[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

BREAKOUT

 

Fry when the screen appears (attract mode where you can steer the paddle but not serve the ball, and it cycles through the colors).  The walls may be missing many blocks.  If so, hit game start switch.  At the very least hopefully the far right column of blocks will be missing at the start of your game!  The score and lives counter will probably be wonky though.

 

[THE "MAKE A GAME LABEL/BOX INTO SOMETHING FUNNY/COOL" thread!]

Not a game box/cartridge but title screen.. and pretty dumb.. but oh well

[Last 3 games you played?]

TROG

KLAX

COLUMNS

all arcade

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

PAC-MAN

 

Frying after you start a game will often have very weird effects.  Like starting somewhere else in the maze (unfortunately often starting on top of a ghost), having you or the ghosts get stuck in a wall, making the vitamin prize appear along the left wall instead of the center of the maze, or having most of the pellets eaten already (making the maze easier to clear).  The effects only seem to last one stage.  Still interesting.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

CENTIPEDE

 

Frying after you start a game (frying beforehand just wiggles the centipede at the main screen back and forth faster) can produce some interesting effects.  Most notably, your cannon appearing in the center of the screen (!), less centipede parts to start with, or maybe an odd score to begin with.  It may also give you just one life to start (or kill your cannon right away).

 

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

BOXING

Frying before starting a game may start a game with weird graphics, or the CPU boxer will not punch back (or both)!  In the latter case simply move up to him, then move slightly up and down while punching repeatedly and he'll keep moving into the punch.  Easy KO!

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

BERZERK

If you fry after you've started a game (you can simply press the action button to start one), you can make a room with INVISIBLE WALLS!  Way, way harder to play this way!  The score/lives counter gets all funky too.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

^ This trick may allow you only one miss.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

STAMPEDE

 

You can't really tell by the pic.. but if you start a game and have some cattle on the screen, then fry slightly you may be able to make the cattle move SUPER SLOW, and the screen scrolls slowly likewise.  You move at regular speed.  It's painfully slow this way-- though the action speeds up a little bit here and there.  Good start to get you some points in this rather difficult (IMHO) game.  A difficult trick to get to work properly.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

MARIO BROS.

 

Fry and then press the action button to start a game.  You may begin on the bonus stage!  Some of the floors may be invisible.  The game will be normal after the stage ends, up until the point where no enemies appear (the fireball will still fly around).

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

DODGE 'EM

 

Frying after the game powers on tends to make the score digits look funky.  However, it also tends to give you tons of extra lives.  Too bad you can't really see the score correctly.  BTW, it flips over at 1,000.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

GOLF

 

Frying after powering up the system can start a game with weird alterations to the course (odd graphics/colors).  You may not be able to see your ball or the green/hole!  You might not be able to move in certain directions.  Maybe you'll be able to finish a hole, more likely not.

 

 

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

Another weirdo frying trick:

HANGMAN

 

Frying after powering on till you see a weird jumble of pixels instead of a letter will cause the computer to make up a nonsense word for you to uncover.  The color cycling that some Atari 2600 games do when a game isn't played or after a game is over happens during your game in this instance.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

On 12/26/2022 at 1:32 PM, Stephen said:

Space Invaders - some weird graphics glitches and the UFO keeps scrolling.  Does holding down reset while powering on count?  It gives you double shots.  This will of course only work for the 1st game played, and always has to be game variation 1.

I've definitely heard of the double-shot trick.  VERY useful.  I don't consider that "frying" however.

 

Another frying trick:

MOUSE TRAP

 

Not really useful since you can't finish a screen.  But it is interesting.  Frying at the start of a game (which oddly enough begins immediately after you power on the console) until a death seems to have happened (the "mreow" sound of a cat killing your mouse) seems to remove a lot of the cheese pieces in the maze.  The walls in the center section seem to be invisible.  Also, the cats may not be able to move!  Unfortunately even when you clear all the cheese pieces, the screen can't be beaten.  And it's not like there's invisible cheese you can eat-- the screen just can't be completed.  Oh well, kind of interesting.

[THE "MAKE A GAME LABEL/BOX INTO SOMETHING FUNNY/COOL" thread!]

[THE "MAKE A GAME LABEL/BOX INTO SOMETHING FUNNY/COOL" thread!]

The Olympics just got a whole lot more dangerous..

[THE "MAKE A GAME LABEL/BOX INTO SOMETHING FUNNY/COOL" thread!]

From racing game to the upcoming Indiana Jones movie!

[THE "MAKE A GAME LABEL/BOX INTO SOMETHING FUNNY/COOL" thread!]

Lame initial box art of MY HERO (Master System) had a punch coming from off-panel to strike a mohawked enemy.  I decided to make it a sandwich being chucked at them in a friendly (if overly enthusiastic) gesture of food.

[Last 3 games you played?]

Mercs

Hit The Ice

Magician Lord

All arcade

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

More frying:

PITFALL II: THE LOST CAVERNS (1984 Activision/David Crane)

 

This one is very helpful and perhaps one of the more likely to work.  Frying at the opening screen will likely cause a big old jumble of funky graphics and possibly warped music.  Move to the right after you see the jumbled mess and you will likely either drop down or run right to the next screen-- hopefully the screen changes to normal.  Then go back left.  Woah-- there's Quickclaw the mountain lion a couple floors above!  This is a nice shortcut to get him and the rat or whatever it is to the right.  You may now just have to get Rhonda and the diamond ring to beat the game.

[The Official NEO-GEO Thread!]

New video review of MAGICIAN LORD:

 

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

DEMON ATTACK (1982, Imagic)

Frying during the attract mode may cause the game to start with weird graphics.  If so, the game may have numerous different effects-- you may only be able to shoot/move every few seconds (your ship turns yellow), you may be slower/faster, enemies may be tougher/easier, or an enemy may be a graphics scramble and be off the playfield so you can't shoot it, etc.  The best effect I found was enemies don't shoot at all!  Unfortunately, another effect was the aforementioned only being able to shoot/move every few seconds.  This may still make the game easier, but when you break up the enemies into little birds they may slam into you when you're immobile.

 

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

DRAGONFIRE (1982, Imagic)

Make the treasure rooms a little easier!  Fry at the title screen and then press game reset.  Things will look normal at first-- hopefully, if you did things right, when you safely cross the bridge all the treasures will be along the left wall, a bit easier to pick up.  If you die on the bridge a single beep will be heard instead of a more hyper sound effect.

 

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

More frying:

VIDEO PINBALL (Atari 1981)

I tapped the "backspace" key to activate frying in Stella.  The graphics and sound will get wonky and the left flipper will not work quite right, if at all.  Still pretty amusing.

[Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!]

Another frying trick I discovered:

VENTURE (Coleco, 1982)

Frying may cause the screen to go mostly black with perhaps a bit of wonky graphics and sound.  If so, hit the game reset switch.  If it works, the game will be a good deal easier, at least for as long as it's playable (see later).  Some monsters-- dungeon and hallway monsters-- will be frozen in place.  And some will go through walls!  Also note that some dungeon exits will be against a wall and you will either not be able to enter that way or if you try to exit that way you'll get stuck in the wall.  Definitely worth trying though!