History

Jeff Minter released Llamatron: 2112 through Llamasoft in 1991 for the Atari ST and Amiga. Conceived as an exuberant update of the arcade game Robotron: 2084, it combines twin-direction control with Minter’s recurring animals, surreal enemies and sampled sound. It was distributed as full, uncrippled shareware: players could copy the complete game and were asked to register for £5 if they enjoyed it.

Your mission

It is the year 2112, and the Zzyaxians are wiping out Earth’s sheep, goats, camels and llamas. You control the laser-spitting Llamatron: rescue every friendly beastie on each wave and destroy the alien opposition wherever possible.

Some enemies need several hits and a few hazards cannot be destroyed at all. Survive long enough to face the Ozric Tentacle on wave 99 and reach Herd Heaven on wave 100.

Quick start

• The browser opens on the original title screen. Use Up/Down to change the player setting and Left/Right to cycle through Solo, Player + Droid and Team.
• Press Space to start with the normal movement-and-lock controls.
• For independent two-stick aiming, press Shift instead of Space to start.

Leave the title screen alone to see the original attract-mode story, enemy guide and power-up demonstrations.

Controls

Important: P is not a pause toggle. Press P to pause and O to resume.

Swear Mode

Swear Mode uses the original easter-egg activation: earn a place in the high-score table and enter a name containing FUCK. In the next game, losing a life with fewer than ten enemies remaining lets the original uncensored “Oh fuck!” death sample finish instead of being covered by the explosion sound. The mode lasts only for the current session.

Game modes

Solo: one llama against the entire alien herd.

Player + Droid: an invincible purple droid helps collect beasties and attack enemies. This is the best mode for learning the game.

Team: two people play together and share the score and lives. Player 1 uses the arrow keys and Space; Player 2 controls the camel with W, A, S, D and Shift. Start Team with Space for the normal two-player controls.

Independent two-stick aiming: start with Shift instead of Space. The arrow keys move Player 1 while W, A, S and D aim the shots independently, in the style of the original Robotron arcade controls.

A standard dual-stick gamepad can use its left stick to move and right stick to aim; press its left or top face button on the title screen to start this mode. If the browser exposes separately connected left and right Joy-Cons, their two sticks are combined automatically and a face button on the right Joy-Con starts independent aiming.

Aiming and fire lock

Your llama fires continuously. With the normal controls, shots follow the last direction in which you moved.

To lock your fire angle, move towards the target, then hold Space. Keep Space held while moving away or dodging: the shots continue in the locked direction. Release Space to make your firing direction follow your movement again.

Learning to lock, retreat and quickly re-aim is the key to surviving crowded later waves.

Beasties and waves

Touch friendly sheep, llamas, camels and goats to rescue them. Collecting beasties scores points, improves the chance of useful power-ups and gives you a short burst of Hot Bullets. Rescuing the final beastie on a wave awards a special bonus.

The message in the middle of the arena describes the current wave objective and remains there until the next wave. At the start of a wave you have about one second of protection from hostile contact, but you can rescue beasties immediately.

Brains can seize beasties and turn them into hostile zombeasts, while disguised enemies may attack the herd directly. Do not assume every creature-shaped object is friendly.

Power-ups

Power-ups appear according to the beasties you rescue and the enemies you destroy, so collecting the herd is as important as blasting aliens.

Special hazards

• Brollies: umbrellas make dangerous rain fall from the top and right edges. Touch each umbrella with the llama to open it and stop its share of the rain.
• Brains: rescue their targets quickly before your beasties are mutated.
• Lasers and generators: some hazards are armoured or indestructible. Concentrate on survival and the wave objective when shots have no effect.
• Heavy enemies: larger targets may take several hits, so use fire lock to attack while retreating.

Pause and display controls

Press P to pause and O to continue. The original pause mode remains active rather than freezing the machine completely, so its sound may continue or repeat.

While paused, T displays the Ozric Tentacle and G returns to the game screen. Neither key resumes play; use O.

Press X during any wave to abandon the current game and return to the title screen.

Browser toolbar

The information button opens this manual and temporarily suspends browser scheduling. Closing the manual continues the game. The speaker button switches between stereo and mono output, and the corner-frame button enters or leaves fullscreen.

The original Amiga release did not save its high-score table. This browser edition saves the same ten score-and-name records locally after name entry and restores them on your next visit. Clearing this site’s browser data restores the original table.

Survival tips

• Begin with Player + Droid and concentrate on staying alive while the droid helps with the herd.
• Keep moving. Learn fire lock before the arena becomes crowded.
• Rescue beasties whenever it is safe—the bonuses and Hot Bullets can turn a difficult wave around.
• Open brollies quickly and give indestructible hazards plenty of room.
• If a run has gone badly, press X to abandon it and return to the title screen, then start a new game.