Lock'n'Chase(Arcade) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0 by schultw.andrez@sbcglobal.net
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 an old 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.
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OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS
3. STRATEGY AND LEVELS
4. VERSIONS
5. CREDITS
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1. INTRODUCTION
The most fun I had with Lock'N'Chase was when a guy named Mark in my
Rudiments of Fiction class wrote a story about parental punishment. That was
the general assignment. His mother got mad at him and his friend for not
putting the Intellivision away, and Mark mouthed off or something. It
reminded me of something that happened with my Atari, and I'd always hoped to
play Lock'N'Chase some day.
Turns out it wasn't very good. Just another one of those maze-and-dot games a
la Pac-Man that leave you in suspense about what the next reward in the
center will be. It even has four bad guys. The only real hook is that doors
open and close, which can trap you or your enemies, and you can place doors
which are hardly useful. LnC is repetitive, except for the enemies getting a
lot faster, so you don't notice it's repetitive because you keep getting
killed early on. Oh, and there are no power pills. It's also got annoying
sound effects, and it doesn't have any cool intermission scenes. Still, a FAQ
is a great way to provide catharsis and remind myself that the good old days
weren't always good, but it is fun to sift through them a bit.
Here's the rundown. You're a robber with boggly eyes, like one of those
refrigerator magnets back in the 80s, and you're red and you have a hat. Four
police guys like you, but with different colors, are chasing you. There's a
level-specific treasure in the middle and a bag of gold above that, each of
which you have next to no time to get. But if you do get it, you get some
points. Once you get all the dots, you need to get out alive.
You may notice this FAQ is for the arcade and not the Intellivision version.
LnC was likable enough on the surface, and people were buying anything back
during the Pac-Man Fever epidemic, so silly games like this slipped through.
If you want a real Pac-Man clone, try Pepper II or, if you have a working TI-
99 emulator, Munch Man. That game was the bomb. Dude.
2. CONTROLS
On MAME you can use the arrows to get around. The cheat for infinite lives
and invincibility is also useful if you want to get through levels quickly
and without having to sit through the intro where your little boggly eyes on
legs roll by in a Studebaker and pop in the bottom of the maze. Plus, it's
stupid when you've eaten all the dots to go in and walk back out. You can
plan a move in advance, which is sort of nice except that the game would be
even more unfair if you had to move right away. Also, your guy is slightly
faster than the enemies until level 5, at which point he goes at the same
speed, so you have to turn in advance to escape that.
There is one other thing you can do. You can place red walls at intersections
to fend off enemies.The last intersection with lines pointing to it inside
the bumpers will have a red laser-like line that repels everyone, including
you. You can put up two such barriers, but unfortunately the only place you
can trap enemies for points is in the corners. You also need to be a bit
ahead of the enemy to do so, or he will keep following you. You only seem to
get points for this once--200, 400, 800 and 1600.
3. STRATEGY AND LEVELS
Every level is laid out the same--the red and blue release at the same time,
then the green guy, then the yellow. Here is a rough map.
red=stiffy blue=smarty
green=scaredy yellow=silly
xxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x.. ....... ....... ..x
x.xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.x
x.xxxxxxx xxx xxx xxx.x
x.xxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.x
x.. ... ... ... ... ..x
x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxxxx
x xxx xxx xxx xxx xxxxx
xxx.xxx.xxx xxx xxx.xxxxxxx
xr .. ..xxx $ xxx.. .. bx
xxx.xxx.xxx xxx xxx.xxx.xxx
x xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx.xxx.xxx xxx xxx.xxx.xxx
xg .. ... .. ! .. ... .. yx
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
x xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx x
x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.x
x.xxx.. ..xxx.. ..xxx.x
x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.x
x.xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx.x
x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.x
x.. ... ....... ... ..x
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxxx
Doors appear in the center and occasionally branch out. Where they are in
each level appears to be random. There's not too much advice to give other
than that you should wait for enemies to get to intersections before
committing to a direction, and early on you need to run into a corner because
then you can run past them, and later on it's not so good to go right there,
as they may trap you. You also can try to time gates just right so policemen
get stuck, but your best bet may just be to make them all follow you and
constantly be anticipating your next move. In this case it WOULD be good to
go to the sides if you can be sure enemies will follow you and you can go
back down to shake them off. Enemies are safest far away or very close to
you.
For starters in a level you can always run past the yellow guy and up to the
UR corner before everyone else gets very active. That takes care of the
dangerous corners, which have no t-intersections and are ideal for trapping
you. Nip at the other corners as soon as possible. Items appear in the
center, and gold above, based on how many dots you collected, but you should
really only try for them if you are 2 intersection-units away at the time.
Doors can shut in your face pretty easily. The best time to use doors to
repel enemies is when they start closing and you are in the intersection.
Sadly there isn't much more to say here as the rest is execution. After level
4, the enemies are as fast as you, and after level 10, the thing you get in
the center repeats. A list is below. The only surprise is when the next goody
gives 80% fewer points than in the previous level. That's just unfunny.
L1: hat, 100
L2: crown, 300
L3: brick, 500
L4: phone, 100
L5: timer, 800
L6: camera, 1000
L7: shades, 2000
L8: flashlight, 400
L9: key, 3000
L10: heart, 5000
You also get an extra life at 15000.
The only other thing to be aware of is when items appear in and above the
center. The board has 142 dots, and you can watch for something to appear
after eating the following number of dots. Given each dot is 20 points, you
can work out when something is about to appear and get close to the center
before it happens, if you really want the bonus. Just note each new thing
appears 300 points after the last old thing. Or 600, in the case of the 4th
bag.
1st bag: 40 dots
1st item: 55 dots
2nd bag: 70 dots
3rd bag: 100 dots
4th bag: 130 dots
If you want to use MAME cheats, they suggest the toggle with F6 after
clearing the board and just before the exit, and that should be good enough.
It's moderately amusing to see the enemies fall all over themselves, but even
with the cheats(invincibility, endless lives) it is tough to get all bonuses.
You probably won't want to play too long after solving level 10, cheating or
no.
End of FAQ Proper
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4. VERSIONS
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 11/28/2007
5. CREDITS
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and
others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message
board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of
mine.
Thanks to Pugsy for his MAME cheat page which helps me make short work of a
game, whether I just want to play it or FAQ it too.
