FREEDOM PLANET Readme 1.15.1 :: Starting the Game When you reach the title screen, you may want to explore the Options menu first to customize the controls or set up your game pad. If you receive an error message that says "Cannot load joystick2.mfx", move xinput1_3.dll into your system directory (which is usually located in C:\Windows\system32). Scroll down to the FAQ section for more information on startup issues. :: Controls The default controls are as follows: Z Button A (jumping) X Button B (attacking) C Button C (special attack) Left arrow Move left Right arrow Move right Up arrow Look up/climb ladder Down arrow Crouch/climb ladder F5 1x window size F6 2x window size F7 3x window size Most of these controls can be customized by going to OPTIONS on the main screen. :: Directional Button - Hold down LEFT or RIGHT to move your character left or right. - While standing still, hold UP for a few seconds to pan the screen upwards. Hold DOWN and your character will crouch down. :: Button A - Press A while on the ground to jump. The longer you hold the button down, the higher your character will jump. - Press and hold A while underwater to swim upwards. Let go of the A button to swim downwards. :: Button B - Press B to use your basic attack. Refer to the Characters section below for more information. :: Button C - Press C to use your special ability. Refer to the Characters section below for more information. :: Sash Lilac Lilac is the main heroine in Freedom Planet. She is very fast and agile, and her attacks are strong. However, she must travel through some of the most challenging obstacles in the game. She has an Energy meter which is displayed at the top-left corner of the screen. HAIR WHIP Press B to attack enemies with Lilac's strands of hair. KICK Hold DOWN to crouch and press B to attack enemies with a low kick. DIVE KICK While jumping, hold DOWN and press B to perform a diving kick. The dive causes damage to enemies, but it can also be used to quickly move downwards after a JUMP or DRAGON CYCLONE. RISING SLASH While standing or running on the ground, hold UP and press B to attack enemies with a powerful uppercut. It's slower than her HAIR WHIP, but stronger and easier to hit things with. DRAGON CYCLONE Press A while in the air to perform the DRAGON CYCLONE. Lilac will spin rapidly like a tornado, damaging enemies on either side of her and allowing her to float for a short distance. You can also use this ability by pressing DOWN while running on the ground. (Here's a fun trick: Try using the DRAGON CYCLONE right after you jump on a spring! You'll soar through the air much higher than usual!) DRAGON BOOST When Lilac's Energy meter is full and starts to blink white, press C to boost forward at high speed. Lilac will soar through the air and bounce against any walls she hits. While Lilac is charging the boost, you can hold UP or DOWN to change which direction she'll boost in. :: Carol Tea Carol is Lilac's best friend. She can attack very quickly, scale walls and even drive a motorcycle, but she depends on the environment to use some of her abilities. She has an Energy meter which is displayed at the top-left corner of the screen. PUNCHING Press B to punch. Carol will punch faster when attacking enemies. POUNCING Press A while jumping in the air to pounce. You can also hold DOWN to crouch and press A to pounce. ROLLING Press DOWN while running at a high speed to roll into a wheel. While rolling, Carol can knock small enemies out of her way and cause damage to larger foes. Rolling also allows her to pick up a heavy amount of speed on downhill slopes. WALL JUMP Carol can scale walls by repeatedly jumping off of them. To do this, hold A and LEFT, or A and RIGHT, to jump towards a wall. Keep holding the directional button and Carol will attach herself to the wall. Press and hold A to jump off of the wall. WILD KICK Press and hold C to perform a WILD KICK. Carol will attack enemies with a flurry of rapid-fire kicks. As long as the button is held down, her energy will be depleted, and she stops kicking when it is empty. JUMP PADS Carol can use JUMP PADS. These special floor pieces are marked with blinking red lights. To use a JUMP PAD, stand on top of it and press A. Carol will immediately jump to the next JUMP PAD. Keep pressing A and she will jump through all of the JUMP PADS in sequence. Press A as soon as you land on a JUMP PAD or else you'll fall! DRIVING When Carol collects a FUEL TANK, she will take out her motorcycle and start driving! The motorcycle doubles Carol's top speed and lets her climb walls and ladders very quickly. To stop using the motorcycle, stand still, hold DOWN and press A, and Carol will pounce off of the bike. AIR SPIN While driving the motorcycle, press A while in the air to perform a jumping spin attack. This makes it easier for Carol to hit enemies in the air and jump over hazards while driving. NITRO BOOST While driving the motorcycle, press C while moving along the ground to boost forward at high speed. This move depletes a portion of her Energy Meter. :: Milla Basset Milla is a dog-like character with psychic abilities. She has a smaller life bar than the other characters, but she can attack from a distance. Her style is a bit more relaxed and she is ideal for exploring. PHANTOM BLOCK Press and hold B and a light will appear above Milla's head. Keep holding B and a green block will appear in her hands. Press B again to throw the block in the direction you are facing. ITEM BLOcKS When standing on top of an item container or shield crystal, press B to pick it up. Milla can throw item containers at enemies for extra damage. SHIELD Press and hold C to summon a shield in front of Milla. Use UP, DOWn, LEFT and RIGHT to aim the shield in different directions. The shield will reflect most projectiles in the opposite direction. Release C to fire a burst of energy that causes minor damage to enemies. SUPER SHIELD BURST When holding a Phantom Block, press and hold C to transform it into a Super Shield! Release C to fire a powerful beam of energy. The beam is so strong that it will push Milla backwards! (Here's a fun trick: Fire the beam, then quickly turn around. If timed correctly, Milla will pick up a lot of speed!) DIGGING Milla can recover her life by digging into grass and dirt. Stand over a flat patch of land, hold DOWN and keep pressing B until she finds something! Milla can also find hidden treasures in certain spots. If you see the words "^ + B" flashing at the top of the screen, you've found one of these special digging spots! :: Adventure Mode ADVENTURE MODE is the main game in Freedom Planet. The goal is to play through all of the stages in sequence to defeat Lord Brevon and his alien invasion force. From high speed action to fully voiced cutscenes, you can find everything the game has to offer in ADVENTURE MODE! When you select this mode, you will be given a choice between Lilac or Carol after the second cutscene. Change characters by pressing UP or DOWN, and press A or START to select the character. Your chosen character will affect the order of the stages you play in, as well as the vantage point from which you view certain cutscenes. :: Classic Mode CLASSIC MODE is a condensed version of the game in which you must play through all of the stages in a set sequence. Unlike ADVENTURE MODE, there are no cutscenes - It's just you and the game! When you select this mode, you will be taken to a screen where you can choose your character. Change characters by pressing UP or DOWN, and press A or START to select your character. Afterwards, the game will begin! Your progress is automatically saved every time you complete a stage, so if you'd like to take a break, you can simply close the program and load your game right where you left off. :: Time Attack In TIME ATTACK, you can play through a single stage with any character of your choosing. Once the stage is complete, your time is recorded along with the number of crystals you collected. Keep in mind that in order to play a stage in TIME ATTACK, you must first complete it in either ADVENTURE MODE or CLASSIC MODE. :: Items There are a lot of shiny ITEMS you can collect throughout your journey. Not sure what they do? This handy reference guide should help! CRYSTAL SHARDS These sparkling blue gemstones are everywhere! Collecting them will refill a small portion of your Energy meter (if you have one). You also have a Crystal Counter at the top of the screen to the right of your number of lives; Collecting CRYSTALS will lower this counter. When the counter reaches 0, it resets and you gain an EXTRA LIFE! LIFE PETALS These red and gold petals will protect your character from death. When you collect LIFE PETALS, they will appear below your Energy meter at the top-left corner of the screen. When your character is hit by enemy attack, you will lose some of your LIFE PETALS. If you are hit without any petals, you will lose an EXTRA LIFE, so be sure to collect any LIFE PETALS that you see! ORBS When you destroy robots or open treasure chests, you'll receive colored ORBS. You can use these ORBS in bonus stages to win special prizes! EXTRA LIVES During the game, you may encounter small critters trapped inside cages that look similar to your chosen character. These little guys are EXTRA LIVES! Break open the cage and touch the EXTRA LIFE and it will reward you with another chance to complete the stage if you fail. STAR CARD There are special STAR CARDS hidden in each of the game's first 10 stages. Collecting 10 cards in a specific stage will reward you with an Achievement. You can view all of your collected cards by selecting GALLERY from the main menu. GAS CAN These red-colored GAS CANS are something that only Carol can use. When she collects one, she will summon her trusty motorcycle! TAO TOKEN If you see a yin-yang symbol during a stage, that's a TAO TOKEN. If you collect one, you will be transported to a Bonus room when you complete the stage. In this Bonus room, you can spend your collected ORBS to win EXTRA LIVES or SHIELD CRYSTALS. KEYCARD In some stages, you will find green KEYCARDS. These will let you unlock doors with a large green X on them. When a door is unlocked, one KEYCARD will disappear from your possession. :: Shields Every stage in the game has SHIELD CRYSTALS scattered around. When you break a SHIELD CRYSTAL, it will surround your character in a protective sheild. There are six different types of shields, and each one has a unique effect! WOOD (GREEN/PINK) The Wood shield will reward you with LIFE PETALS for every 20 crystals that you collect. It also protects you from poisonous gas. EARTH (YELLOW) The Earth shield causes nearby CRYSTALS to move towards you! It also protects you from rocks, boulders and crystal-based attacks. WATER (BLUE) The Water shield allows your character to breathe underwater, so you never have to worry about running out of oxygen! It also protects you from bubble and slime attacks. FIRE (RED) When you have a Fire shield, you will cause damage to any enemy that you touch! It also protects you from flames and lava. METAL (WHITE) The Metal shield lets you walk on spikes without being hurt. It also protects you from spikey enemies and electricity. :: FAQ Q: Will Freedom Planet run on Mac or Linux? A: We have a Mac version of the demo available on our website. We do not have support for Linux at the moment, but you might be able to get the Windows version of the game to work by installing Wine on your Linux computer. You can find out more about this program at www.winehq.org. Q: When I run the game, there is no music and some of the text appears as rainbow-colored pixels. A: You need to make sure that the Data folder is in the same directory as the game's EXE file. Inside the Data folder, there should be a file named font.bmp and another folder named BGM that includes the game's music in OGG format. If these files are missing, try downloading the demo again from our website. If the folder is present, but the music and text still do not work, make sure that you have permission to access the files on your computer. You may need to run the game as an Administrator on Windows PCs. Q: When I try to run the game, I get the following message: "Cannot load joystick2.mfx. This object might need an external program or library not yet installed." A: Make sure that xinput1_3.dll in your system directory (which is usually located in C:\Windows\system32). The file should be included with Freedom Planet, but if not, you should be able to download it on the Internet. If the message remains, try disabling your firewall. If that doesn't work, update your system to the latest version of DirectX. Q: When I play the game with a controller, my computer goes into Sleep Mode. A: You must run the game as an Administrator on Windows PCs. This will prevent Windows from going into Sleep Mode while the game is running. Q: The screen flickers a lot while playing, or I can hear sound effects but the screen is completely blank. A: You can try running the game in different display modes to see if it solves the problem. To do this in Windows, create a shortcut, then right-click on it and select Properties. In the Target field, after the file path, enter one of the following commands: /DIB => forces standard graphic mode /DIB3 => forces standard graphic mode, 256 colors /DIB4 => forces standard graphic mode, 16 millions of colors, 24 bits /DIB6 => forces standard graphic mode, 32768 colors /DIB7 => forces standard graphic mode, 65536 colors /DIB8 => forces standard graphic mode, 16 millions of colors, 32 bits /DDRAW => forces DirectDraw + VRAM mode /NOVR => no VRAM in DirectDraw mode If none of these work, your video card drivers may not be compatible with Freedom Planet. Modern Nvidia drivers are known to cause this problem. If you're using the latest version of your drivers, try downgrading them to see if there is any difference.