The Way of the Tiger IIAvenger

This game is a standalone sequel to The Way of the Tiger by the same game designers and publishing company. The names as well as the subject matter of these games are taken from the series title and the first volume of a series of “adventure gamebooks” (choose your own adventure books) by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson. The game Avenger is based on the finale of the book Avenger! (with an exclamation point), and quite a few details makes much more sense in light of this.

ZX Spectrum controls

Left − Right	Z − X	Joystick	↔
Up − Down	O − K	Joystick	↕
Attack	0	Joystick	●
Pause	1
Replenish Energy	2
Quit	3 + 4

The attack control only takes effect in combination with a direction. If you are carrying shuriken (and not the sword), one of these is thrown, making it possible to kill enemies at a distance. However, there are fewer available than you would like, so they must be used with care. Otherwise this control is used to kick or punch in close combat, or to swing the sword if you are carrying that.

Screen layout

Any contact with enemies drain your energy, which is tracked by two dials to the left of the viewport, labelled “E” for Endurance and “IF” for Inner Force. The dots surrounding these work similarly to the minute and hour hands of a clock: when all the dots of Endurance are lost, one dot of Inner Force disappears and the Endurance dial is reset. Each dot is composed of four pixels that are lost individually like a coarse second hand to continue the clock analogy. Four pixels times sixteen upper dial dots times sixteen lower dial dots gives 1024 energy levels to lose before you die. Further, you may call on your deity Kwon up to three times per game in order to have your energy fully replenished.

Below the viewport is a yellow bar where hints about what to do next appear at the beginning of the game and whenever a milestone is reached. Below this are four slots showing what you are carrying. Treasure tracks the contents of chests you have collected. Shuriken shows the number of throwable ninja stars you are carrying. Keys are collected the same way, and are spent permanently unlocking doors. The object slot shows the most recently collected quest item.

Map

There are six levels (elevations) making up the game world; two subterranean ones (1–2), the ground level where you start (3), and three floors above that (4–6). Each level consists of one to six 768×384 pixel sections for a total of twenty. Within each section, the 184×112 pixel viewport scrolls around the section in 8 pixel increments, but between them one section fully replaces the previous. Note that monsters respawn when you reenter a section.

All 44 doors connecting rooms in the north–south direction are locked at the start of the game, and must be unlocked using keys scattered around the keep. Opening a door too early easily results in a dead end situation where you are locked out of access to more keys, and as there are only a total of 35 keys to be found, some must remain locked. Be sure to avoid the circular holes in the floor from which spiders appear, as walking over these results in the loss of keys.

Once you have found a crowbar to pry them open with, grills drop you down a level (in one case two levels), otherwise retaining the same coordinates. Confusingly enough, trapdoors in the floor take you up a level in the same way, and are one-way like the grills.

The Quest

Aided by Honoric, Grand Marshal of the Legion of the Sword of Doom, and Manse the Deathmage, Yaemon, the Grand Master of Flame and Head of the Monks of the Scarlet Mantis has killed your foster father Naijishi and stolen the sacred Scrolls of Kettsuin. With these, he may imprison your patron deity Kwon in eternal torment. The game starts as you have reached Quench Heart Keep where these three adversaries reside. Their portraits can be seen to the right of the viewport, and as you eliminate them, the matching portrait turns skeletal in a rather neat animation.

Honoric is unbeatable in combat, so you have to poison him in his sleep. For that you need the poison known at the Blood of Nil. As instructed at the start of the game, the first thing you have to find is a container to hold this liquid. Next, you need an amulet of protection , and then a crowbar enabling you to pry open grills and get access to lower levels of the keep. There you find the poison , and back on the ground level you can pick up an enchanted rope . In the book, Avenger finds an opening directly above where Honoric sleeps, and guides the poison into his mouth by running it down the rope. In the game these details are skipped, and you just fall down from the grill above him and touch him to simulate all of this.

Honoric’s magic sword is the only weapon that can defeat Manse the Deathmage, so picking up this you can go back up a level and finish him off. This removes one of the protections in the crypt at the deepest level of the keep, making it possible to collect the iron gauntlet hidden away there.

With this gauntlet, you can kill Yaemon once you have ascended to the highest tower of the keep. Behind him, you find a lucky charm that makes the Scrolls of Kettsuin also hidden in the crypt possible to pick up. Having done so, you will find that a bridge over the moat has appeared outside the only door leading out of the keep. Crossing this with the scrolls successfully completes the game.

Progress and scoring

Collecting treasure is not a requirement to complete the game, merely a bonus which you may choose to maximise separately from actual progress in the game. If you die (or quit) before completing the quest, a percentage of how far in the quest you have come is shown. However, this number is partially random, so that the number can be higher in some games than in others where you have gotten slightly further.

Thus, the only real indication of how far you have come is the milestones. If you have completed the game you can add to this how many of the 234 available treasures you have collected.

Walkthrough

References to the map is in the form of level number + north or south + west, center or east, and denotes only which section an item is located in. You start beside the gatehouse of Quench Heart Keep in 3nc.

1. Seek the container to hold the poison blood of Nil
   • 3sc: 2 keys
   • 3nc: 8 treasure (8)
   • 3nc: 5 keys
   • 3sc: 9 treasure (17)
   • 3nw: 4 treasure (21)
   • 3nw: 8 shuriken¹
   • 3nw: jar
   
    
2. The Amulet of Protection will render you immune
   • 3nw: 4 keys
   • 3nc: 4 shuriken
   • 3nc: amulet
   
   
3. A bit of leverage may be required to open the grills
   • 3nc: 10 treasure (31)
   • 3se: 3 keys
   • 3se: 3 treasure (34)
   • 3ne: crowbar
   
   
4. Slay Nil for the poison blood you require
   • 3ne: 6 shuriken
   • 3ne: 7 treasure (41)
   • 3ne: grill
   • 2ne: 1 treasure (42)
   • 2ne: 10 shuriken
   • 2ne: 2 treasure (44)
   • 2nc: 2 treasure (46)
   • 2sc: 1 key
   • 2sc: 15 treasure (61)
   • 2sc: 5 shuriken
   • 2sc: 5 keys
   • 2se: poison blood
   
    
5. Steal the enchanted rope from the monks quarters
   • 2sc: trapdoor
   • 3se: rope
   
    
6. Seek the grill above sleeping Honoric
   • 3sw: trapdoor
   • 4sw: 11 treasure (72)
   • 4sc: trapdoor
   • 5sc: 3 treasure (75)
   • 5sc: 9 treasure (84)
   • 5sc: grill
   • 4sc: Honoric
   • 4sc: sword
   
    
7. The magic of the Manse must be removed from the crypt
   • 4sc: 13 treasure (97)
   • 4sc: 14 treasure (111)
   • 4sc: 3 keys
   • 4sc: 10 shuriken
   • 4nc: 2 keys
   • 4sc: trapdoor
   • 5sw: Manse
   
    
8. Deep down below lies Yaemons demise
   • 5sw: 10 treasure (121)
   • 5sw: grill
   • 4sw: grill (bypasses level 3)
   • 2sw: grill
   • 1sw: 10 keys
   • 1sw: 8 shuriken
   • 1sw: gauntlet
   
    
9. Seek out the charm in Yaemons tower
   • 1sw: 7 treasure (128)
   • 1sw: trapdoor
   • 2sw: 5 treasure (133)
   • 2sw: 3 treasure (136)
   • 2sw: 10 treasure (146)
   • 2sc: trapdoor
   • 3sw: 7 treasure (153)
   • 3sw: trapdoor
   • 4sc: trapdoor
   • 5nw: 4 treasure (157)
   • 5nw: trapdoor
   • 6nw: Yaemon
   • 6nw: 15 treasure (172)
   • 6nw: 15 treasure (187)
   • 6nw: charm
   
    
10. Yaemons demise has released the magic from the scrolls
    • 6nw: grill
    • 5nw: 1 treasure (188)
    • 5nw: grill
    • 4nw: 1 treasure (189)
    • 4nc: 15 treasure (204)
    • 4nc: 15 treasure (219)
    • 4sw: grill (bypasses level 3)
    • 2sw: grill
    • 1sw: scrolls
    
    
11. To seek the exit must be your final goal
    • 1sw: trapdoor
    • 2nc: 9 treasure (228)
    • 2se: 6 treasure (234)
    • 2sc: trapdoor
    • 3ne: exit

¹) these seem to be absent in some versions of the game