Note: Under construction
This page lists all glitches that I know for AGI games (Space Quest 2, Police Quest EGA especially, since I had them for a long time). Unfortunately, some of the glitches in versions 2.0A were removed in versions 2.0F and 2.0G, respectively.
Glitch hunting, for me, started with these games. There are probably many more glitches that I haven't found. I list these glitches in the hope that they will be useful to others.
SQ2
Name thing
By entering weird names, you can mess up the text in the game somewhat whenever it says your name:
- Using "\" will make the remaining text invisible, leaving a lot of unused whitespace.
- Using "%m?" where ? is a number will insert game messages (e.g. "Thanks for playing. You've been very entertaining.") in place of your name. If, for a certain room, the game message number is non-existent or the message itself refers to your name (%s1), the game will crash.
Walk into space
A glitch that abuses poorly drawn priority boundaries. From the beginning, go as far right as possible while leaning right up at the fence, without falling off the ship (easiest on slow speed). Then hit PgUp (up+right) and you will walk into space.
Escape the swamp monster without berries
This allows you to beat the game without getting the berries. Enter the second screen of the swamp near the bottom. Travel a bit, then press PgUp (up+right) so that you are heading to the deep part of the swamp and the monster is closely trailing. Moving diagonally keeps the monster from catching up. When you reach the deep part, the monster will grab you; just "dive" or "hold breath" to escape to the next screen.
Rope glitch with stump
To perform this glitch, tie rope to stump, then "climb down" while travelling to the right. You will fall off the rope but make it to the next screen. This mode does strange things like allow you to glide (Wilco's animation is frozen on one frame) around, even off cliffs. If you climb log, then go back to the far-off platform scene (near the hunter's lair), you can see strange animations like the climb-log frame going left and right, swim frame going up, and lose-balance frame going down. Unfortunately, if you attempt to continue the game, the screen will shake and you will die when you first enter the asteroid, for no apparent reason.
Touch flying hovercraft
First, go near the edge so that at the far-off platform scene so that the hovercraft appears. When Wilco stops moving (because the troops are going to shoot him) press any direction and he will travel that way while being zapped.
Walk through guard
Get the guard at the platform to enter the elevator to come down. Then lean against the door and you will go through the guard without dying when he opens the door.
Walk on walls in Vohaul's asteroid
Another glitch that abuses poorly drawn priority boundaries. After beating Vohaul, head to the left screen of the shuttle bay, on the platform leading into a tube on the left. Go up at the furthest horizontal point to the right where you aren't blocked by the wall. Use slow speed if necessary. There seems to be no way to access this glitch before beating Vohaul, unfortunately.
Cut glass without cutter (V2.0A glitch)
For some reason, you don't need the cutter to cut the glass that Vohaul puts you in. Unfortunately, they fixed it in V2.0F, and even added an extra death.
Avoid Vohaul's hand without killing him (V2.0A glitch)
By travelling along the very edge of the counter, you can avoid being smashed by Vohaul's hand. Note that if you access the clone screen later, the game crashes. Unfortunately, they fixed this glitch in V2.0F.
PQ (EGA)
Mashing enter key (V2.0A glitch)
Mashing the enter key can cause strange things to happen, such as sprites gliding around, sprites freezing, or activating the Sgt. Dooley speech early (near the beginning of the game). It doesn't seem to work in V2.0G.
Contact the side of the road without crashing
If on Code-3 status (fastest driving), you can contact some walls, and they will stop you before you hit the "crash line".
Escape crashing
If you crash in the police station parking lot and you are permitted to park, quickly hit F4 to survive. The game respawns all cars in their proper position. This does not apply anywhere else (since the game remembers where you park the car, which in this case is where you crash), except possibly near the end of the game where you don't need to drive again.
Escape stolen car
There are a few times where you can avoid having the car stolen even if you leave the door open and exit the scene:
- when you park at the police station
- when Laura must sit in the car waiting for you
- during the drug bust
Also, you can survive by not going back to the car near the end of the game.
Escape stolen gun in gun locker
To leave the gun unattended and not die, just don't go back to the gun locker. Note that, in V2.0G, if you enter the jail scene with the gun locker open and dump the gun in, you instantly die for leaving it unattended. This is a glitch in itself.
Leave red sports car without talking to the driver
After pulling over the red sports car, press F4 twice (from driving to walking to driving mode) and leave. End of scenario.
Arrest drunk without cuffs
To arrest drunk without cuffs, first say "cuff (man)" so that he begs you to cuff him in front. Then stand a distance away and say "go". The drunk will go to the car. Quickly open the back door and stand away from it or he will beat you up when he arrives. After he enters, play normally and he should automatically be cuffed.
Get beaten by drunk in the jail door
A glitch that's only for fun. When bringing the drunk to jail, have your gun, then take off cuffs right when you enter. The drunk will beat you up in the door and the game will freeze (but not crash).
Strange things happening at light blue car
To perform this, shoot while he is still in the car or shoot backward. The criminal might be shot, or draw gun and wander around aimlessly. Eventually, he might shoot you and walk on spot while the game freezes (but does not crash).
Hot arrest in the park
To perform this, hide in the left bush with "cuff man" typed and gun drawn. When the guys finish trading, emerge from the left bush and the "little fish" should flee to the left. Press End (down+left), holster weapon, cuff man, and quickly type and enter "go" before he makes it off screen. If successful, he should walk towards the bottom of the screen while the "shark" is shooting at you. If he makes it without you or the "shark" dying, the "shark" is immediately arrested.
Keep normal stuff for undercover operation
Changing into half-naked mode at the locker will dump your normal stuff in. To avoid this, just bleach hair and rinse right away without changing, and you will automatically enter half-naked mode. You will get to keep your gun, ammo, briefcase, cuffs, or whatever you hold at the moment, unless you decide to put them back manually.
Walk on walls in bartender room at Hotel Delphoria
From near the opening on the right, walk downward until your feet are at the lowest point such that they are not hidden behind the counter. Then walk right. You can dance on the counter if you wish. Near the end of the game during the undercover operation, you can trigger the sit-down scene without actually taking a seat.
Underflow money to beat poker games
This trick requires that you enter a poker game with very little or no money. This sets your win amount required to around $300. Now put in enough money to underflow (go below $0) and you will go to $2500+.
Reduce money using bartender
By paying to enter the gambling room and leaving through the right exit, you can reduce your money $200 at a time.
Give money
"Give money" near a person will automatically set your money to $0. This is vital for the second poker game (the big game) using the glitch above, since you end the first game with $2500+ and entering the second game with $2500+ is bad (you have to exceed that amount without overflowing to win). You can only "give money" once.
Escape losing in first poker game
If you are going to lose by having not enough money in the first poker game, when you are booted back to the gambling room, quickly hit F4 to keep playing poker and avoid a game over. A strange thing happens now:
- If you now lose again, you "win"
- If you now bail out, you lose
- If you now win (any way, including glitch above), the bail-out message appears, but when you exit the gambling room, if you pay the bartender again, you go to the big game, and if you go back to your hotel room, the agents are already there with the transmitter pen (the "bug").