E.V.O. is all about evolving your creature to survive in the different eras of prehistory, and there are a few hidden surprises waiting for you.

For instance. Make it pretty far in to the game and you'll hit the stage Final Ocean

Hop in and you'll be given the ability to swim. But check out the Hands and Feet option in your E.V.O. menu.

Try to evolve and you end up looking like a fish thing.

Go back to Hands and Feet and choose 'Evolve Further' to... evolve further (natch).

And again

And again

Boom! Mermaid!

Why would you want to do this? The mermaid has 100 HP, the strongest bite of any of your creatures so far, and is the fastest swimmer, so there's really no reason to not do it.

Also, once you're finished with this stage, you get your old body back, so enjoy it while you can!

I was really disappointed with Super Pitfall. The game has nothing to do with the old Atari 2600 games of the same name, and to make things worse, the game's really not all that fun.

But if you've run out of other things to do, you might be tempted to play this a time or two. And given the shoddy controls, you're going to see this a lot

But, if you're really determined to keep playing, once you're taken back to the title screen, you could hit Select, A, A, A, Select. Done right, your guy will move down to a third, hidden option.

Which will allow you to continue where you left off.

And you can do this as many times as you need. Though, after playing it for a while, I'm not sure why you'd want to.

A huge part of Tetris Attack and its descendants is performing chain reactions of clears. That's when you you clear three or more blocks, and the ones that fall clear some more.

But I have trouble thinking far enough ahead, especially once the pile starts rising quickly or in a heated battle, to set up more than one chain in a row, so I use something called Skill Chains. Skill Chains are chain reactions that you set up on the fly, usually while the previous clear is... erm... clearing.

For example, take this puzzle and clear the stars in the vertical column in the middle

And while those are clearing, move that triangle in the bottom-right corner two columns to the left

For an instant 2-chain!

This is actually much easier to show in animated .gif form, so you can do that here (2MB file warning, dial-up users).

You can extend these as long as you can find the correct blocks to do them with, and with enough practice this essential skill will become second nature.

Good luck!

Super Mario World is chock full of these bonus rooms. Like this one that has rows and rows of ?-Blocks.

If you can hit them in the correct order (which is random), a 1-Up will pop out, but if you hit them in the wrong order

You get nothin'.

That's why it's recommended to enter these rooms with a Cape.

If you can manage to hit the bottom-left corner of the blocks, you'll be correct every time!

Which will allow you to get a few free 1-Ups for your troubles

And timing is key. If you hit the side of the blocks, it might not work (but, since it's pretty much random anyway, it might).

Good luck!

The NES version of Hook is a pretty terrible game, but if you absolutely must see the ending, I have some good news, I guess.

First, go to the title screen.

Then grab Controller 1 and press Right, Up, Up, Down, Down, Right, Left, Up

Done right, you'll hear a sound, then hit Select to see the ending... which really just consists of two screens of text with a Tinkerbell flying around in front of them.

Or, you could just start the game. If you do, you can use the compass to point to a stage and hit the B button to move around on the map, and the A button to play any stage you like.

But since you've already seen the ending, I'm not sure why you'd want to do that.

Kid Niki is full of hidden passages and bonus stages, some of which are... different.

Like take this spot in Stage 4, for example. It's the platform directly after the second moving platform.

Jump up a few times and the next platform will turn into a fish!

Walk off the platform, directly into the fish's mouth and...

You're in!

You traverse the length of the fish (there's nothing in it but bones), and you come to the exit

Well, how else did you expect to get out of a fish?

In Tetris, you occasionally will have to maneuver pieces so that they fit in spaces where it doesn't initially look like they're going to fit.

Like this T-piece, for example.

It would totally fit in that hole on the left column if some of those pieces weren't in the way.

But if you let it get partway in

And then rotate it at the last second, it slides into place

Which is easier to show in animated .gif form

This is a pretty useful maneuver, since it lets you slip those T-pieces in places where they wouldn't normally go.

Marble Madness is tough, probably to make up for it also being kinda short, so you're going to be running out of time frequently, until you've mastered the game... which might take some time.

In the meantime you could start up a two-player game (even though you're only going to be playing single player)

Then race normally, letting Player 2 just sit there for a little bit

As you race to the finish line, the second player will be scrolled off the screen, and brought back closer to where you are, incurring a 5 second penalty each time. But if you can get it across the finish line before its time runs out (which should be totally doable on the first race), whichever marble crossed the line first will get a five-second bonus at the beginning of the next race

Which doesn't sound like much, but trust me, you're going to need all the help you can get.

Been playing the Super NES port of Mortal Kombat 3 and been getting bored with it? (And at this point the game's life, who wouldn't be?)

Well, then, let's tweak a few options, shall we?

First, go to the 'Start' Screen

And press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, A, B, A on Controller 1. Done right, a new menu option will appear, Kool Stuff

With several things to tweak.

Not enough?

Well, then go back to the 'Start' screen and press Select, A, B, Right, Left, Down, Down, Up, Up on Controller 1.

Another option will appear, Kooler Stuff

With lots more options to flip

Still not enough?

Okay, go back to the 'Start' Screen and press X, B, A, Y, Up, Left, Down, Right, Down on Controller 1 to get the final menu choice, Scott's Stuff

Which has yet more options for you to play with

Now things will start getting interesting, so go nuts flipping those options!

Thanks, reader EASY, for suggesting today's tip!

The first NBA Jam game had a few hidden characters, but it has nothing on the Tournament Edition of the game, which went way over the top.

For instance: if you enter your initials as GRM

And your birthday as OCT 31

Your player turns into the Grim Reaper! Who looks kinda funny rather than scary.

Just be aware that this doesn't work on all revisions of the game, just v.1 and v.2.