Convergence Glitch
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This page describes a mechanic specific to the 1992 Microsoft port of Chip's Challenge (and anything that emulates it). It may not exist in any other Chip's Challenge game. |
The Convergence Glitch is an odd glitch in the MS ruleset of Chip's Challenge which occurs when Chip and a block, as a direct and immediate result of Chip's move, exit the same teleport at the same time. This glitch cannot occur in any official level.
This diagram shows the more widely-used setup that invokes the Convergence Glitch. When Chip enters the teleport by moving east, he pushes a block which touches the red button to the clone block at coordinate [4, 2]. This block will enter the first teleport and move north out of the second while Chip is in it. During this time period, Chip will appear on top of the block, rather than being killed by the block.
The result of this is that the teleport is erased, according to transparency rules, and the block turns into a Chip tile, facing in the direction it was just moving, and continues its movement out of the teleport. Meanwhile, the real Chip is left on the teleport's square, but can still perform boosting off the tile.
In this diagram, if Chip moves north, the block to is left will be flicked off the thin wall. The only teleport with an unblocked north exit is the teleport that Chip entered, so Chip and the block try to simultaneously exit that teleport and the Convergence Glitch occurs.
The properties of the new Chip
When this Chip appears, it will combine the properties of a block and Chip: it will explode a bomb or removing water like any other block, the real Chip will die if hit by it, and it responds to other tiles like a block. It will respond like Chip to monster impacts, meaning Chip dies as normal. However, Chip cannot move the block-Chip. This will cause Chip to be unable to reach the square that the block-Chip eventually lands on, even if he were to land on the exit. The exit will thus appear as Chip in the exit, but the exit will not take effect, possibly causing the level to be unsolvable.
Ice blocks
The pgchip patch adds a new tile, the ice block, that can be pushed by teeth and tanks. In situations similar to those described above, this can result in a monster/block hybrid, as demonstrated in this video by Tyler Sontag: