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I sat down with my Japanese SMS and had a great game of Chack'n Pop. I got the happy wedding, then made it to round 8 on the second playthrough. Final score 198700. Here's a screenshot of my score.

IMG_20110624_213417.jpg (767.56 KB)

Well done. :)

Out of all the versions I've seen of Chack 'n' Pop, the SG-1000 is definitely the best, even if just for the decent music compared to the others.

I'm either getting really good at this game, or I'm just lucky. 2 happy weddings this time! 349450 points

IMG_20110701_203300.jpg (630.26 KB)

Wow, nice scores! I'll have to take another shot at doing the same. There's something about this game that brings out my OCD side -- I want to get a perfect score on each board, which is basically impossible.

I'd love to see a TAS for this game, especially one in which the player gets the nonviolence bonus (not killing any monstas) in EVERY round. I tried doing a couple rounds that way with savestates, and it was brutal bordering on impossible.

For the first three rounds (after training stage), I get the no-kill bonus. (20000 points & a free life)

The first one, just head down to the cage, blow it up, then get yourself killed, and on your next life, just run to the exit. It's possible to finish this round without dying and still get the bonus (I've done it before once or twice), but you have to get really lucky and the stars have to be in just the right alignment for the Monsta's to get out of your way.

The next round, same strategy: blow up the cages, hide in a safe spot and wait for an opening, then attempt to make your way to the exit. (with practice I can ace this level 1 out of 10 tries). If you die, just run for the exit on your next life, and you will get the bonus.

The third round is a little harder to get the bonus: head towards the cage in the middle of the screen, drop a bomb to remove the bricks in front of the cage, wait for the smoke to clear, then blow up the cage. Next, head to the cage at the lower left of the screen and blow it up. It's pretty much impossible to get the bonus on this stage without dying, so just kill yourself after the hearts are freed. On your next life, drop down to the middle left side of the screen and head to the destructable bricks. Drop your bomb in the little spot in the bricks (to avoid hitting the egg), then dodge the blast, run through the opening to the other side of the screen and head to the exit. (if you try the path through the midle of the screen, the eggs will hatch and kill you, so you must go through the side if you want the bonus)

After that, it seems somewhat impossible to get the 20k & free life bonus (too many Monsta's), but I'd like to be proven wrong.

For a challenge, see if you can break all the water bottles in the first water stage. It's very tricky, but completely possible. :)

Finally got my legit win over this one! (Pic attached -- emulation screenshot, but that's how I played it.) Score was somewhere around 150k, don't remember exactly.

Round 12 is the huge bottleneck -- I still don't have a good strategy to get through it without losing a life. But once I made it to Round 14 without benefit of extra life drops along the way, I knew victory was coming soon. I choked the first time I got to 14, but the second or third time I pulled it off with no trouble.

Actually it was psychologically easier to reach Rounds 12-14 without getting any extra life drops, since it put more pressure on me if I reached Round 12 with 3-4 Chack'ns instead of the usual two, and I choked a few times. I played better when I had no benefit of RNG and it was just another run.

I got the pacifist bonus a few times in Rounds 2 and 3, though without benefit of re-reading Raccoon Lad's wise counsel -- I just rolled my own strats, based on baiting the Monstas as best I could. Like Raccoon Lad, about 10% of the time it panned out.

I know the Super Heart drops follow pi for their pattern, but I'm not sure what pattern the Golden Apples (or whatever you call the fruits that give you bonus lives) follow. Any ideas or info?

I think this game is a bit too stingy with the extra lives, personally, and I also think it overdoes it with "dead man walking" scenarios where you can no longer beat the level without dying because you blew up the wrong block. In Level 5 you're screwed if you don't blow up the water bottles in the right order, and in Level 11 you literally can't beat the level if you get hit with a blue apple (Bad Apple?) that slows you down.

Chack'n Pop SG-1000 win.gif (7.73 KB)

From my observations, the extra lives seem to appear randomly instead of the super heart. I'm not sure why or what exactly needs to be done to trigger it, but whenever the golden apple appears it's often when I'm expecting to get a super heart.
I think I once managed to get a golden apple on the training stage. Pure dumb luck.

And for the blue apples, a good practice is to drop a bomb on it to be safe.

Raccoon Lad wrote

From my observations, the extra lives seem to appear randomly instead of the super heart. I'm not sure why or what exactly needs to be done to trigger it, but whenever the golden apple appears it's often when I'm expecting to get a super heart.
I think I once managed to get a golden apple on the training stage. Pure dumb luck.

Interesting idea -- you may be right. And yes, I got a golden apple on the training stage at least once, maybe twice!

Raccoon Lad wrote

And for the blue apples, a good practice is to drop a bomb on it to be safe.

I do the same thing, but it's irritating when you're tight on time and have to wait out the bomb -- or, worse, are faced to wait for a moving platform to complete another cycle. I think the blue apple slowdown should have been time-limited, rather than persisting for the entire life/level.

Author	Message
Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 495 Location: El Cerrito, CA	Chack'n Pop high score! Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:16 pm
	I sat down with my Japanese SMS and had a great game of Chack'n Pop. I got the happy wedding, then made it to round 8 on the second playthrough. Final score 198700. Here's a screenshot of my score. IMG_20110624_213417.jpg (767.56 KB)

gregglesaurus Joined: 15 May 2006 Posts: 53 Location: Sydney, Australia	Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:35 pm
	Well done. :) Out of all the versions I've seen of Chack 'n' Pop, the SG-1000 is definitely the best, even if just for the decent music compared to the others.

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 495 Location: El Cerrito, CA	Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 4:14 am
	I'm either getting really good at this game, or I'm just lucky. 2 happy weddings this time! 349450 points IMG_20110701_203300.jpg (630.26 KB)

goldenband Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 127 Location: New York	Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:26 pm
	Wow, nice scores! I'll have to take another shot at doing the same. There's something about this game that brings out my OCD side -- I want to get a perfect score on each board, which is basically impossible. I'd love to see a TAS for this game, especially one in which the player gets the nonviolence bonus (not killing any monstas) in EVERY round. I tried doing a couple rounds that way with savestates, and it was brutal bordering on impossible.

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 495 Location: El Cerrito, CA	Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 4:24 pm
	For the first three rounds (after training stage), I get the no-kill bonus. (20000 points & a free life) The first one, just head down to the cage, blow it up, then get yourself killed, and on your next life, just run to the exit. It's possible to finish this round without dying and still get the bonus (I've done it before once or twice), but you have to get really lucky and the stars have to be in just the right alignment for the Monsta's to get out of your way. The next round, same strategy: blow up the cages, hide in a safe spot and wait for an opening, then attempt to make your way to the exit. (with practice I can ace this level 1 out of 10 tries). If you die, just run for the exit on your next life, and you will get the bonus. The third round is a little harder to get the bonus: head towards the cage in the middle of the screen, drop a bomb to remove the bricks in front of the cage, wait for the smoke to clear, then blow up the cage. Next, head to the cage at the lower left of the screen and blow it up. It's pretty much impossible to get the bonus on this stage without dying, so just kill yourself after the hearts are freed. On your next life, drop down to the middle left side of the screen and head to the destructable bricks. Drop your bomb in the little spot in the bricks (to avoid hitting the egg), then dodge the blast, run through the opening to the other side of the screen and head to the exit. (if you try the path through the midle of the screen, the eggs will hatch and kill you, so you must go through the side if you want the bonus) After that, it seems somewhat impossible to get the 20k & free life bonus (too many Monsta's), but I'd like to be proven wrong. For a challenge, see if you can break all the water bottles in the first water stage. It's very tricky, but completely possible. :)

goldenband Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 127 Location: New York	Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2020 4:38 pm
	Finally got my legit win over this one! (Pic attached -- emulation screenshot, but that's how I played it.) Score was somewhere around 150k, don't remember exactly. Round 12 is the huge bottleneck -- I still don't have a good strategy to get through it without losing a life. But once I made it to Round 14 without benefit of extra life drops along the way, I knew victory was coming soon. I choked the first time I got to 14, but the second or third time I pulled it off with no trouble. Actually it was psychologically easier to reach Rounds 12-14 without getting any extra life drops, since it put more pressure on me if I reached Round 12 with 3-4 Chack'ns instead of the usual two, and I choked a few times. I played better when I had no benefit of RNG and it was just another run. I got the pacifist bonus a few times in Rounds 2 and 3, though without benefit of re-reading Raccoon Lad's wise counsel -- I just rolled my own strats, based on baiting the Monstas as best I could. Like Raccoon Lad, about 10% of the time it panned out. I know the Super Heart drops follow pi for their pattern, but I'm not sure what pattern the Golden Apples (or whatever you call the fruits that give you bonus lives) follow. Any ideas or info? I think this game is a bit too stingy with the extra lives, personally, and I also think it overdoes it with "dead man walking" scenarios where you can no longer beat the level without dying because you blew up the wrong block. In Level 5 you're screwed if you don't blow up the water bottles in the right order, and in Level 11 you literally can't beat the level if you get hit with a blue apple (Bad Apple?) that slows you down. Chack'n Pop SG-1000 win.gif (7.73 KB)

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 495 Location: El Cerrito, CA	Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:20 am
	From my observations, the extra lives seem to appear randomly instead of the super heart. I'm not sure why or what exactly needs to be done to trigger it, but whenever the golden apple appears it's often when I'm expecting to get a super heart. I think I once managed to get a golden apple on the training stage. Pure dumb luck. And for the blue apples, a good practice is to drop a bomb on it to be safe.

goldenband Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 127 Location: New York	Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:45 am
	Raccoon Lad wrote From my observations, the extra lives seem to appear randomly instead of the super heart. I'm not sure why or what exactly needs to be done to trigger it, but whenever the golden apple appears it's often when I'm expecting to get a super heart. I think I once managed to get a golden apple on the training stage. Pure dumb luck. Interesting idea -- you may be right. And yes, I got a golden apple on the training stage at least once, maybe twice! Raccoon Lad wrote And for the blue apples, a good practice is to drop a bomb on it to be safe. I do the same thing, but it's irritating when you're tight on time and have to wait out the bomb -- or, worse, are faced to wait for a moving platform to complete another cycle. I think the blue apple slowdown should have been time-limited, rather than persisting for the entire life/level.

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