Expert Advice FAQ - Guide for SSX Tricky

SSX Tricky Expert Advice FAQ
----------------------------
Compiled by gondee. Version 1.95 (1.17.01)
Advice by members of the PS2 SSX Tricky GameFAQs Board, and contributors:
gondee, happymachines, TypeZero, ElysiumKaori, dvdemons, The JRage,
FirebrandX, Packing Heat, Dunc, SSJHyundo, Gaz, jonesy, Fahran, and Dankman

If you are an author listed on this FAQ, and you want me to remove your
submission, just e-mail me: [email protected].


--Table of Contents:--

Prelim: This Guide
   a. What is the guide about?
   b. Is this official?
   c. Making this guide better - How can I submit for this guide?
   d. About the different sections
   e. Advanced Techniques

1. Shortcut Listing
   a. Garibaldi
   b. Snowdream
   c. Elysium Alps
   d. Mesablanca
   e. Merqury City Meltdown
   f. Tokyo Megaplex
   g. Aloha Ice Jam
   h. Alaska

2. Racing - Fastest Routes
   a. - h. Above

3. Showoff - Highest Scoring Routes
   a. - h. Above
   i. Pipedream

4. Glitch Shortcuts
   a. Elysium Alps
   b. Mesablanca
   c. Merqury City Meltdown
   d. Aloha Ice Jam

5. Epilogue - Assorted Details
   a. Legal
   b. Thanks and Credit
   c. Contributors section
   d. Version details

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRELIM

-- a. What is this guide about? --
This guide is an attempt to record all the feedback from various
players on the SSX Tricky Gamefaqs board:

(http://cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards/gentopic.asp?board=3422)

In the short term, it's a way to document all the various details of this
awesome game from very good players without having to do a million hours of
research myself.

Please note that most of the advice here is for advanced or expert SSX
players. If you are looking for answers to questions like "How do I do
a so-and-so trick" or "What are the CODES! I NEED CODES!" then look
elsewhere. Some of these routes on the courses will take hours, if not days,
to master. I would wager they will generously lower the times and boost the
scores of any novice player who tries them.

I will always attempt to validate the info here, but as with any FAQ,
there can be errors. If you would like to report one, see "Making
this guide better" at the end of this section.

-- b. Is this guide "official"? --
In two words: heck no. This guide is nothing more than the collective wisdom of
a group of players online who would like to help out others. It's not intended
to be the final word on any of these tracks, and will probably evolve and become
an even better FAQ as more players play SSX Tricky.

The advice used here is much-the-same language used by the original poster
on the PS2 SSX Tricky GameFAQs message board. I've attempted to fix any glaring
errors and spelling mistakes, but keep the source in mind if you have a problem
with some of the advice here.

-- c. Making this guide better - How can I ssssubmit for this guide? --
Simple, there are two ways. 1) E-mail me ([email protected]) with the subject
title something like "Track shortcuts" or "Showoff Tips" or some such thing.
2) Post at the GameFAQs Playstation 2 SSX Tricky bulletin board:
(http://cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards/gentopic.asp?board=3422) with helpful advice.

-- d. About the different sections --
There are three different sections to this guide. The SHORTCUTS section is a
list of ALL the shortcuts for a given course. It's simply a list, it doesn't
tell you which ones are faster or more difficult unless the author decides
to say whether it is.

The RACING section of this guide lists the fastest shortcuts for each track as
the players have discovered them. They are by no means the final word, as players
are always discovering new routes but they should help you lower your times.

Also note, that some sections may contain more than one guide to a course...try
all of them and see which section works for you! :)

The SHOWOFF section lists the author's favorite routes on the course to get
the highest score possible by catching different colored snowflakes.

-- e. Advanced Techniques --
Throughout this guide you may come across terminology that you do not understand. 
For the most part, it's all pretty obvious, but for those of you who don't know
here is a synopsis of the different techniques used in advanced racing and 
Showoff: 

a) Select Trick: The "Select trick" involves pushing the manual reset button
('Select' on the PS2 controller, 'Y' on the GC controller) at certain
points in the race. Doing this will cause your racer to warp ahead on the track
and save you time. It is called the 'Select Trick' because it originated on the 
PS2 system with the first SSX, and is still present in SSX Tricky. 
NOTE: There is some controversy with using this trick, because some people 
consider it cheating. It's up to you to decide whether to use this, but
for the purposes of this guide we will list it, since the majority of
competitive racers do use this trick. However, according to the Twingalaxies'
(www.twingalaxies.com) world record rules, using this in official contest
racing is ILLEGAL. It is considered a regular tactic of Showoff however,
and not against the rules.

b)Tap-boosting: You gain boost by doing tricks, and spend it by holding the 
boost button. However, it is an little known fact that tapping the boost button
repeatedly (instead of just holding it down) causes your boost to 
last MUCH longer (almost three times as long) while still maintaining near-top
speed. Using this on straightaways for characters who have a hard time acquiring
boost is key to good times on longer races. This is not much of an issue if you
can get all six letters of TRICKY filled up (and have unlimited boost), but it's 
a good tactic to know.

c) Glitch shortcuts: These are a new breed of shortcuts in SSX Tricky, and they
are VERY controversial. What this "glitch" entails is falling off the 
main track and letting the game reset you. In certain areas of the track, this 
will "glitch" you ahead VERY far ahead in the race. I will list them, but only
as a documentation. Not every player agrees that taking advantage of glitches
is an ethical (i.e. not cheap) way to race, but you decide for yourself. I will
always surround glitch shortcuts with **stars** and capital letters - all glitch
shortcuts will be listed in the GLITCHES section at the end of the FAQ.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 1. SHORTCUT LISTING

-- 1a. GARIBALDI - Shortcuts --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) Right off the bat, look for a rail to the right of the regular jump
through a few of those yellow cushions. Grind this rail to the bottom 
(if you have boost that will help immensely). This will spit you out right
before the second jump. 

2)If you don't take #1, at the bottom of the huge drop is a blue SSX sign,
bust through this to take a few turns and jumps to the second jump.

3) After the second jump, look for a blue SSX sign far to the right to go
into the Garibaldi "Untracked area." This area is huge, with several slopes
and valleys. Sticking to the left will lead you back to the track around the
beginning of the repeating, intersecting jumps. If you stick to the right,
you'll continue on into the second half of the untracked area and come out
even later on the track. 

4) Continuing on the main track will take you over a few jumps, and lead 
you to a red SSX sign on the right. This leads to a jump over the main path
far below, and  into a parallel valley in deep powder to the left of the main
track. This leads to yet another jump that goes over the main path once more 
and then intersects again. There is a cable to the right here that will take you
onto the billboards, but is not much of a shortcut. 

5) Ahead is the area where the path splits, and both sides lead to a series
of large jumps surrounded by crowd stands. When the path splits, go down the
middle, and you will see a blue SSX sign. This path will take you straight
down the middle of the path, skipping all the turns and jumps! Beware of poles
and other obstacles, however.

6) If you take the path to the right instead of going down the middle, you 
will see another SSX sign on the right. This is the second entrance to the 
Untracked section previously mentioned. Stay to the left here and bust through
another Blue SSX sign that leads you to through an ice tunnel and back onto the
main path. However, if you skip this SSX sign, you will exit out and jump over
a rushing river, go underneath a bridge, and go onto shortcut #8. 

7) Immediately after exiting this area, look for a blue SSX sign to the FAR 
left on the other side of a yellow barrier wall. This leads to an ice tunnel
which spits you out on the side of the track by the series of jumps over an 
ice river. However, you can't get to the jumps if you took this shortcut.

8)If you had skipped #7, the normal path leads to a jump and look for a blue 
SSX sign high on a hill to the left. Busting through this sign causes you to 
grind a rail to a series of jumps over a rushing river! You can also access 
this shortcut by looking for it from the Untracked area mentioned above. 
There are three or four jumps, and this section eventually exits back onto 
the main track right before the very last jump. 

9) Continuing on the main path takes you to a series of three jumps in between 
narrow rock canyons. Before this, there is a blue SSX sign that you can bust
through to take a jump through the center section of the canyons. Not much of
a shortcut though...

10) Down the main path aways, and you will come to a very sharp right turn on
the top of a large hill. This shortcut is obvious and easy, just jump over the
turn and go down to the track below. 

11)Towards the final section of the track you will come to another series of
jumps. In the middle is another blue SSX sign which will dip you through a 
tunnel and out a jump that leads you to an ice path on top of the rock formation.
Follow this to the main path. 

Only thing left is the gigantic jump at the end. Try cutting hills or taking 
it slow, and good luck on your time! :) 


--1b. SNOWDREAM - Shortcuts--

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) At the beginning of the race, cutting to the right (by the big yellow
cushion things) leads to a large black rail in the snow that you can grind 
to get an early lead. 

2) A little later on there is an SSX sign to the left which leads to a rail
grind. Grinding this rail eventually ends with you grinding on a yellow barrier
fence for some distance. 

3) Again there is an SSX sign further down the course on the left that leads to
a grind. This one is shorter, but still good to look for.

4)In the middle of the race there is a blue SSX sign in the center of the track
which leads to a rail grind where you can boost off a snowblower at the very end. 
This is a decent shortcut. 

5) Directly after this (around a curve) is an area with a blue SSX sign that
you can bust through by jumping off a ramp. You can also look for green flares
on the turn before that signal the beginning of this shortcut. This leads to the
largest shortcuts in Snowdream. The path splits a short ways ahead; to the left
the course leads you past a small wooden bridge to a chinese pagoda-type 
structure.
The easiest way to get past this is to grind the small bridge onto a narrow ledge,
and jump off the ledge onto the roof of the structure, making your way back to the
main course. To the right, before the first bridge, is a short ice path that 
leads 
to a grind on a fence which drops you back onto the main path. An alternate route 
is to jump onto the hilltop where the rail starts, and grind to the left, skipping
the large turns and coming out where the "pagoda" shortcut comes out.

6) AUTHOR: Fahran - The other shortcut missing is the one I tend to use and I find
is slightly faster (and only very slightly at that) and easier than the pagoda 
shortcut.
Instead of taking the left shortcut to the pagoda, keep going over the jump on 
the 
main track, and directly ahead is another blue SSX sign. Jumping over the fence to
the right of the track here leads to an ice path that heads over the hill and 
includes a speed boost so you can make the jump (and pop the big balloon) on to 
the
upper section that criss crosses the main track. 

7) After this, look for a rail you can grind that leads to a grind on a yellow 
fence.  

8) There are various points later in the race where you can cut off the main path
and ski across powder to another section of the course. Look for those large
yellow "cushions" for a few of them. 

9) In the last sections of the race, there are a few cables which lead to fence
grinds. These are really the only "shortcuts" left, so take care and try to hit
the ones you think are most advantageous. 

The rest of the track is cake, good luck! 


-- 1c. ELYSIUM ALPS - Shortcuts --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) At the beginning of the track there are two signs, one to the far left (red)
and one to the right (blue). The red sign leads to a series of cable/billboard 
grinds and leads to a shortcut #3. The blue sign cuts underneath the crowd stands,
down the next hill in some thick powder and back onto the main track. 

2) After the second jump, off to the right on the descent of a small hill is a
cable grind that will take you across several billboards  (on the right side of
the regular track) and spit you out by the first checkpoint. This is different 
than shortcut # 1. At the bottom of the jump after the moving platforms, there is
a ramp to the right. Slowing down at the top of the hill and then boosting onto 
this ramp will take you to the next shortcut: 

3) Riding the rails or taking the ramp will lead you to a twisting ice path 
far above the rest of the track. After a long jump at the end, you will land 
at the beginning of shortcut #4. 

4) Directly past the first shortcut is a path to the right of the normal 
track that is framed by small wooden fence. Going up this path will require
you break through a wooden board barring the way, and will spit you out onto
a series of short ledges that skirt along the side of the mountain. There are
two choices here: going high will lead across a few jumps and down a long ramp
to the rest of the track. Taking the low path will skirt across even more short
platforms, and require that you grind one of two branches to go back to the main
course. Either way is much faster than the regular track. 

5) If you had skipped #4, there are a series of SSX signs on turn embankments
on the regular track. Busting through these cuts you through several sharp 
turns, and the second sign enables you to catch a series of branch grinds 
back across another embankment.

6) Going around the next few turns, there are a few shortcuts in the next
section (the section with the platform jumps with rails on the side.) Off to
either side of the platform are ice paths which lead to rail grinds (these were
in the first SSX.) Separate from these, off to the right at the beginning is a
small cable grind up to the crowd stands, putting you past the entire area. 

7) At the end of this path there is a red SSX sign to the left. Busting through 
this will lead to the old SSX path. This path consists of a regular straight 
path, or a red sign off to the left which leads to a forest and then a large
jump to shortcut # 9. 

8) If you had ignored the red SSX sign at #7, you go through a small cave 
and then back onto the normal track. This leads to an ice path with many
small jumps...there are numerous shortcuts here (none as fast as #9) that 
you can find by grinding branches that lie against hills or cutting embankments.
Explore and see which one you like best.

9) This shortcut was in the first SSX, and it is still by far the fastest way.
Going this way leads you to a series of steep cliff jumps over the regular 
ice path in #8. There are three jumps, which lead you to a slight turn on a
hill where you can either jump back onto the main ice path or grind a set of
branches to continue the shortcut. The branches are much faster and led you
out on the main path at the steep drop at the checkpoint. 

10) Directly past this drop is a red SSX sign to the right. Busting through this
will lead to a snowy plain and then back onto the normal track, if you do not 
jump at the end. Jumping at the end will lead you to shortcut #11. 

11) You can reach this either by jumping or skiing from the lower track, but 
to the left of the next section is a large tunnel which leads to the halfpipe. 
At the end of this tunnel is a cable which leads to the next shortcut.

12) On either side of the ice-halfpipe with the glass barriers are cable grinds
which lead you past the ENTIRE halfpipe if you can catch them. 

There are no real shortcuts in the remainder of the race, so race to the finish
line and good luck!


-- 1d. MESABLANCA - Shortcuts --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) From the start of the race, there are two red ramps, jump the second one to go 
to a shortcut on a ledge above the normal tracks. There are three choices here: 
The first is to continue going down the main shortcut path, which will spit you
around a few steep curves and back onto the course. The second is to ski to the 
right of this part and go up a very narrow ramp, over a barrier and onto a forest
path. The third option is to jump to the FAR right and go down a shortcut back 
onto 
the main course that bypasses the first sharp turn. 

2) The alternate way to get onto the forest path is to continue on the normal path
until you reach the third turn (a right turn) and ski up over the embankment. 
You'll
have to make it through a few trees, but it's much easier than the path above. 
This 
will lead you to a jump over a river and a large billboard (there is a red 
snowflake
in Showoff here.) 

3) After this part the path bisects, and in the middle there is a rail that goes
over a hill. 

4) Over the next jump and to the left is a gigantic Seeiah billboard. Cutting past
this leads you to a rail grind across a large tree branch that juts over the hill.
Jump at the end of this to make it past the billboards below. 

5) A couple of jumps later, there is a blue SSX sign. This will lead you to a 
raised path over the regular track, and down into the mines. This is the earliest
way to get into the mines. All entrances to the mines spit you out past the
suspended bridge.

6) Around a few turns is another blue SSX sign, which grinds onto a rail. After a 
short rail launch, you will attempt to jump onto raised railroad tracks (on poles)
above the regular path! This is difficult, but if you manage it, you can boost
across these rails to the tunnel that leads to the suspended bridge over the
waterfalls. 

7) Skipping shortcut #6 will lead you to a few more turns and a point where the 
path bisects around a platformed tower.  Taking the right path will let you crash
through a pit covered by boards and down into the mines again. 

8) If you cut the first turn after the bridge, you can ski across some rough 
terrain
to the start of the ravine shortcut. This shortcut is quite long, and you 
actually 
jump over it several times on the main path. It leads to two red sign shortcuts 
you 
must access by jump at the end of it.

9) During the ravine shortcut, if you cut behind a crowd stand, you'll see a 
branch 
across the adjoining hill that you can grind to a red sign. Grinding this is very
difficult, but when you do, it will lead you to three successive jumps over the 
high
plateaus and eventually land you past those narrow canyons in the middle of the 
track 
very far ahead.

10) The second red sign is accessed by jumping a small ramp near the end of the 
ravine
shortcut. Again, this isn't easy, but upon making it, you bust through another 
short 
tunnel with boards (be sure to jump at the end) and then upon making this jump, 
you
end up back on the main track. 

11) Across the next section, you can cut across embankments to save a lot of 
time. 
Just experiment and see which ones net you the most advantage. 

12) The quickest way across the area with the bisecting trails that cross over 
each other
(with rails lining them) is to jump on the rails and grind you way past this 
section.
Not easy, but definitely worth it. 

13) RIGHT past this section, cut to the far right. There is a narrow path through 
the 
canyon that will lead you directly to the end. 

After this, it's just a quick jaunt to the finish line. Good luck! 


-- 1e. MERQURY CITY MELTDOWN - Shortcuts ------

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1. Right off the start, bust through the SSX sign and catch the rail over
the next building (you'll crash through a capital-type dome, very cool).
From there continue going perfectly straight:

2. Fly off the upturned rail with boost and you'll fly onto the top of
a building and crash through the skylight. :) After a couple of quick
jaunts over some more rooftops, you'll come out on the main path.

3. Going down a few hills and you'll see two split paths and a building
with a grey double door right in the middle. Crash through the door and
through the adjoining inside area. Fly out to the next building and avoid
the exhaust fans if you can...boost and jump to the next building in front
(this can be difficult.) Cut to the right and jump through a VERY narrow
space in between buildings. This will lead you to another red SSX sign
that cuts in between more buildings and eventually takes you back to the
main path.

4. After a few split turns you can cut through a pair of really narrow
towers, not much of a shortcut, but everything helps.

5. Further down the line you'll see a gigantic billboard of Seeiah off to
the left, cut by that and you'll cut across a steep, narrow downhill shortcut
in between buildings right by another gigantic billboard of Kaori. :)

6. Now you have two choices: there's another shortcut between buildings
(you'll see a cop car flashing) or you can continue further down the main
path until you see another red SSX sign. That's the parking garage shortcut.
Go to the lowest level and go to the end of the garage. There are two
shortcuts here:

7. A building on the left which leads to an upturned rail that leads right
to a hovering UFO :) If you get enough boost and hit the light from the
UFO you'll be transported to the forest by the bridge, but in thick powder.

8. The building on the right - Catch the first rail at the end and you'll
catch the next rail as well, this will lead you to an inside part with a
low roof, slow down on that second rail. Complete this part to
the next roof and somehow look for an adjoining roof to leap onto :)
This should lead you to another rail, then to another building, followed by
a leap to a building top with a SPLIT rail. Taking that rail lets you fly
off a rooftop with a gigantic blimp in front of you, and then down onto a ice
river which lead to fan shortcut that leads past the bridge.

9. AUTHOR: FirebrandX - There is also another sewer tunnel that is VERY hard
to get into. This one is on the left fork just before the icy half pipe section.
It's a big concrete cylinder sticking up from the snow and has a wooden cover on 
top.
If you jump just right, you can clear the lip and drop through the top part,
breaking the wooden cover. This will take you through a another series of
fan blades, and eventually into the start of the ice river.

10. Directly after the entrance to shortcut #8, you will see go through a large
ice tunnel which leads back to the normal track. Above this area is a large 
indoor "food court" area. You access this by jumping from the small ramp 
(a ramp without paint) and flying up here. You ski through a series of tables & 
chairs, and then start downhill indoors. Aim for the white "beam" on the glass
in the middle of the track, busting through the glass here will put you on a 
rail that you can grind to the next building. Grinding this will lead you to 
another indoor section (an office with cubicles) -- be sure to ski to the left
to avoid the cubicles. Upon busting through the glass here, you are faced with
two choices 1) Boost full-speed through the opening, off the building and back 
onto the main track or 2) Slow down almost completely before busting through the
glass and look to your right -- grind the RAIL on the right corner of the building
that leads to the BLIMP mentioned above. This is a MUCH easier way of accessing 
the ice river shortcut! 

11. After skiing down the ice river, you bust through a brick wall into a sewer
tunnel with large fans that as in the first SSX. The fans go faster this time,
but no problem getting through this, same as the old shortcut, but without the
low walls. This juts you out into section underneath the overpass jumps, and 
skiing
around the side of the last glass ramp back up to the normal track leads you to 
the sewer shortcut that was in the first SSX.

12. The subway connection is back again, and this time. It is located 
BEHIND the final glass ramp that leads back onto the main track from the lower 
snowy 
area beneath the series of raised highway overpasses. Ski around behind the last 
ramp
and you will see a brick wall that you can bust through to make your way into the 
tunnel. Simply slow down if you see the subways this time - it's much easier.

13. If you take the upper level (going up the glass ramp underneath the 
overpasses)
there's only a few major shortcuts that are worthy of mentioning. Down the path
aways, there is an opening in between buildings (look for the red trash 
dumpsters).
Jumping out onto here and making a few awesome jumps to adjoining rooftops will
enable you to jump onto a raised highway on the final path and crash through 
the dome on top of the finish line! :)

14. Go until you come to the part right before the final stretch.
(This is the part with the very quick turns/slalom through the black walls
with the glass parts that you can break through.) Right BEFORE this is a
hidden (but easy to spot if you look for it) path to the right that leads
down. Going down this shortcut will run you by a few more subways
(they're parked) and cut you out directly beneath the raised high way above.



-- 1f. TOKYO MEGAPLEX - Shortcuts --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) In the area where you land from the air tunnel, there are two suspended
"halfpipes" (not really) on either side which branch off into other pipes and
lead down the track. Explore each of them to see which you like best.

2) Directly above the area where you land from the tunnel is a raised ledge
that leads to two red and white rails. You can access this ledge by jumping
onto it as soon as you land from the wind tunnel, or if you access a ramp
near the wind tunnel, you can ride onto the suspended halfpipe, and enter the
wind tunnel higher up through an opening, which will cause you to float directly
onto this platform. Taking either one is a wild ride, turn your board sideways
and see how long you can stay on. In some cases you can ride these rails for an
entire lap or more!

3) About halfway through a lap is a switch you can hit which causes a ramp to 
raise.
Jumping about halfway up causes you to fall into a tunnel which splits right
and left and ends with a fan blowing you up and out back onto the course.

4) Near the end of the lap is a series of circular "doors" you must open by 
hitting
switches. Hitting the one in the middle will cause a door to open to an green
underground tunnel which splits left and right. This also leads to boost up and
out of the tunnel, although you can catch a red rail at the end to boost across
the curves up ahead.

5) Near the end of the race you pass through an area with fans underneath a glass
and steel platform. Going on the fans (or boosting from a ramp earlier) will
cause you to go on top of the platform, where you can ride onto a suspended
halfpipe which leads to the wind tunnel opening discussed in #1.


-- 1g. ALOHA ICE JAM - Shortcuts --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) There are a set of blue SSX signs not long past the beginning of the
race (these are from the first SSX.) Busting through either one will put you
in a shallow stream. After this, through a few turns there is another blue
SSX sign on a banked turn. Going through this one will enable you to skip a
nasty turn.

2) There is a red SSX sign off to the right immediately after the blue signs.
This will put you through a short tunnel with a fan and dump you out in front
of the glass tunnel with the ramp.

3) Through this glass tunnel is a ramp at the end. Boost without jumping to
fall into a large underground tunnel. This will save you a large amount of time.

4) Right after this tunnel, there are a set of cables in the middle of the tunnel
that lead to another underground tunnel with fans. Slowing down at the end of the
previous tunnel with help you grind the cables. This second underground shortcut
spits you out in the valley between two ramps, right before the jump over
the large billboard.

5) Directly ahead you will see a large ice face. It leads to several suspended
plastic tunnels in the sky, which spits you out past all the steeply banked ice
turns in the next section.

6) If you miss the face (or fall out of the tunnels), there is a red SSX sign
to the far left which leads to a long, flat cable grind. This will put you past
those annoying ice turns again.

7) Near the end of both of these shortcuts is a ravine which leads to the
"indoor" section of the track. You can either grind the rails or jump over the
ravine. There is a red SSX sign to the far left that is the third crucial
shortcut and can give you first place easily. Busting through that lets you steer
around a few pipes and rocks and lands you neatly at the end of the race.
The normal way is MUCH longer.

8) There are various red signs in the normal section of the course that cut
you over hills and save you time, but not as much as shortcut #7.

9) Toward the end of the race, there are two ways to go. The first is to stay
on the bottom portion of the track and board over floating icebergs to the
finish line. The shortcut here is to catch the "ski lift" wires going up (there
are two sets), and ride them up to an upper tunnel which neatly bypasses the
annoying icebergs. Just be careful you do not land in the burning barrel after
the finish line! ;)


-- 1h. ALASKA - Shortcuts --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) Get ready, this track is HUGE. Right from the first drop, there are red SSX
signs to either side. Busting through the one on the left can take you to a rail
you can grind that leads you back to the main path. Neither path is much better 
than going down the normal track. 

2) After a short series of turns, there is a VERY steeply banked ice turn. (It 
is directly after a Luther billboard, but before a Seeiah billboard) 
You reach this shortcut by boarding left, up the embankment and onto an ice path.
This leads to an upper ice path and a jump (this section is very difficult)
that leads to THREE ice tunnels that you must bust through to reach. The top 
tunnel leads to an extraordinarily long ice tunnel that spits you out at the 
open path by the ice river. This shortcut is huge! The middle path is another 
long ice tunnel, which leads to a rail that you can ride to a few ledges on top
of the ice canyon for a bit, which ends back on the main course. The bottom path
is a short tunnel around the next set of turns and back onto the main path. 
If you catch an ice ledge, you can board across a small series of platforms and 
back onto the main path. And there is still ANOTHER shortcut -- to the left of 
these tunnels is a red SSX sign that you can jump to from the same ramp. 
This takes you to another series of rail grinds that lead you to the ramps 
in the next shortcut. WHEW. 

3) There are two ramps here that jump over a river section. Taking the far 
left ramp boosts you to an upper ice path with a few jumps that lead you past 
the entire narrow section by the ice river. The other ramps can lead you past a
sharp turn, and back by the river. Finally, there is a rail to the right on the
river that you can grind if you get lucky enough to catch it from the jump.

4) Past this area is a split level with several mini ledges every second of so,
no shortcuts through this area. Past this level, you can ride a snow ledge to
the right and hop on a series of raised ice blocks into a tunnel in the next 
section. This leads to a tunnel much higher than the regular path, and much 
easier to. After hitting a steeply banked right funnel, you'll come out past 
all the sharp turns in that section to exit the ice tunnels. 

AUTHOR: Gaz - After the mogul run you hit a frozen riverbed with a few islands
on it and the last one has a rail leading from it into a cavern.  The rail 
leads to an elevated ice path that leads you through the caverns and 
brings you out just before the cave exit (where the trick boost is).

Its a tricky shortcut to stay on, as the path is only about six feet 
wide (relatively speaking) and has no sides on it, so it's easy to fall 
off into the default path through the caves.  The best advice I could 
give would be to slow down and take it steady as soon as you leave the 
entry rail and you'll still shave about five seconds off your finish 
time.

5) There are various paths in the ice caves (you can spot them by the stalagmites)
that cut through the regular path. They are risky, but they are shorter.

6) After exiting the ice caves, cut to the left and skip ALL the sharply banked
ice turns by skiing in the powder to the left of the normal track. Easy as pie. 

7) After jumping the large pit here, you come to the "halfpipe" of Alaska. Not
much here, but after that you reach the vertical "U turn" on this section. You 
can select shortcut past this, but not much else. 

8) Next you come to a large jump. Boost down the middle and get massive air off
this jump to catch an opening here. This takes you through a small ice cave, 
straight through to the middle path on the next section. 

9) There are three normal paths here: far left, middle, and far right. Both far
left and right are identical paths up soft hills and onto regular paths (there 
are speed boosts here in racing mode.) The middle path is a raised ice path 
with several soft hills. Boost down the middle, and jump as high as you can off
the ramp here. If you get massive air, you land onto the top of the rock formation
that the normal path goes around! A steep hill later and you are back onto the 
left
path, which is a soft hill through the final ice cave section. There are no
shortcuts for the remainder of the track until the final jump with the massive 
fans. 

10) This isn't much of a shortcut, but there are rails on the upper ledge of the
final jump you can boost down to the finish line. The whole upper path is much 
faster than the lower path, as a whole. Good luck on finishing this massively 
long 
race!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 2. RACING - FASTEST ROUTES

-- 2a. GARIBALDI - Racing --

AUTHOR: happymachines
---------------------
1) Right out of the gate, punch someone. Yay for knockdowns giving you
full boost. You won't be able to get a quick start, and you might have
to reset the course until you're next to someone who has a comparable
start to you (I use elise, starting out next to Marisol, Eddie, or Luther
is always good.)

2) Go to the cable. don't use a lot of boost here, because you want to save
it for the cable. As soon as you get to the end of the cable, I do a nac nac.

3) Land. Do Uber #2 off the ledge in front of you.

4) Land. Go in between the hills. I haven't quite worked out the best spot
to do it, but you can do a jump here and Uber #3.

5) Once you land, start boosting. Boost over the jump, do Uber #4.

6) Head towards the red sign on the right. jump through it, Do Uber #5.

7) Land on the snowy part on the other side of the course, Boost down it,
Jump early at the end, over the normal course, while performing Uber #6.
You now have unlimited boost. Yay!

8) I don't know which path is quickest here, going to the inside, the outside,
or some sort of select trick. If anyone has suggestions, it would be
appreciated.

9) Boost down the course until it splits. Take the right path, then go
through the red sign to the right. go down the hill for a ways, and head
towards the blue ssx sign. Hit select shortly before you reach it (yes,
it's cheap. I know it's cheap. you know it's cheap. but such is life).
You should find yourself approaching the bridge over the river. Go through
the ssx sign on the left, down the pipe, you don't need to jump to
cross the river, just boost.

10) As you approach the next jump, hit select. You should rematerialize
slightly in the air on the other side of the jump. Not sure if it's faster,
but I think it might be.

11) As you approach the next jump, head off the course to the right.

12) After exiting the course, start veering towards the right. You will
hopefully recognize the big stone arch that you cross under if you had
stuck to the normal path (except that you're now looking at the top of it).
Hit select right before you reach the arch, you will materialize on the
icy straightaway below. Continue down the path as normal, and when it
splits three ways, take the right path. you'll probably be launched into the air
a bit by one of the jumps here, once you land head off the trail towards
the right. Cut through the somewhat deep snow, then go down the other side,
cutting off the final turn and avoiding that annoying little jump right
before the end. You can also try hitting select at the top of the hill,


AUTHOR: FirebrandX
------------------
My path down garibaldi goes as follows: Take the cable grind to the right
of the first drop, grab the speed boost, angle over to the right and speed
boost off into the air, bust uber#1, land and break through the glass sign,
jump off the end and do uber#2 in the air, land in the misty area behind
the main track, turn right and boost jump at the next ramp, get uber#3 done
in the air, land and boost down the next few turns, take the right path when
the track forks and aim for the glass sign on the right, break through it and
do a big trick at the big drop coming shortly after, avoid the next glass sign
and keep going down the unpathed area, jump at the trick boost ramp and do
uber#4 here, land and turn left, charge jump and do uber#5 at the next ramp,
land and go down the path as it turns to the right, charge jump at the ramp
and do the final uber. You'll now have full speed boost for the rest of the track.


-- 2b. SNOWDREAM - Racing --

AUTHOR: happymachines
---------------------
1) Punch someone as soon as you get out of the gate to get full-boost.

2) Do uber #1 off this first jump. Might take a couple of tries.

3) There is a pipe here that is really good to grind. You can get on it right at 
the curve (which is tricky, because the bank shoots you up in the air, making it
hard to aim), or on the right side of the straightaway after the turn (this is 
easier to get on, but unless you turn sideways quickly, you're likely to fall 
off).

4) Boost down the rail, at the end of it do an uber trick.

5) Continue down the course. Eventually you will get to a split level jump. Take 
the
smaller one, and do an uber trick. Then do more uber tricks on the next several 
jumps.
There really isn't very much to do in the middle of the course except fill up your
TRICKY meter.

6) After the long straight section, the path splits into three sections: left, 
right,
and a sign in the middle with a pipe behind it. Bust through the sign and take 
the pipe.

7) After you are shot off the end of the pipe, take the turn, then you'll notice 
some green flares on the left. Cut through the green flare area (and try not to 
hit anything). A little bit farther up the course this shortcut is marked with a
SSX sign way up in the air, but entering it here keeps you from having to jump.

8) There is a balcony/structure type thing ahead of you. Go on top of it (or on
the railing, which I believe is slightly faster if you can do it), jump to the 
next structure, and from there onto the blue roof. Try to jump far enough so that
you land on the downward sloping side.

9) Once you hit the ground again, turn sharply to the left, staying with the 
cliff wall.
Ahead of you there should be a cable leading to the fence. Grind the cable, then 
the
fence, then transfer to the pipe with the snowblower. You should now be on a 
raised
ledge running parallel to the main path.

10) To the left, notice the giant cushions concealing the hole in the fence. 
Don't 
they look comfy? And yellow? Crash through them and cut through the powder.
Make a beeline for where the fence starts up again ahead of you.

11) Another cable leading to a fence. You know what to do.

12) If you were unable to figure out what to do in step #11, grind the cable, 
then 
the fence.

13) Try to jump off the fence in the most graceful, lemurlike manner possible 
right 
before it ends, then continue on to the finish.


-- 2c. ELYSIUM ALPS - Racing --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) Out of the starting gate, go over the jump and do a good trick to build
up your boost. Upon landing, swerve to the right of the moving platforms
(skipping them) and slow down so you don't go flying over the jump. Instead,
ski down the jump and boost once you to the bottom. Aim for the snow ramp
to the right and fly off of that.

2) This should take you to the upper ice shortcut above the regular track
on the left side. Boost down this until you come to the jump at the end with
the trick bonus. Do an Uber off this jump and land on the ledge below and
onto the ledges shortcut that you normally ramp up to after the first checkpoint.

3) Do not boost on these ledges, and after rounding the sharp turn-jump
and the right turn-ledge, continue boosting without jumping. There are
two ledges here, an upper and a lower ledge. You want to take the lower
ledge and continue to boost without jumping across the next two ledges.
You can bust Ubers off these ledges if you want. On the last ledge, hit
one of the rail-logs and boost off it back onto the main path.

4) You are now facing a large banked right turn with large billboards.
Skate along the left side of the embankment, and skate OVER the turn,
beneath or in-between the billboards. This will take you to the area
where there was a trick boost in the first SSX, except now it goes behind
the crowd stands. Boost through the deep powder and back onto the main path.

5) Take the rail beside the ramps to the right, and boost over them.
After this section, you'll see a red SSX sign to the left of the entrance
to the caves. Go through that, and it will lead you to another old section
of the game. Cut through the forest and go down the embankment (do an Uber)
and back onto the old shortcut area with the jumps over the chasms.

6) Take all three of the next jumps (you can do Ubers over all of them,
giving you unlimited boost). After the third jump, grind the log to the
left and onto the downhill wide right turn back onto the main path and
go off the steep jump without jumping. Look ahead and instead of going
around the sharp banked right turn, bust through the red SSX sign directly
ahead. This will lead to a flat area a slight upward slop a bit to the
left ahead. Prewind and do a big trick off of that.

7) You'll wind up in a new ice tunnel which leads directly to the
half-pipe/walls area. Upon exiting the tunnel, look for a cable which you
can grind which leads up to the billboards on the left side. Grinding
this is easy if you turn you board horizontal to the cables. Boost all the
way down this, bypassing all those walls and coming out on the other side.

8) Continue down the path until you come to the horizontal loop-de-loop.
You have a few choices to speed through, the first is to just catch the
speed boost and go through it normally. If you catch the left lip of the loop,
you can also grind all the way down if you use boost. Finally, if you get
lucky you can "select shortcut" right through this, but it doesn't work all
the time.

9) Out of the loop it's just a short jaunt to the finish line. Boost over all the
hills without jumping and you should have one great time! :)


AUTHOR: dunc
------------
1)  Do a quick grab off the first hill to fill up your boost bar quickly.

2)  Do uber #1 off the first jump.

3)  Steer to the right of the moving jump.  If you don't use any
boost, go pretty straight and don't jump, you should have enough time
for quickie uber #2 down to the bottom.

4)  Jump and uber #3 onto the upper short cut.

5)  At the kink in the upper shortcut you can jump and uber #4.

6)  You'll come to the jump onto the old shortcut, uber #5 off it.

7)  Don't boost on the ledges, and at the right turn, don't jump, but
uber #6.  (this is the hardest bit of the course).

8)  Pick your way to the end of the ledges, then go over the large
banked turn in between the air.  The point to do this is in the large
gap between the billboards.  Ski down the powder to the ice, and take
the rails on the left.  The trees are wider than they look ... watch
out!

9) ...and the rest is the same as the method above, but this method will
get you Ubers faster! 


-- 2d. MESABLANCA - Racing --

AUTHOR: happymachines
---------------------
1) Get a knockdown right out of the gate.

2) Jump a little bit on this first hill.  It should carry you over the 
second hill, and you can do an uber while you're in the air.

3) Turn right, turn left, then start to drift up the left hand bank.  
If done correctly, you should cut through the woods a little bit, 
rejoining the path right after the next turn.

4) Jump the river.  You can pull an uber trick in the air.

5) Get on the center rail.  This is far trickier than it was in the 
first game, and is where I screw up most on this track.  If you make it 
on, boost along it.

6) Head to the left a little.  Do not take the shortcut that you always took
in the first ssx.  Instead, stay on the main path, you'll go into a dip.
Coming out of it will send you up in the air, you should be able to pull off 
an uber trick while you're up there.  

7) There should be a cliff wall on your left.  Stay close to the wall.  
as the wall falls away from you, you should notice a blue ssx sign on 
the left.  Go through it.

8) Cross the bridge, down the tunnel, into the mine car shortcut.

9) You'll be in the open for a second, then go back into another shaft.  
This part can be a little tricky; I'm still not completely sure how to 
handle it.  Just make sure you line yourself up straight as best you 
can, and stop holding forward.  I'm pretty sure holding forward will 
always cause you to wipe out.

10) Speed down the mine shaft. If you mess up where the tracks jump, 
you can hit select, no biggie. If you make it through, upon leaving the 
cave you can pull off an uber trick (you need to be watching your meter 
carefully to do this).

11)  Once you're in the open again, head left.  Instead of jumping over 
the river, jump down inside it (a couple of points about this: don't 
jump too far across the river or else you will crash into the far wall.  
It can be really hard to get your forward momentum in a new direction.  
jumping seems quicker than just letting yourself fall, and you can do 
an uber trick here).

12) Speed down the ice path.  There are a couple of spots in here where 
you will wipe out just for going over them.  Have fun finding them.

13) At the end of the ice path, jump down onto the normal course.  I 
think you can do an uber trick here, although I usually screw up (if you 
do one successfully, you now should have tricky).  If not, you can 
always do one of the two upcoming jumps in the canyon.

14) Proceed normally, after awhile you'll get to a trick boost. Once 
you hit the trick boost, head off the course slightly to the left.  
There should be a billboard in front of you, try to go between the legs of 
the billboard.  Keep heading straight until you rejoin the course at 
the turn right before the part where the path splits and repeatedly 
crosses over itself.

15) Get onto one of the rails here.  I don't know which one is the 
fastest.  If you know, then tell other people.  Knowing is half the battle, 
after all).

16) Once you exit the rails, turn sharp to the right.  You want to head 
to the right of all the trees; here you'll find a little shortcut cut 
through the rock.  Head down this until you get to the end.


-- 2e. MERQURY CITY MELTDOWN - Racing ---

N/A

-- 2f. TOKYO MEGAPLEX - Racing --

N/A

-- 2g. ALOHA ICE JAM - Racing --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) Use this racing route to achieve a great time on Aloha Ice Jam! Be careful
after starting the race that you do not barrel out at the first turn. It is much
trickier this time and harder to avoid. There are a set of blue SSX signs not
long past the beginning of the race (these are from the first SSX.) I recommend
busting through these rather than the red SSX sign to the right, as it puts you
in an easier position to take the ramp/tunnel shortcut, but either one is about
the same speed.

2) After completing either shortcut, you will come out by a glass tunnel. Through
this glass tunnel is a ramp at the end. Boost without jumping to fall into a large
underground tunnel. This is critical shortcut number one. If you've managed to 
fill
your boost, you can do two Ubers off this jump.

3) Right after this tunnel, there are a set of cables that lead to another
underground tunnel with fans. Slowing down at the end of the previous tunnel with
help you grind the cables. This second underground shortcut spits you out in the
valley between elevated ramps, right before the jump over the large billboard.

4) Directly ahead you will see a large ice face. If you jump over the billboard,
or ski to the ramps on the side, the mouth of the face should open. This is the
second crucial shortcut. It leads to several suspended plastic tunnels in the sky,
which spits you out past all the steeply banked ice turns in the next section.
This shortcut is more difficult to maintain this time, but it's absolutely key to
getting a great time.

7) Riding all the way to the end of the previous shortcut will spit you out
on a direct line towards a ravine and a red SSX sign to the far left that is the
third crucial shortcut and can give you first place easily if you race through it
normally.

8) But here is the key to this shortcut, about halfway through the tunnel you will
come across a very large ice boulder directly in the middle of the course. This is
your marker - once you get past this, press the select button to reset past the 
ENTIRE
shortcut and to the end of the race! Again, use of this is discretionary, but if 
you
see people with times below 1:40, this is how they did it. Unfortunately, you must
navigate those annoying floating ice platforms at the end of the race, but you can
easily get a great time using this route!


-- 2h. ALASKA - Racing --

AUTHOR: happymachines
---------------------
1) There are ssx signs to the left and right at the beginning. Take
them if you want. Usually I lose time trying to reach them, leaving me
with no gain.

2) On the fourth turn, if you take it really wide (try cutting the
third turn short) you will end up on a short icy path that
leads to a jump to 4 different shortcuts. Three of them are ice caves
which are all more or less directly in front of you at varying heights.
The caves are all different, and deposit you back onto the course at
different points.  for the fourth (which seems fastest), jump sharp to
the left. You should see a red ssx sign, that's where you want to land.
After the sign is a short path leading to a series of pipe grinds, which
leads to an elysium alpsish jumping thing. It can be pretty difficult.
I think it ends right before the bumpy moguls.

3) If you skip #2, at the first real jump if you stick to the
left wall and don't jump you'll go down a chute filled with stalagmites,
which you'll shatter. At some point you have to jump to a second chute,
which is difficult because there's a rock in the way, plus you can't see it
coming because of the stalagmites. Alternately, instead of doing this you
can follow the right wall, and you might be able to catch a pipe which is
part of the last path in the previous shortcut.

4) At the second big jump (right before the path goes alongside a river),
you can take the higher ramp, which leads to an upper path (again part
of the last path on the 2nd shortcut). Or you can try to jump onto the
small mound of snow that makes up the bank on the first turn you see ahead
of you. landing on it will give you easy access to the rail that goes
above the water.

5) After the moguls, there are a series of islands jutting up out of the
frozen riverbed. If you can jump across them, there's a pipe
that leads somewhere. I've never made it though.

6) There are three shortcuts in the first ice caverns. If you entered the
caverns through the right path, there will be a group of stalactites you
can break through on the right. Once you do this, there will be another
group of stalactites ahead of you, which I recommend skipping. Instead,
take the turn, stay close to the right wall until you see an extremely
narrow path leading up the side of the wall. Take the path, it's quicker
(and not hard to climb unless you just wiped out). If you entered the caverns
via the left path, there will be stalagmites on the left you can crash
through, but they're just the second set from the right path, and I still
don't recommend them.

7) As you exit the caverns, jump to the left. Ride down the side of the hill
on the snow, so you don't have to zigzag back and forth. It's speedier.

8) After the vertical hairpin turn, There is a big jump with a ledge in
the middle. The ledge is a shortcut, although that should be pretty obvious.

9) After that, if you go straight through the long hilly icy stretch,
you can jump a big gap to reach another shortcut.

10) There is a small select trick a ways before the speed boost
at the end which will rematerialize you right before the speed boost.

11) After the fan chute, rather than wasting time in the air, hit select so 
you can regain contact with the ground quicker.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. SHOWOFF - HIGHEST SCORING ROUTES


--3a. GARIBALDI - Showoff --

AUTHOR: ElysiumKaori
--------------------

1. Out of the gate, ride the rail through the blocks, do some spins and flips
to build up boost. Don't turbo at all, jump off the very end and do two ubers
(paddle wheel or faster works). You'll land at the top of the little hill,
jump immediately and do another quick uber. That's 3 ubers to start with.
(should have 100K points easily by here)

2. When you go through the blue glass sign, jump off the embankment before it
and do an uber through/over it. Go through the blue glass, turn left and do a
flip and uber through the yellow flake. Then, after doing the uber through the
 yellow flake, do another uber on the way to the rail with the 3x flake off 
the little embankment. Ride the rail in front of you and do big uber off through
the orange flake. If you do it right, you can hit the red flake off of this rail. 

How to get the red flake: Get on the pipe at the start. turn sideways. Gun
turbo, but jump about 3/4 of a board width (freestyle board) before the end of
the pipe, maybe a bit sooner. If executed right, you can pull pirouette 
grind and paddle wheel, landing through the red flake for more than 220K points.
(prewind for back flips)

3. Cut hard right to the other side of the main path, turn forward, and uber
through the 3x there off the jump (two ubers). You can actually do an uber 
through the yellow flake on the left side, turn around, come back down the 
right, and do an uber through the orange flake. If you time that one right, 
you can even drop onto the pipe in the middle and do another uber off the 
end of it. You'll still have plenty of time for the next checkpoint.

4. Uber twice through the 2x off the jump, I don't turbo here since I want to 
make...

5. ...the red glass here. Ride the rail, turbo as you get to the end slope,
jump off and do a quick uber through the red flake to the far side of the course.
You could turbo through the jump straight ahead and sometimes hit the red flake
(any trick to making this consistent?), but I instead hit select immediately and
ride the pipe to hit the same red flake. Two ubers through this flake (three is
possible if you take off right).

6. Ride the cable on the right fork through the 3x flakes and over the signs, do
a quick uber off the last sign.

7. Okay, here's the split. I'm still working on this. If I try the pipe to the 
3x flake, I always go too high. Instead, I turbo hard through the jump to the 
2x flake and get 3 ubers before landing. Go through both crossings, getting the
3x flakes with at least one character uber (sometimes two smaller ubers).

8. Boost through the jump (2x flake) and do 2 ubers. I never manage to hit 
this rail, I need to work more on getting centered. If you hit the rail I 
think you can only do one uber (or maybe two quick ones), doing pirouette grind
and paddle wheel with Kaori just barely lands on the ground.

9. If you miss the rail, uber through the left yellow flake, ride the rail 
to the orange, and line up for the ramp ahead with the orange flake. Gun
your turbo. Really gun it, and hit a character uber and a quick uber. You 
need a ton of speed and a well-timed jump to get them both off, otherwise do
two small ubers.

10. I go to the left, avoiding the stone structure and doing 2 ubers over 
the jump.

11. There's a rail to the right over the corner. Get on it and gun turbo, 
jump just in time to hit the 3x flake and do a character uber. If timed right,
you'll drop and feel like you're going to hit the ground which is dropping 
away below you but you'll manage to land it. Big rush the first couple of times.

12. Line up for the ramp ahead. Do a couple of character ubers or 2 quick and
one character uber through the yellow flake. Line up for the left ramp ahead.
Do 2 quick ubers through the yellow flake.

13. Turn hard left and drop down to the icy path below; turn around and back
up if you need more running room. Uber through the 3x flake ahead.

14. Come around the corner for the final jump. Aim for the white between the
two red stripes on the jump, gunning turbo and jumping just as you get to the
very top of the jump--prewind for backflips. If all goes well you'll hit the
red flake, doing 3 ubers through it for 250K points! Believe it or not, after
practicing for a while you'll go from always hitting the yellow to often going 
over the red flake.


AUTHOR: Dankman
---------------
Right out of the gate, Head to the right to the giant yellow pie shaped
blockers. Go through them as there is a rail you can ride right after.
As soon as you get on the rail pull a trick sufficient enough to get
your meter maxed out. You need to complete this while still on the first
half of the rail. Next charge to jump and jump off the end of the rail.
You can pull off DOULBE Uber tricks if you are fast enough, if you timed your
jump correctly, and you do not use the more complex Uber tricks. (Hint:
Do NOT turbo off the end of the rail and jump as this will send you too far
out and you will crash. Now when you land (which will be at the bottom of the
cliff) you will have 2 letters in red, a full trick meter, and a Gold Medal
(not to mention about 70,000 points).


--3b. SNOWDREAM - Showoff --

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
1) Okay, right off the bat, get on the right rail. Prewind a quick trick and
catch the yellow snowflake to get ~7000 points and a full boost bar. Prewind
again and do a QUICK uber off the rail and catch the yellow snowflake.

2) Go around a few quick turns and do an Uber off the middle of one of the
ramps  and catch another yellow snowflake. You can try to land on the rail,
but it's pretty difficult.

3) Go around the corners and boost off the yellow ramp and do a Super-Uber
or two quick Ubers and catch the Orange snowflake. The key to getting the
snowflake is to jump in the MIDDLE of the ramp, if you do it at the top, you
will fly over the snowflake.

4) Land and immediately boost for the narrow ramp which enables you to get the
Orange snowflake that is over a hill. Again, boost and jump off the middle
of the ramp.

5) After landing, there are two more successive jumps with an Orange and
a Yellow snowflake. Nothing difficult here. Just make sure to do Ubers off of
the ramps. By now you should have your TRICKY meter filled up.

6) After boosting off the next narrow ramp and flying quite a ways to get
a yellow snowflake, land and immediately cut over to your right. You want to
skip the yellow snowflakes that are in front of you, instead opting to cut to
the right for the orange snowflake on the side. Turn around if you need to
and get a good run at the ramp, cutting to the left side of the ramp and doing
a quick Uber to get the Orange snowflake for around 50,000 points. This can be
difficult.

7) Directly after this, bust through the blue SSX sign and ride the rail. IGNORE
the Orange snowflake on the rail ahead and instead boost and jump off the at the 
end
(there will be a snowblower here). If you've caught enough air, you can pull an
character-specific Uber and catch the RED snow flake at the end of the gate.

8) After this is a narrow ramp with a red and orange snowflake. The red is best, 
but
catching either with a pair of Ubers can lead to HUGE points.

9) After landing, cut to the right on the ice path and bust a long Uber off the 
ramp
for the yellow snowflake. If you get enough air you can do two, but it's really 
hard.

10) There should be an Orange and a yellow ahead, but if you find them difficult
to get, skip them, and instead head past this area, and fly off the huge jump near
the end for the Red snowflake. Do a pair of Ubers for this.

11) After this there is one more yellow snowflake off a ramp on the bridge near 
the
end of the race. Doing a long character specific Uber can put you over the top 
here,
busting your score to over a million! Good luck!


--3c. ELYSIUM ALPS - Showoff --
N/A

--3d. MESABLANCA - Showoff --

AUTHOR: TypeZero
----------------
1.  Right at the start, turn over to the left or right and pull of a
couple rodeo/misty experimentals (unethical if you're fast) to fill your boost
and light the bell.

2.  Take the very first jump so that you'll hit the Yellow flake and do
an uber (depending on your character, do a signature if you can)

3.  After the S curve, you'll see a turn with a rail and a Yellow flake
over it.  Ignore them and head straight into the woods (less risky than
jumping off, hitting a tree and losing your boost.)  Follow the path behind the
trees and take the jump over the billboard into the Red flake
carefully, doing a signature (character-specific) uber.

4.  You should land on the left side of the rails that divide the path.
Follow the path until the next jump, with a Yellow flake over it, comes
up and do another signature (or sig) uber.

5.  Stay to the left and do a signature uber into the Orange flake, and be
careful about landing on the rails...you may just fly off them, negating the
whole jump (and run.)

6.  Break through the sign on the left immediately after that jump, and
do an uber (Paddle Wheel is fast, so do that if you can.)

7.  Take the rail behind the SSX sign if you like...there is a Yellow
flake on it.  If you do take it, be sure to get off in time to get into the
mineshaft, which has a Yellow flake over it.  Go into the mineshaft,
stay on the LEFT rail, and make it over to the broken rail carefully, staying
on the upper level.

8.  Pre-wind and do a sig uber right out of the tunnel, hitting the Red
flake.

9.  The second you land, line up and pre-wind again and pull an sig
uber (if you can) over the gap with the yellow flake.

10.  After the choice of going in the cave or the rail on the right
(which has a Yellow flake at the end of it), there comes another set of turns.
The first has 2 red signs over it and a Yellow flake a little off center.
Ride the embankment and do an uber (you can usually get enough height for a
signature.)  If you are lucky enough and didn't have a lot of forward
movement, then you should be able to line up for the next embankment,
and jump off that into a Red flake.  I don't recommend it, since not only
is it not needed for a million points, but it usually throws you off kilter
for the next jump.

11.  At the checkpoint gap, aim off to the left and do a soft jump,
enough to get an uber off and hit the Red Flake there.

12.  You'll land at an awkward position in the gap...just turn off to
the right as hard as you can, once you straighten out and start going
forward, you shouldn't have to move much for the next jump, which you should be
able to pull off a sig uber into the Red flake.

13.  Depending on where you land, you may be able to take the first
jump in the ravine with the Yellow flake.  Pull of an uber into it.

14.  Use the sign ahead to line up your next jump.  Aim for the middle
of it.  This allows you to avoid the walls but hit the Yellow flake almost
every time.  Be sure to pull of a sig uber.

15.  The next jump has 2 Yellow flakes over it.  Ignore the one on the
left, and take the one on the right.  Jump off the ramp (but not too fast)
doing an uber.

16.  In the likely event that you miss the rail (I've yet to hit it)
turn hard right and ride the embankment up, jumping into the Yellow flake
near the sign while doing an Uber.

17.  The better thing to do now is just follow the path off into the
over/under segment.  From here you can either to the left and the ride
the rail the whole way (hitting a Yellow flake) or take the path to the
right and do a soft uber jump, getting the Yellow flake there.  Either way,
you get roughly the same amount of points.

18.  Right after you exit that area the normal path leads into some
twists & turns.  The first dip you'll see has a red sign over it.  Go hard right
to get behind the sign and on the rail next to it.  Take the rail-jump
very carefully;  you gotta watch out for the sign to the right and the light
posts ahead.  Pull of a quick uber into the Orange star from the rail.

19.  Take the last gap, but don't get enticed by the Orange flake to do
an uber:  the jump is more of a hop.  Don't expect to pull anything off
higher than a Rodeo/Misty with a grab, otherwise, you'll be eating snow.

Hopefully, after completing this, you will have over a million points.
Mesablanca is nothing to scoff at;  it is definitely a hard course.


--3e. MERQURY CITY MELTDOWN - Showoff ---
N/A

--3f. TOKYO MEGAPLEX - Showoff --
N/A

--3g. ALOHA ICE JAM - Showoff --

AUTHOR: Packing Heat
--------------------
1) Start off, get on that rail on the right. Straddle it through the yellow. 
When you finish the rail, you will be in the right hand tunnel.

2) In the tunnel, get on the silvery rail on the far right of the track to cross
the gap. Trick through the orange. Land on the snow.

3) Get on the left rail through the glass. The one on the right will smack you 
into
that caution sign. Trick off the end to cross the gap, collecting a yellow.

4) When you land, boost towards that enbankment ahead of you where the track 
bends right.
Trick off it. You should land under that huge billboard sign thingy.

5) Quickly get back on track. Head for that yellow ramp on the right of the track.
Do a rodeo/misty uber off it - IMPORTANT : land just in front of that glass 
tunnel. 
You want to go through that!

6) Use a little boost through the tunnel, the ramp will raise, huge rodeo/misty 
double
uber off it. IMPORTANT : don't use too much boost off the raised ramp. You want 
to collect
the orange flake, and then land in the water tunnel, NOT go over it.

7) At the end of the tunnel, trick off the the upper level again. Boost along and
trick over the next gap.

8) You should now be in the center of the track, with a small gap ahead of you 
with a
ramp (there used to be a trick booster here in racing mode). Rodeo/misty uber off 
the
ramp - lots of boost here - and fly over the huge sign. Land on the right hand 
side of 
the track if possible, not essential though. I think there's a flake there also, 
maybe.

9a) If you can get onto that red and white rail on the right of the track, then 
it's
worth loads of points. Straddle it down, and jump through the red flake when you 
get to
it. Trick off the end to cross the gap into the ice cave.

9b) If you missed that red and white rail, don't worry too much. Just go down the 
track
as normal - don't get in that glass tubing thing. Head off down the winding icy 
track, and
pull loads of misty/rodeo tricks off every embankment. Use your boost to do this. 
Finally,
grind across the gap into the ice cave.

10) Now we're in the ice cave. Ahead of you are two red and white rails. Get on 
either.
 Left one is best. Straddle it to the end, where the cave gets bigger.

11) In the bigger section, go straight at the billboards ahead of you. There's a 
rail
leading up to them, get on it, grind across the billboards, and it takes you 
through a round
glass window into a tunnel.

12) At the end of this tunnel, trick off the drop. Not a huge trick though, it's 
a small drop,
and you will be moving very fast.

13) Make your way down until you see two red and white rails ahead of you. Get on 
either of
them, jump up for the yellow. Do not get on the silvery rails leading upwards!

14) Boost up the slope and pull a huge misty/rodeo uber through the waterfall. 
Careful you
don't land in the sea.

15) If you need a few more thousand points, pull misty/rodeo tricks on the final 
stepping 
stone like bits of ice before you cross the finish line.


--3h. ALASKA - Showoff --

AUTHOR: dvdemons
----------------
Do any flip you want off the start gate--really doesn't matter. What
does matter is that you hit the first rail dead center. Do a half spin
off the end to pick up the next rail,  then ride the third, getting
two 2x flakes. Hit an Uber off the jump at the next turn, then hit the
next rail for 2x and 5x flakes. Around the next turn, do another Uber.

After you land, you'll come to a turn with a bank at the end. You can get
surprisingly good air here on a flip twist, and if your character has a
simple Uber (like Brodi's R1) you can toss that in. Hit the next rail for
a 5x flake and you'll jump over to a rail with a 2x flake. Ideally, hit
the third rail and boost over the end of it for the 3x flake--if you spin
at the right time, you can ride the rails over the river. Just try to keep
the Tricky disc spinning if you need to make the jumps. Hit the jump past the
Checkpoint and do an Uber to get the 3x flake. When you land, hit the rail
and boost the length of it to get the 5x flake and land on the next rail.
You should have a Bronze at this point.

There's no reliable way to get to the rails at the bottom of the hill here,
but you'll get a nice bunch of points if you can get on them. The one on
the right is a little easier to hit. Ride through the ice cave and hit the
rail on the left with the 3x flake, then ride as many rails as you can
around the ice curves. When you hit the gap, do a spinning twist to get
the Tricky disc spinning. Do as many Ubers as needed to fill out Tricky in
the double half-pipe--you'll need at lest three, possibly two. Once that's
on, you can Uber to your heart's content.

Hit an Uber at the top of the vertical turn at the bottom and try for the
3x and 5x flakes. Do an Uber with a twist and flip at the bottom of the
next jump, through the Checkpoint. When you come to the end of the ice chute,
get on the middle part of the course. A twisting Uber off the center of the
second jump (after the first rise with the 2x flakes--ignore it) is a virtual
lock on the 3x flake. Do a character-specific off the end.
Consider the flakes an added bonus.

You should have or be close to the Silver at this point. After the turn,
go straight across and take the second right. There's a jump with a 3x
flake at the top of the tunnel, which is easy to hit with an Uber. Ride
through the caves and set up for an uber at the end through the 3x flake.
You'll get more points and have more success riding the rails over the next
part than trying jumps. Prewind for an uber near the end of the air cannon.
You'll get enough air to hit two Ubers, which should put you over the top.


AUTHOR: The JRage
-----------------
In the beginning, make sure to catch as many grinds as possible. This is
CRUCIAL when you're playing as an alpiner. Make sure you turn sideways
(tap left or right on the D-pad) to help keep your balance, and try to do
a trick off the rail if you know that there's no connecting rails ahead.
If you're a freestyler and you miss one or two, it's okay...if you're not
grinding, what you should be doing is launching off those sharp curves and
doing single flip 180/360 Unethical Experimentals (UEs) off them.
If you're Tricky, there's one or two really steep curves you can go vertical
on and do a quick Uber, and there's a dropoff onto an ice canyon that should
always be used for an Uber if your meter is filled.

Right before the area running parallel to a river along the right of the track,
you should try by all means to catch that rail and do a trick off it,
preferably a short Uber. Forget about catching that silver rail right above
the river. It's too risky, and I've never caught it once during the whole time
I've been playing.

There's not much you can do in the snow mounds, the frozen rapids, and the
subsequent ice caves. If you miss the rails on the mounds, try a few 360-720s
with tweaked grabs on the small hops. The frozen rapids are too bumpy...if
you're not on the rail or on the island tops, I think you can catch an air off
some of the islands' sides...but otherwise the rapids are too rough to pull
decent air off of. The caves aren't a good place to do tricks.

On your way out, try to catch the rails (notice a pattern)? If you fall off,
there's one or two places you can go back on a grind circuit. Otherwise I
wouldn't recommend tricks off the sharp curves because these curves are too
sharp and you're going too fast. Try to take advantage of the shallower ones
with spins, or combine flips if you're feeling lucky.

Next is the big jump across a rift. Try to pull out an Uber or try to get Tricky
by doing UE grabs on multiflip-spins. Take advantage of the double half-pipe
formation and finish 2 or 3 Ubers by boosting off the edges. After, there should
be a really sharp U turn. It is a gold mine, so ALWAYS try to be Tricky heading
into that turn. Try to shoot as vertical as possible and do an Uber (or 2 if
you're that high), and hit the 3x or 5x multiplier straight overhead.

Come down, and just after the checkpoint is another big air opportunity...you
know what to do with those. Make sure you try to shoot straight down the middle,
there's a 5x multiplier (I'm usually only able to reach it with faster characters)
if you shoot dead center, and 3x ones to either side. If you land to the side,
you'll enter trick-unfriendly caves. If you hit the 5x, you'll pass through a
simple tunnel.

As you come out of either of the two lower or upper passages, STAY ON THE CENTER
ICE PATH. Right before the first 3x & 5x multiplier set is a mound that you can
pull a good Uber if you're aligned straight center. After that is a big cliff
jump with another 3x & 5x set. If you strayed off the path, that's a bit tough
...I think I saw some rails, but I think they're harder to reach, and don't
give nearly as much points.

After that are two passages to more caves. I recommend the left one, it has a
VERY easy 3x multiplier and a nice upward slope just before it. Just don't
overdo it because it's very easy to hit your head on that jump. After that,
it's a path of tunnels...and there's two washboard hallways...I could never
really pull anything great except maybe an okay trick off the first bump and
small 180s/360s off the rest (in this stage, it's very easy to miss a gold by
a small amount). After the second washboard is an upward slope (and an eagerly
awaiting 3x) you should pull air off of, and you should already know that you
should try a short Uber. It seems that tunnel is too cramped to pull off a trick,
but it's easier to land it than to screw up on this jump. After that,
you should come to the underwater glass tunnel. If you miss the rails early,
you should always catch big air off the curve. After that is the wind tunnel
and the moment of truth. Boost your way up, prewind, and try to pull three
short Ubers.

It's hard at first, but you find that 500000 is far from impossible after
your first Alaska Showoff Gold...and even more so after you get a Gold with
a clunky alpine board.


--3i. PIPEDREAM - Showoff --
N/A



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 4. GLITCH SHORTCUTS 

Warning: These are GLITCH shortcuts -- shortcuts NOT intended by the developers 
that take advantage of errors in code/track design. THESE SHORTCUTS ARE MUCH 
FASTER THAN RACING NORMALLY OR USING SELECT SHORTCUTS. If they are not faster 
than racing normally, I will NOT list them. There are simply too many places 
to "fall forever" to list if they do not provide any benefit.

I list them here simply as documentation in case you have no qualms and want to
use them to beat the computer/your opponent, what have you. Debate the moral and
ethical points of using these some other place. ;) 


*********** GLITCH ROUTE: ELYSIUM ALPS ***********

AUTHOR: gondee
--------------
About halfway through the track, you come across a double ramp with rails on 
either 
side. The LAST rail on either side of the ramp forms out of the ground. Go past 
this rail, turn around, and GRIND THEM BACKWARDS. This will cause you to fall 
THROUGH the ground, and you'll begin falling forever. Here's the key: DO NOT 
RESET. 
Eventually the game will reset you itself, and you'll skip about 1/3 of the track!


*********** GLITCH ROUTE: MESABLANCA ***********

AUTHOR: gondee
-------------------------
This glitch, discovered by FirebrandX, is at the beginning portion of the race.
Ski through the first couple of jumps, go around the first couple of turns and 
ride
the bank on the second right. Going through the forest and onto the shortcut area
here, cut to the FAR very close to the barrier. Jump to the far left at the 
stream,
you will soar OFF the track and into that "fall-forever" nothingness. This will 
reset you further ahead in the race. 


*********** GLITCH ROUTE: MERCURY CITY MELTDOWN ***********

AUTHOR: jonesy
--------------
MCM - Between the garage and building behind/next to it. A short path to a roof 
then "fall" off the edge. Takes you to the bottom of the course just before the
 quarter/half pipe series.

AUTHOR: FirebrandX
------------------
The garage glitch does indeed work. It's turning out to be a huge shorcut in that 
I just got 2:55 on a sloppy run. The trick is to tap-jump into that narrow gap 
between the garage and that other building. Then you veer to the right and
fall off the edge. After a long fall, you'll appear near the entrance to the
the subway station with the blue ice path.


*********** GLITCH ROUTE: TOKYO MEGAPLEX ***********

AUTHOR: FirebrandX
------------------
On the first lap, enter the tube slightly towards the right side. As you float up,
start rapid-firing that select button as fast as you can. You should reset at the
FINISH LINE with no laps completed, and a final time of around 25 SECONDS! I can 
get
it to work just about every time now.



*********** GLITCH ROUTE: ALOHA ICE JAM ***********

AUTHOR: SSJHyundo
-----------------
I'm not usually a guy that finds glitches, but I found one on Aloha Ice Jam. Grind
the first rail when you go down in Showoff, I kept grinding but didn't turn. 
You eventually will fall off for not turning but before I fell off, I sort of 
jumped off, flew over a sign, narrowly missing it and then I fell over the
cliff in front. I kept falling for 20-35 seconds but finally it puts
you back on the track but at the very end! 

AUTHOR: FirebrandX
------------------
I found that I can easily initiate the glitch in racing mode by jumping in between
the Eddy sign on the left and the arrow sign on the right. So long as you approach
at the correct angle, the glitch is a snap to get working.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. EPILOGUE - ASSORTED DETAILS

--5a. Legal.--
This FAQ is copyright 2001 by all the authors herein, per their submitted
sections.  You may not alter/repost this entire FAQ without my permission,
or parts of this FAQ in any way without the express permission of that author.
SSX Tricky and SSX is a trademark of Electronic Arts and EA Canada.

This guide is allowed to be posted on these sites: 
www.cheatcc.com
www.psxcodez.com
www.gamefaqs.com
www.merqurycity.com
www.geocities.com/dicta_chimp  (because he asked!)

Any other site that has it posted without my consent is contributing 
to copyright infringement.

--5b. Credit
-MAJOR author credit goes happymachines, TypeZero, dvdemons, The JRage, FirebrandX
ElysiumKaori, Packing Heat, Dunc, SSJHyundo, Gaz, Dankman, Fahran and jonesy
for their willingness to help others.

-Credit to Grandmort for providing an excellent SSX site to all the
SSX community - www.merqurycity.com. Check the SSX Hall of Fame and
the SSX Tricky scoreboard (coming soon) to see how you stack up!

--5c. Contributors - Who are these people? --
-happymachines is a regular member of the PS2 SSX Tricky board over at GameFAQs. 
Always willing to share information he currently has the second fastest racing
times I've seen. 
-TypeZero was a showoff up-and-comer who is hitting his stride with Tricky. He
currently has scores well beyond a million on most of the showoff courses.
- FirebrandX is the current king of the racing contests. He holds the top times
for all courses as of this date, and is always ready to meet the challenge if you
can prove you've beat his times. For proof on just how fast he is, visit his 
site: 
http://www.nortexinfo.net/firebrandx
-The JRage is the author of the in-depth Uber guide on Gamefaqs, which is a fine
piece of SSX Tricky research. He also is very willing to help others. 
-dvdemons, Packing Heat and ElysiumKaori pop-in at various times and give great 
advice. 
ElysiumKaori started the idea of a large SSX Tricky FAQ. 

--5d. Version Details --
- Version 1.95: Added a revised Aloha Ice Jam showoff section. 
Added a Snowdream shortcut, thanks to Fahran for the e-mail. 
Cleared up the subway shortcut on the Merqury City track.
Added a Mercury City GLITCH shortcut. 
Moved all glitch shortcuts to their own sections at the end of the guide, 
in case someone does not want to know they even exist. :)

- The newest version of this guide can always be found at:
  http://www.geocities.com/gondeetime/Tricky_expert_advice.txt

-END. C'mon, send in more stuff!