About
Supaplex is the cheerful PC variant of Boulder Dash and Emerald Mine. Although it was released on the Amiga and Atari ST computers as well, the MS DOS version was (and is!) most popular. In contrast with the gloomy colours in the older Boulderdash games by First Star Software and Kingsoft, Supaplex features a varied and bright colourset which gives the game a merry atmosphere.
Murphy, our hero, is an orange who likes tasty infotrons. In each level a certain amount of them is required and you must lead Murphy through a high-tech environment of chips, bugs, all-crushing zonks, clapping snik snaks, explosive floppy disks and dangerous electrons. And don't wait too long or Murphy will start yawning and soon fall asleep!
In Supaplex it is possible to do clever tricks. This is because it is the first Boulderdash game that isn't fully grid-based. The objects on the screen don't jump from one square (or 'grid') to another, but move smoothly. All bugs that followed from this new technique have been exploited by fans and are often required in some levels by fans to complete them. For an overview of all discovered tricks, go to the Tricks section.
This game was published by Digital Integration Ltd. (which was reachable in the past via http://www.digint.co.uk) in 1991. Its authors are Michael W. Stopp (born on 26th March 1969) and Philip Jespersen (download a backup of his old website (which is not totally complete) here) of Dream Factory (a game developer). The PC code has been written by Robin Heydon. The PC graphics have been created by Matt Smith and the unforgettable tune and sound effects are by David Whittaker.
On his homepage Michael tells us why he and Philip Jespersen created Supaplex. This is his story (slightly modified):
"In the age of the Commodore 64 there was a game called 'Boulder Dash'. Me and my schoolfriend Philip Jespersen adored it. We also adored the capabilities of Commodore's Amiga. But unfortunately we couldn't play 'Boulder Dash' anymore. In summer 1988 we stopped the mourning and decided to make our own Amiga version, at that time called 'Think!'. We added a number of new elements and gravitation. And we decided that there should be a lot of levels: 111 (but it still had to fit on a floppy disk!). Since Philip did the programming somebody had to construct the levels... guess who! The first fifty levels or so weren't too difficult, but there was still a long way to go. So this kept me on my toe for the next months.
But what was even worse, was the fact that you had to play all those levels, to see if they were possible. Every little change of code meant that you had to play them all over again. And there were constant changes... With 100 or more levels this meant playing to the point where it became difficult to distinguish between game and reality (you'd always feel as if there was a pair of scissors chasing you...). Eventually the game was finished and we had the silly idea that we might try to earn money with it. Surprisingly, the guys of Digital Integration thought the same and so they bought it from us. Due to a trademark conflict, it had to be renamed. That's how it became Supaplex.
And now, many years later and thanks to the Internet, we found out that there was still a dedicated community of Supaplexers around. If you want to know more about Supaplex check out Maarten Elmer's Supaplex Homepage. He provides the most comprehensive and complete information about the game on the Internet. Find solutions to levels as well as new levels and additional software on his page."
Keep in mind that The Supaplex Homepage is not updated anymore. This Supaplex page on www.bd-fans.comcan therefore be regarded as the continuation of it. For that reason, most older material will sometimes rather look the same as on The Supaplex Homepage. All its information and downloads can be found back on this page (or on another page at Martijn's Boulder Dash Fan Site, but then there is linked to it from this page). Besides that, this page offers various extra things and important things, such as an explanation of the Frozen Zonk technique (see Tricks section) and many more levels, which are also neatly ordered in collections of 111 levels.
There are many level editors available to create your own levelsets with. All of them have been created by fans and didn't come with the game. Have a look at them in the Level Editors section. For many new levelsets that have been created with these editors, go to the Levels section.
Because of its very addictive gameplay, this game has been cloned many times and can be shared among the few golden classics. Just browse this site and you will discover them. One of them should be mentioned apart: MegaPlex. In that game (or tool) you can load Supaplex levels and record demos. There is also a level editor included and with this editor you can create levels with a huge size that only run in MegaPlex. The file extension of the MegaPlex files is *.mpx. You can download it from the Download section. Or go to the MegaPlex page (which will appear soon on this site and then a link to that page will appear here).
The unofficial sequel to Supaplex is the game Igor - The Time Machine by Elmer Productions. Originally it was called 'Supaplex 2' but for legal reasons, this had to be changed. Igor can be found among the other games on the Commercial Windows Clones page and in the History section on the Main page.
Another Supaplex clone is WinPlex. Various levelsets from the Levels section were originally designed for this game, but as it uses the same file types, its levels can also be played in the classic Supaplex. See the Commercial Windows Clones page for more information about this game.
Supaplex (the MS DOS version) requires at least a 80286 processor (it also works on a 8086 but can be very slow then) and a VGA monitor. The Amiga version works at least on the A500 and A600 systems and it might also work on A1200 but not on the CD32 console.
History
For the complete history of Supaplex, have a look at the main page in the History section.
Cast of Characters
Before you start playing levels, you should first know some terminology. In the main menu of Supaplex, you can click on 'gfx-tutor' and then you'll go to a screen titled 'The Cast'. There you will see all characters that can appear in the game. Below you can find them, with more information and an explanation of other terms you should know (which are not from 'The Cast').
For the common features of the following objects, there are some special names. These are:
The list of characters and other terms follows below:
Murphy: [destructible], [moveable]
This is the hero of the game which you control. He is a bug-hunter inside a PC who has to remove bugs from programs on the computer. To do this, he must collect Infotrons, vital pieces of information. If you have got enough of them, you can fix the bugs and continue to the next bug. Murphy can be killed by a lot of things: when he touches a Snik Snak or an Electron, when he is hit by an explosion, when he collides with a moving object or when he is hit on his head by a falling object. His dead means game over and you will then have to play the level again (but not the levels you have already finished)!
Base: [destructible], [edible]
In normal life we cannot eat PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), but Murphy can. When he walks over it (only he, not anyone else), is will disappear, or be polished off, if you would like to put it in that way. It is also possible to snap a Base which is next to Murphy by pressing the [Space] key + an arrow key indicating the direction of the Base you want to snap. If gravity is turned on, Murphy can climb up along these Base tiles. Then he has to be quick, for they still immediately disappear after having been eaten! A special version of the Base if the Bug.
Bug: [destructible], [edible], (sometimes) [lethal]
This is a dangerous version of the normal Base. It just looks the same and can also be eaten. But at unexpected times a flashing bug appears and if you touch it then you are toasted while you are alive! You can remove these nasty bugs when they are not active and when you see a normal Base tile.
Infotron: [destructible], [edible], [moveable]
Infotrons are the vital pieces of information which Murphy has to collect in his bug-hunt through the computer! In each level you need to collect a given amount of Infotrons before you can enter the Exit. Just run over them to pick them up or 'snap' them when you are standing beside them by pressing the [Space] key + the arrow key that points to the direction in which the Infotron is. They always fall when there is space under them and they roll off each other, Zonks and RAM Chips, if they see chance to.
Zonk: [destructible], [moveable]
A Zonk is a boulder which is often blocking your path. Murphy can push a Zonk to the left and to the right if there is free space at the other side of it. But Murphy is small, so he can only push one Zonk at a time and he cannot push one when it is adjacent to another. A Zonk always falls down when possible and they roll off everything that can be slided off (other Zonks, Infotrons and RAM Chips). Watch out when they are falling, for they smash you when they hit your head!
Exit: [destructible]
As the name already suggests, this is the portal through which you leave a level. In order to do so, you must have collected the required number of Infotrons first. When you are ready with that, just walk to the Exit and press against to enter it. A level can contain more than one Exit and they can also be destroyed. Be careful with Exits, otherwise you will be trapped in a level forever!
Snik Snak: [destructible], [lethal], [moveable]
This is the most hated and irritating enemy on your bug quest! Snik Snaks are always there where you do not want them! Fortunately, they can be crushed by objects which fall on their head or they can be killed by explosions - it serves them! But even after they have been killed they are irritating: they produce a 3 x 3 explosion. Watch out for that! Snik Snaks are predictable in their moves: they always try to move along walls and if there are openings, they always try to go through the left openings. When their path is blocked ahead, they reverse, but then they still choose the left side (from their point of view) of walls. You can let Snik Snaks go another way by tricky moves. See the Tricks section (Trick 1) for an explanation of this.
Electron: [destructible], [lethal], [moveable]
This is another creepy-crawly who behaves exaclty in the same way as Snik Snaks do. But they are different when they explode: they produce nine Infotrons! If they cannot explode in a 3 x 3 explosion, because the free space is filled with undestroyable objects, it will yield less Infotrons. If there are levels in which there are not enough Infotrons to collect, remember that some are hidden in these er... animals?
Ports: [destructible]
Ports are tubes through which Murphy can pass, but for the rest no one else. When the end of of them is blocked (e.g. by Zonks or Bases) it is impossible to enter them. There are three types of Ports: the One-Way Ports, the Two-Way Ports and the Four-Way Ports or Cross Ports (you can see them on the picture respectively). One-Way Ports can only be entered from the wide grey funnel-like shape at the beginning of them. Two-Way Ports can be passed through from both sides. Four-Way Ports are accessible from all four sides. Whichever Port Murphy goes through, he always goes straight trough and cannot make a turn inside. Besides the normal Ports there are also Gravity Ports. They look exactly the same as normal ones, but these make Murphy have gravity when he comes out of them! Freeze Ports are a third kind of Ports, which also look the same in the game. They freeze or unfreeze Zonks. In the original Supaplex these Ports do not exist, but some fans exploited this technique and designed this alternative function of Ports. Find more information about the Frozen Zonk technique in the Tricks section.
Utility
Disks:
[destructible], [moveable] (Orange Disk); [destructible], [edible] (Red
Disk); [destructible],
[moveable] (Yellow Disk)Orange Disk: This is a very dangerous Utility Disk: it can explode and when it explodes, everything is burnt by it, except Hardware. These explosions are normally 3 x 3, except when a piece of Hardware impedes this and reduces the explosion size to less tiles. An Orange Disk always falls down when there is no space underneath. If it falls on another Utility Disk, it will cause a chain-reaction of explosions!
Red Disk: Murphy can collect this type of disks in the same way as he does with a Base or an Infotron. When you carry one or more Red Disks with you, you can drop them anywhere you like by pressing the [Space] key for some time and they will explode. Do not forget to run away then! To check how many Red Disks you have got in your 'inventory', press the right [Shift] key. A Red Disk cannot fall down.
Yellow Disk: This is the Sokoban-kind-of element in Supaplex. Murphy can push one Yellow Disk at a time to any destination he wants. When all Yellow Disks are in their position, press the Terminal and all Yellow Disks in the level will explode (which is a shame if one is placed next to the Exit). A Yellow Disk does not explode when a Zonk falls on top of it, but it DOES when an Infotron hits it on top. It can, just like the Red Disk, not fall down.
Terminal: [destructible]
If Murphy presses this device, all Yellow Disks in the level will be blown up. Once it has been activated, it cannot be used anymore and if there are more than one Terminal in the level, the other ones will also be out of use after they have been activated.
RAM Chips: [destructible]
RAM Chips are unflexible 'walls' which can often stand in your way. They are similar to Hardware, except for two things: they can be destroyed by an explosion and Zonks and Infotrons can roll off them, if there is room for that (i.e. if the tiles next and next down are empty).
Hardware: [nothing!]
When you become aware of the presence of Hardware in a level, it is mostly because they are blocking your path. All these different types of Hardware do not do anything, objects cannot roll off them and they cannot be destroyed either. They are either pestering you because you cannot pass them, or they are used as a decoration (which explains why there are so many types of them).
Explosion: [lethal]
There are two types of explosions in Supaplex: normal explosions and explosions which turn into Infotrons. The first type just blows up things (if they are within the 3 x 3 explosion field), while the latter produces Infotrons in addition. Normally the Infotrons can only be get by the explosion of an Electron. The only exception to this is when there is a chain explosion (one explosion ignites another one) which starts with the second type of explosions (which turn into Infotrons). Then all chained explosions will generate Infotrons. See also Trick five in the Tricks section.
Besides all these objects, there are also some other features in Supaplex. One of them is Gravity. If gravity is set to on, Murphy will fall down if he is walking in the air. Gravity only applies to Murphy; all the other objects in the game behave exactly the same either with or without gravity. There are two types of it: initial gravity and gravity after you have passed through a Gravity Port. The first term refers to gravity which is there when you start the level. The latter refers to gravity which is switched on only after you have entered a special Gravity Port which looks the same as normal Ports. In order to get up from the ground when gravity is active, you can eat Bases which are over your head and you can use Red Disks to elevate yourself (see Trick eleven in the Tricks section). In this section you can also find some other clever tricks to avoid falling down because of gravity.
Another important (or actually: made important by enthusiastic players, as the original Supaplex did not visibly feature this) feature in the game is that of Frozen Zonks. Because the use of this is rather tricky and because it is not an official thing in the game, this is further explained in the Tricks section.
These are the main terms you should know when playing Supaplex. There are also some phenomena that can be called 'terms' which are connected with the keys. An example of this is 'Pausing the game'. For an overview of the keys that are used in the game, please refer to the text files that are included in the download of Supaplex (see Download section).
Download
Supaplex originally is a commercial game, but because it is old and not being sold anymore, although it is still licensed to Digital Integration Ltd. and no freeware. Keep this in mind, especially if you want to create your own Supaplex clone, because it is illegal to use anything from a game for another purpose in general. I'm not sure if Digital Integration would still have problems with it, but it remains a fact that Supaplex is still a commercial game, even though it is not sold anymore.
If you possess an older version of Supaplex, you might still come across the copy protection when starting up the game. Three numbers are given and you have to find the correct 'reply number'. All these numbers were printed in the Supaplex manual. If you don't have such a manual, you'd better download the SpeedFix version below, which doesn't have a copy check at all. There are also other versions around (which are obviously cracked versions), in which either the check has been removed, or in which you can enter any number you want, or in which you see the question, but don't have to reply anything. I haven't added downloads for all these cracked versions with really a subtle difference in the download table below, because that would be ridiculous. It is about the same as when I would add all versions for a game like Rocks 'n' Diamonds, which would mean version 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.2.0, etc. Because each next version included the previous one, it is really unnecessary to provide them all.
The most common version of the MS DOS version of Supaplex is that of the SpeedFix by Maarten Egmond and Herman Perk. It is an enhanced update of the earlier versions of Supaplex with some minor bugfixes and it works more flexible. It has some new features, some of which are essential to do things like viewing other peoples' solutions of levels or playing new level collections easily. The SpeedFix is nothing else than an updated Supaplex, so don't worry about it being a clone or so.
Since the coming of the SpeedFix, the game speed can be adjusted. The original speed was the same on every computer, but since there are PCs that are much faster than those in the days of Supaplex, the game can run much faster on newer computers. It can also have to do with video cards, because many VGA cards don't have the standard of 70 Hz for the refreshing speed anymore. In the SpeedFix, an updated method is used to have equal speed on all systems again. And it will adapt itself to the new speed if the game runs faster due to the monitor's refreshment rate. However, the standard SpeedFix speed is rather slow, so you might want to change the speed, especially if you are used to a faster speed. To change this, you can press the [+] and [-] buttons on the right side of your keyboard. If you always want to start up Supaplex at a certain speed, you can either use SPLaunch (see download table below), or use the parameter '*n', where 'n' is a number ranging from 0 - 9 (0 is fastest and 9 is slowest). So the path would like like this for example: 'SPFix63.exe *0'. For more explanation about this, have a look in the MS DOS part of the Levels section, where information about loading level collections in the way of using parameters is given.
Finally, I want to give you some instructions about starting the game, in case you will need that. These instructions are about the SpeedFix version of Supaplex, which you can download below.
1. Run the game by double
clicking on the executable file SPFix63.exe.
Press a key when the credits screen appears and then you will get to
the main menu.
2. Create a new player by clicking on 'Create new player' near the top left corner of the screen and type in a name up to eight characters long. Press [Enter] after having done this.
3. Now your player is selected. In the box in the bottom right corner of the screen, you can browse through the levels by clicking on the bars with arrows and the text 'level-list' at the top and at the bottom of the box. You can play the green, yellow and blue levels but not the red ones. The green levels are levels you have already finished, the yellow ones are the levels you are currently playing and the blue levels are levels you have skipped. You can get access to the red levels by finishing previous levels.
4. To learn more about the game characters, click on 'GFX-tutor' near the top right of the screen and you will see a screen with the Cast of Characters. Return to the main menu by pressing [Esc].
5. Start a level you have selected in the level list box by clicking on the OK button at the left side of this box. Also, if you skip a level by clicking on 'skip level' near the top left corner of the screen, you need to click this buttion to confirm your choice of skipping a level.
6. For more information about the keys in the game, please refer to the text file about keys which is included in the download of the game. Get that download below, in the download table.
7. If you have died or if you are still alive but want to return to the main menu, press [Esc] during the game. In the main menu, press [Esc] again to leave the game.
8. To select other players (if there are more of them), have a look at the box at the left bottom of the screen. Click on the bars on top and bottom of it to select other names.
9. The box above this one shows the rankings of different players.
10. In the top right corner of the screen there is a Hall of Fame box, which displays the best players. This is empty if nobody has finished the game yet!
11. Below this box you can see the playing time of the currently selected player. It is not only the time which a player has needed to play a level and finish it, but also the time of all those times a player has used to play a level without coming to the exit.
12. Just below this you can find a message line. Sometimes it can contain important information.
13. Next to the OK button you can find an image of two disks. Its original function was to load data disks. In the SpeedFix version it is possible to load additional level collections with it. But more information about this can be found in the Levels section.
2. Create a new player by clicking on 'Create new player' near the top left corner of the screen and type in a name up to eight characters long. Press [Enter] after having done this.
3. Now your player is selected. In the box in the bottom right corner of the screen, you can browse through the levels by clicking on the bars with arrows and the text 'level-list' at the top and at the bottom of the box. You can play the green, yellow and blue levels but not the red ones. The green levels are levels you have already finished, the yellow ones are the levels you are currently playing and the blue levels are levels you have skipped. You can get access to the red levels by finishing previous levels.
4. To learn more about the game characters, click on 'GFX-tutor' near the top right of the screen and you will see a screen with the Cast of Characters. Return to the main menu by pressing [Esc].
5. Start a level you have selected in the level list box by clicking on the OK button at the left side of this box. Also, if you skip a level by clicking on 'skip level' near the top left corner of the screen, you need to click this buttion to confirm your choice of skipping a level.
6. For more information about the keys in the game, please refer to the text file about keys which is included in the download of the game. Get that download below, in the download table.
7. If you have died or if you are still alive but want to return to the main menu, press [Esc] during the game. In the main menu, press [Esc] again to leave the game.
8. To select other players (if there are more of them), have a look at the box at the left bottom of the screen. Click on the bars on top and bottom of it to select other names.
9. The box above this one shows the rankings of different players.
10. In the top right corner of the screen there is a Hall of Fame box, which displays the best players. This is empty if nobody has finished the game yet!
11. Below this box you can see the playing time of the currently selected player. It is not only the time which a player has needed to play a level and finish it, but also the time of all those times a player has used to play a level without coming to the exit.
12. Just below this you can find a message line. Sometimes it can contain important information.
13. Next to the OK button you can find an image of two disks. Its original function was to load data disks. In the SpeedFix version it is possible to load additional level collections with it. But more information about this can be found in the Levels section.
Here follow the downloads of the game. As you can see, there are a few Supaplex clones added, because they are very similar or are sometimes even used instead of the original game. All the other clones you can find by browsing through my site, of course.
| Name | Year of Publishing | Platform | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supaplex (MS DOS) | 1991 | Amiga, Atari ST, MS DOS | A.k.a. 'Think!'. This is the SpeedFix version. Download the following files: 1. The very original MS DOS version (requiring codes to start up). (Most people don't want to download this version.) 2. The Amiga version (click here for instructions how to start it up). 3. The Atari ST version (please report it if you have this version). 4. Startup instructions for the MS DOS version. 5. A text file with reported bugs in SpeedFix v6.3 (which is the main Supaplex executable file). |
| SpeedFix v6.3 | 1999 | MS DOS | If you have got an older version of Supaplex (not the download in this table), copy the SpeedFix files into the Supaplex directory to fix some bugs and to have some extra features in Supaplex. For a text file with reported bugs in SpeedFix v6.3, click here. |
| Supaplex CD | 1992 | MS DOS | The original Supaplex CD which contains a PDF document of the booklet and the game adapted for harddisk installation. This is not the SpeedFix version but the original version! |
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| SPLaunch v1.1 | 1998 | Windows | Use this in Windows 95 or higher to start the SpeedF SpeedFix version with command line options, such as EGA mode, speed, level number, etc. |
| SndFix | Unknown | MS DOS (Windows) | A fix for the sound problems in the MS DOS version of Supaplex that might occur. It is not guaranteed that it works. See also Bugs section. |
| Infotron v1.1 | 1994 | MAC OS 9 | A game by Dave Peck, Nate Cook, Brooke and Dan Sandler for Mac OS/9 which is so similar to Supaplex, that it can be seen as a Mac OS 9 release of Supaplex. Download an alternate graphics set here. You need a slow MAC version. Read a quote from a MAC user about the speed. |
| MegaPlex v0.8 BETA | 2005 (v0.8) / 2001 (v0.5) | Windows | A well-known Windows implementation of Supaplex with the same source code. It is often used instead of Supaplex and has a handy demo recording function. The level sizes can be much bigger than in Supaplex. Download MegaPlex v0.5 BETA and use it instead if you have problems loading very large levels. |
| Murphy's Revenge | 1995 | MAC OS 9 | Another game by Dave Peck and Dan Sandler which is so identical with Supaplex, that it can be seen as a release for Mac OS 9. Unfortunately, this version was never finished. Please send me an e-mail if you have got a download for me. |
Screenshots
Click on the screenshots below to enlarge them.
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Emulators
The most popular version of Supaplex was (and still is) the MS DOS version. But as everyone knows, DOS games don't always work properly on modern computers. Although Windows 95 and 98 are still DOS compatible, Windows XP isn't and many people who want to play Supaplex on their Windows XP computer again, will experience problems with this.
If you are not especially interested in playing the genuine MS DOS version of Supaplex, you could try remakes that look quite the same, such as MegaPlex. Have a look in the Download section for that. For more different remakes, just browse through the pages of this website to find a good clone.
There are several ways to try to get the game working in Windows XP. The first way is to adjust some settings in the file properties of the Supaplex executable. However, this does not work for many Windows XP computer. But you should certainly give it a try. For a comprehensive description about how to do this, visit the following site: DOSGames.com Windows XP hints. Of course, this site is not about Supaplex, but about DOS games in general, but you know that. Also, have a look at the Bugs section. Some problems might be solved with the help that is given there.
A second option, which I prefer most, because is the only method that works for me, is using the DOSBox emulator. Also, download the D-Fend frontend. A frontend makes it possible to start the game directly without having to start up the emulator and adjusting several settings to have a good performance. After you have installed both programs, take the steps below to have the old Supaplex fun back! Take note that these are the settings that most fit to my system, so it might be slightly different on yours.
1. Start D-Fend.
2. In the program, click on 'Profile' and select 'Add with Wizard'. You can also press [F2] instead.
3. Now type in a name (e.g. 'Supaplex') and situate the spfix63.exe file, which can be found in the Supaplex directory. If you don't have Supaplex on your hard disk yet, then download it from the Download section.
4. Don't forget to check the box 'Close Dosbox after game exit'.
5. Go to the next screen. Check if the following things are set here: Cycles: 3000. Video Card: VGA. Render method: surface. Scale: normal2x. Then click on the arrow button to go to the next screen.
6. Click on the button 'Auto Create' and go on to the next screen.
7. Check if the following settings are set here: Type: sb16. Address: 220. IRQ: 7. DMA: 1. HDMA: 5. Opl mode: auto. Opl rate: 22050. Check the box 'Use Mixer'. Then click on the arrow button to get to the next screen.
8. In this screen you don't have to set anything, so click next. The same to the next screen.
9. Then click on the checkbox 'Enable PC Speaker' and select PC Speaker Rate 22050. Go further to the following screen.
10. Select '32' from the pull-down list under the text 'Memory (MB)' and check 'Enable XMS' and 'Enable EMS'. Click on the arrow and finish the configuration wizard.
11. Now an item with the name 'Supaplex' (or something else if you have given it another name) appears in the list. Right-click on it and select 'Edit Profile'.
12. Click on the tab 'General' and check the following boxes: 'Start fullscreen', 'Use doublebuffering', 'Aspect Correction' and 'Use Scan Codes', in case not all of them are checked yet.
13. You could eventually add information about Supaplex in the screen of the 'Game Info' tab.
14. If you want to play the game in a faster speed (because the standard speed in the SpeedFix version of Supaplex might much slower than you were used to when you played it in the past), you can use parameters. More about this is described in the Download section. You can easily type in these parameters. Just click on the 'Profile Settings' tab and type them in the textbox beside 'Parameters:'. For me the parameter '*3' gives the correct game speed which I am used to. Click on the OK button to exit the 'Edit Profile' screen.
15. You might want to have a nice shortcut to start Supaplex from your desktop. To do this, just right-click on 'Supaplex' again, browse over 'Shortcuts' and select 'Create Shortcut...'. In the screen which appears you can set the name of the shortcut and the place where to put it. Click on the 'Create Shortcut' button and now you can launch the game from your desktop (or another place if you have specified that)!
16. To have a bigger screen size while you are playing the game, you can just stretch the screen with the buttons on your monitor until you have got the same as what it looked like when you played Supaplex on your old PC years ago. After you have quit the game, the monitor will jump back to its non-stretched display. And when you start the game again, it will stretch again! At least, that works like that for me.
17. Now there is only one problem left: your game progress will probably not be saved! To fix this problem, you must do the following things (only once!):
18. Have fun!
2. In the program, click on 'Profile' and select 'Add with Wizard'. You can also press [F2] instead.
3. Now type in a name (e.g. 'Supaplex') and situate the spfix63.exe file, which can be found in the Supaplex directory. If you don't have Supaplex on your hard disk yet, then download it from the Download section.
4. Don't forget to check the box 'Close Dosbox after game exit'.
5. Go to the next screen. Check if the following things are set here: Cycles: 3000. Video Card: VGA. Render method: surface. Scale: normal2x. Then click on the arrow button to go to the next screen.
6. Click on the button 'Auto Create' and go on to the next screen.
7. Check if the following settings are set here: Type: sb16. Address: 220. IRQ: 7. DMA: 1. HDMA: 5. Opl mode: auto. Opl rate: 22050. Check the box 'Use Mixer'. Then click on the arrow button to get to the next screen.
8. In this screen you don't have to set anything, so click next. The same to the next screen.
9. Then click on the checkbox 'Enable PC Speaker' and select PC Speaker Rate 22050. Go further to the following screen.
10. Select '32' from the pull-down list under the text 'Memory (MB)' and check 'Enable XMS' and 'Enable EMS'. Click on the arrow and finish the configuration wizard.
11. Now an item with the name 'Supaplex' (or something else if you have given it another name) appears in the list. Right-click on it and select 'Edit Profile'.
12. Click on the tab 'General' and check the following boxes: 'Start fullscreen', 'Use doublebuffering', 'Aspect Correction' and 'Use Scan Codes', in case not all of them are checked yet.
13. You could eventually add information about Supaplex in the screen of the 'Game Info' tab.
14. If you want to play the game in a faster speed (because the standard speed in the SpeedFix version of Supaplex might much slower than you were used to when you played it in the past), you can use parameters. More about this is described in the Download section. You can easily type in these parameters. Just click on the 'Profile Settings' tab and type them in the textbox beside 'Parameters:'. For me the parameter '*3' gives the correct game speed which I am used to. Click on the OK button to exit the 'Edit Profile' screen.
15. You might want to have a nice shortcut to start Supaplex from your desktop. To do this, just right-click on 'Supaplex' again, browse over 'Shortcuts' and select 'Create Shortcut...'. In the screen which appears you can set the name of the shortcut and the place where to put it. Click on the 'Create Shortcut' button and now you can launch the game from your desktop (or another place if you have specified that)!
16. To have a bigger screen size while you are playing the game, you can just stretch the screen with the buttons on your monitor until you have got the same as what it looked like when you played Supaplex on your old PC years ago. After you have quit the game, the monitor will jump back to its non-stretched display. And when you start the game again, it will stretch again! At least, that works like that for me.
17. Now there is only one problem left: your game progress will probably not be saved! To fix this problem, you must do the following things (only once!):
a. Play a level (or part of a
level) in Supaplex, using DOSBox (with the shortcut you've just
created!).
b. Then, while the game is still running, press [Alt] + [Enter].
c. Delete the (hidden!) Player.lst file from the Supaplex directory. To make visible hidden files, download ShowHidden, unpack it to any place you like, right-click on the 'showHidden.inf' file and select 'Install'. To make hidden files invisible (which you should do immediately after you've deleted the Player.lst file!), download HideHidden and use the same procedure.
d. Now exit the game, which was still running, via the normal way.
e. When you have left the game, the Supaplex directory contains a good new Player.lst file with your game progress! The next time you start Supaplex with DOSBox, you will be able to go on where you were playing!
b. Then, while the game is still running, press [Alt] + [Enter].
c. Delete the (hidden!) Player.lst file from the Supaplex directory. To make visible hidden files, download ShowHidden, unpack it to any place you like, right-click on the 'showHidden.inf' file and select 'Install'. To make hidden files invisible (which you should do immediately after you've deleted the Player.lst file!), download HideHidden and use the same procedure.
d. Now exit the game, which was still running, via the normal way.
e. When you have left the game, the Supaplex directory contains a good new Player.lst file with your game progress! The next time you start Supaplex with DOSBox, you will be able to go on where you were playing!
18. Have fun!
For the Amiga version of Supaplex I can advise you two good emulators: WinUAE and WinFellow. Because you will need a KickStart ROM image file to use them and because these files are legally protected, I will not give much attention to these emulators. You can only legally possess these files if you possess an old Amiga computer. If you do, you will also have enough experience with it and know how to start up the game with them. I have never had an Amiga myself.
Levels
There are many level editors for Supaplex available in which players can create their own level collections. Because all editors are only for the MS DOS version as far as I know, there is only one category, called 'MS DOS'. Some of the levelsets are converted from other Boulderdash games or are a collection of many loose levels. These levelsets are not guaranteed to be solvable.
The level collections below are files with all 111 levels in them (which is the fixed amount of levels that is required in order to play a set of levels). Level collections have the extension *.DAT or *.Dxx (where 'x' means a number). If you have created a single level, the file name will have a *.sp extension (or eventually *.mpx, if you have created it in MegaPlex) instead. Playing these single files works in the same way as with solution files (which are *.sp files as well). Have a look in the Solutions section if you don't know how to play/view them. If you want to compose a new level collection of a number of (or to be precise: 111) loose *.sp files, use a level editor. Some editors have a function to import these files.
If you have new levels (either some single levels or a complete level collection), please send them to me so I can add them to this page. You can find my e-mail address in the menu in the top-left corner of this page.
For instructions about how to make levels, have a look in the Level Editors section.
In case you do not know how to solve a level, you should have a look in the Solutions section. There you can find the demo files that are currently available. Solutions for the MegaPlex levels can be found in the files themselves (but not always and if you can could contribute missing demos here, I would be very grateful for that). If there are no recordings in the MegaPlex files, then there are no solutions available yet. You could record them and send them to me so I can update this page.
Various level collections below are composed of different levels from the Supaplex Forum. All levels from this forum are included in them, except a the wrong levels and the levels that are part of a bigger whole that has not been finished yet. The wrong levels are levels of which later (often only a few days later) a new version appeared, without 'backdoors' or bugs. These latest versions have been included, and not the former ones. Only if one of the first versions was solvable and differed a great deal from the latest version, I have included both of them in the sets. There are also some levels which cannot be uploaded yet, because they belong to a specific series. Since level collections can only contain 111 levels, these levels are still waiting to be uploaded. The current levels that will appear later on this site, are:
MegaPlex
Supaplex
WinPlex (these levels will be included in Supaplex sets)
There are also some missing levels. If you have them, please contact me about it. The missing levels are:
WinPlex
I don't provide levels with occult, pornographic or other offending titles or things inside them, because this site is meant for everyone. The levels that are marked as 'not family-friendly' (and are not included in any level collection for that reason) are:
MegaPlex
Supaplex
Please just create levels without a controversial title. There is absolutely no need to do so. Below follow all levels you can download.
MegaPlex
These are levels that can only be played in MegaPlex (for a download of MegaPlex, please go to the Download section) because of their strange size. All levels that originally had an *.mpx (MegaPlex) extension, but all had a regular level size that is supported by Supaplex, are included in some level collections which can be found below (in the MS DOS levels part).
I would recommend to everyone to play the classic Supaplex if you can get it working on your PC. (For more information about that, please refer to the Emulators section.) The classic original has got a nice atmosphere and it can played in fullscreen mode, instead of in windowed mode. That does not mean that MegaPlex is useless, for you can use it to view solutions (see Solutions section) and to play the levels with a strange size that can be found below. If you are a member of the Supaplex forum, it is also handy to play single level files (with either an *.SP or an *.MPX extension) that have just been uploaded to the forum.
Download the MegaPlex levels below:
| Levelset Name | Number of Levels | Author | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andy's Extra Extra Large Levels | 11 | Andreas Schwarzkopf (Andy) | Some extremely big levels which might cause that MegaPlex will shut down. If you want to play these levels, use MegaPlex v0.5 BETA, instead of version 0.8 BETA. |
| Mark Zwaneveld | 10 | Mark Zwaneveld (MarkZ) | |
 Mixa |
1 | Alek Kovacevic (Mixa) | A levelset currently consisting of one level. |
| Mokkel | 9 | Mokkel | |
| Murphy's World | 1 | BoulderMart (Martijn) | |
| Scitadel's Extra Levels | 9 | Scitadel | Some MegaPlex levels that came with the level collection Scitadel. |
| Supaplex 99 | 111 (93) | Dave Peck | Levels from the (unofficial) Apple Macintosh version of Supaplex (called 'Infotron'). These levels are not all playable, so only have look at this set if you are interested in what the legendary Supaplex 99 actually looks like, otherwise try The Infotron Levels. For more explanation, see also the description of Supaplex 99 in the MS DOS levels section below. |
| The Infotron Levels | 52 | Several Authors | This set includes the oversized levels from Supaplex 99. For more explanation, see also the description of Supaplex 99 in the MS DOS levels section below. |
| WinPlex Levels | 20 | Several Authors (Pixell Developer Club, Vovan-VE and unknown for the rest) | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. They don't work in my version of MegaPlex, but maybe you will have more luck. |
MS DOS
Below are the additional level collections for the MS DOS version of Supaplex. Just unpack these ZIP files and copy their content into the Supaplex directory. The easiest way to load such a level collection after having done this, is starting the game and clicking on the two disks below the OK button in the main menu. This will swap levelsets. You have to create a new player for each new level collection.
A more cumbersome way to load these new levels (after having copied them into the Supaplex directory) is using commandline options (parameters). In DOS (or in a DOS emulator), just type 'Supaplex !xx' (where 'xx' is the level collection number, ranging from 00 - 99). In Windows, you could use the handy program SPLaunch (see Download section). Or you could make a shortcut. To let this shortcut use commandline options, right-click on it, select 'properties' and fill in the parameter with one space after the file path of the source the shortcut is referring to. Then click 'apply' and hence the shortcut always uses the parameter you filled in until you change it. Another way to load Supaplex with commandline options is by clicking on 'Start' and then on 'Run...' in the menu. There you can give the full file path of Supaplex plus the parameter, separated by a space. Finally, if you are using the DOSBox emulator with a so-called frontend (see Emulators section), you need to set the parameter in the frontend program (probably the program 'D-Fend', which I have recommended in the section which is mentioned above). Separate the commandline options by single spaces.
The column 'Individual Number' refers to the number the level collection has in its extension. The extensions of Supaplex level collections can vary from *.D00 to *.D99, which means that Supaplex cannot load more than a hundred levelsets at a time. The original levels, that come with the game, have got the extension *.DAT, but because the official additional levelsets 'Supaplex xx' (where 'x' refers to a number) start with the number '01', I don't use the number '00'. This is to avoid confusion with the original Supaplex levels. So in the download table below, you will see 'Individual Numbers' ranging from 'D01' till 'D99', which means a maximum of 99 level collections loaded at the same time. The level collections are ordered alphabetically, so these numbers do not rise, but are mixed. Each time when I add a new levelset, it will appear on a position that it will be in alphabetical order, so that makes it look like this mix of numbers. When I have reached 'D99', I will start with 'D01' again. You should then think of not putting two level collections with the same 'Individual Number' in the Supaplex directory. But I will separate each range of 99 level collections, when I will exceed the number of 99 levelsets, so then you can first play the first range, then the second, etc. But that is talking about the future, as we don't have 99 level collections yet!
Here are the additional level collections. All collections have 111 levels, which is the required amount of levels for them.
| Levelset Name | Individual Number | Level List | Author | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragonslover | D32 | L32, DOC | Michaël Châteauneuf (Dragonslover) | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Geoo89 | D33 | L33, DOC | Geoo89 | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Jonathan | D34 | L34, DOC | Jonathan | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Martin Morita | D35 | L35, DOC | Martin Morita (MNMorita92) | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Mikerlimbo | D36 | L36, DOC | Misha Ratkevich (Muzozavr / Mikerlimbo) | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Mirek Sztuczka 01 | D21 | L21, DOC | Mirek Sztuczka | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Mirek Sztuczka 02 | D22 | L22, DOC | Mirek Sztuczka | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Mirek Sztuczka 03 | D23 | L23, DOC | Mirek Sztuczka | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Paulo Matoso | D24 | L24, DOC | Paulo Matoso | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Pixell 01 | D25 | L25, DOC | Pixell Developer Club | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| Pixell 02 | D26 | L26, DOC | Pixell Developer Club | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| Russian Levels 01 | D15 | L15, DOC, Original Russian Titles (DOC) | (AIREE)Shadow & Jet.EXE & Vovan-VE | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. Because Supaplex does not support Cyrillic characters, the level titles have been changed to numbers. The original titles are included in a Word document. |
| Russian Levels 02 | D16 | L16, DOC, Original Russian Titles (DOC) | (AIREE)Shadow & Misha Ratkevich (Muzozavr / Mikerlimbo) & Kufterin | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. Because Supaplex does not support Cyrillic characters, the level titles have been changed to numbers. The original titles are included in a Word document. |
| Russian Levels 03 | D17 | L17, DOC, Original Russian Titles (DOC) | Misha | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. Because Supaplex does not support Cyrillic characters, the level titles have been changed to numbers. The original titles are included in a Word document. |
| Russian Levels 04 | D18 | L18, DOC, Original Russian Titles (DOC) | Several Authors | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. Because Supaplex does not support Cyrillic characters, the level titles have been changed to numbers. The original titles are included in a Word document. |
| Russian Levels 05 | D19 | L19, DOC, Original Russian Titles (DOC) | (AIREE)Shadow & Jet.EXE & Vovan-VE | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. Because Supaplex does not support Cyrillic characters, the level titles have been changed to numbers. The original titles are included in a Word document. |
| Russian Levels 06 | D20 | L20, DOC, Original Russian Titles (DOC) | Михаил Бакиров (Mikhail Bakirov / Darlok) | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. Because Supaplex does not support Cyrillic characters, the level titles have been changed to numbers. The original titles are included in a Word document. |
| Scitadel | D37 | L37, DOC | Scitadel | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Supaplex 01 | D01 | L01, DOC | Several Authors | |
| Supaplex 02 | D02 | L02, DOC | Several Authors | |
| Supaplex 03 | D03 | L03, DOC | Several Authors | |
| Supaplex 04 | D04 | L04, DOC | Armando Rodriguez Landinez | |
| Supaplex 05 | D05 | L05, DOC | Armando Rodriguez Landinez | |
| Supaplex 06 | D06 | L06, DOC | Nils-Johnny Friis | |
| Supaplex 07 | D07 | L07, DOC | Several Authors | |
| Supaplex 08 | D08 | L08, DOC | Several Authors | |
| Supaplex 09 | D09 | L09, DOC | Several Authors | |
| Supaplex 10 | D10 | L10, DOC | AlterT & Jussi Sipola | |
| Supaplex 11 (+) | D11 | L11, DOC | Nils-Johnny Friis & others | Some other levels were added to make it contain 111 levels. |
| Supaplex 12 | D12 | L12, DOC | Pablo Fernandez | |
| Supaplex 13 | D13 | L13, DOC | Several Authors | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Supaplex 14 | D14 | L14, DOC | Martin Morita & Mirek Sztuczka | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Supaplex 27 | D27 | L27, DOC | Владимир Дрыжак (Vladimir Dryzhak / DVB) | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| Supaplex 39 (WN2 & WN3+) | D39 | L39, DOC | Several Authors | A collection which consists of the set 'WN2' (levels 001 - 024) and 'WN2' (levels 025 - 034) by Nowicki Wojciech and various other levels. Levels 090 - 111 were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| Supaplex 76 | D76 | L76, DOC | Misha Ratkevich (Muzozavr / Mikerlimbo) & Mirek Sztuczka | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Supaplex 77 | D77 | L77, DOC | Kim Min-Soo | |
| Supaplex 78 | D78 | L78, DOC | Kim Min-Soo | |
| Supaplex 79 | D79 | L79, DOC | Several Authors | Levels that originally come from the Supaplex forum. |
| Supaplex 92 | D92 | L92, DOC | Sergio Hernàn Sarmiento ('Keko' of Buenos Aires) | |
| Supaplex 93 (WN1+) | D93 | L93, DOC | Nowicki Wojciech & others | Some other levels were added to make it contain 111 levels. |
| Supaplex 94 | D94 | L94, DOC | Zoran Šeničnjak | |
| Supaplex 95 | D95 | L95, DOC | Kim Min-Soo | The original Supaplex levels, but slightly changed to make them harder. |
| Supaplex 96 | D96 | L96, DOC | Unknown | The original Supaplex, but mirrored. So you play the levels backwards. |
| Supaplex 97 (+) | D97 | L97, DOC | Several Authors | Converted levels from the Boulderdash game 'Mr. Matt'. Some other levels were added to make it contain 111 levels. |
| Supaplex 98 (+) | D98 | L98, DOC | Several Authors | Converted levels from the original Boulder Dash. Some other levels were added to make it contain 111 levels. |
| Supaplex 99 | D99 | L99, DOC | Dave Peck | Levels from the (unofficial) Apple Macintosh version of Supaplex (called 'Infotron'). Some levels cannot be played in Supaplex because of their strange size. The playable ones are included in Supaplex 01. The differently sized levels have been put in the levelset 'The Infotron Levels' (for MegaPlex). Download this collection also in the MegaPlex section. |
| Vovan-VE | D38 | L38, DOC | Vovan-VE | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| WinPlex Collection 01 | D28 | L28, DOC | Several Authors | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| WinPlex Collection 02 | D29 | L29, DOC | Several Authors | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| WinPlex Collection 03 | D30 | L30, DOC | Several Authors | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
| WinPlex Collection 04 | D31 | L31, DOC | (AIREE)Shadow & Misha Ratkevich (Muzozavr / Mikerlimbo) | Levels that were originally created for the game WinPlex. |
Cheats
If one level - or maybe even the whole game - is too hard for you, you could try cheating the game. Of course, this is not something to recommend, but if you really see no way out, you can try it. Below you can find different ways in which you can cheat the game. To play Supaplex (the SpeedFix version) with cheat codes enabled, use SPLaunch with the checkbox 'Cheat' enabled to start the game. You can also use commandline options (see Download section for instructions about how to do that). These are the cheats done with parameters (commandline options):
1. Use the parameter '#' to have
all levels skipped. This cheat is
similar to the debug mode (see below), but with this cheat you don't
have to skip each level manually.
2. With the parameter 'D' you can play Supaplex in debug mode. This makes it possible to play any level you want from the list. The difference between this cheat and the cheat that uses the parameter '#' (see above), is that it is still possible to see your game progress once you have restarted the game.
2. With the parameter 'D' you can play Supaplex in debug mode. This makes it possible to play any level you want from the list. The difference between this cheat and the cheat that uses the parameter '#' (see above), is that it is still possible to see your game progress once you have restarted the game.
To have a changed graphics set for Supaplex to see where all bugs are hidden for example, download CheatGFX.zip and replace the files Fixed.dat and Moving.dat in your Supaplex directory with the two files that are included in this ZIP file. Don't forget to backup the old files to set back the old graphics set again!
You can edit the Player.lst file (which is located in the Supaplex directory) with Supaplex Editor v2.0 (for MS DOS) by W. Terlouw. This makes it possible to change the player name, total playing time, current playing level and the number of skipped levels (which is standardly set to a maximum of three). Another handy program to change the PLAYER.LST file is the Supaplex Player Editor (for Windows).
Of course, you can also change the PLAYER.LST file, which is the file in which your game progress is saved, yourself. This file is a hidden file. For more information about making it visible, please refer to the Emulators section. Use a HEX editor to change this file (if you know something about editing in HEX values, of course). Just try Google to find such an editor.
SupaPlex Hacker (Fountain, 1997) is a utility to change the data to which level you have played and how much time you have spent. Keep in mind that this program changes the first name in the list and that you have to rename the spfix63.exe file into 'Supaplex.exe'.
Below will follow cheats for inside the game, which can be seen as illegal tricks. For information about how to play the demo files (*.sp) of all these ways of cheating, go to the Solutions section.
1. Unlimited red disks
For this way of cheating you need at
least one red disk. Drop a red
disk, move one tile away and snap the red disk you've just placed back
by pressing SPACE + the arrow key pointing to the direction you just
came from. By doing this you will get back your disk in the 'inventory'
but it will also remain where you dropped it and it will explode there.
Run away as fast as you can before you explode, too! Please note that
this trick doesn't work with SpeedFix v6.3 or
above anymore, unless you use the right commandline options.
(For more information about commandline options see Download section.)
2. Continuing the game after you have been killed
Go through a port and press [Escape] when
Murphy is already through the
port but cannot move yet. This will cause an explosion, but you can
still move around for a few seconds before the 'hard luck' screen
appears. If the exit is not too far from reach it is possible to run to
the exit and finish the level! This trick also works when a dummy
Murphy (a second Murphy besides the one you play with) explodes. Then
there is also some time between the explosion and the appearance of the
'hard luck' screen. This trick requires a very good timing!
Finally, if you really don't know how to solve a certain level, you can watch how others solved it. These solution tapes and more information about this can be found in the Solutions section.
Tricks
There are quite a number of bugs in the original Supaplex which have been exploited by fans and are called 'tricks' nowadays. By training you can make these tricks part of your Supaplex skills, which will make the game much easier for you. Some levels (by fans of course!) even need to be solved with tricks.
Playing with tricks is no cheating, but can be seen as a clever way to solve a level which the authors of Supaplex didn't see. If you really want to cheat, please go to the Cheats section.
Because it is not known which trick has been discovered by whom, but below is a list of people's names who have discovered one or more tricks (which might not even be accurate enough, because it is hard to find out who was the first to use a certain trick). Please report it if you think you should also be mentioned here. These are the names: Dmitry Durovin, Tom Geelen, J. Lauterkranz, Kim Min-Soo, Herman Perk and Tal Rundstein.
If you want to know how to play the demo records of the tricks below, which are the same files as solution files, just have a look in the Solutions section.
A very special technique should also be mentioned in this section: Frozen Zonks (commonly also known as 'Freeze Zonks'). Frozen zonks are zonks (the boulders in Supaplex) without any activity: they are just hanging in the air, without falling down. It is no bug, but intended by the authors of Supaplex. The speed in Supaplex was made as fast as possible by them, so the game could also be played on the very slow computers in 1991 (when the game came out). One programming trick to reduce the calculations of a level was to freeze a part of the moving objects so that the other part could move as fast as possible. This was used in level 024 ('200 Moving Objects!') of the original Supaplex levelset. These frozen objects can officially not be seen in the original Supaplex, but in MegaPlex you can view the whole level. Some Supaplex fans have exploited this technique and now you can use it when designing your own levels. The Supaplex Map Editor (see Level Editors section) is one of the level editors in which you can set frozen zonks initially, just like the gravity at the start of the level and with freeze ports. (To do this in that level editor, place a blue-coloured port in the level, to to the menu 'Utils' and select 'Show Gravity Settings'.)
Geoo89 (also known as Georg), a member of the Supaplex forum, has introduced a few terms concerning frozen zonks with an explanation of them. There are three 'laws': the law of the stopped zonk, the law of the awaking zonk and the law of the freezing (sleeping) zonk (but 'frozen' also acts as a name for all these three 'laws', or is used to describe the technique as a whole). Here follows an explanation. The examplatory demo levels (with recordings) can be found back in various level collections in the Levels section (except a few which were really only designed as an example).
1. The Law of the Stopped Zonk
This term refers to the behaviour of a zonk when it is frozen.1. If there is some space
underneath the zonk and no move as in 1.2
has been made, it can only be pushed to the left. If this gap
is filled (by an enemy which is walking under the zonk or just another
zonk) without having moved before as as described in 1.2, it can also be
pushed to the right. Examples: 1,
2.
2. If you have moved horizontally under the zonk and no move as in 1.3 has preceded, it cannot be pushed and Infotrons will not roll off the zonk any more. If you touch the bottom after this move, Murphy will be killed. Examples: 1, 2, 3.
3. If you are positioned under the zonk and one place (grid) next to it, while the zonk is placed upon an object which it can roll off and if you then walk away doing a normal move, an invisible, lethal wall will be created next to the zonk so it will stay at its position and will not roll off. This 'law' only works if no move as described in 1.2 has been made. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
2. If you have moved horizontally under the zonk and no move as in 1.3 has preceded, it cannot be pushed and Infotrons will not roll off the zonk any more. If you touch the bottom after this move, Murphy will be killed. Examples: 1, 2, 3.
3. If you are positioned under the zonk and one place (grid) next to it, while the zonk is placed upon an object which it can roll off and if you then walk away doing a normal move, an invisible, lethal wall will be created next to the zonk so it will stay at its position and will not roll off. This 'law' only works if no move as described in 1.2 has been made. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
2. The Law of the Awaking Zonk
This term refers to the behaviour of a zonk when it has become unfrozen (or 'gone unfreeze').1. If you have moved under the
zonk, as described in 1.2,
and then place an object which a zonk can roll off
(another zonk or an
infotron) directly underneath the frozen zonk, the frozen zonk
will not roll. If an Infotron or another zonk is placed on top of the
frozen
zonk, it will not roll either.
2. If you have moved away in the situation as described in 1.3 and the zonk will become unfrozen, the zonk will roll off into the direction in which you have moved, no matter what is underneath, whether it is a chip (which zonks normally always roll off), a disk (which zonks normally never roll off) or even an empty space. Examples: 1.
3. If the frozen zonk is supposed to roll, as is explained in 2.2, but if there is another object (such as another zonk) is placed next to that object, so the frozen zonk cannot roll, it will only roll two frames of the animation sequence and then stop. Please note that the invisible has to be blown up first, in order to place another object in its place. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. This goes further on 2.3: if you have placed an object, such as a yellow disk, at the place of the invisible wall (see 1.3 for an explanation), the zonk will roll two frames (parts of the animation sequence) into the yellow disk when it becomes unfrozen. If you then blow up the field it is falling from (but which it is actually still placed in), it will also destroy the field the zonk is falling into. The object which you have placed there will just disappear. This 'law' also applies to the situation when the zonks remain frozen the whole time. Examples: 1.
2. If you have moved away in the situation as described in 1.3 and the zonk will become unfrozen, the zonk will roll off into the direction in which you have moved, no matter what is underneath, whether it is a chip (which zonks normally always roll off), a disk (which zonks normally never roll off) or even an empty space. Examples: 1.
3. If the frozen zonk is supposed to roll, as is explained in 2.2, but if there is another object (such as another zonk) is placed next to that object, so the frozen zonk cannot roll, it will only roll two frames of the animation sequence and then stop. Please note that the invisible has to be blown up first, in order to place another object in its place. Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4.
4. This goes further on 2.3: if you have placed an object, such as a yellow disk, at the place of the invisible wall (see 1.3 for an explanation), the zonk will roll two frames (parts of the animation sequence) into the yellow disk when it becomes unfrozen. If you then blow up the field it is falling from (but which it is actually still placed in), it will also destroy the field the zonk is falling into. The object which you have placed there will just disappear. This 'law' also applies to the situation when the zonks remain frozen the whole time. Examples: 1.
3. The Law of the Freezing Zonk
This term refers to the behaviour of a zonk when it becomes frozen.1. If the zonk is rolling or
falling down and it becomes frozen, it will usually complete its move
until it is placed in the next field. Examples: 1.
But there are some exceptions:
2. If the zonk is at the beginning of its sliding move, at the beginning of the graphic animation (i.e. in the first or in the second frame), it will fill the field it is sliding from and the field it is sliding to. Examples: 1, 2.
3. If the zonk becomes frozen just at the moment when it is making a falling move to the next field, it will remain in the current field and fill the field it is falling into with an invisible, lethal wall. Examples: 1.
2. If the zonk is at the beginning of its sliding move, at the beginning of the graphic animation (i.e. in the first or in the second frame), it will fill the field it is sliding from and the field it is sliding to. Examples: 1, 2.
3. If the zonk becomes frozen just at the moment when it is making a falling move to the next field, it will remain in the current field and fill the field it is falling into with an invisible, lethal wall. Examples: 1.
Here follow some additional notes about frozen zonks:
1. Officially there is a
distinction between
'normal' and 'abnormal' (or 'unusual') moves. An 'abnormal' move
denotes Murphy passing through a port, eating a red disk, or pushing an
object.
2. Freeze and unfreeze modes are switched at the moment when Murphy has completely moved through a special freeze port (pipe).
3. If a zonk becomes frozen while it is moving from one field to another it is deadly to touch the field (grid) the zonk is supposed to roll into when it will become unfrozen again.
2. Freeze and unfreeze modes are switched at the moment when Murphy has completely moved through a special freeze port (pipe).
3. If a zonk becomes frozen while it is moving from one field to another it is deadly to touch the field (grid) the zonk is supposed to roll into when it will become unfrozen again.
Besides using frozen objects to speed up the game, the authors of Supaplex also found another way to get the game work at the fastest speed as possible. This was by not checking the level borders. That is why all original Supaplex levels have a hard border around them. Supaplex (also MegaPlex) uses memory for the gamefield. For that reason, the left and the right border are connected to each other. This can be used as another trick: if there is a gap in the wall, just go into it and you will appear at the other side of the level! Some bugs might occur here, as this was not an intended 'trick' by the authors, they just neglected the borders. Examples: 1.
Here follow the 'official' tricks (although they were never really intended by the authors of Supaplex). All these tricks have been discovered by more experienced players. Most of them come directy from The Supaplex Homepage and I think there is no need to change the descriptions, as they already perfectly describe everything. Keep in mind that the numbering of the tricks differs from trick 12, because the number 12 is omitted on the other Supaplex page.
1. Turning Snik Snaks and electrons back
Wait until a Snik Snak is close, and then
run away
quickly. To succeed you will need to turn back just when the Snik Snak
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 Snik
Snak will not turn around.
2. Delaying
falling zonksYou 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.
3. Avoiding
getting killed by falling orange disksIf 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.
4. Hanging
in the air when gravity is onIf 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.
5. Getting more than nine infotrons from one electron
If there are explodable objects (disks,
Snik Snaks, 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.).
6. Slow objects
If you are desperate for a little time,
you can make use of the
slowness of many objects in the game. Imagine Murphy 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.
7. Surfing through the sky in a gravity environment and pushing orange disks or 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 Snik Snaks or electrons if
they move in the same (horizontal) direction as himself. If you don't
understand, watch the demo (click on the link above), as it will
instantly let you see how this works.
8. 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
(click on the download link above).
9. 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.
10. Without dying, activating a terminal that will explode
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.
11. Getting up two tiles when gravity is on
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.
12. Yellow/red disks explode by some 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.
13. 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.)
14. 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.).
15. Turning around Snik Snaks (or electrons) the alternative way
You probably know that you can turn
around Snik Snaks (and electrons) by
running away from them as they come close. There is another way. If you
start pushing an object just before the Snik Snak (or electron) moves
into the tile where the object you're pushing will end up, the Snik
Snak
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.)
16. Getting up in a gravity environment and (20.) Jumping up by the use of Snik Snaks while gravity is on
If there is a Snik Snak 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 Snik Snak 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
demos (click on the download links above).
17. Blowing up two zonks with one red disk
How shall I explain this... In certain
circumstances, you can blow up
six 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... For an
extension of this idea see trick
29.
18. Cloning a zonk #1 and (21.) cloning a zonk #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 demos
(click on the download links above) to see what I mean.
19. 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!
20. Jumping up by the use of Snik Snaks while gravity is on
See trick
16 for an explanation.
21. Cloning a zonk #2
See trick
18 for an explanation.
22. Balancing a zonk on the 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 above...
23. Pushing an 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 Snik Snaks and
electrons, but a zonk can only be safely pushed across an electron. If
Murphy pushes a zonk over a Snik Snak, he will be killed instantly.
24. Letting a falling orange disk explode by almost pushing it
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 explode.
Also note that the zonk (if that is the object-to-push) will NOT
explode!
25. 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] + an arrow key.
26. Snik Snaks escaping explosions
Just like Murphy, it is possible for a
Snik Snak to escape an explosion
for a falling disk. This can be useful if you need the Snik Snak
several
times to create an explosion in the right place (see demo above).
27. Creating a bridge with Snik Snaks and an orange disk
This trick is best explained by the demo
(click on the download link
above). Basically, you can push an orange disk over Snik Snaks
(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.
28. Moving a whole row of Snik Snaks in one go
This may not be useful, but fun
nevertheless. Check out the demo (click
on the download link above). In this special case, the Snik Snaks all
move in one go when the uppermost one is forced to follow a different
path.
29. Blowing up nine zonks with one red disk
This is an improvement on a previous
trick (trick
17). In this very special
circumstance, Murphy can blow up 9 zonks with a single red disk. Very
clever!
30. Letting an orange disk fall 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.
31. Keeping an 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 from falling, enabling Murphy to push it over what was
previously a gap.
32. 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 which you can download above to see how
clever this is. It will probably come in handy sooner or later!
33. Creating a 3 x 4 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).
34. Avoiding an explosion of falling disks by using 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.
35. Delaying 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... See also trick
36
for an improvement on this trick.
36. Delaying falling with a red disk
This is an improvement on the previous
trick (trick
35). If you have a red disk (which you have already picked
up), 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.
Solutions
Are you tired of playing because you have tried a level a thousand times because it is so tricky? Are you puzzled and don't you know how to solve a certain level? Or are you just lazy to find it out? These are all reasons to have a look in this section. Here you can find solutions of the levels you are playing. But before you start looking here, first study all tricks in the Tricks section to find out that there are more than one possibilities to solve a level!
It is easy to record a demo file yourself. The first and easiest way is using MegaPlex (see Download section). In the 'Play' menu you can find an option 'Record Demo'. And you can just save your recorded solution as a *.sp file, which you can always load in MegaPlex to watch it. But if you don't like MegaPlex and just want to use Supaplex for this, there is a second method to record demos. For this you need the SpeedFix version of Supaplex and version 5.4 or above is recommended. You can download this from the Download section. And you need to start the game with the command line option 'D'. (For information about how to use command line options, see Download section.)
When the game has started, select the level of which you want to record a solution and press [Ctrl] + [Fx] (where 'x' refers to the number of a function key, ranging from 1-10, e.g. 'F1'). Don't forget that the file DEMOn.BIN (where 'n' is the number of the function key minus one, or if you want an example: if 'n' is '3', the function key is 'F4') in the Supaplex directory will be overwritten if you start recording a demo, so make a backup of it! When the recording has started, a message will be shown at the bottom of the screen which says that you are recording a demo. Keep in mind that you can't record a demo during the first few seconds in the first level you play after you've started Supaplex (the SpeedFix version). That's because of the speed auto-detecting, which is still working. When your demo recording is ready, you can stop recording by pressing [Ctrl] + [F12] or by finishing the level or dying. Your new record is now saved in the DEMOn.BIN file and you can share it with others if you want. Please note that only the demos that have been recorded while playing the original Supaplex levelset are called 'DEMOn.BIN'. The others have an extension of *.Dxx, where 'xx' stands for the number of the level collection. So, for example, if the levelset you were recording a solution has 'Levels.d02' as a file name, the recorded demo file will be 'DEMOn.B02'. And the recordings cannot be viewed with Supaplex. For more information about that, please refer to the beginning of this section (the Solutions section).
After you have created a demonstrative solution file for a level as described above, you might want to attach some personal information about yourself that goes with it. For this, you could create a special signature file (of a size smaller than 512 bytes). Just create such a file with any text editor. The file name should be SIGNATUR.txt. You can add it to your demo file (without having two separate files, it 'burns' your signature into the solution) with the program SPSIG, which you can find in the Tools & Utilities section. Instructions about how to use it are included in the download. Of course, only one signature can be added to a demo file, so if you want to add a new one, you should remove the old one first.
Viewing a solution demo file is very easy. There are quite a number of ways to do this.
1. You could use SPLaunch (see Download section).
Just unzip the solutions to the Supaplex directory and make sure that
SPLaunch is also in this directory. With this program you can just say
which demo you want to see. Click on the RUN button to start it. Of
course, you must have filled in a file path for the SpeedFix
executable, e.g. C:\Supaplex\spfix63.exe.
2. Another good way to view demo recordings, is using MegaPlex. Just open the demo file with it and select 'Play Demo' from the 'Play' menu (or press [Ctrl] + [Space]). Download this game from the Download section.
3. If you have got SpeedFix v5.0 (a better version of Supaplex than the first release which can be downloaded from the Download section) or better, you can use commandline options, about which you can find more information in the same section on this page. You need to use the parameter ':', directly followed by the name of the solution file. So for example it would be 'spfix63.exe :demo.sp'. The demo will immediately be played when you have started the game with this. To restart it from the main menu, press [F11]. If you are not running a demo, but just a single level file (which also has the extension of *.sp), you need to press [F12] instead.
2. Another good way to view demo recordings, is using MegaPlex. Just open the demo file with it and select 'Play Demo' from the 'Play' menu (or press [Ctrl] + [Space]). Download this game from the Download section.
3. If you have got SpeedFix v5.0 (a better version of Supaplex than the first release which can be downloaded from the Download section) or better, you can use commandline options, about which you can find more information in the same section on this page. You need to use the parameter ':', directly followed by the name of the solution file. So for example it would be 'spfix63.exe :demo.sp'. The demo will immediately be played when you have started the game with this. To restart it from the main menu, press [F11]. If you are not running a demo, but just a single level file (which also has the extension of *.sp), you need to press [F12] instead.
If you want to order the solution files by signature, you should have a look at the program SupaSave (Tools & Utilities section). It deletes the demos without a signature (which might not be solvable) and copies the files with a signature to a special directory.
Below are the solutions. If you have got additional recordings, please send them to me so I can put them on this page. If you are looking for a solution for levels that originally came from the Supaplex forum and if it is not in the list below, you could try to look for a demo file on that forum site. The recordings for all these levels (as well as the demos of other level collections) will gradually appear on this website, but as it takes quite a lot of time to order them, the list below is not complete yet (which is the only incomplete thing on this page, by the way, so do not worry). Only the solutions for the levels for the MS DOS version of Supaplex can be found here. To see demo recordings of the MegaPlex levels, just open them in MegaPlex and press [Ctrl] + [Shift]. If a recording is included, it will start playing then and if not, then there is no recorded solution for the level yet. If you want, you can record such a demo yourself and send it to me so I can update the MegaPlex files.
The level collections Supaplex 01 till Supaplex 12 come from The Supaplex Homepage. Most ZIP files contain more than one solution per level, such as one that shows the fastest way to solve a level, one which has been played by the author of the level collection, etc.
All these recordings are demos of Supaplex level collections. If you are looking for solutions of MegaPlex levels, then just download the MegaPlex levelsets from the Levels section and if you're lucky, these levels contain a demo recording. If not, then there are no solutions yet. If you could help me by making demos of them yourself, I would be very thankful for that.
| Level Collection Name | Author | Recorder's Name | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Supaplex | Michael W. Stopp & Philip Jespersen | Jens Christian Randloev-Hansen | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Original Supaplex | Michael W. Stopp & Philip Jespersen | Several Recorders | These demos show alternative ways of solving. |
| Supaplex 01 | Several Authors | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 02 | Several Authors | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 03 | Several Authors | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 04 | Armando Rodriguez Landinez | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 05 | Armando Rodriguez Landinez | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 06 | Nils-Johnny Friis | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 07 | Several Authors | Several Recorders | This ZIP file contains several solutions per level. |
| Supaplex 08 | Several Authors | Several Recorders | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 09 | Several Authors | Several Recorders | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 10 | AlterT & Jussi Sipola | Several Recorders | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 11 | Nils-Johnny Friis | Unknown | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 12 | Pablo Fernandez | Unknown | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 77 | Kim Min-Soo | Kim Min-Soo & Frank Fuhrmann | |
| Supaplex 78 | Kim Min-Soo | Kim Min-Soo & Frank Schindler (one level) | |
| Supaplex 92 | Sergio Hernàn Sarmiento ('Keko' of Buenos Aires) | Sergio Hernàn Sarmiento ('Keko' of Buenos Aires) | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 93 (WN1) | Nowicki Wojciech | Alphons te Beek | These demos show the original way of solving. See the included Readme.txt for some notes about changes in levels. |
| Supaplex 94 | Zoran Šeničnjak | Herman Perk | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 95 | Min-Soo Kim | Min-Soo Kim | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 96 | Unknown | Jens-Christian Randloev-Hansen | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 97 | Jiri Lauterkranz & Michael Grof | Jens-Christian Randloev-Hansen (& Herman Perk) | These demos show the original way of solving. |
| Supaplex 98 | Herman Perk | Jens-Christian Randloev-Hansen | These demos show the original way of solving. |
Hall of Fame
Maarten Egmond, the maintainer of The Supaplex Homepage, has kept up people's total playing times. Everyone who had finished Supaplex could send his or her time results to him and he updated these figures to his website. However, he has stopped this since the beginning of 2006. I would like to continue this. If you have a new record, please send it to me. Of course, I cannot check everything, so you must be honest and not change your playing time. After you have finished a level collection, the time which you needed to complete all levels of the level collections is displayed in the box under 'Hall of Fame' in the main menu. Of course, the levels will get easier if you play them for a second time, so please also tell me whether it was your first attempt, your second attempt, etc.
Here are the results so far. Only those who have completed a level collection entirely and have seen the final screen which you see after you have completed the game, are added in the lists below! If you only have completed one or a few levels, you will also be added, but only in a text document in the subsection 'Individual Level Solutions'.
Original Supaplex Level Collection
First Attempt:
1.
Fred Beekmans - 22:13:06 (05 Dec 2001)
2. Michel Eijgelaar - 27:31:54 (01 Sep 2002)
3. Tuomas Makela - 27:39:57 (24 Mar 2001)
4. Jens Randloev-Hansen - 30:40:25 (02 aug 1997)
5. Lauri Laitinen - 31:48:17 (22 nov 1997)
6. Luis Eduardo Lelt - 34:57:05 (13 apr 2005)
7. Maarten Berghmans - 35:29:10 (09 apr 2004)
8. Tomas Stehlik - 36:55:10 (08 feb 2005)
9. Julian Drake - 41:40:28 (19 nov 2002)
10. Paul Sprinkhuizen - 42:29:11 (15 apr 2002)
11. Harry Heumer - 44:05:25 (12 oct 1999)
12. Svetozar Shterev - 46:34:02 (30 jan 2003)
13. Ivor Nr1 - 46:38:52 (08 may 1999)
14. Willem den Besten - 47:55:09 (17 apr 2000)
15. Rami Harfouch - 48:38:51 (06 aug 2004)
16. Paul Negoescu - 48:43:54 (14 jun 2001) [level 1-62 second time]
17. Erjan Kamphuis - 49:46:04 (28 nov 2003)
18. Vaidas Pilkauskas - 51:19:01 (28 jun 2003)
19. Stefan Kioutchukov - 54:07:14 (06 mar 2003)
20. Cristian Ciobanu - 56:16:00 (29 feb 2000)
21. Pawin Vongmasa - 58:23:16 (10 mar 1998)
22. Anat Feldman - 59:30:38 (06 oct 2000)
23. Peter Iskes - 60:36:51 (21 jun 1999)
24. Esen Köprülü - 63:20:54 (15 jan 2002)
25. Dmitry Sergeyev - 64:44:27 (06 jan 2006)
26. Ziv Speiser - 65:16:06 (16 jul 1997)
27. Thorsten Geist - 66:22:46 (19 aug 1998)
28. Gary Kufchak - 68:34:15 (23 sep 2004)
29. Ali Salamun - 69:54:30 (23 jan 1998)
30. Jesus E. Rosas T. - 72:48:38 (13 feb 2005)
31. Nils Jonsthovel - 73:35:26 (10 jan 1999) [level 1-20 second time]
32. José A. Uzcanga - 73:40:15 (31 mar 2003)
33. Maris Urbanovics - 73:41:50 (04 mar 2004)
34. Rickard Moller - 77:49:45 (03 apr 1998)
35. Nick Smith - 78:13:30 (31 may 1999)
36. Alessandro Sabbatini - 80:52:25 (21 mar 2003)
37. Andrei Dumitrescu - 81:21:43 (24 aug 2004)
38. Massimo Caria - 82:14:23 (14 oct 2001)
39. Antti Suni - 90:11:42 (01 jun 1999)
40. Marco & Roberto - 91:24:03 (16 nov 1997)
41. Bart Kamminga - 119:48:27 (15 apr 2001)
42. Borembuk - 123:51:28 (17 mar 1999)
43. Wayne Erhart - 123:56:12 (29 dec 2002)
44. Bruce Hayward - 194:36:00 (02 jun 1999)
2. Michel Eijgelaar - 27:31:54 (01 Sep 2002)
3. Tuomas Makela - 27:39:57 (24 Mar 2001)
4. Jens Randloev-Hansen - 30:40:25 (02 aug 1997)
5. Lauri Laitinen - 31:48:17 (22 nov 1997)
6. Luis Eduardo Lelt - 34:57:05 (13 apr 2005)
7. Maarten Berghmans - 35:29:10 (09 apr 2004)
8. Tomas Stehlik - 36:55:10 (08 feb 2005)
9. Julian Drake - 41:40:28 (19 nov 2002)
10. Paul Sprinkhuizen - 42:29:11 (15 apr 2002)
11. Harry Heumer - 44:05:25 (12 oct 1999)
12. Svetozar Shterev - 46:34:02 (30 jan 2003)
13. Ivor Nr1 - 46:38:52 (08 may 1999)
14. Willem den Besten - 47:55:09 (17 apr 2000)
15. Rami Harfouch - 48:38:51 (06 aug 2004)
16. Paul Negoescu - 48:43:54 (14 jun 2001) [level 1-62 second time]
17. Erjan Kamphuis - 49:46:04 (28 nov 2003)
18. Vaidas Pilkauskas - 51:19:01 (28 jun 2003)
19. Stefan Kioutchukov - 54:07:14 (06 mar 2003)
20. Cristian Ciobanu - 56:16:00 (29 feb 2000)
21. Pawin Vongmasa - 58:23:16 (10 mar 1998)
22. Anat Feldman - 59:30:38 (06 oct 2000)
23. Peter Iskes - 60:36:51 (21 jun 1999)
24. Esen Köprülü - 63:20:54 (15 jan 2002)
25. Dmitry Sergeyev - 64:44:27 (06 jan 2006)
26. Ziv Speiser - 65:16:06 (16 jul 1997)
27. Thorsten Geist - 66:22:46 (19 aug 1998)
28. Gary Kufchak - 68:34:15 (23 sep 2004)
29. Ali Salamun - 69:54:30 (23 jan 1998)
30. Jesus E. Rosas T. - 72:48:38 (13 feb 2005)
31. Nils Jonsthovel - 73:35:26 (10 jan 1999) [level 1-20 second time]
32. José A. Uzcanga - 73:40:15 (31 mar 2003)
33. Maris Urbanovics - 73:41:50 (04 mar 2004)
34. Rickard Moller - 77:49:45 (03 apr 1998)
35. Nick Smith - 78:13:30 (31 may 1999)
36. Alessandro Sabbatini - 80:52:25 (21 mar 2003)
37. Andrei Dumitrescu - 81:21:43 (24 aug 2004)
38. Massimo Caria - 82:14:23 (14 oct 2001)
39. Antti Suni - 90:11:42 (01 jun 1999)
40. Marco & Roberto - 91:24:03 (16 nov 1997)
41. Bart Kamminga - 119:48:27 (15 apr 2001)
42. Borembuk - 123:51:28 (17 mar 1999)
43. Wayne Erhart - 123:56:12 (29 dec 2002)
44. Bruce Hayward - 194:36:00 (02 jun 1999)
Second Attempt:
1. Tuomas Makela - 15:06:33 (24 mar 2001)
2. Julian Drake - 17:50:09 (19 nov 2002)
3. Wayne Erhart - 23:02:44 (16 oct 2003)
4. Warlux - 23:16:57 (09 sep 2005)
5. Ali Salamun - 25:54:18 (23 jan 1998)
6. Rickard Moller - 27:43:59 (04 jul 1998)
7. Erik Middelkoop - 28:18:50 (25 oct 2000)
8. Willem den Besten - 34:52:30 (21 apr 2000)
9. Ziv Speiser - 38:47:43 (16 jul 1997)
10. Gercek Gorucu - 47:01:29 (24 may 2002) [level 89-111 first time]
11. Bart Kamminga - 70:26:52 (15 apr 2001)
Third Attempt:
1. Ahmed Shobaki - 09:55:45 (14 apr 2003)
2. Tuomas Makela - 12:11:53 (24 mar 2001)
3. Bart Kamminga - 46:55:50 (15 apr 2001)
4. Elad Finish - 47:12:57 (21 jul 2004)
Fourth Attempt:
1. Adi Hendry - 10:59:00 (21 jan 2003)
2. Bart Kamminga - 30:25:03 (15 apr 2001)
Fifth Attempt:
1. Miguel Costilla and Javier Fernandez - 12:19:59 (18 okt 2000)
2. Bart Kamminga - 18:27:54 (15 apr 2001)
Sixth Attempt:
1. Matti Aaltonen - 6:15:22 (09 sep 1999)
2. Bart Kamminga - 13:22:38 (15 apr 2001)
Seventh Attempt:
1. Richard Sharland - 10:25:34 (08 sep 1998)
Unknown Attempt Number:
1. Samuel Ouelette - 20:19:02 (07 mar 2001)
2. Abderazak Diab - 34:54:30 (30 may 2005)
Individual Level Solutions
Because it goes too far to write out Hall of Fame lists for every single level in every level collection, I've decided to put only the names of those who have finished a level collection completely on this page. All the others, who have only completed one or a few levels from a levelset, can be found below in text documents. They mostly have tapes to prove their taken time, so have a look in the Solutions section. If there is a solution tape, it is included in the ZIP files with solutions in that section.
Here are the lists with the best players. The names of the lists are the names of the level collections as they can be found in the Levels section (except the original Supaplex level collection, which comes with the game itself). They have originally been kept up by Maarten Egmond, the webmaster of The Supaplex Homepage (at least, the lists of the original levels and the Supaplex 01 - 07 collections), but they can be updated when people have sent new entries to me.
Level Editors
After the game had been created, many Supaplex players dreamt of making their own levels. This resulted in a great amount of level editors, ranging from very simplistic to extensive programs. All these editors can be downloaded below. If you have created your own levels with them, don't hesitate to send them to me! You can find my e-mail address in the menu on the top of this page. After you have given your levels to me, I will add them to this page.
Before you start creating your own levels, you should read the following tips and hints:
1. If you set the number of
infotrons to zero,
Supaplex will think that this means 'auto-detect' and will count all
infotrons in the level. To avoid this, you could either place no
infotrons in the level at all, even not as decoration, or you could
place one infotron somewhere you can't get it and set the number of
infotrons to one.
2. Nearly all little puzzles you want to put in your levels, contain so-called 'backdoors', i.e. alternative ways to solve it, to avoid difficulties or to get more benefit from it. To know which 'backdoors' there are, have a look at the Tricks section.
3. After you have created a level, check it and try to play it or at least watch it thoroughly. Sometimes a level can easily be solved by a simple move, which you might have overlooked. Pose yourself the question whether the level isn't too hard or too easy.
4. Don't make your levels that they can only be solved by using Cheats. If you want to make your level tricky, you'd better use Tricks.
5. If you have a friend or someone else who would like to test your levels, make use of this opportunity. Others can look at your levels from a different perspective and can sometimes see a 'backdoor' which you didn't know of.
6. Keep in mind that by trying to remove 'backdoors', you can create new 'backdoors' for other parts of the level you changed! So a final check would not be bad.
7. Removing 'backdoors' is something for more experienced players. If your levels have been designed for beginners, or at least players without much knowledge about tricks, it doesn't matter if your levels contain 'backdoors'.
2. Nearly all little puzzles you want to put in your levels, contain so-called 'backdoors', i.e. alternative ways to solve it, to avoid difficulties or to get more benefit from it. To know which 'backdoors' there are, have a look at the Tricks section.
3. After you have created a level, check it and try to play it or at least watch it thoroughly. Sometimes a level can easily be solved by a simple move, which you might have overlooked. Pose yourself the question whether the level isn't too hard or too easy.
4. Don't make your levels that they can only be solved by using Cheats. If you want to make your level tricky, you'd better use Tricks.
5. If you have a friend or someone else who would like to test your levels, make use of this opportunity. Others can look at your levels from a different perspective and can sometimes see a 'backdoor' which you didn't know of.
6. Keep in mind that by trying to remove 'backdoors', you can create new 'backdoors' for other parts of the level you changed! So a final check would not be bad.
7. Removing 'backdoors' is something for more experienced players. If your levels have been designed for beginners, or at least players without much knowledge about tricks, it doesn't matter if your levels contain 'backdoors'.
Here follow the level editors. To make your choice easier, I've added screenshots to all editors. This way you don't have to download them all and try them, but you can just pick the one you like best.
MS DOS
| Editor Name | Year of Publication | Author | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPED v1.00 | 2001 | Mark Zwaneveld | A good looking level editor using nice graphics (instead of text characters, which most MS DOS editors use). |
| SPEdit v3.2 (view screenshot) | 1994-1996 | Maarten Egmond | Uses Mode-X graphics, so there is a chance that this editor will not work on your computer. For a text file with reported bugs in this editor, click here. |
| SupaplEd (view screenshot) | 1996 | Jacopo Vettori | An editor that requires EGA graphics and a mouse. You can edit additional level data (e.g. gravity ports). |
| Supaplex Editor (view screenshot) | 1994-1997 | Mikhael Goikhman | A.k.a. 'Supaplex Amigo'. It's a Russian text-mode editor with a special font to make objects clear. Visit the website here. |
| Supaplex Editor (view screenshot) | 1992 | Humble Tim | An editor in text mode. The C source code is included. |
| Supaplex Level Builder v1.2 (view screenshot) | 1994-1996 | Colosoft | A text-mode editor by Colosoft from Russia. Their website has disappeared from the Internet. |
| Supaplex Level Editor v1.00 (view screenshot) | 2000 | Landice Alexander | A very simple text-based editor. |
| Supaplex Level Editor (view screenshot) | 1996 | Kaupo Erme | A small editor with simple graphics. |
| Supaplex Level Editor | Unknown | MasaSoft / Matti Tornio | A simple Finnish level editor which has been written in QBasic. It contains a 4DOS btm-file to switch between level collections. |
| Supaplex Level Editor (view screenshot) | 1996 | Gert-Jan de Vos | A text-mode editor. |
| Supaplex Level Editor (view screenshot) | 1994-1999 | Tuukka Jurvanen | A 'golden oldie' which has been released to public. It is text-based and it takes some time to get used to the keys. |
| Supaplex Level Editor v1.0b (view screenshot) | 1996-1998 | LC SoppWare Inc. / Ahti Legonkov | Another text-based level editor. |
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Windows
It should be noted that MegaPlex (see Download section) can also be used to create levels. But because it is more than that, it is not listed in the table below. This remark is enough.
Another level editor is the 'WinPlex Levels Editor', which is originally intended for the game WinPlex, but because it creates level collections in the same format as Supaplex editors do, you can also use this one if you want. Download it from the WinPlex entry on the Commercial Windows Clones page.
| Editor Name | Year of Publication | Author | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| SupaED v0.6 (view screenshot) | 1997 | Mario Corsolini | An Italian editor which is very handy and easy to use. It runs best at a 800x600 solution (otherwise it might give some display problems, because this is still an unfinished version). Visit its homepage here. |
| Supaplex .dat Editor v1.0 (view screenshot) | 2000 | Mark Zwaneveld | Not a complete level editor, but a program to load *.dat (and *.sp) files and configure some options like the number of infotrons. |
| Supaplex Editor v1.2 (view screenshot) | 1996-1997 | Christian Cook | A good editor but without an option to start with an empty level collection file (*.dat or *.dxx). Its homepage has disappeared from the Internet. |
| Supaplex Editor v2.50 (view screenshot) | 1996 | Toli Cuturicu | An extensive editor with all options you need. Recommended for Windows 95 or higher. |
| Supaplex Level - Editor (view screenshot) | 2004 | Marco Kaufmann | A simple but effective German level editor. Visit the website here. |
| Supaplex Map Editor v1.0 BETA 4 (view screenshot) | 2003 | Paulo Matoso | A.k.a. 'SPXED'. It's an editor with many possibilities. |
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Bugs
There are some little bugs or problems you can come across in the game. I will handle them below. Keep in mind that some bugs that occur while playing a level can be used as tricks and are not considered bugs for that reason. Have a look in the Tricks section for more information about these tricks.
Bottom Part of the Screen Is Missing
This can be the case with laptops or other portable computers. Because Supaplex has special graphics settings, you need a 100 percent VGA compatible VGA card and monitor. Some portable computers don't have this. A possible solution could be using an external VGA monitor.Another option to solve this problem is running the game in EGA mode. You can do this by using the commandline option 'EGA' after the file name 'spfix63.exe'. For more information about using commandline options, see Download section.
Game Hangs
First you should determine whether the game really hangs. If you are using MS DOS, press [Enter] to have a clear command prompt and type in 'mode co80' and press [Enter] again. If you are using Windows, check if the game returns to Windows without an error message or if you need to abort it by either pressing [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete] and then closing it or by right-clicking on it in the task bar and selecting 'close' or something like that. In the last case, the game probably hangs.Here are three better checks to know if the game hangs:
1. If the game freezes in
Windows, the game is probably not supported by your Windows version or
by your computer itself. Sometimes it can even happen that the game is
not loaded at all. You could try switching between fullscreen and
windowed mode (by pressing [Alt] + [Enter] or changing the DOS
properties. Have a look in the Emulators
section for ways to get the game running.
2. In some rare cases the game can crash after it has exited in MS DOS. I don't know the reason for this, so just reboot your computer to get it normal again.
3. If the SpeedFix version not really hangs, but seems to hang, it can be the case that the demo files in the Supaplex directory are still older, while the new demo files need to be larger than 1536 bytes. To get everything work properly, just download the newest version from the Download section.
2. In some rare cases the game can crash after it has exited in MS DOS. I don't know the reason for this, so just reboot your computer to get it normal again.
3. If the SpeedFix version not really hangs, but seems to hang, it can be the case that the demo files in the Supaplex directory are still older, while the new demo files need to be larger than 1536 bytes. To get everything work properly, just download the newest version from the Download section.
Game Is Aborted When the [Enter] Key Is Pressed
If you are using the original version of Supaplex or an older SpeedFix version, pressing the [Enter] key can be aborted if the mouse driver is not loaded. (For more information on different Supaplex versions, see Download section). So the solution is simple: either load the mouse driver or just play a newer Supaplex version. I would recommend the last.Game Progress Is Not Saved
One problem that some people experience is that they have played some levels for a while and then quit the game, expecting that all progress will automatically be saved. But the next time they start Supaplex again, they have to start from the beginning again! Most probably, the PLAYER.LST file is either not updated or maybe even destroyed! It can depend on your computer system, but there are also some general reasons for this problem:1. You are running Supaplex from
a read-only
medium, such as a CD-ROM. The solution would be playing the game from a
writeable medium, such as a hard disk or a floppy disk. Just copy the
game to your C: drive for example, and it will probably work!
2. You don't have writing
permissions to save
your data in the Supaplex directory. Just ask the owner of the computer
you are using to give the Supaplex directory writing permissions (or do
it yourself if you see chance to do that).
3. One or more of the Supaplex data files are corrupted. Just delete your Supaplex game and download a new one from the Download section.
4. If you are using DOSBox with a frontend, it can also happen that you have to start again every time you restart Supaplex. For a solution for this problem, have a look at the Emulators section.
3. One or more of the Supaplex data files are corrupted. Just delete your Supaplex game and download a new one from the Download section.
4. If you are using DOSBox with a frontend, it can also happen that you have to start again every time you restart Supaplex. For a solution for this problem, have a look at the Emulators section.
In some rare cases, it can happen that the PLAYER.LST file, in which the game progress is saved, is destroyed. To check if this is the case, you need to make hidden files visible (because the PLAYER.LST file is a hidden file). For more information about how to do that, please go to the Emulators section. If the file is destroyed indeed, then contact Maarten Egmond or Herman Perk, who know more about technical details. (You can find Maarten Egmond's e-mail address via the contact form of The Supaplex Homepage.)
Graphics Problems (Flickering Screen, Wrong Scrolling, Walking Off the Screen)
These kind of problems are hard to identify, but here follow some tips which might solve your problems:1. Run the SpeedFix version with
and without the commandline option 'H' after 'spfix63.exe' and see an
eventual difference. For more information about how to do this, please
refer to the Download
section.
2. If you are playing the game in an older Windows version, you could try playing Supaplex in DOS mode. Just restart your computer and press [F8] when the text 'Starting Windows xx' appears ('xx' stands for a number, e.g. '95'). If Windows 98 is installed on your PC, you could also press [Ctrl]. Now a screen is shown up. Choose 'DOS-Prompt only' and the graphics problems should be gone.
3. Don't play the game in another multi-tasking environment such as DesqView. Try to play the game in plain DOS mode if you can. Information about this can be found in the manuals that come with those environments. Tip 2 shows how you can do this in Windows.
4. Run Supaplex (the SpeedFix version) in EGA mode by using the parameter 'EGA' after 'spfix63.exe'. See Download section for an explanation of this. Press [Enter] if you don't see anything once you have started up the game in EGA mode. If this aborts the game, have a look at the bug 'Game Is Aborted When the [Enter] Key Is Pressed' in this section.
5. If the things above all fail, your computer might be too modern for Supaplex. You could try changing your video card settings or changing some other settings to make the game more DOS-compatible. Or you could try playing a very accurate Supaplex clone. All this is discussed in the Emulators section.
2. If you are playing the game in an older Windows version, you could try playing Supaplex in DOS mode. Just restart your computer and press [F8] when the text 'Starting Windows xx' appears ('xx' stands for a number, e.g. '95'). If Windows 98 is installed on your PC, you could also press [Ctrl]. Now a screen is shown up. Choose 'DOS-Prompt only' and the graphics problems should be gone.
3. Don't play the game in another multi-tasking environment such as DesqView. Try to play the game in plain DOS mode if you can. Information about this can be found in the manuals that come with those environments. Tip 2 shows how you can do this in Windows.
4. Run Supaplex (the SpeedFix version) in EGA mode by using the parameter 'EGA' after 'spfix63.exe'. See Download section for an explanation of this. Press [Enter] if you don't see anything once you have started up the game in EGA mode. If this aborts the game, have a look at the bug 'Game Is Aborted When the [Enter] Key Is Pressed' in this section.
5. If the things above all fail, your computer might be too modern for Supaplex. You could try changing your video card settings or changing some other settings to make the game more DOS-compatible. Or you could try playing a very accurate Supaplex clone. All this is discussed in the Emulators section.
Other graphics problems can occur in the SpeedFix version of Supaplex. This is not the same as the flickering screen as described above, but it can be caused by other activities of the Operating System you are using (e.g. Windows). Just close as many applications as possible before you start the game and the problem might be solved.
Sound Problems
Since the sound routines in Supaplex are very old and complex, they only seem to work with Soundblaster (Creative Labs) soundcards with ISA bus (instead of the moderner PCI bus). For this reason, the game can easily hang, even if you have got the right soundcard.You can play the game without sound, but of c course that is not the option you like. You could therefore try to use DOSBox, an MS DOS emulator, to play supaplex. Please refer to the Emulators section for this.
Herman Perk, someone who has contributed a lot of things to Supaplex, has done a long research after the sound routines. He found out that the following files are loaded when selected a specific soundcard:
Some of these files use short loops to determine the soundcard settings. On faster PCs (probably with processors faster than a Pentium I 150 MHz) this may not work properly. This can make the game hang, even if you have got the right soundcard.
In order to let the game detect your soundcard well, you need to have your soundcard located at the following positions: DMA 1, IRQ 2, 3, 5 or 7 and I/O 220, 330 or 388. You can check this in the Control Panel (if you are using Windows).
You can try to use the SndFix. Just unpack it into the Supaplex directory and overwrite the blaster.snd sound. This might fix your problems with sounds.
Red Disk Cannot Be Dropped
In the original Supaplex and in the SpeedFix versions before v6.1, there can occur a bug which makes it impossible to drop red disks. To fix this problem, just download a newer version from the Download section.Tools & Utilities
There are some nice programs to let your playing joy increase or just to make the use of something that has to do with Supaplex easier. These tools and utilities are listed below. In contrast with the tools & utilities section on the Classic Boulder Dash page for example, here you can also see the year of publication. That is because the date of the Supaplex programs are mostly known, which is not the case with tools and utilities of many other games.
Please bear in mind that some utilities are not mentioned here, because they are more concerned with cheating. For these utilities, go to the Cheats section.
MS DOS
| Name | Year of Publication | Author | Description / Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gif2Dat | 2000 | Mark Zwaneveld | A.k.a. 'Supaplex Gif2Dat'. It's a program to edit the *.dat files in the Supaplex directory. Convert *.gif files to *.dat files to have your own Supapex graphics! For more instructions, see the text and image files included. |
| SetDemo | 1996 | Elmer Productions | A small utility to convert new Supaplex demos to old ones and vice versa. |
| SP2BMP | 1996 | Elmer Productions | Make 256 colour snapshots of your Supaplex levels with this tool. |
| SPMov | 2000 (?) | Mark Zwaneveld | A utility to edit the Moving.dat graphics file from the Supaplex directory. Convert *.gif files to *.dat files to have new graphics in Supaplex! Use it together with Gif2Dat. |
| SPSig v1.1 | 1996 | Elmer Productions | A useful program to add your signature to your demo files (which you can record with MegaPlex). This version is for SpeedFix v5.3 or higher and displays the time it takes at the slowest speed (instead of default speed). |
| Supalevl | 1993 | Herman Perk | A little program written in QuickBASIC (use it to open the *.bas file) which converts Supaplex Levels.dat files into ASCII text files. |
| Supaplex Editor v2.0 | 1996 | W. Terlouw | A tool to edit the Player.lst file. This makes it possible to change your playing time, the number of skipped levels, etc. Officially this belongs to the Cheats section, but because you can also change the player's name, this utility is not always used for cheating and is that's why it is listed here. |
| SupaSave | 1999 | Frans Meulenbroeks | A useful program to delete demo files without a signature (which mostly don't solve a level) and copy demo files with a signature to a special directory. See the supasave.txt file how to start SupaSave. |
| SupaShow v4.02 | 1997-1998 | Herman Perk | With this utility you can read level collection files. All levels are displayed in miniature format and can be played and edited directly from this program. |
Forum
Despite it is an old game, there is still a community of Supaplex players. Here players from all over the world write messages, share new levels and propose new ideas. If you want to join this, you could go to the Supaplex Forum and become a member of it. I would recommend it. Of course, you will always get the latest news on this page, but then you can also add your new levels there and watch others record excellent demos for them. And you can ask questions about any aspect of Supaplex. Join it now!
In earlier times, there was another forum. This old Supaplex forum is still accessible, but no longer active. Some of the old messages are lost. However, you can find most messages back with the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Another supply that is not active anymore, is the Supaplex chat. But of course, you can still visit it via the link.
Fan Stuff
For extra things about Supaplex that have not directly to do with the possibilities and the gameplay of the game itself, such as an MP3 file of the Supaplex tune and covers of the original Supaplex box, have a look at the Fan Stuff page.
Links
In this section you can find links to other sites about Supaplex. Although everything that can be found on those websites can also be found on this page, it is still fun to look there.
You might be missing 'Peter Broadribb's Supaplex site', as mentioned on The Supaplex Homepage. But that site is actually not about Supaplex, but about Boulder Dash and for that reason you can't find it below but on the Boulder Dash page of my site. Also, clones such as MegaPlex are not listed here, as you can find them on other pages of my website.
Here follows the list:
| The Supaplex Homepage | The official Supaplex homepage by Elmer Productions. |
| Michael's W. Stopp's Homepage | The website of one of the Supaplex authors. On the site you can read what the author tells about Supaplex. |
| Philip Jespersen's Homepage | The website of one of the Supaplex authors. This site does not write about Supaplex. |
| Robin Heydon's Homepage | The website of the writer of the Supaplex PC code. This site does not write about Supaplex. |
| Hilde's Supaplex Homepage | The very first Supaplex fan site. Unfortunatly it has disappeared, but Maarten Egmond made a backup of it. |
| The New Supaplex Site | Another website about Supaplex besides The Supaplex Homepage and this page at bd-fans.com. |
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| Infotron Homepage | The homepage of the game Infotron by the same makers as those of Murphy's Revenge (see below). Officially, this is a Supaplex clone, but because it is so similar to Supaplex, it can be seen as a MAC OS 9 release of Supaplex. |
| MegaPlex Homepage | The homepage of the Supaplex clone MegaPlex. Because it has about the same programming code as the original, it is often used instead, if the old MS DOS game doesn't work. For that reason, it's added here, although it is a clone. |
| Murphy's Revenge Homepage | The homepage of the game Murphy's Revenge, by the same makers as those of Infotron (see above). Officially, this is a Supaplex clone, but because it is so similar to Supaplex, it can be seen as a MAC OS 9 release of Supaplex. |
If you know more about a certain
game
or if you have a new game, new levels, music or whatever, please send
it to me and I will put it on this website! You can find my
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