Snake Arena is a keyboard controlled game for up to three people. It is based on the classic Snake game in which the player(s) control a small snake which grows the more it eats. This game, however, introduces a competitive element as the player is competing with either other human players or against the computer.
In addition to this the game area contains multiple puzzle elements such as;
- speed up/slow down areas
- gates which open and close as the snake is passing over it chopping off pieces of its tail
- teleports
- tubes that allow the snake to pass between walled areas, some of these tubes only allow passage one way while others are coloured and the snake must be the right colour to use them.
The game contains two campagins with 27 levels each.
The Need for Eat campaign
In this gamemode you compete against computer-controlled snakes and hunt for rabbits.
I think you have to eat 20 rabbits to win each level.
The Domination campaign
You need to play through the first campaign in order to unlock this second one.
I think there is a victory text when beating all the levels but it needs testing.
I did some savestate testing with this game and it looks like the rabbits' spawn position changes every 4 frames or so.
So depending when you eat a rabbit, you can have the next rabbit spawn right next to you.
As far as I tested, you can basicly win each level in about 20 seconds, making this an interesting candidate for a TAS.
In the screenshot above I got 10 rabbits in 15 seconds ingame time and that was not even a serious attempt.
I have yet to play the 2nd gamemode though.
There are powerups that randomly appear on the field, including a speed boost, but you cannot manipulate it.
What powerup appears seems pre-determined, and the only way to change its spawn position is by physically occupying the would-be-spawn position.
Note about game stability
You can play this game on Windows 95, just make sure to turn off hardware acceleration in dxdiag → Sound.
Bugs and TricksPass through one way tubes the wrong way
I have repeatedly managed to travel through one-way tubes in the wrong way, but it is a bit unclear how this works.
I have done it by getting stuck in front of the tube and then repeatedly mashing into the direction the tube is located at, but I also have done it by pressing into the direction without getting stuck beforehand.
It is also possible to do this from the side of a tube.
It seems the game has a few versions in circulation.
Alawar version
This is a demo version contained in a game compilation CD-ROM called Gold Seal.
Contains only the first 4 levels of the Need for Eat campaign and level previews for any other levels say "Unregistered".
Computer Bild Spiele 2003/01 version
This is part of the German "Computer Bild Spiele" CD-ROM from 2003/01.
It contains the entire 27 levels of the Need for Eat campaign.
After winning that, the game will not give you a victory screen or anything. It will just repeat the last level again.
The Domination campaign stays greyed out.
Cracked 1.5 version
There is a cracked version of the game. The installer itself seems to be Russian, on my PC it shows up as all garbled text...
It seems you can play both campaigns back to back.
Old 1.0 version
I saw somewhere, a few days ago, a site where someone uploaded the installer for an ancient version of the game.
Apparently, floor tiles used to be grey-colored.
The installer was apparently removed soon after, and that was in 2012...
Sadly, the game is considered abandonware and there is no known way to get a legitimate registered version.
I've been testing on the Computer Bild Spiele version, and after finishing the first campaign, nothing special happened, and you cannot select the 2nd campaign, unfortunately. I don't want to use a cracked version for a TAS project, so if I ever find interest in TASing this, it will be on the Computer Bild Spiele version.
