Welcome to the walkthrough for "Dynamite Powers vs. the Ray of Night!" I'll be using some tables, so you might want to switch to a fixed-width font. The Deathtrap ------------- As the game opens, you're bound with your hands behind your back and suspended in a cage above a lake filled with Martian razorfish. After Lord Infamy finishes taunting you, examine yourself to discover the Sentinels of Outer Space insignia pinned to your chest. Also examine the door and the keyhole. It looks like you can pick the lock. Try to TAKE THE INSIGNIA, and you'll drop it to the floor. Try to take it again, and you'll end up with the insignia in your teeth. Go ahead and PICK THE LOCK WITH THE INSIGNIA. Next, you need to escape from the cage. SWING THE CAGE repeatedly to build up the length of the swing. It'll slow down again if you stop swinging for a while, though. Every few turns, the cage will be lowered. This lengthens the cable, and increases the maximum arc the cage can swing. When the cage reaches its lowest point ("mere centimeters above the water"), swing once more to get the cage to its maximum arc of 18 meters. Then JUMP. You still need to escape from the ropes, though. EXAMINE THE EQUIPMENT on the shore to discover your pocketknife. TAKE THE KNIFE, OPEN IT, and CUT THE ROPES. Head north out of the cavern. The Laboratory and the Martian Surface -------------------------------------- Save in a new file here; there's some knowledge-by-death coming! You've entered some sort of laboratory. Examine the cube-like machine, the transparent bubble and the book. The machine shows three pictures: the head, torso, and legs of an alien creature. Next to each picture is a button that will cycle that picture through four possibilities: • A violet-bellied Martian kangasaur • A blue-eyed Venusian marshbat • A green-shelled Plutonian frost turtle • A yellow-crested Jovian megastrich Examine the pictures for hints as to the capabilities of each creature: • The kangasaur can breathe the Martian atmosphere, leap long distances, and grab things with its tongue. • The marshbat has wings, and can echolocate and extract oxygen from the ground. • The frost turtle has a built-in helmet and has suction cups for hands and snowshoes for feet. • The megastrich can spit acid, and has wings and powerful legs. "Dynamite Powers" is a black-and-white game. Later, you'll need to identify items of different colors. So, while you're here, note the in-game colors of the violet-bellied Martian kangasaur's belly, and so forth. The machine acts as a kind of mix-and-match book. When you enter the transparent bubble, you'll be transmuted into a chimeric creature including the three body parts currently shown and cursorily expelled to the outside. Your problem is to find a creature that can overcome three obstacles on the Martian surface. There's one additional constraint -- this machine was made for mad science only, and it won't transmute you unless all three body parts are from different creatures. If two or more are from the same creature, you'll get readout code 69105. The readout codes can be looked up in the book, but there are only two important ones: 69105 Insufficiently mad science - add entropy 00000 Success When you've picked a combination you like, ENTER THE BUBBLE. You'll end up outside the laboratory. If you survive the initial exposure, examine yourself to check out your capabilities and pick up some clues as to how to use them. Then explore the surface. Eventually, you'll discover three obstacles: First, you'll need a way to breathe. If you have the frost turtle's head, its helmet will protect you. If you have the marshbat's feet, you can extract oxygen from the ground. And if you have the kangasaur's torso, you'll be able to breathe with its native Martian lungs. All of these will act automatically. Still alive? Head to the north. Second, you'll need to cross the canal of sand you'll find here. If you have the marshbat's torso, you can FLY across. If you have the kangasaur's legs, you can JUMP across. And if you have the frost turtle's legs, you can INFLATE them, then just go north. In any case, go north once more to reach the dome that houses the Ray of Night. Third, you'll need to get through the airlock to the dome. If you have the frost turtle's torso, you can use your suction cup hands to open the airlock by GRASPing it. If you have the megastrich's legs, you can break the airlock by KICKing it. If you have kangasaur's head, you can open it with your sticky tongue by FLICKing it. Here's a table of which body parts solve each problem: Body part Frost turtle Marshbat Megastrich Kangasaur --------- ------------ -------- ---------- --------- Head Breathe Airlock Torso Airlock Canal Breathe Legs Canal Breathe Airlock Canal Of course, not all creature combinations will work. You did save at the beginning of this section, right? The only combination that will pass all three obstacles is the head of the frost turtle, the torso of the marshbat and the legs of the megastrich. Once you get outside, go north, FLY over the canal, go north once more and KICK THE AIRLOCK. Unfortunately, just as you open the airlock, you transmute back into your own body and begin choking on the Martian atmosphere. You'll only survive for two turns; use them to ENTER THE AIRLOCK and PUSH THE BUTTON. The Ray of Night ---------------- Save in a new file here. You've entered the enormous dome. Head north to reach the central platform. EXAMINE THE CONSOLE, OPEN THE DRAWER and TAKE THE LENSES. EXAMINE THE TUBE and PUSH THE SQUARE BUTTON to eject a disc with apertures that fit the lenses. READ THE INSTRUCTION GUIDE, then read all the individual chapters of the guide. Note the reference to a "big red button" in the Quick Start chapter. EXAMINE THE BIG BUTTON here to discover the in-game color that corresponds to red and make a note of it. Let's get organized! Clearly, we need to get all these lenses in the right apertures. Make a table of the apertures, like this: Label -------- "White" "Red" "Violet" "Blue" "Green" "Yellow" "Black" First, we need to know what light will be passing through each of the apertures. The Technical Information chapter can help us out with that. We know that (color of the original beam) - (color of the lens) = (color of the filtered beam), using modular arithmetic. We also know that each of the apertures is labeled with the color of the lens that will produce a black filtered beam. And we know all of the numbers associated with the colors. So, if the aperture is labeled blue, we get: (color of the original beam) - (color of the lens = blue = 3) = (color of the filtered beam = black = 6) or (color of the original beam) = (color of the filtered beam = black = 6) + (color of the lens = blue = 3) = 9 Subtracting 7, as described in the Technical Information, we get: (color of the original beam) = (violet = 2) Now we know that the beam passing through the "blue" aperture is violet. Repeating this calculation, we can find the color of the beam passing through each aperture. Label Beam Color -------- ---------- "White" Black (6) "Red" White (0) "Violet" Red (1) "Blue" Violet (2) "Green" Blue (3) "Yellow" Green (4) "Black" Yellow (5) Second, we need a goal. One is supplied in warning #5 of the Safety Instructions: overheat the deluminator by creating a ray of light! Or, at least of non-darkness. Since starlight is white, that seems like the safest choice. What color lens do we put in an aperture to create a white beam? Using the filtering rule for the same aperture: (color of the original beam = violet = 2) - (color of the lens) = (color of the filtered beam = white = 0) or (color of the lens) = (color of the original beam = violet = 2) - (color of the filtered beam = white = 0) = (violet = 2) Now we know that putting a violet lens in the "blue" aperture will produce white light. Repeating the calculation gives us all seven apertures. Label Beam Color Lens Color -------- ---------- ---------- "White" Black (6) Black (6) "Red" White (0) White (0) "Violet" Red (1) Red (1) "Blue" Violet (2) Violet (2) "Green" Blue (3) Blue (3) "Yellow" Green (4) Green (4) "Black" Yellow (5) Yellow (5) Unfortunately, Dynamite Powers is a black-and-white game, so identifying the lenses isn't as easy as examining them. Fortunately, we've seen examples of all the colors along the way, so we know how each appears within the game: • Black is black. • White is white. • Violet, blue, green and yellow were the colors shown in the pictures on the transmutation machine. • Red is the color of the big button on the console. If you didn't note the colors from the transmutation machine, go back and load the save game from the lab. You did make one, right? If not, there's still hope! You can turn color on in the game with COLOR ON. This will allow you to see the true colors of the lenses Label Beam Color Lens Color Lens Color in Black and White -------- ---------- ---------- ----------------------------------------------------- "White" Black (6) Black (6) Black "Red" White (0) White (0) White "Violet" Red (1) Red (1) "Blue" Violet (2) Violet (2) "Green" Blue (3) Blue (3) "Yellow" Green (4) Green (4) "Black" Yellow (5) Yellow (5) OK, pencils down! Use the table to put all the lenses in the right places. Retract the disc with the square button. Push the big button. Now you only need to WAIT through the finale. Thanks for playing!