Flashback: The Quest for Identity #18 A man who has lost his memory.

Introduction

The year is 2142. You play as Conrad B. Hart, a man who has lost his memory. After barely escaping from hostile aliens, Conrad's bike crashes on an unknown planet. Conrad finds himself in the jungle, and from now on his quest for survival and his lost identity begins.

Flashback is a platform action adventure. You navigate Conrad over the platforms, performing various moves. You can simply jump or do a longer run-and-jump, run, climb, hang off ledges, and pick up objects lying on the ground. To defend yourself, you shoot enemies with your gun and also use various objects (such as stones) to harm or to distract them.

Controls

The basic controls are not too difficult to master, but they do require a degree of patience. do not start mashing the buttons in panic because Conrad will most likely do something you did not intend, and then you lose precious seconds while he goes through the animation.

Left/Right

Move left and right, which can be walking, running, sneaking, or rolling depending on Conrad's stance (although if you begin running, you can actually let go of the directional pad without stopping, so long as you hold down Y).

Up

Stand up, jump (hold to climb up a ledge), activate elevator up (with Y).

Down

Crouch, climb down (with Y), let go of ledge, activate elevator down (with Y).

Y

A versatile button! When your gun is drawn, this is the button you use to fire, but when your gun is concealed, the Y button is used to talk, run (hold it down while walking), activate various environment elements, and if you hold down Y and press Up, Conrad will do a small forward leap (GREAT move). Also, if you see an item on the ground, press Y to pick it up. Lastly, if you want to climb down a ledge, hold Y on the very edge and press down. HOLD Y if you do not want to drop right away!

B

Use selected inventory item.

A

draw or conceal gun.

Select

open/close inventory screen.

Start

skip animation sequences.

Conrad's Moves

Running Jump

While running, press Up. This will NEVER have the same effect as the running leap! In short, you can not use this move to make up for a lack of running space to perform the Running Leap. However, you can grab ledges as Conrad falls after a running jump.

Running Leap

If Conrad has enough room to get up to speed, he will automatically perform a leap towards the first ledge he comes to, and he will hang on. Usually you want to climb up after this, but if you hesitate, Conrad will let go. If you are running and you see a ledge that you DO NOT want to leap for, simply hold down the directional pad in the direction you are going. This will suppress Conrad's urge to leap.

Running Roll

While running, press Down. There is a particular point during this move where Conrad can fit under low passages. You should know the timing well for a few parts of the game. The key to this move is to keep holding Y the whole time so that you come out of it running.

Hop

Hold Y and press Up to hop forward four spaces. This is great for avoiding various floor hazards or passing small gaps.

Gun Crouch

If Conrad has his gun out, he can stay crouched by simply pressing Down

Gun Roll

From Gun Crouch, press Left or Right to roll and end up still ready for action! Note that if you roll off a ledge, Conrad will stand up and then redraw his gun, wasting lots of time. A great move is to stand just far enough from the edge of the screen that a roll will take Conrad to the very edge of the next screen. This means you will get a fast shot in before anything happens. This only works if you have enough room though.

Gun Sneak

When your gun is drawn, press Left or Right to sneak. Not any different from walking other than that your gun is out. Press Y to get ready to shoot again (you won't shoot right away).

The Drop

When your gun is drawn, sneak off of a ledge. Conrad will land with his gun ready in the crouch position, making this a GREAT move since you can immediately begin to fire.

Notes

• When you are running, you can actually release the directional pad and remain running. If you release Y, you will stop, or if you are still holding the directional pad, Conrad will simply slow down to a walk.
• Hanging from ledges. As long as you hold Y, Conrad will not fall, and you can press Up or Down to let go or climb up. This will come in handy if you want to hang down onto a new screen or tease an enemy without wasting time by jumping back up (or falling too far to jump back up at all!)
• When you need to perform some kind of jump and you want to have your gun out as soon as possible after the jump, press A during the animation of Conrad recoiling and he will immediately draw his gun when finished recoiling. Several moves can actually be performed this way one after the other, but do not try to "chain" a bunch or you will probably end up ordering Conrad to do something you didn't want to do.
• When Conrad is performing a move, he can be invulnerable. In particular, climbing up, standing/crouching, and drawing your weapon can prevent Conrad from being hit. Use this experimentally in tough situations to see if you can figure out a good sequence.

Items

Holocube

This item will play a small message that Conrad recorded for himself before he lost his memory. Watch the message to learn about your friend Ian and New Washington.

Stones

Stones can be thrown or dropped and are usually used for tripping distant tripbeams or activating autoguns.

Keys

Keys are used in a Key Slot to open a door or floor or whatever.

ID Card

Use this in a Card Slot to open a door or something similar.

Tele Control

When you get your own later in the game (the one on Titan is not usable without the telereceiver) you use this to teleport to wherever your telereceiver is.

Telereceiver

Throw your telereceiver or drop it so you can teleport to that spot. This gets you down long drops, across hazards, or back to a point you can no longer reach. REMEMBER TO PICK IT UP AFTER YOU TELEPORT!

Magnetic Cartridge

Charge it and use it in a Cartridge Slot.

Credits

Collect these for various uses. Mostly to trade for other items.

Papers

You need to buy these and use them to pass through certain points.

Gun

This is your gun. You do not need to select it to use it, but you will lose it once so you need to pick it back up.

Shields

You have four of these. Each time you take a hit, you lose a shield. You can recharge them in an Energy Generator (select shields and use them on an Energy Generator), but you can never get more than four.

Force Field

When you press B, a force field will appear in front of Conrad. It is only temporary, though, so have a plan of attack all ready to go. This field will stop bullets and alien weapons, but enemies can walk through it, so do not try to stop flybots or stunbots with this. Most enemies have a very predictable firing pattern, so you can time your force field accordingly.

As a bonus, if enemies are in front and behind, TWO force fields will pop up, one behind and one in front.

Mechanical Mouse

There are two versions of this. There is the one that will not explode if you try to pick it up (it is moving and will trigger an "item bubble" when it passes Conrad, so you know you can pick it up) which you can also put back down for your own use.

The second is a stationary one that you can pick up, but once you put it down again, it will start roaming and blow up when it touches an enemy, OR YOU. I do not like using these exploding ones, but the other one is fine.

Atomic Charge

In the final stages, you receive this. You use it to blow up the alien homeworld, yeeha!

Diary

Read this to gain info on the alien homeworld's defenses.

Key Slot. Card Reader. Switch.

These all do the same thing, which is open something when you activate them. Switches you just press with Y, but you needs keys and ID cards to use the others. Switches also sometimes deactivate things or activate them.

Energy Generator

Put shields in these to recharge them. You also need to recharge a couple other items in these.

Save Point

Press Y to save. You won't get a new code, but if you die you can continue back at the save point. Good news? Infinite continues. Bad news? you will probably need that many for some parts. I recommend backtracking to save points often, ESPECIALLY on later levels.

Tripbeams and Sensors

These activate things, either permanently or as long as something is tripping the beam. They make little beeping sounds when they are being tripped. They constitute basically 90% of the puzzles in this game.

Lifts

Press Y and then Up or Down to activate the lift up or down. Sometimes you need to activate the lift to get it out of your way though. I also recommend drawing your weapon and crouching if the lift is going to take you to a new screen (you need to activate the lift first, then quickly draw and crouch).

Save Point

Press Y to save. You won't get a new code, but if you die you can continue back at the save point. Good news? Infinite continues. Bad news? you will probably need that many for some parts. I recommend backtracking to save points often, ESPECIALLY on later levels.

Enemies

There are a few ways to harm enemies. First and foremost there is the gun, with which you should always lay waste. However, if an enemy is very close, Conrad will try to pistol whip him instead of shoot, unless he is crouching. Conrad will try to shoot if he is crouching. The pistol whip works okay, but it takes a lot longer to perform than a shot, and so if you miss, you are bound to get hit by return fire.

You can lead enemies into bombs or tricking them into hitting each other (this can be quite easy with dumber enemies like flybots and flashmen).

Stunbots

These are little pods on treads that will deploy a little arm to stun you. The arm cannot hit you if you are standing in the same space, but the stunbot will sense this and blow itself up. You can only hit them from a crouched position, and only when their arm is deployed. Wait for it to come out and then blast it off.

Flybot

A floating sphere that shoots a little jolt of electricity when it gets close. It can only fly at a head level, so if Conrad crouches, he can escape a flybot. They usually take several hits to kill, but each hit will stop one in its tracks. If you get the timing right, you can get the next shot in before the flybot starts moving again. Flybots are dumb and smart. They are dumb that they are heat seekers, so you can easily lead them around and get your hits in, AND if you are standing in the same space as a flybot it can not hit you and WILL NOT MOVE. From here, you can simply pistol whip the crap out of it (it won't look like you're hitting, but you are). However, they are smart in that if you crouch, they will not hover directly over you but rather to one side so you can not just stand up and hit it.

Mutants

Mutants look like cavemen, but with laser rifles. They are stupid (which means they will shoot each other if you duck under their shot) and pretty weak. Only a few mutants in the game take more than one shot. On Expert mode, they actually are much smarter and will not shoot each other as easily.

Flashman

A pretty cool enemy. Flashmen stalk around and carry a gun like Conrad's, but when you hit one, he will activate his belt and flash a distance away to try and surprise Conrad (they also flash over pits sometimes). This is not really a concern though; after you hit one, observe the direction he is going to flash in (the way he is facing), then point your gun in that direction. If you think he will flash very close to Conrad (the distance of the flash is always the same), then roll in the opposite direction of the flash, turn, and shoot. Never hesitate to get in position for your next shot because flashmen ALWAYS flash after a hit. You have plenty of time to get ready to shoot them without waiting to see where they end up. The number of hits varies, but is usually two or three on Normal difficulty, and something on the order of four to eight for Expert.

If you shoot them and they fall off to a lower level, they will 'play dead.' Leave them there if it will help you to fight other enemies, but do not be fooled by their little game. They are not dead until they disappear in a flash.

Police

The cops in this game have small shields and jet packs. What they do is jet up and away, then they shoot down at you from an angle. They do not miss! If you know the timing really well, you will be able to block their shot easily with your force field, then hit them on their way back down. They are really not very smart, but if you use your force field at the wrong time, they will hit you. do not bother shooting as they jet up, that's when they activate their shield to block your shots.

They will try to stalk you down and fire, so always get in the first shot so you can start the rhythm going.

Aliens

The toughest enemy by a long shot. They can hit you in two ways. First is their disc or whatever it is they throw at you. This will hit you, but they have to crouch to hit you when crouched, which works to your advantage. The second way they hit is in their glob form. If they morph (and sometimes even when just globbing past) while next to Conrad they will damage him. The key to these guys is to always stay crouched and roll around until you get a good distance between Conrad and the alien as they morph up and get ready to shoot.

When they start morphing up, they will have to also then crouch to be able to hit you, and you have plenty of time to get ready BUT you can not hit them while they are going through the motion of crouching.

Aliens can also travel on the ceiling. This does not mean that you should only try to fight aliens in tall passages where they can not do this because they never unmorph while on the ceiling, and they can waste lots of time up there. Also, they usually do unmorph once they hit the ground, which means that if you let an alien drop down at you, then roll away as he unmorphs, you will be able to easily turn and shoot as he becomes vulnerable.

Aliens usually come in large groups or in close quarters. It can be difficult and frustrating to get in good shots, but wise use of your force field and some luck should prevail in the end.

Roborat

A little exploding mouse that meanders back and forth across a stretch of floor. They explode when you walk on them, but rolling over them can sometimes work.

Space Coyote

I call them this because they are hideous and awkward, and deserve such a name. There are only two or three of these in the entire game anyway, and they are relatively easy. Just shoot them. They might get you once because they are quick, but you should easily waste them. They are only found on the alien homeworld, and always take one hit.

Bombs

These are placed on the ground and the ceiling. On the ceiling, they will drop and explode as you get close. They can be easily avoided and in some cases even safely detonated. Just try not to run onto new screens too much as bombs are placed on the edges of screens for just this purpose.

Sentry Guns

A sentry gun will lower and fire whenever its sensor is tripped. You can duck and roll under them, and they are invincible.

The Green Death

There are these bubbly green mists all over the place that will kill Conrad with a neat little movie which I call The Green Death. You should always avoid these, but there are a few that can be run over or jumped through without dying, and I will note them in the walkthrough. Usually, you just have to find the switch or tripbeam that turns them off.

Flash Mines

These are little green flashy spots on the floor. If Conrad lingers on these, he flashes into oblivion. do not linger on them! You can run over them or hop over them easily.

Eyeball

These are non-lethal and I am pretty sure you cannot kill them. they just act as tripbeams for sentry guns and such.

Trivia

Flashback was voted #15 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll in Retro Gamer Magazine (Issue 37). on Jul 18, 2007.

Raphael Gesqua who made the very atmospheric music to the game was also known as "Audiomonster" in the amiga demo scene. For more music by him check out: https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_profile&query=69139 January 4, 2017.

Programmers might be interested in the fact that Flashback is one of very few games that used a screen mode with a width of 256 pixels. This implied that the address of a pixel on the screen could be comfortably stored in a 16-bit register, say AX. The X-coordinate could then be manipulated through AL, and the Y-coordinate through AH. This might have contributed somewhat to Flashback's impressively fluent animations. I warned you that only programmers might be interested... :-) on Feb 22, 2000.

A bargin bin CD-ROM version of the game was released with new cinematic sequences. This version of the game came only in a jewel case (no box). on Dec 13, 1999.

One of the materials in the box of Flashback is a coupon for a rebate on a Gravis Gamepad and a note to "try Gravis' Ultrasound 16-bit sound card". This is ironic because, amongst Gravis Ultrasound enthusiasts, Flashback is notorious for being incompatible with the GUS. :-) on Dec 11, 1999.

Common misconception: Flashback is technically a sequel to Out Of This World because it has similar gameplay, and was released by the same publisher. But since the storyline is completely different, it is not proper to call it a sequel.