"FRYING" and the glitching effects in 2600 games.

[MaximumRD]

This was done by either flicking the 2600 power switch on and off rapidly or sometimes merely inserting or removing a cartridge with the power on, weird glitches and effects caused by power fluctuations. I was reminded of this after just watching this video by no swear gamer on youtube. 

 

https://youtu.be/F4Zb-rFPu2I

 

lol, for better or worse I use to FRY my 2600 games continuously back in the day, honestly was not even aware of the term frying, thought it was a silly thing I discovered myself, no doubt many thought that. In Firefighter I think it was called? Got my fireman stuck in the building with no victims to rescue, you could get some odd effects flicking the power switch. Used to get similar effects on Colecovision running a butter knife along the terminals of the expansion port...now THAT might have just been me.

[TrekMD]

Does the double fire on Space Invaders count?  You do that by powering up while holding reset. 

[RickR]

Does the double fire on Space Invaders count?  You do that by powering up while holding reset. 

I don't think that's considered "frying".  Just a bug maybe?

I remember Pitfall 2 had a frying effect where you'd start somewhere different.

[TrekMD]

Well, whether frying or bug, it is quite useful! 

[RickR]

Well, whether frying or bug, it is quite useful! 

That's true.  Makes the game a lot of fun, that's for sure.  And I think you may be right in the first place.  Some people have gotten the same effect by frying instead of just holding down reset. 

[MaximumRD]

I liked it because it could make for interesting results especially in games that I had pretty much conquered and otherwise just were not as interesting anymore. I know in some places I mentioned this some comments were along the lines of "What? If I broke my console as a kid my parents would not buy a knew one, I would never risk that" well true intentionally rapidly flicking the on / off switch or inserting carts rapidly while power was on probably was not the greatest thing for the life of the console or games but that said I was pretty much under the same restrictions, I did not have much and if I broke something it was unlikely it would have been replaced but I just could not help myself, heck I took apart most of my toys through childhood and definitely through my young teens which later evolved to my electronics etc. I just had to find out what made things tick and I rarely regretted it, not to say I didn't occasionally break something, some things I reassembled but though they worked again were never quite "right" but I felt I learned a lot and the tinkering was entertainment in itself. Maybe I was just a weird kid.  

 

OF COURSE on that note for those collectors who might not want to attempt "frying" on an original console apparently it is possible to recreate 

the effect using the Stella 2600 emulator so nothing is at risk 

 

 

 

[nosweargamer]

Thanks for sharing RD!

 

Does anyone know if the Space Invaders double shot technique was programmed on purpose? If not, I could see calling it a frying hack of sorts.

 

I never fried games on my 7800. I never thought about it, never heard of others doing it and may have been scared from a previous experience I had as a young kid in a mall Sears. They had a 2600 demo station where games were hanging on wires so you could try various cartridges in store. The system was on with a game already playing. I took the game out without turning off the system and was immediately freaked out by the screen changing, thinking I may have just broken the system! 

 

However, when I got a Genesis, I tried some hot swapping tricks I read in magazines. These tricks involved turning on a game (usually Altered Beast), removing the game with the system still on, putting in another game and hitting reset. I believe in some games this gave you  unlimited or extra lives. I view this a relative to frying as well.

 

Also, one of my kids fried an outlet when they tried to hang their metal necklace on a night light, that they slight pulled out so the necklace could hang nicely on the two, exposed prongs. Does that count as frying? 

[Atarileaf]

I didn't even know about the Space Invaders double shot until a few years ago. It almost seems like an easter egg more so than frying as it works every time where as frying don't you need to try again and again to get it right? Hence the possible damage it could cause. I don't think hitting reset while powering on a VCS would cause damage either.

[TrekMD]

I remember discovering it by accident back then and just doing it all the time.  Heck, I even tried with other games to see what would happen! 

[CrossBow]

Worst damage that Frying would do is just wear out the switch that much quicker. All you are actually doing is changing starting registers that the game relies on for proper gameplay. So when you fry you modify these starting points in the code and that is what causes the games to freak out.

 

You can fry Adventure and discover the Warren Robinett room that way. Also possible to do it using the bridge on the bottom screen of the maze area, but you will get stuck permanently in the room doing this. Funny thing is I never figured out that it actually spelled anything as a kid. Wasn't until I was much older and discovered the old 2600 Nexus and IRC chats etc that I even knew that was a hidden room. I just mistook it for glitched graphics because I did something not expected similar to frying would do. 

Edited May 7, 2018 by CrossBow

[Scott Stilphen]

Does anyone know if the Space Invaders double shot technique was programmed on purpose? If not, I could see calling it a frying hack of sorts.

 

It wasn't programmed on purpose.

[RickR]

 

 

You can fry Adventure and discover the Warren Robinett room that way. Also possible to do it using the bridge on the bottom screen of the maze area, but you will get stuck permanently in the room doing this. Funny thing is I never figured out that it actually spelled anything as a kid. Wasn't until I was much older and discovered the old 2600 Nexus and IRC chats etc that I even knew that was a hidden room. I just mistook it for glitched graphics because I did something not expected similar to frying would do. 

 

Do you know where to put the bridge to get to the secret room that way?

[CrossBow]

Do you know where to put the bridge to get to the secret room that way?

 

could have sworn I was able to do it by using the bridge on the bottom of the maze in the center portion of it. Then again, it could have been by using the bridge in one of the castles too. Been a while since I did it and again I never knew it was a hidden room or easter egg back in the day. I never even figured out it was spelling anything at the time LOL.

[RickR]

could have sworn I was able to do it by using the bridge on the bottom of the maze in the center portion of it. Then again, it could have been by using the bridge in one of the castles too. Been a while since I did it and again I never knew it was a hidden room or easter egg back in the day. I never even figured out it was spelling anything at the time LOL.

I tried the bridge in the middle of the "blue" maze, but that took me to the screen next-to the Robinett room.  But that was on game 1.  Maybe I should try on game #2. 

[CrossBow]

As I said, it could have also been when I used the bridge on the edge of the screen from somewhere else, But I thought it was from a spot in the blue maze. Been a long time since I did it and I used to have more fun messing with Adventure in this manner than I did playing the game itself at the time! I would always find ways to trap the bat in castles and the like so that he was never an issue throughout the game. And I can remember when i would lock him up in a castle and then suddenly towards the end of the game or really far into it, he would suddenly appear and I would wonder how in the hell he did it if I had everything removed in the castle that allowed him to get out?