Did I just discover an easter egg in Munch Man?

[The Mr. Video]

Hi, today I was diagnosing why one of my Slik Stiks won't work (a plug inside the stick was loose) using Munch Man as a test cartridge, I kept fiddling around with the joystick when I started hearing a short, wind chime like jingle coming from the TV speakers. I restarted the TI, booted in to Munch Man, and waited at the get ready screen for that jingle to sound again, and surely enough, I heard it again, I then restarted Munch Man one more time, this time with a stop watch with me, to see how long it takes for the jingle to sound, it sounds around every 1 minute and 30 seconds, and I figured out that after the jingle plays a couple of times you get booted back to the title screen. I tried looking this up but found nothing. Did I discover a new Easter egg in Munch Man?

[+save2600]

That jingle sound you're hearing (the baddies twitch in sync with it) is part of the game's attract mode. An old arcade trick to draw your attention to the game is all. Munchman happens to have instituted such a feature, so no... not an Easter egg.

[The Mr. Video]

That jingle sound you're hearing (the baddies twitch in sync with it) is part of the game's attract mode. An old arcade trick to draw your attention to the game is all. Munchman happens to have instituted such a feature, so no... not an Easter egg.

Ah, gotcha. I thought it was an Easter egg because there isn't really a reason for something like that to be in a home computer game. Thanks for clearing things up.

[Shift838]

If I was good enough to mimic the sound in XB I would probably use it for my Chat call on my BBS!

 

I always liked that sound on MunchMan.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Shift838

[Omega-TI]

If I was good enough to mimic the sound in XB I would probably use it for my Chat call on my BBS!

 

Do you have an old dot matrix printer hooked up to the BBS? If so, consider sending the printer a few ASCII 07's. You'll not need to keep the monitor on 24/7 for the speaker.

[globeron]

Some Munch Man software versions have the SHIFT 8-3-8 option (press the sequence during the intro screen)

then you can select different levels / no.. of Munch Mans, etc. More modules/or disk version have

this as well (there is somewhere a list). A kind of easter egg.

 

also note that there are 3x different Munch Man versions

(1x very old one, looks more like Pac-Man eating dots)

(1x most common one with the chains)

(1x MunchMan II with the 2x screens)

[unhuman]

I hate the chains. It's much easier to spot dots that need to be eaten vs. where chains must be laid.

[Retrospect]

I've played the 1981 prototype with the dots instead of chains and I think the maze is a little harder to get around, anyone else find this? or do you prefer it?

[globeron]

Some Munch Man software versions have the SHIFT 8-3-8 option (press the sequence during the intro screen)

then you can select different levels / no.. of Munch Mans, etc. More modules/or disk version have

this as well (there is somewhere a list). A kind of easter egg.

 

also note that there are 3x different Munch Man versions

(1x very old one, looks more like Pac-Man eating dots)

(1x most common one with the chains)

(1x MunchMan II with the 2x screens)

 

 

(normally I can edit my posts. but it seems after a while the edit option is gone)

 

Retrospect > I just checked the original one is also from 1981 (the prototype), I remember reading the article/history about it

because of the similarity with Pac-Man they changed the dots to chains. My feeling is that it plays the same, but I need to get

used to the maze structure.

 

Also I noticed that the bigeprom files (multicarts) have the prototype on it, but so far I see none has the one with the chains on it.

 

Last time I won the Munch Man gaming competition (when it started), but I read a TI magazine that posted scores and I saw one

the person had a higher score. If I can find the magazine will post it in the gaming competition.

 

Edit > found it in Yesterdays News Vol 1 to 3:

 

 

I love Munch Man, one of the best games for the TI and played it a lot as a kid (and apparently as a parent as well)

 

PS. If you ever want to do a standalone competition on 1x PC e.g. with wireless controllers

as Munch Man is a 1x player game then do the following with Classic 99

Edited May 7, 2017 by globeron

[senior_falcon]

I've played the 1981 prototype with the dots instead of chains and I think the maze is a little harder to get around, anyone else find this? or do you prefer it?

Once you get used to the maze the one with the dots is easier. In fact, with the right strategy (and good reflexes) you can play forever. Here's how: The hoonos get more predictable as the level increases. At some point they will flee to the opposite corner when you eat a power dot and they stay in that corner as long as you are energized. So at the beginning of a level you pick a corner and eat as much as you can. When the hoonos get too close eat the power dot which drives the hoonos to the opposite corner. Do not eat any hoonos or this strategy does not work. Finish clearing out the corner, then move on to the adjacent corner and repeat. I was able to play all 60 levels and had more munchmen than when I started. You have to find an efficient pattern for clearing out the corners.

 

This does not work with the released version. The hoonos go the the opposite corner but because the tunnels are closer to the corners they will sometimes find a tunnel, go through it and then they are too close when your energy wears off.