Block
The block is a tile that can be set in motion only by Chip; it is an acting wall to other blocks and to monsters.
| Found in | |
|---|---|
| Multi-directional? | No |
| Moves? | Controlled by Chip |
Rules
Blocks are one of the most useful and most frequently seen tiles; they can be used to hold down brown buttons, destroy bombs, turn water into dirt, and redirect monsters to a more desirable location. In MS, thieves, dirt, monsters, computer chips, locks, fake blue walls and sockets are block-acting walls, and in Lynx, hints, boots and exits are added. One notable exception is the thin wall; only the blocked side(s) stop the block from entering its square, and in MS, it can be pushed off this tile from the blocked side (the flick).
Blocks can hide any tile underneath, even block-acting walls. Even monsters can be hidden under blocks, though this is seen only in Chomper Romp and not anywhere in CC1. Should Chip push such a block, he will be killed as if this were a normal, non-moving monster. The first tiles hidden under blocks were four chips and a fire in Lesson 4.
Movement
In addition to being physically pushed by Chip, blocks can be cloned and slide through ice, force floors, and teleports. There is a danger in this, as a block that lands on Chip will kill him, with the Death Message: Ooops! Watch out for moving blocks! A block clones at 5 m/s in Lynx and 20 m/s in MS, so it cannot be seen cloning in MS. If another block or a monster clones a block onto a space Chip is about to step, the block will get there first and Chip will push it. However, if Chip himself clones the block in this situation because of stepping onto the red button, he will be on the square first and thus will die.
If a block is pushed onto ice or force floors, it can be stopped from sliding by attempting to push it onto any block-acting wall. This method is known as the ram, and can be used to make travels through sections of Block Buster and Block Buster II safer, though slower. If the ram is not used, when a sliding block is trapped by a removable obstacle (or two on both sides, if it is sliding on ice) and the obstacle disappears, the block continues sliding. When the ram cannot be used, the only ways for Chip to safely perform this himself are the spring step or by altering Slide Delay to the point that the block remains stationary long enough.
Chip and sliding blocks
The currently moving Chip can be killed by a sliding or cloned block (obviously not a pushed block); any non-moving Chip can be killed by a sliding, cloned or pushed block. However, a non-moving Chip on the lower layer, as long as it remains hidden, can only be killed by a block, and only if the tile on the upper layer is floor or water. In any other case, the Chip tile will be erased from or revealed on the lower layer as normal.
When Chip dies in this manner, a second Chip facing the same direction as the moving Chip appears on the previous square the block was on, with the lower layer of that square underneath him. In the case where the real Chip is also killed by a destructive obstacle under the block, the block Death Message is always the one shown, the normal death appearance of Chip is shown instead on this tile, and the extra Chip character is moved to Chip's last alive position.