Q*BERT

If you time it carefully, you can jump right through Coily or a red ball (video #1).  Jump towards the square something is on just as it's about to move towards you (this is easiest just as Coily coils to spring). Once you get the timing down, it actually becomes difficult to die.

Get the green ball and stand on top of Coily.  When the effect of the green ball wears off, you’ll hear a different sound effect when you die!  {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: If you jump off the top of the pyramid (to the right) when being closely chased by Coily, you will not lose a life! With this trick you can roll the score counter (at 100k) without ever leaving the first pyramid (video #2). {Tom E. Swingle}

BUG: When jumping across the “chasm” that runs down through the pyramid, notice that Q*bert will “jump” a bit in that area. {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: If you jump to where a disc either once was, or any spot where one is known to appear, as you fall you’ll pass “behind” it (picture #1).  {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: When jumping off either the bottom left or right corner cube (away from the pyramid), Q*bert will wrap-around the screen as he falls (picture #2).  {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: If you lose your last Q*bert by jumping off the pyramid, he’ll disappear as he starts to fall.  {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: When jumping off some of the bottom-row cubes, a “piece” of Q*bert will be left behind (at the very bottom of the screen) for a few seconds. {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: When a game ends, sometimes a tune plays immediately afterwards (occasionally the screen changes color first) and sometimes it doesn’t!  {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: Jumping down off the pyramid (in the 3 center spaces) will cause the very top pixel of your head to remain.  {Scott Stilphen}

BUG: Glitched pyramid - University of Freiburg AI researchers Patryk Chrabaszcz, Ilya Loshchilov, and Frank Hutter found a pattern that allows for a glitch where you can stay on a pyramid (after completing it) and roll the score (article and video).  However, repeating the exact sequence of moves (on either a real cartridge + system or the Stella emulator) triggers a red Coily to appear, at which point the ‘empty’ pyramid round ends and the next round begins normally (picture #3 and video #3). The difference between them is a slight pause before making the first jump after completing the round (video #4). In order to move higher up the pyramid, you need to jump when the square you’re on is blue.  It's also possible to leave the glitched pyramid and return to playing the game normally, by jumping on the remaining disc in the lower-left (video #5).  When Q*bert reaches the top, a black Coily appears and garbled graphics appear around the top of the pyramid (picture #4), at which point the round resets.  {Patryk Chrabaszcz, Ilya Loshchilov, Frank Hutter, Scott Stilphen, Glen Sampson}

BUG: The same University of Freiburg AI researchers found another glitch (video #6) that’s similar to the one where you jump off the top of the pyramid with Coily close behind, and you won’t lose a life, except theirs requires jumping off to the left from the left block from the top.  {Patryk Chrabaszcz, Ilya Loshchilov, and Frank Hutter}

 

 

 

 

 


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