How to play Panda Chase online
- Move the panda: arrow keys (up, down, left and right)
- Jump: Space bar
- Choose one of 16 difficulty levels: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Start the game: Space bar, or F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
The panda starts on an open plain dotted with huts, bushes and castles, shared with a lynx, a wild boar and a goat. Going into the huts is risky: the panda can drop into one of four secret tunnels where wild boars are waiting. The bamboo forest is no safer, because he can get caught in a trap or be attacked by animals there. To escape, you jump him up a set of steps, and at the top he finds the golden bamboo. That earns points, gives him fresh strength and takes you back to the plain.
Energy is the key resource. Each of your three pandas begins with 48 units, and walking and fighting use them up. Only bamboo refills the gauge. The game ends when the panda has run out of strength three times, or has been killed by wild animals three times.
| Action | Reward |
|---|---|
| Each energy unit used up | 2 points |
| Getting out of a hut | 60 points and 15 energy |
| Escaping from a trap | 100 points and 10 energy |
| Leaving the bamboo forest | 48 energy |
Tips
- Treat energy as your real life bar. Getting through the bamboo forest restores a full 48 units, so head there before the gauge gets low.
- Escapes pay well. Getting out of a hut or a trap gives back energy as well as points, so a risky detour can be worth it.
Other versions
Like many Taiwanese 2600 games of the time, Panda Chase was sold under several names. In Germany the mail-order company Quelle offered it as Der hungrige Panda (“The Hungry Panda”), and the rules above come from that German manual. It was also released in Australia as Panda Rescue. Later, it turned up as Tom’s Adventure among the built-in games of the TV Boy, an Atari 2600-compatible console.
