Thanks to...
Thanks to... is the 145th level in Chip's Challenge 1. In the Microsoft version, it is the first of five secret levels, as well as a Credits level; fortunately, it requires absolutely no effort to complete. The significance is that the level is a commemorative, thanking the people who converted the game from the original Lynx version to the popular MS version.
Ed H. is probably the artist Ed Halley; the other three names are not known. The TONY mentioned in the password could be surnamed Garcia or Krueger, and is generally assumed to be the former. Tony Krueger was the MS version's author, which is mentioned along with Ed Halley's name in the About Chip's Challenge popup accessible from the Help menu.
To complete the level, slide on the ice and play between the DOUG and T. to reach fire boots and then down to the exit at (31, 31). Alternatively, using the AVI solution, the level is able to be completed in only 8 seconds, but risks Chip's life.
With a recent discovery about the bottom section made by Sharpeye468, the player has a few different options allowing progression through the random force floor section on [991] pace by simply holding down. All methods listed below will achieve the bold time of [991]. An override is denoted with an X and represents the 3/4 chance of the force floor being whichever direction Chip is not going (in this case, anything but down) and D is used for a downwards push.
With 0 overrides the player makes it through and is still on pace (DDDDD, 1/1024). With only 1 override the player can afford to be pushed up once by the force floors to start the sequence (example: UDDDXD, 3/2048) or make it through without being pushed up at all (example: DXDDD, 3/512). With two overrides the player can be pushed up twice to start (UUDXDXD, 9/16384), once to start (UDXDXD 9/4096), or no times at all (perfect run leading to the optimal decimal: DXDXD, (9/1024)). With three overrides the player can be pushed up once anywhere along the force floor sequence that isn’t the start (example: DXUXDXD 27/8192). Combining all of these gives us a total probability of 379/16384 or about a 2.31% success rate for achieving the bold time. However, the odds will get slightly higher if the player is able to react to the sequence given but the exact number is still unknown. A rough estimate would put the odds somewhere around 3%.
Trivia
- Thanks to... is the only level in CC1 with a title containing lowercase letters. This is most likely due to the fact that the Atari Lynx version's font contains only capital letters, whereas the Microsoft version simply uses a generic font and can therefore handle both capital and lowercase letters.
- If the player looks in a level editor, a map such as the one shown above reveals that there are five ice spaces under other ice spaces, which is illegal in Lynx; however, this level doesn't appear in the Atari Lynx version of the game. They can be found on the grid at coordinates (0, 25), (5, 26), (10, 27), (19, 28) and (27, 29).
- As mentioned, in the Lynx version, this level does not exist; level 145 is simply a dummy that triggers the ending sequence after completing Fireflies. The entry in the password table for level 145 is YBLI, and as expected, entering this displays the victory sequence.
- There is also another "hidden" password, MAND, which is an intended easter egg that displays a Mandelbrot fractal set. The player can then interact with the generator in many different ways, such as modifying the palette or zooming in and out. The only way out of this "level" is to reset the console.
Full level map
Walkthrough
| Previous Level | Current Level | Next Level |
|---|---|---|
| ← Fireflies | Thanks to... | Cake Walk → |