Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®

Coin-Op, Video Game, and Arcade – Cheats, Easter Eggs, and Bugs


Entries in this index: 26
Name Manufacturer Year Type Genre Text (See Game for Complete Cheats, Easter Eggs, and Bugs)
P.O.W. - Prisoners Of War SNK 1988 Videogame Scrolling Fighter
When you have a machine gun and you're about to run out of ammo, let an enemy hit you and make you drop the gun. Let him pick it up. Hit him until he drops it. Pick it back up, and the ammunition will be refilled.
Pac & Pal Namco 1983 Videogame Labyrinth/Maze
It is possible to "stun" all of the monsters more than once with a single "powerup" item, giving the player lots of extra bonus points - listen for the alarm and try to get in a few additional shots as the monsters are waking up. In addition, the powerup beams travel through the walls, making it possible to stun the ghosts from a safer vantage point.
Pac-Land Bally Midway 1984 Videogame Adventure
Round 1 : jumping on the first three fire hydrants to generate five cherries is quite safe as you don't have any cars until after the third hydrant. Continuing you can see another fire hydrant just after the Pac-Pill. Straight after getting this you can push the fire hydrant backwards getting a helmet. This enables you to collect the babies that the ghosts throw from their planes (you lose your hat if you run out of time or die).<p>Round 2 - The Forest : the first 'cheat' is achieved by pushing the second cactus back - giving you 80,000 points and transporting you to your house at the end of level two. If this doesn't work then try the second, third and fourth logs in the woods. The machine randomly chooses one of these (pushing the logs only works if you haven't died and you have 15,000 points). Get the cherry that appears as it turns into another three.<p>Round 3 - The mountains : these have no cheats - but watch out for the plane that always flies over the first mountain (a flower sometimes grows here and in many other places, I am sure that this means nothing). After completing the mountains you pass two cacti. Pushing the first one back, on earlier versions, makes you invisible and invincible to everything except the water (which just happens to be the next obstacle!) To jump over the water - run at full speed over the spring board and at the edge press jump and keep on whacking the joystick to the right - you should glide over the pool! You have then reached Fairyland! Here the Queen gives you a gift of magic boots that enable you to fly. You then start Round 4 going back the opposite way.<p>Round 4 - Journey home : you first encounter cacti that you must jump over. If at any point you see the letter 'S' in a Pac bubble flying about - get it - it's an extra life. There is also another letter in a Pac bubble that flies around the screen - the letter 'L' - this can be achieved after getting a Pac-Pill, getting four ghosts and then Doris fifth (Doris is the one that chases you and the only one that has no hat after eating a Pac-Pill). The last cactus that you jump over is very tall. Try pushing the lower section of it backwards as this generates 7 balloons. Six of which are worth 100 points but one is worth 7650 points. Get this and don't bother with the others. Continue going home once you reach the town, jump on all fire hydrants as this always generates cherries. If pushing the cactus back didn't do anything then try pushing the second to last fire hydrant back - this will generate the balloons. When you arrive home you can still jump to get 7650 points.<p>Round 5 - The Town : jump on the fire hydrants to generate cherries. Push the third hydrant back to give you the hat. If you pass two fire hydrants on top of each other then jump on top of these. The blue things that push you along (water jets) can also push you on top of the houses. This is advisable as it keeps you away from any double decker buses! If the second fire hydrant didn't give the helmet then the fourth fire hydrant along will.<p>Round 6 - The water pool area : you have two short(ish) pools to clear, followed by more ghosts on pogo sticks (here appears another floating cherry). The last pool is the longest of these and must be judged carefully to clear.<p>Round 7 - The water jets : you have three different platforms to jump on (always try to stay on the highest one). If a flying water jet happens to hit you then whack the joystick everywhere and press fire as it is possible to escape. Not much on this round, just collect loads of strawberries. After this you reach fairyland again, you receive the boots again, and have to return home.<p>Round 8 - The trip home : firstly, you have to cross the long pool - backwards. Jump to the top of the screen straight away to get the cherries and clear the planes. There are stumps sticking out that you can land on and get cherries. After this there is the forest to complete. The first or second to last log will give the balloons.<p>Round 9 - The Water Pool Area : you leave your house and go straight into the water pool area. There are three cacti on this round. Pushing either the first (before the pool), second (before the skeleton) or third (before the Pac-pill) back will give you the helmet. The pool is slightly different as it has a stump sticking out of the water that has an extra spring board you can land on. After this there is a skeleton (that drags you down into the ground) and must be jumped over.<p>Round 10 - The forest : pushing one of the logs back will make you invincible to the ghosts. This works even if you have died. When you start flashing, the invincibility is about to ware off.<p>Round 11 - The logs and clouds : much like the one on Trip 1 except after jumping the logs, you have to jump onto clouds (although not essential as Pac can clear all the cloud jumps in one). After this you reach fairyland yet again and you receive the boots.<p>Round 12 - The trip home : first collect the three cherries. Then you have to jump backwards over a large pool - with no stumps. After this you reach the town. One of the few fire hydrants gives the balloon's.<p>Round 13 - The Town : this level has many double hydrants. Jump on these and wait for the water jet to push you up onto the houses. Walking along the houses gives you some cherries. On many versions there is no helmet on this round.<p>Round 14 - The cavern : you have to collect the keys to open the doors. The first key is on the top layer. Jump up there to get it. Keep going right and fall down the hole. Keep going right and fall down the next one too (you should now be on the bottom layer). Keep going right (staying on this level) and open the door. Keep going right. Jump up through the next hole and get the apples. Continue right, fall down the hole and get the key. Use this immediately to open the door. Keep going right, do not jump through the first hole and stay on the lowest level. You can then get two apples, jump through the hole and get a key, and then fall through another hole to get another two apples. Continue right and after opening the door, jump through the holes to get from the bottom level to the top. Open the door you reach and go through. Fall through the next two holes (so that you are back on the lowest level). Open the door you reach and get the two apples. Return through the door you've just come through, jump to the middle layer and continue right. You will now be out of the cavern and have reached 'break time'. So long as you don't waste time and keys it is actually easy.<p>Round 15 - The water jets : i think that pushing one of these fire hydrants may give the helmet, but I'm not too sure. Watch out for the planes at the very end of the level. Try to jump on them.<p>Round 16 - The trip home : the first gives the balloon's. Next it's the mountains. The is normally an extra life lurking around the second mountain so go backwards once for it if it doesn't come (an 'S' in a Pac). Then is the forest. The first log encountered gives the balloon's if the cactus didn't.<p>Round 17 - A forest level : on some versions of the machine the very first cactus will give the helmet. Just before the water is a Pac-Pill and it is quite easy to get the time bonus. After the pool, there is a short forest, following that is a spring board that must be used to clear a second pool that cannot be seen from that point.<p>Round 18 - The cavern : you only have limited sight. The first key is on the lower level. Go right, then jump up to the middle level, then jump up to the top layer. Keep going right and fall down a hole to the middle layer (you'll be in between two doors). Jump back up to the top level (making sure you don't open either of these. Once back on the top level, keep going right and you'll reach a door. Open it and get the key directly behind. Keep going right, fall down to the middle layer, get the key, fall down to the lower level, collect the fruit. Open the door you come across. Don't jump through the next hole, but through the one after that. Jump to get the key (fall straight back down again). Keep going right. Jump up through the next hole, go right, and fall down the next. Open the next door (you're still on the bottom level) and jump through the next hole. Then jump up to the top level, open the door and get the fruit. Go through on the top and open the end door. Fall through the holes and go to the bottom level. Go right and collect the fruit there. finally, go to the middle level and exit to 'Break Time'.<p>Round 19 - The mountains : clear these and the clouds as usual, but watch out for the planes at the end (over the part with three sets of moving logs). Enter Fairyland.<p>Round 20 - The return home : this is very easy. Keep on going left, You first hit a forest. Watch out for the ghost near the end. This is followed by a pool, get all the cherries on the way, but DON'T stop for anything. Then you reach another forest, then another pool, then the last forest (watch out for another ghost here) and then the town. By the time you reach the town you will be out of time and must run full speed from Doris. Try to get the Pac-Pill but if you miss it, don't go back for it!<p>Round 21 - The town : this is hard as there are so many ghosts. It is pointless jumping onto the double hydrants as getting on top of the houses may involve hitting a plane. Try to stay on the top of the double-decker buses, jumping from one to another. This will stop you needing a run up. The Pac-Pill at the end can only be got by first jumping onto a ghost. Don't bother with it unless you are already on a ghost. Go straight for 'Break Time'.<p>Round 22 - The mountains : as well as the clouds, you meet a new section - four logs in water that must be jumped onto and crossed. Careful judgment is needed here. Get the Pac-Pill afterward as you'll need it. Time is short so don't stop for anything.<p>Round 23 - The water jets : this gets hard towards the end as there are many ghosts around. Try to stay on the planes. You then reach Fairyland.<p>Round 24 - The trip home : first are the water jets to cross. This is quite easy as there aren't many ghosts and enables you to collect a lot of fruit. Then you enter the town. The last part of this is very hard. Just jump for the Pac-Pill when you see it and hope you get it before you are killed! Don't wait around.<p>Round 25 - The woods : there are two woods split up by lots of skeletons. DON'T use the spring board or you will hit one of the planes. All of the skeletons are fake apart from the first and last. So don't worry about touching them. When you enter the first wood, look for the helmet at the fourth log. I think it is hidden in there.<p>Round 26 - The mountains - again! : this time you don't have many logs to jump on and there are very few clouds. Most of the mountains have to be jumped without any clouds. This level also contains the logs in water and is the furthest that I've ever got.<p>The appearance of special items in Pac-Land is NOT random. The position in which they appear depends on the last two digits of the player's score when starting a round.
Pac-Man Namco 1980 Videogame Labyrinth/Maze
It is possible to follow a pattern on each maze that will always clear the screen without being caught by the ghosts.PIt is possible to hide forever in one place on the screen. Here is how where PacMan starts there is a Tlike wall above him. If you go up to the rightmost part of the T from the bottom without any ghosts seeing you go in, they will never enter that spot. Also, do not move stay still, facing up.
Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp Namco 1983 Videogame Labyrinth/Maze
It is possible to "stun" all of the monsters more than once with a single "power-up" item, giving the player lots of extra bonus points: listen for the alarm and try to get in a few additional shots as the monsters are waking up. In addition, the power-up beams travel through the walls, making it possible to stun the ghosts from a safer vantage point.
Pac-Man Plus Bally Midway 1982 Videogame Labyrinth/Maze
CHEAT: This is the same cheat as the original <I>Pac-Man</I>. If you need to take a breather at the start of a screen, go right and immediately up so that you are inside the right corner of the "T" shape. Remain facing up and the ghosts will never find you.<P>ANTI-CHEAT: It is impossible to work a pattern to clear the screen, as it done in the original <I>Pac-Man</I>, because a power pellet does not always turn all the ghosts blue.
Pac-Man Super ABC Two Bit Score 1999 Videogame Labyrinth/Maze
In <I>Ultra Pac-Man</I>, if you eat the butterfly, you win a free game!
Pairs Strata/Incredible Technologies 1994 Videogame Puzzle
If a player is lucky enough to match both wild cards in a single turn, the entire board will be completed, awarding tons of bonus points.
Paperboy Atari Games 1984 Videogame Platform
There was a bug in the game that sometimes permitted the user to go past the end of the obstacle course and cause weird things to happen in the next day of delivering papers.
ParaParaParadise Konami 2000 Videogame Skill
<UL><LI>Expert mode - Go all the way to the right when choosing difficulty (Hard), and hold the right selection button down for two seconds until it moves past Hard to Expert.<LI>Nonstop (perform several songs in a row with no break in-between) - When choosing a song, go until you see a box like no other (this box will have all Japanese text and a large pink background). This is Nonstop where you get to choose three more songs to play all in a row.<LI>Secret menu - When choosing a song, hold down the left selection button <EM>and</EM> the right selection button for two seconds. A secret menu will pop up. There are five items, each of them a simple On/Off button that is toggled by hitting the start button:<OL><LI>Hi-Speed - Doubles the speed of the rising arrows, similar to "Fast" in <I>Dance Dance Revolution Solo Mix</I>.<LI>Mirror - flips the left and right sides (left/up-left, and right/up-right), just like <I>Beatmania</I>, <I>Beatmania IIDX</I>, and <I>Dance Dance Revolution</I><LI>Random - Like "Shuffle" mode in <I>Dance Dance Revolution</I> (random arrows). It makes things more difficult! Song parts that have sweeping motions do not seem to be affected by this, though. Also, you cannot have both Shuffle and Mirror on at the same time.<LI>Hidden - Same as <I>Dance Dance Revolution</I>, where the arrows disappear partway up the screen.<LI>Sudden - Same as <I>Dance Dance Revolution</I> (arrows appear partway up the screen.) There's no smooth fade-in of the arrows, though -- they just appear/disappear as they pass the middle of the screen.</OL><LI>Stealth - Not an official 'mode' but just like with <I>Beatmania</I>, if you switch on 'Hidden' and 'Sudden' this will make the arrows invisible for the 'stealth' mode.</UL>
ParaParaParadise 2nd Mix Konami 2001 Videogame Skill
New to the game is a secret option menu that features most of the same secret hidden features from the original <I>Paraparaparadise</I>, including some interesting new ones.
Parodius Da Konami 1990 Videogame Shooter
Collect bells for extra powerups as well as points.
Phoenix Centuri 1980 Videogame Shooter
This trick has to do with the birds as seen on the first board. As they are flying away from you in a diagonal direction that is, when they spread their wings, shoot three within two or three seconds for a 200,000 point bonus. Normally, these birds only score 200 points each. This trick will work on any board with those kinds of birds. The easiest board is the second one because of your ability to rapid fire.
Pickin' Valadon Automation 1983 Videogame Labyrinth/Maze
If the game is set to free play and five pickers, the game will not take away a picker when you die.
Play Girls Taito/Hot-B 1992 Videogame Ball and Paddle
In the manual, the B Bank of DIP switches has switches 3-8 listed as "not used". Set all of the B Bank dipswitches to "on" and by pushing the one- and two-player start button simultaneously, the current stage will be cleared. Even in demo mode (with no credits) the game stages can be cleared until it returns to the title screen.
Pleiades Centuri 1981 Videogame Shooter
Bug When the final alien is killed on the very first wave, the game says that you be rewarded x amount of points, but this bonus is never added to your score.PCheat on the second round, shoot all but one alien. Then move the ship to the far left, wait for the alien to be in a firing line, then shoot. Its bullets will now go through you as long as you keep him in that position. You can quickly dart left and right, shooting it to death, racking up points very quickly. After about three minutes of this, the alien becomes highly annoyed and will hover right below you, and do all kind of neato moves. It is quite a sight to see
Plush Bus Innovative Creations in Entertainment (ICE) 1995 Arcade / Electro-Mechanical Skill
Do not shake the cabinet as this will make the prizes settle, making them hard (or impossible) to get.
Pokemon Nintendo 2001 Videogame Other
To catch any of the Legendary Bird Pokemon, you must have an Ultra Ball. You will need 50 of them.<P>To catch Mewtwo, beat the game one time, push the Pokemon button, go to the Flying-type Pokemon, push Select, Go to FLY, push Select again. Go to Cerulean City. Push the Pokemon button again, go to the Water-type Pokemon, Push Select, move the cursor to SURF, push Select again to get to Unknown Dungeon. You must follow the order. A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Go to a Pokemon. When you hear a noise, you will have a capture with level 70 Mewtwo. Must have a Master Ball from Slith Company, located at Saffron City. You want to add him to your Pokedex.
Power Drift Sega 1988 Videogame Racing
Press the start button while playing for a rear view
Power Spikes Video System Co. Ltd. 1991 Videogame Sports
There are 2 special serves in the game: Phantom serve and Thunder serve.<p>Thunder serve: bottom-left joystick and attack to lift the ball and top-left joystick and attack to serve<p>Phantom serve: bottom-right joystick and attack to lift and top-right joystick and attack to serve
Powerpuff Girls, The Konami 2001 Videogame Scrolling Fighter
When fighting Roach Coach, You should not use ice breath, laser eyes, or X-Ray vision. You should go to the spot where he no longer hit your character.<P>There is a rare, and random power-up to extend your life meter to make this game much easier. To do this, do nothing. Your life meter makes more than 16 units of energy (this could be a bug).
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Banpresto 1995 Videogame Scrolling Fighter
Whenever Tuxedo Mask appears, pick up the rose he throws to regain full health.
Psychic 5 Jaleco 1987 Videogame Platform
The secret bonus little doll with open arms is always located at the same place on each stage. After you have identified the correct "?" box where it appears, you must make sure that the thousands number on your score matches the number of secret bonuses you have already received, before hammering the box. For example, in the first stage it must be 0, in the second stage it must be 1 if you have already collected the secret bonus in stage 1, otherwise it must be 0, and so on.
Punch-Out!! Nintendo 1984 Videogame Sports
To score a quick knockdown on both Bald Bull and Piston Hurricane, pop them in the head when they charge you. Look for them to back off for a second, then when they run in toward you, let them have it with a quick left. Watch for their eyes to flash in the earlier rounds to get the timing down for the later ones. When you are fighting, wait for the opponent to throw a punch with his left, just before his glove reaches you, jab with the left. This will stun him, leaving him open for about three hits. This works for almost every opponent in the game.
Puzzle Bobble Taito 1994 Videogame Puzzle
There is a special bonus of a million points on rounds 9 and 13. This is achieved by linking up a number of orange bubbles on round 9 and blue bubbles on round 13.
Puzzle De Pon! SNK 1993 Videogame Puzzle
Clearing spheres more than three at a time produces a big bonus. This is possible by building up two groups of two, of the same color, and then linking them to make a five-sphere clearance.