Tips, Tricks, & Cheats

| Atari 2600 Tips | Jaguar Tips | Lynx Tips |


Atari 2600 Tips


COMBAT: Holding down RESET and fire button lets your shot
travel all the way across the screen.

BERZERK: Horizontal Robot fire will travel harmlessly through your neck.

BASKETBALL: Plugging in the second joystick lets you get some control over the computer player.

BUMP-N-JUMP: Don't destroy anyone and you'll get 50,000 points plus an extra car at the end of each course.

BREAKOUT:Select a "catch" game & catch your last ball. Press SELECT and release the ball. You will play in the attract mode(complete w/color shift) score no points, but you will keep getting new balls when you miss.

BURGERTIME:Fry until your chef appears on the top ledge on the left, you will not be able to move and you will die, but you will have 100 lives. However, you will not be able to make any burgers.

CANYON BOMBER:The game calls for paddles, but the Land Bomber games can be played w/a joystick. Pushing right and left causes 10 red and yellow planes to fire.

CARNIVAL:Holding down the fire button as you power the system on causes a dot to appear in the top row of targets. Shooting the dot before it leaves the screen (it then turns into a duck) will reveal the Programmer's name(Programmed by S. Kitchen). Fry the game until the screen is blank except for 1 duck and it may result in invisible pipes, high speed game and the dot.

CENTIPEDE:Frying results in a white background instead of a black one.

CHESS:Select game 6 or 7, while thinking its' next move, the computer will move pieces!!

CIRCUS ATARI:Frying can resdult in starting the game w/various amounts of points and infinite lives.

COMMUNIST MUTANTS FROM SPACE:Hold down the joystick button while loading and the "HI" on the score will change to "SHL", the autor's initials (Steven H. Landrum).

COSMIC ARK:Frying causes all meteors to come from the left. Various sprites in the game will be scrambled however.

CRAZY CLIMBER:Pressing SELECT at certain times will produce various effects: *before the opening tune ends, the game will freeze on the last note, RESET unfreezes the game. *when the girder falls, the game will pause momentarily, as all sprite data is cycled through the girder's location. *when the evil doctor drops things will pause momentarily, as sprite data is cycled through the dropping item. He will not drop anything else after the last sound for him will play for a bit longer. *when the eagle is dropping eggs, breaks them. *While your climbing or hanging on, freezes things. *While your falling, produces a momentary pause.

CROSSBOW:Frying until a lot of dots appear on the map produces generally easier game.

CRYSTAL CASTLES:Frying gives unlimited lives until 20,000 points.

DEFENDER:Get to the 25th wave and capture a humanoid. Fly to the 25th line of resolution (the height your ship starts from) and any remaining enemies will change to "BP", Bob Polaro, game creator. Fry until the game starts automatically with only bombers on the screen. You get killed but don't lose any lives. If a Baiter is chasing you, position yourself so it's above you, screech to a halt and it will "land" on you. Players should shoot from the right side of the screen...enemies can't sneak up from behind you. Also, when firing at pods, they won't appear as close when you hit tem from the left. To prevent humanoids from being captured, catch the first Lander that captuered a humanoid and hold on to it. Other Landers can not take other humanoids unless you drop the humanoid or finish the wave.

DEMON ATTACK:On some copies of the game, the game will shut off after wave 84 is completed. Fry until game starts. The guys can not fire at you. You can move normally except after 10 seconds you have to take a 10 second break(your ship changes color). Keep shooting the middle demon until only the top and bottom ones remain. Now shoot the bottom one, the remaining demon won't drop down.

DESERT FALCON:Get a super power and swim near the top of a lake to make the programmer's initials appear. Easiest way to get invinciblity (bird-cane-feather). Constantly move up & down to avoid enemies and their fire.

DIG DUG:Drop 2 rocks to make a bonus vegetable appear(but the vegetable doesn't last very long, so you better be close). You'll get alot more points if you pop the monsters at the bottom layer of dirt. You'll get double the amount of points if you pop a Fygar horizontally, rather than vertically.

DRAGONFIRE:Let a fireball catch your legsjust as you leave the treasure room, this seems to hurt the next player more than it does you. Jump, then immediately pull the opposite direction you're facing (keeping the button down), you will seemingly run backwards before a bit turning around. Frying may cause all prizes to be of one type and in a column. If you fry until the game starts with a black and white castle, all prizes will be in a row and look like the word "in". The dragon will spout few if any fireballs. Touch one of the prizes without running it over and you just keep collecting points non-stop.

DRAGONSTOMPER:Enter "use shield" comand while the image of the ax is on the screen and "SHL" will appear (programmer's initials). During the first load, arrange to die near a castle. Then press RESET and run into a castle trap before the copyright at the start of the game clears the screen and you may leave it without any loss of strength or use of normal escape trap procedure, though the trap will appear and the screen will say "Trap".

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK:If you have a rapid fire controller, you can destroy the Walkers twice and be rewarded double points. Every 8 shots weakens it one color and 48 shots destroys it. Blast a yellow Walker and if you can hit it 8 times after the 48th hit, before it disintegrates, you'll destroy it again. Saving the last shot for the bomb hatch will give you ovr 250 points.

E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL:Fry until ET falls in a well, hit SELECT and game "0" will appear. The only power zones available are a few "Call Elliot" zones, who btw, is not present in game 0. Extend ET's head just as the mother ship arrives and ET will be too tall and his butt will stick out of the bottom of the ship. Kill ET on the landing pad while waiting for the ship. If Elliot is able to make it to the screen, but not save you when the ship arrives, the ship will crash down and so will the game. ET can be turned purple, which is the first step to revealing the author's signature, "HSW3".

FAST EDDIE:TV-Type pauses the game. When paused, the maze cycle through a rainbow of colors. Flip it up and it stays on that color. With good timing, you can choose the maze color. Holding down RESET lets you choose a ladder arrangement. Frying once in a while produces Rainbow Eddie. In this game, the bodies of the enemy critters disappear, leaving only their feet and making them much easier to jump over.

FATAL RUN:Frying will sometimes cause the ending victory music to play.

FATHOM:After releasing the mermaid th 7th time, Imagic's address will appear at the bottom of the screen.

FROGGER:Set the difficulty so that your frog may travel off the screen, jump on a right moving log and go off the edge of the screen. The instant you see your frog reappear on the left side, jump left and you'll be warped to the middle of the screen.

GHOST MANOR:You can push yourself up against the back of a moving wall without harm.

G.I.JOE:In the player 2 cooperative game (difficulty 1), the 8th hit on the 15th cobra causes "JE" to appear.

GORF:Rolling the score produces weird digits. More so every time you roll it over. A possible secret message?

HALLOWEEN:As you are about to leave the left or right edge of the screen, gently edge up to the exit (without leaving) and a dash will appear on your head. Most likely a glitch in the software. As soon as Michael enters a room, leave in the opposite direction, and then re-enter. He'll be gone!

HAUNTED HOUSEFry until there are no walls and possibly an enemy walks by the screen. RESET the game and there are no objects in any rooms.

H.E.R.O.:Fry until all you see is a miner and a spider (no hero), let the power run out. The game will start with about 250 lives.

HUMAN CANNONBALL:Frying can cause the window to invert itself. In other words, you have mostly open space and a small rotating wall.

INDY 500:In the race variations, an invisible line down the center of the screen is used to count laps. You can fool the computer by driving small circles in the center of the screen. If you don't have the driving controllers but you have keypad controller, you can still play. Pressing 0 and # simultaneously gives you gas. To turn 90 degrees clockwise, press and hold 5, press and hold 2, release 5, release 2. Do the reverse to turn counterclockwise. You can cheat by going off the edge of the screen and reappearing on the other.

JOUST:Fry until the game starts automatically, the game will begin on level 0 with 1 life.

KABOOM!:Score 10,000 points and "surprise" the Mad Bomber.

KANGAROO:To super jump wide spaces like the steps, duck the kangaroo down and then quickly move the joystick diagonally either up-right or up-left depending on the direction desired.

KRULL:A rapid fire controller will make grabbing objects much easier. If you're touched by the spider in the web, keep jumping and you'll hear the sound efect even after you've been killed. On the web screen, just over and below the Cocoon are spots where your score will increase if you keep jumping there. It only works when the web strands are moving away (on easy levels).

LASER BLAST:Fire quickly so you don't leave aim mode, this will prevent you from being pushed up after shooting 3 tanks.

LOST LUGGAGE:To obtain a really high score, play the opponent guarded baggage and have the other player hold the joystick down. This makes the bags easier to collect and your total will be higher.

MAZE CRAZE:Fry until you see rows of alternating blocks and spaces. For all the games the red player will appear to be "shifted" one place to the right. He can move around the maze normally, but to see where he really is you need to look at the block on his left.

MISSILE COMMAND:Select game 13. Let missiles rain on all your cities and waste all your missiles without scoring any points. The rubble of the rightmost city will change to "RF", the programmer's initials (Rob Fulop). When the game first begins, fire 3 missiles at the top part of the screen (the highest the cursor will go). Then RESET the game before the missiles explode. You'll still see the missiles and when they explode you may get some free points. Frying the game can give you a variation of the game where you can move the little targeting dot VERY fast, but your shots are all fired continuously at wherever the pointer is. Your score starts roughly at 400,000.

MOON PATROL:Frying can start game with 10,000 to 900,000+ points.

MOUNTAIN KING:If you go to the very top of the mountain where the fire is, and go 1 ledge below standing just to the left directly under the flame. Then jump to the left (if done correctly the character will do a hop, skip and take a flying leap). As you are flying upwards, just when you are about to descend, there will be a pattern of 4 dashes. If you hit the upper (or lower) right dash correctly and hop, you will go even higher to a ladder. Grab the ladder and welcome to the secret level. Here you will find all kinds of weird things. Usually your character will turn very large and the game will freeze. If you can figur out the pattern, you can go much farther without freezing the game.

MS. PAC-MAN:Press up and down at the same time...Ms. Pac-man will go left and get stuck in a wall. Let the game enter the demo mode, then play with Game Select. The monster will appear and disappear as they move around, depending on the difficulty selected.

OMEGA RACE:If you don't have the booster grip, you can use a Coleco joystick to play, using the left and right button. You can play with the paddles. The buttons turn your ship, and turning the paddles clockwise will fire and thrust (you must turn them back to stop firing/thrusting). Destroy inactive droids before going after the fleet leader to prevent a new fleet leader from being created.

PAC-MAN:Enter escape tunnel, quickly go up and down in the tunnel a few times without coming out. Go down as your last move and Pac-Man will "wipe" into the screen. He can now move up and down in this vertical plane through the wals, but not sideways. Frying can cause the walls to start glowing at irregular intervals during the game.

PETE ROSE BASEBALL:When your team is coming off the field after the third out, hold down the button. As soon as you come up to bat, the opponent's pitcher will automatically throw a strike over the plate, for an easy hit. Fry until the screen is garbled and RESET. The computer will always bunt. Your batting options will be limited.

PHOENIX:Frying will give you a garbled mess for the number of lives, which appears to be infinite. It changes every time you die.

PITFALL!:Frying can sometimes produce "ninja" Harry, dressed in black. Pressing the button makes him drop from trees. Only one screen however. Use the ATARI joystick, climb to the top of a ladder and pound straight down on the joystick. Harry will jump straight up and fall back down.

PITFALL II:LOST CAVERNS:Frying the game may let you start from one of 3 locations.

PLANET PATROL:Pull down to the bottom of the screen immediately after rescuing the stranded pilot, and the "randomly located" enemy base will always be in their three lowest positions.

POPEYE:Fry until the screen rolls. Wait until it stops and the game will start automatically with 255 lives. Get 9 or more hearts and then purposely die. Once you start your next life, go to the right off of the ledge, immediately get the spinach and hit Bluto/Brutus. If you do it quickly, your score will become 144,120. Start playing and then hold RESET button. The music will play about an octave lower.

Q*BERT:Jump to the top of the pyramid. When Coily on one of the cubes below you and ready to pounce, jump up-right off the pyramid. Coily will follow you, and you will get points for killing him without losing a life. -If you time it carefully, you can jump right through Coily or a red ball; jump toward the square something is on just as it's about to move toward you (easiest just as Coily coils to spring). Once you get the timing down, it is difficult to die. Quick Step:Fry the game until it begins automatically. The squirrel won't jump as much and the waves will be either 3 or 4 trampolines across. The exit will always be the third row from the left. The fourth row will always be gold mats, but there won't be any magic mats.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK:Go to the flying saucer mesa with the chai and parachute. Walk off the mesa and drop the chai when you start falling. The _Yar_ will appear at the top of the screen. A significantly high score will put "HSW2" in your inventory when you finish the game (Howard Scott Warshaw, the number "2" indicates his 2nd game).

REALSPORTS BOXING:Fry until there are no fighters in the ring. Press the button to begin the game. This results in a 2 player game with Jabbin Jack vs. Jabbin Jack.

RETURN OF THE JEDI:If you lose your last ship while avoiding the Death Star explosion and you are about 200 points from earning an extra ship, you'll get the extra ship, but the game will still end with the extra ship being displayed. This game can also be fried until it begins with the Death Star blowing up.

ROBOT TANK:Fry until you get to a night scene. The game will already be in play mode. Tank shots are less accurate and the only damage you can take your turning capability. You basically have an invincible tank.

SEAQUEST:You can take refuge behind a shark or a sub in its path.

SKIING:To make the game easier, flick the left difficulty B A B to re-enter your skier.

SKY JINKS:Frying produces a row of trees on the left side of the screen. Starting a game from here creates a course spanning 1/3 of the screen.

SOLAR FOX:The layouts of the first 6 screens spell out H-E-L-I-O-S.

SORCERER'S APPRENTICE:Frying will sometimes create a "super" expert level. Fry until you see the mountain screen.

SPACE INVADERS: Hold down the RESET button when you power up the system to get double shots!

SPACE JOCKEY:Frying can result in everything being backwards (including the score). Play is the same. Select game 15. If you fly your ship at the bottom of the screen, you are able to stay alive by jumping over tank blasts. Other game selections allow you to obtain a really high score as long as you keep shooting and dodging.

SPIDER FIGHTER:The left difficulty switch sets the game easy or hard. The hard (A) setting gives you more points, but if you switch it back to the easy setting, you'll get the points while the game is at easy difficulty.

STAMPEDE:Frying the game until your horse moves slowly produces a slow version of the game. The game will eventually return to normal after a few minutes. Rolling over the score causes steer heads to appear.

STAR RAIDERS:After finishing the game, you can sometimes change your rank and rating by pressing the Hyperwarp Key (3): Scout 3> Cook 5 Pilot 1> Atari 3

STAR WARS:DEATH STAR BATTLE:Hitting SELECT pauses the game. Touching the joystick resumes play.

STEEPLECHASE:Play with the joystick instead of paddles to control 2 horses (push left and right).

STREET RACER:In number cruncher, "wiggling" paddle will sometimes cause you to get jammed on a number. Usually, you'll rack up points to 99.

SUB-SCAN:Fry until no zeroes appear in the score counter, your ship in pieces and the lower right corner under the sonar garbled. Hit the first command sub (gold) and you'll jump to the 8th level. Sometimes the game will begin with the subs moving fast.

SUPER CHALLENGE BASEBALL:If you move the joystick back and forth quickly, your man will "walk" out into the outfield. You can make him go off the top of the screen and appear at the bottom. Many strange effects can happen when the man is far from his normal place, such as an invisible batter, the pitcher will be in the wrong place, etc. Use the 2600 trackball (in trackball mode) while pitching.

SUPER FOOTBALL:When a team kicks a good field goal or extra point as the time expires, both teams wave in victory. Also happens if the winning team score rolls over, giving a seemingly lower score.

SUPERMAN:Hold down the button as you power on the game. Wait for 2 seconds and release. Superman won't change into Clark Kent, and the bridge won't explode. You'll find the bridge pieces in the subway, but don't worry about it. All you need to do is capture Lex Luther and his men and return to the Daily Planet.

SWORDQUEST: EARTHWORLD:Fry until only a sword appears on the title screen, start the game and you'll have 6 keys.

TAPE WORM:Good timing and a gentle touch on RESET will allow you to choose where the 1st prize dot appears.

TAX AVOIDERS:If you pick up all the objects on the first screen (including the red tape), the screen will begin to flicker.

TITLE MATCH WRESTLING:Frying results in "practice mode" where you play against the same guy without any competition.

TUNNEL RUNNER:Instant Transport-anytime during a run. If you are need of a quick escape, hold the button down and rotate the joystick in a circle and it will perform an emergency transport. Can be used only once per run. The game will go completely crazy after you complete the 127 level.

TURMOIL:T.V. Type switch pauses game. When paused, the maze cycles throught a rainbow of colors. Flip it up and it stays on that color.

TUTANKHAM:Hold down RESET while turning the system on, release after the intro music begins to play. The game will begin with no key, gun, special weapon, or meters. When you die, 2 of your meters will appear and you'll get your special weapon. You can't exit this level.

VANGUARD:Fry until your ship is black instead of pink. The number of lives will be random. Eventually, your ship will revert to pink and you'll have to use the other controller, but you'll still have unlimited lives. If you fly long enough on the board where you have to kill all the enemies on the screen, you will automatically veer

Jaguar Tips



Breakout 2000--99 balls: Hold 1 + 3 + 5 after the brick formation 
appears but before the ball is released. 
*Level skip: Hold 1 + 6 + 7 after the brick formation appears but before the ball is released. 
*World skip: Hold 1 + 5 + 7 after the brick formation appears but before the ball is released. 
*Super ball: Hold 7 + 8 + 9 + 1 after the brick formation appears but before the ball is released. 

Checkered Flag--Race at night: Highlight the "Weather" selection on the options menu. Then, press 8, 4, 7, 3.

Cybermorph--Unlimited ammunition: Hold 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 8 + 9 at the control options screen. A sound will confirm correct code entry.

Defender 2000--Cheat mode: Enter one of the following high score names to enable the corresponding cheat function. Note: The codes will remain active until the cartridge memory is cleared. *Plazma Pong-Enter NOLAN as a high score name. The word "Perfect" will be spoken to confirm correct code entry. A "Plazma Pong" option can now be selected as a game option. *Flossie Defender-Enter OVINE as a high score name. The sound of a sheep will confirm correct code entry. Press any button to select a "Defender Plus" game, then press A to start. *Level skip-Enter BEEST as a high score name. The sound of a sheep will confirm correct code entry. Begin a Defender 2000 game and press 3 during game play to jump to the next level. Press 6 during game play to access the warp screen.

DOOM--Invincibility--Press Pause, * + Pause. Alternatively, press Pause, 9, 4, 7, 4, 9, 2, 1, 0. All keys, weapons, full ammunition--Press Pause, # + Pause. Fire weapons while in automap screen--Hold C + B. If the controls have been reconfigured, hold the buttons assigned to "Use" and "Fire".

Evolution: Dino Dudes--Unlimited lives: Select the "AC" option to clear the password screen. Enter ONCE DEAD as a password. Select the "OK" option. The sound of thunder will confirm this portion of the code. Select the "AC" option to clear the screen. Enter TWICE BORN as a password. A sound will confirm correct code entry.

Pitfall: The Mayan AdventureAtari 2600 mode: Highlight the "Info" option on the main menu. Press C twenty-six times, Down.

Raiden--Unlimited lives and bombs: Hold 1 + 4 + 7 + 3 + 6 + 9 + Option when the first Boss appears. The bonus ship sound effect will confirm correct code entry. Note: The code will be enabled for both players.

Tempest 2000--Cheat mode: Hold 1 + 4 + 7 + A at the main menu. The word "Excellent" will be spoken to confirm correct code entry. The following codes may now be activated during game play. *Level skip-Press Option. *Activate Warp bonus round-Press 6. *Invisible web-Begin game play in Tempest Plus mode. Hold Option to reach the rainbow web levels to play on invisible webs. Wolfenstein 3D-- *God mode: Press 4, 6, 6, 8 during game play or while on the automap screen. *All items, all keys, full ammo: Press 4, 9, 9, 6 during game play or while on the automap screen. *Level skip: Press 4, 7, 8, 6 during game play or while on the automap screen. *Previous level: Press 4, 6, 9, 6 during game play or while on the automap screen. *Refresh information: Press 4, 8, 8, 7 during game play or while on the automap screen. *Music test: Press # when the "ball" appears on the title screen. *Level select: Hold 1 + 3 + 7 + 9 at the main menu. Note: Levels 3-5 and 6-7 are bonus levels.

Lynx Tips


A.P.B.:--Level skip: Hold Option 1 + Option 2 and run into a donut or through the Donut shop. 
Your quota will be completed, and you may start the next level from the station. 
*Level 99: Complete the quota, then hold Option 1 + Option 2 at Officer Bob's parking space. 
Game play will resume at level 99 with random quotas each time it is completed. 
*Fast refuel:Locate the double gasoline pumps on Highway 12. Park exactly between both 
pumps and refuel at double the normal rate. 

Awesome Golf:--Hole-in-one: Enter LANDLORD as a name. Press Option 2 to tee off, then press Option 2 again when the ball is in flight.

Basketbrawl:--Enter MJ23 as a password. A player with Michael Jordan's attributes will be your partner

Batman Returns:Cheat mode: Press Up(8), Down(12), Left(15), Right(19), Option 1(27), A at the title screen when the Batman logo appears. The following cheat functions are now available. Level skip---Pause game play and press Option 1. Invincibility---Pause game play and press Option 2. Note: You may still lose a life by falling.

Chip's Challenge:--Mandelbrot generator: Enter MAND as a password. A Mandelbrot fractal will begin forming. Do not press any buttons until the fractal has completed.

Electrocop:Level select: Disable the sound at the title screen. Hold Up/Left and repeatedly tap A + B until "Level 1" appears in the place of the "Now Teleporing To Level 1" text. Use the D-pad to select a new starting level.

Gates Of Zendocon:Final level:Enter ZETA as a password.

Gauntlet:Level select: Select a character, begin the game, but do not move from the starting location. Press Option 1 to jump to level 5. Pressing Option 1 additional times will start five more levels into the game, with a maximum starting level of level 20.

KLAX:Level skip: Create a "Big X" on level 6 to jump to level 51 with a 60,000 point bonus. Create a "Big X" on level 11 to jump to level 56 with a 60,000 point bonus.

Ms. PacMan:Five extra lives: Pause game play, press Option 1, B(2), A(2), Option 1 and resume game play. Note: This code may only be enabled one time per game. Level skip: Pause game play and press Option 1, B(3), Option 1 and resume game play. Press Option 1 to jump to the next level. Unlimited lightning bolts: Pause game play, press Option 1, A, Option 1, and resume game play. Repeat this code as needed. Instant lightning bolt: Pause game play, hold Option 1, press A, B, A, the release Option 1. Press Option 1, B to display and activate the lightning bolt.

Pac-Land:Extra lives: Achieve the highest score and enter 330NE as a name on the high score screen. Ten extra lives will be available for game play.

Rampage:Level select: Select a character, then press Pause(2) at the character selection screen. Hold Option 1 and press the D-pad at the "Headlines" screen to select a level.

Shanghai:View ending sequence: Press Pause, then hold Option 1 + Option 2 + B + Up/Right at the high score screen.