Congo Bongo Easter Egg

[Zendocon]

Last Thursday morning (August 22, 2024), I played Congo Bongo as part of my Summer lineup on my Thursday Morning Coffee Intellivision Livestream on Twitch.  When you clear both stages, you get the basic message "Congratulations !!"  After the first loop, you get the additional message "Very good".  But after the second loop, there is no additional message.  Using my infamous ROM hacking techniques, I uncovered the other additional messages as well as the fact they are displayed after only the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th loops.

 

As for the even-numbered loops, you normally get no additional message.  But if you hold 1 & 9 on the second controller and press Reset, you will activate the Easter Egg.  With the Easter Egg active, after the even-numbered loops you will get the additional message "Hello from Sega and Beck-Tech".

 

Additionally, after the 9th loop, the loop counter (displayed as a green digit in the top right corner of the screen during gameplay) changes to a '!' for the 10th and final loop.  The farthest I could get was to the piranhas here, where they snap so often that it is impossible to cross the river to the rhinocerous stampede.  From looking at the code, it seems the loop counter does not advance any further.

[+Psycho Stormtrooper- Rog]

Very cool. Thanks for figuring this out!