Short Circuit

In Short Circuit a device called ZX88B has mistakenly been activated and is about to trigger twenty doomsday bombs located all around the world. It's of course the player's task to disarm the device before the bombs go off. The problem is that the device can neither be turned off nor destroyed so the player character has to shrink himself, enter the machine as an electron and neutralize it from within. In the device there are twelve microchips that the player has to disarm and each microchip represents one level.

Each level shows the circuit of the microchip which contains three batteries. To complete a level the player has to use the batteries' power voltage to overload the microchip. By touching one of the batteries it's power is transferred to the other two and the aim is to reach a power value that is greater than 999. Once the battery is overloaded the microchip becomes vulnerable and if the player manages to reach the battery after that the circuit will blow. Another way to send power to the batteries is to collect microsparks which are usually found at dead ends.

The player moves around the circuit by following the traces but has to watch out for neutrons, double neutrons and photos since any contact with these will drain power from the batteries and also alert the device. Getting hit five times will lead to the microfuse sending out a detonation pulse. That will also happen if a level is not completed quickly enough or if all batteries are completely drained. The game is over after this has happened three times since the bombs will then go off and there won't be anything left of the world.

After completing a level the player gets a chance to increase his score through a lightning run. Here the player has a limited time (depending on how much power is left on the overloaded battery) to run over the photons and neutrons. The only thing to watch out for is the vacuum that roams the circuitry which ends the run upon contact.