PC-8801 · 1986

Alpha

A LITTLE HELP ABOARD DAEDALUS

Walkthrough

A step-by-step route through Alpha’s English adventure, with puzzle solutions and story spoilers tucked away until you want them.

Written for english-commands-002. A recorded English playthrough reached the ending from a fresh start, using checkpoints from that same run. This guide combines that route with the later puzzle checks, leaving out exploratory commands and failed attempts. It covers the main story, not every optional response; the edited guide has not been replayed as a new continuous run.

Before you start

  • Type one command at a time and press Return. Use the full English words shown here. Compounds such as lasergun and oxygenmask are single words. See the English command reference for controls.
  • Advance messages separately. When the game asks for Return or any key, finish that message before entering the next command. A submission can advance an event without carrying out the action you typed.
  • Watch the scene, not just the command count. A station needs a motorcar to arrive before you board. An elevator’s first response may only close its doors. The instructions below identify these pauses.
  • Use F5 for inventory. Typing inventory can leave the original game in the wrong internal location and spoil a later save. This bug also exists in Japanese and is deliberately preserved. F5 avoided it in the tested shopping-center scene; every location has not been checked.
  • Keep separate save slots and use your package’s persistent-save setup. The tested MAME setup needs writable MFI media; a D88 save can appear to work during a session without surviving a restart. Read the known issues before saving.

1. The city and your first arrest

Your first trip establishes how the city, police and motorcars work.

Show the opening route
  1. Start a new game and advance the introduction until Chris is on the hill. Type look to advance the explosion, then forward to reach the stadium.
  2. Go right to the shopping center and forward into the store. Type look shelf, then take oxygenmask.
  3. Type look, then back. A police robot catches you as you leave. Use look to continue into the cell, then repeat it until the robot announces your release. The repeated restraint response does not mean the route has failed.
  4. Use look again to reach the surveillance room. Type wear clothes, then back to leave.
  5. Outside the police center, go left to Kazemu Station. Type look until a motorcar arrives, forward to board, then look to arrive at Sarou. Another look lets the car depart.
  6. From Sarou, go back to the stadium, back to the hill, and back again toward the revolutionaries. Advance the “Hit Any Key” message.

2. Meeting the revolutionaries

Listen through the conversation before trying to move the story forward.

Show Arnold’s conversation and the return visit
  1. Use talk man to speak with Arnold. Repeat it through his explanation of the revolution, the captured leader and his request for your help. Continue the conversation until the police discover the hideout.
  2. Use look to advance the capture and the cell sequence. Continue until you are released into the surveillance room, then wear clothes and look to leave.
  3. Return by the same route: left to Kazemu, look for the motorcar, forward to board, and look through arrival and departure at Sarou.
  4. From Sarou, go back three times to the hideout. Use talk man to hear the survivor’s request to rescue the leader.
  5. Go forward to the hill, forward to the stadium, right to the shopping center, and forward into the store.

3. Rescuing the leader

This time, your visit to the police center has a purpose.

Show how to obtain the gun and open the cell
  1. In the store, take oxygenmask, use look, and go back. Let the robot arrest you again. Repeat look through the cell sequence until you reach the surveillance room.
  2. Type wear clothes, then steal lasergun. When the robot confronts you, type shoot lasergun. Advance both Return prompts until the corridor appears.
  3. Go back to the occupied cell. Use talk man repeatedly. Read Keith’s explanation until he says it is time to escape.
  4. Type shoot lasergun to break the cell lock. Advance the Return prompt. Go right, then shoot lasergun at the next robot and finish the two message advances.
Show what to do after the escape attempt
  1. Use talk man twice to finish Keith’s conversation. Chris takes the gold key he offers.
  2. Use look to continue the next attack and capture. The gun is confiscated, but Chris keeps the gold key.
  3. Repeat look through the cell and release sequence. In the surveillance room, wear clothes, then look to leave.
  4. Go left to Kazemu and take the motorcar to Sarou as before. After the car leaves, go back three times to the ruined hideout.

4. Recovering your equipment

You need a replacement weapon and supplies before exploring the other districts.

Show the rubble and shop checklist
  1. At the ruined hideout, use search rubble four times. The search progresses through different results. Do not stop at the first gun discovery or the “nothing but rubble” response.
  2. Type take lasergun and take dynamite. Finding an item is not the same as picking it up. If you tried taking the first gun too early, finish the searches and try again.
  3. Go forward, forward, right, forward to return to the store. Type take energy, look, take timer, then look.
  4. Use use energy to charge the replacement laser gun. If you collected the supplies before recovering the gun, charge it after picking the gun up.
  5. Go back. When the robot intercepts you, type escape to return to the shopping center.

Why can’t I take the gun or dynamite?

Show the rubble troubleshooting checklist
  • Have you returned after Keith’s escape attempt and the later confiscation?
  • Have you used search rubble four times? The first visible gun is not the usable replacement at this point in the story.
  • Have you explicitly typed take lasergun and take dynamite after the searches?
  • Have you collected an energy pack and used use energy while carrying the replacement gun?

Before continuing, you should have the gold key, replacement laser gun, dynamite and timer, with the gun charged. Prefer F5 if you check your inventory.

5. The red and silver cards

The two cards unlock different parts of the ship. Keep both.

Show the route to the red card
  1. From the shopping center, go left to the stadium and forward to Sarou Station. Use look for the car, forward to board, then look through arrival at Garuda and the car’s departure.
  2. At Garuda, go right, then back three times and forward. You should reach the spacious lobby with three elevators.
  3. Type take card to collect the red card.
  4. Return to Garuda with back, right, then forward three times. Take the motorcar back to Sarou: look, forward, then look through arrival and departure.
  5. Go back to the stadium, then left to its elevator lobby.
Show the observation-room silver-card puzzle
  1. Type insert card, then board elevator. Use look to finish the descent.
  2. Go back three times: the first closes the doors, the second reaches the corridor, and the third enters the weightless observation room.
  3. Use look card. Then type take card four times. Each attempt makes progress until Chris finally catches the silver card.
  4. Leave with left, then go forward to the elevator. Use insert card, board elevator, and look.
  5. Go right twice. The first closes the doors; the second returns to the stadium.

If you keep missing the card: the repeated attempts are the solution. You do not need an additional tool or a swimming command.

6. The police main computer

Use the silver card to reach the next objective.

Show the elevator, combat and dynamite route
  1. From the stadium, go forward to Sarou. Ride to Garuda, using look for arrival and departure as before.
  2. From Garuda, go right, back three times, then forward to the three-elevator lobby.
  3. Type insert card. When asked which elevator, type left. Type left again to board that elevator, then look to finish the descent.
  4. Go right to the corridor. Go forward and shoot lasergun at the robot. Advance both Return prompts before moving again. Repeat this forward-and-shoot sequence for three encounters in total.
  5. At the main computer, type use timer to attach it to the dynamite, then throw dynamite. Do not throw the unarmed dynamite.
  6. Go right, then back to the elevator. Use insert card, board elevator and look to return to the three-elevator lobby.
  7. Go back, right, right, then forward three times. One of those right commands closes the elevator doors. You should reach Garuda Station.
  8. Ride to Sarou and let the car depart. Go back to the stadium, then right twice, passing through the shopping center to Ares Station.

7. The small key

A second key opens a different restricted area.

Show the Yurai route and key pickup
  1. At Ares, use look until the car arrives, forward to board, and look through arrival and departure at Yurai Station.
  2. Go right. Proceed forward and shoot lasergun, finishing both Return prompts after each fight. Repeat for three robot encounters.
  3. The last robot drops a small key. Type take key and advance the Return prompt. This is the magnet key; keep Keith’s gold key too.
  4. At the restricted door, go left to the elevator. Use insert card, board elevator, then look.
  5. The recorded route now boards the still-open elevator again: board elevator, then look. After returning downward, use back three times to close the doors, pass through the corridor and reach the observation room.

8. The radar room

Inspect the display more than once; the order matters.

Show the locked door and password clue
  1. From the observation room, go right to the restricted door. Type use key; Chris uses the magnet key here.
  2. Go forward twice to the radar room. Type look panel, then examine location, then look panel again. The second inspection reveals Icarus.
  3. Leave with back twice, then left twice to pass through the observation room into the opposite corridor. Go forward to the elevator.
  4. Use insert card, board elevator, then look. Go right four times: close the doors, reach the stadium, pass through the shopping center, and arrive at Ares Station.
  5. Take the motorcar to Yurai again and let it depart.

If you did not see the password: examining the ship’s location between the two panel inspections is the important step. A single look panel only describes the display.

9. The bridge and the ending

The last door needs more than a key.

Show how to enter the bridge
  1. From Yurai, go right, then work through the three forward / shoot lasergun encounters again. Finish the two Return prompts after each fight.
  2. At the restricted door, type use key. This door uses Keith’s gold key and asks for a password.
  3. Type icarus on its own. Go forward through the open door to the control bridge.
Show the final actions
  1. Use look four times to start and hear the complete recording.
  2. Type look panel, then look button to identify the landing control.
  3. Type push button, then look to advance the landing sequence to the ending.

That completes the main-story route. The recording supplies the final revelations, so they are left for you to discover in the game.

A few optional detours

Show the cloud, shop and observation-room extras
  • On the hill, try look cloud.
  • Inside the shop, try faceback.
  • In the observation room, look glass shows the stars and knock glass triggers the comet event. The next submitted command advances its disappearance, so check the scene before repeating a movement command.

These responses were observed in English, but they are optional and are not required for the main route.

Guide prepared November 1, 2026, from the project’s recorded English route and later source and emulator checks. Some alternate and fallback text was never reached in normal testing; it is not treated as a hidden requirement here. No new game build, exhaustive branch test or hardware certification is implied.