Chip’s Challenge

Genre: Top-Down Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Chip’s Challenge is a Top-Down Puzzle game originally released on Atari Lynx in 1989, although it has since been ported to numerous other platforms, with probably the most well-known of these being its release on PC as a part of Microsoft Entertainment Pack 4 in 1982, and then again on PC as a part of Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack in 1985. This version of the game, released on Nintendo Switch in 2024, is based on the original Atari Lynx release of the game.

The premise of Chip’s Challenge has players exploring through various levels trying to get past obstacles and enemies to collect the required number of computer chips needed to unlock the door to that level’s exit. This requires a basic understanding of how enemies move, how traps function, and how the various tools available to you in the game’s levels operate. And the game is more about knowing how its different elements work than juggling complex controls – you’re pretty much just moving up, down, left, and right here.

Chip’s Challenge does one thing impeccably well, and that is level design. This game’s levels are not only varied, but provide some clever puzzles for players to try to think their way through, whether it’s trying to find the right path through an automatically-sliding ice room, building a bridge with blocks of dirt over deadly water, or luring away teeth monsters from the place you need to venture into, this game does a good job mixing things up and getting players to think about order of operation.

This release includes some extra features as well, such as save states, visual filters, and a digital version of the game’s instruction manual.

The main problem I have with this game is the graphics, which are just eye-wateringly bad. And to be clear, I’m not talking about how simple this game’s 2D pixel art visuals are, that’s just fine. It’s the extremely low resolution, combined with the bright colors, combined with the rough way the game scrolls whenever you move, that just make this game excruciating to look at, regardless of whether you use any of the visual filters… at least, this is the case in docked mode. In handheld mode, the smaller screen actually brings this game somewhat closer to the way it was originally meant to be displayed, so it’s actually tolerable.

I really, really wish that this game allowed players to reduce the window size to reflect the original screen size this game was made for. Ideally, they would have let players choose which platform’s release this version is played in. And in a perfect world, the game would include a level editor, to reflect the way the PC release of the game fostered a mod community around the creation of new levels. Sadly, none of this is the case.

I should note that this game also has horrible chiptune sound, but this at least can be fixed by pressing the mute button.

It needs to be mentioned that this game was withheld from The Epyx Collection: Handheld to be sold separately, and while that’s much to the detriment of that bundle, it’s surely to the benefit of anyone wanting to play the best game to come out of all of this mess, because despite its flaws, Chip’s Challenge is still far better than any of the junk in that bundle.

In the end, I’ve gotta’ be honest here, I’m really torn on this release. On the one hand, I genuinely think this is a great Puzzle game. On the other, I think this is a pretty terrible way to play it unless you’re playing in handheld mode. The one final thing that tips the scales in this game’s favor, I think, is its tiny $3 price tag. At that price, you can either play this game exclusively in Handheld mode or you can cringe through the game’s terrible visuals in docked mode, because either way the game is good enough to be worth that low price, at least.

tl;dr – Chip’s Challenge on Nintendo Switch is a port of the original Lynx version of the game, which is still to this day a superb Top-Down Puzzle game with excellent level design. The problem is that the presentation in this game is absolutely terrible, and I would argue painful to look at in docked mode. Thankfully, the game is more tolerable in handheld mode, and you can mute the awful sound, and for only $3, I would say it’s still worth the price of entry.

Grade: C+

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