+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                      |
|                  T H E   X E N O P H A G E   F A Q                   |
|                             Version 1.0                              |
|                         Dated July 17, 1996                          |
|                                                                      |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                          X E N O P H A G E:                          |
|                           Alien Bloodsport                           |
|                                                                      |
|  "...revolutionary game design, it may indeed knock fighting fans    |
|                    into another universe of apocalyptic action. "    |
|                      --Strategy Plus Magazine                        |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

The XENOPHAGE FAQ is a document with answers to some frequently asked
questions about the game XENOPHAGE.

Compiled by Doug Howell - Copyright 1996 - e-mail: dhowell@iac.net


------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEGAL STUFF
-----------
If you need to copy any of this document, just give a reference on where
you got it.

XENOPHAGE is Copyright 1995-1996, Argo Games - All Rights Reserved.  The
name XENOPHAGE and any characters mentioned from the game are trademarks
of Argo Games.

Any trademarks or intellectual property referred to within this FAQ
remain the property of their owner(s).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
1 FAQ Purpose and Comments
2 What is XENOPHAGE?
  2.1 What it is
  2.2 The Creators and Publisher
  2.3 Hardware Requirements
  2.4 Software Versions
      2.4.1 Beta Demo
      2.4.2 Shareware Version
      2.4.3 Registered Version
  2.5 Where you can get it
3 The Story - Why are these strange creatures fighting?
4 The Fighters and Their Environments
  4.1 Mouth
  4.2 Nick
  4.3 Toad
  4.4 Bat
  4.5 Spike
  4.6 Worm
  4.7 Squid
  4.8 Selena
  4.9 Parasite
  4.10 Grand Champion
  4.11 Fighter Twins
5 The Demo Intro
6 Game Options
  6.1 Controls, Sound, & Music
  6.2 Display Options - The Blood Meter!
7 The Modes of Play
  7.1 Training
      7.1.1 Player Options Screen
  7.2 Free Play
      7.2.1 Match Options Screen
      7.2.2 Player Options Screen
      7.2.3 Current Stats Screen
  7.3 Story Mode
      7.3.1 Match Options Screen
      7.3.2 Difficulty Modes
      7.3.3 The Fighter Wheel
      7.3.4 Life Credits
8 FIGHT!
  8.1 Huh?--For Beginners Only
  8.2 The FIGHT Screen
9 The Moves!
  9.1 Shortcut Codes
  9.2 Move Intro
      9.2.1 Pointers
      9.2.2 Combos
  9.3 The Basic Moves for All Fighters
  9.4 Two Special Moves Plus a Goodie
      9.4.1 Overkills - The MEAT Move
      9.4.2 Resurrections
      9.4.3 Post-Mortem Humiliations
  9.5 Moves by Fighter
  9.6 Moves by Execution Sequence
  9.7 Strategy stuff
10 Secret Codes!
11 Trivia and Fun Stuff
12 Final Words


------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 FAQ Purpose and Comments
--------------------------
The reason I wrote this FAQ is quite simple.  I love to play fighting
games but hate to figure out the moves.  Mastering the moves and
whipping the other fighters is what makes a fighting game fun!  I hate
it when fighting game developers leave it up to the players to figure
most everything out.  And you know, most all of them do this.  Who the
heck started this dumb practice anyway? :)

Well for those of you who want to know most of the fighting moves when
you boot up the game, this FAQ's for you!  Prepare yourself for some all
out, blood-spurting fighting fun!!


------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 What is XENOPHAGE?
--------------------

2.1 What it is
--------------
XENOPHAGE is a fighting game for the PC that's in the same genre as the
arcade classics Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat.  The game displays
a 2-dimensional scrolling side view of the combatants during each fight.
What makes this game unique is the camera panning feature which zooms
the view in and out depending on how far away each fighter is from the
other fighter.  And if you want it to look like other 2-D fighting
games, you can easily turn the zooming feature off.

Other features include:

  * 8 fighters and 2 boss champions
  * Support of high-res (SVGA) 640x400 and 640x480 modes for greater
    graphic detail
  * Fighters that are fully rendered, extremely detailed, and quite
    large--almost as tall as the computer screen when you have the
    camera panning feature turned on
  * Adjustable shadows
  * Animated background environments/arenas for each fighter
  * Unique moves/combos for each fighter
  * Humiliation of defeated fighters
  * Resurrection moves to bring your "defeated" fighter back to life
  * Story mode, Free Play mode, and Training mode
  * Fine-tune adjustment of your fighter(s) in both Free Play and
    Traning modes
  * A meter to adjust the amount of bloody gore on the screen
  * An Instant Replay Box that pops up after you execute a fancy combo
    move
  * Different music for each fighter/environment


2.2 The Creators and Publisher
------------------------------
XENOPHAGE was developed by Argo Games and is published by Apogee
Software, Ltd.  The retail store version is distributed by FormGen
Incorporated.

The game lists the creators as being:

              Jason Blochowiak    - Producer and Programmer
              Rowan Atalla        - Design and Character Actions
              Abraham Edlin       - AI Personalities
              Robert Prince       - Music and Sound Effects
              Jim Dose'           - Apogee Sound System
              Saffire Corporation - Backgrounds, Original Character
                                      Models and Motions
              Dov Jelen           - Art Bits
              Lori Richards       - Art Bits


2.3 Hardware Requirements
-------------------------
Apogee lists a minimum required system as being an IBM PC or 100%
compatible 486DX/33 with at least 8Mb of RAM memory, a double speed
CD-ROM (for the registered version), and MS-DOS 3.3 or higher.  However,
they recommend a Pentium 66 mhz PC or better, 16 Mb of RAM memory, Vesa
Local Bus or PCI video, VESA BIOS compatible 256 SVGA at 640x400 or
640x480, a quad speed CD-ROM (for the registered version), a 16-bit
sound card with wavetable synthesis, and a speed compensating joystick.

For more information, run the On-Disk Technical Support Manual program
that comes with both the shareware and registered versions (XPHELP.EXE).
This help program gives a whole bunch of tips on setting up the game and
fixing any problems.  There's also a nice section on XENOPHAGE fighting
tips, most of which are mentioned in this FAQ.


2.4 Software Versions
---------------------
Apogee has released 3 versions of XENOPHAGE (plus a preview and a
slideshow).


2.4.1 Beta Demo
---------------
The first XENOPHAGE release was a beta demo version that was released on
12-28-95. This was a work-in-progress of the shareware version to get
feedback on any potential hardware bugs.  You should probably forget
trying to find the beta version.  I only mention it here as a point of
reference.  The shareware version is the one to try out since it is
virtually bug-free with smoother animations and better gameplay, and
gives you a better feel for the registered version.


2.4.2 Shareware Version
-----------------------
The next release of XENOPHAGE was the shareware version of XENOPHAGE on
4-26-96.  The shareware version features 3 fighters:  Spike, Bat, and
Toad, and has 2 of the 3 fighting modes:  Practice mode and Free Play
modes.  This version is more like a demo, since it only gives you a tiny
taste of what the registered version is like.  The current shareware
version number is 1.1 (which includes some very minor fixes to version
number 1.0) to correspond with the fixes done in the initial release of
the registered version.


2.4.3 Registered Version
------------------------
The registered version of XENOPHAGE is really what this FAQ is about.
This version features 8 regular fighters plus 2 champion boss fighters,
3 fighting modes:  Story mode, Free Play mode, and Training mode, a new
intro animation with voice-overs, and a different ending animation for
each of the fighters in Story mode.  The current and initial registered
version number is 1.1.


2.5 Where you can get it
------------------------
You can download the shareware version from the following sites:

   From the Internet - Apogee's web site - http://www.apogee1.com

   From Apogee's Home BBS - Software Creations BBS: 508-368-7036

The registered version can be ordered directly from Apogee by calling
1-800-APOGEE1.  You can also buy it in retail software stores too.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 The Story - Why are these strange creatures fighting?
-------------------------------------------------------
The Apogee catalog gives a good summary of the story:

  "A godlike alien race has become so bored that they rely on other
  species to provide them entertainment.  They've snatched
  representatives from the universe's most feared species and organized
  a fighting tournament.  The loser forfeits breeding rights for its
  entire race!  The tournament winner gets the honor of dying at the
  hands of the Grand Champion."

Of course, you'll get a better gist of the story when you watch the
animated intro in the registered version.  Among other things it shows
poor Nick and Selena being snatched by the aliens plus a cool planetary
explosion.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 The Fighters and Their Environments
-------------------------------------
There are 10 alien fighters (11 if you count the Grand Champion's dual
personality) in the registered version.  (See Sections 2.4.2 and 2.4.3
on what is different between the shareware and registered versions.)
You can play as 8 of the fighters in all 3 fighting modes.  You'll be
able to fight the 2 Boss fighters, Parasite and Grand Champion, in Story
mode.

You'll notice in Free Play mode that the Current Stats Screen also shows
Parasite and Grand Champion in the list of fighters.  So obviously there
might be a secret cheat code where you can fight as Parasite or Grand
Champion in Free Play mode.  I don't know the code so I haven't listed
it in this FAQ.  If anyone should figure this out, please e-mail me and
I'll include it here (with your name credit) in the next FAQ update.

BTW, I have purposely not assumed that any of the alien fighters are
male or female (unless it is obvious like Selena or Nick).  I leave it
up to your judgment on whether an alien fighter is a male, a female, or
an IT!

The fighters/environments are listed in the order that you see them on
the Fighter Selection Screen in the registered version, from left to
right.  And the last 2 boss fighters are listed in the order that you
fight them in Story Mode.


4.1 Mouth
---------
Mouth has a huge blue head with beady red eyes.   Its head-body walks on
4 short-legged webbed feet with 2 arm-hands hanging out the front. Mouth
comes from a world that has a deep space observatory for studying the
universe. Be careful of Mouth's large strong hands and its leaping
attack!


4.2 Nick
--------
Nick looks to be a man of nature well-versed in the martial arts.  He
lives the rough life out in the woods by a waterfall.  Check out the
dripping deer carcass hanging on his cabin!  Nick is very good doing
kick attacks and can even throw out a mental field of force!


4.3 Toad
--------
Toad is a fierce, green lizard-type creature with huge teeth and a
spiked tail.  Its homeworld looks to be swampy with lots of small
oozing plants.  Watch out for Toad's fast attack and swinging spiked
tail!


4.4 Bat
-------
Bat is a red, bat-humanoid creature.  It has the ability to fly and spin
quickly through the air.  The homeworld of Bat appears to be dark,
moist, and underground with small luminous creatures flying about.  Bat
has various spinning attacks and can avoid being hit by just flying up
and away.  Like a true bat, this critter will suck your blood if given a
chance.


4.5 Spike
---------
Spike is yellow and spider-like and one of the more dangerous fighters.
Spike comes from a purplish, bubbling world.  Watch the eggs in the
background drop to the ground and hatch into crawling worms!  You best
beware of Spike's quickness and green goo attacks.  Like Bat, Spike also
loves to suck blood from an opponent now and then.


4.6 Worm
--------
Worm is just that....a blue-grey worm creation with 3 appendages for
movement, and a 4th appendage used as a head with a biting pincer.  Worm
comes from a laboratory filled with a collection of alien life-forms
stored in jars.  Worm has rolling quickness with a fierce rolled-up
flying attack.


4.7 Squid
---------
Squid looks like a huge orange-brown alien squid with long tentacles for
arms and a round sucking mouth.  This large critter fights in what looks
to be a ship-like hull with big electrodes shooting electricity in the
background. Squid is big and strong and loves to do belly-flops on your
head!


4.8 Selena
----------
Selena is a city girl who is a lean, mean fighting machine!  She lives
in a well-furnished penthouse apartment complete with big screen TV,
fireplace and fishtank!  Selena has a vicious kick attack and knows how
to wield her mental force sword!


4.9 Parasite
------------
Parasite is a fast, evil-looking scavenger alien.  This reddish boss
critter has a head with pincers in the middle of upper and lower legs
that move around like a pinwheel.  Its home is in a living purplish cave
with sucking mouths in the walls.  Yellow fields of energy are this
creature's specialty along with a fast warping move.


4.10 Grand Champion
-------------------
Watch out for the Grand Champion.  This "alien" creature is big,
dark-green, and wants you very dead.  Champion's environment is dark
grey and purple with floating, grinning heads!  The big critter throws
some sharp spikes and knows how to do a quick change when needed!


4.11 Fighter Twins
------------------
Each of the 8 fighters that you can pick in the registered version of
Free Play and Story modes have a corresponding fighter twin.  That is to
say, for example, that Nick can battle Nick or Worm can battle Worm.  It
would get very confusing in a fight if the corresponding twin looked
exactly like your fighter.  So in XENOPHAGE there are easily
distinguishable differences between the 2 fighters.  Here's a list of
the 8 regular fighters and what makes them different from their related
twin:

            Normal Fighter                  Twin Fighter
            ----------------------------    ----------------------------
   Mouth    blue body                       green body
   Nick     red shirt                       green shirt
   Toad     green body                      brown body
   Bat      red body with red blood         blue body with blue blood
   Spike    yellow body with green blood    green body with yellow blood
   Worm     blue body                       purple body
   Squid    orange-brown body               light yellow body
                     with orangish blood         with light yellow blood
   Selena   red-brown hair & blue skirt     brown hair & green skirt


------------------------------------------------------------------------
5 The Demo Intro
----------------
When you start XENOPHAGE you get a demo sequence that gives you a
briefing of the game story, a view of some actual fights, and a listing
of the game's creators (the first time through the demo loop).  You can
exit the demo to XENOPHAGE's Main Menu by hitting any keyboard key, and
can go back to the demo at any time by selecting the Return to Demo
option on the Main Menu.

The shareware version has a short animated game briefing.  It shows an
alien creature explaining to you why you are fighting.  The registered
version has a much longer animated story intro.  You first catch a
glimpse of Nick and Selena being captured.  Then you see Nick watching a
holographic screen, and actually get to hear the alien telling Nick why
he was captured.  A cool planetary explosion animation follows with Nick
being whisked away in the alien space ship.

Whereas the shareware demo only shows fights with the demo characters,
the registered version demo has fight sequences between the 8 main
fighters of the full version.  BTW, you don't get to see any fights with
the boss fighters.  You earn that right by fighting your way completely
through Story Mode.

The fight sequences in the demo are a good place to watch the fighters
do some of their special moves and combos.  Watch carefully and you'll
see some cool moves that you'll want to try.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 Game Options
--------------
One item you can select on XENOPHAGE's Main Menu is Options.  This takes
you to a screen where you can set up or change the player control
devices, sound, music, and display parameters.


6.1 Controls, Sound, & Music
----------------------------
I won't go into much detail about the controls, sounds, and music
options since these items are pretty much self-explanatory by looking at
the screens.  In the controls section you can set up and calibrate your
joysticks and reassign keys that you'll be using for the fighting moves
of Players 1 and 2.  In the sounds and music sections, you can adjust
volumes and do some other minor adjustments.

One very nice feature in XENOPHAGE is that you have complete access to
these options while fighting in the Story and Free Play modes.  (See
Section 7 for information on these modes of play.)  You just hit the
Escape key to temporarily exit out of the current fight. You'll see an
option on the menu that comes up that says Options, where you can
fine-tune your controls, sound, and music.  When you're finished with
your adjustments, you can go back into the current fight by picking
Return to Fight off the menu.


6.2 Display Options - The Blood Meter!
--------------------------------------
The Display Options Screen is where you can turn on and off some of the
cool stuff in the game.  Here's a list of the options:

             Super VGA            - On/Off
             Background Animation - On/Off
             Fast Palette         - On/Off
             Palette              - On/Off
             Palette Animation    - On/Off
             Camera Zooming       - On/Off
             Shadow Type          - None, Solid, Better, Best
             Amount of Blood      - Adjustable Meter - move to right for
                                        more blood
             Instant Replay       - On/Off
             Loading Icon         - On/Off
             Gamma Correction     - Adjustable Meter - move to right for
                                      brighter screen

If you have a low-end 486, a low-end video card, or just 8 Meg of
memory, and the game is running slow or having display problems, you can
experiment a little bit by turning some of these options off and seeing
what happens.  If you have a fast Pentium machine with lots of memory,
you'll want to set most of these to On for the best fight experience.

Here is a short description of XENOPHAGE's 3 cool display features you
can turn on or off:

  * Camera Zooming is one of XENOPHAGE's most unique features.  Turn
    this on if you want to see the game zoom up close to the fighters
    (when they're close together) and display them almost as high as
    your computer screen.  If you want to get a good view of the
    background environment, turn Camera Zooming off.  You'll see the
    full background that the fighters are fighting in like in other 2D
    fighting games, but the fighters will be much smaller.

  * The Amount of Blood meter adjusts how much blood is thrown off the
    fighters when hit.  If you want no blood, push the meter all the way
    to the left.  If you like lots of blood, then push the meter over to
    the right.

  * The Instant Replay feature can be turned on or off from this menu.
    If turned on, when you execute a successful 3-hit combo or better
    against the opposing fighter, a small Instant Replay box will appear
    in the middle bottom of your screen and replay your cool combo move
    along with all the bloody effects!


------------------------------------------------------------------------
7 The Modes of Play
-------------------
I've listed the playing modes in reverse order of how they appear in the
game menus since it is easier to talk about them this way.


7.1 Training
------------
Training mode is where you go to figure out moves for each fighter.  You
can also use this mode to practice and hone the moves you know without
being beat up by the opposing fighter, at least not too much!  You get
to do your training against a pumped up punching bag that looks like a
clown.  You have to be careful when punching the clown-bag since it'll
swing back and forth, and just might swing back and hit you.  If it
does, it'll let out a laughing squeaking sound.


7.1.1 Player Options Screen
---------------------------
An extremely useful feature of Training mode is the Player Options
Screen. Here you can fine-tune how your fighter will act in this
practice mode. Here's a list of what is on the Player Options screen and
the range of options:

         Player Control - Keyboard or Joystick 1 (or 2)
         Specials       - Enabled or Disabled
         Throws/Pummels - Enabled or Disabled
         Auto Block     - On or Off <----If you are just beginning or
                                         are having trouble blocking
                                         the clown as it swings back and
                                         forth, turn this option on!
         Meters (for extra-fine adjustments):
         Strength - To the left is weak and to the right is strong.  For
                    example, put the meter farther to the right for
                    stronger punches.
         Speed    - To the left is slow and to the right is fast (or
                    turbo).
         Health   - To the left is bad health and to the right is good
                    health.  For example, the health meter of a fighter
                    that has a low health setting will drop quicker when
                    being hit than a fighter with a higher health
                    setting.

For example, suppose you want to just concentrate on doing special moves
and don't want your fighter to screw things up by also doing throws or
pummels (see Section 9 for info on these differing move types).  It's
easy to do by toggling Special Moves to the enable setting and toggling
Throws/Pummels to the disable setting.  Or suppose you want to have your
fighter practice in a super turbo mode.  Just move the Speed meter all
the way to the right.


7.2 Free Play
-------------
Free Play is a great play mode for a number of reasons.  Here you can
have a 2-player fight and go head-to-head with a buddy.  You can also do
a 1-player fight against the 8 different computerized alien fighters of
the registered version.  (See Sections 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 for differences
between the shareware and registered versions.)  Or you can switch off
the opposing fighter, by setting that fighter's controls to keyboard or
joystick, and practice executing the Overkill (MEAT) moves (see Section
9.4.1 for more information on Overkills).

One important thing to note.  Free Play mode is especially useful when
you get stuck in Story mode (see Section 7.3 for a discussion on Story
mode). You might find that you just can't get past a tough alien in
Story mode.  Don't give up!  Just go to Free Play mode, adjust the
fighter settings the way you want them, and then practice against your
computerized toughie like crazy until you figure out the right moves to
beat 'em to a pulp!

Free Play has a wide range of options you can set to fine-tune your
fighter, the opposing fighter, and the matches.  Most anything you want
to adjust can be found in the Match Options and Player Options screens.


7.2.1 Match Options Screen
--------------------------
Here's a list of what is on the Match Options Screen and the range of
options:

         Rounds per Match - 1, 3, or 5
         Match Time - 15 secs, 30 secs, 60 secs, 90 secs, or 5 minutes
         Overkills - On or Off
         Post-Mortem Humiliations - On or Off
         Resurrections - On or Off

Overkills (MEAT moves), Post-Mortem Humiliations, and Resurrections are
cool options to turn on.  See Section 9.4 for a discussion on what these
moves/features are about.


7.2.2 Player Options Screen
---------------------------
And here's a list of what is on the Player Options Screen and the range
of options.  I'm only listing the column for Player 1.  There is also a
second column where you can adjust the settings for Player 2.  One very
nice feature of the Player Options is that you can adjust them while
you're in the middle of a fight by just hitting the Escape key.  This
way you can get these options set just the way you want them without
having to restart a fight:

         Player 1 Type  - Keyboard or Joystick 1 (or 2)
         Specials       - Enabled or Disabled
         Throws/Pummels - Enabled or Disabled
         Auto Block     - On or Off <----If you are just beginning or
                                         are having trouble blocking
                                         your fast opponent's moves,
                                         turn this option on!
         Meters (for extra-fine adjustments):
         Cunning  - To the left is dumb and to the right is smart.  This
                    meter can only be adjusted for the computerized
                    fighter.
         Strength - To the left is weak and to the right is strong.  For
                    example, put the meter farther to the right for
                    stronger punches.
         Speed    - To the left is slow and to the right is fast (or
                    turbo).
         Health   - To the left is bad health and to the right is good
                    health.  For example, the health meter of a fighter
                    that has a low health setting will drop quicker when
                    being hit than a fighter with a higher health
                    setting.


7.2.3 Current Stats Screen
--------------------------
After you win or lose a fight in Free Play mode, the game will show you
a screen listing the current stats for all the players.  I won't detail
what all the screen shows, but let me just say it contains a complete
record of Wins/Losses for Players 1 and 2 for all fights, listed by
fighter in an easy to read format.  Do you have a friend who swears they
beat you at XENOPHAGE all the time?  Just pull up the Current Stats
screen from the Free Play menu and prove just who is the boss!  If you
tire of the collected stat information, there's an option on the Free
Play menu to reset the stats back to zero.


7.3 Story Mode
--------------
Most all fighting games have a "Story Mode".  This is a single-player
mode where you pick a fighter and have them do battle, one at a time,
against all the other computerized fighters.  It's called story mode
since this tournament style of fighting follows the initial story of the
game.  In XENOPHAGE, the story is that your fighter has been captured
and must battle other alien fighters so that you can then suffer defeat
at the hands of the Grand Champion and lose your species' propagation
rights.  But if you can miraculously beat the Grand Champion of
XENOPHAGE, then you get a special, unique animated ending based solely
on your winning fighter!  Are you good enough to see all 8 different
animated endings?


7.3.1 Match Options Screen
--------------------------
Like Free Play mode, Story mode also has a Match Options Screen.  Here's
a list of what is on the Match Options Screen and the range of options:

         Rounds per Match - 1, 3, or 5
         Match Time - 15 secs, 30 secs, 60 secs, 90 secs, or 5 minutes
         Overkills - On or Off
         Post-Mortem Humiliations - On or Off
         Resurrections - On or Off

Overkills (MEAT moves), Post-Mortem Humiliations, and Resurrections are
cool options to turn on.  See Section 9.4 for a discussion on what these
moves/features are about.


7.3.2 Difficulty Modes
----------------------
After you have selected your fighter in Story mode, the game lets you
select from 5 different Difficulty modes:

         Very Easy (No Bosses)
         Easy (Only One Boss)
         Normal
         Hard
         Very Hard

XENOPHAGE differs from most all other fighting games in that its Story
mode can be played and enjoyed by all players, whether you are just
starting out with virtually no fighting skills or a seasoned gamer who
think you are hot stuff.  In most all other fighting games I've played,
you have to have some good practiced fighting techniques before you can
even touch Story mode.

If you are a novice to fighting games, select Very Easy.  This mode is
strictly for beginners, and seasoned players will find it way too easy
and probably boring.  If you are relatively good at fighting games,
start at Normal and work your way up.  Normal mode is tough but very
playable.  Hard mode will give you a good sweaty workout.  And Very Hard
mode will, shall we say, really test the die-hard fast-fingered players.


7.3.3 The Fighter Wheel
-----------------------
After you have selected your mode of difficulty, Story mode pops up a
screen with the Fighter Wheel.  This is a wheel with head pictures of
the 8 fighters you must defeat (including your fighter twin), one at a
time, before you face the 2 Boss fighters.  If you are playing in a
Difficulty mode where you will fight the Boss fighters (see Section
7.3.2 for description of Difficulty modes), then the picture of the Boss
fighter you will face will appear in the middle of the wheel right
before you do battle with that Boss.

A nice feature of XENOPHAGE that makes the Story mode of play more
unpredictable and exciting, is that the order of the 8 fighters you will
face are always different.  Each time you play Story mode, you never
know who you are going to face first or when, until you see the pictures
of the other fighters on the Fighter Wheel.


7.3.4 Life Credits
------------------
Story mode gives you 3 life credits in case you should lose a fight with
any of the fighter opponents.  In other words, you can lose 3 fights and
still continue.  But if you lose the 4th time, then the game is over.

If you lose a fight and choose to use a credit, the game shows your
fighter being zapped back to life.  You can also choose to forfeit the
game, and in this case the game is over and you are shown an animation
of being packed away into one of the many body drawers on the alien
space ship.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 FIGHT!
--------
Okay.  You just booted up the game and want to play right away without
reading a bunch of stuff.  But you're not really sure what you're doing
or what the stuff means on the Fight Screen.  Here are some quick
comments and info to help you get going.


8.1 Huh?--For Beginners Only
----------------------------
You've never played a fighting game before and have no idea what to do?
I would suggest you try Training mode first to get your feet wet and to
get some feel on how to move ONE of the fighters.  Read through Section
9 of this FAQ so that you know how to move the fighter you're using and
try some of the basic moves...jump, move forwards, move backwards,
punch, kick, block, etc.  When you feel comfortable with the basic
moves, then try executing some of the fancier moves that are also listed
in Section 9 for your fighter.

Next, go to Free Play mode where you can try the moves you've learned
for your fighter against one of the computerized fighters.  If you get
frustrated because you keep losing, go into the Player Options and turn
your Health meter all the way to the right, turn your opponent's Health
meter all the way to the left, and turn your opponent's Cunning and
Speed meters to the left a few notches.  This should give you enough of
an advantage to beat the other fighter.  Once you're feeling more
confident, you can readjust the meters you changed to tougher settings.
A quick way to do this is just select Reset Player Options off the menu,
which will turn the meters back to their default settings.

After you've practiced against some of the other computerized fighters
in Free Play mode and you start feeling somewhat confident with your
fighter, try going against a friend in Free Play mode.  Or try your luck
in Story mode.  If you want to feel good about your fighting skills,
play Story mode at the Very Easy (No Boss) Difficulty level.  You should
be able to beat the other fighters without too much of a problem.

Next try practicing using other fighters.  Experiment with various
Player Options and Match Options.  Try Story mode at higher difficulty
levels.  You're on your way to mastering XENOPHAGE!


8.2 The FIGHT Screen
--------------------
The layout of the Fight Screen is very simple.  Most of the screen shows
the action of the fight.  At the bottom of the screen, you'll find an
area that shows the current status for each of the 2 fighters.  The area
on the left shows the stats for the fighter that started on the left, or
Player 1, and the area on the right shows the stats for the fighter that
started on the right, or Player 2.  A small head picture is shown beside
each status area to remind you which stats go to which fighter.  In the
middle of the 2 fighter status areas is an area that reminds you that
you can hit "F1" for basic help with the fight moves.

The status area for each fighter has 3 main areas of information.  The
top part shows a health bar of the fighter's blood.  As a fighter gets
hit, the blood starts flowing out of the meter.  When the blood is gone,
the fighter is dead and loses that round of the fight.  Below the health
bar is small area that shows the number of fight rounds the fighter has
won.  A green circle appears for each round a fighter has won.  (Of
course, this part of the status display isn't used for Training mode.)
The bottom part of the display shows the number of points the fighter
has scored on the other fighter.

As you fight, you'll notice the computer will quickly flash up a message
when you've scored a combo, executed a Resurrection move, or performed a
Post-Mortem Humiliation on the other fighter.  You'll also notice that
sometimes the screen will turn red, and it's during this period of time
when you can execute a Meat move.  (See Section 9.4 for more information
about these moves.)  The Resurrection move, Meat Moves, or Post-Mortem
Humiliation can't be performed in Training mode, so you won't see any
messages for these moves while practicing in this mode.  (See Section 7
to read about the different modes of play.)


------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 The Moves!
------------
Here's the meat of the FAQ.  This is what you're reading this for, isn't
it?  So let's get going!


9.1 Shortcut Codes
------------------
Before I start a discussion on the fighting moves, you need to know the
shortcut codes I'll be using for the keystrokes/joystick buttons you'll
be pressing to execute the moves.  For consistency, I'll be using most
of the same codes that Apogee lists in their XENOPHAGE On-Disk Technical
Support Manual.

The shortcut Directional Codes listed here correspond to the arrow keys
on your keyboard (default setup for first player or whatever other keys
you have assigned in the Setup program), the directional pad on your
gamepad, or the movement of your joystick lever.  If your fighter is
facing to the right--------->, the shortcut Directional Codes are:

       UA    U     UT          UA=Up Away     U=Up      UT=Up Towards

       A     .      T           A=Away                   T=Towards

       DA    D     DT          DA=Down Away   D=Down    DT=Down Towards

Apogee lists the following shortcut Attack Codes for punching and
kicking:

       P=Punch (Weak or Strong)
       K=Kick  (Weak or Strong)
      WP=Weak Punch
      SP=Strong Punch
      WK=Weak Kick
      SK=Strong Kick

However, I WILL NOT be using these when I describe the moves.  Instead I
will spell out the word and use that in place of the shortcut code.  If
it is a Strong Kick, I will use "Strong Kick" and won't show it as "SK".
I think this should cut down confusion on having too many codes, and
should get you learning the moves more quickly.

Also in many of the moves, I list just the generic form of the attack
like "Punch", instead of being more specific with "Weak Punch" or
"Strong Punch".  Usually, just try using the weak attack key first when
practicing the move and that should work.

Important to Note:  The Punch/Kick moves correspond to the keys/buttons
you set up for your keyboard/joystick.  If your joystick/gamepad has 4
buttons, then the weak and strong moves can be executed by pressing
separate buttons. However, if your joystick/gamepad is set up as only
having 2 buttons, then the weak and strong moves are executed by the
amount of time you hold a button down.  For example, a quick tap on the
joystick button would do a weak attack, while a longer press on that
same button will do a strong attack.


9.2 Move Intro
--------------
Read this section especially if you are having problems executing some
of the moves for the fighters.


9.2.1 Pointers
--------------
You'll notice that most of the moves are continuous quarter sweeps of
the directional keys which are followed by pressing an attack button.
Take a look down at Toad's Projectile and Tail Swipe moves for some good
examples (Section 9.5).

You should note that if you do these moves with the KEYBOARD, that the
pressing of the keys should be very smooth from one to the next.  You
should press down on the second key before you let go of the first key.
And the last directional key should be held down while the attack button
is pushed.  Also if you are doing a quarter sweep on the keyboard where
you're going from one direction to the other, the middle key of the
sequence can be ignored as long as you press down on the third
directional key before you release the first directional key.  For
example, Toad's Tail Swipe move could be executed by doing: D,T-Punch.


9.2.2 Combos
------------
Combos are a fast sequence of successful attacks that are done so
quickly that the attacker doesn't stop moving between the attacks.
Combo-finishers are special moves that can only be done after a
successful execution of a combo attack.  And some fighters can even do a
fancy move after the combo-finisher.  All the fighters are capable of
doing the combo moves.  Look down at Nick's moves and you'll find a cool
combo/combo finisher that he can execute.  Even though some of the moves
I have listed for the fighters might be combos, I don't designate them
as such.  And I'm sure there's plenty of the fighter combo moves that
aren't listed.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get more of these codes to
put in a future version of this FAQ.


9.3 The Basic Moves for all Fighters
------------------------------------
Here's the basic moves common to all the fighters (refer above to the
shortcut Directional Codes in Section 9.1):

  Basic Movement      -  A = Walk backwards
                         T = Walk forwards
                         U = Jump up
                        UA = Jump left
                        UT = Jump right

  Block an Attack     -  A = Standing block while walking, or will just
                              block if at the far edge of the screen
                        DA = Crouching block

                        If you are just beginning and trying to learn
                        the moves or have a fighter opponent who is just
                        too fast for you, you can turn on the Auto Block
                        feature in the Player Options screen of either
                        Training or Free Play modes.

  Throw the Opponent  - T-Punch while near the other fighter (in other
                        words, hold down the T directional key as you
                        then hit the Punch key)

  Pummel the Opponent - T-Kick while near the other fighter (in other
                        words,  hold down the T directional key as you
                        then hit the Kick key)


9.4 Two Special Moves Plus a Goodie
-----------------------------------
The following 2 special moves, Overkills and Resurrections, plus the
extra goodie, Humiliations, can be done by all 8 fighters if you have
them turned to On in the Match Options Screen for the Story and Free
Play modes.  They will not work in Training mode.  Each fighter has
their own key sequence on how to launch the 2 special attack moves.


9.4.1 Overkills - The Meat Move
-------------------------------
Right at the very end of a fight (say at the end of Round 3 of a 3 Round
fight) when the other fighter's health is close to nothing, the screen
will turn red.  When this happens, move up close to the other fighter
and execute your fighter's special Meat move.  Your fighter will do a
very bloody head-ripping-type of move to the other fighter, and the
screen will say "MEAT" in big red letters.  Here's a list of the Meat
moves for each of the 8 regular fighters:

       Mouth  - D,DT,T-Punch
       Nick   - D,DA,A-Strong Kick
       Toad   - D,DT,T-Kick
       Bat    - U,T-Punch
       Spike  - D,DT,T-Kick
       Worm   - D,DT,T-Kick
       Squid  - D,DA,A-Strong Punch
       Selena - D,DT,T-Kick

There is also supposed to be a move you can execute right after the Meat
move so that you can "cook your meat."  I haven't been able to figure
this one out yet.  I would appreciate any e-mail from anyone who knows
what this move might be.


9.4.2 Resurrections
-------------------
Whenever your fighter gets killed (no health left), you can bring your
fighter back to life if you quickly execute the Resurrection move.  Your
fighter will jump back up and have a small amount of health left so you
can continue on with the fight.  You'll find this "cheat" feature is
very handy in getting through some of the tougher fights in Story mode,
especially since you can use the Resurrection move multiple times in the
same fighting round!

Here's the list of Resurrection moves for each of the 8 regular
fighters.  Unknown move executions are shown with a "??".

       Mouth  - Clockwise on the directional keys
       Nick   - Clockwise on the directional keys
       Toad   - ??
       Bat    - Clockwise on the directional keys
       Spike  - Clockwise on the directional keys
       Worm   - ??
       Squid  - ??
       Selena - Clockwise on the directional keys


9.4.3 Post-Mortem Humiliations
------------------------------
Post-Mortem Humiliations is an option that most sadistic players like to
leave on.  When this is on, you can continue beating on the other dead
fighter for a short period of time after a round is over and keep
racking up points.  As the old saying goes, "Kick them when they're
down!". :)


9.5 Moves by Fighter
--------------------
Here's the list of moves I have found for each fighter.  Unknown move
executions are shown with a "??".


MOUTH:  Ball Throw:  A,DA,D-Punch (In other words, hit Away directional
                        key, hit Down-Away directional key, hit Down
                        directional key and at the same time hit either
                        one of the 2 Punch keys)
        Flying Attack:  U,D-Kick
        Punch into Ground:  Weak Kick(or Weak Punch),A-Strong Punch
                            (plus you get an Instant Replay if you have
                            that feature turned on)
        Meat:  D,DT,T-Punch
        Resurrection:  Clockwise on directional keys all around

NICK:   ForceField Throw:  D,DA,A-Punch
        Upward Punch:  UT(or UA)-Punch
        Cartwheel Attack:  A,T-Kick
        Strong Upward Punch:  Weak Kick,A-Strong Punch
        Cool Combo Punch:  Weak Kick,A-Strong Punch,U-Punch (In other
                             words do a Weak Kick when you're close to
                             the other fighter, and then very quickly
                             hit the Away directional key and hit the
                             Strong Punch key, which gets the other
                             fighter flying into the air, and quickly
                             follow by hitting the Up key and Punch key,
                             so that Nick flies into the air with an
                             upper punch.)

        Meat:  D,DA,A-Strong Kick
        Resurrection:  Clockwise on directionals

TOAD:   Fast Attack:  A,T-Punch
        Projectiles:  A,DA,D-Punch
        Tail Swipe:  D,DT,T-Punch
        Tail Toss:  Weak-Kick,A-Strong Punch
        Meat:  D,DT,T-Kick
        Resurrection:  ??

BAT:    Spin Attack:  D,DT,T-Punch
        Nose Spin Attack:  A,T-Punch
        Fly:  Hold U (plus UT or UA for direction) and hit
                the Punch key repeatedly
        Flying Nose Attack:  U-Strong Punch
        Turn Around Kick:  D,DA,A-Strong Kick
        Head to Ground Move:  Punch or Kick the other fighter up close,
                                then T,A-Big Punch
        Meat:  U,T-Punch
        Resurrection:  Clockwise on directionals

SPIKE:  High Spit:  D,DT,T-Punch
        Low Spit:  A,DA,D-Punch
        Tail Spike:  Kick other fighter up close, then a quick T,A-Kick
                     (one of the tougher moves)
        Meat:  D,DT,T-Kick
        Resurrection:  Clockwise on directionals

WORM:   Flying Spin Attack:  A,T-Kick
        Upward Punch:  UT(or UA)-Strong Punch
        Quick Spin Punch:  Weak Kick(or Weak Punch),A-Strong Punch
        Meat:  D,DT,T-Kick
        Resurrection:  ??

SQUID:  Double ForceField:  D,DA,A-Kick
        Flying Attack:  U,D-Punch
        Punch Across Screen:  Weak Kick(or Weak Punch),A-Strong Punch
                              (plus you get an Instant Replay if that
                              feature is turned on)
        Meat:  D,DA,A-Strong Punch
        Resurrection:  ??

SELENA: ForceField Arrow:  D,DT,T-Punch
        Spin Kick Attack:  A,T-Kick
        Handstand Flying Kick:  U-Kick
                                (Push the Up key to make Selena jump
                                and continue holding it as you hit the
                                Kick key when she touches the ground)
        Fast Jump Over Opponent:  Weak Kick(or Weak-Punch),A-Strong Kick
        Meat #1:  D,DT,T-Kick
        Meat #2:  ?? - Selena has a 2nd Meat Move!
        Resurrection:  Clockwise on directionals


9.6 Moves by Common Execution Sequence
--------------------------------------
These are the same moves listed in Section 9.5.  Instead of them being
listed by fighter, they are listed by common method of execution.  I've
also tried to list the moves that have common directional sweeps next to
each other too.  This list is for those of you who are only good at
executing one or two of the moves! :)

A,T-Punch:         Toad   - Fast Attack
                   Bat    - Nose Spin Attack

A,T-Kick:          Nick   - Cartwheel Attack
                   Worm   - Flying Spin Attack
                   Selena - Spin Kick Attack

A,DA,D-Punch:      Mouth  - Ball Throw
                   Toad   - Projectiles (throwing of tail spikes)
                   Spike  - Low Spit (low shooting of green goo)

D,DT,T-Punch:      Mouth  - Meat Move
                   Toad   - Tail Swipe
                   Bat    - Spin Attack
                   Spike  - High Spit (high shooting of green goo)
                   Selena - Force Field Arrow

D,DT,T-Kick:       Toad   - Meat Move
                   Spike  - Meat Move
                   Worm   - Meat Move
                   Selena - Meat Move

D,DA,A-Strong Kick:
                   Nick   - Meat Move
                   Bat    - Turn Around Kick

D,DA,A-Kick:       Squid  - Double Forcefield (throws out double fields
                                               of force)

D,DA,A-Strong Punch:
                   Squid  - Meat Move

D,DA,A-Punch:      Nick   - Force Field Throw


UT (or UA)-Punch:  Nick   - Upward Punch

UT (or UA)-Strong Punch:
                   Worm   - Upward Punch

U,D-Kick:          Mouth  - Flying Attack

U,D-Punch:         Squid  - Flying Attack

U,T-Punch:         Bat    - Meat Move

U-Strong Punch:    Bat    - Flying Nose Attack

Hold U (plus UT or UA for direction) and hit the Punch key repeatedly:
                   Bat    - Fly

U-Kick:            Selena - Handstand Flying Kick
                            (Push the Up key to make Selena jump and
                            continue holding it as you hit the Kick key
                            when she touches the ground)

Weak Kick(or Weak Punch,A-Strong Punch:
                   Mouth  - Punch the other fighter into the ground,
                            plus you get an Instant Replay (if turned
                            on)
                   Nick   - Strong upper punch.
                   Toad   - Tail toss of the opposing fighter.
                   Worm   - Quick spin punch.
                   Squid  - Punches the other fighter into the air
                            across the screen, and you get an Instant
                            Replay (if turned on)

Weak Kick(or Weak-Punch),A-Strong Kick:
                   Selena - Fast Jump Over Opponent

Weak Kick,A-Strong Punch,U-Punch:
                   Nick   - Cool Combo Punch

Punch or Kick the other fighter up close, then T,A-Big Punch:
                   Bat    - Head to Ground Move

Kick other fighter up close, then a quick T,A-Kick:
                   Spike  - Tail Spike
                            (one of the tougher moves)

Clockwise on Directionals:
                   Mouth  - Resurrection Move
                   Nick   - Resurrection Move
                   Bat    - Resurrection Move
                   Spike  - Resurrection Move
                   Selena - Resurrection Move

??:                Toad   - Resurrection Move
                   Worm   - Resurrection Move
                   Squid  - Resurrection Move
                   Selena - Meat Move #2


9.7 Strategy stuff
------------------
Here's some playing tips you may find useful:

  * It is important to remember that the strong punches and kicks can
    cause more damage at a farther range, but these moves are SLOWER.
    Conversely, the weak punches and kicks cause less damage at a
    shorter range, but these moves are much QUICKER.  Practice both
    types of moves and execute them when most appropriate.  Sometimes
    using a combination of both types can be more effective too.

  * It is very hard to remember to block while fighting.  However,
    blocking is one of the more important moves if you are going to stay
    alive.  If someone is trying to constantly beat on you, try blocking
    and then using a quick weak punch or kick.

  * Many of the opposing fighters will try to throw things at you from a
    far distance.  Remember that most times you can jump over what is
    being thrown.

  * Worm and Mouth can crouch down and avoid many of the objects being
    thrown by the other opponents (except Spike's low goo).  This holds
    true too of Toad's Fast Attack.....Toad will just go flying by
    without touching them.

  * Learn to do the Resurrection move!  This move will help you win a
    few fights where you would normally end up dead.

  * I fully recommend playing XENOPHAGE with a 4-button gamepad or
    joystick.  It's much easier and quicker to learn and execute most of
    the moves.

  * Make full use of Training and Free Play modes to practice the moves.
    Remember that the Player Options screen for these modes has a wide
    range of options that you can fine-tune so that you can practice and
    better your moves.

  * Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  And then, practice some more!! :)


------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 Secret Codes!
----------------
The only secret code I know of is "STAIN".  Type this during a fight and
the blood that flies off the fighters will stain the ground for the rest
of the current fight.

I'm hoping to add more codes here as I get them.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 Trivia & Fun Stuff
---------------------
There's not much to this section right now.  But I thought I'd put in a
few things here that aren't widely known about XENOPHAGE.

  * During the development of XENOPHAGE, some of the fighters had
    different names.  Did you know that Worm was called Jack, and that
    Parasite was called Pinwheel?

  * In some of the early betas of XENOPHAGE, the Grand Champion was
    2 separate characters known as Champ I and Champ II.  You could pick
    and fight as either of these characters too.  You were also able to
    choose Pinwheel (Parasite) and fight as that character as well.
    Hmmmm,.....could there be a secret code or startup parameter to do
    this in the registered version?

  * There's a bunch of secret stuff in the registered version, including
    a hidden fighter character and a hidden mini-game, among other
    things!

  * Watch the larvae in Spike's environment carefully.  Some of them
    crawl over and jump into the bubbling goo pool, while some of the
    others head off toward the edge of the cliff and jump off.  You can
    move your fighter over the worms before they jump and actually
    squish them!  Splat!  But for some reason, the yellow Spike can't
    harm the yellow ones and the blue Spike can't touch the blue ones!!

  * XENOPHAGE has a file with all your configuration settings.  The
    shareware file is called XPS.INI and the registered file is called
    XPR.INI.  Using a text editor, try changing the following setting
    and watch what happens!  MAKE A COPY OF THE FILE BEFORE YOU DO THIS!
    Change BloodVolume to 499998.  This will give you buckets of blood
    when the fighters are hitting each other!


------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 Final Words
--------------
That's all the info I have for now.  If you should discover any other
secret moves that I haven't listed, figure out the codes for any of the
hidden stuff that I do have listed, find a better way to do a move, or
discover any mistakes in what I've written, please send me e-mail at
dhowell@iac.net.  If what you send me can be verified, I'll be sure to
give you credit in the next XENOPHAGE FAQ.

Also thanks to Jason Blochowiak for the "STAIN" code, for giving some
initial tips on how to do some of the moves, and for verifying most of
the info in this FAQ.  Thanks Jason!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
