Thin Ice - highest level possible?

[TeddyBear89]

I was in the zone last night playing this and managed to get to level 16 (you know......16 igloos)

 

Is it even possible to get to the 21st igloo? Is there any special type of graphic acknowledging such a feat? Or does it just reflect one single igloo as the 21st level? Work with me here, I still want to believe that there are numerous undiscovered Easter eggs in these old game cartridges!

 

In these higher levels the seal is on you like a laser and those damn penguins are moving and twirling so fast that my hats off to anyone who can achieve igloo 17 and beyond.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

What was your actual score?

[TeddyBear89]

About 64,000. I am more fixated on how many levels I can complete than high score.

 

But it certainly is gratifying to sink the seal, a polar bear and a couple of penguins all in one swoop for big points.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

I haven't played it much, but I don't think I've made it past the first level. I only ask about score cause I checked to see who had the highest score I could find:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/204059-hsc-season-3-game-10-thin-ice/

 

https://www.twingalaxies.com/game/thin-ice/intellivision

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/252419-intellivision-hsc-season-7-game-6-thin-ice/

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/190012-season-2-game-14-thin-ice/

 

I didn't see levels listed, though. You should ask WispFollower.

[Ignorama]

440k? Simply amazing

[Troy_Whelan]

The igloos represent the screen you are on. So the game starts on igloo #1 or the 1st screen. Each completed screen adds an igloo. After you complete every 10th screen, the igloo images reset to 1. This repeats indefinitely even after the skill level has maxed out. I haven't competed on Twin Galaxies for years, but while competing I kept copies of all my submissions. I found my submission for 306,230 and captured the images to show how the igloo counts line up with completed screens. My score ended on the 35th screen, but the skill level maxed out well before that.

 

Troy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ignorama]

Never noticed the Igloos. Its like in Tropical Trouble. A bit dissapointing, that they do not show the progress, in TT the symbol changes the color if you completed 10 runs.

[TeddyBear89]

Thanks for this......and congrats on quite the score!

[fsuinnc]

I don't really know all the rules of the game but I have never been able to get past the first screen. It looks pretty fun and seems similar to Qix (I think) I just can't seem to get the hang of it. The damn seal gets me right away.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Lol, one of these days I plan to read the manual

[+cmart604]

Lol, one of these days I plan to read the manual

Sure you do.

[WispFollower]

Oh man, I love this game so much. It has been so long since I have played. Perhaps it's time to dust off the old skates.

[First Spear]

The Intellivisionaries episode on the game a while ago reignited my interest and playing on the game. However it didn’t help my skill. I never got past the 6th igloo or so.

[Zendocon]

On 12/22/2018 at 9:01 AM, TeddyBear89 said:

I was in the zone last night playing this and managed to get to level 16 (you know......16 igloos)

 

Is it even possible to get to the 21st igloo? Is there any special type of graphic acknowledging such a feat? Or does it just reflect one single igloo as the 21st level? Work with me here, I still want to believe that there are numerous undiscovered Easter eggs in these old game cartridges!

I had looked under the hood at the 16K version of this game once before, but I looked again just now to make sure.  That's the unreleased version that has the "Vučko the Wolf" easter egg.

 

After the 10th level, the number of igloos resets to 1, and a red "1" appears one space to the right of the NW corner of the screen.  This number increments every 10 levels, so at level 21, you would once again have one igloo and see the number "2" in red.

 

At level 100, there are 10 igloos and there is a number "9" still in red.  When you reach level 101, the number of igloos resets to 1 once again and the number is now "0" and in blue.

 

A similar thing happens when you get to level 201, only now the number turns black.  If you clear level 255, the level counter underflows to 0 and the game crashes.

 

I could have sworn the same thing happens on the released version, because I achieved a high score when I played it in Game Room some years ago.  From these screenshots, it looks like it just stops after 10 igloos and no number appears.  I'll have to fire up the original game on my Intellivision and see what happens after level 10.

[mr_me]

The cartridge version shows the tens level indicator.  It appears a couple of seconds after the game over screen that was posted above.

[mr_me]

Here's the 8k rom file found on the Intellivision Rocks CD.

The tens indicator is to the right of the game over text in white.

 

Here's the 16k rom file found on the Intellivision Lives CD.

The tens indicator is at the upper left corner in red.

 

And here's how the cartridge looks.

 

I think that the 8k rom file gave an extra life at 10k while the 16k rom file gave the first free life at 20k.  So there may be other differences.

Edited May 11, 2021 by mr_me

[TeddyBear89]

I don't recall seeing a "1" appearing on the screen after my games were over (completing between 11-16 igloos was my usual range) but if I had noticed it I would have probably assumed that it just indicated "player 1".

 

This is cool stuff to know and certainly answers my original inquiry - thank you!