The Unofficail Marble Cooking Guide
v1.3 (updated 10/19/99)
by t-bob
Table of Contents
---------------------------
I Intro
a) About Marble Cooking
b) Obtaining Marble Cooking
c) System requirements
d) The story
e) Getting started
II About the pictures...
III How to play
a) Menus
b) Gameplay
-terminology
-controls
-basic gameplay
-more on enemies
c) Strategies
IV How to hack marble.sys
V Legal crap
VI Thank you's
----------------------------
I - Intoduction
Welcome to my unofficial Marble Cooking guide! Please, if you have *any*
feedback send it to the email address listed above. Even if it's just to say
"I play Marble Cooking and read your guide", I love to hear from the people
who read my FAQs and guides.
Thank you... and happy gaming!
a) About Marble Cooking
Marble Cooking is a puzzle game for PCs, from Japan. No text is required for
play, and the menus are in English, so, even if you don't have Dos/V or
Dos-J, you will still be able to play (Dos/V and Dos-J are programs used to
display Japanese characters on American computers.)
Although Marble Cooking is an excellent and challenging puzzle game in
itself, it is an "H-game," and thus, has hentai pictures. More on this in
section II.
b) Obtaining Marble Cooking
Marble Cooking is, to my knowledge, not commercially available in North
America. How you obtain the software is up to you. Note that I am not
condoning software piracy (see section IV, "Legal Crap").
c) System Requirements
You will need an Intel 80486 processor, its equivalent, or better, MS-DOS or
windows (or of course appropriate emulation software), about 3.12 MB free
disk space, and 8 MB RAM.
d) The story - my enterpritation
The intro in the game is in Japanese, and since I can't read Japanese, I
could only guess as to what was going on from the pictures.
Apparantly, a girl has be bestowed with powers by some sort of demon. She is
able to summon a super rabbit-type thing that can destroy the various
monsters she encounters in the game. In return, the demon wants her to seek
out women for him to er... conquer. Or maybe the girl seeks out the other
girls... I don't know. One thing is clear: she is given her special powers
by the demon.
e) Getting started
Decompress "marble.zip" into the directory of your choice. There will be
several executable files present: "marble.exe", "setup.exe", "start.bat", and
"Pmdibm.com". To run Marble Cooking with no music and sound (which I prefer,
as the music and sound is very obnoxious,) run "marble.exe". To run Marble
Cooking with music and sound, first run "Pmdibm.com" and "setup.exe", and
then run "start.bat". Once you have run "Pmdibm.com" and "setup.exe",
"start.bat" will always work (at least, this worked for me).
---------------------------
II - About the pictures...
In Marble Cooking, in the intro scenes and in various parts of the game
(every 3 levels, to be exact,) there are hentai pictures. Hentai, in this
case, is sexually explicit cartoons, drawn anime style (check out the Usenet
newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.anime for more info on hentai.) If
you, for any reason, do not want to view these pictures, please follow these
2 simple steps:
1. Do NOT choose the "OPENING DEMO" option on the main menu.
2. Choose "OPTION," then "STORY MODE," and then choose "OFF."
You have been issued a fair warning. Any problems these pictures may cause
are your own. (see section V.)
-----------------------------
III - How to play
a) Menus
When you start the game, there will be 5 menu options:
-OPENING DEMO
-GAME START
-CONTINUE
-OPTION
-EXIT
Use the up and down arrow keys to move the cursor, and to make
selections.
OPENING DEMO lets you view a series of pictures that tells the game's story.
Press to advance the text and the pictures. When it is done, you
will return to the main menu.
GAME START starts you in Stage 1, Scene 1 (the first level.)
CONTINUE lets you start at any level (see III.a) you have completed. First
you will be asked to pick a stage (1-7) or the RETURN option. Select the
stage you wish to continue on, or choose RETURN to go back to the main menu.
Then, you will be asked to pick a scene (1-9) or RETURN. Choose the scene in
the selected stage you wish to start at, or choose RETURN to go back to the
stage select menu. If you pick a level that you havn't completed yet, you
will be given a message, and it will return to the stage selection menu.
OPTION brings you to the Option Menu.
EXIT leaves the program and dumps you back into you boring old OS.
If you chose "OPTION," then the Option Menu will appear:
MUSIC MODE lets you listen to various music selections from the game. Choose
the music you want to hear, and choose STOP to stop it. Choose RETURN to go
back to the option menu.
GRAPHIC MODE lets you view the pictures from the game, but only if you have
completed the last level, 7-9. See section IV for more on this.
STORY MODE lets you toggle the "story mode" on and off. If the story mode is
on, you will be presented with a picture after you complete the third and
sixth scenes of a stage (except stage 7,) and three pictures after you
complete scene 9. If the story mode is off, no pictures will be presented.
RANKING lets you view the high scores.
RETURN brings you back to the main menu.
b) Gameplay
-TERMINOLOGY
These terms will be used in the following section, and you need to know what
they are to understand what's going on. Their uses will be explained later.
1. pentagram - The design you lay down by pressing .
2. enemy/monster - Any moving object you must destroy and are vulnerable to.
3. level - One scene in a stage.
4. rabbit - The creature that comes out of the pentagram and follows the
carrot trail.
5. carrot - The object you lay down as you walk while a pentagram is in play.
6. carrot trail - The trail of carrots you make that the rabbit will follow.
7. box - One unit on the playing field. Everything besides obstacles takes
up one box.
8. obstacle - Inanimate objects you are invulnerable to.
-CONTROLS
Use the arrow keys to move. The key does everything else, and it has
several functions. When pressed, it will lay down a pentagram. If you do
not move, and press the key again, it will dissipate the pentagram.
If you have laid a carrot trail (by moving while a pentagram is in play,)
pressing the key will unleash the rabbit.
-BASIC GAMEPLY
The premise of Marble Cooking is simple: destroy all the enemies in one
level, and you will proceed to the next. However, this is more difficult
than it sounds. You must destroy your enemies in a very specific, difficult
way: by hitting them with the rabbit.
To do this, you will of course need to lay a pentagram, and then a carrot
trail. Then, by pressing , the rabbit will spring from the pentagram,
and make its way along the carrot trail towards you, very quickly. The
rabbit will move along the carrot trail in the same direction you laid it.
The carrots will point the direction in which the rabbit will travel. If an
enemy happens to get touched by the rabbit, it will be destroyed, and leave
in its place a tasty treat that will earn you 50 points if you pick it up.
Each enemy is worth a certain number of points (from 100 to 400,) and if you
destroy multiple enemies with a single "rabbit-run" (the process of the
rabbit running along the carrot trail from the pentagram to you,) the point
value of each enemy destroyed will be multipied by the number in which the
enemy falls in the sequence of enemies destoyed. Confused? It works like
this: Say I lay a pentagram, lay a carrot trail, and release the rabbit.
The rabbit runs along the carrot trail to me, hitting (and thus destroying)
three enimies. They were all worth 100 points each, but the second one was
worth 200 (100 times 2), and the third one was worth 300 (100 times 3),
because that's the order in which they were destroyed. So "multi-kills" can
really rack up some serious points if you get six or seven enemies in one.
Sounds simple, right? Well, there's much more to it. You cannot walk on a
box that has a carrot on it, i.e., you cannot backtrack. Also, when the
rabbit is running along the carrot trail, you cannot move. When the rabbit
reaches you, thus completing the carrot trail, the pentagram will dissipate,
and you will be able to move again.
If you touch an enemy you will die, and you have three lives per game. If
you die, you will start the level over with everything in its original
starting position. This is the only problem with dying, since you can always
continue from any level you have completed.
If an enemy touches the pentagram while you are laying a carrot trail, the
pentagram and will the carrot trail will dissipate.
If an enemy touches the pentagram while the rabbit is running along the
carrot trail, the rabbit will stop in its tracks and disappear, and the
remaining carrot trail will dissipate. While in the pentagram, you are
invulnerable. Once you have left the pentagram, however, you may not reenter
it.
Obstacles are inanimate objects that no moving objects can pass through.
They play an integral part of the game, as you must figure out how to destroy
the enimies as they move around a certain playing field, which is made up of
open space and obstacles.
If you're confused, just go play the game. What I'm saying will probably
make more sense when you actually give it a try.
-MORE ON ENEMIES
All enemies move in a predetermined pattern (specific to that enemy on that
particular level,) with four exceptions: snakes, ghosts, logs, and warlocks.
Snakes always head straight for you. They also will not move around
obstacles to get to you. They will try to get to you in a straight line.
Ghosts appear only in a couple of scenes (in stage 6, I believe,) and seem to
head for both you and the pentagram, whichever is closer. They may not look
like ghosts to you, but they are undisputibly wearing gray, hooded robes, and
that looks like a ghost to me.
The logs look vaguely like trees, only without leaves, and with holes for
eyes and a mouth. They do not move while a pentagram is not in play, and once
one is in play, the will head straight for it. Like snakes, they will head
in a straight line for the pentagram, and they will not try to go around
obstacles.
Warlocks are the only enemies in all of stage 7, and appear only in stage 7.
They move when you move. There are two sets of "responding movement
patterns" for warlocks: up and down, and side to side. A warlock will either
move the opposite direction you do, or the same. The two characteristics are
independent of eachother, so you can have a warlock who moves the opposite
direction you do up and down, and moves the same direction as you side to
side, and vice-versa. Any combination is possible.
Another important attribute of warlocks is reversals. When you lay a
pentagram, some warlocks will reverse one of their movement characteristics,
which will be the last direction in which they moved. Others will change one
of their sets of movement characteristics when you release a rabbit. When
they do so, they also reverse their reversal characteristic, and will reverse
for the next time when a rabbit is released from a pentagram or when a
pentagram is laid, depending on what their previous reversal characteristic
was.
A warlock can start out with any combination of characteristics (movement and
reversal,) and these will only change when reversals happen. Each individual
warlock on each level always starts with the same characteristics.
As I previously mentioned, all the other enemies move in set patterns, and
when "deflected" by you or another enemy, will follow a similar pattern in a
different fashion (see III.c for more on this.)
c) Strategies
Try not to "box yourself in." In other words, don't eliminate your movement
options by laying unnecessary carrots. Remember: you can't move on your own
carrots!
You will need the "deflection technique" in two levels, and there are several
others in which it helps. To do this, step into an enemy's path, and lay a
pentagram. Stay in the pentagram so you are invulnerable. The enemy will
continue its pattern, but simply won't step on the box that contains you and
the pentagram. It will continue a similar pattern on a set of obstacles the
it touched after it was "deflected." Try to keep this in mind and guess how
an enemy will behave when it moves around your pentagram.
Enemies moving in a straight line will simply reverse dircection when they
reach your pentagram, since that's their pattern.
Warlocks cannot be deflected. They will simply keep trying to move in a
straight line, and you will be in deadlock, until you dissipate the pentagram,
and the warlock moves foreward and kills you. Don't try deflecting a
warlock. This is all simpler than it sounds, trust me.
If two enemies come in contact with one another (with the exception of an
enemy hitting an inanimate log, which it will treat like an obstacle,) they
may deflect one another, or just one of them may be deflected, or neither.
It depends on whether or not the enemy is in the box the other enemy is
trying to move into. This is even simpler, trust me on that too.
Protect yourself at all costs. Don't take unnecessary risks. If you die,
you will have to do the whole level all over again.
If you need a moment to look the puzzle over, just find a relatively safe
spot, and lay down a pentagram to protect yourself. There is no time limit,
so you can take as long as you like to study a level and develop a plan.
---------------------------
IV - How to hack marble.sys
To be able to continue from any level in the game, just open "marble.sys"
with a binary file editor, and change the first two values to 07 and 09,
respectively. This should open up all the stages for playing and "GRAPHIC
MODE".
---------------------------
V - Legal crap
This document is for educational purposes only. I do not condone, in any
way, the pirating or alteration of the various files of Marble Cooking, nor
do I promote the unauthorized distribution of this game. Marble Cooking is a
trademark of, and copyrighted by, Negative Software, Inc. (in Japan,) and
taking any of the aforementioned actions is prohibited by law.
The graphic sexual depictions in this game do not necessarily represent the
views or opinions of Negative Software or myself.
I take no responsibility for the graphic sexual depictions in this game.
This document was created with the intention that it be destributed freely by
anyone, provided the content remains unchanged, except when changed by the
author. Failure to comply with this request will result in a painful
encounter with myself and my two associates, Vito and Vinny.
----------------------------
VI - Thank you's
Thanks to Gabe, Ariel (hugzzz girl!), Mark, MMC, R81, and the entire Hazmat
crew. BIG UPS!
Thanks also to Peter Reilly, for writing the nice binary editor BEAV v1.40,
which I used to very effectively mutilate marble.sys.
And of course, a very special thanks to anyone playing this game or reading
this FAQ!
