Q*Bert(Arcade/NES) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.1
copyright (2002-)2008 by Andrew Schultz
[email protected]
Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of a great game and the odd solutions any way
I could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.
================================
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
1-1. NES VS ARCADE
1-2. CONTROLS(EMULATOR)
2. SCORING
2-1. POINT TOTALS
2-2. HIGH SCORE MESSAGES
3. OTHER ENTITIES
3-1. COILY
3-2. RED BALLS
3-3. SAM AND SLICK
3-4. UGG AND WRONG-WAY
3-5. THE GREEN BALL
3-6. THE DISCS
3-7. OH BY THE WAY, GENERAL STRATEGY
4. LEVELS
4-x-y = Level X, round y, up to 5-4
5. VERSIONS
6. CREDITS
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1. INTRODUCTION
Just about everybody who's played it loves Q*Bert. But nobody quite knows how
to solve the game! Well, actually, that's not true. Lots of people do. But
given Q*Bert's old school cred there are a lot of semi-old-schoolers who love
Q*Bert but go "HELP HELP HELP" when faced with that scary level where Q*Bert
can undo all his hard work. This FAQ aims to fix that, for those interested.
Q*Bert is actually not a very complex game(no. Really. You should see its
abstruse sequels if you don't believe me. Well, as long as you promise not to
blame me for pointing to such a good example...) and once you realize that
level 5-3 continually repeats until the end of the game, with only the color
schemes changing, and you find a good way through it, you will be able to
solve it endlessly. OK, so at first you may run into practical problems, but
after that...phew, no problems!
Q*Bert is unique and memorable in old-school circles because it has a
perfectly logical yet distinctive method of controls: move diagonally only
with no fire button. Oh, your little guy also shift-character swears when he
falls off the pyramid board or if an enemy hits him.
The challenge in each level of Q*Bert is to change all blocks on a 7-high
pyramid to a certain color while weaving among enemies. Some run after you,
some move randomly, and some undo your work, though there's the occasional
green ball to freeze everyone. At first you just need to step on each block
once, then twice, then they change back and forth, and then they change among
three colors. Of course you get more enemies too--red balls drop randomly
from above and purple weirdos slither in from the sides.
Well, I feel a bit humbled writing about this sub-game as for all its cool
puzzle explorations I still remember how a co-worker told me he scored
6666665 on one quarter while alternating play with a friend(they were upset
they didn't stop at 5555555.) In fact it is not easy to engineer the exact
score but I'm in awe of their accomplishments given what happens on the later
repeating board. Still, although I don't have a lot of perfect strategy(or
dexterity) for the ultimate difficult levels I hope I can nail down the
basics for the casual player who might want to get to the level after which
they all repeat(5-4) a few times in a row. Or who wants to solve the one
where you jump on squares and they bounce back and forth.
1-1. NES VS ARCADE
The NES version of Q*Bert is very similar to the Arcade version. The colors
and disc placement and computer AI are identical. However, you get 30 points
for setting a square to the right color and 20 points otherwise. The enemies
also come quicker and more frequently at later levels. You also have an
ending after 9 rounds.
On the NES you also get extra guys at 6000+12000x instead of 8000+14000x. You
also get a maximum of 9 guys displayed in either game, but you get a cool
"extra guy" tune if you lose a guy and have 9+ remaining in the arcade
version. They almost spill out onto the board in the arcade version BTW.
Cheat codes for NES include total # of lives(1=last one) at 0x4c and current
stage at 0x49. 1-1 is stage 0, up to 9-4 which is stage 0x23. Switch to 0x23
just before you finish 1-1 to see the ending.
1-2. CONTROLS(EMULATOR)
If you are using the standard arrows for controls, you will have to hold the
keyboard at a 45 degree clockwise angle. This creates a lot of errors you
don't want, especially since the arrows on most keyboards aren't in a
comfortable square. But wait! You don't have to do that!
With the arcade version on MAME you have the option to change the keys
around, and here's what I did.
(P) to pause
(TAB) to bring up a menu
Go to Input(this game)
Highlight P1 right, hit enter, hit L
Highlight P1 left, hit enter, hit U
Highlight P1 up, hit enter, hit O
Highlight P1 down, hit enter, hit J
Now you have the diagonal movements defined as follows:
U O
\ /
*
/ \
J L
Use two left fingers for the UL/DL and two right for the UR/DR and you should
be comfortable. You can pick tetrads of other letters if you want, i.e.
R I
\ /
*
/ \
F J
or...
T U
\ /
*
/ \
G H
Whatever's most comfortable for you.
For the NES you have this dork with a loser Q sweater blurting out THIS
CONTROL OK? You can just pick the first one, UR mapped as up, although this
would force you to rotate the keyboard 45 degrees COUNTERCLOCKWISE without my
nifty little modification.
For FCEU you will want to go to Input Configuration: Keyboard Configuration.
Click Up and hit O, Right and hit L, down and hit J, left and hit U. Now you
don't have to tilt the keyboard--at least until you open another game up.
Then you can just reset things to the normal arrows.
I advise that, if you play Q*Bert on an NES emulator, you do not play
anything else for a while, or you ditch Q*Bert once done with it.
2. SCORING
2-1. POINT TOTALS
--25 points for changing a square to its correct color
--15 points for changing a square neither to or from the correct color
--300 points for catching Sam or Slick
--500 points for getting Coily to jump off the edge
--750+1000L+250X points for completing a board, where X is the round and
L is the level. The maximum is 5000. Or 1000 for the first board, 250
added on each consecutive board.
--extra men at 8000, 22000, and every subsequent 14000 more.
2-2. HIGH SCORE MESSAGES
The original arcade game had a cute ending segment for high scorers. It
displayed a message depending on the place(which made up for the player
losing a tiebreak with current high scorers) and even said 'bye-bye' when you
were done. It didn't show the numerical value until you'd entered your
initials but with 23 different high scores(almost as odd as the extra man
point values) there was always something. Some messages are surprisingly
snarky.
1 You have usurped all others to become the supreme Noser!
Kindly enter your initials for all to see
Welcome to the Noser Elite
Your rank is
2 You are second only to one
3 You must know something!
4 You make it look so easy!
5 Quite impressive actually
6 An outstanding achievement
7 An expert with a joystick
8 Not shabby at all
9 A potential champion
10 You made the top ten club!
11 Just missed the top ten!
12 You could have done worse!
13 Almost out of the teens!
14 Looking good out there!
15 A truly honorable position
16 Now try and get serious!
17 Its a long way to the top
18 Practice makes perfect!
19 Nothing to brag about!
20 Almost got into the teens!
21 Only 20 scores to beat!
22 Not bad for a beginner!
23 The bottom of the barrel!
The default arcade high score list is below:
1. TJC 3000
2. JML 2500 3. JAH 2000
4. MJS 1750 5. ECW 1500
6. BLT 1250 7. BWD 1000
8. DMV 950 9. FDA 900
10. LMG 825 11. DDT 800
12. JCM 775 13. ZAP 750
14. NAB 725 15. JUN 700
16. HFR 675 17. RON 650
18. FXS 625 19. DLB 600
20. LEE 575 21. CPB 550
22. WBD 525 23. SAM 500
Not too hard to break into at all. This score list is saved across sessions
although you can erase the NVRAM file to reset it again.
3. OTHER ENTITIES
3-1. COILY
Coily bounces down as a large purple ball. He waits at the bottom
for a bit then pops out at you. You can jump on a disc at the side to
get rid of him--but only if Coily is less than three squares behind you.
Coily has a general pattern for following you; obviously he moves the
best way diagonally towards you whenever he can, but he also has fixed
ways in which he chases you when he is horizontally aligned. He does not
explicitly follow you if he is more than one step behind, so if you are
trying to lead him on a chase you may want to pause a bit before each
move.
If Coily is to the LEFT of you, he jumps UR next.
If Coily is to the RIGHT of you, he jumps UL next.
If Coily is ABOVE you, he jumps DL next.
If Coily is BELOW you, he jumps UR next.
Coily is a bit slower than you although the difference is less pronounced at
later stages. Often if you are close to solving a level and he is forcing you
around and there are no discs, just run into him and then clear the rest out.
3-2. RED BALLS
Red balls pretty much drop down randomly(well, actually, the quasi-random
sequence is generated, so if you restart the machine you'll find a pattern,
but unless you have very good memory it might as well be random) DL and DR
until they get to the bottom and fall off. You should be safe from them in a
corner but that is not always the case. You ARE safe from them on the top
square, as the balls first drop on the second row. Below is a list of all the
places the balls can go and the probabilities any one ball will go there.
00
01 01 (of 02)
01 02 01 (of 04)
01 03 03 01 (of 08)
01 04 06 04 01
01 05 10 10 05 01
01 06 15 20 15 06 01
So you can see that the balls should tend towards the very center more than
half of the time if everything is random(and I believe it is.) It's
relatively rare(14/64) that a ball lands in the outer four sectors so you are
probably safe near there. But just to be sure you can always use the
following method.
If you are directly below a ball and near an area you need to get to, wait
for the ball to drop and go the opposite way. This may not seem terribly
deep, but I find that I lose most of my guys saying "I'll just rush a bit..."
especially in the early levels.
The other way I tend to lose guys is when I jump to a square in the second
row and don't wait for a ball to drop. I always time it wrong(it seems) and
get hit by a ball. Generally even on the fast levels a ball drops no more
than every four of your possible moves so if you stand below the top square
and wait for a ball to come down you should be able to touch any of the
squares you need, even if you have to duck briefly out of the way a bit at
first.
To clear out the corners you can also 1) go there right at the start and 2)
if a disc is nearby, clear it out and use the disc to go back up. This gets
rid of some of the time you need to get out of the corner, which can be
tricky.
3-3. SAM AND SLICK
Slick's the one with the shades. They really aren't functionally
different, though.
Annoying little bastards--they change the colors of the squares they
jump on, which is annoying if you're THIS close to solving a level.
Although occasionally they may change a square to the right color, often
they'll leave you in a fix with you having covered the entire board
except what they just ran over. They're tough to catch as well. There's
an additional problem I describe in level 5. In general they can be
annoying distractions from your main task at hand although they come
down a bit too quickly in the middle/later levels(3-3 and 3-4) and
probably will be the death of you. Fortunately if they come in early
they won't do much damage and if they come in late you'll hopefully have
gotten enough done anyway(again, chip at the sides and they're less
likely to ruin things at the start.)
Sam and Slick appear 3 for every green ball in the looping levels.
3-4. UGG AND WRONG-WAY
I believe Ugg is the ugly one with big eyes.
These guys start below and to the side of one bottom corner pyramid
square. They complement the red balls(which never touch the corner
squares) quite well. They then move horizontally or diagonally. Here are
the [relative] probabilities for when they wind up. However you have to
read diagonally DR to see them...
01
01 07
01 06 21
01 05 15 35
01 04 10 20 35
01 03 06 10 15 21
01 02 03 04 05 06 07
01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 <- below the pyramid
So it is extremely rare that they will wind up at the corner two squares-
-this is helped by the starting position(below the pyramid) and extra move
that Ugg and Wrong-Way gets(random paths converge towards the center.) In
addition at the final square they do not pause before jumping off the
pyramid.
You can actually tell which way these guys are going to go next.
Look at their eyes; there's a brief pause before they jump. Their eyes
do not face directly as they are going to jump but it is close and if
their eyes switch, you can tell what the new direction is going to be.
Ugg's a bit easier to figure out than Wrong-Way due to his bigger eyes
so if you have to take on(and avoid) one, go with Ugg.
Also be sure not to get scrunched by two coming at you from opposite
directions, one above the other. If for instance you are in such a
position as below:
. [edge]
U Q
. W
You can always sneak out depending on which way their eyes are
pointing(DL or DR should be effective.)
Note also in the situation below if Ugg goes left and you go UR you
may hit each other--if he goes UL you will have no problem.
. U
Q
3-5. THE GREEN BALL
Smaller than the other balls, but when you pick it up the game freezes
until the bonus tune 'winds down.' You can also jump through monsters, so if
you are able to move quickly(you can knock out 15 or so squares) you can get
a lot done and even position yourself away from the monsters where you can
get a bit more time to use your breathing space.
One green ball appears for every 3 Sam/Slicks if you play one level
indefinitely. However, on the early ones, you may get a green ball right
away. On the looping one it appears after the Sams/Slicks which is actually a
bit of a break, as you may get it just as you are about to complete the level
if your timing works out right.
Try to position yourself 2D of the bottom or close when it is about to come
out, but on level 5+ if it gets away from you, don't try too hard to chase
it.
3-6. THE DISCS
You can jump on the discs to clear the board as long as you can get Coily
to fall off too. Otherwise they don't help you much but to provide a
temporary safe haven when they kick you to the top of the pyramid. On the
early levels they are also useful for letting you cover the top square
without having to risk jumping up and getting hit by dropping red balls. You
can also clear the squares in the second row too as you go about your
business.
3-7. OH BY THE WAY, GENERAL STRATEGY
4. LEVELS
Every level has the same shape; however, you need to jump on blocks a
different amount of times in each level, and later you can actually change a
block to its original state if you jump on it.
L7 R7
L6 S R6
L5 O O R5
L4 X X X R4
L3 X X X X R3
L2 X X X X X R2
L1 X X X X X X R1
X X X X X X X
LX/RX = possible position for disc(indicated in level summary)
X = square you need to turn to the right color
S = starting square
O = where balls drop
General advice to start is to go down one side to a corner and fill that
square in, taking a slight detour if Ugg/Wrong-Way is there. Corners are the
toughest to access without getting trapped. Except in 2-4 and 3-4 there is
little need to conserve discs as long as you pursue a reasonably aggressive
strategy touching squares.
4-1. LEVEL 1
You need to step on every square once. This should be pretty easy once you
get the hang of things as the action is relatively slow. You are introduced
to new entities as the rounds go on but there is no huge combination of
enemies.
I generally wind up with about 11000 points after completing this level.
(average level point possibility = 28*25 + (100-1000.) + bonus,
1000+1250+1500+1750=5500.) However I also frequently wait for Coily to jump
over and get him to jump off the board. This may in some ways be safer than
trying to get as many squares as possible at once. The rest period after
Coily has fallen off the board is a great chance to focus on an area of
squares and change them.
Strategies for this level include a general one of knocking out the corners
and then trying for the middle; this works well because if there is a square
in the middle you're having temporary trouble accessing, there are many more
roundabout ways to approach it than if it would be on the edge. My favorite
pattern(barring being impeded by a red ball) would be:
DL 6, UR DR UR DR UR DR UR DR UR DR UR DR, UL as much as possible. With only
central squares left(you should cover the right edge and top square after
baiting Coily and jumping on a disk) these levels should already be close to
done. In fact, if you master this basic strategy you'll find you get more
done than you realize just by going through the motions.
4-1-1. LEVEL 1-1
Entities: Coily, red balls
Discs: L3, R3
Blocks: light blue -> yellow
The biggest problem you may have with this is laziness or trying to do too
much without using a disc. They are there; use them. I find that I can get
impatient with the speed and try to sneak in front of a slow red ball with
disastrous results. This place offers a good chance to practice the basic
strategy: DR all the way, then UL DL etc. until the left corner(or the mirror
image if you prefer.)
4-1-2. LEVEL 1-2
Entities: Coily, red balls
Discs: L2, R1
Blocks: white -> blue
This level is also not so tough. I like to start by burrowing in the right
corner(take a small detour if you can to clear out a bit more waiting for
Coily) so that I can get rid of Coily quickly. Then I just zoom over to the
left hand side with my next Q*Bert and this level is mopped up pretty easily.
4-1-3. LEVEL 1-3
Entities: Coily, Ugg/Wrong-Way, green ball
Discs: L4, R2
Blocks: white -> grey
Cover the sides first and try to hang out in the middle--if the green ball
drops into your lap the rest should be a piece of cake. Note that you may not
be able to go straight down diagonally as Ugg and Wrong-Way interfere, so be
prepared to move towards the center a bit. Practice watching their eyes to
see which way they go and, if you must, use the upper few levels as safe
havens. Also remember they cannot switch horizontal direction or crawl down
the pyramid.
Here picking off the corners with a blank screen is
4-1-4. LEVEL 1-4
Entities: Coily, green ball, Sam/Slick, red balls
Discs: L7, R1
Blocks: lt blue->yellow (and sometimes purple->yellow)
You probably want to go DL all the way to start and then burrow in the right
corner, because that is where a disc is. Note Sam/Slick turns the squares a
weird purple color you haven't seen before if he appears. Don't worry about
that. You still need to step on squares once. The disc on top is also largely
ineffective as, if you are being chased by Coily, you have to time things to
get to the top without a red ball dropping on you. It's much better to get up
there well before Coily is chasing you and then jump off if you'd like the
extra points or the break.
4-2 LEVEL 2
I usually end up with about 30000 points at the end of these levels. The
bonus is 9500 and the minimum haul per level is (25+15)*28=1120. You'll
probably knock off a couple of Coilies each level as well and need to retouch
some squares, etc. which adds to the enervation but also the point totals.
4-2-1. LEVEL 2-1
Entities: Coily, Ugg/Wrong-Way, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L4 R7,3
Blocks: dark blue->white->green
Not having the red balls drop on you for the first two scenes of level 1
is rather nice. Don't get lulled into a false sense of security if the purple
ball hasn't dropped yet. It likes to wait a lot at times. Here you need to go
DL UR DL UR in the DL corner and repeat for the right one. For the bottom
right corner, get a bit ahead of coily and go back/forth to turn a different
color, then let him jump off.
4-2-2. LEVEL 2-2
Entities: Coily, Ugg/Wrong-Way, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L2 R2,7
Blocks: purple->light blue->yellow
More of the same here. You have some escape valves at the bottom and one at
the top. This might be a bit easier than 2-1.
4-2-3. LEVEL 2-3
Entities: Coily, red balls, green balls, Sam/slick
Discs: L5 R2
Blocks: pink->blue->yellow
Here Sam and Slick change from just moving a completed square to intermediate
to moving it back to the original state. This makes things tougher, of
course, but as long as you have saved time you should be able to make it
through OK.
4-2-4. LEVEL 2-4
Entities: All five
Discs: L6 R4
Blocks: yellow->blue->pink
Having one less disc--and all enemies--makes things very tough here. I find I
wind up getting killed a lot even after replaying.
If you are able to let Coily chase you around a bit before you hop on a disc,
it can help. If you can hop on a disc just as Sam/Slick comes out, it can
help. Also be sure to clean up the DL before the first disc and the DR before
the second, or you will be forced to do it later with no way out.
4-3 LEVEL 3
Here jumping on a square(or Sam/Slick jumping on it) flips it from one
color to another. You want to change every square from the starting color to
the end one. Obviously there's no quick way to do it but here are some
pointers"
1. Don't worry about leaving one square behind. This is in fact the best
policy. Trying to cover each square individually as you go along will bog you
down. For instance if you go all the way DR and then UL, you'll have to go DL
UR DL to have the right side covered, then UL DR UL to have the square you're
on covered, etc. Eventually Coily will come along and probably force you to
mess up your painfully wrought work. There's a better way.
2. The key part of solving this sort of level is what I call 'linking' two
separate squares not of the right color yet. See the diagram below:
S
. .
. . X
. . . .
. . . . .
X . . . . .
. . . . . .
X=original, .=desired
Let's say you've just used a disc to get back to the top of the pyramid, and
furthermore pretend there are no monsters to come forever.
What's the quickest way to get through?
First you nail the X on the right--DR 2. Then UL will take care of
the . you flipped back to an X. Now there's one X left and I guess 4DL
UL DL is a good way to get there(just in case Coily lands on the 2nd
from left square you don't want to step on it first.) Now retrace your
steps. In general this process of running from one undone square to
another and going partially back works quite well. The pivot square is
only hit once and the others are hit twice.
The best part of this is that the running back and forth allows you to lead
Coily on a merry futile chase.
3. The general advice of sniping away at the sides still works well but
remember that a general coverage of the bottom is more important; you can
'link' everything up later indiscriminately.
4. Remember that now going on a disc can have very serious consequences; make
sure that you get Coily to fall and everything is cleared, or you'll have a
real mess.
5. Strategic suicide now becomes a viable option. Before, moving around with
one square left was harmless. Now it can cause your efforts to become undone.
It's a bit of a cop-out to sacrifice a guy for free time but depending on
your gut feeling it may be worth it. Later as you get better you won't need
to, but as you learn the ropes.
6. Cleaning up the top bits can be counterproductive with Sam/Slick around.
In some cases they may turn the pyramid squares the right color for you if
you haven't touched them. Don't worry too much about catching them, either.
Just focus on what you can do, and if they do make it down, you can follow
their path later, maybe after you've dropped Coily.
7. If you need to leave one square undone, make it one by a disc so that when
you drop Coily, you won't have to go back.
8. The best squares to clear permanently are the side ones below the last
disc.
In the final 2 rounds you will want to try to conserve discs as long as you
can because(as I've mentioned before) discs buy free time and now, more
importantly, you can avoid the damages of Sam and Slick.
4-3-1. LEVEL 3-1
Entities: Red balls, Coily
Discs: L3,5 R4,5
Blocks: lt blue<->blue
This is a good introduction with plenty of discs if you want to buy some
time just jumping around with Coily gone. You have a few more discs than you
really need.
4-3-2. LEVEL 3-2
Entities: Coily, Ugg/Wrong Way, Sam/Slick, green balls
Discs: L4,5 R2,4
Blocks: green<->white
There is a quick green ball at the start of this level which can get you
off to a great start(nibble at the corners again, crossing over via the
bottom.) This is another reason not to pay too much detail to one side. If
you can get to the bottom center square you can mimic the ball's horizontal
direction, nab it, and be 2/3 of the way through the level before it's really
started.
Again you have a lot of discs. Use them when necessary.
4-3-3. LEVEL 3-3
Entities: All five
Discs: lt blue<->white
Blocks: L5,7 R3
Things are a bit tougher here as the red balls provide a nasty
distraction. Fortunately there are discs on each side so you can cover each
one relatively safely. But you will want to go to the DL first and quickly
DR. Red balls bounce a lot here and I would advise(after using the right disc
to get Coily the first time) trying to keep in the center for a green ball
until it appears--then clean out the sides.
4-3-4. LEVEL 3-4
Entities: Coily, Ugg/Wrong Way, Sam/Slick, red balls
Discs: yellow<->blue
Blocks: R1,3,6
It's close to imperative to drop down to the left to start the level. You
can't cover it safely any other way. Once you do, you can just head to the DR
corner for the first drop, then to the next disc to drop Coily the next
time(clearing the middle in the meantime) and then to the final one if need
be.
Like 2-4 this is a nasty level with a lot of enemies dropping quickly, but
given how you can cover the distance between two points without backtracking,
it's actually a little less tricky once you get comfortable with connecting
two squares of the wrong color.
4-4 LEVEL 4
Monsters are almost as fast as you. The only real break you have for planning
is when you lose a guy or jump on a disc--use either one well!
All the levels in level 4 seem to be identical apart from their color and of
course how randomly the balls drop. They are probably easier than 3-3 and 3-
4. So I really do find this less taxing than the previous one level. The
basic idea is that you have 3 colors, call them a, b and c. Jumping on a
square changes it a->b->c->b->c->b->c, etc. Ugg and Wrong-Way are absent from
this board, which means it's easy to get to the corner.
My favorite strategy for painting the corner is(assuming it is the lower
right:)
6DR UL DR UL DL UR DL UR DL UL UR UL and you should have six fringe squares
covered. If one has a disk you may want to wait by it(be sure everything
below and to the side is the right color) which will buy you some time and
get you points. Repeating this strategy for both sides can frequently get you
far ahead in the game. There are no notes below because all the levels seem
to be the same. I don't ever recall losing a game on level four although when
I am playing after a long layoff I often crash and burn on the latter parts
of level 3. Level 4 just isn't that fast or tricky or crowded. Level 5 on the
other hand...because you have to jump TWICE after jumping back on a right-
squared color...
4-4-1. LEVEL 4-1
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: green->white<->blue
Blocks: L2,4,7 R1,2,6
Sam and Slick only change a color 1 back here. With discs really all over the
place you should be able to kill coily whenever you want, and with the blank
board a mess or two from Sam/Slick shouldn't matter much. However, if you can
lead Coily around a bit and jump when Sam/Slick has just dropped you'll have
a huge chunk of time where you're not disturbed at all.
4-4-2. LEVEL 4-2
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L2,3,7 R1,2,6
Blocks: lt blue->pink<->yellow
See above although Coily tend to drop to the DL here and so if you go DL you
will want him to follow you DR. This gets a whole lot done. Sam/Slick may
take out some of your work but if you can clear out the corner 2 squares on
each side the rest is really not too bad.
4-4-3. LEVEL 4-3
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L3,5 R3,5,6
Blocks: yellow->pink<->lt blue
Still a lot of discs but there aren't any in the corner so here you want to
clear the DL, sucker Coily over and take the DR disc. From there you can
clear the DR and just wait on whatever disc you need after chipping away at
the center.
4-4-4. LEVEL 4-4
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L6,7 R1,4
Blocks: purple->lt blue<->yellow
You know the drill. While this level is a bit on the fast side you should be
able to do good work in the DL before going UR/DR in the 5th/6th rows to get
to the corner, have the 2 DR turn yellow, and jump on the disc.
4-5 LEVEL 5
Level 5 poses a very nasty problem. While squares that switch back
and forth presented a serious nuisance in levels 3 and 4, here they
present a potential temporary impossibility. Basically in level 5 a
square alternates between three colors, and and level after 5 follows
the same rules, too.
a->b->c->a
Again a good pattern is to go off to the left and cover the bottom
left corner. After you do I recommend going UR DR UL DR UR UL. Now you
have the bottom triangle covered and can worry about the center and the
left. The moves I mentioned work generally(if you have the time) to get
out of the mess in the corners. Of course if there is a disc in the
corner you can just take a one-way ticket(once Ugg and Wrong-Way are no
longer dangerous) and wait for Coily to pop up after getting the corner
squares the right color.
The strategy of working on one area at a time is again a good one.
If Sam or Slick drops down through an area you've covered, it can be a
nuisance, but you just have to remember to follow their paths twice.
Then you can slowly walk back through that path to polish it up, i.e.
-
x -
- x -
- x - -
- x - - -
- - x - - -
- - x - - - -
If you're at the top you can cover it by following the x's. Bounce
between the first two until they're covered. Then do the same for the
next two and then for the final two. Any other method(one at a time, for
instance) takes far longer. In general bouncing between two squares
until they are covered, paradoxically, works better than chipping away
one square at a time.
Also remember that taking discs to the top is particularly annoying
because you'll have to do several risky jumps if you land on the top
square after it is the right color(especially with no disks left.) I'm
not sure how to account for this but perhaps it's best to save the top
until the end or at least until after you've cleared most of the board.
My suggestion for the initial pattern is 6DL(discs seem to be more
plentiful on the right hand side so clear the left first) UR DL 2UR DL
DR UL DR. You now have the leftmost four squares cleared and they're not
likely to change back.
This level of course is overall a bit tougher than level 4, but the
real nuisance is shown below.
+
- -
+ + +
- - - -
+ + + + +
- - - - - -
+ + + + + + +
Let the 'score' of any square of this board in Q*Bert be based on:
{0 if the square is starting color
{1 if it's the intermediate color
{2 if it's the final color
{multiplied by +1 or -1 in accordance with the chart above
Now when we complete the board we will have a sum total of
eight(+16, -12) which gives a remainder of 2(or -1) mod 3. Also notice
that after our first jump we have a sum total of -1 and if there are no
monsters on the board its value will alternate between 0 and -1 mod 3(we
always go 0->1->2->0, the equivalent of adding 1 mod 3.) This is because
WE ALWAYS JUMP FROM A + TO A -, OR VICE VERSA.
Incidentally we'll always end up on the 2nd, 4th or 6th row if we
finish and there are no monsters(a big if) as this is when the sum value
is -1 mod 3.
However there are ways to disrupt this pattern.
1) jump off the board to your death on rows 2, 4, or 6. Note that
your last jump was onto an even row and now you'll jump to an even row.
2) jump onto a disc from rows 1, 3, 5 or 7. This throws an
additional + into the routine(you go from jumping on a + to jumping on
the top square, another +) and just one won't be lethal. In the
repeating(5-3 clone) levels you have four discs on odd levels so you
wind up still able to solve things. Note jumping on a disc from rows 2,
4 or 6 does not disrupt the equation.
3) if you catch Sam or Slick after he has just covered row 2, 4 or
6.
4) if you let Coily drop while Sam or Slick just touched rows 2, 4
or 6, it's the same as catching Sam/Slick(also if you die as they jump
down.) This is the most subtle as you may not always be aware it
happened.
Being able to keep track of the +/- is probably too much, so don't
worry if you can't. Still if you find yourself with just one square to
convert and hopping back and forth just isn't working, you'll need to
take one of the actions described above(trying to grab a Sam or Slick
can be -especially- annoying.) Killing Q*Bert off is actually an option-
-be extra sure you jump off the structure on an even numbered row,
though! And of course be sure you --need-- to as well.
Levels after 5-3 all have the same disc position even if colors change.
4-5-1. LEVEL 5-1
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L2,4,6,7 R1,5,7
Blocks: pink->yellow->blue->
Note that with four discs in odd rows and three in even, if you never catch
Sam/Slick but use all the discs your parity will be off. Leave one and things
should be OK. In fact in general leaving a disc on
an odd row is a good idea--if you can't solve the level then use it as a last
resort. Sam and Slick appear very rarely here so you probably won't get a
situation where you can't clear that last square, but just in case you have
this problem, take a disc on the right or at the top.
4-5-2. LEVEL 5-2
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L2,3,7 R3,4,6
Blocks: green->blue->white->
Here going down the right is the better start with the paucity of discs over
there. Catch the lowest one with a snake nearby then go left.
4-5-3. LEVEL 5-3
Entities: Coily, red balls, Sam/Slick, green ball
Discs: L3,5 R1,4,5
Blocks: grey->lt blue->white
I've included the walkthrough for this in the next section because this level
effectually loops continually for the rest of the game.
4-5-4. (AND BEYOND)
Entities: Everything(Ugg and Wrong-Way make a return)
Discs: L3,5 R1,4,5
Blocks: varied. yellow->blue->purple-> but later there are new
colors(light/dark blue, white) appearing in 7-1. Still many of the same
thematic colors from earlier rounds show up
You actually get decent points for each level. You should get an extra guy
2/3 of the time from level's start to being awarded a bonus. This means that,
if you do the math, you need to win this 1/3 of the time without losing a guy
to play continually.
40 points/square(=15+25 for 1st/2nd jumps) * 28 squares = 1120
5 discs * 500 for each Coily dumped = 2500
Bonus = 5000
Total = 8620+(because you will hit some squares more than once and
probably pick up green balls/Sam/Slick as well.) I count it as about 10000.
The total gets less as your play gets more accurate, as less running around
means less points. Don't try to hold out for that last disc either. If you
are off-pace then try to let Sam/Slick come down and catch him right when he
changes something and you'll be OK again.
Despite these levels being very tough, you can probably establish a pattern
to start things off. Covering the left bottom two squares(as I mentioned
before,) making it to the right and covering the DR, taking a disc, and then
covering the bottom center and working your way up makes for a good start.
You have 3 Sam/Slicks per green ball and when you get the green ball, take
advantage of it. You really don't want to be lazy as the limited discs and
fast pace will catch up to you.
End of FAQ proper
================================
5. VERSIONS
1.0.0 sent to GameFAQs 9/10/2006, 4 years after considering pulling the text
from my Q*Bert PSX FAQ.
1.0.1 sent to GameFAQs 2/26/2008, adding NES cheats
6. CREDITS
Sam's Club for having the PSX game extra cheap($8.99) which got me back into
FAQing.Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang. They know who they are, and you
should, too, because they get some SERIOUS writing done. Good people too--
bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow Dragon/Brui5ed Ego,
ZoopSoul, and others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-
banned message board incarnation.
Thanks to the fceuxd programming group who let me try all sorts of new things
to make this FAQ more detailed.
www.mame.net for me to be able to check the arcade version(and for cheats
there too!)
ShowBiz Pizza for getting me hooked on the game(with the swearing at first,
I'll admit!)
The friendly PSX reviewers on GameFAQs who encouraged me to explore a new
system.
The NES completion project folks and especially Gemerl and Odino who made way
for my guide after the plagiarized/instruction manuallish one got zapped.
