How to play Glacier Patrol online
- Move left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Jump: down arrow (up does nothing)
- Fire the heat ray: Space bar (you canāt move while firing)
- Player 2: F/H to move, G to jump, A to fire
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Choose a game (1ā6): F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Fire rate: F4 (Player 1 difficulty) and F9 (Player 2 difficulty)
Gameplay
A glowing alien craft hovers over the polar station at night and drops ice blocks that are really invasion devices, building a wall to shelter the invaders. You walk along the ground and melt them with your heat ray; the earlier you hit a block, the more it is worth. Giant snowballs knock you down if they hit you, and running under the ice wall slows you down.
| Ice block hit | Points |
|---|---|
| Before its parachute opens | 90 |
| While the parachute is opening | 70 |
| Under an open parachute | 50 |
Every 10,000 points the sun comes up and melts the wall, and you get a bonus for every block that is not part of the wall at that moment.
Game variations and switches
| Game | Players | Snowballs | Second player steers the alien ship |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Yes | No |
| 2 | 2 | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | 2 | Yes | No |
| 4 | 1 | No | No |
| 5 | 2 | No | Yes |
| 6 | 2 | No | No |
In Games 2 and 5 the second player steers the alien ship. The difficulty switches set your fire rate: in position B (novice) the heat ray fires faster, in position A (pro) it fires more slowly.
Tips
- Shoot blocks high. Before the parachute opens they are worth almost twice as much.
- Remember you are rooted while firing. Stop shooting a moment before a snowball arrives so you are free to jump.
- Practise in Game 4, which has no snowballs.
The story behind Glacier Patrol
Sunrise Software, the company behind Quest for Quintana Roo, finished Glacier Patrol for the 2600 but never released it. Ed Salvo is credited as the programmer, and AtariAge lists VSS as the developer. Telegames, which kept selling new 2600 cartridges long after the consoleās peak, released it in 1988 in NTSC and PAL versions, and according to AtariAge was still selling it new in the box long afterwards.
