101

The dive opens with Ready, 3, 2, 1, then Dive! Your fish holds still until then, and takes off to the left. Arrows, WASD, the D-pad, or the left stick steer after that. The fish hitches for one frame on plankton and three frames on a pearl. Eat a pearl, then a dark-blue predator, to throw urchins and mines at the side reefs. An open ring on the kelp gate shows how long the pearl lasts. Pale creatures sleep beside the side tunnels; touch one and it joins a school behind the nearest predator. It cannot be eaten until it reaches the back of that school. Eating the lead predator hands that creature's color to the next in line. The starfish under the kelp gate reloads the plankton and advances the reef. Clearing every pearl raises Speed by 1, pops "Speed Up!" on your fish, and leaves the maze empty until the starfish. Pale urchins slow you down and die if they touch you; a pearl wipes them. Red mines kill on contact, freeze while a pearl is active, and vanish when you eat the starfish. Red fill is pressure. An X means that swimmer is out. When you are sunk, the standings keep updating while the others finish. Once only CPU swimmers are still alive, End dive skips to the results. When you win, a congratulations screen comes up first; click, tap, Space, Enter, or Start opens the standings. R restarts. M or Sound on mutes the effects. Keys 1–4, or Y/Triangle, X/Square, A/Cross, and B/Circle, queue Steady, Surge, Dart, and School, and the choice starts on the next pearl. Surge lasts four seconds and drops one speed level for the rest of the dive. Dart adds three speed levels while it lasts. School wakes two followers for each sleeper, and every fourth wake drops a pale urchin. On menus, the D-pad or left stick moves the highlight, A/Cross activates it, Start is the main button, and B/Circle goes back.