Grand Monster Slam
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Description 

 Prelude 

It all started with the "Big Embarrassment" for the Goblins in the war against the humans. During an attempt to lay siege to a desert fort of the humans, they didn't think of the fact that in the desert only few stones are available for their catapult and so their attack had failed after only 5 minutes. But the Goblins were so enraged by the laughter, so they decided to storm the fort, which was repelled by the humans by letting lots of stones rain on the Goblins... 

With this the war could have ended, but instead the Goblins took the stones, which they got back while receiving lots of bruises, to shoot back at the fort. With the same result as the first time... ...This went on for three years, until the tired parties could bring themselves to make a peace treaty. In memorance, they then met every 3 years for a big celebration, where honourable catapult shots were exchanged. 

The other peoples also liked this peace celebration and wanted to join in the shooting of catapults. Therefore the Halflings declared war to the Goblins and the humans and symbolically threw cobbelstones at them and surrendered after 5 minutes... 

This was also done by the other peoples and after that it was time for a new program of this party. It was only named "Grand Slam" anyway and after some incidents there were the final rules for the Grand Monster Slams: 

 Current proceedings 

Instead of shooting at each other with catapults, only the best of each race compete to shoot all Beloms to the opposing side. Subsequently the competition is won by doing a homerun to the opposing side. This had the advantage for everyone, that it meant lying on the floor only for a short time after being hit without suffering bigger injuries. Except the Beloms of course... ...These demanded in return the intermediate round, where they tried to bring about the winner of each round's downfall by tickle attacks. Each winner has only a pole to keep the Beloms away temporarily... 

If you have won all three duels of a league, you need to proove your accuracy by shooting the Beloms into the mouths of the six Faultons. These are not allowed any more in the regular game, as they had the silly habit to eat all Beloms instead of shooting them back. But don't worry, all swallowed Beloms are spitted out again after this intermezzo. At least this was secured by the Faultons. 

 Design 

The graphics are painted and animated lovingly, the game fields are static. The sound is realistic during the rounds, the title melody gets you into the game. The opponents have different strenghts and weaknesses, to which you as player need to adapt to win the game. 

 Hints 

In the main menu you can choose the current "Hall of Fame" to look at the highscores. With "Faulton feeding" and "Revenge of the Beloms" you can train the intermediate games. "Grand Monster Slam Main Tournament" starts the main game. 

The cassette version of Grand Monster Slam is compared to the diskette version highly limited, as the opponents in the first two leagues are not chosen randomly - so you always get allocated the same three of the seven displayed opponents when repeating the game. 

 Main game 

The aim is to shoot all Beloms (furry ball creatures) to the opposing side. If the opponent or you are hit, this leads to a short unconsciousness, which lasts longer the more often you are hit. 

Controls 
/ - walk in the corresponding direction 
 - (hold fire) determine shooting strength 
/ - determine shooting direction 
 /  - special shot 
 - (release fire) shoot 
 - provoke the opponent 
 - homerun (only possible, when all Beloms are on the opposing side) 

 Penalty kick 

If you shoot into the audience, the opponent gets a Pelvant penalty kick: a member of this race ropes down at the field and the opponent decides the direction in which the Pelvant should walk towards you. If you decide for the right position, then the penalty kick will be repelled and the opponent gets a Belom back. If you are on the wrong position then you get three Beloms into your own half. 

Controls 
// - decide walking direction of the Pelvant 
// - decide defending position 

 Revenge of the Beloms 

The Belom which will attack next, shakes shortly before its attack, which gives you the chance to align the pole in the right position. Starting from the main position you can defend six attack directions. A changing of the position is only necessary for an attack from the side. 

Controls 
/ - align pole 
/ - change position (the direction needs to be neutral in between) 
/ - hit 

 Faulton feeding 

The six Faultons are on pedestals of different heights and each need to be hit with one Belom. 

Controls 
 - (hold fire) determine shooting height 
 - (release fire) shoot 

 Points 
In the main game in the starting league you receive 2000, 4000 and 6000 points for the first, second and last victory. 
in the second league there are 5000, 7000 and 9000 (?) points 
(maybe there are additional points for a quick victory) 
During the Revenge of the Beloms a number will be given by the king (10 after the first victory, then 20, 35, 45, ...). If you repell less, 100 points per Belom are subtracted. If you repell more, you get 100 bonus points per Belom. If you exactly fulfill the target, there are 5000 bonus points. 

 Tips and other information 

Generally 

At first sight in Grand Monster Slam it is your thrust to hit the enemy as often as possible without getting hit yourself. But there are other tips, which can facilitate your live as a fighting dwarf: 

Shooting 

How fast you can shoot depends mainly on the paths you take. If you have just avoided a Belom, this one is quickest to reach. If many Beloms wait on your side to occupy the Belom points, you should do a row shot: place yourself on a Belom point and press quickly the fire button in succession. The waiting Beloms occupy the Belom points, only to be sent directly to the opposing side. 

Hitting 

Exact aiming gives you time advantage. Either the opponent needs to dodge (therefore loses time and maybe lets himself be cornered) or he will be hit by the Belom (he stays down on the ground). The more often an enemy is hit, the longer he stays down. Use the time! If you can aim well and have the right timing, you should be able to hit the opponent once again when it gets up. 

If you can shoot exactly, you should try to hit the enemy at the height of the head. Those hits tire the enemy more than hits at the foot. Every enemy has difficulties to avoid flat shot Beloms which have bounced from the bank. 

Provoking the enemy 

Whenever you have the time, you should do the "annoyance gesture" (joystick downwards and fire). You might not notice it right away, but the enemy gets more and more nervous through this. When the enemy loses it's temper and shoots at the grand-stand, you reach a Pelvans. If you convert the Pelvans freekick, has 3 Beloms less at one go. That is already half the victory! 

Not getting hit 

It is recommended to keep moving all the time. Some enemies have difficulties to take the movements of the dwarf into account while aiming. A frequent changing of the direction can confuse the enemy. 

 Tips for the higher leagues 

In the second and first league there is a disturbing fence in the middle of the field. As you need to aim higher, you will shoot slower. In the middle of the field the fence is interrupted. As long as the opponent lingers at the three middle Belom points, you can hit it without problem through the "hole in the fence". Only from the middle are effective row shots possible. 

The opponents 

Some opponents have weaknesses, which you can use: 
Laziness: lazy opponents might not walk towards the Beloms that are too far away. 
Timidity: frightened opponents avoid approaching Beloms, as soon as they only come near them. Being occupied with avoiding, such opponents do often not get to shooting. 
Bad power of observation: some opponents seldom consider the movements of the dwarf when shooting. 
Shooting precision: some opponents have difficulties to hit the dwarf exactly. 
Speed: slow opponents wait longer at Belom points before they shoot the next Belom. 
Sensitivity: some opponents get up right away after a hit, while others stay down for a longer time. 

 Characteristics of the opponents of the 3rd league 
Brunf, the oger: Seldom avoids the Beloms (hits don't harm it either), lazy, gets annoyed easily, in a Pelvans it walks mostly left or right. 
Red Sonja Valmora, the amazone: quite frightened (hits also harm it a lot) and a bit slow. 
Conold, the barbar: not very precise in shooting, lazy. 
Zsch Lnk, the quadropus: bad power of observation, seldom gives way, a bit lazy. 

 Characteristics of the opponents of the 2nd league 
Klaus von Adlerberg, the knighjt: a bit frightened and lazy. Shoots often into the corners. 
Hiro Sha, the troll: not very precise in shooting, bad power of observation, lazy. 
Quirks, the gremlin: aims bad, but is quite fast and hard to hit. 
Gnarl, the gnoll: hits harm it relatively much. A bit frightened and lazy. 

 Characteristics of the opponents of the 1st league 

All oppnents in this round are so strong that you cannot win against them quickly. You need to play them out, do net let yourself get hit and wait for the right occasion. 
Nurfuk, the yalk: It can shoot Beloms from all Belom points by magic (not only where it is standing). Always stay on the move! The yalk doesn't shoot very fast and is rather timid. 
Roarch, the dragon: It spews fire. So if possible do not stand dircetly opposite to it. By spewing fire it loses time, which you can use. By doing the "annoyance gesture" you can force the spewing at any time. After the spewing there is a pause, during which the dragon cannot spew any fire. 
Winner, the goblin: puts up a magic wind pillar as an obstacle on the side of the dwarfs. Do not walk against the pillar! Avoid to be pushed into a corner by the pillar! The goblin is (as all the goblins) a bit lazy. 

 Tips for Belom punching 

As beginner you should not confuse yourself, that you jump into all four positions with the dwarf. Only from two positions (e.g.: "dwarf looks to the left" and "dwarf looks upwards") you can get hold of all approaching Beloms. For each of the eight directions there is only one joystick movement that you need to learn. If you have the possibilityr, you should play with the keyboard, as the right/left movement is better to distinguish from the punching. 

 Tips for Faulton feeding 

As the timing needs to be kept very precisely in this interlude to get the Belom transported into the mouth of the Faulton, you should act in accordance with the up and down movements of the Beloms: Faulton number (from left)): 	 1. 	 2. 	 3. 	 4. 	 5. 	 6. 
Movements of the Beloms (up+down): 	 1x 	 1x 	 2x 	 3x 	 4x 	 4x

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Description from the packaging:

Another five years have passed and the people of GHOLD meet again in order to perform the Grand Monster Slam, the biggest sports festival of this fantastic fantasy world. Again they are there, the Elves and Trolls, Goblins and Orcs, Dragons and Knights, ready to hold the great tournament, each eager to win the Yellow Jerkin and the Golden Medal. Thousands of creatures flock into the arena of the ancient city of the emperor, in order to cheer men and monsters, kicking nice, cute Beloms over the turf.
You, best among the dwarfs, have been chosen to represent your people in the games. You are small and hairy, but also sturdy and very strong. Sixteen opponents are looking forward to measuring their strength against your's. Are you skillful enough to win the "Revenge of the Beloms?" Are your passes exact enough in order to pass the qualification of the "Six Faultons?" Are you representing your people honorably (remember, your king is watching!) And last, but not least- If you manage to gain victory- Beware of the opposing fans!


http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Grand_Monster_Slam
