Lesson 1
Legendary-ish puzzler Chip’s Challenge is finally getting ported to the SNES and Genesis by way of Retro Room Games. It seems a little late. The game was first released on the Atari Lynx in 1989, a handheld that was about the size of an aircraft carrier. It would have been a brillo budget release on consoles back in the ‘90s, but I guess it’s better late than never.
I actually first experienced Chip’s Challenge back on my Intel 486 powered Windows 3.1 rig. We had The Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack which got a lot of time dumped into it because what else was I going to play on my new whiz-bang PC? Simgolf, I guess, but not that Simgolf.
Most recently, Chip’s Challenge was re-released on Steam in 2015, along with the previously unpublished Chip’s Challenge 2. It would have been a nice bonus to have both games on cart, but it’s a small operation putting this out. With just Chip’s Challenge, you get 148 puzzles which takes about an eternity to topple on its own. Luckily, there’s a password system, so you can pick up where you left off on the Commodore 64.
Largely a block-pushing puzzler, Chip’s Challenge requires you to carefully find your way around the levels and collect all the microchips. Power-ups allow you to walk on fire or swim through water. It gets to be extremely difficult, as there are plenty of ways to screw up. This version includes a level skip, however, but you’re just cheating yourself by giving up.
Chip’s Challenge will be available in both PAL and NTSC formats on the SNES and Sega Genesis (Mega Drive). You can get it with the box and instructions or just the cartridge alone, which I’m now going to refer to as “à la cart.” Pre-orders are now open, but I see no word on a window in which it will ship. It’s $49.99 to get the box and instructions with it and $24.99 à la cart.