Food Fight FAQ(Arcade)
Version 1.0.0
by Andrew Schultz [email protected]

Please don't reproduce this FAQ for profit.  If you'd like to post it on
your site just send me an e-mail with my FIRST NAME ONLY and this FAQ
requested specifically.  I'll probably say yes.  This is part of my
efforts to preserve the memory of the "good old days" of gaming, back
when I thought arcade games could do everything and were more complex
than they turned out to be.  But when I found out otherwise even the
lame ones were pretty cool.  Hopefully my FAQs will reveal info others
wondered a bit about but didn't have the time or resources to figure
out.

**AD SPACE**
My home page is at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762.
My games page is at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762/games/games.htm

================================

INTRODUCTION

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE

 ANNOYANCES, UHH, NUANCES

LEVELS AND ICE CREAM FLAVORS

THE HIGH SCORE LIST

INSTANT REPLAY

THE MEAT(BA-DUM-BUM) OF IT

 CONTINUATION

 POINT SCORING

 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEVELS

 STRATEGIES

 GRAPHICAL ODDITIES

VERSIONS/CREDITS

================================

INTRODUCTION

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE

   I was too lazy to ask KLOV for direct permission to post the chefs'
names, but this way I get to point you to their excellent website.  Your
hero's name is Charley Chuck and the chefs' names are at
http://www.klov.com/F/Food_Fight.html.  Enjoy the screenshots(and a few
other game details I didn't put in here) while you're there, and maybe
you'll even find an old favorite video game you'd forgotten about!

   They also claim that what I call SPINACH is really PEAS.  Why? I'd
guessed peas don't make enough of a mess for a REAL food fight, so
that's what I called it.

   The names aren't in the demo or anything, mind.


 ANNOYANCES, UHH, NUANCES

   Whatever direction you push the joystick in is where Charley Chuck
veers.  So his momentum pulls him off-course.  You can tell which way he
is going by his eyes, but he won't stay the way you guide him until
you've pushed in that direction for a while.  By that time you've
probably grabbed the cone or come to a bad end.  I mean, a worse end
than a hooligan who chucks food while others go hungry and who just eats
ice cream all day because one day his metabolism will slow down, mind
you me...
   Charley Chuck is probably hyperactive from all that ice cream, so
he's constantly running around.  This makes it hard to fling a lot of
food at once, and turning on a dime will often send you in a direction
you don't want to go.

LEVELS AND ICE CREAM FLAVORS

This is pretty simple.  There are ten ice cream flavors, and each
corresponds to a number.
1 = Vanilla
2 = Chocolate
3 = Strawberry
4 = Pistachio
5 = Orange Sherbet
6 = Lime Sherbet
7 = Black Raspberry
8 = Lemon Sherbet
9 = Raspberry Sherbet
0 = Coffee

Basically, given the level, its first nonzero digit is on top, the next
is below, etc.  Level 125 would be vanilla/chocolate/orange sherbet, and
level 40 is pistachio/coffee.  Unfortunately you can't see the level
name until you start another game.  But hey, at least the ice cream
isn't freeze-dried(a novelty that wears off quickly.)

The level is shown next to your high score if you make the list.  But
more on that in the next section...

THE HIGH SCORE LIST

This is unquestionably the most difficult game I've seen for entering
your initials in a high score list.  Never mind that the list starts in
the 30K range in the first place.  If you are lucky enough to be a
"fabulous food flinger" then you must realize that moving your joystick
in the general direction of the letter you want to fling watermelons at
it isn't enough.  You have to guide Charley Chuck's arm a bit past it.
In addition, if you are too close to Charley Chuck's current line of
fire, he won't move at all.  A bit of practice is required and thirty
seconds may not be enough the first few times.

INSTANT REPLAY

This only seems to happen on the first ten levels, and it occurs only if
you barely avoid a chef and not always then.

THE MEAT(BA-DUM-BUM) OF IT

 CONTINUATION

   You can browse approximately eighteen levels per second, so you can
always continue from level 300 or so.  I'm not sure what happens if you
get to level 1000, but maybe somebody with CHEAT.DAT(giving infinite
lives) on MAME as well as a lot of time can figure this out.

   You get an extra guy for every tenth level you start out at.  So the
more you play the games in one sitting, the longer they may take.

   After one demo you can no longer continue at the old level--you'll
only be able to start at the top beginning level, level 9.

 POINT SCORING

   You get 200 points if a chef falls down a hole.  You get x*100
points for the xth chef you kill with any one guy on any one level.  If
you get hit, the next chef is 100, then so on.

   You get 100 points for each non-watermelon piece of food at the end
of the level.

   You get 500x points for eating the cone at the end of the level,
with a maximum of 25000.

   You get no points if one chef hits another with food.

   A new hole, formerly closed, opens up to reveal a chef if one falls
in another hole.

   Extra men occur at 25000 and then at every multiple of 100000.

   Food is random unless indicated otherwise.

   The first two(?) levels are fixed, but the later ones are random and
frequently you know you'll be toast before you start.

 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEVELS

Note that at first, only the holes where the chefs are are open for
anyone to fall in.

     Men missing   Holes   Food(for bonus)
1     puffy hat     3       20
     flat hat
2     flat hat      4       20
3     all 4 present 5       25
4     "             6       30
5     "             7       all watermelon
6     "             8       35, all bananas
7     "             9       35
8     "             10      40, all spinach
9     "             10      40
10    "             10      40
10x+1 "             10      40, all tomatoes
10x+2 "             10      40
10x+3 "             10      40, all cream pies
10x+4 "             10      40
10x+5 "             10      all watermelon
10x+6 "             10      40, all bananas
10x+7 "             10      40
10x+8 "             10      40, all spinach
10x+9 "             10      40
10x   "             10      40

 STRATEGIES

--Many times later levels will be unfair, so you'll have to grit your
teeth and bear that.
--If you must go along a wall, try to make sure Charley Chuck is not
looking at it--that will slow him down.
--It's easier to hit a cook while you are to the left/right as opposed
to above/below him.  That is because there is a wider angle of him to
hit.
--Swerve as much as possible.  The chefs will anticipate if you run in a
straight line.
--The chefs use a combination of running toward you and running the same
direction you are.  Fake them out so they don't get to the food piles;
their priorities are, first, catching you and second, flinging food.
--often one cook will play "safety" and hang around the ice cream cone.
He's tough to hit if you crawl on the edges, so if you're there, cut in
and then go back to fire food at him.
--the second or two you have at the start of the level can align Charley
Chuck's eyes in the direction you first want to go.
--remember that the holes suck in Charley and the chefs by the slightest
touch.  Be careful around them!
--note that the green spinach has a shorter range than the other foods:
tomato, watermelon, banana, and cream pie.

 GRAPHICAL ODDITIES

Well, of course, there are the chefs dancing after you lose a guy,
Charley rolling his eyes if a chef touches him, and the big mouth
Charley makes eating the cone and his silly grin afterwards.  But beyond
the absurd is the logically inconsistent.

So the game's already pretty odd, but it's even stranger that Chuck gets
hit with all types of food even on "monochrome" levels.

Note that you don't get "push start button" after you insert a coin.

================================

VERSIONS/CREDITS

1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs 8/25/2001, and no more versions should follow.

KLOV(http://www.klov.com) for the chefs' names and for being cool in
general.