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Chip's Challenge NES
The Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly abbreviated as NES, is a video game console first released in the 1980s.
A NES port of Chip's Challenge was developed, but never commercially released.
History
The port was developed by Images Software, like most other ports of CC. It was first announced to the public in January 1991 at the Consumer Electronics Show, and exhibited again at Summer CES in June 1991. The exact reason why it was never released are unknown, but it has been speculated that this is due to the initial publisher, Bullet-Proof Software, changing their mind.[1]
In 2014, a prototype cartridge of the NES port was put up for auction on eBay. It was ultimately sold for on 14 December for $4,123.99.[2] In 2015, A ROM dump was posted on the Internet, and can now be downloaded from several locations. This development build is dated 5/8/1992.
Description and gameplay
The NES ruleset is largely similar to Lynx, including key behaviour and block slapping. There are no major gameplay glitches, although the game's graphics sometimes fail to refresh properly, and there is a noticeable lag when stepping on a hint tile. The hint is displayed in white text with a black background, over the middle of the gameplay area.
The most noticeable difference between the NES port and other versions of the game, is the viewport: a 16 by 13 tile area is visible at all times, rather than the usual 9 by 9. This has the side effect of making several levels, notably Cellblocked, much easier. The level number, chip count, time limit and player's inventory are superimposed over the left of the map.
Prior to starting a level, its name, number, and password are displayed in green text on a black background. The player must then press A to start the level. The level, however, remains paused until Chip moves.
The game features all the original Lynx's game's decade messages, although in a different order, and between different levels. These are also displayed in green text on a black background.
The player can press A before starting a level to skip to the next one, or B to go back to the previous one, without having to enter the level's password; this is most likely due to the game's beta state. There are are no sound effects or music, also likely due to the game's beta state. The game also lacks a proper ending sequence, crashing after displaying the final message.
The game features an Easter Egg: entering the password CRED at the beginning displays the game's credits.However, unlike Thanks to..., this is not a credits level; instead, it is once again green text on a black background. The first credits page reads:
NES VERSION PROGRAMMED BY JAMES SMART GRAPHICS BY STEVE BEDSER, AT IMAGES SOFTWARE LTD.
The second credits page reads:
HELLO TO RICKY. THANKS TO KARL JEFFERY!
Levels
The NES port features 136 levels, rather than the usual 148 or 149. 135 come from the original Lynx game, albeit in a different order. One level, appropriately called Exclusive, is exclusive to this port. As with most other ports, the last four levels are secret and can only be accessed by entering the right password.
- Lesson 1
- Lesson 2
- Lesson 3 (the hint is identical to the original Lynx version)
- Lesson 4
- Lesson 5
- Lesson 6
- Lesson 7
- Lesson 8 (followed by decade message "AFTER WARMING UP ON THE FIRST LEVELS OF THE CHALLENGE, CHIP IS RARING TO GO! "THIS ISN'T SO HARD," HE THINKS.")
- Strange Maze
- Nuts and Bolts
- Brushfire
- Hunt (followed by message "PICKING UP CHIPS IS WHAT THE CHALLENGE IS ALL ABOUT. BUT ON THE ICE CHIP GETS CHAPPED AND FEELS LIKE A CHUMP INSTEAD OF A CHAMP.")
- Southpole
- Teleblock
- Elementary
- Nice Day
- Digger
- Ladder (followed by message "BUT THE CHALLENGE TURNS OUT TO BE HARDER THAN CHIP THOUGHT. THE BIT BUSTERS WANT IT THAT WAY--TO KEEP OUT LOBOTOMY HEADS.")
- Beware of Bug
- Cypher
- Invincible Champion
- Drawn and Quartered
- Wars
- Trinity
- Tossed Salad
- Iceberg
- Telenet
- Oorto Geld
- Chchchips
- Seeing Stars
- Glut (followed by message "CHIP READS THE CLUES SO HE WON'T LOSE")
- I.C. You
- Pier Seven
- I Slide
- Chipmine
- Force Square
- Shrinking
- Cellblocked
- Castle Moat
- Go with the Flow
- Ping Pong
- Arcticflow (followed by message "CHIP'S THICK-SOLED SHOES AND POP-BOTTLE GLASSES SPEED HIM THROUGH THE MAZES WHILE HIS CALCULATOR WATCH KEEPS TRACK OF TIME")
- Knot
- Lemmings
- Sampler
- Floorgasborg
- Three Doors
- Grail
- Spooks
- Amsterdam
- Victim (followed by message "CHIP USED TO SPEND HIS TIME PROGRAM-MING COMPUTER GAMES AND MAKING MODELS. BUT THAT WAS JUST PRACTICE FOR THIS BRAIN-BUSTER!")
- Steam
- Up the Block
- Suicide
- Now You See It
- Block Buster
- Lock Block
- Refraction
- Mugger Square (followed by message ""I CAN DO IT! I KNOW I CAN!" CHIP THINKS AS THE GOING GETS TOUGHER. BESIDES, MELINDA THE MENTAL MARVEL WAITS AT THE END!")
- Traffic Cop
- Deepfreeze
- Loop Around
- Hidden Danger
- Scoundrel
- Bounce City
- Playtime (followed by message "CHIP IS HALFWAY THROUGH THE WORLD'S HARDEST PUZZLE. IF HE SUCCEEDS, MAYBE THE KIDS WILL STOP CALLING HIM COMPUTER-BREATH!")
- Vanishing Act
- Four Square
- Metastable to Chaos
- Apartment
- Jailer
- Time Lapse
- The Marsh
- Blink
- Monster Lab
- Problems
- Digdirt
- The Last Laugh (followed by message "BESIDES BEING AN ANGEL ON EARTH, MELINDA IS THE TOP SCORER IN THE CHALLENGE--AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE BIT BUSTERS.")
- Reverse Alley
- Morton
- Spirals (corrupted version)
- Jumping Swarm
- Vortex
- Roadsign
- Paranoia
- Kablam
- Chiller
- Deception
- Block Buster II
- Miss Direction (followed by message "CHIP CAN'T WAIT TO JOIN THE BIT BUSTERS! THE CLUB'S ALREADY FIGURED OUT THE SCHOOL'S PASS-WORD AND ACCESSED EVERYONE'S GRADES!")
- Slide Step
- Alphabet Soup
- Perfect Match
- Totally Fair
- The Prisoner
- Firetrap
- Mixed Nuts
- Skelzie
- All Full
- Lobster Trap
- Trust Me
- Partial Post
- Underground
- Pentagram (followed by message "CHIP HITS THE ICE AND DECIDES TO CHILL OUT. THEN HE RUNS INTO A FAKE WALL AND TURNS THE MAZE INTO A TRASH-A-THON!")
- Rink
- Block Factory
- Nightmare
- Writers Block
- Catacombs
- Memory
- Balls O Fire
- Block Out (followed by message "IF CHIP'S CGRADES AREN'T AS GOOD AS MELINDA'S, MAYBE SHE'LL COME OVER TO HIS HOUSE AND HELP HIM STUDY!")
- Open Question (the typo in the hint is fixed)
- Ice Cube
- Stripes?
- Fireflies
- Potpourri
- Four Plex
- Socialist Action
- Fortune Favours The (followed by message ""I'VE MADE IT THIS FAR," CHIP THINKS. "TOTALLY FAIR, WITH MY MEGA-BRAIN." THEN HE STARTS THE NEXT MAZE. "TOTALLY UNFAIR!" HE YELPS.")
- Totally Unfair
- Mix Up
- Doublemaze
- Goldkey
- Icedeath
- Short Circuit
- Oversea Delivery
- Eeny Miny Moe
- Corridor
- Playhouse (the hot block at the beginning is replaced with a wall)
- Torturechamber (followed by message "GROOV-U-LOIDS! CHIP MAKES IT ALMOST TO THE END. HE'S STOKED!")
- Exclusive (followed by message "GREAT JOB, CHIP! YOU FINISHED THE CHALLENGE! NOW YOU CAN TAKE MELINDA THE MENTAL MARVEL TO THE BIT BUSTERS E-PROM!")
- Cake Walk
- Force Field
- Mind Block
- Special (followed by a repeat of level 132's message)
Missing levels
The following 12 levels, for unknown reasons, are absent from the NES port:
- Forced Entry
- Blobnet
- Mishmesh
- Scavenger Hunt
- On the Rocks
- Cityblock
- Colony
- Icehouse
- Block N Roll
- Blobdance
- Pain
- Yorkhouse