But not so fast, Chip! Keep your sweaty digits off that Bit Busters T-shirt. Before you can become a card-carrying Bit Buster, your'll have to do some heavy interfacing with a few interesting puzzles. Melinda will monitor your progress as you enter and work your way through 144 levels of challenging maze-like paths and puzzles. And once you accept the challenge, you can't escape. Monsters, traps, and the ticking of the clock all conspire to delete you before you complete each level.
You must ram blocks of soil together to create bridges over water traps, or use them as buffers against cherry bombs. Invisible partitions will impede your progress. Colored keys will open doors that lead to other keys that will open still more doors! To make it through, you must keep puzzle sequences stored in your memory.
Most levels have a specific number of... chips that you must collect before you can progress to the next level. And sometimes you must snatch those chips from under the very noses of deadly bugs who are just aching to take a byte out of you!
Well, Chip, are you still up for the challenge? You just can't get that Bit Busters T-shirt out of your system, can you? OK buddy, make tracks for level one of Chip's Challenge!
Follow the steps below to start the game:
Warning: Do not touch the game card connector pins. Do not expose the contacts to static or extreme heat. Do not bend, crush, or attempt to clean the game card.
Note: Each levels four character code is displayed when you enter that level.
The puzzles start out easy. You will wander your way through mazes, collect keys to open doors, use teleport squares to move from place to place, and other simple tasks. But the puzzles become progressively more difficult. You will need to quickly assemble webs of bridges to reach your goals, pay attention to subtle hidden clues, and figure out, memorize, and execute complex series of actions.
If that wasn't tough enough, each level contains challenges Such as obstacles, traps, and monsters. And on some levels you must race against the clock to solve the puzzle before your time runs out.
You get several tries to solve each puzzle, then you are given the option to skip to the next level. But Bit Busters don't give up easily! You can hang in there and keep trying until you solve the puzzle.
The first eight levels are lesson levels. These levels introduce you to most puzzle components and give you a chance to get comfortable with the game's basic concepts. A question mark appears next to Chip at the beginning of each of the lesson levels. Move Chip over the question mark to receive information about the level. For more detailed information about the obstacles and special items you can find, see Items.
Use joypad to move Chip forward, backward, left and right. Chip cannot move diagonally.
Useful items such as keys and shields must be picked up and added to Chip's inventory. To pick up items, move Chip over the item.
The item will disappear from the action window and an icon representing the item will appear in the inventory section of the information window.
Most levels have a specific number of Chips that you must collect as part of the puzzlers solution before you can pass through the chip socket and progress to the next level. When you first enter each level, the number of chips you must collect for that level appears under CHIPS LEFT in the Information window. On these levels you must solve parts of the Puzzle to gain access to the chips.
On some levels the CHIPS LEFT indicator is set to zero when you enter the level. This means that you do not have to collect any chips to solve the puzzle.
When you solve a puzzle level, a congratulatory message appears on the screen. Press A to continue to the next level.
[ Image missing. ]
The window to the right of the Action window is the Information window. The following information displays in the Information window:
LEVEL shows the level number you are currently playing.
TIME gives the number of seconds remaining for you to solve the puzzle.
CHIPS LEFT lets you know how many Chips you still need to find on the current level.
The Inventory Box displays icons of all the items you have picked up and have not yet used.
DOORS are opened by keys of the same color as the door. once the colored door is opened it stays open.
CHIPS enable you to pass each levels Chip socket. Most levels have a required number of chips you must collect to pass through the chip socket and progress to the next level.
EXIT SQUARES are flashing blue squares found on every level. Step on an exit square to proceed to the next level. Exit squares are usually blocked by chip sockets.
DIRT BLOCKS can be linked together to form bridges over water, pushed against a bomb to explode the bomb harmlessly, and used as blocks against monsters, deadly lightning balls, and other moving obstacles.
You can only move one brown dirt block at a time. If you place a dirt block to make a bridge over water, you must tamp down the dirt to turn it into a regular floor square To do this, step on the block after pushing it into the water.
Note: You may find things hidden under some dirt blocks. Sometimes the things you find are valuable, like chips. But you may find that the block was covering something unpleasant, such as a fire trap.
TRIP BUTTONS are linked to toggle blocks, clone machines, and other obstacles. A trip buttons color matches the color of the linked trap or obstacle stepping onto a trip button square triggers the finked item. For example, moving Chip over a green trip button square will open (or close) all linked green toggle blocks. or moving over a red trip button square will cause a red linked clone machine to begin releasing fireballs. Duck, Chip!
MAGNETS neutralize the effect of force floor traps. With a magnet in his inventory, Chip can walk over a force floor the same way he would walk over a normal floor.
FIRE SHIELDS neutralize fire. With a fire shield in his inventory, Chip can walk through fire without suffering a major meltdown.
WATER SHIELDS allow Chip to walk on water.
CLEATS allow Chip to travel over ice traps without slipping. With cleats in his inventory, Chip can walk over ice the same way he would walk over a normal floor.
Note: Magnets, fire shields, water shields and cleats stay in inventory. they do not disappear after they are used.
FORCE FLOOR TRAPS propel you with lightning speed from one area to another without allowing you to stop. sometimes you can use this force to propel you to a desired location, but most of the time you will need to collect a magnet to neutralize the effect of the force floor.
FIRE TRAPS are impassable bonfires laid out to block your progress. Use a fire shield to walk through fire traps.
WATER TRAPS can be crossed in two ways. Either build a bridge of dirt blocks or have a water shield in your inventory.
ICE TRAPS are slippery obstacles that make Chip slide right past his goal. Chip needs cleats to be able to walk over ice traps.
MONSTERS want to destroy Chip. They think he's a dweeb and will show no mercy. one touch from a monster and your cash in your chips.
TANKS block the way through crucial paths in some levels. Tanks are always linked to trip buttons, so the way around tanks is to activate the correct trip button to move them out of your way.
THIEVES steal tools such as water shields and cleats. Touching a thief wipes your inventory of all items. Make sure you use the tools you need to collect chips before trying to pass by a thief.
TELEPORT SQUARES move you to another location in the level. Some of them teleport you in the direction you are facing when you step on them. Others teleport you in random directions. Chip may step on one of these and suddenly get the feeling he isn't in Kansas anymore.
TOGGLE BLOCKS are outlined in broken colored lines. The blocks can be solid or transparent. When the toggle block is solid, Chip cannot pass through. These blocks are linked to trip buttons. When Chip activates a trip button, the toggle blocks linked to that button will toggle to the other state (solid or transparent).
CHIP SOCKETS are special obstacles found in most levels. You must pass through a chip socket to reach the next level, but only after you have collected the required number of chips for that level.
CLONE MACHINES crank out fireballs, dirt blocks, and other items. Most clone machines are linked to trip buttons. If you need a dirt block, activate the linked trip button and the clone machine will produce one. If you want to stop the fireballs activate the linked trip button. Hopefully, the deadly barrage will stop!
BLUE BLOCKS can be real walls or just an illusion. To figure out which a particular block is, try to pass through. If it is an illusion, it will disappear. If it is real, Chip will break his nose!
ONE WAY WALLS turn into solid walls once you pass through them.
Leave yourself an escape route whenever possible.
Timing is crucial on some levels. Use PAUSE to give you time to think.
If the obvious solution doesn't work, try a bizarre solution. The bizarre will usually pull you through!
Monsters often move in predictable patterns.
Many objects affect monsters the same way they affect Chip.
If you get stuck in an impossible situation, use OPTION 1 to restart the level.
The number of level bonus points you earn depends on how many times you have to repeat the level before successfully completing the level. If you complete the level on the first try, you receive 500 points multiplied by the level number. Each time you die or have to restart, the number of points you receive decreases by 20%. The minimum level bonus is 500 points or 20% of the level number x 500, whichever is greater.
You receive 10 time bonus points for every second remaining on the timer when you complete a level. On levels that are not timed, the time bonus is always zero.