Tunnel Runner Queries

[StanJr]

Ok, so I am playing Tunnel Runner tonight, and I'm doing pretty well, but I notice three things that baffel me:

 

1. I cannot seem to EVER enter the double up arrow doors that warp you two Runs up, whether I have the key or no. What gives? How do you enter these doors?

 

2. In Run 5 it appears that you HAVE to lose a life just to get out of the first hallway as there is a ball monster directly in the hall you start in coming at you. Aside from the emergency warp cheat, is there anyway to get through Run 5 without having to die?

 

3. On Runs 10 and up, there is a weird type of door that appears. It has no arrows, but on the left side of the door is the shape like the symbol for your character on the map screen (what looks like "db"), and on the right side of the door are the letters "cb." You cannot seem to exit through this door at any time. Is this an easter egg ro what?

 

Fellow Tunnel Runners, HELP!

 

Tunnel Vision Stan

[Fellow Atari Man]

Wow! Nice to see people know about this excellent game!

 

Ok, so I am playing Tunnel Runner tonight, and I'm doing pretty well, but I notice three things that baffel me:

 

1.  I cannot seem to EVER enter the double up arrow doors that warp you two Runs up, whether I have the key or no.  What gives?  How do you enter these doors?

 

You have to have seen a single up door first before you can enter a double-up door.

 

2.  In Run 5 it appears that you HAVE to lose a life just to get out of the first hallway as there is a ball monster directly in the hall you start in coming at you.  Aside from the emergency warp cheat, is there anyway to get through Run 5 without having to die?

 

I'll have to look this up and get back to you on it later, the memory escapes me for now...

 

3.  On Runs 10 and up, there is a weird type of door that appears.  It has no arrows, but on the left side of the door is the shape like the symbol for your character on the map screen (what looks like "db"), and on the right side of the door are the letters "cb."  You cannot seem to exit through this door at any time.  Is this an easter egg ro what?

 

Yeah, that's a weird bonus door: it only works the first time you run up to it, which it'll freeze the timeline and give you about a 1,000 point bonus. However, if you stop at the door and turn and face another direction, you won't get your points. Very original and strange.

 

Congratulations on a most excellent purchase though! Or playing it on an emulator...

[Fellow Atari Man]

Ok, I went through the Run just now; ach, I had forgotten about that one!

 

2.  In Run 5 it appears that you HAVE to lose a life just to get out of the first hallway as there is a ball monster directly in the hall you start in coming at you.  Aside from the emergency warp cheat, is there anyway to get through Run 5 without having to die?

 

Yep! Just as soon as you enter it, immediately turn around, start running, and keep the controller/arrow key/whatever pressed to the right so you'll turn right right in front of the Zot Monsters and barely miss them, if you're quick enough. Hope that helps! (just wait until he gets to the levels where they stop showing where the key is...heh heh)

 

Oh, and if you want, you can p. m. me your address and I can copy the instruction booklet for you and send it your way.

[StanJr]

Wow, dude that would be great. I'll drop you a PM!

 

Glad to see there are fellow tunnel runners out there! I am totally addicted to this game!

 

I just noticed the bonus points today on that mystery door! COOL!

thanks for the advice on the double up door! I almost got past the monster in Run 5 as you described today. That is way tough!

 

So how far can you get? I can only get to Run 12 at this point, but I'm getting better!

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

Stan!

[joeybastard]

Tunnel Runner is one of my favorites but I can't get near level 12. I'm only at like 6.

 

I use Tunnel Runner to show off the 2600's abilities when my friend's make snide comments abouit it's games. It always shuts them up.

[Fellow Atari Man]

Wow, dude that would be great.  I'll drop you a PM!

 

Great! I should have it xeroxed and mailed to you by tonight.

 

Glad to see there are fellow tunnel runners out there!  I am totally addicted to this game!

 

Ditto, I don't think it sold very well when it came out, but that was during, or right around the crash anyways. Plus I think it was the only non-arcade adaption from CBS Electronics too.

 

I just noticed the bonus points today on that mystery door!  COOL!

 

Yeah, you probably didn't realize the thing about the score being added to the first few times; it's understandable with the pressure and all! (cue Zot Monster approaching music )

 

thanks for the advice on the double up door!  I almost got past the monster in Run 5 as you described today.  That is way tough!

 

You're welcome! I'm more of a lurker here, but if there's a place where I can help...especially in regards to T. Runner... I'm sure with practice you'll be able to make it out alive on the 5th Run.

 

So how far can you get?  I can only get to Run 12 at this point, but I'm getting better!

 

Yep, it's all about the experience! You have to remember, though, I've had this since it originally came out, and I was able to get to Run 107, I think, back in the day. There's various Runs that you have to make notes of later in order to get past them, though (you'll see what I mean if you can make it to the Runs in the 40s, they're a monster! Things get pretty nasty with this one!). And with emulation, I finally made it to the end after all of these years, since you can save games with emulators, but the game just crashes at the end; oh well. It would've been nice if there was an ending to it.

[Fellow Atari Man]

I use Tunnel Runner to show off the 2600's abilities when my friend's make snide comments abouit it's games. It always shuts them up.

 

LOL, yeah, no kidding. But of course additional memory was used in order to achieve the 3D scrolling, but oh well. It's still amazing!

[StanJr]

Wow, so the difficulty keeps ramping well into the 40's eh? Great! It is kind of frustrating when the difficulty tops out fast in an Atari game (Star Wars Arcade Game )!!!

 

107!!! Incredible! I have managed to memorize the pattern for the first ten Runs, but now that I know how to use the double up doors, I'll be skipping a few of those!

 

Thanks again, Fellow Atari Man, you are the coolest!

 

[Fellow Atari Man]

Wow, so the difficulty keeps ramping well into the 40's eh?  Great!  It is kind of frustrating when the difficulty tops out fast in an Atari game (Star Wars Arcade Game )!!!

 

LOL, yeah, no kidding, T. Runner was so well designed, as they kept on bumping up the difficulty just a notch here and there, I think they spent a lot of time on it, since an additional piece of paper was included with the instructions saying we made these last minute changes to the game, and here they are. Unfortunately I don't know where it is, so I can't send it to you, but the rest of the photocopied instructions are on their way right now, I just mailed them about an hour ago!

 

And here's just a few examples on what's to come:

 

* They quit showing where YOU are on the screen. It probably won't be too difficult to figure it out though, but if it is let me know and I'll post the answer.

 

* Ah! They started showing me on the map again...but WHERE'S THE KEY?!! Yep, they quit showing you that too...again, if you can't figure it out, I'll let ya know...

 

* This happens several times starting from the Runs in the 40s until the end: the walls become so pitch-dark black you can't tell if you're about to enter an up, double up, or a down door until it's too late...so that's when you have to start taking notes about which ones are up doors and where they are. The horror, the horror! (insert exploding head emoticon here)

 

107!!!  Incredible!   I have managed to memorize the pattern for the first ten Runs, but now that I know how to use the double up doors, I'll be skipping a few of those!  

 

Yeah, plus you get double the points when you use 'em too.

 

Thanks again, Fellow Atari Man, you are the coolest!  

 

Wow, thank YOU very much! Anything for fellow Atari friends! (don't worry, I won't grind that joke into the ground 100 times or anything; you get the idea )

[StanJr]

I made it to Run 17 tonight using a lot of double up doors!

 

I even got one map where NOTHING showed up. Not me, not the key, nothing!

 

Once you learn how to navigate the mazes, you don't really need the map too much.

 

But there is nothing more terrifying than to be running along a tunnel and turn a corner and WHAMMO! Monster! GAH!

 

I love this game!

 

Stan

[Fellow Atari Man]

I even got one map where NOTHING showed up.  Not me, not the key, nothing!

 

Let me know if YOU need to know how to spot the keys' locations...

 

But there is nothing more terrifying than to be running along a tunnel and turn a corner and WHAMMO!  Monster!  GAH!

 

Yeah, it was probably just as well that this game wasn't more popular, or there'd be more heart attack fatalities than Berzerk!!