Strategy Guide - Guide for Jet Moto
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JET MOTO for the Sony PlayStation Remy Gibson [email protected] Version 1.0 03/11/01 ======================== 1.0 CONTENTS ======================== 1.0 Contents 2.0 Versions 3.0 About 4.0 Controls 5.0 Menus 6.0 The Jet Moto 7.0 Riders 8.0 Rider Analysis 9.0 Races 10.0 Tracks 11.0 Advanced 12.0 Music 13.0 Codes 14.0 Copyright ======================== 2.0 VERSIONS ======================== Date Version 03/11/01 1.0 initial version ======================== 3.0 ABOUT ======================== ------------------- 3.1 ABOUT JET MOTO ------------------- Jet Moto was released in late 1996 for the Sony PlayStation. Due to the timing of its release, Jet Moto was often compared (unfavorably) with Wave Race for the Nintendo 64. However, with just a small amount of playtime it becomes evident that the two games are mostly dissimilar, with the only viable comparisons being the presence of water in three of Jet Moto's tracks and the slight similarity in vehicles between the two games. There are many things about Jet Moto that make it stand out from the rest of the racing pack. One of these is the nature of the Jet Moto bike itself. It's kind of like a JetSki, except that it can go over all kinds of terrain: water, beach, swamp, mud, snow, even metal. This allows the introduction of an effective physics system whereby each of the different surfaces reacts differently to the bike. The control of the Jet Moto is also important. It is spot-on. There were many complaints regarding the control around the time of the game's release; a lot of people felt that the control was very loose. Personally, I don't understand this complaint. Perhaps those complaining just didn't spend enough time with the game. In point of fact, your control over the bike is incredibly tight and responsive. You can spin the bike through every conceivable dimension with the use of the directional pad and shoulder buttons, always able to place it at the optimum position for race speed. Though the graphics don't really stand out, even from other second-generation PlayStation games, they serve their purpose ably and don't distract unnecessarily from the solid game engine. The sound, on the other hand, is something else entirely. Jet Moto sports one of the most acclaimed non-RPG soundtracks in the history of videogames. Many have commented that the soundtrack is entirely listenable on its own, from the comfort of your home or car stereo. And it is. From the oft-referenced Pulp Fiction-esque sound of "Joyride," to the hard-driving guitar of "Hammerhead," to the opening guitar riff in "Willpower," to the heart-pounding orchestral sounds of "Ice Crusher" and everything in between, the soundtrack never lets up. It is truly one of the shining hallmarks of this game. The characters themselves also add a lot of life to this game. Each of the twenty different riders has his or her own backstory, which makes you care a little bit more for the racers than you do in typical racing games. Another important feature of Jet Moto is the AI. For one thing, when competing in a championship, you're never forced to win every single race, which is more like real-life racing circuits. In addition, the competition in this game is literally second-to-none; in my opinion, the AI in Jet Moto makes this a serious competitor for the best racing game ever, despite its graphical limitations. With twenty competitors ontrack at the same time, jostling for position, each programmed with his or her own racing style, it's a constant fight for position in each race and in the overall championship. This makes for an incredibly deep game, one that can be played for weeks and months on end. ------------------- 3.2 ABOUT THIS FAQ ------------------- The reason I've decided to write this FAQ for Jet Moto now, over four years after its initial release, is really fairly simple. There isn't one. Jet Moto stands tall as probably my favorite videogame ever; even now, I can still pop it in and enjoy playing it. While cruising GameFAQs a few weeks ago, I checked out Jet Moto and its brethren on a lark. I figured that since every other game under the sun has a FAQ for it, Jet Moto must too, and I wanted to see what insights the writer of such a FAQ might have into this phenomenal game. There was only one problem. No FAQ. I couldn't believe it. In fact, not only did Jet Moto not get a FAQ for itself, but neither did either of its sequels, good games in their own right, though not quite living up to the standard set by the original. For this reason, I decided to write my own FAQ. But I didn't want this to be just a cookie-cutter recitation of things you can find at any other resource on the Internet. Of course, I have to include the basics, like controls for the game, as well as codes, because everybody seems to want those. So these things are included for the sake of completion. The real heart of the FAQ, however, is the strategy sections. I really have never had any peers with which to share my insights regarding this game, accomplishments that I've had, advice that I can give. This FAQ gives me the opportunity. Considering all of the time that I've spent playing my game, I consider myself something of an expert. But I'm always on the lookout for other solid suggestions on the game; not necessarily tricks that can be performed, but something new with regard to the actual championship itself. I'm hoping another expert will stumble across this FAQ. All comments are welcome. ======================== 4.0 CONTROLS ======================== ---------- 4.1 D-PAD ---------- Left and right on the Directional Pad is pretty basic. Up and down, however, is something else. Pushing up causes the rider to push the nose of the bike toward the ground, standing up on it. Pressing down causes the rider to pull the nose of the bike up, and this is very important when going over jumps as catching the nose of your bike on the lip of a ledge will cause your rider to take quite a spill. ------------- 4.2 X BUTTON ------------- Acceleration. You'll pretty much want to hold this one down all the time. ------------------ 4.3 SQUARE BUTTON ------------------ Brake. Typically you won't need this button, but there are a few spots in the harder levels that require some judicious braking. These will be noted in the track descriptions. -------------------- 4.4 TRIANGLE BUTTON -------------------- Turbo. Provides a burst of speed for a couple of seconds. You get four of these to start the race and they are replenished each lap, so it's to your advantage to use all four each lap. The number of turbos you have remaining is displayed directly underneath the speedometer in the lower lefthand portion of the screen. ------------------ 4.5 CIRCLE BUTTON ------------------ Grapple. Spread throughout the various tracks, normally on tight turns, are tall poles that make a humming noise. These are magnetic grappling poles. Activating the grapple on your bike causes a lance of energy to connect your bike with the pole, enabling you to stay on target and, usually, corner tighter. The length of time you can grapple is limited to the status of your grapple meter. The grapple meter replenishes slowly whenever the grapple is not in use. The grapple meter is displayed underneath the speedometer and turbos in the lower lefthand portion of the screen. It has often been stated that grappling is the most important skill that you can learn in Jet Moto. This isn't quite true. Grappling is a very important skill on several of the tracks; occasionally, it is indispensable for victory. However, there is another ability that outweighs the grapple in usefulness--it is considered in section 4.8. ---------------------- 4.6 L1 and R1 BUTTONS ---------------------- Sharp turn. Grappling is great, but the sharp turns will get you through a lot of turns with a minimum of lost speed. ---------------------- 4.7 L2 and R2 BUTTONS ---------------------- Roll. Really these two buttons are the complement of up and down on the D-Pad. The rider basically leans to one side or the other, just as with the D-Pad, the rider leans forward or backward. One effect of these shoulder buttons is to facilitate midair stunts, enabling quick and easy rolls in the air. A more important use is detailed in the next section. ----------------------------- 4.8 KEEPING THE BIKE UPRIGHT ----------------------------- The most important skill in Jet Moto is not grappling, it is using the various buttons in order to keep your bike on an even keel. When going over jumps or sideswiping other riders, your bike (especially the lighter ones) may have a tendency to become unbalanced and you'll be riding almost on your side. It's at these times that the shoulder buttons really come into play in an important way, to right yourself. In many places the course is not level; by using the D-pad and shoulder buttons, it's possible to land your bike well after a jump and thereby lose a minimum amount of speed. Remember, keep your bike perpendicular to the racing surface. ======================== 5.0 MENUS ======================== The Main Menu, the first screen you see, gives you four choices: 1 Player, Head to Head, Load Game, and Options. ------------- 5.1 1 PLAYER ------------- You play by yourself in your choice of a variety of different competitions, competing in a twenty-player field. ------------------ 5.1.1 SELECT RIDER ------------------ There are twenty riders to choose from, divided up into four teams of five each: Butterfinger, Axiom, K2, and Mountain Dew. Each rider is rated in four categories (discussed below): Handling, Acceleration, Mass, and Lift. In the upper lefthand corner of the screen is a snapshot of the rider. The upper righthand portion gives a brief insight into the rider's history and personality. Select one by pressing X. ---------------------- 5.1.2 CHOOSE RACE TYPE ---------------------- After selecting a rider there will be four race types to choose from: Single Race, Custom Circuit, Full Season, and Practice. They will be discussed in detail in section 9.0-Races. --------------------- 5.1.3 TRACK SELECTION --------------------- If you choose anything but Full Season, you will end up at this screen. There are a total of ten tracks, their difficulty designated by an icon. Green circle - Amateur Blue square - Intermediate Black diamond - Professional Double black diamond - Master Only the tracks you have opened up will be available. At this point, you choose which track(s) you would like to race on. You will then proceed to the loading screen for the first one. ----------------- 5.2 HEAD TO HEAD ----------------- Two players against each other one-on-one. The screen can be split horizontally or vertically; I've always preferred the latter. Most of the options for head to head racing are the same as 1 player, with some minor exceptions, like Elimination being unavailable in Custom Circuit (for obvious reasons). The biggest downside in head to head is the inability to play against the full field. -------------- 5.3 LOAD GAME -------------- Your progress through a Season or Custom Circuit can be saved following each race. This screen is where you get back into your season. Each save takes up one block of memory. ------------ 5.4 OPTIONS ------------ There are several items that are customizable from this menu. ---------------- 5.4.1 DIFFICULTY ---------------- There are three difficulty levels initially: Amateur, Intermediate, and Professional. A fourth level is available upon winning on Professional: Master. These difficulty levels are a way of telling you how good your opposition is going to be. Amateur is the initial default. ------------------- 5.4.2 LAPS PER RACE ------------------- Five settings are available here: anywhere from two to six laps. Two seems too short to really get going, whereas five and six laps starts to get a little tedious. For maximum excitement, it's best to stick with the default, which is three laps. ----------- 5.4.3 TURBO ----------- This option can be set to on or off. When it is set to off, the turbos are turned off on all the bikes, including the computer-controlled ones. Default is "on". ------------- 5.4.4 GRAPPLE ------------- This option can be set to on or off. When it is set to off, the magnetic grapple is turned off on all the bikes, including the computer-controlled ones. Default is "on". ---------------------- 5.4.5 TROPHY PRESENTER ---------------------- There are three settings for this option: male, female, or rider's choice. At the end of each race, the winner of the race is awarded a trophy. This option dictates what gender the presenter will be. Interestingly enough, when set to "rider's choice", a couple of the riders will choose a presenter from their own gender, and this is the default. -------------- 5.4.6 BIKE HUD -------------- The HUD (Heads-Up Display) is located in the lower lefthand corner of the racing screen. It contains the following information: speedometer, turbos remaining, grapple meter, and stunt points. It can be left on or turned off. Default is "on". ---------------------- 5.4.7 CINEMATIC CAMERA ---------------------- This view tries to put you in the rider's seat, as it were, tilting the screen as if you were actually banking into turns. In all honesty, I found this option distracting and slightly nauseating; I left it off. ---------------- 5.4.8 STUNT RACE ---------------- This option can be activated or left inactive. However, it remains unavailable until you have won a Full Season on Professional difficulty on all ten tracks. When activated, stunts earn you rewards. They are scored on a scale from 1 to 99, though enhancements don't start figuring in until you score at least a 20. Turbos are the bonus of choice for scores up to 60 or so; after that, you receive rewards in the form of higher top speed, better acceleration, and the like. For me, the turbos were always the better reward, so it was hardly worth doing the harder tricks. The easiest way for me to pick up an extra four turbos was to hit a jump, then to a roll by holding the D-Pad DOWN and LEFT while simultaneously pressing L1 and L2. Your rider will do a very quick reverse barrel roll and, if landed, receive an ovation from the crowd (wherever that is). -------------------------- 5.4.9 KEYPAD CONFIGURATION -------------------------- The default configuration has always worked best for me and is the one covered in this FAQ. ---------------------- 5.4.10 MUSIC AND SOUND ---------------------- Default has always worked well for me here; I've never felt much need to play around with the controls. I suppose if one were to get sick of the music...though I don't understand how that would be possible. -------------- 5.4.11 CREDITS -------------- The Singletrac team that made this excellent game. ------------ 5.4.12 TIMES ------------ One final note as to the settings in the Options menu. In places in this FAQ, there are times referred to as course records that I have set and recorded. In each of these instances, the options were set to the following: LAPS - 3 TURBO - ON GRAPPLE - ON STUNT RACE - OFF ======================== 6.0 THE JET MOTO ======================== The Jet Moto is an interesting vehicle. You can see the word "moto" in its name. There are ways in which the vehicle is similar to a motorcycle, and many ways in which the game is similar to motocross. But the key word in the name is "jet". Think JetSki. The difference between a Jet Moto and a JetSki, though, is the Jet Moto's ability to leave the water; hence the word "moto" in its name. When leaving the water, the Jet Moto rides on a suspension field, allowing it to traverse all kinds of terrain. Yes, this is a futuristic game. Each Jet Moto has its own unique characteristics. Some are quick to turn and light, some are heavy and ponderous, some are in-between. At the "Select Rider" screen, each rider's Jet Moto is displayed, along with a graphic analysis of how it performs, on a scale of one to ten, in each of four performance categories: handling, acceleration, mass, and lift. ------------- 6.1 HANDLING ------------- Exactly what it sounds like. Handling is the equivalent of responsiveness and is usually directly tied in with the mass of a bike, as you might expect. ----------------- 6.2 ACCELERATION ----------------- Acceleration is rated from a standing start to top speed. Of course, the other categories come into play, as well: a high-mass Jet Moto will accelerate more slowly than a low-mass bike, even if both of them carry identical acceleration ratings. --------- 6.3 MASS --------- Weight of the bike. A heavier bike is more stable and less likely to throw a rider when colliding with an obstacle, whether said obstacle is a tree or another rider. At the same time, a heavier bike is more likely to win a battle with a lighter bike. High-mass Jet Motos allow you to play fast and loose with the obstacles to a certain extent, though you generally pay for this in maneuverability. --------- 6.4 LIFT --------- This is the rating of the suspension field that supports the bike. When going over bumps and ramps, a bike with a higher lift rating will catch more air, especially if you lift the nose of the bike up my pressing DOWN on the D-Pad. Is this good? Sometimes.... ======================== 7.0 RIDERS ======================== There are twenty different riders (twelve unique) in Jet Moto, both male and female. The differences between the riders lie in their choice of bikes, not in the riders. At the "Select Rider" screen, you can choose which of the twenty riders you would like to control. They are divided up into four teams of five riders each: Butterfinger, Axiom, K2, and Mountain Dew. The teams are only useful so far as they make scrolling through twenty characters a little simpler, as well as adding a little character to the game. They are not, though, actually functional in any way. Therefore, when listing each rider, I will not list them in order by team. Notes: -an asterisk (*) next to a rider's gender indicates that when that rider is chosen and the Trophy Presenter is set to "Rider's Choice," the rider will choose someone of his or her own gender -some of the ratings are "9.5", indicating that rider is nearly rated a ten,only just missing it. On the "Select Rider" screen, you can see this by noticing a small gap near the end of the bar; it is most obvious on Stone, where you can compare a 10 bar to a 9.5 bar. There is a noticeable difference between the two ratings. ----------- 7.1 ARROYO ----------- Team: Butterfinger Number: 8 Gender: Male Name: Macon Arroyo Handling: 5 Acceleration: 3 Mass: 4 Lift: 5 Overall: 17 -------------- 7.2 BLACKJACK -------------- Team: Axiom Number: 21 Gender: Male Name: Garth Richter Handling: 1 Acceleration: 9 Mass: 10 Lift: 1 Overall: 21 ----------- 7.3 BOMBER ----------- Team: Butterfinger Number: 96 Gender: Female Name: Dayna Hogan Handling: 2 Acceleration: 10 Mass: 10 Lift: 2 Overall: 24 ---------- 7.4 CHIEN ---------- Team: K2 Number: 99 Gender: Male Name: Jackson Chien Handling: 10 Acceleration: 3 Mass: 1 Lift: 7 Overall: 21 ----------- 7.5 DAKOTA ----------- Team: Mountain Dew Number: 7 Gender: Female Name: Dakota Jade Handling: 10 Acceleration: 3 Mass: 1 Lift: 7 Overall: 21 ----------- 7.6 GUNNER ----------- Team: K2 Number: 6 Gender: Male Name: unknown Handling: 7 Acceleration: 8 Mass: 1 Lift: 10 Overall: 26 ----------- 7.7 HARRIS ----------- Team: K2 Number: 44 Gender: Female* Name: Harris Handling: 10 Acceleration: 4 Mass: 1 Lift: 2 Overall: 17 ---------- 7.8 IRONS ---------- Team: Mountain Dew Number: 9 Gender: Female Name: Shane Irons Handling: 6 Acceleration: 1 Mass: 4 Lift: 6 Overall: 17 --------- 7.9 MACE --------- Team: Butterfinger Number: 77 Gender: Male Name: unknown Handling: 1 Acceleration: 9 Mass: 10 Lift: 1 Overall: 21 ------------ 7.10 MASALA ------------ Team: Butterfinger Number: 5 Gender: Male Name: Masala Handling: 6 Acceleration: 1 Mass: 4 Lift: 6 Overall: 17 ---------- 7.11 MIKO ---------- Team: Mountain Dew Number: 69 Gender: Female Name: Miko Handling: 10 Acceleration: 3 Mass: 1 Lift: 4 Overall: 18 ------------------ 7.12 QUICK JESSIE ------------------ Team: K2 Number: 23 Gender: Female Name: Jessie West Handling: 9.5 Acceleration: 5 Mass: 1 Lift: 6 Overall: 21.5 ----------- 7.13 RHINO ----------- Team: Butterfinger Number: 59 Gender: Male* Name: Andre Makarczyk Handling: 8 Acceleration: 1 Mass: 4 Lift: 6 Overall: 19 -------------- 7.14 SHANNARA -------------- Team: Mountain Dew Number: 48 Gender: Female Name: Shannara Jackson Handling: 8 Acceleration: 1 Mass: 4 Lift: 6 Overall: 19 ------------ 7.15 SHIROW ------------ Team: Axiom Number: 66 Gender: Female Name: Shirow Handling: 5 Acceleration: 3 Mass: 4 Lift: 5 Overall: 17 ----------- 7.16 STONE ----------- Team: Axiom Number: 19 Gender: Male Name: Wyatt Stone Handling: 3 Acceleration: 9.5 Mass: 10 Lift: 2 Overall: 24.5 ---------------- 7.17 TECHNICIAN ---------------- Team: Axiom Number: 3 Gender: Male Name: Otomo Handling: 9.5 Acceleration: 9 Mass: 1 Lift: 6 Overall: 25.5 -------------- 7.18 TETSUJIN -------------- Team: Axiom Number: 4 Gender: Male Name: Tetsuo Hibara Handling: 9.5 Acceleration: 5 Mass: 1 Lift: 6 Overall: 21.5 ------------- 7.19 THE MAX ------------- Team: K2 Number: 2 Gender: Male Name: Mark Corri Handling: 9.5 Acceleration: 9 Mass: 1 Lift: 6 Overall: 25.5 --------------- 7.20 WILD RIDE --------------- Team: Mountain Dew Number: 13 Gender: Female Name: Kari Kelley Handling: 7 Acceleration: 8 Mass: 1 Lift: 10 Overall: 26 ======================== 8.0 RIDER ANALYSIS ======================== For this section, we will analyze various statistics in an effort to determine which of the twenty Jet Moto riders is the best. To do this, we will check not only the ratings from section 7.0 (above), but also some actual race statistics. ------------------- 8.1 WEIGHT CLASSES ------------------- Jet Moto appears to be very much weighted toward one size of bike. Weight class Mass rating Number of Jet Motos ------------ ----------- ------------------- Light 1 10 Medium 4 6 Heavy 10 4 ------------ 8.2 RATINGS ------------ Following is a list of the riders' abilities when based strictly on their ratings. I arrived at these totals by simply adding up the individual ratings of each of the four categories, weighting each one equally. I also grouped those with identical ratings together; two riders with identical ratings will race identically. 1. Gunner/Wild Ride 26 2. Technician/The Max 25.5 3. Stone 24.5 4. Bomber 24 5. Quick Jessie/Tetsujin 21.5 6. Blackjack/Mace 21 Chien/Dakota 21 8. Rhino/Shannara 19 9. Miko 18 10. Arroyo/Shirow 17 Harris 17 Irons/Masala 17 While we're at it, let's go ahead and rate the teams, too. Weight Class Team Rating Light Medium Heavy ------------ ------ -------------------- 1. K2 115.0 5 0 0 2. Axiom 109.5 2 1 2 3. Mountain Dew 101.0 3 2 0 4. Butterfinger 98.0 0 3 2 From this information we can infer the following: - Gunner and Wild Ride are the two best riders in the game - The Heavy bikes, ranking third, fourth, and sixth and averaging a rating of 22.625, are consistently better, though the light bikes, taking first and second spots and averaging 20.600, are usually also good choices - Medium bikes are flat out no good, averaging a rating 17.667 with none ranked higher than eighth, though four fill out the bottom five - K2 is the best team, due to its five light bikes - Axiom is better than Mountain Dew, since they carry more heavy and fewer light and medium bikes - Butterfinger is a team in trouble, with a disproportionate number of medium bikes It will become apparent that this isn't the most exact system of rating which riders are better than others. --------------------- 8.3 SIMULATED SEASON --------------------- I had two objectives when I decided to simulate a full season with all twenty racers: 1) to determine once and for all which of the racers were best and which were best on each track 2) to extend the life of the game On both of these levels, my venture succeeded. What I did was simple, really. I took practice with each of the twenty riders on each of the ten tracks, then compiled the times as if they had each raced. There is a certain degree of inaccuracy in this method, I admit. For one thing, it's quite different racing in practice compared to racing against a full field of competitors. There's no jostling for position in practice. Especially is this true in view of the fact that "I" was racing for each rider, meaning that I took an exceedingly similar racing line for each one, which obviously wouldn't work under true race conditions. Another way in which this method is inaccurate is this: While I can routinely beat the computer in a Full Season on Master difficulty, usually winning eight or nine of the ten races, I do occasionally make mistakes (or else I'd win all ten every time, wouldn't I?). These mistakes cropped up and made some minor alterations to the statistics. In retrospect, I probably should have gone for total accuracy and reraced the ones that I did badly instead of treating it like an "actual" race and leaving the bad times in. But that's in hindsight. There are some definite advantages to this method, though. Since I did control every racer, racing all twenty times back to back, each racer got the chance to react the same way to the same set of circumstances, producing a truer result. Further, I tried to take into account the fact that running a race twenty consecutive times is bound to improve one's time steadily no matter how bad the bike you're using is. For this reason, the rider that finished first on "Joyride" had to take first crack at "Cliffdiver", to keep any one rider from racking up a huge lead predicated solely on the fact that he or she was allowed to benefit from the lessons learned by previous riders. This served as an effective leveling tool. Presented in the next several sections are the results of that simulated season, looked at from several different perspectives. ------------------ 8.3.1 CHAMPIONSHIP ------------------ Here are the standings after all ten races as if it had been an actual Full Season. 1. Gunner 133 2. Wild Ride 119 3. Shannara 114 4. Rhino 105 Irons 105 6. Masala 100 7. Dakota 85 Chien 85 9. Arroyo 59 The Max 59 11. Mace 54 Harris 54 13. Miko 52 Stone 52 15. Technician 48 16. Bomber 45 17. Quick Jessie 43 18. Blackjack 36 19. Tetsujin 34 20. Shirow 21 We can see that typically the riders with the same bikes have similar scores: Gunner and Wild Ride are 1-2; Dakota and Chien actually tied for seventh. There are some large discrepancies, though: Arroyo and Shirow are separated by 38 points; Mace and Blackjack have 18 between them. In both instances, the problems came in when I managed to do very well on a particular track with one rider and abysmally with the other. With Mace and Blackjack, that happened twice. Even though this will be discussed later, in the Tracks section (10.0), I'd like to touch on these specific examples here. In the case of the most dramatic example, Arroyo and Shirow, the simple fact is that I managed to do incredibly well with Arroyo on Hammerhead, placing first on the track and setting the course record, while with Shirow, I had a spill (falling off the bike) and finished back of Arroyo by over eight seconds, which ranked her eighteenth for the race. As you can see, that accounts for most of the discrepancy. As for Mace and Blackjack, something similar happened on Hammerhead, though not quite as drastic. With Mace, I placed third. And even though Blackjack finished only 3.7 seconds behind Mace, he still only managed to place thirteenth. Then on Ice Crusher, I fell of the track five times with Blackjack, which allowed Mace to pick up another nine points on him. ----------- 8.3.2 RALLY ----------- Here are the standings after all ten races if they had been run in Rally Scoring: 1. Wild Ride 31.53.4 2. Gunner 31.54.1 3. Rhino 31.59.6 4. Shannara 32.02.0 5. Masala 32.03.3 6. Dakota 32.17.8 7. Chien 32.32.2 8. The Max 32.35.0 9. Harris 32.44.0 10. Irons 32.55.6 11. Miko 32.56.9 12. Quick Jessie 33.01.3 13. Arroyo 33.03.6 14. Tetsujin 33.08.2 15. Mace 33.12.7 16. Bomber 33.23.4 17. Stone 33.25.0 18. Technician 33.25.5 19. Blackjack 33.35.2 20. Shirow 33.47.1 Examples of the differences between Championship Scoring and Rally Scoring abound when comparing the two tables. The most obvious one is who's on top. Wild Ride squeaks out a victory of seven-tenths of a second over Gunner in the Rally; Gunner won three of the races to Wild Ride's one win, but since those wins were not blowouts, he wasn't able to open up a lead as large as he did in the Championship Scoring. There are still some sizable discrepancies, though. For every Gunner/Wild Ride 0.7 seconds margin, you have one like The Max/Technician 50.5 seconds gap. Let me explain how this happened. One big gap opened up on Blackwater Falls, when Technician took four spills off his bike and dropped over twelve seconds to The Max (and even more to most of the rest of the field). But the killer was again on Ice Crusher. I took four falls off the track with Technician compared to none with The Max and consequently lost thirty-five seconds. This is the type of thing I was talking about when I said that I wished I'd gone back and reraced it for accuracy. So Technician is actually better than he's letting on in this particular season, as The Max proves. Arroyo and Shirow sport a 44-second gap. Ice Crusher claimed another victim in Shirow, who had two massive falls; she lost over eighteen seconds on that track. She dropped another twelve on Nightmare. Masala and Irons, though, have the worst gap: 52.3 seconds. And yet Irons finished ahead of Masala by five points in the Championship Scoring. How did this happen? Irons' first problem came on Willpower. She spilled three times and fell once, losing over twenty-five seconds to Masala, who only finished eighth. Then she turned around on the very next track, you guessed it, Ice Crusher, and lost over thirty-six seconds due to three more spills and three falls. Yet Masala only finished tenth this time. That's why Irons was able to beat him in the Championship. Masala couldn't capitalize on her mishaps, though he won twice and placed fourth on another occasion. Irons, though, stayed close to Masala in the Championship by finishing second to both of his firsts, third to his fourth, then thoroughly pasting him on Nightmare, placing first while he finished a lowly tenth. Looking back at the Championship Scoring, it's not hard to imagine Irons snagging third, or even second, if it hadn't been for those two dismal races in the second half of the season. -------------- 8.3.3 COMBINED -------------- Since sixteen of the riders have "mates", so to speak, here's a listing of the combined scores. To derive these statistics, I averaged the times from each race (adding together, then dividing by two). This gave me the Rally time. From the times, I then resequenced the finish, assigning the points in this fashion: 25-20-13-11-9-7-6-5-3-1-0-0. In hindsight, I probably should have altered the points for second place, making it sixteen or eighteen, but it's too late now and I'm not about to recalculate the figures. Championship Rally ------------ ----- 1. Gunner/Wild Ride 141 1. Gunner/Wild Ride 31.53.75 2. Rhino/Shannara 117 2. Rhino/Shannara 32.00.80 3. Chien/Dakota 102 3. Chien/Dakota 32.25.00 4. Irons/Masala 98 4. Irons/Masala 32.29.45 5. Miko 75 5. Harris 32.44.00 6. Harris 71 6. Miko 32.56.90 7. Bomber 61 7. Technician/The Max 33.00.25 Technician/The Max 61 8. Quick Jessie/Tetsujin 33.04.75 9. Stone 55 9. Bomber 33.23.40 10. Blackjack/Mace 45 10. Blackjack/Mace 33.23.95 11. Quick Jessie/Tetsujin 38 11. Stone 33.25.00 12. Arroyo/Shirow 28 12. Arroyo/Shirow 33.25.35 ---------- 8.3.4 TEAM ---------- One element missing from Jet Moto is team accountability in the races. In Formula 1 racing, for instance, there is a drivers championship, wherein it's every man for himself, and there's a constructors championship, where the points from teammates are added together and the teams compete. Below is a ranking based on this simulated season for a sort of "constructors championship." To achieve these statistics, I simply added together the points and times for each of the five racers in each of the four teams. Championship Rally ------------ ----- 1. Mountain Dew 475 1. Mountain Dew 162.05.7 2. K2 374 2. K2 162.56.6 3. Butterfinger 363 3. Butterfinger 163.42.6 4. Axiom 191 4. Axiom 167.20.4 -------------- 8.3.5 ANALYSIS -------------- It is clear that a person can't take any one particular set of figures and determine which rider is better than which other rider. Well, except for Gunner and Wild Ride. No matter which way you slice it, those two always come out on top. They are the two best racers in the game. Many people like Technician and he is one of the most often selected characters. Due to this, many people feel that Technician is the best character in the game. In all fairness, Technician is one of the top two or three when controlled by the computer. Of course, the computer can assign each rider a skill level, being able to rely on more than just the abilities of the bike itself. As we can see from the simulated season I did, though, Technician simply rides an average bike, as does The Max. This being the case, one could speculate that the character himself has a much higher skill level, since he wins such a high percentage of races; either way, though, as far as human-controlled riders go, Technician is not the best. To me, one of the most interesting results that came from this simulated season was the revelation about the medium bikes. I originally felt about them the same as many people: they're not light, so they're tougher to control, and they're not heavy, so they're not as fast. In actuality, as it turns out, rather than possessing the worst of both worlds, they possess the best of both worlds. Here's one of the areas where the method used to calculate ability as demonstrated in section 8.2 (Ratings) is flawed. The Overall rating placed Rhino and Shannara at eighth, meaning that by that particular method of rating, these two racers have below-average bikes. But look at the stats from the simulated season. In the Championship, Shannara finished just five points behind Wild Ride, in third place. In the Rally, Gunner holds his second position by a scant five- second lead over Rhino, with Shannara just three seconds back of Rhino. When combining the racers, in the Championship, Gunner and Wild Ride take the title in a cakewalk. But look at how narrow the margin is in the Rally--just a hair over seven seconds. The gap back to third place is three times that amount. Not all of the medium bikes fared so well, of course. Arroyo and Shirow bring up the rear in every category. What is the difference between their bikes and the other four medium-class bikes? Primarily, handling. Arroyo and Shirow only have a handling of 5, whereas Irons and Masala have a 6 and Rhino and Shannara hold an 8. It makes a big difference. A secondary reason is lift: Arroyo and Shirow hold only a 5 while the other four all have 6. The light bikes are the next best contenders. But why are certain ones better than others? Recall that I said earlier that the Overall rating was a combination of each of the four categories, each of them weighted the same. Obviously, though, the categories are not weighted the same. How so? The best examples to look at are our best two riders: Gunner and Wild Ride. Interestingly, though they both are light bikes, they are different than all of the other light bikes. Typically, a light bike has a high handling, a low-to- moderate acceleration, and a moderate-to-high lift ratio. These two are different in that they have a moderate-to-high handling, a slightly higher acceleration, and a high lift. Basically, they trade handling ability for lift. And it works. It seems odd that the ones that are best should spend the least amount of time on the ground, and yet it's true. It held true for the medium bikes, too; the top four mediums traded acceleration for lift, with devastating effect. The other light bikes have slight variances between them, each with its own positives and negatives. Chien and Dakota have perfect (10-rated) handling and trade acceleration for a bit more lift; Miko has the perfect handling and low accel, but below-average lift; Harris retains the perfect handling but goes for a low lift attack; Quick Jessie and Tetsujin have very high (9.5-rated) handling, but only moderate acceleration; and Technician and The Max have a setup just like Quick Jessie/Tetsujin, but with much better acceleration. The heavy bikes come out the losers, all of them falling in the bottom third of the combined ratings and the bottom quarter or so of the individual rally, though Mace managed eleventh overall in the championship, mostly due to a stunning third place on Hammerhead. Despite their high accelerations and high- end top speed, their incredibly low handling really kills the heavy bikes on anything but wide open runs. It's interesting to note relative ability between the different riders. Looking at the individual Championship rankings, for instance, we see that the gap from second to seventh is only thirty-four points, but the gap from seventh back to ninth, just one position, is twenty-six. There's almost a clear dividing line between the top eight and the rest of the pack. The Rally is somewhat similar, though not quite as dramatic. Here, the top five are all bunched together, separated by less than ten seconds, then it's a fourteen-and-a-half second gap back to sixth, then fourteen-point-six more back to seventh. Irons, ranked tenth here, probably should have been included with the top six. Again we see the delineation, though this time it's the top five (or six) and the rest of the pack, with Chien and Dakota on their own. The combined Rally scores are interesting, too. Note the bottom four. Positions nine through twelve are spanned by less than two seconds. A strong argument could be made that Arroyo and Shirow don't really belong down quite that far, which means that it's the four heavy bikes that are separated by 1.60 seconds. Basically, it really doesn't matter which of those you pick; they're all bad. It's a shame that human error had to enter into the equation in such a convincing way on several occasions. Some of the riders are better than their times show; some are worse. In the combined scores, Irons and Masala are ranked fourth both times, but if Irons hadn't had those two bad races.... I'm still not sure what exactly happened with Technician and The Max. They certainly didn't live up to the power numbers of their bike ratings. At the same time, though, they're not as bad as their times suggest. Or at least Technician isn't. He's six spots back of The Max in the individual Championship and ten spots down in the individual Rally, both of which pulled their combined scores back further than they should have been. Arroyo and Shirow really demonstrated two disparate scores. But should Shirow have done better, or was it Arroyo performing above his station? Either way, one would think that they should have at least beat out the heavy bikes. So we have all of this data. We have each individual Jet Moto bike rated in four categories and then given an overall score; we have a simulated season run and totaled by both Championship scoring and Rally scoring; then we have the times of that season combined for the duplicate riders and rescored by Championship and Rally. Each of these gives a different idea of who goes where. I present, then, my definitive list of Jet Motos in descending order from best to worst, taking into account all of the above data and factoring in the human error that caused discrepancies. First place gets 10 points and each other position receives the percentage of that which I feel they deserve. 1. Gunner/Wild Ride 10.0 2. Rhino/Shannara 9.7 3. Irons/Masala 9.5 4. Chien/Dakota 9.0 5. Technician/The Max 8.0 6. Harris 7.5 7. Miko 7.3 8. Quick Jessie/Tetsujin 6.2 9. Arroyo/Shirow 5.5 10. Bomber 5.3 11. Stone 5.2 12. Blackjack/Mace 5.0 --------------- 8.4 CPU RACERS --------------- Against all indications from the individual ratings, certain riders are better than others when raced by the computer. This reflects a real point of view: the best rider isn't always on the best bike. With regularity, there are seven riders that will consistently perform well, filling the first column on the results screen (unless you are there, of course). These are "the top seven" and are listed below. They way in which they are ordered is based on ten recorded seasons, averaged together. Their average finishing position follows each name. It should be noted that these aren't "pure" figures; my own finishes affect the numbers, but the deviance shouldn't be large. 1. Technician 1.7 2. Wild Ride 2.0 3. Dakota 4.6 4. Miko 5.0 5. Quick Jessie 5.9 6. Tetsujin 6.7 7. The Max 7.2 As far as the computer is concerned, Technician and Wild Ride are far and away the best in the game. In fact, Technician can reel off victories like nobody's business, making him your number one competitor. Unlike other games, however, Jet Moto doesn't sacrifice realism for the sake of offering you competition. In many games, one person will repeatedly finish first (maybe second) in order to give you a run for your money should you manage to place first or second on every track. That doesn't happen here. Technician will win more often than anybody else, but I've seen him finish a season out of the top seven. The competition is fair. The programmers seemed to realize that in actual racing competitions, a person doesn't have to win every race to win a season. In fact, it's possible to win a season without ever winning a race. ======================== 9.0 RACES ======================== There are four different options available from the screen "Choose Race Type" and they are detailed in the sections below. ---------------- 9.1 SINGLE RACE ---------------- One track against the field of twenty. ------------------- 9.2 CUSTOM CIRCUIT ------------------- There are three different types of customizable circuits available: Championship, Rally, and Elimination. In each of these three types, you get to choose which tracks you want to race on as well as the order in which you want to race them, allowing for a high degree of customization. ------------------ 9.2.1 CHAMPIONSHIP ------------------ Scoring: The position in which you finish earns you points, with better finishes earning more points. The winner is whoever has scored the most points at the end of the circuit. (as described in the game) This is nearly the same as playing through a full season, the differences being that you can choose which order the races come in and whether you even want to race on all of them, meaning that you can leave off stuff like Ice Crusher and Nightmare if you want. The scoring method is as follows: 1st - 25 points 2nd - 20 3rd - 16 4th - 13 5th - 11 6th - 10 7th - 9 8th - 8 9th - 7 10th - 6 11th - 5 12th - 4 13th - 3 14th - 2 15th - 1 16th-20th - 0 points Note: this is the same scoring method as used in the Full Season. ----------- 9.2.2 RALLY ----------- Scoring: The time it takes to finish each race will be added together. The winner is whoever has the lowest total time at the end of the circuit. This custom circuit is the hardest type of competition in the game because Rally emphasizes consistency over occasional brilliance. All of your errors become glaringly obvious when you race in Rally mode, because every single mistake hurts you. This isn't true in Championship mode or Full Season because the point system tends to smooth over big mistakes and reward close calls. This isn't true in Rally. Here are some examples: - Let's suppose that you win a race by the narrowest of margins: 0.1 seconds. In Championship mode, you receive 25 points for first place while your competitor receives only 20 points for second place. A tenth of a second can make a big difference. If this were Rally mode, however, all you've managed to do is pull out a tiny margin on your opponent. - Assume that you have started doing very badly on a particular track, Nightmare, for example, and you've fallen off the track a few times and lost a minute of time. In Championship mode, you're hurt because you receive zero points. But in Rally, you're hurt even more because a minute is a huge amount of time to try to make up when much of the competition is measured in seconds. If you were to win the first nine tracks and then have the above example happen to you in Championship mode, you would still come off the winner, because you would have acquired 225 points from the wins and no other competitor could have scored more than 205 (nine second- place finishes and one win). If you were to win the first nine tracks and then have the above example happen to you in Rally mode, however, you would likely lose and might even end up out of the first column (out of the top seven). From the above examples, it's clear that Rally is much tougher than Championship. If you really want to test how good you are, Rally is the place to do it. For the ultimate Jet Moto test, try this: Turn off your turbos and grapples (which also turns off everybody else's), then race ten tracks on Rally. This is the most difficult thing in the game to win, because you lose the cushioning effect of the Championship scoring method as well as the fallback assistance of your turbos. Try it. ----------------- 9.2.3 ELIMINATION ----------------- Scoring: After each race the losers are eliminated, narrowing the field until only a few riders remain for the final race. The winner of the circuit is whoever finishes first in the final race. This is an interesting little challenge, with the side effect of unintentionally preparing you for the next two games in the series (which I'm sure was unintended). You have to, basically, make the cut every race, which starts out pretty easy but progressively gets more and more difficult. Below is the elimination schedule: Race Riders remaining ---- ---------------- 1st - 15 2nd - 12 3rd - 10 4th - 8 5th - 7 6th - 6 7th - 5 8th - 4 9th - 3 10th - 3 Things get a little tense when you get up to the last race, especially if you've left the normal track order in place and you're racing Nightmare and you're up against Technician and Wild Ride. ---------------- 9.3 FULL SEASON ---------------- A Championship Circuit raced in a predetermined order using all the available tracks. To win a season, simply finish first in points at the end of the season. The scoring method is as follows: 1st - 25 points 2nd - 20 3rd - 16 4th - 13 5th - 11 6th - 10 7th - 9 8th - 8 9th - 7 10th - 6 11th - 5 12th - 4 13th - 3 14th - 2 15th - 1 16th-20th - 0 points You'll notice that this is the same scoring method as is used in the Championship scoring in the Custom Circuit. This is the mode you'll spend the most time in because this is where you have to come to unlock all the tracks, to unlock the Stunt Mode, and to get all of the special codes. Well, unless you cheat. But where's the fun in that? To unlock additional tracks, you have to win a season at the highest difficulty level currently available. There are ten tracks total. NOTE: It is not necessary to actually win on every track in order to progress through the season; you can finish dead last every race and still be able to finish the season (a welcome change from many racing games). It is also not necessary to win on every track in order to win the season. In fact, it's possible to win a season without winning on any tracks. To unlock Stunt Mode, you have to win a season at the Professional difficulty level. To access all of the secret codes, you have to win a season at the Professional difficulty level with two riders from each team (which will unlock eight of the codes) and then win again with any rider from any team (which will unlock the final code). IMPORTANT: Once you unlock any special feature, you must save your game to a Memory Card and then reload it when you play again. ------------- 9.4 PRACTICE ------------- Any track, all by yourself. ======================== 10.0 TRACKS ======================== There are a total of ten tracks in Jet Moto, divided into four classes of difficulty. In the game, though, they aren't referred to in this way. Instead, at the track wheel each track is designated with a symbol designed to indicate its difficulty. Either way, here are the four classes and their symbol designations: Amateur - Green Circle Intermediate - Blue Square Professional - Black Diamond Master - Double Black Diamonds This section will discuss all of the tracks in the game, offering suggestions for improving your times on each track and thereby improving your chances of winning. Before doing that, however, I want to expand on the concept of unlocking the tracks. --------------------------- 10.0.1 UNLOCKING THE TRACKS --------------------------- At the start of the game, you have access to only three tracks, the Amateur tracks. These tracks are raced in the following order in a Full Season: Joyride Blackwater Falls Suicide Swamp By finishing in first place for the season on these three tracks, you gain access to the Intermediate tracks. An Intermediate-difficulty Full Season is raced as follows: Joyride * Cliffdiver * Hammerhead * Cypress Run Blackwater Falls Suicide Swamp * Ice Crusher In order to unlock the next set of tracks, you must win a season on Intermediate difficulty on these seven tracks. If you do so, you get two more tracks, and these nine tracks are raced in the following order: Joyride Cliffdiver Hammerhead Cypress Run Blackwater Falls Suicide Swamp * Willpower Ice Crusher * Snow Blind If you can win on these nine tracks on Professional difficulty, you will gain access to the final track, Nightmare, which is raced as the last track in a season. Some comments on the tracks in general: - There is a definite pattern in the way the season is run. The tracks are organized in a themed way, i.e., all three island tracks are raced first, followed by the three swamp tracks, and then the three alpine tracks. Further, the last race in each group of three is always a suicide course, a course that has you doubling back on yourself and racing head-on into the pack. - Though the difficulty level at which each track is opened is generally indicative of its difficulty, this doesn't hold true on every occasion. For example, Hammerhead is one of the easiest tracks in the game and, in my opinion, should have been substituted for Suicide Swamp as an Amateur track. On the other hand, Ice Crusher is one of the toughest in the game and could easily have been swapped for Snow Blind. The relative difficulty of the tracks, though, is discussed later. ------------------ 10.0.2 CHECKPOINTS ------------------ Each track in the game is divided up into a series of checkpoints. Some tracks have only a few; some have a dozen or more. There are three primary purposes for the checkpoints: - The checkpoints serve as a way of checking three things about your status in the race: your position, your time, and the amount of distance between you and the leader. It is only at the checkpoints that you are given your race position and your lapse time, so by keeping an eye on these items, you can get an idea of which parts of the track you excel at. - A more important use of the checkpoints comes into play in the last four tracks. The alpine tracks all take place on a mountainside (or glacierside), whereas Nightmare is suspended in mid-air. Each of these courses offers you the distinct possibility of actually falling off the course, especially Ice Crusher and Nightmare. Instead of receiving a DNF (did not finish) rating, though, the game simply places you back on the track at the last checkpoint you passed. - It is essential that you pass each checkpoint. It is not necessarily crucial that you actually go _through_ the checkpoint; being in the general vicinity of the marker is usually enough. It's even possible to pass a checkpoint while falling off a cliff. Interesting, but true. The reason not to skip any checkpoints is that a lap is not considered complete until each checkpoint has been passed. If you somehow manage to circumvent a checkpoint, perhaps by means of a shortcut, you will have to either retrace your path or go all the way around the track again before your lap will register. It should be noted that for the most part it's very difficult to actually miss checkpoints. The easiest places to do this are on Willpower, Nightmare, and suicide courses, though even then it takes some effort to accomplish. ------------------ 10.0.3 SUBSECTIONS ------------------ Contained in this portion is an explanation of the remainder of section 10.0. Each track is assigned its own section. Joyride, for example, is section 10.1. Within each section are several subsections. Their purposes are described below. subsection 1 Course Statistics - contains technical data on each of the tracks in the following categories: - best times [all best times are derived with: 3 laps, Grapples ON, Turbos ON, Stunt Race OFF, and NO codes used] - general length [very short, short, moderate, long, very long] - relative technical difficulty - relative AI difficulty [the above two categories are ranked: very easy, easy, moderate, hard, very hard] subsection 2 Description - the blurb as contained on the track loading screen subsection 3 Layout - a general walkthrough of the pitfalls and challenges of each track subsection 4 Racing Line - the optimum path to take for the best time, as well as suggestions and strategies for mastering the course subsection 5 Turbos - the best portions of each track on which to use your allocation of four turbo boosts subsection 6 Competition - what you'll have to face from the computer and which computer racers tend to do well on each particular track subsection 7 Simulated Season - the times for each of the twenty riders from my simulated season, enabling a clear picture of which bikes are best on which tracks, along with the standings for the racers (both points and rally scoring systems are included) and the standings for the teams ------------- 10.1 JOYRIDE ------------- ------------------------ 10.1.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1 3.11.9 Bomber 2 3.13.1 Shannara 3 3.13.4 Bomber 4 3.14.0 Rhino 5 3.14.6 Stone Length - moderate Technical Difficulty - very easy AI Difficulty - easy ------------------ 10.1.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ A wide-open run. If you get turned around, keep the red buoys on your right. The secret to winning is not necessarily the shortest path, but the rhythm of the waves. ------------- 10.1.3 LAYOUT ------------- After the start, you'll head under the resort through a tunnel before dropping off the back and heading for a stretch of sand dunes. Following that is a technical section of three grapple-assisted turns (Turns 1-3). After Turn 3, it's an open stretch across the water, over or past a ramp, along some sand bars, through checkpoint 5, then across two sections of broken freeway before returning to the resort. ------------------ 10.1.4 RACING LINE ------------------ After the start, move to the left in the opening tunnel and try to exit on the extreme righthand side, pointing to the right side of the dunes. Stay to the right of the sand dunes; jumping them may be fun, but keeping your bike on a flat surface is the best way to keep your speed up. TURNS 1-3 {Turn 1} Try to stay relatively close to the right side of the checkpoint, since the turn is to the right, and use your grapple. {Turn 2} Stay very close to the left, by the grapple, and use your grapple. A nice trick to use in order to keep your speed is to use the waves while turning. The waves will be going right to left as you race between Turns 1 and 2; if you can let a wave "push" you through the turn, you can save a couple of seconds, as opposed to trying to jump the wave while grappling, which will slow you down for sure. {Turn 3} Shoot for the center of the righthand portion and grapple around the turn. Pull your nose up when hopping waves. If you can get enough air, sometimes you can jump fewer waves when approaching land. Go to the left side of the ramp. The ramp is fun, but you lose speed when you land and you lose a lot of speed if you smash into one of the trees. Ride the sand bars on the left side of the course. The sand bars will help you keep your speed up more than hopping the waves will. Stay on the broken freeway, as opposed to the water on either side. It's not perfectly level, but it's better than the waves. Each of the two sections of freeway is broken into five sections. When going onto the third one (the highest one), stay to the left side in order to avoid the large lip on the right side. ------------- 10.1.5 TURBOS ------------- Best places to turbo: at the start (lap 1 only) * along sand dunes [*(alternate)] after Turn 1 after Turn 2 after Turn 3 through the final tunnel It's usually a good idea to wait for a split second before turboing at the start of the race, in order to keep you out of the pack. Even though it's in a relatively small section of the track, it's best to turbo after each of the three turns since those are the only places on the track that you really have to slow down. Further, turboing on any of the open stretches of water is really a waste, since the waves force you to spend so much of your time in the air. When turboing after Turn 2, the lefthander (which is the toughest turn, by far, on this track), watch for the "edges" of the waves on the right side. If you plow into one of these, you can be thrown from your bike quite easily. This is the most important place to turbo on the track. Using a turbo at the end of the lap is good because it lends a sense of routine to the laps, using your turbos at the same place every lap. It's also one of the few flat spots on the track. Another possibility is the edge of the sand dunes, before Turn 1, but I prefer to hold onto one turbo until the end of the lap, in case something goes awry. NOTE: make sure you don't wait until you get close to the finish line to use your turbo on the last lap, as this will waste it. ------------------ 10.1.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 3.21-3.24 Field: 15-25 seconds Best CPU racer: Technician For the most part, the blurb on the loading screen accurately describes this track: a wide open run. You won't have to worry about running into computer racers too often, due to the wide track. The danger areas are around the three turns, since getting nudged while turning is an excellent way to get thrown from your bike. Technician is your biggest threat here. Over the course of ten recorded seasons, the computer won on this track five times (I was using a variety of riders, mostly from out of the top seven, so as not to distort the ratings). Of those five wins, Technician had four; Wild Ride had the other. The field will cover about 15 to 25 seconds; in other words, from the computer racer that places highest to the computer racer that places furthest back is a time of 15-25 seconds, leaving plenty of wiggle room in case you make some mistakes. ----------------------- 10.1.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.1.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills ---- ------------ ------ ------ 1. Shannara 3.13.1 0 2. Bomber 3.13.4 0 3. Rhino 3.14.0 0 4. Stone 3.14.6 0 5. Blackjack 3.15.6 0 6. Arroyo 3.16.5 0 7. Shirow 3.16.6 0 8. Miko 3.17.0 0 9. Harris 3.17.3 0 Mace 3.17.3 0 11. Masala 3.19.5 1 12. Irons 3.20.1 1 13. Dakota 3.21.8 0 14. Chien 3.24.0 1 15. The Max 3.25.0 0 16. Wild Ride 3.25.1 0 17. Gunner 3.26.1 0 18. Quick Jessie 3.26.7 0 19. Technician 3.27.4 1 20. Tetsujin 3.30.7 0 Average number of spills: 0.2 Without a doubt, the bikes to use here are the heavier ones. Not a single light bike managed to break the top seven and both of the high-scoring light bikes (Miko and Harris) have very low lift (4 and 2, respectively). The question is: Why did the light bikes perform so poorly here? Well, the biggest obstacles on this track are the waves. Since the lighter bikes usually with higher lift ratings, when they hit these waves they pop into the air, just like they're supposed to. This is the clearest proof that it's important to keep your bike on the ground whenever possible. The incredibly good performance of the heavy bikes is the inverse of this principle. One and all, the heavy bikes have low lift ratings. Because of this, the waves barely caused a bobble for them; they basically plowed right through them. This had the effect of turning the whole water section into a modified straightaway, and there's no doubting that the heavy bikes naturally have a higher straightline speed. Couple that with the fact that there are a small number of turns and you have a winning combination. (Well, almost; Shannara won, after all.) Masala and Irons both placed out of the top ten, despite being on midrange bikes. If I hadn't spilled with each of them, though, we can be sure that they would have finished in or near the top five instead. Comparing these times to the best times that the computer can post, we can see that if you're riding a medium or heavy bike, you own this track; you should be able to dust off competitors by several seconds. If you've decided to race with the best bike in the game (Wild Ride/Gunner), you'll probably have to resign yourself to the fact that you won't win this one. It's still possible, of course; just bump the leaders out of the way when you get the chance. ------------------------ 10.1.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship ------------------ 1. Shannara 25 2. Bomber 20 3. Rhino 16 4. Stone 13 5. Blackjack 11 6. Arroyo 10 7. Shirow 9 8. Miko 8 9. Harris 7 Mace 7 11. Masala 5 12. Irons 4 13. Dakota 3 14. Chien 2 15. The Max 1 16. Wild Ride 0 Gunner 0 Quick Jessie 0 Technician 0 Tetsujin 0 In scoring the second-best race time ever, Shannara grabs the first victory of the season and twenty-five points. Bomber, only three-tenths of a second back takes second and Rhino, seven-tenths of a second out of first, takes the third spot on the podium. Unfortunate spills for Masala and Irons seriously handicap them both on this medium-favorite track; both of them surely wanted to walk away with double-digit points for this race. At the bottom, The Max narrowly edged Wild Ride for fifteenth place and the final point, beating her by only a tenth of a second. ----------------------- 10.1.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally ------------------ ----------------------- 1. Butterfinger 58 1. Butterfinger 16.20.7 2. Mountain Dew 40 2. Mountain Dew -16.4 3. Axiom 33 3. Axiom -21.6 4. K2 10 4. K2 -38.4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- 10.2 CLIFFDIVER ---------------- ------------------------ 10.2.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 2.30.2 Wild Ride 2. 2.31.1 Gunner 3. 2.32.3 Shirow 4. 2.32.4 Wild Ride 5. 2.32.9 Dakota Length - short Technical Difficulty - very hard AI Difficulty - very hard ------------------ 10.2.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ This is a winding, treacherous course, arguably one of the toughest on the circuit. Use the grapple posts provided to take on the nasty switchbacks and passing areas. ------------- 10.2.3 LAYOUT ------------- The start shoots you onto a dirt track, which you follow through a series of turns. You'll pass Gem Bay on your right shortly before entering one of the most difficult segments in the game: the switchbacks. The switchbacks consist of five tight, uphill turns in opposite directions. Following the switchbacks, you'll head downhill through Turns 11 and 12, through checkpoint 5, then start heading back uphill, ultimately reaching the Lookout. Turn 16, the cliff, will drop you back down to the water, where you must dodge some rocks before crossing the finish line. ------------------ 10.2.4 RACING LINE ------------------ Welcome to the most difficult track in Jet Moto. You'll need to rely heavily on your shoulder buttons throughout this track just to keep your bike upright. Follow the dirt road until you get to Gem Bay, making sure you don't run too close to the edge of the track--the signs have the ability to throw you from your bike. Cut through Gem Bay. This will be one of the few opportunities to go straight on this track, if only for a short while. SWITCHBACKS You'll find few segments of this game that will challenge your ability as much as this. Each of the five turns in the switchbacks goes the opposite direction of the one before it. Fortunately, each of the turns also comes equipped with a grapple post. Due to the proximity of the turns to each other, though, if you grapple too heavily around the first couple of turns, you'll run out of energy before you reach the end. To avoid this problem, it will probably be necessary to brake or at the very least lift off the acceleration. With the lighter bikes, it's possible to take the turns at reduced speed without using the grapples; with somebody like Chien or Miko, you may not even have to reduce speed much. With the heavier bikes, you're going to have problems. The grapples will help, but due to the stable nature of the bikes, if you start leaning to one side, it's very hard to correct before reaching the next turn. For this reason, it's important to go through these turns as slowly as you can. Even going slow is better than crashing into walls repeatedly. Keep in mind, too, that the heavy bikes all have high accelerations, making it very easy to lose control quickly. Turn 10, the last of the switchbacks, goes to the right. It's good to have grapple energy available here, because if you grapple around the turn, aim yourself correctly, and turbo you can totally vault over Turns 11 and 12. The computer racers will pass you on the switchbacks; you can pass some of them back with this little maneuver. When you reach the Lookout (there's a little sign on the side of the track telling you that you've done so), try to be positioned on the right side of the track. Then hard turn left off the cliff. This will drop you along the left side of the track when you reach the water, avoiding all of the rocks that populate the middle and right side of the track. ------------- 10.2.5 TURBOS ------------- at the start of the race (lap 1 only) * through Gem Bay after the switchbacks after the cliff again in the water before the finish The opening turbo again serves you in good stead here, even more so since you'll be going straight for awhile. It's good to start your second and third laps with a turbo, too, by using your fourth turbo from the previous lap. It's important to turbo after the switchbacks, because cutting out Turns 11 and 12 will not only save you time, but also catch you up to the other racers. It's crucial to turbo after dropping off the cliff since the long fall into the water will kill your momentum. The fourth turbo is somewhat problematic, since there are so few places to use it. Going through Gem Bay with a turbo is a good alternative, though it has the downside of rocketing you into the switchbacks. If you think you can take the first switchback on a turbo, this is a good place to use it. Otherwise, you might as well use it on the homestretch (especially on the last lap), since going through water always slows you down. ------------------ 10.2.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 2.33-2.34 Field: 20-25 seconds Best CPU racer: Dakota I'll say it again: Cliffdiver is the hardest track in the game. Some may disagree with me on that, and I'll admit that Nightmare gives it a run for its money. But the fact is that it's a lot harder to run this track cleanly, without messing up, and the competition is harsh. I honestly don't know why this is considered an Intermediate track; the only thing that you have going for you is the inability to fall of the edge of the track. As if the track itself wasn't hard enough, you'll keep getting rearended by computer racers. They'll bump you on the dirt road at the start; they'll mess up your line through the switchbacks; and they'll get in your way at just about every other point on the track. It's very difficult to pad any kind of lead on this track, especially because of Dakota. If ever there was a track that a computer racer has aced, it's this one. You can bank on the fact that Dakota will win this track if you don't. Over my ten recorded seasons, Dakota won this track every single time--ten out of ten. I wasn't able to beat her. You have to be at your best to win this track against Dakota. ----------------------- 10.2.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.2.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills ---- ------------ ------ ------ 1. Wild Ride 2.32.4 1 2. Dakota 2.32.9 0 3. Irons 2.35.5 1 4. Masala 2.36.9 0 5. Chien 2.37.2 2 6. Tetsujin 2.37.8 1 7. Quick Jessie 2.38.5 2 8. Gunner 2.39.3 4 9. Rhino 2.40.5 2 10. Technician 2.40.6 2 11. Harris 2.41.6 2 12. Miko 2.42.4 3 13. Arroyo 2.45.9 0 14. Shannara 2.47.1 2 15. Stone 2.47.4 0 16. Shirow 2.47.8 3 17. Blackjack 2.49.9 1 18. Mace 2.50.7 1 19. The Max 2.52.6 5 20. Bomber 2.56.1 1 Average number of spills: 1.65 The light bikes get their revenge. After getting pasted on Joyride, the order is nearly inverted here, with the heavy bikes all finishing on the bottom. Only a poor performance by The Max keeps the light bikes casts a shadow on the overall performance of the light bikes. It's worth noting, too, that Dakota and Chien finished second and fifth--both of them have the supertight handling (a ten rating) and good lift (7), which is obviously a good combination on this track. Interestingly, Wild Ride managed the best time despite a spill and Gunner finished only seven seconds back after falling off his bike four times. You have to wonder how good their times could have been if they'd run perfect races. Obviously, it's almost certain death to bring a heavy bike into this track. The heavy bikes took up four of the bottom six positions and none of them got any closer than Stone, who finished fifteen seconds back of first despite no spills. The problem is clearly evident. The switchbacks are the primary killers of the heavy bike, but all of the dirt road around the course winds back and forth, especially on the run up to the Lookout. The lesson? If you choose a heavy bike, prepare to run near the bottom. As noted above, you'll really have to be on your toes to take this race away from Dakota. She is very consistent with her times on this track. In the last section, I gave for her typical finish a time of 2.33 or 2.34. The fact is, though, that I've seen her push 2.30; if she does that, you don't have much hope. In this simulated season, I only bested her average time with my top two racers--and one of them was Dakota. To win this track, she would be your best pick, because she not only performs well, but you also eliminate your stiffest competition. ------------------------ 10.2.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Shannara 27 3 1 Rhino 5.54.5 16 2 Wild Ride 25 13 2 Dakota 5.54.7 3 3 Rhino 23 12 3 Irons 5.55.6 13 Dakota 23 11 4 Masala 5.56.4 2 5 Bomber 20 16 5 Wild Ride 5.57.5 12 Irons 20 9 6 Harris 5.58.9 11 7 Masala 18 8 7 Miko 5.59.4 4 8 Stone 14 1 8 Shannara 6.00.2 6 9 Arroyo 13 14 9 Chien 6.01.2 14 Chien 13 4 10 Stone 6.02.0 8 11 Miko 12 6 11 Arroyo 6.02.4 9 Harris 12 7 12 Shirow 6.04.4 5 13 Blackjack 11 18 13 Quick Jessie 6.05.2 16 14 Tetsujin 10 17 14 Gunner 6.05.4 7 15 Shirow 9 5 15 Blackjack 6.05.5 16 Quick Jessie 9 9 16 Mace 6.08.0 16 17 Gunner 8 19 Technician 6.08.0 9 18 Mace 7 20 18 Tetsujin 6.08.5 16 19 Technician 6 2 19 Bomber 6.09.5 15 20 The Max 1 15 20 The Max 6.17.6 The second race of the season accomplished its purpose: evening out the playing field. As Joyride plays to the strengths of the heavy bike, so Cliffdiver plays to the strengths of the light bike, with corresponding results in the standings. The biggest winner in this race was actually the winner--Wild Ride, who picked up fourteen places in the championship (points) standings and eleven in the rally. Most others moved around a little bit, balancing out their performance in the previous race, with a couple of notable exceptions. Bomber, who placed second in the first race of the season but twentieth here, takes a nosedive in the rally. She actually would be further back but for two consecutive poor showings from the old master of the circuit, The Max, who now ranks at the bottom in both standings. Interestingly enough, the spread from first to nineteenth in the rally(excluding The Max) is fifteen seconds, which is actually down a couple of seconds from the standings after one race. This is further testament to the power of Cliffdiver as the Great Equalizer. Don't worry, kids. It only gets easier after this. ----------------------- 10.2.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ----------------------- 2 1 Mountain Dew 107 2 1 Mountain Dew 29.47.4 1 2 Butterfinger 81 1 2 Butterfinger -23.4 3 3 Axiom 50 3 3 Axiom -40.4 4 4 K2 43 4 4 K2 -41.7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- 10.3 HAMMERHEAD ---------------- ------------------------ 10.3.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 1.27.8 Arroyo 2. 1.28.1 Shannara 3. 1.28.3 Wild Ride 4. 1.29.0 Mace 5. 1.29.2 Chien Length - very short Technical Difficulty - very easy AI Difficulty - very easy ------------------ 10.3.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ This suicide course can be confusing due to the multiple routes across the bridges and water. Just be careful at the turns--that's where Jet Moto racers are likely to collide! ------------- 10.3.3 LAYOUT ------------- You start on top of a broken bridge and rocket toward the edge of it. You have the option of going down a ramp (on the left side) or going off the edge (to the right). You'll go around another bridge segment, then head into Turn 2--the first suicide turn of the circuit. At this point, you can head up the section of bridge you just dodged and take the bridge, or stay on the water. If you stay on the water, you can take either the left side of the bridge or the right, passing another onramp to the bridge (the one you used or passed at the start). After recrossing the start, the bridge breaks off again, forcing you to take to the water around Turn 4--the second suicide turn. Again, you have the option of hopping onto a broken section of bridge or keeping to the water, with another onramp to the bridge available closer to the finish line. Shortly after that, you'll cross the finish. ------------------ 10.3.4 RACING LINE ------------------ As a fitting rejoinder to Cliffdiver, this is the easiest track in the game. After the start, duck down the first ramp, to the left (watch your head), and stay to the left side of the track to the suicide turn. Grapple the suicide turn (always). Stay on the left of the first broken bridge segment, then switch to the right side as you go toward the main part of the bridge (watch your head). Stay on the water. Do not use the bridge. Ever. Stay along the right side of the course and take the suicide turn from the right. Recross the track to the left. It's best to cross the section of highway if you've taken the suicide turn tight enough. Otherwise, go around the back of the first broken section. Stay on the water. Stay on the left side of the bridge as you cross the finish line. ------------- 10.3.5 TURBOS ------------- at the start (lap 1 only) after first suicide turn (Turn 2) as you recross start/finish line (laps 2 and 3) after second suicide turn (Turn 4) heading for finish line Since you really only have two turns in this track where you'll lose any speed (the suicide turns), it's common sense to burn two of your turbos there. I've made some suggestions for where to use the other two, but really anywhere on the water where you're going straight for awhile is good. It's best to use them on the water, though, because like in Joyride there are waves to contend with, and they get very choppy around the second suicide turn, so it's good to have a head of steam as you head that way. ------------------ 10.3.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 1.37-1.40 Field: 15-20 seconds Best CPU racer: Tetsujin Nearly the mirror image of the preceding track, the first of the three suicide track carries the honor of being the easiest track in the game to win. Primarily this is because the programmers decided to send the pack across the bridge after the suicide turns instead of the quick way: across the water. If you stay on the water, the only thing you need worry about after about half a lap is running head-on into somebody. I can only give a hazy idea of which racer is the best for the computer due to the fact that I win on this track so often. Over my ten recorded seasons, I only lost on this track twice, the fewest of any track. Once I lost to The Max; the other time I lost to Tetsujin. However, Tetsujin will more consistently rank near the top, though Technician is always lurking in the background to take a high position. ----------------------- 10.3.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.3.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills ---- ------------ ------ ------ 1. Arroyo 1.27.8 0 2. Shannara 1.28.1 0 3. Mace 1.29.0 0 4. Chien 1.29.2 0 5. Miko 1.29.4 0 6. Harris 1.29.5 0 7. Bomber 1.30.6 0 8. The Max 1.30.7 0 9. Gunner 1.31.5 0 Technician 1.31.5 0 11. Wild Ride 1.31.7 1 12. Dakota 1.32.4 0 13. Blackjack 1.32.7 0 14. Tetsujin 1.33.0 0 15. Masala 1.34.2 1 16. Irons 1.34.4 0 17. Stone 1.34.9 0 18. Shirow 1.36.2 1 19. Quick Jessie 1.37.3 0 20. Rhino 1.38.0 2 Average number of spills: 0.25 There's a bit of a mixed bag here, but we can still glean some important details about which bikes are best on this track. A certain advantage has to go to the heavier bikes, since three of them took the podium. However, that clearly doesn't hold true across the board since most of the rest of them filled in the back half of the field. The light bikes fill in the middle of the field (except for Quick Jessie, who finished in nineteenth--seven spots back of the next lowest light bike). A clear advantage has to go to the light bikes with the 10 in handling, though: three of the four filled in the spots behind the podium, with a bad race from Dakota being the only exception. Interestingly, all it takes is a slight mistake here or missing the apex of a turn there to slide you back several spots. Only about ten seconds covers the entire field, which you'd expect for the shortest and easiest race in the game. If you take out the bottom three finishers, though, you're left with a spread of only 7.1 seconds. Just over seven seconds marks the difference between winning and scoring 25 points and finishing seventeenth and scoring none. A large anomaly is also present in this race, which might lend a certain skew to the overall results. The bikes that Arroyo and Shirow ride have the same properties, yet Arroyo finished in first, 8.2 seconds over Shirow, who placed eighteenth. The time discrepancy may not be a big factor, but the points discrepancy certainly is. Something to keep in mind. Comparing my times here to the typical CPU times gives further evidence of the ease of competition on this track. On the average, any of the twenty riders in my simulated season would capture the trophy against a field of computer racers. ------------------------ 10.3.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Shannara [1] 47 2 1 Dakota 7.27.1 9 2 Arroyo [1] 38 8 2 Shannara [1] 7.28.3 2 3 Wild Ride[1] 30 6 3 Harris 7.28.4 5 4 Bomber 29 7 4 Miko 7.28.8 3 5 Dakota 27 5 5 Wild Ride[1] 7.29.2 9 6 Chien 26 3 6 Irons 7.30.0 3 7 Rhino 23 11 7 Arroyo [1] 7.30.2 11 Miko 23 9 8 Chien 7.30.4 18 Mace 23 4 9 Masala 7.30.6 11 10 Harris 22 1 10 Rhino 7.32.5 5 11 Irons 20 10 11 Stone 7.36.9 7 12 Masala 19 14 Gunner 7.36.9 17 13 Gunner 15 16 13 Mace 7.37.0 8 14 Stone 14 15 14 Blackjack 7.38.2 13 Blackjack 14 16 15 Technician 7.39.5 19 16 Technician 13 19 16 Bomber 7.40.1 14 17 Tetsujin 12 12 17 Shirow 7.40.6 15 18 Shirow 9 18 18 Tetsujin 7.41.5 15 Quick Jessie 9 13 19 Quick Jessie 7.42.5 20 The Max 9 20 20 The Max 7.48.3 As promised, it has gotten easier. Hammerhead always produces a tight race, and yet it still managed to have profound effects on the rider standings. In the points, Shannara maintains and lengthens her lead, while Arroyo's win vaults him up the standings to within nine points of the leader, which is the same distance that separates fourth from eleventh. At the back is a three-way tie for last (eighteenth), with The Max finally making a relatively strong showing, picking up eight points this race. Over in the rally--the top finishers from the last race each performed poorly here, leaving the field wide open. Despite a twelfth place finish in the race, Dakota nabs first place and holds it by 1.2 seconds--the widest margin yet this season. The top ten remains tight, but the leader after the last race--Rhino-- has plummeted nine spots with a poor finish on Hammerhead. The field has opened somewhat, from 17.1 seconds last race to 21.2 seconds now. (Just think how tight it would be if The Max could get his act in gear!) We leave behind the island leg of the season now with the races in both championships wide open. On to the swamp! ----------------------- 10.3.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ----------------------- 1 1 Mountain Dew 148 1 1 Mountain Dew 37.23.4 2 2 Butterfinger 133 2 2 Butterfinger -27.0 4 3 K2 81 4 3 K2 -43.1 3 4 Axiom 60 3 4 Axiom -52.7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- 10.4 CYPRESS RUN ----------------- ------------------------ 10.4.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 3.05.7 Masala 2. 3.07.6 Wild Ride 3. 3.09.1 Masala 4. 3.09.3 Irons 5. 3.10.0 Irons Length - moderate Technical Difficulty - hard AI Difficulty - moderate ------------------ 10.4.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ Cypress Run, a congested nightmare, is full of innumerable obstacles within backwater swamps. If the thick reeds in the serpentine cut can't slow you down, the trees and stumps will. ------------- 10.4.3 LAYOUT ------------- Following the start, you'll be on a dirt road with a couple of lazy turns. There will then be two ramps and the first checkpoint before you hit the open water. Scattered throughout most of the rest of the track is a profusion of trees and stumps, seemingly at random. You'll pass by or through a covered bridge and denser trees before you reach a very long Turn 3. Turn 3 has three choices of paths to take through the reeds. On the other side is another tree and stump section, followed by checkpoint 2, three earthen mounds, and then a relatively clear run to the Serpentine Cut, which is probably the second-toughest segment of the game. On the other side of the Cut is a particularly dense section of trees and stumps, followed by a short dirt road back to the finish. ------------------ 10.4.4 RACING LINE ------------------ Cypress Run is widely considered to be the most difficult track in the game. It can be tricky, though in my experience Cliffdiver and Ice Crusher (and maybe Nightmare) are more so. Both here and in the swamp's suicide track, Suicide Swamp, are a proliferation of trees and stumps. Smack into one of these with a light bike and you are all but guaranteed to be unseated; heavy bikes are nearly immune to these obstacles. The first two turns present little difficulty. Try to get near the front of the pack as you head for the water. Jump the left ramp. The right one will probably smash you into the checkpoint, while dodging the ramps will usually end up throwing you if you judge it slightly wrong. Veer left around a reversed ramp sitting in the middle of the track, then veer back to the center to go through the covered bridge, which has a little section of road on the far end of it. If you have trouble with this, then stay on the water to the right of the bridge. After the bridge, veer generally to the right. There's something of a path through the trees there, with the added benefit of being on the inside portion of the track. TURN 3 This is an extremely long righthander with three options. -The left route is the easiest, certainly. It not only is devoid of obstacles, but it's also the widest path. The downside is that it's definitely longer than the other two and leaves you rejoining the track at an inopportune position--away from the next turn. -The center route is also easy since it has no obstacles in it, though the path is slightly narrower than the leftmost route. It is shorter, however, though it too leaves you in a less than ideal track position. -The right route is the best to take, though it's also the hardest. It's the only one of the three that isn't a gentle righthand curve; it consists of a right, a left, then another right, all of which are fairly tight. The advantages are that it's the shortest route and that it leaves you pointed almost directly at the next checkpoint along the best route through the next batch of stumps. I advise taking the right path. There are two entrances to the Serpentine Cut. One is straight ahead of the three earthen mounds; the other comes in from the right side. The first option is quicker and more direct; the second option is easier. As always, quicker is better, so go straight. SERPENTINE CUT This section is reminiscent of the switchbacks from Cliffdiver, though not quite as hard. There are several reasons for this: -the water offers a little more resistance, making it harder to lose control -the track is flat, rather than having a steep, uphill grade -there are fewer turns (three instead of five) -there is more space to set up the next turn -there is more space to make the turns This doesn't mean that the Cut is easy, however. It does lend itself well to a little bit of skill, though. By dropping your speed slightly and swinging wide around the turn, it's not impossible to take these without the aid of the grapples, though if you choose to grapple, you can grapple every turn confidently. The last section of water is packed with trees, stumps, and hedges. The best routes seems to be to follow the left side of the track as well as possible until you cross the final checkpoint. ------------- 10.4.5 TURBOS ------------- start after Turn 3 over mounds * after Turn 10 on dirt road after Turn 11 Considering the amount of trees and stumps you have to avoid, there really aren't a lot of good places to turbo on this track. Certainly it's important to turbo at the beginning of the race and it's probably a good idea to use one or two per lap on the dirt track around the start/finish line since that's the only stretch of ground on this course. Turn 3 is the long righthander with three routes. Especially if you've chosen the shorter rightmost route you'll want to burn a turbo. This is because you'll have shed some speed with the tight turns through the reeds. The earthen mounds after checkpoint 2 are another good place to use one or two turbos since they suck so much of your forward momentum away when you jump. Furthermore, the section of track directly following the mounds is relatively clear of obstacles, meaning you can vault the mounds with impunity. Turn 10 is the last bit of the Serpentine Cut. The only reason I offer this as a possibility is because of the fact that you will have lost some speed going through the tight turns. The downside to using a turbo here is that this is the densest portion of the track, as far as obstacles go, and you'll be in a world of hurt unless you've got a good path through the foliage memorized. ------------------ 10.4.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 3.19-3.21 Field: 25-40 seconds Best CPU racer: Tetsujin/The Max Generally speaking, the other racers aren't in your way too much here. Every once in a while somebody will bump into you and slow you down (or on rare occasions knock you from your bike), but usually there isn't a "pack" in the typical sense. The reason for this lies in the fact that for about half of the length of the track, it's so wide as to lessen contact with other racers. An important note: Despite the fact that my top 5 race times (which range from 3.05-3.10) are so much higher than the average computer finisher, it's not necessarily easy to win this race. This point will be explored a little more in the next section, when we take a look at my simulated season times, but those top 5 times are a result of a lot of practice in a short period of time; I don't expect to be able to match those ever again. Six times through ten recorded seasons the computer won on this track, spreading the wealth among four different riders: The Max (twice), Tetsujin (twice), Quick Jessie, and Chien. Of those four, Chien seems to be the only real anomaly. Replace his name with Technician and you have the typical top four finishers on this track. ----------------------- 10.4.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.4.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills ---- ------------ ------ ------ 1. Masala 3.05.7 0 2. Irons 3.10.0 0 3. Gunner 3.10.8 1 4. Rhino 3.14.1 3 5. Miko 3.17.0 0 6. Wild Ride 3.17.4 2 7. Shannara 3.18.7 4 8. The Max 3.20.4 1 9. Arroyo 3.24.6 3 10. Mace 3.25.4 1 11. Blackjack 3.25.5 1 12. Chien 3.25.9 2 13. Bomber 3.26.2 0 14. Shirow 3.27.9 5 15. Technician 3.28.4 2 16. Stone 3.29.4 0 17. Tetsujin 3.31.2 2 18. Dakota 3.31.6 3 19. Harris 3.32.1 4 20. Quick Jessie 3.33.6 3 Average number of spills: 1.95 This track will rough you up. Only a quarter of the racers managed to make it through without getting tossed from their bikes at least once; only one of those was on a light bike (Miko--who was appropriately rewarded with fifth place). The most a heavy rider was thrown was once (Mace and Blackjack), whereas a medium rider was not necessarily shielded (Shirow spilled five times). Despite that, the track does seem to slightly favor the medium bikes. Running perfect races, Masala and Irons nabbed the top two spots, with Masala on an incredible tear. One has to assume that Rhino and Shannara would have been right there too, had it not been for their spills (three and four, respectively). Gunner and Wild Ride also excel here, though for the life of me I can't figure out why. Their handling is lower than other light bikes, their lift is higher, and their acceleration is average; so why were they within sight of the win? Either one of them could have overhauled Irons with a perfect race, though neither could likely have caught Masala, who was raced perfectly. Outside of those observations, it appears to be a mixed bag as to which bike is better. More often than not, it simply came down to whether or not the rider spilled (repeatedly). A large spread from first to last again bears out the difficulty of this track in keeping a consistent time. For once, the racers' times are all bunched toward the middle and back, with large gaps between racers near the front of the grid. A simple comparison with the typical time of the computer racer in first place will show how difficult it is to beat this track, especially if you've saddled yourself with the wrong bike. Even with one of the top bikes, though, you'll have a hard time taking first; like I said before, these times came as a result of intensive practice in a short period of time. ------------------------ 10.4.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Shannara [1] 56 4 1 Masala [1] 10.36.3 2 2 Arroyo [1] 45 6 2 Irons - 3.7 12 3 Masala [1] 44 4 3 Miko - 9.5 3 4 Wild Ride[1] 40 5 4 Wild Ride[1] -10.3 11 Irons 40 10 Rhino -10.3 7 6 Rhino 36 2 6 Shannara [1] -10.7 7 7 Miko 34 11 7 Gunner -11.4 4 8 Bomber 32 7 8 Arroyo [1] -18.5 13 9 Gunner 31 8 9 Chien -20.0 6 10 Chien 30 1 10 Dakota -22.4 7 11 Mace 29 3 11 Harris -24.2 5 12 Dakota 27 13 12 Mace -26.1 10 13 Harris 22 14 13 Blackjack -27.4 14 14 Blackjack 19 11 14 Stone -30.0 18 15 The Max 17 16 Bomber -30.0 14 16 Stone 14 15 16 Technician -31.6 16 Technician 14 17 17 Shirow -32.2 17 18 Tetsujin 12 20 18 The Max -32.4 18 19 Shirow 11 18 19 Tetsujin -36.4 18 20 Quick Jessie 9 19 20 Quick Jessie -39.8 In the points, Shannara maintains her hold on the top spot for the fourth consecutive race, actually extending her lead from nine points to eleven. The power of a victory is clearly seen here with the top four spots all held by race winners. In the rally, the curse of number one continues to hold on. After Cliffdiver, Shannara dropped from first to eighth (currently sixth); after Hammerhead, Rhino plummeted from first to tenth (but has rebounded to a tie for fourth); and now after Cypress Run, Dakota likewise plummets from first to tenth. Will the same befall our fourth rally leader, Masala? He has opened up the largest lead yet this season: 3.7 seconds over Irons, who rides an identical bike. The field has opened considerably due to the difficult nature of this track, nearly doubling the distance from first place to last, from just over 21 seconds to just under 40. And we'll be watching the top ten closely, as only two seconds spread from third to seventh. ----------------------- 10.4.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------ 1 1 Mountain Dew 198 1 1 Mountain Dew 53.58.1 2 2 Butterfinger 187 2 2 Butterfinger -28.3 [- 1.3] 3 3 K2 109 3 3 K2 -1.11.2 [-29.1] 4 4 Axiom 68 4 4 Axiom -1.40.4 [-43.7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 10.5 BLACKWATER FALLS ---------------------- ------------------------ 10.5.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 2.34.2 Gunner 2. 2.34.5 Masala 3. 2.35.3 Masala 4. 2.36.7 Irons 5. 2.37.3 Rhino Length - short Technical Difficulty - easy AI Difficulty - hard ------------------ 10.5.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ Most of this winding track is inside a quick-moving river. Don't get too comfortable though--it's not called Blackwater Falls for nothing! ------------- 10.5.3 LAYOUT ------------- Following the start you'll be on a dirt track for awhile, through three sharp turns, before hitting the water. Soon after reaching the water, you'll pass an island, then checkpoint 1. The track narrows through the Marsh Lands, swings widely around a Plantation House, then narrows again to checkpoint 3, the Drop Off. Almost immediately after that, you'll head over the Falls and around turn 8. After the river plunges over the Falls, it moves a lot slower. After a very long left (Turn 10), you'll head up a dam and cross checkpoint 4. A gentle right for Turn 11 takes you through some logs and trees before returning you back to the dirt road for the final two turns and the finish line. ------------------ 10.5.4 RACING LINE ------------------ The start will dump you right into a series of three tight turns. Ease off the acceleration a little bit to make things easier. When you reach the island before checkpoint 1, go around the left side. At the Plantation House, you can save several seconds by going through it; just drive into the front door of the house. Be sure to grapple as you go over the Falls to orient yourself correctly upon landing. Don't miss the grapple at the end of Turn 10 (just before the dam). Due to the relative stillness of the water, it's easy to go wide around this bend and lose precious time. DAM Take the rightmost opening in the dam wall. Notice that there is water streaming down from each of the openings in the wall. If you attempt to drive straight up that water, you'll be slowed down considerably, which isn't good considering that you're already going uphill. Come at your chosen opening from an angle. Use a turbo to go up the dam. This sounds like an insane idea, since checkpoint 4 hangs very low on the other side of the dam. And you will crash into the checkpoint and be unseated from your bike. But due to a glitch (or something), you will be placed back on your bike on the other side of the dam. This method is actually faster than if you slowed down and avoided collision with the checkpoint. ------------- 10.5.5 TURBOS ------------- * start [1] after falls * between falls and dam [2] before dam after dam * dirt road [3] Even though you'll have to shed some speed to take Turns 1-3 effectively, you'll still want the added boost of the initial turbo to keep with the pack, as they'll likely pass you on the dirt road, anyway. Blackwater Falls saps a lot of your momentum when you go over it, so it just makes sense to turbo after you hit bottom. And despite what common sense may dictate, be sure to turbo up the dam and smash into the checkpoint sign; it will save you time. Of course, after you've fallen you'll want a turbo in reserve to recover from your spill. As far as the fourth turbo goes, it's kind of a tossup as to whether you should use it at the dirt road (near the end) or on the long, slow stretch after the Falls (leaving no turbo for the end). This is probably the best way to use your turbos: Laps 1-3 after falls before dam after dam Lap 1 start Lap 2 between falls and dam Lap 3 dirt road before finish ------------------ 10.5.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 2.40-2.42 Field: 12-18 seconds Best CPU racer: Technician The competition is tough on this track. You'll probably get bumped around a little bit, especially on the first half of the first lap. Be careful of the other riders in the areas just before the Falls and around the dam. Just try to hang with the front of the pack and hope to make a go of it on the last lap. No lead is safe on this track. There is very much a pack mentality in effect on this track. You'll notice the lower-than-average spread for the field. That's right. The spread from first to last can be as low as twelve seconds; the top seven can span as few as three. Even one mistake can drastically affect the amount of points you gain on this track. Here's another course that Technician rules. Over the ten recorded seasons, the computer won eight. Technician won five of those. The other three were split between Wild Ride (2) and Bomber(!). The top four racers on this track are Technician, Wild Ride, Tetsujin, and Dakota. Watch out for Quick Jessie, Miko, and Rhino while you're at it. ----------------------- 10.5.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.5.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills ---- ------------ ------ ------ 1. Masala 2.35.3 3 2. Irons 2.36.7 2 3. Rhino 2.37.3 2 4. Wild Ride 2.37.4 1 5. Harris 2.39.0 1 6. Shannara 2.40.1 3 7. Shirow 2.40.3 2 8. Blackjack 2.41.3 2 9. Stone 2.41.7 2 10. Arroyo 2.42.0 0 11. Gunner 2.42.2 2 12. Dakota 2.43.3 0 13. Miko 2.43.5 2 14. Quick Jessie 2.43.7 2 15. Bomber 2.44.5 2 16. The Max 2.45.6 1 17. Chien 2.46.8 1 18. Mace 2.46.9 3 19. Tetsujin 2.50.5 2 20. Technician 2.57.9 4 Average number of spills: 1.85 not counting dam: 0.95 There are some interesting contradictions on this track. Most evident is the fact that all but one of the top ten spilled at least once. Even if you take into consideration the intentional spill at the top of the dam, still seven out of the top ten took at least one tumble. You'll notice, though, that the podium finishers are all riding midweight bikes. Apparently, the excess speed caused them to spill more often, yet also managed to give them enough of a speed boost to keep a lead over their pursuers. This is the domain of the heavier bike, though. Only two of the top ten (Wild Ride and Harris) are riding light bikes. The reason for this heavy-leaning tendency has to do with the wide open spaces over still water. A prime example would be the portion of the track between the falls and the dam. The water there is very still and the track is very wide. One turbo is enough to propel the heavier bikes through and due to their mass, they don't slide around as much. The lighter bikes, though, quickly lose momentum whenever they need to make a course adjustment, making them lose valuable time. This track also manages to produce results that are incredibly tight, similar to Hammerhead's. At least it does if you ignore the bottom two finishers. Technician, The Max's bike double, managed to balance the scales somewhat here with his abysmal performance, spilling from his bike four times and finishing over seven seconds behind the racer in nineteenth. The biggest discrepancy between two racers is that between Blackjack (8) and Mace (18), who ride identical bikes. However, the time difference is only five seconds and Mace had one more spill; it's not hard to imagine the detrimental effect of a heavy bike spilling near the end of a lap with no more turbos with which to recover. The average number of spills (1.85) is very misleading, since so many of the spills were intentional. Subtracting these intentional mishaps leaves a figure of under 1, about average for a Jet Moto course; you can usually expect to get tossed from your bike about once a race. ------------------------ 10.5.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 3 1 Masala [2] 69 1 1 Masala [2] 13.11.6 1 2 Shannara [1] 66 2 2 Irons - 5.1 4 3 Irons 60 4 3 Rhino -12.3 4 4 Wild Ride[1] 53 4 4 Wild Ride[1] -12.4 6 5 Rhino 52 6 5 Shannara [1] -15.5 2 6 Arroyo [1] 51 3 6 Miko -17.7 7 7 Miko 37 7 7 Gunner -18.3 9 8 Gunner 36 8 8 Arroyo [1] -25.2 8 9 Bomber 33 11 9 Harris -27.9 13 Harris 33 10 10 Dakota -30.4 12 11 Dakota 31 9 11 Chien -31.5 10 12 Chien 30 13 12 Blackjack -33.4 11 13 Mace 29 14 13 Stone -36.4 14 14 Blackjack 27 17 14 Shirow -37.2 16 15 Stone 21 12 15 Mace -37.7 19 16 Shirow 20 14 16 Bomber -39.2 15 17 The Max 17 18 17 The Max -42.7 16 18 Technician 14 20 18 Quick Jessie -48.2 18 19 Tetsujin 12 19 19 Tetsujin -51.6 20 20 Quick Jessie 11 16 20 Technician -54.2 After leading for four consecutive races, Shannara takes a backward step as a powerful rival, Masala, steps up two spots to claim the mantle of leadership. Two consecutive victories for Masala give him a three-point lead over his nearest rival. Meanwhile, we can see a definite line dividing the top six from everybody else-- fourteen points separate Arroyo from Miko. And yet inside that top six are two riders that have yet to register a win. Irons has managed third place on the strength of two second-place finishes, whereas Rhino has moved up a notch to fifth due to two podium finishes and a fourth. If you're not going to win a race, stringing together top-5 finishes isn't a bad way to go about things. Over in the rally, things have calmed down considerably. Of course, this is mostly due to the small spread in the race itself, but Masala's back-to-back victories haven't hurt his cause. They have hurt Technician's, though, as he regresses four places and finds himself fifty-four seconds out of the lead. Masala also holds the largest rally lead so far this season. Irons, who has placed second, trails him by just over five seconds. This is by no means insurmountable, but it may be difficult to put down. After all, he has just avoided the curse of the rally leader by maintaining his hold on the lead for the second consecutive race. After his win on Hammerhead two races ago, Arroyo was within three seconds of the lead, which at the time was held by Dakota. He can take comfort in the fact that he now holds something like a five-second lead over her, but he continues to regress away from first place, now sitting on the other side of a clearly- designated line from the top seven, twenty-five seconds back. The season is now half over and we have some incredible races yet to come. Everything can change with one mistake and mistakes come fast and furious in the last half of the season. ----------------------- 10.5.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------ 1 1 Mountain Dew 248 1 1 Mountain Dew 67.19.1 2 2 Butterfinger 235 2 2 Butterfinger -33.3 [- 5.0] 3 3 K2 127 3 3 K2 -1.37.5 [-26.3] 4 4 Axiom 92 4 4 Axiom -2.11.1 [-30.7] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- 10.6 SUICIDE SWAMP ------------------- ------------------------ 10.6.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 1.38.3 Gunner 2. 1.41.4 Dakota 3. 1.42.3 Stone 4. 1.42.7 Wild Ride 5. 1.42.9 Wild Ride Length - very short Technical Difficulty - moderate AI Difficulty - easy ------------------ 10.6.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ A Jet Moto "suicide" course, this track seems fairly easy. Then you reach the end of the course, where the U-turns send you racing head-on into the pack! ------------- 10.6.3 LAYOUT ------------- Following the start, you immediately head into the swamp, a network of trees and stumps. Turn 1 is a gentle left-hander; Turn 2 is a surprisingly sharp right. You'll go through a Covered Bridge then cover an obstacle-free section before the first suicide turn. Retrace your path through the Covered Bridge, back through the swamp, and back across the start/finish line. The back half of the course is a straightaway Mud Trail with dirt ramps along the sides. A ramp on the right side of the track leads you into the bowl-like second suicide turn. Go back along the final straight and cross the finish line. ------------------ 10.6.4 RACING LINE ------------------ The second suicide course in the game is presented as an Amateur track, though with all of the obstacles, it's actually more difficult than Hammerhead. It can be difficult to pick a path through the swamp. Remember that Turn 1 goes slightly left, then Turn 2 is a sharp right. Stay near the right side of the track. Do not hit the sides of the covered bridge. This will almost certainly knock you from your bike. It seems easier to approach Turn 3 (the first suicide turn) from the left side. The path of least resistance seems a bit easier to pick out from this direction. Go straight for a short distance from the middle of the bridge and remember that the track now turns sharply to the left. Stay in the center of the mud trail. Hit the ramp on the right side of the track at the end of the straightaway, then grapple around the turn and try to land your maneuver. You may even get some applause. Stay in the center of the mud trail to the finish, unless you feel that you might hit oncoming traffic (a real danger through this part of the track). In that case, take to the ramps and jump everybody. ------------- 10.6.5 TURBOS ------------- start covered bridge after suicide turn just before mud trail * once more on mud trail after second suicide turn This might be a track where turboing at the start can be tricky, especially if you have a bike that doesn't want to avoid the trees. Plus, you've got that tight Turn 2 to contend with and too much excess speed can end up making you miss the bridge. You'll want to pick up some speed after the first suicide turn and the track is forgiving enough on the way back to allow the use of a turbo here. The mud trail is perfect for turbos. The slight bumps are evened out by high speeds and if you're heading straight on into the pack, turboing the jumps will get you far above everybody's heads. ------------------ 10.6.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 1.50-1.52 Field: 25-35 seconds Best CPU racer: Wild Ride The times that the computer puts up for this track are almost laughable. But it can be tricky to avoid all of the obstacles. It can also be tricky to avoid head-on collisions with other racers, especially considering how small and narrow the track is. At least on Hammerhead you could get out of everybody else's way; here is a track that's only slightly longer but is much more confined. This is the reason that the field is spread apart in time so much. It can be easy for the computer to get hung up on trees and other racers. Don't let the same happen to you. That difficulty in avoiding others is the primary reason that I consider this track to be the most difficult of the three suicide courses. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't finish on the podium, however. Be especially careful when you reach the end of the race. Many frustrating times I've been leading this race, if only by a few seconds, when I approach the end. Due to the unnaturally long spread from first to last, though, there are racers streaming onto the back half of the track as the leader is finishing. Because of this, it's very easy to run head-on into one of these back markers; in fact, I think they're gunning for you. Getting knocked from your bike two seconds from the end is a quick way to go from placing first to placing fifth. So be careful. Half the time over ten recorded seasons the computer won on this track. Technician took three of those victories and Wild Ride took two. I list Wild Ride as the best on this track because she's more likely to finish first or second, while Technician will sometimes finish off the podium (especially if you go gunning for him). The computer is relatively consistent on this track, though, and here's a rundown of a typical first-column finishing order: Wild Ride, Technician, Miko, Quick Jessie, Tetsujin, Rhino, Dakota ----------------------- 10.6.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.6.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills ---- ------------ ------ ------ 1. Gunner 1.38.3 1 2. Dakota 1.41.4 1 3. Stone 1.42.3 1 4. Wild Ride 1.42.7 2 5. Tetsujin 1.43.6 2 6. Shannara 1.44.2 1 7. Chien 1.45.3 2 8. Miko 1.45.8 1 9. Irons 1.46.2 2 10. Quick Jessie 1.48.2 3 11. Mace 1.48.4 2 12. Arroyo 1.49.8 2 13. Harris 1.50.7 2 14. Blackjack 1.50.9 1 15. Masala 1.51.4 3 16. Rhino 1.51.6 4 17. Bomber 1.52.6 2 18. Shirow 1.53.1 3 19. The Max 1.54.8 3 20. Technician 1.55.5 3 Average number of spills: 2.05 The first point to cover on this track is the number of spills. As you can see, every racer averaged two spills. Even though this is the second-shortest track in the game, it turned out a higher number of spills than any other. Despite that, I only rate this track as "moderate" in technical difficulty. Usually when you get thrown from your bike here, the frustration isn't with the track so much as it is with yourself. You feel like you saw that coming and you should have been able to compensate for it. You feel like the "perfect race" is possible on this track. However, I didn't manage a perfect race on any of my twenty attempts to race this track. That's right: None of the riders made it through the track without getting tossed at least once. This makes one think that it should be possible to drive those times quite a bit lower, yet I've never succeeded in doing so. Most of the discrepancies between two riders that have identical bikes come in the number of times they spilled. For instance, Gunner finished first with one spill, but Wild Ride finished fourth with two. Likewise, Dakota took second with one, but Chien had two and so finished seventh. Light bikes appear to have a slight advantage, mainly due to their better handling, but heavy bikes still have a chance. After all, Stone managed to take third place. Then again, he does have the best heavy bike of the four, so that may have had something to do with it. ------------------------ 10.6.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 2 1 Shannara [1] 75 2 1 Irons 15.02.9 1 2 Masala [2] 70 1 2 Masala [2] - 0.1 3 3 Irons 68 4 3 Wild Ride [1] - 3.8 4 4 Wild Ride[1] 66 7 4 Gunner [1] - 5.3 8 5 Gunner [1] 61 5 5 Shannara [1] - 8.4 6 6 Arroyo [1] 55 6 6 Miko -12.2 5 7 Rhino 52 3 7 Rhino -12.6 11 8 Dakota 51 10 8 Dakota -20.5 7 9 Miko 45 8 9 Arroyo [1] -23.7 12 10 Chien 39 11 10 Chien -25.5 15 11 Stone 37 9 11 Harris -27.3 9 12 Harris 36 13 12 Stone -27.4 13 13 Mace 34 12 13 Blackjack -33.0 9 14 Bomber 33 15 14 Mace -34.8 14 15 Blackjack 29 14 15 Shirow -39.0 19 16 Tetsujin 23 16 16 Bomber -40.5 16 17 Shirow 20 19 17 Tetsujin -43.9 17 18 The Max 17 18 18 Quick Jessie -45.1 20 Quick Jessie 17 17 19 The Max -46.2 18 20 Technician 14 20 20 Technician -59.6 After being unseated last race, Shannara retakes the points lead with a sixth place finish on the second suicide course of the season. Masala ran into a bit of trouble and finished up fifteenth, dropping him back into second place and five points behind the leader. The cushion that he enjoyed after last race has disintegrated. Irons continues to impress, holding on to her third position and creeping up to within two points of Masala. Wild Ride remains consistent, finishing fourth here and holding onto fourth place. The winner of this track, Gunner (who rides a bike identical to Wild Ride's), starts to show his stuff and moves into the top five. Trouble continues to befall the racers that were expected to do well this season. Technician had a terrible race and fell to last position. The Max (riding an identical bike) didn't do much better. Tetsujin and Quick Jessie did fairly well on this track, but nobody expected them to fall in the bottom five, either. Due to Masala's poor performance here, the rally field has tightened up considerably. The spread of the field (not including Technician) has decreased for the first time since Hammerhead. More importantly, the spread among the top racers has considerably lessened. After Blackwater Falls, Masala held a comfortable 5.1-second lead (the largest of the season) over second place, with over a twelve-second gap back to third. Now, Masala has lost his top position to the determined Irons, though only by the smallest of margins--one tenth of a second. And the spread from first to third in the last race is nearly the same as the spread from first to seventh here, with the top five being separated by less than ten seconds. Irons continues to prove that winning races, while rewarding, is not the most important standard when it comes to performing well in a season. Despite the fact that she hasn't been a race winner this season, Irons holds third place in the points, only seven back, and leads the rally by 0.1 seconds. We have finished with the "easy" part of the season. Moving on to the alpine tracks, there is potential for somebody to break this season wide open. Nothing has been decided yet. ----------------------- 10.6.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------ 1 1 Mountain Dew 306 1 1 Mountain Dew 75.59.4 2 2 Butterfinger 245 2 2 Butterfinger -1.06.8 [-33.5] 3 3 K2 170 3 3 K2 -1.54.5 [-17.0] 4 4 Axiom 121 4 4 Axiom -2.36.2 [-25.1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- 10.7 WILLPOWER --------------- ------------------------ 10.7.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 4.43.4 Wild Ride 2. 4.43.7 Wild Ride 3. 4.44.2 Gunner 4. 4.47.3 Chien 5. 4.47.6 Technician 4.47.6 Masala Length - very long Technical Difficulty - moderate AI Difficulty - hard ------------------ 10.7.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ Although this is a race, speed is not necessarily your friend. Leading the pack has sent many racers flying into a wall or off a cliff. ------------- 10.7.3 LAYOUT ------------- Immediately following the start is a very steep downhill run followed by a jump in the track {Jump 1). Following the jump is a figure-eight sequence, three turns in gradual succession. After Turn 3 is another very steep drop, this time with a wall blocking your path. You must go under the wall. This wall is marked by a sign that says "SLOW". After the SLOW sign and checkpoint 2, the track twists and flows up and down, generally downward. Jump 2 leads you into Turn 6, a banked 180º right, followed by Jump 3. A very steep uphill climb, broken up by a couple of jumps, awaits you next. You'll continue uphill under a tunnel until the track switches back on itself. Turn 11 is a grapple-assisted right. Checkpoint 8 is midway between Turns 11 and 12. Turn 12 is a grapple-assisted left. There is no edge to the track for the last couple of turns. Turn 14 is a 90º right leading uphill to the finish. ------------------ 10.7.4 RACING LINE ------------------ The nature of the game changes right here. For the last four tracks in the game, there is another danger added--falling off the track. If you happen to fall off the edge, your race is not over. You will be restored to the track at the last checkpoint you passed. Jump 1 shouldn't cause you any trouble unless you've managed to lose speed by bumping into people. FIGURE 8 (TURNS 1-3) This section can be a bit tricky due to the fact that you're heading downhill at a pretty steep grade. At the end of Turn 1, you'll go under checkpoint 1. Immediately after this you flow into Turn 2, which heads to the right. It's very easy to slam into the wall or into other racers at the transition from Turn 1 to Turn 2. Because of the grade of the track at this point, you'll likely get thrown, even if you're riding a heavy bike. From Turn 2 into Turn 3 is one of the most dangerous spots in the game. A couple of factors make this transition area tough. For one thing, you've got the steep gradient. A bigger problem, though, is your competition. It's very easy to bump into somebody ahead of you and lift up into the air. Since the railing is almost nonexistent here, that's an excellent way to go off the track. In general, it's best to flutter (tap) your accelerator through here. Most of the bikes can keep from bouncing around on the track (and off) by keeping your speed around eighty, which isn't easy because of the slope. SLOW At the end of the figure-eight turn is a steep drop. You'll know you're here when you see the big caution sign that says "slow" in front of you. The first time you see this you're likely to dismiss it as an unnecessary warning. Of course, if you do this, you will hit the wall. It's as simple as that. The fact is that you MUST slow down to successfully pass this section, especially since everybody else is. Again, if you bump into somebody in front of you, you're likely to lift into the air and smash into the wall. You don't want to do this. The only successful way to get through here is to stand on the brake. The degree to which you brake can be lessened if you roll your bike onto its side, or even totally upside down, to keep from clotheslining yourself. After Turn 4, a left, you'll head back uphill. At the top of this hill is the third checkpoint and Turn 5, a right. Since you're going uphill, the crest has a tendency to become a ramp. The track moves off to the right, making it relatively easy to go off-track here. A reliable method of keeping your speed is to hug the side and then use your shoulder buttons to keep your bike in contact with the track. Stay away from other riders when you approach the next jumps, as it's easy to bump into one of them and plummet into the abyss. After the 180º Turn 6, the track starts heading steeply uphill. To keep your speed, stay along the inside of the track, along the right wall, and utilize your shoulder buttons to keep your bike in contact with the track. This will help you keep your speed over the bumps in the track, and by staying to the right you will stay on the track. TURNS 11 & 12 After the long uphill climb and tunnel, you have a couple of very tight turns. They're switchbacks, really. These really aren't hard to take. Grapple ability is a must here, however. As you come up the hill toward Turn 11, you'll likely become airborne. At this point, you'll need your grapple and R1 to whip around the corner in the air. Make sure you don't release your grapple too late or you'll go off the right edge of the track, possibly falling and losing a lot of time. Turn 12 is a little bit tougher, a tight left with less air time and less space to maneuver. You may need the grapple and both L1 and L2 to get around this one, unless you have someone like Chien or Dakota. Turn 13 is a gentle right. The catch is that there is no edge and the track is quite narrow. Ease off the acceleration a little bit, if you need to, to make sure you stay on the track. Remember, the last checkpoint you passed was after Turn 11, some ten seconds back. Especially with the heavy bikes is it a good idea to slow down. ------------- 10.7.5 TURBOS ------------- * start [1] after SLOW * before Jump 3 [2] around Turn 6 after Turn 7 * through Turn 14 [3] Believe it or not, turboing at the start is a good idea. All of the bikes have enough oomph to get them over the first jump. If you get bumped, which is unlikely, the engine is forgiving at this point. You'll almost always make the jump, even if it seems like you won't. The "Slow" sign obviously slows you down, so using a turbo here is a good idea. Since you're going downhill, the turbo's effect is magnified, so be careful coming up the next hill, toward Turn 5, as it's easy to go off the track if you're going too fast. Using a turbo around the hairpin seems effective, and burning another one as you go up the steep uphill climb shortly thereafter is also a good idea. If you've even tried to climb that hill without any turbos, it's time-consuming. It's pretty worthless to burn a turbo at the start of the second and third laps, so that leaves you with one extra for each of those. On the second lap, turboing into Turn 6 gives you a nice head of speed; on the third lap, holding onto your turbo for the end works well since you can go fast up the final hill and even slam into the checkpoint sign. Don't worry. The race is over. ------------------ 10.7.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 4.47-4.57 Field: 25-40 seconds Best CPU racer: Wild Ride This track gives you a taste of the bad things that can happen from here on out to those who run into fellow racers at bad times. For instance, bump another rider on the figure-eight and you'll probably go off the track; bump someone climbing up the hill after the hairpin and you're going to lose a lot of speed, speed that you won't be able to regain unless you have a turbo. The wide variance for the time of the best finisher is explained this way: The high end will be the typical uncontested finishing time, whereas the computer can push it toward the low time if you're there egging them on. This is the second track where the computer won every time in ten recorded seasons. Wild Ride took five of those victories; Technician won four. The other win went to Chien, who was obviously hot stuff on that race. Following is a typical top seven: Wild Ride, Technician, Dakota, Miko, Quick Jessie, The Max, Chien ----------------------- 10.7.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.7.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills Falls ---- ------------ ------ ------ ----- 1. Technician 4.47.6 3 0 2. Chien 4.48.3 1 0 3. Quick Jessie 4.48.7 0 0 4. The Max 4.48.9 2 0 5. Rhino 4.49.1 1 0 6. Harris 4.49.7 1 0 7. Shannara 4.50.4 0 0 8. Masala 4.51.0 0 0 9. Tetsujin 4.51.1 1 0 10. Dakota 4.51.4 0 0 11. Wild Ride 4.55.4 2 0 12. Mace 4.57.2 1 0 13. Miko 4.57.8 0 1 14. Gunner 5.00.4 7 0 15. Shirow 5.02.0 2 0 16. Arroyo 5.06.8 3 0 17. Irons 5.16.7 3 1 18. Stone 5.19.2 7 1 19. Bomber 5.21.5 2 2 20. Blackjack 5.25.0 3 2 Average number of spills: 1.95 Average number of falls : 0.35 Not a track for a heavy bike. The bottom three are all heavy and they ended up there by spilling and falling repeatedly; only Mace, with a nearly perfect race, managed to finish decently. Obviously falls hurt worse than spills, as the racers with two falls finished in the last two spots. Interestingly, some of the racers that have previously been having problems did well here. Technician and The Max, who are the two worst in the game based on the first six races, both finished in the top four. Quick Jessie and Tetsujin, two other bad racers, finished within four seconds of the lead. Oddly, though, Wild Ride and Gunner, who have been doing well, finished out of the top ten. Gunner even managed to spill seven times. Take a look at the times of the top ten. A spread of only 3.8 seconds covers first to tenth; more than that spans tenth to eleventh. And after such a small spread for the top ten, the bottom ten elongate the times so badly that Willpower has the largest spread from first to last of any of the seven tracks raced so far. The problem that the bottom ten had was mainly due to spills and falls. The top ten averaged 0.9 spills per racer; the bottom ten averaged 3.0 per racer. However, spills aren't the only problem afflicting these bikes; after all, Technician spilled three times and still won. ------------------------ 10.7.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally --------------------- -------------------------- 1 1 Shannara [1] 85 2 1 Masala [2] 19.54.0 2 2 Masala [2] 78 5 2 Shannara [1] - 7.7 4 3 Wild Ride [1] 71 3 3 Wild Ride [1] - 8.1 3 4 Irons 67 7 4 Rhino - 10.4 5 5 Gunner [1] 63 4 5 Gunner [1] - 14.4 7 Rhino 63 6 6 Miko - 18.7 10 7 Chien 59 8 7 Dakota - 20.6 8 8 Dakota 57 10 8 Chien - 22.5 6 9 Arroyo [1] 55 1 9 Irons - 25.4 9 10 Miko 48 11 10 Harris - 25.7 12 11 Harris 46 9 11 Arroyo [1] - 39.2 20 12 Technician[1] 39 14 12 Mace - 40.7 13 13 Mace 38 18 13 Quick Jessie - 42.5 11 14 Stone 37 17 14 Tetsujin - 43.7 14 15 Bomber 33 19 15 The Max - 43.8 18 Quick Jessie 33 15 16 Shirow - 49.7 16 17 Tetsujin 30 20 17 Technician[1] - 54.7 18 The Max 30 12 18 Stone - 55.3 15 19 Blackjack 29 13 19 Blackjack -1.06.9 17 20 Shirow 21 16 20 Bomber -1.10.9 Holding on to the lead in the points for the second race in a row, and the sixth out of seven, Shannara increases her lead to seven points, though she is stretching it even further over positions further back. In the wake of a rare bad race from Irons, Wild Ride picks up third position. The value of a race win can be seen in the unlikely victory of Technician, who has been bottom feeding all season. His win on Willpower rockets him up eight positions, into twelfth. Over in the rally, Masala has regained his lead with an impressive margin over the other top runners. In fact, his 7.7-second cushion over Shannara is the largest of the season. After the last race the top seven were within thirteen seconds of the lead; now only the top four are. Irons' poor performance here hurts her ranking in the rally far more than it did in the points. She only lost one position in the points, but she has fallen twenty-five seconds back in the rally. One would think that would effectively eliminate her from contention, but we'll see. Despite Technician's win, he only managed to pick up about five seconds on the rally lead along with his three positions. And Blackjack and Bomber become the first racers to fall back of the rally lead by over a minute. Such is the way things go when falling off the track becomes a danger. Is this a portent of things to come? If so, Ice Crusher has the potential to level a boom on the playing field. ----------------------- 10.7.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Mountain Dew 329 1 1 Mountain Dew 100.51.1 2 2 Butterfinger 268 3 2 K2 -1.18.8 [+35.7] 3 3 K2 231 2 3 Butterfinger -1.20.7 [-13.9] 4 4 Axiom 154 4 4 Axiom -3.09.4 [-33.2] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- 10.8 ICE CRUSHER ----------------- ------------------------ 10.8.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 3.38.2 Wild Ride 2. 3.38.8 Gunner 3. 3.40.9 Wild Ride 4. 3.42.2 The Max 5. 3.44.6 Wild Ride Length - long Technical Difficulty - very hard AI Difficulty - moderate ------------------ 10.8.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ Ice Crusher is carved out of a fragmented glacier. It's a test of guts: how fast will you go, how close to the edge will you run? Make sure to keep your nose up! ------------- 10.8.3 LAYOUT ------------- Following the start and a break in the track is a steep uphill climb. After two turns you go along the first straight, through a tunnel and into Turn 3 on the other side, a right. At checkpoint 4, the track splits in two. The general tendency of the track is a leftward curve, which we'll call Turn 4; this turn is half to two-thirds of the course. The Track Splits become three around checkpoint 8 and finally join up for good at checkpoint 9, where the track turns sharply upward to the finish. ------------------ 10.8.4 RACING LINE ------------------ The best piece of advice for this track is contained on the loading screen: Keep your nose up. Since the surface of the track is really just a series of blocks of ice, the edges have a tendency to catch your bike and throw you. By keeping your nose up, you avoid this problem (mostly). Going around Turn 1 at the top of the initial climb, try to cut the corner a little bit to keep your speed up. When the track splits, stay left. In the sharpest part of the turn, around checkpoint 6, there'll be a noticeably raised ice block that produces a large lip on the left side of the track. Moving to the right side of the track will help, but if you're riding a bike with lower lift, be extra sure to pull your nose up here. When approaching the final checkpoint (9), watch that you don't crash into the sign, especially if you happen to be riding the left side of the track. Watch out for glitches on this track. Sometimes you'll fall into an extremely narrow space between two ice blocks and get "stuck." Sometimes they'll let you fall and there's not much problem. Other times, you'll retain control of your bike and have to figure out how to climb a vertical space. In rare instances, they'll let you fall, then put you back into the exact same situation, causing you to get stuck over and over again. Any of these will ruin your times and there's no way to know when or if it will happen. There really isn't much else I can say, since the challenge that this track presents is mainly from two things: the competition and the lips of the ice blocks. Otherwise, it's just a series of gentle curves with a couple of steep climbs thrown in. Keep your nose up! ------------- 10.8.5 TURBOS ------------- * start after Turn 2 after checkpoint 4 after checkpoint 7 * after checkpoint 9 * straight to finish It's tricky to know when it's best to turbo here. There are three areas where it's definitely a good idea, though. Turn 2 is the second lefthander before the tunnel. This is also on one of only two flat straights on the course. Turbo on this straight. The other flat straight is after checkpoint 7, when the track splits are starting to converge again. You'll come around a sharper left and be able to see the next checkpoint (8) ahead of you. Turbo here. It's a good spot. The third good area to turbo is after crossing the fourth checkpoint (and staying left). Turbo off the level block of ice over the drop. If you don't you'll have to land on at least two or three more blocks before hitting the bottom, losing speed every time. The fourth turbo presents a problem. Honestly, it's not a very good idea to turbo at the start here; you'll notice that nobody in the computer pack does. Since they don't, you stand an excellent chance of colliding with one of them and falling through one of the two gaps in the track. This will obviously lose you a lot of time. It's better to use your fourth turbo at the end. Here you have three good options: first, you can activate the turbo immediately after the ninth checkpoint and use the extra speed to climb; second, you can turbo near the top of the incline and ramp off the top, covering most of the distance on the final straight in the air; third, you can turbo after the climb, once you've landed on the flat spot. Whichever of the above three methods you choose, you won't be able to make the last leg faster than the computer. They kind of cheat here, I think. ------------------ 10.8.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 3.50-3.54 Field: 40-50 seconds Best CPU racer: The Max Like all of the alpine tracks, it's flat-out dangerous to run into another rider on this course. There are several spots where doing so is likely to cause one or both of you to fall. Some of these spots are: the initial incline, Turn 3, near checkpoint 4, around checkpoints 5-7, near checkpoint 9, and the final incline. The track presents enough problems; just try to avoid the other riders. The wide spread of the field is due to the fact that some of the computer racers have great trouble with this track, too. It can be extremely satisfying to hear the plaintive scream of one of your competitors as they plummet off the side of the track, especially if you are the cause of the fall. In actuality, the above-quoted spread is generally from first to eighteenth or nineteenth. Usually one, and sometimes as many as two or three, computer racers will run into some kind of serious problem. Sometimes it's just falling off the track repeatedly, which gets them times of 60-70 seconds back of the leader. But sometimes I think that they either miss a checkpoint or get "stuck" (see section 10.8.4 above). In these instances, it's not uncommon to see the rider in twentieth end up with a time of seven minutes or more; I've even seen eleven minutes. In ten recorded seasons, the computer won on this track nine times. The Max took three, Dakota took three, Wild Ride had two, and Gunner had one. Usually, these front runners are very close together timewise, as well. It's something to watch out for. A typical top four is as follows: The Max, Wild Ride, Dakota, Technician ----------------------- 10.8.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.8.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills Falls ---- ------------ ------ ------ ----- 1. Gunner 3.38.8 0 0 2. Wild Ride 3.40.9 0 0 3. The Max 3.42.2 1 0 4. Rhino 3.45.7 1 0 5. Shannara 3.47.1 0 1 6. Chien 3.49.0 1 0 7. Mace 3.50.0 0 0 8. Dakota 3.50.5 0 1 9. Bomber 3.51.6 2 1 10. Masala 3.52.8 1 0 11. Harris 3.55.2 1 2 12. Quick Jessie 3.56.2 1 1 13. Arroyo 3.56.9 0 1 14. Tetsujin 4.01.8 1 2 15. Miko 4.08.2 0 1 16. Blackjack 4.12.4 2 5 17. Shirow 4.15.2 1 2 18. Technician 4.17.6 2 4 19. Stone 4.18.3 0 4 20. Irons 4.29.6 3 3 Average number of spills: 0.85 Average number of falls : 1.40 In general, the clear key to this track is lift. Two out of the three perfect races were run by the top two, Gunner and Wild Ride, both of whom have lift ratings of ten. Maneuverability and lift helped out Chien and Dakota (sixth and eighth, respectively), while mass and pure speed was essential for the Mace and Bomber (seventh and ninth). In actuality, this track can go smoothly. It is fairly wide in many spots and the curves are fairly gentle and visible from a distance. But if things start going wrong, it's hard to make things start going better. This results in some disparate times for riders on identical bikes. Mace finished seventh while Blackjack took sixteenth. The Max finished third and Technician struggled in eighteenth. Masala was tenth; Irons, twentieth. The number of spills is relatively low on this track. Much of this is likely because the number of falls is so high. And the falls are the killer. The top ten averaged 0.3 falls per rider; the bottom ten averaged 2.4. The simple fact is that falls take up so much more time. Sometimes you can be off the track for three or four seconds before the game catches you. Then you have to make up as much as fifteen seconds that you lost on the track. The difficulty of this track is obvious from the spread. Even leaving Irons time out of the equation, there's a larger spread here than on any other track (a tenth of a second more than Willpower). And, unlike other tracks, there aren't really any tight groupings of racers; instead, there are sizable gaps back from almost every place. ------------------------ 10.8.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally --------------------- -------------------------- 1 1 Shannara [1] 96 3 1 Wild Ride [1] 23.43.0 3 2 Wild Ride [1] 91 1 2 Masala [2] - 3.8 5 3 Gunner [2] 88 5 3 Gunner [2] - 4.4 2 4 Masala [2] 84 2 4 Shannara [1] - 5.8 5 5 Rhino 76 4 5 Rhino - 7.3 7 6 Chien 69 7 6 Dakota - 22.3 4 7 Irons 67 8 7 Chien - 22.7 8 8 Dakota 65 10 8 Harris - 32.1 9 9 Arroyo [1] 58 15 9 The Max - 37.2 11 10 Harris 51 6 10 Miko - 38.1 10 11 Miko 49 12 11 Mace - 41.9 13 12 Mace 47 11 12 Arroyo [1] - 47.3 17 13 The Max 46 13 13 Quick Jessie - 49.9 15 14 Bomber 40 14 14 Tetsujin - 56.7 12 15 Technician[1] 39 9 15 Irons -1.06.2 14 16 Stone 37 20 16 Bomber -1.13.5 15 Quick Jessie 37 16 17 Shirow -1.16.1 17 18 Tetsujin 32 17 18 Technician[1] -1.23.5 19 19 Blackjack 29 18 19 Stone -1.24.8 20 20 Shirow 21 19 20 Blackjack -1.30.3 Eight races are now gone in the season; only two remain. With two races to go, the bottom seven have been mathematically eliminated from the points race, but realistically we're keeping an eye on the top four or five. Shannara retains her hold on the points lead for the third consecutive race, though the distance to her nearest competitor has diminished slightly, from seven to five. Wild Ride continues steadily moving upward. She has stepped up one position to second, a place she has been only one other time this season, following Cliffdiver early on. Gunner, though, is the second half revelation. In the first half of the season, he was very quiet. He only scored one top ten finish: third on Cypress Run. After the fifth race of the season he was in eighth place in the points with thirty-six, slightly more than half the number of points that Masala, then- leader, had. With two wins in the last three races, though, Gunner is proving to be to the second half what Masala was to the first. He is now within striking distance of first place, just eight points back. Masala continues to lose ground, despite a top ten finish here. He drops back two places to fourth, now twelve points out of the hunt. Rhino remains steady as well, holding onto fifth spot and moving slightly closer to the leader, now twenty points out. He'll have to really step up in the last two races to have a shot at the title, though. Over in the rally, things are even more interesting. For the fourth straight race we have a new rally leader, this time in Wild Ride. She has overcome her eight second deficit after the last race and moved 3.8 seconds ahead of Masala, who has slipped back to second. Gunner vaults forward two spots to third here as well, merely 4.4 seconds out. Shannara is in fourth, out by 5.8 seconds, and Rhino takes in fifth, down by 7.3. There is a definite break back to sixth place, where Dakota is out by over twenty-two seconds. And so we have five riders that have a serious shot at taking the title in both races, any of them capable of pulling off a rider championship sweep: taking both crowns at once. Further down on the rally table, The Max continues his incredible second half turnaround by climbing into the top ten. Remember, just two races ago he was languishing down in nineteenth place, forty-six seconds out. He's picked up a few seconds along with his ten positions, and while he may not be able to make up that much time in the last two races, he's a contender for "best-of-the- rest". Meanwhile, Irons is doing the exact opposite. Her second bottom-five finish has dropped her all the way back to fifteenth in the rally, certainly out of the running in the championship that she was leading just two short races ago. All is not lost for her in the points, but she's back to seventh there with a twenty-nine point gap to first; it's crucial for her to perform well on the next track. ----------------------- 10.8.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Mountain Dew 369 1 1 Mountain Dew 120.47.4 2 2 Butterfinger 306 2 2 K2 - 23.9 [+54.9] 3 3 K2 291 3 3 Butterfinger - 41.4 [+39.5] 4 4 Axiom 156 4 4 Axiom -4.18.4 [-51.0] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- 10.9 SNOW BLIND ---------------- ------------------------ 10.9.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------ Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 4.12.2 Masala 2. 4.15.3 Wild Ride 3. 4.16.4 Harris 4. 4.17.5 Gunner 5. 4.18.0 Gunner Length - very long Technical Difficulty - easy AI Difficulty - very easy ------------------ 10.9.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------ Although this course has the characteristic "suicide" U-turns at each end, the major danger here is the course itself. ------------- 10.9.3 LAYOUT ------------- The start leads you to a downward slope, then Jump 1, then into a tunnel. After the first checkpoint, you'll go into Turn 1, which is a right and 270º. Go through a tunnel, over Jump 2, through another small tunnel, then uphill to Turn 2, the first suicide turn. Back down, left around Turn 3 (the 270º turn), then cross the start/finish line and proceed to the back half. The back part starts with another downhill run, followed by Jump 5, then another steeply downhill section past checkpoint 7 and into Turn 4, a right. After Jump 6, you'll have a fairly long, straight section leading to Turn 5, the second suicide turn. Go back along the straight, over the jump, around the turn (left this time), up the hill, over the jump, and up the final hill to the finish. ------------------ 10.9.4 RACING LINE ------------------ The loading screen was right in insinuating that the course was more dangerous than the competition; however, the course still isn't very hard. The suicide tracks never are. Watch your head as you go under the first tunnel. In fact, watch out for all the tunnels; it's very easy to bump your head on the ceiling of the tunnel and get tossed off your bike. When you reach the first suicide turn, notice the warning stripe. The track actually ends and it's very easy to go off the edge. That's what the grapple is for. After you go around the 270 the second time, start the tunnel on the right side of the track, but move over to the left side as you go through it. The section of track you're jumping to is a little higher than the one you're on and being on the left side of the track will make things easier. On your final approach to the finish line (after Turn 6, before Jump 8), stay to the right side of the track to avoid missing your jump. The remainder of the course is pretty straightforward. The game isn't even as unforgiving when you stray from the course onto the snowbanks in the second half. ------------- 10.9.5 TURBOS ------------- * start Turn 1 Turn 4 after Turn 5 Turn 6 This is another of those courses that I wouldn't necessarily recommend using a turbo at the start. It can be easy to miss that first jump and go right in the chasm. Definitely turbo around the 270 on the first pass. Try to keep your racing line on the left side of the track when you go in, then move to the inside of the track through the turn. It isn't necessary to burn another turbo on your way back around this turn. On the remainder of the front half of the track, it's best not to use your turbos, as they tend to give you too much speed and smash you into tunnels. On the other hand, there are plenty of spots on the back half of the track to turbo. The first place you'll want to turbo is at Turn 4 (checkpoint 7), as you start along the relative straight to the suicide turn. This is the best semblance of a straight this track has. So you'll want to use another turbo on the way back. Your fourth one is best used after Turn 6, just before the jump leading to the finish line. Engage your turbo, stay to the right, and you'll probably get enough air to make it to the finish line. ------------------ 10.9.6 COMPETITION ------------------ Top CPU finisher: 4.22-4.25 Field: 20-35 seconds Best CPU racer: Technician Again, like on the other alpine tracks, it's not a good idea to run into the other riders. This doesn't cause the same types of problems as it did on the previous two tracks, though. Your primary difficulty here is after looping around the suicide turns, especially the second one. It's very easy to be coming up that long straight and run into somebody just before or during the jump. This, of course, will make you fall. Try to avoid doing this. I rated the AI difficulty of this course as very easy. I believe this to be true, because even with a serious fall, it's possible to catch up to the rest of the field. They just don't race this one very well. The above-quoted time of 4.22 for a computer finisher is rare; but it's possible for you to break that time with all manner of different bikes. The loading screen insinuated that the track was more difficult here than the oncoming suicide-driven competition. They were right. Only three times over ten recorded seasons did the computer beat me here, primarily because I was using low-rated bikes. Of those three times, Technician did it twice, leaving the other one for Dakota. This is another indication of the fact that the AI is ridiculously easy here. The only track where the computer beat me fewer times over the ten seasons was Hammerhead, where they managed it twice. We all know how easy Hammerhead is. Snow Blind is almost that easy. ----------------------- 10.9.7 SIMULATED SEASON ----------------------- ---------------- 10.9.7.1 RESULTS ---------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills Falls ---- ------------ ------ ------ ----- 1. Gunner 4.18.0 1 0 2. Wild Ride 4.19.8 1 0 3. Rhino 4.20.1 0 0 4. Irons 4.20.7 0 0 5. Stone 4.21.3 1 0 6. Masala 4.22.9 1 0 7. Dakota 4.23.2 0 0 8. Shannara 4.23.3 1 0 9. Mace 4.23.4 0 0 10. Quick Jessie 4.24.0 0 0 11. The Max 4.24.2 1 0 12. Blackjack 4.24.7 0 0 13. Miko 4.25.9 0 0 14. Harris 4.27.9 1 0 15. Arroyo 4.28.3 0 0 16. Technician 4.29.0 1 0 17. Tetsujin 4.30.1 2 0 18. Shirow 4.30.9 1 1 19. Bomber 4.31.3 1 1 20. Chien 4.37.4 2 1 Average number of spills: 0.70 Average number of falls : 0.15 The first noteworthy thing about this track is the incredibly small spread. If we discount Chien's time (Chien obviously had a very bad race), we have a spread of merely 13.3 seconds from first to nineteenth. That ranks this track second behind Hammerhead and is another indication of how easy it is. In fact, this field is more impressive than that at Hammerhead, because this track is nearly three times as long as that island suicide course. Hammerhead's spread was 10.2 seconds; if this course were as short as that one, the spread would have only been five. Five seconds! An incredibly tight field. Because of this, obviously every type of bike has an excellent shot on this track. Light bikes carried away the top two spots, but medium bikes took up four spots in the top ten, and even heavy bikes had their day, with Stone in fourth and Mace in ninth. Though easy, this is a very balanced track, playing well to the strengths of each bike type. But the finish for Chien really hurts his chances (and the statistics), as he finished thirteen positions and fourteen seconds behind his "bike buddy", Dakota. ------------------------ 10.9.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally ---------------------- -------------------------- 3 1 Gunner [3] 113 1 1 Wild Ride [1] 28.02.8 2 2 Wild Ride [1] 111 3 2 Gunner [3] - 2.6 1 3 Shannara [1] 104 2 3 Masala [2] - 6.9 4 4 Masala [2] 94 5 4 Rhino - 7.6 5 5 Rhino 92 4 5 Shannara [1] - 9.3 7 6 Irons 80 6 6 Dakota - 25.7 8 7 Dakota 74 8 7 Harris - 40.2 6 8 Chien 69 7 8 Chien - 40.3 9 9 Arroyo [1] 59 9 9 The Max - 41.6 12 10 Mace 54 10 10 Miko - 44.2 10 11 Harris 53 11 11 Mace - 45.5 11 12 Miko 52 13 12 Quick Jessie - 54.1 13 13 The Max 51 12 13 Arroyo [1] - 55.8 16 14 Stone 48 14 14 Tetsujin -1.07.0 16 15 Quick Jessie 43 15 15 Irons -1.07.1 14 16 Bomber 40 16 16 Bomber -1.25.0 15 17 Technician[1] 39 19 17 Stone -1.26.3 19 18 Blackjack 33 17 18 Shirow -1.27.2 18 19 Tetsujin 32 18 19 Technician[1] -1.32.7 20 20 Shirow 21 20 20 Blackjack -1.35.2 After the penultimate race of the season, things have gotten very interesting in the points. The race of primary importance is for the points champion. With his third win in the last four tracks, Gunner has hopped up two spots to take the championship lead away from Shannara. Wild Ride's second consecutive runner-up enables her to hold on to second place in the points, just two back from Gunner. Lower down the order, there's a race that has heated up for "best-of-the-rest". In this case, that means ninth place. Currently, Arroyo is sitting there. But there's a line forming behind him. Mace is just five points back in tenth and Stone, in fourteenth, is only eleven out. Any of the six racers there could end up with ninth position. However, there are only five racers who are capable of winning the season. From sixth position on down are racers that have been mathematically eliminated from the hunt for the points champion; Irons' poor performance in two races earlier on really hurts her here. Despite the fact that Masala and Rhino theoretically have a shot, realistically nobody has made a twenty-point swing near the top. This race really comes down to the top two, Gunner and Wild Ride, with Shannara having an outside chance of getting the upset, nine points back. The rally side of things is just as interesting. Over in the rally, things like mathematical elimination don't come into play. However, in effect, the racers outside of the top five are out of contention. Wild Ride maintains a slim lead here of 2.6 seconds over Gunner. Masala slips back to third and is 6.9 seconds out, while Rhino and Shannara are both within ten seconds. At this point, though, ten seconds is a very large gap. Realistically, the race here comes down to the same two riders, Wild Ride and Gunner, this time with Wild Ride having the edge. The other three members of the top five are in a position to spoil, but they have to perform extraordinarily well at the same time that the top two falter. When all is said and done, all eyes will be on two racers in the final race of the season: the party animal Kari Kelley, aka Wild Ride, and the Aussie Gunner. Can Gunner maintain his slim two-point lead in the points and overcome a 2.6- second deficit in the rally to take a sweep? Or can Wild Ride make the sweep by beating Gunner? Or will they split the title? Really, Wild Ride has the best chance at the sweep here. To ensure total victory, she just has to finish three spots in front of Gunner, unless they both finish near the top, at which point she only has to beat him. If she can do that, she'll sweep since she already has the rally lead. Gunner has his work cut out for him. It's not enough for him to beat Wild Ride, though that will give him the points victory. He has to beat her by enough to overhaul her in the rally, which may not be easy. Of course, if they both foul up, then it's anybody's game. And if there's one place where a person is likely to foul up, it's probably Nightmare. ----------------------- 10.9.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ----------------------- Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Mountain Dew 422 1 1 Mountain Dew 142.40.3 2 2 Butterfinger 340 2 2 K2 - 42.5 [-18.6] 3 3 K2 329 3 3 Butterfinger - 54.5 [-11.1] 4 4 Axiom 171 4 4 Axiom -4.41.5 [-23.1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- 10.10 NIGHTMARE ---------------- ------------------------- 10.10.1 COURSE STATISTICS ------------------------- Top 5 Times ----------- 1. 3.42.3 Wild Ride 2. 3.45.7 Irons 3. 3.48.6 Wild Ride 4. 3.48.7 Gunner 5. 3.49.1 Chien Length - long Technical Difficulty - hard AI Difficulty - very hard ------------------- 10.10.2 DESCRIPTION ------------------- Some people dream about flying, others about falling. Jet Moto racers do both. -------------- 10.10.3 LAYOUT -------------- A very steep drop greets you directly after the start. Jump 1 leads you into Turn 1, a lefthander that starts you back uphill. Turn 2 is a gradual left; the track here consists of seven platforms juxtaposed next to each other with no edges. Following checkpoint 2 is a steep downhill run, then a climb up to checkpoint 3. Here the track crosses itself; a grapple has been placed above the open space to assist with Jump 3. On the other side is a smaller segment like Turn 2, this time with only four platforms. Turn 3 is a tight 270º banked lefthander that takes you back to the crossover jump. After Jump 4, the track goes downhill, then back up before dropping down a long way as you go around Turn 4. A grapple is provided along the right side of the track. A brief Jump 5 and checkpoint 8 into Turn 5 and you start back uphill pretty steeply, where you will be greeted by Jump 6 before you hit checkpoint 9. At this point, the track banks quite a lot as it goes through Turns 6-8: a left, a right, and then another right. Following this is the closest thing to a straightaway, with a chicane in the middle to break things up. A left for Turn 9 leads you into Jump 7, which is misaligned, and then a brief run to the finish line. ------------------- 10.10.4 RACING LINE ------------------- In many ways, this is the hardest track in the game. And appropriately so. With practice, though, you will learn that Cliffdiver (and maybe Cypress Run) is actually a little bit tougher. Definitely avoid traffic down the first slope if you don't want to go off the edge. The best way to negotiate Turn 2 (the seven platforms) is to take it fairly slow, unless there's no traffic around. Stay to the middle of the first platform, moving toward the right as you approach the center. After you pass the severely off-kilter platform, move back to the center of the platforms. When you go over Jump 3, the crossover jump, try not to use the grapple unless you have to. Since it's placed above the track, it's very easy to grapple for too long and be pulled up into the air. At best, you'll lose a little time from spending too long in the air; at worst, you'll go off the track. The same holds true when you come back around for Jump 4. As you come around the 270 (Turn 3), move toward the middle of the track. You'll tend toward the right side of the track, but if you stay over there you'll very likely catch the part of the track that you're crossing over. Coming up the hill to Turn 4, after the second crossover, stay to the left of the track. As you crest the hill, point your bike toward the right side of the track, using the side grapple for assistance if necessary. It's very easy to fly off the left side of the track here. When you reach the top of the next steep incline, you'll go over Jump 6. There's another grapple post suspended over the track here. Due to the nature of this portion of the course, you may very well need the added grapple assistance. However, be sure not to grapple for too long or, again, you'll run into trouble. Over the next series of turns, the track banks quite sharply. Do your best to compensate for this and keep on an even keel through this section. As you cross the start line to begin another lap, it's very likely that you'll have a sizable amount of momentum. Slow down. For the same reason that you won't want to turbo at the start, you don't want to be going fast, as you'll likely miss the track below. -------------- 10.10.5 TURBOS -------------- Turn 3 over Jump 6 * Turns 5 and 6 after Turn 7 (twice) Do not turbo at the start of the race. Other computer racers will do so, but you are not capable of remaining on the track unless you brake immediately after turboing, which all but negates the purpose of the boost. Save it for later. You can pick up several seconds by turboing around the 270º Turn 3, just be careful to move to the center of the track near Jump 4. Coming up the hill to Jump 6 you'll lose a lot of speed. This enhances your chance of either missing the jump or being forced to rely heavily on the grapple. If you grapple too much here, you'll start yo-yoing around, which isn't good. To avoid this problem, turbo when you get to the top of the hill. Since Turns 5 and 6 (coming after the above-mentioned Jump 6) are not only twisty and banked but uphill, a turbo will help you keep your speed better. However, due to the banked nature of the track here, you run a serious risk of spilling, too. The run from Turn 7 to the end of the course is the nearest thing to a straightaway that you'll find. It wouldn't be out of line to go ahead and burn two turbos here. Plus, the first turbo will help to make up for any time lost going through Turns 5 and 6. ------------------- 10.10.6 COMPETITION ------------------- Top CPU finisher: 3.44-3.48 Field: 25-35 seconds Best CPU racer: The Max For the most part, there's little worry about bumping into other riders on this track. The surface of the track is slightly curved in most places, with the center of the track being somewhat below the edges, much like a pipe. Further, there are actually rails along the sides of the track that seem to help. And the crossover section very rarely produces any crashes. But there are two areas that you'll want to watch out for. Both occur near the beginning of each lap. First is the initial downhill run. If you're going just a little too fast and you land on somebody beneath you . . . well, you should know by now what that's going to do to you. You'll likely go off the edge. More dangerous is the second area near the beginning: the platforms. Not only is this one of the most technically difficult sections on this track, but it's also really tricky on the first lap if you're anywhere near the rest of the pack. Slight bumps from your competitors are enough to knock you out of your rhythm and off the track. To add insult to injury, the checkpoint is way back at the bottom of the first hill, meaning if you fall on the platforms you lose at least ten or fifteen seconds, enough to derail any chances of victory. This reason alone is enough to rate the AI for this track as "very hard". The fact that one mistake is enough to cost you the race is also a testament to the difficulty of the AI here. You'll note that, much like Cliffdiver, the average time for the top computer finisher is near the best times that I've ever been able to post here, meaning that you're in for a fight even if you can keep your race clean. In addition to that, the field is relatively narrow for such a tough track. Again, if you make one mistake, especially one on the platforms, the top ten might be too much to hope for. To be on the safe side, it's best to come in here with enough of a cushion to win the season without needing to score any points here. It probably doesn't come as a surprise that the computer beat me on this track in each of the ten recorded seasons. It did come as a surprise to me to see The Max take six of those victories, meaning he is your toughest competition here. Of the other four, Technician took two, Wild Ride one, and Miko one (the only time in these seasons that Miko won, despite the fact that overall she's the fourth best racer in the game, according to the computer). The top five finishers on this track are usually the same five, but the order mixes up with each race, since they usually finish within just a few seconds of each other. Those five are The Max, Dakota, Wild Ride, Technician, and Miko. ------------------------ 10.10.7 SIMULATED SEASON ------------------------ ----------------- 10.10.7.1 RESULTS ----------------- Pos. Rider Time Spills Falls ---- ------------ ------ ------ ----- 1. Irons 3.45.7 0 0 2. Gunner 3.48.7 0 1 3. Chien 3.49.1 0 0 4. Rhino 3.49.2 0 1 5. Dakota 3.49.3 0 0 6. Shannara 3.49.9 0 1 7. Technician 3.50.0 0 0 8. Wild Ride 3.50.6 0 1 The Max 3.50.6 0 0 10. Masala 3.53.6 2 0 11. Bomber 3.55.6 0 1 12. Stone 3.55.9 0 1 13. Blackjack 3.57.2 0 0 14. Tetsujin 3.58.4 3 0 15. Harris 4.01.0 0 1 16. Quick Jessie 4.04.4 0 2 17. Arroyo 4.05.0 1 1 18. Miko 4.09.9 1 2 19. Shirow 4.17.1 1 3 20. Mace 4.24.4 0 3 Average number of spills: 0.40 Average number of falls : 0.90 The best bikes tend to shine on this track. Technician (in seventh) would appear to be the exception, but he also ran a perfect race. Heavy bikes aren't particularly well-suited to Nightmare, though, as Bomber (in eleventh) is the highest-ranking heavy bike running, though Mace isn't exactly indicative of their capability, either. There's actually a very small spread in the top ten. Discount Irons' fabulous race and the spread from second to ninth is less than two seconds, meaning that if you can manage to do everything right, this isn't that tough. Of course, the trick is to do everything right. Even though the average number of spills is relatively low, about one spill for every other rider, even that is a bit high, since fifteen of the riders didn't spill at all, and none of the top nine did. In fact, Nightmare produced the third-lowest spill rate of any track in the game, doubling the paltry four spills that both Joyride and Hammerhead produced. The falls are more damaging, however, and more frequent. Though there are only four tracks in the game capable of causing falls, Nightmare easily takes second behind Ice Crusher; it's a dangerous track. But even falling doesn't have to be absolutely detrimental. Notice that Gunner fell once and still finished second. What kind of time could he have put up if he hadn't fallen? The track record of 3.42.3 (by Wild Ride) pretty much answers that question. ------------------------- 10.10.7.2 RIDER STANDINGS ------------------------- Championship Rally ---------------------- -------------------------- 1 1 Gunner [3] 133 1 1 Wild Ride [1] 31.53.4 2 2 Wild Ride [1] 119 2 2 Gunner [3] - 0.7 3 3 Shannara [1] 114 4 3 Rhino - 6.2 5 4 Rhino 105 5 4 Shannara [1] - 8.6 6 Irons [1] 105 3 5 Masala [2] - 9.9 4 6 Masala [2] 100 6 6 Dakota - 24.4 7 7 Dakota 85 8 7 Chien - 38.8 8 Chien 85 9 8 The Max - 41.6 9 9 Arroyo [1] 59 7 9 Harris - 50.6 13 The Max 59 15 10 Irons [1] -1.02.2 10 11 Mace 54 10 11 Miko -1.03.5 11 Harris 54 12 12 Quick Jessie -1.07.9 12 13 Miko 52 13 13 Arroyo [1] -1.10.2 14 Stone 52 14 14 Tetsujin -1.14.8 17 15 Technician[1] 48 11 15 Mace -1.19.3 16 16 Bomber 45 16 16 Bomber -1.30.0 15 17 Quick Jessie 43 17 17 Stone -1.31.6 18 18 Blackjack 36 19 18 Technician[1] -1.32.1 19 19 Tetsujin 34 20 19 Blackjack -1.41.8 20 20 Shirow 21 18 20 Shirow -1.53.7 The season certainly ended with a bang, both of the championship races going right down to the wire, along with some shakings of the remainder of the top ten in each contest. Points ------ In the points, Gunner's strong second place finish cemented his lead, enabling him to finish with a fourteen-point victory over Wild Ride, who could only manage eighth on Nightmare. That margin of victory for Gunner, by the way, is the largest gap from first to second place recorded all season. Though she held the lead following seven races this season, Shannara finished third. She finished in sixth on Nightmare and picked up a couple of points on Wild Ride, but still remained in third. Her bikemate, Rhino, finished very strongly, with a fourth place, and climbed a spot into a tie for fourth place in the championship. Irons tried her hardest over the last two races to reverse her fortunes, scoring a fourth-place finish on Snow Blind and a very impressive win here, but she had dug a hole too deep to climb out of. Still, she managed a very respectable fourth place tie for her efforts, beating out the man whom she chased during the middle part of the season, Masala, who lost two positions on this race and finished the season in sixth. Dakota and Chien, tied for seventh, finished in their own world, insulated from their competition. Both, of course, ride identical bikes, and Chien managed to bounce back from a terrible last-place ride on Snow Blind to take third here. Both riders finished fifteen points behind the pack of the top six and twenty- six points ahead of the rest of the pack, solid in their position. Arroyo managed to hold on to his title of "best of the rest", though he didn't actively try to do so; he only scored eight points in the entire second half of the season. The only reason he retained ninth in the championship was due to the fact that nobody else could capitalize on his continuing misfortunes here. The Max completed a stunning turnaround, though, finishing in a tie for ninth on the season. As recently as Willpower, he was still struggling down in seventeenth place, but he turned things around in a big way. Looking down all the way to the bottom, we note that Arroyo's bikemate, Shirow, finished the season in dead last with only twenty-one points, some distance behind her nearest competitor. Just think, that's how Arroyo's season could have been! Rally ----- Though Gunner finished Nightmare six positions ahead of Wild Ride, he needed a little less than a second more to grab the title away from her. That's right, Wild Ride held on to the lead by a tenuous seven-tenths of a second, a very small margin. But large enough to give her the title of rally champion. Rhino moved up to third for the season with his performance here, only just over six seconds behind Wild Ride; Shannara moved up a spot to fourth. Masala finished his fade down two spots to fifth place, after leading the rally following three races in the middle part of the season. From first to fifth is a spread of just under ten seconds, relatively large, but it's clear that this rally competition was wide open. There were enough mistakes made that any of the five could have ended up with the title. Another interesting fact is the number of wins. Despite Gunner's three wins, he couldn't overhaul Wild Ride, who only had one. And Rhino didn't even win one race. This drives home the fact that a win, while important, is no guarantee in the rally. Consistency is the key to victory. This is a fact that would have greatly benefited Irons. Remember she had two horrible races on Willpower and Ice Crusher, and she paid for it. Even though she won convincingly here on Nightmare, she only managed tenth for the season, more than a minute out of the rally lead. Mistakes are much more costly in the rally. ------------------------ 10.10.7.3 TEAM STANDINGS ------------------------ Championship Rally -------------------- ------------------------- 1 1 Mountain Dew 475 1 1 Mountain Dew 162.05.7 3 2 K2 374 2 2 K2 - 50.9 [- 8.4] 2 3 Butterfinger 363 3 3 Butterfinger -1.36.9 [-42.4] 4 4 Axiom 191 4 4 Axiom -5.14.7 [-33.2] Mountain Dew is clearly far and away the best team in the game. Mountain Dew consists of Dakota, Irons, Miko, Shannara, and Wild Ride. They finished the season with a one hundred one-point margin over K2. They took the points lead from Butterfinger in the second race of the season and never looked back. Butterfinger tried to stay close in the first half, at one point only trailing by eleven, but Mountain Dew blew it open in the second half. K2 caps an impressive comeback to take the runner-up position, snatching it from Butterfinger here in the last race. K2 consists of Chien, Gunner, Harris, Quick Jessie, and The Max. As late as Suicide Swamp, they were still seventy-five back of Butterfinger, but they steadily made up ground throughout the last half of the season and finished with an eleven point margin over Butterfinger. Butterfinger (consisting of Arroyo, Bomber, Mace, Masala, and Rhino) got a good start out of the gates, taking first after Joyride, but soon lost that position. They were a strong second for the next few races, but in the second half lost ground to both Mountain Dew and K2, finally being eclipsed by K2 in the final race of the season. The worst team in the game, by far, is Axiom, which consists of Blackjack, Shirow, Stone, Technician, and Tetsujin. The points leader on this team was Stone, who finished the season in thirteenth with fifty-two points. They started out the season in third place, but it wasn't long (Hammerhead) before they dropped into the basement. The rest of the season was spent digging an ever-deepening hole. K2 overtook Butterfinger for second a little earlier on in the rally standings, doing so after Willpower. And the rally race was pretty tight after Ice Crusher, with about forty seconds separating the top three teams. But Mountain Dew sparkled in the last two races, pulling out a strong lead as Butterfinger faded. Axiom's inadequacies are even more evident in the rally, where they finished over five minutes out of first place, and more than three and a half out of third. ======================== 11.0 ADVANCED ======================== Collected in this section are some non-specific riding tips for mastering this deep game. ---------------------- 11.1 SHOULDER BUTTONS ---------------------- As I mentioned at the beginning of the FAQ, the most important skill you can acquire in the game is the appropriate use of shoulder buttons. Orienting your bike's position as you go over bumps and jumps, especially in some of the later tracks, is extremely important. An example of this is on Willpower. Following the 180º banked turn, you proceed up a steep incline on the back part of the track. If you simply ride over the bumps carelessly, many times you'll catch quite a lot of air and lose quite a lot of speed. That's particularly harmful here, where you're headed uphill and can't pick up extra speed without a turbo. However, using the shoulder buttons offers a solution. As you approach the first checkpoint on the incline, there's a bump in the track. Now, if you swing over to the right side of the track and ride along the edge, maneuvering your bike and altering its position as you go, you should be able to keep in relatively close contact with the ground, minimizing your air time and maximizing your speed. Here's another example. The final climb on Ice Crusher leads you onto a back straight. Due to the fact that you've been going not only uphill pretty steeply, but also riding over blocks of ice, losing speed every time you hit ground, by the time you get to the top, you'll be going pretty slowly. When you hit the top and jump, you'll float around in the air, losing even more time. The solution? Your shoulder buttons. As you climb the last block, you'll probably be on the left side, avoiding the big gap between blocks there near the top. What you can do is swing sharply to the right, then as you crest the hill, lean you bike to the left using both of your left shoulder buttons. You'll go over the top of the hill without even slowing down very much and probably save yourself as much as five seconds. ------------ 11.2 TURBOS ------------ Another important concept in this game is the turbo boost. Since you're only allotted four per lap, it's important to use them wisely, and here is where a bit of strategy comes into play. When you're still learning the tracks, or if you know you have trouble with a certain portion of a given track, it's always a good idea to hold onto a turbo, to help yourself out if you spill or fall. Typically, one of the most important times to turbo is at the start of the race. The computer demonstrates the importance of doing this around the Professional difficulty level, and you would do well to follow its example. The last three tracks, though, you might want to consider closely before turboing. It's possible to turbo on any of them, but doing so will cause you problems. For instance, on Ice Crusher you're liable to run into other riders and unseat yourself, or even toss yourself from the track. It's possible to get through, but is it worth the risk? On both Snow Blind and Nightmare, you're presented with obstacles soon after the start. More often than not, turboing at the start of Snow Blind will shoot you right into the first jump, unless you're riding a light bike or one with a high lift rating (or better yet both). Of course, you can always turbo and then hit your brake. You'll get your initial burst of speed, but you'll also save your bacon from getting fried. There are usually better places to turbo, though. On Nightmare, a solid turbo will probably just fire you over the edge of the track--before you hit the checkpoint, which forces you to redo the downhill run. Or you may have a nice shot at making the track, but run into a more cautious racer and end up with the same result. There are a couple of things you can do to avoid this, if you insist on using a turbo at the start. As on Snow Blind, you can stand on the brake after boosting, giving you a good head start but not too much so. You can also angle your bike to the left and hope you cross the checkpoint before falling off the track, or better yet, land on the track just past Turn 1, which would certainly be an ideal situation. Again, is it worth the risk? In general, the best time to turbo is when the track is either relatively flat, relatively straight, or both. That's why the best time to turbo on Cliffdiver is after the switchbacks (straight) or among the rocks at the end (flat and straight); and the best time to turbo on Cypress Run is at the start (flat) and before the serpentine cut (straight); and the best time to turbo on Nightmare is after after Turn 7 (relatively straight). Sometimes in your hurry to stay with the front of the pack, you'll make a mistake and fall of your bike. Then, in your panic to make up the time you've lost, you'll burn a turbo and hope to catch up to the leaders. This works sometimes. And sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's not a good idea to turbo after falling from your bike. When? On Cliffdiver, for example, the switchbacks will present you with problems. Chances are very good that you'll have computer racers passing you; chances are pretty good, too, that you'll spill at some point. Use your head. Don't hop back on your bike and immediately turbo. You'll either waste it because you run head-on into a wall, or you'll waste it because you're heading into a turn, where you'll have to brake and negate the effect of the boost. In short, save your turbos for emergencies, if you feel you need to. If you don't, try to find good times to turbo, not just when you're trying to catch up to the leader. And think before turboing after a spill or fall; don't turbo into a wall or a blind corner just to make up time. ----------------- 11.3 THE COMPUTER ----------------- In most situations, this game is very fair. In most situations, the computer racers have no more capabilities than you do to negotiate terrain, and with practice you can be as good as they are. But not always. There are certain sections in the game where the computer can flat outrace you and there's nothing you can do about it. One such section is the switchbacks on Cliffdiver. It's simply not possible to cross the checkpoint at the top and be closer to the leader than you were when you crossed the checkpoint at the bottom. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if it was just the leader gaining on you. But more often than not, you lose positions as well as time. But there are at least as many times when you are perfectly capable of outdriving the computer, all because the programmers didn't realize how easy a certain section was. The 270 on Nightmare is a place that's easy to pick up seconds, as is the second 270 on Snow Blind. Also, the computer can't handle the serpentine cut as well as you. So things balance somewhat. There are also times when the computer seems to be granted special abilities, for instance, when going around gentle curves. On the final dirt track part of Blackwater Falls, the computer just seems to cruise right along, while you're struggling just to stay off the sides. And if you manage to do that, they'll probably still pick up time on you. A similar problem occurs in the figure- eight section of Willpower. The most unfair ability granted to the computer has to be when jumping. To put it simply, the computer has the ability to go over a jump and basically stay glued to the track. This becomes glaringly obvious when you reach the later levels. On Willpower, when climbing the slope following Turn 6, the computer can make up time on you simply because they aren't slowed down by the bumps and jumps that pop you into the air. On Ice Crusher, this problem is in abundance. It starts at the beginning, when you pop into the air to go over the first jump and the entire rest of the pack just plops onto the next ice block and keeps on going. While you bump and jump up the slope, the computer just keeps pulling further ahead of you. This is even more pronounced on the final climb, where you'd better have a huge lead if you want to counter the effects of the blocks and final jump. It's for this reason that I began to see the importance of the shoulder buttons. These are your way of compensating for the computer's unfair advantage. Why did this happen? I can only speculate, but it's obvious that the flaw is in your bike, not the computer. It's your bike that bounces higher than it's probably supposed to. The reason I say this is actually related to one of the codes (as detailed in section 13)--the 2-player AI bikes. If you've ever had the chance to use this feature, which lets you play the two-player game in a full field of competitors, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Whatever formula is used to determine how high the player-controlled bike will go is slightly out of whack. This problem is exacerbated when the computer has to crunch numbers for two player-controlled bikes, and you end up doing some interesting aerial acrobatics. Anyway, this slight flaw in the engine is probably the reason for the difficulty with the jumping. Yes, it is frustrating. But as it's the only noticeable problem with the mechanics of the game, I'm willing to overlook it. ----------------- 11.4 BIKE ASSETS ----------------- Since all the bikes handle differently, it's important to use each bike's assets to your advantage. This seems like a simple statement, but it deeply affects the way you play the game. For general purposes, you have three bike classes: light, medium, and heavy. Certain basic things are obvious. For instance, if you're riding a light bike and you run into a heavy bike, you're probably going to go for a ride--without your vehicle. Likewise, the heavy bike won't turn as tightly as the light one. And the medium is in between. But because of the different ratings, the bikes all handle slightly different, meaning that you have to race slightly differently to account for the changes. Chien and Dakota, as an example, have handling ratings of ten. Even though several other racers have ratings of nine-point-five, ten is noticeably better. When you're using these bikes, you're able to turn tighter (which may not always be a good thing). Certain areas of tracks are easier to handle, like the switchbacks and serpentine cut. These two can blaze right through these areas with their superior handling, where people like Blackjack have to plod along. Lift is another major factor to take into consideration. Choosing a rider with a low lift rating, like the heavy bikes who all have ones and twos or Harris (with a two) or Miko (with a four), will help you to stay closer to the track, serving to circumvent the design flaw that gives the computer an advantage in this area. But a low lift rating will also run you into problems when it comes to jumps. Here it's better to have a higher rating, like Wild Ride and Gunner (both with tens) or your average light bike (typically rated a six). Low lifts will keep you from catching too much air over ramps, like on Joyride or Hammerhead, but high lifts will keep you from missing jumps, like some of the blocks on Ice Crusher or breaks in the track on Snow Blind. High lifts are even advantageous in places where there are waves, making it so you can jump the occasional wave. And mass will surely affect your racing strategy. If you're riding a heavy bike, or even a medium one, you won't have to worry so much about obstacles that tracks like Cypress Run and Suicide Swamp have to offer. You also won't have to worry as much about other riders knocking you off the track in later levels, like the platform sections of Nightmare. Acceleration, though, is one rating that I don't see the need for. Most light bikes have a relatively low acceleration rating, where most heavy bikes have a very high one. Does this mean that they accelerate at about the same rate? As far as I can tell. Even light bikes with high ratings, like Technician with a nine or Gunner with an eight, don't seem to have much advantage in this area. The only place where it might matter a little is at the start, but turbos usually negate this effect. ----------- 11.5 SPEED ----------- One gauge that you may not even bother with is your speedometer. To a certain extent, this is fine. After all, you accelerate to your top speed fairly quickly, the top speeds are relatively similar, and it's not like you have to manually change gears or anything. But there are times when it's a good idea to note how fast you're going. One obvious time is when you're rounding a long curve. An example is Willpower. On the figure-eight section after the tunnel, the tendency is to try to go as fast as possible down the hill. Usually, you kind of end up hopping; you can see and hear your bike bouncing on the track, not staying totally in touch with it. Now take a look at your speedometer. Likely, it's varying widely with each bounce. And you can see that it's costing you speed. If you just ease off the accelerator a little bit, though, you can ride at an even keel and keep your speed steady. Another example is on Blackwater Falls. Following the waterfall, the water in the river is very still. As you're rounding the long lefthander leading to the dam, note your speed. Chances are that it's dropping. Especially is this so if you're riding a light bike, as light bikes have a harder time maintaining a constant speed. But by nudging your D-pad and trying to straight-line the turn a bit more, you can actually move faster. The key? Keeping an eye on your speed. ------------------- 11.6 CLOTHESLINING ------------------- One of the dangers of riding an open-topped vehicle (like, say, a jet moto) is that your head is exposed. This can cause trouble when you're going under low- hanging objects, especially since there's no control to make your rider duck. This is a problem that arises around a lot of checkpoints and some of the tunnels near the end of the season. The solution is to maneuver your bike in such a way that the machine takes the brunt of the hit instead of your rider's head. One option is to pull the nose up and catch the force of the blow on the front underside of the bike. You can also roll the bike to one side or the other and try to present a shorter profile. In certain dangerous situations, it may even be advisable to invert your bike, pointing the rider's head toward the ground, if you have time to complete the maneuver and reorient yourself before you brush your rider's head on the ground instead. At least you can't kill them. ------------ 11.7 SAVING ------------ This is probably a pretty obvious thing to do, but I'll mention it anyway. If you're trying to progress through a season, the safest thing to do is to save your game to a Memory Card after performing well on a track. This is especially important if you've gone through most of a Professional or Master season and you have only a very slight margin of error going into the last couple of races. All you have to do is save your game. Then, if you mess up, you can just reload the game and try again. There is no penalty for doing this. ======================== 12.0 MUSIC ======================== Since the music in this game is so incredibly good, I felt that it deserved a section of its own. For each selection, I provide the track number, the course it's associated with, the length of the track on the CD, as well as describe the music. I'll also rate each selection on a relative scale from one to five, with one representing the worst music in the game and five the best. However, even my least favorite cuts are still very good. If I were rating them on their own, as opposed to rating them against the other tracks in the game, all of them would be rated fours and fives, but that wouldn't really be very informative. Track 17.37 Track 2 Cypress Run 2.53 The music for this course continues the guitar element from the island tracks, with the electric guitar taking prominence throughout the cut. In general, the tone of the music here is more urgent, less playful, with some stringlike keyboards thrown in occasionally. Toward the end, we get some horn sounds, as well. Rating: 1(out of 5) Track 3 Blackwater Falls 3.04 In keeping with the ambiance of the course itself, this cut has strong Southern tendencies, from the harmonica in the opening to the occasional fiddle to the slide guitar to the piano that plays under the entire piece. The timing of the piece is nice, too, as it usually is winding up as you finish your race. This music can also be heard on Twisted Metal 2. Rating: 5 Track 4 Suicide Swamp 3.04 This track is nearly identical to track 3 (unfortunately). Perhaps certain elements have been emphasized slightly over others, perhaps not. The sound quality also isn't as good, but the music itself is still just as solid. I'm not sure why the developers decided to use the same music on two consecutive tracks, though. Rating: 5 Track 5 Joyride 2.52 Here's the track that got so many people to comparing Jet Moto's music to that of Pulp Fiction. The lead guitar and rhythm are strongly reminiscent of that music. The opening minute of the piece is looped and run over the title screen and results following each race. But the second half of the cut is very strong, as well, with a wailing electric guitar fading in and out over the lead. Near the end, the music slows and includes some stringlike keyboards, before wrapping up dramatically. Rating: 4 Track 6 Cliffdiver 3.10 In many ways, this sounds much like a continuation of Joyride, with that lead guitar still appearing. However, electric guitar and keyboards are felt much more strongly throughout this piece, lending it a distinctly darker air. Rating: 1 Track 7 Hammerhead 2.53 A departure from most of the other music in the game, Hammerhead is very much an electric guitar-driven hard rock song. The interesting thing about this track is its length. The actual time it takes to race this course over three laps is about 1.30-1.40, but the music lasts much longer, meaning this is the rare exception where you won't immediately recognize all of the music, especially when it changes gears slightly around the 1.50 mark. Rating: 4 Track 8 Willpower 3.01 Instantly recognizable from the guitar wail at the opening, which simulates the feeling in the pit of your stomach as you go over that opening drop for the first time, this is another rock track, with electric guitars predominating, though at times the music will slow down enough for you to hear some bass in there. Rating: 3 Track 9 Ice Crusher 3.01 Dramatic, heart-pounding music, the track opens suddenly and quickly descends into the keyboards that resemble strings with the six-note theme that resounds throughout the piece. Electric guitars move in to assist with the theme, but mostly the work is left for the keyboards. Synthesizers move in toward the end before leading to a crescendo at the finish. Probably the best music in the game. Rating: 5 Track 10 Snow Blind 2.45 Another guitar-laden track. The rhythm guitar keeps things very upbeat and keeps you moving, which does work nicely on this suicide course. Notice the odd sound of squealing tires and revving motors in the background toward the beginning and end, a giveaway that this music originated in another one of Singletrac's games: Twisted Metal 2. Rating: 2 Track 11 Nightmare 3.02 In keeping with the huge expanse that you look over at the start of the race, Nightmare starts off very dramatically, much like Ice Crusher, but with an electric guitar lead, instead. The guitar propels the music along well, though giving it a certain dark tone, much in keeping with the course. Toward the middle is a small solo that's almost a throwback to eighties rock. Rating: 3 Track 12 ?????? 0.30 This mystery track has horns in the background and the guitar from Joyride propelling the upbeat melody. Nowhere in the game does this music appear. Track 13 ?????? 0.29 Another mystery track with the Joyride guitar, this time with a sad melody. Nowhere in the game does this music appear. Track 14 2.59 Again, the music in this game is very strong and very listenable, even outside of its natural environment. Tracks 12 and 13 have caused some consternation, as nobody appears to know even what these were supposed to have been. I can only conjecture that it was some kind of win/loss idea. ======================== 13.0 CODES ======================== For many, this is probably the most important part of the game. I wasn't planning on including this section in the FAQ, but I am doing so in the interests of being complete. After all, many of these codes are offered in the game itself. OPEN ALL TRACKS/"MASTER" DIFFICULTY This code is a bit lengthy. Go to the Options screen. Set the Difficulty to Amateur. Set the Trophy Presenter to Male. Return to the Title screen. Press UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT, UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT. Press RIGHT, then X. You will return to the Options screen. Set the Difficulty to Professional. Set the Trophy Presenter to Rider's Choice. Return to the Title screen. Press UP, LEFT, DOWN, RIGHT, UP, LEFT, DOWN, RIGHT. You will here the "cash register" sounder; this indicates that you have input the code correctly. "WIN RACE" SCREEN Go to the Options screen. Set the Difficulty to Amateur. Set the Turbos to Off. Set the Grapple to Off. Highlight Credits, hold L1, then select the option. You will be greeted with the screen you see after winning a race with a certain rider. You can scroll through all of the racers, tracks, and presenters. At any time, you can cancel this option by pressing TRIANGLE. To change the picture, press X. If you leave it alone for a few seconds, the pictures will cycle automatically. The pictures are shown in the following order: In order, all twenty riders are cycled through from Butterfinger, then Axiom, then K2, with Mountain Dew last, all with the female trophy presenter. Next, the same rotation is followed, with the male trophy presenter shown. Following the male presenter, the rotation is followed once more, though this time with no trophy presenter onscreen. After scrolling through the above rotation (once with the female trophy presenter, once with male, once with none), you will move on to the next track; there is a different background for each track. The tracks are presented in regular season order. For each track background, the above rotation is followed: all twenty riders are shown three times, with the different trophy presenters. There are also ten different female presenters and ten different male presenters. VIEW ALL ENDINGS Go to the Options screen. Set the Difficulty to Amateur. Set the Turbos to Off. Set the Grapple to Off. Highlight Credits, hold L2, then select the option. You will be greeted with the screen you see when beating the game on Professional difficulty. This isn't a really big deal; it's just the drawing on the Select Rider screen blown up to fill the picture. All twenty riders are presented. Press X to select the next one. ----------------------- ENABLE CODES The authentic way to enable all of the in-game cheats listed below is to achieve them. However, I will admit that is a somewhat lengthy process. Here's a shorter way: Go to the Option screen. Set the Difficulty to Professional. Set the Laps to 6. Return to the Title screen. Push CIRCLE, CIRCLE, CIRCLE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, TRIANGLE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE. After the codes have been enabled, either by loading a saved game where you have previously enable the codes by earning them or by inputting the above code, you have access to those enabled codes. There are nine of them. All of them are input at the Title screen. Each time a new code is enabled, the "cash register" sounder will go off. Multiple codes can be activated simultaneously. They can also be gotten by winning on Master difficulty in the regular season. There are two codes per team, plus a final code available after the first eight have been accessed. The team needed to access each code is listed in parentheses below. AIR BRAKES (Mountain Dew) R1, R2, RIGHT, L2, UP, CIRCLE, UP, CIRCLE Air brakes work just like you'd think they would: your brakes function in the air as well as on the ground. This is actually a very useful feature, so useful that it was included as standard in the next two games. DOUBLE STUNT POINTS (K2) RIGHT, UP, CIRCLE, L2, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, R1, R2 The advantage of having double stunt points is that you can do easier stunts but still be rewarded with higher points, along with things like turbos and better handling. NOTE: The Stunt Race must be activated for this code to work. ICE RACING (Butterfinger) UP, R2, R1, RIGHT, L1, SQUARE, RIGHT, RIGHT Butterfinger has Ice Racing? How apt. This is a cheat that makes things more difficult by changing the nature of the course. Despite the fact that Ice Crusher is actually made up of ice blocks, the course doesn't act like the ice you normally see in racing games. This cheat makes every surface act like that bad kind of ice, which is interesting. ROCKET RACER (Axiom) TRIANGLE, UP, UP, L2, L2, UP, UP, UP You'll go fast. Real fast. SHOW-OFF CAMERAS (Mountain Dew) TRIANGLE, DOWN, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, L1, L1, R1, R1 I suppose they had to balance Mountain Dew's other cheat. This one is useless. If you've taken the opportunity to watch the demo, you'll notice that the camera angle is different; it's more like you would expect a television camera to operate. This cheat makes you race with a camera like that. It isn't easy. Or fun. SUPER AGILITY (Axiom) DOWN, CIRCLE, LEFT, L1, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT If you've ever wanted to have a heavy racer with the handling of a light racer, well, now's your chance. This cheat makes that possible. If you've ever wanted to have a light racer with the handling of a ... weightless racer, well, now's your chance. This cheat makes that possible. Like all of the cheats, it feels kind of odd. UNLIMITED TURBOS (Butterfinger) TRIANGLE, CIRCLE, RIGHT, R2, UP, SQUARE, UP, TRIANGLE Just what it sounds like. Sure, it sounds interesting, but in practice it's just kind of boring. Plus, you get sick of the turbo sound. And for the record, I didn't use this cheat when recording my best times, though I did break three minutes on Joyride with Wild Ride using this. Boring. ZERO RESISTANCE (K2) SQUARE, L1, TRIANGLE, RIGHT, L1, DOWN, R2, TRIANGLE In many ways, this cheat is similar to Ice Racing, except without the extreme difficulty in controlling your bike. Basically, the TruePhysics engine is altered so that every type of terrain offers the same amount of resistance, which is to say none. Conducive to high speeds. And the ninth code: 2-PLAYER AI BIKES (Singletrac) CIRCLE, SQUARE, R2, CIRCLE, TRIANGLE, L2, RIGHT, UP Certainly one of the nicest surprises in the game. One of my regrets while originally playing this game was that the two-player mode was only one-on-one, with no opportunity for both players to race against the computer for a full season. This cheat enables just that: racing against the full field of twenty for two players. One caveat, though: There is a reason this option wasn't a default for the game. It's a little glitchy. As I mentioned above (in section 11.3), the lift quotient seems to be a little bit out of whack. Okay, a lot. Every bump and jump and ramp makes you go much higher than you're supposed to, which obviously alters the whole racing situation. In fact, though I can routinely win a season on Master difficulty, I have trouble being competitive at anything higher than Intermediate with this cheat activated. That having been said, this is definitely the most interesting code available for the game. It's worth the price of admission to run out and grab a buddy just to try racing against a pack of twenty other riders. ======================== 14.0 COPYRIGHT ======================== Jet Moto and TruePhysics are trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc. ©1996 Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc. This FAQ is ©2001 Remy Gibson. All rights are reserved. All opinions, statistics, commentary, analysis, and any other material were devised and developed by Remy Gibson. Using any of the material from this FAQ without the express written consent (paper or electronic) is prohibited. The latest edition of this FAQ can always be found at Cheat Code Central (www.cheatcc.com) and GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) or in HTML format at http://www.checkwolf.com/jetmoto.
