Circus Convoy Tips & Secrets (Ongoing) **Spoilers**

[livingonwheels]

I've put a few hours into the game and figured I'd list the secrets and tips I've found in order to help others that may be having a hard time. Please contribute to this thread if you find anything not listed or correct me if some of my findings are inaccurate.

 

Best to initially play via Stella with saving. There are some very tricky jumps that I've had to practice over and over in order to pass (for example, getting all stars in huge snake area).

 

You will get unlimited ammo.

 

If you run out of bombs you can shoot one of your gasoline tanks with a bullet.

 

Yellow keys seem to respawn, not necessarily in the same area.

 

You can jump over the electricity traps, instead of sliding under them.

 

Drones seem to occasionally respawn (unsure).

 

If you run out of parachutes, you might have to restart the game. I don't like this aspect of the game. If I have 7 men left, but not a specific item, it's over regardless.

 

Feed all your hamburgers into the hole in the truck where you begin the game (with the chameleon on the side). Each one is worth another star.

  

There are sometimes where it looks like I can use the gas to speed the truck up, but it refuses to take. This is later on in the game so perhaps the truck is already going full speed?

 

Sometimes you might have to jump off of a platform early in order to land on a lower level of the next car's platform.

 

There are many areas where you can lose all your lives if your not careful (snake stage, unicycle stage). How players can beat this game via real hardware and no saving is amazing.

 

Don't bother trying to beat the unicycle stage without first getting unlimited ammo.

 

There's a car that will warp you to different areas of the game. I think making some sort of map will be helpful.

 

On real hardware, you can pause by going to the online code screen, otherwise the timer will continue to run (this is a non-issue via emulation for you can pause Stella anytime).

 

I might be wrong here, but it appears you must use your first black key to open the 2nd lock to get the drone. If you use it on the 1st lock to get the gun your screwed and have to restart? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Shoot the scroll of wires to move it out of your way so you can go to the lower level.

 

Slide under the small bridge to reach the ladder.

 

After you get 40 stars don't forget to put your score on the online leaderboards so you can claim your free patch ($2 shipping).

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by livingonwheels

[+Atari_Warlord]

Thanks for the tips, I was hoping there was a thread to talk full spoilers.

 

Any idea on how to get the fifth star on the whack a clown stage?  Once I figured out the frown vs smile I got 4.

 

Jump on the giraffe's head till he disappears for a prize.

[Tempest]

This game really needs a walkthrough.  I messed around with it for a few minutes yesterday but got stuck when I couldn't get past a snake that was too high to walk under but in a spot where I couldn't slide either.  This game is a lot of trial and error as it's hard to tell whats what sometimes and what certain items will do.   I guess is great in emulation with save states, but annoying on real hardware.

[livingonwheels]

12 minutes ago, Atari_Warlord said:

Thanks for the tips, I was hoping there was a thread to talk full spoilers.

 

Any idea on how to get the fifth star on the whack a clown stage?  Once I figured out the frown vs smile I got 4.

 

Jump on the giraffe's head till he disappears for a prize.

Sorry, I found the clown mini game quite difficult and didn't get 5 stars myself. But you mentioned "frown vs smile". I didn't notice that! Thanks for the tip!

[livingonwheels]

14 minutes ago, Tempest said:

This game really needs a walkthrough.  I messed around with it for a few minutes yesterday but got stuck when I couldn't get past a snake that was too high to walk under but in a spot where I couldn't slide either.  This game is a lot of trial and error as it's hard to tell whats what sometimes and what certain items will do.   I guess is great in emulation with save states, but annoying on real hardware.

Yes, I feel the game wouldn't be nearly as fun without save states. Or at least some sort of periodic save function on the cartridge. At this point, I don't even plan on opening my physical copy because I know it won't be as fun on real hardware (unfortunately). 

Edited April 1, 2021 by livingonwheels

[Tempest]

I'm kind of annoyed that the standard edition didn't come with a copy of  the rom.  I can't play it on an emulator even if I wanted to.

[+Atari_Warlord]

Does anyone know if you can get the white key from the bird that is flying?  I don't remember exactly when it appeared, but jumping to grab it did nothing and it eventually just scrolled off the convoy and disappeared.

 

[livingonwheels]

8 minutes ago, Atari_Warlord said:

Does anyone know if you can get the white key from the bird that is flying?  I don't remember exactly when it appeared, but jumping to grab it did nothing and it eventually just scrolled off the convoy and disappeared.

 

Hmm. I never noticed a bird with a key. Any idea how deep you were into the game? Like approximately how many stars you had at the time you saw the bird?

Edited April 1, 2021 by livingonwheels

[DaveM]

14 minutes ago, Atari_Warlord said:

Does anyone know if you can get the white key from the bird that is flying?  I don't remember exactly when it appeared, but jumping to grab it did nothing and it eventually just scrolled off the convoy and disappeared.

Yes! Set up a brick wall, stand on top of that, and jump for the key. It's a crystal key, which acts as a master key and can open any door.

 

Quote

Hmm. I never noticed a bird with a key. Any idea how deep you were into the game? Like approximately how many stars you had at the time you saw the bird?

I forget exactly where it is, but it's on top of a white car a little ways into the game.  Watch the birds flying by.  A group of 3 birds will fly by, then after that, a single bird carrying the key.

Edited April 1, 2021 by DaveM

[+Atari_Warlord]

52 minutes ago, livingonwheels said:

Hmm. I never noticed a bird with a key. Any idea how deep you were into the game? Like approximately how many stars you had at the time you saw the bird?

 

I think I was around 40 stars when I found it.

[Tempest]

Watching some videos I learned that you can jump to the lower level of cars if you time it right.  I didn't know you could do that!  That helps a bunch.

[+Atari_Warlord]

I figured out the whack-a-clown:

 

A star is earned for every two clowns you hit with a frown.  If you hit 8 without wrong swings, you get the 5th star.  There's no time limit, so just be patient.

 

Now I just need to figure out how to get past the bunsen burner.

 

I also accidentally ran into a snake and got 3 stars.  Think of the old saying about coral snakes.

[DaveM]

17 minutes ago, Atari_Warlord said:

Now I just need to figure out how to get past the bunsen burner.

Crouch down and shoot it, then quickly jump as it deflects your bullets back at you (so shoot from a distance).  Hit it with 5 bullets (and jump over the rebounds) and it blows up.

[+Atari_Warlord]

Is there anyway past the machine gun clown besides the glider? 

 

I've made it to 71 stars so far and took a picture of the leader board at 6th place, since I probably won't be there for long once the experts start playing.

[Dave S Cramer]

4 hours ago, Atari_Warlord said:

Is there anyway past the machine gun clown besides the glider? 

 

I've made it to 71 stars so far and took a picture of the leader board at 6th place, since I probably won't be there for long once the experts start playing.

To pass the machine gun clown, stop immediately when you get to that car and just wait until he faces the other direction, then run and jump over his head.

[+sramirez2008]

Played my first game. It took my 30 mins and I only netted 18 stars.  Guess I need some serious practice.  By the way, how do you get the green key?

[Dave S Cramer]

31 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Played my first game. It took my 30 mins and I only netted 18 stars.  Guess I need some serious practice.  By the way, how do you get the green key?

There are 2 ways to get it. (1) 1 car left of it (The Gator Alley car) you can jump early off to the right and land below on the ledge with the key. It takes precise timing. (2) The easier way is this: one car left of the Gator Alley car is a 'spool" (I think that's what it is) on top of the colored platforms. Simply stand to the right of it facing the spool and shoot it. I don't remember off the top of my head how many bullets it takes (though I should because I've done it several times). I want to say 12? But I'm probably wrong.

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Dave S Cramer

[Rambling Dan]

On 4/1/2021 at 11:18 AM, Tempest said:

This game really needs a walkthrough.  I messed around with it for a few minutes yesterday but got stuck when I couldn't get past a snake that was too high to walk under but in a spot where I couldn't slide either.  This game is a lot of trial and error as it's hard to tell whats what sometimes and what certain items will do.   I guess is great in emulation with save states, but annoying on real hardware.

Was it on top of a spool? You can slide under the snakes on spools if you back up a little before trying to slide.

[Rambling Dan]

I died a lot on Gator Alley until I figured out that if you position your jumps to land on the right part of the head, you can take your hand off the stick and use the button alone to go across. This helped me eliminate a lot of slightly-tapped-the-stick-and-fell-in-a-gator's-mouth deaths. Here's a GIF to illustrate what I mean.

[Rambling Dan]

On 4/2/2021 at 11:49 AM, Atari_Warlord said:

I figured out the whack-a-clown:

 

A star is earned for every two clowns you hit with a frown.  If you hit 8 without wrong swings, you get the 5th star.  There's no time limit, so just be patient.

Thank you! That 5th star has been eluding me. I wasn't sure if it required a perfect run or finishing in a certain amount of time.

[Rambling Dan]

I don't think I have much to add that hasn't already been said, except that when using a warp zone, if you know what color you want to land at, keep walking into the warp until it cycles to that color before you exit the car.

If anyone is wondering if there's a secret to be found if you fly the drone very far past the front or back of the convoy, I'm fairly confident that the answer is No, there's not. I flew for longer than I'd like to admit in both directions just in case ?

[DaveM]

13 hours ago, Rambling Dan said:

I died a lot on Gator Alley until I figured out that if you position your jumps to land on the right part of the head, you can take your hand off the stick and use the button alone to go across. This helped me eliminate a lot of slightly-tapped-the-stick-and-fell-in-a-gator's-mouth deaths.

Thanks!  I still die a lot.    I noticed that you can grab the ladder anytime by pushing up while on the middle gator without having to exit the sideshow.  So if I'm not positioned right, or my timing's a bit off, I just grab the ladder and hang there until the gators shut their mouths again, then I resume collecting stars.

 

My problem now is that I run out of bombs.  I got up to 62 stars, and wound up on what I think are the back two trucks of the convoy.  There's a drone inside one of those cars that you can bomb, but I can't get to it since I ran out of bombs much earlier in the game.  I had 5 lives remaining, but had to quit as I got stuck on those last trucks with no way off.  I'm not wasting bombs anywhere, so where do I find more?

[livingonwheels]

4 hours ago, DaveM said:

Thanks!  I still die a lot.    I noticed that you can grab the ladder anytime by pushing up while on the middle gator without having to exit the sideshow.  So if I'm not positioned right, or my timing's a bit off, I just grab the ladder and hang there until the gators shut their mouths again, then I resume collecting stars.

 

My problem now is that I run out of bombs.  I got up to 62 stars, and wound up on what I think are the back two trucks of the convoy.  There's a drone inside one of those cars that you can bomb, but I can't get to it since I ran out of bombs much earlier in the game.  I had 5 lives remaining, but had to quit as I got stuck on those last trucks with no way off.  I'm not wasting bombs anywhere, so where do I find more?

You can shoot gas tanks and it will act same as a bomb.

Edited April 4, 2021 by livingonwheels

[+sramirez2008]

Are you supposed to jump through the ring of fire? I think it’s a ring of fire.

[Dave S Cramer]

5 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Are you supposed to jump through the ring of fire? I think it’s a ring of fire.

Yes.