"FRYING" and the glitching effects in 2600 games.

[OldSchoolGamer]

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.





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.

[Steve W]

One game I always liked frying was Phaser Patrol (for the Supercharger). It would make the enemy ships invisible until they're at close range and make them act a little more erratic, really ramping up the difficulty level.

I wore out the power switch on my original 6-switch console because of frying.

[Emperor Megas]

Wow, I've never heard the term 'frying' before, but when I was a kid I did it all the time. I learned really young that when you switch the power off and on rapidly that you could glitch Space Invaders and be able to fire two bullets on screen at a time rather than just a single one.

40 years later until I hear any mention of the trick/method, and that it has a name. Crazy.

[jb143]

I've been aware of the term but never really tried it. I have played around with emulators fry options though. Does anyone know how accurate they are?

[Gameguy]

I remember doing this with my Sega Genesis Model 1 as a kid, all I can remember happening was Golden Axe II not loading all the characters on the character select screen(like only 1 or 2 characters were available). It rarely happened and barely worked when I tried doing this with my games so I stopped trying. I wouldn't risk doing it today.

[AdamAnt316]

Wow, I've never heard the term 'frying' before, but when I was a kid I did it all the time. I learned really young that when you switch the power off and on rapidly that you could glitch Space Invaders and be able to fire two bullets on screen at a time rather than just a single one.

I believe you can trigger this glitch (feature?) in Space Invaders by holding down the RESET switch as you turn the 2600 console on. Easier than trying to trigger it by frying, I think.

I don't think I've ever tried to glitch up a 2600 game by 'frying' it with the power switch. Might be too traumatized by my experiences with the NES, where 'frying' tended to just cause the lockout chip to freak out, and sometimes blank the save files on the games.....
-Adam

[OldSchoolGamer]

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 was well aware of the risk and chances I took with my consoles "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.



And yes similaor results could be had on later consoles, sometimes a Genesis cart just barely inserted would result in the Japanese region version of a game displaying etc.

[Az]

It was always great to see magazines like Gamepro and EGM have a big bold caution statement against yanking carts out with the power on, then follow that up with a half dozen awesome Genesis tricks that were otherwise unobtainable.

[Wraith Storm]

I remember in the late 90's I was determined to beat Sword Quest: Earth Wold on the 2600. I did not have the instructions or the comic to guide me which was basically required to make progress.

I was quite pleased with myself that I was able to figure out a fair few things, but eventually got stuck. My brother and I hopped online in search of hints but stumbled upon a page that talked about frying the system and the effects in some of the games.

Needless to say Sword Quest would have to wait and we spent the rest of the night swapping games out and frying the system.

The only thing I really remember is Pitfall. Sometimes you will get a static screen and Harry is like a ninja. He can jump around and hang from the trees. I believe he was even dressed in black.

Good stuff!

[The S]

I remember a cheat site years ago saying you could fry Pitfall! to turn him into "Ninja Harry", where he wore all black and pressing jump made him drop from the trees.

I never did get that to work.

[jb143]

The only thing I really remember is Pitfall. Sometimes you will get a static screen and Harry is like a ninja. He can jump around and hang from the trees. I believe he was even dressed in black.

Good stuff!

I remember a cheat site years ago saying you could fry Pitfall! to turn him into "Ninja Harry", where he wore all black and pressing jump made him drop from the trees.

I never did get that to work.

I tried on an emulator. Most of the times that the game was playable; Harry was wearing all black with a blue belt. Sometimes he would start up in the trees, a couple times he started in the ground. Either way, jumping put him back where he should be. When the game was playable it was actually playable, other than the obstacles being a garbled mess.