THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



CHIP'S CHALLENGE



PUBLISHER

US Gold



AUTHOR

Epyx



YEAR

1990



DESCRIPTION

Chips Challenge is a puzzle game, originally from the Atari Lynx.



CONTROLS

Joystick or keyboard

UP        : Q

DOWN      : A

LEFT      : O

RIGHT     : P



Restart level  : R

Exit game      : X

Music on/off   : 1

Effects on/off : 2

Pause Game     : H

Continue       : SPACE





INSTRUCTIONS

The next two sections are lifted from the manual, but anything

in square brackets ([]) is my own comment.



Plot:



     GO BIT BUSTER!



Chip would do anything for Melinda the Mental Marvel. More than 

anything because he wanted to join Melinda's exclusive computer

club - the Bit Busters. So you can imagine how Chip felt when

Melinda sat down next to him in the school cafeteria and offered

him membership... on one condition.



Take control of Chip as he does some heavy interfacing with a few

interesting puzzles. Melinda will monitor your progress as you

enter and work your way through 144 levels of challenging

maze-like paths and puzzles. Once you accept the challenge,

there's no escape. Monsters, traps and the ticking of the clock

all conspire to delete you before a level is completed.



You must ram blocks of soil together to create bridges over water

traps, or use them as buffers against cherry bombs. Invisible

partitions will impede your progress. Coloured keys will open

doors that kead to other keys that will open still more doors!

To make it through, you must keep puzzle sequences stored in your

memory.



Most levels have a specific number of chips that you must collect

before you can progress to the next level. Sometimes you must

snatch those chips from under the very noses of deadly bugs who

are just aching to take a byte out of you!



Well Chip, are you still up for the challenge? You can't get that

Bit-Busters T-shirt out of your system, can you? OK buddy, make

tracks for level one of Chip's Challenge!





Instructions:  You have to collect a set amount of chips on every

level,not necessarily all of them. In your path are several

puzzle parts:



TRAPS must be disarmed before you can pass through them. There 

are various sorts of traps. For example, some hold you prisoner

until your time runs out, while others destroy  you as soon as

you step on them. You can disarm traps with strategic placement

of dirt blocks.



FORCE FLOOR TRAPS [Conveyor belts] propel you with lightning 

speed from one area to another without allowing you to stop.

Sometimes you can use this force to propel you to a desired

location, however most of the time you will need to collect a

magnet to neutralise the effect.



FIRE TRAPS are impassible bonfires laid out to block your 

progress. Use a fire shield to walk through fire traps



WATER TRAPS can be crossed in two ways. Either build a bridge of 

dirt blocks or have a water shield in your inventory.



ICE TRAPS are slippery obstacles that make you slide right past 

your goal. Cleats are required to be able to walk over ice traps.



MONSTERS want to destroy you and will show no mercy. One touch 

from a monster and you'll cash in your chips.



TANKS block the way through crucial paths in some levels. Tanks 

are always linked to trip buttons, so the way around them is to

activate the correct trip button so they move out of your way.



THIEVES. Touching a thief wipes your inventory of all items. Make

sure you use the tools you need to collect microchips before

trying to pass a thief.



TELEPORT SQUARES move you to another location in the level. Some 

squares teleport you in the direction you were facing when you

stepped on them. Others teleport you in random directions.

Beware! if you step on the only teleport square that is

accessible, you will be trapped.



TOGGLE BLOCKS are outlined with broken coloured lines. These 

blocks can be solid or transparent. When the toggle block is

solid, you cannot pass through. These blocks are linked to trip

buttons. When you activate a trip button, the toggle blocks

linked to it will switch to the other stated (Solid or

transparent)



MICROCHIP SOCKETS are special objects found on most levels. You 

must pass through a microchip socket to reach the Exit Square,

but only after you have collected the required number of

microchips for that level.



CLONE MACHINES discharge fireballs, dirt blocks and other items. 

Most clone machines are linked to trip buttons. If you wish to

start/stp a clone machine, activate the linked trip button.



BLUE BLOCKS can be real walls or just an illusion. To figure out 

which a particular block is, try to pass through it. If it is an 

illusion, it will disappear.





HELPFUL ITEMS:



KEYS open doors. Pick them up to add them to your inventory. To 

use a key, walk up to a door of the same colour as the key. Most

keys will disappear from your inventory.



DOORS are opened by keys of the same colour. Once the coloured 

door is open it stays open.



MICROCHIPS enable you to pass each level's microchip socet. Most 

levels have a required number of microchips you must collect

before you can pass through the microchip socket to the Exit

Square.



EXIT SQUARES are flashing squares found on every level. Step on 

an exit square to proceed to the next level. Exit squares are

usually blocked by microchip sockets.



DIRT BLOCKS can be linked together to form bridges over water, 

pushed against a bomb to explode it harmlessly, or used as blocks

against monsters, deadly lightning balls, and other moving

obstacles.  You can only move one brown dirt block at a time. If

you place a dirt block to make a bridge over water, you must

stamp down the dirt to turn it into a regular floor square. To

do this, step on the block after pushing it into the water.

NOTE: You may find things hidden under some dirt blocks. 

Sometimes the things you find are valuable, like microchips.

However you may find that a block is covering something

unpleasant, such as a fire trap.



TRIP BUTTONS are linked to toggle blocks, clone machines, and 

other obstacles. A trip button's colout matches the colour of the

linked trap or obstacle. For example, moving over a green trip

button square will open (or close) all linked green toggle blocks

or moving over a red trip button square will cause a red linked

clone machine to begin releasing fireballs!



MAGNETS neutralize [sic] the effect of force floor traps. With

a magnet in the inventory, you can walk over a force floor

normally.



FIRE SHIELDS neutralize fire. With a fire shield in the 

inventory, you can walk through fire [But not fireballs].



WATER SHIELDS allow you to walk on water.



CLEATS allow you to travel over ice traps without slipping.



NOTE: Magnets, fire shields, water shields and cleats stay in

inventory. They do not disappear after they are used.





NOTES

It's a multiload, loading (IIRC) eight levels at a time.

Therefore a snap of it would have to be a .TAP file or a Z80 with

accompanying .DAT file.















































