How to play Crack’ed online
- Move the crosshairs: arrow keys
- Shoot: Space bar
- Catch a falling egg: move the crosshairs under it and hold Space
- Drop the egg into a nest: release Space over the nest
- Start a game: F12 (Reset) or Space on the title screen
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
You play an ornithologist who has found rare South American hornbills nesting in the “Old Yolk Tree”. While the parents are away, other animals raid the nests. You start with five nests of three eggs each and defend them with a slingshot, shown as crosshairs you move around the screen. A nest can hold no more than three eggs.
If a creature grabs an egg, shoot it and the egg falls. Catch it before it hits the ground and put it back in any nest. The catch is that while you chase one stolen egg, the other nests are left unguarded. If at least one egg is left when the raid ends, you move on to the next level. The game ends when every egg is gone.
The prototype has two nesting sites. In the tree you face bluebirds, owls and snakes. In the subway, which looks more like a sewer, the thieves are rats, dragonflies and creatures the manual calls dunglings. Beat the subway on the second loop and you reach the Rooster Ranch bonus round. Here you aim with two markers on the edges of the screen (left and right move one, up and down the other) and throw eggs at roosters popping up in the windows. A hit is worth 200 points; a miss, or a rooster you let go, costs 100.
Tips
- Shoot thieves early. Stopping a creature before it reaches a nest is easier than rescuing an egg.
- Shoot high. An egg dropped close to the ground leaves you almost no time to catch it.
- Shoot over a nest. A thief hit above a nest can drop the egg straight back in.
- In the tree, target the birds first. The manual suggests this over the snakes.
- Keep your sights out of the corners in the bonus round. Pushing them too far into a corner can crash this prototype.
Why Crack’ed was never released
In the late 1980s Atari ported several of its new 7800 games to the 2600, and most of them were released. Crack’ed, catalogue number CX-26142, was one of the few that was dropped. Work started in mid-1987 and was still not finished in late 1988. The latest known build still has graphics glitches, a screen that sometimes jumps up and down, and no two-player mode. AtariProtos suggests that the slow development and a shrinking 2600 market were the reasons, but that is a guess. The 2600 version has three levels, against six on the 7800.
Several prototype builds exist. In 2002 a reproduction cartridge with a box and manual was made with the permission of the game’s designer, Robert Neve.
