Pink Panther: Pinkadelic Pursuit/Game Mechanics and Glitches
From SDA Knowledge Base
Contents
- 1 Game Mechanics
- 1.1 Pursuit levels / Boss Levels / Level Select
- 1.2 Skate Levels
- 1.3 General
Game Mechanics
Every method and trick was tested on the PC version of this game. However since the PC version is a port of the PS1 version, every trick should be working on the PS1 version as well.
Pursuit levels / Boss Levels / Level Select
Movement Methods
- Walking: Holding right or left and walking straight forward is the fastest way to move.
- Jumping/Falling: You will move a bit slower than walking while jumping and falling.
- Helicopter Jumping: It's basically the same like jumping but you need longer to reach the ground and thus start walking later.
- Crouched Walking: It's much slower than the above mentioned methods, only use it when it is necessary to enter an area.
Slowdowns
- Getting hit by enemies: You can't move towards the enemy for a moment after beeing hit by him. If the enemy is at a higher position than you you will also be lifted up to him and will make a bigger extra jump.
- Landing on enemies heads: This will make you do a small extra jump.
- Attacking: Using the attack will slow you down to almost stopping to move completely (if you don't cancel the attack).
Jumping
- The longer you hold the jump key, the higher you jump. There is a maximum jump height of course.
- If you press "Jump" again at the top of your jump to start the helicopter you will reach a little extra height. This can be used to reach platforms quicker.
- If you press jump very briefly you can avoid going onto platforms that are near above you.
Helicopter
Stopping the helicopter
When you are using the helicopter and want to stop it while in air you can do so by just releasing the "Jump" key.
Helicopter when falling
You can press the jump key when falling of a ledge to start the helicopter. This does mostly work but sometimes it doesn't.
Pick up items
Put on the ground and pick up new item at the same time
You can pick up a new item at the same time you are putting another item on the ground by going to the new items position. Then put your current item on the ground and the items will be exchanged. The old item will not lay on the exact same position though.
Instant pick up after landing
Normally you have to wait a moment before Pink Panther is ready to grab items after landing on a platform, but if you move only a little bit (turn around or make one step) you can instantly grab the item. That applies to putting items on the ground too.
Grabbing while falling
You can grab while falling by standing at the edge of a platform, pressing the "Grab" key and running of the platform.
Grabbing while jumping
Grabbing is usually not possible while you are jumping. You can do it only when you are near a stalker with an item in his hand.
Attacking
Cancel Attacks
When the ceiling is too low to jump over an enemy you will be forced to attack him to push him away and make him head in the other direction. Normally you would have to wait until Pink Panther stops spinning around to continue but you can cancel the remaining attack animation by jumping.
Windows and doors
You dont have to stand on the ground to use windows or doors. You can use a window/door from shortly before the thought bubble appears to until it disappears.
Hidden Windows/Doors
There are some hidden windows in the PC version of the game. The background does not look like there is a window but you can see the thought bubble starting to pop up.
Those windows or doors always are:
- the exact copy of another window/door in the level
- near the copied window/door
- only usable one-way
There are two known levels where there are invisible windows/doors that are:
Level 4: Inside the pyramid with the key there are two hidden doors. Level 11: There are three hidden windows on the platform above the Jack's Club entry.
For a more detailed description look at the level guide.
Skipping Tasks
You can skip many tasks by glitching through the object that is blocking your way. There are three methods to achieve this. The level guides will include which method is recommended to use for each object.
Method 1
- Go in front of the object until you can't continue walking. Sometimes it's useful to start running towards the object from a certain distance. It can happen that you already walk into the object quite a bit.
- Press the key to the opposite direction briefly. You should only turn around but not walk in the direction.
- Now turn around again normally. You will walk into the object a bit.
- Repeat step 2 and 3 until you can pass the object.
Method 2
This is the same like Method 1 but at Step 3 you do this instead:
- Turn around again and press the direction key repeatedly as fast as possible. If you are lucky you can make two or more steps into the object.
Method 3
This is nearly the same like Method 2, but here you press the direction key repeatedly before turning around completely. You should wait for about half the animation before heading back to the obstacle.
Method 4
You can combine this method with any of the other methods. After step 1 do a high jump and start the helicopter. Fly towards the object. You should be able to jump over a invisible barrier and into the object.
Skip boss sequences
When you watched either the cutscene of the second or third boss once, both of the cutscenes will be autoskipped as long as the game is opened. This even works when starting a new game or loading a saved game. This saves about 11 seconds because you don't have to watch the dinosaur cutscene.
Skipping information signs
You can skip most help texts by jumping over the signs and some also by crouch walking under them. It is not possible to skip them if you don't have enough space to do a long enough jump. The sign before "The Greenhouse" for example is unskippable.
Bombs / Explosions
Manually explode bombs
You can manually let bombs explode instead of waiting until the timer is at zero. Go to your keyboard configuration to find out which key can be used to that. You should be far away enough from the bomb when hitting the key to not be effected by the explosion.
Evading explosions
If there is enough margin between an object and a bomb you can go right in front of the object. Then jump to not get caught in the explosion and let the bomb explode manually while still in air.
Too close to explosion effects
Death
Obviously, when you stand too close to a exploding bomb you will be caught in the explosion and die. You will then be teleported to the last area where you triggered a cutscene. It can happen that the object is also effected and clouds of smoke appear but the object is still visible. The object is removed when you go back to it afterwards. Mostly, the object is uneffected though.
Object is not effected
It can happen that the object you want to bomb away will not be removed when you are too close to the explosion.
Glitch State
I don't have a real name for this. When you are between the bomb and the object you want to bomb away and then let the bomb explode, it can happen that you change into a glitch state after the explosion.
There are three effects in this state:
- You can only move in the opposite direction of the now removed object
- There is permanently a though bubble which shows the "Hide" key, pressing or holding this key has no effect though. The bubble will only disappear as long as you are in front of a information sign.
- You are moving very very slow, comparable to pressing down, walk and grab at the same time.
Getting close to another obstacle seems to stop the state.
Video Sequences Game Crash
Video sequences are all constructed like this:
- Black Bars at the bottom and the top of the screen appear
- You loose control, the item in your hand is consumed and something happens
- Black Bars start disappearing and you regain control
There is a area in the level where the sequence is played. When you exit this area before the sequence is completely finished and later reenter the area, the video sequence will start again. If you don't quickly leave that area when this happens, the item that is currently in your hand will disappear and be used for that sequence. The game will crash if you have no item in your hand or if you exit the level after the video sequence played two or more times.
This can happen in two levels:
- Level 1: Monkey
- Level 11: Aquarium
Skate Levels
There are two things that manipulate your speed in this kind of levels. Both apply only to staying on the ground and not to jumping:
- Skating uphill: decreases your speed gradually
- Skating downhill: increases your speed gradually
Movement Methods
- Crouched Skating : Crouching while skating gives you a permanent speed boost.
- Jumping : Jumping is slower than crouching on even and downhill paths. However it is faster when skating uphill.
- Normal Skating : It's very slow and is thought for casual players to be able to complete the levels easier.
Slowdowns
- Hitting enemies / obstacles
- Tripping
Avoid Tripping
Tripping can definitely be avoided. It does not happen randomly, it can be influenced by the player.
I am not sure what exactly causes tripping. There are these possible reasons:
- distance to the next ledge after landing
- length of your jump
- hitting enemies / obstacles
General
Skip "New Record" screen
After finishing the level press SPACE to skip the "New Record" animation. Then press "Jump" to continue.
The fastest way is to spam SPACE and "Jump" at the same time as soon as the screen turns dark after finishing a level.
In the PS1 version you have to press "START" and "X" at the same time to skip the animation.
Abort Save Dialog
When you finish a level and are brought back to the level select, you are asked whether you want to save the game or not. Choose "NO" ("Hide" key) to continue immediately.
Cheat Menu
There is a cheat menu where you can activate several cheats. Enter the Code in the Main Menu Screen. When entered correctly there will appear a new menu item called "CHEAT". When you reenter the Code, the item will disappear and the cheats will be deactivated.
PC Cheat Code
Up, Hide, Left, Attack, Right, Grab, Down, Hide
PS1 Cheat Code
L1, L1, R2, R2, L2, L2, R1, R1, Left, Right, Select, Start
Menu Cursor Glitch
When you place the cursor on the CHEAT entry and then reenter the Code, the item will disappear alongside the cursor. The cursor is still placed on CHEAT now and you can still access the Cheat menu. Every cheat except for "ALL KEYS" works when you activate it here.
Version differences
The game was released for PlayStation 1 and PC, there are some differences between those two platforms.
Differences
- Default Record Times
PC version exclusive
- Hidden doors and windows: probably mistakes while porting the game
- Much faster loading times
- Short freeze when you steal an item because the music changes and is read from the game CD
- Extra entry in the cheat menu: invulnerability
- You have to press "Jump" at the end of the loading screen to play the level. This way you can look at the tasks as long as you wish.
PS1 version exclusive
- Extra cheat: When activating the cheat "NO STALKERS" you can also go through every obstacle (even in the level select level), this ability is probably causing that you can glitch through objects
- Higher jumps: The jump height is much higher than in the PC version, you can easily skip the second box in Level 1 or jump onto the platform in Level 4
- Repeating music: When a song has finished it will be replayed after a moment. This does not work in the PC version unfortunately.
- Skate Levels seem to be a bit slower
Trivial Knowledege
Kill enemies with bombs
You can kill normal enemies with bombs. If you place a bomb near any normal enemy and wait until he gets close to it to let it explode, he will disappear.
Exact same record counts as new record
When you get the exact same time record like the current record in a level, you still win 200 coins.