retrorussell

TROG KLAX COLUMNS all arcade

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.

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).

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!

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.

^ This trick may allow you only one miss.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.