There are 2 endings to the original Chip's Challenge. One ending is after Level 144, the other after Level 149. During normal game play, the last 5 levels of the game can't be accessed. To access the last 5 levels, select the "Go To..." option in the "Level" menu, and enter "TONY" in the password entry. Level 145 in the Windows version of the game was created to thank the team that converted the game to be Windows-compatible. The password "TONY" is thought to be a nod to Tony Kreuger, the supervisor of the Windows version of the game.
At Levels 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, and 140, there are part-completion messages that appear after the level is solved. These messages serve no purpose, except to advance the storyline of the game.
The game is not capable of stacking three "transparent" objects on the same tile. Transparent tiles include Chip, keys, boots, and all monsters. The game returns different errors depending on the combination of tiles stacked, but all of them cause some form of a General Protection Fault. A General Protection Fault keeps the program from crashing your computer by limiting memory overflow and forcing the game to close.
The first eight levels in Chip's Challenge serve as training levels, showing you the basics of the game. They all have short hints explaining what the level covers. After Level 8 are the real levels of the game, starting at Level 9: "NUTS AND BOLTS." After the first 8 levels, hints are quite sparsely distributed.
There is a total number of 2,048 usable tiles in any level (a 32 x 32 grid with 2 layers), and a total of 112 types of tiles in the Windows version of Chip's Challenge. However, some of these tiles have no use in the game. These tiles include a "drowning Chip" tile, a "burned Chip" tile, and two types of unusable Exit Squares used in the ending animation. There are also 4 tiles that are not used, but the purose of them is unknown.
One is labeled "20" in the CCTools editor, and is labeled "combination" in the ChipEdit editor. This tile acts like a wall in the game, and changes its look during gameplay to match the last non-floor tile Chip stepped on. The other tiles are called "36", "37", and "38" in the CCTools editor, and their purposes, if any, are unknown.
David Stolp ("pie guy") has invented a program to make the "38" tile usable in Chip's Challenge. Counting from the top left tile and going down, the tile is the 56th tile. The tile becomes what is called an "ice block" and has the same characteristics as a block from the unreleased Chip's Challenge 2. The "ice block," when pushed onto fire, will turn the fire into water, and water into ice. Also, more than one "ice block" can be pushed at a time, tanks and teeth monsters can push "ice blocks," and "ice blocks" turn dirt into mormal floor when pushed onto it. When I tested the patch, I wasn't able to make a normal clone machine connection, but I was able to put one on a cloning machine, and it acted how a normal block wound if it was put on a cloning machine. I could push an "ice block" away from the cloning machine by pushing against the clone machine in the oppoiste direction, and the space created between the "ice block" and the clone was filled by another block. Also, I could push through the "ice blocks" to clone another block.
Bear traps are a little tricky to program perfectly, and if you want them to work the way you want them to, every single time, you have to use a "directing" monster. In the level editors, you have to make a monster going in the same direction as the monster in the trap. The VERY next monster in the monster list should be the monster in the trap. If you're using CCTools, then you can adjust the order of monsters until the directional monster is just before the monster in the trap. In the original CHIPS.DAT file, these glitches happen because the monster are listed in order of left to right, top to bottom.
In the original CHIPS.DAT file, all of the traps in Level 70: "NIGHTMARE" are connected, but the monster order forces some of the monsters to exit out of the trap in the wrong direction. For example, when the first bug is released from the trap, it could follow Chip or simply move in a circle and get stuck in the trap again. If it does get stuck in the trap, it is because the teeth monster at the beginning of the level is facing in the appropriate direction for the bug to do so. The monsters in the bear trap will exit in the direction that the "directing" monster is facing when the trap is opened. The same thing happens in Level 49: "PROBLEMS."
Fortunately, this only happens with bugs, paramecia, and teeth monsters. Fireballs, gliders, pink balls, and walkers will exit in their specified direction. Blobs will exit in a random direction.
Two versions of Level 88: "SPIRALS" exist. One version contains an east thin wall at square (29, 13). The other version does not. There is much debate over whether or not the level is solvable with the wall there. Any levelset with the wall at (29, 13) is considered corrupted, and it appears that corrupted files are 108,569 bytes long whereas non-corrupted files are 108,576 bytes long. Ruben Spaans has commented that boith the Lynx and Commodore 64 versions of the game contain the wall.
In the original version of the game, walkers are not as aggressive as in the Windows version. I am not sure how theie behavior differs, but I remember reading somewhere online that walkers can get stuck more easily in the original version of the game. The corridor created by the east wall can get the walkers stuck, and allow Chip to solve the level more easily in the original version. In the Windows version, the walkers do not get stuck, and is has been theorized that the programmers ran too few checks before releasing the game.
Clone buttons have problems as well, but they don't have all of the problems that bear traps have. They can be managed a little more easily, and they are only dependent on the direction the "directing" monster is facing at the beginning of the level. Because of this, paramecia, bugs, and teeth monsters can be used as "directing" mosters for clone machines.
Usually, drectional blocks are used on clone machines, but in the Windows version of the game, a normal block can be placed in a clone machine. If a normal block is placed in a clone machine, then clone buttons will have no effect. But if Chip presses the clone machine from any direction, then a block will be cloned in the opposite direction of where Chip pushes.
On my list of top glitches:
This level was automatically created when I imported a .DAT files of a differemt format into ChipEdit.
This is the color tileset that is used in Chip's Challenge. On the left are the main 112 tiles used in the game. The 48 tiles with the white background are "transparent" objects. THese are used when the object is on top of something else. (Writer's note: Somtimes, a glitch in the game, such as three objects stacked on top of each other, will cause these tiles to appear with their simple white background instead of the floor.) The black-and-white tiles are used soley for "shadowing" to enforce the look of being on top of someting else.
Here is a list containg links to other Chip's Challenge sites.
Richard Field's Chip's Challenge Notes, which has solutions, high scores, links to other pages, and much more.
Jimmy Vermeer's Chip's Challenge Page. There is a link to this page of Richard Field's page.
The Chip's Challenge Corridor. This site has avi solutions to all 149 original levels and most of the 149 CCLP2 levels.
The Chip's Challenge Yahoo! group, where Chip's Challenge fans post home-made levels. This link will take you directly to the Files page, and you have to be a member of the Chip's Challenge group to access the files.
Mike L's Chip's Challenge Site. Not only does this site have solution videos and maps, but it also has fan-made levelsets, utilities, and several other links.
Chris E. Chip's Challenge Page, which seems to be the only web site where you can download Chip's Workshop.
Alice Voith's Chip's Challenge site. This site hasn't been updated since 1999, but it contains several tips to getting faster, including how to step off of the first force field square.
There are many Chip's Challenge pages out there, and this list barely starts to cover them. Most of them can be found by simply searching through Google.
