Everything in the game, in one place.
MEGA SNAKE is a free, single-file download for Windows, macOS and Linux. Get it from the Releases page.
MegaSnake.app into Applications (needed for auto-updates), then right-click → Open the first time.chmod +x MegaSnake-Linux && ./MegaSnake-Linuxpip install -r requirements.txt then python main.py.The main menu has: Start Game, Mode, Skin, Multiplayer, Daily Quests, Shop, Settings, How to Play, Stats, Leaderboard, Achievements, Changelog, Check for Updates and Quit. The mouse works on every menu; the snake itself is keyboard or gamepad only.
| Action | Keyboard | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Arrows, WASD or hjkl | D-pad or left stick |
| Confirm (menus) | Enter | A |
| Phase Dash | Space | A |
| Back | Esc | B |
| Pause | P | Start |
| Quit to menu from Pause | Esc | Select |
| Settings tabs | Tab | LB / RB |
| Mute | M | — |
| Chat (multiplayer) | T | — |
| Fullscreen | F11 | — |
Coop: P1 uses Arrows/hjkl, P2 uses WASD. Right-click acts as Esc in menus, and pauses or resumes during a run.
| Mode | Rules |
|---|---|
| Classic | Edges wrap around. Power-ups on. Pure snake. |
| Walls | Edges kill you. |
| Maze | Walls, plus obstacles that keep growing over time. |
| Battle | Walls, plus two AI rival snakes that compete for your food. |
| Timed | 60-second score attack. Edges wrap. |
| Hardcore | No power-ups, 35% faster, one life, with random hazards (see below). |
| Coop | Local two-player on a shared board. P1 uses Arrows/hjkl, P2 uses WASD. |
| Daily | Same layout and chaos events for everyone, today only. Each day features one event that comes round three times as often. |
| Roguelite | Walls plus chaos events, and a pick-1-of-3 perk every 8 foods. |
Pick a map before any match, in every mode. Speed rises with your score: a new speed tier every 60 points, up to tier 5. Difficulty in Settings scales speed on top of that.
| Food | Effect |
|---|---|
| Normal (red) | +10 × combo, grow by 1. About 85% of food. |
| Golden | +50, grow by 1 (about 3% of food; +100 during Gold Rush). |
| Speed (blue) | +10 and a 4-second speed boost. |
| Shrink (purple) | Lose 2 length and 5 points. |
Combos: eat again within 2.6 seconds to chain a combo, up to x20. Normal food is worth 10 × your current combo. The combo drops back to 1 when the timer runs out.
Near misses: scraping past a wall, obstacle or your own tail triggers a short slow-mo (toggle in Settings) and counts towards achievements.
| Power-up | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ghost | Pass through walls and yourself for 6s. |
| Magnet | Auto-eats food within 3 tiles for 8s. |
| Shield | Survive one fatal hit; lasts 12s. |
| Slow-mo | Everything slows down for 5s. |
| 2x Score | Double score for 10s. |
| Freeze | Rival snakes stop for 6s. |
| Teleport | Instantly eats the nearest food. |
| Revive | Brings a downed Coop/LAN teammate back. Only spawns while a teammate is down. |
| Downer-up | Effect |
|---|---|
| Bomb (ring) | Instant death unless you’re shielded. Disappears after 10s. |
| Curse (X) | Reverses your controls for 4.5s. |
Portals spawn as pairs and warp your whole snake to the other ring. Power-ups, downer-ups and portals are rare and spawn per second, so they don’t depend on frame rate. Hardcore has no power-ups.
Daily and Roguelite throw a rare surprise at you about every 1.5–2 minutes, announced with a 3-second warning. Events are solo-only.
| Event | Duration | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Food Frenzy | 10s | Food everywhere. Eat, eat, eat! |
| Gold Rush | 12s | All food is golden and worth double. |
| Blackout | 12s | The lights are out. Trust your head. |
| Mirror Mode | 8s | Controls reversed! |
| Hunter | 14s | A hunter snake is after you. |
| Earthquake | 9s | The ground cracks and rubble drops. It’s cleared when the event ends. |
In Daily the schedule is seeded by the date, so everyone sees the same events at the same moments.
Hardcore rolls a chance every second for one hazard at a time (none in the first 12 seconds; the chance doubles by 2.5 minutes in, with a 5-second breather after each).
| Hazard | Duration | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Meteor Strike | 1.8s | Dodge the red warning zone! |
| Meteor Shower | 5s | Four strikes, one after another. |
| Tremor | 6s | The ground shakes and food slides down. |
| Speed Surge | 8s | Everything gets faster. |
| Rockfall | 9s | Rubble drops from above. |
Every 8 foods the run freezes and offers a choice of 3 perks. Picking one (or using a clutch save like Shield or Second Wind) starts a 3-2-1 countdown so you can re-aim. Most perks stack.
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Second Wind | Survive one fatal crash. |
| Magnet Field | Food within a few cells drifts into you. |
| Gourmet | +25% score from every food. |
| Midas Touch | +50% coins at the end of the run. |
| Featherweight | The snake moves 8% slower. |
| Lucky Charm | Power-ups show up far more often. |
| Combo Keeper | Combos last 1s longer. |
| Phase Dash | Space / A: phase through everything for 1.2s (10s cooldown). Only one per run. |
| Map | Look |
|---|---|
| Open | No obstacles. |
| Pillars | A grid of single-block pillars. |
| Cross | Horizontal and vertical walls with gaps to slip through. |
| Arena | A walled ring with gaps in the middle of each side. |
| Volcano | A crater ring plus scattered lava rock. Dark red tint, drifting embers. |
| Everest | A jagged mountain ridge. Icy tint, falling snow. |
| Desert | Dunes. Warm tint, blowing sand. |
| Glacier | Ice crystals. Blue tint, sparkles. |
Battle adds two AI snakes that go after your food; Freeze stops them. Coop is local two-player on a shared board with a shared score, and a Revive power-up appears when one player is down.
Up to 4 players. The host’s game is the only real simulation; everyone else sends inputs and draws what the host sends back.
Each finished run pays score ÷ 10 coins (Midas Touch adds 50%). Playing on consecutive days builds a streak with a bonus. Every day three new Daily Quests are picked from this pool, each paying coins once:
| Quest | Coins |
|---|---|
| Eat 15 food in one run | 25 |
| Eat 30 food in one run | 45 |
| Reach a 6x combo | 30 |
| Reach a 10x combo | 50 |
| Eat a golden apple | 20 |
| Eat 3 golden apples in one run | 45 |
| Score 150 in one run | 30 |
| Score 300 in one run | 55 |
| Survive 60 seconds | 25 |
| Survive 2 minutes | 45 |
| Reach length 20 | 35 |
| Pick up 3 power-ups in one run | 30 |
| Score 100 in Maze mode | 40 |
| Score 100 in Walls mode | 35 |
| Score 80 in Battle mode | 40 |
| Travel through a portal | 20 |
Spend coins on cosmetic trails. Buying one and owning all of them are both achievements.
| Trail | Cost |
|---|---|
| None | Free |
| Ember | 40 coins |
| Frost | 40 coins |
| Toxic | 60 coins |
| Royal | 80 coins |
| Rainbow | 150 coins (animated) |
Skins are unlocked through achievements rather than bought:
| Skin | Unlocked by |
|---|---|
| Classic | Always available |
| Inferno | Century (score 100) |
| Void | Combo Master (15x combo) |
| Ice | Survivor (3 minutes in one run) |
| Gold | High Roller (score 500) |
The snake is drawn as head, body, corner and tail sprites, recoloured per skin. Colour-blind mode uses recoloured vector icons instead.
Live progress bars show how close you are. A real-time “New Personal Best” banner appears mid-run.
| Achievement | How to earn it |
|---|---|
| First Blood | Eat your first food |
| Gourmand | Eat 50 food in one run |
| Combo Starter | Reach a 5x combo |
| Combo Master | Reach a 15x combo |
| Golden Touch | Eat a golden apple |
| Bomb Defused | Survive a bomb with a shield |
| Long Boi | Reach length 30 |
| Century | Score 100 points |
| High Roller | Score 500 points |
| Speed Demon | Reach max speed tier |
| Ghost Walker | Pass through a wall using Ghost mode |
| Survivor | Survive 3 minutes in one run |
| ??? | Hidden. Go looking for a place you shouldn’t be. |
| Close Call | Scrape past a wall or tail and live |
| Edge Lord | Get 10 near misses in one run |
| Golden Trio | Eat 3 golden apples in one run |
| Fully Charged | Pick up 5 power-ups in one run |
| Portal Hopper | Travel through 3 portals in one run |
| Bomb Squad | Survive 3 bombs in one run |
| Poltergeist | Phase through walls 5 times in one run |
| Maxed Out | Reach a 20x combo |
| Longer Boi | Reach length 50 |
| Legend | Score 1000 points |
| Marathon | Survive 5 minutes in one run |
| Maze Runner | Score 100 in Maze mode |
| Wall Crawler | Score 100 in Walls mode |
| Battle Hardened | Score 80 in Battle mode |
| Beat the Clock | Score 150 in Timed mode |
| No Safety Net | Score 100 in Hardcore mode |
| Daily Driver | Score 50 in a Daily run |
| Chaos Survivor | Live through 3 chaos events in one run |
| Fully Loaded | Pick 5 perks in one Roguelite run |
| Duck and Cover | Dodge 8 meteors in one Hardcore run |
| Build Master | Score 150 in Roguelite mode |
| Regular | Play 10 games |
| Veteran | Play 50 games |
| Food Hoarder | Eat 250 food in total |
| Bottomless Pit | Eat 1000 food in total |
| On a Roll | Play 3 days in a row |
| Dedicated | Play 7 days in a row |
| Quest Clear | Finish all daily quests in one day |
| Tinkerer | Change a setting |
| Fashionista | Buy a trail in the shop |
| Collector | Own every shop trail |
| Record Breaker | Beat your personal best in any mode |
Every mode remembers your best run and replays it as a faint ghost so you can see whether you’re ahead or behind (toggle in Settings). The Leaderboard is an arcade top-10 with 3-letter initials, and Stats shows your lifetime totals and bests.
| Tab | Settings |
|---|---|
| Audio | Master Volume, Mute, Menu Sounds |
| Gameplay | Difficulty (Easy 0.85x / Normal / Hard 1.25x speed), Pause When Unfocused, On-Screen Callouts, Near-Miss Slow-Mo, Ghost Replay |
| Display | Resolution (144p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K), Fullscreen, Screen Fades, Screen Shake, Shake Strength, Particles (Off/Low/Full), Grid Lines, Color Blind Mode, Show FPS |
| Controller | Controller Input, Stick Sensitivity (Low/Normal/High), Vibration, Vibration Strength |
Color Blind Mode switches food, power-up and downer-up colours to the Okabe-Ito palette. Bombs keep a ring and curses keep an X, so they never rely on colour alone.
Xbox and PlayStation pads work through SDL’s standard mapping. D-pad or left stick moves, A confirms, B goes back, Start pauses. B never abandons a run. The menu footer hints switch to pad buttons automatically. Stick sensitivity and vibration are in Settings → Controller; the pad buzzes when you eat, die or are saved by a shield.
On launch the game checks GitHub Releases for a newer version and offers to download and install it (“Check for Updates” does the same on demand). itch.io builds turn this off because the store updates the game.
Progress (coins, achievements, leaderboard, settings) saves to .megasnake/save.json in your user folder; ghosts are in ghosts.json beside it.
MEGA SNAKE is free software under the GNU GPL v3.0 only. Source: GitHub. Art is under the same license; the fonts (Lilita One and Varela Round) stay under the SIL Open Font License. If you enjoy it, you can optionally chip in on Ko-fi.
There may be a secret or two hiding in the main menu. We won’t say where.