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Chip's Challenge NES

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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.

  1. Lesson 1
  2. Lesson 2
  3. Lesson 3 (the hint is identical to the original Lynx version)
  4. Lesson 4
  5. Lesson 5
  6. Lesson 6
  7. Lesson 7
  8. 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.")
  9. Strange Maze
  10. Nuts and Bolts
  11. Brushfire
  12. 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.")
  13. Southpole
  14. Teleblock
  15. Elementary
  16. Nice Day
  17. Digger
  18. 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.")
  19. Beware of Bug
  20. Cypher
  21. Invincible Champion
  22. Drawn and Quartered
  23. Wars
  24. Trinity
  25. Tossed Salad
  26. Iceberg
  27. Telenet
  28. Oorto Geld
  29. Chchchips
  30. Seeing Stars
  31. Glut (followed by message "CHIP READS THE CLUES SO HE WON'T LOSE")
  32. I.C. You
  33. Pier Seven
  34. I Slide
  35. Chipmine
  36. Force Square
  37. Shrinking
  38. Cellblocked
  39. Castle Moat
  40. Go with the Flow
  41. Ping Pong
  42. 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")
  43. Knot
  44. Lemmings
  45. Sampler
  46. Floorgasborg
  47. Three Doors
  48. Grail
  49. Spooks
  50. Amsterdam
  51. 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!")
  52. Steam
  53. Up the Block
  54. Suicide
  55. Now You See It
  56. Block Buster
  57. Lock Block
  58. Refraction
  59. 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!")
  60. Traffic Cop
  61. Deepfreeze
  62. Loop Around
  63. Hidden Danger
  64. Scoundrel
  65. Bounce City
  66. 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!")
  67. Vanishing Act
  68. Four Square
  69. Metastable to Chaos
  70. Apartment
  71. Jailer
  72. Time Lapse
  73. The Marsh
  74. Blink
  75. Monster Lab
  76. Problems
  77. Digdirt
  78. 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.")
  79. Reverse Alley
  80. Morton
  81. Spirals (corrupted version)
  82. Jumping Swarm
  83. Vortex
  84. Roadsign
  85. Paranoia
  86. Kablam
  87. Chiller
  88. Deception
  89. Block Buster II
  90. 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!")
  91. Slide Step
  92. Alphabet Soup
  93. Perfect Match
  94. Totally Fair
  95. The Prisoner
  96. Firetrap
  97. Mixed Nuts
  98. Skelzie
  99. All Full
  100. Lobster Trap
  101. Trust Me
  102. Partial Post
  103. Underground
  104. 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!")
  105. Rink
  106. Block Factory
  107. Nightmare
  108. Writers Block
  109. [[Catacomb]s]]
  110. Memory
  111. Balls O Fire
  112. 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!")
  113. Open Question (the typo in the hint is fixed)
  114. Ice Cube
  115. Stripes?
  116. Fireflies
  117. Potpourri
  118. Four Plex
  119. Socialist Action
  120. 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.")
  121. Totally Unfair
  122. Mix Up
  123. Doublemaze
  124. Goldkey
  125. Icedeath
  126. Short Circuit
  127. Oversea Delivery
  128. Eeny Miny Moe
  129. Corridor
  130. Playhouse (the hot block at the beginning is replaced with a wall)
  131. Torturechamber (followed by message "GROOV-U-LOIDS! CHIP MAKES IT ALMOST TO THE END. HE'S STOKED!")
  132. 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!")
  133. Cake Walk
  134. Force Field
  135. Mind Block
  136. 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

References

  1. ↑ http://www.lostlevels.org/wordpress/2015/11/13/chips-challenge-for-the-nes/
  2. ↑ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNRELEASED-NES-Prototype-EPROM-Card-CHIPS-CHALLENGE-DEMO-NTSC-1992-NINTENDO-/171572734485?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l10137.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true
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