Supaplex Tricks

This page will discuss the following:

1. Tricks you can use in the game
2. Cheats that are forbidden to use

For each trick, a demo is included. You can download the demo by clicking on the title of each trick. To learn more about viewing these demo's, please read the Supaplex FAQ: How can I view a solution I downloaded from the Supaplex page?

Due to problems with giving proper credits to the real authors of the tricks, I will just list contributing people here. This might not even be very accurate, since it's difficult to find the place where the trick was really used the first time. If you feel you should be in this list, just let me know which trick you discovered, and I will add your name here.
Current contributors:

• Dmitry Durovin
• Tom Geelen
• J. Lauterkranz
• Kim, Min-Soo
• Herman Perk
• Tal Rundstein

Turning sniksnaks and electrons around.

Wait until a sniksnak is close, and then run away quickly. To succeed you will need to turn back just when the sniksnak enters the tile adjacent to you. If you are too late, you will die (because the Snik-Snak captures you). If you are too early, the sniksnak will not turn around.

Delaying falling zonks.

You can delay a falling zonk a little, by standing underneath it (in the path it will fall) and just as it enters the tile above you, run away. If you do it fast enough, the zonk will be delayed a little (you can see it suspended in the air for a moment.) If you are too late, the zonk will destroy Murphy, just as it would normally do. If you are too early, the zonk will not be delayed.

Avoid getting killed by falling orange disks.

If an orange disk is falling from straight above you, and you can't go left, and you can't go right, but you can go down, you can stay alive: Wait until the orange disk falls into the tile above you, and then quickly move one (or more if you want) tile(s) down. The orange disk will explode because it hits something (you) and before it does, you will already be out of the explosion range. If you are too late you will explode with the disk, if you are too early, the orange disk will keep falling.

Hang in the air when gravity is on.

If gravity is on, you can still float in the air if you're next to a port, on the side where you can pass through. Even if you don't go through, Murphy will stay 'attached' to it, and won't fall down.

Getting more than 9 infotrons from one electron.

If there are explodable objects (disks, sniksnaks, electrons) in the exploding area of an electron and THE ELECTRON EXPLODES FIRST, then the disk(s) that explode as a result of the exploding electron will also turn into infotrons (and if this disk causes another disk to explode then this will also result in infotrons, etc.)

Slow objects.

If you are desperate for a little time, you can make use of the slowness of many objects in the game. Imagine Muprhy with a zonk on his head. Now you can move away from under the zonk (say left or right) and if you quickly walk back, you can get back underneath the zonk in time, before it falls down and kills you. Note that this will only work once for each object in a certain tile. If you walk away from under it a second time, you will get killed if you try to move back.

Surfing through the sky in a gravity environment, and pushing orange disks/zonks over gaps.

If you are confronted with a gravity field, and you need to cross an area which does not contain anything to hold on to, you might still be able to get across. The same applies if you have to carry anything that will otherwise fall down (zonks, orange disks) over an empty area without it falling down. To do this, simply "surf" over explosion clouds, snik-snaks or electrons. Murphy will not fall through an explosion cloud, and he can surf over moving sniksnaks or electrons if they move in the same (horizontal) direction as himself. If you don't understand, look at the demo, as it will instantly let you see how this works.

Using yellow disks as a bridge.

If you need to get an orange disk/zonk accross an empty area without it exploding, you might be able to use yellow disks for it. You will need two yellow disks for this, and some room to move about. you push the object on the first yellow disk, and move the second in front of the first. Push the object on the second disk, so you can use the first one for the next position. Keep this up until you are at your destination. This trick is also much easier to understand by watching the demo.

Creating levels with more than one Murphy.

Supaplex will use the first Murphy encountered in the level as the real one, while the others will just be dummies (unable to move, but if they explode the real Murpy also dies, so protect them!). The first Murphy is the one that is a) more near the top edge of the playing field, or b) if they are on the same row, it's the leftmost Murphy.

Activating a terminal that will explode without dying.

If you are near a terminal, and a yellow disk is next to it, Murphy will explode if you press against the terminal (too long). To avoid this, you could stop pushing against the terminal quickly enough, but it's much easier to do it like this: press SPACE and then the arrow key. Murphy will press the terminal, but not move into it right after, so he'll stay alive.

Getting up two extra tiles in gravity.

If you have a red disk (and you don't need it for other things), you can use it to stand on, thus gaining one tile height (so you may just be able to get to an object above you.) Just place the red disk, and press the up arrow when Murphy drops it. Murphy will be able to stand on it. The second tile up is more difficult, but if you move up at the correct moment, you can also 'climb up' on the explosion cloud thus gaining another tile.

Yellow/red disks exploding by falling objects.

Most objects either explode or don't explode when something falls on top, but yellow and red disks behave a little differently. When a zonk falls on top, the disk does not explode, but when an infotron (or orange disk) falls on top, the disk does explode. This is useful to know, since you might be in a situation where you want to let either a zonk, or an infotron fall on a yellow or red disk, or when you have to decide in which order to do that.

Letting the right object fall.

Imagine Murphy standing above a hole, and to his left and above are zonks. If Murphy moves away to the right, the zonk to his LEFT will fall into the hole below. But if you move down and up quickly (not right and left quickly) the zonk ABOVE Murphy will fall into the hole in stead. (This trick also works when the zonk is not on the left but on the right, and Murphy needs to move left.)

Creating an invisible deadly wall.

If you are pushing an orange disk forward, and underneath it, infotrons or zonks are falling down, you might be able to keep pushing it, though it was about to fall down. In that case, the tile underneath it, will be occupied by a deadly, invisible wall. If you walk into it, you will die, and for other objects, it acts as a wall (enemies avoid it, objects can lie on top of it, etc.)

Turning around sniksnaks (or electrons) the alternative way.

You probably know that you can turn around sniksnaks (and electrons) by running away from them as they come close. There is another way. If you start pushing an object just before the sniksnak (or electron) moves into the tile where the object you're pushing will end up, the sniksnak will turn around and walk away. But if you do it at the right moment, there is also still time to stop pushing before you actually move the object. (Which means you can repeat this trick "forever" if you like.

Getting up in a gravity environment and Jumping up in gravity by sniksnaks.

If there is a sniksnak or electron around, you can use them to move up a bit when gravity is present. If one is approaching you, and you can jump just in time, the sniksnak will move underneath you before you fall back, and you can jump another tile up. Of course, if the enemy is chasing you upwards, you can use them as elevators. Check out the two demo's.

Blowing up 6 zonks with one red disk.

How shall I explain this... In certain circumstances, you can blow up 6 zonks with only one red disk by reacting quickly. This trick only works in circumstances which are quite unusual, but you never know when you might be able to use it. If you take a look at the trick itself, you'll understand how it works. It's hard to explain here...

Zonk cloning #1 and Zonk cloning #2.

In special cases, it is possible to make two zonks from one. If Murphy pushes a zonk over an explosion cloud, it will sometimes change into one falling zonk, and one left to push. The same can happen if he eats away base correctly, or pushes zonks over a hole. Check out the demo's to see what it means.

Soft landing orange disks.

If an orange disk falls onto an explosion cloud, it will not immediately explode. This can be used to your advantage. If there is an object in the place of the explosion cloud when it disappears, the orange disk will have stopped safely!

Balance a zonk on top of another.

It is possible to balance a zonk on top of another zonk, even though it would normally roll off. To do this, stand underneath a pile of zonks, and let the zonk above Murphy 'almost' fall (move away, and back quickly). After this, if the zonks (or other objects) beside the 'balancing' zonk fall away or are destroyed, it will not roll off anymore. Confusing? Check out the demo...

Pushing object over enemies.

If you need to get an object across a gap, you can sometimes push the object over an enemy. You can push orange disks over sniksnaks and electrons, but a zonk can only be safely pushed across an electron. If Murphy pushes a zonk over a sniksnak, he will be killed instantly.

Letting a falling orange disk explode by almost pushing.

If Murphy starts pushing an object (when it's not moving yet) the tile next to the object-to-push will be occupied. If an orange disk falls down there, the disk will explode. If Murphy stops pushing quickly, the object will not be pushed at all, but the orange disk will have exploded. Also note that the zonk (if that is the object-to-push) will NOT explode!

Bad infotrons.

This is not really a trick, but a bug in Supaplex. I have no idea if it can be used to the players advantage, but who knows... Sometimes, when infotrons fall, usually in combination with a nearby explosion, they get stuck. They can seem like they are falling, but not moving. Sometimes it is not possible to detect except that you can't eat them by using SPACE+arrow.

Sniksnak escapes explosion.

Just like Murphy, it is possible for a sniksnak to escape an explosion for a falling disk. This can be useful if you need the sniksnak several times to create an explosion in the right place (see demo).

Creating a bridge with sniksnaks and a single orange disks.

This trick is best explained by the demo. Basically, you can push an orange disk over sniksnaks (surfing) but in certain circumstances, the orange disk will split into two disks, one still pushing, and one falling. The falling disks will disappear, but leave an occupied tile behind. This row of occupied tiles can be used as a bridge.

Moving a whole row of sniksnaks in one go.

This may not be useful, but fun nevertheless. Check out the demo. In this special case, the sniksnaks all move in one go when the uppermost one is forced to follow a different path.

Blow up 9 zonks with one red disk.

An improvement on a previous trick. In this very special circumstance, Murphy can blow up 9 zonks with a single red disk. Very clever!

Orange disk falls without exploding.

This can only be done on the ground level (bottom of the level). To see what's up, you need to examine the trick with a level editor. An explodable wall is put into the border area. An explosion removes it. After this, an orange disk that will fall onto that exploded-wall-tile, will not explode, but safely come to a halt at the bottom of the level. May be useful in a level sometimes. Note that since this trick does not involve any tiles outside the level (including the border), this is an allowed trick.

Keep orange disk from falling by almost pushing it.

A trick that will be useful if you need to transport an orange disk over a gap. Under certain circumstances (see demo) it is possible to prevent the disk falling, enabling Murphy to push it over what was previously a gap.

Catching zonks and infotrons.

This is a really clever trick. If a zonk or infotron is falling above you, you can avoid getting killed by 'almost pushing' an object next to Murphy. Check out the demo to see how clever this is. It will probably come in handy sooner or later!

Create a 3x4 explosion.

If an orange or a yellow disk is about to explode by another explosion and you push it just before it explodes, it will create a 3x4 tiles explosion (not 3x3 as is normal).

Avoid orange disks explodion by falling zonks.

An orange disk will not explode if a zonk falls on it, if Murhpy is pushing the disk when the zonk hits it.

Delay falling by pushing.

If gravity is on, Murphy will fall down. But if he started pushing something before the fall starts, he will be delayed. If you then stop pushing soon enough for the object to start moving, you will have delayed your fall (not much) without 'changing' any of the objects. The demo shows that this small delay can be the difference between life and death...

Delay falling with a red disk.

This is an improvement on the previous trick. If you have a red disk (to spare, you can start dropping it before you start falling in a gravity environment. Depending on the delay you want, you can either stop dropping it before it falls, or delay longer by actually dropping it.

Unlimited red disks.

This trick doesn't work anymore from SpeedFix v6.3, unless you use the proper commandline options. If you have at least one red disk, you can (often) have red disks for the rest of the level. To accomplish that you have to be fast: after you drop a red disk, move one tile away and get the disk you just dropped back by holding SPACE and pressing the arrow of the direction you came from. You get your disk back, but the disk isn't removed from the tile and will still explode. So... run away before it does!

Continuing the game after getting killed

If you go through a port, and press ESCAPE right at the end (when Murphy is completely through the port, but not yet ready to continue moving) then you will get an explosion, but you can still move around for a few seconds before the 'hard luck' screen appears. If the exit is close by, this means you can still run to the exit, and finish the level! The same trick applies to when you are almost out of the port and a dummy Murhpy explodes: your death will be postponed a few seconds. Note that this trick requires VERY accurate timing!