Characters / Chip's Challenge

A listing of characters and monsters found in Chip's Challenge.

Chip McCallahan

The main character. He seeks to conquer all levels designed by Melinda so he can join her Bit Buster club.

• Badass Normal: Even the most dangerous creatures and hazards are unable to overcome Chip's ingenuity.
• Brainy Brunette: Although has hair is red in the ending in the MS version for some unknown reason.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: All dying does is make him start that level over.
• Determinator: Chip is this, according to the manual, and that's why Death Is a Slap on the Wrist.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Melinda. He's willing to go through 149 of her levels to prove his love.
• Embarrassing Nickname: According to the story, some kids call him "Computer Breath".
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: Anything that can kill him will, just once.
• Super Drowning Skills: He cannot swim without flippers.
• Unexplained Recovery: Chip will re-spawn immediately after death and has unlimited lives.

Melinda The Mental Marvel

Chip's love interest who is the leader of the Bit Busters and the mastermind behind the world's hardest puzzle.

• The Ace: She's the leader of the Bit Busters and holds the record for the fastest completion of all the levels.
• Alliterative Name: Her nickname the Mental Marvel.
• All There in the Manual: She appears in the ending of the Lynx version, but not in the MS one (which only shows Chip being cheered and commended by the other Bit Busters); her overall presence is limited to the Special Dispatch messages she gives to Chip to help him solve the trickiest levels.
• Broken Heel: Unlike Chip, she can't walk on dirt or gravel without the hiking boots powerup. (However, she can walk freely on ice without the ice skates powerup.) If the player doesn't take care to remember this, it's all too easy for her to become trapped.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: In the original games, her hair colour depends on who drew the victory screen.
• Promoted to Playable: In the sequel.

Pink Ball

Moves exclusively horizontally or vertically. It continually moves in one direction, and reverses direction when it hits a wall.

• Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball: Exactly what it says.
• Indy Escape: In the narrow corridors, Chip will have to run fast to avoid being caught by these balls.
• Send in the Clones: A lot of Pink Balls are used to activate clone machines.

Fireball

Continually moves in a straight line, and turns right whenever it hits a wall. It can move through fire unimpeded, but fizzles out in water.

• Fireballs: Square-shaped ones, at least in the Windows version. In Atari Lynx and the fan-made Tile World version, they do look like traditional fireballs.
• No-Sell: They pass right through fire while other enemies burn up (in the MS version) or go around it (in the original Lynx version and in the Steam re-release).

Glider

Like the fireball, it continually moves in a straight line, but turns left whenever it hits a wall. It can glide over water, but burns up in fire.

• Attack Drone: Downplayed. They look like aerial drones, but they never attack Chip consciously.
• No-Sell: Water will not kill it, while other monsters drown when touching the water.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Aside from ghosts in the sequel, it is the only monster that doesn't drown in the water.

Walker

This enemy continually moves in a straight line, and changes direction whenever it hits a wall. However, the direction it turns is chosen at random each time; it could bounce straight back, turn right, or turn left.

• A.I. Roulette: Its unpredictable nature makes it annoying alone, and nightmarish in groups.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: In the Windows version^note as with many aspects of the game, it makes more sense in the original Lynx version, where it resembles a four-legged spider on wheels that shimmies from square to square. Is it a blue ball with a vertical stick through it? Why is it called a Walker if it has no legs? Or, are those things its legs? If so, why is one of its legs always up in the air? How does it walk like that? Wouldn't it have to hop instead? The sequel and Steam release subverts this as the walker has a more walker-y looking sprite.
• Zerg Rush: In Levels 88 Spirals and 91 Jumping Swarm.

Bug

Walks forward as long as it has a wall to its left side, and turns left when the wall ends.

• Big Creepy-Crawlies: If the tileset of the game is an indication, bugs are about the same size as Chip. And they frequently travel in groups.
• Giant Spider: Their appearance in the sequel and Steam re-release is that of a spider.

Paramecium

Similar to the bug, except it follows the right wall, turning right when it runs out of wall.

• Big Creepy-Crawlies: In the Steam release they're replaced with giant centipedes.
• Explosive Breeder: It was originally a pet in Melinda's lab, before an experiment went wrong that caused it to multiply intensely.
• Mega-Microbes: Paramecia in Real Life are microscopic organisms. These are not.

Tank

Unlike all other enemies, the Tank never moves of its own accord. Tanks move exclusively horizontally or vertically. Whenever a blue button is pressed, every Tank in the level reverses direction, moves forward until it hits an obstacle, and ceases movement until a blue button is pressed again. The sequel introduces a yellow variant controlled by its own unique button, and moves one square in the direction Chip (or whatever else is pressing the button) walks onto the button from.

• Non-Malicious Monster: Most of the time, their presence is beneficial for Chip as long as they're cleverly taken advantage of. But regardless of whether they hinder or help, they kill Chip on contact like any other monster. Even if Chip runs into it while it's stopped.
• Tank Goodness: Though unlike other tanks, these need the assistance of appropriately-colored buttons.

Blob

Moves half as quickly as all the monsters listed above, but every step it takes is a randomly chosen direction.

• A.I. Roulette: Embodies this concept even more so than the Walker, and yet is less of a nightmare to deal with unless in close quarters, since it doesn't come careening at you from off-screen unexpectedly. When they come in higher quantities or in tighter areas, however, they're harder to deal with (which is the case in the level Blobnet).
• Blob Monster: True to their name, they have the behavior, looks and texture of one.
• Mighty Glacier: They're unpredictable, but slower than the other monsters.
• No-Sell: In the sequel, they're the only monsters that aren't killed by the slime.

Teeth

Moves at the same speed as the Blob, but always attempts to move toward Chip's position. The sequel introduces Blue Teeth, also known as Timid Teeth that run from Chip but chase Melinda.

• Artificial Stupidity: It may be the only monster that actively pursues you, but don't assume for a moment that this makes it intelligent. It always make a beeline straight for Chip and never bothers to walk around anything, and will gladly drown, detonate, or incinerate itself in whatever obstacles stand between it and Chip.

• Mighty Glacier: It's as slow and powerful as the blob.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: They are named Teeth after all.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Even when there are clones of Chip in the level (only seen in Fan Sequel CCLP2 and some custom level sets to date), it will only ever show interest in the one that you, the player, control.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Red Teeth in the sequel will run from Melinda and chase Chip.
• Would Hit a Girl: Blue Teeth go the other way around, though, chasing Melinda and fleeing from Chip.
• Zerg Rush: They occasionally show up in large quantities. This also can be the end result if coupled with a clone machine.

The Spy/Thief

They will steal any equipment that Chip has on, but they don't move from their one space.

• Bandit Mook: Any equipment Chip or Melinda are carrying is stolen by them, with the exception of keys (though 2 introduces a variant that steals keys instead.) Otherwise, they're harmless, and 2 introduces an item that can be used to bribe them once so they can be walked over without losing your stuff.
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat: In the original Windows version, they wear turned-up cyan trenchcoats, pulled-down hats and dark glasses.
• Jerkass: They will steal whatever equipment Chip has on for no reason other than to inconvenience him.
• Mooks Ate My Equipment: Red scarfed thieves will steal equipment while blue scarfed thieves steal keys.

Floor Mimic

A new enemy in the sequel that disguises itself as a part of the floor.

• Ambushing Enemy: They hide in the floor and chase Chip.

Ghost

These enemies debut in the sequel. They can pass through walls that aren't steel or decorative.

• Bedsheet Ghost: Its appearance is of a white sheet with beady black eyes.
• Dungeon Bypass: They phase right through any obstacle, except for steel walls and decorative blocks.

Rover

This new enemy is a bot with eight different commands.

• Artificial Intelligence: The rover has eight different behaviors done in this order: Red Teeth, Glider, Bug/Ant, Pink Ball, Blue Teeth, Fireball, Paramecium/Centipede, and Walker.