Crush Roller/Gameplay

Controls

 * Joysticks: The game features a 4-way joystick, the only control needed for gameplay. This used to guide the paintbrush around the maze.
 * 1-2 Players: Used to begin a one- or two-player (alternating turn) game.

The paintbrush
The hero of the game, his objective in life was simple: to paint the corridors of the maze surrounding the aquarium, where two predatory fish live.

The player begins the game with three lives (depending on the setting); an extra brush is awarded at 10,000 points. The game ends when all the lives are lost.

The fish
The primary adversaries of the paintbrush, these serve to pursue the paintbrush and stop it from painting the entire maze. Resembling goldfish, one of these are blue, the other yellow. The fish are considered very smart, and often team together in an attempt to corner the paintbrush. If either one (or both) catch the paintbrush, it is destroyed.

Other adversaries
Once per round, one of six "mischief makers" (animals, people or other objects) appear, with the sole purpose of messing up the paintbrush's work. Depending on the stage, the objects were:

Roller
Two of these are stationed in the maze, one along a horizontal overpass toward the bottom of the screen, the other on a vertical overpass stretching from the center to near the top. The paintbrush uses these to crush the fish for bonus points. After the fish are crushed enough times, they avoid the area of the rollers at all costs.

There is one word of caution when using the rollers: Be sure to get to it first, as all ties go to the fish.

Killing a fish

 * The beginning value of the first fish killed in each subsequent round is double that of the previous round's lowest value, stopping at 9000 points (after which every subsequent fish caught is worth 9000 points). This continues through round 9, when all fish killed are worth 9000 points.