Lucky Luke: On the Daltons' Trail/Game Mechanics and Glitches
From SDA Knowledge Base
Everything in this guide was tested on the PC version of this game. However since the PC version is a port of the PS1 version, every trick should work on the PS1 version as well.
These control names will be used throughout the guide:
"JUMP" = G (PC, Default) = Square (PS1, Default)
"RUN" = C (PC, Default) = X (PS1, Default)
"DYNAMITE" = V (PC, Default) = Triangle (PS1, Default)
"SHOOT" = B (PC, Default) = Circle (PS1, Default)
"SEE SCORE BAR" = F (PC, Default) = L2 (PS1, Default)
Special keys (PC Version):
P = Pause
S = Sound On/Off
Contents
Movement
Platform Levels
Movement methods
- Jumping while holding RUN: By far the fastest method
- Running: Hold "RUN" to run
- Walking: By far the slowest method
Jumping
The longer you hold JUMP the higher you will jump.
When you hold "RUN" while jumping you will jump a lot higher and move faster in air.
Sometimes you have to jump onto small boxes or similar objects and have to jump from these again to proceed. The fastest way to jump on those boxes is to tap JUMP while not holding RUN.
When you jump right after landing your jump width will be slightly higher.
You can not jump when inside buildings.
Using levers
In order to activate levers you have to be in front of them and press UP.
Going into the background
In certain areas you have to go into the background of the level. To do so you have to stand in front of a place where it is possible to do that, for example in front of ladders, doors or elevators. Then use UP to go into the background.
Ladders
It is faster to jump ladders up. To do so go in front of them and jump before you reach the point where you automatically walk the ladder up.
It is also faster to jump ladders down, you can even turn left or right while still in air.
Trampolines and springboards
You will bounce of trampoline like objects and springboards. When you hold "RUN" whie jumping onto such a object you will bounce a lot higher.
Pushable Crates
Sometimes you will have to push a crate in order to jump from it to another platform. You can push a crate by going towards it and holding the direction key.
Abilene Boss
Press and hold SHOOT in combination with LEFT or RIGHT to prepare for punching back a log. You can not move left or right in that state.
Release SHOOT to hit a log.
Train 1
You can move to the left and the right by pressing "LEFT" or "RIGHT".
You can move to the background or the foreground in part 2 by pressing "UP" or "DOWN".
Wagons
Hold "RUN" for a permanent speed boost.
Press LEFT or RIGHT to lean to one side and make the wagon drive on two wheels for a short moment.
Press DOWN to duck and to avoid getting hit by obstacles in the air.
Dalton City
Use the direction keys to move the cross hair and press SHOOT to shoot.
You can collect Sheriff Stars by placing the cross hair above them.
Energy Bars
In several levels you have to fill energy bars to perform an action. To do so press SHOOT and JUMP alternately.
When the bar is full it will blink, then you can perform the desired action by pressing DYNAMITE.
The faster you press the faster the bar fills up. When you are too slow the bar will loose height again.
Boxing Fights
Low Punch = DOWN and RUN
Normal Punch = LEFT/RIGHT/No key and RUN
High Punch = UP AND RUN
Upper Block = LEFT/RIGHT/No key and JUMP
Low Block = DOWN and JUMP
The boxing fights are heavily RNG based. It may also be possible that it is based on your input (when you press which key).
A general tactic is to try the same punch type again after you hit the enemy with a punch.
When he hits you or blocks your punch try another one.
After you hit an enemy too often with the same punch type he will consistently block that specific punch until you change the type.
Every boxing enemy takes 10 hits.
The punches do have different speed:
- Normal Punch is the fastest one
- High Punch is fast, but slightly slower than a normal punch
- Low Punch is slow, but enemies seem to need more time to recover from this punch
Shooting
You have to stand on the ground in order to be able to shoot.
You can shoot in five directions:
- Backwards: Hold SHOOT + opposite direction key
- Backwards diagonal: Hold SHOOT + opposite direction key + UP
- Upwards: Hold SHOOT + UP
- Forwards diagonal: Hold SHOOT + forwards direction key + UP
- Forwards: Hold SHOOT + forwards direction key
Ropes, pipes and other objects:
Some objects can be destroyed by shooting them, others reflect the bullets to somewhere else where they effect something.
Doing so often triggers cutscenes and opens up the way.
It does not seem to make a difference at which position you hit a rope, only the distance the bullet has to travel differs.
Checkpoints
Checkpoints are represented by Rintincan. When you touch the ground near him you will trigger the checkpoint.
When you die you will respawn at the last checkpoint you triggered. If you didn't trigger any you will respawn at the beginning of the level.
In many levels you will have to go back to a place where you have already been. In that case you can often use checkpoints to skip a part of going back. However before you respawn there will be a sequence that takes about 10 seconds.
Health
When you touch an explosion or are hit by enemies you will loose one health point. You will die when you loose 4 health points.
Enemies and Obstacles
When touching enemies bullets or obstacles you will loose a health point.
Usually you are invincible for a short moment after getting hit. However sometimes you can get two hits in a row, known places where this can happen are:
- Level 1: Explosion at the beginning
- Level 5: Touching a bat and a spiky pole at nearly the same time
- Level 8: Hitting two bombs at nearly the same time from the bomb throwing enemy
When you run into certain obstacles or enemies there will be an animation of you getting hit by them. You can avoid this animation by jumping into enemies/obstacles.
You can jump over some enemies and obstacles casually, for others you need very precise jumps (e.g. running ghosts in Level 4, spiky stones in Level 2). There are also obstacles or enemies which you can't jump over.
Loading Screens and Video Sequences
Press any key to continue after the loading screen.
Press ENTER to skip video sequences.
Collectibles
There are several types of collectibles in the game. Some of them are only avaiable in one specific level.
Only the amount of Dollars and Lifes will be carried over to the next level.
Common Collectibles
Sheriff Star: Restores one health point when you do not have full health.
Golden Lucky Luke Head: Extra life.
B's: There are 4 of them in many of the levels. Collect them all to visit a bonus level.
Dynamite Charges: Can be used to blow away certain obstacles. They can often be placed relatively far away from the destroyable object and still hit it (e.g. boxes near first key in Level 4).
Dollars: Money that can be used to buy lifes and level passwords.
Keys: Open locked doors. Each key seems to only work for a specific door.
"B"-boxes: Can be opened by jumping onto them. They contain either dynamite, sherrif stars, B's or gold nuggets.
Level Specific Collectibles
Moon-like pearls (Level 4): You have to collect all 10 of them to proceed to the next level. After collecting one another will spawn. There is only one avaiable at a time and you have to collect them in a fixed pattern. When you go to an orb before collecting the previous ones it will be transparent and you can't collect it.
Totem Parts (Level 6): You have to collect all four totem parts in order to finish this level. You can collect them in any order.
Gold Nuggets (Level 8): You have to collect all four gold nuggets and bring them to the guy next to the beginning of the level. He will then give you a key to enter the next level.
Speed Boosts (Level 9): There are blue lightning symbols which will act as a speedboost. When you collect them you will drive very fast for a fixed amount of time.
Money
There are two types of Dollars:
- Normal Dollars: "Normal" sized dollars are worth 1$
- Big Dollars / Dollars that get bigger and burst: This dollars are worth 10$.
If you have more than 29 Dollars after a level you will go to the shop where you can buy lifes (30$) and the level password (100$).
If you have more than 99 Dollars left buy the level code, else buy lifes.
Bonus Levels
When you collect 4 B's in a level you will visit a bonus level after finishing the level.
B's are hidden in Level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9.
Bonus Levels can be used to earn extra money. To continue after the bonus level results press RUN.
Bottle Shooting
Shooting bottles will give you money at the end of the level. Each bottle color is worth a fixed amount of Dollars.
There are four phases:
Phase 1: Only red bottles with each cycle. (0 to 25% of time over)
Phase 2: Red and green bottles with each cycle. (25% to 50% of time over)
Phase 3: Red, green and blue bottles with each cycle. (50% to 75% of time over)
Phase 4: Red, green, blue and yellow bottles with each cycle. (75% to 100% of time over)
Shooting the barkeeper reduces your remaining time. This will only work when one time unit has passed and when there is at least one time unit remaining (bars around the crosshair). He will hide and reappear after you hit him.
Shooting Rintincan extends your remaining time.
Once you triggered a phase you will stay in it until you trigger the next phase even when you extend the time to below the trigger point for the current phase.
Arm Wrestling
In this level you have to fill a strength bar and step by step win the arm wrestling against Jolly Jumper.
The Card Game
In this bonus level you have to choose from a set of face down cards. You choose one and Pat Poker will turn it around. If you pick Lucky Luke, Jolly Jumper or Rintincan you win money. If you pick Joe Dalton the game is over and you loose all money that you've won in this level.
You can at any time quit the level by selecting the "QUIT" option on the right side of the cards.
This level has two phases:
Phase 1:
There are 8 cards placed face down on the table. One of the cards is a "Joe Dalton"-Card. If you manage to choose every card that is not the "Joe Dalton"-Card, Pat Poker will also turn around the 8th card and you gain more extra money. Additionally you will reach phase 2.
Phase 2:
There are two cards placed face down, one is a "Joe Dalton"-Card.
The first pattern seems to always be this (X = "Joe Dalton"-Card):
Phase 1 | Phase 2 |
---|---|
[ ][X][ ][ ] [ ][ ][ ][ ] |
[X][ ] |
The patterns following after that seem to be random.
Pausing the game
Some actions continue even though the game is paused. Examples for this are:
- Invincibilty Timer after beeing hit
- Rolling Barrels
Cheat Codes
Level Passwords
There are four different symbols and each password is four symbols long.
In the main menu go to OPTIONS > PASSWORD in order to enter a password.
If you are not familiar with Lucky Luke, here is a short explanation what the names mean:
Lucky Luke = cowboy, main hero
Jolly Jumper = Lucky Luke's horse
Rintincan = dog
Dalton brothers = bandits
Level | PC Version | PS1 Version |
---|---|---|
1 | Start a new game | Start a new game |
2 | Jolly - Dalton - Rintincan - Lucky | Dalton - Dalton - Lucky - Jolly |
3 | Dalton - Lucky - Dalton - Jolly | Lucky - Lucky - Jolly - Rintincan |
4 | Lucky - Dalton - Jolly - Lucky | Dalton - Jolly - Lucky - Rintincan |
5 | Rintincan - Lucky - Dalton - Dalton | Lucky - Jolly - Dalton - Rintincan |
6 | Dalton - Rintincan - Rintincan - Dalton | Rintincan - Rintincan - Dalton - Jolly |
7 | Dalton - Dalton - Lucky - Jolly | Dalton - Dalton - Jolly - Rintincan |
8 | Lucky - Rintincan - Dalton - Lucky | Dalton - Lucky - Lucky - Jolly |
9 | Jolly - Rintincan - Rintincan - Dalton | Rintincan - Dalton - Dalton - Jolly |
10 | Lucky - Jolly - Lucky - Rintincan | Jolly - Dalton - Rintincan - Rintincan |
11 | Rintincan - Jolly - Dalton - Lucky | Jolly - Jolly - Lucky - Rintincan |
Debug Mode
Apparently only accessible in the PS1 version. The file config.txt of the PC version does refer to the Debug Mode too, but it is unknown how to activate it.
The Cheat Code for the PS1 version is:
Press L1 + R1, L2 + R2, L1 + L2, R1 + R2 while the "ocean" logo is shown. If done correctly the word "CHEAT" appears in the top left border.
You can now activate the debug menu everywhere except for during loading screens and video sequences.
To show the menu press L2 + R2. To hide it press Triangle.
Use the D-Pad to navigate and press X to load a level.
The two most interesting entries in the menu are:
LEVEL
From that entry you can select any level or video sequence of the game, including the language select screen and the main menu.
INVINCIBLE
OFF = Default, you are not invincible
ON = Your health doesn't decrease and there are invisible walls preventing you from falling into pits and dying. However sometimes you are too far down in the pit to come back out of it.
Edit config.txt
This is only avaiable in the PC version and somewhat the equivalent to debug mode.
Open the folder "win" in the games installation directory.
Then copy the file "config.txt" to your desktop for example. Now edit the file with any editor. Finally copy it back to the folder and replace the old version.
Here are the effects of changing lines in that file:
StartLevel
Replace the number "1" in the line "StartLevel = 1" by another number to change the start level. This means that the game will start at a level or video sequence instead of with the intro sequence followed by the main menu.
< 0 = crash
0 = freeze
1 = Intro Video followed by Main Menu
2 = Abilene
3 = Abilene Boss
4 = Video Sequence between Abilene Boss and Train 1
5 = Train 1
6 = Video Sequence between Train 1 and Train 2
7 = Train 2
8 = Video Sequence between Train 2 and Pueblos
9 = Pueblos
10 = Mine Tunnels
11 = Buttercut
12 = Video Sequence between Buttercut and Indian Desert
13 = Indian Desert
14 = Video Sequence between Indian Desert and Saloon
15 = Saloon
16 = Video Sequence between Saloon and Waterfalls
17 = Waterfalls
18 = Wagons
19 = Video Sequence between Wagons and Lumberjacks
20 = Lumberjacks Trial 1
21 = Lumberjacks Trial 2
22 = Lumberjacks Trial 3
23 = Dalton City
24 = The Barn
25 = Shop
26 = Bonus Level 3 (Card Game)
27 = Bonus Level 1 (Bottle Shooting)
28 = Bonus Level 2 (Arm Wrestling)
29 = Game Over Sequence
30 = Ending Sequence
> 30 = crash
Invincible
0 = Default, you are not invincible
1 = Your health doesn't decrease and there are invisible walls preventing you from falling into pits and dying. However sometimes you are too far down in the pit to come back out of it.
Version differences
- Loading times are slower in the PlayStation version
- Elevators in Level 5 ("Mine Tunnels") move down much slower in the PlayStation version
- The versions have different sets of level passwords
- There are more checkpoints in the PC version
- There is a compass in some levels in the PC version which is missing in the PlayStation version.
Trivial Knowledge
Comic with the same name
There is a comic with the same name like the game, however the story is far away from the game's story. The Daltons escape in both versions and Lucky Luke follows and catches them. Other than that there is not really anything that is similar.