         _____               _ _         ____  _       _           _ _ 
        |  ___|_ _ _ __ ___ (_) |_   _  |  _ \(_)_ __ | |__   __ _| | |
        | |_ / _` | '_ ` _ \| | | | | | | |_) | | '_ \| '_ \ / _` | | |
        |  _| (_| | | | | | | | | |_| | |  __/| | | | | |_) | (_| | | |
        |_|  \__,_|_| |_| |_|_|_|\__, | |_|   |_|_| |_|_.__/ \__,_|_|_|
                                 |___/                                 

                                 Family Pinball
                               Instruction Manual
                                     v1.00
                                    
-------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------

Family Pinball is a 4 player pinball/pachinko game released by Namco for the
Famicom game system in 1989. It was never officially released in English but
was translated by Suicidal Translations and released on February 14th, 2008.

This file serves as an instruction manual for the translated game. It is not a
translation of the original instruction manual but is an original work based on
my experiences playing the game.

------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------

  I. Introduction
 II. Table of Contents
III. The Story
 IV. Gameplay
  V. Distribution Notes
 VI. Conclusion

---------------------------------- THE STORY ----------------------------------

Several Namco characters do battle in pinball-based combat. Why? Your guess is
as good as mine.

---------------------------------- GAMEPLAY -----------------------------------

This is a pinball game, so there's not much depth to the actual gameplay.

General play control is as such:

      Left: operate left flipper
     Right: bump table to the right
        Up: move flippers up in battle game
      Down: move flippers down in battle game / pull back plunger to shoot ball
         B: bump table to the left
         A: operate right flipper
     Start: pause


MODES
-----
There are 4 different modes in Family Pinball. Additionally, 3 of these 4 modes
contain different submodes. They are as follows:

Pinball Mode: This is a standard pinball machine with a Pacman theme. The goal
is to score as many points as possible. If you light up all three of the mini-
lanes on the lower level, a ramp will open up in the upper left corner of the
top level. Going up this ramp will launch you into a mini-game in which Ghost
Monsters will travel around the screen. Killing all 4 ghost monsters (they each
take two hits) will cause the large Pacman at the top of the screen to open his
mouth for a short time. Shooting the ball into his mouth will net you 10,000
points the first time, with the point value doubling for each successive shot
before he closes his mouth. 

                                   §-§-§§-§-§

Battle Mode: A combination of Pinball and Pong, Battle Mode pits two opponents
in a one-on-one battle for supremacy. There are three different tables that are
available in Battle Mode.

Bomber - Each end of the table has two plungers on the right side. When the
ball hits one of these plungers, it changes the adjacent picture. When these
pictures match up, something occurs.

         Skull: Opponent's flippers become invisible (but function normally.)
     Lightning: Opponent's flippers are briefly paralyzed.
          Exit: An exit door appears. Put the ball through for a cheap win.
          Bomb: The ball begins to flash, signalling a countdown. When time
                runs out, the ball explodes, killing the player who controls
                the side of the table which the ball is on.

Thunder - There are no special features of the Thunder table. However, this is
          the only table on which you can advance both of your flippers to your
          opponent's side.
          
Attack - In the Attack level of Battle mode, there are 3 plungers on each side
         of the table labeled Stop, Help and Attack. When your Stop plunger is
         activated, a barrier raises up on the side of the table, preventing
         your opponent from sending the ball to your side through the chute.
         When Help is activated, a large bumper raises up between your flippers,
         making it very difficult for you to lose the ball down the center. When
         your Attack plunger is activated, a device begins to move from side to
         side on your opponent's side of the table, blocking their attempts to
         send the ball back to your side.

                                   §-§-§§-§-§

Sports Mode: Sports mode is similar to Battle Mode except that the table
features either a soccer or hockey theme. In Sports Mode, the A & B buttons
each rotate your flipper in a different direction, whereas the left/right
buttons control your goalie. You are unable to bump the table in Sports Mode.

                                   §-§-§§-§-§

Pachinko Mode: Pachinko is a game that is wildly popular in Japan but is
virtual unknown in America except for the bastardized version known as Plinko
on The Price is Right. In Pachinko, your goal is to sink the balls into the
holes in the table. A win consists of three in a row (horizontally or
vertically), five in a row (diagonally) or filling all four corners.
Additionally, certain holes will be marked with a 1 or 2. This multiples the
value of any wins including those numbers. At the beginning of each round, you
wager an amount of money. The amount you win is determined by the number of
wins you collect multiplied by your wager. Each game consists of five rounds.
You win a game by finishing with a total within the range indicated by the
level that you select at the beginning.


CHARACTER SELECTION
-------------------
Regardless of mode, each player selects one of six characters from other Namco
produced NES games. Which character you select does not affect gameplay. It is
simply a fun way to keep track of who is who. In Battle Mode and Sports Mode,
each character does have their own unique winning and losing quotes. The
characters are as follows:

Pacman from, well, Pacman (And a dozen sequels.)

Tarosuke from Youkai Douchuuki

Kagekiyo from Genpei Touma Den

MoMo from Mahou no Princess Minky Momo

Valkyrie from Walkuere no Bouken - Toki no Kagi Densetsu

Ki from The Quest of Ki

Due to space constraints, Tarosuke was shortened to Taro, Kagekiyo to Kage and
Valkyrie to Valkyre.


----------------------------- DISTRIBUTION NOTES ------------------------------

This Family Pinball translation should be distributed in a file named
fpine100.zip and should contain the following files:

	  fpine100.ips - the translation patch
          fpine100.txt - this readme file
          fpin-man.txt - a manual for the game

These files are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-
-Share Alike 3.0 license. This means that you are free to copy, distribute and
transmit these files in any manner you see fit, as long as you do so in a non-
commercial manner and attribute the author. Additionally, you are permitted to
modify this work as long as you release your modifications under the same
Creative Commons license.

For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Family Pinball is (C)opyright 1989 by Namco Ltd. & Artman Inc.

---------------------------------- CONCLUSION ---------------------------------

So there you have it. Not the most complex game of all time but I rather enjoy
it. It won't take you hours on end to defeat like some other games but it's
well worth playing when you're just out to have a little fun.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. The official site of the Family
Pinball translation is at http://suitrans.studiosouzou.com and you can find the
most current contact information there as well.

-InVerse

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Pinball         -          (CC) 2008 InVerse          -         02/14/08