Island Hopping
Island Hopping is the 103rd level in Chip's Challenge Level Pack 2. As is obvious, Chip has to swim around the level, collecting chips from variously scattered obstacles in the common style of Paul Hobden. However, the gliders in the room near the northeast allow Chip to exploit a bust that allows him to remove the bombs in the southeast with them.
Unfortunately for bold-seekers, Chip has to synchronize the brown buttons properly to allow him to direct the gliders where he wants them, and to do that, Chip has to release the toggle walls at the exact moment, complicated by the addition of random force floors in the way of the green button, and the requirement that Chip dash out of that random force floor room with almost perfect luck. Andrew Bennett simplified this method into the following strategy, which was recorded to be noticably more successful.
The requirement is to lose [3] over a perfect run up to the green button, then to come out of the room losing at most [1], and thus taking the nearby chip while the timer is still at 491. A good way to lose [1] is not to use the spring slide path of L 2D off the first chip near the ice, and instead move straight down.
Now, step into the room and see which way Chip moves. A DLU detour is worth [1] off; in total, Chip must move over seven force floors before he touches the button. Now, move either U or R, and continue to jump towards the opposite end at the northeast. If Chip reaches the chip on time, and the pink ball up past the four chips is specifically 2U from him as he enters, he will score the bold if his execution is correct the remainder of the way out. For a simpler route, steal the tools from the gliders and use the clone block to bridge all the way south to the bombs.
Unsolvability in Lynx
The blue key is erased by a pink ball once the level starts, so the level is not solvable in Lynx. This can be changed to red while preserving the MS integrity, but there is still the problem of reaching it in Lynx, as the tanks operate differently. To solve this issue, Chip can build a bridge from the clone machine and use a block to recalibrate the tank cycle. Perhaps some other change to the level is still needed, so as not to have the Lynx solution be so unequal to the original, but this is hard to do without messing up any MS routes.
Full level map
Walkthrough
| Previous Level | Current Level | Next Level |
|---|---|---|
| ← Chip's Fight | Island Hopping | Pyramid → |