away from the enemies (D) . A final pink monster will try to nibble Ace and Kimberly to death (F) . Ace turns back into Dexter. The dialogue in this scene between Kimberly and Ace is hilarious. I recommend energizing at this scene. Dexter - To avoid flying off the end of the bike ramp, push down (D) . You'll enter a complex where Kimberly is being held. Shoot the pig-bikers behind you (F) to finish the scene. This is the shortcut to finishing the scene. There is a reverse of this scene, which rarely occurs. All the lefts and rights are reversed. Ups and Downs are not reversed, however. There is a buggy move, however in the reverse of the scene. It is after Ace has shot the pink fluffy monsters three times. and you run into the pig-bikers again. The move SHOULD be left, but you will need to move right. The programmers forgot to reverse this one move. Another way to avoid this bug in the reverse scene would be to simply take the Dexter shortcut by not energizing. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Roller Skates Dexter and Kimberly stare in awe at the Borf compound, which is on the other side of a maze of walkways. To get there quicker, Dexter and Kimberly strap on roller skates and manoeuvre the sharp turns of the maze. Move (L) and then (U) and (R) , otherwise they'll fall into the tickling machine. A message will appear to energize. This must be done, I believe (F) . There are broken points in the path which must be avoided (D) and (R) . A huge wall will spring up in front of Ace and Kimberly on the pathway and must be avoided (L) . Very sharp turns ahead which must be made quickly: (R), (U), (L), (U), (R) . Borf will press buttons on his computer "Now we die!" The reverse of this scene is very hard to come by. You need to be really sharp to get through all the reverse turns the first time. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Giant Eels Ace and Kimberly will enter the Borf complex. The lower level is underwater. They must acquire the aqua-boots (?) to propel themselves underwater. A giant eel will attack Ace and Kimberly, so they must shoot it (F) . Oxygen is running out, so they must move in the towards the eel to get to the oxygen tanks (L) . This last move seems strange, because they are actually moving AWAY from where the tanks are on the screen to get to them. (Another bug?) Anyways, Kimberly will say "The Black Eel is in the tank!" and Ace and Kimberly must quickly move down (D) to avoid being slammed by the eel. The eel swings its tail at Ace and Kimberly, so they need to be quick (L) to move it out of there. The eel chases the two heroes, so the only escape is (D) towards the flash of light. They shoot the eel (F) and get sucked into its mouth. Ace changes back into little Dexter. Baby octopus monsters are in here, so first shoot them. Dexter must then shoot the inside of the eel's mouth so it will open (F) , but in comes a rush of water, so Dexter and Kimberly must fight the waves (L), (L) and swim to the porthole for temporary safety. This scene is actually one with the previous scene. If you die on the Eel scene, you'll be sent all the way back to the beginning of the Roller Skating scene. If the Roller Skating scene is reversed, so will the Eel scene. ________________________________________________________________________________ The Final Confrontation Dexter and Kimberly are sitting on a giant sponge with three entrances in front of them. They wonder which way to go. Any of the directions will do (L), (U) or (R) . They get sucked through the hole and are splatted down on top of a platform. Borf's guards rush in and Dexter must defend himself (F), (F) . The guards capture Kimberly and run off with her. Borf sights Dexter and aims the Infanto Ray at him. Dexter must jump out of the way of the ray (R) twice (L) and is given the opportunity to energize (F) . If you do not want to energize, the program will force you to. Commander Borf will attack Ace with a pole in hand to hand combat. Ace must defend himself (F) (F) . Ace will fall down on the platform and Borf will swing his pole down. Ace rolls out of the way (R) . Kimberly will scream for help from her rising platform over the lava. More hand to hand combat (F) . Ace will fall on his back and push Borf up with his pole (F) . Prepare to move up, because Borf will swing his pole low and Ace must jump it (U) . Then Borf swings his pole high so Ace must duck (D) . Ace will swing his pole at Borf again (F) . Borf kicks Ace in the face and makes him drop his pole. Ace must go to retrieve it (R) . Ace must dodge one of Borf's blows and try to get his pole (U) . Borf kicks high and Ace must duck (D) . Kimberly will try to tell Ace where the Infanto Ray is. Ace will drop his pole and jump on Borf's back (U) . Borf's guards will pose a danger, so Ace must jump over to a rope (L) . He swings to the platform where Kimberly is sinking in the lava. Ace takes her in his arms and must jumps off the platform before it goes under (R) . Borf's guards rush in. Ace tells Kimberly to run and he retrieves his pole (L) to bash Borf's guards (F) "Take that!" By this time, Borf has regained control of the Infanto Ray and is firing it off all over the place. Ace jumps over to a platform to avoid the guards (L) , but stops short of being hit by Borf's ray (R) . The guards are hit and turn into baby-guards. Borf fires off another ray at Ace, who must jump out of the way (R) . But Ace lets Borf fire again, and quickly slides the nearest reflector panel in the path of the beam (L) , not forgetting to move out of the way (R) . Borf's beam reflects back into him. With a second of delay, the Infanto Ray kicks in. Borf turns into a little baby. Ace catches the falling baby Borf. "Oh Dexter, isn't he adorable? Can we keep him?" You have saved the day, but will Kimberly ever call you Ace? There is no reversed version of the final confrontation. This is one of the most exciting scenes in the game, and could almost give a person a heart attack!