Basketball!

If you stand under the basket (either one) and bounce the ball into the bottom corner juuuust so, the ball will come out from the top of the screen and proceed to bounce like it's rocket propelled or something! (Submitted by Justin)

Clay Pigeon!

To obtain a new stock of plates (to go for the next level), you should destroy at least 8 of the 10 initial plates. If you don't, the following trick will allow you to kill the eagle and to win points. After the last plate, the eagle will come to take you. Before the eagle appears on the screen, shoot in any direction. The eagle will die (probably of fright); you will win 100 points and you will beat your foot for the rest of your life. (Submitted by Rafael Cardoso)

Comando Noturno!

The manual says that if you kill your friends the game will be over, but this doesn't happen. If you kill your friends, you'll receive points and the game will continue. After destroying a friend, if you're traveling at a speed higher than Mach 3.0, you'll land automatically. If your speed is less than Mach 3.0, you need to press any numerical key to land. After landing, you will receive more fuel and weapons. The game will restart, and you won't lose your points. (Submitted by Rafael Cardoso)

The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt

Unlisted Stock: Here's a true programming glitch. Enter a stock name into one of your accounts, and wait for the price to be displayed. Do not press ENTER yet. Scroll to another account, and the stock and price you just entered will be displayed. Press CLEAR to clear this account. Then scroll back to the account where you first entered the stock. It will be blank except for the price, which will be the same as the stock you entered. Enter a number of shares to purchase and press ENTER. You will end up with shares of an unlisted stock wth a garbled name that looks something like this: BM.Y.. The value of BM.Y. is equal to IBM's, but the game thinks you purchased it at the value of the first stock you typed in. So, if the purchase price of BM.Y. is a lot lower than IBM's, you make free profit! NOTE: If the stock you used is bankrupt, you won't get any money for selling it.

Keep Selling: Want to make cash fast? This trick won't help you if you're playing an actual game, but if you have ever wanted to "buy low and sell high," this is for you. First, you need to wait until at least one stock goes bankrupt (falls to a worth of 00). Buy a lot (and I mean a lot) of the bankrupt stock. By this time, other stocks should be very low as well. When a positive News Flash breaks, such as the one about electronic foot massagers, buy a lot of shares of a very low-value stock (but not a bankrupt one). Then, start selling off your shares of bankrupt stock. You won't make or lose any money, but while you're keeping the game busy by selling, the News Flash won't change! Your other stock will continue to rise higher and higher, all the way up to 99. Then sell it and watch the bucks roll in!

Invaders from Hyperspace!

If you hit the ON/OFF button real quickly during a game (this may not be good for your console) you can sometimes make the planets spiral inward to the center planet and then outward off the screen and eventually back. This adds an interesting variation when the UFOs can't see you! (Submitted by Michael Cronis)

K.C. Munchkin!

In Mazes 3 or 8 (they're both the same except Maze 8 is invisible), if you go into one particular spot (shown in screenshot), the ghosts can't get you! This is useful if you need to use the bathroom or something during a game. (Submitted by Justin)

K.C.'s Krazy Chase!

This is a cheat often used in tournaments. Choose maze #0. Take K.C. into the box near where the Dratapillar appears. Wait until it passes under K.C. and eat its part near the head, and then the rest of the body. Do it in all the levels. It's very useful when the game goes very fast, but NEVER do this cheat when the Dratapillar eats a tree before passing under K.C.; it will catch you. With this cheat you can get lots of points in a short period of time. (Submitted by Marcelo Ribeiro)

Killer Bees!

Slow It Down: If you hold down '1' and hit Reset, the game plays at half-speed.

Secret Message: Also, if you press '?' and Reset, 'BEES BY ROSHA' is displayed at the top of the screen. See Odyssey Oddities for more information. (Submitted by Jason Gohlke, who found it on http://www.videopac.com when it was still online)

Labyrinth Game

This is without a doubt one of the worst programming glitches ever to appear in a video game. The object of this Videopac release is to maneuver your cursor through a maze to the right side of the screen. To get there fast, just push your cursor against the top of the maze. You'll pass right through the wall, actually moving outside of the maze, and can move over to the right side of the screen at your leisure. Better yet, just go to the closer left side of the screen, and you'll have completed the maze in almost no time!

Monkeyshines!

Slide and Score: You can program a maze (or sometimes it happens naturally) that has almost no horizontal bars on a side of the screen. If you go to the top and tag a monkey against the wall diagonally down and just hold the button down, you can keep retagging the monkey faster and faster until you reach the bottom and then a crunching, cutting sound occurs and your score can get up to like 99 or something if you're good. You can do this on the ground too. (Submitted by Michael Cronis)

Tag and Repeat: This technique works best in a 1-player game. Program the bars so that only these bars exist: M3, M4, M5, M6, O2, O7, N1, N8, K2, K7, E3, E6, Y4, and Y5. Grab one monkey at a time (maybe two early on) and bring it with you to where you are standing right over the five. Throw the monkey at an angle to the left and immediately start jumping up to the right side of the board. Always move and stay to the opposite side of the red monkey. Once the monkey turns back to yellow, grab another one and start all over again. You can turn the score over and make the game last as long as you want. (Submitted by Jon Hunter)

Pick Axe Pete!

The Key to Survival: If you have a Key, and are about to be run down by a boulder, make a jump toward the nearest door. If you reach the door, you'll survive even if the boulder hits you.

Stay on Top: The following technique was used a lot in tournaments. Choose mine #6. While you still have the pick in your hands, go to the highest floor and stay as near as possible to the left wall. Stay there, jumping straight up to avoid boulders, and wait until a key appears. Don't go after a key that is at the other side of the mine door!!! Wait for a key to appear near you. Get the key and carefully go to the door (remember to jump to reach the door!). You should be able to repeat this until you get at least 1000 points, because the left part of the highest floor will remain for a long time. (Submitted by Marcelo Ribeiro)

Power Lords

In Power Lords, there is an area you can hide in and be safe from both the volcanic rocks and from the rays of the serpent. See the screenshot diagram. (Submitted by Rafael Cardoso)

Q*bert

This only works on the first level (LEVEL 1), and only with the Brazilian version of the game. Press any key repeatedly or several keys in sequence. Random graphics will appear on the playfield and in the score of the game. You can continue playing even with the scrambled graphics, which will remain in the high score area after a game over. There are several effects: colors, objects, animations, and so on... but if you overdo it and press keys indefinitely, eventually the game will crash. (Submitted by Luciano B B A Ferreira)

The Quest for the Rings

As a Warrior, you can often kill many orcs/firewraths in one fell swoop with your sword. If you do so, often you can make them all reappear in the same place and they're all a mess and can't move. Eviler still is that you can attack your opponent and he can often either get stuck in the mass or die there too. Ha ha. (Submitted by the diabolical Michael Cronis)

Showdown in 2100 A.D.!

This game has so many quirks that I've dedicated an entire page to it! Please check out the Showdown Spotlight Review, and make sure to shoot some androids while you're there.

Smithereens!

Warning: This trick is easy to do but could ruin your enjoyment of the game! Click to Reveal

Soccer!

If you go to goal post to your right as you are looking at the screen, go underneath the bottom goal post along the edge of the screen, then continue kicking the ball up (as if it was hitting the goal post), and it will eventually go in, scoring an easy goal. (Submitted by Mark Broxterman)

Spin-Out!

You can sometimes crash on the top part of the complicated track such that you crash repeatedly and are forced outside the track, so that you can drive off the screen to the other side. (Submitted by Michael Cronis)

Nimble Numbers Ned

Press the "?" key on the "Which drill?" screen to see this hidden message from the programmer: "Nimble Numbers N.E.D, By RoSHa Hi Mom" Michael Worrall, who contributed this trick, figured it out all the way back in 1982! Sometimes it pays off to try pressing every key on the keyboard, just to see what happens. (Submitted by Michael Worrall)

Take the Money and Run!

There are many ways to cheat in this game. Most involve mastering this simple technique: Run into a vertical wall and hold the joystick toward it, so as to keep bouncing against the wall. While holding the joystick, push Up or Down quickly and let go of the joystick. If you timed it right, your man will start to bounce up or down against the wall by himself (if you pressed Up, he will move down, and vice versa). Now, while clinging to the wall, if your man comes into contact with a horizontal wall, he will pass right through it (up or down) and keep clinging to the vertical wall. If your man passes through the top or bottom of the screen, he will return to his starting position. Holding down the button will make your man bounce up or down faster. This is a great way to avoid the robots!

This technique has a unique application in mazes that have a vertical wall protruding up from the right side of the "cash box," as shown in the diagram.

The "cash box" is my name for the section at the bottom of the screen where the numbers count down. Bounce against the protruding wall from the left (that is, you should hold the joystick to the Right to run into it). Perform the technique described above – just make sure to press Up, so you'll start bouncing down. You'll pass through the top of the "cash box;" press Left when you clear the top wall and you'll walk into the box! While in the box you're completely safe from robots. You can walk into the countdown numbers, but be careful: Sometimes, walking through the numbers will cause you to lose money, as if you were tagged by one of the robots. But if you're in an income round and you've already got your white robot, walking through the numbers can sometimes cause you to "collect" the second robot as well, thereby keeping your opponent from getting it. Unfortunately, if you do "collect" the second robot, you don't get any additional income. To exit the box, press Down.

If a robot is chasing you in an area with few walls, you might be able to do this trick. Stand in such a way that the robot walks through your feet (your feet should be just about even with the robot's arm). Robots have to touch you near your midsection to get you, so he should just pass through your feet. If you're standing in the right place, the robot will run up and back toward your head, and pass through that too. You can avoid being tagged just by standing in the same place! (It's easy for your opponent to ruin this, but it sure looks funny!)

UFO!

This isn't really a cheat per se, but it's an interesting glitch. If you have a "light speed ship" come across the screen with guns blazing, you don't have to shoot at him to defend yourself. If you can rotate the dot that represents your gun so that it lies on the path between you and the light speed ship, his shots will throw sparks but not harm you. The CPU thinks you have fired and intercepted the incoming shot. I have also found that, if the enemy ship is right on top of you, the feedback from his own shot can take him out. This saves vital time waiting for your gun to recycle. (Submitted by Jeff Sockwell)

War of Nerves!

You can summon your men up into the top left-hand corner, which when all jumbled in the score area can sometimes create a light-bar that shoots straight down, while kind of pulsing. If the enemy general goes in there, he oftentimes either gets stuck or gets pushed off the screen. (Submitted by Michael Cronis)

Do you have any strategies or game cheats for Odyssey² games? Send 'em to me!