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Amidar happens to have been chosen as this week's ROM of the week sopmewhat by random (hopping into channel #mamegames on IRC and asking for a random name to be thrown out. Several ended up being tossed around, but since Amidar seems to be one of the games I find myself playing quite a bit lately (mostly because it's one of the few games that can be played reasonably on a 386/25 nonochrome notebook with Sparcade.) Some may dismiss it as just another Pacman variant, but Amidar does manage to add it's own unique elements to the gameplay that sufficiently distinguish it from the other "Pacman-type" games out there.
Amidar is a three-event game. The first event, which is played during even stage numbers, is most likely where people compare Amidar to Pacman, as you go around collecting dots in a maze of various rectangles (since it's less typing, I will call them squares, however.) As you collect the dots, you are chased by the amidars (well, not exactly chased, as they all move in predictable patterns, but that does not necessarily make them any easier to dodge. See below for more informartion on the amidars.) In this stage, each of the dots is worth ten points.
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On the other hand, in the even-numbered stages, toy also have to fill in boxes, but this time, your player is a paint roller, and in order to claim a square, an unbroken line must be drawn around the square. If when drawing the box, the player moves away from the immediate boundary of the square, the line is broken, and must be started over. As with the odd-numbered stages, if the line is drawn completely around the box, it will be claimed, and the point value inside the box will be awarded.
, in addition to points that are awarded while the line is being drawn.
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Once all of the dots around a particular square are filled in, the color of the square changes, and that square is comsidered "claimed". the round ends when all of the squares colors are changed. the round will end, and the bonus stage will take place. In this stage, your goal is to use "Amidar Movement" to reach the bananas at the bottom of the screen for a bonus of 5,000 points. choose one of six lanes at the top of the screen with the jump button.
Your enemies are the amidars and the tracers. As I mentoned earlier, the amidars move in a regular pattern on the screen, but the fact that there are four of them and only one of you makes them difficult to dodge. "Amidar Movement" is simply that the amidar will continue in the direction that it is going until an intersection is reached. The amidar will then branch off at the intersection (taking the path of least resistance). The tracers simply follow the border of the playing field, and are distinguished by a different, lighter color.
If it proves difficult to dodge the amidars, and you find a situation you cannot escape, you have a jump button that can be used three times during a stage (although if a life is lost, you return once again with three jumps.) This will make the amidars jump in the air for a second, which means that they can be passed under safely. there is no extra bonus for having jumps left over at the end of a stage.
Another way that the amidars can be removed from your path is to claim all of the corners of the playfield. When you do this, all of the enemies will change color briefly, and during this time, you can get rid of them (as in Pacman) temporarily, gaining anywhere from 200-3200 points (depending on the number of amidars you can get before they change back.