Frying tricks with the ATARI 2600!

[retrorussell]

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.

[retrorussell]

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.

 

[retrorussell]

TENNIS

 

At the beginning screen (the ball bouncing by your player) fry until you see the ball bouncing really slow.  Serve it, and now you will have a much slower game.  If you get lucky another effect is the computer opponent won't move at all!

[retrorussell]

On 12/19/2022 at 6:12 AM, Raiu said:

Ah, this is from the game variations where two players alternate controlling the ship.  You can swap controllers when the ship's color changes to keep control, though that's awkward.

Nuts-- I went into Controller Input in Stella and tried to set up both "controller ports" to use the same inputs, but it won't work.  So I can't just use the same controls when the game switches me to the other player.  It is indeed very awkward to switch to another control setup during your game.  And every time I fry to prevent enemies from firing it's the "swap players" setting.  Boo!

[retrorussell]

On 12/18/2022 at 9:39 PM, retrorussell said:

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!

Update: You will be unable to play the 2nd level unfortunately, since the edges of the screen are drawn inward to block off both ends of the "spider dungeon" and you are stuck below it.

[eegad]

Didn't see Asteroids mentioned yet. It was fairly easy to fry it such that all the Asteroids were white instead of multi colored. 

[retrorussell]

On 3/5/2023 at 8:27 AM, eegad said:

Didn't see Asteroids mentioned yet. It was fairly easy to fry it such that all the Asteroids were white instead of multi colored. 

I tried it a few times; I guess I didn't find it all that interesting.  All I remember getting to work was a different position for your ship to start in when you begin your game, if you fry while starting your game.  Maybe I should check it out again.

[glazball]

On 1/13/2023 at 3:49 AM, retrorussell said:

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

Space Invaders - Frying is how I used to pull off this double-shot trick bitd, and was one of the few frying tricks I ever knew.  I had no idea it was possible to get the same effect by holding down reset and now I'll have to try it!  In any case, I thought it worth mentioning since this can be done by frying.

 

Porky's - OK, this may not count, but I thought I'd mention it (maybe it's common knowledge??).  On the screen where you need to move up, Frogger-style, past each vehicle to reach the club, you can jerk the joystick around wildly right beneath each vehicle, causing it to disappear.  Makes it easy to reach the top of the screen (no frying required, it's just a janky game).

Edited March 10, 2023 by glazball

[retrorussell]

6 hours ago, glazball said:

Space Invaders - Frying is how I used to pull off this double-shot trick bitd, and was one of the few frying tricks I ever knew.  I had no idea it was possible to get the same effect by holding down reset and now I'll have to try it!  In any case, I thought it worth mentioning since this can be done by frying.

 

Oh, I see.  Yeah I had no idea you could pull it off with frying-- I'd never even heard of frying until recent years.  I did know about the reset trick for double shots back then.  What a lifesaver of a trick!

[Total_Tyranny]

Frying Frogger makes the game completely unplayable by turning the game's colors negative and making everything extremely glitched, the frog is invisible, moving left and right causes this really high pitched screeching sound, and touching the road crashes the game, Pretty weird.

 

 

[Raiu]

I'd *completely* forgotten about that particular frying result for Frogger, but I recognized the messed-up music and sprites immediately.

[retrorussell]

DEFENDER

Wow, I guess there are some neat tricks to pull off with this one.  You can fry at either the attract mode or after starting a game.  If you fry and make the city buildings go wonky there are all sorts of different effects that may happen-- most notably, your score may be way higher!  Also, you may have possibly infinite lives, start with different enemies or begin on the "mutant wave".  Hard to get this to work right or keep the frying from crashing the game, but well worth trying.

 

[retrorussell]

DIG DUG

 

Some weird stuff with this one.  You can fry at the title screen or during a game.  This will most likely screw up the right half of the screen, to the point that moving to the right digs out the maze to the left of you, and vice versa (so it sort of works as the reverse of the left side of the screen).  And digging vertically will remove dirt a handful of shafts away.  Very odd-looking.  This may also make Dig Dug and a monster invisible.  But the game is still playable.  The best benefit of the trick is that the monsters DO NOT TURN INTO GHOSTS!  Therefore they cannot exit their enclosed spaces until you free them.  The game may be screwy but once you get used to this the game may be easier.  

 

[retrorussell]

SPIDER-MAN

 

Wonky building hijinks!  Fry during the main screen or during play perhaps, and Spider-Man will likely start falling as the building structure looks very odd-- and may go on forever!  You can stop yourself from falling by slinging a web on the building surface.  You seem to have unlimited web fluid.  The building may be so haphazardly constructed that you may not be able to climb all the way (if there even IS a top).

 

 

Edited January 7 by retrorussell

[retrorussell]

CARNIVAL

Frying during play may cause the graphics to go funky.  Some of the targets may completely unrecognizable (usually the ones for extra bullets), and the ducks may have bizarre flight patterns.  Some of the funky targets may not be destroyed, making it so you can't finish the stage.  Also, the pipes (Ferris Wheel) may not be visible, though you may be able to shoot them.

 

 

If you fry during the demo, the computer-controlled gun may have infinite bullets-- the ducks can eat them but the gun hits bonus bullet targets enough to keep the level high.  It has a back and forth while firing motion that won't likely hit the pipes enough to finish the stage before the game demo resets.