Hints, tips and graphics are taken from the ZX Spectrum version.
There may be variations of tips and graphics on the other formats of the game.

Introduction

Nightshade.. How do I play it? What do I do?

Behind the pretty grahpics is hidden a great game that slowly releases all these little treasures.

Take a seat, fire up that emulator, crank the game in and read.

The Hero, The Adventurer

Mad World

Most people would be in front of the TV, feet up and a pint in their hand, but not this guy, he wants to explore.

Roam, If You Want To

Our Hero can freely explore the streets and buildings of Nightshade village. The only hinderance is the Demons, Monsters, bacteria and fires that also like to have a stroll around the village.

Life Is What You Make It.

Our Hero starts with 5 lives

Shake The Disease

Touching any of the monsters, bacteria or fires will spread some germs onto our hero - the sicker he gets, the worse his colour becomes until he cannot take anymore. Our Hero has 3 chances per life, starting at white then yellow then turning green. Any further contact with a nastie will extinguish a life

Gaining Extra Lives

Not Possible.. I think

Although the list of features printed on the cassette inlay states that there are `Extra Lives`, I`ve not yet managed to find anything to collect or earn any via racking up high scores.

Cross, Book, Hammer and Eggtimer Hidden amongst the buildings of Nightshade are 4 tools that scare the hell outta those pesky demons.

Ooh.. someone left these lying here.

Well, I`d better pick them up and make some use of them.

Tools of Destruction

Scattered within the walls of Nightshade are 4 nice objects - a Book, a Hammer, a Cross and an Eggtimer. They are very well hidden and can be very difficult to find - they might be in a building or left lying in the street. So visiting every location trying to find these objects will take a lot of time.

I`ve found one!

Ok, so our Hero has finally found one.. walk over it and our Hero will pick it up and place it in the weapon stack on the left of the screen.
If the weapon stack is full then the tool will be left where it is. Empty the weapon stack and pick up the tool so that is at the bottom of the stack. Collect more antibodies.

It`s flashing!.. what now?

When any of the tools start flashing it means that within 4 buildings distance there is a Demon on the walk about. Usig your skill and judgement and the flashing of the tool, locate the Demon - he might be in the street or trapped within a building.

Found Him

Ooh.. (save your game if possible, emulator fans) now, you have to shoot the flashing tool at the Demon to banish it to the other world.. so go on, take a shot.

Barn Door

I missed.. what now? Just walk in the direction that it was fired in and pick it back up and try again. It might mean walking a few miles to pick it up as it`ll only stop when it hits something solid.

Do it again

Once one of them has been banished, our Hero has to do exactly the same to the other three.

Any Tools that are shot at Monsters, Bacteria or fires will see the tool pass harmlessly through them.

Lads night out

Whoever decided for a big knees up at the Cat & Cauldron in the village of Nightshade should`ve had their head examined... oh, it was the Ghost.. Ah, a bit of problem there matey!

The Big Bad Four

The Demons can be found strolling around Nightshade - each with a particular jingley tune to boot.

Practical Demon Keeping

Each Demon can only be dispatched with a particular tool. So make a note of them and get searching

Deadly.. yes

Demons are not very friendly, so our Hero must avoid all contact otherwise it`s going to be an instant loss of a life. So, keep checking before entering buildings that may hold a Demon.

Antibodies are no use

Trying to use any of the Antibodies on a Demon will not do any damage.

Gremlins, Gargoyles, Goblins and Gooks These guys stroll around the streets of Nightshade and cause our Hero some real problems. As to who is who, I don`t really know.

Creap show, freak show

It`s not an easy task, there are monsters materialising all around me.

Agggh, go away!

As soon as one of these monsters see our Hero then then will chase him around the streets of Nightshade. When our Hero turns a corner, the monsters will try to follow. All monsters travel in a straight line.

You`re It!

Touching a monster will infect our Hero with 1 point of disease. So keep away from the monsters.

Dispatching thereof

Once our Hero has a pocket full of antibodies then he can use one of them on a monster to try and kill it. Beware though, as using the wrong antibody might create a disaterous and deadly effect. See the Antibodies section for more details.

Germs, Spikey, Acid Pools and Bubbles Slithery, slimey and zipping around the screen like there`s no tomorrow.

That one looks nice and fluffy...

Don`t touch them...ohh..agggghh!

Now, go and wash your hands. Properly!

They`ve gotta come from somewhere

Materilising out of the ground, these filthy little bits of bacteria have a bad habit of travelling anywhere in the village.

Slip, sliding away

All of the bacteria slip in any direction and at varying speeds, so be careful and don`t try and predict where they are really going. The only sure place that they`ll probably end up in at our Hero`s feet - which is not a good thing.

Big Dom, big bad Dom

The best way of scrubbing these streets clean is with a good handful of antibodies - each bacteria will be be wiped clean with one shot.

Remember - Coughs and sneezes spread diseases.

The Antibodies

Free virus killer!

Starting the quest, our hero arrives without any weapons.. which seems rather stupid. Oh well..

hmm

Each building contains a supply antibodies that can be collected and used upon the monster and diseases that roam the dark streets of Nightshade.

There are 4 different types of antibodes that can be collected - each has a special effect on the monsters. So use them carefully.

Pick `em up

To collect an antibody, just enter a building via an open door and after a couple of seconds they will appear of the floor, spinning, pulsating waiting to be put to good use. Any antibody that is walked upon will be collected and displayed in the weapon stack at the side of the screen.

11 antibodies can be stored for later use.

The weapon stack can be filled by any mixture of antibodies.

Limited Supply

Each building contains a limited amount of antibodies - at the last count it was 25 per building. Once our hero has taken used them all from that house then they will not be replaced. Use them wisely!

Using them..

The antibodies can be fired upon the inhabitants of Nightshade which will take various effect depending on which was used.

The uppermost antibody in the weapon stack will be used - it is not possible to select a certain antibody.

Some will instantly kill the monster, some may transform the monster into another species, or mutate into another disease or worse still, clone the monster so that 2 of them will emerge!

The following table will be of great use to any would-be hero.

Examples

Shooting a at will mutate the monster into

Shooting a at will kill the monster instantly.

Shooting a at will clone the monster instantly.

Attack Of The Clones

Cloning a monster is a pretty bad thing to do, not only are there now two of the buggers running around snapping at the hero`s heels, but the clone can turn nasty.

The Real Thing

The non-clone monster can be re-cloned by shooting it again - the old clone will either die instantly or turn into fire (very rare).

The not-so-nice clone

An easy way to spot a clone is by shooting it again with the same type of antibody that created the clone in the first place - it just won`t die, it won`t clone either. The only way of killing it is by using a different kind of antibody or scarpering pretty quickly and getting back to your real quest.

When the clone is a-roaming it will, after a while spontaniously combust and turn into fire. It does make it easier to kill though.

Fire

Burn, burn, burn , like a ring of fire..

In a real life situation, the fire would take hold of the village, burn it down and extinguish the plague while our hero would sit upon the hillside with a copy of Your Sinclair.. but not in this Ultimate game.

Crackle crackle

Fire can be started started by different means.

• Random
  Fire will be randomly generated within the village and slowly creap towards the Adventure until they meet.

• Clones
  If the wrong antibody has been used on a monster then it may split into two. One will be the real monster and the other will be a clone.
  The clone will continue to roam around the village for around 3 minutes after which, it will burst into flames and turn into a fire.

Putting the fire out

Both types of fire can be extinguished be firing an antibody at it - Score 1000 points.

Or by luring the fire into a wall of any kind - Score 1000 points.

Or by walking into the fire and causing a point of damage - No Score.

Buildings, Walls, Monsters, Bacteria, Demons, Antibodies, Tools, Boots and Bottles cannot be harmed by Fires - only our Hero recieves damage from fires - such is life.

Fires will remain active when off-screen, if they hit any type of wall (brick or building) then 1000 points will be added to the score. This is why it seems that 1000 points seem to be added to your score at random.
This can be proved on the noisy MSX version of when a fire appears it makes a hell of a sound - even when off screen and when hits something those 1000 points are added and the noise stops at the same time.

The Bottle

Drink Me!

Feeling off-colour? Looking green around the edges? Then grab a bottle of Dr Stampers reviving potion.

Potion

Randomly scattered in the streets and alleyways of Nightshade are little bottles of potion that will bring back any lost energy caused by the monsters.

If the Adventurer already has full health then no effect will take place and the bottle will dissapear.

After use, another bottle will be placed somewhere in the streets.

Collecting the bottle will not score any points.

The Boots

Cobblers!

I dunno what the shoemaker of Nightshade had in mind when making these boots, but they sure are handy.. or should that be footy?

Another thing with wings that doesn`t require Claire Rainer to advertise them.

Flapperty-flap

Grabbing these boots will temporary make our hero run around the streets twice as fast... you`d better watch out though, as crashing into monsters is very easy.

After use, another boot will be placed somewhere in the streets.

Collecting the boots will not score any points.

Oops

If our hero manages to lose a life while using the boots then he will still retain them until the wings have expired.

1. The Weapon Stack
   Any Antibodies and Tools that have been collected are displayed here.
   Can hold a maximum of 11 objects.
   The uppermost antibody or tool is used first.
   The Weapon Stack can be refilled at any time during the game.

2. Nightshade Village
   The main game area - only a fraction of the huge village is shown.
   Strolling around at the moment... Our Hero, a non-descript Monster and The Ghost currently outside 47 Poison Street.

3. Border
   Very pretty, serves no purpose in the game.

4. Lives Counter
   5 to start with. coloured white if present, will turn blue when a life is lost.

5. Your Score
   Rack up those points

6. The Demon Display
   4 Demons, only their shadows are displayed - but when they have been banished they will be coloured in.

7. Compass
   Points North, makes it easy to map.
   Pressing Z will change the view to South. This will help looking inside building that were previously blocked be the exterior of the building. Check for Monsters and such like.

The usual way

Our Hero loses all his five lives and shuffles off the planet.

The Spectacular way

Completing the game and banishing all 4 Demons from Nightshade... the only way for them to go is down. Is Bernard Cribbins down there singing about that hole?

Got Lost?

Three maps for Nightsahde, one in full colour for all of you that have lots of ink to waste, and the other is a black`n`white offering no frills for the minimalist amongst you and the third is direct from the Nightshade Editor.

Using the map

Pretty easy, when the game begins, locate your position on the map by strolling around the local area.
Enter each and every room, mark/tick each room on the map as you go (make use of the pause key in the game) pick up any required objects. Make a note of where the Demons are too as you`ll probably have to return to that area to banish them. Good Luck.

Attributes in a twist - ZX Spectrum

The only bug that I`ve found is a single flashing square that appears at random in the bottom left of the main game screen (the bit that scrolls). It only lasts for a couple of seconds though, so it doesn`t cause any harm.

Scoring - Commodore 64

For all the scores that are mentioned above, knock off the last zero.
i.e. 1500 points now becomes 150 points

Bottles - Commodore 64

Picking up a bottle on the Monochrome version of Nightshade will not turn the life back to white but the health will be restored, so it`s only a colouring error to blame.

Music - Commodore 64

If our Hero is killed while there is a Demon on the screen the `lost life` music will play and the Demon music will not play again during the remaining lives. It`s a shame that this happens as the C64 has the best Demon music of all the versions available.
The Demon music will return upon starting a new game.

High Score - Commodore 64

The C64 version has a Hi Score table. Enjoy!

Log Cabins - BBC

Lack of memory in the BBC micro means that there are no log cabins.

No Way In - ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad, C64 and BBC version.

There is one building situated South of the map (as it is printed, ie 4 o`clock) that has no open doorway, so the room cannot be entered to collect antibodies, tools or banish the Demons. If possible, check this room first to make sure that nothing required is trapped in the room.

The building in question has been marked with an "X" on the no frills Nightshade map (see Maps).

Nightshade - Map Editor Build your own village in the valley. Requirements: A ZX Spectrum emulator that can save/load TAP files. TZX edition of Nightshade. Good knowledge of loading and Saving. Imagination. Right click on link and "Save Target As..." -- Download editor -- Instructions are included with the download. The editor will only work on the ZX Spectrum edition of Nightshade.