Road Runner (1985)/Gameplay

Road Runner
You are the main character, as you travel across several different landscapes, avoid traps, and Wile E. Coyote.

Wile E. Coyote
Follows your character throughout the game. Contact with your character ends your life. Will use many different attacks to capture you. Runs after, and will speed up with a rocket if you are too far off the screen. Uses magnets (if you eat steel shot), a pogo stick, a flying rocket, a flying helicopter with dynamite, and invisible paint.

Trucks
Can run you over. Move out of the way to avoid.

Boulders
These fall off cliffs. Move out of the way to avoid. You can lure the coyote to get hit with them.

Cannon Balls
Shot at you. Must be hopped over, you cannot move out of their way.

Dynamite
Dropped by Wile E. Coyote from a helicopter. Move out of the way to avoid.

Bird seed
You collect these. If you miss five, you will lose a life. If you miss one or more, you lose a point bonus.

Bird seed with steel shot
You do not want to eat these, but if you do, the coyote will bring out a magnet to draw you closer and capture you.

Lemonade
If you drink all of these, you will get a bonus, or you can get Wile E. Coyote to drink them to slow him down.

Mines
If you run over these, you lose a life. You can lure Wile E. Coyote to run over these also to gain a bonus each time he is blown up.

If you are close enough to the mine, and jump over it, it will blow up, and you will not be hurt. Very dangerous to execute. Later on mines will be right next to seeds. Line up against its side, and push the joystick directly up or down to eat the seed.

Glue
On part of the level, it slows you down when you run through it. Does not affect the coyote. There are many different sizes and shapes for the glue. It is possible to jump through the glue, and escape from it.

Cliffs/Gaps
You need to jump across the cliffs, and you can lure the coyote to fall off them.

Invisible paint
Allows you to disappear (your character flashes), or lets the coyote do the same. Run into to it to activate it. You can still be captured however. Basically it allows you a few more seconds to not be caught. Also you can still be run over, or destroyed while invisible. Even it is off-screen, it takes priority for the coyote over your character. Once the coyote has it, he flashes it.

Score/Lives left
The score is reflected in the upper left, and contains digits that show the millions place. It may go to 10,000,000 but is not verified yet.

Next life indicator
Extra lives are awarded at different scores. Depending on the operator settings, it may be variable or fixed. Also the maximum number may be limited. A message across the bottom will indicate when your next extra life is awarded.

Highscore Table
The Top 10 Road Runner scores are saved on the highscore table.

Level bonuses
You get bonuses based on:
 * Level completed without missing a seed.
 * Destroying Wile.
 * Jumping over a mine.
 * Lemonade bonus.

Tongue Bonus
This is only indicated about the next man score at the bottom of the screen.

Birdseed Multipliers (100x Points)
The first birdseed is worth 100 points. Each further one is then incremented by 100 up to 1,000. After that, the maximum value is 1,000. If you miss one, the score resets to 100, and then re-increments.

Collect all birdseed (10,000 Points-increases)
Completing the level will give you a bonus depending on what cycle you have completed. This increases by 5,000 points through each further cycle.

Collect lemonade (500 Point-increase)
A few levels into the game, lemonade will appear randomly throughout several different areas and levels. They are optional for bonuses. Since it takes a few seconds to drink, you are susceptible to being captured. Alternately you can get the coyote to drink them. If you drink them, the points increase by 1000 for each one you drink.

Jump a mine (500 Points)
Hopping over mines is a crucial skill you will need throughout the game. Run towards the mine, and press hop. You will get a bonus multiplied by how many you jump over at the end of each level.

Wile E. Coyote damaged (500 Points)
You can never destroy Wile completely. Basically you lure Wile into the traps that you are avoiding. First avoid the trucks, and stand in front of them momentarily and duck out of the way to lure coyote in front of them instead. For the falling boulders, try to see what direction they are traveling. Pausing is the best way to lure coyote into them. Luring coyote onto a mine is the easiest, just stand next to one, and coyote will run right into it. On later levels you need to move around to get him to run into them. Cannonballs only hit him if he is on rockets.

Tongue bonus (2,000 Points)
If you are close to Wile E. Coyote and run slowly for a few seconds, you will get a tongue bonus, and Road Runner sticks out his tongue to tease the coyote.

Warp/Continuing
Once you finish a game, if you wish to continue, insert more credits. At the beginning of the game, there will be a cave with an open door. Enter this to warp to the last level you completed to continue your game. You will get a score bonus and an extra life (but not your score that you ended with). You can continue as much as you want.

There is no current known end to the game. However, playing to the upper levels ends at level 95. Once past this, the levels cycle back down to 92. This cycle from 92-95 repeats until you lose all your men, and the game ends.