Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (FM Towns)

  1. General Hints
  2. Route Overview
  3. List of Every Single Action
    1. Zak in San Francisco
      1. Zak's bedroom
      2. Zak's living room
      3. 13th Ave
      4. San Francisco airport
    2. Zak on the plane
    3. Zak in Seattle
      1. Outside the cave
      2. Inside the cave
      3. Pedestal room
      4. Seattle airport
    4. Zak and Annie in San Francisco
      1. 14th Ave
      2. Store
      3. 14th Ave
      4. Annie's office
      5. 13th Ave
      6. San Francisco airport
    5. Zak and Annie in London
      1. London airport
    6. Zak in Nepal
      1. Nepal airport
      2. Katmandu
      3. Nepal airport
    7. Zak in Zaire
      1. Zaire airport
      2. Jungle / Village
      3. Shaman's hut
      4. Village / Jungle
      5. Zaire airport
    8. Zak in Egypt
      1. Egypt airport
    9. Zak in Miami
      1. Miami airport
    10. Zak in Bermuda
      1. On the plane
      2. Ocean surface
      3. Underwater
      4. Ocean surface
    11. Melissa and Leslie on Mars
    12. Zak in San Francisco
      1. Landing site
      2. Shuttle Bug
      3. Landing site
      4. Hostel entrance
      5. Hostel
      6. Landing site
      7. Huge face
      8. TPC backroom
      9. TPC
      10. 13th Ave
      11. Zak's living room
      12. 13th Ave
      13. San Francisco airport
    13. Zak in Peru
      1. Peru airport
      2. Valley
      3. Inside the left eye
      4. Valley
      5. Peru airport
    14. Zak in Mexico
    15. Melissa and Leslie on Mars
      1. Huge face
      2. Great Chamber, in front of left doorway
      3. Map room
      4. Great Chamber, in front of middle doorway
      5. Statue room
      6. Great Chamber, in front of right doorway
      7. Hologram room
      8. Great Chamber
    16. Zak in Mexico
      1. Statue room
      2. Jungle
      3. Mexico airport
    17. Zak and Annie in London
      1. London airport
      2. Guard house
      3. Stonehenge
      4. Guard house
      5. London airport
    18. Zak and Annie in Egypt
    19. Zak in Zaire
      1. Zaire airport
      2. Jungle
      3. Shaman's hut
      4. Village
    20. Zak in Peru
    21. Zak and Annie in Egypt
      1. Machine room
      2. The desert
      3. Sphinx leg
      4. Hieroglyphics room
    22. Zak, Melissa and Leslie on Mars
      1. Platform room
      2. Landing site
      3. Pyramid Door
      4. Sarcophagus room
      5. Device room
    23. Zak and Annie in Egypt
      1. Machine room
  4. Differences Between ScummVM and the Original Game

General Hints

  • The verb hotkeys are arranged in a grid layout. You can scroll the inventory and select items as well.
  • Right click does the same as Esc, except you can't buffer the input.
  • Clicking on something with the "Walk to" verb selects the object for your sentence. You only need to add a verb afterwards.
  • With the "What is" verb (hotkey: c) you only need to hover over something for it to be selected as the object of your sentence.
  • Whenever you have multiple characters on the same screen, you want to move them at the same time as much as possible.
  • Set text speed to the maximum of 9 with the > key.
  • You CAN run out of money if you take a bunch of unnecessary flights.

Route Overview

San Francisco: Pick up lots of stuff in Zak's apartment
Seattle: Find the blue crystal
San Francisco: Go shopping and meet Annie
Nepal: Learn how to use the blue crystal from the Guru
Zaire: Learn the code to open the face on Mars
Bermuda: Find a part of the machine and get taken back to SF
Mars: Get tokens and pick up stuff from the hostel
San Francisco: Get bread crumbs
Peru: Find scroll
Mexico: (MAZE) Find crystal shard
Mars: (MAZE) Find Sphinx pattern, golden key and Mexico pattern
England: Fix yellow crystal
Zaire: Learn how to use the yellow crystal
Peru: Pick up candelabra
Egypt: (MAZE) Find Mars map and pattern
Mars: (MAZE) Take the tram and find the white crystal
Egypt: Assemble machine

List of Every Single Action

The pictures of the mazes are in the guide on speedrun.com

I put some Safety Save suggestions in. These won't be necessary at all once you are familiar with the run, but maybe they can help make the first few runs a little less frustrating. And a ScummVM quicksave is free.

Esc while LucasFilm Games logo is showing

Zak in San Francisco

Zak's bedroom

Pick up Sushi in fish bowl
Use plastic card with ticket VYY under the desk
Use Sushi in fish bowl with lamp VUU on the desk
Open desk drawer
Pick up kazoo
Pick up torn wallpaper
Open door

Zak's living room

Pick up seat cushion
Pick up remote control
Open cabinet
Pick up box of crayons
Esc "Meanwhile..." cutscene
Open refrigerator
Pick up egg
Open door
Esc while leaving

13th Ave

Go right
Use kazoo VJJ when in front of the "T"
Stop walking close to the bus
Use CashCard reader with CashCard VHH in the bus

San Francisco airport

Give CashCard to devotee ZH Esc
Walk to gate to planes
Safety Save

Zak on the plane

Esc to skip the initial cutscene on the plane

Careful! If you press Esc again on the plane, it will land.

Open door (restroom on the left)
Use toilet paper in sink
Turn on sink
Push call button and start walking to the right
Scroll down to egg LL
Wait for her to say "Oh no! What a mess!", then Open microwave oven
Esc when Zak monologues (be careful to only press it once!)
Use egg in microwave oven VHH
Turn on microwave oven
Pick up cushion
Pick up lighter
Open bin x6
Pick up oxygen tank

The oxygen tank is always in the last bin you open. Trying to pick up the tank while the stewardess is in the restroom will make her come out.

Use yellow crayon on torn wallpaper (can do this whenever)
Wait for her to scream, then Pick up oxygen tank
Esc to finally land
Esc to skip one more cutscene

Zak in Seattle

Scroll down to bottom LLL

Outside the cave

If you get close to the squirrel before giving it the peanuts, you have to skip an extra cutscene.

Esc "Meanwhile..." cutscene
Pick up tree branch
Give peanuts to two-headed squirrel ZU
Use tree branch with loose dirt VNN Esc

Inside the cave

The nest is in the top-left, the fire pit in the bottom-right. "What is" to find and select them. Can just "Walk to" once you have the spots memorized.

Use abandoned bird nest with tree branch VNN
Use fire pit with tree branch VNN
Use bird nest with branch in pit VNN
Use nest and branch with lighter VNN
Use strange markings with yellow crayon VUU

Pedestal room

Walk to sensor
Use remote control VYY
Pick up blue crystal

Seattle airport

Use reservations terminal (2 San Francisco)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak and Annie in San Francisco

14th Ave

Open door and enter the shop

Store

Buy nose glasses Esc
Buy hat Esc
Buy golf club Esc
Buy wet suit Esc
Buy tool kit Esc
Open tool kit LLL WMM

14th Ave

The goal is to do everything fast enough, so you can put the wire cutters in the slot before Annie appears. That way the cutters end up in Annie's inventory. Otherwise you have to give them to her.

Open drop slot
Use blue crystal on drop slot VYY
Walk right and scroll down to wire cutters LL
Use bobby pin sign with wire cutters VNN
Use drop slot with wire cutters VNN
Esc once Annie shows up

Annie's office

Annie: Pick up blotter
Annie: Pick up CashCard
Annie: Walk to door
Zak: Walk to door

13th Ave

Zak: Use kazoo VHH
Zak: Use CashCard reader with CashCard VUU
Annie: Use CashCard reader with CashCard VUU

San Francisco airport

Both: Use reservations terminal (2 London)
Annie: Walk to gate to planes Esc
Zak: Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak and Annie in London

London airport

Zak: Walk to reservations terminal
Annie: Walk to reservations terminal
Zak: Use reservations terminal (2 Nepal)
Zak: Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Nepal

Nepal airport

Scroll down to book LLL

Katmandu

If you have bad karma (i.e. killed Sushi), you have to wait a long time in front of the Guru. When you pick up the flagpole a guard will appear and try to catch you, so you need leave via Yak quickly.

Give book to guard ZY and enter
Walk to Guru Esc
Scroll up to CashCard OOO
Safety Save
Pick up flagpole and run
Use Yak with CashCard VUU

Nepal airport

Use reservations terminal (2 Zaire)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Zaire

Zaire airport

Scroll down to golf club 6xL

To get through the jungle mazes, all you need to do is go through a certain number of exits. You cannot just go back through the one you came in over and over, though.

Jungle / Village

We're putting on some things here, because there's time during all the walking.

5 jungle exits
Put on hat RY
Put on wetsuit RH

Shaman's hut

Give golf club to Shaman ZU

Village / Jungle

Write down the code to enter the face on Mars. Six numbers 1-3 (aka bottom/middle/top).

Use duct tape on fish bowl VN 6xO YY
Scroll to book LL

Zaire airport

Use reservations terminal (1 Egypt)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Egypt

Egypt airport

Use reservations terminal (4 Miami)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Miami

Miami airport

Give book to bum ZH Esc
Use reservations terminal (5 Bermuda)
Scroll to bottom 7xL
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Bermuda

On the plane

Use Parachute LVNN
Scroll up to kazoo 7xO

Ocean surface

Safety Save
Use kazoo VZZL
Use blue crystal on dolphin VM Esc
Swim to underwater

Underwater

Pick up seaweed
Pick up glowing object
Swim to surface

Ocean surface

Every time you use the blue crystal one of the aliens will teleport in after a while. We're getting caught on purpose to get back to SF.

Give glowing object to Zak ZY
To Zak, then Melissa B F3 Esc

Melissa and Leslie on Mars

We automatically get switched back to Zak when he gets captured. Be ready to escape, as the longer you stay captive, the more verbs you will lose.

Zak in San Francisco

Landing site

Melissa: Open door and get in the shuttle bug

Shuttle Bug

Melissa: Pick up Digital Audio tape
Melissa: Pick up boom box
Melissa: Open glove compartment
Melissa: Pick up CashCards
Melissa: Pick up fuse

Landing site

Melissa: Give CashCard, fuse to Leslie ZN ZN
Leslie: Use CashCard on monolith VUU

Hostel entrance

Leslie: Use metal plate with token VUU
Leslie: Pick up burnt fuse
Leslie: Use fuse box with fuse VJJ
Leslie: Open hostel door

Hostel

Leslie: Pick up vinyl tape on the locker
Leslie: Open covers
Leslie: Pick up ladder
Leslie: Pick up broom alien

Only Leslie will touch the broom alien.

Landing site

Leslie: Give vinyl tape to Melissa ZJ
Both: Leave through right exit

Huge face

Leslie: Use door with ladder VJJ
Both: Get in position to push buttons

TPC backroom

Put on nose glasses LLRMM Esc
Open cabinet to get your items back

TPC

Open counter door
Open door

13th Ave

Go to the bakery
Push doorbell Esc x3
Pick up stale bread

Zak's living room

Use disposer switch
Use sink with stale bread VMMO
Use pipe with monkey wrench VZZ
Pick up bread crumbs
Scroll up to CashCard 7xO
Esc when leaving

13th Ave

Use kazoo VHH when in front of the "T" (might be later here?)
Use CashCard reader with CashCard VUU

San Francisco airport

Use reservations terminal (1 Peru)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Peru

Peru airport

Scroll to bottom 8xL
3 jungle exits

Valley

Switching to another character and back makes the bird appear faster. Remember, you are on a time limit when using the blue crystal.

Safety Save
Use bread crumbs in bird feeder VMM
Use blue crystal on bird F2 F1 LLVMM
Fly to huge carving

Inside the left eye

Pick up scroll

Valley

Give scroll to Zak ZY
To Zak B

Peru airport

Use reservations terminal (1 Mexico)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Mexico

4 jungle exits
Safety Save
Enter maze and go to statue room

See maze pictures in SRC guide

Melissa and Leslie on Mars

Huge face

Only Melissa will use the boom box.

Both: Push button x6 (code from Village in Zaire)
Melissa: Pick up ladder
Melissa: Use vinyl tape on Digital Audio Tape VNUU
Melissa: Use boom box with Digital Audio Tape VHUU
Leslie can stay outside.

Great Chamber, in front of left doorway

Melissa: Turn on boom box TUU, Record
Melissa: Use pedestal with ladder VJJ
Melissa: Push crystal sphere
Safety Save
Enter maze and go to map room

See maze pictures in SRC guide

Map room

Melissa: Read strange markings

Pattern to open the Sphinx. Memorize/screenshot/note down!
You can load the safety save in front of the maze instead of walking back.

Great Chamber, in front of middle doorway

Melissa: Walk to massive door
Melissa: Turn on boom box TUU, Play to open the door
Enter (not a maze)

Statue room

Melissa: Pick up ankh

Great Chamber, in front of right doorway

Melissa: Walk to massive door
Melissa: Turn on boom box TUU, Play to open the door
Enter (not a maze)

Hologram room

Melissa: Use panel with ankh VJJ
Melissa: Pick up golden key

Great Chamber

Melissa: Read strange markings on right-most statue

Pattern used immediately with Zak

Zak in Mexico

Statue room

Use strange markings with yellow crayon VMM
Pick up crystal shard
Safety Save
Go back through the maze

Jungle

Scroll to one above bottom 8xL

Mexico airport

Use reservations terminal (2 London)
Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak and Annie in London

London airport

Zak: Give crystal shard, flagpole, whiskey, scroll, crystal shard to Annie 3xZU 2xZN
Zak: Walk to reservations terminal

Guard house

Annie: Give whiskey to sentry ZH Esc
Annie: Use switch
Annie: Use fence with wire cutters VYY

Stonehenge

Annie: Use altar stone with 2 crystal shards, flagpole VUU VHH VJJ
Annie: Read scroll XHH Esc
Annie: Pick up yellow crystal

Guard house

Switching between characters puts Annie at the bottom center for some reason.

F1 F2

London airport

Annie: Give yellow crystal to Zak ZH
Both: Use reservations terminal (1 Egypt)
Both: Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak and Annie in Egypt

Annie: Walk to outside
Zak: Use reservations terminal (2 Zaire)
Zak: Walk to gate to planes Esc

Zak in Zaire

Zaire airport

We're putting on some things here, because there's time during all the walking.

Put on oxygen tank LL RNN

Jungle

5 jungle exits
Put on taped fish bowl OO RYY
Scroll down to bottom 7xL

Shaman's hut

Give yellow crystal to Shaman ZN

Village

Use yellow crystal (↙ Peru) VNN

Zak in Peru

Pick up candelabra
Use yellow crystal (→ Egypt) VNN

Zak and Annie in Egypt

Machine room

Zak: Use lever on the left wall
In the dark room the exit is on the right side.

The desert

Both: Walk at the same time

Annie <- to pyramid, Zak -> to Sphinx

Sphinx leg

The markings are always on the second leg you check.

Zak: Use strange markings with yellow crayon VMM
Safety Save

Hieroglyphics room

See maze pictures in SRC guide

We're guessing the button combination. Wrong combinations open a hole in the floor underneath you, but you can walk away in time. Maybe saving/loading the game makes the trial & error faster?
The markings pattern will be used immediately on Mars

Safety Save
Zak: Push button x3 (until you hit the right combo)
Zak: Read strange markings
Zak: Use yellow crayon on wallpaper map VMJJ
Zak: Scroll to bottom 7xL
Zak: Use yellow crystal (↘ Mars) VNN

Zak, Melissa and Leslie on Mars

Platform room

Zak: Scroll to top 7xO
Zak: Use strange markings with yellow crayon VMM
Enter middle door

See maze pictures in SRC guide

Landing site

There is a time limit to get everyone onto the tram. The timer starts when the first person uses a token on the tram.

Leslie: Use sand with broom alien VJJ Esc to reveal solar panels
Safety Save
Leslie: Use tram with token VUU
Melissa: Use monolith with CashCard
Melissa: Walk to tram
Zak: Use monolith with CashCard
Zak: Scroll to bottom
Zak: Use tram with token
Melissa: Use tram with token

Pyramid Door

Leslie: Use sand pile with broom alien VHH Esc
Zak: Use key hole with bobby pin sign 7xL VHH

Sarcophagus room

Leslie: Push sarcophagus feet

Device room

Bring Melissa and Zak upstairs. Switch to another character (that's not in this room) immediately after entering to push characters over the stairs. That way you won't have to close the stairs with Leslie.

Melissa: Use box with golden key VJJ
Melissa: Use button
Zak: Pick up white crystal
Zak: Scroll to bottom 7xL
Zak: Use yellow crystal (→ Egypt) VJJ

Zak and Annie in Egypt

Machine room

Annie: Use switch
Zak: Scroll to bottom 7xL
Zak: Use base with glowing object VHH
Zak: Use glowing object with candelabra VJJ
Zak: Use candelabra with yellow crystal VNN
Zak: Use candelabra with white crystal VNN
Zak: Use candelabra with blue crystal OVUU
Zak: Use switch

Differences Between ScummVM and the Original Game

Only speedrun-relevant ones:

  • ScummVM provides a "skip line" hotkey, that let's you skip through dialog lines 10x faster. The fastest way to get through text on the original game is to set text speed to 9, which makes all lines stay on screen for one second.
  • Unlike on the other PC and C64 versions of this game, you can not switch characters via the function keys on FM Towns. You have to use the "Switch" verb. ScummVM re-adds these hotkeys.
  • The "Return" key does nothing on the original game. On ScummVM it has the same function as a left click and you can hold it down to buffer movement.
  • On the original game you can use mouse clicks while holding down the "Escape" key. This does not work on ScummVM.
  • The original game displays five rows of inventory items at the bottom of the screen, of which only the first three rows are available to be selected via keyboard hotkeys. The ScummVM option "Trim FM-TOWNS games to 200 pixels height" reduces the inventory to three rows, which makes all inventory items selectable via hotkeys at all times.
  • ScummVM provides instant quick saving and near-instant quick loading.
  • ScummVM lets you save the game during dialog sequences and cutscenes.
  • ScummVM lets you replace the Towns' "smooth scrolling" with the screen scrolling of the DOS version. The original scrolling slows down the game by 33% whenever the screen is moving.
  • ScummVM added the option to enable "snap scrolling" to this game, which is not a feature of the original FM Towns game.
  • ScummVM lets you set the RNG seed, which the game starts with.
Edit
Pub: 05 Feb 2024 21:31 UTC
Edit: 09 Feb 2024 15:16 UTC
Views: 50